What we learned about Democratic State Senator Hiram Monserrate today by reading the combined press coverage of his continued wavering over whether to vote with Republicans or Democrats in Albany, which continues to hold up all political action in the Senate:
Hiram Monserrate is a "turncoat" whose rise to such power has "given many pause." He's turned New York into "a place where hypocrisy thrives" and "has been bouncing all over the place like a ricocheting bullet." His "increasingly wild gyrations have paralyzed Albany politics and stalled vital legislation for a week — and counting." This "incomprehensible," "violence-prone" guy "doesn't know whether he's coming or going" and speaks "in gobblydegook worthy of Woody Allen's Bananas." He is "seeking the highest bidder for pork projects, office space, staff, campaign cash — and even money to pay for lawyers to help with his legal troubles." Watching security footage of the alleged beating he gave his girlfriend (for which he was indicted) in December "causes the blood to boil" and may even incite "insanity." "Deep down inside," even he must know that his actions this week "are a betrayal of all the progressive values he has ever espoused."
If we were Hiram, we wouldn't just be worried about reelection. We'd be worried about making it through the weekend.
It's been a week now since Jay-Z declared Auto-Tune dead. How has the Auto-Tune community responded to the attack? Not so well. At a Black Eyed Peas album-release party last night, Will.I.Am took to rambling and name-checking obscure Edward Norton movies — "Death to synthesizers too. Death to guitar pick. Death to Smoochy. Death to Slurpees" — before attempting to downplay his affiliation: "I like it, but too much Auto-Tune is mad weird." Fergie agreed: "I remember coming into the studio one day and was like ... just please don't put Auto-Tune on every song I sing." (Apl.de.Ap was unfortunately unavailable for comment).
Elsewhere, The-Dream piped up in Auto-Tune's defense, but may have just confused things: "If you put Auto-Tune on his voice then you would never know how Al Green would sound. So it's not really killing [singing]. I think [Auto-Tune] is actually making us more aware of what singing is." Borderline-famous rapper Jim Jones made what would have been a salient point — "We're getting money off of Auto-Tune" — if only first-week sales of his latest album had cracked 50,000. And on The View (where else?), Blueprint 3 producer Kanye West tried to explain his affair with the tool: "I thought it'd be interesting, for me, being a true artist, to use a medium that people in my community didn't respect."
But what says the King of the Auto-Tune? T-Pain told MTV that his "album just got pushed up. It was gonna come out September next year. [The record label], they're making me come out November this year … I was gonna chill, because it was so many people that do what I do — now Jay-Z done dropped the 'Death of Auto-Tune' and it's time for me to come back." Badass, T-Pain. Badass.
Diane Von Furstenberg settled out of court yesterday with Jennifer Halchuk and Richard Lyle of Mercy of Canada for an undisclosed sum. Halchuk and Lyle had accused Von Fustenberg of improperly copying a floral cropped jacket from Mercy's spring 2008 line (which appeared in DVF's spring 2009 collection). The similarities between the two jackets were first noticed by a columnist for the National Post, a Canadian newspaper. DVF apologized and offered compensation.
“While this is an isolated incident for DVF, it is unfortunate that way too many others intentionally build businesses by stealing the work of other designers,” von Furstenberg said. As head of the CFDA, the designer is pushing for the federal Design Piracy Prohibition Act to pass, which does protect designers from copycats. Lest anyone accuse her of hypocrisy, it does appear that the designer herself is living by her own words: The offending jacket is being pulled from the collection and amends have been made.
Champagne-swilling Ronaldo Cristiano and Paris Hilton got down and dirty as they teamed up to celebrate the soccer ace's $131 million transfer. Source: FOXNews.com | 12 Jun 2009 | 3:10 pm
Brooks Barnes's much-anticipated piece for Sunday's Times on Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno upsetting gay groups is online early, and, since nobody's actually seen the movie yet, the controversy can basically be summed up by this quote from a GLAAD spokeswoman: "Some people in our community may like this movie, but many are not going to be O.K. with it." For the time being, slightly more troubling is the revelation that one of Brüno's most-talked-about scenes is as fake as Baron Cohen's stunt at the MTV Awards.
In one scene Brüno appears on a talk show holding a baby who is wearing a T-shirt reading "Gayby." The sequence flashes back to Brüno having sex in a hot tub while the baby sits nearby. (A person who worked on the movie noted that the flashback consists of still images that were Photoshopped — no baby was actually present — and that the sex is only strongly implied.)
So, even though ads for Brüno guarantee "real people, real situations," there was actually no baby physically present during the filming of the hot-tub sex scene. Outrageous! Universal tells the Times that "the vast majority of the people who appear with Mr. Baron Cohen had no idea they were being filmed for a Hollywood movie." But were they all added digitally during post-production?
AP - TV stations across the U.S. started cutting their analog signals Friday morning, ending a 60-year run for the technology and likely stranding more than 1 million unprepared homes without TV service.
