AP - A woman connected to Michael Jackson's personal physician has been ordered to testify before a grand jury in Los Angeles, her attorney confirmed Tuesday.
AP - A woman connected to Michael Jackson's personal physician has been ordered to testify before a grand jury in Los Angeles, her attorney confirmed Tuesday.
AP - Defense lawyers in the drug case surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith have been notified that prosecutors will file an amended complaint at a discovery hearing.
AP - Defense lawyers in the drug case surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith have been notified that prosecutors will file an amended complaint at a discovery hearing.
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - As U2 wraps the 2009 dates of its groundbreaking 360 world stadium tour, the band is expected to gross about $300 million and sell about 3 million tickets to fewer... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 23 Sep 2009 | 1:15 am
Reuters - Before committing yourself to ABC's new hour comedy-drama "Eastwick," try to turn off your brain. Forget the 1987 movie and its four big stars; forget that "Charmed" ran for eight seasons; forget that TV translations in 1992 and 2002 of the same source material died early. Once you're into it, try to forget the two boob and one vibrator "jokes" that materialize during the first five minutes.
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Before committing yourself to ABC's new hour comedy-drama "Eastwick," try to turn off your brain. Forget the 1987 movie and its four big stars; forget that... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 23 Sep 2009 | 12:21 am
Singer Chaka Khan will be taking part in the three-day F1 Rocks Singapore festival at Fort Canning Park, also featuring superstar Beyonce, No Doubt, Black Eyed Peas, Travis, Simple Minds and ZZ Top. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 22 Sep 2009 | 11:56 pm
US band members bassist Dusty Hill (L) and guitarist Billy Gibbons of the band ZZ Top. They will be among the music acts going full throttle to entertain Formula One's glamour set this weekend as Singapore... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 22 Sep 2009 | 11:56 pm
Some of the world's hottest music acts will go full throttle to entertain Formula One's glamour set this weekend as Singapore works to build on the success of its inaugural Grand Prix. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 22 Sep 2009 | 11:56 pm
Beyonce performs onstage during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month. She will be headlining the three-day F1 Rocks Singapore festival at Fort Canning Park, also featuring No Doubt, Black... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 22 Sep 2009 | 11:56 pm
(Reuters) Reuters - On television, great minds might think alike, but it's not always a good thing: The creators behind NBC's "Mercy" must have taken one look at Showtime's "Nurse Jackie" this summer and plotzed. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 22 Sep 2009 | 8:18 pm
Front Page: Trio use own money to buy screen rights to novel -- Producers Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz have used their own money to acquire screen rights to "The Host," the first adult novel written by Stephenie Meyer, author of the "Twilight" series.
(Reuters) Reuters - Cougar Town is a place dreamed up by Bill Lawrence, the man who also helped give the world many excellent episodes of "Scrubs." Courteney Cox, the woman who gave the world many amusing moments on "Friends," is the star of ABC's "Cougar Town." Their television marriage could have worked. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 22 Sep 2009 | 7:33 pm
• A group of Greenwich Village residents are waging war against the Jane Hotel Ballroom over noise issues. They've hired a lawyer and filed complaints with the city. Naturally, they're blogging and tweeting the action, too. [NYDN] • Drinks at the Standard's Boom Boom Room will run you $25 when it opens. Provided, of course, you get inside and have the chance to order one. [BB] • Related: More on Kurt Gutenbrunner's beer garden at the hotel. [VV, DBTH] • Dean Poll, who takes over Tavern on the Green on Jan. 1, is in for a rough ride: He's already facing off against the restaurant's very vocal union. [NYT] • An interview with the very prolific restaurateur Michael "Bao" Huynh. [Zagat] • How the Manhattan Motorino compares to its Brooklyn predecessor. [GS] • A group of pizza aficionados claim the best pie in town is located at Salvatore of Soho on Staten Island. In case you feel like taking a ride. [NYDN]
Front Page: Timberlake, Eisenberg, Garfield added to 'Network' -- Columbia Pictures and director David Fincher have set the core cast for "The Social Network," the Aaron Sorkin-scripted drama about the formation of Facebook.
Time to forget about "no comment" and start getting ready for "I do."
Bride-to-be Khloé Kardashian has finally confirmed what everyone, including the entire Los...
This Angel is still firmly earthbound.
Jaclyn Smith's camp had to take time out today to refute an erroneous report that she had attempted suicide in Honduras and was in critical...
Now this is a horrifying revelation.
Mackenzie Phillips, the trouble-plagued eldest daughter of the late Mamas & the Papas frontman John Phillips, says in an interview with Oprah...
During a press conference celebrating his legal victory earlier today, David Paterson opened up about his recent rift with President Obama, who reportedly asked him not to run for governor again next year. The president "was gracious" when they awkwardly ran into each other yesterday. "He asked me how I was feeling,” Paterson said. “He expressed a little chagrin about the process in this situation.” Haha, chagrin! One of the many subtle weapons in our president's emotional arsenal.
But Paterson wasn't too impressed with all of this, nonetheless. “I understand the president’s concern and I understand concern of staff members at the White House," he said. "If you look at it from their perspective, they haven’t exactly been able to govern in the first year of their administration in the way that other administrations have, where you would have, theoretically, a period in which the new administration is allowed to pass the needed pieces of legislation.” What we think he's trying to say here is that he understands why the administration is seriously worried about losing seats in the House next year, and that they think if he runs again, more Republicans will turn out to vote. But it comes across sounding something more like: "I know you are, but what am I?"
Back in April, two photographers reported that bodyguards hired by Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady to keep the media away from the couple's wedding party in Costa Rica roughed them up and fired shots at them when they attempted to snap pics of the event. Today the duo filed a lawsuit against the couple, and they're now asking for $1 million in damages. But let's back up for a moment. Why did the two photographers even bother to try and take pictures of the party in the first place? Well, Brady, you see, is a really famous quarterback. And Gisele? She's a famous "international fashion model." But just in case that's not enough of a justification for you, bear in mind that they're "beautiful people who attract the paparazzi." So, you know, they probably should have expected something like this would happen. The full suit is below.
Vampire Slayer, meet the Diaper Genie.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and hubby Freddie Prinze Jr. welcomed their first child together on Saturday, daughter Charlotte Grace.
"The...
Like many, we were interested to discover in this Sunday’s New York Times that Senator John Edwards once promised his former mistress and the alleged mother of his child, Rielle Hunter, that “after his wife died, he would marry [Hunter] in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band.” We gather that some readers, insulated against Matthews’s considerable charms by their cultural biases, had a chuckle over the Senator’s display of his cravenly populist musical tastes (this, presumably, after weeping over the plight of cancer-stricken Elizabeth Edwards). We, meanwhile, were simply struck by his selection of an artist so well-known for his frankly sexual lyrics. Given their popularity, rich sentiments, and chat-line-worthy wordplay, the following six Dave Matthews Band songs would have perfectly served the occasion.
1. “American Baby,” 2005
Stay beautiful, baby
I hope you stay American, baby
2. “I Did It,” 2001
Go door to door Spread the love you got
You got the love
You get what you want
Does it matter where you get it from?
I for one
Don’t turn my cheek for anyone
Unturn your cheek to give your love
Love to grow
I did it
Do you think I’ve gone too far?
