In an effort to boost excitement for Record Store Day (April 18), Wilco is making its new Nonesuch concert DVD, "Ashes of American Flags," available early, and exclusively, to indie retail for the occasion, Billboard has learned.
• Munch on cookies and sip mint tea at skin-care store Molton Brown while testing out their new hand and nail treatments for free. Buy something, and get a free gift. Through 2/7. 1098 Third Ave., nr. 64th St. (212-744-6430), 128 Spring St., nr. Greene St. (212-965-1740); F (1–6), S (11–4).
SALES STARTING TODAY
• To celebrate their ten-year anniversary and relocation, Zero + Maria Cornejo is unloading a decade's worth of archives; silk-charmeuse dresses ($206), faux-fur shrugs ($150), and wool capes ($250) are marked down. Through 2/9. 225 Mott St., nr. Prince St. (212-925-3849); noon–7.
• At the Manhattan Vintage Clothing and Antique Show, more than 85 vintage retailers offer items on sale. Tickets are $20 each. Through 2/7. Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W. 18th St. (212-691-7297); F (1–8), S (11–8).
• At Paul Smith everything is 75 percent off. Through 2/8. 108 Fifth Ave., at 16th St. (212-627-9770); 142 Greene St., nr. W. Houston St. (646-613-3060). Call for hours.
ENDING TOMORROW
• The feminine silk and knit dresses by Sophia Eugene are $100 (down from $248), coats are $150 (down from $399), and blazers are $80 (down from $215). At the same sale, Christopher Deane wool coats are $150 (originally $457), silk dresses are $150 (down from $332), and silk tops are $80 (originally $240). Through 2/7. 37 Cornelia St., nr. Bleecker St. (212-488-2124); 12–8.
STARTING SUNDAY
• Brand-name watches are marked down by 50 to 70 percent at the Tourneau sale. Through 2/12. 317 W. 33rd St., nr. Eighth Ave. (718-747-1656); 9–6:30.
ENDING SUNDAY
• Save 80 percent on dresses, tops, and accessories by Callalilai. 296 Atlantic Ave., nr. Smith St., Boerum Hill, Brooklyn (718-875-1790); 11–7.
• The attic sale at vintage boutique Zachary's Smile features most shoes, clothing, and accessories for $5, $10, $25, and $50 every weekend this month. 2/5–2/8, 2/12–2/15, 2/19–2/22, 2/26–3/1. 303 Mulberry St., nr. Bleecker St. (212-965-8248); Th–S (1–8), Su (1–7).
Ever since former governor Eliot Spitzer was brought low by his prostitution scandal, we've known a little too much about what he likes to do in the bedroom. (We're thinking mostly about the fact that he kept his black socks on. Shudder.) For a few months now there's been a reprieve, but thanks to former Madam Kristin Davis, those images are back in our heads. Davis was not the head of the Emperors Club, the prostitution ring for which Spitzer was famously "Client 9," but another one he used earlier. According to her, Spitzer:
• was "good for a call at least once a week" from 2004 to 2006
• meant "thousands of dollars of steady income for me and my ladies"
• "was getting rough and too aggressive with the girls — repeatedly pressuring them to do things they didn't want to do"
• "tended to obsess about a girl, would want to see her every day and was pushy and whiny with her"
• "didn't want to use a condom, and "he'd be a real weasel about it, too"
Hmmm. A sitting governor who is married with children and is frequenting prostitutes — we thought that was pretty much the textbook definition of "weasel." But Davis is probably more of an expert on the rodent than we are, so we'll take her word for it.
They're In The Money:Steven Soderbergh is moving closer to directing Moneyball, the adaptation of Michael Lewis’s classic baseball book about the highly influential sabremetric techniques of Oakland A’s manager Billy Beane; Brad Pitt is also interested in the project. There is a downside, though — this means the batshit, insane 3-D Cleopatra musical Soderbergh was planning to direct is on hold. [Variety]
More Sex: The Sex and the City sequel has been extra-super-duper confirmed, we guess: The trades are reporting that all four principal actresses, plus director Michael Patrick King, are officially onboard. There is no script written or start date scheduled, but New Line president Toby Emmerich is determined to not let minor details like that prevent him from releasing this thing in the summer of 2010. [Variety]
Semen Jokes:Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman are signed on for The Baster, a comedy based on a Jeffrey Eugenides short story originally published in The New Yorker. Aniston plays a woman trying to get pregnant via artificial insemination, and Bateman is her best friend who secretly switches the donor semen with his own and “is then forced to live with the secret that he is the child's real father.” Remind us again what exactly is funny about that? [Variety]
Bible Stories:Camilla Belle will step into some big shoes as the title character in MGM's Mary, Mother of Christ; Al Pacino and Jessica Lange may join her, as Herod and Anna the Prophetess, respectively. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is already onboard as both Gabriel and Lucifer, as is Peter O’Toole, who will play Symeon. Sorry, is this from the before or after dinner part of Passover? [HR]
The Knife Refuses to Stop Being Weird: The next album from the Knife, the Swedish electropop brother-sister duo that likes to wear creepy bird masks in their promo photos and almost never talks to the media, will most likely be the score to their upcoming Charles Darwin opera, Tomorrow, in a Year. Of course. [Billboard]
AP - Abdul "Duke" Fakir cried joyful tears when he learned that the Four Tops will receive a lifetime achievement award Sunday at the 51st annual Grammy Awards.
As a concert, the Grammy Awards are often well worth watching. Witness Sly Stone coming out of retirement, or the raucous tribute to the Clash's Joe Strummer a few years back, or even the hushed opening by a reunited Simon & Garfunkel in 2003.
There is a lot of excitement around the potential of "stereoscopic" movies ("3-D" to you and me). Much of it has been drummed up by director James Cameron's forthcoming blockbuster "Avatar" and Dreamworks boss Jeffery Katzenberg, who is releasing more than a dozen 3-D pictures this year.
(Reuters)
Reuters - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp posted its biggest ever quarterly net loss, after taking an $8.4 billion writedown for the value of its Dow Jones acquisition, broadcasting licenses and other assets.
Reuters - He has left the White House -- a speck disappearing over the horizon in an official whirlybird -- but the most disastrous of American presidents remains fuel for satire, especially in the adroit hands of comedian and film star Will Ferrell. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 6 Feb 2009 | 6:03 am
AP - If there's a huge error behind "The Pink Panther 2" other than the mistake of producing the sequel in the first place it's pairing Steve Martin with John Cleese, then failing to capitalize on their potentially explosive verbal exchanges.
been playing another real-life role: advocate for the world's refugees. This week she took her show to Thailand. As a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner of Refugees, she... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 6 Feb 2009 | 4:44 am
Already feeling masochistically nostalgic for the misadventures of the previous presidential administration? You can relive those eight years _ and more _ in "You're Welcome America. A... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 6 Feb 2009 | 4:38 am
Turns out Etta James has just been adding a little standup comedy to her concerts.
The veteran chanteuse, who made headlines last week for telling a Seattle audience that she...
Review in a Hurry: The second take featuring Steve Martin as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau occasionally—only occasionally—gets a clue, thanks to The Pink Panther 2's strong cast...
(E! Online)
E! Online - Kellogg likes its flakes frosted, not baked.
Kellogg likes its flakes frosted, not baked.
A couple days after Michael Phelps apologized for being photographed with a marijuana pipe, the cereal maker says it has dropped the 14-time...
Barron Hilton is being pumped for bad gas-station behavior.
