The look book of Anna Sui's Target line has leaked! The line will be in stores and online September 13 through October 17. It consists of nineteen Gossip Girl’inspired looks. Target capitalizes on the Gossip Girl meme by grouping the looks in the look book by Gossip Girl characters. Blair's dresses come with high collars, two affixed with bows. Vanessa's dresses are all oddly orange and brown. Jenny's dresses are a confused mix of boho and schoolgirl partier. And Serena's outfits aren't nearly slutty enough! See all nineteen looks in the slideshow.
AP - Authorities are seeking to clear up the mystery surrounding Michael Jackson's death, including whether prescription drugs could have been a factor.
AP - Authorities are seeking to clear up the mystery surrounding Michael Jackson's death, including whether prescription drugs could have been a factor.
AP - Authorities are seeking to clear up the mystery surrounding Michael Jackson's death, including whether prescription drugs could have been a factor.
Fashion Wire Daily - In a certain sense, really good designers like really good artists and film directors, often make one extended work of art, and each show, opening or movie is just part of an extended commentary on the human comedy.
Wyle Coyote:Steven Spielberg always gets his man: Noah Wyle, whom Spielberg was reportedly pursuing for the TNT alien-invasion show he’s producing, has indeed signed on for the untitled series. Wyle leads a motley crew of survivors rebelling against an alien occupation, and Spielberg is psyched (“It is a privilege to be starting a series with Noah”), as is TNT head of programming Michael Wright (“[Wyle is] an incredibly talented actor and an extraordinary person”). We’re all talking about the same person, right? The tall, goofy guy from ER? [HR]
Getting Cheeky at CBS: CBS is launching a new marketing campaign for its 10 p.m. shows called Late prime Enhanced News Opportunity — a.k.a., Project LENO. (CBS ad guys: so cheeky!) With The Jay Leno Show starting at five days a week at 10 p.m., CBS is looking to dominate the slot and has created a “tool kit” for its affiliates on how to best push various CSIs, The Mentalist, Numbers, and The Good Wife. CBS has also begun early-stage development for heavier marketing of their 11:35 slot, a campaign known as Project OBRIEN — Organizing Before Returns Indicate Enjoyment Nev … uh, okay, we’re done. [Variety]
Going Phishing: Phish’s new album, the band's first studio release in five years, will be titled Joy and will be out later this summer on the band’s JEMP Records. The ten-track LP will feature tunes already premiered on the recent tour, including “Kill Devil Hills,” “Ocelot,” and “Light.” In a dramatic shift for the band, Joy will be a synth-heavy Krautrock-inspired affair with prominent traces of early EPMD. Just kidding — it’ll sound like Phish. [Billboard]
V-Day: Ensemble comedy Valentine’s Day just keeps on scooping up actors you may have heard of. Joining Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Alba, and others will be Topher Grace, as a mail-room worker in an L.A. agency dating Hathaway, and Emma Roberts (on set for the first time with auntie Julia), as a teen who wants to lose her virginity to her boyfriend. Bradley Cooper is in this, too, but we assume he signed on before The Hangover hit it big, back when Cooper thought he’d be living shitty-sounding ensemble rom-com paycheck to shitty-sounding ensemble rom-com paycheck all his life. [HR]
Havel-ing a Good Time:Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, will make his feature-film debut at age 72 with an adaptation of his play, Leaving. Starring his wife, Dagmar Havlova, the film is an absurdist look at the life of a politician. We’re sorry, this is just way too adorable to make fun of. [Variety]
Hit That:Hitman 2, the sequel to the 2007 flick starring Timothy Olyphant as ruthless assassin Agent 47, is a go. Kyle Ward, who’s scripted upcoming projects for Bruce Willis and Michael Bay, will write the screenplay. The first one grossed $100 million on a $30 million budget, so everyone at 20th Century Fox is really hoping that this one is another hit, man. (Yikes — sorry!) [Variety]
This weather has gotten to us, and our hair. We've oiled, sprayed, puttied, and even gelled our tresses in hopes of taming the frizz. All to no avail. In low spirits, we walked past the always-fragrant Lush store, and on a whim bought the Jasmine and Henna Fluff Eaze treatment. Skeptical at the saleswoman's claims that this would cure our puffball hair, we trudged home and piled a dollop on our locks. (Note: Use a lot less than the jar says.) After letting it sit for twenty minutes and shampooing (twice), our hair is silky smooth, not greasy, and smells amazing. And it's shockingly knot free. Humidity, do your worst.
Jackson with Prince Michael, Paris, and blankets, but not Blanket.
As the media coverage of Michael Jackson's death continues to blanket the airwaves, many fans and curiosity seekers are wondering: What happens to his kids? Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Blanket, 7, never had anything approaching a normal life — raised in large part by a nanny named Grace Rwaramba, covered by masks or sheets when appearing in public, and getting dragged all over the world (or, in Blanket's case, dangled over a balcony) as their world-famous father tried to grapple with his celebrity. Other than governesses, they never had a mother figure — Debbie Rowe, the mother of Prince Michael and Paris, was once married to Jackson but later gave up custody and was not allowed to be a part of her children's lives. "Some people have a mommy and a daddy, and some people just have a daddy," he told the kids, according to some reports. "And that's you, you just have a daddy."
Blanket was reportedly born via a surrogate, and the involvement of Jackson's sperm in any of their births has been questioned by biographers. Now that the King of Pop's finances were getting back in order after a string of problems, the kids stand to inherit a chunk of change, which will help provide for them, but which also might make them the target of a struggle between the surviving members of the Jackson family — who have fought bitterly over money before. Appearing on the Today show, their godfather, Mark Lester, said he didn't know where the children were at the moment, but that they're probably in California with Grace, their primary caretaker. According to Brian Oxman, Jackson's longtime lawyer, they will end up with his mother, Katherine. “Probably Mrs. Jackson will take care of them, she loves them dearly,” Oxman told Radar Online. But according to ABC News, Michael may have wanted Grace, the nanny, to raise the children if anything happened to him. (If Rowe wants to get custody of the elder two, she'll have to go to court.) They were with Grace, and not at the hospital in Los Angeles, when their legendary father passed away.
