AP - In the book store Boekehuis, people squeeze among the shelves as an Ivorian and an Angolan novelist discuss a troubling characteristic of their new homeland South Africa: a hatred of foreigners that has flared into violence.
AP - Two Ohio police chiefs suspected of snooping for tabloid fodder at the home of a surrogate mother for actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are to be arraigned on undisclosed charges.
AP - Two Ohio police chiefs suspected of snooping for tabloid fodder at the home of a surrogate mother for actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are to be arraigned on undisclosed charges.
AP - Two Ohio police chiefs suspected of snooping for tabloid fodder at the home of a surrogate mother for actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are to be arraigned on undisclosed charges.
Well, maybe Michael Jackson will be laid to rest before we find out what killed him.
At this point in time, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office has "no idea" when the...
Bryce Dallas Howard is going to save the Twilight Saga.
We don't care if Summit is a mean studio that unfairly canned Rachelle Lefevre, or if Lefevre is a contract-breaking actress...
The good news is that tonight is the last excruciating elimination episode of So You Think You Can Dance before next week's finale. The bad news is that we lost two wonderful dancers who will...
Maybe Mariah Carey should've just let sleeping dawgs lie.
Because Eminem has once again reached into his seemingly bottomless bag of rhyming celebrity disses and pulled out a new...
They got knocked up together, but these days it's more like they're trying to knock each other out.
Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow appeared on Howard Stern's radio show this...
Not that we thought they were going anywhere, but today at the Television Critics Association press tour, HBO officially announced that True Blood and Entourage have been picked up for another...
A lawyer for model and aspiring actress Samantha Burke has said that his client is pregnant with Jude Law's fourth child.
"Ms....
It's been months since the news broke that the cast of Seinfeld was reuniting on Curb Your Enthusiasm. However, no plot details were released until executive producer and star Larry David sat...
Front Page: Actor joins Julia Roberts starrer 'Love' -- Billy Crudup has joined "Eat, Pray, Love," the Columbia Pictures adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling memoir that stars Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem and Richard Jenkins. Ryan Murphy is directing a script he wrote with Jennifer Salt.
Front Page: Ridley Scott attached to return as director -- Twentieth Century Fox is resuscitating its "Alien" franchise. The studio has hired Jon Spaihts to write a prequel that has Ridley Scott attached to return as director.
Michael Jackson's cardiologist is the central focus of a federal investigation into the singer's death, a law enforcement official told CNN. The disclosure was among several developments in a story that continues to gather steam more than a month after the death of the pop icon on June 25.
Twentysomething R&B sensation Ciara showed up to a fundraiser for the TXT L8TR campaign sporting this kinda creepy hot-grandma outfit. Great for a night at the bingo parlor, but maybe not...
It was a title I had since I did the Pretty Toney album, and I just wanted to do something that had meaning with it. I wanted to base it around The Wizard of Oz. I was passing the chuckle patches and all that stuff like that, doing everything till I got to the Emerald City, and meeting the person that was like God, you know what I mean? That’s what I was gonna do: Fall asleep where the chuckle patches was at, under a tree or something, and here go these skits, and they laughing and all this shit. I could have been dreaming, or whatever the case may be. But things had to change cause I couldn’t take the same likeness of that movie and put it on my album cause then it’s gonna cause a problem. But I still kept the Wizard of Poetry and Emerald City.
Did you know that the Wizard of Poetry would be an R&B album when you first thought up the title?
No, no, no. When I first thought Wizard of Poetry, I just thought, I’m just gonna write a bunch of ill stories however I wrote it. But it would just be poetry — you know, ill, ill shit. But I always wanted to do an R&B album, and that’s how it came in.
Was anyone in your camp trying to dissuade you from doing that?
No, not really. I was gonna do it anyway. But there wasn’t nobody, like, saying nah. My manager was like, "Do half and half," this and that, "You'll lose your fan base." I’m not into it for my fan base right now. I did that for my fan base for like a bunch of my albums. I gotta do what I want to do for myself right now. What’s gonna make me happy.
You’ve also said a part of doing an R&B album is that, as you get older, you can’t rap about the same type of stuff you used to.
Yeah, I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still will do that on other tracks, but this album right here is an R&B album. You can’t talk about slinging crack on an R&B album. Unless you get caught — it depends on how you say it — and your girl is gonna leave you, and she never came back, cause you were doing whatever you were doing.
But in general, is getting old in hip hop something that worries you?
I’ma definitely be old in hip hop. I’m not gonna be on the road. But this is a mental thing. You can write music till you seventy. This is a hobby, B. Muthafuckas always act like they retiring and don’t go nowhere. You know what it is, man. You can’t get away from it, B. You don’t think Michael Jordan wants to pick up the ball sometimes? But that’s what it is. That’s why a boxer always keep coming back, like Muhammad Ali, until he just kept getting his ass beat. Until you realize, I just ain’t got it no more.
Do you worry about that happening to you?
I mean, yeah, you always worry about it. But that’s what makes you great. It keeps you on your toes. The muthfaucka that thinks that he’s not falling off, his darts start coming more weaker. Once you worry about it, and hope that this don’t happen, then you’re guaranteed to be around for a long time. Cause you’re always trying to be on point.
You also mentioned that the album was partially motivated by the fact that you haven’t’ shot anyone since the nineties. No need to get into to much detail, but can you talk about that particular incident?
Oh, nah, I ain’t talking about that, B. This nigga wanna talk about a shooting I said in the early nineties. What’s wrong with this nigga? [Laughs] Nah, nigga. You wilin’ and shit. Nah, nah.
Okay, moving on. This is your last album on Def Jam — are you already looking towards the next step in your career?
I don’t know. The way the game is right now, even going independent is still fucking everything up. Everything is just fucked up in the game. So I don’t know what to really do. I just know to do my work, and that’s it.
Is the joint album with DOOM next?
I’m waiting for DOOM to get back at me, so we can fix it up. I gave him all my parts. I’m just waiting for him to fix it all up.
How do you manage to stay consistent, when so many of your peers take so long between albums?
