EVENTS FRIDAY
• Handbag designer Nancy Gonzalez celebrates her "Linda" bag, named after Bergdorf Goodman's senior vice president Linda Fargo. Both Nancy and Linda will help customers customize their new bags. 754 Fifth Ave., at 57th St., main fl. (212-753-7300); 2–4.
SATURDAY
• Meet model Mark Vanderloo when he launches the DKNY Men fragrance at the Madison Avenue store. Champagne will be served. 655 Madison Ave., at 60th St.; 1–3.
• Parents, bring your children to Takashimaya's pajama party. The department store has teamed up with the Pajama Program (a nonprofit that provides sleepwear for children) for a StoryTime by Design event. Stop by for an animated reading hour with children's author Mo Willems, and donate new pajamas for children in sizes infant to toddler for a 20 percent discount. The pajama drive will continue until April 11. Takashimaya, 693 Fifth Ave., nr. 54th St., sixth fl. (212-350-0100); 10–noon.
SUNDAY
• Comptoir des Cotonniers is casting real mother-daughter duos of all ages for its upcoming campaign. Winners get to participate in the May 25 fashion show, as well as go on a trip to Paris and be in an on-site shoot for its campaign. 155 Spring St., nr. W. Broadway (212-274-0830); 2–7.
SALES STARTING TODAY
• The Steven Alan outlet store just got a huge new shipment with major discounts. Find clothes from spring, resort, and fall for up to 80 percent off. Also find deals on Rachel Comey, Phillip Lim, and rag & bone. Prices are $29 to $200. Ongoing. 465 Amsterdam Ave., nr. 82nd St. (212-595-8451); M–S (11–7), Su (11–6).
• Alejandro Ingelmo's women's collection is on sale. Through 4/4. 25 Mercer St., nr. Howard St., Ste. 2C (646-478-7957); F (9–6), S (10–6).
ENDING TODAY
• The Sak, sakroots (their ecofriendly bag line), and Elliott Lucca bags are $5 to $60 at their sample sale. Through 4/3. 339 Fifth Ave., nr. 34th St., second fl. (212-329-4500); Th (9–5), F (9–4).
• Get 75 percent off the spring collection by Vera Wang Lavender Label. Through 4/3. 261 W. 36th St., nr. Seventh Ave., second fl.; W (11–7), Th (10–7), F (10–6).
• Brooklyn duo Hayden-Harnett's sample sale offers current and past collections for 40 to 80 percent off — the Bleecker backpack is $74 (originally $148). Through 4/3. Hayden-Harnett Showroom, 16 W. 36th St., nr. Sixth Ave., Ste. 501 (718-383-4450); daily (11–7).
• Get 75 percent off swimsuits by Zimmermann, Red Carter, and Brette Sandler at the Salon 9 sample sale. Prices range from $40 to $150. Through 4/3. 241 W. 37th St., nr. Seventh Ave., Ste. 923 (212-354-9220); daily (11–7).
• Get 75 percent off clothes by your favorite designers at Kirna Zabête's online warehouse sale. Alexander Wang dresses are $144 (originally $575), Lanvin dresses are $746 (originally $2,985), Proenza Schouler blouses and dresses are $163 to $938 (originally $650 to $3,750). Nina Ricci leather jackets are $898 (originally $3,590), and Stella McCartney blouses are priced as low as $69 (originally $345). Through 4/3. Online only: KirnaZabete.com.
• Antonio Prieto Salon wants to get you through the last few weeks of winter with a relaxing Kérastase hair treatment, scalp massage, and a Thermasoft-thermal-hand remedy. Finish the invigorating treatments with a blow-dry and style of your choice for only $75 (originally $135). Through 4/3. 120 W. 20th St., nr. Sixth Ave. (212-255-3741); T–F only (noon–8).
STARTING TOMORROW
• Buy one piece of lingerie by Wolford, Eberjey, or Cosabella, and get another half off at Mixona. Through 4/5. 262 Mott St., nr. Houston St. (646-613-0100); 11–7:30.
ENDING TOMORROW
• Elie Tahari samples are up to 85 percent off — handbags are $79 to $249 (originally $498 to $995), shoes are $69 to $79 (originally $228 to $525), and dresses are $79 to $129 (originally $398 to $898). Through 4/4. 510 Fifth Ave., nr. 42nd St. (212-398-2622); T–F (8:30–7:30), S (10–5).
ENDING SUNDAY
• Get 50 to 80 percent off athletic apparel, shoes, and gear at Paragon's warehouse sale. Through 4/5. 867 Broadway, nr. 17th St. (212-255-8036); M–S (10–8), S (11:30–7).
• Scoop's sale has been extended . Women's and men's fall merchandise is up to 70 percent off at their uptown location only. A dress by Diane Von Furstenberg is $120, and items by Tory Burch are under $100. Through 4/5.1275 Third Ave., nr. 73rd St. (212-535-5577); 9–9.
• Save 80 to 90 percent on casual clothes by DDCLab at its sample sale. Men's shirts are $50 (originally $198), men's and women's jeans are $40 (originally $228), women's tops are $60 (originally $358), pants for men and women are $40 (originally $198 to $288), women's leather pants are $100 (originally $900), and T-shirts are $20 (originally $98). Through 4/5. 7 Mercer St., nr. Howard St. (212-226-8980); M–S (10–7), Su (12–6).
• Bring some food when you shop at Sigerson Morrison: Ten cans get you 10 percent off, fifteen cans get you 15 percent off, and twenty cans get you 20 percent off your purchase. All food will be donated to the New York Food Bank. Through 4/5. 28 Prince St., nr. Mott St. (212-219-3893); M–S (11–7), Su (noon–6).
It looks like Madonna isn't getting into the adoption groove.
Failing to prove her love apparently, a Malawi court has shot down the Material Mom's request to adopt a second...
When Michele Maro became captivated by "The Lord of the Rings" movies, she never imagined she would one day be walking around in the Shire, touring Hobbiton and peeking into hobbit holes.
Remember the worst job you ever had? For writer-director Greg Mottola, it was the summer he spent on hiatus between college and the real world, working as a carny at the local carnival. He's turned the experience into the basis for the wonderful "Adventureland."
(Reuters) Reuters - The Guantanamo military prison guards call it a "cocktail," the mix of feces, urine and spit that inmates hurl at them and that dramatizes the soldiers' view that they are serving on a battlefield. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 3 Apr 2009 | 11:05 am
President Barack Obama brushed off a question about legalizing marijuana in his online town hall last month, but guitar god Carlos Santana says he wishes he would seriously consider it. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 3 Apr 2009 | 11:02 am
Silver Dollar City's World-Fest Opens with Biggest Show Year Ever Performers from Six Continents Featured April 4 - May 3 BRANSON, Mo., April... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 3 Apr 2009 | 11:00 am
Reuters - The 2008 sale of a key thought to have been made in the 12th century for the holy Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia which set an auction record for an Islamic work of art has been canceled, Sotheby's said. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 3 Apr 2009 | 10:58 am
Eminem will induct Run-DMC at ceremony on Saturday in ClevelandBy Gil Kaufman Run-DMC Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/ Getty Images In years past, there were always a few things you could count... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 3 Apr 2009 | 10:51 am
New season premieres Monday at 10 p.m. on MTV.By Jocelyn Vena Heidi Montag Photo: MTV When "The Hills" premieres on Monday, it will be the last season for Lauren Conrad. But according to Lauren's... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 3 Apr 2009 | 10:51 am
The BBC has been fined £150,000 ($220,000) after broadcasting two episodes of comedian Russell Brand's radio show in which he left abusive phone messages on an actor's phone.
Someone stole an "incomplete and early version" of the next installment in the blockbuster "X-Men" movie series and posted it on the Internet this week, according to the studio that owns the billion-dollar film franchise. Authorities are investigating.
(Reuters) Reuters - That's it: Network programmers have officially run out of ideas. How else to explain "Osbournes: Reloaded," a half-hour from Fox that's part video game, part swearathon and part, um, "variety" show? Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 3 Apr 2009 | 5:58 am
A handout photo from Zebra Crossing Productions shows Laura Fygi in Singapore, where she will make her acting debut later this year Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 3 Apr 2009 | 5:38 am
AP - An Australian visual effects company that worked on "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" said Thursday it was not responsible for leaking a full-length work print online.