Yesterday, H1N1 (a.k.a. the porcine plague) was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. Rather than the pandemonium and panic we've come to expect from news relating to swine flu, leading scientists mostly reacted with droll boredom. (Kind of like how we reacted yesterday when we realized that cough we all have is actually H1N1.) “For all intents and purposes, the United States government has been in Phase 6 of the pandemic for some time now," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the new head of the CDC, practically yawning. “This is not a surprise." [NYT]
• Karl Lagerfeld talked smack about Heidi Klum and Seal, saying, "I am no dermatologist but I wouldn't want his skin. Mine looks better than his. He is covered in craters." Play nice, Karl. [Sun]
• At least the Karl teddy bear that's sold at Neiman Marcus is on sale. Originally $1,500, it's now $1,000. [Killahbeez via Racked]
• David Beckham may have stolen the spotlight at the unveiling of his Armani Underwear ads yesterday, but the company also leaked the fall 2009 campaign featuring Raquel Zimmermann. She replaces Sasha Pivovarova as the face of the brand. [Fashionologie]
• Having trouble pronouncing designer names? Now you can impress even your snobbiest fashion pals with this handy-dandy guide. [Moment]
•The new issue of French Vogue features eleven pages of the no-pants look. Clearly, Lady Gaga's pantsless plan is working. [Jezebel]
• Alexa Chung's new show for MTV, It's On With Alexa Chung, starts on Monday at noon — as if you would forget. [WSJ]
AP - Madonna can get "Mercy," Malawi's highest court ruled Friday. The court overruled a lower court, saying the pop star can adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James.
Trent Reznor may have quit social networking forever, but we just found something to ease the pain: Christopher Mintz-Plasse is on Twitter and, blessedly, his tweets confirm that he's basically McLovin. And definitely check out his Twitpics (we like this one). [@cminzzz/Twitter via MTV]
Cher's daughter Chastity Bono will be undergoing a sex change operation to turn her into a man. The real shame here being that Cher has no one to pass down her "If I Could Turn Back Time" see through unitard to.
Dr. Drew would like to get Lindsay Lohan on Celebrity Rehab, and VH1 is planning on offering the starlet six-figures to do so. And on that note, if my company has six-figures to give to a drunk, I am definitely asking for a raise, because I believe the technical term for that is "bullsh*t".
And in today's "Thank You God For Intervening" news, we hear that Letterman band leader Paul Schafferwas very close to playingGeorge Costanza on Seinfeld. A fact that has just somehow put me through menopause, no explanation needed.
Finally, we had never seen this video of Zachary Quinto before, but we're hoping its SFW. Please, God, tell us this is SFW.
Reuters - The stars come out at the box office this weekend, with the two films opening in wide release featuring top-name talent. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 12 Jun 2009 | 2:08 pm
Sarah Palin says David Letterman owes an apology to young women across the country for his joke about her daughter Source: FOXNews.com | 12 Jun 2009 | 2:01 pm
Lunch Lady Land:Amy Poehler will star in the adaptation of the as-yet unpublished Lunch Lady series, a graphic novel for children about a cafeteria employee who leads a double life as a do-gooder, righting wrongs and solving mysteries along with a team of assistants. Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians and Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute are coming out this summer, with two more confirmed titles eventually following. This is great news, as we've always thought Amy Poehler would look foxy in a hair net. [HR]
More Mamet: The L.A. production of David Mamet’s Oleana — starring Julia Stiles as a college student and Bill Pullman as a professor who engages with her in a "battle-of-the-sexes confrontation" — may move to Broadway this fall. The play, which premiered in Boston in 1992, would be the second Mamet production on Broadway, alongside the debut of the upcoming Race. This is shaping up to be even better than The Prince & Me! [Variety]
Murphy Bed:Brittany Murphy will star in the Darin Scott–directed thriller Something Wicked, about a couple whose lives are upended when the girl’s parents are killed. It also says the girl is way out of the guy’s league, a plot detail we just cannot figure out the relevancy of, and therefore applaud mightily. [HR]
Killer Cunningham: Author Michael Cunningham (The Hours) has sold his script for the thriller Beautiful Girl to Screen Gems. The plot revolves around a girl who comes back for her senior year of high school remarkably slimmed-down and begins a flirtation with the English-lit teacher; all goes to hell when the teacher feels the need to take revenge on all the people who were mean to the girl before her transformation. Apparently Cunningham is a “huge genre fan… [who] would argue such basics as whether the second Hostel was as good as the first one.” [Variety]
Fela! Moving:Fela!, the Off Broadway bio-musical about Fela Kuti, is transferring to Broadway in the Fall. The play follows Kuti’s career as a world-music pioneer and activist fighting against the corrupt government of post-colonial Nigeria; Sahr Ngaujah, the original Kuti, will come with the production to Broadway. Jay-Z did it! [Variety]
Crashed:Eric Roberts has joined the cast of Crash for its second season, playing an entrepreneur hoping to bring a pro-football team to L.A. Yes, that show got a second season. Yes, Eric Roberts is still acting. [Variety]
You're a rich girl, and you've gone too far 'cause you know it don't matter anyway.
Earlier this week, we learned that Madonna was set to win ownership of 4-year-old Mercy James, an adorable Malawian orphan the pop singer decided she wanted a few years back and has been fighting to adopt for months. After a setback when a lower court rejected her adoption bid, Her Madgesty had her lawyers appeal the case. Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Appeal in that country ruled that Mercy James should indeed go to live with Madonna. Chief Justice Lovemore (!!) Munlo said the appeals court had two options to weigh when thinking of this child's future:
He said the appeal court saw two options for Mercy "either to stay at the orphanage without the love of family and live with the possibility of destitution or be with Madonna where she is assured of love. Every child has the right to love."
Did you see what he did there? He set up an either/or equation where Mercy James could either be loveless and poor, or simply loved. Apparently the "riches beyond a Malawian orphan's wildest dreams" part just goes without saying.
Step into Henri Bendel and you'll notice a wall of brightly colored boxes, bottles, and a mini-fridge with vials of punch-colored drinks right off the main entrance. It's not the latest launch of an indie makeup or perfume brand, but a line of cute yet potent supplements called Functionalab. Great packaging aside, president and founder Erick Geoffrion teamed up with top scientists and nutritionists to create a "made-to-measure" program to tackle everything from fatigue to hormonal imbalances to skin problems. Instead of blindly walking in and picking out what you think you need, two nutritionists are on hand with a computerized questionnaire to review overall lifestyle, health concerns, and goals. Based on the consultation, a customized monthlong program is given ($120 to $200), health tonics are suggested (the Energy drink is quite tasty and definitely gives you some pep, $6), or a simple bottle of supplements called Beauty Doses is recommended ($45 to $55). This beats a trip to your local vitamin shop staffed with uninformed college kids any day.