That’s just working. My shit is, at least try to drop an album once a year. Or, if not, within a year and a half. And that’s it. As far as putting music out, my shit is, once you’re gone for two and three years, then you seem to lose the people. It’s like you selling crack or weed on the block, and you fuck around. They used to copping from you, but then you leave. Even if you left for a fucking a day, they gonna go to somebody else. They still gonna be checking for you, but they gonna go to somebody else. And once they get used to going to somebody else to get their weed — and it might be better than yours or just as good — they not gonna need you no more. Cause they gonna go see the other person they made a bond with.
Definitely. What’s your schedule like when you’re in the studio?
My hours is any time, B. When you got rap music, you could work right now till six o’clock in the morning. You got your own hours. And a lot of hours is late-night hours. A little bit of daytime, then you go back at night, and you catch what you can catch — get up in the morning, listen to what you were writing. “Oh shit, I wrote that?” Then connect a couple of lines on that, and that’s how it goes. Just connect the lines, and before you know it, you got like, six, seven songs, son. And it’s like, oh shit. It makes you want to keep on going.
You still write with pen and paper?
Yeah, of course. Definitely. I wish I could do the other way, but I can’t do that shit. But that don’t mean nothing. Muthafuckas act like they don’t write, they ain’t making no real hits.
You’re one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary rappers. Do you read your reviews?
I don’t really read it a lot and stuff like that, dog. I go by what people tell me. I just take it how it is. But I didn’t really get a chance to really show to my best ability. I haven’t really went in in a long, long, long time, I think that my future is gonna tell where my hand is at, you understand what I’m saying? Within the next couple of years, its gonna tell where I really stand. Right now, I made a name for myself but the future is gonna be the good days.
That's how President Obama described tonight's highly anticipated beer summit only a couple of hours before it began, so we guess Joe Biden just showed up at the last minute unexpectedly. Regardless, if the image here is any indication, it seems Henry Louis Gates and James Crowley decided to settle their differences with a staring match judged by Biden and Obama.
While it’s growing on us, the clubby “She Wolf” is most assuredly not “Hips Don’t Lie,” which may be why Shakira has made an accompanying video — now available online in its entirety, although, sadly, not in embeddable form — that gives us a funny, climbing-the-rope-in-gym-class feeling when we watch it. One of her bodysuits — not the “nude,” flesh-colored one — looks like it was handed to an adolescent boy with scissors before she put it on. There’s a cage. She sticks her finger in her mouth in such a manner that to call it “suggestive” would kind of be lying. Also, she’s a really, really good dancer. See a preview below.
Good news, fangbangers: HBO just announced they have given the greenlight for True Blood to come back for a third season. Entourage and Hung have also been renewed for their seventh and second seasons, respectively. And in an epic streak of killing multiple birds with a solitary stone, the network also disclosed that the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm will debut on September 20 and will immediately be followed by the season premiere of Bored to Death. So that oughtta take care of your Sunday nights from now until November or so. [Live Feed/HR]
Hotel owner Andre Balazs has been busy the last few weeks trying to convince people to strip naked at his Standard Hotel. Today the mini-chain launched a line of swimwear with Quiksilver. The boardshorts are supposedly designed for "late-night impromptu pool parties" and will be sold via "high-tech vending machines." But does this mean the hotel's l'âge nu is finished? Developing! [Cool Hunting]
Peter Cammarano, the young Hoboken mayor who was revealed to have taken $25,000 in bribes when he was arrested last week as part of a massive FBI sweep in New Jersey, has agreed to step down from his position. Cammarano, who had only been in office for 23 days, had bragged of his popularity in conversations with an FBI informant, the complaint against him revealed. "Right now, the Italians, the Hispanics, the seniors are locked down," he'd said shortly before the election. "Nothing can change that now … I could be, uh, indicted, and I'm still gonna win 85 to 95 percent of those populations." Approval-rating numbers for Cammarano are unknown at this time. [NYT]
Last month, Jay-Z (who we hear might play a surprise show tonight) released the single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" and killed the Pro Tools plug-in forever — or did he? Marco Alpert, vice-president of marketing at software company Antares, tells the Times that sales of Auto-Tune are way up. "The Jay-Z controversy is great. We couldn’t buy P.R. like this." Nice going, Hov! [Bits/NYT]
Front Page: Changes in show made to improve ratings -- Is it a case of broadcast vs. cable? Critical darlings vs. crowd pleasers? Is nothing less than the fate of the Emmy Awards' future TV home hanging in the balance?
Last night we got a curious e-mail from fashion publicist Jennifer Goldszer, who had suffered terrible embarrassment by way of the Fashion Meets Finance RSVP list. Goldszer did not RSVP for the event, but, since one must separate their friends from their douchey friends, checked the list to see if she knew anyone who intended not only to go, but wanted to broadcast this plan to the entire Internet. And what did she find? A picture of herself. Embarrassing! There sat her gorgeous smiling face next the name Shelley Abrahmson, a "location scout" for American Apparel.
The photo, Goldszer suspects, was ripped from Facebook. Anyone can post anything on the RSVP list, so Shelley Abrahmson may not even be a real person to begin with. It seems lots of shady characters post lots of shady things on this list. For instance, some who work in marketing at banks — and are not technically bankers and therefore do not qualify as the "finance" types whom the "fashion" types are supposed to meet like for their money — are inflating their salaries and lying about their positions. Which means many in the alleged finance contingent listed online are faking careers in finance — a level of meta-douchiness seldom witnessed.
So the "finance" men lie about their salaries, while the "fashion" women lie about what they look like, thus reinforcing the foundation of this stellar event. I.D.'s and business cards will be checked at the door, so come party time, attendees can be certain those scare quotes won't be necessary.
If you've either been: (a) within earshot of a radio in the last three months, or (b) paying attention to our Song of the Summer countdowns each and every Friday, you'll know that this has been the summer of the Black Eyed Peas. In fact, they just broke a Billboard record formerly held by Boyz II Men for the most consecutive weeks a band has held onto the No. 1 spot on the singles chart. Between "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling," the band has had the most popular song in all the land for the last seventeen weeks. Wowzers. [Newsroom/MTV ]
Fashion Wire Daily - One of the perks of being a designer is that if there's an article of clothing that you want but can't find, you can always design it yourself.