A station employee who says he was hit by HIlton's Mercedes during the hotel heir's 2008 DUI ride has sued Hilton over...
SPEAKING OF ME: Just a heads up to all you D.C. people reading... I'll be hosting The Second Annual Grin Gala at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce raising money for Operation Smile on May 9! It's pretty fancy, and drinks are included, plus good cause, etc etc. Buy your tickets in advance, and make sure to spill some red wine on my gown to really get my attention. (The 2009 Grin Gala)
'SHOPPED?: Michael Phelps smokin' a B in the P. Looks very relaxing actually. (You guys, also, you know what would make me really laugh if I was high? Dolphins.) (ONTD)
PHELPLESS: Michael Phelps is hinting that this entire pot scandal might cause him to quit swimming altogether. Leaving him no choice but to do the only other thing he was born to do: Comedy. (Baltimore Sun)
BRIT TALKING: Get ready to get riled by this comedic showdown between Ricky Gervais and Steve Coogan. (Paley Center)
FOR PETE'S SAKE: Here are the 15 most disturbing moments from Pete Doherty's MTV special... (Scandalist)
The last year of Anna Nicole Smith's life keeps coming back to haunt Dr. Sandeep Kapoor.
Drug Enforcement Agency officials conducted a raid on the physician's Studio City,...
Review in a Hurry: Don't be fooled by the ads—Push isn't any kind of superhero action blowout, but more of a Hong Kong crime drama. Except it's directed by a Scotsman and stars...
"Well, if there's anything I can do to lower your expectations, that would probably be for the best." That's Eric Stoltz deftly managing fan excitement over the coming Battlestar...
Bernard Madoff burned more bold-faced bridges than we thought.
John Malkovich; Larry King; Ringo Starr's wife, Barbara Bach; and baseball great Sandy Koufax were on a 162-page list...
Fantasia Barrino is a class act.
The American Idol star, 24, says she's ready to hit the books and earn her high school degree after giving up the chance to do so when she dropped...
Daniel Dae Kim is dishing a first look at "This Place Is Death," next week's all-new Lost episode, along with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. It turns out that the Danielle-Jin...
You may recall this brilliant, Rachel Zoe–inspired "Bananas" shirt designed by artist Christopher Sauvé. If you haven't gotten yours yet, it doesn't look like you're going to. Sauvé just received a cease-and-desist letter from Zoe's lawyer. It turns out "I die" and "Bananas" are trademarked. Oh, excuse us — that would be I DIE™ and BANANAS™. We don't want to get sued. That would be BANANAS™. WeI DIE™.
Sauvé had only made 25 shirts and was planning to sell them in very limited distribution online and at Seven boutique. "As a huge fan of Rachel Zoe I feel very sad that I couldn't express myself artistically with BANANAS™ and my fascination with reality television," Sauvé told us. I DIE™. "But I have come up with this new design based on my favorite things from the 1980s."
Get it? Do you DIE?Photo: Courtesy of Christopher Sauve
BANANAS™. "She uses celebrities every day to promote herself, and then she won't let a poor artist in the city do it in a huge recession with all these layoffs?" Sauvé continued. We thought Paris Hilton bogarting the phrase "I'm hot" was the worst offense of trademark's history. But claiming the genus of an edible plant? If we are indeed now in a time when people can just go around claiming others can't use the images and names of tropical fruits without permission because you told your lawyer it was yours first, we choose pineapples. Pineapples pineapples pineapples pineapples pineapples pineapples. There — it's ours! And you know what else? We live.
Greg Sargent hears that Democratic leadership is worried that the GOP is winning the war of public opinion over the stimulus bill because there are more right-wingers ranting and raving on television about it than there are liberals. In fact, according to a Think Progress study, Republicans have outnumbered their foes two to one on cable news shows debating the issue. Reports Sargent:
“Republicans are winning this thing right now because more of them are shouting louder, not because of what they are shouting,” one very senior leadership aide who is directly involved in booking Congressional guests on the chat shows conceded bluntly to me. “Moving forward, we need to be much more aggressive in deploying our folks,” the senior leadership aide said. “We need to saturate the airwaves like it is the week before an election.”
Oy, do you remember that week? It was exhausting. Still, it's not a bad point. Especially since Democratic congressman are so goodwith the one-liners.
Even though this year's Oscars are supposed to be a top-secret affair in which up is down and black is white, the Academy can't help but gab a little bit about their big night. We've already learned that attendees won't be clapping for dead people and that we should expect the unexpected when it comes to the presentation of awards (whatever that means), and now we've found out that Sid Ganis has commissioned man-child Judd Apatow to "contribute both a film and live material" to the show. Our mind races with possibilities as to what Apatow will do, but hopefully it involves a competition between Michael Phelps and Seth Rogen to see who can do the biggest bong rip. Now that oughta spice up the ratings!
"I don’t recall it and it would have come up to me," Paul Steiger said of whistle-blower Harry Markopolos's claim yesterday that senior editors at the paper killed a story on Madoff three years ago because they "respected and feared" him. The former Wall Street Journal managing editor denies this, and adds that he didn't even know who Madoff was until recently. Or maybe he did? "I don’t remember him at all, I may have met him, but I certainly don't remember him," he said. Anyway, it's not like the Journal was the only place that had it handed to them and missed it. "This was clearly a story everyone missed — the SEC missed it," he says. That's true! And we hope that helps Paul sleep at night.
Despite the "unprecedented increase" in their readership, the "unprecedented economic downturn" has forced the Wall Street Journal to close its New York-based fashion and retail group, editor Robert Thomson wrote in a memo to staff earlier this evening. Though they will maintain coverage and reassign some editors and reporters to other bureaus, they plan to lay off at least 14 people. The full memo is after the jump.
From: Thomson, Robert Sent: Thu 2/5/2009 5:21 PM
To: WSJ All News Staff
Cc: Lipschutz, Neal; Stern, Gabriella; Wright, Marcus; Repak, Chaz; Stine, Rick; Fung, Linda; Dowell, Andrew
Subject: staff announcement
Attachments:
View As Web Page
Dear Colleagues,
It is obvious to you all that we are in the midst of an unprecedented economic downturn. We are also in the midst of an unprecedented increase in our readership, in print and online, but a precipitous decline in print advertising revenue has forced a close examination of our structures and of our costs.
Over the past couple of months, teams have been reorganized at The Wall Street Journal and we have lost 11 journalists through attrition. Unfortunately, it has been necessary today to restructure several other teams at the cost of an additional 14 positions. The number, while regrettable, has been kept to a minimum because department heads have been vigilant in controlling costs and in maximizing our use of existing resources.
There are no plans for lay-offs at Dow Jones Newswires, where our international expansion is continuing, most recently through the launch of a Spanish-language venture and in India, where we are creating a new reporting team to take advantage of that country’s economic development. And we will continue to hire journalists for the Journal for projects of strategic significance.
At the Journal, we are closing the New York-based Fashion and Retail group, though we will maintain coverage and reassign some editors and reporters to other bureaus. Other groups losing a position include the Los Angeles and Boston bureaus, along with the New York-based Law, Health and Real Estate groups, and the Library.
There is no doubt that Dow Jones is in a far stronger position than our competitors and that the global influence of the Journal and Newswires is growing significantly, so there are genuine reasons for optimism. But we also must be realistic about the current trading environment and continue to reduce costs while maintaining the world’s highest standard of journalistic quality and integrity.