Prices vary, at Henri Bendel, 712 Fifth Ave., nr. 56th St.; 212-247-1100.
BEIJING, June 12 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- A press conference was jointly held, on June 10, 2009, by the Organizing Committees of ChinaJoy and China Game Developers Conference Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 12 Jun 2009 | 2:00 pm
touch completely, and only renewed their friendship decades later, when illness struck. Not so unusual, really. Except she is Lucy Vodden - the girl who was the inspiration for the ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 12 Jun 2009 | 1:58 pm
Former President George W. Bush has a hearty message for troops serving in Iraq _ even when he delivers it on a silly TV comedy show. Appearing in a pretaped spot during Comedy Central's Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 12 Jun 2009 | 1:55 pm
'I had a great time at the Tonys right up until I got blindsided,' Poison frontman writes.By Gil Kaufman Poison perform with the cast of "Rock of Ages" at the Tony Awards last Sunday Photo: Kevin... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 12 Jun 2009 | 1:54 pm
Two-year-old network now available in 70 percent of all U.S. Hispanic TV HH's NEW YORK, June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- V-me today solidifies its claim as the 4th... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 12 Jun 2009 | 1:49 pm
Martin Scorsese? Check. Period outfits? Right. Boston accent? Um, yes.
We're on to you, Leonardo DiCaprio. Shutter Island looks peppered with elements from your other recent movies,...
(AP)
AP - Jonas Brothers, "Lines, Vines and Trying Times" (Hollywood Records)
Despite reportedly ending her treatment recently, the cancer-stricken 'Charlie's Angels' star has remained stable Source: FOXNews.com | 12 Jun 2009 | 1:16 pm
Czech artist David Cerny poses in front of his Entropa art installation on June 11 in Prague. The artwork, marking the Czech European Union presidency that was displayed partly covered in Brussels after... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 12 Jun 2009 | 1:15 pm
Bollywood film actors Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan at the premiere at their film "Chandni Chowk To China" in London on January 12. A Bollywood producer said Friday he might have... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 12 Jun 2009 | 1:12 pm
• Betty White is officially cool in fraternity houses all over America. Jimmy Fallon challenged the 87-year-old Golden Girl to a beer pong battle, and it's quite the matchup....
Dramarama continues today as we prepare for the crowning of our new king, based on your nominations! According to suggestions from you, the fans, the men in contention for the throne...
An Indian couple check film screening schedules outside a theatre in Mumbai on June 5. Movie-mad Indians on Friday went back to the cinema, after two long months that saw no new films released because... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 12 Jun 2009 | 12:21 pm
AP - Robert Cox risked his life chronicling the first years of Argentina's Dirty War (1976-83) that left thousands missing. Decades later, though, he still couldn't bear to write his own story of confronting a deadly junta.
AP - Robert Cox risked his life chronicling the first years of Argentina's Dirty War (1976-83) that left thousands missing. Decades later, though, he still couldn't bear to write his own story of confronting a deadly junta.
Malawi's high court ruled in favor of pop superstar Madonna on Friday, saying she will be able to adopt a young girl from the country, a spokesman for the attorney general's office said.
A double dose of the Black Crowes is slated for this fall, when the band returns on September 1 with "Before The Frost...". Fans who purchase the record will then be granted a unique download code, with which they can obtain a second Crowes record, "...Until The Freeze."
As predicted throughout the week, the rains came down midway through opening night at Bonnaroo on Thursday, scattering campers, bringing the ponchos out early and cutting up the festival grounds into mud puddles on an otherwise temperate and diverse opening night.
Forget about the match-up on the floor.
Rihanna and Chris Brown were both in the stands to watch the nail-biting fourth game of the NBA Finals in Orlando. A source told People that the...
As is the case with every season of So You Think You Can Dance, two people have to go before they really got started.
Monday's debut performance show, featuring the still-intact Top...
The now former Miss California is talking.
Carrie Prejean is finally speaking out, a day after Donald Trump and the pageant decided to give her the boot.
"I've done my...
Front Page: White aiming to improve union relations -- Now that SAG's contract crisis has finally ended, interim national exec director David White is turning his attention to improving the guild's relations with other showbiz unions, particularly AFTRA.
Front Page: Play is likely to join 'Race' on fall slate -- Broadway looks poised to get a double dose of David Mamet this fall, with a transfer of the scribe's "Oleanna" likely to join a fall sked that also includes the playwright's new play "Race."
Front Page: Michael Cunningham to get his genre fix -- Screen Gems prevailed in a spec auction for "Beautiful Girl," a scary genre thriller from a most unlikely source: Michael Cunningham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Hours."
Front Page: Filmmaker pacts with Fox Searchlight, Pathe -- Filmmaker Danny Boyle has inked a three-year producing pact with Fox Searchlight and Pathe Pictures, both of which played a crucial role in propelling Boyle’s "Slumdog Millionaire" to worldwide success.
Reuters - A celebratory portrait of an African music superstar, "Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love" falls into the same trap as so many similarly themed music documentaries. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 12 Jun 2009 | 1:08 am
Now that she's a stable, hardworking Circus performer, Britney Spears will be seeing her kids...as much as always.
Lawyers for the pop princess and ex-hubby Kevin Federline have...
