AP - Reclusive Irish singer Van Morrison said Thursday that a computer hacker planted a false report on his Web site claiming he had fathered a fourth child at the age of 64 with a new partner.
AP - Reclusive Irish singer Van Morrison said Thursday that a computer hacker planted a false report on his Web site claiming he had fathered a fourth child at the age of 64 with a new partner.
(Reuters) Reuters - After starring opposite giant robots in the action movie "Terminator: Salvation," Bryce Dallas Howard plays a debutante in 1920s Memphis in the film drama "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond." Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 31 Dec 2009 | 8:45 pm
LOS ANGELES - Reclusive Irish singer Van Morrison said Thursday that a computer hacker planted a false report on his Web site claiming he had fathered a fourth child at the age of 64 with Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 31 Dec 2009 | 8:03 pm
AP - Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh remained hospitalized in Hawaii Thursday after experiencing chest pains similar to a heart attack, according to the guest host on his nationally syndicated radio show.
Police say a man who appeared in the Discovery Channel show "Deadliest Catch" is wanted for three bank robberies in Oregon and has been arrested in Illinois. Police in East Peoria, Ill., Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 31 Dec 2009 | 7:03 pm
At least that's what a source close to the situation tells us.
"Brooke's been wanting a...
(Playbill) Playbill - What were the most memorable moments in theatre in 2009? Playbill.com's Inside Track blog queried a cross-section of show folk, observers, advocates and readers - and they came up with some doozies. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 31 Dec 2009 | 1:36 pm
Charlie Sheen's fate is in the hands of a higher power now.
Aspen police have wrapped their investigation into the goings-on at Charlie Sheen's house on Christmas morning and...
That little band from Dublin posted another stellar year of ticket sales, with U2's box-office take totaling $123 million, according to the concert-sales gurus at Pollstar. Taking the top spot...
Prada's new ad is out and it turns out, you won't be needing your head come spring! The model's head was halfway lopped off and no one's quite sure who the girl is (but she does have a lovely pout). You will, of course, be needing a hefty, adorned bag, but that's a given. Is this a commentary on losing your head for fashion? Or fashion being more important than identity? Something about how what we wear wears us? Oh, this makes our head hurt. (Wah wah.) On that note, we're off to start our New Year's Eve pre-celebration. We'll be back on Monday, and until then, have a great New Year!
This round goes to Mike Tyson.
The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office will not be pressing battery charges against the ex-con heavyweight in connection with his Nov. 11 dustup with...
My folks saw Heidi Klum and Seal and their kids out in Aspen, with an army of nannies! Just how many nannies does a kid need?
—Jen, Fort Bend, Indiana, via the Answer B!tch...
This comes after Ro spent all October saying her...
Whitney Port illustrates how to wear jeggings in May 2009.
Jeggings really took off this year. Fast-fashion retailers like Topshop and H&M picked up on the jeans-and-leggings combination back in spring 2009, and since then, they just haven't gone away. It didn't help when celebrities like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Whitney Port all modeled the painted-on denim look, which seems to flatter very little, despite being worn so much. Now the Oxford English Dictionary announced that the combination word made the book's new-word wait list, among other terms like "unfriend" and "staycation," both of which seem so real compared to "jeggings." It's not officially in the dictionary until publishers decide that it has become a permanent fixture of the English language, so there is still the possibility that the world will reject these. But with the path they're on right now, jeggings are heading right in the direction of Uggs: here to stay, forever.
According to the real-estate broker, 554 Broome Street is perfect for a celebrity in town for a movie or a Broadway show who needs a luxurious residence (formerly owned by an Italian count!) for a few months at a time. Most celebrities would probably be able to afford the rent and appreciate the open layout, exposed brick, fireplace, and skylight in the bedroom. But it will take a certain breed of star to really appreciate the giant bull's head on the wall, matching thrones, and the giant wine presser suspended from the ceiling. Sharon Stone, we're looking at you for the next time you're in town to do Shakespeare in the Park.