Reuters - It's kinda like those ads for automotive additives: Just put Brand X into your motor oil and look at that car spark back to life! In the case of "Fast & Furious," Brand X is Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 3 Apr 2009 | 5:33 am
Reuters - Fans of '50s-era sci-fi movies would be well advised to stock up their Netflix queue with the originals rather than checking out director R.W. Goodwin's technically expert but dreadfully dull parody. Although it's refreshing that "Alien Trespass" doesn't indulge in the sort of mindless, gross-out humor that afflicts so many current cinematic spoofs, it errs too much on the other side, offering mere pastiche instead of witty satire. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 3 Apr 2009 | 5:02 am
Reuters - Opening nights drum up any number of feelings: anticipation, nervousness, optimism, trepidation. But mostly they are a peek at what's to come, and Bruce Springsteen and company made a statement Wednesday night: Maybe we ain't that young anymore, but we can still bring it. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 3 Apr 2009 | 4:50 am
County General is no longer accepting emergency cases.
Fifteen seasons of ER came barreling to a close tonight in an episode that really embodied what the pioneering medical melodrama...
Not everyone will be able to get their before-bed Jay Leno fix come September.
Boston's NBC affiliate, WHDH-TV, is opting to air an hour-long local newscast in the 10 p.m. hour...
For Jamie Foxx, it was Law Abiding Citizen by day and security guard by night.
The Oscar winner got the better of an intruder in his Philadelphia hotel suite last month after the man...
My, how the tables have turned on Survivor: Tocantins.
The once mighty Jalapao, which seemingly boasted the majority of the brawn in this competition, couldn't get it together in...
Front Page: Faces trump finance at summit -- The G-20 summit here this week has garnered unprecedented media attention. That's not surprising, given that the financial crisis heightens interest in the policy-strategy meetings. But, judging by the global media, such topics took a back seat to the personalities involved.
Front Page: SAG still at odds over a feature pact -- Though SAG's reached a tentative deal on its commercials contract, it still faces roadblocks on resolving its long-stalled feature-primetime deal with the congloms -- including continued opposition from president Alan Rosenberg.
Oh, so today the Financial Accounting Standards Board agreed to give struggling financial institutions flexibility in applying mark-to-market accounting to their toxic assets. Remember what mark-to-market accounting is? No? This should remind you. “Good decision,” Citigroup chairman Richard Parsons said of FASB’s move. [Bloomberg]
An unjust trend is sweeping the world of boutiques, and we will not stand for it. Stores for men are increasingly offering male shoppers beer and other spirits as a bribe to get them to hang out in the store longer and buy things. Dudes "love to sit down on the couch, have a drink, try a couple of things on and hang out with some of the staff," co-owner of New York's Kesner boutique Matthew Simon tells the Wall Street Journal. "They have that kind of experience and they'll want to come back." Sounds like an exaggeration — we can't imagine most straight men we know hanging out in a place where the chief purpose was to buy new clothes just for fun. But sure, who wouldn't want to go back to a shop serving free cocktails? Now some high-end women's stores offer champagne. But Billy Reid in New York serves bourbon, Lisa Klein Men in L.A serves gin and tonic, and Tom Ford serves anything you can dream up. "It's that type of innovation in these trying times that sets [retailers] apart and creates buzz," Scott Krugman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation, tells the Journal, as if in-store booze is the greatest idea since the changing room. Which it just might be. So ladies, we'll have to work together if we want to see change happen. So think like a man and shop online for the next few weeks, only buy things when you need them, and pretend that skinny pants are for pansies even though you wear them 70 percent of the time anyway.
Hey, this is weird! On April 11, the Sirius Radio show the Alternative Nation Countdown Takeover will premiere new solo material from Weezer's Rivers Cuomo that features Jason Schwartzman … and Rainn Wilson! Cuomo and Schwartzman — who is, of course actually a musician, having played drums in Phantom Planet till he got too famous — will co-host the show. The Weezer site boasts that Wilson’s “got more than just acting chops in his arsenal” but doesn’t mention what he plays, or if this arrangement is anything other than a one-off curio. Tinted Windows, your oddness remains unchallenged (probably). [Weezer via Rolling Stone]
• Tipsters tell Twitter and the Gannett blog that the Gannett Company has launched another round of layoffs, affecting at least 69 staffers throughout the company. [Media Is Dying/Twitter, Gannett Blog]
• Maxim U.K. is going online-only, where it will have to work harder to compete with porn. [Media Week]
• A sign that the outlook for newspapers is grim (aside from these daily posts that we've written since November): The American Journalism Review is already asking "What if?" The publication ponders: Could newspapers have suffered less of a downturn if the Associated Press hadn't given access to online publications like AOL in the nineties? We may never know. [American Journalism Review]
• The Richmond Times-Dispatch laid off 59 employees. [Times-Dispatch]
Though last week we thought that this guy had the role of Peter Parker pretty much locked up, the producers of Julie Taymor's Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark have announced more open casting calls in five major cities next week for the lead role, as well as for Mary Jane, the female villain (a new, made-up one named Swiss Miss, according to Michael Riedel), plus all three understudies. Additionally, this would seem to torpedo reports that Evan Rachel Wood had been cast as Mary Jane. Then again, we suppose this could also be like that time they held a huge open casting call to find Notorious B.I.G. — after they'd purportedly already hired a guy — just to score some easy publicity, in which case we'd feel awful for getting Josh Bednarsky's hopes up again.
Reuters - Any doubts that the revival of "Hair" that appeared last year in Central Park would lose something in the rarefied indoor confines of a Broadway theater can be put to rest. If anything, the production has even more of a visceral impact at the Al Hirschfeld, where its youthful ensemble puts out so much blazing energy it's no wonder that half the audience feels compelled to join them onstage for the joyous bacchanalian finale. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 2 Apr 2009 | 10:46 pm
SIDEY KLUM: Here's Heidi Klum from an angle you haven't seen before. Unless you're Seal. And if you're Seal, I appreciate you taking your time away from licensing "Crazy" to stuff and reading BWE. (Dlisted)
THAT'S PIRACY, BUB: Wolverine leaked to the web this week even though it's not due out until May 1st, and Hollywood is panicking. I'd start the investigation with Apocalypse's tech-savvy teenage son. (EW.com)
BRAVO WAS ROBBED: ESPN has been nominated for 42 Sports Emmys, second only to HBO's 58 Sports Emmy nominations for John Adams (Democracy is the greatest sport of all). (Variety)
BIG DAY: The Sex and the City movie sequel will be released in May of 2010. I'm sorry, I meant "Squeakuel." Or was that some other movie? (MTV Movies Blog)
NEVER GETS OLD: And finally, here's the difference between Pixar and Dreamworks in one painfully accurate illustrated diagram. (/Film)
It looks like Keith Urban, in close competition with Prince, will likely take next week’s top album spot on the charts (with Defying Gravity), so now’s as good a time as any to take a close listen to the disc’s second and current single, “Kiss a Girl,” a traditionally gendered but welcome corrective to Katy Perry’s entirely salacious and poorly observed “I Kissed a Girl.” This sounds rather like the first single, “I’m In,” which is to say, like effervescent pop with a nice emo tinge. The lyrics, meanwhile, seem a little innocent for a guy with a tour bus and the likely hint of a tour bus in his blue jeans (plus, they’re hardly as nicely written as lots of standard country fare), but whatever else he’s nailing, he also nails that reluctant first step back into romantic relations after a broken heart.
So, um, we happened to be forwarded this M4M Missed Connection on Craigslist today:
my friends and i were eating dinner last night at vynl around 7 and you strolled by our table on the way to the restroom and clearly farted all over us - the smell reminded me of death and also a bit like The Ritz on a Friday night. It lingered at our table and ruined our meal, but you're so hot that I'm willing to overlook this if I can do you in the butt. We smiled at each other (while I was trying not to vomit), so you know who this is. Hit me up if you see this, gas-master.
Even if it is not of the April Fools' variety, we're not sure this is the kind of trick we enjoy.
Front Page: 'Furious' could be biggest April opener -- Universal's "Fast and Furious" hopes to tear up the box office when it opens today, marking the fourth outing for the action franchise and reteaming Vin Diesel and Paul Walker for the first time since the original pic.
