AP - The idea of Brad Pitt running for New Orleans mayor has generated a lot of buzz around the city even though he isn't eligible. It also generated some laughs for the actor in a Thursday television interview.
AP - Elvis Presley fans flocking to Memphis this weekend to remember the day he died are being encouraged to also celebrate the 40th anniversary of his final No. 1 hit single, "Suspicious Minds."
(Reuters) Reuters - Swiss-born, Berlin-based filmmaker Dani Levy most recently was represented in the States with his impressive but regrettably underperforming comedy-drama "Go for Zucker." Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 14 Aug 2009 | 1:34 am
Elvis Presley fans flocking to Memphis this weekend to remember the day he died are being encouraged to also celebrate the 40th anniversary of his final No. 1 hit single, "Suspicious... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 14 Aug 2009 | 1:14 am
Musicians worldwide are paying tribute to Les Paul, the music icon whose solid-body electric guitar paved the way for rock 'n' roll, who died this week at age 94. Paul, a guitar... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 14 Aug 2009 | 12:59 am
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Christopher McQuarrie has signed on to write the script for the "Wolverine" sequel, in which Hugh Jackman will return as the Marvel Comics character, a... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 14 Aug 2009 | 12:21 am
The Vanessa Hudgens haters have to stop. Seriously, why is there so much animosity toward the young High School Musical star?
"It's so totally uncool," says Charlie...
Looks like Jerry O'Connell is going in a very different direction this pilot season.
Normally a mainstay in your fall TV lineup, E! News confirms that Rebecca Romijn's baby daddy...
She is not bothered that models fell down in her spring 2009 show.
“I liked it,” she said, smiling, careless of her teen models’ obvious anxiety. “It made the show more interesting.”
The economic downturn has prompted her to focus on designing perfect basics.
“When you say ‘commercial,’ it shouldn’t be an insult, like something is not beautiful,” she continues. “It has to be best in the sense that [it’s] really what people want to wear to look beautiful and elegant [in]. I wouldn’t have been thinking of all this stuff if there was not a crisis. The crisis obliges [us] to really focus also on what really makes sense.”
She dresses for big occasions at the very last minute. The bigger the occasion, the longer she waits to select her outfit.
“It’s important that you feel right, so I use an instinct at the last moment. What I think is unbearable is to wear something that we don’t feel comfortable in. It’s completely, totally psychological. One dress you felt so happy in for that day and that occasion, you put it on in another moment and all the magic is completely disappeared. There is a very tricky [relationship] between the occasion and your mind at that moment.”
Now that her sons are 19 and 20 years old, she has begun to care about how clothes fit them and other men.
“Men’s jackets have the most boring stuff, a little bit more short, a little bit more big, a little bit more small. You develop a perfect eye, but it’s really boring. It becomes when you are really involved that you really care. Basically, I found out for my kids. Otherwise when I do the fashion shows myself, I’m more interested in the idea than actually if something fits or not fits. I never care. I care most if I like the idea.”
Her sons were disappointed in her when she didn't vote in the last election.
“Of course, because I always taught them principles and the idea of [the importance of] politics, if they see in myself a false step, they become … . I know it was wrong. I should have gone.
Critics matter.
“I don’t believe that anyone is not bothered by critics. I think that everybody cares.”
Confirming an earlier report by Hitfix, Variety says Universal has hired Bryan Singer to direct a film version of Battlestar Galactica, the 1978 TV show previously rebooted into a cult-beloved, little-watched Syfy series that broadcast its final episode just this March.
Singer had actually tried to make a Battlestar mini-series for Syfy in 2001, but the network's sensitivity about the script following the September 11 attacks held up production and forced him to drop out to direct X-Men 2. According to Universal, the new movie will be "a complete reimagination" of the franchise, which we suppose means it won't incorporate many of Singer's old ideas or elements from the recent series.
In completely related news, Christopher McQuarrie — the screenwriter who worked with Singer on last year's Tom Cruise–starring, Hitler-killing comedy Valkyrie — just signed on to pen the Wolverine sequel. So we're happy everybody's careers made it through that one okay.
Our hearty thanks go out to the good people at Buzzfeed for putting together this fine compilation of Hamm's pre–Mad Men work, including his roles as a rugged fireman in Providence, some sort of magical practitioner on Charmed, and one of Lorelei Gilmore's gentleman callers on Gilmore Girls, among other roles. [Buzzfeed]
Front Page: Glen Larson set to produce Universal film -- Universal Pictures has set Bryan Singer to direct and produce a feature version of "Battlestar Galactica."
Is the recession over? Who knows, really, but Vanity Fair has already taken the liberty of having a bartender whip up a special "Is the recession over?" cocktail. Made of blueberries, vodka and crème de cassis, it's designed to be consumed while addressing that very question with friends. Unfortunately, it also takes a full week to make, which means by the time it's ready, the economy may have recovered and already slipped into another recession. So, you know, maybe it would be better to just stick to a beer or whatever? [VF]
After bringing the term "death panel" into the American vernacular regarding end-of-life-counseling provisions in the House versions of the health-care bills, Sarah Palin was impugned for not having the knowledge to back up her statements. So she had someone do a bunch of research for her (or she magically turned into the kind of writer-researcher we have never known her to be) and put together an annotated document backing up her claims, which she put up on Facebook, natch. Her argument, cribbed from others, is that even though the panels are voluntary, have no medical decision-making authority, and are plainly not designed to "pull the plug on grandma," the whole point of the health-care-reform bill is to reduce health-care costs, and since old, dying people are expensive, surely doctors will advise these old people to off themselves as soon as possible. Terrifying!