(**Joke makes no sense, but I've been rendered catatonnies since these photos landed in my inbox. I literally clutched my stomach and keeled over when I opened them.)
A reader writes:It has been so hot in Australia for over a week. 40+ degrees Celsius everyday, very dry also. A guy at work lives at Maude. His wife sent him these photos of a little Koala which just walked into the back porch looking for a bit of heat relief. She filled up a bucket and this is what happened!Get the smelling salts out and click ahead for more.
This calls for a close-up:
If ever I were to have my eyeballs clawed out, let it be by this little guy please.
Thanks to Ben K. and Amy H. for sending these along! Source: Best Week Ever | 5 Feb 2009 | 10:41 pm
Today's shake-up at Condé Nast has the media all in a tizzy. And after a Time article, many writers and editors of the world are seriously weighing paid web content. Metal magazines are folding, and gossip sites are signing out. The media ponders its future!
• At the Philly Daily News, columnist Stu Bykofsky laments the same issue, wisely wording it: "the only thing that online readers seem willing to pay for is quality porn." Like the Peter Osnos paradigm, Bykofsky's idea suggests that "Should Google 'pick up' (steal) our stuff, if we successfully sued them for $1 billion, two good things happen: 1) Our money problems are solved; 2) everyone else will stop stealing our content." He adds: "I know some say that you can't put toothpaste back in the tube, but desperate times call for desperate measures." [Philadelphia Daily News]
• Air America is adding to its sales team. The media company plans to sell ads for its radio, video, and online platforms. [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
• Even, um, hair bands are feeling the print pinch. Metal Maniacs and Metal Edge are folding. [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
• 109 journalists died on assignment last year. This makes us seriously rethink the category name of these posts. [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
• McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt says "We'll experiment with paid content online. But most experiments show that you lose more online revenue than you gain per subscriber." But the publishing company is also freezing pensions and slashing $100 million from its operating expenses. [PaidContent, Sacramento Bee]
• Tennessee-based real-estate developer and media man Brian Conley has offered to buy the bankrupt Creative Loafing Inc. [Atlanta Mag]
• Juicy Campus, the message boards for anonymous, college-age gossip folks, or as Timothy Chester called it, "a virtual bathroom wall," is shutting down. Strangely, the close isn't a result of legal or ethical reasons, but economic ones, apparently. It appears the archives aren't even up anymore. That's a relief. [Juicy Campus]
• About.com, a New York Times Company–owned information website, is laying off nineteen people — nearly 6 percent of its workforce, including editorial staffers. [PaidContent]
MAKEUP
• Estée Lauder is cutting 2,000 jobs as part of a restructuring strategy. Brutal. [WWD]
• First Lady Michelle Obama chooses dark-plum lipstick for a breakfast. Not our morning shade, but what say you? [Day Life via Mrs. O]
• Genius idea: Paint your face so it looks like Shepard Fairey's Obama poster. Photoshopping is so 2008. [Robert Greene]
PLASTIC SURGERY
• A 28-year-old woman from Houston, Texas, got the biggest boobs in the world: Size 38KKK, which took an entire gallon of silicone. Why? [NYDN]
• Botox is officially on sale. Those tired of showing emotion, rejoice! [WSJ and Jezebel]
SKIN
• Denver dermatologist Dr. Barbara Reed: "Hot water exposure is among the worst things for your skin this time of year. People ... stand under the steaming hot water of a shower, and their skin suffers and reacts." Okay, suit yourself, lady. [NYT]
As if marketing Sundance's Grand Jury Prize–winning Push weren't already difficult enough, its distributors have to contend with the release of another movie named Push this weekend. How will moviegoers tell them apart? It won't be easy! Our helpful guide, after the jump.
Push
Push
Plot
Precious Jones, an illiterate, overweight, abused African-American teen living in Harlem, struggles to find some semblance of happiness, in this heart-rending urban drama.
A nefarious government agency is on the hunt for a defiant squad of white Americans with telekinetic abilities, in this Heroes-style supernatural action thriller.
Breakout Female Star
Mo'Nique, as an abusive mother
Dakota Fanning, as a girl who can see the future
Sex Object
Lenny Kravitz, as a foxy nurse
Camilla Belle (Joe Jonas's girlfriend), as a babe with mind-control abilities
Action Sequence
A horrifying father-daughter rape scene
Some gunfighting through the neon-lit streets of Hong Kong
Acclaim
Won Sundance's Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, and Mo’Nique took home a special acting prize
"Seems to have been made up as it was being filmed." —Village Voice
We missed the SEC portion of the House Financial Services Committee meeting on the Madoff matter yesterday, but we find it hard to imagine that any part of it topped the amazing rant uttered by Representative Gary Ackerman, who has really been letting his Long Island out lately. Last time the SEC testified about Madoff, he told them in no uncertain terms that they sucked. This time, he elaborated. "I figured you'd leave your blindfolds and your duct tape and your earplugs behind," he began, awesomely.
"But you seem to be wearing them today ... What the hell went on? Your mission, you said, was to protect investments. And detect fraud quickly. How'd that work out? ... It seems to me with all of your investigators, one guy with a few friends and helpers discovered this thing nearly a decade ago. He led you to this pile of dung that is Bernie Madoff, and stuck your noses in it, and you couldn't figure it out! You couldn't find your backside with two hands if the lights were on!
There's more. We urge you to watch the clip at right. The man is poetry in motion.
Perhaps feeling the pressure of being an Oscar front-runner, Kate Winslet has abandoned her previous strategy of aggressively campaigning for Oscar gold and instead is trying to reposition herself in the more comfortable role as underdog. "I'm so used to it, having gone through it before and having lost so many times," Winslet tells the AP. "Being in that losing state is something I'm much more comfortable in, in a funny kind of a way." [AP]
Watching runway slideshows is like watching movies — they're always better on a big screen. So we're pleased to present you with our new full-screen runway slideshows. At last, view the collections without the clutter of five G-chat windows and an Excel document behind them. Click the "View Fullscreen" button in the slideshow window, and watch the clutter of your screen give way to giant, beautiful runway images. Check out the new full-screen feature on couture — you'll be seeing it in ready-to-wear too! It's almost like being front row. Put on your sunglasses and you'll see just what Anna Wintour sees.
After watching James Lipton feebly try to recreate Christian Bale's now legendary freak-out on the set of Terminator: Salvation, you'll understand why he became a teacher and not a professional actor. Talk about fuckin' amateur, man! [Hulu]
Jazz pianist Eubie Blake had a gorgeous Harlem townhouse, and it could be yours for only $2.4 million. The four-bedroom home on Strivers' Row was built in 1910 and still has many original details. It is 21 feet wide and has a staircase you’ll be practicing monologues on for years to come. The owner is “slightly negotiable,” too — take a video tour with our S. Jhoanna Robledo and sharpen your bargaining skills.
Move over Top Chef and Top Model and other reality shows with Top in the title, because today's episode of All My Children featured what may be the boldest attempt at product placement in the history of shameless, integrated advertising. Unless David Canary's character really is just obsessively detail-oriented when it comes to pasta sauce:
Reports say that rapper-mogul 50 Cent is finishing a new cosmetics line for men, which will include moisturizers and health supplements. Oh, don't act so surprised. Every rapper uses night cream! We hear it helps with the hustle. A source says that "his range will be for the guy who likes to be pampered, but the supplements will make it more butch." Hip-hop is no stranger to manscaping — Jay-Z and Kanye both love it. But launching a line? 50, just who do you think you are... Diddy? [Yahoo]
From the makers of "Lazy Sunday," "Dick in a Box," and "Jizz in My Pants," Saturday Night Live's recent high points, comes the perfectly deadpan rap satire "I'm on a Boat." The Lonely Island's debut, Incredibad, drops next week, and it might be worth it for this track alone: Andy Samberg and company — which, incredibly, includes T Pain — seem just as interested in selling the song as in getting the laugh, and puns like "busting 5 knots" ride a tremendous beat. Best of all: Mr. Pain admitting sexual relations with a mermaid, thereby carrying on a disturbing mini-trend of rappers apparently fornicating with marine life.
Clay Aiken will reportedly guest judge one episode of cycle twelve, airing in April. He will also be at a photo shoot with the girls. We bet he, Jay Alexander, and Miss Jay get along like the Three Modelingteers. Or not, and we're in for the most awkward, painful clash of outré gays ever. [Jezebel]
The Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.A judge has dismissed a legal bid to reinstate the lead negotiator of Hollywood's biggest acting union, clearing the way for a resumption of contract talks with producers,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 5 Feb 2009 | 9:19 pm
It was only a couple of weeks ago that Kirsten Gillibrand burst out of her Hudson Valley congressional district and onto the national radar. Even so, she's already begun operating in campaign mode, inching ever-so-slightly leftward from her more conservative positions with an eye toward the 2010 special election, and, if she wins, another election in 2012. But some internet speculators are peering even further into the future, with an eye toward 2016 — the year Gillibrand runs for president.
On January 23, the same day Gillibrand was tapped by Governor Paterson to replace Hillary Clinton, Michigander Bruce Koldys registered Gillibrand2016.com, Gillibrand2016.org, and GillibrandForPresident.com. Koldys told us that he was "intrigued by her presence on the stage and the surface comparisons to Sarah Palin — not intellectually, but in that she is a new face in the old scene of politics." Koldys says he didn't buy the domains to sell to Gillibrand down the line. Instead, he sees his purchase as a form of "protective custody," defending the address from conservative troublemakers. Or, as he put it more colorfully, "I didn't want some Rush Limbaugh Oxycontin users to grab the sites and put them away forever." (President Bush would have been lucky to have someone like Koldys watching his back: In the run-up to the 2004 elections, a guy named Brian Rodgers snatched up Bush2004.com and turned it into a parody site. Rodgers refused offers of over $100,000 from Bush supporters, telling Wired, "He's a sorry son of a bitch and I'll do anything I can to bring him down.")
About the same time Koldys was snatching up his domains, Hope Michalson Dilbeck, of Bakersfield, California, grabbed KirstenGillibrandForPresident.com. When Gillibrand's appointment was announced, Dilbeck had an "overwhelming feeling" that, with the right political decisions, Gillibrand had "real potential to become a presidential candidate." Though the decision to register the site was "spontaneous," Dilbeck, a lover of politics, does hold out hope that her move will "open a door" to getting involved somehow in a potential presidential campaign.
It's probably for the best that neither Koldys nor Dilbeck are hoping to earn some easy cash off the websites. Even savvy money-motivated domain squatters were largely disappointed during this past election season — though web addresses like GillibrandForPresident.com and KirstenGillibrandForPresident.com seem to be the type Gillibrand would want to own, should she ever decide to run. Luckily for her, Koldys and Dilbeck don't appear to be the greedy type. "If things pan out down the road, I would be more inclined to donate them for her use," Koldys says. "Maybe for a photo session or autographed pic."
The confirmation hearing for President Obama's Labor secretary nominee, Hilda Solis, was postponed today after USA Today learned that her husband owed $6,400 to Los Angeles County to settle tax liens, which have been outstanding for as much as sixteen years. In the wake of Geithner, Daschle, and Killefer, these tax problems are just getting absurd. But you do have to give Obama credit: By nominating Cabinet members with only a lackadaisical interest in paying their taxes, he's managed to inject hundreds of thousands of dollars back into the economy. [USAT]
This is a Recap of Top Chef Season 5 Episode 11, entitled "The World's Only Likable French Chef." If you didn't watch the episode, don't read this, it contains many, many spoilers. "Stefan will win Top Chef this year," for example.-- Fabio now has to win for his wife in addition to his ailing grandmother? What is this, Idol? Next week's episode better not open with Fabio on the phone promising a victory to a crippled, wheezing orphan ("I-a gotta win-a dis competition for Little Giuseppe...")
-- All season, Bravo has been trying to make Stefan look like a jerk with his sound bytes, but he always comes off seeming like a completely ok dude, then this week, they showed a clip of the 'humbled' Stefan saying "I'm so glad to still be around, I feel so lucky!" and he seemed like a total d*ck.
-- I enjoyed the technical fish-preparation Quickfire, but Iron Chef Japan already did the "Eels are disgusting" bit. Also, what a shocker that it came down to Stefan and Hosea as the final two with Stefan winning! This show is getting less and less predictable every week.
-- My favorite quote of the night was Hosea talking about Stefan: "He's been working with eels since he was like three, just another reason why he's sooooo goood..." You're right, Hosea -- the fact that Stefan has a lot of cooking experience literally does mean that he is soooooo good at being a chef, which is also literally what the competition is measuring. Take that, Stefan!
-- I'm sure the restaurant is great, but check out how hilariously dramatic the Le Bernardin website is. It's like an underwater level from Mario 64.
After the jump, as Stevie Van Zandt would say, "IT'S ELIMINATTTTTTIONNNNNNNN TIIIIIIIIIMMMEEEE!!!!"-- My roommate predicted that Bravo would keep Leah around to prolong the Leah/Hosea drama, but I thought "no way, they already kept her on once because of that and they barely mentioned the tension this week, I think her time is up." Wrong! No matter how badly Jamie screwed up, it couldn't have been worse than Leah's total not-caring through the entire episode that noticeably pissed Colicchio off.
-- Regardless, Jamie is done, thus ending Team Rainbow (aka, Jamie and two dudes who got eliminated in the first episode's opening credits). I do think she's a better chef than both Fabio and Leah, but whatever, Bravo's had an anti-gay bias since day one. I think they're owned by Mormons.
-- I loved Carla talking about all the "momentum" she had coming off last week's win; Top Chef isn't the frickin' NHL playoffs, you're not gonna win by like, sprinting into the kitchen and searing scallops really intensely. (Actually, Andrew confirmed this last year). Carla did end up in the top three, though, so maybe I am underestimating the role of momentum in food preparation.
-- The judges clearly tempered their praise when they were tasting the chefs' food against the Le Bernardin plates; they didn't want to just come out and go, "Wow, Stefan's off-the-cuff dish is totally as good as your food, isn't it, Eric Ripert? Eric? Isn't the food Stefan eyeballed in two hours just as good as your time-tested restaurant recipe? Helloooo, you wanna answer me, Eric?"
-- I didn't mind the sort of technique-based 'replicate our restaurant food' challenge, but I'd be pissed if I were a chef and I got eliminated because I couldn't cook someone else's food properly. Ironic, too, that Jamie lost on a week where she didn't attempt to mess up scallops.
-- Stefan's prize for winning was to apprentice with Eric Ripert in three of his restaurants while staying in the Ritz Carlton then flying with him to the Food & Wine Festival in Colorado? Jeeeesus - that's one Wave Runner short of a Price is Right Showcase.
-- And finally...Pablo Escolar!!!! ZINGER FROM THE TOBE-MEISTER!!!! Remind me why Bravo keeps his mic on?
UPDATED STEFAN RANKINGS1) Stefan
Episode thoughts, Stefan or crazy non-Stefan predictions, and anything funny you noticed in the comments, as usual, please. Source: Best Week Ever | 5 Feb 2009 | 8:50 pm
We still remain optimistic that The College Humor Show can help begin to right so many of the wrongs that MTV's reality-programming division has foisted upon us over the last few years. For every one Human Giant that we have been graced with, we've had to deal with an endless parade of craptastic shows like A Double Shot at Fingerblasting Tila Tequila. But with the show's airdate only a few days away, how does the network feel about the show?
Very confident, enough so that they have decided to schedule it in the incredibly competitive time slot of 9:30 pm on Sunday night, where it will face off each week against the likes of Desperate Housewives, Vulture favorite Big Love, and Rock of Love Bus With Bret Michaels. We wish that Brian Stelter would've spent less time fawning over the amiable cast in his piece in today's New York Times and instead probed more into the strategy behind MTV's programming decision, but then again, we recognize that he wasn't writing a piece for TV Week. Regardless of MTV's rationale, the simple truth of the matter is that now we're going to be forced into making some very difficult DVR decisions about what we're gonna watch on Sunday nights. Thank goodness we've got On Demand!
Avril Lavigne, LL Cool J, and Amanda Bynes are not safe.
If designers who have been around for five years are struggling to survive in the economic downturn, it would only make sense for lines by even greener designers to plummet to their death. We're talking about celebrity lines, and that's exactly what's happening. Retailers are going under and taking celebrity lines with them. LL Cool J's line for Sears is reportedly "hanging by a thread," according to AdAge. It's too bad if you missed the launch of Ashley Judd's collection for Goody's back in 2007, because now that that chain's bankrupt, rights to her line are being auctioned. Steve and Barry's went under in late November, taking lines by Sarah Jessica Parker, Amanda Bynes, and Venus Williams with it. Parker is rumored to be shopping her line around, but hasn't found a retail partner yet.
Experts say more celebrity lines will fall by the wayside, especially since the market was oversaturated before the downturn. If celebrities want their lines to survive, they'll have to adapt to the economic climate. Daisy Fuentes has sold her clothing line at mid-tier Kohl's, but plans to launch eyewear at Wal-Mart. Gwen Stefani's new perfume has been a top-ten seller, but that's probably because the bottles are pretty small and not that expensive.
We're not sad to see these lines go, since they're seldom well-done and new ones pop up at the same rate men pass through Erin's apartment on The City. But we're not fooling ourselves — we're guessing new lines will surface just as quickly as old ones die out. (In eight days we've had Taylor Swift, Toby Keith, and Hilary Duff.) Because sadly, any celebrity audacious enough to call himself a designer and launch a line will probably think he's special enough to survive.
Marc Dreier, the attorney who has been accused of defrauding hedge funds out of upward of $400 million, has, like Bernie Madoff, been granted permission to wait out his sentencing in his Upper East Side triplex. But don't get too outraged, populace! His conditions are slightly less plush than Madoff's: Due to his penchant for assuming identities and fleeing across borders, a group of armed security guards will be with him in the apartment at all times, and they've been authorized to use "reasonable force" to prevent him from fleeing. Also, he can't have knives "or anything else that might serve as a weapon," or computers or cell phones, and visitors have to be approved. But he is allowed to keep his land line! And if you want to give him a call, he is listed.
A possible merger between the two of the largest companies in the concert business has raised protests from singer Bruce Springsteen and prompted a congressman to call for a federal anti-trust investigation.
"While sales at most stores plummeted last month, the teenage retailer Hot Topic enjoyed a 6.5 percent gain, thanks mostly to brisk sales of gear inspired by Twilight, the teenage vampire movie." [NYT]
One of our favorite films at this year's Sundance Film Festival was Cruz Angeles’s beautiful debut feature, Don’t Let Me Drown. (We wrote about it here, here, and here. And we weren’t the only ones who liked it, either.) So we decided to delve into Angeles’s back catalogue, and discovered this short 2003 gem, which screened at about two dozen festivals and won a slew of awards. We should note that The Show is nothing like Don’t Let Me Drown. Whereas the new feature is a generous, lushly realistic look at young love in inner-city Brooklyn, the short is an incredibly dark, borderline-experimental silent film that begins with a lynching and then takes a rather startling turn. To say more would give away too much. Also, small-world alert: The final face we see in the film just happens to belong to Picture Palace alumnus Seith Mann, a director for The Wire, whose own short film Five Deep Breaths we featured last year.
The lemongrass embroidered fabric Isabel Toledo used to make Michelle Obama's Inauguration Day outfit is available at Michael's Fabrics. At 33 inches wide, it goes for $500 a yard. If you were to make your own dress out of it, you'd need at least three yards. Surely paying rent could easily be foregone for the fun arts-and-crafts weekend you'd get out of making a Michelle number at home. The $1,500 spring version of the outfit hitting Barneys stores in March must be made from cheaper fabric. [UnBeige]
"Do you ever think, gee, maybe I should ease up on the weed?," Katie Couric asked Lil Wayne last night during an especially giggly segment of her Babs-esque Grammy-preview show. Wayne's response? "I never think that." [Jezebel]
The challenge: To turn Jude Law into a beautiful, glittery woman. The response? Overwhelming. Over 100 of you spent company time on a website intended for 13 year old girls, and created some of the most arresting images of Jude Law we've ever laid eyes on. Because of the amount of entries -- not to mention the quality -- we've upped this week's "winner" list to 25. Well done, everyone. Til' next week, here are your winners IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER!:
25. From Jen Jen:
24. From Delia:
23. From Kitty Purry:
22. From Andrea:
21. From Tardy Sauce:
20. From Chelsea:
19. From Kerzy:
18. From Whitney:
17. From Birch:
16. From Joa:
15. From Rachel:
14. From SilentSyren:
13. From From CG:
12. From Courtney:
11. From Janeen:
10. From Whitney:
9. From Imi:
8. From imattmypants:
7. From MeganTheFirst:
6. From JBaer980:
5. From Gigli:
4. From Beezus:
3. From Sugarburn:
2. From Miz Law's Biggest Fan:
1. From Nate:
Til next week... xoxo Blingee Wednesdays. Source: Best Week Ever | 5 Feb 2009 | 7:31 pm
Everyone loves an underdog, so the success of Slumdog Millionaire has been the warm-and-fuzzy story of the 2009 awards season. But as avid Hollywood-watchers (and weary self-accredited prosecutors of fashion crimes), we love Slumdog's meteoric rise for giving us Freida Pinto. Six months ago, we hadn't even heard of her; now she's dominating the industry's highest-stress period of endless junkets and red-carpet appearances. And instead of cracking under pressure and dropping trou at a nightclub — or orchestrating Kitson shopping sprees before “accidentally” releasing a sex tape — Pinto is delivering a master class on how to step into the spotlight with grace, an infectious smile, and a closet we'd like to raid almost all the time. Here's our take on Pinto's impressive string of hits and occasional semi-misses. Starlets of the world, please take note.
The following is a Recap of Lost Season 5, Episode 4, entitled "The Little Prince," originally airing February 4, 2009. If you continue reading without having seen the episode, it's gonna totally spoil for you that Jack shot Kate this week, so don't read on.MEET THE NEW BEN, SAME AS THE OLD BENMy cries of "See, Claire's mom hired the lawyer, that was a little predictable" were short-lived, as we learned that the lawyer sent to grab Kate's DNA sample was actually property of Gentle Ben, who merely hired the dad from My So-Called Life to pressure Kate into his island return-party, with apparent success (Claire's mother, as it turns out, just sits in hotel rooms looking at pictures of Claire). After Ben's lawyer sprung Hurley from his brief, peaceful stint in county lockup, the "Island Or Bust" crew was batting 5-for-Oceanic-6, with only Sun currently out of the picture...
...But not for long, because Sun has acquired a gun either through illegal means or by purchasing a very lucky box of chocolates and should be on her way to attempting to kill Ben next episode (the next-week preview showed Ben already talking Sun down), plus we know that Ben wants to kill Penelope who's also on her way to Los Angeles, so we're basically headed for one giant Lock, Stock-style Mexican standoff between Ben, Sun, and Penny (Penny will just draw a gun on Ben for the hell of it). Because Ben is Ben, he's going to succeed in talking Sun down, but there's no way the show kills off Penny and chops off the one kindhearted subplot in the show's history, right? At that point, you might as well just kill Hurley too and change the show title to "People Who Aren't Good."
Either way, Ben is clearly succeeding in reuniting the Six whether or not the Six actually trust him; Sayid's line "The only side he's on is his own" will be the tagline of a Jason Statham movie before the year is out. Ben's next task? A Talking Heads reunion.
UHHH...MR. FARADAY, WE ALL HAVE NOSEBLEEDSFaraday explained (poorly) that Charlotte's hemorrhage/seizure/space-dementia last week was akin to a form of time-induced "really bad jet lag," and that Charlotte experienced the condition first because she had spent the most time on the island in the past (excepting Faraday himself, who is immune to the condition because of his constant). Miles experiences the nosebleeding second despite "never being on the island before" (Miles hasn't figured out that he was the doctor's baby yet? Does he not read our recaps?), followed by Juliet, who's either experiencing the condition third or Miles punched her in the nose offscreen for making her dumbass 'Juliet face' all the time.
Sidenote: When Sawyer and Juliet were about to kiss, no fewer than five people in the room with me (myself included) were shouting "No, no, come on, don't do it, Sawyer," then yelled "Yes!" when Juliet's nose started bleeding. I don't care how blue the editors attempt to make Juliet's eyes in post-production, she's still not hot, and yes, I've seen the movie Gia and that doesn't count -- she was naked and I was fifteen, she could've had a vomiting Swastika for a head and I still would've been all over that. What does the lesbian scene from Gia have to do with Lost? Ask Doc Jensen.
Also, I'm not totally buying the island's rules for what travels through time and what doesn't. The castaways travel through time, as do their clothes and any objects they're holding, but all manmade structures and other island inhabitants don't travel with them, but their canoe did travel with them because they were touching it. So the rule is "Any inorganic material touching the travelers or the travelers' clothes travels?" I assume Locke couldn't have grabbed Alpert and taken him through time, but what if Locke was holding a rotisserie chicken? It's organic, but also an object, so would that have traveled? What if he was sitting on the chicken and only his clothing but not flesh was touching it? Whatever -- I shouldn't have access to a place where I type things and other humans read it.
"I KNEW JIN WAS ALIVE" / "I KNEW JIN WAS ALIVE" / JIN-X!!!
Who washed up onshore this week but our (third)-favorite still-alive Lost badass, Jin! The following pie chart illustrates how many Lost-watchers were actually surprised by this:
The delirious Jin encounters a still-pregnant Danielle Rousseau, mother of Alex, who washes ashore with a group of angry French scientists (every stranger in this show is so quick to anger -- it's like Curb Your Enthusiasm with time travel and 100% fewer Jews). This confirms that Jin too is jumping through time, but the Rousseau reveal wasn't much of a climax for an episode-ender, as we assume she'll be gone in a flash early on to next episode. OR WILL SHE?? Yeah, she probably will. I was also just attempting to wrap up my paragraph with a crappy cliffhanger. See how it feels, Abrams? (He's definitely reading this)
INCESTUOUS THEORY OF THE WEEK
Faraday and Charlotte are brother and sister, born to the gun-toting woman from last week, with Charlotte born on the island (hence her experiencing the nosebleed before The Morning Show with Miles & Juliet). Daniel does in fact "love" his sister, but they've never made out (that we know of), and Daniel and Charlotte have different accents because they were raised separately, a la every Van Damme movie ever made.
LODDSTS AND ENDS-- Kate channeled some Michael this week with her declaration, "Leave MY SON alone!" Next thing you know, she'll be picking up Charlie's heroin habit.
-- It comes as no surprise that Miles was a big Ren & Stimpy fan; obviously, no one here missed that "Oh joy!"
-- Locke straight-up admitted that the "light" he saw in the past after Boone's death was nothing special. I wish characters did this more often so we don't end up obsessing over stupid meaningless crap. WAIT -- what if Locke was lying? Dammit, I hate this.
-- Sawyer saying "son of a bitch" has crossed from "expression that's funny because it's way too frequent" to "conscious, intentional catchphrase." ABC should play studio audience applause whenever he says it.
In general, this was the third straight episode that satisfactorily answered more questions than it raised, a new Lost record (previous record: about half an episode). It's like when you download a whole bunch of new albums, then you listen to one album before downloading more, then your friend gives you a bunch of music, then finally, after five years of acquiring music rapidly, you're like "ok, this is ridiculous, I'm gonna start listening to some of these cds," and you really enjoy them.
Also, all of those cds I mentioned in that analogy? They were polar bears. Some twist, huh?
You know the drill, Lostphiles -- episode thoughts, theories, observations, and Jin-love in the comments, if you please. Source: Best Week Ever | 5 Feb 2009 | 6:50 pm
Vince opened its first stand-alone store in New York this week. No longer will you have to skip from Bloomingdale's to Saks to Scoop to find the line's selection of work-friendly basics and signature cashmere pieces. For their first New York endeavor, founders Christopher LaPolice and Rea Laacone say they wanted to channel their two existing Los Angeles stores, envisioning a minimal space inspired by nature. And it shows — live grass sprouts from the cash-register counter, while wood paneling and green paint lines the walls. Right now, the space carries 75 percent womenswear and the remainder is men's, but with room to grow. Vince plans to launch a baby line in the fall (we can already imagine snuggly cashmere onesies), with shoes and swimwear to follow in the seasons to come. Click ahead to see some of our favorite new finds.
833 Washington St., at Little West 12th St. (212-924-0370); M, T, W, F, S (11–7), Th (11–8), Sun (noon–6).
Put the gun down, girls aged 25 - 47 (you know who you are): America's best ethically-charged weekly The National Enquirer has an exclusive story with a former (gulp) male lover of New Kids On The Block member Jonathan Knight. Yes, a male Brazilian model claims to have had a love affair with NKOTB's resident Seinfeld-face last year while the band was on tour. And now, he's outing their make-out photos for all the world to see.
We, for one, are shocked that a member of an all-male boy band who loves to dance and sing would find another man sexually attractive. And yet, looking back, the signs were always there. Here are 10 Signs NKOTB's Jonathan Knight Was Gay:
10.
He was the only New Kid to jump at the chance to go backstage at Broadway's "Altar Boyz".
9.
That time he was made NKOTB's stage designer.
8 more signs ahead...8.
He enjoys getting dirty in the garden. (So much to say here...)
7.
Style Icon: Paula Abdul.
6.
He could never look Danny Wood in the face unless his blackout sunglasses were on.
5.
His collection of Jordan Knight Fan T's
4.
He loves huggin' on himself.
3.
Self Explan. (Note his resemblance to Jennifer Connelly.)
2.
His penchant for sticking his head out of the tour bus window and yelling "I'm gaaaay!"
Jennifer Aniston's friends thought some of her ex-boyfriends were gay.
The 'He's Just Not That Into You' actress - who is divorced from actor Brad Pitt and is currently dating musician John Mayer - claims pals have taken her aside to warn her off continuing relationships in the past.
She joked: "I've had people say, 'Honey, I think he's gay.' My reaction is, 'What! But we get along so well!' " Jennifer, who celebrates her 40th birthday next week, added she does not like it when men try too hard to impress her, preferring simple dates spent talking to each other.
She told US TV series 'The Early Show': "My perfect date is well thought out and simple. Just being able to go to a great restaurant, great conversation and a walk on a beach if there is one to be walked on."
The actress - who previously directed short film 'Room 101' as part of Glamour Reel Moments competition - also revealed she is contemplating making a move to directing in the future.
She said: "I am interested in directing. I directed a short feature a couple of years ago with Glamour. I just really enjoyed the process. The editing was one of my favourite parts of it. I'm always a little bossy." Source Source: Lepaparazzi - Celebrity News and Gossip Blog | 5 Feb 2009 | 6:12 pm
The British actress' perfect night is to sit at home with a spicy Indian meal and some beer.
Describing her dream evening Keira, 23, said: "An Indian takeaway on the sofa - chicken Tikka Jalfrezi and Dhingri Mutter [peas and mushrooms] washed down with a bottle of Cobra beer."
'The Duchess' star has once again dispelled rumours she is anorexic and fears the constant speculation about her weight could damage her so far extremely successful career.
She added: "The rumours could potentially ruin my career because, if I had been ill, there is no way I would be able to do the action movies that I do - I wouldn't be hired."
Keira says the claims are particularly hurtful to her as her family has a history of the eating disorder.
She added: "I've got a lot of experience with anorexia. It was in my family. My grandmother and my great-grandmother suffered from it, so I don't think it's anything to be taken lightly."
Denise Richards and Steve-O are set to appear on 'Dancing With The Stars'.
Denise - who went through an acrimonious divorce from actor Charlie Sheen - is said to be exited at the prospect of appearing on the US TV show, and has already started her preparations.
A source said: "She can't wait to start practice. She's super excited and has lost a few pounds to tone up and get in shape. She is ready and thinks she can go all the way!"
'Jackass' star Steve-O - who is famed for his daredevil stunts - is also thought to have signed up for the show's eighth series, which debuts on ABC on March 9.
Denise and Steve-O are believed to be joining legendary singer Stevie Wonder in the line-up. Although Stevie - who will be the first ever legally blind contestant on the series - is yet to confirm his appearance, he has previously revealed he would love to take part.
He said: "It'd be fun. I've checked it out before. But I've heard some talk about possibly doing it. It's not impossible, but right now it's just a thought."
AP - "Nuclear Jellyfish" (William Morrow, 307 pages, $24.99), by Tim Dorsey: Tim Dorsey's publisher tries to promote his books by sending plot summaries to book reviewers. This does not do the writer any favors. The summaries make the plots sound stupid when, in actuality, they are merely insane.
Miley Cyrus is shooting back at critics who accused her of making a racist gesture, saying recent pictures of her pulling her eyes into a slanted position was nothing more than a 'goofy' face.
AP - "The Women" (Viking Penguin, 464 pages. $27.95), by T.C. Boyle: It's odd that "The Women," T.C. Boyle's new historical novel about America's greatest architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, seems to have little to say about architecture, or for that matter, about Wright himself.
Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff has responded to the Bruce Springsteen camp in an "open letter of apology to Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and the entire Springsteen Tour Team."
If the buzz is true, Danny Boyle's moving romance Slumdog Millionaire is looking like a lock for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. And would you believe it? The stars of the film, Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto*, stopped by to spend some time with beloved Best Week Ever host Paul F. Tompkins. Here is their story:
Be sure to check out Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins (along with guests Dev and Frieda) tomorrow night at 11 PM ET to see just who, exactly, PFT is.
(Ed. Note: You know it's a hit when I don't even have to Google their names.)
(Ed. Note #2: Until a commenter corrected me.) Source: Best Week Ever | 5 Feb 2009 | 5:30 pm
After a record-breaking 97-1 leap on the Billboard Hot 100 last week, Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You" stays put on the top spot this week. The song also becomes her fastest top 20 hit on the Hot 100 Airplay tally, where it moves up 38-19.
Tom Cruise has been snapped on enjoying the beaches and nightlife that Brazil has to offer, but is there more to his trip than simply promoting the release of his film Valkyrie?'
Asked about part of the entertainment business he particularly enjoys, Greg Behrendt -- stand-up comedian, author, TV writer and producer -- had an unusual answer.
Turns out Etta James has just been adding a little standup comedy to her concerts.
The veteran chanteuse, who made headlines last week for telling a Seattle audience that she...
Review in a Hurry: The second take featuring Steve Martin as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau occasionally—only occasionally—gets a clue, thanks to The Pink Panther 2's strong cast...
Kellogg likes its flakes frosted, not baked.
A couple days after Michael Phelps apologized for being photographed with a marijuana pipe, the cereal maker says it has dropped the 14-time...
Barron Hilton is being pumped for bad gas-station behavior.
A station employee who says he was hit by HIlton's Mercedes during the hotel heir's 2008 DUI ride has sued Hilton over...
The last year of Anna Nicole Smith's life keeps coming back to haunt Dr. Sandeep Kapoor.
Drug Enforcement Agency officials conducted a raid on the physician's Studio City,...
Review in a Hurry: Don't be fooled by the ads—Push isn't any kind of superhero action blowout, but more of a Hong Kong crime drama. Except it's directed by a Scotsman and stars...
"Well, if there's anything I can do to lower your expectations, that would probably be for the best." That's Eric Stoltz deftly managing fan excitement over the coming Battlestar...
Bernard Madoff burned more bold-faced bridges than we thought.
John Malkovich; Larry King; Ringo Starr's wife, Barbara Bach; and baseball great Sandy Koufax were on a 162-page list...
Fantasia Barrino is a class act.
The American Idol star, 24, says she's ready to hit the books and earn her high school degree after giving up the chance to do so when she dropped...
Daniel Dae Kim is dishing a first look at "This Place Is Death," next week's all-new Lost episode, along with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. It turns out that the Danielle-Jin...
-- Fabio now has to win for his wife in addition to his ailing grandmother? What is this, Idol? Next week's episode better not open with Fabio on the phone promising a victory to a crippled, wheezing orphan ("I-a gotta win-a dis competition for Little Giuseppe...")
-- All season, Bravo has been trying to make Stefan look like a jerk with his sound bytes, but he always comes off seeming like a completely ok dude, then this week, they showed a clip of the 'humbled' Stefan saying "I'm so glad to still be around, I feel so lucky!" and he seemed like a total d*ck.
-- I enjoyed the technical fish-preparation Quickfire, but Iron Chef Japan already did the 
-- My roommate predicted that Bravo would keep Leah around to prolong the Leah/Hosea drama, but I thought "no way, they already kept her on once because of that and they barely mentioned the tension this week, I think her time is up." Wrong! No matter how badly Jamie screwed up, it couldn't have been worse than Leah's total not-caring through the entire episode that noticeably pissed Colicchio off.