Is 2009 finally over? So many memories! Many of them awful! Sure we had a few good times — on this day one year ago, Ben Silverman was still squandering his brilliance at NBC, Avatar was but only a twinkle on James Cameron's hard drive, and a foolish world doubted the Oscar-hosting abilities of a certain bare-chested Wolverine-portraying Australian — but here's hoping for a better 2010. Before we head down to Times Square for the evening, we leave you with a ranked, slideshow-based list of Vulture's finest 2009 slideshow-based lists. Happy New Year! We'll see you on Monday.
Someone over at AT&T finally realized that a man made infamous for his marriage- and career-decimating naughty text messages may not be the best person to front your cell phone service...
Following in the footsteps of Accenture and Gillette, AT&T has decided to part ways with Tiger Woods, and says it will be ending its sponsorship deal with the lady-loving golfer. [AP]
Tomorrow afternoon when you wake up and start playing that CSI: My Hangover game, just count your blessings that you're not one of the people forced to attend Bloomberg's anticlimactic and low-key third inauguration ceremony at noon:
"About 4,200 people are expected to attend the one-hour ceremony, in which Mr. Liu and Mr. de Blasio will also deliver addresses. The attendees will receive commemorative biodegradable mugs (stainless steel was so 2006), paid for by the mayor and filled with apple cider."
If Bloomberg really loved New Yorkers, he would spike that cider with rum.
All this week, we're counting down the most anticipated series of the new year and recommending what to watch and what highlights to expect from 2010's top TV. Coming in at No. 4 is...
Well, it’s the end of another fine decade*, and as perhaps one of the worst years of said decade comes to a close, it seems most people are happily looking forward to the next ten years rather than reminisce about the last. And it is within these last 10 years that this very blog was born, tiny, pink-faced, glitchy and cranky, and blossomed into a hunchbacked, tourettey, half-broken adult. (Believe Dan and myself, we know the new comments system sucks. It’s like the tiny vodka bottle kept in the cabinet of a former alcoholic. It will make us crack one day.)
But enough about the blog. Let’s talk about pop culture and technology these past 10 years. There were plenty of highlights: CGI and Pixar, The Lord of the Rings phenomenon, Rock Band, flat screen TVs, wireless internet, the birth of viral videos (cockroach weatherman, you know you’re out there), Ken Jennings, American Idol, Six Feet Under, Kelly Clarkson, Steve Carell, Eminem, The Office, The Amazing Race, Kanye, The View, Lambert, Gaga, oh, of course, Dreamgirls… to name a few of our obsessions and advancements over the past 10 years.
But there were plenty of lowlights, too. You had Bob Barker retiring as America’s favorite sexual harasser, Crocs, Crash, Paris Hilton, American Idol, Susan Boyle, Oprah quitting, William Hung, the Gosselins, Lohan, Lohan, Lohan, those incessant IO Digital Cable Commercials, way too many celebrity deaths to even begin to process, and perhaps the most memorable event of the decade to be burned in our memories forever: Watching the towers fall early in the morning on an otherwise perfect fall day. It’s been said plenty already, but it seems most people are more than ready for this decade to be over.
Now, another 10 beautiful years ahead of us to make plenty of mistakes and hopefully fix some of the incredible errors made so far in the “New Millennium.”
And so, an open thread. If you can deal with our comments (and yes, we do read them!), tell us your favorite moments from 2000-2009, pop culture, personally, or otherwise; what is it you’re most hoping for or looking forward to these next 10 years; and what cocktails you’ll be imbibing tonight and where.
Now also seems as good a time as any to thank all of you for continuing to read the blog. All the kinks and issues with it that frustrate you frustrate us to the 10th power, but we appreciate your feedback and dedication. So keep that close to your heart this evening as you celebrate with family and friends. Or alone. Whichever!! We don’t judge here.**
(*Math people, please don’t argue with me on this. Not feelin’ it.)
(**JK, of course. It’s what we’re paid to do!)
FROM US TO YOU, THE BEST NYE SONG THERE IS:
Play this on repeat to show how much we love you. XOXO and Have a Great New Year!
