AP - The wishes Michael Jackson expressed in his will began to come into reality Monday during a lengthy court hearing, with his mother placed firmly in charge of rearing his children and the two men he designated still at the reins of his financial empire.
AP - The wishes Michael Jackson expressed in his will began to come into reality Monday during a lengthy court hearing, with his mother placed firmly in charge of rearing his children and the two men he designated still at the reins of his financial empire.
AP - The wishes Michael Jackson expressed in his will began to come into reality Monday during a lengthy court hearing, with his mother placed firmly in charge of rearing his children and the two men he designated still at the reins of his financial empire.
AP - "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" star Zhang Ziyi is trying her hand at romantic comedy after a series of dramas.
It's true, everybody! You can't have too much of a good thing.
Especially when that good thing looks exactly like Megan Fox. And drops wild nonsense in interviews, and walks...
Suckered Again: Having miraculously survived her appearance in Zack Snyder's Watchmen, Carla Gugino will press her luck by appearing in the director's next movie, Sucker Punch, whose plot, we'll remind you, sounds like something Terry Gilliam came up with while battling a fever (a girl and her friends "enter an alternate reality" to plan her escape from a mental asylum before she can be lobotomized). Gugino will play Mrs. Schultz, an adult employed at the asylum, probably because nobody gave her that Tony she deserved for Desire Under the Elms. [Variety]
It's a Trap!: Charlize Theron and Sam Worthington have signed on for The Tourist, a Bharat Nalluri-directed remake of the 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer, about a female Interpol agent (Theron, presumably) who uses an American tourist (Worthington, by process of elimination) to bait a wanted criminal who's also her former lover. Worthington will replace Tom Cruise, who was circling Tourist before he decided to make Wichita with Cameron Diaz instead. What might've been! [HR]
Twins:Mandeville Films and Top Cow Productions have announced plans to develop a movie version of Joshua Hale Fialokov's 2008 Top Cow comic Alibi. The plot revolves around a socialite whose public hijinks serve as the perfect cover for his secret twin brother, an assassin for the government. The film aims to recreate the success of last year's Wanted, based another Top Cow comic, so don't be surprised when Angelina Jolie is cast as James McAvoy's twin brother. [Variety]
Badly Drawn Boy: Steve Zahn will delay the release of his rap album to play the dad in Fox 2000's film adaptation of Jeff Kinney's graphic novel Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which follows Greg Heffley, a middle-schooler struggling to fit in among his classmates. Greg's biggest stumbling block? Embarrassment over his dad's recent Letterman appearance, we assume. [Variety]
Renny Harlin will direct an untitled drama on the five-day 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia during which Georgian troops attacked South Ossetia. The plot is being kept under wraps for "security reasons," but will allegedly center on an American reporter and his cameraman caught in the crossfire. Hey, for all we know, this could be Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno followup. [BFDMemo/Variety]
Read more posts by Lane Brown
Filed Under: alibi, anne hathaway, anthony zimmer, carla gugino, charlize theron, fox 2000, hugh jackman, jeff kinney, jenny bicks, joshua hale fialokov, laurence mark, mandeville films, mika, movies, renny harlin, sam worthington, steve zahn, sucker punch, the greatest showman on earth, the industry, the tourist, tom cruise, top cow, zack snyder
Wolverine's gonna sink his claws into a meaty part.
Hugh Jackman has signed on to appear in a new musical, reports Variety.
Showman will chronicle—in...
 MiamiHerald.com | CBS married to 'The Good Wife,' 'Let's Make a Deal' Boston Herald The network announced yesterday at the annual gathering of television critics here that it would replace “Guiding Light” with an updated version of “Let's Make a Deal.” The long-running soap ends Sept. 18; the game show will premiere ... CBS talks up new 'Deal' 'Let's Make a Deal' signs Wayne Brady Barney: CBS revives 'Let's Make a Deal' as soap fans suffer |
 Indian Express | Twilight series eclipses Potter records on Best-Selling list USA Today Stephenie Meyer's four-book Twilight series has sunk its fangs into USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list — with no signs of letting go. Meyer's domination of the list for the past 12 months has smashed records ... Get the real skinny about 'New Moon' nude Roman bath scene 'New Moon' Won't Feature Nude Scene, Director Says Two Twilight-inspired make up lines |
 New York Daily News | CBS building on its big-bang ratings with new shows, slots USA Today By Sonja Flemming, CBS By Gary Levin, USA TODAY PASADENA, Calif. — Stalwart CBS isn't the sexiest network. But at a time when TV comfort food appears to be in demand, it's winning the race. The network led last season, was the only network to increase ... Can 'NCIS' outgun 'American Idol'? CBS is banking on it Press tours give a sample of TV networks' rivalry The Death March With Cocktails: The networks are here. But so is ... |
 Straits Times | People: Ryan O Neal admits he hit on his daughter at Farrah Fawcett... San Jose Mercury News You know that saintly aura that seemed to spread over Ryan O'Neal as he stayed by Farrah Fawcett's side in the final weeks before she succumbed to cancer? Well, he's pretty much just shot that all to heck. In an interview with Vanity ... Sideshow: Oh, that flirty Ryan O'Neal Ryan O'Neal Reveals Dark Reality of Farrah Fawcett's Last Days Fawcett, Jackson get 'Fair' magazine play |
Life goes on for Rachelle Lefevre.
Twilight's former Victoria enjoyed dinner with her boyfriend, Tudors actor Jamie Thomas King, last night at L.A.'s Buddha's Belly...
 Times Online | Michael Jackson's mother given custody of children Los Angeles Times Eric George, Debbie Rowe's attorney, addresses reporters. Rowe, the mother of two of Michael Jackson's children, will retain visitation and legal parental rights in her agreement with Katherine Jackson. Debbie Rowe, mother of the two older children, ... Business deals could add millions to Jackson estate Attys: Jackson's doctor 'loves' singer's children Jackson's mother gets custody of his children |
They say there are two sides to every story—though when you're dealing with Jon Gosselin, there tend to be three or four.
So Kate Major, the divorcing reality-TV star's...
• David Burke's Townhouse closes tomorrow for renovations. Cafe Boulud will shuts its doors for a revamp beginning in a couple of weeks. [Eater, TFB]
• Mermaid Inn owner Danny Abrams says he'll open the Mermaid Oyster Bar in the former Smith's space on MacDougal Street next month. [GS]
• Michael Huynh, the man behind Bar Bao and Baoguette, says his Bia Garden, the "city's first Vietnamese beer garden," will open next week. [GS, Thrillist]
• Gabriel Stulman's Joseph Leonard opens next week, too. (Photos here.) When it does, it will be the first restaurant in the city to offer boxed water. [VV]
• A roundup of other restaurants opening this week and next. [TONY, NYM]
• Did Publisher's Weekly jump the gun by posting a pic of Frank Bruni? [TFB]
• If you get an invite to dine at the White House and you're a captain of industry, be advised that you'll be expected to pay for your meal. [NYDN]
• Crisis averted: The Grand Central Oyster Bar renewed its liquor license at the very last minute last Friday. [NYT]
• A food purveyor has slapped Bar Artisanal with a lawsuit. [NYP]
• The "five tastiest politically-correct restaurants" in NYC. [NYM]
• Mobster Anthony "Fat Tony" Rabito has been banned from four restaurants considered "well-known mob hangouts," includings Rao's in Harlem. [NYP]
• A Mister Softee driver was arrested for delivering more than ice cream: He was using the truck to distribute cocaine and marijuana. [NYP]
Ahhh! New New Moon stuff. Does anyone ever get tired of how much new New Moon stuff there seems to be every day? Didn't think so, which is good because we need more Twilight on this...