Newsflash, people: The economy is cratering! And even though a large number of Americans seem perfectly content to pay significantly more money at the box office for the privilege of watching a film while wearing a flimsy pair of 3-D glasses, Hollywood is attempting to take advantage of the financial crisis by paring back the (admittedly exorbitant) salaries they pay big-name movie stars. We first saw evidence of this when Marvel tried to lowball Vulture hero Mickey Rourke during negotiations for Iron Man 2, but now Kim Masters is reporting over at the Daily Beast that studios, and we quote, "are not fucking around" in their attempts to bring star salaries back down to Earth.
According to an anonymous talent agent that Masters spoke with, Hollywood is becoming more and more confident that audiences are making their moviegoing decisions based on the stories they're about to see, not necessarily on the actors that star in them. "On certain movies, [studios] feel like whoever they put in a part is fine," he/she said. "Once they lock down Robert Downey, Jr., on Iron Man 2, everything else is fine. I don’t think they give a shit if it’s Mickey Rourke or Scarlett Johansson [playing a supporting role]."
And you know what? We kind of agree with them. While we would be lying if we said that we were anything other than super-geeked to see Rourke get all villainous on Iron Man's ass, we're not sure that it would make any difference to us whatsoever whether Scarlett Johansson or Emily Blunt is playing the role of Black Widow. Don't get it twisted, we appreciate a great ensemble cast as much (and probably more) than your average bear, but now that celebrity actors have become such a ubiquitous presence in our lives (Internet, TV, magazines, you name it), we're less apt to seek them out — at least in tentpole-type films — than we once were.
We have to apologize to Chace Crawford.
Ever since we broke the news that the Gossip Girl star is gunning to replace Zac Efron in the Footloose remake, the poor guy has been hounded more...
Despite Zac Efron ditching the project, Footloose is most likely still going to shake it into theaters in fall 2010.
Earlier this week, we gave you the exclusive scoop that Gossip Girl...
Anna Nicole Smith's untimely death has made for some strange bedfellows, and her own estranged parents might be the next to pair up.
Smith's father, Donald Hogan, told E! News...
ShoWest, one the movie industry's premiere conventions, has been busting out big buzz on summer movies all week from Las Vegas.
Tonight the con—where studios showcase upcoming...
One minute Roberto Cavalli wants to sell his company, the next minute he takes it all back. Cavalli has been teasing investors like this for about a year, and WWD reports he met with an Italian private-equity fund on Tuesday to discuss selling a 20 percent stake in his company. But Cavalli's still scratching his head over whether to cut a deal or not since his empire won't fetch as much cash in the current economic climate. He plans to talk it over with his family, including his five children. “Business was much easier these past years, but today you have to push your workers to take things in a more constructive way and with more fantasy,” he said.
Cavalli said he'll continue working with the bankrupt Ittierre SpA licensing company, which produces his younger Just Cavalli line. So he must be over how upset he was after they delivered the fall 2009 Just Cavalli line late with subpar production values, causing him to cancel the runway show. See, Cavalli acts with his wallet, not his heart: The contract with Ittierre doesn't expire until 2010. And in the spirit of job creation he's on the hunt for a CEO. Currently the company doesn't have one, just a president (his daughter Cristiana Cavalli).
But the most exciting development in the Cavalli empire is the launch of a new website, perhaps more accurately described as an Internet portal into his world of fantasy, animal prints, and Italian things. “I would like the world to be sweeter and there to be more love, and I’d like to transmit these values through my own Web site with blogs, live online appearances, pushing young designers,” he told WWD. You know Roberto, it's great that you've caught on to that newfangled Internet thing all the kids are doing, but the thing about blogs is: They're not usually used as means of transmitting love and sweetness to the world. Except this one, obviously.
The couple that breaks up together is sometimes still contractually obligated to play together.
E! News has learned that Miley Cyrus is set to reteam with her ex-flame (and Mouse House...
Floethe muses:
I’ve noticed this among my many friends who have moved to Park Slope in family-oriented Brooklyn — they’ve come to regard Manhattan as the borough of dubious characters. If you can afford to live in Manhattan you must be up to no good.
Moving past the idea that all of Brooklyn is "family-oriented," the pat vernacular of the Downtown Manhattan/Brownstone Brooklyn axis disqualifies the argument. Are people going around really lumping all of Manhattan together as one idea? Particularly an economic idea? We sincerely doubt it.
The cruelties of the internet are due, surely, to its fishbowl properties — everybody who is writing gossip on the internet knows everybody whom they are writing about; indeed, everybody seems to be writing about each other. Or going out with someone who is doing the writing. In its article about me, Gawker referred to a former boyfriend of mine who went out with a former Gawker editor ... New York, once a big and anonymous place, is — on the internet, and in the Murdoch press — reduced to a horrifyingly captious and moralising small town.
This strikes us as partially true — especially with regards to Gawker. But Gawker isn't everything, you know. [Crickets] The New York Internet media, like Manhattan, is a big place, and there's plenty of room to keep your personal life personal. Here at Daily Intel, you'll note that our overshares only relate to Jessica's husband's burgeoning curiosity for Gossip Girl, Chris's boyfriend's opposition to adopting an adorable puppy, and Dan Amira's abiding love for NBC News White House correspondent Chuck Todd. And we don't know what those straights who write Vulture even look like.
New York, let’s face it, is going through a very tough time. Everybody, it seems, feels guilty about being part of the long New York bacchanal, so everybody must be guilty — all the more so if you’re not acting guilty. It was Sex in the City that connected sex to everything else in the city: careers, real estate, Wall Street, media. The less inhibited you were, the more successful you could be, was part of the impudent message received by financiers as well as adventurous girls. That New York, the boom town, is now a suspect place. We know [sic] believe that spirit of excess and devil-may-care is responsible for the present apocalyptic mess. Hence my undisciplined romantic life can be discussed pretty much in the same breath as Bernie Madoff — at least in adjacent newspaper pages.
Doesn't this give Sex and the City a little too much credit? New York has been chronicling the connection between sex and power since the magazine first hit stands. And we're far from the only ones. Plus, do we really think tawdry sex is lumped in with Bernie Madoff? We don't think we've even once thought about Madoff while we were having tawdry sex! (Well, maybe once.)
Maybe we get to look forward (at least I look forward) to a new licentious underbelly of New York (where the gossips, always bribable, are paid to stay away).
Wait, this is the opposite of what she just said. But okay, here's the distinction: New York may go through various periods of moralism. We may judge reckless sex one way or another, but we will never stop gossiping about it. That's what makes us New York!
That ape doesn't even look like he wants to be near these cats. It's like he's on Valium and the veterinarians just draped his arms around these unknowing cubs. And forget Lt. Dangle in the middle -- the leopards want no part of his cold, soulless hug. They want their mom! (Who, it should be noted, is probably dead.)
So please, World, please stop staging these Interspecies Friendships for publicity, and only let us know when it is true, bizarre animal love. Like this dog and a duck = BeFri's for life! And maybe more? Hopefully... Source: Best Week Ever | 2 Apr 2009 | 10:16 pm
No sooner had we posted our story about Twilight star Taylor Lautner's tragic affliction with restless leg syndrome a couple hours ago, than a kindly publicist from Twist magazine e-mailed us saying that it was actually them who'd broken the story, and not Star. She asked if we'd post this scan of their feature, and we were only too happy to oblige. Sadly, not only does Taylor's RLS make him a difficult car passenger to travel with, it also makes him awkward on dates and prone to having uncompassionate magazine-page designers draw "shake" lines near his legs.
In a 50-page essay to be presented tomorrow at the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, Phillip Swagel — the former assistant Treasury secretary for Economic Policy and, it seems, the Jonathan to Henry Paulson's Jack Donaghy — presents a passionate defense of his boss's actions during the TARP negotiations with Congress this past fall. In it, we learn that football was "the metaphor of choice at the Paulson Treasury," as well as a few other things. Paulson "truly meant to acquire troubled assets" when he asked Congress for a $700 billion fund, Swagel says, but he changed his mind when markets deteriorated and it became necessary to provide a capital injection. "It was too easy — and wrong — to believe that Secretary Paulson was looking out for the interests of Wall Street rather than the nation as he saw it, or of one particular firm," Swagel wrote. He went on:
“Paulson knew that canceling the auctions would make it seem as if he was switching course yet again … He was willing to take the criticism … to keep the resources available for more capital injections.”
Don't you see? He sacrificed himself to save us all!
And Swagel is the only one who appreciates it:
So far as I know, I provided the only detailed public defense of the Paulson plan that addressed criticisms from academic economists and market participants in a September 25, 2008 posting on Greg Mankiw’s blog.