Chris Benz is well on his way to making a hit in the beauty department this coming February. That's when his new lipstick for Lancôme lands in stores, a peachy hue named Chris & Tell that's been in the works and buzzed about for six months, but that's also been totally unavailable. Now wait lists are open at Saks Fifth Avenue and Lancôme boutiques for the $29 tube. The color itself looks just as pastel carrot as the color seen on models in his spring show, and the packaging features the designer alongside model and muse Elettra Weidemann. And with Benz buzzing about this single product for a while now, it would be nice if Lancôme decided to expand the collaboration. When peach lips aren't for everyone, a nice blush will do.
Emmy Rossum and boyfriend Adam Duritz sitting in the stands at last night's Rangers game ... Brad Pitt leaving the Waldorf Astoria with son Pax, and later playing games at Dave & Busters in Times Square ... Angelina Jolie arriving on the set of Salt at Pier 66 ... Catherine Zeta-Jones walking out of her apartment building on Central Park West ... and Sarah Jessica Parkerheading to Lincoln Center with son James for a matinee performance of The Nutcracker.
We’d been wondering about the significance of the year “1901” ever since we first heard Phoenix’s single. Not enough to actually do any research or anything, of course. Luckily, front man Thomas Mars volunteered the information in a performance recorded for Spin, saying, “It’s a song about Paris. Paris in 1901 was better than what it is now. It’s still nice, but 1901 was better. This is a fantasy about Paris." Personally, we prefer the Paris of 1573, but yeah, sure, 1901 was all right. [MusicSlut]
Scott's in truh-buhl!
On Sunday's all-new installment of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kourtney and Scott are preparing for baby, but Kourtney is not happy about how...
Today the Times has a lengthy story about the problems facing glitzy furniture chain Design Within Reach, whose stock has collapsed from $18 a share in its heyday to about 12 cents now. The paper ignores, though, what we've felt has always been the fundamental problem with the store: IT. IS. NOT. WITHIN. REACH. [NYT]
As expected, Hollywood's war on our wallets has resulted in another record-destroying year for box-office receipts: Studios extracted an incredible $10.6 billion from film goers — the most ever, again — owed in large part to inflation and premium-priced tickets for 3-D movies. That total, heroically tallied up by Vulture buddy Paul Dergarabedian (pictured), includes tonight's predicted grosses for Avatar and Sherlock Holmes (presumably Nine's wouldn't have made a difference). Congrats, Hollywood!
Possibly the most obviously anxious of Tiger Woods's sponsors (because his scandal was basically made possible by texting), AT&T announced today that they're dropping their sponsorship of the struggling golfer, joining Tag Heuer, Gillette, and Accenture in firing him. It might really be time for Tiger to make some sort of appearance — staying in hiding is not helping him hold on to sponsorships. [NYDN]
In part because of the attempted bombing in Detroit on Christmas Day, security in Times Square will be heightened this evening. The Times has a rundown of a few reasons it might be better to skip out on the ball drop tonight:
Streets leading in and out of the square will be blocked with metal barriers and police cars. Some subway portals will be shut. Officers with rifles will patrol on rooftops. Others, in plainclothes, will mingle with the crowds to search for pickpockets or would-be terrorists. ... Hundreds of city police officers will have devices affixed to their belts that can detect radiation or the crude makings of a dirty bomb. Machines with similar technology will be on trucks, police boats patrolling the East and Hudson Rivers and on helicopters, [NYPD spokesman Paul Browne] said ... Other devices, deployed by the city’s Environmental Protection Department, will be in place to sniff the air for chemical or biological contaminants, Mr. Browne said. There will be decontamination facilities available, including areas for people to bag their clothes and shower in tents if necessary, he said.
SALES NEW THIS WEEK
• Find up to 70 percent off fall/winter stock at Reiss. 387 W. Broadway, nr. Spring St. (212-925-5707).
• Italian sportswear at Michael is 40 percent off, and the boutique plans to increase markdowns up to 70 percent through February. Through 2/28. 271 W. 4th St., nr. Perry St. (212-206-7722).
STARTING SATURDAY
• Get 20 to 50 percent off winter merchandise at Smoochie Baby. All winter clothes, shoes, boots, and diaper bags are marked down. Joe's jeans are $63.95 (originally $79.99) and Vincent snow boots are $38.50 (originally $49.95). Through 1/15. 110 Berry St., nr. N. 7th St., Brooklyn (718-384-3340); M–S (11–7), Su (noon–6).
ENDING SATURDAY
• Balenciaga is offering 40 percent off select merchandise. Short-sleeve silk cowl-back dresses are $469 (originally $795), gray cloque jackets are $1,189 (originally $1,995), and the black leather woven platform booties are $679 (originally $1,145). Through 1/1. 542 W. 22nd St., nr. Tenth Ave. (212-206-0872); daily (11–7).
ENDING MONDAY
• Get an additional 40 percent off sale prices at Saks for a total of up to 60 percent off select merchandise. Through 1/4. 611 Fifth Ave., at 50th St. (212-753-4000); M–F (10–8), S (10–7), Su (noon–7).
ONGOING
• Winter merchandise from Alexander Wang, Jason Wu, Thakoon, and many more designers is up to 60 percent off at Kirna Zabête. A leather Alexander Wang vest is $476 (originally $1,100), Balmain belted booties are $474 (originally $1,185), and Givenchy skinny jeans are $198 (originally $405). Ongoing. 96 Greene St., nr. Spring St. (212-941-9656); M–S (11–7), Su (noon–6).
• Get 50 percent off at Versace at the label's rare after-Christmas sale. Ongoing. 647 Fifth Ave., at 52nd St. (212-317-0224); M–S (10–7), Su (noon–6).
• Select merchandise is 20 to 70 percent off at Norma Kamali. The all-in-one black-and-white striped tunic is just $75, the jersey lifestyle line is 20 to 50 percent off, and assorted parachute styles are up to 70 percent off. Ongoing. 11 W. 56th St., nr. Fifth Ave. (212-957-9797); M–S (10–6), Su (closed).
• Shop Acne Studio's end-of-season sale, featuring up to 50 percent off their fall/winter merchandise. Men's and women's clothes, denim, and accessories are all discounted. Ongoing. 10 Greene St., nr. Canal St. (212-625-2828); M–S (11–7), Su (noon–7).
• Pre-fall and fall/winter 2009 merchandise is up to 50 percent off at Zero + Maria Cornejo. The Alana wool Funnel coat is $667 (originally $1,111), the leather Duo jacket in crackled leather is $995 (originally $1,990), and the silk charmeuse Nella dress is $199 (originally $499). Through 1/5. 33 Bleecker St., nr. Lafayette St. (212-925-3849) and 807 Greenwich St., at Jane St. (212-620-0460); M–S (12–7), Su (12–6).
• Select merchandise is 60 percent off at Pixie Market, both in store and online. Shop discounts on independent brands like Carin Wester, Seneca Rising, and Best Behavior. Through 1/15. 100 Stanton St., nr. Ludlow St. (212-253-0953); daily (noon–8).
• Select merchandise is up to 75 percent off at ABC Carpet & Home, including jewelry, lighting, furniture, rugs, and tabletop accessories. There are also special discounts on products by Tom Dixon, Gus Modern, Geography, and Zollanvari. Through 1/24. Various hours and locations.
City and state officials aren't going to let you ride the subway for free tonight. (Fares were suspended in 1984 and 1985 in an effort to discourage New Year's Eve drunk driving; the MTA discontinued the program due to budget issues.) But you may still get a free trip home anyway. Cîroc and the vodka company's unfailingly responsible spokesman, Diddy, will distribute "thousands of" free Metrocards and $15 taxi debit cards tonight from 8-11pm as part of a PR stunt called "Safe Rides." The downside: You'll have to go to the meatpacking district or far West Chelsea club zone to get them. [NYT]
Rush Limbaugh is resting comfortably after being hospitalized for chest pains in Honolulu last night, and the shock jock reportedly told paramedics that he was taking medication for "a back problem." TV news outlets are reporting that straight, without commentary, as they probably should until more information comes in. After all, there are probably medications for "back problems" that are not painkillers like the ones to which Rush was addicted and faced jail time in 2006 for attempting to procure. At the time, Rush attributed his addiction to back pain.
Shuttering musical Ragtime will stay open a week past its previously announced closing date of January 3, owing to a sudden spike in sales. Producer Kevin McCollum explains: "It's demand, it's that people were waiting to see Ragtime, and they know it’s still here, so we’re getting a great amount of interest in tickets." But will any ticket-holders show up now that they know they'll have seven more days to catch it? [ArtsBeat/NYT]
"New Year's to me is going to New York when I'm 16, not getting into some club, the ball drops when I'm standing outside freezing, and calling my mom at 3 a.m., saying, 'Can you please pick me up?' I have 1,000 bad New Year's stories. That's why I don't go out anymore." —Twilight star Peter Facinelli at Z100's Jingle Ball, telling New York about his worst New Year's stories
• It's been a long and windy road, but it looks like Gisele Bundchen's quest to sell off her NYC real estate holdings is complete. Less than a month after she went into contract to sell her townhouse at 42 Barrow Street, the supermodel and new mom has officially sealed the deal. An entity identified as Barrow Street LLC paid $12.95 million for the 5,000-square-foot home, which is $1 million less than what she was seeking when she put it on the market in September. It's Gisele's second sale in recent weeks: She unloaded her triplex penthouse on West 11th Street back in November for $4.4 million. [Cityfile]
• Ravi Singh, a managing director at Credit Suisse, has sold his four-bedroom apartment at 15 CPW for $25 million, which is $2.5 million more than its most recent asking price but $7 million less than what he first listed it for last year. Singh made out well nonetheless. He picked up the 7th-floor apartment in 2008 for $15.87 million. [Real Deal] • Jewelry designer Anna Bulgari has sold her two-bedroom apartment at 31 East 79th Street. The co-op, which went on the market for $3.7 million last month, sold for $3.49 million to fellow society fixture Liliane Peck. [Cityfile]
Time Warner Cable and Fox still haven't settled their payment dispute, but one man is fighting to avoid a blackout: John Kerry has promised that if Fox does pull its signal at the midnight deadline, he’ll "ask the FCC to intervene and mandate continued carriage." Why is a prominent U.S. senator getting involved in the tiff? It could be because he’s the chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communication, Technology, and the Internet. It could also be because he really doesn't want to miss The Cleveland Show. [CompanyTown/LAT]
The decade has barely begun to close and already new trends have emerged, at least in men's underwear. Out are the overlabeled, overdesigned boxer briefs that we've seen worn by many a hot model and star. In are tighty-whities. Purists, you may celebrate. Perhaps this new minimalism is a riff off the early nineties, but even the undies back then were laden with labels. What's even better about the new whities is that they're economical: Calvin's come in packs of three for $24.50 at Macy's! You really can't beat that.
Of course, this is the opposite of a trend earlier this year that had waistbands adorned with multicolored stripes, neon, patterns, and texture; you name it. And pink manties were enjoying a 62 percent sales boost for a while back in April, as well. But we kind of prefer this new age of simplicity. What about you? Do you like the tighty-whities or do you prefer something more colorful?
You know those people who blast Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, or Flo Rida on their iPods on the subway, thinking that they are the only people in the car who can hear it? You know, the people who tempt you, halfway down the car, to dance along to the music just to let them know how effing loud it is? (Not the people who sing aloud to the song only they are hearing, because that's an entirely different breed.) Often we wonder if all that noise hurts their ears. And some of those people say it does, and joined a class-action suit over claims of hearing damage that has gone all the way up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Yesterday the court ruled against the plaintiffs, not because it's their own damn fault for playing the music so loud in the first place (why does the subway turn us into crotchety old men?), but because they couldn't prove that the iPod posed an "unreasonable risk of noise-induced hearing loss." Apple shares climbed $2.54 after the news.
Get excited, ladies! Scholastic today announced plans to bring back Ann M. Martin's The Baby-Sitters Club series, which tracked the wholesome exploits of a topflight squadron of entrepreneurial seventh-grade child-care experts in 213 books published between 1986 and 2000. Coming in April are repackaged versions of the first two BSC titles (which are currently out of print) — Kristy’s Great Idea and Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls — along with an all-new prequel by Martin, The Baby-Sitters Club: The Summer Before, which will reveal for the first time the pre-club origin stories of Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and Mary Anne. The reissues will be lightly revised to appeal to today's world-weary pre-teen readers (the babysitters will no longer use cassette players or have perms, reports the Times), and, in a concession to the Twilight-obsessed YA book market, include even more abstinence.
On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the first official crossing of the Manhattan Bridge, New York's paper of record looks back on its troubled history, and dubs it the "Rodney Dangerfield of the city’s bridges." Way harsh, Times. [NYT]
Today in The Wall Street Journal: How to toilet train your cat! Anne Marie Chaker takes us through the common methods (which include special toilet-top devices) and even assesses the risks. It seems that if you try to potty train your cat and fail, it might never use a litter box again. The article is a classic example of the impossibility of writing about cats without sounding at least a little pathetic:
"I have spent hours in the bathroom, just me and my cat."
And then there's the sad tale of a lady whose cat-toilet-training misadventure even affected her dating life (of course it did):
"About a year ago, she began efforts to toilet-train him using a plastic mixing bowl filled with litter inserted into her toilet — but the mess Ninja made became a turnoff to guests who came over.
"The guy I was dating at the time stopped using the bathroom at my house," she recalls. It also required her to remember to clear the toilet before visitors came or they might have to deal with some unpleasantness if they needed to use the bathroom. "I felt bad inflicting that on my guests," she says. She and Ninja finally gave up after six months, and he seamlessly went back to a litter box."
It's actually a pretty fascinating article, even if you don't have any opinion about cats.
The pastel "Les choristes" also called "Les Figurants" by French master Edgar Degas. Thieves stole the valuable painting by 19th century artist Degas overnight from a French museum, police said. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 31 Dec 2009 | 9:03 am
As the year draws to a close, we find ourselves thinking back to the celebrities we lost in 2009. And as we try to honor each of them in our own special way, we know that we will never, ever be able to find a way quite as special as how Mattheu Hinton has honored Michael Jackson. We first met Hinton, the 36-year-old director of strategic alliances and brand management at Universal Motown Republic Group, in September at a GQ charity event for which he'd booked the musical guests, Kid Cudi and Akon. He was networking and enjoying his glory moment in a nice suit and tie. Then he turned around, and we almost fell to the floor. Like some party-hopping Professor Quirrell, the back of his head had another face! And not just any face. MJ's face.
We recently checked back in with Hinton, who tells us that his "ode to Michael" is still going strong. It all began two weeks after Michael's death, when Hinton started feeling like he hadn't done enough. So he paid a visit to his longtime barber, Master Strong Guy, who also gave Hinton the "hair tattoo" of Obama he'd rocked for months after the Inauguration. When Hinton walked into the barber shop and asked for a Thriller-era Jackson on the back of his head, Strong told him, "'I was waiting for you. I knew you were going to be the one.' "
Hinton goes in every Sunday for maintenance and Strong adds more curls or perfects the lips. He likes the attention it gets when he walks down the street, and the stories about Jackson he gets to hear. "When people touch the back of my head, it reminds me how many people Michael touched," he says.
Navigating business meetings — Hinton matches musicians like Lil Wayne and Erykah Badu with commercial brands — has proven more difficult. "I have to wear certain things to balance it out," he says, "but I can't cover him, and I wouldn't. The funny thing is that because it's Michael, it kind of stops the meeting. From the front you can see there's something there, so when I walk in the room, I say, 'And by the way, I have an ode to Michael.' You know, just get it out there. But in music, we're allowed to be edgy; women have really bizarre haircuts. I think it shows them, 'He's a forward thinker, he's a guy who knows how to connect the dots, he's a guy who has a finger on the pulse.'"
In the New Year, Hinton plans to move to a more nostalgic Michael-with-Afro image inspired by This Is It, which he saw twice (he also bought the CD). And in a month, or at least by March, he'll shave it all off. "It was my ode and I don't want to run it in the hole," he says. "Eventually, of course, I'll go back to being normal."
Here's Hinton's barber, Master Strong Guy, admiring his handiwork:
• Hugo Boss announced that it will be closing its plant in Cleveland, Ohio, and plans to lay off 300 workers. The employees will be paid through the end of April. [StyleList]
• PETA named Tim Gunn Man of the Year. Gunn narrated the PETA documentary Fashion Victims this year. [E! Online]
• Taylor Momsen on her style: "I like to wear a lot of baggy things. Like, I buy guys' clothes, like T-shirts, and I cut them up and wear them loose, but my blazers have to be really fitted. I also like layering things and really short skirts — or showing off my legs." [Seventeen]
• Because of stormy weather during the weekend before Christmas, online sales grew. [WWD]
• Queen Elizabeth II named several fashion figures as Officers of the Order of the British Empire on her 2009 New Year Honors list, including milliner Stephen Jones, Amanda Wakeley, and Michelle Mone, founder of lingerie company MJM International. [WWD]
• Labels who don't embrace digital media risk looking like they lag behind the times. Prada and Balenciaga have websites that are very plain, while Burberry launched a whole interactive marketing campaign and allots 40 percent of its marketing budget to digital media. [NYT]
• Prices increased over the last decade. From 1999 to today, the price of a Gucci purse increased 600 percent. [Madison Avenue Spy]
• The mystery of Maison Martin Margiela's workshop is revealed ... through a video. [HuffPo]
• Alexa Chung stars in the Pepe Jeans spring 2010 campaign. [Fashion Verbatim]
A woman looks at an Edgar Degas painting in the Cantini Museum, Marseilles. Thieves stole a valuable painting by 19th century artist Degas overnight from the French museum, police said Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 31 Dec 2009 | 8:58 am
Terry Gilliam’s latest, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, debuted in limited release last week to sterling box office, and it will be expanding soon across the country. This should come as a huge relief to Gilliam himself, who recently confessed to us that he always worries about becoming cynical and losing his drive. In honor of Parnassus’s release — and also because we could all use some poisoned Christmas cards right about now — we offer up the director’s first short animated film, a hilarious and surreal three-part wonder from 1968 called Storytime. It will no doubt remind viewers of the elaborately absurdist animated shorts Gilliam would create for Monty Python’s Flying Circus starting the following year. It also appears to be the source of one of the most famous gags from 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Say what you will about the year that was, but when it came to amusing, high-profile leaks born out of general incompetency, 2009 did not disappoint. The biggest of all came in April, when Fox was unable to keep a DVD screener of their blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine from leaking a month before its release date (impressively, it made a boatload of money anyways). Earlier this month we saw Amazon get so flustered by the many push backs for Lil Wayne’s Rebirth that they accidentally sent out copies a month and a half early. (Thanks, Amazon!) Then, just yesterday, Armored joined the club. For about five hours, the movie — a Matt Dillon armored-truck drama, released by Sony Pictures on December 4 and still very much in theaters — was accidentally, inexplicably made available for free in the Sony PlayStation Store, where it could be easily downloaded to PSPs and PS3s. Whoops! And so we close out the year on a high note for amusing leaks, and some comfort for Rebirth and Wolverine: Hey, at least you weren’t leaked by your own companies.
