Jennifer Aniston was recently described as "fiercely private." But everyone knows her story by now. What does it take to be considered not private?
—Zoe
Whoever...
Reuters - iTunes has long been a double-edged sword for the music industry -- on one hand, it provided a model for selling digital music. On the other, the dominance of singles sales over album sales leaves a revenue gap that labels are still trying to close. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 28 Feb 2009 | 2:23 pm
Another week has passed, and Mama Hollywood has again been generous with the milk of celebrity information that flows so heavily from her swollen breast into the gaping maw of the Soup community....
(AP) AP - Britain's Daily Telegraph says celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has temporarily shut down his Michelin-starred restaurant amid a food poisoning scare. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 28 Feb 2009 | 11:30 am
___ ABC's "This Week" _ Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag; House Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. ___ CBS' "Face the Nation" _ White House Chief of Staff Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 28 Feb 2009 | 9:28 am
An Italian music organization says government funding cuts are forcing it to make "heavy cuts" in its spring and summer opera festival. Florence-based Maggio Musicale Fiorentino says in... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 28 Feb 2009 | 7:34 am
AP - The French film industry honored Dustin Hoffman and saluted Sean Penn Friday during a ceremony that saw its coveted Cesar for best film going to Martin Provost's "Seraphine."
The French film industry honored Dustin Hoffman and saluted Sean Penn Friday during a ceremony that saw its coveted Cesar for best film going to Martin Provost's "Seraphine." In all,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 28 Feb 2009 | 6:33 am
The Country's Newest Company to Compete with Cable and Dish Satellite SCRANTON, Pa., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- While reports of rising unemployment rates and... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 28 Feb 2009 | 4:28 am
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A two-metre painting that may or may not be the work of famed pop artist Keith Haring went on sale on EBay Friday night. Opening bid: 99 cents. The seller is a... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 28 Feb 2009 | 4:25 am
Word is, Rihanna and Chris Brown are back together.
E! News has learned that the R&B-star duo are spending one-on-one time at Sean "Diddy" Combs' Star Island mansion...
Actor Bruce Willis and his production company are being sued in Los Angeles for $4 million for breach of contract. The lawsuit filed Friday alleges Willis Brother Films agreed on a... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 28 Feb 2009 | 3:44 am
UPDATE: Gilles just got back from the doctor. He's been diagnosed with tendonitis in his shoulder and groin, according to his rep.
"He's in great shape so he...
Bruce Willis didn't go the whole nine yards on this one.
The actor is being sued by a production company that claims Willis just walked off the set of a $20 million movie he was...
As you probably heard, it was reported yesterday that original (and beloved) Lost castmember Evangeline Lilly was...
Seriously. Can you believe that he was called back three times for Mary Poppins?
[Via Huffington Post]
Reuters - U2 has been so reliable for so long that even its occasional missteps are fascinating, like a master French chef suddenly taking up sushi. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 27 Feb 2009 | 11:25 pm
Castings for the next season of America's Next Top Model begin tomorrow in Miami. But if you're five foot ten like most top models, don't bother showing up, because Tyra Banks is only casting girls five seven and under for the thirteenth season. The casting director explains:
"Since the show started, we've always had girls under 5'7" asking and begging, quite frankly, Tyra to please give them a chance," she says. "I mean, she would get stopped in the street, in restaurants, anywhere, by girls asking how they can do it being as short as they are. We've been thinking about it for a while now, what a great opportunity to give these girls that opportunity. The show is all about opportunity ... Kate Moss is a prime example," she says. "Tyra knows a stream of supermodels that are under that size and are very successful, so she said, 'Why not?' It's gonna be all about the face and the package as a whole."
Yeah, okay lady. We think at this point — now that the show has churned out twelve "winners," the only thing on which they're probably on top is a pile of unpaid bills, as far as we can tell — the production team ought to be able to acknowledge that the show does not serve its original intended purpose. Wait, we take it back — it has opened up many television time slots for Tyra Banks to present the world with her bizarre (read: embarrassing) version of female empowerment, but we digress.
Could casting only short girls be a final admittance, whether the production team realizes it or not, that the show is not about creating "top models" but simply entertainment? Because, aside from Kate Moss we can only think of one model off the top of our head under five foot seven who has made it to this theoretical "top": Devon Aoki. Basically, the likelihood of a "short" model making it to the top is about as likely as America's Next Top Model producing a winner who actually becomes a top model. In any case, we genuinely look forward to a thirteenth season of Tyra telling the girls how to elongate their necks and being her usual spazzy self.
We asked, you delivered: A mind-boggling list of the 100 Most Realistic Fake Album Covers from the internet meme that's sweeping the nation (and resulting in like 10,000 random Facebook pictures being tagged with me)
The Top Chef Finale made a lot of people very, very angry. Good thing I didn't make a crack about Busy Phillips in my recap.
We put on our thinking caps to come up with 8 Titles For The Upcoming Octomom Porn. We won't tell you where we put the thinking caps, just that they were on.