AP - Michael Jackson was due to make his triumphant return to the stage in London next month but instead his sudden death has left millions of fans feeling they've lost a lifelong friend.
The "King of Pop" had been topping music charts long before he ever pulled on that white-sequined glove, made the moonwalk a household move and sent screaming fans into a frenzy.
• In a life as jam-packed as Michael Jackson's, it's easy to forget the highlights. Or the oddities.
• Many were transfixed by the video of Jackson's body being...
- Doors Open Today to Launch Summer 2009 Programs - NEW YORK, June 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) announced today the... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 26 Jun 2009 | 12:00 pm
DUBLIN, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- - As the World Series of Poker Main Event Approaches and John Kabbaj Lifts the Pot-Limit Hold'em World Championship, The... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:27 am
Michael Jackson, the show-stopping singer whose best-selling albums -- including "Off the Wall," "Thriller" and "Bad" -- and electrifying stage presence made him one of the most popular artists of all time, died Thursday, CNN has confirmed. He was 50.
Zip.ca Powered by Roxio CinemaNow to Provide Access to Digital Hollywood Hits on PCs and Connected Devices NOVATO, Calif. and OTTAWA, June 26... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:30 am
A police dispatcher coached Danny Gans' wife through trying to resuscitate her husband in their bedroom before the Las Vegas Strip entertainer was declared dead at home last month,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:26 am
Lead single "Love Drunk" to be released on iTunes June 30, impact at Top 40 radio July 7 Band touring all summer, including Six Flag tour and mtvU Sunblock Music... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 26 Jun 2009 | 9:00 am
Giant alien robots don't actually exist. So the dozens featured in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" had to be built from the ground up. That effort took hundreds of artists,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 26 Jun 2009 | 8:33 am
I was a high school student in 1983, when the video for "Thriller" was released, getting plenty of air time on MTV. By then, the network's "M" could just as easily have stood for Michael. It was an event.
(Reuters) Reuters - NBC will launch the bulk of its fall schedule during the weeks of September 14 and September 21, the latter marking the official premiere week. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 26 Jun 2009 | 5:16 am
Michael Jackson died today at the age of 50. His life, a stunning story of stardom, success and setbacks, is an unparalleled American story.
Here, we present a...
AP - When Michael Jackson anointed himself "King of Pop" over two decades ago, there was considerable rumbling about his hubris: Yes, he may have become a world sensation with record-setting sales of "Thriller," and yes, he may have had a string of No. 1 hits with smashes like "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," but the KING OF ALL POP MUSIC?
The crowns fit: Michael Jackson was the King of Pop; Elvis Presley was the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Both men commanded the pop-culture landscape, as much as the charts. Both men influenced...
The speculation will continue, but this is what we know so far.
No official cause of death will be announced until after an autopsy is performed, but doctors have indicated that Michael...
Neither one of them strangers to the strangest of headlines, Michael Jackson and Britney Spears also shared a stage.
The duo performed "The Way You Make Me Feel" together for...
No one—and we mean no one—was ready for this. But the tributes to Michael Jackson, the pioneering pop-rock artist who died today at the tragically premature age of 50, started pouring...
Before Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, he was a kid pop singer.
Check out this exclusive True Hollywood Story short about the early days of the Jackson 5, before they shot to...
Michael Jackson performing at the National Stadium in Singapore, marking his 35th birthday in 1993. Celebrities and stars around the globe were overwhelmed by sorrow and shock as they sought to absorb... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 26 Jun 2009 | 1:11 am
Elizabeth Taylor, one of Michael Jackson's closest and most supportive friends for nearly two decades, is grieving her loss in private at this time.
"Dame Elizabeth Taylor is too...
Oy, what a disappointment. I had high hopes for Hung, with its hopeful HBO imprimatur and nasty premise: Large-cocked loser finds his smile by marketing what's in his pants. Basically, the series promised something like Boogie Nights without the porn, plus all the guilty-pleasure satisfactions of Sex and the City and early Entourage — smart dialogue, funny-dark graphic sex scenes, and the excuse to say "large-cocked loser" while discussing the show with friends.
But sadly, there's no motion to this ocean. For one thing, it's hard to avoid the fact that Boogie Nights really makes no sense if it's not set in the actual porn industry, i.e. a man with a monstrous endowment is not really all THAT marketable to your average straight woman — especially in recession-era Detroit, and particularly when he's a charmless, embittered, divorced middle-aged gym coach, and one not notably skilled in bed, judging from the show's funny-dark graphic sex scenes. (Also, there's no mention on the show that sex with decently endowed bitter middle-aged men is available for free, any time of day, on Craigslist.)
Part of the problem is that Thomas Jane, so appealing in other roles and theoretically a physically attractive man, is peculiarly off-putting as Ray Drecker. The character stinks of defeat; he's an ex-jock, self-admittedly not too smart, and he sulks around the high school where he coaches gym brooding over just about everything — his ex-wife and her new husband, his job prospects, his miserable teenage twins, the house that burned down and that he can't rebuild because he was too flaky to send in the insurance payment. (We learn all this in voice-over, a lazy go-to device used better on Showtime's Diary of a Call Girl.) To Ray, everyone is a "fucker" — which might be acceptable, except that the show validates this lazy contempt: Like About Schmidt (also directed by Alexander Payne), it's stuffed with misanthropic sketches of self-help seminars and yuppie dermatologists. Basically, Ray's Rabbit Angstrom, except he's not all that observant.