I did it
Guilty as charged
I did it
It was me right or wrong
I did it
Yeah
3. “Stay (Wasting Time),” 1998
Oh, just groping you
Rolling in the mud
Stay a while
Come on love
4. “Too Much,” 1996
Suck it up, suck it up, suck it up,
fill it up until no more I'm no crazy creep, I've got it coming
to me because I'm not satisfied
5. “Crush,” 1998
Lovely lady
Let me drink you please
I won't spill a drop, I promise you
6. “Crash Into Me,” 1996
You've got your ball
you've got your chain
tied to me tight, tie me up again …
I'm bare-boned and crazy for you
When you come crash
into me, baby
And I come into you
In a boy’s dream
In a boy’s dream …
Hike up your skirt a little more
and show the world to me …
Oh I watch you there
through the window
And I stare at you
You wear nothing but you
wear it so well
tied up and twisted
the way I'd like to be
This season, one of our favorite party buddies, Zac Posen, did the unthinkable: He scheduled his fashion show for 9 a.m. When we ran into him with his date and longtime friend Mischa Barton at the Metropolitan Opera season opener last night, he admitted that getting up that early was tough, but, "You know, Mark Ronson was there at 7:30 in the morning, and that means I can be there at 7:30 in the morning." The amount of attention and "different, interesting reactions" he got even have him considering sticking with the morning slot, or at least not returning to his old ways. "Because it's good to change and get out of formula!" he said. "As an artist, you have to get out of formula." And if this whole designing thing doesn't pan out, Posen has other options. He starred in the pilot of The Beautiful Life (we'd lovingly tell him to keep his day job) and he was something of a serious singer back in the day. "Opera I ended because I became a bari-tenor. And to be a baritone, you know, it’s decent for musical theater, but for opera it’s like THE END. So the last thing I sang was Aeneas in Purcell," he said. In fact, he met Barton through a mutual love of the theater. "I wanted to be a Broadway baby growing up. I don’t know if that’s a surprise to anybody," he said. (No, it's not.) "I was jealous of her. She had an agent."
Acclaimed film-maker Darren Aronofsky, pictured in 2008, is to direct a movie about the 2006 Securitas heist, famed for being the biggest robbery in British history, it was reported Tuesday. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 22 Sep 2009 | 5:20 pm
Last week we learned that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have chosen not to sell their wedding out to the highest bidder, and instead will try to keep the event private. The media vultures have just been "getting out of hand," so they'll just be releasing one photo. (It's what Caroline Bessette did, you know. And Jennifer Aniston.) And maybe some "Page Six" items here and there. Basically, we'll know nothing about the event, or the rings, or the dress, until after the wedding when they release that photo! It's almost refreshing, right? Oh, except we've seen the engagement ring, we guess. And the tent is maybe getting set up at her dad's house in New York as we speak. Oh, yeah, and we know she's going to be wearing a classic custom Vera Wang gown with traditional accents and a veil. And that her hair will be styled like Grace Kelly. And that her bridesmaids are going to be wearing matching Carolina Herrera gowns with different designs but the same color and fabric.
It's just amazing how the media pieces together these things, no matter how much you try to keep it under wraps. It's like they can read your interviews on Brides.com or something.
If being single and losing her dog to a coyote weren't bad enough for Jessica Simpson, she now has to find out her ex-husband is getting back together with his ex-girlfriend.
Nick...
Test Mag, a new site just launched from London, features perhaps our favorite Q&A ever with the one and only Daul Kim. Daul, if you recall, filmed a model diary for us for spring 2009 Fashion Week, and we fell in love. But her answers to a little Proustian questionnaire are even more special.
What keeps you awake at night? Hot French boyfriend.
What’s the first thing that you think about in the morning? About the dream I had last night.
Name your guilty pleasures: I shop.
What inspires you? Complexity and the mechanism behind violence and sex.
If you could do something else what would it be and why? A wife. Because I don’t need to prove anything.
In the future you would like to: Be loved.
What are you afraid of? Becoming a crackhead.
What is the most recent lie you told? It doesn’t hurt.
What is the most delicious thing you ate this week? Vietnamese wet dumplings.
What is surprising about you? I love guinea pigs.
When we caught up with John Ortiz on opening night of his new play, Othello, this weekend, we asked what it's like working with his co-star and longtime friend Philip Seymour Hoffman. "I feel at times that whenever one of us is not fully there, it’s the silent communication of just, ‘Come on,’" said Ortiz, who plays the title character opposite Hoffman's Iago. "And that’s the extent of it. It’s really powerful. All you need is that look." See our Party Lines slideshow for more.
At their wedding in Costa Rica this year, bodyguards for Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen turned the table on two paparazzi by shooting at them! Ha, no, not in a cute Drew Barrymore–I'm-just-playing-around kind of way. With guns.
In court documents, the men allege that the guards "opened fire with pistols." The men claim the bullets “shattered” the rear window of their SUV and “narrowly missed striking [their] heads.”
They managed to get away unscathed. Still, they were damaged by the experience (visions of blood-splattered Angel wings haunt them at night, etc.) and now they are suing Brady and Bündchen, because this is obviously their fault. They would like $1 million in damages. If this works out, we're going to consider suing the pair ourselves, for assaulting our eyes and our minds with their ridiculously good-looking bodies. (We'd settle under seven figures, if anyone wants to wrap this up now — we obviously have a case.)
When we last heard from the amiable How I Met Your Mother gang , we were dealing with two big cliff-hangers: While Ted’s first day of architecture professorship hinted at the unveiling of his future wife, playboy Barney and wanderer Robin were creeping toward a real-deal relationship. Season five’s premiere predictably ignored the former possibility (because, you know, premature conclusion to ostensible point of the show and everything), to dive into the love life of the self-described Barman and Robin.
Flashing back from Ted’s first day of class, we’re told Barney and Robin decided to stay friends after kissing last season, allowing them to have exchanges like:
B: “Hey, you still seeing that guy?” R: “Even better — seeing him naked!”
And then high-fiving. Only it turns out they’ve been hooking up all summer. They've kept this from their friends, mostly because they feared wet-blanket Lily would force them to define the relationship. And they were right! When the group stumbles on the couple's clandestine couch make-out session, Lily joylessly sets off on a campaign of boundary-forming. Barney and Robin explain how they’ve avoided having “the talk” by having bountiful sex instead (montage included) and then resume the make-out. (Side note: When did it become totally cool for Robin to mug out with Barney while former flame Ted was in the room?)
Ted’s big day arrives, and he’s all worried about what kind of professor he’ll be, but turns out he should have been worrying about what classroom he was in ... because he was in the wrong classroom. Moderately enjoyable high jinks ensue. Then he runs to the other classroom and everything is cool.
Meanwhile, Lily decides to lock Barney and Robin in the bedroom until they have “the talk.” They haggle for time, agree they can’t decide, and then just lie to the gang, fake-officially confirming their boyfriend-girlfriend status just to get out of the room (notable: They celebrate the decision with an early nineties NBA-style double high-five.) Ted informs Lily they were lying, and Lily creepily goes “No, Ted, they don’t realize they weren’t lying.” And the will-they-or-won’t-they season arc is set!
The Blah
As always with HIMYM, the premiere slalomed between sharp, funny moments and cringingly broad sitcom fare. This episode came down decisively on the broad side, with repeated uses of the phrase “the talk” — “you need to have the talk”, “you don’t need to have the talk,” “dude, have the talk, then you get to have sex after.” Granted, we don’t know everyone, but we do know like fifteen or twenty people, and none of them talk like that.
The Brilliant
As usual, the best bits came from the rightly celebrated Neil Patrick Harris. His analysis of a dream Ted has about a pretty coed is great: “You should have hit that! You already had your pants off, and you had a classroom full of people to cheer you on. And you can’t knock her up because it’s a dream. Class dismissed!” The topper came when he explained that “the rules for girls are the same as the rules for Gremlins”:
1. Never get them wet — in other words, don’t let them take a shower at your place.
2. Keep them away from sunlight — i.e., don’t ever see them during the day
3. Never feed them after midnight — meaning, she doesn’t sleep over, and you don’t have breakfast with her. Ever … No, Ted — brunch is not cool.
Also, we’re pretty sure he made a Martin Lawrence reference.