For Your Consideration: The 2009 Oscars. More photos than you can shake a stick at before security tells you "alright, Mr. Rourke, please put the stick away and move along."
And finally, Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson got engaged, and George Lucas also did the honorable thing by digitally inserting Hayden into The O.C. to preserve continuity.
When historians write the book on the events of this past week, what will they deem most important? Will it be Poster Boy's vandalism of a few MoMA subway ads? Or how we finally, maybe, almost learned who the Hipster Runoff guy is? Or perhaps the time Kanye West told everybody that Thom Yorke was basically worse than O.J. Simpson? We doubt it! Clearly this week belonged only to Hugh Jackman and his world-changing opening number at last Sunday's Oscars. For posterity, though, after the jump Vulture looks back on all the other boring crap that happened.
A few trade magazines are shutting down, Worth looks like it's never going to return, and Seattle worries about losing some of its key assets, for good.
• Worth magazine is indefinitely delaying its relaunch and pretty much laid off everybody. [The Media is Dying]
• CNN's attempts to maintain some integrity and report unbiased news may be killing the network. [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• A land without newspapers: Seattle's media elites wonder what that barren, far-off land could look like. Then they realize that might be Seattle by spring. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer via Mediabistro]
Jamie Foxx’s musical career has long been a thorn in our side; technically the guy’s talented, we guess, but every time he makes a guest appearance on a song by an artist we like, it’s both more time we're forced to spend with the ubiquitous celeb and food out of the mouths of the nation’s anonymous hook singers. But today, Foxx’s musical career has seemingly redeemed itself: No one else — no one else — has the juice necessary to pull Mr. Ron Howard into a club-rap video. The dapper director — rolling out of the drop-top about 44 seconds into "Blame it on the Alchohol" — hasn’t looked this amused since that time Ralph Malph ruined the ending of Mr. Roberts for the Cunninghams. See him smirking again at 2:58, 4:01, 4:09, and 4:47.
FRAGRANCE
• Scientists are trying to decode the 400 receptors in your nose to discover how people react to certain scents (kind of like the Genome Project of perfumery). Fragrance houses are interested in the research because it will help them figure out which perfumes will be successful. [National Geographic]
SKIN
• Avon is coming out with a new wrinkle-fighting cream and serum that contain injectable-grade hyaluronic acid. One ounce of the serum costs $54, which industry analysts question in the current economic climate. [WWD]
HAIR
• Taraji Henson's side bangs can go left or right. Just look at the photos. Amazing. [Spoiled Pretty]
• Domestic Construction created a gold chandelier out of blow-dryers for a salon in Soho. [CasaSugar]
MAKEUP
• Business-class passengers on Hong Kong airline Dragonair get a special beauty treat — amenity kits designed by agnès b., with products by Dermalogica and a toothbrush by agnès b. Just think: "Oh, who is your toothbrush by?" "Agnès b., of course." And scene. [WWD]
Ed McMahon is in intensive care at a Los Angeles hospital.
The 85-year-old former Johnny Carson sidekick has been hospitalized for several weeks with pneumonia, as well as other...
Just because Linda Hogan isn't Ed Graziano's estranged wife doesn't mean she's not spooked.
Hulk Hogan's soon-to-be ex-missus has expressed concern that Graziano, who...
In another sign of these jittery times, the city's overclass is getting superstitious. An e-mail chain letter, titled "Chinese Proverb," which promises good luck and money to those who pass it on within four days to twenty friends and bad luck to those who let it drop, was circulated by a surprising number of high-powered New Yorkers. Among those on the missive's chain were Saks Fifth Avenue president Ron Frasch, Estée Lauder group president John Demsey, defense attorney Barry Slotnick, fashion czarina Fern Mallis, artist Hunt Slonem, ABC News reporter Gigi Stone, CNN reporter Alina Cho, and Marissa Marchetto, wife of restaurateur Silvano Marchetto. The "Chinese Proverb" has a Rolodex like Peggy Siegel's! "It seems to have hit the entire fashion community," says Demsey. "When it first popped up on my BlackBerry, I freaked out and passed it on. But I didn't send it to twenty people; I took out a half-assed insurance policy." Cho was more by the book. "I forwarded it to twenty of my nearest and dearest. In this economy, we need all the luck we can get." Oh, uptowners, don't you read the Economist? Even China can't save us now.
If you were holding out hope that Axl Rose would take the abysmal sales of Chinese Democracy as a hint and make an effort to reunite the classic lineup of Guns N' Roses, we've got some bad news for you. According to an interview conducted by Rose's old friend Del James for Spinner, the singer vehemently insists that he will never revisit the most popular incarnation of the band, and that there is "zero possibility" of him ever working with Slash again, with the exception of it happening "by ambush."