There's one bright spot here: Jane Adams, playing Tanya, a barely employed poet who suffers from what Ray describes irascibly as "veganism and the yakking and the coming that had no beginning and no end." A crunchy proto-feminist, Tanya is somehow at once acerbic and pathetic, and she has a real comic chemistry with her fellow sad sack, even before she decides to pimp him out. Tanya and Ray have several bouts of terrible sex (at least from his perspective), but she's the one who designs the marketing scheme, which is to brand Ray as a "Happiness Consultant." Anne Heche is there too, doing a decent Teri Garr imitation as Ray's wife, a shallow nitwit the show struggles to make layered and succeeds only in making incoherent. Ray's twin teenagers are more interesting, two puffy brooders with good reason to loathe their parents, but it's not enough — the emotional engine never kicks in; the comedy stalls.
Now, this is HBO: There's some smart dialogue here and a few pleasantly goofy riffs on Tanya's own idea for a business (pastry stuffed with poetry, like "a croissant folded around Maya Angelou's 'Phenomenal Woman'"). It's not impossible that the show might improve in time, becoming, as it seems intended to be, a sitcom riff on Susan Faludi's Stiffed, a perverse fable about the way a man emasculated by the bad economy learns to strut again. But to do that, it would have to have a grander, more thoughtful, more empathic vision of the world around Ray. Right now, it just doesn't go deep enough.
The tragedy of Michael Jackson's death today at only 50 years old is something that we, the world, will be hearing about for weeks if not months from now. The mood around the offices at VH1 and MTV are shocked and in awe, as can be expected. It is unbelievable shocking and saddening.
Michael Jackson, or The King of Pop, as people of a certain age will always think of him, was an icon -- musically, culturally, and for many crying, screaming fans, spiritually. He was greater than just a man -- there was a time when people revered MJ as a God. And for good reason. Putting together the following music video compilation of 20 of his Greatest Hits, you realize that he really was -- is -- The King of Pop. Song after song of singable, danceable (and at that, he was the best), catchy, world famous tracks. They just don't make artists like Michael Jackson anymore. He will live on forever in history.
It seems almost trivial to make a video compilation, as Michael's genius is consuming and overwhelming. But it's also a fitting and necessary reminder as to who Michael Jackson is and once was. Join us in Reliving 20 of our favorite Michael Jackson's Hit Songs, posted in order from earliest to most recent, beginning in 1972, including some special Pop Up Video versions, some live versions, and a bonus Pepsi Commercial. Michael Jackson,dead at 50, a Legend:
"Rockin' Robin"
From left, Jean Paul Gaultier, Louis Vuitton, and Issey Miyake.
We have brand-new runway slideshows straight from Paris Men's Fashion Week. The shows just started, but already we're seeing man corsets — in denim — thanks to Jean Paul Gaultier. Also don't miss our new details and backstage galleries from Milan Men's Fashion Week (read: shirtless male models). Enjoy!
AP - Bold prints, harem pants and beefy sailor looks ruled the catwalks Thursday on day one of Paris' menswear displays, with strong spring-summer 2010 collections by Belgium's critical darling Dries Van Noten, French luxury label Louis Vuitton and the country's one-time enfant terrible, Jean Paul Gaultier.
Michael Jackson's iconic moments are too numerous to list, so for now, we're just going with the first one that popped into our heads: MJ performing "Billie Jean" at Motown 25, supposedly the first time he busted out the moonwalk. It's an electric performance all around, Jackson absolutely owning the crowd with nothing more than a solo spotlight and a sequined glove. But check out the squeals of delight, at 3:44, when MJ starts gliding backwards.
Over 1,500 people are expected to attend Full-Figured Fashion Week, which starts today in New York. A group of ladies dubbed "fatshionistas" hope the event will open retailers' minds to fashionable plus-size clothes. They say the industry assumes plus-size women only want their clothes to be comfortable and slimming, and that it hardly makes any attempts to design plus-size clothing that might not be those things, but is trendy. Fatshionistas don't look forward to yearly "shape" issues. They read French Vogue. Their chief concern isn't looking slim, because they don't think there's anything wrong with being big. The Daily Beast talked to fatshionista Rhiannon Gammill, who writes the blog Manolo for the Big Girl.
“I'll say there are more options now than there used to be, but that's sort of like saying ‘he doesn't hit me nearly as often as he used to.’” says Gammill. “I'm fat, I have money. I'm more than willing to give it in quantity to the store who will supply me with beautifully made clothes that don't make me look like a hooker, a tranny, or someone's bingo-playing grandma from Duluth. I would love to see Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte, a big girl herself, do a ready-to-wear line that extends to the plus-sizes.”
Despite the heightening visibility of fatshionistas and their fashion desires, the industry is hardly embracing the fuller figure. Full-Figured Fashion Week took five years to organize. Beth Ditto is probably the only full-figured fashion icon embraced by the industry at the moment (and even so, after Hamish Bowles witnessed one of her stage dives at a Fendi party, he described the crowd's reaction as "deeply panicked"). And who could forget what Anna Wintour — the most powerful person in the fashion industry — thought about the residents of Minnesota? But Gammill has a point. If fatshionistas are willing to pay for luxury goods, why won't the industry make them for them? It's not like those companies are rolling in it right now. And these women aren't getting any thinner.
As is the case these days, the outpouring of grief over Michael Jackson's untimely death started seconds later in the Twitterverse, where seemingly every celebrity with a Twitter account had a...
We haven't been to a toy store since December, so we can't attest to whether gold-toothed, jive-talking illiterate robots are flying off the shelves in the wake of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's astronomical $60.6 million opening day. However, on a day when you'd think that most everyone involved with the production would be celebrating, the writers of the film are working to distance themselves from the charges of robot racism that are dogging Michael Bay's latest blowshitup-fest. In an interview with Film School Rejects, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are quick to admit that the controversial gold tooth Skids sports was something Bay came up with and was not present in the script they turned in. Additionally, Kurtzman admits that he "certainly wasn’t thrilled" with the way that the characters turned out onscreen, while Orso adds that "I’m not easily offended, but when I saw it, I thought, 'Someone’s gonna write about that.'" And indeed, they did.