• Barack Obama's appearance on David Letterman's show last night helped the Late Night host score his second-highest ratings ever. [NYT, WP] • Dan Rather scored a couple of victories in his suit against CBS: A motion by the network to dismiss the case was denied by a judge; and Rather's lawyers will be permitted to question Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone. [Reuters] • Yesterday, activists handing out fake copies of the Post outside its offices were detained by cops. Today, the paper says it was "flattered" by it. [NYP] • Book deals: Jenny Sanford, the estranged wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, is writing "inspirational memoir" for Random House. And Andrew Young, an aide to former Senator John Edwards, has landed a deal with St. Martin's Press' Thomas Dunne Books to publish his tell-all memoir. • In an effort to keep more viewers tuned in, ABC plans to reduce—yes, reduce—the number of commercials in the premieres of its new shows. [LAT] • Fox won the opening night of the fall season, a first for the network. [THR]
• Hedge fund manager Phil Falcone has sold off part of his stake in the New York Times Co. His Harbinger Capital Partners has reduced its stake in the newspaper publisher from 20 percent to about 16 percent. [WSJ] • Dow Jones will shutter The Far Eastern Economic Review in December. [BN] • Two Agence France-Presse photographers have sued Gisele Bundchen and her husband Tom Brady for getting shot at their wedding in Costa Rica. [AP] • More signs of trouble have surfaced at the already troubled Maxim. [NYP] • Condé Nast is hoping to bring the pages of Bon Appétit "to life" over the next few weeks with a pop-up restaurant in Midtown. Meanwhile, Bon Appétit staffers are just hoping the magazine is alive in a few weeks. [NYO]
You're always bumping into people when you spend a lot of time at the Chelsea Hotel, Lola Schnabel, who's had a studio there for years, told us at last night's screening of Chelsea on the Rocks, Abel Ferrara’s documentary about the hotel. And not just ordinary people. People people. "My favorite memory is of waking up at five in the morning with him," she pointed to the director, "and Grace Jones knocking on my window from the roof to say good morning. Every day," she said, there are "just countless encounters." Which is why kids who grew up there, she said, like her friend Gaby Hoffman, have an "extraterrestrial sense from witnessing all types of people." "[Gaby] was a very grown-up little girl," Schnabel said. "I met her in Mexico and she was drinking a daiquiri at 10 years old and telling me how to stuff my dress."
But while she appreciates the bonhomie ("If you need to learn a word in French, you just ask somebody in the hallway"), Schnabel's not sure how many encounters of the bohemian kind she can take. "I can’t stay there too long," she said. "As a studio it's a perfect location. But as a living space, I don’t know how healthy it is. I remember the first week I lived there, I lit some sage and I spoke out loud to whoever was listening and just said, ‘Look, I’m just here to make some art. Please don’t bug me. I’ll be your friend.’ You sort have to surrender to the bigger forces."
Doctors gave Anna Nicole Smith a long list of dangerous drugs over the three years before her death, including while she was pregnant, according to sworn statements by investigators.
The pranksters at Improv Everywhere have struck again: "For our latest mission, we installed a photography studio on a random subway car. We claimed that the MTA had hired us to take photos of every single person who rides the subway and that we'd be producing a yearbook at the end of the year. Most people were happy to pose for us, and the resulting photos show just how diverse New York subway riders can be." Bonus: They show just how gullible New Yorkers can be, too. [Improv Everywhere, previously]
It would be one thing if a spoof mayoral campaign for Simpsons power-plant owner Montgomery Burns were just funny. After all, the one that was just launched really has some of his platforms — building a nuclear power plant on top of Williamsburg, creating tourist-only safe zones where visitors don't have to interact with scary New Yorkers, and harvesting the organs of homeless people who refuse to get jobs — down pat. In this video, for example, passersby discuss one of his biggest proposals: selling Staten Island to New Jersey to help bridge the city's budget gap. In another more cutting clip, an interviewer discusses the scourge of hipsters on the face of the metropolis (and lets some potentially unwitting hipsters hoist themselves by their own petard). The posters for this "campaign" are knocked off from Obama's famous Shepard Fairey "Hope" posters, and read: "No Third Terms, Vote for Burns." Which is where you get into the serious part of this satirical campaign — the whole not particularly amusing point. "The real cartoon character is Michael Bloomberg, who thinks he can just change the rules around and run for a third time," a "spokesman" told NBCNewYork.com. “We want all New Yorkers — eligible or not — to vote for Monty Burns. We want all New Yorkers to vote at least once for his candidacy.” See, that's the problem. Monty Burns may be many things — evil, potentially murderous, puppy-hating — but he's not strident. We've got enough of that from the other third-party candidates, thank you.
If you think you're surprised by Khloé Kardashian and Lamar Odom's upcoming quickie wedding on Sunday, imagine how the groom's ex-fiancée must feel.
Odom, 29, began...
AP - You don't have to be a soccer expert, or even know all that much about the sport, to get sucked into the competing personalities and personal dramas of "The Damned United."
MAKEUP
• Henry Holland and Paul Smith both went for eccentric lip colors for their spring 2010 shows. Smith painted pouts blue, while Holland opted for bright lavender. [Beauty Counter/Style.com]
• Estée Lauder announced plans to close its Prescriptives line by January 31, 2010. Stores that stock the collection will sell products until they are sold out. [My Fashion Life]
• Sephora is selling five shades of lip gloss inspired by the new movie Fame for a limited time. This is just like Twilight makeup! Will all teen movies have an accompanying makeup line? [Beauty and the Blog/Sephora]
NAILS
• Jane Schub's new collection of nail colors for StrangeBeautiful is inspired by odd thoughts, such as the dirty-almond hue used on kitchen appliances, the belly of a pigeon, and the veins of green mold running through Roquefort. [All Lacquered Up]
SKIN
• Keep your eye cream in the refrigerator — cool moisturizer can help de-puff swollen eyes. [Beauty Xpose]
I am so sick of Michael Jackson, already, let him rest in peace. Why are they giving his movie 15 premieres? Are people really going to see this?
—Darryl, via the Answer B!tch...
Don't be shocked if you notice what has been an endangered species until recently—the elusive banquette-dancing, champagne-swilling hedge funder—make a comeback in the coming months. Hedge funds "had nearly $20 billion pour into their coffers last month, as investors flocked back amid revived market optimism." Or take the glass-half-full approach and focus on the positive chalk up the news to more evidence the recession is over. [Dealbook, HedgeFund.net]
Last December, when NBC made the surprise announcement that Jay Leno would be anchoring their 10 p.m. lineup this fall, CBS CEO Les "Moonvest" Moonves immediately circled the date September 21, 2009, on his calendar. Why September 21? Well, that was the date when his Monday-night workhorse, CSI: Miami, would make its season-eight premiere, a premiere that he famously predicted would "beat Jay by a lot." This prediction was reiterated by a Viacom's undead overlord, Sumner Redstone, who told reporters this spring that "CSI will beat the hell out of [Leno]." Now that the ratings for last night are in, there's only one question left to ask: Will Moonvest and Redstone be dining on crow tonight?
Well, if the two decide to get together tonight and order crow of their own volition, we suppose that would be their prerogative. However, their prediction that David Caruso and his omnipresent sunglasses would trounce the Chin came true last night: CSI: Miamidrew 13.7 million viewers last night, while only 5.7 million people tuned in to see Jay Leno attempt to humiliate Jennifer Garner in front of a nationally televised audience. We're not entirely sure what Moonvest was envisioning when he said that his network would win that time slot by "a lot," but we're guessing that having 8 million more people tune into CBS than NBC last night is a pretty good start.
With less than a week to go before their Sunday nuptials, Khloe Kardashian and her L.A. Lakers beau Lamar Odom have decided to hold their wedding ceremony at the Los Angeles-area home of family friend and legendary music manager Irving Azoff.
If you’re one of those naïve ingrates who doesn’t believe that the show Frasier was a Satanic conspiracy designed to subliminally convince people to eat more Skittles, then I DARE you to listen to the theme song backwards.
To find out how dark Eclipse will be, we'll have to wait until the movie actually comes out.
But Twi-screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg says there's absolutely no doubt the third...
When Jewel sang "You Were Meant for Me," she definitely wasn't talking about this guy.
A Wisconsin man has been nabbed on stalking charges after trespassing on the Texas...
Kirk Cameron, former teen Idol, current proselytizer, has once again taken to the internets to get the word out about both the Bible and non-monkey-people (monkeys). In his latest video, Kirk sets Darwin’s “The Origin of Species” in his sights, accusing the text of motivating Hitler, and then throwing in a quick “he also hated women” dig. Well, of course Darwin hated women. Would you wanna eff this?:
Don’t answer that.
Anyway, for those of you that remember Kirkie C. as the 80s heartthrob he once was, this propaganda video might come as a surprise. And for those of you that have seenthe famous “banana video”, welcome back. To be fair, if I had had a hit sitcom in the 80s, I’d also probably be “walking on water” all over the internet.