PLASTIC SURGERY
• Reloxin (or Dysport in Europe and South America) is a new wrinkle filler that supposedly works more quickly and lasts longer than Botox. The Food and Drug Administration will vote on its approval by the end of the year. [NYT]
• In the second article in the Times about Reloxin today, we learn the injectable is great for doctors and patients in These Times because it's less expensive than Botox. [NYT]
FRAGRANCE
• Diesel signed hip-hop artist Common as the face of its new fragrance Only the Brave. He'll perform in Spain, Los Angeles, Paris, and New York to celebrate the scent, which comes in a bottle that's in the shape of founder Renzo Rosso's fist. What a combo. [WWD]
HAIR
• Look closely at Julia Roberts, and you'll notice she has pink streaks in her hair. [Allure/Daily Beauty Reporter]
• Hairstylist Andy LeCompte blogged that he performed Brazilian blowouts on Lindsay Lohan, Ashley Tisdale, and Nicole Richie. The process lasts for three months and gives hair the "wash-and-wear" look without actually styling it after it dries. [Glamour/Girls in the Beauty Dept.]
Doubtful! Still, we applaud CinemaBlend's Katie Rich for floating a theory positing that Fox might be able to recover some of Wolverine's lost box-office receipts (thanks to the pirated copies floating around the BitTorrent sites since yesterday) if they're able to attach an exclusive trailer for James Cameron's Most! Anticipated! Movie! Ever! to it. After all, when was the last time anyone went to the cinema just to watch the trailers? [Cinema Blend via Hollywood Elsewhere]
Tulipa triumph "Hillary Clinton" in all its glory.
Hillary Clinton kept out of the spotlight during the G20 summit as Tim Geithner served as President Obama's "most important lieutenant," but if she ever needed a reminder of where she really stands on the world stage, she got one from the Dutch foreign minister, who gave her a large bouquet of Hillary Clinton tulips. We never knew this, but in 1994 the Dutch were apparently so enamored with Clinton that they created and named a new strain of tulip just for her. Geithner has a ways to go until he gets one of those. [NYT]
As a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, I've grown accustomed to giving up on the baseball season in the month of April, but nothing can accelerate that process quicker than your team losing an exhibition game to MANATEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE:
Granted, the Pirates started a split-squad assortment of minor leaguers, but they're still professional baseball players and they not only lost to a college, and not only lost to a community college, they lost to a community college that shares its name with a docile sea cow.
Less than a week after I renewed by MLB Extra Innings package on Directv too... Hopefully they'll broadcast some frickin' Manatee games so I have something hopeful to root for. Source: Best Week Ever | 2 Apr 2009 | 9:15 pm
Front Page: Will Ferrell's 'Bush' deemed a special event -- Few surprises came out of a Thursday meeting of the Tony Awards Administration Committee, which convened to decide questions of Tony category eligibility for a recent batch of Broadway shows.
One of the charms of being a sports fan in this wonderful city of ours is the expectation that our teams should win the pennant every season: We spend the most money, after all! The Yankees, for example, didn't spend $423.5 million on three players this off-season so they could finish third again. So who in the American League is most likely to swipe the pennant from its rightful owner (us)? Here’s a team-by-team look at the American League, with odds from Bodog.com on each team’s likelihood of stealing the pennant … and whether it’s worth putting down $100 on that happening.
But first, the home team's chances.
New York Yankees: 5 to 2. Yes, they added CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, but the losses of Mike Mussina (twenty wins) and Bobby Abreu (.296, 100 RBI) aren’t insignificant. Still, the rotation is much improved over last season’s if it’s healthy. A-Rod’s return in mid-May will be crucial, and not just because he’ll need to make up for six weeks of Cody Ransom: If the third-baseman struggles early, Yankee fans will turn on him faster than you can say “boli.” Good bet? No.
Boston Red Sox: 3 to 1. Losing Manny Ramirez at the trading deadline would have stung a lot more if the Sox didn’t have two young players — Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis — developing into bona fide stars. (This fact should also be very concerning to Yankees fans, particularly as we watch our own onetime stud Robinson Cano get progressively worse.) They got within one game of the World Series in 2008 even though their best player (David Ortiz) and best pitcher (Josh Beckett) had injuries. The front end of the rotation is terrific, though they can’t realistically expect too much out of John Smoltz when he joins the team in June. Good bet? Yes.
Los Angeles Angels: 11 to 2. Their bullpen is deep, so losing their closer, Francisco Rodriguez, won’t hurt them as much as it would most other teams. And while we in New York are worrying about how Mark Teixeira will replace Bobby Abreu in the Yankees lineup, Abreu will be replacing Texeira in the Angels’ batting order. It’s a closer comparison than you might think, at least offensively, especially considering that Abreu will be on a mission to prove he’s worth more than the lowball $5 million in base salary the Angels gave him in a one-year contract. Good bet? Yes.
Cleveland Indians: 8 to 1. Their key off-season signings were Carl Pavano and Kerry Wood, so apparently passing a physical isn’t required to sign a contract with the Indians. Cliff Lee just had the season of his life, and won two more games in 2008 than the Tribe’s other four projected starters combined. That said, if Fausto Carmona can resemble the pitcher he was in 2007, the Indians will have a formidable top of the rotation. Good bet? No.
Tampa Bay Rays: 8 to 1. Quite possibly the fourth-best team in the American League, the Rays are just in the wrong division. Because while last year’s AL champs rely on continued, incremental improvement from their young players, a team like the Yankees can totally revamp their roster — and rotation in particular — in a single off-season. Like the Red Sox, though, their pitching staff will be reinforced mid-season when David Price, who’ll start the year in the minors, is called up. Good bet? Yes.
Detroit Tigers: 10 to 1. We’ll spare you the bailout jokes, but no team in the majors was more disappointing last year than 74-win Detroit. Besides some positioning changes (like deciding to switch Brandon Inge from catcher to third base), the Tigers’ biggest moves of the off-season were cutting ties with Gary Sheffield (despite the fact that he's only one home run shy of 500) and replacing poor-fielding shortstop Edgar Renteria with Adam Everett. On paper, they could steal the wide-open Central, but they do have a long way to go from last year. Good bet? Yes.
Minnesota Twins: 14 to 1. The AL Central may not be the best division in baseball, but it could be the most competitive. The Twins might be deep enough to rise above the field: Four of their five starters won ten games last year, and the only one who didn’t was Francisco Liriano, who was coming off Tommy John Surgery. The catch (pardon the pun)? If backstop Joe Mauer doesn’t return promptly (and fully healed) from off-season surgery to repair kidney blockage, then all bets are off. Good bet? Yes.
Chicago White Sox: 15 to 1. The back end of the rotation could be a problem for last year’s division champs, and in a tight race, penciling in Bartolo Colon on anything but an emergency basis could be the difference. Good bet? No.
Oakland Athletics: 16 to 1. The A’s season comes down to three questions, basically: Will Matt Holiday’s numbers remotely hold up when he’s not playing 81 games a year a mile above sea level in a ginormous field? Will freedom from New York — and the ability to grow even more crazy facial hair — make Jason Giambi any better? And can the A’s get by without a legitimate closer? The answers: probably, probably not, and no. Good bet? No.
Texas Rangers: 25 to 1. As usual, they don’t have much pitching — Kevin Milwood, their ace, had an ERA over five last year — so they’ll need to hit their way to victories. Unfortunately, Josh Hamilton’s career seems to have peaked during last year’s Home Run Derby (and in the second round, no less). Still, the top half of their lineup is loaded, and after the Angels, the AL West is weak. Good bet? Yes.
Kansas City Royals: 40 to 1. The Royals added $25 million in payroll, which in Royals dollars is a fortune. They’ve got decent enough pitching (Zach Greinke, Gil Meche), and took a chance on some mid-level players (Coco Crisp, Mike Jacobs) through trades. It’s worth noting, though, that they are the new employer of Yankee-fan scapegoat Kyle Farnsworth, who will set up for closer Joakim Soria. Good bet? Yes.
Seattle Mariners: 40 to 1. Ken Griffey Jr. returning to Seattle is a nice enough story, but in terms of actual baseball value, it won’t help nearly enough. The one ray of hope for the Mariners is that starting pitchers Felix Hernandez and Eric Bedard couldn’t possibly have worse years than they did last year. Good bet? No.