Front Page: Attendees needed earlier for prerecorded segments -- Following the announcement that Emmy Award attendees may now need to be seated at L.A.'s Nokia Theater an hour earlier than usual for the pre-recorded portion of the show, the red carpet regime -- camera crews, photographers, stars, publicists, hairstylists, etc. -- must now prepare for a long night to get even longer.
On her foot-tasting tour in support of last year's 27 Dresses, Katherine Heigl famously told Vanity Fair that she found Knocked Up, the film that made her a movie star, "a little sexist," since it "paints the women as shrews" and "men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys." When asked about it on The Howard Stern Show this morning, director Judd Apatow kept his criticism polite, explaining that she was "probably was doing six hours of interviews and kissing everyone's ass, and then just got tired and slipped a little bit." Luckily, however, Apatow brought his furry avatar, Seth Rogen, along to say what he was really thinking.
"I didn’t slip and I was doing fucking interviews all day too," said Rogen. "I didn't say shit!" Then he sarcastically praised Heigl's The Ugly Truth: "That [movie] looks like it really puts women on a pedestal in a beautiful way." Apatow joined in a little: "I hear there's a scene where she's wearing underwear with a vibrator in it, so I'd have to see if that was uplifting for women."
Apatow continued, "I feel sad that she hasn't learned the lesson of her journey yet ... [You'd think] at some point I'll get a call saying 'Sorry, I was tired ... ' and then the call never comes."
Then Rogen, who'd apparently caught Heigl's appearance on Letterman last week, chimed in: "I gotta say, it’s not like we’re the only people she said some batshit crazy things about. That’s kind of her bag now."
We imagine Heigl will have something batshit crazy to say about this.
Production on Lost season six doesn't begin for another few weeks, but thanks to Comic-Con, we're starting to get a sense of the new season, including which castmembers might be back to...
If you have been trolling around Internet music message boards anytime over the last year and some change, you'd be hard pressed to argue otherwise. We first learned of the trend back in November of last year, when a tossaway line about the band resulted in a scad of defensive Third Eye Blind fans showing up in the Vulture comment section. And now, famed Internet personality and music PR honcho Sarah "Ultragrrrl" Lewitinn is finding herself on the receiving end of a vicious beatdown by enraged 3EB fans after she dared to question the artistic relevance of one Stephen Jenkins. Over at the emotastic forum Absolute Punk, over 500 comments have been posted in response to Ultragrrrl's original post, the majority of which hail Jenkins as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation and the the band's self-titled 1997 album as one of the pinnacles of the decade. As Seth and Amy would say, "Really?!?"
We suppose we're much like Ultragrrrl, in that we never really gave Third Eye Blind much thought. Sure, we're not above admitting that "Semi-Charmed Life" has one of the highest play counts in our iTunes library and that it's just about impossible to turn the dial if "Jumper," "How's It Gonna Be?" or "Never Let You Go" comes on the radio, but we'll admit to being just as baffled as Ultra when it comes to understanding how the influence of this particular band has grown so much over the years. While it's true that there were a handful of songs and bands whose ubiquity in the nineties kind turned us off before we ever really got a chance to absorb how good they were — in particular, Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy" and the Gin Blossoms' New Miserable Experience have somehow boomeranged their way back into heavy iPod rotation — we just never really viewed Third Eye Blind through that particular filter. That said, after reading the passionate defenses of the 3EB self-titled record (and especially said album's closing four songs), we're gonna have to break open some boxes tonight and revisit that CD to see what the hubbub is all about.
How about you, VultureWatchers? Does Stephen Jenkins speak to you like the chorus to the verse? Or have the brains of these millennial types been polluted by too much Red Bull? Let us know in the comments!
You'd think, after everything that's happened this past year, that Wall Street would have learned a little something. That at least the younger generation, the generation that grew up with Mr. Rogers, that elected Obama, would value integrity, honesty, decency. But no. Dealbreaker has discovered a true crime: Some respondees to the annual horror show that is Fashion Meets Finance have misrepresented themselves on the event's RSVP list.
Tipsters reporting untruths wrote in from both Goldman Sachs:
I scanned the Goldman directory for these FMF people. Only two people from that list actually work for the firm, both of which overstated their salaries drastically.
and JPMorgan (the good bank!):
Many people are wildly overstating their positions and salaries. For example, [redacted] is not an investment manager, but rather "marketing support" (probably helps write the monthly employee newsletter) and likely doesn't make $200k-$300k as he claims. What a fraud.
Of course, it's possible these people haven't straight-up lied, but instead merely adjusted their salaries and positions using mark-to-market accounting (after all, they do have jobs, and in this market, that counts for something).
Event founder Jeremy Abelson freely admits "there's a lot of bogus people" on the RSVP list. But he assures Daily Intel that the event itself will be regulated. To get in, "You have to show a valid I.D., and a business card," he told us via speakerphone today. "If it says you're in marketing at a financial-services company, you'll be rejected at the door, because that's not a finance job." That's also why Steve Aoki, a D.J. and the son of Rocky Aoki, appears to have been rejected by the site, despite his considerable wealth. "In the New York dating scene, the men of finance are the lions, and the women of fashion are the trophies," said Abelson. "We have to maintain the purity of the genetic lines."
Dial is making soap infused with synthesized pheromones called Dial for Men Magnetic Attraction Enhancing Body Wash. The soap is supposed to attract women. Apparently Dial does not make a version of this soap for ladies, possibly either because women don't need extra pheromones to get lucky or because they just don't give a crap about us. Anyway, scientists cannot determine whether these fake pheromones actually work. Real pheromones are still a bit of a mystery. But back to the soap: Dial did a test where blindfolded women smelled scent strips rubbed on men who had either just showered with a body wash containing the synthesized pheromones, showered with a pheromone-free body wash, or had just worked up a sweat and not bathed (yum!). The women were asked to decide, based on the scent strips, who they were attracted to. One woman chose a guy who had used Dial's magic soap. “In appearance and personality he was not someone I would otherwise be convinced to go out with,” she told the Times. Well yes, but she didn't get to look at him or talk to him — she just smelled a piece of paper that had been rubbed on him. Let's hear from an expert:
“For humans, though, it’s usually love at first sight, not love at first smell,” said Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist. “There are many factors to sex appeal, and romance and scent is among them. But from studying the brain, I would argue that our brains are largely built for visual stimuli.”