Last season, bare butts were the new nipples. And prior to that, it was all about, well, nipples. This spring, cleavage is back and with a vengeance. Designers showed necklines to the navel with skin bared everywhere. From Vena Cava to Altuzarra to Badgley Mischka to ... oh, this list is endless. Are the looks practical? Of course not! But they're titillating! (Sorry, our inner 13-year-old boy just came out.) Refinery29 wonders if it's too much skin. "While the lithe sprites on the runway paint a more romantic picture of this provocative plunge trend, we ask you: On the street or the red carpet, is this look super stylish or just totally trashy?" Showing the goods is nothing new; hell, it was the cornerstone to Tom Ford's womenswear career. And celebs are already busting (har har) out, as we all saw at the Emmys. We're not planning on wearing these looks on the street, but we just might start doing some push-ups all the same. And for the love of all that is right, remember the cardinal rule of deep necklines: Tape is a girl's best friend.
The people you barely know—your dry cleaner, for example, or the guy you regularly see sweating next to you on the treadmill at the gym—are "consequential strangers," and they're actually important to your mental well-being, say the authors of a new book. According to Melinda Blau, co-author of Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don't Seem to Matter... But Really Do, there's a "relationship continuum" from strangers to besties, and a good chunk of people fall into the middle-ground. Many of those 800 plus friends you've racked up on Facebook? Yep, they're consequential strangers. As are the countless somewhat-familiar people we see on a regular basis, all of whom supposedly "make us feel grounded in the world."
In a city of more than eight million people, you probably have more of these "strangers" in your life than people living in other parts of the country. There's your housekeeper (if you can afford to have one); your doorman (see previous); your bikini waxer (if you're a woman; well, maybe if you're a man, too); the homeless guy who you sometimes give change to; the owners of the dogs your own dog plays with; the dude who you buy a paper from every morning (assuming you still pay for a newspaper, of course); and the guy behind the counter at your local deli/bodega, whom you know nothing about, but who knows that you like your morning coffee with a little bit of skim milk and one packet of Equal (unless it's summer, that is, in which case he promptly fixes you an iced coffee). You see? They're everywhere!
But why do these people matter so much? The paradox, according to Blau, is that while we think our real friends are the most important people to us, it's these fringe acquaintances who can potentially give us "exposure to the most novel experiences." (Yet another explanation to give to friends who complain they can't meet anyone to date when they just keep hanging out with the same close-knit group of people.) If it wasn't for your bikini waxer, for example, how would you know what it's like to immigrate to the U.S. from Russia? And if it wasn't for the dude at the deli with the poster of Dhaka stapled to the wall behind him, you wouldn't have known that Dhaka happens to be the capital of Bangladesh, now would you?
But this all begs the question: What, then, is an inconsequential stranger? A one-night stand? A random Twitter follower? Paris Hilton? That remains unclear. In the meantime, we're going to get a little "more grounded" and head over to the deli for another "novel experience." And we might even pick up a cup of coffee while we're at it.
General Muammar Qaddafi will be pitching his Bedouin tent at Seven Springs, the 213-acre estate Donald Trump owns in Bedford, New York, a nosy neighbor up there is insists to the Huffington Post. They saw people pitching a tent on the grounds with their own eyes! Quoth HuffPo:
The source who knew about the arrangement, who is a resident of Bedford, says that Qaddafi's people are already in the process of setting up a tent.
A spokesperson for the Trumps, however, vehemently denies it. So what can these conflicting stories mean? We suspect that it's one of two things: (1) The Trumps are setting up a tent on the property, but it's actually for Ivanka and Jared's wedding, or (2) the neighbor is confused, and it's actually Bedford resident Martha Stewart hosting the Libyan leader. Screw political correctness. She hears his chef has a great date-cake recipe, and she's going to have it.
Are you desperately on the hunt for another way to show your appreciation for Dave Eggers? Do buying his books, going to see hismovies, and donating your time and money to his charity remain insufficient means of continuing to thank him for the majestic, yet all-too-brief, run of Might Magazine? Well, then, you might want to consider ponying up the $5.99 it costs to download the McSweeney's iPhone app. We certainly did! [McSweeney's]
The Miami Dolphins played their first regular season game at Land Shark Stadium since turning over the naming rights to Jimmy Buffett’s Land Shark Lager, and even went the extra mile to blare the Buffett song “Fins” when the team scored a touchdown.
The quality of the clip below isn’t ideal (song begins about halfway through), but I still can’t help but me amused at the idea of rewarding a bunch of mid-20s black guys by blasting a three-decade-old Jimmy Buffett song.
It was between this and James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”:
Last night’s two-hour House was one the strangest premieres we’ve ever seen. We’ve been bored by the show for a few seasons: Hugh Laurie had become so locked into his character, he was beginning to seem like a tired superhero (Dr. X, only with a cane instead of a wheelchair), trapped by both his amazing talents (that super-brain!) and defined by his colorful flaws (that misanthropy!). Season four introduced a load of new cast members, but House barely changed. And since season three, ratings have plummeted from an average of 19.4 million viewers to just 12 million. So what do you do with a predictable superhero? Reboot!
This episode was the Batman Begins of hour-long dramas. (Spoiler alert.) We first see House suffering from withdrawal in a jittery montage. Then he’s clean. It’s a voluntary commission, but his doctors say he cannot get the letter of good health he needs to practice medicine until he deals with the underlying causes for his addiction. Cue the pathetically derivative homage to Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Not only does House play the merry prankster, but there is there an incredibly heavy object to be lifted, misogynist resentment of a female authority figure, a gaggle of cute neurotics (each with one and only one easily solved problem), and (per the movie) a sweet-faced young blond guy who is prompted by House to nearly kill himself (in the film, he actually dies). It’s alternately maudlin and exploitative — especially when House strikes up an improbable romance with a patient’s piano-playing sister (Franka Potente).
That said, Laurie’s scenes with his therapist, Dr. Nolan (Andre Braugher), are fantastic. When the two go toe-to-toe, they’re so strong together you hope Braugher won’t disappear in episode two. (One can imagine House going to see him for therapy, Sopranos-style.) And we’re very excited to think that House might actually become a less predictable, more recognizably human character. Laurie started out a brilliant comedian, but lately he’s been reduced to a barbed insult machine. Already, reactions are ranging from the exhausted (“a tedious, obvious drag,” says Ken Tucker) to the thrilled (“a brilliant stand-alone feature film,” writes The Wall Street Journal’s Melinda Beck) We think it was mostly terrible — but utterly fascinating. We’re going to watch season six, if only to see if whether this was a lame tease, or if Fox really has the courage to fundamentally change one of its biggest franchises.
Model Jourdan Dunn sat front-row at the Topshop Unique and Issa shows this week in London. This is the first time we've spotted her anywhere close to a catwalk this season, as the 19-year-old took a break from the runways because she is six months pregnant. And what has she been doing in her downtime? "I’ve been watching a lot of daytime telly and eating a lot!" We can relate to her now more than ever before. [FWD]
Following on the heels of a security alert sent to the agencies that run major mass-transit systems across the country, another advisory was sent out by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security regarding stadiums, hotels, and entertainment facilities. While the federal agencies know of no specific threats, they noted that Al Qaeda manuals call for ''blasting and destroying the places of amusement, immorality, and sin." [AP via NYT]
John Malkovich, seen here in July 2009, is to star in a drama based around the Triple Crown-winning exploits of legendary US racehorse Secretariat, it was reported on Tuesday. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 22 Sep 2009 | 2:03 pm
You probably wrote off summer a couple of weeks ago, didn't you? Well, you still have about an hour to go for one final summer dip or host one last summer barbeque. Fall officially begins at 5:18pm Eastern time. [USA Today]
Last night, we had the pleasure of bumping into perpetually studly Bye Bye Birdie star John Stamos at the party for Playbill's 125th Anniversary at the Bon Appétit Supper Club. Because fellow studs Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig are also in town with Broadway shows this fall, we asked Stamos if they'd made any plans to hang out — and it turns out they have! "Oh we have a special heartthrob restaurant called Hollywood Heartthrob," he told us. "I can't tell you where it's at because of the paparazzi. It's just where the Hollywood heartthrobs go. We talk about how hot we are."
Jordan Belfi has a great job: He plays Adam Davies on the HBO show "Entourage," a comedy series that takes a look at the life of a young actor, Vincent Chase, and the old friends who surround him in Hollywood.
EVENTS
• Receive a free mini-facial at Salon Ziba. By appointment only. 200 W. 57th St., nr. Seventh Ave. (212-767-0577); noon–6:30.
• Meet Caudalie co-founder Bertrand Thomas and receive a mini spa treatment using Premier Cru, the brand's new anti-aging cream, at select Sephora locations. Walk-ins welcome. At Sephora Times Square (42nd St. and Seventh Ave.), Fifth Avenue, 42nd and Madison, and Soho; noon–6. See complete list of locations here.
SALES ONGOING
• Receive 30 percent off prescription lenses when purchased with frames and 20 percent off all non-prescription sunglasses at the Optyx by Gruen Hamptons stores. Through 10/31. East Hampton: 10 Main St., nr. Newton Ln. (631-324-5441); M (10–6), T–Th (closed), F–S (10–6), Su (11:30–5:30). Southampton: 28 Jobs Ln., nr. Main St. (631-287-2549); M–T (10–6), W–Th (closed), F–S (10–6), Su (11–5).
• Bodhi Handbags are 65 percent off at the Savvy & Co. sample sale. The black leather Safety Clutch is $430 (originally $998), the Zip Pebble Bag is $215 (originally $499), and the Geo Satchel is $395 (originally $918). Through midnight, 9/24. Online only.
In news that may totally surprise you —or not surprise you at all, depending on how cynical you are—the Huffington Post is reporting that Libyan strongman Moammar Khadafy is planning to pitch his tent this week... on Donald Trump's front lawn. Really.
Muammar Gaddafi is making preparations to stay at the Bedford, New York, estate owned by Donald Trump during the Libyan leader's visit to the United States this week, a source with direct knowledge of the arrangement tells the Huffington Post. Gaddafi's Bedouin-style tent, the source says, is to be pitched on the lavish Seven Springs property that Trump has owned since 1995.
Trump's spokeswoman denied the report, but she would only go as far as to say that Khadafy was not on the premises currently, not that he doesn't plan to be there at some point in the future. Fishy! Of course, it's hard to see how Trump could possibly pass up an opportunity to host the dictator for the pure PR value (or even just hint he might host him for the very same reasons). Then again, it's possible there's some sheikh from Dubai or Qatar coming to stay with Trump who just so happens to sport a similar name, and that's created a bit of confusion on everyone's part. Khadafy/Gaddafi, after all, takes on many forms! Below: A list of 32 perfectly correct ways to spell the Libyan leader's name.
According to a Siena poll out today, Governor Paterson's approval numbers were down to 29 percent again this month. The number of New York voters who viewed him favorably had climbed over the summer to a high of 36 percent in July, when he was seen to be battling greed and stupidity in the State Senate. But it dropped again this fall — and, unfortunately for Paterson, it's likely to go even lower. The poll was taken from September 13 to 17, several days before President Obama made headlines with his reported request that the New York governor step out of the 2010 race. That news will no doubt further wound the reputation of Paterson, who maintains he's still running.
The Siena poll indicates, as have previous ones, that Paterson is coming from the weaker position in a potential match-up with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. But in a hypothetical match, Giuliani loses out to Andrew Cuomo, according to this poll, by 52 percent to 39 percent. “Nearly half of all voters prefer that Rudy Giuliani not run for Governor or Senator in 2010," said pollster Steven Greenberg, who added that even fewer than half of Republicans as a group want him to run for office in the state again.
The curtain call at the Metropolitan Opera’s season-opening performance of Puccini’s Tosca was going as splendidly as any other. Cries of “Bravo!” and “Brava!” greeted the three leads, Marcelo Álvarez (Cavaradossi), George Gagnidze (Scarpia), and Karita Mattila (Tosca). Then director Luc Bondy, along with the set, costume, and lighting designers, stepped onstage. That’s when the boos began.
As an opera neophyte, it took us a moment to register that these were actual sounds of disapproval, rather than the rarefied equivalent of shouting “Bruuuuce” at a Springsteen concert (which always throws us off, by the way). And these weren’t just scattered boos; they threatened to drown out the equally raucous cheers, as, bizarrely, everyone, including the booers, gave the company a standing "O."
The puzzling booing continued as the audience spilled into Lincoln Center plaza, mingling with the enormous crowd who’d been watching Tosca on a screen affixed to the front of the Met. Again, the crowd roared as Mattila et al. took their bows on the outside balcony, and the boos rose just as suddenly as Bondy et al. joined them. “Go back to Europe!” the gentleman next to us shouted out, his fist raised in a va fangul.
As our angry neighbor explained to us, this had been the first production of Tosca in 25 years to revise Franco Zeffirelli’s beloved, lavish, and faithful production. Swiss director Bondy’s sets are far more stripped-down. But, the gentleman explained, that was hardly the most offensive part. “The production made no sense!” he said. “At the end of the second act, Tosca kills a man and instead of fleeing, she lies on a couch and fans herself?!” Also bad: Bondy’s omission of the part where the very religious Tosca places candles around Scardio’s dead body and a cross on his breast after killing him, and that the painter Cavaradossi is working on a portrait of Mary Magdalene in a church “and yet her breast is just hanging out of her shirt.” Unsurprisingly, Zeffirelli, who calls Bondy “third-rate,” hates it too.
Fellow opera newbie Karolina Kurkova was perplexed. "I was like, ‘What? That was great! What’s happening?’" she said. Newbie Joy Bryant said it reminded her of Amateur Night at the Apollo. “I want to see more and more opera, so I can be like, ‘Boo! It’s not supposed to be like that!” she said, delighted. And Public Theater head Oskar Eustis, who loved the production, said it made him long for more booing on his turf. “There’s never booing at the Public, which I regret, because there’s something so vivifying about having the audience respond,” he said. “My friend said the only time he’s heard booing like that was at a wrestling match.”
For Renée Fleming, who performed at the last Met opener, though, the boos came as a shock. “I don’t really get it,” she said. “I would have expected a couple of boos, but not that many. That surprised me.” According to Fleming, it’s a European — particularly Italian — tradition to boo. “I’ve been the subject of booing myself,” she said. “This was at La Scala ten years ago. It was a very small group of people, but again, one person booing can disrupt a very pleasant experience.” Fleming said that often the booing has nothing to do with the performance. “It’s more a commentary on the past or the tradition. In this case, the Zeffirelli production. I don’t know. I’ve never fully understood it. Because we give our all. And I can understand where someone might not enjoy it or love it, but booing is a very strong statement to make, and I think very few performances deserve it.”
At least the Met’s General Manager, Peter Gelb, had expected as much, which he acknowledged in his speech during the dinner following the performance. “As you may know, running the world’s biggest and most famous opera house is not necessarily a job for the faint of heart,” he said. “Although I feel somewhat less bloody than Scarpia after his date with Tosca, I’ve known for a long time that some members of our audience who have loved and grown up with Zeffirelli might be unhappy with the idea of a new Tosca. But after 25 years of the old Tosca, in order for this theater to continue to stay vital, we must move forward by offering new productions that will stimulate our imagination and that will demonstrate that our art form is not locked in the past.” And for what it’s worth, the Met is on track to make budget; their gala kick-started the year with a $5 million surplus, and there’s no danger of boos or bad reviews affecting their bottom line: The fall run of Tosca has already sold out.
As should be immediately apparent to even our most casual readers, we here at Daily Intel are first and foremost concerned with one thing — the fostering of a vibrant democratic process rooted in a well-informed populace. And with a mayoral election fast approaching, we saw yet another opportunity to contribute to society. See, even if you're closely following the current campaign, you might not realize that Mayor Bloomberg and Comptroller Bill Thompson will be but two of eight options available on voters' ballots on November 3. It's true — after gathering the required 7,500 signatures, six other third-party and independent candidates have made it onto the ballot. Some are veterans of campaigns past, some new to the political stage. All have a vision for this city — visions that have gone largely without attention because they don't originate from one of the two major political parties. So we asked each of those candidates to tell us about their platforms — why they're running, and why they deserve our votes.
Photo:christopher09.com
Stephen Christopher, Conservative Party What's your most attractive campaign promise?: By dealing vigorously with waste, and duplication and overlap of duties by different departments, I will shrink the size of government and cut property, sales, and income taxes. Since most large cities don’t have them, it would be my purpose to totally eliminate individual city income taxes.
Describe a typical Christopher voter: He/she believes that we have too much government, and that rather than “doing more with less,” there are many things that government shouldn’t be doing at all. Many are probably, though not necessarily, pro-life and pro–traditional-family.
What's your biggest gripe with Mayor Bloomberg?: He talks about favoring the middle class, but he has repeatedly raised fees and taxes. His actions haven’t matched his words.
Now say something nice about Mayor Bloomberg: I really do like 311. As one who remembers the old “system” (chaos), this isn’t insignificant.
What's your motivation for running in a race that, let's face it, you probably won't win: Hey, one can always hope for a “mouse-that-roared” moment! (Google the play or movie.) I want to spread the message that smaller, leaner, and cheaper government is better than what we have at present.
Photo: dobrianformayor.com
Joseph Dobrian, Libertarian Party What's your most attractive campaign promise?: To deregulate private behavior. When I’m mayor, I am not going to spend one thin dime or lift one finger to enforce laws that seek to regulate private behavior, unless that behavior involves the initiation of force or fraud.
Describe a typical Dobrian voter: A typical Dobrian voter is somebody who believes in the principle of self-ownership — the idea that you own yourself, that no matter how the government is chosen, it has no rights or claims on you that the private citizen does not have.
What's your biggest gripe with Mayor Bloomberg?: That he seeks to punish any lifestyle choice that is displeasing to him and his little bobos on the City Council. It’s getting to the point now where everything that’s not specifically permitted is forbidden, and everything that’s not specifically forbidden is compulsory. He’s imposed punitive taxes and malicious code violations, and there will be more of these if he’s re-elected.
Now say something nice about Mayor Bloomberg: I have nothing nice to say about Mayor Bloomberg.
What's your motivation for running in a race that, let's face it, you probably won't win: Somebody has to stand up to a bully even if you know you’re going to get your butt kicked.
Photo: youtube.com
Dan Fein, Socialist Workers Party What's your most attractive campaign promise?: The ruling class is launching a frontal assault on basic living conditions of working people … The working class needs to answer this war on our class by organizing a revolutionary struggle to take power out of the hands of the capitalist rulers, so that we can begin the fight to reorganize the economy and all social relations in the interests of workers and farmers. The 50-year record of the Cuban Revolution shows this is possible.
Describe a typical Fein voter: A worker or a student who wants to change the world. Someone who is against racism, who supports a woman's right to choose abortion, who supports unconditional legalization of all undocumented workers, who is for guaranteed lifetime health care for all.
What's your biggest gripe with Mayor Bloomberg?: Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Republican Party, like William Thompson and the Democratic Party, represent the interests of the wealthy capitalist rulers and their crisis-ridden system.
Now say something nice about Mayor Bloomberg: [no answer provided]
What's your motivation for running in a race that, let's face it, you probably won't win: The Socialist Workers Party candidates are the working-class alternative in this election. If we were not running, working people would have no voice in this election calling for: immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan; federally funded crash public-works program to put millions to work at union scale to build schools, hospitals, roads, and public transportation; guaranteed unemployment compensation at union scale for all workers until they find a job.
Photo: YouTube
Jimmy McMillan, Rent Is Too Damn High Party What's your most attractive campaign promise?: Reduction in rent, and going after the landlords who boosted the rent prices after the attack of the World Trade Center, and the landlords who have violations that raised the rent and ignored the law that they should have abided by. And I’m going after them, that is my campaign promise. The rent will be reduced, no question about that.
Describe a typical McMillan voter: The voter who can’t afford breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When they open their refrigerator, when they open their wallet, there’s nothing there….Something that the typical McMillan voter would understand is that their children have no place to live in this city. There is no future here for them. If we can’t pay the rent today, they cannot pay it tomorrow.
What's your biggest gripe with Mayor Bloomberg?: None. He didn’t vote himself into office ….I have no beef with him. I wish him well, I wish him luck, congratulations to him for becoming a rich man and his personal business. Congratulations for him for using the techniques of Bernie Madoff to persuade the people to vote for him.
Now say something nice about Mayor Bloomberg: Michael Bloomberg is a good-looking man, like I said, and I told him that, in his face. Nice-looking man, just like me. Self-preservation is the key to life.
What's your motivation for running in a race that, let's face it, you probably won't win: I don’t look at it like that. I had a reporter who asked me that the other day, he said, “McMillan, you can’t win.” I said, “Well, why are you doing a story on me, you’re not going to be a good reporter.” So you have to think positive about yourself …. Jimmy McMillan feels that he is going to be the next mayor of the city of New York, and his approach is that he is going to be the next mayor of the city of New York. You’re talking to the next mayor of the city of New York, and his name is Jimmy McMillan.
Photo: Getty Images
Reverend Billy Talen, Green Party What's your most attractive campaign promise?: Revoking the required cabaret licenses. Opening up all pleasure sites — whether they be saloons or community centers or parks around the city — to dancing and shouting.
Describe a typical Talen voter: We’ve always stood for the First Amendment, the freedoms of speech and press and worship and peaceable gathering and protest, the five freedoms guaranteed us in the Constitution. And when you love the First Amendment, you love your own sensual and intellectual possibilities. So there’s a state of impending excitement in the ideal Reverend Billy voter.
What's your biggest gripe with Mayor Bloomberg?: Corruption. Democracy is a messy, human, funky, not controllable, and fascinating way of life. And if you dislike democracy as much as he does, you use 100 million dollars to defeat democracy. Instead of permitting democracy to go forward, he bombards us with $30 million in advertising, imagery of him, apparently enjoying the benefits of democracy in his windbreaker, walking around the neighborhood. So there’s a painful irony there: his ads seem to represent democracy but at the same time they subvert it. And that’s corruption.
Now say something nice about Mayor Bloomberg: He’s alive and he has a chance to retire and live a good life in Bermuda.
What's your motivation for running in a race that, let's face it, you probably won't win: When you’re going right back to neighborhoods, going right back to the democracy itself, going back to the basics upon which our community was founded, there’s always a chance that that can catch fire. Because we have that memory in us. People fought and died for these freedoms. New Yorkers are walking around with these memories in us of what democracy is. There’s always a chance, and I’m dedicating the last six weeks to striking that fire.
Photo: pslweb.org
Frances Villar, Party for Socialism and Liberation What's your most attractive campaign promise?: The only promise I make is to do everything I can to help poor and working-class New Yorkers build a movement against the bankers, billionaires, and big landlords that are using this economic crisis to squeeze us more than ever. All our campaign planks — making Wall Street pay, stopping police brutality, declaring New York City eviction- and foreclosure-free, and making CUNY free again — depend on our ability to build a fighting movement.
Describe a typical Villar voter: The typical Villar voter is a someone who is fed up with the billionaires calling all the shots and the rest of us suffering because of it. Someone who is proud to be a union member, a former Black Panther, an immigrant student, or anyone who has had to fight for everything they have achieved, and is looking for a way to put the city’s poor and working people first. I'm an Afro-Dominican working mother from the Bronx and this message has resonated most strongly in communities like mine.
What's your biggest gripe with Mayor Bloomberg?: In the most severe economic crisis this city has seen in decades, billionaire Bloomberg has the audacity to claim to represent millions of New Yorkers who work for a living or who can’t find a job. The fact that he can spend millions to buy a third term is a sure sign that we need a new kind of politics. His personal fortune increased $5 billion last year while the unemployment rate doubled, and yet he has the arrogance to call on the rest of us to "tighten our belts."
Now say something nice about Mayor Bloomberg: I have nothing nice to say about the class that oppresses us. It’s nothing personal, though.