Clear Channel Radio and Front Line Management are creating artist personal experience (a.p.e.) radio, a stand-alone company that will allow musicians to produce their own online radio shows, Billboard can exclusively reveal.
Widespread Panic has been announced as a headliner for this year's Voodoo Experience festival in New Orleans, merging a pair of Crescent City Halloween traditions.
As you may know, we have our problems with Canadian geese. What they did to Flight 1549, and many other planes, was inexcusable, immoral, and just plain disgusting, really. But we at Intel do not condone murder. Which is why we were horrified to read in the Post just now that the city plans to "trap and kill up to 2,000 Canada geese this summer, in a bid to avoid the type of collision that caused a US Airways plane to ditch in the Hudson River earlier this year."
This can't possibly be true, we thought, as we scanned the story. These are not the actions of a civilized society. Once the authorities catch wind of this, surely they will put a stop to it. Then we got to this part:
"The serious dangers that Canada geese pose to aviation became all too clear when geese struck US Airways Flight 1549," said Mayor Bloomberg.
He said the incident "served as a catalyst to strengthen our efforts in removing geese from, and discouraging them from nesting on, City property near our runways."
Yes. Not only is our own government attacking the geese without even trying to negotiate (have you seen any evidence of meetings? We haven't), they are not even planning on fighting them face to beak! Instead, they are plotting a sneak attack.
According to the Post:
The roundup is being timed with the molting season, when the geese can't fly. It is scheduled to begin within a week.
They are literally sitting ducks! (Geese are the same as ducks, pretty much, right? Anyway.) This is just disgusting. A display of the kind of Bush-era tactics we thought we left behind at the start of 2009. Something must be done. And so we at Intel would like to be the first to say, to the geese out there who are reading: The birds of the future will judge you on the strength of the nests you build, not the planes you destroy. And we will extend a hand, if you are willing to unclench your tiny claws.
With the Internet ablaze with rumors that director Stephen Sommers has been summarily dismissed from G.I. Joe, you'd think that someone from the studio would step up and publicly address the situation. That still hasn't happened, but producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura (who was also rumored to have been removed from the project) gave a brief interview to Latino Review to address the situation: "It's completely untrue, [Sommers] was never asked to leave or been [sic] fired or any of that. That’s ridiculous. The movie tested very well." [Latino Review]
They may have world leaders as guests on The View, but Joy Behar doesn’t get out much. She hadn’t heard of the High Line park when we mentioned it at the Cinema Society screening of Whatever Works last night. “I know nothing about it. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Behar said. The elevated railroad track that has been turned into a park, we explained, to jog her memory. “Where is it?” she asked. Behar says the fact that it’s in Chelsea is the reason for her ignorance. “You know what, I’m on the Upper West Side. I stay there,” she told us. “But I didn’t know anything about it. I might as well live in Kansas,” she added, laughing. View our Party Lines slideshow for more.
Earlier today we alerted you to the leakage of the Jonas Brothers’ latest, Lines, Vines, and Trying Times; now we direct your attention to Lines’ “Don’t Charge Me for the Crime,” a foot-stomping ditty featuring two mini-verses from Common. Why Common? We’re not sure, although to their credit, the trio did give advance warning: Back in March, Nick “most hip-hop” Jonas told MTV the guys were working on a track perfect for a rapper “who has some real meaningful lyrics … some real depth to what he's saying — someone like a Common or a Lupe Fiasco or a Mos Def.” Of course! So what sort of bright and shining knowledge does the Chicago emcee impart? People, “the American dream can be so deceptive.” Now, put the pieces of your brain back together, and move on.
Resort looks from left: Vena Cava, Calvin Klein, and Marc by Marc Jacobs.
After spring 2009, it seemed heels couldn't get any taller. But then came the fall 2009 shows and with them, heels of twelve inchesor higher. Well, André Leon Talley has had enough. He's tired of watching his Vogue colleagues suffer for fashion in the torture chambers designers call shoes. He says only one Vogue staffer wears flats regularly: style director Alexandra Kotur, who, incidentally, wears the same thing to work every day. Writes Talley:
Designers with an obsession for towering torture chambers, often poorly designed for the well-being of the foot, must get a reality check. I, for one, am over the mania for the high, high heel. Too many career women look like a herd of fashion beasts, aping one another in impractical shoes.
Yet Talley has noticed perhaps a shift toward more comfortable footwear. Vogue's Lauren Santo Domingo still wears high heels, but wore a pair recently with "sensible rounded-toe fronts." The world's most famous fashion icon at the moment, Michelle Obama, wears flats or kitten heels. Also, Calvin Klein showed flat shoes in the 2010 resort show (as did Ports 1961, Marc by Marc Jacobs, and Vena Cava, among others). Talley forced Kotur to try out the Calvin booties. At first she didn't like them because she felt they didn't have enough support, bless her practical heart, but then she "grew into" them. Talley also notes that in a new book with a forward written by Diane Von Furstenberg the designer writes, "I never go out in something that I am uncomfortable in, well, except shoes, and they’re torture. And that’s just something I deal with." At least she's honest about it — but why, Diane?
Come the spring shows in September, we will join André in hoping shoes come back down to Earth. Not that what happens on the runway will affect us so much. We've been enjoying the pleasures and comforts of flats on an almost daily basis for decades. But if those poor girls at Vogue feel like they need approval to be comfortable, can't they have it, just for one tiny season?
Sure, Twilight and True Blood are vampire stories that include romance, violence and the constant struggle between good and evil.
Even so, they're very...
Front Page: 'Terminator' expected to win sesh overseas -- Warner Bros. comedy "The Hangover" and Disney-Pixar's "Up" are still imbibing plenty at the domestic B.O., enough to pose trouble for new entries "Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" and Eddie Murphy comedy "Imagine That."