While Dr. Fisher believes pheromones may not initially be an aphrodisiac, someone’s scent can certainly be a turnoff, or a turn-on, once courtship has been established, she said.
So if you're not hot, the pheromone soap won't help you get women. Unless you are pursuing the blind.
After doing his best to hang on and remain in office, Hoboken mayor Peter Cammarano—one of the dozen or so politicians caught up in that ginormous corruption scandal in New Jersey—has finally agreed to step down. The political damage to Gov. Jon Corzine is only beginning. Pollsters are already giving Corzine's Republican challenger the advantage in the upcoming gubernatorial elections. [NYT]
Front Page: 'Funny' helmer signed to three-pic directing deal -- Universal Pictures has kept its key funny guy in the studio fold, signing a three-picture directing deal with "Funny People" helmer Judd Apatow.
And so the McKinsey Era begins: Editors at Condé Nast learned today that purchasing newspapers — subscriptions or single copies — will no longer be reimbursed. Previously scheduled newspaper deliveries will be canceled, effective now. You can read the less tactile versions for free, after all.
Celebrating 100 years in New York, the historic jeweler and watchmaker has been dazzling the world with big, beautiful gems for the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie O, and our own MObama for her official White House portrait. But it is the watches that have an enduring appeal, based on fabulous design and expert craftsmanship. Unlike the fantasy world of big gems, a watch is a daily reminder of where we need to be. Here are the top five reasons we love Cartier watches.
1. The designs are timeless, so to speak.
2. You get bold design combined with impeccable craftsmanship.
3. If you ever need to get a repair, which is rare, the service department is fast and courteous.
4. It's an investment buy that you'll keep as an heirloom.
5. Wear it in place of a bracelet; it's just as chic.
From left: Cartier Tank Française watch in stainless steel, $3,875; Tank Solo Cartier watch, $2,300; Pasha de Cartier in stainless steel, $5,150; available at Cartier, 653 Fifth Ave., at 52nd St. (212-446-3400), and 828 Madison Ave., at 69th St. (212-472-6400).
Michael Jackson's ex-wife and the mother of his two eldest children, Debbie Rowe, has agreed not to challenge the singer's mother for custody of the children, a Jackson family lawyer said in a CBS News interview.
Nigel Barker on his America's Next Top Model gig: "It's really an easy job. I get the opportunity to meet new people and travel to different countries every season. There isn't anything really not to like about it. I never got into this in order to become a celebrity, I did it because I'm a photographer and Tyra asked me." [NZH]
Hiram Monserrate, one of the two rebel senators who threw Albany into chaos this summer, will stand trial on September 14 for slashing his girlfriend in the face with a broken glass. Both he and she say the incident was an accident, but prosecutors who have seen the videotape of him chasing her out of the house and yanking her around as she tries to ring neighbors' doorbells in terror still don't believe them for some reason. [HuffPo]
HAIR
• Sherri Shepherd brought a video camera along when she got her first Brazilian wax so she could tape the experience for The View. Her reaction to the end result: "I look like I'm in elementary school." [Jezebel]
• Jay-Z and Beyoncé shopped for hair products at the Ricky’s on Sixth Avenue this week. [NYDN]
FRAGRANCE
• Daphne Guinness: "I really hate going to fragrance stores. They always try and spray you. And then it never comes off, even after four showers. I get so confused. They give you a sample and you really don’t want to be horrid [to the sales people], but it’s so awful." [WWD]
A lot of people would do anything to have an offer from Corporate America right now. They'd travel long distances and wait in long lines, feet squeezed into special career shoes, hoping to God that the human-resources representative at the career fair won't notice the applesauce crust on their sleeve or take an immediate dislike to them because of the mole underneath their left eyebrow. Not Gwyneth Paltrow. Opportunity comes to her. "Corporate America is knocking at my door," the actress told People proudly last night. Said corporations want to get involved with her website, Goop, offering her free stuff and piles of money, and guess what? Gwyneth just turned it down cold.
"People want me to do all this other stuff. But right now, I just really love doing the site. I love thinking about the letters, what I’m going to write about, what kind of information we can put in there."
That's integrity, is what that is. No, wait, sorry, that's bragging and self-promotion — integrity is something else.
Here is an infomercial that proves you can HJ your way into shape! In fact, if you can find a willing participant to give HJs to (assuming you can’t give them to yourself), it takes only 6 minutes of serious cranking to finally get those upper arms you’ve been looking for. Who knew that “polishing the low-quarters” on the regular was such a healthy work out?
Of course, if you can’t find a D to J Off on a daily basis, you could always just go ahead and purchase a “Shake Weight”:
“Dynamic Intertia”? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
When the Emmys decided back in February to expand the number of eligible nominees in the major categories from five to six, we lamented the effect this would have on the show's running length. Well, apparently the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences felt the same way, as they have agreed to prerecord the acceptance speeches of 8 of the 28 honors traditionally handed out during the ceremony. Unfortunately for you, the viewer, that doesn't mean that you're exempt from watching these awards being handed out; rather, now they'll just be cut together into some sort of montage and edited to within an inch of their lives. [Showtracker/LAT]
After Project Runway premieres on August 20 on Lifetime, Models of the Runway debuts. This Runway spinoff is about the models who compete alongside the designers. We confess, we had our doubts about the show at first, but upon viewing the preview, we have decided it might be better than Project Runway because it sounds like they all hate each other and want to scratch each other to death at all times. Some sound bites from the trailer:
“I saw you eyeing my designer the other day and I thought it was very unfair.”