Later in the interview, he goes on to suggest that Slash should not have ever been in the band in the first place, and labels the guitarist "a cancer" who is best removed from his life. When asked about Slash's guitar playing, Rose slams his former partner as "a whore for the limelight" who lacks passion and has not pushed himself as an artist since the early nineties. If Slash had even for a moment considered returning to his old band, we're pretty sure that he'll change his mind forever once he gets wind of this interview. Bummer.
In a move they call a "a decision of last resort," the Metropolitan Opera has borrowed money against The Triumph of Music and The Sources of Music, the huge paintings by Marc Chagall hanging in its lobby. "If you have some great art sitting on the wall, why not use it as collateral?," says former Met CFO Marvin Suchoff. "It beats selling it for cash." [NYM]
A criminal complaint may have finally been issued for Robert Allen Stanford, the mustachioed Texan financier and cricket enthusiast who was recently charged by the SEC in a civil suit with defrauding investors of $8 billion. Fox News is the only news outlet reporting this thus far, but it does seem possible — today it was announced that the court-appointed receiver overseeing Stanford Financial has found only $90 million of the missing $8 billion, and the F.B.I arrested his chief investment officer, Laura Pendergest-Holt, last night. "She was cooperative," an agent told Reuters. She was also reportedly "shaking for hours" after talking to the Feds. Perhaps she gave up the old man? Developing.
Creator Matt Groening poses with Simpson characters at "The Simpsons" Panel in 2008. "The Simpsons," television's most famous animated dysfunctional family, is poised to become the United States' longest... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 27 Feb 2009 | 9:52 pm
It's Friday, and the only stories crossing the wires are all uber-depressing: One of the Slumdog kids was hit by his father on camera, and our beloved Cash4Gold star Ed McMahon ending up in hospital ICU in very grave condition. (Pray for Ed, he's a treasure.) To quote Wes Bentley from the classic movie American Sadness: "Sometimes there's so much beauty sadness in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in."
So in lieu of ruining what's shaping up to be a pretty fun weekend, allow us to offer you this:
Poor Roberto Cavalli. The "King of Bling" almost cried at a last-minute press conference held at his company's headquarters in Italy the other day discussing the fate of his younger Just Cavalli label. He decided this week to cancel the Just Cavalli runway show in favor of a small presentation for select editors, after only twenty outfits were delivered by production company Ittierre SpA, which went into bankruptcy earlier this month. “I can’t make a show with so few pieces. I don’t like to do 50 percent. For me, a fashion show is my adrenaline, my emotion. To decide not to show was, for me, very hard,” he told the Telegraph. He called the situation “a tarnishing of a brand, the breaking of a brand; a brand that was made of gold.”
That gold used to rake in 240 million euros in annual licensing revenue before things started going south 18 months ago. Ittierre has received a $30 million line of credit to help it maintain operations, but Cavalli said he doesn't know if his tarnished line will even be manufactured for next fall. "I am very confused," he lamented. He may take back the license himself or find other investors. However, Gianfranco Ferré, which Ittierre also produces, put on a show today in Milan. Did Just Cavalli just get the short end of the stick in the clothing factory?
Cavalli's main line, on the other hand, is not affected by the Just Cavalli mess. That show will go on as planned Sunday in Milan. The credit crunch may have shut down a show, but it cannot sap Milan of it shiny, animal-print splendor entirely.
How is Watchmen anyway? New York's David Edelstein calls it "an awe-inspiring corpse: huge, noisy, gaseously distended by its own dystopia ... Elements come to fleeting life, but numbness overtakes all ... As you watch the surviving characters slink away after a long two-and-three-quarters hours, you might long for the relative giddiness of The Dark Knight. [NYM]
So wait -- the message is "Doritos: They'll cover your vagina?"
Or, "Doritos: They're near a vagina and we know you love those!"
Or, "Doritos: We all love to eat....hey lookatthetime!!! Can't finish this joke, gotta run. Man, time flies on a Friday afternoon when you're looking at flavored corn chip genitalia, as Will Rogers famously never said.
After the jump, the accompanying Dorito Boobs:
AP - The bloom is visibly off the fashion rose. Gone are the big parties, the mega show productions and the front row celebrity lineup which used to characterize the Milan fashion week. And yet there is something reassuring in the recession downsizing of the moda machine. It's a return to fashion as it was before stardom struck the industry.
Were you under the impression that all film production had packed up and moved to Vancouver, Romania, or other places where it's so cold that they regularly forget to collect taxes? Us too! Turns out that Hollywood is still making big tent poles locally, but just not very many — only three films with budgets larger than $80 million are scheduled to shoot in Los Angeles this year, down from 21 last year and a peak of 71 in 1996.
To rectify this, the L.A. City Council is proposing the appointment of a "film czar" to act as a liaison between government and studios, and last week saw the passage of the $500 million "Ugly Betty tax credit" for producers (so named because the show moved from L.A. to New York last year, costing the city $80,000 in revenue).