Toronto Blue Jays: 40 to 1. They’ll win more games than Baltimore simply because they have Roy Halliday. But they’re in a brutal division, and pretty much stayed pat this off-season (not to mention losing eighteen-game winner A.J. Burnett to none other than the Yankees). They probably won’t bite, but since the Jays are more than one player away from competing, teams will at least inquire about Halliday at the trade deadline, right? Good bet? No.
Baltimore Orioles: 70 to 1. They’re the longest shot in the American League, and for good reason. Particularly after ace Jeremy Guthrie (10–12 last year), the rotation is suspect, to say the least. Their other four projected starters combined for seventeen wins last year, six of which were in Japan, courtesy of newcomer Koji Uehara. (Another starter, Mark Hendrickson, has 381 career points in the NBA, for what it’s worth.) If there’s a bright side, it’s that the O’s have some young talent worth watching, particularly in the outfield with Nick Markakis and Adam Jones. Good bet? No.
Division Predictions American League East:
1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees (Wild Card)
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Baltimore Orioles
American League Central:
1. Minnesota Twins
2. Chicago White Sox
3 Cleveland Indians
4. Detroit Tigers
5. Kansas City Royals
American League West:
1. Los Angeles Angels
2. Texas Rangers
3. Oakland Athletics
4. Seattle Mariners
Playoffs
Los Angeles Angels over New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox over Minnesota Twins
ALCS
Los Angeles Angels over Boston Red Sox
Tomorrow: Who’s Going to Steal Our National League Pennant?
Perhaps one of our more eagle-eyed readers will be able to figure out what we cannot: Exactly what part of this just-released trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno — which ostensibly requires you to be 18 to view it — necessitates a red band? A guy says "shit," and there's a part with dildos being used for martial-arts purposes, but aren't these clips generally supposed to be way racier? This seems to be mostly slapstick. And for the most button-pushing comedy of 2009, a movie that purportedly features tons of gay sex, including a scene in which a baby is somehow involved, shouldn't there have been a lot more R-rated footage that could've been included here? This isn't even as objectionable as the trailer for I Love You, Man! We'd certainly hate to think the marketers behind a film about making homophobes uncomfortable were worried about making homophobes uncomfortable.
Obama had some tough conversations with France and Germany on the economy today, but he got along with everyone else. Especially Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan. What a card that guy is. They had such a good time that they took this picture together to remember the occasion. The reason Obama is laughing so hard is that none of them are wearing pants.
French actress Marion Cotillard, seen here in February 2009, is in talks for a role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the next film by Christopher Nolan, the British writer/director who made the last two... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 2 Apr 2009 | 9:02 pm
Sure, the following British PSA is supposed to be against domestic abuse. But we have to hand it to the director... of all the actresses to choose to get the sh*t kicked out of them, you couldn't have chosen a more deserving one over Keira Knightley. She's owed at least this much for the cinematic miscarriage that was Domino.
We got up early this morning and brought our video camera to Topshop so you didn't have to. We talked to eager shoppers lined up outside and Topshop owner Sir Philip Green, plus we got some fabulous footage of Kate Moss dancing and preening. Because if ever there was an occasion for dancing this was it! Watch all the action in the video.
Good lord. At the risk of confirming, in a literal way, that we'reon Asher Roth's jock, we present his shamelessly promotional and yet purely hilarious version of the legendary D’Angelo video for "How Does It Feel," which, since it was released in 2000, has resulted in thousands of virgin births by women who have witnessed it. [Pigeons and Planes]
Front Page: 'Othello' nabs six noms; 'Fela!' scores five -- The Theater for a New Audience production of "Othello" and Fela Kuti bio-tuner "Fela!" led the nominations for Off Broadway's Lucille Lortel Awards, with "Othello" nabbing six noms and "Fela!" scoring five.
So, the "Murray Hill Song" has been bouncing around the Internet for a while now, but today D.J. Lubel posted his music-video version. Locales that are key to the neighborhood, like Joshua Tree, Tenjune, Windsor Terrace, and Chase bank all make appearances, as do many fired Lehman bankers. We won't reprint all of the lyrics, but here's a sampling:
We all go to temple but we worship the dough
We've got more Japs than all of Tokyo
Pour me a Grey Goose and Red Bull
As I take this Adderal pill
Tonight I'm blacking out up on Murray Hill
See, it's funny because we didn't write it. Enjoy!
So, you've gotten an e-mail from Prince Henry of Nigeria asking for a loan to help save the royal family. What if your life was so boring that you gave it to him? In "Urgent Request," one of the three short stories in Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim's new book The Eternal Smile, a timid young office worker does just that. Kim, author of Same Difference, and Yang, National Book Award nominee for American Born Chinese, team up on three stories of secret identities and self-deception.
Vulture's Comics Page is proud to present an exclusive twelve-page excerpt from Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim's book The Eternal Smile, out this month from First Second.
Turns out it's not easy being Madonna. Unless you fled to Siberia back when your stock portfolio went up in flames, you may know that the Material Mom's attempts to acquire another Malawian orphan for her collection have engendered an aggressive public outcry, complete with breathless accusations that she’s cutting red tape with her celebrity status and/or buying children for sport. This is hardly surprising: For the last 25 years, all of Madonna's actions have elicited pearl-clutching and outrage from someone, somewhere — the woman is the queen of using shock value to stay relevant. That she's now being asked to defend her every impulse, even expanding her family, is a pickle entirely of her own making: the perils of being so good at The Madonna Business that the public now believes everything Madonna does is business.
Madge, of course, has long been renowned as a master marketer who knows exactly how to springboard from one image to the next before people get bored and stop talking. Just when we got sick of the cone boobs and heavy petting of her "Justify My Love" years, she whipped out henna tattoos and acoustic guitar sets; when the faux-English accent and her sudden closeness with poncey sophisticate Gwyneth Paltrow became wearying, Madonna returned to crotchtacular gyrations in a leotard with greased up male dancers (and, occasionally, Justin Timberlake). Girlfriend loves attention — there is a reason she rarely wears pants anymore — and she is not afraid to ask for it. From the no-holds-barred documentary Truth or Dare to her quasi-porny book Sex, the Material One has never shied away from inviting us into her private affairs. Every step of her personal journey over the last 25 years seemed to mirror something in her professional life, making it virtually impossible to separate the two. We suspect that's exactly how she planned it — after all, you don't make out with a faux-Christ in a music video and then perform on a crucifix wearing a crown of thorns because you want people to seek your softer side. And if you think she didn’t realize that dating a hunky twentysomething named “Jesus” would result in thousands of pun-y Jesus/Madonna headlines, we’d love to tour the hole in the ground you’ve been renting.
But what makes Madonna a genius — her appetite for controversy; her skill at reinvention and self-promotion — is exactly what's now biting her in the obsessively toned ass. Regularly exposing all facets (and we do mean all) of herself over the years essentially trained us to look for a publicity ploy or ulterior motive in every move she makes. We're so accustomed to her personal life conveniently dovetailing with her professional aspirations that we jump straight to being suspicious of, say, why a 50-year-old woman fresh off dumping a twentysomething model — after a cranky divorce and an allegedly messy affair with A-Rod — would turn around and decide it's high time to bring another moppet into the fray.
In Madonna’s defense, she hasn’t whined to People that she’s terribly misunderstood, or that she can’t believe people ascribe to her anything but the most saintly of intentions. Instead, she’s tooling around Malawi in a $2,800 Chanel tracksuit, watching the column inches grow simply by virtue of doing whatever she wants, for whatever reason she wants. Was that her main goal in the first place? Is this, as we once theorized, an attempt to piggyback on the mad press Angelina and Brad have gotten over the years? Is it a mid-life crisis? Is she a woman with genuine maternal impulses who's just trying to help a child in dire circumstances? Or — most likely — is it a potent cocktail of all of the above? Nobody but Madonna can answer that question, but the fact reminds us that she’s the one who conditioned us to ask it. If nobody believes her answers, well, that's kind of on her.
While watching the trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen'sBruno, I experienced a brief moment of hesitation right at the start -- what if Cohen gives way to an inevitable letdown? What if the humor hasn't aged well in the past five years? What if the film is forced to pander more to the mainstream than Borat? What if Cohen pulls his punches for fear of a wider audience's backlash against his faux-gay shenanigans?