Appellate Court judge Karen Peters just granted a hearing to sort out the Albany mess. The hearing is set for tomorrow morning in Albany at the State Supreme Court. The judge's denial of a temporary restraining order against the Republicans and coup leader Pedro Espada was overturned on appeal. That means that Republicans can't officially install Skelos as majority leader and Espada as Senate president until the court matter is settled, say aides to Malcolm Smith. But Republicans didn't schedule their session to resume until Monday, anyway. By then, the dispute may be settled in court.
Jacqueline Laurita's real household just got bigger.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star and her husband, Chris, welcomed their second son together Thursday, Nicholas Francis...
Coco Rocha has been spending a lot of time at the Vogue offices lately, fueling rumors that the model is the latest high-profile intern working under Anna Wintour. But today, Modelina.com reports that the 20-year-old is just there to observe and learn about the business. Kind of like an intern, minus the grunt work. Over at the Hearst Tower, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis's 15-year-old daughter, Tallulah Belle Willis, is interning at Harper's Bazaar, where she's already been spotted working the closet.
The Times combed through Holocaust Memorial shooter James von Brunn's artist profile on the website AskART.com and picked out the entirety of his history here in New York. He moved to the city in 1947, and was a student at two different art schools. He would have been a journalist, “but all doors were closed to conservatives,” he wrote in a bio. Then he worked at ad agencies Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (now BBDO Worldwide) and Benton & Bowles (subsumed by Publicis). He married nearby in Connecticut, and had a baby boy, James, who eventually went to Trinity Prep. During that period he claimed he was “asked to change his German name by several companies during his 20-years New York career.” He also reportedly got a copy of the anti-Semitic book Iron Curtain Over America that he said had a “tremendous” effect him.
The most recent time he's on record living in this state is for five years from 1984 onward, when he served at the Ray Brook Federal Correctional Institution upstate for his attempt in 1981 to hold Federal Reserve officials hostage.
US author Michael Thomas has won the 100,000-euro (141,000-dollar) International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the world's richest prize for a work of fiction, organisers announced Thursday. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 11 Jun 2009 | 10:39 pm
At last, popular idiot Bret Michaels has broken his silence over his near decapitation at Sunday's Tony awards. He's posted photos of his bloodied face on his official website, along with an angry statement that includes this probably true sentence: "I feel had this incident happened to Liza Minnelli, Dolly Parton, or Elton John, the Tonys would have at least issued a letter of concern." [Bret Michaels via TMZ via Movieline]
Has the handsome Standard hotel — neighbor to the newly opened High Line, and declared this week to be the Municipal Art Society's Best New Building of 2009 — revived the meatpacking district’s seedy, sexual side? In the neighborhood that was once home to sex dungeons and street walkers, there stand 337 rooms framed by huge, non-reflective glass windows. Some months ago, hotelier André Balazs, who has cited the “exhibitionist” nature of his building, ran ads inviting guests to move into the hotel while it was still under construction. “We’ll put up with your banging if you put up with ours,” read the ad, which pictured a nicely oiled woman naked but for a tool belt, her left hand gripping the head of a long hammer. But now, it seems, passersby are actually witnessing some of this “banging.”
Our Tim Murphy found a visitor to the High Line who spotted a naked hotel guest midway up the hotel, and there’s even some evidence of nudity online. But a couple of locals tell us they’ve witnessed more than a few simple pressed hams. Meatpacker Ricky Serling begins his day with a view of the hotel from the meat co-op on Little West 12th Street. “I’ve seen men and women, women and women, men and men [in the windows],” he says, modestly. “Lights, leather, chains. Everything.”
Marc Capano, head of security for Hogs & Heifers, who has a nightly, full-on view of the Standard from the doorway of the West 13th Street biker bar, offers more details. “I’ve seen women in the classic cop ‘up against the wall’ pose, only up against the window, while their man is behind them,” he reports. “Lights on so all can see.” And not only that. “I've seen guys [pleasuring themselves] in front of the windows. I've seen multiple women in the same room picking up and waving lamps to get our attention so they could flash” onlookers. Still to come is the Standard’s much-anticipated high-end lounge; its windows are colossal and it reportedly shares the top floors with a huge Jacuzzi and co-ed bathrooms. It could be an interesting summer near the High Line.
Some of you might think the title of this post is some sort of joke. But listen here: It isn't. Now, I've heard plenty of stories from "insiders" (mostly, people who have dealt with her on various talk shows) who claim that Kate has a very serious attitude problem -- one so serious that husband Jon is often forced to apologize on her behalf to others. Still, I never felt one way or the other about her: She seemed like any other self-absorbed reality show b*tch.
But the following video has
CHANGED. EVERYTHING.Access Hollywood (via ONTD) has released video footage of Kate and the kids just seconds before an interview was about to take place. Mady, one of the twins, asks Kate for some water, complaining that she's severely dehydrated. Kate asks for some water, drinks some, and then DENIES IT FROM HER DISTRESSED DAUGHTER. It's not like the girl is asking for candy or a toy. IT'S. WAH. TER.
Honestly, Child Protective Services, please click play. SHE MUST BE STOPPED.
This woman is nothing short of a psychopath. As someone whose own mother we're pretttty sure would give us water when we're on the brink of tears with thirst, the above clip almost made me cry. Prepare for the words I'm about to utter, but: Poor Mady.