Problem is, nobody thinks any of this will actually work, since filming in Los Angeles is still prohibitively expensive compared to lots of other places ("Saving $1 million on a $50 million movie would be welcome ... but it's not going to change your life, or your decision," says one pessimistic film exec). So, until the economy rebounds and studios can throw money around like they did in 2007, palm trees and In-N-Out Burgers will just have to be added digitally to bleak Romanian landscapes.
The other night Fox News host Sean Hannity chatted with a panel over the prominent role of man-on-man kissing in the Oscars last Sunday night. While we don't agree with Hannity, we did comment while we were watching on Sunday that, with all of the millions of Oscar viewers around the world, it was probably some of the most-watched gay love ever on TV. We were happy about this. Hannity, of course, was not. "[My wife] said, you know, they keep showing the scenes of men kissing," Hannity said. "And I’m thinking do we have to expose our children to more and more sex, more and more violence, you know, more and more controversy? Does that bother you at all?" It bothered guest Bo Dietl. "I don’t get upset when I see two people in love and kissing each other, but I get upset when a guy is sticking his tongue in another guy’s mouth," Dietl said. "Don’t bring that to my children at that age to show it’s an acceptable thing in daylight." It's not an acceptable thing for gay people to kiss during daylight, Bo? And Hannity, two men touching lips is now "sex and violence"? What Oscars were you watching? The host went on to suggest that gays kissing was "adult content," and was, in some way, "robbing these kids of their childhood." Luckily, the folks at GLAAD were able to cobble together a clip reel to put things in perspective.
Reuters - Creating opera-inspired dresses and glittering coats, Italian designers have greeted the global economic downturn with collections that stand out and sparkle. Source: Yahoo! News: Fashion News | 27 Feb 2009 | 9:08 pm
Tommy Hilfiger confirmed he's having a kid with his new wife, Dee Ocleppo. Tommy, 57, already has four children, while Dee has two. Word about her bonified bump (she's three months along) got out when she started talking about it at Fashion Week. Tom and Gisele got married last night, and now this? The industry sure is feeling mushy today. [People.com]
Bonus buster Andrew Cuomo deposed Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis for four hours yesterday about the $3.6 billion in bonuses Merrill Lynch gave out before the BofA acquired it in January, and apparently didn't give him a damn thing. Afterward, a noticeably pallid and possibly limping Lewis told CNBC, "It's been a long evening and I'm tired." (Light deprivation and stress positions will do that to you.) The Bonus Buster's office is not taking his stonewalling lightly: They've served Lewis with another subpoena, and say they intend to get the bonus information "by whatever means is necessary." Uh-oh. Does this mean they are going to break out the dogs?
Fashion Wire Daily - Designer Adam Lippes' fresh take on American sportswear for men and women is about to hit Spanish retailer Mango and its menswear counterpart He, the clothing store most recently associated with Academy Award winner Penelope Cruz and her sister Monica Cruz, who designed a collection for the chain.
Front Page: Mogul, National Amusements reach agreement -- Sumner Redstone's National Amusements has managed to restructure its $1.5 billion in debt, relieving some of the pressure on its key assets, CBS and Viacom.
News has surfaced that Columbia Pictures is in the process of finalizing a remake of the 1990 masterpiece Total Recall, where Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a nice, relaxing, face-exploding vacation to Mars. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, Total Recall is, in a sentence, one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, due in large part to Arnold, a hilarious script, and unbelievable, ass-blowing visual effects.
So who should be recast in the Total Recall remake? Here are BestWeekEver.tv's picks:
Douglas Quaid = Eric Bana. Let's face it: Schwartzy is irreplaceable. But if we're being FORCED to pick a replacement, then by all means let it be Eric Bana. The man can morph himself into anyone and anything, as evidenced by his starring roles in Chopper and Munich. Plus, he's hot as.
Melina = Maria from Sesame Street. This isn't technically recasting as they are actually the same person.
Johnny Cab = Spencer Pratt. Eyebrows are raised when producers actually leave Pratt in the Johnny Cab when it hits the wall and explodes.
Benny = Robert Downey Jr. RDJ has already proved that he's a skilled blackface performer. Just make sure you're not in the same room with Cuba Gooding Jr. when news of this recasting breaks. Cause you will probably die.
Kuato = Peter Dinklage. Before you call this pick insensitive, why don't you just open your mind. Open your mind. Open your mind. See? It makes perfect sense. Also? This.
The Two Weeks Lady = Kirstie Allie. It's the role she was food to gorge. If poor Priscilla Allen, the original Two Weeks Lady, was still alive, we wouldn't even recast this part. No one can possibly top one of the best scenes in cinematic history.
Dr. Edgemar = Kevin Spacey. Edgemar was responsible for one of the best scenes in the original: "It won't make the slightest difference to me Doug, but the consequences to you will be devastating. In your mind I'll be dead, and with no one to guide you out, you'll be stuck in permanent psychosis. The walls of reality will come crashing down. One minute, you're the savior of the Rebel cause, next thing you know you'll be Cohaagen's bosom buddy. You'll even have fantasies about alien civilizations as you requested, but in the end, back on Earth you'll be lobotomized! So get a grip on yourself Doug, and put down that gun!" (cue sweat bead) (cue gunshot) You know who's real good at the dramatic single sweat bead take? Probably Kevin Spacey.