What's your motivation for running in a race that, let's face it, you probably won't win: I’m working hard to build the movement for the society that we deserve, where poor and working people are in control and our interests come first — that’s socialism. I want to give people confidence that we do indeed have the power to change society. I am trying to provide an alternative for those who are tired of waiting for Democrats to deliver and want a new kind of politics in this city.
Broadway's troubled Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is back on, at least according to its director. We ran into Julie Taymor at last night's opening of the Metropolitan Opera season, where she told us all original cast members (including Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming, reported to have been released from their contracts) are still onboard, "as long as everyone's excited." And the money is flowing, she says: "We had funding and now there's more funding. It's all good. Tutto è bene!"
Lara Stone is actively trying to slim the curvy body that set her apart from the rest of the waifs in the modeling world. "I don’t want to be the fat one anymore," she said. "So, I have just started doing Pilates every morning, then going to the gym, running, and swimming. I make sure to relax in the sauna after exercising." She's a size 4, in case you were wondering. [Elle UK]
"Chris [Martin] hasn't tried to get me to do yoga yet, but I am close to doing it. I am envious of what he can do on stage. Watching him is amazing. He can really move. I want to able to move like that, get my leg behind my ear, things like that." —Jay-Z [Spinner]
“I’m very flattered by it actually, I have been working out more because I’ve got a gym in my house. I think I’m exactly the same weight but I’ve probably turned a bit of flab to muscle. I’ve lost about an inch, I’m still a 36-inch waist so I’m hardly Posh Spice.” —Ricky Gervais on people noticing his weight loss [Showbiz Spy]
"Full blown gay, no problem." —Metallica's Lars Ulrich on whether he'd play a gay man in a movie [Spin]
“It’s like self-flagellation, so why would I bother? And I didn’t want to piss on anyone’s grave. It was hard to watch my first scene in which I turn up in this funny little hat.” —Robert Pattinson on watching his own movies [Showbiz Spy]
"Yeah, I'm squeamish about gore, not in this movie because I feel like we went in, not a cartoonish direction, but we didn't try to make it gut-wrenching, frightening, disgusting to watch. In slasher movies, yeah, I can't stand to watch the blood and the guts. This [Jennifer's Body] isn't really a horror film. This is a dark comedy that has some horror elements to it. So that's why." —Megan Fox is a scaredy-cat [Female First]
"I'm professionally dumb. I can make money from it." —Stephen Colbert [Uberblog/E! Online]
We would love nothing more than to ignore Michael Moore's crisis documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story, which looks incredibly irritating. Actually, we would love one thing more, which would be to approach Michael Moore at his bedside while he is sleeping and yell at him through a megaphone. But we have to give him this: Already, before even being released, his film has managed to produce the perfect crisis-defining anecdote, one that basically sums up the entire past year.
Apparently, the film features a scene of a family being evicted from their home in Peoria, Illinois, by representatives of Citigroup. The family came to the premiere at Lincoln Center last night, and at one point, according to the Times DealBook:
"The family patriarch yelled to Mr. Moore from the audience that he thought the film was 'great.' He may not have realized he was yelling from a seat in the 'Citi Balcony.'”
Yeah! Power to the people! At least we have our MOVIES!
Fashion Wire Daily - Now that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are the parents of two little girls, it's a rarity to see them together on the red carpet. So when Jen Garner hit Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on Monday night, Sept. 21, to celebrate the premiere of her new comedy "The Invention of Lying," it was no surprise that she was alone.
Since February, 22-year-old Rachel Chandler has been snapping shots for the art, nightlife, and fashion worlds for Purple Diary. The L.A. native came to New York to study art history at Gallatin in 2005, and in the meantime, picked up regular D.J. gigs at the Beatrice Inn and now Avenue, as well as a steady slew of cool, private parties. We sat down with the Purple Diary contributor and D.J. to discuss disposable cameras, Peter Pilotto pants, and comfort shoes.
Many of your photos for Purple Diary seem intimate and glamorous, but also very human. Who are your influences in your work (photographers or otherwise)?
My favorite photographers are Guy Bourdin, Irving Penn, and Robert Mapplethorpe. I also watch the film The Night Porter, by Liliana Cavani, a lot.
Do you have a favorite photograph you've taken for Purple Diary?
When I went to Venice to D.J. during the Biennale, I had my bag stolen at the airport. I couldn’t replace my camera in Venice, so I ended up shooting with disposable cameras. I love how the photos turned out. A bunch of them are up as a gallery on the site. My favorite one of the bunch is taken of the artist Franz West dancing in the Palazzo Grassi Museum.
Do you have a favorite person you like to photograph?
Hanna Liden. And my favorite New Yorkers, Finbar Craig-Martin (age 6), and Secret Snow (age 2).
How do you decide which photographs end up on the site?
I take a lot of photographs every day, and I only submit the ones that pertain to the concept of the blog. Olivier Zahm edits my submissions.
What are some of your staple songs in your D.J.-ing?
Right now my favorite song to play when I D.J. is "House Jam" by Gang Gang Dance. A few songs that have stuck around since day one: "Goodbye Horses" by Q Lazzarus, "Strangelove" by Depeche Mode, "Because the Night" by Patti Smith, "Player’s Anthem" by UGK.
What would you like to do once you graduate from NYU in the fall?
For now, I am lucky enough to get paid to play music at parties. Next year I hope to work on my photographs and self-publish some books.
What's the inspiration behind your own look?
Being broke. I am inspired a lot by a few films, by my friends, by photos of my older friends when they were my age. I am an art-history student, so I get to look at a lot of pretty things all the time.
What pieces or labels do you wear most?
I don’t buy a lot of new designer clothes. I have some designer staples that get recycled quite a bit — a Rick Owens jacket, cashmere from RRL, Acne leather leggings I bought in Stockholm, and way too many shoes. I also should tell you that I have an old striped jumpsuit that I wear three to five times per week. Most of my friends think it should be illegal.
What was the first designer item you bought?
A baby-blue nylon Prada bag that I bought at the Neiman Marcus day-after-Christmas sale when I was 13.
Who are some of your favorite designers?
Norma Kamali. Christian Lacroix. Olivier Theyskens. Rei Kawakubo. I also bought some Peter Pilotto pants for my last birthday, and I really love them.
Is there an item you are currently saving up to buy?
A new pair of Belgian loafers (they don’t last long in the city). They are basically like wearing orthopedic shoes — I never want to wear anything else ever again.
Finish this sentence: I never leave the house without ...
My camera.
AP - The true-life drama "The Boys Are Back" delicately and deftly finds a balance that's hard to strike: It depicts death, and the way a family rebuilds and redefines itself afterward, without any mawkishness.
John Travolta has traveled to the Bahamas and is prepared to be the first witness Tuesday in an extortion case linked to his 16-year-old son's death, a source told PEOPLE.
A museum patron looking at paintings by impressionist (L to R) Edouard Vuillard, Claude Monet and Camille Pissaro in 2005. From Caen to Dieppe, Monet to Pissaro and Debussy to Ravel, the Normandy region... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 22 Sep 2009 | 11:54 am
Fashion Wire Daily - Twenty8Twelve, the fashion label of actress Sienna Miller and her sister Savannah, staged its second runway show in London Monday night, Sept. 21, that was a convincingly cool take on at-ease Rock chic glamour.
We may think New York Fashion Week leads into London Fashion Week, but we're overlooking something: Detroit Fashion Week, which just wrapped up its fourth consecutive year on Saturday. As the auto industry clings for life and businesses and jobs leave the city, Detroit insiders are looking to "redeploy" the city's creative force toward fashion:
They may seem like wildly different industries, but cars and clothes have elements in common, Detroit fashion insiders say. The city's industrial history gives it a unique design sensibility, and its manufacturing capabilities play well to a growing demand for garments that are made in America.
Joe Faris, a former Project Runway contestant who lives in metro Detroit, says that because car designers are designers, they are aware of fashion — design principles can be translated across industries. "Creative people are just creative — it can be applied both ways," he says. And a manufacturing workforce is a manufacturing workforce, whether they're manufacturing carburetors or brocades. The River Rouge is just a hop, skip, and jump from the garment district!