Now, the goal of these consultations with doctors is to have older or infirm people given explanations of all of their end-of-life options, and to aid them in making decisions while they are still able — because, you see, an even larger goal of health-care reform is to help people. The cost-saving element of this measure — the elimination of unwanted procedures — is what's been twisted into the scare term "death panel." And the terror tactic worked! This morning the Journal reported that a group within the Senate Finance Committee was moving to have the end-of-life provisions taken out of their version of the bill. By the afternoon, The Hill was reporting that it was a done deal. Any Senate version of health-care reform to come out of the committee won't have the provision in it.
Now, of course, Sarah Palin isn't single-handedly responsible for propagating the "enforced euthanasia" myth. Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and New York's own Betsy McCaughey helped, too. But we have no doubt that Palin has learned a powerful lesson from this. Actually appearing to know what you are talking about, and writing or speaking in actual English, can be really effective sometimes.
Is Paramore the greatest lady-fronted rock band in the country? The new video for “Ignorance” doesn’t clinch it, although singer Haley Williams climbing the walls of a tiny room, squished in among her bandmates and waving around a bare lightbulb, pretty neatly figures the group’s incandescent, bottle-up-and-explode energy. But the song itself might win them the merit: Three albums in, Williams wields her teen angst like switchblade, with a very adult sense of precision and control. (She turns 21 in December.) The ignorance she’s raging against here seems to encompass everything from stupid boys to lack of enlightenment in the world at large (Williams’ level of Christian faith has been hotly debated). Order us a T-shirt: Emo girls do it better.
Were you thinking that what the Hamptons really needed right now was another magazine with party pictures and "inside info" on cool things to do? No? Well, too bad. The Observer reports there's a new kid on the block called The Hampton Spy. Edited by a former Hamptons editor and Hamptons Style contributor, it bills itself as "a digital publication and community." Most exciting of all: Countess LuAnn de Lesseps has already attended one its parties in the flesh. And you can't do much better than that, can you? [NYO]
Did Justin Timberlake move to Connecticut? What's for a celebrity in Connecticut?
—JTLuv
Actually, here's what we know: A real-estate writer for the New York Post...
Reports of John Hughes's passing from a heart attack in Manhattan last week neglected to give the specific whereabouts of the director before he was rushed to the hospital. Movieline's Stu VanAirsdale managed to find the spot near 60 West 55th Street where Hughes waited for an ambulance, and he marked it with a 16-candle shrine. [Movieline]
A current Vena Cava style similar to the limited-edition dresses.
Exciting new developments on the Fashion's Night Out front: Brooklyn mini-chain Bird is teaming up with Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai of Vena Cava to host a black party at the Williamsburg shop. (The savvy co-hosts are uniting four elements that we imagine can only result in a smashing success: specialty cocktails, pizza, disco D.J.'s, and carnival games.) But while we may not be moved to trip over to Brooklyn during Fashion Week for Skee Ball alone, news of Vena Cava's contribution is enough to ensure we'll be hustling to catch the L train. The pair will be creating limited-edition dresses from archival fabrics salvaged from their past ten seasons, priced at $100 a pop. The silhouette will be similar to the current T-shirt style shown at right (which retails for $180 at Bird), but in various throwback fabrics. Block-party revelers will also be entered into a raffle to win a studio tour and free dress from the designers. Who knew carnivals could be so vogue?
A few weeks back, we noted that the latest releases from a handful of musical megastars like Lil Wayne and P. Diddy had been pushed back more times this summer than we care to count. Also included on that list was Mariah Carey, whose Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel had been delayed from August 25 to September 15. Well, today brings news that Mimi needs another two weeks to work on the project: The record will now come out on September 29. [Mariah Carey]
Michael Jackson had "some very unusual problems" that Dr. Conrad Murray did not know about when he was hired as Jackson's personal physician as the singer prepared for comeback concerts, Murray's lawyer says.
Today it rained in Pennsylvania. Probably because Kate Gosselin shot down any chance at a future hypothetical reunion with her estranged husband earlier today.
Nevertheless, life...
Apparently in Brooklyn, looking slovenly is no longer enough to be fashionable. One must now be slovenly, too. And so hipsters are embracing their potbellies, flaunting them at the Brooklyn Flee and McCarren Park like they're the hottest thing since skinny man jeans, according to the Times. But why?Men's Health editor David Zinczenko argues that men only recently embraced fitness, muscles, washboard abs, and looking like this when women entered the workplace, since they had to have something other than money to attract them. So now that they're losing more jobs than women are in this recession, they probably can't afford their gym memberships, and are sitting around eating fried pork rinds and peanut butter and marshmallow fluff out of jars while watching Oprah and not exercising, right?
Apparently, the new guard of potbellies buy $13 lobster rolls like dirty-water hot dogs, so they must have money. Clearly the new potbelly is a choice that they are consciously making. Details editor Dan Peres posits hipsters, contrarian by nature, are doing this to be unlike Barack Obama, who has a nice flat stomach he has made a conscious decision to keep bulge-free. Out editor Aaron Hicklin postulates being in shape has become "prissy," adding, "It’s not cool to be seen spending so much time fussing around about your body." So although Zac Efron hasn't gotten the memo, the age of the metrosexual might finally be over. While women diet, exercise, pluck, and apply face cream to the point of misery, a group of men have allowed themselves to stop trying. This is not fair and it should not stand. From the Times:
“When do you ever see that guy, anyway?” [Fitness trainer Robert] Morea asked, referring to those legendary Men’s Health cover models, with their rippling torsos and famished smiles.
Well, aside from Abercrombie, how about every time we don't sleep alone at night? Zing!
With so much focus on the state of the investigation into Michael Jackson's death (still expanding), his autopsy (delayed indefinitely) and burial (not yet interred), the spotlight has slowly...
Oh Holly Madison! You know we support just about everything you do—you're like fam to us!—but we simply can't get behind this head-turning, forest-inspired gown worn to the Las...
Well, this is slightly embarrassing. Letterman just notched another stunning ratings win over Conan — for the fifth consecutive week, his Late Show topped the Tonight Show in total viewers (by a margin of 2.95 million to 2.94 million), a victory rendered even funnier by the fact that Conan was in new episodes and Dave's were repeats. NBC PR was quick to point out that Tonight was still ahead in the all-important 18 to 49 demo, though that's what they always say these days when something mortifying like this happens. The question is how CBS will next top this hilarious feat — can Dave beat Conan with a month's worth of repeats? Perhaps a full week of Late Shows comprised only of hour-long installments of "Will It Float"? We'd watch that.
HAIR
• Debbie Harry was spotted without any eyebrows at a concert in New Jersey. [StyleList]
• Us Weekly is launching a new magazine called Us Hair, which will be dedicated to showing readers how they can get their favorite celebrity's hairstyle. Because we clearly don't have enough of those magazines yet. [WWD]
• Jessica Simpson's longtime hairstylist Ken Paves is going to co-star with the singer on her new VH1 show, The Price of Beauty. [StyleWatch/People]
• Heather Graham saved her stringy, wavy hair with a flower accessory at the Hangover premiere in Barcelona this week. [E! Online]
PLASTIC SURGERY
• Heidi Montag: "I'm definitely not done with my surgical quest. I think I want to go bigger on my boobs for [Spencer]." [NYDN]
SKIN
• The chief executive of Beach Bum Tanning in New York says that business has not decreased since news broke that tanning is as bad for you as smoking. [NYT]
• A BlackBook reporter tested the facial that uses Spermine, a synthesized ingredient derived from the tails of sperm, and said "it felt like any other cream and smelled pretty good, like toasted almonds and a little fruity." [BlackBook]
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for former Treasury secretary Hank Paulson informed the Times that he was too busy writing his memoirs to give an interview about potential conflicts of interest he might have had while dealing with his former firm, Goldman Sachs. But, we remembered later, when Paulson made the deal with his publisher, Hachette's Business Plus, he'd said he'd probably use a co-writer — a good idea, since not only has Paulson "never written a book before," as he put it, he's barely written at all: Paulson grew up on Goldman's voice-mail culture and never even used e-mail while he was at the Treasury.
In fact, Daily Intel has confirmed that Paulson's memoirs are being written by Michael Carroll, an award-winning financial journalist who until recently was the editor of Institutional Investor, a wonky written-for–Wall Street magazine that charges $456 a year per subscription, but, like most publications, has recently fallen on hard times.
Carroll — whose co-workers consistently describe him as hard as nails, highly intellectual, meticulous in his reporting, stubborn, dogged, and a perfectionist — also has a lot of experience with many of the ancient Goldman Sachs conspiracy theories, having made a splash in October 1994 with the first real story about the firm's mysterious partnership process. The story, headlined “Inside Goldman's College of Cardinals,” acknowledged the Vatican-like ritual and silence that surrounded the firm's decision-making and kicked off a wave of speculation about the firm's growing power. It positioned Carroll to know a lot about the later conflict between Hank Paulson and rival Jon Corzine that preceded Corzine's departure from the firm; and led to a host of coverage and “gets” for the editor, such as a interview with former Goldman Sachs partner and Treasury secretary Robert Rubin. In the interview, Rubin recounts a conversation with Paulson:
“I said to [U.S. Treasury Secretary] Hank Paulson, 'Once you’ve done this, you’ll never read a book or an article about the administration in the same way. You see it through different eyes.'”
Carroll is known as a talented wordsmith, a writer with a literary bent and a penchant for the more vivid portrayals of Wall Street's personalities when they had the kind of swagger and importance that's often missing from today's armies of besuited bankers filing into Wal-Mart megabanks. He is often skeptical and more than a little cutting in his metaphors; in December 2007, as the credit crisis was settling in, he compared Wall Street's refusal to bend to reality to the hubris of Norma Desmond, the fictional star of Sunset Boulevard. We attempted to contact him for this story, but like Paulson, Carroll doesn't use e-mail. Wouldn't matter, anyway: According to Paulson's office, Carroll is busy writing and unavailable to comment.
Acne Jeans is gearing up to launch a new pair of denim for spring 2010 named the Armored Jeans. This spiffy pair features big silver plates that shield the knee, and sometimes, the shin and thigh, sort of like the wildly popular kneepad leggings by Lindsay Lohan that sold outyesteryear. How lovely! Now you can have shiny safety gear to save you if you stumble in six-inch stilettos after four glasses of sangria — or, you know, if you find yourself in other compromising positions where your knees require solid protection. [Denim Hunt]
When the Nintendo Wii first hit stores in late 2006, it was nothing short of a sensation. Nintendo could barely manufacture units fast enough to keep up with the demand for the system that revolutionized the entire way people interact with video games. However, over the last few years, demand for the system has fallen off sharply, largely because Nintendo has failed to produce the kinds of must-have games that bring new customers into the fold. So now, in a fit of inspiration they hope will breathe new life into their business, Nintendo has filed a patent in European court for "an inflatable horseback riding-style saddle controller for the Wii," one that could conceivably control video-game versions of horses, bulls, and even griffins. Yes, griffins! But before you get too excited about the potential of this, Kotaku got ahold of some design sketches that Nintendo is trying to patent and, sadly, it looks pretty lame. Back to the drawing board, Miyamoto!
The economic crisis has cost us a lot. But it has also presented us with many unique opportunities. For instance, it is now possible to rent Rupert Murdoch's sailboat, the Rosehearty, a 184-foot "aluminum masterpiece from Perini Navi with hull lines from Ron Holland and a stunning interior by famous French designer Christian Liagre." Imagine it: You, tucked into the self-same bed in which Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Murdoch have, we can only assume, consummated their love, the waves gently lapping at the boat, the motion of the ocean, as it were, rocking you gently to sleep. For just $310,000 a week, the pleasure can be all yours.
It's time to meet your favorite new shorties! It took Tyra and her crew a few months and a stampede to get here, but finally, the cast of America's Next Top Model Cycle 13 has been revealed, and it includes fourteen women under five foot seven. Feast your eyes on the varied group, made up of students, a waitress, a cheer instructor, and a model. The series starts September 9, when Chanel Iman will guest-judge and probably look down on them — literally, as she's five foot ten. [Jezebel]
• The value of Michael Jackson's estate may double by the end of the year thanks to the surge in music sales and all those movie/merch deals. [LAT] • Bad news for Conan: Repeats of David Letterman's show last week still managed to beat new episodes of the Tonight Show in the ratings. [NYT] • For the first time, Us Weekly's website attracted more monthly visitors than People.com. Us's footage of Michael Jackson's hair on fire helped. [WWD] • Bill Bratton, the former police commissioner of LA and, before that, New York City, has landed a book deal with Random House's Broadway Books. [AP] • Does lots of buzz on Twitter send people to movie theaters and boost box office sales? Not so much, at least according to one poll. [NYT] • Dr. Dre, Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine, and Hewlett-Packard are teaming up to "save digital music." Good luck with that, guys. [CNET]
Fourteen-karat-gold-filled ring with a sea opal druzy stone and with a gold druzy stone (right), both $150 at Verve and GaraDanielle.com.
Last year, Gara Post launched her fine-jewelry line, Gara Danielle. The eighteen-karat-gold-, diamond-, and semiprecious-heavy collection was beautiful, but alas, we couldn't quite cough up the bucks for her Filligree Dome Ring. Gara's fall line, however, includes a collection of recession-friendly cocktail rings, featuring onyx, turquoise, and our favorite, a gold druzy stone, in gold-filled or sterling-silver settings. Here are five reasons why we love this new line.
1. Every girl needs to glam up her look with a cocktail ring.
2. The prices: They range from $126 to $150. Affordable but precious enough to not be disposable.
3. The rings have a nice vintage feel to them.
4. They remind us of our childhood rock collection, but with a grown-up twist.
5. Each one is unique, thanks to the stones.
Fourteen-karat-gold-filled ring with green turquoise; fourteen-karat-gold-filled ring with purple jasper; oxidized sterling-silver ring with blue turquoise; sterling-silver ring with carnelian; sterling-silver ring with black onyx; fourteen-karat-gold-filled ring with jasper; $126 each at Verve, 353 Bleecker St., nr. 10th St.; 212-691-6516 and GaraDanielle.com.Photo: Courtesy of Gara Danielle
This week, both I, Michelle Collins, and fellow Bestweekever.tv blogger Dan Hopper got the experience of a lifetime: Sit and cuddle with an adorably ferosh baby lion cub. Little did I know going into this interspecies interview that I would also be meeting Dave Salmoni, World’s Sexiest Lion Expert and host of the new Animal Planet showInto the Pride, which premieres tonight, August 13, at 8 PM on Animal Planet.
In the following interview, marvel as I, “Journalist”, decide who I’d like to pay more attention to: Baby Lion Cub, or a possibly visibly uncomfortable Lion Expert Dave Salmoni (credit goes out to the man for not calling security and maintaining a fine sense of humor throughout). We’ll leave it up to you, the viewer, to decide who won in the battle of “Most Adorable”, though clearly, it’s a toss-up.
What has Dr. Dre been up to, other than pushing delicious carbonated beverages? Why, just working on vastly improving your daily music-listening experience — according to CNET, Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and Hewlett-Packard are collaborating on a line of expensive laptops, headsets, and software that feature the Beats By Dr. Dre brand (which has so far just been a line of expensive headphones). And the way Iovine is talking, this is just the first step: “We have to fix the entire chain. Our position is to go to all the sources and try to improve sound and educate people ... We can't put anything weak in the line. Whoever puts out things that sound bad shouldn't be as cool as something that sounds great."
Agreed! They definitely shouldn’t be as cool Also, we know what you’re thinking: Shouldn’t Dre be spending his time finishing a certain famously perma-delayed album? Look, this makes perfect sense — when we do finally hear the surely life-affirming, heart-swelling beats on Detox, do you want it to be in the same regular-ass 128-kilobits-per-second MP3s you’ve been listening to and enjoying all these years, or do you want it to be in yet-to-be-invented special magic Dr. Dre audio tracks? The choice is clear.
It typically takes the star of a reality TV show a couple of months to go from (minor) fame to infamy. But it looks like Sebastian Oppenheim of NYC Prepreally is the precocious brat he made himself out to be on the show! Because it's only been two days since the Bravo series ended and he's already dressing up as a Nazi. [NYM/Daily Intel]
Time travel sounds like a novel idea. Though Ron Livingston, one of the stars in The Time Traveler's Wife, thinks having a spouse who bounced through time would be quite annoying. "I think if my wife was waking up naked and somewhere else, I would want a pretty good explanation," he told us last night at the premiere for the film at the Ziegfeld Theatre. "And I’m not sure time travel would be the one that I would settle on." View more timely talk from the film's stars in our Party Lines slideshow.
It’s been a characteristically crappy mid-August pop culture day on the ‘net — Us Weekly’s current top story is “Pregnant Kourtney Kardashian – I forgot to take ‘the Pill’” — but all hope for a day of internet time-wasting joy is not lost…
Well, this is awkward: According to Billboard, the Universal Republic distribution deal Drake signed in June is actually with Universal Motown, a label Drake told Fader this month he doesn’t “fuck with at all.” Why the bad blood? Apparently Drake auditioned for Universal Motown chief Sylvia Rhone three years ago but was rejected (an incident he references on his song “Say What’s Real,” in which he sort of calls Rhone a "silly motherfucker"). And why the secretive switcheroo? According to Billboard’s source, Rhone wants to take “credit for anything involving Drake.” In quasi-related, happier news, Degrassi Goes Hollywood premieres tomorrow! [Billboard]
Former Abercrombie & Fitch employee Riam Dean won £8,000 in her suit against the clothing giant. She said the store forced her to work in the stockroom after she wore a cardigan to cover her prosthetic arm and did not fit the "look policy." A central London tribunal ruled she was unlawfully harassed and that Abercrombie did not comply with employment law. However, the court did not find Abercrombie guilty of disability discrimination. Dean had sued for £20,000. [BBC]
Pictured here are the actors Matthew Settle, Kelly Rutherford, and Chris Riggi hugging on the set of Gossip Girl in Manhattan yesterday. If you are fans of the Greatest Show of Our Time, you know that Kelly and Matthew play Rufus and Lily, the star-crossed lovers and parents of Dan, Serena, Eric, and Jenny. But Rufus and Lily are also the parents (together, this time) of Riggi's character, Scott. This photo of them hugging for the cameras isn't much of a spoiler (see more here), as the plotline was obviously developed to unfold this way. Last season Rufus and Lily were left thinking the son they gave up was dead, while Scott himself was hunting down the pair on the streets of New York. But the looks of joy on their faces indicate that by the time they've met, all the inevitable evil scheming, revenge fantasies, blackmail plots, and window peeping will have already been in the distant past. Or maybe in the near future? Regardless, what interests us more is the inset photo of Riggi joyfully snuggling Jessica Szohr, a.k.a. Vanessa, from the set of the show last month. Who said she was allowed to be happy?
Paula Abdul fans needn't worry…much. Turns out Victoria Beckham isn't gunning for a full-time job on American Idol.
"She is not in talks to join the show...
EVENTS
• Oak is teaming up with art zine FakeOrange to host an art show at its Williamsburg store. The exhibit includes a video installation by Konstantinos Menelaou and works by Coley Brown and Peter Demos. D.J. Japanster will spin. 208 N. 8th St., nr. Driggs Ave. (718-782-0521), Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 7–10.
SALES ENDING TOMORROW
• Tucker is hosting a moving sale. Silk blouses are $50 to $160 (originally $265), camisoles are $40 to $100 (originally $180), and dresses are $60 (originally $160). 13 Essex St., nr. Hester St. (212-777-8711); Th (11–7), F (9–7).
• Women's runway, ready-to-wear, and accessories are 50 to 80 percent off at the Richard Chai sample sale. 107 Grand St., nr. Mercer St., seventh fl.; M–F (10–6).
• Lauren Merkin handbags are 40 to 70 percent off at the summer sample sale. The Tatum bubble lambskin bag is $150 (originally $325), the Diana metallic lambskin bag is $75 (originally $250), and the Edie quilted lambskin bag is $200 (originally $450). 231 W. 29th St., nr. Seventh Ave., Ste. 201 (212-239-2459); T–F (11–7), S (11–4).
• Frank Tell dresses, tops, skirts, and pants from previous seasons are up to 80 percent off. A few pairs of leggings from the fall 2009 collection are still left as well. 113 W. 27th St., nr. Sixth Ave., third fl. (646-688-4836); noon–8.
If it feels as if this season of Entourage is just flying by, and that may be because, well, it is!
Season six of HBO's bromancing brood is already halfway to the finish line, but...
Anderson Cooper worked out earlier this afternoon at the flashy new David Barton Gym on Astor Place. Things headed downhill, however, when he walked out of the gym with a guy who appeared to be his trainer. You can view Andy's rainy day ordeal, in four acts, by clicking on the photo above.
What started out as a festive, laugh-a-minute journey through Africa, replete with dancing and quirky questions about marriage proposals, is increasingly turning into a Heart of Darkness–like nightmare. Well, all right, it's not quite that bad. But Hillary hasn't been her usual preternaturally steady and collected self lately. When she's not scolding students because of unfortunately mistranslated questions, she's making dubious statements that seemingly undermine the legitimacy of former American presidents. While discussing the importance of free elections at a town hall in Nigeria yesterday, Hillary said this:
"Our democracy is still evolving. We had all kinds of problems in some of our past elections, as you might remember. In 2000, our presidential election came down to one state where the brother of the man running for president was the governor of the state. So we have our problems too."
Well then. Is the implication here that tampering from Jeb somehow led to victory for brother George? That's certainly what it seems to be on its face. Luckily, the State Department was more than willing to clarify this puzzling statement. "Not only is that NOT an indictment of anyone," an anonymous official told ABC's Jake Tapper, "it's actually touting all the participants and the system and the peaceful transfer of power. The reference to 2000 in particular was from the Nigerian perspective of anyone who looked at the relationship and thought anything of it."
If that was Hillary's message, it still doesn't explain why she referred to the relationship between Jeb and George as a "problem" of our evolving democracy, not, say, a potential conflict of interest that we were able to overcome because of the strength of our democracy. We imagine a rested and refreshed Hillary would have phrased her point much better, but Hillary has opened herself up to criticism for what she did say. There's only one more day left in Hillary's African journey before she returns home, and it probably can't come soon enough.
When we first heard "Relator," the duet between the smoky-voiced Scarlett Johansson and the scruffy Pete Yorn, a few months ago, we called it "a rare kind of song: a pieced-together little number that evokes all kinds of classic pop, and passes like a warm breeze." Well, now that the record's release is a little less than a month away, the She & Him usurpers have released an appropriately peppy and sepia-toned video for the song, which we'll no doubt see countless times over the next few months on Subterranean. [Stereogum]
Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer Damon Winter has been covering the contentious health-care town-hall meetings for the New York Times, and has observed that the most rowdy participants seem to be quite aware that their antics are being watched on the national stage. They welcome the attention, but are also wary of it, he tells the Columbia Journalism Review:
I don’t think we were necessarily warmly greeted as journalists covering the event. Especially a few times, once people found out I was working for The New York Times, I would get really kind of nasty remarks and these kind of things that were making assumptions that I myself or we as a newspaper had preconceived notions about them. Another photographer working for the Times that day, a freelance photographer, Jessica Kourkounis, got pushed by an audience member once they realized she was working for The New York Times.
Damon photographed the Arlen Specter town hall where the Pennsylvania senator was confronted by the apoplectic Craig Anthony Miller. His image of the moment made the front page of the paper. We're a little confused by why this kind of coverage — from a newspaper that they feel isn't normally inclined to listen to them — would not be welcomed by these agitators. Don't they want to get heard? Or do they not want people to listen too closely to what they're saying?
Although the news that Kourtney Kardashian is pregnant with her first child came as a quite a surprise, her family is excited about their new addition.
Legendary musician and guitar innovator Les Paul has passed away at the age of 94. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You are an assh*le, Summer of 2009.
With MJ and John Hughes gone, that’s basically my whole childhood (Lord help me if something happens to Huey Lewis), so in the spirit of not being any more bringdown-ey about the Les Paul thing than we need to be, here’s a cool video of Paul demonstrating the “Les Pulverizer”:
The recent graduate suing Monroe College for not helping her find a job has a broken computer, a dead cell phone, no lawyer, and has been pilloried in the media — but after looking at how the school presents itself to students, Mark Gimein thinks she may have a case. [The Big Money/New York]
These are uncertain times for Condé Nast. McKinsey consultants are now scouring company budgets looking for fat to trim. And staffers are now getting acclimated to a world in which they're expected to subsist on room temperature Poland Spring, not chilled Fiji water or sparkling citrus beverages in round little bottles. It hasn't been a walk in the park for Condé Nast chairman Si Newhouse, of course. Over the past year, he's probably seen several billion dollars of his net worth evaporate. And his private foundation—a vehicle he's used over the years to shower hundreds of millions of dollars on art institutions, hospitals, libraries, and his alma mater, Syracuse University—hasn't been immune either.
The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation sustained more than $5 million in losses in 2008, which is probably to be expected when you park some of the money you plan to eventually give to charity in mortgage-backed securities issued by Goldman Sachs.
And yet unlike the many moguls who have been using the economic downturn to reduce their charitable spending—or stop donating altogether— Newhouse is giving more. In 2007, Newhouse gave away a total of $11.98 million to charity. In 2008, he handed out $12.5 million to more than 300 non-profit groups. Just like Town Cars for top editors and $50,000 Vogue fashion shoots, there are some things that even the deepest recession in a century can't touch, apparently.
The full list of recipients of Newhouse's largesse is below.
Hyper-Christians Heidi and Spencer Pratt make no secret about their love for Jesus and the Holy Bible. And given their recent jump to D-List Celebrity Status, the twosome are doing everything in their power to get the word out about their faith, including creating a Christian Gospel Album, and the requisite Christian Playboy Shoot. So, what does a Jesus-Approved “Tasteful” Playboy shoot look like?
Us Right Now: (Appropriate GIF and some Playboy thumbnails ahead.)
Here is a small tit-tac-toe board of Heidi’s Unbelievably Reverent Photoshoot. Click on the pic to be taken over to Playboy.com for the NSFW full size versions:
If we were friends with rock-star hedge-funder John Paulson, we might have had the following conversation over Instant Messenger today.
Paul-Money: What up, Daily Intel. Daily Intel: Dude, I'm super annoyed right now. I just got off the phone with my credit-card company. They increased my interest rate to 29 percent, and now they're saying they won't take it down because I was late on like one payment, which I'm not even sure I was. And naturally I got all overirritable with the service person even though it is not technically their fault, and then they put me on with the supervisor, and they were just like, 'Sorry, we can't help you. Have a nice life,' and then I just was left sitting there, impotent. Paul-Money: Suuuucks. Daily Intel: Srsly. Remember when banks used to actually care about retaining their customers? Now they're just like, we will charge you and charge you until your balance balloons and you entirely give up hope that you will ever be able to pay it, then we'll just sell the debt to someone really super unscrupulous who will call you at all hours of the day and speak to you in a voice that sounds like the killer from Scream until you eventually are so broken that you negotiate some kind of payment plan that is like half of what you technically "owe" but reasonably close to the amount you actually spent, and then your credit is ruined and you have to live in a box. Daily Intel: Anyway. Sorry to go on like that. What are you up to? Paul-Money: Well. I bought 168 million shares of Bank of America, valued around $2.2 billion.
Paul-Money: I also picked up some smaller stakes in JPMorgan, Goldman, Capital One, and Fifth Third Bancorp. Daily Intel: Wow. That's kind of crazy. I mean, you made all that money betting against the financials ... Paul-Money: I know! Everyone in the office was like, dude, are you baked???!!! And I was like, yeah, but also, I just have a feeling the banks are going to start minting money again, somehow. Paul-Money: Anyway, you want to get a beer later? Daily Intel: Ugh, I'm broke, it's the 13th. Paul-Money: My treat! Maybe we can go to Dorrian's. I read in the Post that they were shooting Gossip Girl there, and I like to go there ironically from time to time. Daily Intel: Haha awesome. Okay, see you there.