Mr. Cohaagen = JK Simmons. Frankly, cast JK Simmons in any of these roles and we'll be jazzed. Especially Melina. Meeow.
Lori = Rachel McAdams. This was the role that singled out Sharon Stone as a blonde femme fatale. We've seen McAdams play nearly every starlet role to date: Mean girl, romantic, girl next door, snarky sister... but this is the part that could launch the girl into A-list mega stardom. Until she shows her snatch. And then all bets are off.
The Three-Boobed Mutant = Helen Mirren. The only way to guarantee this movie is a success: Give Helen Mirren a third boob. Plus, you know this dirty bitch would be down for it.
Quaid on Mars = Jim Cramer. "Call Industrial Light & Magic. Tell them we don't need their services anymore."
Midget Prostitute = Peter Dinklage. Look, he's already on set... might as well get a day's wortha work outta the guy...
Mutant Mother = Brian Peppers. You're welcome!
Let us know if you agree with these choices, or who you would cast instead. Also, Dear Hollywood? Please don't go through with this. Source: Best Week Ever | 27 Feb 2009 | 8:33 pm
Today, the Tribeca Film Festival announced that its founding artistic director, Peter Scarlet, is leaving the festival after six years — and less than two months before this year's events begin. In a statement, Scarlet says it has nothing to do with the fact that just ten days ago, Geoffrey Gilmore was hired to become creative director of Tribeca Enterprises, after a historic nineteen-year reign at Sundance. “I realized simply that it’s time for me to seek new challenges,” he said. We have no reason to believe that this is untrue — except for common sense.
In New York, Scarlet never emerged as the beloved face of the festival in the same way that Gilmore did in Park City — but he had a refined (if peculiar) taste for foreign cinema that might not have been seen otherwise. When Gilmore was hired, we honestly thought it was bizarre that Scarlet was staying on, since it would seem to be impossible for Gilmore to remake Tribeca without shaking up its main project. Now, whatever the reasons for Scarlet’s departure, Gilmore will have much more leeway to reinvent the Tribeca brand in his own image. Next question: Who will Gilmore poach to replace Scarlet?
All-American teen Katie Fogarty might have taken a major tumble at Prada's spring show last season. But that hasn't slowed down the 17-year-old's booking rampage. David Sims lensed the St.Louis native for Balenciaga's spring print ads, which co-star Anna Jagodzinska and Elsa Sylvan. Fogarty did double duty this month, appearing in spreads for Dazed & Confused and Wonderland. And you can bet you'll be seeing more of her this season: she's already been confirmed for Gianfranco Ferré, Moschino, and Dolce & Gabbana's runways.
In the financial industry, there used to be a niche specialty called "distressed investing." Some called these folks vultures, because in the aftermath of a collapse, they would go swooping in to buy up the wreckage on the cheap. That's not much of a specialty anymore — the state of the market means we're pretty much all vultures now. But we thought we could get some perspective by getting in touch with an old friend who is on the front lines — he trades at one of the most established and respected distress funds. Last time we saw him in person, around Thanksgiving, he was talking Apocalypse with a capital A and scaring the crap out of everyone. It was a great holiday. We thought, given how many fabulous buying opportunities people keep saying are out there, his mood would probably have improved by now.
We were wrong.
NYM: How are you doing? V: Since I saw you last, things have deteriorated more than even I could have imagined. We're invested in virtually all sectors, primarily through debt, so we have pretty good access to management. The color coming from them is mind-bogglingly awful. We need to flush all the banks and start again. I told my wife I'm putting gold bars and shotguns under our bed. NYM: Can we take refuge with you, if it comes to that? V: You're more than welcome. We have thick walls and a high perch from which to pick off the marauding throngs. NYM: What's the least-bad news you've heard recently? V: The only thing anyone on the desk can come up with is the fact that there have been a number of high-grade non-financials who have been able to raise debt in the market. That's it. GDP is going to be down 10 percent this quarter, is my guess. NYM: Give me the bad news then. V: I heard this yesterday: The top five U.K. banks have $10 trillion of assets and their GDP is only $2.13 trillion. The whole country could fall into the ocean. The top five U.S. banks represent only about 60 percent of GDP by comparison. The other thing is a survey that I just read about in the Times. Over six in ten Americans think that someone in their household will lose their job in the next year. That means six in ten people won't buy anything other than basics. The economy comes to a full halt even worse than now. NYM: That means the other four out of ten better be out there buying Gucci. You're not losing your job. Are you buying any Gucci? Taking vacations? Leasing a new Mercedes? V: I'm still taking vacations and renting a summer house but I ain't buying anything. Credit-default swaps scare me too much. For the banks, their portfolios of second-lien loans is terrifying and nobody, including the government, wants to talk about it. The banks carry them at par and have hundreds of billions of dollars of them. We just bought some at 33 cents on the dollar in the market. If they turn out to be worth 33, every bank would collapse. NYM: How about the Obama speech? That float anybody's boat on the desk? V: Mixed. Couple of die-hard Republicans hated it. Most others thought it was pretty good, balancing reality with optimism. NYM: Shouldn't you be licking your chops these days — aren't there once-in-a-lifetime bargains all over the place for brave distress investors? V:There are and they get cheaper every day. The private equity guys are going to be done. NYM: So you are buying? V: We're slowly buying but conserving cash for the tsunami of bankruptcies that are coming. NYM: Do you think that before the big one a few years ago, people used the word tsunami as much as they do now? V: It's been part of my vernacular for years. NYM: What else is in your vernacular? V: Catastrophe, debacle, putrid, relentless, overwhelming all come to mind. NYM: Thank you very much. Please do your best to hold up the economy.