I'll get the bitchfork, you grab the torches, and let's Priceline our way to Reading, PA as a mob. An angry mob. Source: Best Week Ever | 11 Jun 2009 | 10:27 pm
Intel Chris lives on 14th Street, and sometimes when he commutes to work (this sentence could also be written: "Chris commutes to work. Sometimes."), he passes the neighborhood dog walker. He's always amazed at two things: one, how well-behaved and co-ordinated his pack of pit bulls and Shih Tzus is, and two, how ridiculously attractive the guy is himself. Chris has never really known whether, without the dogs, he would be cute, or whether it is the presence of over ten puppies that makes someone automatically fuckable. (Let's not follow that logic too far ... ) Evidence has surfaced suggesting that it might be the latter. Somewhere in Manhattan, near the foot of the Queensboro Bridge, a dog walker has so bewitched one girl that she's taken to leaving forlorn messages for him on the sidewalk, in chalk:
Dog Walker: Please come visit sometimes. I dream about you. I have a letter for you -the Russian Girl. P.S. I love you but I am very shy
Someone needs to find that girl and tell her that once you take away the twelve Golden Retrievers and a puggle, "Dog Walker" goes from looking like an old-school Mickey Rourke to, well, Mickey Rourke now.
Regardless of our feelings on the Saved By the Bell reunion stunt, one of the things we've found ourselves really enjoying about Late Night With Jimmy Fallon is his ability to convince his guests to do more than just sit on the couch and pimp their projects. For example, take last night's demonstration of Project Natal, which is a brand-new technology for the Xbox 360 video-game system that is set to make the Nintendo Wii all but obsolete whenever Microsoft decides to release it. Instead of just letting Microsoft's creative director Kudo Tsunoda interact with the totally awesome new technology all by his lonesome, Fallon encouraged his guests John Krasinski and Stephen Moyer (True Blood) to join in on the action by dressing up in silly red jumpsuits and playing some sort of Breakout-type game alongside him. We're sold!
Last night, Ally Hilfiger showed up to Woody Allen's Whatever Works after-party at the River Café wearing a pair of bell bottoms. We'd love to know what shoes she wore, but alas, that super-long hem covers everything.
Do you think it's time for a seventies-inspired–denim revival?
Chastity Bono, gay-rights activist and child of performer Cher and the late entertainer and politician Sonny Bono, is in the early stages of transitioning from a female to a male and will be known as Chaz, his spokesman said Thursday.
FRAGRANCE
• Vera Wang didn't renew Camilla Belle's contract as the face of the label's Princess fragrance. Instead, she chose Zoë Kravitz to star in the upcoming campaigns. Fake American royalty is so fleeting. [WWD]
• The fragrance market is oversaturated, and sales are suffering because of it. [NYT]
SKIN
• If you're scared of the Botox needle, a new skin-care product named Kumaara uses the ingredient Syn-Ake to reduce wrinkles; it mimics the effects of snake venom by temporarily paralyzing your face. Sounds fun. [StyleList]
MAKEUP
• Behold: Lady Gaga was caught without makeup while vacationing in Hawaii with her boyfriend, Speedy. You'll barely recognize her, but she's not wearing pants, so that helps. [Daily Mail]
HAIR
• Twilight star Kristen Stewart chopped her hair to a pixie cut and dyed her locks black for her upcoming role as Joan Jett. [Spoiled Pretty]
Not that you needed any more evidence that American Idol's actual results are mostly meaningless, but here goes anyway: 19 Recordings (a division of 19 Entertainment, the company responsible for Idol) has signed contracts with winner Kris Allen, runner-up Adam Lambert, and, now, fourth-place finisher Allison Iraheta (her debut will be released by Jive Records, whose hilarious roster also includes R. Kelly, Chris Brown, and David Archuleta). Still without a deal, though, is third-place contestant Danny Gokey, the churchgoing Milwaukee widower best remembered as the guy who deafened you with his ear-drum–rupturing performance of Aerosmith's "Dream On." A month ago, he announced plans to make a "soulful album with rhythm and blues mixed with salsa and merengue beats," so we applaud 19 Recordings for their apparent commitment to not letting us hear it.
With almost 30 years of experience under his belt, eyewear designer Robert Marc continues to create beautiful and of-the-moment frames. Never gimmicky or overtly trendy, his glasses make you feel both smart and sexy. It’s even been said that they erase five years from your face — we’ll take that any day! Here, five reasons why we love him.
1. It's real investment fashion, which is what we all want right now.
2. He’s the cutest and most fun eyewear designer you’ll ever meet, and a native New Yorker to boot.
3. With eight stores in the city, you’re always near one.
4. The personal service is truly exceptional.
5. Celebs love him: Uma, Nicole, and Reese are all fans.
Sunglasses, $425 each, at RobertMarc.com or at retail locations.
Go ahead, mock him. Donald Trump is easy to mock. But love him or hate him, he's extremely shrewd at playing the news media -- as is obvious from the latest controversy surrounding the Miss USA pageant.
The Verdict: Sure, last summer's A Little Bit Longer featured a sappy piano ballad about living with diabetes — but it also featured a half hour's worth of catchy, actually-rocking power pop (see here) that we're not (completely) embarrassed to admit is still an appreciated part of our iTunes library. So what's up with this new album? Lines, Vines, and Trying Times hit the Internet a couple of hours ago and, aside from a handful of tracks, it's all keyboard-driven, eighties-style radio cheese ("Keep It Real" is basically a note-for-note remake of Maxine Nightingale's "Right Back Where We Started From"). It's not bad, necessarily, but this certainly won't be easy for anyone to rock out to.
Do you need help wiping your ass? Seriously, do you need help wiping your ass? That's not an expression - I'm literally asking if you need an eighteen-inch plastic gripping object to assist you when you are on the toilet and need wipe your ass. Seriously.