Brooklyn State Senator Kevin Parker, another Democrat indicted for assault this year, dismissed the governor's efforts to end the Albany stalemate, calling him a "coke-snorting, staff-banging governor." Because this is the kind of statement that helps in these situations. [Politicker NY]
AP - Electricity was in the air literally at Dries Van Noten, as a summer thunderstorm and a truck fitted with thumping speakers amped up the voltage at the Belgian designer's already-charged menswear display Thursday.
Michael Jackson passed away this afternoon following a cardiac arrest, the L.A. Times and TMZ report. Paramedics were called to Jackson's rented Bel Air home by a staff member at 12:21 PST, and they arrived five minutes later to find the star not breathing. CPR was administered in an ambulance, but when he arrived at UCLA Medical Center he was in a "deep coma" and was subsequently pronounced dead by doctors. Jackson was 50 and in the midst of preparing for a series of 50 sold-out shows in London's O2 Arena.
Cameron Diaz worked with a lot of teenagers for her new film My Sister's Keeper. So when we caught up with the actress at the premiere last night, we wondered if she liked hanging out with her younger cast. "We all just had a very natural synergy. We didn’t play house," she told us. "It was very organic, and I don’t need to be these girls’ mother. They have a mother." View our Party Lines slideshow for more fictional-family bonding.
British milliner Stephen Jones has been capping the heads of the world’s most stylish men and women for three decades. Whimsical, charming, and full of panache, his hats are one of a kind. For years, designers Marc Jacobs, John Galliano, and Rei Kawakubo have been tapping his talent for their runway shows. Here are five reasons we love Stephen Jones.
1. His hats bring a smile to our faces.
2. Hats are going to be big this season, and you need to have one of his.
3. His designs are subtly sexy.
4. He is the nicest man in fashion.
5. From Anna Piaggi to Beyoncé, you can bet it's always a Stephen Jones hat.
This may be an image of Madonna's second round of ads for Louis Vuitton. Commenters on the Fashion Spot say it's legit — one of seven images in the fall 2009 campaign, which Steven Meisel shot in New York on April 24. There is reportedly video to go with it. (In January they put out a video of Madge and Marc Jacobs on the spring campaign shoot.) Naturally, in the new spot, Madonna wears the bunny ears that caused her to look like a batty drunken maid at the Met gala. Thigh-high boots like the ones she wore that night also reportedly appear in the ads. And again, Madonna has a mischievous look in her eye, like she's about to pull a rubber chicken out of her handbag and beat Jesus Luz over the head with it.
Recently, New York quietly became the only state in the country that will allow taxpayer funded researchers to pay women up to $10,000 for the "time, discomfort and expenses associated with donating eggs for experiments." The Empire State Stem Cell Board has $600 million to spend on stem-cell research, some of which they can now use to buy these eggs and harvest the cells. Many oppose this tactic, as it may prey on women who are in desperate circumstances. Others cheer it as a step forward for research in a field that is hampered on many sides by moral and legal restrictions. [WP]
Thankfully, not all the Wu-Tang Clan members we interview are amusingly distracted. Raekwon — who will release the much-anticipated, much-delayed sequel to his classic 1995 debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx on August 11 — was downright chummy! Since we can’t believe this thing is actually coming out, we got Rae on the phone early to talk about recording the original album, the distribution deal he landed with EMI for the sequel, and the reason people are paying attention to his mustache.
You were publicly critical of RZA after 8 Diagrams, but he’s working on OB4CLII. How'd you patch things up?
I mean, we family. Everything that me and RZA were going through, it was controversial and it got out to the air, but we both already knew where we were going with it. It ain’t like I did nothing behind his back. I don’t rock like that. Whatever it is, he already knew my energy, and he knew I had an important project as well. At the end of the day, we brothers.
Can you talk about experience of recording the original Cuban Linx?
That album was more like a street album — it was done in the basement, it was done with straight-up beats and rhymes, it wasn’t about trying to make it anything to sit on a pedestal with commercial hip-hop. It was just coming fresh off the block, like, "Yo, these are the beats that Rae likes and he’s gonna spit that street shit cause that’s all he know." And I definitely picked the production that I felt was good for my chamber. You know, niggas wasn’t rhyming to shit like "Rainy Dayz" or "Criminology," like that kind of sound. Me and RZA knew we was coming across with a new sound.
So you knew at the time you were recording it’d be something special?
Everything was special, ’cause we professionals and we take that hip-hop shit serious. But if you look at the title, it’s called Only Built 4 Cuban Linx because we felt that it was only built for a few people. It could have been just 50,000 people that fell in love with the album: We just wanted to make it for the ones that could relate to the struggle and to my street days and all the shit.
How much of the delay on the sequel was due to your own perfectionism?
I’m the type of artist that I never like to rush everything. It definitely took a process because I wanted to make sure that I had a kind of ill kind of production, ’cause when you talking about doing Cuban Linx, you go back to the classic Wu sound. We wanted to bring that back to life. And if you know like I know, a lot of the radio music today don’t even know how to understand that kind of sound. And we wanted to go back and really create a façade of the early nineties, of when I didn’t have a record deal, and it was just about the beats and the rhymes. But it gave me a lot of time to really stash a lot of good beats.
You’re bringing in a lot of non-Wu performers this time. What is it about guys like Bun B, Jadakiss, and the Game that you can relate to?
I think not only the passion for real hip-hop, but they street niggas as well. They got a certain kind of credibility out there that basically relates to mine. Game, Bun B, Kiss, they been around the life, hands on with it — you can hear it in the music. ’Cause at the end of the day, I’m always going to be underground. I don’t care if I do 20 million in sales, my background is underground. It’s straight drug-dealing music. Straight over the stove again.
What went wrong with the original Aftermath/Dr. Dre/Busta Rhymes Deal?
I mean, it wasn’t really anything that went wrong. It became a big rumor about me going to Aftermath, and somebody leaked it out like it was a go. But we never really put no paperwork together and had no John Hancock when we was basically in bed. It was just a negotiation. Me and Busta have had this brotherly love relationship — to me Busta is a Wu Tang member from the other side. Me and him never worked out no business deal, it was more a friendship.