So much for Donald Trump's plan to swoop down and retake control of his old Atlantic City casino empire, which went bankrupt for a third time a few months ago. Investors who are out $1.25 billion—and who stand to gain nothing from Trump's bid to buy back the company—are calling Trump's plan "a brazen insider deal," have asked a judge to conduct a full investigation, and have submitted their own proposal to take back control of the company. [AP]
If you haven’t gotten into TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras, first of all, congratulations, as you are likely not a pedophile, and second of all, what a mistake. What a big, big mistake. Because Toddlers & Tiaras is simultaneously one of the most hilarious and yet genuinely entertaining programs to come out of the basic cable landscape this summer. It’s like The Daily Show of bad parenting!
Now, to be fair, we had our reservations about the show at first. After all, the previews for the show looked almost exactly like that Mr. Show sketch from yesteryear, “Pre-Natal Pretties”:
“They can’t wait to be born! They are so happy!”
But after various friends and co-workers insisted we catch at least a single episode of the show that never, ever reminds us about the Jon Benet Ramsey tragedy, we decided to give it a shot.
And America…
IT IS WORTH IT.
Each episode focuses on three different families and their daughters, from as young as 3 years old to older pre-teens, as you follow them on their journey from “regular child” to “baby porn star”. Every week, you are taken to a single beauty pageant somewhere in the jugular of America, where we watch both mother and child compete through rounds and rounds of hyper-inappropriate costuming and performance until the very end, where the children are either crowned with a tiara of win or given a failure sash of ill repute.
So what makes the show so addictive? Let’s start with the families involved. They are obviously insane. That being said, there is that rare instance where you actually grow attached to some of them.
Take Morghan Morris from last night’s episode, as an example. Morghan was a tiny blonde 7-year-old with the face and personality of a hilarious 37-year-old WASP. Her mother, it should be mentioned, may or may be SNL’s Kristen Wiig. While the mom was pretty much a shaky lunatic — insisting that her fair-skinned child be spray tanned FOUR TIMES IN A ROW, Morghan was actually born with a gigantic and winning personality. Slightly cocky? Sure, they all are. But this little girl was definitely not your typical brainless robo-pageant child. So it was no wonder that (spoiler alert!) Morghan ended up winning the entire “glitz” pageant, spray tan, fake teeth and all. We only hope she’s able to keep that hilarious persona and not get too sold on how “special” she is.
Major props have to go to the creators and producers of the show, who manage to walk that thin line between parody and drama. Random shots of newborn babies in pageant gowns sprinkled throughout the episodes are there to remind you that, yes, this is not how normal people should be acting. Yet, you can’t help but root for the kids and families you like, and hope for the worst when it comes to those obnoxious families you hate (and trust, there are plenty of those too.) The meeting of both of these worlds is what makes Toddlers & Tiaras this summer’s guiltiest pleasure (after Dating in the Dark, obviously.)
While the TLC website hasn’t posted any of this season’s episodes, this hyper-serious Nightline expose on the world of baby beauty pageants might do some justice to the weekly insanity that is Toddlers & Tiaras. Trust us: You shouldn’t miss it.
Radio Shack has launched a massive ad campaign attempting to re-brand itself as just “The Shack”:
For example, before, one might have said “I have absolutely no need to ever go to Radio Shack,” but now, with the hipper re-branding, people can say “I have absolutely no need to ever to to THE SHACK.” Also, there’s a chance they’ll get some accidental Google hits from people searching for Shaq.
This move comes just two months after Pizza Hut also announced they would be re-branding themselves as “The Hut”. Apparently, market research suggests that people enjoy names that are just “The” and then a word, with nothing descriptive about the business other than the type of building they’re modeled after.
Why should we stop there? I’ve gone ahead and applied this miracle theory of re-branding to a bunch of other businesses, and they’re free to use my ideas the moment they decide they wanna stop having lame, clunky, “full” brand names and start being hip and getting laid (with profit!) Feel free to leave your own in the comments:
Coca-Cola = The Coke
Starbucks = The ‘Bucks
US Airways = The Air
Johnson & Johnson = The Johnson
NBC Nightly News = The News
Taco Bell = The ‘ell
J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. = The J.P. Morgan Chase and Co.
Bestweekever.tv = The Ever
Other hip new “The” brand name suggestions? Leave ‘em in the comments.
It's been a bruising few weeks for Goldman Sachs what with the tough questions about the role the firm played in the mortgage meltdown and subsequent bailout, and any special treatment it may have received from Washington officials like former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. But it looks like the firm's lawyers now have one more headache to deal with: the dude in Thailand who is selling unauthorized (and terribly chintzy) Goldman-branded "keychain watches" on Ebay for $9.95 a pop. "Makes a great gift for someone," reads the ad. It doesn't specify who this "someone" is. But if you're looking to give a friend at the firm a way to count down the minutes until his gigantic bonus shows up in his checking account, you probably should make a move before Goldman's lawyers do. [Ebay]
Meet Robert Bruscha, aka Bobby B., where B. stands for Bottleservice. Bobby Bottleservice. He’s just a guy on the internet who loves beautiful ladies and his mother and Hummers and Myspace and were you on the cover of Maxim? and you should probably hit up his beeper cause he definitely does not have any sort of groin disease.
Quick NSFW bomb at the end there.
It actually scares me how dead on Nick Kroll is in this one.
“Viral marketing” just means “lazy marketing,” right? We don’t got no time to write a script — just film Megan Fox saying the F-word then literally describing the plot of Jennifer’s Body, call it a public service announcement, and throw it on the web. Everyone will want to see the film after hearing Megan Fox swear and then describe the plot of it! Internet is thing and stuff!