A recurring benchmark in the trial over whether Brooke Astor's son pushed her into willing him more money after she was too senile to know what she was doing is that the society doyenne didn't seem to know 9/11 was happening, or to remember it afterward. Finally we get more details about that day from the front manager at the Knickerbocker Club, where Astor had lunch reservations on September 11, 2001. John Shea called her that day, as they called everyone with a reservation, to urge her to stay at home. From the Post:
"I advised her to remain home and she asked me why," Shea told Manhattan Supreme Court jurors weighing swindle evidence against Astor's son Anthony Marshall, 85. The club manager said he explained to Astor: "Well, the Trade Center seems to be under attack." Shea also testified that he told Astor that cops might limit Manhattan traffic. "'No one is going to stop my car," she said. "I will be there.'"
If her marbles were gone, it's at least notable that her iron will was still intact (or maybe it was her hubris? Hard to tell). But poor old Mrs. Astor had an excuse for turning up at lunch that terrible day — she really wasn't in her right mind. The sad part of this story is that batty, beloved old Mrs. Astor wasn't the only person who showed up.
Take a good look at the male nurse zombie blur face you see above you. Meet Karlis Gajevskis, a man who dared get between Mel Gibson and his glass of whiskey. When Gakevskis tried to take a photo of Mel enjoying his liquor and his lady, Gibson went berserk and, in an assumed attempt to sneak a peak at this dude’s sugartits, tore his shirt right on open. The story, via Hollyscoop, goes as follows:
Gibson and his pregnant girlfriend arrived with a large group of people and settled into their VIP area, hoping for a great night out on the town. Unfortunately, all they got was trouble.
One club-goer tells Hollyscoop exclusively that “Mel looked so happy and in love” at the club. And they genuinely seemed to be having a great time together. However, things went sour when a Life & Style reporter posing as a fan tried to snap a picture of Gibson and his girlfriend. His security team immediately took the camera and deleted the pictures.
The pushy reporter didn’t stop there as she sent her friend Karlis Gajevskis to take another picture. That’s when Mel stepped in and attacked Gajevskis because he was fed up with everyone trying to snap a photo of him partying.
Our source tells Hollyscoop exclusively that “Mel approached the guy who tried to take his picture and ripped his shirt.”
Sure, sure, Mel Gibson just “happened” to tear this guy’s shirt open hours after he “got” his “chest” waxed. Mmmhmm, right. Sounds to me like this Karlis character was just two nipples shy of getting his picture splashed all over the web. And wouldn’t you know it? Here we are.
Also, Mel Gibson is a psychopath and this story is likely 100 percent true.
You don't usually see the names Sheila Bair and Anna Wintour mentioned in the same sentence. Bair, of course, is the supremely powerful chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Wintour is the supremely powerful editor-in-chief of Vogue. But now the two have collided. And, oh, yes. It is on.
Earlier this week, Jezebel's Jenna Sauers recounted a chat she had recently with a junior editor at Vogue:
This editor told me that she was itching to cover the financial crisis. (Vogue has apparently noticed that there has been a financial crisis.) The only problem, said this editor, was that her magazine's coverage would have to take the form of a profile, and because of Vogue's female audience, the profile would have to be of a woman. What's more, any appropriate profile candidate would need to be attractive.
"I pitched Sheila Bair to the photo department," said this editor, "and they said, 'Are you kidding? We can't shoot her.'"
Okay, sure, Bair is no supermodel. But she isn't exactly Janet Reno either. And Lord knows Vogue's photo department has faced greater challenges in the past and managed to find a way to triumph. Truth be told, the magazine's editors would probably have a tougher time turning Queen Anna herself into a Vogue specimen if she didn't happen to be its editor. Let's all say a little prayer that a Vogue competitor jumps on this missed opportunity and gives Bair the glam makeover she rightfully deserves.
Models are the new celebrities as far as designing clothes goes. Jessica Stam just revealed that she's been collaborating with rag & bone on pieces for the spring 2010 collection. Designer David Neville acknowledged, “We’ve been designing some clothes together.” Sounds serious. No one tell Hussein Chalayan. [Style File/Style.com]
The good people at Snuggie Inc. (the imagined name of this so-called “company”) have finally done it: They have invented something so stupid, so useless, so nonsensical, that we think it prime time to fold the Snuggie up into a tight Military triangle, and bury it deep, down into the Earth, in between the graves of the Thighmaster Family and the Baconwave clan. Because this time, Snuggie, this time you’ve gone too far.
Ladies and gentleman…
THE DOG SNUGGIE:
(Genius ad campaign designed by us)
Yes. They took a fleece blanket intended for people to use so that they may keep their arms warm while reading and watching television. And made one. For dogs. Because how else are dogs supposed to watch TV and read while staying warm? the only question, one wonders, is if they created a flap for easy ball licking. I wouldn’t put it past the Snuggie geniuses.
Now some of you are laughing, but some of you are obviouslypurchasing this product as we speak. For those of you not sold on it yet, we have the EXTREMELY PERSUASIVE INFOMERCIAL AHEAD. Be warned: You’ll probably buy one whether or not you even have a dog. It’s that handy!
Also, don’t get me started on the talking dog tag. Of course people buying this product would probably live in neighborhoods with high illiteracy levels. And don’t even GET me started on that little slut named Tilly:
"This very unfinished work reads largely like an outline, full of seeming notes-to-self, references to source material, self-critique, sentence fragments and commentary ("The whole scene was pretty artificial in a fishy theatrical way"). It would be a mistake, in other words, for readers to come to this expecting anything resembling a novel."
But all isn't lost, Playboy readers! If you absolutely must have an excuse to pick up the December issue, PW says "the few actual scenes wedged between the notes are unmistakably Nabokovian, with cutting wordplay, piercing description and uneasy-making situations." Speaking of uneasy-making situations, when is Playboy's next budget meeting?
From left: Sasha Pivovarova in Italian Vogue; Kim Noorda and Magdalena Frackowiak backstage; Ferretti fall 2009 campaign.
'Tis the season for libros, and the fashion community knows the value of a good read. Ellen von Unwerth shot Sasha Pivovarova lounging with Things Get Better on her lap for July's Italian Vogue, a title that seems like it would fit in to any self-help section. Bookworms were backstage at the Christian Dior fall 2009 couture show, as Magdalena Frackowiak paged through a Proust title and Kim Noorda read a novel while getting her hair and nails done (multitasker!). But nothing promoted literacy quite so sweepingly as Alberta Ferretti's new fall campaign. Steven Meisel shot Viktoriya Sasonkina, Madisyn Ritland, Nimue Smit, and Dorothea Barth Jörgensen in a dark, Hogwarts-like study. The moody, intellectual scene has paper and hair flying everywhere, with stacks of books piled high in the background. Got your library card handy?
