Angelina Jolie is getting ready to join the ranks of the unemployed. The "Changeling" star and mother of six says that while she'll be in front of the camera early this year, she plans... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 9 Jan 2009 | 1:09 pm
Will Leitch’s dispatches from recent visits to the Giants locker room have run every day this week leading up to Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Today: Losing is no longer an option.
Back in December, the Giants lost to the Eagles, at the Meadowlands, 20–14 in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score. The Giants were dominated on offense and defense en route to their first loss in nearly two months. A week that had been All Plaxico, All the Time ended with the worst performance of the season.
At the time, this was nothing to worry about. In fact, if you were worried about this, you were disrespecting the players, the team, the coaches, and their achievements. You were, as running back Brandon Jacobs put it afterward, a “hater.” As if following orders — and they were assuredly following orders — the Giants skipped around the locker room all week after the loss, laid-back, relaxed, all good. Center Shaun O’Hara, an amiable fellow, made sure to emphasize that “we’re 11–2, and it’s just one game. We won the NFC East. Here, look, I have a hat that says so. Everything’s great here.”
The locker room certainly seemed to be. It’s easy to forget, but a locker room really isn’t all that different from your office. (With the notable difference that your co-workers are presumably wearing clothes and don’t have a desk stocked with vitamin supplements and protective cups.) Everyone bustles around, going about their business, gossiping with co-workers, sifting through memos. (Every locker has a piece of paper with the details of the “2008 GIANTS JINGLE JAM,” a charity event to which players’ attendance is “not required but expected,” which I assume actually means “required.”) Back then, nobody looked sad or angry or artificially “motivated.” They were 11–2, and they wanted to make sure everybody knew it, and everything was fine. Some days you lose, you know?
Now that the Giants are playing the Eagles in the playoffs Sunday afternoon, they’ve changed their tone a bit: They are now furious and lustful to avenge that crushing loss to the Eagles.
Defensive tackle Barry Cofield: "We haven't forgotten that game. It wasn't very long ago. They came in here and beat us up. So we owe them something."
Coach Tom Coughlin: "We didn't rush the ball, we didn't pass the ball, we didn't have many snaps. They had the ball, they had time of possession. So it was disappointing from that standpoint. We had a drive at the end of the game that put us a little bit closer, but it didn't say much about that game."
It’s really all about psyche. Obviously, a loss in December isn’t nearly as costly as a loss in January. So you need your team to be blasé about a loss in the regular season, and then, when that team comes back around in January, full of vengeful rage. It might not pass the logic test, but when it comes to motivating a professional football team, logic is not your friend.
Not that it really matters: As Newsday pointed out, when the Giants stop Westbrook they win, and when they don’t they lose. The Giants have no major injuries this week — Antonio Pierce, who was victimized by Westbrook in the first game, should be ready to go — and everything seems lined up for them. But these are the Eagles, the long-tormenting Eagles, a veteran vexer of the Giants bellying up for one last run.
A month ago, a loss didn’t matter, nobody cared. Now, Brandon Jacobs is running around the locker room screaming to fire up his team on Wednesday. If that doesn’t explain the playoffs, it’d be difficult to find something that does.
"Gran Torino" is a crude but pungent stab at popular filmmaking, blue-collar and bare-knuckle. Which is not to say it's disappointing. On the contrary, it's an entertaining star vehicle that does its job well.
(AP)
AP - Stephanie March is back on the job as New York prosecutor Alexandra Cabot on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
AP - Gregg Allman almost had a few less silver dollars after someone broke into his southeast Georgia home and stole a coin collection, knives and unreleased concert recordings, police said.
Reuters - "Not Easily Broken" is based on a novel by Bishop T.D. Jakes, who in this and previous books has found a way to deliver sermons in a fictional form.
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Groans and giggles rather than shrieks of horror will greet "The Unborn," a horror film from about a dybbuk or demon determined to enter the body of a... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 9 Jan 2009 | 8:22 am
Reuters - Groans and giggles rather than shrieks of horror will greet "The Unborn," a horror film from about a dybbuk or demon determined to enter the body of a young woman who spends much of the movie in panties and T-shirt.
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Ever since the September 11 attacks moved him to appreciate members of the military more than ever, "CSI: NY" star Gary Sinise has been on a mission to... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 9 Jan 2009 | 8:17 am
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The cast of CBS' hot comedy series "How I Met Your Mother" got something extra for the holidays: salary bumps. Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 9 Jan 2009 | 8:15 am
Craig Rowin is here to have the Best Night Ever, so I'll just back up while he gives you moments from Kath & Kim, 30 Rock, and My Name Is Earl! Craig, go ahead.
(AP)
AP - The critics have spoken, and "Slumdog Millionaire" is their final answer.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie didn't win any awards tonight, but they were the center of the universe inside the Critics' Choice Awards.
Just like last year, every time there...
The course of TV true love never did run smooth.
We've got four sneak peeks of Monday's all-new episode of Gossip Girl, wherein Dan lies through his teeth to Serena, Chuck...
The prime-time portion of the posthumous honoring of Heath Ledger has begun.
The late thesp was named Best Supporting Actor at the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards...
The nation's soon-to-be first commander in geek has been tapped—and drawn—to share covers of an upcoming Amazing...
(Reuters)
Reuters - June 6 is the anniversary of D-Day. Fox's comedy "Bride Wars," which opens on Friday, would have you believe two female best friends would go to war with a ferocity equal to the Normandy landing when their wedding dates both fall on June 6 at New York's Plaza Hotel.
Will T.R. Knight stay with Grey's Anatomy or is season five George's last lap?
The authorities aren't telling, but everybody's favorite boss doc, Chandra Wilson, knows a...
Sources confirm that Ugly Betty's Ana Ortiz is having a baby with hubby Noah Lebenzon.
Babies are everywhere on the Betty set these days, as Rebecca Romijn (who plays Alexis Meade)...
In the end, John Travolta and Kelly Preston wanted to keep their son Jett close to their hearts and home.
Relatives and close friends gathered Thursday for a private memorial service at...
Didn't you once talk about how many people work for stars? If so many people work for them, how could a big celeb like Kevin Bacon get taken by financial advisor Bernard Madoff?
...
In other Make Me a Supermodel news, Tyson Beckford's co-host, Niki Taylor, has been replaced by 23-year-old Australian model Nicole Trunfio, who came in third at the Ford Supermodel of the World contest a few years ago. See what happens when you stop paying attention to these things? We know this is a lot to take in. Breathe through the nose.