Have there been various versions of the album, or has it been one continuous evolution?
I mean, you know, people got the philosophy that it’s so many different versions. But anything that I made, I always bottled it up and, you know, threw it in the water so nobody could find it. So anything that I’m releasing now is basically me just letting you know I still got it. But everybody is judging it to be Cuban Linx. That’s a laugh to me. I gotta laugh it off, ’cause I’m like, "Yo, you haven’t even heard shit yet." But I’m glad that people are paying attention to my mustache, you know what I mean? They watching how my shit is shaped up.
How many members of Wu-Tang are on the album?
I could never do another Cuban Linx album without having the family on it. Every member is on there, doing their thing. Even if you don’t hear my brothers really ringing bells right now, I always believe in them.
The original was billed as “Guest-Starring Tony Starks.” Is Ghostface as involved this time around?
I want to keep a few things hidden until it’s time to basically purchase the album, but in this case, Ghost really stepped to the plate and put his best foot forward, ’cause he knew where he came from. You looking at a substantial amount of Ghostface Killah. This is his baby as well.
You’ve mentioned you almost went the independent route. How close of a call was it?
I was having a lot of mixed feelings about the independent world as well as the label world. I feel like I’ve been in the game a long time and you know when it come to labels not seeing a fella being around the last five years, it’s like it's hard to convince them what I can do. They don’t respect the fact that I’m bringing in a collective item, and the labels weren’t really trying to give me the proper support system that I needed and made me feel like, “Yo, if you not gonna respect it, if you not gonna promote it, I might as well do it myself, and capitalize off my decisions.” And that’s when I decided to do another situation where I create my own buzz — Rae’s not an artist on Cuban Linx, Rae’s selling a brand to EMI, and EMI is coming up as a partner.
Last thing. Can we get any collateral over the album really coming out August 11th?
[Laughs]Yo, you crazy. Yo, can we get some collateral?! The only collateral I can give you is my word. I’m a man of my word. I know a lot of people is doubting this project is even existing. Y’all helped me eat for years — I would never play with y’all. That’s why I been giving ya’ll free music. I look at it like you said, "Yo, you got me waiting, can I get a fucking soda? Can I get a juice? Can I get a fucking sandwich?" And that’s my way of giving back. But I do have to make sure that my I’s is dotted and my T’s is crossed. August 11 is official. That’s the final destination for the album. Get ready.
Eminem -- in his first full-scale concert performance in four years -- Kiss, Jane's Addiction and the Flaming Lips are among the headliners at the 11th annual Voodoo Experience music festival, taking place Halloween weekend in New Orleans. Widespread Panic was previously announced as part of the festival's bill.
From Quincy Jones to Britney Spears, friends, music luminaries and fans from around the world and around the web reacted to the news of Michael Jackson's death on June 25 with thoughts on his life and legacy.
After both Democratic and Republican senators held (separate) rapid-fire sessions — both were under four minutes — and then quit for the day, Governor Paterson just held a press conference. "I have directed the State Treasurer not to pay for the per diems or travel expenses of the senators," he said (the per diems are around $160 a day and travel expenses are usually $15,000 to $25,000 a year). He added that he expects a legal challenge but says he's within his right because technically there's no presiding officer.
We've just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.
Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.
Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.
Jackson had 13 number one hits during his solo career.
Everyone in the office is pretty much in shock. There are no words at the moment. This is insanity. Source: Best Week Ever | 25 Jun 2009 | 9:48 pm
SKIN
• Even though skin-care companies offer anti-cellulite products, new research shows they don't actually work. [NYT]
MAKEUP
• Cameron Diaz's summer color is red. She's doing the event rounds wearing the hue on her lips. [Beauty Counter/Style.com]
• Lana Horochowski, the makeup artist behind the show Mad Men, finds modern makeup too shimmery. [Beauty Blogging Junkie]
NAILS
• Totally random nail-polish fan: Joey McIntyre of the New Kids on the Block. He painted four of his five fingernails black, and the ring finger blue. Are we looking at the new Pete Wentz? [All Lacquered Up]
HAIR
• Which hairstyle did you like better on Sarah Jessica Parker: straight and long, short and wavy, or something in between? [Makeup and Beauty Blog]
While David Fincher hasn't yet officially signed on to direct Facebook: The Movie, we thought we'd help nudge him along by presenting this song by an Australian singer-songwriter named Kate Miller-Heidke. The song, titled "R U Fucking Kidding Me?" could very well be to this film what "Against All Odds" was to, well, Against All Odds. [Videogum]
TMZ.com is reporting that the King of Pop Michael Jackson has been rushed to the hospital after experiencing cardiac arrest. This is either serious... or just proves that Michael will do anything to get out of those London gigs. TMZ reports:
We've just learned Michael Jackson was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Los Angeles ... and we're told it was cardiac arrest and that paramedics administered CPR in the ambulance.
He was picked up at his home around 20 minutes ago -- we're told his mother is on the way to visit him.
UPDATE: The 911 call came in at 12:21PM at his Holmby Hills home in L.A.
UPDATE: A Jackson family member tells TMZ Michael is in "really bad shape" and the brothers are headed to UCLA.
UPDATE: We just got off the phone with Joe Jackson, Michael's dad, who says "he is not doing well."
This is kinda scary. Source: Best Week Ever | 25 Jun 2009 | 9:21 pm
By the time James Franco arrived at last night's party celebrating the release of Lapham's Quarterly's travel issue, he was over an hour late, and assistant editors who'd booked him were nearly hyperventilating. But when at last he took the stage, — appropriately dressed in jeans and a sweater with a whale on the back — he won over the small crowd of mostly book publishers with his readings from Don Quixote and Moby Dick. Speaking of the latter! Afterward, we asked the actor and student about the film he'd recently completed for NYU's Graduate Film Program, a four-minute short based on the Anthony Hecht poem "The Feast of Stephen," which Movieline called "blisteringly homoerotic." Making the film was, Franco said, "fascinating, because so much, a lot of times, so much is just implied in poetry and not really explicitly said, so as a filmmaker, you have to make decisions on how to interpret the poems." Like in the infamous naked teenage basketball scene? we asked. Was it difficult to get a bunch of actors to interpret that? Teenage actors? Franco laughed. "The way we did that was, we used real teenagers to play basketball clothed, and we advertised on the web and hired some people and we just shot them from the neck down. They were doubles, body doubles, dick doubles. I couldn't shoot 16-year-olds naked. I'd get in trouble!"