Twenty seconds in, I was laughing, and all faith was quickly restored. (NSFW):
Madonna, who — for all you say about her — has done a lot to raise awareness and money for the plight of Malawian orphans, has earned the backing of that country's government in her bid to adopt 4-year-old Mercy James.
"Madonna has been good to us, she is supporting over 25,000 orphans in this country and she has proved that she can take care of David," Malawian Information Minister Patricia Kaliati told Reuters. "Very few rich and famous people can take time to fly all the way to Malawi to support our children [and] we support her adoption process."
Though that's technically not quite true (many rich and famous people can take time to fly to Malawi), it's great news to Madonna, who can expect a final court ruling tomorrow on whether she can take little Mercy home with her. Upper West Side parents, we're sorry, but it looks like there's going to be one less spot in private pre-K this year.
Front Page: Projects include 'Excellent Adventure,' 'Healing' -- The veil has finally been lifted on the Oprah Winfrey Network's inaugural programming slate.
Tagline: "It was the night of their lives. If only they could remember."
Translation: Vegas, baby, Vegas!
The Verdict: After spending the last few years helming comedic misfires like School for Scoundrels and Starsky & Hutch, director Todd Phillips is returning to the male-bonding-gone-wild territory that established him as a (minor) force to be reckoned with in Hollywood in the late nineties and early aughts. And seeing that his latest — which stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms — seems to have a lot in common with his two biggest hits (Old School and Road Trip), we have mildly high expectations for this Vegas romp. Thematically, this picture looks as if it shares a lot of the same DNA as Peter Berg's deliciously twisted Very Bad Things, only this one seems more interested in delivering belly laughs than it does with probing the darkest recesses of bachelor-party insanity. Which, for our money, is definitely a good thing.
Last night was the best American Idol episode of all time. Or at least the only one in years that we've watched almost in its entirety, because we had to see Lady Gaga perform. She wore what a press release we just received calls a "dress" by Benjamin Cho (custom, obvs). We'd say it's more of an ice-skating costume, but no matter what you call it, we kind of loved it since it was so shiny and literal with the star and all. Also of note: The paste-on eye covering she wore that unzipped to reveal her left eyeball. It looked so uncomfortable yet so fabulous. Just like everything she wears!
A view of Rome's Palazzo Montecitorio, which is is the seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Rome bowed to the 21st century Thursday, kicking off a three-day show of modern and sometimes unsettling... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 2 Apr 2009 | 7:35 pm
We're just one day away from the Final Four of 90s Movie Madness, and the field is more wide open than ever; #2 seed White Men Can't Jump tragically fell to Scream, but #1 seeded Billy Madison escaped with a 52-48% victory over Singles to sneak into the Elite Eight, joining fellow #1 seeds American Pie and tournament juggernaut Clueless, as well as Wayne's World (which has won all its matches with more than 80% of the vote), Home Alone (knocked out three 90s box office mainstays), the underdog Scream, and a triumphant Reality Bites, which looks to become the first film to loosen Clueless' dominant grip on the tournament thusfar. Maybe.
Vote now after the jump -- Final Four tomorrow!
Updated Brackets C and D and the polls are after the jump -- remember, the question isn't "Which movie is better," it's "Which movie is more 90s?"
You have until noon on Friday -- resume your arguments in the comments.
(Poll embeds via XversusY.com) Source: Best Week Ever | 2 Apr 2009 | 7:15 pm
The City's Allie Crandell is working hard! For her latest gig she models spring outerwear on Bluefly.com. Smiling with her mouth and her eyes, she pretends to ride a bicycle in really high heels. She also discusses her weight fluctuations on video and remarkably doesn't shed a tear. [Fly Paper/Bluefly]
Looking for a costly, creative and yet completely necessary way of ensuring your children will hate you for the rest of their damaged lives? Well have we got the answer for you! Tableheads.
Tableheads:
Tableheads. Human heads camouflaged as something completely ordinary -- such as the above pineapple, which has a subtle, tropical Charles Manson-vibe to it -- who then talk to you at parties. According to their pretty self-explanatory website, Tableheads.com:
This is not your normal entertainment. When something on the table talks back to you..... it's not normal....but it's what we do!
You know, it's funny. That same adage could be applied to so many other things we love (Snuff Films: "This is not your normal entertainment. When something in a porn is murdered..... it's not normal....but it's what we do!"), and yet why, oh WHY, do we want to attack these various Tableheads with the nearest blunt marble object?
Imagine the looks on your co-workers faces when they go to get their morning 9 am cup o' joe, only to find their local child in brownface asking them if they saw the latest 30 Rock:
(Many more NSFL Tableheads await you...)
"How about those Steelers? Sir, wait! Wait! I'm a hired actor!" -- Tableheads.com
And nothing adds a little spice to the Fam Reuny like a Juilliard graduate with her head coming out of a tablehole, the smile plastered across her face only further proving that she's just in it buy a used Honda to get to and fro auditions:
I can't even tell if Bananahead is a man or a woman:
But I can tell that if they ever make a Pan's Labyrinth remake, this androgynous nightmare should cast as the the f**king lead.
Funny enough, these fruit heads at least make sense (Wanna spice up the conference? Wait til half the attendees sh*t their pants!). But can someone please tell me in what capacity would anyone need to hire LEMONGRASS HEAD:
Maybe they just hired him to keep Parsley Head a little company:
If I ever decide to kill myself, I'm hiring every single available Tablehead to watch. Trust me, watching them struggle to dial 911 with their faces will be my ultimate joke on this planet.
(Found via Intern Erin Winterbottom. Follow her on Twitter!) Source: Best Week Ever | 2 Apr 2009 | 6:58 pm
Front Page: Network leads the pack with 42 nominations -- ESPN leads all networks with 42 nominations for the upcoming Sports Emmy Awards, while the Beijing Olympics was the most recognized program, as NBC's coverage received 12 mentions.
In recent seasons, the male-modeling industry has become overrun with whippet-thin boys with gauges in their ears and tattoo sleeves. But Russian model Vladimir Ivanov is anything but, proving the industry still craves male models who look like men instead of angst-filled teens. This 20-year-old stud signed with Wilhelmina Models in 2008 and got work immediately, booking a spread in Numéro Homme's fall issue. In his debut runway season for fall 2009, Ivanov snagged spots in Bottega Veneta and D&G. But his most impressive work to date in our book is the Calvin Klein Jeans commercial shot by Steven Meisel, in which he appears shirtless and gyrating with some sweaty topless lady models on a basement couch. So all those emaciated male models might want to hit the gym soon. Vladimir could be at the forefront of a new wave of manlies.
AP - "The Last Divine Office: Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries" (BlueBridge, $24.95, 304 pages), by Geoffrey Moorhouse: When King Henry VIII switched wives and religions, life changed markedly for his subjects.
This is a recap of Lost Season 5 Episode 11 entitled "What Happened Happened", originally airing April 1, 2009. It contains more spoilers than a "Fast Cars That Flip Easily" Convention (had a week off, I'm rusty on these intros)BABY GENIUSES 3: SUPERDOOPER BABIESKate opens the episode conversing with a suddenly congenial Roger Linus, who approaches her in a friendly manner even before learning of his son's gunshot wound and later exhibits genuine remorse for his son; apparently Lost has chosen to make Roger alternately likable and a-holish depending on what's convenient for the episode, not unlike Big from Sex and the City. While recounting the death of Ben's mother, Roger continues the streak of Dharma employees uttering sentences that are more meaningful to the Oceanics than they realize:
Episode 8 - Horace remarks to Sawyer "Is three years really enough to get over somebody?" Close up on Sawyer for his DUN-DUN! moment.
Last Night's Ep - Roger remarks to Kate "A boy just needs his mother." Close up on Kate for her DUN DUN! moment.
Next Week's Ep - Radzinsky remarks to Sayid "I guess if you've killed a whole bunch of people from a powerful rival businessman's syndicate, you'd be a total dumbass if you went to bed with a shady, overly-aggressive women who identifies herself as a 'professional.'" Close up on Sayid...
We finally received confirmation that Kate dropped Aaron off with Claire's mother before bolting for the island, affirming yet another one of my predictions (which is bizarre, because I usually predict Lost with a 'Mel Kiper Mock Draft' level of instantaneous inaccuracy).