Eva Amurri recently finished filming season three of Californication, in which she enters the show as a writing student who moonlights as a stripper and falls for David Duchovny's character. She took the stripper part seriously, too, undergoing three weeks of pole-dance training to prepare for the role. So does her mom, Susan Sarandon, approve? "My mom came to a strip class with me, actually," the 24-year-old told us last night at the screening of Adam. "She had been so curious about it, and she tried a little bit. She was awesome." View more in our Party Lines slideshow.
Are you moving to Washington, DC? You won't need to worry about finding a place to live! Karl Rove's house—featuring an oil portrait of George Washington, a stag head, and "a couple of yellow floral sofas that would make chintz queen Mario Buatta wet his pants with glee—is currently on the market for $1,585,000. Enjoy! [Real Estalker]
It may have seemed like Bonus Buster Andrew Cuomo has been lying low, and it's true — he has been spending a lot of time with a special lady who can do things you can't even imagine with ordinary supermarket whipped cream. But he's also been working. Over the past nine months, he and his team have sifted through reams of paperwork subpoenaed from credit-ratings agencies and regulators. They've pored over transcripts of interviews conducted with Wall Street executives in hot little rooms, and spent hours breaking down the compensation structures at the nine largest banks that received TARP assistance in order to determine who at each bank received how much, and whether it was justified given the company's performance (often, they found, it was not). Then they distilled all of their knowledge into a massive report — a magnum opus, if you will — one that is at once comprehensive and yet so simple a child could not only read it but become enraged, for the overall takeaway is this:
Thus, when the banks did well, their employees were paid well. When the banks did poorly, their employees were paid well. And when the banks did very poorly, they were bailed out by taxpayers and their employees were still paid well.
Also, Cuomo added up that banks paid a combined $32.6 billion in bonuses while receiving a combined $175 billion in taxpayer funds.
He decided to call the report, "No Rhyme, No Reason: The ‘Heads I Win, Tails You Lose’ Bank Bonus Culture." Not so much because it summed up his findings, particularly (there is a reason Wall Street executives saw fit to pay themselves fat bonuses at the expense of everyone else — theirs is a culture in which entitlement and greed has become deeply ingrained), but because while he was putting the finishing touches on the report, Cuomo had this smooth jazz song in his head from over the weekend.
New
Jersey's answer to Coachella, All Points West, is mere days away.
Before you hit the ferry, check out our picks for five of the
fest's sure-fire breakout acts.
Get all our recommended sets here.
Cage the
Elephant Stage: Blue Comet Set Time: Saturday, 2:15-3:05 p.m.
This Kentucky-based quartet scored a solid hit this year with the
blues-rock blast "Ain't No...
Katie Holmes was spotted in Melbourne with daughter Suri, and in an attempt to continue the illusion that her daughter is the most precious child in the world, Katie apparently hired Mary Poppins’ love child with Samantha Ronson to prance around everywhere they went.
Also, I’m pretty sure there’s not enough down in Katie’s jacket, people! [/SARCASM!! AMIRITE?! Bye.]
Is it even raining? The answer ahead….
…. No, it is not even raining.
More pics of Marie Poppingston ahead, PLUS a devastating exposé into Suri Cruise’s dark side… her New Jersey dark side:
Aww, Suri is growin’ up so quickly though!! Only 4 more years until she changes her name to Laura Burney, fakes her own ocean death, and ends up wearing a wig on a cross-country bus while some strange old lady offers her apples.
Always the little troublemaker, Suri managed to slip away from Mommy and Nanny to close a pretty shady-looking transaction with her dealer:
“Jersey Babys”? OMG, does it star a little baby Frankie Valley???? I’ll take three.
(Thanks to Intern Zack Mast for the Mary Poppins inspo.)
Why, of courseDiesel has a billboard downtown portraying a pretty hipster taking his pants off for a grizzly bear, with the tagline, "Happiness comes from the inside. I'm working on it." Because if it were just a picture of a greasy, muscle-y model with unbuttoned jeans in a nondescript setting, that would inspire no one to go to Diesel and lay down $250 for pants that have received 40 extra lashings from a dirty garden shovel. Besides, hairy gorilla arms were all the rage on the fall 2009 runways. Diesel brings extra attention to this bear's gorilla arms by styling him with a shiny watch. So while this billboard may be many things — over-the-top, scary, inappropriate, grotesque — it is at least on trend.
Things have gone from bad to worse for photographer Annie Leibovitz. The glorified pawn shop (or "art finance firm," as they prefer to be known) that lent Leibovitz boatloads of money against every photo she has ever taken as well as the value of the real estate she owns in the West Village and upstate New York, has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against her. It's accusing her of "boldly deceptive conduct" for not allowing appraisers to come inside her home: "Among other demands in the suit, the company, Art Capital Group, based in Manhattan, is asking the court to order Ms. Leibovitz to allow real estate agents access to her town houses in Greenwich Village so the property can be appraised and prepared for sale to pay back the loans." [NYT]
AFP - Michael Moore's film on the financial crisis and the directorial debut of US fashion designer Tom Ford will compete for the Golden Lion award at this year's Venice film festival, organisers said Thursday.
A lot of people have notions about who should foot the bill for universal health care. Should it be the rich? Some people say that's not fair. The vain? Also maybe not fair. Thomas Frieden, the salt-and-fun-hating former New York City health commissioner, may have another solution. The newly installed head of the CDC released the following timely information at a conference on obesity in Washington this week:
The medical costs of treating obesity-related diseases may have soared as high as $147 billion in 2008 ... The cost of treating obesity doubled over a decade, signaling the rising prevalence of excess weight and the toll it is taking on the health-care system.
“Obesity and with it diabetes are the only major health problems that are getting worse in this country, and they’re getting worse rapidly,” he said.
Interesting.