On the off chance that you've been pulling a Rip van Winkle for the better part of the aughts, we have some tough news to break to you: The music industry is in the shitter! Labels are shutting down left and right, music-business execs have been forced to take up residence in the breadlines, and CD sales have plummeted substantially (down 14 percent this year alone). So, naturally, the industry is looking for new and exciting ways to generate the revenue necessary to keep its operations afloat. Well, today we learned that Island Def Jam is taking the new but most certainly not exciting step of including advertisements within the CD booklet that will accompany Mariah Carey's new LP, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. People who plunk down their hard-earned money for the CD will get access to a 34-page "mini-magazine" containing adverts for Elizabeth Arden, Angel Champagne, and the Bahamas Board of Tourism (!), among other advertisers. If the record industry is trying to give consumers new reasons to take a few minutes to learn exactly how to get a BitTorrent client working on their home computers, we think it's succeeded!
Mariah Carey’s “Memoirs” to Include Mini-Magazine and Advertisements [Rock & Roll Daily/RS]
Read more posts by Mark Graham
Filed Under: ad wizards, island def jam, mariah carey, music
Far be it from us to say anything bad about one of our E! colleagues, but some say this leaked video reveals Chelsea Handler to be a one-woman hostile work environment.
Sure, this...
For ten years, Dina Wein-Reis ran a brazen scam in which she convinced major companies to send her samples of their product, which she then sold on the black market for millions of dollars. How did she manage to get away with it, and for so long? Well: She was hot. "She looked like she stepped out of a Beyoncé video," a former employee tells Fortune. She was also a savvy businesswoman, apparently, because she surrounded herself with fellow hotties.
"These were not boneheads," says deKieffer. "These were not bimbos. They were not relying on boobs, but brains." Wein-Reis and her damsels of diversion inflated their targets' egos, got deep inside their heads, and turned their critical-thinking powers to mush. "I would covet the opportunity for you and me to carve out some quality time," Robert Gregerson, then president of Polaroid's instant-camera division, wrote in 2006 after a New York meeting with Wein-Reis. "I am approaching this with full recognition and realistic expectation that you will remain intimately involved. By now, I trust you know my ego will support it!"
According to Fortune, Wein-Reis and her team "left her marks flat on their backs, gasping. She had a genius for turning male vanity into cash." Unfortunately for her, she was not as good with women.
"Dina went through assistants like toilet paper," recalls one employee who was fired. Her behavior could swing from empathy to callousness in an instant. One worker took a Thursday and Friday off to attend her grandfather's funeral and received a call from Wein-Reis the following Monday: "I'm sorry about your grandfather. You're fired." A weeping assistant recounted to the company's top finance official that Wein-Reis had once handed her a pair of dirty panties and ordered her to put them in the hamper.
This, of course, was the flaw in Dina's otherwise perfect plan: Eventually, after she fired an assistant for breaking her foot, the assistant turned her in. Sigh. If only Dina had seen Mean Girls! Then she would have known that if you act like a bitch to your minions, eventually they'll turn on you.
The alleged grifter who duped corporate giants [Fortune]
Earlier: This Is the House That Promotional Pens Built
Read more posts by Jessica Pressler
Filed Under: balls-less crime, ballsy crime, bitches be crazy, dina wein reis, mean girls
In case you thought making outfits out of car seats, thousands of candy-bar wrappers, or corn husks while locked in a windowless room surrounded by weirdos for hours on end seemed like fun, the Times is here to set you straight. The paper reveals the Project Runway experience, like that of many reality shows, is a hellish combination of sleeplessness, isolation, and abundant alcohol to ensure contestants act crazy. Contestants are cut off from all media, deprived of cell phones, and not even allowed to listen to music. So if you were filming the seventh season of Project Runway when Michael Jackson died, you might not find out until weeks later. Talk about being so last season.
Designers on the show have no emotional support network except the producers, who, as we mentioned, offer no real support at all since their only goal is to get competitors tired and drunk so they don't bore audiences on TV. Also, the designers sign nondisclosure agreements so that when they are allowed to call their real friends, they can't tell them about their horrific living situation.
The Times reports:
Chloe Dao, the winner of the 2005-6 season of “Project Runway,” said that the filming would usually start at about 6 in the morning, “and we finished sewing every day around midnight.” The contestants then would tape the “confessionals,” in which they speak directly to the camera. “We would get to sleep at 1 to 3 a.m., and wake up again at 6 or 7.”
The lack of sleep affected their performance, Ms. Dao said. “That’s why every season when you get to the final challenge, we’re all terrible — because we’re exhausted.”
Uh huh. Horror stories don't stop there:
Diana Eng says she was so tired after multiple 18-hour days of shooting the program’s 2005-6 season that she was sometimes awoken by the camera crew standing over her.
“One morning they scared me so bad I jumped and screamed,” she said. “They said that wasn’t good, so I had to pretend to wake up again.”
Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, who run Magic Elves, the production company behind the first five seasons of Project Runway, say contestants are isolated "to ensure fairness and prevent cheating" and to keep spoilers from leaking.
“We always give contestants the best conditions we can,” the executives said. “Our budgets are less than half what a similar network show would have, and that means very long days for cast and crew, but our contestants are fed at least every six hours, and there are always snacks and water available.”
Ah, the Project Runway guarantee! You might lose your mind in a fit of exhaustion, but at least the producers will nourish you enough to keep you standing. However, now that the show's on Lifetime, all bets are off. Though we imagine that channel not only has Pringles and water available at all times, but also pink-frosted cupcakes with those little silver-ball sprinkle things. But now we know just how desperate contestants must be for exposure, if they willingly put up with all of this. They're either very dedicated, or very sad inside.
TV Contestants: Tired, Tipsy and Pushed to Brink [NYT]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: bravo, chloe dao, diana eng, lifetime, make it work, project runway, reality tv, television
Do you prefer music videos that feature men who drop trou and jump off ladders onto prone women? Have you ever wondered how a Skittles ad or the Providence art collective Paper Rad might contextualize booty? In that case — and assuming flashing lights and near-glimpses of pum pum won’t send you into convulsions — we recommend that you view this new video for “Pon De Floor,” the song by Major Lazer, the dancehall-influenced hipster outfit formed by producers Diplo and Switch. Suffice it to say, we haven’t seen this much dry-humping since the ninth grade.
Major Lazer: Pon De Floor [Pitchfork]
Read more posts by Nick Catucci
Filed Under: major lazer, music, music video, right-click
If Tori Spelling and hubby Dean McDermott's reality show isn't enough for ya, we've got some good news.
I'm told Mr. McDermott is in talks to compete on the next season...