If you're still saying "yes" with a straight face, then The Comfort Wipe is the plastic toilet paper gripping product for you!
From left: Sarah dress, Loop scarf, and Anais top.
Designer Maria Cornejo is coming out with three new pieces in honor of the recently opened High Line park. The three items include a Loop scarf ($168), Sarah dress ($525), and Anais top ($498), and will be sold exclusively online as well as at the Zero + Maria Cornejo stores in Nolita and the West Village, with a portion of proceeds going to further development of the High Line.
French director and producer Luc Besson gives a press conference in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, in a former power station that will house his "Cite du Cinema" project. The project seeks to group on one... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 11 Jun 2009 | 8:11 pm
The former power station that will house French producer and director Luc Besson's "Cite du Cinema" in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. The project seeks to group on one site the main technical specialists... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 11 Jun 2009 | 8:11 pm
I keep seeing ads for Microsoft's new search engine, Bing.com (really gettin' in on the ground floor on this brand-new search engine craze, huh?), and decided to put Bing to the only test I care about: What happens when I Bing "Dan Hopper"?
For the record, here are the top Google results for my own name:
1) Some website called Misspace dot com or something, that people used to use a couple years ago.
2)BestWeekEver.tv, my internet-related day job during which I post things to the internet for 8-10 hours a day with my name on them. Note the additional search result for my Simpsons Endings Post, one of my all-time most linked posts (thanks, Google!)
3) A real estate agent in Colorado named Dan Hopper (can't win 'em all)
4) My sketch group, A Week Of Kindness. All in all, Google is a fan of my work -- there's simply no other way to interpret these results.
Then, I tried typing "Dan Hopper" into Bing.com, and witnessed THIS monstrosity:
1) That A-Hole real estate agent in Denver. Probably sells people crooked houses that collapse all the time and crush their children and/or beloved pets.
2) The "Dan Hopper" page on a VH1 property called "FriendSpaceBook," a now-defunct Myspace parody for which someone created a "Dan Hopper" page.
3) The IMDB page for "Dan Hopper" (?)
4) Finally, my BWE brilliance is recognized. Too little, too late, Bing.
But what about that IMDB page -- did someone credit me for some weird talking-head VH1 thing that I contributed a joke to or something?
OH WAIT, it's Dan Hopper the PORN STAR. Who's only been in TWO MOVIES! They film an average of two porn movies a minute - appearing in only two is like entering the witness protection program in pornstar terms, and yet, he STILL gets higher Bing billing than the fifty GOLD-ENCRUSTED COMEDY GEMS I unleash upon the BWE.tv universe on a weekly basis???
I'm gonna start my own search engine and if you type in "Search Engines That Are Dead To Me" the first and only result is gonna be Bing.com!!!! Hahahahahaha that'll show youuuuuu! You d*cks. Source: Best Week Ever | 11 Jun 2009 | 8:10 pm
EVENTS TOMORROW
• Men's grooming brand ZIRH is offering complimentary mini-facials at the Lexington Avenue Sephora in honor of upcoming Father's Day. 711 Lexington Ave., nr. 57th St. (646-521-2200); 12–6.
SALES ENDING TOMORROW
• More than 1,000 hats, belts, headbands, and scarves by Eugenia Kim are 50 to 70 percent off at the designer’s showroom. 347 W. 36th St., nr. Ninth Ave., Ste. 502; T–F (10–7).
• Shoes, handbags, and ready-to-wear items are up to 75 percent off at Christian Lacroix. 12 W. 57th St. nr. Fifth Ave., Ste. 807 (212-247-2229); daily (10–7).
• Children’s designer brands like Marie Chantal, Okkies, Splendid, Baby Susu, and more are up to 25 percent off at the Citibabes pop-up shop. 971 Madison Ave., nr. 75th St.; M–F (10–6).
ONGOING
• Accessories and spring and summer apparel by labels like Rachel Comey, A.P.C, Isabel Marant, Gary Graham, and more are up to 40 percent off at Jumelle. Through 8/15. 148 Bedford Ave., nr. N 9th St. (718-388-9525); M (1–7:30), T–S (12–7:30), Su (12–7).
• Menswear and womenswear is 25 to 40 percent off at Stuart & Wright, including brands like Isabel Marant, Vanessa Bruno, A.P.C, Engineered Garments, and Acne. Through 9/1. 85 Lafayette St., nr. S. Portland Ave. (718-797-0011); M–S (12–7), Su (12–6).
• Pre-spring and spring apparel for women and men is up to 50 percent off at Calvin Klein. Through 8/1. 654 Madison Ave., at 60th St. (212-292-9000); M–W (10–6), Th (10–7), F–S (10–6).
This is the saddest article the Straits Times has printed since their 20th Anniversary of John Wayne's Death Article in their reccurring column, The Weekly Wayne.
Lambert admits he's gay -- via The Straits Times Source: Best Week Ever | 11 Jun 2009 | 7:35 pm
Bestweekever.tv's A Cappella Debate -- whether or not it is possible to listen to a cappella (specifically, college a cappella) without dry heaving like a pregnant cat in a Tel Aviv alleyway -- has been debated numerous times. For the most part, our argument is that A Cappella, much like college improv or pre-teen breasts, is horribly embarrassing. Others, specifically those who sing a cappella, tend to disagree. And so, the debate continues.
But thanks to a tip from our friends at Urlesque, we were shown the following video: A Slovenian chorus (isn't it always?) covering the classic 80s jam "Africa" by Toto. We suggest watching it for the opening 3 minutes of a thunderstorm created by Eastern European hands that have definitely worked every day of their life. And then, for the second part, where they sing "Africa." Oh, also because their name is Perpetuum Jazzile, which definitely means "seed explosion" in Slovenian.