Ben didn't draw and quarter Aaron after all, and actually wasn't even involved in Kate's change of heart unless he hired the creepy Claire-ish woman who was 'helping' Aaron in the grocery store -- the camera did deliberately stay on that woman's face long enough for me to believe this isn't the last we've seen of her, and I don't think that's my Lostparanoia talking. I'll leave it to EW to determine whether or not the camera stayed on her for exactly 4.815162342 seconds.
WELCOME BACK TO THE LAND OF THE LOST. LIVING, I MEAN. CRAP, CAN WE TAKE THAT AGAIN?Most of this season's cut-to-end-titler shots -- an addictive staple of this show since day one -- have been largely unspectacular moments that ended up being quickly diffused in the following week's episode; I even saw the 'Sayid shooting kid-Ben' thing in last week's ep coming from miles away, and I'm not saying that in a "your a-hole friends coming out of Sixth Sense" voice. This week's ending, though, opened up some monumental implications.
First off, Locke had a touch of badassery in his voice when he delivered the line "Welcome back to the land of the living." We've never really seen a devious, vengeful Locke before -- he's ranged from venerable to inexplicably independent to sacrificial to dead, but we've rarely seen him take pleasure in anything, let alone savor an opportunity to give Ben a taste of his own Benison (a pun on 'medicine,' not 'venison,' but I guess it could be that too).
Second, and more importantly - what the hell does the line mean? Perhaps whatever Alpert did in the past with kid Ben brought him back to life through time-disruption, or shot him through to the future to keep him from ever dying, or maybe he and Locke were both already dead when he strangled Locke with the wire, or maybe when either of them die they just end up back on the island in the present. Whichever it is (I'm guessing none of the above) it's at least a step up from the "Hi...I'm Ben" non-twist two weeks ago. The "Next Week On Lost" teaser showed a lot of Ben happenings, too, which is as much a guaranteed solid episode as the presence of Darryl guarantees a good Office episode.
MILEBBOTT & HURLSTELLO As much as I enjoy Hurley (and Jorge Garcia's portrayal in particular - he better be in a lot of stuff once Lost goes off the air), a friend of mine pointed out a few weeks ago how the Hurley "asking what the audience is asking" lines have evolved from being weekly humorous distractions into more substantial self-awareness that sort of undermines the producers' commitment to their ridiculous plot. Last night's episode featured two full scenes of Hurley and Miles discussing how wacky their time travel situation is, with Hurley on more than one occasion speaking on behalf of the viewers "I still don't get it." The only people watching Lost at this point are the hardcore fans -- I doubt too many viewers are randomly jumping in and loving it -- so why bother suddenly upping the self-aware factor when we've already shown we're willing to accept (and in fact, are drawn in by) the show's deliberate absurdity?
That's not to say that a weekly "Taller Ghost Walt" line isn't a welcome haven, but why take four seasons to get us on board with ridiculous plot twists then suddenly second-guess yourselves and devote 10% of each episode to a cathartic "let's take a moment to acknowledge our ridiculousness." Also, why isn't Faraday explaining their time travel? Is he off shooting Inglorious Basterds?
LOSTDS AND ENDS-- When Aaron told Kate he was thirsty and needed "milk," I said to myself, "No frickin' toddler wants to voluntarily drink milk," but when he immediately wanted a juice box instead, I was like, "Ok, Lost knows how to write children, I'll back off a bit." Also, the ABC.com player is sponsored by Florida Orange Juice -- is Lost heading down the Top Chef slippery slope of product shots??
-- Jack is now far and away the bitchiest character on the show. Kate and Sawyer actually preferred the option of risking their lives to bring kid Ben to the Others on the chance that they might be able to help him rather than spending more than two minutes trying to convince Jack to perform the surgery. I don't blame them either, and I actually credit Lost for defying tv conventions and making the "normative main character white guy" the most cowardly and least likable character on the show.
-- Part of me wanted to hear Jack say "No, I'm gonna let Ben die 'cause I want to see how the producers get out of this one."
-- Roger Linus and Tom Petty, side-by-side:
-- Last but not least, last night reaffirmed perhaps my favorite aspect about the writing on Lost - Horace, like almost all the side characters on the show, is actually a competent individual who makes well-informed decisions and figures things out and justifies his status as the Dharma leader. On any other show (24, for example), Horace would be a hopeless egotistical idiot who would keep making wrong or evil decisions that it'd be up to the main characters to fix. Having side characters that are equally or sometimes of superior intelligence to the established characters makes everything that this show does feel so much more earned.
Episode thoughts, theories, questions, predictions, explanations of Locke's final line, and more demands for a recap of last week's episode -- leave 'em all in the comments! Source: Best Week Ever | 2 Apr 2009 | 5:40 pm
Anna Wintour at the gala last year, when people had money!
The annual Costume Institute Gala (or Oscars of the East Coast) is just four weeks away, but many fashion houses that usually sponsor entire tables are too broke to do so this year. The way seating works at this thing is Anna Wintour and Vogue invite houses to purchase tables for anywhere from $75,000 to $250,000 with the money going to charity. But this year Burberry, Roberto Cavalli, Versace, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alberta Ferretti said no because they don't want to empty their already mostly empty piggy banks. Instead, those who have a few grand to kick around are purchasing individual seats for $5,000 to $15,000. It's a budget gala this year, folks! And there's nothing A-Dubs can do about it.
But seating isn't the only expense houses must shoulder. Each label must bring at least one celebrity who will wear its clothes, get photographed in them, and lend their fabulousness to the brand. And celebrities aren't exactly recession-friendly. They must be flown to New York, put up somewhere fancy, have a hired car ferry them about, and get their hair and makeup done. Their entourages require similar treatment.
Anna might be upset that many labels are being so cheap this year, but that's where her designer co-chair comes in! That person has no choice but to do what they're supposed to do, economic downturn or not. Marc Jacobs is this year's co-chair, so LVMH (which owns 96 percent of Jacobs's company) will probably buy tables for some of its labels, like Donna Karan, Celine, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, and Givenchy. A rep for Ralph Lauren told Fashion Week Daily they'll surely support the event, but they're not sure "at what level." Calvin Klein, Tod's, and Puig Fashion Group will also sponsor a table. It's curious about Puig — Anna was upset they let Olivier Theyskens go from Nina Ricci, so will they use this as an opportunity to win back her favor? Nothing says "we care" like lots of money! We wonder if the gala will cut back in other ways. Like trade a waitstaff and silver for a buffet and plastic cutlery.
By now, you've already read your favorite Real Housewives of NY recaps at various other websites. Still, I felt there was something... unique... that remained to be said about the reigning T.W.A. Teas of reality television. So, I did what any daughter of an overbearing albeit hilarious Jewish mother would do. I called her up to get her thoughts on what was easily the best episode of the season. So before I weigh in on why Bethenny is the sh*t, and how basically everyone else is a reanimated corpse nightmare, let's get mother's reaction. Live from Miami, she begins with a request:
First of all, on your blog, you should do a side-by-side of Kelly next to Mr. Ed. What a horseface.
Moving on:
What about the f*ckin' Mario? Who you barely saw throughout the two years of the show, all of a sudden is in the face of Jill? What did Jill even do? How obnoxious. Over a f*ckin' tennis game? Am I wrong? It was stupid. Finally, here, he's given a moment he can shine. And this is what he does? Look at Jill's husband, who is a gentleman. He stood on the side, didn't get involved.
Kelly and Bethenny? Despicable. I feel so bad for Bethenny. Kelly is literally one of the dumbest. Just a low life. She's trash! Really in my life, I never heard somebody talk like her. She's sick. She should have said right away "I don't get involved like that" with the charity, but then you call a meeting to spew such vile at someone? And Luanne - she tells Luanne she was 30 minutes late. This woman wrote a book on etiquette and she just sits there!
And Ramona, with those googly eyes. You know, for the first time Simon and Alex really were a lady and a gentleman. And they have a point with the crosses. What Christian gossips with these bitches?
Nene has the manners of the Queen of England compared to these women. She has class. Not one of them, including the Contessa, has any class on this show.
And so it is written. What do I think? Why thank you for asking. I think Kelly Bensimmon is one of those rare breeds of human being who has confused the attention people pay her for her looks with the notion that she's actually intelligent. Which she isn't. Not only is she about as dumb as it gets (with money? Maybe the worst combination), but also, she has a goat mouth.
We really have to hand it to Bethenny for exhibiting the restraint that she did. I would have flipped a car over to save an invisi-baby out of anger. And Ramona and her husband? DESERVE EACH OTHER. The end.