Page Six reported yesterday that Steve Schwarzman was spotted living it up in St. Tropez, "staying cool at the VIP Room" while "his wife, Christine, and two blond friends, Michelle Herbert and Gina de Franco, danced together like the Pussycat Dolls." If you took the revelry as a tip off that Schwarzman's Blackstone Group is planning to share good news when the private equity giant releases quarterly earnings on Thursday, you may not have been the only one. Blackstone shares were up 21 percent today, "a surge that one options analyst attributed to investors buying on speculation that upcoming earnings would be better than expected." [Page Six, Reuters]
Over the weekend, the leaders of the Birther movement forged a Kenyan birth certificate that they claim proves that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, and therefore is not legally president. Even though this was rapidly debunked, even by supporters of the Birthers, leaders like Orly Taitz, the Zsa Zsa of the lunatic fringe of the right wing, have still taken to the airwaves to proclaim victory. Of course, they're getting an increasingly hostile reception. In this clip, watch as Taitz goes off against MSNBC hosts, calling them "offensive," linking their behavior to Hitler's paramilitary "brownshirts," and proclaiming that they "will not be on TV for too long." Watching this video, we realized that it's not just the famous Hungarian actress and socialite that Orly reminded us of. There's someone else close to our hearts to whom (at least vocally) she bears an uncanny resemblance. If only we could put our finger on it.
[Via Awl]
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Read more posts by Chris Rovzar
Filed Under: barack obama, birthers, orly taitz, we feel like we're taking crazy pills
While Chris Brown has reportedly been making plans to appear on Larry King Live this week to talk about the Rihanna incident, the "Disturbia" songstress is keeping busy with some...
Earlier today we brought you news that Sesame Street plans to parody Mad Men in an upcoming episode. Well, the good people over at Flavorwire have put together an amazing post where they predict which of Jim Henson's creations should be tapped to play their Mad Men counterparts. We agree with almost all of them, save for one: We always figured Roger Sterling was more of a Sam the Eagle type. [Flavorwire]
Read more posts by Mark Graham
Filed Under: mad men, muppets, sam the eagle, sesame street
Read more posts by Sharon Clott
Filed Under: naomi sims, obit
"He had a hold of my head. I was at a right angle to his mouth, hanging out the side. The front teeth were buried in through my cheekbones and my nose. It was quick and sharp. The teeth were like razors. When he clamped onto me, it was a god-awful crunch. I heard the crunching of teeth plowing through bone, but it didn't hurt. Something in the brain clicks so you don't feel it till later. He didn't take me down — he took me out of the water. When I saw the water, it was like three feet below me, but I could see we were moving fast. I tried to pull my head out. I reached up on the shark and it was flat, like the side of a Buick, and it had a sandpapery feel. And then I just started pounding on it. I went berserk. I shredded my gloves on its teeth. I was just striking at him blind. I don't know if that's what made him let loose of me. If he would've finished the bite, I would've had no brain."
What It Feels Like ... to Be Bitten by a Shark [Esquire]
Shark Week [Discovery]
Read more posts by Jessica Pressler
Filed Under: animals, shark week, sharks, sharks!!!!!, the discovery channel
That thing Tom Arnold said in yesterday's Times about James Cameron's upcoming True Lies sequel starring him and Arnold Schwarzenegger? You won't believe this — it was made up! Ain't It Cool News received the following e-mail from Cameron: "I think Tom was joking. There are no plans for a True Lies 2. I don't know about the creative direction thing.... I'm always down for a good action-comedy (actually, we always classified the film as a 'domestic epic'). But since September 11, I've never felt comfortable generating laughs with nuke-toting Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. True Lies, even though it has a cautionary thread underneath the pratfalls, is in a strange way a product of a more innocent time. But if we ever do another True Lies, I wouldn't dream of doing it without Tom. He's a good friend and a very funny guy." [Ain't It Cool]
Read more posts by Lane Brown
Filed Under: james cameron, movies, tom arnold
 ABC News | Kara DioGuardi returning to 'American Idol' Los Angeles Times Kara DioGuardi is returning to the "American Idol" judging panel this season. However – even with auditions beginning in just six days – the fate of Paula Abdul remains a mystery. Abdul, along with Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell, has been judging ... Dioguardi's in, What About Abdul? Kara dioguardi returns to 'Idol,' no word on Paula 'American Idol' Judge Kara DioGuardi To Return Next Season |
You guys… SH*T HAS JUST GOTTEN REAL on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Real Ho-Wife and aspiring country star Kim Zolciak (real name: Kimberleigh, if you needed another reason to hate her) was forced to call the police after our favorite person on television ever, Nene Leakes, choked her! That’s what you get for calling someone a Low Budget Bitch, Bitch! This will clearly be the best episode of The Real Housewives any show ever to air on our televisions.
ET Online has obtained the police report, and it reads as follows (you can basically read the bolded parts):
On 4-14-2009 at 1850 hrs I was called to Market St and 17th St about a person being choked out. Upon my arrival I was met by Kimberleigh Zolciak. She stated she was going to shoot a scene for Real Housewives. When Kimberleigh Zolciak got in an argument with Nene Leaks. While they were arguing Nene Leaks started to point her fingers in Kimberleigh Zolciak face. The two witness then tried to stop the two from fighting. At that point Nene Leaks grabbed Kimberleigh Zolciak neck and tried to choked her out. The two witness broke them up. Kimberleigh Zolciak drove to 391 18th St Target and call the police. Both witness stated the same story as Kimberleigh Zolciak. I called C-D investigator Mitchell(5532) to the scene and he talked to Kimberleigh Zolciak. She was advised to go to Fulton County Court House tomorrow along with the two witness to get a warrant for Nene Leaks. Also take any picture of any bruise to her neck. At this time I was unable to locate the suspect at this time.
And somewhere, Andy Cohen masturbates into a safety deposit box. It’s gold, Jerry, gold! And OMG: Nene is on the run! Stay safe, my dear woman.
Ahead, we have an exclusive preview from this week’s brand new episode, where new BeFri’s Nene and Sheree (who half-redeemed herself with that amazing and deserved confrontation of that party planner last week) gang up and basically attack Kim for no good reason other than her being Kim. Oh Atlanta Housewives… how we missed thee.
Remember when we told you that Vulture buddy Anne Thompson's blog would be moving from its old home at Variety to IndieWIRE? Well, it did! We highly suggest you take the next twenty seconds to update your bookmarks and RSS feed appropriately. [Toh!]
Read more posts by Mark Graham
Filed Under: anne thompson, greener pastures, indiewire
ABC Family has greenlit a fourth installment of the diamond-studded cash cow that is the Cutting Edge franchise — yes, this The Cutting Edge — which has apparently already yielded two sequels, including most recently 2008’s straight-to-ABC Family The Cutting Edge: Chasing a Dream, the story of a “hockey player turned figure skater” (what a country!)
Because the ol’ “Hockey player turned figure skater” only has enough steam for so many sequels (three), here are some ideas for future lazy Cutting Edge direct-to-cable sequels we expect to see in the coming years:
And last but not least, the ultimate Oscar bait, and sure to be the biggest tearjerker since Air Bud: Golden Receiver:
Other suggestions? Leave ‘em in the comments.
[Photoshops by our intern, Zachary "I Practically Own A Shop With Photos In It" Mast, of Penis Fries fame.]
"There are several things I love to do on the Vineyard. The first is ride my tricycle. I have two adult tricycles, and I ride every day on the same route, to South Beach. It’s eight miles from the front door of my house to South Beach, and sometimes I get off the tricycle and go look at the waves. Then I turn around and ride back. That’s what I do every day unless it rains." [MV Magazine via Felix Salmon/Twitter]
Read more posts by Jessica Pressler
Filed Under: henry louis gates, important information, skip gates, things we don't need to know but like knowing anyway, tricycles
Donald Trump has endured quite a few financial setbacks in recent months. Is he now looking to free up some extra cash? Real Estalker reports that Trump has put his 10,000-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills —a home he only purchased a year ago—on the market for $12 million. [Real Estalker]
Once upon a time, Richard Kelly's Cameron Diaz–starring The Box was scheduled to open in November 2008. Then it was delayed until February of this year. Next, Warner Bros. pushed it back to September, after which they moved it again to October. Now, Bloody Disgusting reports, it's supposedly coming on November 6. And if it gets one more release date, it will basically qualify as a rap album. [Bloody Disgusting via Playlist]
Read more posts by Lane Brown
Filed Under: movies, richard kelly, the box, warner bros.
Edward Liddy came out of retirement to take charge of AIG thinking he was up for the challenge. But after an ugly congressional hearing (which he called "probably the worst" day of his life, excepting the day his mother died) and a few threats of being strangled with piano wire, he gave notice. Couldn't take the heat, basically. Now, a month before Liddy retreats back into his world of mah-jongg and early-bird specials, the board has found someone who can take care of business: Robert Benmosche, the former CEO of MetLife. Benmosche is a tougher cookie: He represents the Catskills, which if you don't think is tough, well, you've never seen a raccoon on Oxycontin. His dad died when he was 10, leaving his family thousands of dollars in debt, and he paid his own way through college driving a Coca-Cola delivery truck, then spent thirteen months in Korea during Nam. When he started at MetLife back in the nineties, he was not afraid to let some heads roll, even if said heads were senior, beloved, and cartoon:
“I felt it was too much Snoopy,” Mr. Benmosche said in 1999. ”When you talk about Met Life, you say, ‘That’s Snoopy’s company,’ and that’s important. But we also want the ads to begin to remind people why to do business with MetLife.”
So, yeah, we think he can handle the FP unit, and Barney Frank.
A Dossier on AIG’s New Chief Benmosche: The Man Who Downsized Snoopy [Deal Journal/WSJ]
Read more posts by Jessica Pressler
Filed Under: aggravating insurance giants, aig, business, edward liddy, robert benmosche, snoopy
The Wal-Mart juniors' line Max Azria decided to design with Miley Cyrus, for no other apparent reason than he's friends with her and her parents, is online. So have someone hold on to your credit card if you don’t trust yourself. Items include $10 liquid leggings (for kids, mind you) and T-shirts with vests sewn onto them. Though we never thought we'd see Max Azria put his name on $6 Wal-Mart stirrup pants for eighth-graders, this line is considerably more palatable than Avril Lavigne's juniors' line for Kohl's. In fact, this stuff will probably do pretty well in this market. And some pieces — save aforementioned plastic leggings — are actually kind of sophisticated. See for yourself in the slideshow.
SNEAK PEEK: Miley Cyrus & Max Azria’s Design Collaboration! [StyleWatch/People]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: make it stop, max azria, miley cyrus, walmart
What do you find more perplexing: That it's a romper or the fit up top?
Read more posts by Amina Akhtar
Filed Under: bethenny frankel, look of the day
How many of you have engaged in that torturous New York ritual where you pile onto a crosstown bus in Manhattan and then crawl from stop to stop during rush hour? Often in these times, if you look out the window, you can pick out one person who is walking along the sidewalk at a brisk — but by no means frantic — pace, who catches up to the bus every time it stops. Frequently, that person is actually proceeding at a faster pace than you are in your giant, motor-powered people conveyor. Well, Mayor Bloomberg sees this problem, and as a campaign promise, he's pledged to make crosstown bus service free for commuters. Which is a pretty good proposal because then buses could feel more like what they actually are: nice, air-conditioned lobbies where you can wait and read something before you get to work, rather than walking in the sweltering heat. But Bloomberg adds that this will make the buses travel faster, as all that MetroCard swiping and driver negotiating will be eliminated. We're not sure we buy that part. Yeah, there's a bit of that (find your MetroCard in your giant purse before you get to the machine, lady), but we've stood behind a lot of people waiting to get on those buses, and we'd argue it's the ones who take their sweet g-d time going up the steps and finding a seat who slow buses down the most. Maybe we could charge only those people?
Bloomberg Calls for Free Crosstown Buses [City Room/NYT]
Read more posts by Chris Rovzar
Filed Under: buses, let's get civical, mayor bloomberg, minor annoyances, mta
You gotta give some credit to Mischa Barton: The girl JUST got released from a mental hospital days ago, after rumors swirled her hard partying lifestyle had pushed her to the brink of suicide, as reports claimed she was placed in “involuntary psychiatric hold.” She has sinced been released.
So where is she now, you ask? At home, with the loving guidance of her parents, supporting her through her darkest time? Perhaps at some retreat somewhere, with doctors only a call away? Or, as we assumed, “knitting camp”? To these queries we say Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Because instead, Mischa decided to wrap herself up in some abandoned dolphin netting and hit up the parties of New York City, in a move we’re classifying as “geniously stupid.” The good news is she wasn’t spotted drinking any alkies, choosing to dip a pack of cigarettes in water and wring the delicious brown “Nicotini” directly into her throat. How else do you think she keeps trim, people? Cocaine? NEVER.
More pics of this beautiful hot ass mess after the cut.
In this week's issue of New York, Steve Fishman covers the spectacular rise—and spectacular fall—of Steve Rattner, the uber-ambitious financial titan who was tapped to serve as President Obama's car czar but was ultimately forced to leave Washington in shame after he became embroiled in the corruption scandal involving state pension money.
Rattner didn't consent to an interview with Fishman, so we don't know exactly how Rattner feels about the last few (very tumultuous) months. But judging by what his friends and former colleagues had to say about the former Wall Street rainmaker, it's safe to say he isn't feeling great:
Steve Rattner is in Martha's Vineyard now, where he likes to fly his plane. It's summer. He's settled into his grand home, with its sweeping waterfront acreage, next to the grand home of Brian Roberts, the CEO of Comcast, a loyal client and friend. Rattner's worked night and day for six months, so he's looking forward to relaxing with his four kids. Still, the vacation has the feel of exile, albeit gilded. This was supposed to be Rattner's Bob Rubin moment, when he ascended past the mere operators to became a noble figure sharing his consummate financial talents with the people. Instead, he's embroiled in a scheme to get rich at the public trough. For Rattner, it's a sad denouement. He's stopped reading about himself-his Google alerts bring up references to Chooch.
In all fairness, not every reference to "Chooch" has to do with the horribly embarrassing movie that Rattner helped finance a few years ago. At least half the time "Chooch" comes up, it's a reference to Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz whose nickname is Chooch. That probably won't do much to make Rattner feel better, but, hey, we gave it our best shot.
Exit the Czar [NYM]
Amy Adams and Meryl Streep star in Nora Ephron's new film Julie & Julia, which is about how both characters find themselves through cooking. So when we caught up with co-star Chris Messina, we wondered if the foodie set made him gain any weight while filming. "I did. I ate 36 bruschette in a row one day," he told us. "They put a bucket next to me because they thought I was going to throw up. I didn’t." View more food facts in our Party Lines slideshow.
Read more posts by Bennett Marcus
Filed Under: amy adams, julie and julia, meryl streep, movies, nora ephron, party lines
On the left, the new poster for James Cameron’s alien-thriller Avatar. On the right, one of many X-Men wallpapers featuring the character Mystique.
If you squint really hard, you might see some resemblance between the close-up of the spotted, blue-skinned, yellow-eyed alien on the left, and the close-up of the spotted, blue-skinned, yellow-eyed mutant on the right:
Even more ridiculous? The alien character on the left is named “Mysteek.”
No, not really. But kind of.
HAIR
• Sarah Jessica Parker was reportedly upset while having her hair fixed at the John Frieda salon after a previous, unnamed stylist overprocessed her famous hair. [NYDN]
• Mischa Barton had her locks dyed brown at the Sally Hershberger salon in New York. [Just Jared]
MAKEUP
• Wear green eye shadow in a subtle way, like Kerry Washington, who lightly brushed the hue on her top and bottom lids during a weekend event in the Hamptons. [Glamour]
• To achieve the look of contoured cheekbones for fall, M.A.C. makeup artist Neil Young suggests buying blush in shades of "edible fudges, caramels, and toffees." [Independent UK]
FRAGRANCE
• The fragrance company Clean launched a new roll-on scent named Warm Cotton, which smells like fresh laundry. [Nylon]
Read more posts by Sharon Clott
Filed Under: beauty, beauty marks, fragrance, hair, kerry washington, makeup, mischa barton, nicole kidman, sally hershberger, sarah jessica parker
Hamptons power-shoppers like Barbara Walters, Kelly Ripa, Lorraine Bracco, and Gossip Girl's Kelly Rutherford bought up designer goods at Super Saturday 12, a fund-raising event for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Rudy Giuliani was dragged to the event by his wife, Judith, noting that he'd rather be watching the Yankees play the White Sox, while Bethenny Frankel imparted her pearls of wisdom, "Dieting is just like shopping! You can indulge when you want, but you'll have to pay for it later!" Never one to turn down a good core workout, Kelly Ripa has also been hitting up Bridgehampton's Trapeze-Experience class, along with Neil Patrick Harris and "various CEOs." Director David Guggenheim, Elisabeth Shue, and Alec Baldwin introduced music documentary It Might Get Loud at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Steven Spielberg and his kids grabbed ribs and fries at Turtle Crossing. Rachel Zoe, Donny Deutsch, David Lauren, and Lauren Bush noshed on Tex-Mex at the Blue Parrot, though we doubt that Zoe actually ate anything. Barron Hilton tweeted about losing his sunglasses in the ocean. Also, he says, "Just saw a plane fly by the beach with an add for a strip club. Nice to see that The Hamptons are still keeping it classy ..."
Michelle Trachtenberg and Jill Zarin partied at the Georgica. Charlotte Ronson hosted a trunk show at East Hampton's Blue and Cream. And Pink Floyd's Roger Waters congratulated Rufus Wainwright's sister, Martha, on an unexpectedly good performance at the Watermill Center, which she gave to guests like Calvin Klein, Jay McInerney, Anne Hearst, Nicole Miller, and Eric Ripert.
Rihanna split an ice-cream cone with record exec Steve Stoute at the Montauk Yacht Club. Shannon Doherty watched Jimmy Buffett's guitarist perform in his first solo gig at Surf Lodge. Buffett then performed at the Stephen Talkhouse to honor East Hampton's late chief building inspector. Isabella Rossellini and Calvin Klein hung out with fire-eaters, singing fat ladies, and a gigantic tarantula at Robert Wilson's "debauched" Water Mill fête. The Post reports that Matthew Broderick read the Post on a Luxury Liner back from Amagansett. And Roger Wilson, Christy Turlington's former boyfriend of six years and star of the first two Porky's movies, has burned through his trust fund and is now bartending at Philippe in East Hampton.
Read more posts by Katie Goldsmith
Filed Under: barbara walters, barron hilton, calvin klein, charlotte ronson, dan akroyd, david lauren, isabella rossellini, jill zarin, jon bon vovi, judith giuliani, kelly ripa, lauren bush, michelle trachtenberg, neil patrick harris, rachel zoe, rihanna, rudy giuliani, steve stoute, summering
Having read reviews of Thomas Pynchon's new Inherent Vice in The New Yorker, the Boston Globe, the Guardian, the L.A. Times, EW, and the one by Sam Anderson in our own magazine, these are our favorite character names, ranked in ascending order of stupid-awesomeness: Mickey Wolfmann, Doc Sportello, Rudy Blatnoyd, Petunia Leeway, Scott Oof, Ensendada Slim, Jason Velveeta, Japonica Fenway, Delwyn Quight, Sauncho Smilax, Trillium Fortnight, Dr. Buddy Tubside, Flaco the Bad, Fritz Drybeam, Sledge Poteet, Bigfoot Bjornsen, and Leonard "El Drano" Loosemeat. Too bad the book doesn't sound all that great.
Related: My Thomas Pynchon problem [NYM]
Read more posts by Lane Brown
Filed Under: books, thomas pynchon
You know what this summer is really missing? A quirky romantic comedy. Well, good news, people with ovaries/boyfriends of P.w.Ove’s, because on August 7th, Paper Heart is opening in a theater near/within flying distance of you!
Paper Heart is a part documentary, part fiction narrated by Knocked Up’s Charlyne Yi, as she traverses the nation trying to figure out what is this thing called love? This funny thing called love. Just who can solve its mysteries? And why should it make a fool of Yi? (I’ll stop.) Along the way, she interviews such indie comedy heavyweights as Seth Rogen, Demetri Martin, and on again/off again boyfriend Michael Cera , whom she falls for during “filming”.
And now, in this exclusive clip obtained by BWE.tv, we see Charlyne hard at work, as she interviews Best Week Ever alum Rob Huebel, finding out how someone knows when they’re in love. The language is both NSFW as well as kind of a turn on:
Rumors of Emma Watson designing a clothing line were hard to believe when they surfaced in June. They were even harder to believe after she told WWD a few weeks ago, when asked about designing her own line, "I’m really not interested in doing it for my own ego. I’m not a designer. If someone asked me to do something that was beneficial to a cause, then maybe I’d consider it, but not just [to be able to say] ‘Look at me! I’ve got my own line!' [It’s] gotten so ridiculous." But the rumors are back in the news! This time the British press has Emma designing a line of ethical teen clothes for fair-trade company People Tree. A source told the Daily Mail Emma was "keen to branch out" from acting and influential brands are interested in her since she became the face of Burberry. Of course they are — she's 19, fabulous, well spoken, college bound, plays a witch, and has no attitude.
The new batch of rumors sounds completely made-up, and we sure hope it is, because the very principle goes against everything we know and love about Emma. As our fashion soul sister, we are trusting her not to let us down by pretending to design things for people to wear. Yet, she is a celebrity, and when it comes to launching clothing lines, none of them can be trusted.
Emma Watson to Launch Ethical Fashion Label? [Showbiz Spy]
Related: Fug Girls: In Praise of Emma Watson
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: emma watson, hogwash, rumors
Damn. It's like she got rid of one husband, and another one popped up in his place. [Bloomberg]
Read more posts by Jessica Pressler
Filed Under: bernard madoff, bernie madoff, madeoff, ruth madoff
• Funny People debuted at No. 1 at the box office this weekend, although it was still the worst opening for an Adam Sandler movie in five years. [Reuters]
• Mort Zuckerman is selling shares of his real estate company to pump $50 million into the Daily News to pay for new printing presses. [WSJ]
• Lou Dobbs has become a PR nightmare for CNN. Presumably the fact that Media Matters is airing an anti-Dobbs commercial won't help matters. [AP, HP]
• Is the peace pact between Olbermann and O'Reilly a sham? [TDB]
• Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple's board of directors. [BN]
• The New York Times is losing its chief mouthpiece: Catherine Mathis is joining Standard & Poor's as head of marketing and communications. [NYT]
• A profile of Jeff Gaspin, the "analytical and cost-focused" exec now in charge of NBC Entertainment following Ben Silverman's departure. [WSJ]
• Former Variety editor Anne Thompson has launched a new blog. [NYT]
• Alessandra Stanley made so many errors in her recent piece on Walter Cronkite, the paper is now giving her "special editing attention." [CJR]
• The new issue of Vanity Fair features two covers: one of Michael Jackson from 1989, and another of Farrah Fawcett from 1976. [WWD]
• David Carr looks back on Tina Brown's Talk launch party a decade ago, which he says marked the beginning of the end for mainstream media. [NYT]
• Veteran journalist Sidney Zion is dead at the age of 75. [NYT]
• Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. was reportedly booed after Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz mentioned there was a "celebrity" in the crowd at a concert last week. Go figure. [P6]
Once a week, Daily Intel peeks behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the delightfully naïve journalism intern, 22, female, Upper East Side house-sitting, straight, single.
DAY ONE
9:30 a.m.: I begin life as a real person, a grown-up! In New York! This is the land of limitless possibility! Everywhere I go I look around and I think, “Would I have sex with you? Would I have sex with you? Or you?” Usually the answer is no.
11:30 p.m.: Covering a fashion event for work (I’m an unpaid intern). Only lechy old photographers want to hit on me. I play along and accept business cards, because I know I never have to see them again.
1 a.m.: Come home to my summer apartment for the first time. Removable showerhead: noted.
DAY TWO
8 p.m.: Shakespeare in the Park with my college-newspaper protégé — he had an extra ticket. He is the best guy, very goofy and earnest. My fellow editors and I used to wonder whether we all had crushes on him. We didn’t, quite, but it was fun to act like we did.
11 p.m.: I think the reason I liked Twelfth Night so much in high school was that it presented sexual desire as a totally solitary, isolating experience. I went to an all-girls school. When we put on Twelfth Night, I had to play Orsino, and I was pissed.
12:30 a.m.: Gay friend-for-life/surrogate little brother meets me outside my apartment to pass off the antidepressants I left at his place in Brooklyn. My heart swells with love for him. We chat for a while, and coin the acronym MNBF — My New Boyfriend — for the supposedly straight guy he wishes to bang.
DAY THREE
11:45 a.m.: Furtive eye contact with an attractive dude on the subway. I sidle (noncommittally) toward his end of the car. He sidles closer. We chat about Netherland, which I’m reading. He suggests coffee sometime, and gets my number. Limitless Possibility! Yes!
9:45 p.m.: Time to investigate that removable showerhead, so I bring Philosophy in the Boudoir with me to the tub. I want to break up my vibrator-and-Internet monotony. The Marquis de Sade and running water: back to basics.
10:05 p.m.: Soak in tub post-orgasm. Contemplate lapsed pubic grooming situation. What level of maintenance will be expected of me in New York? I was doing fine by college standards, but everything is different here.
DAY FOUR
8 a.m.: Fell asleep naked. It occurs to me that when I was in a relationship I slept naked virtually every night. I miss that, even if I don’t really miss my dumb ex-boyfriend.
9:45 a.m.: Put on American Apparel’s cleverly named “Sexuali-Tee.” Good shirt. Too bad I will probably be chaste for the rest of my days.
10:15 a.m.: Notice as I’m getting off the train that the boy sitting across from me was reading Strunk & White. Maybe I should have made furtive eye contact with him! He’s checking me out through the window! Too late. Chaste for the rest of my days.
12:30 p.m.: Hmmm. Circumstantial evidence (on Facebook) suggests that the former T.A. I slept with a few months ago is in the city. Hmmm. I can’t in good conscience pursue anything; he has a girlfriend.
8:45 p.m.: Guy from the subway calls and I miss it; he leaves a message. Perfect. This is the least stressful part of a flirtation: I have zero investment, so nothing matters. Limitless possibility!
DAY FIVE
12:45 p.m.: Upon reflection, was it weird that I flirted with a guy on the subway? It didn’t feel weird. But I had just taken a Klonopin — maybe nothing would have felt weird. I have to call him back.
1:25 p.m.: I thought it was funny when one of my friends said she felt like her BlackBerry trackball was a little clitoris. I got a BlackBerry a couple of weeks ago, and it’s true. Suddenly have a strong memory of blathering about this last weekend while drunk. Ah.
1:45 p.m.: I will go outside; I will have a cigarette; I will call him back.
2 p.m.: I called back! Left a voice mail! I am great at being normal!
2:05 p.m.: Meeting people is horrible. I wish real life were like college, where you could just wait to run into the person while drunk and then make out.
9 p.m.: Dinner party to christen the new apartment. This is great, but am I reverting into the asexual semblance of middle age that characterized my high-school experience? I don’t want to do that.
Midnight: Extended post-dinner discussion by male guests of how they figured out masturbation.
1 a.m.: We are joined by a guy we know who improbably sleeps with gorgeous women. I wonder: How does he do it? By having the bravado of a much hotter man. And: Would I do him? No. No, I would not.
DAY SIX
1 p.m.: More asexual domesticity. I make granola, I make tomato sauce, I make plans to make bread.
4 p.m.: Halfhearted attempt to masturbate (showerhead, Anaïs Nin). Not. Into. It. Give up and read Netherland. Have heard horror stories from friends who were unable to come while taking Lexapro — I haven’t had problems before, but maybe I fucked with my system by letting my prescription lapse when I moved.
9 p.m.: Facebook friend the boy who sleeps with gorgeous women.
9:15 p.m.: Friendship accepted.
Midnight.: Find a link on Jezebel to the Daily Mail article “Experience: I am a Hermit.” I have not left my apartment all day.
DAY SEVEN
11:15 a.m.: Online. Read review of A Vindication of Love. Apparently I should be having complicated and painful entanglements. Cool — thanks, Cristina Nehring. I’ll get right on that.
4 p.m.: Summer is the time for committed long-term relationships with HBO dramas. I’m on season four of The Wire, but I decide to start watching True Blood because The Wire (for all its merits) lacks sex.
5 p.m.: This is exactly what I was in the market for — sexy, about half as smart as it wants to be, and batshit insane.
7 p.m.: Surrogate-brother-friend comes over for dinner. We decide that we should date visual artists, because we will appreciate their pursuits but not feel competitive. Friend determines that he needs to date someone more fun and exciting than himself; he’s tired of always being the fun and exciting one. I determine that I need to date someone older and to be better at dating.
8 p.m.: Subway guy calls back. We chat for twelve minutes (are we in a long-distance relationship? What is this?), which is a little weird but totally manageable and not at all displeasing. We make plans to get drinks Tuesday night. Date-o-rama.
8:15 p.m.: Fleetingly I have this thought, and I know it’s retarded, but I have it anyway: I wish my life were more like True Blood.
TOTALS: Two acts of masturbation, one stopped owing to potential antidepressant side effects; zero acts of intercourse or oral sex; one subway pickup of attractive guy, with date planned.
Filed Under: sex diaries
Shots from Lindsay Lohan's British Elle spread — the one that resulted in thousands of dollars worth of missing Dior jewelry — are finally out. The spray-tan enthusiast looks unexpectedly pale wearing over-the-knee black boots, a bustier, and quite a few baubles that weren't stolen, like bracelets, cuffs, earrings, and rings. As for the missing trinkets, police are still investigating the case but have made no arrests, and representatives from the magazine maintain that Lohan had nothing to do with it. [Daily Mail]
Read more posts by Sharon Clott
Filed Under: british elle, crime, dior, five-finger discounts, jewelry, lindsay lohan
"We had a time-travelling expert on the set who said that for a fact if Henry were to time-travel, he would be naked. We just had to take his word for it." —Eric Bana on The Time Traveler's Wife [Access Hollywood via Female First]
"The producers keep telling me that they're going to give me a suit with all the bells and whistles, but I still don't have it. I don't know, maybe I should get it in my contract. It would be great to have one at home — a talking point." —Robert Downey Jr. [Female First]
"Chris Walken always says when he's not working he feels like a fighter sitting in the corner. When I'm not working, I feel like a Ferrari in the garage. You have all this potential, and you just want to break out." —Glenn Close [Envelope/LAT]
"I think if we could have, we would like to have killed Hitler ourselves. So when this film came along, I was like, 'Yes, this is cool! Let's get rid of him now!' " — Inglourious Basterds' Diane Kruger [Age]
"I would like to put everyone's mind at rest and let them know that the Volturi are not naked! Jamie [Campbell Bower] has what you might call a dry sense of humor and almost managed to convince me — which is why he's such a good actor. Anyway, be assured that even though we do want the look of the Volturi to be a bit of a surprise, they are always — as in the book! — fully clothed." —Chris Weitz denies reports of New Moon nudity. [Envelope/LAT]
Read more posts by Emma Pearse
Filed Under: chris weitz, diane kruger, eric bana, glenn close, quote machine, robert downey jr., terri seymour
Picture it: You’re at a Verizon Store, say, in Alabama, buying a Blackberry or whatever the kids are using these days, when you hear a funny sound coming up from behind you. Without turning around, you assume it’s nothing serious: A stockboy moving some boxes; an old man with a lazy leg. Typical stuff. But as the noise approaches, you can’t help but think “You know? It almost sounds like some woman is dragging her kid through the store on a leash…”
Then you turn around and see this (Note: The video is disturbing):
For those of you in shock, good news: The woman did get arrested. Yay citizen crime watch:
An Alabama woman was arrested Tuesday afternoon after police say she injured a child while dragging it through a store in Rome. According to Floyd County Jail records: “Melissa Catherine Smith-Means, 37, of Gaylesville, Ala., was arrested by Rome police around 12:30 p.m. She was charged with felony first-degree cruelty to children. Police say she was observed by customers and employees at a store on Broad Street, dragging a small child around by a backpack leash. The child had visible marks on the neck from the incident.”
She remains in jail without bail.
Thus completing BWE.tv’s daily “Justice Is Served” quota.
The Zoe Report is about to launch, so sign up on Zoe's site now if you want to be part of the action. The daily newsletter will include Zoe's apparel and accessories picks, independent of advertising interests, according to her editorial policy. We'll be celebrating with bananas and dying. [Racked]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: rachel zoe, the zoe report, twilight zoe
Frank Bruni steps down the New York Times' restaurant critic in a couple of weeks, and his memoir, Born Round, debuts on bookstore shelves on August 20. So it was only a matter of time before Bruni finally unmasked himself and showed to the world the face that has been taped to kitchen walls for close to five years now.
Well, it seems that day has arrived.
Publisher's Weekly published an interview with Bruni today and posted the first (official, at least) photo of the outgoing critic. He certainly doesn't look like someone who has been paid to eat for the past half-decade. But perhaps as a follow-up to Born Round, he'll publish an exercise book next, and his secrets to staying slim will be revealed once and for all.
Cooking the Books with Frank Bruni [PW]
Being a contestant on a reality show seems like the most glamorous job* in all the world. In exchange for a temporary assault on your privacy, you get to live in a fabulous apartment/manse rent-free, there's always a never-ending supply of booze on hand, and if you play your cards right, there's a pretty good chance that you can hook up with a fellow cast member in a hot tub. And you get paid, too! However, according to an article in this weekend's New York Times, there is a dark side to the seemingly fabulous life led by reality-show contestants. No, don't get it twisted, reality stars aren't alleging that evil producers slap their hands with rulers or make them wear the same pair of underwear two days in a row. It's something far, far darker: They don't get enough sleep!
While most reality-show contestants sign nondisclosure agreements that forbid them from revealing details about the reality-show creative process, Edward Wyatt of the New York Times managed to locate and interview nearly two dozen former reality-show participants whose pesky contracts had expired. It seems that the No. 1 complaint of the contestants from these shows, which run the gamut from Project Runway to Hell's Kitchen, is that they don't get enough sleep. On Hell's Kitchen, for example, each day begins at 6 a.m. and wraps at 2 a.m., leaving contestants who survive early rounds of elimination particularly weary and groggy. And on one season of The Bachelor, heartless producers forced the groups of lovesick women to sit in vans for hours on end without access to food before expecting them to stay awake for a twelve-hour "arrival" party (whatever that means). "If you combine no sleep with alcohol and no food, emotions are going to run high and people are going to be acting crazy," said Erica Rose, one of the members of the sleepy harem requisitioned by ABC for Prince Lorenzo Borghese in the show's ninth season.
Pardon us for being callous or insensitive but, um, duh? With the possible exception of American Idol, people don't really watch reality-television programs in order to get a glimpse of world-class competition. They're generally watching them to vicariously experience the thrill of conflict without any of the consequences. Even though most reality-television-show producers we've met over the years have a definite evil streak in them, ultimately their job is to make their shows as watchable as possible. And last time we checked, people are generally less interesting when they are asleep as compared to when they are awake. So in conclusion, if you're an aspiring reality-show contestant who also really likes to sleep, looks like you have a tough decision to make: Do you want to get eight hours a night or do you want to be the 9,000th girl to French Bret Michaels? You make the call!
TV Contestants: Tired, Tipsy and Pushed to Brink [NYT]
*We're playing fast and loose with the definition of the word job here. Just go with it.
Read more posts by Mark Graham
Filed Under: counting sheep, hell's kitchen, project runway, reality television, reality tv, the bachelor, tv
Word broke several weeks ago that Fox was auditioning new voice actors to replace the original Futurama cast in the upcoming new episodes of the series, putting nerds net-wide on the verge of an outcry of near “Han shot first” proportions. I wasn’t part of the mob, as the entire situation seemed like posturing from the network (or less likely, Billy West holding out for Friends money), because quite literally, Futurama just wouldn’t be a show without the original voice acting cast.
We can all breathe one big, happy, nerdy sigh of relief:
Casting execs were set to begin meeting with replacement thesps this week. But the five stars — John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille — finally sealed pacts late Friday with 20th Century Fox TV to return to the show.
Both the actors and 20th are believed to have found a compromise. Move comes after 20th put out a casting call in July to find replacement voice actors for the show.
In retrospect, while my denial towards imagining a Billy West-free Futuama cast prevented me from ever considering that Fox would actually hire new voice actors to save money, I wouldn’t have been tooooootally surprised if they just brought in Seth MacFarlane to do all the voices in between his American Dad and Cleveland Show recording sessions. I am now going to use the restroom for two hours after pondering that thought.
On the plus side, yayyyy, new Futuramaaaaa…
AP - "Rain Gods" (Simon & Schuster, 434 pages, $25.99), by James Lee Burke: As the story begins, Sheriff Hackberry Holland is poking around behind an abandoned Spanish mission, investigating an anonymous report about shots fired. Moments later he radios for help: "We've got a mass murder. The victims are all Asian, some of them hardly more than children."