Frieden didn't come right out and say it — he doesn't have the authority to, plus he's new and still tiptoeing around — but the message is clear. Tax the fat! There's a lot of them, and they're the ones using the system the most, and therefore they are the ones who should pay. Plus, with the new tax, they'll be forced to lose weight — not having any money leftover to eat, walking instead of taking the subway, and so forth — and we'll all have universal health care! Oh, unless it works too well and then everyone gets thin and there's no one left to tax anymore... Eh, never mind.
Look, Zac Efron, let’s talk for a second. OK, listen, just because I happened to watch the movie 17 Again 3 times in a row on my way back from the Middle East a couple of weeks ago, and just because I couldn’t help but Harajuku-laugh my way through each showing thanks to your adorable self-awareness and timing, doesn’t mean I just wallpapered my ceiling with this photo of you, because I’m pretty sure that’s illegal!! Hahaha. Stop looking at me like that.
But how dare — how dare – you put your life and the lives of millions of young boys and girl in danger with the following stunt: You bungee jumped your ass off the top of a giant cliff while filming The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. And you did so with the littlest of cares! Without reservation!! You just threw your tiny little ass almost directly into Heaven’s waiting room!
Can you imagine what would have happened if that delicate bungee snapped in two, sending your lean, tanned body careening into the luckiest damn river in all the world? I’ll tell you what would have happened… (Warning: Explicitly violent GIF ahead.) THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.
We’re glad you’re still with us. Here’s to hoping you and Matthew Perry team up again in the near to very near future.
New York's bad-ass attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, has been looking into compensation on Wall Street for, like, nine months now. And now the fruits of his labor have been unveiled for all to see! Cuomo released a report today called "No Rhyme or Reason: The 'Heads I Win, Tails You Lose' Bank Bonus Culture," in which he says—surprise!—big banks don't usually tie annual compensation to performance, and still pay out massive bonuses even in years when they don't record a profit. How surprising! (It's a good thing we don't tie the state tax rate to the performance of elected officials, too.) Unfortunately, Cuomo's 22-page report doesn't include the names of these Wall Streeters who are raking it in, but he does share a few facts you may find interesting.
Like how many employees at each firm he investigated took home a million dollars or more last year:
JPMorgan Chase: 1,626 Goldman Sachs: 953 Citigroup: 738 Merrill Lynch: 696 Morgan Stanley: 428 Bank of America: 172 Bank of New York Mellon: 74 Wells Fargo: 62 State Street: 44
Ed. Note: Former BWE.tv staffer Jenna Ennis is passionate about many things. And by many things, we mean one thing: The band 311. She was so excited to attend their recent concert, that she asked, nay pleaded, to report live from the scene. And we are nothing if not dream granters. So here, please, kick back your feet, fire up a J, fire up a bong, and fire up a bowl, and please enjoy Jenna’s thorough and scintillating review from the 311 concert. — Michelle
With Faith No More and No Doubt playing comeback shows, it seems only natural to announce that it is time to bring the 90s back. Why? Because in the 90s, our President was a sax-playing, intern-loving dude, Beavis and Butthead were on the air, and our young minds knew nothing of the recession that would plague our adult lives. Ah, youth!
I decided to bring the music back to MTV Networks by starting small and interviewing my favorite 90s-era band, 311. How ever will this be funny, you ask? I interviewed 311 in 2009. Isn’t that the punchline? Oh, not good enough? How about the fact that half of No Doubt was at their concert in Central Park’s SummserStage? Or that we learn about a Gene Simmons incident, and the definition of “concert weed?” Have I tickled your fancy yet? Check out the interview and some concert photos, after the jump!
In case you aren’t in the “cool people” group, 311 tours just about every year. They even have a bi-annual event called, wait for it, 311 Day (can you guess the date of the event?). I’ve never been, but I hear the mosh pit is ridiculous. To prep for this joyous occasion that is the interview, I call the ladies at Summerstage to secure a photo pass and the reps at Jive/Zomba Records to confirm some time with the band during their whirlwind NY press tour. I wrote out a slew of music 2.0 related questions and asked a couple of fan-friends (Kira & Bill) to conduct the interview (with PNut & Chad) and put my buddy Jordan in charge of the camera.
We enter the radio room and go into the basics…you have a new album coming out? Yeah, it’s good…touring all the time, why Summerstage this year? You can drink and party there…
As most entertainers do these days, we break into a discussion about social networking and Twitter:
Kira: How do you think social networking has changed the interaction between your fans as far as Twitter, and MySpace and…
Chad:Well. It keeps everyone informed instantly. I don’t do any of it, personally.
PNut:In fact, I’m totally against it. (I try my best to suppress an audible gasp!)
Chad:I just heard that they have these databases and at these festivals, and they were having like 40,000 people Tweet from that festival. So these, artists…and the reports are saying that the crowds are quieter than ever because of this Twitter stuff and people are like, “Hey, I’m at the Sting show” And they stop watching the show. So it gets real quiet. And everyone is like, “He just played!”
PNut: “It was killer, but I’m not clapping”
Chad:So the shows are getting quieter and quieter as far as what those type of performers are saying. Our shows are pretty loud, so we’re happy. And you can’t have your phone out in the pit, you’d lose your phone.
I make sure to make a mental note not to Tweet in the pit, and then we get to this golden gem:
Pnut: What about the towel incident?
Chad: The towel? Oh yea. People think that’s a lie when I say that.
Pnut: It’s not a lie. I’ll back you up.
Chad: I caught Gene Simmons towel.
Pnut: After he spit on it.
Bill:Still have it?
Chad: No. I don’t, actually.
Pnut: His mom washed it.
Chad: That’s why it sounds even more like a lie, “Oh here’s the towel, it sort of looks like everybody else’s towel.” No, it was cool; a great experience. That’s what started it off, man. I was like. “oh, is that real?” My kid brain couldn’t even [handle it]. I thought, “Yeah, I might want to do that.”
Pnut: It also created a phrase among 311, and Chad, I think this is where you experienced it for the first time. Chad said “It smells like concert weed.” Like bad, bad weed, not high quality weed.