Since Conan O'Brien took the reins of the Tonight Show at the beginning of this month, seemingly each new day has brought another ratings milestone for Letterman. And today, another! In last week's ratings, for the first time since 2005, Dave's Late Show won more viewers than Tonight over a five-day period (with an average of 3.46 million to 3.32 million), announces a CBS press release today. However, in a competing press release, NBC points out that Conan is still winning in the usual, all-important "key demographics." So where are Letterman's new fans coming from? Is it just the elderly? Is he also surging among convicted felons and people living under bridges? CBS points out that Dave is also, little by little, narrowing the gap among the demos, so at least his advertisers are getting something for their money.
When W magazine asked Band of Outsiders designer Scott Sternberg what he would say to Paris Hilton if she called and asked to borrow his clothes, he replied, "That the moon is on fire and she better get outside and help put it out right this instant." When asked, "Jon or Kate?" he answered "Who?" And when asked "Waverly Inn or Monkey Bar?" he said, "No." [Editors' Blog/W]
[Wacky Trailer Voice]: Ray Romano thought he had his hands full with his wife and mother, but nothing could have prepared him for THIS...
This October, Ray Romano is... DAD DAD
(It's actually a picture from the Ice Age 3-D premiere, but don't think CBS execs didn't see this pic and get some ideas...) Source: Best Week Ever | 25 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pm
Former congressman Rick Lazio, who many may remember for accosting Hillary Clinton during a 2000 Senate debate, "fully intends to" run for governor, his spokesman said today. Not to be outdone by potential primary opponent Rudy Giuliani, who yesterday proposed a constitutional convention, Lazio has suggested that New York adopt a unicameral state legislature, which only Nebraska currently uses. Now, would that eradicate some of Albany's dysfunction, or simply concentrate it in one place? [Newsday, NYDN]
As the God of all things shiny, Michael Jackson's burgeoning fondness for Balmain was inevitable. He's already stepped out in at least two ladies' Balmain pieces — a T-shirt from the fall 2009 collection and a jacket from the spring 2009 collection. French Vogue fashion director Emanuelle Alt is reportedly "obsessed" with Jackson, and introduced him to the label. The Imagist recently reported that "Emmanuelle would weep" if he wore Balmain onstage for his "This Is It" tour kicking off July 13. She can save those Kleenex for another event, because Jackson will not wear Balmain onstage, but rather Crystallized Swarovski Elements. It was the only other option, really, and Swarovski is too smart to pass up a golden marketing opportunity such as this. The costumes and sets will feature 300,000 crystals (which sounds like a relatively low number for someone as shiny as Michael) in 53 different shapes, 43 sizes, and 27 colors. If our math is correct — and we are not good at math anymore — he could wear up to 61,533 different kinds of crystals! We'd say that's a decent Balmain substitute.
Today the Daily Newstells us some news that is simultaneously stupendous and devastating. Apparently, tomorrow is "Take Your Dog to Work Day." THAT IS A THING? Did you people know this? Is there also a "Bring Ice-Cream Sandwiches for Your Gay Co-workers Day" that we didn't know about? What kind of offices have we been working in until now that we didn't know this was a holiday, and that it's been celebrated in the United States for ten years?
Now, readers, you are all on notice. You are going to be required to send any and all pictures of puppies at work (if they are wearing work attire, even better, and if they can be actually trained to do your work for you, best) to intel @ nymag.com tomorrow. If we get enough, we'll make a slideshow of adorableness. And to any and all New York co-workers, listen up: You'd better bring your dogs to work tomorrow, or else you are going to be looking at three (okay, one) very unhappy Daily Intel editor(s). We're looking right at you, Copy Chief Megan Who Sits One Cubicle Away and Who We Happen to Know Has an Adorable Goldendoodle Named Snapdragon.
You see, that's why the news of Take Your Dog to Work Day is both happy and sad. People will be bringing puppies to the office! Yay! But some of us don't even have a single puppy to bring. Booo ...
Michael Jackson's planned 50-show run at the O2 Arena in London would have been the highest-grossing single concert engagement. Now it's a major problem for the promoter AEG Live.
BTW, isn't it high time someone rebooted The Deep?
Inglourious Basterds came out of this year's Cannes Film Festival battling buzz that it was not only boring, but also that Harvey Weinstein thought it was 40 minutes too long. So, in an effort to get people energized about the film that could either make or break the Weinstein Co., Harvey conducted an interview with GQ. In it, he blames "some insane blogger" for starting those rumors and promises that Quentin Tarantino is "not gonna cut, he's just reorganizing some scenes." Most interestingly, though, Harvey seems very excited about a possible prequel to the film:
Brad [Pitt] wants to do Inglourious II. We all want to do it. And the movie hasn’t even come out yet! But unfortunately I cannot give away the plot. [pause] Unless you turned into Jacqueline Bisset when she was 27 years old. Under those circumstances, I would give it away.
The warring factions of the State Senate have been oddly unified in one respect today: their anger toward Governor Paterson, who has threatened to continue calling them to special session (which he has the power to do) and to start docking their pay (which he doesn't). Both Republicans and Democrats have been talking trash about him all day long, specifically citing what they describe as his lack of leadership. But his pressure is doing something, because according to Pedro Espada, the turncoat Democrat who himself is the largest wrench in the gears of progress, leaders from both sides "have a template" for a power-sharing agreement. "Our staff has been meeting," he told NY1. "Folks, I think, for the first time have put down their armor and their shields and are really talking to each other in a respectful way." Of course, it's easy for Espada to say that there's a template that people should agree on when it's his insistence on remaining president of the Senate that's causing most of the debate. "We're all embarrassed," he added. "We're all embarrassed that we've embarrassed ourselves, the process, the institution through this impasse." You know, if it had been one day, or two, or even just a week, we might have believed that these people (particularly Espada) were capable of shame. But two whole weeks? Sorry, we're not buying it.