(PS Watching this show is the only way I remember to feel good about myself.) Source: Best Week Ever | 2 Apr 2009 | 4:37 pm
Forget the irritating 30-second ad slots that break up TV shows -- a new generation of interactive advertisements is on the way. Ad-funding is already key on hugely popular social networks such as Bebo... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 2 Apr 2009 | 4:19 pm
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Reuters - First Lady Michelle Obama has wowed fashion writers with her casual style, use of color and her penchant for the sleeveless dress at the G20 summit in the British capital this week. Source: Yahoo! News: Fashion News | 2 Apr 2009 | 3:37 pm
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"Listen, why don't you come back with me to my place... I've got some Moet, a hot tub... bathing suit? You. You really think you need a bathing suit? I mean. I guess we could stop at... Target or something on the way? You're hungry? No problem! I've got like (whispered seductively) a dozen pounds of raw beef in my walk-in freezer. Cool? Alright, let's get outta here." Source: Best Week Ever | 2 Apr 2009 | 3:12 pm
No Doubt, Dave Matthews Band, All-American Rejects, Flo Rida, Black Eyed Peas and Jennifer Hudson are among the bands and musicians scheduled to appear on NBC's "Today" as part of the morning television show's 14th annual summer concert series.
Sometimes, a series manages to wrap up in a satisfying, sensible manner. And then, there are finales like these Source: FOXNews.com | 2 Apr 2009 | 2:40 pm
Lady GaGa unseats Flo Rida at the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 this week, becoming the first artist in nearly ten years to reach the top of the chart with her first two chart entries.
Yes, Ive seen "X Men Origins: Wolverine." It wasnt at a screening, either. I found a work in progress print of it, 95% completed, on the internet last night. Let's hope by now it's gone. Source: FOXNews.com | 2 Apr 2009 | 2:02 pm
As if New Jersey needed more to boast about than the honor of being the largest chemical producer in the nation, the Garden State will soon be able to claim Britney Spears as a resident Source: FOXNews.com | 2 Apr 2009 | 1:54 pm
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Kate opens the episode conversing with a suddenly congenial Roger Linus, who approaches her in a friendly manner even before learning of his son's gunshot wound and later exhibits genuine remorse for his son; apparently Lost has chosen to make Roger alternately likable and a-holish depending on what's convenient for the episode, not unlike Big from Sex and the City. While recounting the death of Ben's mother, Roger continues the streak of Dharma employees uttering sentences that are more meaningful to the Oceanics than they realize:
Episode 8 - Horace remarks to Sawyer "Is three years really enough to get over somebody?" Close up on Sawyer for his DUN-DUN! moment.
Last Night's Ep - Roger remarks to Kate "A boy just needs his mother." Close up on Kate for her DUN DUN! moment.
Next Week's Ep - Radzinsky remarks to Sayid "I guess if you've killed a whole bunch of people from a powerful rival businessman's syndicate, you'd be a total dumbass if you went to bed with a shady, overly-aggressive women who identifies herself as a 'professional.'" Close up on Sayid...
We finally received confirmation that Kate dropped Aaron off with Claire's mother before bolting for the island, affirming yet another one of my predictions (which is bizarre, because I usually predict Lost with a 'Mel Kiper Mock Draft' level of instantaneous inaccuracy).
Ben didn't draw and quarter Aaron after all, and actually wasn't even involved in Kate's change of heart unless he hired the creepy Claire-ish woman who was 'helping' Aaron in the grocery store -- the camera did deliberately stay on that woman's face long enough for me to believe this isn't the last we've seen of her, and I don't think that's my Lostparanoia talking. I'll leave it to EW to determine whether or not the camera stayed on her for exactly 4.815162342 seconds.
Most of this season's cut-to-end-titler shots -- an addictive staple of this show since day one -- have been largely unspectacular moments that ended up being quickly diffused in the following week's episode; I even saw the 'Sayid shooting kid-Ben' thing in last week's ep coming from miles away, and I'm not saying that in a "your a-hole friends coming out of Sixth Sense" voice. This week's ending, though, opened up some monumental implications.
First off, Locke had a touch of badassery in his voice when he delivered the line "Welcome back to the land of the living." We've never really seen a devious, vengeful Locke before -- he's ranged from venerable to inexplicably independent to sacrificial to dead, but we've rarely seen him take pleasure in anything, let alone savor an opportunity to give Ben a taste of his own Benison (a pun on 'medicine,' not 'venison,' but I guess it could be that too).
Second, and more importantly - what the hell does the line mean? Perhaps whatever Alpert did in the past with kid Ben brought him back to life through time-disruption, or shot him through to the future to keep him from ever dying, or maybe he and Locke were both already dead when he strangled Locke with the wire, or maybe when either of them die they just end up back on the island in the present. Whichever it is (I'm guessing none of the above) it's at least a step up from the "Hi...I'm Ben" non-twist two weeks ago. The "Next Week On Lost" teaser showed a lot of Ben happenings, too, which is as much a guaranteed solid episode as the presence of Darryl guarantees a good Office episode.
MILEBBOTT & HURLSTELLO
As much as I enjoy Hurley (and Jorge Garcia's portrayal in particular - he better be in a lot of stuff once Lost goes off the air), a friend of mine pointed out a few weeks ago how the Hurley "asking what the audience is asking" lines have evolved from being weekly humorous distractions into more substantial self-awareness that sort of undermines the producers' commitment to their ridiculous plot. Last night's episode featured two full scenes of Hurley and Miles discussing how wacky their time travel situation is, with Hurley on more than one occasion speaking on behalf of the viewers "I still don't get it." The only people watching Lost at this point are the hardcore fans -- I doubt too many viewers are randomly jumping in and loving it -- so why bother suddenly upping the self-aware factor when we've already shown we're willing to accept (and in fact, are drawn in by) the show's deliberate absurdity?
That's not to say that a weekly "Taller Ghost Walt" line isn't a welcome haven, but why take four seasons to get us on board with ridiculous plot twists then suddenly second-guess yourselves and devote 10% of each episode to a cathartic "let's take a moment to acknowledge our ridiculousness." Also, why isn't Faraday explaining their time travel? Is he off shooting Inglorious Basterds?
LOSTDS AND ENDS
-- When Aaron told Kate he was thirsty and needed "milk," I said to myself, "No frickin' toddler wants to voluntarily drink milk," but when he immediately wanted a juice box instead, I was like, "Ok, Lost knows how to write children, I'll back off a bit." Also, the ABC.com player is sponsored by Florida Orange Juice -- is Lost heading down the Top Chef slippery slope of product shots??
-- Jack is now far and away the bitchiest character on the show. Kate and Sawyer actually preferred the option of risking their lives to bring kid Ben to the Others on the chance that they might be able to help him rather than spending more than two minutes trying to convince Jack to perform the surgery. I don't blame them either, and I actually credit Lost for defying tv conventions and making the "normative main character white guy" the most cowardly and least likable character on the show.
-- Part of me wanted to hear Jack say "No, I'm gonna let Ben die 'cause I want to see how the producers get out of this one."
-- Roger Linus and Tom Petty, side-by-side:
-- Last but not least, last night reaffirmed perhaps my favorite aspect about the writing on Lost - Horace, like almost all the side characters on the show, is actually a competent individual who makes well-informed decisions and figures things out and justifies his status as the Dharma leader. On any other show (24, for example), Horace would be a hopeless egotistical idiot who would keep making wrong or evil decisions that it'd be up to the main characters to fix. Having side characters that are equally or sometimes of superior intelligence to the established characters makes everything that this show does feel so much more earned.
Episode thoughts, theories, questions, predictions, explanations of Locke's final line, and more demands for a recap of last week's episode -- leave 'em all in the comments!
Kelly and Bethenny? Despicable. I feel so bad for Bethenny. Kelly is literally one of the dumbest. Just a low life. She's trash! Really in my life, I never heard somebody talk like her. She's sick. She should have said right away "I don't get involved like that" with the charity, but then you call a meeting to spew such vile at someone? And Luanne - she tells Luanne she was 30 minutes late. This woman wrote a book on etiquette and she just sits there!
And Ramona, with those googly eyes. You know, for the first time Simon and Alex really were a lady and a gentleman. And they have a point with the crosses. What Christian gossips with these bitches?
Nene has the manners of the Queen of England compared to these women. She has class. Not one of them, including the Contessa, has any class on this show.