The latest Madoff victim is someone who actually deserves it. Marc Rich, the commodities trader who fled to Switzerland in the eighties to escape prosecution for evading more than $48 million in taxes and running illegal oil deals (and was later pardoned by President Clinton), had $10 to $15 million invested with Old Berns, his office confirmed today. Will Rich be applying for SIPC help to recover a percentage of funds? The idea makes even the Times snicker: "'I don’t think you’ll ever see Marc Rich personally,' said John F. Fornaciari, a Washington defense lawyer at Sheppard Mullin, who had to stifle a laugh thinking about the legal complications stemming from the flight from justice and the contested pardon." [NYT]
AP - "Becky Shaw," which opened Thursday at off-Broadway's Second Stage, is a sharp social comedy of articulate anger laced with large helpings of angst and ambition. The perfect nourishment for theatergoers starved for a dramatic conflagration or two.
Another day, another awkward TMZ video. Vera Wang told TMZ that she's "not in the running" to design Michelle Obama's inaugural gown but added, "I'm in the running for someone else. I can't say who yet." Jill Biden? [TMZ]
Fox Business News tonight will air a vacation video of Bernie Madoff relaxing on a yacht, visiting a winery, and hanging in Saint-Tropez with now-deceased real-estate developer Norman F. Levy and his wife, who were one of Madoff's biggest clients, and, they thought, closest friends. In the video, Madoff offers this touching toast at Norman's birthday celebration:
The most important thing I would say, and that’s been demonstrated more recently, is enjoy every moment of your life and don’t take anything for granted. But more importantly, take every day as it comes and look at every day as another new adventure in your life. I don’t know anyone that has demonstrated a joie de vivre like you have. You are an inspiration to all of us.
Let this be a lesson to us all: Don't take anything for granted. Especially your money.
BARACK OBUZZKILL: Barack Obama delivered another extremely direct warning today about the current recession possibly "lingering for years." Man, this is no fun -- I liked Obama a lot better when we were just getting drunk because he got elected. (NY Times)
SINGLE IN THE CLOSET: R. Kelly's divorce from his wife of 11 years has been finalized. Pee party news travels slow, huh? (Us Weekly)
TOO-OBSCURE REFERENCE: Jeremy Licht, the child actor who played Jason Bateman's brother on the '80s sitcom The Hogan Family, welcomed a new baby girl on New Year's Eve. The only way this story could get more obscure is if the bride was Heather from Mr. Belvedere. (People)
EXTREY EXTREY: The Bank of England has cut its interest rates to their lowest level since the bank was founded in 1694. Unlike 1694, however, customers will not be required to place their money in duckskin sacks and rub them with priest-blessed black bile to ward off demons. (Consumerist)
GRUMPY OLD PIRATES: Johnny Depp signs on from Pirates of the Caribbean 4 through Pirates of the Caribbean 38 (aka, the Charles Bronson-Death Wish contract). (ROFLRazzi)
PRIDE WARS: Bride Wars is currently maintaining a legendary 0% mark on Rottentomatoes. Are the warring brides Ecks and Sever, perhaps? (Defamer)
As our awesome Vulture commenters quickly noted, Jay Mohr's line from last night's People's Choice Awards that "Not even the rain has such small hands" comes straight from the collected works of e. e. cummings. Though many of you clearly got the assignment to memorize "somewhere i have never travelled" back in high school, how many of you went to the trouble to make a video tribute to the poem using the Sims and then posted it on YouTube? Thought so! [Videogum]
A man dressed as Marvel comics hero Spiderman. Before Barack Obama is sworn in as president and becomes wrapped in the web of US and global politics, he will spin a yarn with Spider-Man in a brand new... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:54 pm
In today’s media world, second-home mags are shuttering, celebrity magazines are downsizing, and the New York Times receives more attention and speculation. Sigh. Commence.
• Country Home magazine has folded; people are struggling to pay for their country homes, let alone a magazine about them. The magazine’s parent company, Meredith Corp., has also laid off 250 employees. [Mediaweek]
• Everyone’s talking about the New York Times: In response to the Atlantic’s Michael Hirschorn’s speculation that the paper could cease to publish as early as this May, Portfolio’s Felix Salmon, the New Yorker’s James Surowiecki, and Poynter’s Rick Edmonds have disputed the math behind the Atlantic’s claim. But Hirschorn said “like May,” all right?
• The trailer for the Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience (seriously, that's the best name they could come up with?) is here! They'll be virtually so close you could touch...
Talk about a long labor!
After nearly three months of negotiations over Tori Spelling's return to 90210, a reliable CW insider close to the talks tells me the deal was finally signed...
Bad news this evening from Peter Som. The designer has been forced to cancel his fall 2009 Fashion Week show after splitting with Creative Design Studios, a division of Lord & Taylor LLC. The companies teamed up less than a year and a half ago. WWD reports:
“We have realized that our strategic interests are no longer aligned and feel that this is the best direction for our company at this time,” Elana Posner, who co-owns Peter Som, Inc. with the namesake designer and serves as the company's chief executive officer and president, said.
…“Peter’s talent is enormous but the realities of today’s marketplace have forced us to reevaluate all of our strategic partnerships," said Susan Davidson, CEO of Creative Design Studios. "We need to focus all of our resources on our core businesses — Lord & Taylor and The Bay department stores.”
Som's show was a highlight of New York Fashion Week, drawing Anna Wintour and André Leon Talley's front-row presence. After all the 2008 drama over Som's departure from Bill Blass, this is terrible.
Editor's note: Michelle and Sara had the opportunity to sit down with each of the cast members of the new season of The Real World. Using their signature brand of tag-team tough-question journalism that comes from minutes of experience, the ladies dug deep into the psyches of the cast members. We will be bringing you interviews with each cast member over the coming days! The Real World: Brooklyn airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on MTV. For constant stimulation, you can also check out RealWorldDailies.com.
Meet Ryan. If you've seen the premiere of the show, not only do you know that he was in the military and served time over in Iraq, but you also know that he plays the guitar, writes, and came to Brooklyn knowing very little about transgendered people. Overall, I found Ryan to be quite charming and adorable.
BWE: After 20 years of The RW what impact do you think the show has had on our culture? Keep it loose.Ryan: I couldn’t even tell you. I haven’t even seen that many seasons.
BWE: Because you're like 14 years old. Ryan: Yes. I just turned 13. So I'm actually the youngest ever. I've got an awesome fake ID. Actually that’s a puzzling question. I haven’t even seen past seasons so I couldn’t even...
BWE: How old are you? 23? Ryan: 23, yeah.
BWE: Okay. How sanitary is the RW house? Like if we took a blacklight to these couches what would we find? Ryan: Probably dog piss. That dog [Devon's puppy] pees everywhere. Oh and you'll also find Devon's hair or weave in the couches. I don’t know which.
BWE: People are nasty to Devon.Ryan: No it's just, as pretty as she is, she's pretty disgusting. Like you should have seen her bedroom. Like it was Hurricane Katrina.