"I mean, it's a weird movie," says "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder. "There's no two ways about it." Never was a truer word spoken about the graphic novel adaptation that has taken 23 tortuous years to get from the page to the screen.
The Paper of Record is looking to compete with New York's army of neighborhood blogs. Starting Monday, they'll launch sites covering Fort Greene and Clinton Hill in Brooklyn, and Millburn, Maplewood and South Orange in New Jersey. These will be followed by other blogs, all of which will focus on "cultural events, bar and restaurant openings, real estate, arts, fashion, health, social concerns," real-estate listings and even wedding announcements. Way to fight back, old media! [Brownstoner]
In December of 2007, a mural of Ol' Dirty Bastard in Bed-Stuy by painter Victor Goldfield was defaced (literally, somebody removed the part with ODB's face). But now, some anonymous artist has fixed it! [Bed-Stuy Banana]
Front Page: Friedman imports trilogy, despite the odds -- With four of her London productions in the running for a collective 13 Olivier Awards and two Broadway transfers likely to figure in the Tony race for play revival, Sonia Friedman might be forgiven for slowing down. But the Brit producer's slate tells another story.
Since 2007, Liz Claiborne has eliminated over 2,000 jobs, closed distribution centers, rid itself of licensing brands and suspended employee pay increases. Things have been so bad (their chief executive flies coach) that their famous chief creative officer, Tim Gunn, said last night at the Bailey House auction he even worries about his job. “I’m grateful every day that I still have a job at Liz Claiborne. I make no assumptions about me," he told us. “I’m confident that Liz Claiborne, Inc. will pull out of this, because we’re operating so thoughtfully and so strategically ... But it is a challenging time.” Gunn added that they expect things to get worse. "We are making no blue-sky assumptions about the future. We’re stacking the sandbags for a long haul of economic downturn."
If Gunn does get laid off, he can always focus on his television career. Project Runway might never come back, but he can always be a red-carpet television personality, after his heroic performance for ABC's Academy Awards preshow. “The only scary moment was when the producer was in my ears saying, ‘Go after Brad and Angelina,’ you know, because their publicist had said they will speak to no one. They didn’t care that we were the official red-carpet show. And my adrenaline kicked in, my brain went off — if it had been on I never would have had the guts and courage to do it — and out I went!” Gunn told us. “So not only did I get them, but I was envious of Jess Cagle getting Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, because I wanted them, so when they walked by, I went running out on the carpet to talk to them, too. So I said to the producers, how about next year we do Red-Carpet Ambush with Tim Gunn?”
This Wednesday, a twenty-ton humpback whale swam into waters near New York harbor and got tangled up in some fishing gear. “It was stuck in a shipping lane,” a spokeswoman from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told the Times. “That’s like being stuck on a highway.” Yesterday, a special "a whale disentanglement crew" was brought in from Massachusetts to free it (Apparently, this happens enough in Massachusetts that it is a job?), which they did, while standing in a tiny rubber boat. The Coast Guard uploaded a video of the rescue, although, unforgivably, they did not add a soundtrack à la Christian the Lion. If you can get "The Humpty Dance" in your head, it makes it more fun.
For once, it’s nice to write something about Rihanna without having to mention the cretins who, so fair and so balanced, suggest that she deserved her battering for having supposedly thrown keys out of a car window … whoops. There we go again. Anyway, here’s a newly surfaced Rihanna song, recorded before her attack. It’s pretty great. [ Pigeons and Planes]
Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen married National Football League star Tom Brady Thursday in an "intimate" sunset ceremony, US Weekly magazine reported on its Web site.
Front Page: Spokesman says 'serious' but 'we're hopeful' -- Ed McMahon, former sidekick to Johnny Carson on "Tonight" and a familiar TV commercial pitchman, was hospitalized in intensive care, a spokesman said Friday.
Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola knows that the best way to promote your movie online isn't to leak a clip or cut together a dynamite trailer or post outtakes or behind-the-scenes footage. No -- the way to get people excited about your movie is to film yourself sitting in your chair talking really vaguely about the movie, then spinning around in your chair. How do you think Dark Knight was so popular?