So yes, I guess it's possible for me to like A Cappella. Albeit only from Eastern Europe (sorry some small Asian girl who goes to an Ivy League college who is also the lead singer of the Harvard Opportunes... you're still not cutting it in our book.) Source: Best Week Ever | 11 Jun 2009 | 7:09 pm
Miley Cyrus is single. Kendra Wilkinson is pregnant. Carrie Prejean is fired. It was a celebrity gossip marathon yesterday, but luckily Mike Britt was wearing his running shoes on Best Day Ever:
The Black Eyed Peas are aiming to go "Boom" with its first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart next week as its new set, "The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies)," is poised to open in the top slot.
Fashion Wire Daily - Mark Badgley and James Mischka, the beloved couturiers of Hollywood starlets and other stylish femmes, showed a sample of the extensive collection they have ready for Cruise 2010 in New York on Thursday, June 11.
Fashion Wire Daily - Mark Badgley and James Mischka, the beloved couturiers of Hollywood starlets and other stylish femmes, showed a sample of the extensive collection they have ready for Cruise 2010 in New York on Thursday, June 11.
Trent Reznor is taking a break from social networking. As one of the more prolific users of Twitter, blogs and other social networking constructs, Reznor, in his latest post laments the degradation of the experience by spammers and trollers.
AP - "The Memory Collector" (Dutton, 354 pages, $25.95), by Meg Gardiner: As a forensic psychiatrist, Jo Beckett is used to examining the minds of the dead. But in "The Memory Collector," she is called to assist in a case dealing with a volatile man with "anteretrograde" amnesia.
Clarence Thomas is known for many things: The cut of his robe; His decisions in the landmark Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow and Cutter v. Wilkinson cases; Playing Ass Grab. But something you may not have known about Clarence Thomas is his amazingly refined palate. Thank God for Twitter (Oh is that my profile? What a coincidence.), which has allowed Clarence to make his case for being next season's most honorable guest judge on Top Chef ever.
Here is Clarence waxing on an "excruciating" lunch featuring "chutney":
What to pack, how to keep the beer cold and more. Helpful hints in
honor of the mother of all camping fests: Bonnaroo
With Bonnaroo launching this weekend, it is now official summer
festival season, that magical time of year when you forsake three
square meals a day for a funnel of Busch Light, shampoo for
sulfur-scented portable water and a mattress for good ol' solid
earth, all for the sake of scoping as many bands as possible in one
full weekend.
But if you're like much of the festival community, by Monday
morning you're sunburned and stinking worse than George Clinton
after a weeklong acid trip. Your...
California corrections officials released a startling new prison mug shot of Grammy-winning music legend Phil Spector, who is now a convicted killer serving 19 years to life in prison.
Indian screen star Amitabh Bachchan arrives for a press conference in Macau. Bachchan said Thursday that Indian filmmakers should feel proud of their work and stop comparing themselves with their Hollywood... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 11 Jun 2009 | 4:10 pm
This photo from the Anne Frank House (AFH) in 2008 shows a display of the restored pictures which Frank stuck up on the walls of her room over 65 years ago in the 'Secret Annexe' in Amsterdam, at the Anne... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 11 Jun 2009 | 4:08 pm
As Kate spent her 34th birthday celebrating with her kids, Jon Gosselin reportedly partied with another woman Source: FOXNews.com | 11 Jun 2009 | 3:38 pm
Shia LeBeouf is back to talking about his family in an inappropriate manner, this time saying he got his sense of humor from watching his parents 'have sex.' Source: FOXNews.com | 11 Jun 2009 | 3:32 pm
Less than a month after being told by Donald Trump that she can keep her Miss California crown, Carrie Prejean has been fired Source: FOXNews.com | 11 Jun 2009 | 3:31 pm
Vegas used to be a place Hollywood heavies like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin went to sing, gamble, and hit on broads Source: FOXNews.com | 11 Jun 2009 | 3:14 pm
The Black Eyed Peas hold on to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, but there's plenty of drama elsewhere on the chart from Kings of Leon, Drake and Mitchel Musso.
Denise Williams, Otis Clay and other musicians in town for this weekend's Chicago Blues Festival are scheduled to perform Thursday at a memorial service for the late legendary blues singer Koko Taylor.
Martin Scorsese? Check. Period outfits? Right. Boston accent? Um, yes.
We're on to you, Leonardo DiCaprio. Shutter Island looks peppered with elements from your other recent movies,...
• Betty White is officially cool in fraternity houses all over America. Jimmy Fallon challenged the 87-year-old Golden Girl to a beer pong battle, and it's quite the matchup....
Dramarama continues today as we prepare for the crowning of our new king, based on your nominations! According to suggestions from you, the fans, the men in contention for the throne...
Forget about the match-up on the floor.
Rihanna and Chris Brown were both in the stands to watch the nail-biting fourth game of the NBA Finals in Orlando. A source told People that the...
As is the case with every season of So You Think You Can Dance, two people have to go before they really got started.
Monday's debut performance show, featuring the still-intact Top...
The now former Miss California is talking.
Carrie Prejean is finally speaking out, a day after Donald Trump and the pageant decided to give her the boot.
"I've done my...
Now that she's a stable, hardworking Circus performer, Britney Spears will be seeing her kids...as much as always.
Lawyers for the pop princess and ex-hubby Kevin Federline have...
Sure, Twilight and True Blood are vampire stories that include romance, violence and the constant struggle between good and evil.
Even so, they're very...
Jacqueline Laurita's real household just got bigger.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star and her husband, Chris, welcomed their second son together Thursday, Nicholas Francis...