Oh, and meanwhile, the farcical special sessions are expected to resume about now.
AP - A boxing game looking to draw players the into the ring needs to make sure they feel in complete control of the fighter's movements while providing graphics that live up to our ever increasing high-def expectations.
Fashion Wire Daily - Call it an example of creative noblesse oblige, where the patrician proves he's a gentleman by his very concern and sympathy for those who got a tougher break, which was the case with Louis Vuitton's spring 2010 menswear collection, inspired by New York bike messengers on Thursday, June 25.
Back in May, the good people behind the 33 1/3 book series announced the next eleven titles they'll be publishing. Depending on your worldview, it's either fortunate or unfortunate that the list did not include The White Album by Charles Manson or Purple Rain by Tipper Gore. [Flickr via Julie Klausner]
Here's a potential glimpse into the future to prove that fast food porn still has a loooong way to go (long like a penis!):
(Thanks to interns Zack and Pam for their filthy, Photoshoppy minds. Don't worry - they've both been slapped with multiple harassment suits after this post) Source: Best Week Ever | 25 Jun 2009 | 6:50 pm
AP - Jean Paul Gaultier delivered beefy sailors who'd embraced their feminine side in a sexy, gender-bending menswear collection on Thursday. Source: Yahoo! News: Fashion News | 25 Jun 2009 | 5:48 pm
The death of Michael Jackson on June 25 brings to a sudden end the life of a performer who captivated pop audiences with the Jackson 5 and matured into a performer of electric charisma and unprecedented crossover appeal, before living out his final years as a virtual recluse.
Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen earned $60.6 million in its opening night, a box office record for a Wednesday (crushing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix's $44.2 mil) and falling just $7 million short of The Dark Knight's all-time opening night record.
Because I haven't seen the movie yet, I will leave the reviewing of the film to this GChat conversation with my friend Steve, who went to the midnight opening and spent about an hour the next morning trying to convey the enormity of the film's sucking. Enjoy:
me: how was the movie
Steven: horrible
it felt so long
and that john turturro line IS in it
[Steve is referring to the Roger Ebert review, which points out the John Turturro line "Oh, no! The machine is buried in the pyramid! If they turn it on, it will destroy the sun! Not on my watch!" This is only the beginning...]
me: wowee
Steven: there's humping dogs
close up of john turturro's butt
sam's mom eats a pot brownie
the crowd loved it
me: is this a movie
not like a Summer Movie Wiki that the audience decides what goes in there
Steven: an old timey transformer that farts a parachute
there's a decepticon that looks like a hot girl that tries to get to sam
me: even though he's dating megan fox?
Steven: there's also two jive talking autobots
me: does the old lady from Airplane talk to them
Steven: yes
[Review continues, after the jump]:me: anything else?
Steven: it's everything the quotes on rotten tomatoes say
it's unbelievably bad
[Steve proceeds to pick out quotes from Rotten Tomatoes...]
"Leave it to Michael Bay to take the fun out of explosions."
"I hated every 149 minutes. This is so bad it's immoral. Michael Bay is a time-sucking vampire who will feast off your lost time. This is why the movie is so long."
"Michael Bay has once again transformed garbage into something resembling a film, at least in the loosest sense: it can be run through a projector and used to sell millions of tickets."Steven: forgot to mention rainn wilson is sam's teacher in college
me: uh oh, schticktime!
Steven: so unnecessary to have him there
the movie was more like a music video, just stuff happening
it was like when michael jordan was in that one michael jackson video playing basketball with him
"oh cool, now dwight's on the screen"
oh hey now some new stuff's happening
me: haha
Anyone see the movie yet? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. Personally, I'm not worried about spoilers, but I guess some people might be, so, whatever. Source: Best Week Ever | 25 Jun 2009 | 5:20 pm
AP - New York City bike messengers, with their functional microfiber windbreakers in bright citrus shades, rode the catwalk at the Louis Vuitton show Thursday.
Single ladies who live with many a cat around have earned the poo-poo'd reputation of being a "Cat Lady", which is gal code for "insanely lonely." Sure articles suggesting cats actually make people go insane and videos like this don't really help their cause any.
Well now, filmmaker Christie Callan-Jones is digging deeper, past the top layer of sand and down into the uriney clumped ones, to find out what Cat Ladies are really like. It's a documentary. Called Cat Ladies. The trailer already reveals a lot to us. It reveals that Cat Ladies are not all alike: Some are older single ladies, others are younger, more attractive single women, and some are older, unattractive single ladies.
But there is one thing they do have in common: There is nary a peen to be seen. Nary a peen. And that, ladies and gentlemen, might be the scariest thing of all. Oh, and there's another thing: They really love cats, aka "God's Body Pillows." Now I am personally a cat fan, and even once staged a small Cat Les Mis starring Lutzy, my ma and pa's cat. But God forbid my life ever spirals into the downward cat spiral seen in this Cat Ladies documentary. Because you know all of these women went from one pet, to getting three cat besties, to a dozen "for kicks", to a rescue den of 20, to falling asleep on a cattress and wearing live cat slippers to Petco and then having a seizure in the "nip" aisle.
I digress. Here is the trailer for Cat Ladies. It's like Saw IV: For Ladies:
Ms. Bollea bites back after her former hairdresser testifies that she was violent towards Hulk and used money on drugs. Source: FOXNews.com | 25 Jun 2009 | 4:41 pm
Is this a photo of the United Nations in session yesterday, or a Bond movie criminal syndicate about to warn a room of generals that they only have one hour left to deliver the money before their satellite vaporizes Mount Rushmore?