-- Regardless, Jamie is done, thus ending Team Rainbow (aka, Jamie and two dudes who got eliminated in the first episode's opening credits). I do think she's a better chef than both Fabio and Leah, but whatever, Bravo's had an anti-gay bias since day one. I think they're owned by Mormons.
-- I loved Carla talking about all the "momentum" she had coming off last week's win; Top Chef isn't the frickin' NHL playoffs, you're not gonna win by like, sprinting into the kitchen and searing scallops really intensely. (Actually, Andrew confirmed this last year). Carla did end up in the top three, though, so maybe I am underestimating the role of momentum in food preparation.
-- The judges clearly tempered their praise when they were tasting the chefs' food against the Le Bernardin plates; they didn't want to just come out and go, "Wow, Stefan's off-the-cuff dish is totally as good as your food, isn't it, Eric Ripert? Eric? Isn't the food Stefan eyeballed in two hours just as good as your time-tested restaurant recipe? Helloooo, you wanna answer me, Eric?"
-- I didn't mind the sort of technique-based 'replicate our restaurant food' challenge, but I'd be pissed if I were a chef and I got eliminated because I couldn't cook someone else's food properly. Ironic, too, that Jamie lost on a week where she didn't attempt to mess up scallops.
-- Stefan's prize for winning was to apprentice with Eric Ripert in three of his restaurants while staying in the Ritz Carlton then flying with him to the Food & Wine Festival in Colorado? Jeeeesus - that's one Wave Runner short of a Price is Right Showcase.
-- And finally...Pablo Escolar!!!! ZINGER FROM THE TOBE-MEISTER!!!! Remind me why Bravo keeps his mic on?
UPDATED STEFAN RANKINGS
1) Stefan
Episode thoughts, Stefan or crazy non-Stefan predictions, and anything funny you noticed in the comments, as usual, please.
My cries of "See, Claire's mom hired the lawyer, that was a little predictable" were short-lived, as we learned that the lawyer sent to grab Kate's DNA sample was actually property of Gentle Ben, who merely hired the dad from My So-Called Life to pressure Kate into his island return-party, with apparent success (Claire's mother, as it turns out, just sits in hotel rooms looking at pictures of Claire). After Ben's lawyer sprung Hurley from his brief, peaceful stint in county lockup, the "Island Or Bust" crew was batting 5-for-Oceanic-6, with only Sun currently out of the picture...
...But not for long, because Sun has acquired a gun either through illegal means or by purchasing a very lucky box of chocolates and should be on her way to attempting to kill Ben next episode (the next-week preview showed Ben already talking Sun down), plus we know that Ben wants to kill Penelope who's also on her way to Los Angeles, so we're basically headed for one giant Lock, Stock-style Mexican standoff between Ben, Sun, and Penny (Penny will just draw a gun on Ben for the hell of it). Because Ben is Ben, he's going to succeed in talking Sun down, but there's no way the show kills off Penny and chops off the one kindhearted subplot in the show's history, right? At that point, you might as well just kill Hurley too and change the show title to "People Who Aren't Good."
Either way, Ben is clearly succeeding in reuniting the Six whether or not the Six actually trust him; Sayid's line "The only side he's on is his own" will be the tagline of a Jason Statham movie before the year is out. Ben's next task? A Talking Heads reunion.
Faraday explained (poorly) that Charlotte's hemorrhage/seizure/space-dementia last week was akin to a form of time-induced "really bad jet lag," and that Charlotte experienced the condition first because she had spent the most time on the island in the past (excepting Faraday himself, who is immune to the condition because of his constant). Miles experiences the nosebleeding second despite "never being on the island before" (Miles hasn't figured out that he was the doctor's baby yet? Does he not read our recaps?), followed by Juliet, who's either experiencing the condition third or Miles punched her in the nose offscreen for making her dumbass 'Juliet face' all the time.
Sidenote: When Sawyer and Juliet were about to kiss, no fewer than five people in the room with me (myself included) were shouting "No, no, come on, don't do it, Sawyer," then yelled "Yes!" when Juliet's nose started bleeding. I don't care how blue the editors attempt to make Juliet's eyes in post-production, she's still not hot, and yes, I've seen the movie Gia and that doesn't count -- she was naked and I was fifteen, she could've had a vomiting Swastika for a head and I still would've been all over that. What does the lesbian scene from Gia have to do with Lost? Ask Doc Jensen.
Also, I'm not totally buying the island's rules for what travels through time and what doesn't. The castaways travel through time, as do their clothes and any objects they're holding, but all manmade structures and other island inhabitants don't travel with them, but their canoe did travel with them because they were touching it. So the rule is "Any inorganic material touching the travelers or the travelers' clothes travels?" I assume Locke couldn't have grabbed Alpert and taken him through time, but what if Locke was holding a rotisserie chicken? It's organic, but also an object, so would that have traveled? What if he was sitting on the chicken and only his clothing but not flesh was touching it? Whatever -- I shouldn't have access to a place where I type things and other humans read it.
"I KNEW JIN WAS ALIVE" / "I KNEW JIN WAS ALIVE" / JIN-X!!!
Who washed up onshore this week but our (third)-favorite still-alive Lost badass, Jin! The following pie chart illustrates how many Lost-watchers were actually surprised by this:
The delirious Jin encounters a still-pregnant Danielle Rousseau, mother of Alex, who washes ashore with a group of angry French scientists (every stranger in this show is so quick to anger -- it's like Curb Your Enthusiasm with time travel and 100% fewer Jews). This confirms that Jin too is jumping through time, but the Rousseau reveal wasn't much of a climax for an episode-ender, as we assume she'll be gone in a flash early on to next episode. OR WILL SHE?? Yeah, she probably will. I was also just attempting to wrap up my paragraph with a crappy cliffhanger. See how it feels, Abrams? (He's definitely reading this)
INCESTUOUS THEORY OF THE WEEK
Faraday and Charlotte are brother and sister, born to the gun-toting woman from last week, with Charlotte born on the island (hence her experiencing the nosebleed before The Morning Show with Miles & Juliet). Daniel does in fact "love" his sister, but they've never made out (that we know of), and Daniel and Charlotte have different accents because they were raised separately, a la every Van Damme movie ever made.
LODDSTS AND ENDS
-- Kate channeled some Michael this week with her declaration, "Leave MY SON alone!" Next thing you know, she'll be picking up Charlie's heroin habit.
-- It comes as no surprise that Miles was a big Ren & Stimpy fan; obviously, no one here missed that "Oh joy!"
-- Locke straight-up admitted that the "light" he saw in the past after Boone's death was nothing special. I wish characters did this more often so we don't end up obsessing over stupid meaningless crap. WAIT -- what if Locke was lying? Dammit, I hate this.
-- Sawyer saying "son of a bitch" has crossed from "expression that's funny because it's way too frequent" to "conscious, intentional catchphrase." ABC should play studio audience applause whenever he says it.
In general, this was the third straight episode that satisfactorily answered more questions than it raised, a new Lost record (previous record: about half an episode). It's like when you download a whole bunch of new albums, then you listen to one album before downloading more, then your friend gives you a bunch of music, then finally, after five years of acquiring music rapidly, you're like "ok, this is ridiculous, I'm gonna start listening to some of these cds," and you really enjoy them.
Also, all of those cds I mentioned in that analogy? They were polar bears. Some twist, huh?
You know the drill, Lostphiles -- episode thoughts, theories, observations, and Jin-love in the comments, if you please.