Israeli-Argentinian conductor of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Daniel Barenboim gives a press conference on August 10, 2009 in Salzburg. Barenboim brought his pioneering West-Eastern Divan Orchestra... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 13 Aug 2009 | 10:15 am
Spain's government agreed to allow television channels to charge viewers for digital terrestrial programming, a move it said would "establish a level playing field" in the industry. "DTT (Digital Terrestrial... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 13 Aug 2009 | 10:08 am
A lot of my friends — more than I would’ve expected — are legitimately excited about the upcoming season of Fox’s Glee (though to be fair, I do hang out at a lot of elementary school cafeterias, so, you know, I’m prettay awesome). I don’t entirely share the enthusiasm, though, probably because I was too busy dressing up in yellow tights in our high school production of Twelfth Night to ever do something DORKY like join the choir.
My point, though, is that this show is very obviously going to be a huge hit. Remember when Fox used to be the joke “fourth” network? Well, they’ve been effortlessly crushing NBC and ABC for longer than I can remember, and will continue to this Fall (though NBC’s Community looks interesting, but I’m sure it’ll have annoyingly low ratings then somehow get canceled).
In the meantime, here’s another Glee trailer to whet your SINGppetite (that means singing appetite):
Kate Hudson may be A-Rod's new main squeeze, but that doesn't mean the other Yankee girlfriends have to like her Source: FOXNews.com | 13 Aug 2009 | 8:48 am
Lock up your children: Kourtney Kardashianis expecting a baby. Please let it be a girl so that Baby Sluts E! reality show can be a go…
Speaking of the Kardashies, Khloe Kardashian claims thata vial of cocaine found in her purse was actually found in a dressing room of the clothing store she works at, and she just forgot to throw it out. Make sure to visit her at the “Cokewhores R Us” on Melrose.
Seth MacFarlane has gone and done it now. The Family Guy creator has outed giant british baby Stewie as being gay. Gives you a whole new perspective on the movie Milk, doesn’t it?
Jon Heder will be starring in an upcoming biopic aboutBuddy Holly. In lieu of congratulation bouquets, please give Rivers Cuomo a long, meaningful hug.
"Twilight" hottie Taylor Lautner isnt just a popular pin-up for tweens and teens across the world; the 17-year-old has had to contend with a crazy older female fan attempting to do some well, inappropriate things. Source: FOXNews.com | 13 Aug 2009 | 7:26 am
Science fiction flicks featuring aliens can be a little formulaic: Aliens invade American territory, mass destruction ensues, and nine times out of 10, Will Smith rides to the rescue
The series "Mad Men" has been honored for its sharp writing, polished acting and portrayal of life at an advertising agency in the early 1960s. It has also been much noticed for something else: its fashion sense. Movies and television shows have played a big role in dictating people's fashion choices for decades.
With apologies to Hendrix and Clapton,
inventor and musician Les Paul,
who died Wednesday at 94, was the most influential rock guitarist
ever — even though he was only tangentially involved in rock.
Paul was important not just for his instrumental virtuosity, but
also for his groundbreaking studio developments and creation of the
Gibson solid-body guitar that bears his name, the quintessential
rock instrument made famous by such legends as Clapton, Duane
Allman, Jimmy Page and Eddie Van...
AP - Football fans have grown accustomed to spending their Sundays in front of gigantic high-def TVs, and they can't just drop their visual expectations when the game goes virtual.
The Vanessa Hudgens haters have to stop. Seriously, why is there so much animosity toward the young High School Musical star?
"It's so totally uncool," says Charlie...
Looks like Jerry O'Connell is going in a very different direction this pilot season.
Normally a mainstay in your fall TV lineup, E! News confirms that Rebecca Romijn's baby daddy...
Did Justin Timberlake move to Connecticut? What's for a celebrity in Connecticut?
—JTLuv
Actually, here's what we know: A real-estate writer for the New York Post...
Today it rained in Pennsylvania. Probably because Kate Gosselin shot down any chance at a future hypothetical reunion with her estranged husband earlier today.
Nevertheless, life...
With so much focus on the state of the investigation into Michael Jackson's death (still expanding), his autopsy (delayed indefinitely) and burial (not yet interred), the spotlight has slowly...
Oh Holly Madison! You know we support just about everything you do—you're like fam to us!—but we simply can't get behind this head-turning, forest-inspired gown worn to the Las...
Paula Abdul fans needn't worry…much. Turns out Victoria Beckham isn't gunning for a full-time job on American Idol.
"She is not in talks to join the show...
If it feels as if this season of Entourage is just flying by, and that may be because, well, it is!
Season six of HBO's bromancing brood is already halfway to the finish line, but...
These are uncertain times for Condé Nast. McKinsey consultants are now scouring company budgets looking for fat to trim. And staffers are now getting acclimated to a world in which they're 
If you haven’t gotten into 
Each episode focuses on three different families and their daughters, from as young as 3 years old to older pre-teens, as you follow them on their journey from “regular child” to “baby porn star”. Every week, you are taken to a single beauty pageant somewhere in the jugular of America, where we watch both mother and child compete through rounds and rounds of hyper-inappropriate costuming and performance until the very end, where the children are either crowned with a tiara of win or given a failure sash of ill repute. 
gigantic and winning personality. Slightly cocky? Sure, they all are. But this little girl was definitely not your typical brainless robo-pageant child. So it was no wonder that (spoiler alert!) Morghan ended up winning the entire “glitz” pageant, spray tan, fake teeth and all. We only hope she’s able to keep that hilarious persona and not get too sold on how “special” she is.
It's been a bruising few weeks for Goldman Sachs what with the tough questions about the role the firm played in the mortgage meltdown and subsequent bailout, and any special treatment it may have received from Washington officials like former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. But it looks like the firm's lawyers now have one more headache to deal with: the dude in Thailand who is selling unauthorized (and terribly chintzy) Goldman-branded "