BWE: That’s a horrible thing to say. Ryan: No like the streets you know. [Blank stares from Sara and Michelle.] No. I didn’t mean it in any bad way. I meant like a hurricane. I was just…that’s like the biggest hurricane. So that’s what I meant. [Awkward pause.] Hurricane Andrew! Hurricane Andrew!
BWE: [Michelle] You know I'm from Florida and now I'm angry at you. You’re the cast racist. It's fine. What were you doing before you came into the house? Ryan: Um. Walking.
BWE: No. No. We don’t mean today.Ryan: I was in the army for 3 1/2 years. I was in Iraq for a year.
BWE: What was that like?Ryan: Uh. A totally different experience. It was very eye opening. Sh*t. If you can survive Iraq, you can survive this house just fine.
BWE: How long ago was it when you came back from Iraq?Ryan: September of '06.
BWE: Why didn’t you just go on The Price Is Right like all other army vets? Ryan: Because Bob Barker is gone and I don’t want to go on with Drew Carrey.
BWE: Now we're friends. NOW we're friends! Why do you think you got picked for the house? What is it about yourself that needs to be on TV? Ryan: I don’t know I definitely made it a priority to make it like me being a veteran isn't who I am...like I didn’t even mention that at the very beginning. Yeah I wanted people to be like ohhh this is Ryan, he's really interesting. You know…music and stuff that he writes and interested in film production stuff, editing film, and making my own short films and stuff. That’s what I threw out there so they’d be “Okay that's Ryan, that’s what he's here to do." Oh, and I also was in the army…I don’t want to make that who I am. That's a big part of me, but that’s not what I wanted to define who I was. I wanted to be known as interested in eclectic things. I mean I do a lot of vast things that interest me, and I go on a lot of different avenues. I think that’s what got me to where I am today.
BWE: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Ryan: 5 years from now? I couldn’t tell you because my life is kinda like random chapters. I do one thing for a little bit and then something else comes up, and then I do that for a little bit, and then something comes up that I never ever planned on doing, so I'd do that…like I don’t really plan far ahead. Things come my way.
BWE: You're just a bag floatin' in the wind? Ryan: Sorta pretty much.
BWE: It's beautiful.
Ryan: It's soo beautiful. [They kiss...............JUST KIDDING!]BWE: What does your bracelet say? Ryan: This is the name of one of the guys that was in my company that was killed. So I wear it just to keep his memory alive and I'll probably wear it until everyone is out of Iraq.
BWE: I think that is very nice. Now, you’re an army guy, and I assume you're pretty conservative guy.Ryan: Not really.
BWE: Not really? We know that there was a transsexual in the house. Was that weird for anyone?Ryan: If anybody, it was probably weird for me because I've never experienced that. I'm from a really small town. In fact, we [the cast] even went to my small town, so they would know exactly what I'm talking about when I say where I'm from. I was never exposed to that. I was completely clueless, and I guess ignorant about it, because I just didn’t know. But from the immediate start, I said I don’t get it, I don’t understand it, but I want to know more.
BWE: What are you most worried about your family seeing on the show? Ryan: They probably wouldn’t like me swearing so much.
BWE: What kind of bullsh*t Real World is this? Ryan: A very different one. Source: Best Week Ever | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:30 pm
Kate Winslet isn't making any bones about her unbridled lust for a certain Little Gold Man this year. First, she went on record with Vanity Fair as saying, "Do I want it? You bet your fucking ass I do!" before telling Britain's Reveal that "I want to win, I'm not denying that." And despite the fact that neither Revolutionary Road nor The Reader is getting any traction in the Best Picture race, there's still a good possibility that Winslet could see herself nominated in both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress fields (respectively). However, reliably wacky Fox News columnist Roger Friedman has come up with a cockamamyan inspired idea that he thinks can guarantee her not only a Best Actress nom, but also a victory!
You see, Roger Friedman was tipped off to the fact that SAG members recently received some sort of instructions from "the mothership" (his term) that they didn't have to follow the studio's suggested categories for performances when selecting their Oscar nominations. Somehow, Friedman interpreted this alleged message to mean that Academy members should shun the Weinstein Co.'s For Your Consideration campaign to vote Kate Winslet's performance in The Reader as Best Supporting Actress and instead knock that nom up to Best Actress. But why? you ask. Friedman explains that "she gives a more direct, dynamic performance" in The Reader than she does in Revolutionary Road and goes on to say that "Winslet’s chances [to win Best Actress] improve 100%" if voters follow his lead. His plan is so crazy that it just might work! And by "just might work," we really mean "couldn't possibly work."
It would've been one thing to float this idea back in November, but now we're entering the final lap (if not quite the home stretch) of Oscar campaigning season. Admittedly, it's by no means too late to influence voters, but the fact of the matter is Winslet's dual positioning in Supporting and Best Actress categories gives her a far better shot at winning than by lumping her work into one category. After all, it's far easier to rally support among the constituency when your roles aren't directly competing against themselves. We're not exactly sure how Friedman neglected to consider this, but hey, it's his column!
And besides, with her current positioning, who says that Kate Winslet can't win two Oscars this year? There are no mortal locks in either of the two acting categories she's eligible for, and with SAG nominations already in her pocket, chances are strong she'll get nominated twice. And with that plucky gusto she's displaying of late, we wouldn't put anything past her.
We at Intel have a come-hither go-away relationship with hedge-funder John Paulson. On the one hand, we find the way he made billions of dollars off the financial meltdown — essentially, other people's grief and misery — repellent and vaguely unethical, like he "bought insurance policies on houses he didn’t own along the Indian Ocean just moments before the tsunami hit," as Gary Weiss puts it in his comprehensive portrait of Paulson in the February issue of Portfolio. On the other hand, it was pretty smart. And we don't find him unsexy … at least, we didn't think we did, until we read Weiss's description of him.
Paulson is in his mid-fifties, hair thinning at the top just a bit, with a slight paunch that he fights by jogging in Central Park … He is of medium height, medium build, medium disposition. He favors old-fashioned tortoiseshell bifocals and dark-gray suits
Okay, so maybe it was the billions of dollars that we found alluring. We're only human. But to be fair, that's all there is to Paulson, at least the way it seems from reading this story. He went straight from business school into the highest-grossing sector of his field, and has been hopscotching after the money ever since. There's no personality in evidence, no there-there. He doesn't watch birds or catch fish or practice Christian Science, like that other Paulson we love to hate. So what is it that drove Paulson to become an empty shell of a human being, driven solely by the desire to attract more lucre? Daddy issues, of course. Actually, granddaddy issues. His grandfather, Arthur Boklan, was a banker at a Wall Street firm who prospered, amazingly, during the Great Depression.
Boklan saw to it that his grandson had an early appreciation for the principles of capitalism. When John was a small child, Boklan was the one who encouraged him to buy Charms candy in bulk at the supermarket and then sell the individual candies to kids in the schoolyard at a substantial markup. His profits grew, as did his appreciation for economies of scale and the tendency of certain commodities to become mispriced through ignorance or carelessness... Paulson would spend much of the rest of his career under the tutelage of older Wall Street role models, seeking to replicate those days with his grandfather.
MAKEUP
• Executives in the cosmetics industry are worried that Barack Obama may change the environmental policy to push for more regulations of certain chemicals. If he does, cosmetics companies would have to pay more for environmental-danger tests. Boo freaking hoo. [Cosmetics Business via Beauty Counter]
• Gray is overrated for the smoky eye, says David Hernandez, makeup artist for Make Up For Ever. Update a gray eye with raspberry, yellow, and blue-black hues while using the same smoky-eye techniques. Clever. [Beauty and the Blog]
FRAGRANCE
• Valentino's launching a new pink floral fragrance next month. Won't you let Valentino be your Valentine? [Now Smell This]
HAIR
• The barbershop Reamir & Co. continues to expand — so far they have seven locations in the five boroughs, with plans to open two more this spring. And they even have a new spokesperson, Japanese actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Now that's the kind of growth we like to see (ahem, economy). [WWD]
• Ted Gibson's hair line is now available at Target. Rejoice. [Spoiled Pretty]
The Ugly Betty star and her husband, rocker Noah Lebenzon, are expecting their first child in July. OMG, do you think they'll write in a second surrogate pregnancy for Wilhelmina Slater?! Never mind, you don't know what we're talking about. [People]
Playbill - Actress Mary-Louise Parker puts a contemporary spin on Ibsen's tragic heroine, Hedda Gabler, in a new Broadway production. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:12 pm
Congratulations are due to Rachel Getting Married's Anne Hathaway, who, according to the awards' official website, will win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama on Sunday night!
Update: Her name is no longer starred on the site, though we certainly hope they don't go and give her award to Kristin Scott Thomas on the count of our meddling.
We've seen some crazy baby products in our times: Baby toupees, wacky pacifiers, slutty miniature high heels. But perhaps no product is as mind-boggling as the following, simply because this particular item seems to be marketed in a non-novelty shop setting. The Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe is a gigantic (to a baby) fleece blanket diaper that wraps around an infants arms and legs, rendering it into nothing more than battery-free glow worm.
While some may argue that the SwaddleMe is an adorably fuzzy way to turn your baby into a football with a heartbeat, I feel that this is in fact cruel and possibly harmful to the well-being of your kid. According to the SwaddleMe's Amazon page, this product:
Soft fabric wings hug your baby close and stay securely in place with self-fasteners so baby stays comfortably swaddled all night long.
As baby grows, wings adjust for a perfect, customized fit for your baby.
Easy diaper changes! The leg pouch pops down for easy diaper checks with no need to unwrap baby's arms.
I see two problems with the above description: One is wrapping your baby in a fleece cocoon while it sleeps seems cruel. What if you baby has a tiny, 1 millimeter itch on his head. Should he just lay there all night, awake, wishing he could free his mini-nail from his body cast? Two: Diaper changes. How else is your little one supposed throw his own sh*t at you? With his eyes? Unlikely.
The product claims to soothe infants by recreating conditions found in the womb. My theory is that if God wanted your baby swaddled like in the womb, we'd be pregnant anywhere from 11 to 14 months, instead of the current plan of 9. (Note: This is both scientifically and factually retarded.)
But SwaddleMe's Worst Offense? That's simple:IT MAKES YOUR BABY LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT.
Exhibit B: You turn your baby into nothing more than a discontinued 80s Fisher-Price toy:
Ed. Note: I will gladly wrap my baby in 3 to 4 of these things if it helps to "keep it down." Just gotta get preggers first, gentlemen. Source: Best Week Ever | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:04 pm
One of the pleasures of going to Lincoln Center has always been that mid-sixties time warp it affords, where you feel like any minute LBJ and Ladybird, Truman Capote and Kay Graham, and Frank and Mia are going to pop around the corner. Certainly Alice Tully Hall, with its mod wood paneling, used to give that feeling. The renovation, set to open next month, looks gorgeous, yes. But it also looks like the 21st century! Boo. [Curbed]
She showed us her boobs in New York Magazine, but now, Lindsay Lohan has taken it to the next level in Interview magazine, and by "next" I mean "disappointingly boobless":
Once you've re-enacted Marilyn Monroe's iconic final nude photoshoot in its entirety, it's tough to shock or interest anyone by subsequently making a goofy Madonna-like Vogue pose for a magazine that I usually forget exists in between its bi-annual really porny covers. It's the first and most basic rule of actress boob-showing -- would another movie have paid Halle Berry millions of extra dollars to appear topless after the movie Swordfish came out? Only if the producers of that next movie didn't know that people could Google "Halle Berry topless". Still beats the crap out of Britney's OK! cover, for what that's worth.
After the jump, Lindsay keeps the impressions rolling with a spitting image of Helena Bonham Carter's Corpse Bride:
This week London's Evening Standard reported that Valentino was a victim of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. But a Valentino spokesperson has confirmed that neither Valentino nor his business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, had any links to Madoff. Well, that makes two! [British Vogue]
Last year was something of a golden one for the actor turned musician, with Jamie Foxx, Zooey Deschanel, and Scarlett Johansson all putting out decent or better albums. Ryan Gosling struck one more blow for his set on Christmas Day, dropping a live video from the wrap party for the debut from his band Dead Man's Bones. "In the Room Where You Sleep" is an engaging fifties-style creep-show stalker anthem with Gosling pounding the piano as he whispers, moans, and yelps, theoretically in the dark of a woman's bedroom. But the video turns the horror into Halloween, with a rowdy chorus of costumed kiddies who threaten to steal the show from the "good luck" wishes at the beginning to the swashbuckled cymbal at the end.
"I join in opposition with respected Noble Peace Prize award wining economist Paul Krugman, who has very serious concerns with having Dr. Gupta be the nation's Surgeon General." —An altogether awful sentence from Representative John Conyers's letter to his Democratic colleagues. [HuffPo]
Badgley Mischka plans to lower prices of their fall 2009 collection in hopes of selling more product. It's unclear how much they'll mark down their wares as they're still ironing out details. The chairman of Iconix Brand Group, Inc., which owns the label, told The Wall Street Journal, "We realize the world is different … People who are pretending that nothing’s going on are not thinking properly. We have to react and give the consumer great value for great fashion.” Floor-length gowns from the Badgley Mischka Platinum collection cost about $1,000 at Neiman Marcus. But that's different from the couture line, which would easily run you thousands more. So we'd say there's some wiggle room.
In a videotaped interview full of gripes, excuses, and criticisms, Sarah Palin sets her sights on another seemingly untested woman trying to prove herself: Caroline Kennedy. Palin perceives that Kennedy has been receiving better treatment than she did (though the two have been compared) at the hands of the media:
“I’ve been interested to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled and if she will be handled with kid gloves or if she will be under such a microscope,” Palin told conservative filmmaker John Ziegler during an interview Monday for his upcoming documentary film, How Obama Got Elected. Excerpts from the interview were posted on YouTube Wednesday evening. “It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be.”
What it seems like she is trying to say (and we may be giving her too much credit here) is that Kennedy's aristocratic liberal background is more palatable to the media than Palin's own backcountry, conservative roots. We assume she thinks this because she doesn't read newspapers, certainly not ones from New York — because over here the press has been pretty hard on Kennedy. Still, it's almost clever of Palin. If Kennedy wins, for the rest of the year the Alaska governor can complain about how the media handled Caroline with those namby-pamby kid gloves. Then, if Kennedy proves to be a successful senator, by 2012 Palin will still have time to switch tacks and say, "There's a woman you said wasn't experienced enough, and she kicks butt!"
Last night at Joe's Pub, Richard Price threatened to drop his pants and reveal a tattoo on his ass that read "My Heart Belongs to Satan's Slaves," thus fulfilling the requirement of Amanda Stern's five-year-old Happy Ending reading-and-music series that every author take a risk onstage. He was kidding, of course.
"It'll be less about the risk," Stern said later, talking about her move from the dark, vaguely S&M-y Happy Ending Bar in deepest Chinatown to the Public Theater venue, with its two-drink minimum and three nearby Starbucks. Yesterday's inaugural event featured Price, reading outtakes from Lush Life in a mélange of New Yawk voices, and Matthew Caws of Nada Surf. Both are a half-step up from Happy Ending's usual headliners (let's say they run from Rick Moody on down). Price was up for it partly because of the venue (he used to read here in the eighties) and partly thanks to a "fallow period" between book tours.
Joe’s Pub's audience was several years older and three times bigger. Even the traditional sing-along seemed toned down and aged up (the Faces' "Ooh La La," for example). Price's actual risk was telling a mesmerizing story without notes about his grandfather, "Dopey Bennie," joining a Jewish Lower East Side gang, but it was hardly stage-diving into the audience or getting a haircut from a blind guy (among other antics at the old bar).
"It's a different crowd," said Stern, chirpily neurotic as ever, conceding that some of her Happy Ending regulars wouldn't be paying $15 dollars for the same experience north of Houston. The series had outgrown the space, as had Stern, she said, and luckily the bookers at Joe's Pub were fans (she's booked for five monthly readings thus far). Next month Stern returns to the old format of three writers and a band, none of them as famous as Price. Whatever happens, the impresario the Times Magazine called one of the city's "New Bohemians" in 2006 acknowledged that it just won't be the same. "The energy that I created in that old space, the atmosphere and the experimentation and the collaborations, that's over."
"This is a challenging time to be a designer because a woman today knows so much more," Oscar de la Renta says in a new video for his spring collection at Bergdorf Goodman. "There has never been a woman so in control of her destiny as a woman today." Simply stated yet so lovely. See you at the tents, Oscar. Not once, but twice. [Bergdorf Goodman]
Fashion Wire Daily - The stars honored at the 35th annual People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Jan. 7, mostly played it safe when it came to their red carpet attire, with a few bold exceptions.
AP - "The Billion Dollar Game" (Doubleday, 264 pages, $24.95), by Allen St. John: Remember the Giants' go-ahead drive in the final minutes of the Super Bowl last year? Remember Eli Manning spinning free of a certain sack to heave a pass to David Tyree, who improbably clamped the ball to his helmet? Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 8 Jan 2009 | 8:35 pm
We know we've got big struggle and sacrifice ahead, but if you're a proselytizing HD nerd, those sacrifices will cut particularly deep: "President-elect Barack Obama is urging Congress to postpone the Feb. 17 switch from analog to digital television broadcasting" because the Commerce Department has run out of money to subsidize digital-TV converter boxes for all the analog users still out there, like your grandparents. And if the transition goes forward and your Nana doesn't get a coupon for a converter box, she might not be able to watch Wheel of Fortune. And Obama doesn't want her to be sad. [AP]
The New Judge -- Smartassed British food critic and author Toby Young:
Rejected Judge Candidates:
-- In general, I enjoyed Englandy McSmartass and did admittedly laugh at his 'cat food' comment, though I feel like he was saving up the "weapons of mass destruction" line for like ten months since the very day he learned he'd be on Top Chef and was anxiously prepared to unleash it upon the first dish he tried. ("Hey everyone, meet new judge Toby Young." "Weaponsofmassdistractionnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!! Ahhhh, thanks, had to let that out.")
-- Young also tried waaaaay too hard to compare everything to movies (who does this dude think he is, me?) His desperate attempts to explain everything with movie similes reminded me of Matt Dillon's forced "all I got are these damn Nepalese coins!" pickup line in There's Something About Mary.
-- Is Radhika actually getting cuter every week, or am I just pretending that she is because there aren't any other hot female contestants left? It's like when you're in a class with no attractive women, by the end of the class you'll somehow find the top two best-looking girls in the room hot by default. Radhika also posted a strong showing in the quickfire challenge with this surprisingly non-chutney dish:
-- ELMINATION CHALLENGE: Gene and Melissa going home??? Who could've seen that one coming??? In retrospect, it was probably a bad move for me to drive to Vegas last week, walk into the sports book at the Bellagio, demand that they allow me to bet on the show Top Chef, then put my entire family's savings and retirement money on Melissa to win at 8:1. I could've at least flown to Vegas, it would've been cheaper and taken a lot less time.
-- You know you've had a bad week when even the Bravo website is ripping on you:
That'd be like the ABC website posting "Click here to stream last night's Lost to watch Locke act like a whiny bitch!" (Also, is that a dude in a wig standing in for Melissa? I'm serious, I'm not trying to be mean.)
-- I loved the twist of having the contestants judge each others' food while they're also able to watch themselves being judged; it reminded me of the killer in Strange Days who forces people to watch video of themselves being murdered by him as he does it (choke on that ref, Toby, you amateur movie-analogy-forcer!) Pretty bad form by Jamie, too, to really vocally trash everyone's dishes after she felt she had a good chance of winning. Example:
TOM: What did everyone think--
JAMIE: Sucks! Whatever dish you're talking about really sucks -- I wanted it near my mouth even less than Stefan's c*ck.
TOM: ...I was going to say what did everyone think of that weather yesterday?
JAMIE: Oh. Well the dishes still all sucked.
-- QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: An exuberant Stefan celebrates Tom Colicchio's unbridled compliment of his duck breast dish by slamming the nearby counter and yelling "Bah, Collecio, bah!!!" Stefan and Ebenezer Scrooge have very different interpretations of the word "bah."
-- I also loved Stefan's devious exclamation, "Braised cabbage in an hour and a half! Germany and Austria are going mad!" As though we're all aware of this vicious braised cabbage rivalry between the Germans and the Czechs; I was hoping Fabio would then be like, "I just poached an egg in twenty seconds! Suck on that, Luxembourg!"
-- Oh, also, I'm assuming everyone else thought of the Lenoesque joke "This guy is a food critic in England? No wonder he's so pissed off!" Everyone did? Cool.
Updated Power Rankings:
1) Stefan
2) Hosea (nondescript week for him, though)
3) Jamie
4) Jeff (gonna do something retarded one week and get voted off, and he's-a gonna be piiiiiissed)
5) Radhika
6) Fabio
T-7) Leah/Ariane
Next To Go: Carla
Leave your thoughts on the new judge, the episode, and the delicious taste of Diet Dr. Pepper about which nothing is diet in the comments! Source: Best Week Ever | 8 Jan 2009 | 8:35 pm
Want a fast catch-up on David Simon's The Wire, generally regarded as the greatest TV show in the history of Earth but don't have 60 consecutive hours? Helpfully, rapper Skillz (already a recapping legend for his annual year-spanning Rap-Ups) has recorded a spoiler-filled primer on all five seasons. Now if he'd only do the same for all these other shows you might finally get some work done.
Get your datebook out — it's time to plan yourself a trip to the museum. On January 16, the International Center of Photography (ICP) launches its Year of Fashion schedule, a series of exhibits that focus on the history of fashion photography and the relationship between art and fashion from the twenties to today, featuring pictures from Edward Steichen, Richard Avedon, Nick Knight and others. If you've ever torn out a magazine editorial and stuck it up on your wall, this is how we imagine this museum looking all year. But you know, nicer. Curated by Carol Squiers and Vince Aletti, ICP’s Year of Fashion includes six exhibitions throughout 2009. Click ahead for a special look inside.
International Center of Photography, 1133 Sixth Ave., at 43rd St. (212-857-0045); Tues.–Thurs. (10–6), Fri. (10–8); Sat.–Sun. (10–6); Mon. (closed).
Anytime I'm browsing the headlines and I see a story about a panda, I usually click on it because I'm pretty confident it's going to be something adorable. Well this time, imagine my surprise, to find it was a story about Gu Gu, a panda living in the Beijing Zoo, who "has tasted human blood for the third time." I read that, thinking, okay it's total hype, he just nipped at somebody innocently, it's not like he did it intentionally..they just use salacious language like that to make it interesting...boy, was I wrong. Gu Gu is a bloodthirsty little demon who would like nothing more than to feast on the flesh of a human. Here is the exact description of each attack:
ATTACK 3
Today, when a man "jumped into the animal's enclosure to retrieve his son's toy...Gu Gu delivered deep bites to both of the man's legs."
ATTACK 2
"In 2007, the panda attacked a boy, 15, who had jumped into his enclosure, gnawing his legs to the bone."
ATTACK 1
Gu Gu "bit a chunk out of the leg of a drunken man who had jumped into the enclosure to 'hug' the cuddly animal."
Now, there are two things that strike me as a common thread among these stories:
ONE: DON'T JUMP INTO A PANDA EXHIBIT. TWO: GU GU PREFERS THE LEG. (IT'S LESS GAMEY-TASTING THAN THE OTHER PARTS.) Source: Best Week Ever | 8 Jan 2009 | 7:45 pm
Car crashes appear to be very much on Hollywood’s mind lately, what with this week’s Not Easily Broken and January 23’s Possession both hanging their plots on them. And who can forget the rash of vehicular mishaps that played pivotal roles in such big-ticket films last year as Seven Pounds, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Yes Man? Of course, one could argue that car crashes have always been on Hollywood’s mind — given the amount of time Angelenos spend driving, it’s easy to imagine why. And their fertile imaginations have provided us with plenty of sick automotive nightmares over the years. So what are the best car crashes in movie history — the most terrifying, off-the-wall, and/or otherwise notable ones to grace movie screens over the years? We did the research and have now untangled ourselves long enough from a fetal position on our sweat-soaked couch to bring you our findings.
Haluk Akakce is an artist who lives in England. "I collect hats — they're sculptures, they're statements," he told us. The day our Video Look Book cameras caught up with him, he was wearing a paper jacket and blue hat he had painted black the night before because he "had nothing to wear." He also lived with Isabella Blow for five years. "I lived with 800 hats. Hats everywhere." Watch the Video Look Book to scope out the labels (Westwood, Posen, Louboutin) worn by his companion, art curator Stacy Engman.
British film-maker Christopher Nolan, seen here in 2008, was on Thursday named among the nominees for the top prize at this year's Directors Guild of America (DGA) awards, a key indicator ahead of next... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 8 Jan 2009 | 7:26 pm
Ratings for last night's People's Choice Awards were up 44 percent from last year's broadcast but couldn't compete with Barbara Walters's hour-long interview with Patrick Swayze over on ABC. More than 12.6 million Americans tuned in to see Swayze's first televised interview since being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year. For those of you keeping score at home, yes, Babs made Johnny Castle cry. [Live Feed/HR]
Critics and SAG members love John Patrick Shanley's film adaptation of his Pulitzer-winning play, Doubt, but what do nuns think? And, even more important, what do blogging nuns think? For the next two hours, at A Nun's Life, the Sisters of Charity of New York will be hosting a live discussion of the movie in the comments section of this post. [A Nun's Life]
Guess who got a makeover? Hint: She's one of our favorite people on the planet...
That's right, it's Nene Leakes from The Real Housewives of Atlanta! The show's been picked up for a second season, and it looks like the economy is finally hitting the Leakes family. Not only were they recently evicted from their house, but if these pictures are any indication, Nene can no longer afford food. If things continue on in this way, Nene may lose the only thing that matters to her (and Anderson Cooper): Her gigantic, floppy funbags.
Scowling with your eyes is tre tre tre declasse, Neens.
She's not gonna be tardy to the party in that gown!
There they are! We were worrying that Ms. Leakes may have invested her last $15 in a minimizer, but looks like that isn't the case. Frankly, we're missing the Atlanta Housewives... The O.C. cast has turned into a festering toxic pit of botox and immaturity. I never thought Gretchen would be the only one I can stand, but there you have it. Source: Best Week Ever | 8 Jan 2009 | 6:56 pm
Some of us didn't have the funds back in 2001 to buy the Stephen Sprouse Louis Vuitton collaborations. We coveted, we schemed, we begged all to no avail. We loved the play on the venerable brand. The bags were, in Marc Jacobs's words, both “disrespectful and respectful at the same time." This week, as the Deitch Gallery launches the Sprouse exhibit, several limited-edition pieces of the 2009 collection will be available in Louis Vuitton boutiques nationwide, starting January 9. These new pieces — reinterpretations of the originals — are a tribute from Jacobs to Sprouse and include the artist's graffiti as well as his monogram roses, all in bright neon colors. "I did my best, in a very first degree way, to do what I think Stephen would have done, or has done, in terms of fashion," Jacobs said. The collection includes neon patent-leather flats and a zip-locked gym set, along with the graffiti-tagged bags and wallets. Click ahead for a sneak peek at what we're maxing out our credit cards over.
"Stephen Sprouse: Rock on Mars," Deitch Gallery, Jan. 9–Feb. 28.
Without a Trace actress Roselyn Sanchez has written a screenplay for the CBS drama.
Sanchez pitched a full episode to executive producer Greg Walker, and the episode has now been shot.
But she admits that the timing of the shoot was inconvenient, as her wedding to Day of Our Lives actor Eric Winter took place the following week.
She said: “It was overwhelming for me to work 13 hours a day on such an emotional episode when I was dealing with my wedding the next week, but I was so happy for the opportunity”.
Walker even let Sanchez cast an actress to play her missing former police partner.
The nominations for the 2008 Directors Guild of America Award have just been announced, and, as expected, they are Danny Boyle (Slumdog MIllionaire), David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), and Gus Van Sant (Milk). The same five films were nominated for Producers Guild Awards on Monday — are they now the front-runners for Best Picture? Probably! Although it should be noted again that Wall-E's Andrew Stanton was not eligible for this particular honor.
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag were out on the town recently. Heidi stopped into a Chanel store and got herself a very special manicure (i.e. Cha-nails). Meanwhile, Spencer was shooting "his new reality show based on Mixed Martial Arts fighter Kevin Casey." Wait...what? Spencer is making a reality show? With the same tiny camera he used to make Heidi's music video? AMAZING!!! Who is this Kevin Casey? Did he get a really bad concussion in a fight?
Lisa Bonet (Denise from The Cosby Show) and Jason Momoa (of Stargate:Atlantis non-fame) have thrown their hat into the ring of creatively terrible celebrity baby names in a calculated effort to have people notice them and to pre-torture their child before it's even old enough to comprehend words or ideas.
Watch out, Bronx Mowgli Wentz and Pilot Inspektor Lee, because here comes...
He was born on the stormest, rainy night. So Nakoa(warrior) ... Mana (strength/spirit) Kaua(rain) po(dark) ... The name was always going to be Nakoa-Wolf, but Jason did the research on first middle name, 2nd middle name as you know is Jason's.
Forget getting through high school -- this baby is already getting the sh*t beat out of it, by me, in its hospital incubator right now. I'm literally writing this post from an iPhone with my left hand while punching the baby with my right. I have no choice; upon hearing that name, my body ran to the hospital where this baby was being kept and just starting wailing on it completely instinctually. It's nothing personal, Nakoa-Wolf Senior. Source: Best Week Ever | 8 Jan 2009 | 6:00 pm
The plaque at the BBC's Bush House is shown in London. The BBC is to launch a Farsi-language television service in Iran and Afghanistan from next week, it announced Thursday, less than a year after it... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 8 Jan 2009 | 5:16 pm
French star dancer Manuel Legris, seen here during a 2007 performance, will take over the Vienna Opera and Popular Opera ballets in 2010, the two companies announced Thursday. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 8 Jan 2009 | 5:16 pm
Ken and Barbie doll designer Jack Ryan was a "full-blown seventies-style swinger" with "a manic need for sexual gratification" Source: FOXNews.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 5:13 pm
Rascal Flatts' sixth album, "Unstoppable," will be released April 7 by Lyric Street. As of yet there are no details about the first single or track list. The set was co-produced by the band with Dann Huff.
"The Dark Knight" took home top honors at the People's Choice Awards, walking away with five awards. The movie won the award for favorite movie, favorite action movie, favorite cast, favorite on screen match-up (Christian Bale and Heath Ledger) and favorite superhero (Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman).
Lady GaGa ascends 2-1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week with "Just Dance," which sold 279,000 downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. At 22 weeks, the song makes the longest trip to the top since Creed's "With Arms Wide Open" (27 weeks) in November 2000.
Todd Rundgren has it backward. You're supposed to build on a debut of Top 40 hits with more Top 40 hits. Instead, he detoured into experimental albums. But his latest, "Arena," is straight-ahead rock anthems.
On the heels of a three-night stand in early March in Hampton, Va., Phish has confirmed a host of additional tour dates this summer, its first since splitting in 2004. The tour begins June 4-5 at Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y.
Carrie Underwood was a big winner at the People's Choice Awards last night (Jan. 7) at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, picking up favorite female singer, country song for "Last Name," and star under 35 years old.
The breathy vocals of Nina Persson helped launch The Cardigans onto the music scene in the 1990s. The band developed its dreamy pop sound in the Southern Swedish town of Malmo.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie didn't win any awards tonight, but they were the center of the universe inside the Critics' Choice Awards.
Just like last year, every time there...
The course of TV true love never did run smooth.
We've got four sneak peeks of Monday's all-new episode of Gossip Girl, wherein Dan lies through his teeth to Serena, Chuck...
The prime-time portion of the posthumous honoring of Heath Ledger has begun.
The late thesp was named Best Supporting Actor at the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards...
Will T.R. Knight stay with Grey's Anatomy or is season five George's last lap?
The authorities aren't telling, but everybody's favorite boss doc, Chandra Wilson, knows a...
Sources confirm that Ugly Betty's Ana Ortiz is having a baby with hubby Noah Lebenzon.
Babies are everywhere on the Betty set these days, as Rebecca Romijn (who plays Alexis Meade)...
In the end, John Travolta and Kelly Preston wanted to keep their son Jett close to their hearts and home.
Relatives and close friends gathered Thursday for a private memorial service at...
Didn't you once talk about how many people work for stars? If so many people work for them, how could a big celeb like Kevin Bacon get taken by financial advisor Bernard Madoff?
...
• The trailer for the Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience (seriously, that's the best name they could come up with?) is here! They'll be virtually so close you could touch...
Talk about a long labor!
After nearly three months of negotiations over Tori Spelling's return to 90210, a reliable CW insider close to the talks tells me the deal was finally signed...
Editor's note: Michelle and Sara had the opportunity to sit down with each of the cast members of the new season of The Real World. Using their signature brand of tag-team tough-question journalism that comes from minutes of experience, the ladies dug deep into the psyches of the cast members. We will be bringing you interviews with each cast member over the coming days! The Real World: Brooklyn airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on MTV. For constant stimulation, you can also check out 
BWE: People are nasty to Devon.
Ryan: No it's just, as pretty as she is, she's pretty disgusting. Like you should have seen her bedroom. Like it was Hurricane Katrina.
BWE: That’s a horrible thing to say.
Ryan: No like the streets you know. [Blank stares from Sara and Michelle.] No. I didn’t mean it in any bad way. I meant like a hurricane. I was just…that’s like the biggest hurricane. So that’s what I meant. [Awkward pause.] Hurricane Andrew! Hurricane Andrew!
BWE: [Michelle] You know I'm from Florida and now I'm angry at you. You’re the cast racist. It's fine. What were you doing before you came into the house?
Ryan: Um. Walking.
BWE: No. No. We don’t mean today.
Ryan: I was in the army for 3 1/2 years. I was in Iraq for a year.
BWE: What was that like?
Ryan: Uh. A totally different experience. It was very eye opening. Sh*t. If you can survive Iraq, you can survive this house just fine.
BWE: How long ago was it when you came back from Iraq?
Ryan: September of '06.
BWE: Why didn’t you just go on The Price Is Right like all other army vets?
Ryan: Because Bob Barker is gone and I don’t want to go on with Drew Carrey.
BWE: Now we're friends. NOW we're friends! Why do you think you got picked for the house? What is it about yourself that needs to be on TV?
Ryan: I don’t know I definitely made it a priority to make it like me being a veteran isn't who I am...like I didn’t even mention that at the very beginning. Yeah I wanted people to be like ohhh this is Ryan, he's really interesting. You know…music and stuff that he writes and interested in film production stuff, editing film, and making my own short films and stuff. That’s what I threw out there so they’d be “Okay that's Ryan, that’s what he's here to do." Oh, and I also was in the army…I don’t want to make that who I am. That's a big part of me, but that’s not what I wanted to define who I was. I wanted to be known as interested in eclectic things. I mean I do a lot of vast things that interest me, and I go on a lot of different avenues. I think that’s what got me to where I am today.
BWE: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Ryan: 5 years from now? I couldn’t tell you because my life is kinda like random chapters. I do one thing for a little bit and then something else comes up, and then I do that for a little bit, and then something comes up that I never ever planned on doing, so I'd do that…like I don’t really plan far ahead. Things come my way.
BWE: You're just a bag floatin' in the wind?
Ryan: Sorta pretty much.
BWE: It's beautiful.
Ryan: It's soo beautiful. [They kiss...............JUST KIDDING!]
BWE: What does your bracelet say?
Ryan: This is the name of one of the guys that was in my company that was killed. So I wear it just to keep his memory alive and I'll probably wear it until everyone is out of Iraq.
BWE: I think that is very nice. Now, you’re an army guy, and I assume you're pretty conservative guy.
Ryan: Not really.
BWE: Not really? We know that there was a transsexual in the house. Was that weird for anyone?
Ryan: If anybody, it was probably weird for me because I've never experienced that. I'm from a really small town. In fact, we [the cast] even went to my small town, so they would know exactly what I'm talking about when I say where I'm from. I was never exposed to that. I was completely clueless, and I guess ignorant about it, because I just didn’t know. But from the immediate start, I said I don’t get it, I don’t understand it, but I want to know more.
BWE: What are you most worried about your family seeing on the show?
Ryan: They probably wouldn’t like me swearing so much.
BWE: What kind of bullsh*t Real World is this?
Ryan: A very different one.
We've seen some crazy baby products in our times: Baby toupees, wacky pacifiers, slutty miniature high heels. But perhaps no product is as mind-boggling as the following, simply because this particular item seems to be marketed in a non-novelty shop setting. The Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe is a gigantic (to a baby) fleece blanket diaper that wraps around an infants arms and legs, rendering it into nothing more than battery-free glow worm.
While some may argue that the SwaddleMe is an adorably fuzzy way to turn your baby into a football with a heartbeat, I feel that this is in fact cruel and possibly harmful to the well-being of your kid. 
-- I loved the twist of having the contestants judge each others' food while they're also able to watch themselves being judged; it reminded me of the killer in Strange Days who forces people to watch video of themselves being murdered by him as he does it (choke on that ref, Toby, you amateur movie-analogy-forcer!) Pretty bad form by Jamie, too, to really vocally trash everyone's dishes after she felt she had a good chance of winning. Example:
TOM: What did everyone think--
JAMIE: Sucks! Whatever dish you're talking about really sucks -- I wanted it near my mouth even less than Stefan's c*ck.
TOM: ...I was going to say what did everyone think of that weather yesterday?
JAMIE: Oh. Well the dishes still all sucked.
-- QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: An exuberant Stefan celebrates Tom Colicchio's unbridled compliment of his duck breast dish by slamming the nearby counter and yelling "Bah, Collecio, bah!!!" Stefan and Ebenezer Scrooge have very different interpretations of the word "bah."
-- I also loved Stefan's devious exclamation, "Braised cabbage in an hour and a half! Germany and Austria are going mad!" As though we're all aware of this vicious braised cabbage rivalry between the Germans and the Czechs; I was hoping Fabio would then be like, "I just poached an egg in twenty seconds! Suck on that, Luxembourg!"
-- Oh, also, I'm assuming everyone else thought of the Lenoesque joke "This guy is a food critic in England? No wonder he's so pissed off!" Everyone did? Cool.
Updated Power Rankings:
1) Stefan
2) Hosea (nondescript week for him, though)
3) Jamie
4) Jeff (gonna do something retarded one week and get voted off, and he's-a gonna be piiiiiissed)
5) Radhika
6) Fabio
T-7) Leah/Ariane
Next To Go: Carla
Leave your thoughts on the new judge, the episode, and the delicious taste of Diet Dr. Pepper about which nothing is diet in the comments!
Anytime I'm browsing the headlines and I see a story about a panda, I usually click on it because I'm pretty confident it's going to be something adorable. Well this time, imagine my surprise, to find it was a story about Gu Gu, a panda living in the Beijing Zoo, who "
Lisa Bonet (Denise from The Cosby Show) and Jason Momoa (of Stargate:Atlantis non-fame) have thrown their hat into the ring of creatively terrible celebrity baby names in a calculated effort to have people notice them and to pre-torture their child before it's even old enough to comprehend words or ideas.
Watch out,