EVENTS
• Audition to become an extra on the new Sex and the City movie. Producers are reportedly looking for "international types (Middle Eastern, Arabic, Asian, European, British), professional soccer players, fashion models, urban club goers, gays and lesbians, celebrity types, upscale socialites." Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W. 18th St., nr. Sixth Ave.; SAG members (10—12:30), non-union applicants (1:30—4).
• Meet designer Allen B. Schwartz when he presents his collection for JCPenney at the retailer's opening celebration. Manhattan Mall, 901 Sixth Ave., at 33rd St. (212-295-6120); 11—1.
SALES
STARTING TOMORROW
• Take 80 percent off menswear, womenswear, shoes, bags, and accessories from spring/summer 2009 and past seasons at the Alexander McQueen sample sale. Through 8/5. Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W. 18th St., nr. Sixth Ave.; T (9—7), W (9—6).
Read more posts by Lauren Murrow
Filed Under: fashion calendar, sales, shopping
AP - "The Girl Who Played With Fire" (Knopf, 503 pages, $25.95), by Stieg Larsson: Swedish crime writer Stieg Larsson's "The Girl Who Played With Fire" marks the return of Lisbeth Salander, a young woman who could be the female Jason Bourne. She's a mysterious, emotionally detached computer hacker who coolly observes the world around her as a puzzle she needs to master to feel secure.
That sure was quick. This morning, the SEC filed suit against Bank of America, accusing it of lying to investors when it announced that newly-acquired Merrill Lynch wouldn't pay out any year-end bonuses. (In fact, Bank of America had already signed off on $5.7 billion in Merrill payouts.) Now the bank has settled the charges—"without admitting or denying the allegations," of course—for a modest $33 million. [NYT]
We will never understand what motivates people to strap on scuba gear and a rope and swim through unchartered underwater caves, with the very real risk of getting lost or trapped or suffocating. You know, just for fun. Likewise, it's difficult to understand the desire to risk taking pictures of Naomi Campbell on the street without a body of water or Plexiglas wall to act as a buffer, whatever monetary reward may result. Like spelunking, you may have all the necessary equipment, and an infallible sense of adventure, but emerging unscathed and free of emotional scars is never guaranteed should something go awry. Italian photographer Gaetano Di Giovanni did just this. He now accuses Naomi of scratching his face and hitting him with a handbag on the Sicilian island of Lipari, where she's vacationing on a yacht with her billionaire Russian boyfriend, Mikhail Prokhorov.
The Daily Mail reports:
Mr Di Giovanni told the Italian newspaper: 'First she hit with her bag, screaming at me and then she tried to slap me.
'I managed to avoid her - but her nails still got my eye.
'For a few seconds I could not see a thing. I could hear that her bodyguards and her boyfriend were trying to drag her away.'
Police haven't received any complaints about the incident, and Campbell's rep denies the accusations. The photographer was seen following Naomi from a small boat the next day — which is a safer alternative to land, though he still risks bludgeoning by way of projectile cell phone.
Fiery Naomi Campbell accused of attacking and hospitalising photographer [Daily Mail]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: law without order, models, naomi campbell
AP - "Perfect Life" by Jessica Shattuck (W.W. Norton & Co., 320 pages, $24.95): Jenny Callahan thought she had the perfect solution to her husband's infertility: They could have a baby using sperm donated by her intelligent but wayward college boyfriend.
Are mine eyes deceiving me, or has my hangout fantasy from age five finally come true???
It’s just Mario Lopez hosting the “Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream And Cake Dance Video Contest.” Our intern Zack asks why they didn’t just call the event “Cake Your Booty,” but that simply wouldn’t have been cumbersome enough to get the point across. Because ice cream is also involved.
After the jump, more pics of Mario and his ice cream shenanigans, and cheerleaders get involved:
Ruth Madoff's shopping sprees are going to be a lot less exciting from now on. A bankruptcy judge has ruled the wife of imprisoned fraudster Bernie Madoff cannot spend more than $100 on herself without first informing Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating her husband's investment business. On the plus side, this probably means the new JCPenney store in Herald Square just earned itself a new customer, so that's good news, right? [Bloomberg]
Mischa Barton walking her dogs, Charlie and Ziggy, after getting a cut at Sally Hershberger's salon on Friday afternoon ... Kate Hudson looking at puppies with son Ryder at a pet shop in the West Village ... Courtney Love walking in SoHo ... Drew Barrymore and Justin Long hiding under an umbrella on the set of Going the Distance ... Channing Tatum leaving the Waldorf Astoria ... Taylor Momsen walking through the rain to attend the opening of the Sephora in Times Square ... Selena Gomez listening to her iPod outside ... Russell Brand and Jonah Hill shooting scenes for Get Him To The Greek in Central Park ... and Mischa Barton leaving a party at the Cooper Square Hotel last night.
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Going the Dude one better, reclusive mind-blower Thomas Pynchon
elegizes the Sixties with ultimate stoner-noir detective novel It's L.A. circa 1970, and everyone's running scared. The hippie chick who used to wear the Country Joe and the Fish T-shirt has disappeared, and the man on the trail is private eye Doc Sportello, who lives on weed and pizza and rock & roll, plus the motto "Never smoke nothing's been grown in a combat zone." That's just the start of Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice, a shaggy-dog stoner noir in the style of The Big Lebowski. The cops are out to bust every longhair they can find, with the media... |
Reuters - A feel-good movie if ever there was one, Dori Berinstein's "Gotta Dance" charts the formation of the NETsationals, the senior dance team of the NBA's New Jersey Nets, for one glorious season.
Here’s something your deepest of fears never thought it would see: Sherrie Shepherd, in an effort to show people that the chest-waxing scene from 40 Year Old Virgin wasn’t pushin’ the envs as much as it could have, decided to get her V waxed. A Brazilian to be exact, you know, the one where they wax everything off save for a tasteful shape above your front-crack.
And, being Sherrie, she had the entire thing filmed for all of America to see. It’s sort of like Katie Couric’s live colonoscopy, only rather than saving lives, it’s scarring them for eternity. Specifically 1:59, where Sherri delivers a hair baby:
Somewhere, Star Jones is getting her ass bleached and wishing that people still cared.
Whoawhoawhoa, Internet, I never would’ve expected you to go all nuts about a clip of Tiger Woods apparently farting on camera at the Buick Open this weekend and everyone laughing. Frankly, I’m shocked — knowing the internet, I thought for sure everyone would have agreed to not upload this clip or pass it around or Google it to death or turn it into a thousand dance remixes (wait til this afternoon).
I thought the internet was a place to listen to classical concertos and read absurdist, experimental theatre pieces, and that’s IT. If you want to laugh at wacky thirty-second video clips of farts, that’s what public radio is for.
[Ed Note - Original clip was already taken down from a copyright claim, so here's a not-as-good one]
AP - "The Defector" (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 480 pages, $26.95), by Daniel Silva: Gabriel Allon's big mistake at the close of Daniel Silva's 2008 spy thriller, "Moscow Rules," was to spare the life of Ivan Kharkov, the ruthless Russian oligarch and arms supplier to al-Qaida.
AP - "The Fallen Sky: An Intimate History of Shooting Stars," (Tarcher/Penguin. 480 pages. $27.95) by Christopher Cokinos: Chicken Little kind of had it right the sky is falling, in fireballs and chunks of rock hewn by a tumble through Earth's atmosphere.
AP - There's nothing like a little help from a popular television talent contest to put some oomph into a Broadway show's potential box office appeal.
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