(Reuters) Reuters - Isla Fisher is eyeing "Desperados," a feature comedy described as a female-oriented "Hangover." Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 6 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am
Disco Stick: Lady Gaga will perform her single “Bad Romance” on the November 16 episode of Gossip Girl. The cast and crew were especially happy that she stuck around for almost an entire half-day of production in October to lip-sync in the background of the other shots in her scene. The episode is titled “The Last Days of Disco Stick,” which makes us think that something even raunchier than Lady Gaga is in store. [RS]
Lay the Favorite: D.V. DeVincentis and Stephen Frears, the writer-director tag team behind High Fidelity, seem to be reunited around Lay the Favorite, a film about middle-aged math dorks from Queens who hustle Vegas sportsbooks to get rich. It will be kind of like 21 except not unwatchable. [THR]
Micromanagement:J.J. Abrams wants to direct the pilot of his new NBC show Undercovers. Abrams hasn’t indulged in that level of first-episode micromanagement since the Lost 2004 season premiere, although he has guest directed shows from time to time. Undercovers is supposed to be a mix between Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity, plus, like, all those other action movies full of hot actors that we can’t even think of right now. [THR]
Pic-a-nic Baskets: Justin Timberlake, Dan Akroyd and Anna Faris will supply the voices for Warner Bros.’ Yogi Bear movie. Timberland will most likely play the Boo-Boo to Akroyd’s Yogi, and Faris will play a documentary filmmaker. Lucky for them, the film combines live action and CG animation, which means they have an excuse to spend time in New Zealand on location in Jellystone National Park. [Variety]
What if: Hangover star Bradley Cooper will play the lead in Dark Fields, a suspense thriller, about a wild pill that lets anybody — even Cooper’s character, a down-on-his-luck writer in New York City — access the full capacity of his or her brain and become rich and powerful. Hollywood has never heard of pills like this. [Variety]
Daily Sports: Comedy Central and The Onion are joining forces on a half-hour show about sports. The show will be a spinoff of The Onion’s Onion Sports Network, and hopefully it will be like that other show that Comedy Central has where they make fun of news shows, and smart people who still care about news think it’s really funny. [Variety]
Roman sculptures, architectural fragments and amphoras sit on the deck of the "Neptune" barge at a press presentation of discoveries made during the last archeological digs in the Rhone river, southern... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 11:52 pm
The bust of Julius Caesar, believed to be the oldest representation of the Roman emperor yet known, seen at the Antique Arles Museum as part of an exhibit of archeological discoveries made over the last... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 11:52 pm
In a dark space in a new exhibition at Arles museum in southern France, underwater sounds play over looped video footage of scientists on underwater digs along the Rhone riverbed. An... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 11:52 pm
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- It was announced today jointly by Exclusive Media Group's (EMG) CEO Nigel Sinclair and Newmarket's Co-Founder Chris Ball, that EMG... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 11:30 pm
Finally a market indicator we can depend on. One Harvard Business School alum, now running his own consulting firm, has been saying for a while that when fewer Harvard M.B.A.s enter the financial industry the market is bound to improve. And it’s not just because they’re insufferable.
[Ray Soifer] calls it a “rather esoteric but nonetheless generally accurate” long-term indicator of the direction of stocks. According to the index, when Harvard graduates pile into Wall Street jobs, the market is probably overheated and could be heading for a tumble.
Any year that more than 30% of the graduating Harvard Business School class takes “market-sensitive” jobs, we should all think about selling. Anything under 10%, we should buy. This year 28% of Harvard’s freshly minted M.B.A.s took jobs in the financial world, so hold?
Reuters - The Simon Baker crime drama "The Mentalist," which just began its second season on CBS, has netted a rich off-network syndication deal with TNT.
When Katy Perry dons a corset and surrounds herself with dancers in retro lingerie... Well, she could be doing almost anything.
But on this occasion she was mashing together the Best...
AP - Grammy-winning singer Estelle remembered when she used to strut in the living room when she was younger, singing many of soul legend Otis Redding's classic songs like "Sittin' On The Dock of the Bay."
ATLANTA - Grammy-winning singer Estelle remembered when she used to strut in the living room when she was younger, singing many of soul legend Otis Redding's classic songs like "Sittin'... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 10:56 pm
Harlan Coben, one of the thriller writers patronized by Glenn Beck, takes to the Times op-ed page today to let everyone know that there’s nothing more thrilling than getting a “big bearhug” from his childhood best friend and New Jersey Governor-elect Chris Christie (actually, hearing the Boss play all the tracks from Born to Run live in sequence is pretty thrilling, too). Now we know that all the times Jon Corzine was making fun of Chris Christie for being so fat, he was really just jealous that Christie gives better bearhugs. [NYT]
ASSOCIATED PRESS/Matt Sayles) CAPTION 1 Raquel Maria Dillon, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS - Puerto Rican duo Calle 13 scooped up four gold gramophones at the Latin Grammys Thursday... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 10:51 pm
Lt. Gen. Robert Cone speaks during a press conference at Fort Hood in Texas.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the man who killed 12 of his fellow soldiers and wounded 31 others, is still alive and in stable condition after earlier reports that he was killed during Thursday afternoon's violence. Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist (M.D., M.P.H.), entered a “very enclosed” room where other soldiers were receiving medical attention before deployment and opened fire with two guns, one semiautomatic, that were not issued by the Army shortly after lunch. As soon as Hasan was neutralized, Soldiers on the scene began tearing their clothing to make tourniquets for the wounded while others rushed to protect an auditorium on the base where graduation ceremonies were being held for soldiers who missed out because of deployment. It was not initially clear if Hasan was acting alone, and three soldiers were mistakenly taken into custody.
Raised by parents from Jordan, Hasan was single and held no religious preference, according to Army records, but a former imam at a Washington D.C.-area mosque said that he was a lifelong Muslim and attended prayer services regularly until he was moved to Texas in July. Hasan was working as a counselor for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington before he was transferred to Fort Hood to prepare for his own deployment later this month. Federal law enforcement identified Hasan as a potential threat as many as six months ago after he posted on the Internet about suicide bombings. No information about his presumed threat level or how authorities were tracking him has been released.
Partial list of winners from the 2008 Latin Grammy Awards in Houston, Texas: Record of the year: "No Hay Nadie Como Tu," Calle 13 featuring Cafe Tacvba. Album of the year: "Los de... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:48 pm
Puerto Rican duo Calle 13 went five for five at the Latin Grammys in Las Vegas, with their innovative collaborations and politically charged reggaeton that crosses genres. Lead singer... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:43 pm
AP - Actors Tom Hanks, Patricia Clarkson and James Cromwell walked the red carpet Thursday before a private screening of the Hanks-produced war film "Beyond All Boundaries" held at the World War II Museum in New Orleans.
Khloé Kardashian and Lamar Odom give great interview.
In anticipation of E!'s special two-hour event Keeping Up With the Kardashians: The Wedding, Sunday, Nov. 8 at...
All roads lead to Calle 13.
The Puerto Rican hip-hop duo went 5-for-5 at the 10th Latin Grammy Awards, held tonight at Mandalay Bay Events Center on the Las Vegas Strip.
Along...
- Charities Provide New Products to Families in Need Nationwide - NEW YORK, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nearly 750 industry leaders came out to support Kids In... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:14 pm
ATLANTA, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Bravo's The Real Housewives of Atlanta offered up a second season filled with cat fights, back stabbing, sparring matches with a party... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:02 pm
It might be time for the production team behind Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark, the much-troubled Spider-Man musical, to face the facts. Tomorrow the producers will sit down with director Julie Taymor to make some tough calls. First there are financial problems (to be fair: the musical is going to cost $45 million). Plus, the Hilton Theater has already been torn apart to accommodate the show, but the cast might not even be ready to open before the cutoff date for Tony nominations this year (April 29), so why even bother rushing, except that the producers would have to pay a huge fine to the theater for changing the dates. And nobody is even sure how Spider-Man is going to fly through the air over the stage.
In a pinch, dental floss and safety pins might get Spidey to fly, but honestly there's probably not room in the budget.
Review in a Hurry: This preposterous Cameron Diaz thriller offers a promising premise: a mysterious box bestows riches in exchange for killing a stranger. But then it dumps in existentialism,...
After his performance at the MTV Europe Awards tonight Jay-Z released the dates for the second leg of his Blueprint 3 tour, which will take him all around the country for four weeks this winter. Young Jeezy will be riding shotgun and opening for Jay-Z at every performance.
Feb 22: Houston, TX (Toyota Center)
Feb 23: Dallas, TX (American Airlines Center)
Feb 25: New Orleans, LA (New Orleans Arena)
Feb 27: Atlanta, GA (Philips Arena)
Feb 28: Greensboro, NC (Greensboro Coliseum Complex)
Mar 03: Washington, DC (Verizon Center)
Mar 07: Norfolk, VA (Scope Arena)
Mar 11: Boston, MA (TD Garden)
Mar 16: Pittsburgh, PA (Mellon Arena)
Mar 19: St. Louis, MO (Scottrade Center)
Mar 20: Indianapolis, IN (Conseco Fieldhouse)
Mar 22: Denver, CO (Pepsi Center)
Mar 24: San Jose, CA (HP Pavilion)
Mar 26: Los Angeles, CA (Staples Center)
Hailey Glassman and Michael Lohan have never met a camera they didn't like. But right about now they're probably wishing they had just kept their media-whoring mouths shut.
And...
Universal Pictures has released yet another scene from the Mexican-gardeners-as-furniture part of Brüno that didn’t make it into the film. This deleted scene features gamblin’ man Pete Rose, who is pretty reasonable about the whole thing: He subs a fresh chair in when his chair starts to get tired — “You don’t understand, this is very uncomfortable for this guy” — and refuses to eat sushi off another man’s naked body because “I don’t eat hair.”
• Is Oprah preparing to leave her syndicated show behind and take her act to OWN, her long-delayed cable network? That's the rumor anyway. [DH] • The new editor of the Observer is Kyle Pope, formerly of Portfolio. [NYO] • Cable meets kindergarten: Fox News will stop being mean to MSNBC only if MSNBC first stops being mean to Fox News, reports Rupert Murdoch. [NYT] • Fortune and Time are expected to be hardest hit by layoffs at Time Inc. [NYP] • Scripps has beat out News Corp. for control of the Travel Channel. [BN] • Susan Plagemann has been named the new publisher of Vogue. Meanwhile, Tom Florio will now oversee Vogue, Bon Appétit and Traveler. [WWD] • Bloomberg BusinessWeek (or BBW for short) has its new team in place. [NYT]
• Comedy Central and the Onion are teaming up on a half-hour series. [THR] • Annie Leibovitz is close to settling one of the lawsuits against her. [P6] • Things aren't going so well for Playboy magazine, unsurprisingly. [Wrap] • Ebay's starting a fashion magazine? Yes, but it's an online magazine. [NYT] • Efforts to port Spider-Man from screen to stage haven't gone smoothly. [LAT] • Breaking news: Hollywood has a tad slow in adapting to new media. [THR]
Reuters - Sotheby's, the world's largest publicly traded auction house, said it was past the bottom in the art market with net auction sales trending higher in the second half of the year.
Fashion Wire Daily - Nine of Korea's top fashion designers presented a selection of looks from their 2010 collections at a special runway show in New York on Wednesday, Nov. 4, kicking off a two-day preview event for local buyers.
The winners are in from tonight’s MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin. Beyonce cleaned up with three awards, more than anyone else, but we have to wonder how Jay-Z felt about taking home the Best Urban award to Eminem’s Best Male. What is that supposed to mean, Europe?
Best Song - Beyonce/Halo
Best Live Act - U2
Best Group - Tokio Hotel
Best New Act - Lady Gaga
Best Female - Beyonce
Best European Act - maNga (Turkey)
Best Male - Eminem
Best Urban - Jay-Z
Best Rock - Green Day
Best Alternative - Placebo
Best Video - Beyonce/Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
Best World Stage Performer - Linkin Park
MTV Push Artist - Pixie Lott
• Sorta bad timing for Cosmopolitan's December cover featuring Fergie talking about how great Josh Duhamel is. She says he loved when she put on weight and he had "extra...
It's no secret that the freshman season of the CW's reboot of Melrose Place is struggling, both creatively and in the ratings. Even worse, they've made enemies with two of the most powerful women in the history of show business, Ashlee and Jessica Simpson (the former was fired from the program, which resulted in the latter composing a poison-pen tweet that labeled the show's writing as "crap"). As dire as things look for the future of the series, the show's producers still have one solitary trick left up their sleeves: bringing back nineties bitch goddess supreme Amanda Woodward, a.k.a. Heather Locklear! This just-released promo video shows everyone's favorite micro-miniskirt-wearing ass-kicker wandering through the (exceedingly dusty) halls of Melrose Place and, no doubt, dreaming of Jack Wagner's sexy embrace.
Robin Givhan explores Michelle Obama's affinity for Moschino in a lengthy article in the Washington Post today — because the world should never accept that MObama wears things because she likes them. Everything and every label she puts on her body means something.
Now, Moschino is unique in that it doesn't try to piggyback off the publicity opportunity. They let Michelle wear their clothes, notice on the television, and then sit back and remain calm, cool Europeans, rather than e-blast press releases to bloggers like us, who would in turn freak out about the news and tell you. However, Moschino designer Rosella Jardini reveals she can't help but think about making pieces Michelle would like when putting together their collections. She praises Michelle for not being afraid to stand out, stylistically:
"When women are elected to a certain level, women who've dressed in an exciting manner have a tendency to fall into the category of wearing little suits without detail and without personality," Jardini says. "How we create an image is undervalued. If you take for instance Queen Elizabeth, she's followed a strict code through life. When you see her, when you think of her, you see the little hats, the colors she chooses. When you think of political figures and how they choose to dress, it should be part of how they create their image."
"For Mrs. Obama, it really is enough to put on two pins," Jardini says, referring to the first lady's choice of accessories. "With these brooches, from Moschino and others, she's created a character for herself. They're part of her code."
Sounds like it's time for Givhan's 2,000-word essay on pins and what they mean. Or waist belts. We would very much like a ridiculously long analysis of Michelle's stash of those.
Just a week after interim editor Tom McGeveran announced that he was leaving the Observer, owner Jared Kushner announced this afternoon that former Portfolio No. 2 Kyle Pope would replace him. McGeveran introduced him today to the staff, which had been buzzing optimistically with names since last week. Pope, according to the Observer, has also worked at The Wall Street Journal and was part of the team that won the Pulitzer for the paper's 9/11 coverage. He's also written for the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. "I've gotten to spend some time with him over the last couple of days and the things that impressed me most were his intimate knowledge of this paper as a reader and his love of what the Observer stands for, and the fact that he understands and values the hard work and talent that great journalism requires," McGeveran said. From what we understand, this particular job also requires a stiff spine.
This reminds us that the last threesome teased didn't actually happen.
The Parents Television Council has their undies all in a bunch over Gossip Girl again, specifically the show's upcoming "threesome" story line. President Tim Winter has released an awkwardly earnest statement calling on CW Network affiliates to not air the episode, snippets of which are now all over the Internet. “CW has been defending graphic content on ‘Gossip Girl’ by asserting that they don’t target teenagers," he said.
Such a claim doesn’t even pass the ‘laugh test' ... Only a teenager would be responsive to a parental ‘forbidden fruit’ marketing ploy like that, and CW knows it.””
Ahem. Anyway, doesn't the council realize that statements like this just get the show more attention? Last time they protested, the CW turned around and splashed their quotes, Peter Travers –style, across their ads.
"That's an unfortunate side effect," Winters told Daily Intel. "I wouldn't be surprised if the CW folks used our statement to get themselves publicity." But, he added, darkly, "They may think we're helping them with a short-term ratings spike. But when it comes to losing ad dollars or their broadcasting license ... Who gets the last laugh?"
The growing insider trading scandal involving hedge funds has made its way to the offices of SAC Capital, the firm founded by one of the industry's most powerful figures, Zamboni-loving billionaire Steve Cohen. One of the 14 new defendants charged today, Richard Choo Beng Lee, seems to have started his crime spree when he was employed by SAC. [BI, Reuters]
Beyoncé Knowles wore a Versace gown to the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards today in Berlin, Germany, and the shape was so fitted, she looked like a glorious mermaid.
Do you like trains on dresses, or do you find them cumbersome?
Okay, okay. Every once in a while, people mix up the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Sure, it seems like lately the right-wing pot-stirrers seem to be doing it more than anyone else, but it's obvious that when House Minority Leader John Boehner was brandishing the Constitution today on the steps of Capitol Hill and talking about how he was going to vote against health-care reform, the fact that he was actually quoting from the Declaration of Independence was a simple careless error, not stupidity. But watching this video of Republican congressman Todd Akin replace the word "indivisible" with the word "blergh!" in the Pledge of Allegiance, after delivering a speech about how the wording of that pledge is so important ... that, well, that kind of seems like stupidity at work.
Dane Cook is probably the most successful active stand-up comedian in the country. He also has his detractors. His Isolated Incident — a Comedy Central special taped in May and released on CD and DVD — marked a departure from his yelpier, more spastic material, focusing on the recent deaths of his parents. He spoke with Vulture in advance of his appearance tonight at Madison Square Garden as part of the New York Comedy Festival.
You’re playing MSG for the fourth time. What is it about your comedy style that plays well in big venues?
I think that people realize that I’m there to win. I wanna be the heavyweight comedy champion of the world. I’m looking to do what Steve Martin did to my sister Kelly, when she saw him at Madison Square Garden and ran home and told her little brother about this man in a white suit who told these stories. I sat wide-eyed, already thinking, “That’s what I’m going to do some day.” I wanted to take this thing to an upper echelon.
With your last special, you scaled back, taping an unannounced club gig.
There are things that I needed to learn about myself in terms of the tools at my disposal, and what I can do beyond the safe cadences and tricks that I learned. So I’m not derivative, so I’m not repeating myself. So I’m not Johnny Bravo jacket guy. In my twenties, when people first discovered me on Comedy Central, I was talking to college kids — you know, drinking, sex, partying. But as it grew bigger, I realized I need to grow up with these people. I experienced fame, backlash, and haters, and losing my folks — real heavy, serious, cancer. There shouldn’t be anything funny in there, and yet my folks and I laughed through a traumatic, terrible time. I said, if I go and try to do the old stuff, I’m a fraud.
Did you feel you have a new audience, or did your old audience follow you there?
I think that if you’re a true artist, you allow your audience to leave you. If you’re a fan of mine, you should be a fan of my risks, 'cause I’m gonna take a lot of them. And that’s what I try to do with the film stuff — I’ll do a Mr. Brooks or maybe a Dan in Real Life, try to show some vulnerability.
Overall, though, are those college kids still your bread and butter?
The bread and butter is everybody. I know I can be rude, lascivious, and vulgar. I’m all over the board, man. I hit a lot of buttons … You’re nailing every demo, every ethnicity on any given night. There’s a gang member sitting next to a reverend sitting next to a kid that ran away from home.
Moving on to your movies — they’re mostly perceived as having failed. Do you have any theories as to why?
Sure. I don’t read into the criticism so much. Especially understanding from other comics, the Sandlers and other guys — those movies aren’t critical darlings either. The movie could have made $100 million and I’m sure they still could have been slammed. You expect that. But I was working with a boutique company, Lionsgate, for those three films primarily, and yeah, they weren’t grand slams, they weren’t home runs. But they were all successful, and when you put them next to a Clooney or a Matt Damon — a lot of those guys were coming out making movies that were having $8, $10, $11 million openings, and so did I.
You have some pretty vocal detractors. Do you have any idea what it is about you that pisses people off?
Um. Yeah, you know, look, it’s a bunch of stuff. There’s a lot of buttons there. There’s that saying, what other people think of me is none of my business? But I don’t really care. And I’ve dined with my heroes, man. If we’re talking about comedians and people that have taken shots at me, I don’t get it. I don’t get that, 'cause I know that the Chris Rocks and the Steve Martins and the Billy Cosbys and the Rodney Dangerfields, guys that I loved, embraced me. Other comics, what people deem “alt comics,” a lot of them have egg on their face 'cause they’re now making talking-animal movies. 'Cause they sold out hard-core. And they have to answer to their fans now — “Hey, I took a shot at Dane,” but you’re in Alvin and the Chipmunks. And you know what? More power to you. You did a movie that goes against what you preached, and what you hard-core vehemently nailed me on. I know you got a kid to feed. You might have a sick mom that you have to take care of. And that’s okay. I’m not gonna take your legs out from under you. But I am aware that you put your head in your pillow, and maybe you should have bit your tongue a little bit.
New York's fall "Weddings" issue is out. Get tips on finding the perfect dress, the perfect cover-up, the perfect lip gloss, the perfect cake — everything you need to go with your perfect fiancé. (We can be mushy once, okay?) [New York Weddings]
After Christopher Decarnin's sizzling Balmain collection for spring 2010, the love for everything military has exploded. Be it for boot camp or parka patrol, it's time to get geared up now in one of next season's biggest trends. Here are five reasons why we love army green.
1. It comes in every price point: designer, mass retailer, vintage, and let's not forget the local army and navy store.
2. It's a nice antidote to the denim overkill.
3. It's urban-warrior chic, and we need a little toughness right now.
4. Dress it up with some bronze metallic for night.
5. It goes with everything and loves to be layered.
Without attempting to incite a crappy healthcare debate on a comedy blog (that was my intent with this post), I think we can all agree that THERE IS NO WAY THIS IS A REAL PERSON:
Clearly, someone’s lame, joke “Republican” character came to life and brought this sign to a Capitol Building protest today, because no actual protesting Republican could be unaware of how exaggeratedly stereotypical this sign was. Did a lightning bolt strike a Mallard Fillmore comic, bringing it to life?
It’d be like a liberal protester holding a sign saying “BUSH goes to WAR… I go to BERKELEY!” You can’t not know how stupid this makes you look.
At least we’ve moved past the “Obama murdered my grandmother” rhetoricawwww crap nevermind:
November 27 marks Black Friday, the most anticipated shopping day of the year. With a flood of discounts going on throughout the city and lines of bargain hunters snaking through stores, what you need is a plan of attack. We’ve mapped out more than 50 Thanksgiving-weekend sales, from early-morning bargains (25 percent off at H&M before 10) to freebies and festive perks (hot cider at Billy Reid and Tommy Hilfiger; Champagne at Duo). Plus, scroll down for a preview of which items will be on sale — including cashmere, handbags, boots, books, holiday cards, and more — so you can check off your gift list in advance. We’ll be adding to the map as more deals arrive in our in-box throughout the month. Start charting your shopping route now.
We’ve been watching the MTV European Music Awards — or the EMAs, for those of you who pay attention to Twitter Trends — from the comfort of our offices here in Times Square, America. It’s been a pretty impressive show so far: Beyonce nailed her performance with a hair malfunction and all, Katy Perry’s done an admirable job hosting (and handling more outfit changes than a Cher drag show), and Jay-Z accepted his award for Best Urban Artist by saying he wished for the day when we could drop the term “urban” and just refer to it all as “music” (which makes no sense).
But no one served it like a jail sentence quite like our girl Lil Kim, who hit the red carpet with a series of poses straight out of the “Kim Cattrall School of Wooden Doll Modeling.”
Anyway, here’s to hoping MTV here in the States airs this show sooner than later. How else will the world learn more about the Best Hungarian Band The Kolin?
(1) Katy Perry was responsible for the fall of the Berlin Wall, (2) the German word for buffering is "pufferung." That is all. [MTV Europe via Stereogum]
If, unlike Intel Chris, you aren't a nerd fan of the fantasy television show Legend of the Seeker, you might have been a little bit perturbed by this display of ridiculousness in Times Square this afternoon. But if you are a fan of the show — which returns this weekend! — you know, obviously, that actor Craig Horner here is merely wielding the Sword of Truth, which the Seeker of the Truth can use to defeat the evil forces of Darken Rahl and free the non-magical people of the Midlands. So, obviously, no reason to panic.
When we ran into Vogue contributing editor Lauren Santo Domingo at the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering fall gala last night, she conveniently sidestepped the issue of how or even whether the staff acknowledged Anna Wintour’s 60th birthday at the office this week. “She’s in Washington right now being anointed. She’s being knighted by President Obama — I think that’s a pretty good 60th-birthday present,” Santo Domingo said, referring to Anna's recent appointment to the White House Committee on the Arts and Humanities. So, they don’t mortify people on their birthdays with cake and singing at the Vogue offices? “They do for us — we have pizza parties and cupcake parties,” she said. So apparently they don’t ignore birthdays at Vogue, it’s just that the employees wouldn’t barge in on Anna with a cake lit with 60 candles.
While Santo Domingo says she personally didn’t run into the McKinsey consultants at Condé Nast, the rumors about their hotness was apparently true. “Actually, the big joke was that Grace [Coddington] would want to put one of them in her next fashion spread, like she did with the cameraman from The September Issue. And the joke was if we would see any of the McKinsey analysts in the March issue.” She wouldn't reveal if one of them actually made it in.
Time Warner started cutting costs across its Time Inc. publishing division this week and is hoping to save as much as $100 million by paring back expenses and slashing several hundred jobs. One way the company could have made up the difference without sacrificing any of its employees? By selling off the three Gulfstream jets it owns!
We asked our aviation pro what the jets would go for if they were put on the market. The answer: around $95 million all in, although the figure would depend on the condition of the aircraft, how many miles they've flown, and a handful of other factors.
By surrendering the three Gulfstreams, a small group of Time Warner execs would be occasionally forced to fly first-class, yes. But it wouldn't be something they'd have to do all the time. They'd still have one (slightly less luxurious) Raytheon Hawker jet left over.
From the death of Princess Diana to the curious case of the Hipster Grifter, Law & Order has shot an untold number of episodes over the years that were inspired by real-life events. Hot on the heels of these achievements in opportunism comes the Wrap's report that the producers of NBC's creaky yet still venerable franchise is soon going to be shooting an episode of the show that mashes up David Letterman's sex scandal with some potshots at The View. According to Josef Adalian, it appears they have changed the Letterman role from a sixtysomething white male to a bisexual (or possibly even lesbian!) woman, one who presides over a talk-show panel of four women. While this news renders Vulture's fantasy-casting session worthless, we do have one suggestion for the show's producers that will turn the episode into must-see TV: Figure out some way to squeeze NBC's "Artist In Residence" Bon Jovi into the episode and watch the ratings soar!
After Whoopi Goldberg couldn't even bring herself to look at Bill O'Reilly last week on The View's Halloween episode, Fox News today sent their star news anchor, Shep Smith, to talk to the ladies. This was a very wise move. For one thing, Smith doesn't come across as immediately smarmy. Instead, he presents himself as thoughtful and evenhanded — which is exactly how the network is trying to present all of its news programs. Ever since the network was attacked by the White House for being the "communications arm" of the Republican Party, FNC execs are taking great pains to distinguish what they call "news programs" from what they call "opinion programs." When Shep turned up — with Yankees gifts for the ladies, aw! — Elisabeth Hasselbeck's first question was about the White House's refusal to deal with his network. "It's not a new thing," Smith said, reasonably and calmly. "Administrations have been fighting news organizations since time began." Compare this to when Bill O'Reilly was asked the same question, and he called the White House "dumb" last week.
After that, the ladies played right into his hands, having a conversation that could have literally been written for them by Fox News publicists:
Sherri: Now you're the No. 1 newscaster over in cable, and you're not opinion-driven. What do you think about that?
Shep: Well, I mean, I think those who say that are not always telling the truth. I mean, against us in my time slot at seven o'clock is Lou Dobbs, and that's an opinion show. The other night we had an election. That's a huge news story. We doubled everybody combined. I think more Americans watched Fox News that night than the other three cable stations combined.
Joy: Why do you think that is?
Shep: They're coming for the news. I mean, I think that people, through all of this talk, people have come and sampled us, and they've said, "They are giving us the news, when say they it's opinion, it might be right-wing opinion. But when they say it's the news, it's the news." It's truth in labeling, and I feel good about that.
They let him off at that and continued on with another conversation, even though some FNC shows, like the morning program Fox & Friends, on which anchors read the news and deliver opinion, rather confusingly blur the line he described. But The View did exactly what Fox wanted them to do, as they have no time to futz with nuance (for example, today they also propagated the myth that Goldman Sachs is stealing swine-flu vaccines from your children). Because Shep is so reasonable-seeming compared to his more hysterically oriented colleagues Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity, anything even approaching logic and pleasantness feels like a breath of fresh air.
It's not new that Fox is plugging Shep in this role, but they've amped up their efforts since the kerfuffle with the White House. Why don't they push their other news personalities on this front, like Megyn Kelly, for example? Because Kelly is a regular guest on O'Reilly's show, where she vehemently delivers her opinions about news stories. Of all of them, Shep has kept his hands the most clean, for which the network ought to be very thankful these days. We hope when his contract is up in a year, he at least gets a raise out of it.
HAIR
• Russell Brand says that he will cut off his hair because his scruffy look limits the roles he can play. [Telegraph UK]
• Paul Mitchell's son, Angus, followed in his father's footsteps and opened his own hair salon, Angus M, in Los Angeles. [Independent UK]
FRAGRANCE
• Usher's new commercial for his fragrance VIP features plenty of James Bond car-chase references and a girl who turns to him and says "I'm so hungry." To satisfy her, Usher suggests they speed over to a bar and spray his cologne in the process. [Now Smell This]
• Wal-Mart decided to unlock its perfume cases to promote more sales, so now people don't have to wait for an employee in order to test the fragrances. [Reuters]
PLASTIC SURGERY
• Girlguiding UK, a British organization similar to the Girl Scouts, released a study that found 95 percent of girls ages 16 to 21 want to change their body in some way. And of the women in this age group, 25 percent said they would consider plastic surgery to change their bodies. [StyleList]
NAILS
• Marie Claire puts colored nail polish on its covers. For December, Blake Lively is wearing Slate of Affairs by Barielle. [All Lacquered Up]
• Chanel's new holiday collection features a new limited-edition nail-polish color named Trapeze. It's a copper beige. [Beauty Anonymous]
SKIN
• To expedite your post-workout lather session: Equinox now stocks Kiehl's. [Beauty Blogging Junkie]
It’s become something of a morning ritual to watch the 4th hour of The Today Show, otherwise known as The Kathie Lee and Hoda Hour. This can become something of a problem when I find myself hungover, as I did this morning, and Kathie Lee decides to air one of her notorious “Everyone Has a Story” segments. Why, you ask? Simple. Because the “Everyone Has a Story” segments can cause spontaneous barfing in a fairly sober person. Add a hangover into that mix, and what you’ve got, my friends, is trouble.
And so was the case this morning, as I found my head in a vice made out of bad musical theater and dreaded inspiration lyrics. We plead with you to watch the following song — which, as you probably know, was co-written by Kathie Lee herself — only do so while banging your head with a meat tenderizer.
But the absolute best part about the following clip are the reaction shots. First, you get Hoda, side-glancing the camera Michael Scott style while Kathie is rocking back and forth loving every second of her genius. You’ll want to cut to the 2 minute mark for that one. And make SURE to watch out for this kid, who sums up my reaction PERFECTLY with this face:
A better face we have never seen. See if you can make it through the entire 3 and a half minutes. You’ll definitely need 3 shots of whiskey to make it happen, but try.
Just a few hours after Joe Girardi steered the Yankees to a World Series victory last night, he helped rescue a woman who'd smashed her car on the Hutchinson River Parkway. [NYDN]
After Oprah named Spanx one of her favorite things, the market for shapewear tripled to $750 million at the end of last year. Women are nuts for Spanx despite the things we've known all along: They are embarrassing if you find yourself wearing them while caught with a man you want to get with; men think they're insane; and they are impossible to pee in because they're so difficult to remove. Though they have a "double gusset" opening, there are no guarantees. The Wall Street Journal tells the story of Amanda Davis, who won a "tell us your shapewear nightmares" contest:
As she ran to the bathroom at her school, she debated, "Do I squeeze out of the Spanx or do I try to pee through the crotchless thingy?" After soaking herself, she had to skip class and go home to change.
The Journal investigates why women put themselves through this.
"It's like this competitive thing we have with other women," says Mary Pantier, a 40-year-old yoga instructor in Erie, Colo., who accidentally flashed her Spanx, worn under her workout ensemble, while in a downward-dog pose in class.
Ms. Pantier's husband, Hank, 35, doesn't get it. "If you stuff five pounds into a two-pound container, it doesn't make the five pounds smaller. It just makes it stranger-looking and uncomfortable," says Mr. Pantier, who has told his wife she feels "like a tire" in Spanx.
But at least it's a nice firm tire instead of a flubby spare tire.
Of course, your Spanx horror stories are welcome in the comments.
There's a little good news today if you happen to be jobless. The House voted to give an additional 20 weeks of unemployment benefits to people who are out of work, and the bill is now headed to the White House for President Obama's signature. [NYT]
Grab some tissues, because this episode of Best Day Ever features clips from the wedding between Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom (No, you won’t cry, but your nose will probably bleed).
Victoria's Secret revealed the top ten finalists in their nationwide model search today. And none of them are from New York! They range from 18 to 25 and will spend the next few days in "Angel Bootcamp," which a press release describes as "a series of challenges where the contestants will show their photogenic qualities, prove their abilities as a spokesmodel, show off their red carpet star quality and radiate charisma while walking a runway in lingerie." Weekly webisodes of this stuff will air on VSAllAccess.com and CBS.com. So you can make an educated decision when you vote for your favorite chick beginning November 9. Yes, Victoria's Secret is trusting us, the public, to pick the lucky average girl to walk in the fashion show, which airs on CBS December 1. Deep breaths.
Why is it we don't have weather forecasters like this here in New York? Here's hoping some smart station manager at Channel 2, 4, 5, or 7 takes note of Mark Thompson's unique talents and gives him an opportunity to transport his act from LA to NYC. [YouTube via BB]
Ian McKellen joined the ladies of The View this morning to field an unexpected question about whether or not he’d be returning to the Harry Potter series as Dumbledore, causing simultaneous heart attacks across two separate nerd nations.
Every time someone else on the View panel messes up, you can practically picture the celebration of relief going on inside Sherri Shepherd’s head:
From left to right: Vera Wang, Jim Hjelm, London Times, Miss Me, Yoana Baraschi.
Last weekend, we witnessed a man propose to his then-girlfriend, now-fiancé on the Queensboro Bridge. And that's when we realized that romance comes in many different ways, just like weddings. And bridesmaid dresses. Why let your happily engaged friend convince you to buy a brown tea-length dress you will never wear again? Or something baby-blue with sashes? There are other options out there! That's why we searched the stores of New York to find 120 of the loveliest options for bridesmaid dresses — which can double as outfits to other parties — for our latest Shop-A-Matic. Our selection is just one part of the latest New York Weddings issue, which also includes the top 130 wedding dresses and 100 wedding accessories. Check out our top five picks for bridesmaid dresses below. And even if you're not in a wedding, you're sure to find a party dress worth wearing. Because, in the end, we will never divorce our love for shopping.
Asymmetrical Chiffon Dress by Vera Wang Price: $190 Why we like it: The asymmetrical cut is really on trend but it isn't too severe, and vibrant aqua blue would look great in pictures.
A-Line Dress by Jim Hjelm Occasions
Price: $200 Why we like it: Though the color and cut are conservative, this is feminine and classy overall. It's a likely pick for an evening wedding.
Tucked Dress by London Times Price: $99 Why we like it: The multiple layers show off the shimmer of the gray color.
Sweetheart Dress by Miss Me
Price: $110 Why we like it: Black and strapless — this is simple, to the point, and definitely re-wearable.
A man looks at the drawing "The embrace III" by Pablo Picasso, part of the exhibition "Secret Imagenes - Picasso and the Japanese erotic prints" at the Museo Picasso in Barcelona. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:39 pm
Isaac Mizrahi will making his debut on QVC next month where he'll be selling everything from t-shirts to berets to... tartan-decorated cheesecakes? Oh, yes, a version of the cake from Junior's in Brooklyn and featuring a "Mizrahi-mandated chocolate cookie crust," will be on sale, too. [WWD]
Sesame Street just celebrated their 40th Anniversary, and now, in the same week, the city of Pittsburgh unveiled this bronze statue of Mr. Rogers, officially making this the most nostalgic week of childhood nostalgia that ever nostalgia’d.
Tomorrow, the show Fraggle Rock is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, and Muppet Babies is just being given a billion dollars (not the show, the actual Muppet Babies).
Time to party like we’re 4 again! Juice boxes and cheating at freeze tag for all!
"The Office's" Jenna Fischer is usually a pretty sensible person, but all that goes out the door when it comes to her upcoming wedding to screenwriter Lee Kirk.
Fashion Wire Daily - Two of Tinseltown's best-looking stars lit up the red carpet on Wednesday night, Nov. 4, in Hollywood, as Charlize Theron and Viggo Mortensen brought their long-anticipated film "The Road" to the AFI Fest at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Based on the 2006 Cormac McCarthy novel, the film's release date has been juggled around for more than a year, but it will finally arrive just in time for Thanksgiving.
Is there anything more awesomely cringe-inducing than the thunderclap that accompanies every forced titular line in every movie fortunate enough to have a titular line?
The answer is no, there is not anything more awesomely cringe-inducing than that. Videogum has assembled a compilation to pay tribute to these such instances, proving the point many times over.
Billy Joelheading into a cigar club with "an unidentified pretty brunette" ... Madonna visiting a doctor's office uptown and later leaving the Standard Hotel with Jesus Luz in tow ... Samuel L. Jackson crossing the street in Midtown ... Adrien Brodychilling in the West Village ... Kelly Ripapicking up daughter Lola from school ... Taylor Momsen shooting scenes for Gossip Girl ... Carlos Leon kissing his girlfriend outside Café Gitane on Mott Street ... Frank Sinatra Jr. hanging out in Midtown ... Jerry Seinfeld and wife Jessica walking on Central Park West this morning ... Catherine Zeta-Jones walking to a rehearsal for her new Broadway show, A Little Night Music ... and Katie Holmes playing with Suri at a playground on Long Island.
There has been a resurgence of interest in horror recently, with zombies and vampires in particular colonizing our cinema screens in ever greater numbers.
Former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik has taken the deal offered to him by prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to eight counts against him, including tax fraud and making false statements to the federal government, and he now faces between 27 to 33 months in prison. [CNN]
Paris's Louvre museum on Thursday launched an application giving Apple iPhone and iPod touch users access to its collections including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, seen here. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 10:37 am
More than 250 artists including Ennio Morricone, seen here in September 2009, and Bill Viola will meet Pope Benedict XVI this month to revive the Church's relations with the art world, a Vatican official... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 10:33 am
It’s been a solid month for distinctive-voiced ironic celebrities reading stuff on the internet, with Christopher Walken’s“Poker Face” taking the ‘net by a couple minutes of everyone’s attention storm, and last night, the Tonight Show gave Levi Johnston’s legendary Tweets the poetic treatment they deserve with a coffeehouse-style beat performance by the master of all things anything, William Shatner.
Hard to argue with his point about fat kids, though:
This Hillshire Farms ad for Smoked Sausage reads like a ground meat snuff film. Every. single. thing. about it. creeps us out. Clearly the Dad at the beginning takes the ax murderer cake, but the teenage twins from The Shining don’t hurt this commercials chances for airing in between our nightmares tonight. Especially the one who wants a kebab penis for dinner. She’s not playin.
Mexican star tenor Rolando Villazon, seen here in 2008, who cancelled all his 2009 engagements after a cyst was found on his vocal cords, said his voice "is back" and he will return to the stage next year... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 8:33 am
You may not think that a woman like me could be at risk for heart disease, but the truth is, I have a heart condition. Fortunately, it isn't a life-threatening one, but not all women are as lucky.
Cape Verde's 68-year-old songstress Cesaria Evora, seen here in 2007, endlessly adored by a public that discovered her late in life, has released a new album and next week makes a long-awaited return to... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 5 Nov 2009 | 7:49 am
Reuters - Pakistan took fashion to the runways this week hoping to promote a more glamorous side of a nation better-known worldwide for violence and militant extremism.
When Katy Perry dons a corset and surrounds herself with dancers in retro lingerie... Well, she could be doing almost anything.
But on this occasion she was mashing together the Best...
Lookin' good, New York City.
Today in the Big Apple, the streets were overflowing with handsome dudes, such as these fellows, Shia LaBeouf and Ed...
Khloé Kardashian and Lamar Odom give great interview.
In anticipation of E!'s special two-hour event Keeping Up With the Kardashians: The Wedding, Sunday, Nov. 8 at...
All roads lead to Calle 13.
The Puerto Rican hip-hop duo went 5-for-5 at the 10th Latin Grammy Awards, held tonight at Mandalay Bay Events Center on the Las Vegas Strip.
Along...
Review in a Hurry: This preposterous Cameron Diaz thriller offers a promising premise: a mysterious box bestows riches in exchange for killing a stranger. But then it dumps in existentialism,...
Hailey Glassman and Michael Lohan have never met a camera they didn't like. But right about now they're probably wishing they had just kept their media-whoring mouths shut.
And...
• Sorta bad timing for Cosmopolitan's December cover featuring Fergie talking about how great Josh Duhamel is. She says he loved when she put on weight and he had "extra...