Move over, David Lynch, cause there's a new "Quirky Online Director" Sheriff in internet-town:
Bono says he's "hurt" by allegations that his band is dodging taxes by moving part of its business to the Netherlands, but he also wants you to know that he plans to pass the savings on to fans on U2's upcoming stadium tour. He told the BBC today, "We're trying to work on some cheaper ticket prices because this is the recession. We're also going to have some very expensive ticket prices because rich people have feelings too!" [BBC Newsbeat, Times UK]
Roberto Cavalli: "I have 11 million fans [on Facebook], I saw that only Madonna has more than me. It’s lovely. It’s not for the money — believe me, I don’t care. It’s vibrations. I hate drugs, I’ve never used them in my life — never smoked a marijuana cigarette. But my drug is the adrenaline, the vibrations. That’s what makes me love life!" [FWD]
With an enormous American flag and normal-sized military personnel as a backdrop, President Obama announced earlier today that he will withdraw all but 35,000 to 50,000 troops from Iraq by August 2011, and all troops entirely by the end of 2011. Interestingly, Obama placed a call to former President Bush moments before the speech — "as a courtesy," claims Robert Gibbs, and not to rub it in his face. [NYT, WP]
Last night's episode of 30 Rock involved Salma Hayek's romance-obsessed character demanding commitment from Jack Donaghy before sleeping with him, and Jack clears his entire work schedule to devote himself to Salma completely, ultimately learning that in the end, work is nothing and love is all that matters.
In real life, however, Salma Hayek apparently believes the exact opposite:
Salma Hayek Spent Her Honeymoon with Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey
A couple hours after her Valentine's Day elopment in Paris, Salma Hayek was on a plane back to LA, where she spent her honeymoon filming on the set of 30 Rock.
"She flew right from her wedding to come shoot with us again," Alec Baldwin told Us Weekly...
Sooo...work IS more important than love? WHY THE MIXED MESSAGES, SALMA??? (The caps were my best attempt at being an actual investigative gossip a-hole).
This is gonna make the next few 30 Rocks tougher to take seriously (because man, are they serious) -- I better not find out that real-life Jack McBrayer isn't actually an NBC page or that real-life Tracy Morgan speaks anything other than complete, batsh*t-insane nonsense... Source: Best Week Ever | 27 Feb 2009 | 6:35 pm
AP - "The Woman Behind the New Deal" (Doubleday, 398 pages, $35), by Kirstin Downey: Reading the biography of FDR's Labor Secretary Frances Perkins brings to mind the old saying about how Ginger Rogers had to do everything Fred Astaire did, except backward and in high heels.
After being hidden away for years, a copy of the original "Superman and Friends" comic book will make a comeback -- at a price of about $400,000, a comic expert said Thursday.
Copies of the "Millennium" series by the late Swedish writer Stieg Larsson at the 2008 Paris book fair. More than 30,000 people across Sweden bought tickets for the first day release Friday of the long-awaited... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 27 Feb 2009 | 5:35 pm
Danish director Niels Arden Oplev, seen here in an undated handout, directed the first movie adapted from the cult crime trilogy "Millennium" by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. More than 30,000... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 27 Feb 2009 | 5:35 pm
A guide for Stockholm's museum, conducts a guided tour of Montelius on Smalm island in Stockholm, for fans fans of th "Millennium." More than 30,000 people across Sweden bought tickets for the... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 27 Feb 2009 | 5:35 pm
We read Peaches Geldof's latest Nylon column so you don't have to. In it, she chronicles her (tragic) style evolution from age 9 to now. At 9 she wore "garish, ill-fitting ‘80s prom dresses over jeans." As a teenager she "was a total brat" and wore Vivienne Westwood and velour Juicy Couture tracksuits and carried tiny logo-emblazoned Dior purses. Last year, when she started listening to post-punk, she went "uber goth" and dyed her hair black. Today, you'll be relieved to know she's "ditched the everyday-is-Halloween vibe." No word on when she'll ditch, uh, journalism. [Nylon]
Just seems a little on the nose, doesn't it? It'd be like an American film about an ordinary American single-handedly creating 40 years of American history winning six Oscars in America. Which would just be absurd.
But can you name the #1 grossing film in Australian box office history?#1) Crocodile Dundee - $47.7 million
Seriously.
For the record, the third and fourth highest-grossing films in Australian history:
#3) The Land Down Under Video - $34.2 million
We must have spent too much time thinking about Beyoncé and Lady Gaga this week, because we almost forgot that Britney Spears's Circus tour starts Tuesday in New Orleans. Thankfully WWD reminds us today, with a nugget of an article about how Dsquared2 designed the costumes. They "reinterpreted clowns, trapeze artists and jugglers into a series of provocative looks for Spears and her dancers," the paper reports. Sibling designers Dan and Dean Caten said they're huge Britney fans (join the club) and the tour is "going to be wild." Indeed, the costumes for this tour are particularly important because not only is it her comeback tour, but she ain't what she used to be in the dancing department. She'll need as many captivating stage elements as possible to make up for how now, rather than do backflips in a green bra with a giant yellow snake around her neck, she just sort of stands there looking scared and pointing at things.