Chad: Every now and then we’ll be at our show and you can smell someone smoking…
Pnut: Smoking some brown.
Chad: That’s like 70s concert weed. Like, where did they get that? Like, it’s from the 70s. Have you been time traveling? Time traveling!
Finishing off – we do two pop quiz scenarios:
Bill: There is a bomb on a bus, if the speed drops below 50 MPH it’s going to explode. The driver is blasting your new release, Uplifter on the stereo. Do you: A) Ask him to lower the volume, so he can announce the dilemma. B) Let “Never Ending Summer” blast as the bus explodes. Or C) expect Keanu to show up and save the day.
Chad: Depends on what type of bomb
PNut: But we’ll go down in infamy.
Chad: It depends on what year it is.
PNut: If we’re back in the 90s, Keanu saves the day.
Chad: But if it’s 2050, I think we roll this one out and turn “Never Ending Summer” all the way up and are like “kaboom.” We’ll all blow up; we’ll all go down together.
Kira: You’ve been taken hostage in a warehouse by a group of people and each one is named after a 311 release. Which one do you take out first while trying to make your escape?
PNut: Like, which is our least favorite album?
Chad: That’s what it sounds like.
Pnut: Take it how you want to take it.
Me: (in my attempts to moderate) It doesn’t have to be that symbolic!
Chad: If there is a guy named “Uplifter,” you might want to keep that guy around. “Grassroots?” Self explanatory. “Music?” You need music. But my suggestion is. Don’t even get kidnapped. Don’t be a hostage.
Heading out to the concert, we all feel accomplished over an interview well done. And then I realize, we barely spoke about music. So much for bringing the music back!
Who else would you like to hear from? Leave your 90s dream band interviews in the comments.
Matthew Fisher, the organist in the 1960's British pop group "Procol Harum," seen here outside London's High Court, won the right to a share of the song's royalties. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 30 Jul 2009 | 11:29 am
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma on July 29, 2009. One of Zuma's daughters has landed a role in one of South Africa's most popular soap operas Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 30 Jul 2009 | 11:13 am
Michael Moore, seen here in 2008, will seen his latest film on the financial crisis compete for the Golden Lion award at this year's Venice film festival, organisers said Thursday. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 30 Jul 2009 | 11:04 am
Just weeks after Tony Romo broke up with Jessica Simpson, the NFL star has been linked to another woman -- Natalie Smith -- but Smith's father tells PEOPLE reports of an intimate relationship between the two are "really very silly."
Roseanne as Hitler! Actually, this is a photo from the latest issue of Heeb Magazine, a publication run by Jews if you can believe it. We appreciate the boldness of the above image, the genius of taking advantage of Roseanne’s insanity, however dare we suggest the mustache is a little too wide? We dare.
The bad news is the article is entitled “That ‘Oven Feeling.” The good news is 3 out of 4 of my Holocaust surviving Grandparents have already passed away, and my Grandmother still doesn’t know what the internet is, unless by “internet” you mean “Publisher’s Clearing House”, and by “e-mail” you mean “Did I win Publisher’s Clearing House?”, in which case, the woman basically invented the internet. So… wait, that’s good news right?
It seems the only winner in this whole Jew-hatey debacle is Roseanne’s ex-husb and man who made True Lies amazing Bill Paxton Tom Arnold. You go Tom Arnold.
A South Carolina man was arrested for having sex with a horse for the second time. You’re welcome to write your own Matthew Broderick “repeated sex with a horse” punchline.
Jude Law is set to welcome his fourth child. He’ll soon have enough to re-enact his own adorable family version of Closer.
Dr. Conrad Murray may lose his Las Vegas home The real estate market continues to be tough for tabloid-beloved apparent-pop-star-murderers.
The Emmys are cutting 8 awards from the live broadcast, including “Outstanding Miniseries,” “Writing For a Drama Series,” and the coveted “Best Non-HBO Thing.”
And finally, Jon Gosselinreturned to his 8 children in Pennsylvania. But “8 Children” is actually the name of another woman he’s f***ing. (TO DO LIST – Write actual joke for this bullet point)
Front Page: Selection contains 71 world premieres -- Venice Film Fest unveils a rich mix of established auteurs and lesser-known helmers in its lineup.
Well, maybe Michael Jackson will be laid to rest before we find out what killed him.
At this point in time, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office has "no idea" when the...
Bryce Dallas Howard is going to save the Twilight Saga.
We don't care if Summit is a mean studio that unfairly canned Rachelle Lefevre, or if Lefevre is a contract-breaking actress...
The good news is that tonight is the last excruciating elimination episode of So You Think You Can Dance before next week's finale. The bad news is that we lost two wonderful dancers who will...
Maybe Mariah Carey should've just let sleeping dawgs lie.
Because Eminem has once again reached into his seemingly bottomless bag of rhyming celebrity disses and pulled out a new...
They got knocked up together, but these days it's more like they're trying to knock each other out.
Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow appeared on Howard Stern's radio show this...
Not that we thought they were going anywhere, but today at the Television Critics Association press tour, HBO officially announced that True Blood and Entourage have been picked up for another...
It's been months since the news broke that the cast of Seinfeld was reuniting on Curb Your Enthusiasm. However, no plot details were released until executive producer and star Larry David sat...
Twentysomething R&B sensation Ciara showed up to a fundraiser for the TXT L8TR campaign sporting this kinda creepy hot-grandma outfit. Great for a night at the bingo parlor, but maybe not...
Remember back in March when Rush Limbaugh 
Production on Lost season six doesn't begin for another few weeks, but thanks to Comic-Con, we're starting to get a sense of the new season, including which castmembers might be back to...
New York's bad-ass attorney general, 
Ed. Note: Former BWE.tv staffer Jenna Ennis is passionate about many things. And by many things, we mean one thing: The band 311. She was so excited to attend their recent concert, that she asked, nay pleaded, to report live from the scene. And we are nothing if not dream granters. So here, please, kick back your feet, fire up a J, fire up a bong, and fire up a bowl, and please enjoy Jenna’s thorough and scintillating review from the 311 concert. — Michelle
Chad: Well. It keeps everyone informed instantly. I don’t do any of it, personally.