From the New York perspective, this might seem like a long shot, but if you're interested in fashion (and not necessarily interested in living here, or in any city where the beers cost $6), it's not crazy. Detroit has extremely low overhead costs — not too long ago, you could buy a home there for $1,000, and you can rent both a home and retail space in trendier metro neighborhoods for a fraction of what you'd pay in New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. "Michigan is more approachable for a designer who wants to be able to afford housing and also run a business and make a profit," says Brian Heath, founder and producer of Detroit Fashion Week. Also: People in Michigan still need to wear clothes and are still going to buy them, and they don't uniformly think elastic-waisted pants are the way to go. For stylish individuals outside of cosmopolitan cities, there should be life beyond GO International.
In their efforts to make sure Detroit is known for more than just being an automotive town, the fashion community has planned a second sort of Fashion Week: Fashion in Detroit, "a high-end runway show," will drop in less than two weeks. Unlike Detroit Fashion Week's $350 entrance fee, Fashion in Detroit's fee is $2,500, and both Kid Rock (who has a Made in Detroit clothing line) and Betsey Johnson will be showing. It would seem Detroit's catching on quickly, then: The pricier the velvet rope, the better the show.
This is Joko Anwar. He’s an Indonesian filmmaker desperate to be taken seriously (~*on Twitter*~). So, he did what any self-respecting person with a mission would do: He promised that if he hit 3,000 Twitter followers, he would walk into a Circle K… completely naked.
And would you look at that? At our last check in, he was up to 13,091 and counting. And #CircleK is the number two trending topic as we speak. See, young ones? All it takes to get a rabid fan base on Twitter is pulling your D out or flashing your V.
He is supposedly naked in Circle K as we speak, hopefully nowhere near the dairy orIndonesian pornsection. We will update with pics as soon as they’re posted.
(On a similar note, if I reach 3,000 followers today, I’ll sneak a pic of Dan walking to the men’s room. Eh? Ehhh? Fine, I’ll throw in 1/8th of my right breast. Cool?)
UPDATE: We’ve got the photo ahead. It’s mildy disappointing, and, of all things, censored! Unfollow this man!
This photo did make us realize, however, that a Pringles Can is an excellent banana hammock in a pinch. Good thinking.
Front Page: Director, producer set for franchise reboot -- Summit Entertainment has tapped Justin Lin to direct and Neal H. Moritz to produce its reboot of "Highlander," aiming at turning the fantasy actioner into a franchise.
While looking for a list of Emmy winners last night, I forewent Google and just typed in the URL “emmy.com” instead of “emmys.com”, and what I found there, while not Emmy-related in the slightest bit (other than achieving greatness), was faaaar more entertaining.
Seriously, this is exactly the kind of dog my dog mom and dad would love me to bring home for the holidays. That lab coat is an especially nice touch. This commercial may not have made me want to eat Baked Beans, but it has bolstered my confidence in America’s will to continue to torture animals in the absolute best way.
(PS What’s up with “All Dog Tuesday” today? I’m not sure, but I definitely like it. Sorry J-Simps.)
Reuters - London concluded its 25th anniversary fashion week with characteristic eccentricity and fresh optimism about holding on to home-grown talent.
"Welcome" in Kudish. A Turkish national theatre will break a longheld taboo and for the first time speak some dialogue in the Kurdish language, which used to be banned, Anatolia news agency reported Tuesday... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 22 Sep 2009 | 10:18 am
I won’t bore you with the details of what possessed me to Wikipedia the movie “Milo and Otis” (when your job is to sit on the internet for half a day five days a week, sometimes ya just gotta Wikipedia old Japanese animal movies), but upon further review, the poster for that film is both adorable and hilarious and adorably hilarious.
It’s almost as if the producer demanded, “This picture of the kitten and puppy isn’t adorable enough yet — I want you to Photoshop the cat’s arm around the dog so people know they’re friends! Or whatever the late-80s equivalent of Photoshop is. Alf?”
When Fox aired a sneak-peek episode of its new series "Glee" four months before the show actually premiered, it took a big chance that the audience would still care. The risk seems to have paid off.
Health care, Shmealth care: The only hearts that mattered last night were the ones that were also potatoes. President Obama, looking as dapper as ever, made an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman (still on at 11:30 PM, thankfully), where the twosome discussed the serious issues. Such as the economy, health care, and… you know… war. If “learning things about issues that affect your daily life” is “of interest to you”, here is a little taste of the “serious business”:
Now, on the flip side: If watching the President be charming and funny and holding a potato shaped like America’s tiny brown heart is more up your alley (”yes, yes it is”), then click ahead to see the pivotal moment when a woman named Mary Apple got namechecked by the BMOC. It’s pretty awesome.
Front Page: Fox medical drama wins ratings race -- On the opening night of the television season, a huge "House" lifted Fox to victory Monday while making life more difficult for new and returning shows on rival nets.
Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, didn't embarrass himself too badly on the season premiere of 'Dancing With the Stars' Source: FOXNews.com | 22 Sep 2009 | 8:50 am
Reuters - Design duo Clements Ribeiro, who have dressed Madonna and Nicole Kidman, believe fashion is experiencing a period of particular creativity and are beginning to look for investors for their label.
There's no question that I find Don Draper sexy. If I lived in "Mad Men" land for a day, I would totally make out with him on his Sterling-Cooper purchased desk. In real life? Not so much. At least not anymore.
AP - Director Robert Dornhelm's movie version of Puccini's most beloved opera, "La Boheme," is a handsome piece of work, using lavish sets and costumes to bring bohemian Paris of the 1830s to teeming life.
Reuters - Fuchsia, orange, green and other strong colors brightened the collections at London Fashion Week by designers striving to make fashion fun again for women whose mood has been soured by the recession.
A Los Angeles pharmacist told reality TV star Anna Nicole Smith's internist that the drugs the internist prescribed to the model after her son died were "pharmaceutical suicide," according to unsealed documents written by state officials. Source: FOXNews.com | 22 Sep 2009 | 2:44 am
Time to forget about "no comment" and start getting ready for "I do."
Bride-to-be Khloé Kardashian has finally confirmed what everyone, including the entire Los...
This Angel is still firmly earthbound.
Jaclyn Smith's camp had to take time out today to refute an erroneous report that she had attempted suicide in Honduras and was in critical...
Now this is a horrifying revelation.
Mackenzie Phillips, the trouble-plagued eldest daughter of the late Mamas & the Papas frontman John Phillips, says in an interview with Oprah...
Vampire Slayer, meet the Diaper Genie.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and hubby Freddie Prinze Jr. welcomed their first child together on Saturday, daughter Charlotte Grace.
"The...
If being single and losing her dog to a coyote weren't bad enough for Jessica Simpson, she now has to find out her ex-husband is getting back together with his ex-girlfriend.
Nick...
If you think you're surprised by Khloé Kardashian and Lamar Odom's upcoming quickie wedding on Sunday, imagine how the groom's ex-fiancée must feel.
Odom, 29, began...
I am so sick of Michael Jackson, already, let him rest in peace. Why are they giving his movie 15 premieres? Are people really going to see this?
—Darryl, via the Answer B!tch...
To find out how dark Eclipse will be, we'll have to wait until the movie actually comes out.
But Twi-screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg says there's absolutely no doubt the third...
When Jewel sang "You Were Meant for Me," she definitely wasn't talking about this guy.
A Wisconsin man has been nabbed on stalking charges after trespassing on the Texas...
The people you barely know—your dry cleaner, for example, or the guy you regularly see sweating next to you on the treadmill at the gym—are "consequential strangers," and they're actually important to your mental well-being, say the authors of a new book. According to Melinda Blau, co-author of Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don't Seem to Matter... But Really Do, there's a "relationship continuum" from strangers to besties, and a good chunk of people fall into the middle-ground. Many of those 800 plus friends you've racked up on Facebook? Yep, they're consequential strangers. As are the countless somewhat-familiar people we see on a regular basis, all of whom supposedly "make us feel grounded in the world."
In news that may totally surprise you —or not surprise you at all, depending on how cynical you are—