The correct answer is: The second thing.
Thanks for playing! We'll see you next time on "Why The Hell Are Our Diplomatic Buildings So F*cking Intimidating?" Source: Best Week Ever | 25 Jun 2009 | 4:15 pm
Fashion Wire Daily - It had to happen sooner or later. After all, Cameron Diaz is 36 years old, an age where most women are either already mothers, or are thinking hard about becoming one. So it is no surprise that Diaz, who, as she joked during interviews for "My Sister's Keeper," may have "a few kids out there that I don't know about," finally plays a mom in the tearjerker film that premiered on Wednesday, June 24, in New York.
After weeks of light training and dominance around the house, The Dog WhispererCesar Milan was finally ready to hit the town with his latest squeeze, Priscilla, a petite little mutt who had trust issues with her original owners. But Cesar, working tirelessly, managed to build a bridge of trust between owner and dog, man and best friend, and she was just, finally beginning to let her little dog guard down.
And then, Cesar made his first move:
And that's when it hit Priscilla... and not in a whisper, but in a loud, dog shout... that things had gone terribly wrong:
With the first leg of their summer tour now in the history books, Phish has announced the title of its first studio album in five years. "Joy," a ten song set, is due later this summer on the band's own JEMP Records.
Shia LaBeouf'st-shirt conjures images of the college freshman with the prominently displayed Dylan poster (flanked by two Bob Marley Posters) even though he only owns three tracks from The Essential Bob Dylan that he downloaded off Limewire, but I'll let it slide, because, well, he's Shia Emm Effing LaBeouf:
I have a feeling Miley Cyrus is going to have to issue an apology for this, somehow.
And if you're keeping score, that's now LaBeouf 2, Phelps 0. Source: Best Week Ever | 25 Jun 2009 | 3:00 pm
Look back at the King of Pop's
remarkable career in Rolling Stone's archives. Check out
photos, cover stories, album reviews and more at our
Michael Jackson hub.
• In a life as jam-packed as Michael Jackson's, it's easy to forget the highlights. Or the oddities.
• Many were transfixed by the video of Jackson's body being...
Michael Jackson died today at the age of 50. His life, a stunning story of stardom, success and setbacks, is an unparalleled American story.
Here, we present a...
The crowns fit: Michael Jackson was the King of Pop; Elvis Presley was the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Both men commanded the pop-culture landscape, as much as the charts. Both men influenced...
The speculation will continue, but this is what we know so far.
No official cause of death will be announced until after an autopsy is performed, but doctors have indicated that Michael...
Neither one of them strangers to the strangest of headlines, Michael Jackson and Britney Spears also shared a stage.
The duo performed "The Way You Make Me Feel" together for...
No one—and we mean no one—was ready for this. But the tributes to Michael Jackson, the pioneering pop-rock artist who died today at the tragically premature age of 50, started pouring...
Before Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, he was a kid pop singer.
Check out this exclusive True Hollywood Story short about the early days of the Jackson 5, before they shot to...
Elizabeth Taylor, one of Michael Jackson's closest and most supportive friends for nearly two decades, is grieving her loss in private at this time.
"Dame Elizabeth Taylor is too...
The tragedy of Michael Jackson's death today at only 50 years old is something that we, the world, will be hearing about for weeks if not months from now. The mood around the offices at VH1 and MTV are shocked and in awe, as can be expected. It is unbelievable shocking and saddening.
Michael Jackson, or The King of Pop, as people of a certain age will always think of him, was an icon -- musically, culturally, and for many crying, screaming fans, spiritually. He was greater than just a man -- there was a time when people revered MJ as a God. And for good reason. Putting together the following music video compilation of 20 of his Greatest Hits, you realize that he really was -- is -- The King of Pop. Song after song of singable, danceable (and at that, he was the best), catchy, world famous tracks. They just don't make artists like Michael Jackson anymore. He will live on forever in history.
It seems almost trivial to make a video compilation, as Michael's genius is consuming and overwhelming. But it's also a fitting and necessary reminder as to who Michael Jackson is and once was. Join us in Reliving 20 of our favorite Michael Jackson's Hit Songs, 
As is the case these days, the outpouring of grief over Michael Jackson's untimely death started seconds later in the Twitterverse, where seemingly every celebrity with a Twitter account had a...
Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen earned 
me: wowee
Steven: there's humping dogs
close up of john turturro's butt
sam's mom eats a pot brownie
the crowd loved it
me: is this a movie
not like a Summer Movie Wiki that the audience decides what goes in there
Steven: an old timey transformer that farts a parachute
there's a decepticon that looks like a hot girl that tries to get to sam
me: even though he's dating megan fox?
Steven: there's also two jive talking autobots
me: does the old lady from Airplane talk to them
Steven: yes
[Review continues, after the jump]:
me: anything else?
Steven: it's everything the quotes on rotten tomatoes say
it's unbelievably bad
[Steve proceeds to pick out quotes from Rotten Tomatoes...]
"Leave it to Michael Bay to take the fun out of explosions."
"I hated every 149 minutes. This is so bad it's immoral. Michael Bay is a time-sucking vampire who will feast off your lost time. This is why the movie is so long."
"Michael Bay has once again transformed garbage into something resembling a film, at least in the loosest sense: it can be run through a projector and used to sell millions of tickets."
Steven: forgot to mention rainn wilson is sam's teacher in college
me: uh oh, schticktime!
Steven: so unnecessary to have him there
the movie was more like a music video, just stuff happening
it was like when michael jordan was in that one michael jackson video playing basketball with him
"oh cool, now dwight's on the screen"
oh hey now some new stuff's happening
me: haha
Anyone see the movie yet? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. Personally, I'm not worried about spoilers, but I guess some people might be, so, whatever.
Single ladies who live with many a cat around have earned the poo-poo'd reputation of being a "Cat Lady", which is gal code for "insanely lonely." Sure articles suggesting 