Front Page: Org's president will step down on March 31 -- AMPTP prexy Nick Counter, who's headed labor negotiations for the majors for nearly three decades, will retire on March 31.
AP - "The Writing on My Forehead, A Novel" (William Morrow, 308 pages, $24.99) by Nafisa Haji: Loss, forgiveness, love, redemption. The themes in Haji's novel run through all our lives.
Front Page: Hispanic media giant lays off 6% of workforce -- Weighed down by shrinking ad revs and $10.8 billion debt, Hispanic media giant Univision pinkslipped some 300 employees today, roughly 6% of its workforce.
Robert Smith of The Cure has always been a premiere symbol of goth imagery and fashion, but these pictures suggest that at a certain age, "fashionable androgyny" inevitably turns into "just looking like an unironic drag queen":
Disney's release of "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert" follows the studio's huge success of last February's "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds." Clearly poised as this weekend's must-see pic for teenage and preteen girls, "Concert" is also sure to get a lot of boys tagging along for the ride.
France striker Djibril Cisse's, seen here in 2008, proposed permanent transfer to Premier League club Sunderland could be wrecked by the global financial meltdown after his price tag rose by up to three... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 27 Feb 2009 | 3:46 pm
German electropop veterans Kraftwerk will headline Bestival on the Isle Of Wight on Saturday, Sept. 12. The U.K. festival, organized by DJ Rob da Bank, will be held at Robin Hill Country Park on Sept. 11 to 13 and will feature a new site layout.
The six-unit Virgin Megastore chain will close two more stores, the Union Square location in New York City at the end of May and the Market St. store in San Francisco at the end of April, sources say.
Front Page: Creative director ankles after six editions -- Peter Scarlet is ankling as creative director of the Tribeca Film Festival on the eve of its eighth edition and his seventh.
Front Page: Chairman/CEO adds president to titles -- Sony has added prexy to chairman/CEO Howard Stringer's titles in a major operational reorganization and management shake-up that comes just one month after the company revealed that it faces record losses of $2.7 billion this year.
Fashion Wire Daily - If any label seems ready to ride out the luxury recession it may well be family-owned Missoni, whose back to the nest luxury show staged Thursday, Feb. 26, in Milan seemed the right aesthetic response to the current economic blues.
British actor Dev Patel (L) and Indian actress Freida Pinto pose for photographers at the BAFTA awards at the Royal Opera House in central London on January 8. Spanish actor Antonio Banderas will join... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 27 Feb 2009 | 2:11 pm
Director Ang Lee, seen here on April 02, 2008, who took home the 2006 Best Director Academy Award for "Brokeback Mountain," will chair the international jury of this year's festival in September, the organisers... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 27 Feb 2009 | 1:35 pm
It seemed like a good idea at the time: Skip the "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" -- the only major wide release this weekend and more or less review-proof -- and check out the new releases down at the local DVD store instead.
Fashion Wire Daily - If you really want to get a good handle on what women will be wearing in six months time then a wise starting point would be attending a runway show of Emporio Armani, which on Thursday, Feb. 26, in Milan neatly encapsulated many of the trends that will be prominent in fall 2009.
Jennifer Aniston was recently described as "fiercely private." But everyone knows her story by now. What does it take to be considered not private?
—Zoe
Whoever...
Another week has passed, and Mama Hollywood has again been generous with the milk of celebrity information that flows so heavily from her swollen breast into the gaping maw of the Soup community....
Word is, Rihanna and Chris Brown are back together.
E! News has learned that the R&B-star duo are spending one-on-one time at Sean "Diddy" Combs' Star Island mansion...
UPDATE: Gilles just got back from the doctor. He's been diagnosed with tendonitis in his shoulder and groin, according to his rep.
"He's in great shape so he...
Bruce Willis didn't go the whole nine yards on this one.
The actor is being sued by a production company that claims Willis just walked off the set of a $20 million movie he was...
Ed McMahon is in intensive care at a Los Angeles hospital.
The 85-year-old former Johnny Carson sidekick has been hospitalized for several weeks with pneumonia, as well as other...
Just because Linda Hogan isn't Ed Graziano's estranged wife doesn't mean she's not spooked.
Hulk Hogan's soon-to-be ex-missus has expressed concern that Graziano, who...
News has surfaced that Columbia Pictures is in the process 
Last night's episode of 30 Rock involved Salma Hayek's romance-obsessed character demanding commitment from Jack Donaghy before sleeping with him, and Jack clears his entire work schedule to devote himself to Salma completely, ultimately learning that in the end, work is nothing and love is all that matters.
In real life, however, Salma Hayek apparently believes the exact opposite:
