AFP - Mikhail Kalashnikov, the Russian inventor of the globally popular AK-47 assault rifle, declared himself a happy man with few regrets as he celebrated his 90th birthday on Tuesday.
AP - Even for a venue as grand as New York's Carnegie Hall, there was a pretty dazzling concentration of star power at Glamour magazine's Women of the Year awards.
AP - Even for a venue as grand as New York's Carnegie Hall, there was a pretty dazzling concentration of star power at Glamour magazine's Women of the Year awards.
 Los Angeles Times | Kevin Clash: The Man Behind Elmo TIME Seth Wenig / AP Kevin Clash is an Emmy-award-winning performer and producer with dozens of TV and film credits to his name, but he's far better known as a furry red monster. Clash is the puppeteer and the voice ... Sesame Street, 40 years later Sesame Street A to Z 40-year-old 'Sesame Street' could use some repairs |
AP - A lawyer for the TV news producer accused of blackmailing David Letterman plans to ask a judge to dismiss an extortion case that prompted the late-night comic to acknowledge affairs with staffers.
AP - A lawyer for the TV news producer accused of blackmailing David Letterman plans to ask a judge to dismiss an extortion case that prompted the late-night comic to acknowledge affairs with staffers.
Jenny From The Block: A judge has blocked Jennifer Lopez’s former husband of eleven months, Ojani Noa, from distributing a movie that includes footage of the couple “in sexual situations” on their honeymoon. The former couple went to court before when Noa attempted to publish a tell-all book about their relationship in violation of a legal agreement not to share private information. The movie would be called How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The JLo and Ojani Noa Story. [Reuters]
Stuff My Dad Says: Justin Halpern, the creator of the Twitter feed “Shit My Dad Says,” has watched his father’s aphorisms grow from something he posted on the Internet to make friends laugh to a huge success with 700,000-plus followers. And now, with Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick as executive producers, it’s becoming a television show. Halpern’s feed follows in the footsteps of the website “TextsFromLastNight,” which is becoming a Fox comedy. And of course the name will have to change. [THR]
Amorosa: Omarosa, possibly the most cutthroat Apprentice contestant of all time, will appear in her own reality show, Omarosa’s Ultimate Merger, which will follow her as she searches for the perfect mate. She’ll start with twelve hopefuls and then eliminate them Bachelorette-style. Donald Trump will be there along the way to give her advice and work as executive producer for the show, which will be filmed in one of his Las Vegas hotels and carried on TV One, Comcast’s network aimed at African American viewers. [Variety]
Apocalypse Now and Again: The movie doesn’t have a name, but Fox is making it. It’s about some survivors at the end of the world and how they got there. It might have Len Wiseman, who directed Live Free or Die Hard, as a director and producer. It might be something like Roland Emmerich’s 2012 or its sequel. [THR]
Grounded Pilot: Fox has decided to kill the television comedy formerly known as The Rednecks & Romeos, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age show from That ’70s Show co-creator Mark Brazill. The show made it through auditions in front of a test audience, but something wasn’t right. Or a lot of things. [THR]
Read more posts by Zeke Turner
Filed Under: the industry, david kohan, donald trump, jennifer lopez, justin halpern, len wiseman, max mutchnic, movies, ojani noa, omarosa, omarosa's ultimate merger, shit my dad says, that seventies show, tv, twitter, will & grace
AP - Michael Jackson's father is making accusations of fraud against the administrators of the singer's will as he intensifies his campaign to get money from his son's estate.
 Los Angeles Times | 'A Christmas Carol' does not bring joy to holiday season UConn Daily Campus Jim Carrey and Colin Firth have lent their voices to an entirely new and surprisingly dark rendition of the holiday classic, "A Christmas Carol", which hit theaters this past weekend. Audience members at the noon Sunday showing slipped on their sleek ... A Christmas Carol: humbug Carrey's Scrooge collects $31M 'Precious' Becomes Serious Awards Contender After Impressive Open |
By now, most of you have seen it: Tonight's ménage à truhhhbuuuhhhl.
It was pretty tame, right? But fear you not, next week things will get much saucier via flashbacks of...
Director Guillermo Del Toro will put himself in his MGM Hobbit epic, but in a classy Alfred Hitchcock sort of way, not in a showy M. Night Shyamalan way. In an interview with German television to hype The Strain, his new vampire book, the director revealed that he will play one of the monsters in the film but not an important one.
Del Toro might have gotten the itch to don one of the costumes because he invested so much personal energy in the monster design process, emphasizing the importance of the monsters’ appearance within the overall mission of the film.
In The Hobbit, the creatures speak: Smaug has beautiful lines of dialogue; the Great Goblin has beautiful lines of dialogue; many creatures do. So we had to design them with a different approach because you are not just designing things that are scary. I also wanted some of the monsters in The Hobbit to be majestic. I wanted the Wargs to have a certain beauty so that you don’t have a massively clear definition: what is beautiful is good and what is ugly is not. Some of the monsters are absolutely gorgeous.
Read more posts by Zeke Turner
Filed Under: the hobbit, alfred hitchcock, guillermo del toro, m. night shyamalan, mgm, monsters, movies, the strain
Rumor has it that Sam Raimi is considering Rachel McAdams for the part of the Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, in Spider-Man 4.
Fans recall that when Spidey first encounters the Black Cat, she's a cat burglar looking to free her ailing father from prison. She becomes smitten with the web-slinger, to the point of a stalker-level obsession. Later stories had Peter reciprocating her affection and her becoming a lover, a friend and ally (the perfect thing to allow Sony to create a Spidey spin-off).
Read more posts by Zeke Turner
Filed Under: spider-man 4, movies, rachel mcadams, sam raimi, the black cat
Jim Carrey is ready to dish.
Appearing on Chelsea Lately, the always-entertaining star of A Christmas Carol knows how to deliver a good time, whether he's talking about celebs...
Was the season finale of Mad Men on Sunday night? Really? We totally missed out. If it’s not too late to take a look back, we like this behind the scenes video with interviews from creator Matthew Weiner and members of the cast.
[TV Squad]
Read more posts by Zeke Turner
Filed Under: mad men, amc, matthew weiner, tv
Siblings are always fighting over stuff.
Even the wife and kids.
In the trailer for Brothers, Jake Gyllenhaal consoles the grieving Natalie Portman and her children...
Guitarist Joe Perry might have known that things were a bit rocky with Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler, but he had no idea that Tyler was thinking about leaving the band until he read rumors on the Internet. Tyler was five kinds of snob on a recent trip to Abu Dhabi, but nothing out of the ordinary from the inflated frontman.
"[In Abu Dhabi], he was off in his own dressing room, he stayed in different hotels from the band, travelled on different planes. We never saw him until we walked on stage on any of those shows ... Now, maybe we'll get a telegram from him; I don't know... I did call him when we were in Hawaii, because we had some gigs that were offered to us to do in South America, like, three gigs that we were gonna do in December. And I called him up and asked him if he would consider doing them, and he hung up on me about halfway through the conversation, so I kind of got the hint that he pretty much wants to be alone and wants to do his own thing."
Read more posts by Zeke Turner
Filed Under: aerosmith, abu dhabi, joe perry, music, people who are impossible to be in a band with, rock and roll, steven tyler
 The Canadian Press | 'Dancing' does time warp with themed dances msnbc.com After two weeks of double eliminations that have seen so-so dancers dropping like flies, "Dancing With The Stars" is down to five couples. Monday was the first night where every couple performed two complete individual dances — one ... 'Dancing with the Stars' Final 5 - The Best and the Worst Mya's Near Perfect Score Lands Top Spot on “Dancing With The Stars” 'Dancing With the Stars': Who deserves to make the finals? |
James Woods wants answers.
The actor and counsel were in court Monday for opening arguments in Woods' negligence case against a Rhode Island hospital, which he maintains made fatal...
There's a new playa on the club scene, have you heard? When he recently blazed past the velvet rope at Avenue, one naive young partygoer wondered aloud, "Is it P. Diddy?" No, it wasn't Diddy. It was someone even better! It was Taek Jho Low, the man making it rain at clubs all over town! Sure, he may not look like a baller—he's a doughy, bespectacled, 20-something Malaysian and Wharton graduate—but don't be fooled. Jho Low is taking bottle service to an entirely new level, and bankers who drop a mere $5,000 per night could do well to take some lessons from this guy.
Actually, you may have already heard of Jho Low and didn't even know it. Remember the mystery man who bought 23 bottles of Cristal for Lindsay Lohan last month to celebrate her 23rd birthday even though her actual birthday was, like, three months earlier? Yeah, that was this rock star.
Like any self-respecting playboy on the rise, Low is paying no mind to the recession. He reportedly shells out $150,000 each month to live at the Park Imperial ($100,000 for his own apartment; $50,000 for two apartments for his entourage of eight to 12 peeps). He once racked up a $160,000 tab at Avenue; he "routinely spends $50,000-$60,000" a night at Pink Elephant; and he supposedly dropped $300,000 recently for six memberships to "an exclusive Midtown club." Not surprisingly, living the life of a super-ultra-VIP has also earned him a big group of celebrity friends, such as Usher (with whom he's been photographed at least once), and Megan Fox, whom he flew to Las Vegas earlier this month to celebrate his birthday. (Supposedly! Due to the urgency of this breaking news story, the Post didn't have time to confirm Fox's trip to Vegas, unfortunately. But why doubt it?)
Jho Low has his share of haters, but that comes with the turf. One unidentified person quoted by the Post who was obviously too jealous of Jho Low to give his/her real name, described his lavish spending as "weird." Some residents of his building on 56th and Broadway—which is also home to Diddy, it should be mentioned—expressed annoyance that his fleet of Escalades are constantly idling out front and the doormen spend all their time handling the shopping bags that arrive daily filled with Jho Low's latest acquisitions. C'mon, people. Don't hate the playa, hate the game.
And don't assume for a second that JL is seeking attention by spending all this cash around town. He "clearly prefers to stay under the radar," as the Post points out. In fact, when the paper reached out to Low, his spokesman David Tan denied that Low ever blew $160,000 at Avenue and tried to place the blame on an equally mysterious Kuwaiti named Hamad Alwazzan.
Don't get shy on us now, Jho. This isn't the time to attempt to dodge the limelight. Embrace it. Bask in your new notoriety. And go get yourself a reality show so we can all go along for the ride.
-- Molly Fahner
Big-spending Malaysian is the mystery man of city club scene [NYP]
 CanMag | The Truth About 2012 Doomsday Hype FOXNews 2012 is coming very soon — the disaster film, that is, directed by Roland Emmerich and depicting global catastrophe of Biblical proportions. The year itself is of course a few dozen months away, and there is growing interest, ... 2012 Any Good? Gallery: "2012" European premiere Disaster flick "2012" is preposterously fun |
 E! Online | Katt Williams Not So Funny When He's Arrested for Burglary E! Online The fledgling numismatist has been charged with burglary and criminal trespassing following his arrest Sunday night in Atlanta for allegedly breaking into a guesthouse with a crowbar and stealing roughly $3555 in cash and rare coins. ... Comedian Katt Williams arrested for stealing jewelry & coins, released Comic Katt Williams charged in burglary Arts, Briefly Katt Williams Arrested After Home Break-In |
So what was the most interesting or weirdest answer you heard at your New Moon press junket?
—MDuncan, via Twitter
You mean I have to pick just one? On Friday I sat...
 The Age | Judge Blocks Distribution of J.Lo Sex Movie ABC News LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A judge on Monday blocked singer-actress Jennifer Lopez's first husband from distributing a tell-all movie with video of the former couple's sex life. But Ojani Noa, a chef and model who was married to Lopez ... J-Lo wins temporary sex movie ban J-Lo's ex blocked from selling sex movie Sex tape barred … for now |
Justin Timberlake has just one thing to say to the alleged stalker who wanted to get close to him:
Cry me a river.
A judge granted Timberlake a permanent (aka three-year)...
Dana Thomas details in Newsweek how Versace became a bit of a mess after the death of Gianni. It used to rake in over $1 billion in sales, but now makes less than half of that. Run by the family since its inception, Donatella and Santo were reportedly resistant to changes that might have helped them adapt to new times and new economies. Thomas reiterates previous reports about ex-CEO Giancarlo Di Risio leaving the label abruptly earlier this year (after a five-year reign) over disputes with Donatella about cutting back her lavish lifestyle. (He apparently began trying to meddle in the creative side of things, which ultimately was the last straw for Donatella.)
Even when the family was slammed with an inheritance-tax bill that required them to take out a five-year, $100 million bond, the Versaces couldn't let go of their material things.
"There was zero expense control in the company, and the lifestyle was absolutely, positively insane," says the Versace source. "When the earnings went down, the lifestyle didn't."
But with the label bleeding money and readying to lay off 350 workers, the family has made concessions. Last year they sold their Lake Como estate, which is said to have devastated Donatella.
Thomas writes:
Many in the fashion industry believe it's time for the brand to continue without Versace family involvement—and some suggest that the family is starting to accept this idea too. Last year, Santo was elected to the Italian Parliament. Allegra has been attending Brown University and has said her dream is to become an actress. And will Donatella remain at the helm? "Maybe," says the former Versace executive. "Then again, maybe not." Which, after a decade of turmoil, may be the best thing for the company after all.
But the problem with this scheme is, who will be the face of Versace? Everyone knows Donatella and her ridiculously blonde hair and tan skin and high heels and tight clothes. That means something. Even when the world is in turmoil, we can always rely on her to show up to the party on a private jet with lots of shiny accessories and an entourage, with an air of quiet importance, looking just the way she always does. The label may need a financial and structural makeover, but something's so fascinating and comforting about that.
Fashion Disaster [Newsweek]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: save versace, designers, donatella versace, gianni versace, versace
Last night’s Mad Men season finale took an old timey frying pan filled to the brim with hobo grease and promise, and, like a frightened horse hoof to the face, slammed it upside America’s collective heads. On the scale of “Epic Finales”, this was one flash forward death sequence away from being as good as our all time fave, Six Feet Under. So much happened in so little time. The payoff for sticking around after the first few slow episodes of the season was better than we would ever imagine it to be. So, without further ado, let us recap just what, exactly, happened.
To begin with, any episode that opens with a close-up of Don Draper sleeping has nothing but promise. Even his morning, mucusy, lung like a hoarse cough can’t ruin the fantasy. Oh, sorry, we meant that it can ruin the fantasy. Get that checked out, Don.
Don meets with Connie Hilton, who has come a long way since his days back in the majors. The news breaks: Hilton tells Draper that McCann Erickson, real life advertising firm, is set to purchase Putnam Powell and Lowe in the new year. While Connie tries to convince him that this might be a good thing for the sought after Draper, Don contests: “Bullshit. It’s a sausage factory.” And while we know he means this kind of Sweeney Todd style sausage factory, we can’t help but think a sausage factory is the perfect place for a lothario like Don. Then, whatever bridge existed between Connie and Don is set aflame, and their friendship, if you can call it that, ends with a handshake.
Then, the camera cuts to some DVD extras from There Will Be Blood. Oh… wait, no, this is Don’s — Dick’s — childhood again. Seems Papa Whitman is holding out on the other farmers, wanting to wait to sell his crop until the prices are back up. And kudos to the costume department for creating the most hillbilly looking people to ever be on television. If there was an Emmy Award for “Most Convincing Bindle”, believe us, Mad Men would take the jug cake.
Don tells Bert Cooper about the buyout. Here is an exclusive look at Cooper’s reaction:
Indeed, the Titanic script would come in handy. Only that whole “never let go” advice would have been lost on Don. He wants to buy McCann out. And for the first time ever, we see some real ~emotion~ coming out of Draper! He’s mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore! He’s TAKING CHARGE. And there’s only one person who’s going to be by his side on this matter.
Roger Sterling.
Oh, sure, he’s coquettish at first. But Roger’s got the Lucky Strike account that’s keeping them afloat. Bert tells Roger to get on board. Don locks him into his steely-eyed tractor beam. And it seems these two are back in business.
Remember the Mad Men poster with the water rising up Don’s legs? (If not, see the first photo used in this post.) Well, it’s all been leading up to this. He tries to talk her out of it. She’s had a tough couple of weeks, he insists. But that ain’t it, Donny boy. She’s had a tough year. Seriously, though, how would you feel if you just had a baby and spent the last 5 months m-bating on a fainting couch fantasizing about a less handsome version of your husband while the man you married was putting it in your kid’s teacher? Pretty divorcy, right? Right.
Roger and Don steep some tea and ask to speak with Pryce. They offer to buy back the company for the purchase price plus 12 percent. He tells them that is just not possible and leaves. The men are still bound up by their contracts, i.e. screwed.
Betty and Henry meet with their divorce lawyer, who assumes, as we all have, that these two have had plenty of intercourse with each other’s private parts. He tells them to go to Reno for 6 weeks, establish residency, and make the divorce as easy as possible. But how much money does she want? Isn’t the rule half? Henry assures Betty he will take care of her and the three kids. It’s here we realize… holy… mother… of… God… in 6 weeks…
DON DRAPER WILL BE SINGLE.
Pryce calls Mr. Sheffield in London, who tells him that PPL is also being sold. This comes as a shock. Lane is, in many ways, his own neglected wife. And as we know, this episode is all about reclaiming. Reclaiming independence. Or, in Pryce’s case, his balls back.
HOBO FLASHBACK #2: Dick’s Mom is all “We’re poor!”, and his Dad’s all “Fine! I’ll sell it! And take it to Chicago tonight!” He’s drunk. He goes to untie his horse, as dick takes a swig from a giant jug. Lightning strikes, and Dick’s father gets kicked in the face by a horse. Hard. Like, has a horseshoe shaped cut and everything. He’s dead. Lesson learned: If you give in, you will get kicked in the face by a horse. And Don? He’s not gonna settle for that. No horse is going to kick DON F**KING DRAPER in the FACE. Emergency meeting time!
The plan: After some light bickering, Don proposes that Pryce fires them. Fire them to get out of their godforsaken contracts. But why should he? Hellewwww Pryce is the whipping boy of PPL. Don tells him they’ll put his name on the door if he goes through with it. He’ll finally be a man! It’s like his Biz Mitzvah. But if they’re going to start their own firm, they’ll need to pillage Sterling Cooper for all the necessary materials and employees.
It is here Mad Men turns into a veritable Jerry Maguire. I half expected Don to walk out of the office holding a goldfish over his head while Peggy pops a Lemonhead into her mouth, grabs her travel mug, and drives him to the airport. If only there was a memo…
Wait, there is one. Office is closed for the weekend. Pillaging time! Friday, December 13, 1963: Four guys became ballers. And the scramble begins: Get Pete on the line! Peggy, in Don’s office!
Now, you know Peggy has a newfound confidence because she’s sleeping with Duck. She doesn’t need Don, or his new company, or his attitude. And for the first time this season, 
we fall in love with Peggy again. There are so many balls poppin’ out all over the place it’s beginning to get hard to concentrate. First Kennedy gets shot and the next thing you know, women learn how to speak up for themselves! She tells him she doesn’t want to make a career out of being there so Don can “kick her when she fails.” He seems stunned. When did this baller lose his swagger? Oh right: This entire season.
And then there is Pete Campbell. Poor Pete. Rapes a girl, doesn’t get promoted. He’s down on his luck, to be sure, and that flannel robe he’s wearing seems to be the only comfort he has in his life. (On the real, he looks cozy.) Roger and Don want him as part of the new firm. But Pete, he’s a sensitive one. He wants to know if they’ve talked… (thin lipped delivery) to Ken? They haven’t. He warms up, but insists he gets paid a compliment before he agrees, because he’s a fancy lady from the 1700s. He wants in as partner, and it seems Roger is impressed. That little smile of his is so telling, isn’t it? Also, when did Roger become the best character on Mad Men?
Oh we remember now. It’s when he tells Don about Betty’s dalliances with Henry Francis. It’s like… scary. You can feel the heat shooting out of Don’s jealous eyes. He’ll confront Betty about it, of course, but let him have just a few hundred whiskeys beforehand.
Oh no. Don is home. He shoves Betty. Who is Henry? No one. This is scary. Don feels entitled about his marriage because he supported Betty financially. But she needs more than that. It is here we are convinced this Mad Men season finale would borrow from one of our other favorite movies: What’s Love Got To Do With It. Because it seemed an almost certainty that Betty would get kicked in the face by a horse… or, in this case, her husband. Don threatens to take the kids, and you can almost feel the breath coming out of Betty’s sigh of relief. Side note: Maybe if Don called Betty his whore more often they wouldn’t be in this divorcing mess!
It’s the weekend. A certain few have been called in, namely Pete and Harry Crane, the head of New Media. Crane wants to call his wife but they need an answer. Aw. He’s in, obviously.
Don steps out of a Details fashion shoot to break the news of their divorce to the kids. Betty is a stone cold bitch in this scene, though she does shed a few tears. Don seems to be the one the kids love, and of course. Now the kids hate their Mom, and can you blame them? He had to sleep in Gene’s room! Frankly, I’d also be hugging Don’s leg begging him not to leave. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why children grow up to be drug addicts. See, also, every episode of Intervention.
Here’s a nice Brady Bunch style screencap of the moment courtesy of Goldenfiddle (click to enlarge):
Draper goes to Peggy’s pad to apologize and let her know how much they need her. How much he needs her. Well f**k a duck, it’s sweet. He’s making amends! And really, what can she do? Burn her Draper bridge?
Guess who is back? JOANIE! Finally!! This season has been missing Joan. Peggy enters with Don! It’s the MAD MEN DREAM TEAM. Only hole up… where is Sal? In the Art Department of course. Sorry, we mean Fart Department:
Sal isn’t in there people. Where. Is. He? No Mad Men Dream Team (MMDT) could be complete without his lily footed Bye Bye Birdie impressions.
The Velveeta boxes are packed, as a group of Williamsburg hipsters — sorry, “Moving Men in the 1960s” — wheel their stuff out. The doors close, and it’s the end of Sterling Cooper as we know it. They leave the doors unlocked. So much Crown Royal to steal, get in there!
Pryce’s smarmy male secretary tells him Mistuh Sheffielduh is on the line. You guys, he is soooo mad. Pryce gets fired for insubordination and lack of character. Line of the night: “Very good! Happy Christmas!” OH SNAP Y’ALL! Looks like it’s time for our favorite Mad Men Pun Name Character to come out of his shell… DAVID HYDE FIERCE:
(PS: The actor who plays Pryce, Jared Harris… his nickname is “Hot Buns.” Also? HIS FATHER IS DUMBLEDORE. Discuss.)
The office is left in shambles. The wake of their destruction is devastating to the one left behind. And the new offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce? At the Pierre Hotel of course. Don calls Betty to sort of clear the air, telling her he hopes she gets what she’s always wanted. She tells him that he’ll always be their father. If we weren’t in the middle of chopping up a bucketful of onions for one of our famous post-Mad Men ratatouille parties, we would swear these tears on our cheeks were real.
Seems pretty convenient that there’s a bed in their new office, eh?
And look at our little family? It’s like The Godfather ending of advertising companies.
Betty is on an airplane headed to Reno with her newborn and Henry, while the older children will be left with Carla for the all-too-short-time of 6 weeks. In all seriousness, Carla is Sally and Bobby’s only hope for a normal adulthood. Don heads to his new city apartment, which will soon be covered in an exclusive wallpaper made out of all the bodily fluids we’re sure him and his slew of paramours will leave all over the joint.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you end a season. And now, only 9 more months until we are presented with Mad Men circa 1964, where the plot possibilities are endless. Some ideas (or dreams):
Overall, did we like it?
Quite.
Tell us how much you loved the episode in the comments, and any thought you had about the Season 3 Finale and/or hopes for next season. Until then…
On Friday night, James Franco traveled even farther north than Columbia's campus for Dia's Fall Gala at the Hispanic Society on 155th Street. He showed up halfway through cocktail hour with his grandmother. He yawned a lot. Vulture managed to get a few minutes with him, during which he told us a little about his upcoming guest roles on 30 Rock and General Hospital.
Where are you coming from?
I was filming 30 Rock today. It was very fun. I worked with Tina Fey a little bit over the summer on the movie Date Night and I'm assuming she liked the experience and that was why I was asked to do 30 Rock. I play myself but a very strange version. I don't think it has anything to do with who I actually am.
And you're also doing General Hospital. Why?
I really don't know the difference between [soap operas]. The one difference is that General Hospital has developed this whole organized-crime thread.
But why a soap opera at all?
Well ... I've got other ideas for my participation in this soap opera beyond just being in this soap opera. But it's been a blast so far. It was kind of mind-blowing. I've worked one day on it. It's one day of a few. But I think we packed seven episodes of my material in. They gave me a script for the day that was as thick as a film script and that's what we planned to shoot in a single day. No ad-libbing. If I needed it, they said they had a TelePrompTer, but the regulars didn't use it so I didn't want to use it, either. Anyway, I'm pretty good at remembering lines.
Is it different acting for film than it is for a daytime soap?
One big difference is that you do one take. They're going for one take because they have about four cameras for each setup It's one take: You do the whole scene and then you're on to the next. That's three or four pages in a moment.
What's your character like? It's not another James Franco, is it?
I don't know how much they want you to reveal.
Do you wear an eyepatch?
I haven't worn one yet.
Do you die?
I haven't died yet. But they only gave me the pages for the day that we shot. I don't know what's going to happen. It's all open.
Read more posts by Joshua Stein
Filed Under: chat room, 30 rock, franco-phile, general hosptial, james franco, news reel, tv
The Fort Greene and Dumbo-based Brooklyn Flea will make its first foray into Manhattan on Black Friday, launching a monthlong "Gifted" holiday market in the East Village. The 6,500-square-foot pop-up takes over the former Tower Records storefront and will feature more than 50 rotating vendors, including clothing from Thistle & Clover and Tucker, shoes from Coclico, knitwear by A.S.I.S., jewelry by Loyalty & Blood, Erica Weiner, and Lillian Crowe, and more. The Flea also teamed up with editors at Lucky , who will host happy-hour shopping parties, complete with D.J.'s from Other Music (the record shop across the street) and free small-batch beer from Brooklyn Brew Shop. Nothing gets us in the shopping spirit like free booze.
11/27–12/24. Lafayette St., at 4th St. Visit the Gifted site for dates and hours.
Read more posts by Lauren Murrow
Filed Under: pop-up shops, black friday, brooklyn flea, holiday shopping
Still working off that case of the Mondays? Before you hit happy hour, click through our new weekly slideshow of Friday's and Saturday's best concerts, Out on the Weekend. (That's the name of a Neil Young song, if you didn't know!) Want to see pics of Wolfmother, Ryan Leslie, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bruce Springsteen, Vivian Girls, Hidden Cameras, Girls, Warren G, and Monsters of Folk? You know what to do.
Read more posts by Nick Catucci
Filed Under: out on the weekend, bruce springsteen, girls, hidden cameras, monsters of folk, music, ryan leslie, slideshow, vivian girls, warren g, wolfmother, yeah yeah yeahs
In an updated rehashing of portions of his Anna Wintour biography, Front Row, Jerry Oppenheimer writes in the Post today that Anna Wintour is worried about losing her eyesight since her father went blind at a "relatively young age." But apparently she won't fret too much about losing money for Vogue amid cutbacks at Condé Nast. Polly Mellen, who worked at Vogue for three decades, spoke to Oppenheimer:
"Moving on in a tough economy is something Anna can easily cope with," Mellen says.
"She's a very modern woman, and she understands what [dire] situations are. She'll go along with whatever Si needs done, but Anna is no patsy. She has her own point of view. Regarding cuts, she'll ask to see where and how. She would say yes to this and no to that, and Si would absolutely respect her judgment."
Anna is expected to cut back on travel expenses, sending fewer people to fewer places and putting them in less expensive hotels. Highly paid freelancers and photographers will see less money, and departments could be combined or axed altogether. Bud Konheim, the CEO of Nicole Miller, a Vogue advertiser, naturally had good things to say about Anna, too:
"Anna's created a Rolls-Royce of magazines," he offers. "Now all of a sudden they're telling her that she can't fill up the tank and to use regular, not premium, and to buy it at a no-name gas station. They're telling her to do that, but she's still driving the Rolls-Royce. It's a tough time out there. If nothing else, Anna's shown the ability to adjust to her surroundings and master them."
As for turning 60 last week, that's no big deal because, as her friends say, "60 is the new 40."
And maybe pumping your own gas is the new summering, and camping is the new shopping, and Lady Gaga is the new Nicole Kidman.
At 60, Wintour is in her spring [NYP]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: wintour wonderland, anna wintour, conde nast, front row, jerry oppenheimer, polly mellen, si newhouse, vogue
80s pop star Teena Marie appeared on The View this morning to perform a song from her new album and set a new 80s pop star record for “Amount A Once Probable Heartthrob Now Looks Like Your Aunt.”
I’m not one to judge a book by its amount that it does or does not look like your aunt, but Teena Marie reeeally does not look or perform like an actual professional performer of music (although this is apparently the happiest day of Sherri’s life):
London's Telegraph was apparently so impressed by the fifteen-minute preview of James Cameron's latest opus that they saw on Avatar day that they deemed it worthy of a place in their top 100 films of the decade. We can only assume that if they would've seen 20 minutes of it, it would've moved the film past Crash and Together and into the 97th spot. Also, Brown Bunny? We love us some Vincent Gallo, but that's just wrong. [Telegraph via ArtsBeat]
Read more posts by Mark Graham
Filed Under: blue things, avatar, james cameron, movies
Christina Ricci wore look No. 7 from Marios Schwab's fall 2009 collection to the after-party for After Life on Saturday night in Santa Monica, California, and accented her look with a set of blunt bangs.
Do you like her hair-and-dress combination?
Read more posts by Sharon Clott
Filed Under: look of the day, christina ricci, marios schwab
• Another magazine has gone under: Hachette announced today that it's closing Metropolitan Home to "focus its resources" on Elle Décor. [AdAge]
• New York's profile of star Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin reveals he's one of the paper's highest-paid staffers and is beloved by the titans of Wall Street, but is not quite as popular with some of his Times colleagues. [NYM]
• Circulation is down—and losses are up—at the New York Post. [NYT]
• GE and Comcast have agreed on a valuation for NBC, which brings the parties one step closer to handing over control of the network to Comcast. [Reuters]
• Condé Nast may be trimming expenses and cutting jobs here at home, but the mag giant is busy expanding its presence in China. [NYP]
• Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming to basic cable. TV Land and TV Guide have picked up reruns of the show and will begin airing them next year. [LAT]
• Google has acquired the mobile ad company AdMob for $750 million. [NYT]
• Last night's Mad Men scored AMC its highest-rated finale ever, although considering it's AMC we're talking about, that isn't saying much. [B&C]
• A Christmas Carol was No. 1 at the weekend box office, although its $31 million gross was weak given it cost $200 million to produce. Meanwhile, Precious' $1.8 million take on 18 screens set a limited-release record. [LAT]
In today’s horse biting news… or should I say “neighhhhh-ws”??? No, I shouldn’t, cause you’d be like, what the hell is that word, I can’t read it. So I’ll stick with “horse news”:
A police horse named Mr. Biggs is at the center of a lawsuit filed against the city last week. Allegedly the member of the NYPD’s Mounted Unit took a bite out of a New Jersey woman last summer, and now that woman is suing.
A woman is suing because she was bitten by a police horse named Mr. Biggs? I couldn’t decide which go-to lazy Photoshop joke was appropriate here, so I decided to do both:
Hugh Hefner's former girlfriend refuses to watch the new season of her old show.
Emily Nussbaum and Logan Hill have responded to the show on Vulture and Surf, respectively. But they can't stop debriefing.
E.N.: As you pointed out in the recap, the finale was satisfying on a fan-fic level ...
L.H.: So much so that I worry I've been suckered!
E.N.: "Joan is back!" and "Peggy gets hers!" But it somehow didn't feel like some ridiculous holodeck of phony caper-ness. Especially because all that contrasted with the wrenching divorce scenes.
L.H.: Yeah, the tonal shifts were utter yin-yang: screwball one minute, Scenes from a Marriage the next.
E.N.: One thing I loved about the marriage plot was that, in a sense, the scenes were utterly generic: a confrontation about adultery, telling the children. But they also felt absolutely organic to this particular relationship. And there was this eerie toggle switch in Don's confrontation with Betty …
L.H.: I felt like Don was was going through Kubler-Ross in FF. And RW. And FF again.
E.N.: On the one hand, he seemed like any powerful generic fifties dick calling his wife a "whore." And yet it had so much specifically to do with the con-game between those two, it was chilling. I'm not usually sympathetic to Betty, but I really felt how scary he was. It was the flip side of his scenes with Peggy and Pete. All this insight, but used in an acid attack.
L.H.: Sometimes the dialogue can feel too WRITTEN. That fight seemed wild — the rage was almost nonsensical, as it ought to be.
E.N.: I agree with your recap about Sal. If they'd made up with Sal, it REALLY would have seemed like fan-fic.
L.H.: They've still got Lucky Strike — but maybe Sal could be on a freelance contract? Or Don could give him a new name — he's good at those. Sam instead of Sal?
E.N.: As if he were on the Hollywood blacklist! He could wear a big mustache.
L.H.: Someone's going to grow some hair if we get further into the sixties.
E.N.: I'm scared of Don's post-divorce persona. I have this freaked-out image of him morphing into Viggo Mortensen in Man on the Moon. But I'd love to go to one of his parties in his new pad! Filled with drifters, Roger Sterling, and three-million red-flag-draped brunettes.
L.H.: And maybe Roger and Joanie can bring back something we've seriously been missing: inter-office sex. I mean, there's been more backstage sex on Letterman than on this show. That's just wrong.
E.N.: I'm not sure how I feel about Roger and Joan. In one way, I'm actually troubled by the warmth. John Slattery said once that he thought Roger was being literal when he called her "the best piece of ass I ever had" after his heart attack — that he adored her, but in this very specific, not entirely wonderful way.
L.H.: Maybe Roger did believe just that and nothing more. But maybe the disaster of Jane opened him up. Big picture: Did you see any of this finale coming? I thought it was going to be apocalyptic — not fun! I thought Duck was going to ride in and Peggy was going to be wrecked.
E.N.: We both thought the Duck hating would blow up — jinx. I did think the marriage might dissolve, à la The Sopranos. What do you think of Henry?
L.H.: I have no clue what he sees in Betty, other than arm candy. But maybe that's all he needs: a perfect wife for political photo-ops. I don't see a deep personal connection.
E.N.: I thought that, too, but Laura Miller (who I was watching with) argued that she had a classic appeal: fragility. That a certain kind of man wants exactly that — a perfect-looking weak vision to rescue and then prop up by his side.
L.H.: Daddy issues are everywhere, for sure. Will this be the end of the flashbacks?
E.N.: God, I hope so. It's the one thing about the show I'm irrevocably opposed to.
L.H.: These, especially, were so on-the-nose.
E.N.: This isn't an episode I think people are going to fight over. It was a very purely satisfying experience. A rare TV thing, nowadays. It felt like an event.
L.H.: It was a party. I think we all disagreed more over the course of the season, but the joy of this finale is that it's so radical, much of what happened this season is just flushed down the toilet ... What about the "the way they saw themselves is gone" line? Too much?
E.N.: I loved that, because it was resonant with so much more than JFK: Don's history, Peggy's baby, the divorce, of course. And Peggy is one of my favorite characters ... for exactly the reason he praised her: She's a broken person who is capable of compassion and wisdom because she sees the world through that lens.
L.H.: She's bugged me occasionally this season, but her scenes were brilliant this week.
E.N.: Why did she bug you?
L.H.: That on-the-nose-ness. The way, in a few episodes, she said everything she was thinking in the most direct way, like some character blurting in Ricky Gervais's Invention of Lying. But I began to see that she was maybe overcompensating as she was trying to figure all these things out, out loud.
E.N.: I've always worried that they would turn her into a simple, spunky Figure of Feminism, but I thought that didn't happen this season. I loved that stoned speech to her secretary, and her pickup in the bar.
L.H.: In a way, the Duck subplot was great for her. I mean, no Figure of Feminism would sleep with Duck, right?
E.N.: Seriously. However! I loved that he has all these nicknames for her. Peewee?
L.H.: Ech! He creeps me out.
E.N.: I love her strange magnetic pull to creeps.
L.H.: I do think she's secretly kinky. She definitely seemed so in that first affair with Pete.
E.N.: Totally. That sofa romp. The weird hunting fantasy. That's the crazy thing about Peggy: She's kinkier than Bobbie beneath the cardigans.
L.H.: And, quite possibly even Joan, who's been with fewer men than Peggy, so far as we know.
E.N.: What did you think of Pete?
L.H.: I'm most happy to see him and Trudy proving that a marriage can work.
E.N.: I love their crazy bond.
L.H.: They have mutual ambitions, a similar sense of outraged privilege, and a practical sense of what it takes to move up. They seem to really need each other — and be aware of that. Other characters on this show don't know that they need anybody else. The au pair incident really seemed to alert Pete to the fact that he's no good without her.
E.N.: I always remember that in the first or second episode, he came back from their honeymoon saying, "She's funnier than I realized!"
L.H.: I'd forgotten that! And there's no better dance couple. Between seasons, I want a podcast series that's just the two of them doing a different dance every week.
E.N.: But the au pair horror seriously prevents me from ever getting truly onboard with Pete.
L.H.: Yeah, rape will do that.
E.N.: Which is what the show does best: make it impossible for you to love the people in any clear way.
L.H.: Yeah, and the beauty of this finale is it makes it impossible to hate them in any clear way, too.
E.N.: What would you want for next season? Or does that even make sense to ask? Because one of the HUGE appeals of this show was, as you said, how it totally evaded expectations.
L.H.: Weiner loves to zig when we expect zags. And I love that. But I do want to see Sal back, for starters. I want to see Pete grow up a little. I want to see Don embark on some spectacular series of love affairs that does not involve Miss Farrell. You?
E.N.: I want them to maintain Joan as a complex figure, not a sassy heroine. She's the most in danger of fan-fic reductiveness, in part because of how the audience responds to her.
L.H.: Yes, Joan is in danger of becoming a mascot. When so many people dress up as you for Halloween, it's a worry. She's the easiest to idolize — she never raped anyone, etc. It's a low bar …
E.N.: I love that as a test of character on Mad Men. Raped someone? Gray area. Never raped anyone? ROLE MODEL.
L.H.: And what about the Roger roaring back?
E.N.: The scenes with Roger, Cooper, Don, and Pryce reminded me of how much I loved those guys. They're the center of the show's fantasy, from the beginning: these smart, acid, insightful cynics bantering about power. "You're a clever boy, you'll figure it out."
L.H.: And Pryce is a great counterpoint. Mixing in his style does the whole ensemble good. You need someone who's not crass and New Yorky in the mix.
L.H.:To wrap it up: How about one character you hope won't come back?
E.N.: Stalky Hippiegirl, Miss Farrell. I just found her kind of exasperating, and she did enough by remaining in the car during that showdown. Also, she'd hold Don back next season.
L.H.: Exactly! I want to see Don moving on. For me, it's Kinsey. I've liked him— he's been a great comic foil — but I think his fatuous hep-cat cluelessness is played out.
Read more posts by Logan Hill and Emily Nussbaum
Thakoon Panichgul may launch menswear in a year. “I’m dying to do men’s wear, I really am," he tells WWD. “I think it would be so fun. I always have guys asking me when I’m going to start. I think maybe in a year. Maybe.” His and hers for the First Couple! Barack needs a printed shirt. [WWD]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: daily male, designers, thakoon
Rodarte's Target collection launches next month, so images are rolling out in December magazines. Finally, we can see the collection clearly instead of relying only on the fuzzy camera-phone snaps that leaked from the preview Target held a few months ago. Marie Claire has a decent look at a few pieces, which look more appetizing when not styled with high-waisted lace bow panties and bra tops.
Rodarte for Target [Marie Claire] [Nitro:licious]
Related: Rodarte’s Target Line Includes High-Waisted Lace Tights (With a Bow!) and Bra Tops
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: targeted, designers, rodarte, target
Remember that "controversial" Calvin Klein ad that went up this summer and then had to be taken down after a bunch of residents complained? The publicity stunt garnered tons of press, so now the company is back for more. An underwear ad featuring a "sweaty, glistening" Eva Mendes "tugging at the boxer briefs of a studly man" has gone up in its place and already outraged locals are speaking out against the "pornography" that's taking over the neighborhood. If all goes according to plan, you can expect Calvin Klein to cave in and take the ad down in about three weeks. And you can expect the next titillating billboard to go up again in three months. [AnimalNY]
Mark Harris pleads for someone, anyone, to save NBC. Emma Rosenblum chats with Zach Gifford, currently in the midst of his last season as Dillon High's quarterback on Friday Night Lights. David Edelstein reviews Fantastic Mr. Fox and Red Cliff. Logan Hill explores how Nicolas Coppola became Nic Cage, and he also talks to Tim Burton about his new exhibit at MoMA. Boris Kachka has a conversation with Mary Karr about her latest memoir, Lit. Emily Nussbaum comes to grips with her feelings about the "gleefully anti-psychological series" that is Matthew Weiner's Mad Men. Justin Davidson spends some time at the evocative exhibit Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, currently running at the Museum of the City of New York. And finally, Stephanie Zacharek details Willem Dafoe's work in Idiot Savant thusly: "If the sight of Willem Dafoe making his entrance in a Samurai topknot, multiple layered dirndl skirts, and socks held up with garters — while he’s also carrying a birdcage housing a plastic duck, by the way — isn’t enough to scare the bejesus out of you, I don’t know what is."
Read more posts by Mark Graham
Filed Under: in the magazine,
PLASTIC SURGERY
• Alec Baldwin on plastic surgery: "I'm not saying I wouldn't do something! I intend to do something. I probably will. Let's put it this way: I wouldn't rule it out because ... You don't think I wake up every day and wish I looked like this and this and this? But I can't let that bother me." [Us]
FRAGRANCE
• Perfume critic Chandler Burr on celebrity fragrances: "It is the single best tool for monetizing celebrity that's ever been created in the history of the world. It is a kind of financial alchemy the likes of which we've never seen." [NPR]
• Professional perfumer Lynn Harris, 41, trained her brain to recognize 1,000 smells. During school, she suffered migraines from sniffing too much, and now she can no longer cook with garlic or eat Indian food because the scents are too strong for her delicate olfactory glands. [Independent UK]
NAILS
• Lindsay Ellingson stars in M.A.C. Cosmetics' holiday-collection campaign, which features a great silver nail polish for $12. [Beauty Snob]
MAKEUP
• Celebrity makeup artist Tina Turnbow is teaming up with Tarte to create the label's Flower Child collection for spring 2010. The products are all ecofriendly. [StyleList]
• Would you wear your hair in glittery hair clips like Amanda Seyfried? If you must, Claire's is still standing. [Glamour]
Read more posts by Sharon Clott
Filed Under: beauty marks, alec baldwin, amanda seyfried, chandler burr, fragrance, lindsay ellingson, lynn harris, mac cosmetics, makeup, nails, plastic surgery, tarte cosmetics, tina turnbow
V.P. of communications Karen Duffy left the label today. She wrote in an e-mail that her position "has been eliminated." Budgets are tight everywhere, but who will handle public relations and deal with sorry bloggers like us now? [WWD]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: ins and outs, designers, karen duffy, zac posen
Scott Schumann was in Vegas this weekend for his mom's birthday when "a rodeo broke out." He writes that he never used to shoot cowboy boots because he never thought they were cool, but then he was enlightened: "[One of the bull-riders] was wearing typical boots, but he had wrapped the ankles with a leather strap so they would stay on while he was riding the bull. Well, that opened the floodgates. Everywhere I looked I saw such cool cowboy style. Notice the guy below with his pressed and creased jeans." Eh, beats the diaper trend. [Sartorialist]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: late to the party, scott schuman, trends
We couldn’t afford to bring in an actual ad agency to come up with our new Jeep campaign, so I just gave a shiny quarter to Billy Schroeder, the winner of Mr. Parham’s 7th grade poetry contest, to read his poem “Clocks” overtop some footage of clocks. What does this have to do with Jeep, you ask? Heh…what DOESN’T it?
[Board room of executives applauds, too afraid to admit that they have no f*cking clue what this commercial is about or how it ties in to Jeep in even the slightest bit]
I’m also handing out a full transcript of Billy’s poem, so you can bask in its incredibly not-vague, definitely having to do with Jeeps glow:
Clocks Jeep
Knowing that every day
I have a choice to make.
Between watching the clock
And occassionally
My back
Or I can greedily,
Rightfully
Seize every ticking moment
And never
give one of them back.
I live
I ride
I am
Jeep.
[Board room applauds. Auto industry collapses again.]
AP - It may not merit the adjective in its title, yet the animated yarn "Fantastic Mr. Fox" offers some of the most goofy fun you'll have at a theater this season.
The Daily News has a roundup of new neighborhood names that real estate brokers have been pushing in an effort to make the areas seem more hip, such as BoHo (Bowery below Houston Street), BoCoCa (the border of Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens), and GoCaGa (Gowanus and Carroll Gardens). None of them have caught on yet and probably never will so if you use them in conversation, you'll probably come off sounding pretty stupid (and may get mistaken for a desperate real estate broker). But feel free to take your chances. [NYDN]
Moviegoers are ready to get into the holiday spirit, sending Jim Carrey's Scrooge to the top.
W wasted no time getting its hands on Christophe Decarnin's spring 2010 Balmain collection. Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott shot Demi in the militant loincloth frock that walked second in the fashion show (on Anja Rubik) for the December issue. She looks great, but — surprise! — there appears to be lots of Photoshopping at play. For starters, draw a line straight down from her right hip to her thigh. Notice the disconnect? Not natural. She's also mysteriously devoid of armpit wrinkles. And, well, any other kind of wrinkle. [W via StyleWatch/People]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: balmania, balmain, christophe decarnin, covers, demi moore, designers, mert alas and marcus piggot, spring 2010, w
AP - "Samuel Johnson: A Life" (Henry Holt and Company, 432 pages, $30), by David Nokes: David Nokes, a prominent scholar of 18th-century English literature, takes a fresh look at Samuel Johnson, the man known as the creator of the dictionary. In doing so, Nokes shows a very human side of Johnson, and the perspective of his times.
Don't worry about Jon Corzine, who suffered a bruising defeat last week in his bid for reelection as New Jersey's governor. He seems to be holding up just fine. Corzine and girlfriend Sharon Elghanayan jetted off to St. Barts on a private plane last Friday and have since been spotted sunning themselves on the beach, although given the weather forecast, that may not continue for much longer. [NYP]
Geez, first we had that stupid tween book series about Frankensteins, then that HBO series about Frankensteins, then the CW rip-off Frankenstein show, and now ANOTHER movie about a teenage girl falling in love with a Frankenstein? Is this lame Frankenstein craze ever gonna end?
Amid headlines about violence and militants, Pakistan style circuit seeks to push new image with fashion week.
AP - "Patton, Montgomery, Rommel: Masters of War" (Crown Publishing, 448 pages, $30), by Terry Brighton: During a dinner in Saigon with some news correspondents in 1971, Gen. Creighton Abrams, the U.S. commander in Vietnam, was asked his opinion of the movie, "Patton."
As if working for socialite and plastic surgery victim Jocelyne Wildenstein and being forced to face her every day in person wasn't bad enough, a group of workers who helped renovate Wildenstein's apartment staged a protest outside her apartment building yesterday over the $13,300 in back wages they claim she owes them. [NYDN]
AP - "The Education of a British-Protected Child" (Knopf, 208 pages, $24.95), by Chinua Achebe: Nigerian author Chinua Achebe's new book, his first in 20 years, is not especially new. And maybe that's part of the point.
The scarf and hood hybrid is being labeled the season's hottest accessory.
Which was more bizarre last Friday: The woman with TWO vaginas on Tyra or Rob Lowe’s attempt to act like a high school student in the latest Lifetime movie? While you decide, check out Doug Benson’s reviews of this weekend’s movies in 8 words or less on Best Day Ever:
Best Day Ever returns next Tuesday, November 17th at 11pm.
AP - "Sweet Thunder" (Knopf, 464 pages, $27.95), by Wil Haygood: The boxer Sugar Ray Robinson was a man of glittering skill and deep complexity. So complex, in fact, that several writers — including Robinson himself — have tried and failed to render a full portrait.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase are all on track to pay record bonuses this year, as you've probably heard. "The firms—the three biggest banks to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program—will hand out $29.7 billion in bonuses, according to analysts' estimates. That's up 60 percent from last year and more than the previous high of $26.8 billion in 2007." But as Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein explained to the London Times over the weekend, they're doing "God's work," and you can't put a price on that, can you? [Bloomberg]
If you didn't get to bid on Bernie and Ruth Madoff's homes or cars, there's still time to get your hands on some Madoff memorabilia. More than 100 items that once belonged to the couple—including diamond earrings, Rolex watches, furs and what appears to be Ruth's diamond wedding ring—go up for auction on Saturday. Could there a better way to start off a marriage on the right foot than by giving the love of your life the ring that Bernie once gave Ruth? We sincerely doubt it. [NYP, US Marshals, previously]
AP - Melanie Fiona, "The Bridge" (Universal Motown)
Doug Benson — stand-up comedian, BWE Panelist, Last Comic Standing vet, and proprietor of the I Love Movies podcast, probably my favorite podcast on the ‘Tunes — recently swung by the VH1 offices and answered some questions about his recent comedy exploits and offered his thoughts on the 2009 pop culture year thusfar.
I’ve listed my questions below followed by Doug’s responses, so it’s like we’re talking to one another on the screen right in front of you! Enjoy.
It’s already November — Have you picked out your 10 Best Picture Nominees yet?
No, because most of the award bait films haven’t come out yet. Like OLD DOGS, for one.
What if you were forced to limit your list to just 8?
Like at gunpoint? That would be a weird thing to force somebody to do.
Favorite movie this year that definitely won’t get nominated for anything?
A tie between DRAG ME TO HELL and ZOMBIELAND.
Any recent eight-words-or-less movie reviews you want to get off your chest?
THE BOX – It’s like Deal or No Deal, sans Howie.
What tv shows have you been keeping up with this season?
30 Rock, The Office, Parks and Rec – I only have time for 22 minute bursts of entertainment. I don’t even have time to say “recreation”!
Most pleasant surprise of the tv season? Biggest disappointment?
That Flash Forward hasn’t been canceled yet. And that Flash Forward hasn’t been canceled yet.
You’re a self-professed Twitter addict with an extremely loyal fanbase (45,000+ Followers) – has your Twitter addiction cooled off at all since the initial excitement, or just gotten worse?
It remains the same. Some days I tweet 30 times, while on other days, just 29.
You released your second cd, “Unabalanced Load,” over the summer, just one year after releasing your first, “Professional Humoredian.” Have you found it difficult at all to keep on performing as often as you have now that a solid 90-100 minutes of your go-to material is on cd?
Most people who come to my live shows haven’t listened to my CDs. The people who have might have to suffer through hearing a joke or two again.
You also recently completed your Medical Marijuana Tour, performing shows in each of the 13 states with legalized medical marijuana in 13 days. What did you learn from this experience?
That apparently there’s a 14th state that we weren’t aware of. We didn’t go to Maryland because we didn’t know it was a medical marijuana state. I’m still not sure if it is or not. Stoner news tends to be a little foggy.
Do you feel like it’s a conflict of interest to support medical marijuana with such a rigorous, active touring schedule?
I wanted to prove that a stoner could go through such a rigorous schedule and not screw it up. And I did.
I imagine there are pros and cons to attracting a significant stoner audience and asking them to attend shows / sit and react for 50 minutes?
I don’t let my shows drag on and on, because I know the audience is jonesing for a smoke. And so am I!
Anything you’d like to say to the 37 states out there that still don’t allow medical marijuana?
Be like Maryland. If indeed Maryland is a medical marijuana state. Still not sure.
Daniel Craig walking near Columbus Circle with girlfriend Satsuki Mitchell ... Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump walking downtown ... Iman crossing the street with her daughter in SoHo ... Michael J. Fox watching a New York Giants game ... Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos seated next to Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky at Lure on Saturday night ... Emily Blunt leaving her trailer on the set of The Adjustment Bureau in Midtown ... Mel Gibson walking with a friend in SoHo ... Adam Brody on the set of The Romantics on Long Island ... Sienna Miller walking her dog ... David Blaine hanging out in SoHo ... John McEnroe walking up Central Park West ... Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts pushing a stroller downtown ... Mariah Carey filming her latest music video ... Taylor Swift heading to the SNL afterparty ... Katie Holmes going to dinner in Tribeca ... and Alex Rodriguez and Jay-Z leaving Nello's.
Which sexy model will grace the next Sports Illustrated cover and which controversial blogger is back at it again?
Ashlee Simpson, fresh off being fired from her supporting role in the CW’s Melrose Place, has landed the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway.
Allow me to break down that sentence, in case any of my theater major brethren out there still have delusions of grandeur about where “theater” ranks on the totem pole of legitimate American art forms.
Ashlee Simpson:
Long story short — I think I burned my theater degree a couple years ago, but I’m gonna try to track down the ashes and pee on them.
Samuel L. Jackson is a Bad Motherf**ker.
Correction: Samuel L. Jackson is a Bad Motherf**ker who pumps his own Motherf**king gasoline.
Correction Part 2: Samuel L. Jackson is a Bad Motherf**ker who pumps his own Motherf**king gasoline who also dressed like my Motherf**king Dad and wears a Motherf**king bluetooth earpiece and leather cell phone case.
*pause*
Yeah, OK, that’s it. Also, kudos to the man for keeping his eye on the price. Only Sam J. could wear that outfit while pumping his own gas and still look cool as sh*t. That is his genius.
Ahead, another photo of SLJ pumpin’ his own G.
Is the queen of scandal turning to a more spiritual approach to help her cope with tough times?
You’ve probably already heard of Sliimy, the lithe androgynous French singer who has been something of a trending topic across the blogs. But have you seen his pretty genius video covering Britney Spears’ “Womanizer”? While it seems the last thing anyone could accuse this guy of is womanizing — given that he looks like a white Hollywood Montrose (a good thing!) — his loungy cover of a song formerly sung by a robot is a welcome addition to our Britney playlist, though, dare we say, not better than the original.
The music video is pretty amazing.
AP - Bon Jovi, "The Circle" (Island)
AP - Family ties are powerful, and when the folks are as famous and as accomplished as the Redgrave clan, these bindings must be industrial strength indeed.
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