Normally when we hear someone is suing Paris Hilton, we smirk a bit and move on. But this time we have to actually pause and, bear with us, take her side. Gwyneth Shoes is suing Paris because the insoles of her shoes are too similar to theirs. The insoles. We'd show you what the big ruckus was about, but there weren't any photos because they're inside the shoe, where you can't see them. Paris said on her website, "I personally chose the styling, design, materials and colors for the line and also wanted to make sure it was super-comfortable! Each shoe has a heart-shaped comfort pad sewn in ... so you can dance all night long!" So heart-shaped pads are the sole property of Gwyneth Shoes? Gotcha. Because we've bought some foot cushions that are rather heartlike, and put them in our shoes. You can buy them, too! (And yes, they are great for dancing all night.)
Gwyneth is asking a judge for an unspecified amount of money and no doubt, a ton of publicity. Sue Paris? Get in the papers! We checked out the shoes and the press they've received up until now and while the shoes are fine (though not exactly standing out in the market), the company clearly needed something to give them a boost. And Paris took the fall. And yes, it bothers us immensely to have to defend Paris Hilton. But in the immortal words of Billie Jean, fair is fair.
Diane von Furstenberg's spent the past week on the slopes in Aspen; today she'll celebrate her 63rd birthday. Other people turning a year older on New Year's Eve: Val Kilmer is turning 50. Bebe Neuwirth is 51. Anthony Hopkins turns 73. Ben Kingsley is turning 66. Donald Trump Jr. is 32. Famed attorney Joe Flom is 86. Real estate developer Ed Minskoff is 69. Author Nicholas Sparks turns 44. Donna Summers is 61. Gong Li is turning 44. And New Kids on the Block alum Joey McIntyre is 37 as of today. A bunch of people celebrating tomorrow below.
January 1 birthdays: Billionaire financier Ron Perelman (67); designer Georgina Chapman (34); former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine (63); Grandmaster Flash (51); New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (56); DJ John Digweed (42); author J. D. Salinger (91); little person/actor Verne Troyer (41); and Tiger Woods' scorned wife Elin Nordegren (30).
Remember two days ago when Reuters inferred from an interview with a Weinstein Company executive that Nine's wide release would be scaled back due to crappy reviews and public disinterest? Not happening! "At this moment in time there has been no plan between us nor the theater chains that we deal with to cut any theaters," says TWC's David Glasser. Nine will play on 1,412 screens this weekend, the same as last — good news for moviegoers seeking some time alone. [Reuters]
Achmed the Dead Terrorist has been all but buried on Comedy Central. Press representatives for the channel said on Tuesday that its hit series featuring that contentious puppet — not to mention Jeff Dunham, the man with a hand up his back — will not be picked up for a second season, confirming a report that appeared in The Hollywood Reporter…
The decision comes as a bit of a surprise given that “Jeff Dunham’s Very Special Christmas Special,” a performance shown on Comedy Central in 2008, is that channel’s most-viewed broadcast ever, drawing 6.6 million viewers, and that the premiere of “The Jeff Dunham Show” was watched by 5.3 million viewers.
As much as I’d like to express unbridled triumph on behalf of human taste that this cancellation occurred, I’m still hesitant to get excited; on one hand, I know you shouldn’t stare a gift horse in the mouth — my 19th century prospector uncle always told be that — but on the other hand, terrible things will always exist and be really popular, and complaining about them is never worth the energy it always seems to require, so I’m not gonna throw a party or anything.
My New Year’s Party, on the other hand, will proceed as scheduled.
Rihanna may be adding spikes and sharp objects to her clothes, but you don't have to put yourself in harm's way just to keep up. Instead, try toning down the look with this blazer by Free People. Each of the two front pockets feature a slim line of gold pyramid studs, and the thin jacket is cinched by one single button in the center. Sometimes playing it safe looks just as good.
Charlie Sheen's fate is in the hands of a higher power now.
Aspen police have wrapped their investigation into the goings-on at Charlie Sheen's house on Christmas morning and...
That little band from Dublin posted another stellar year of ticket sales, with U2's box-office take totaling $123 million, according to the concert-sales gurus at Pollstar. Taking the top spot...
This round goes to Mike Tyson.
The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office will not be pressing battery charges against the ex-con heavyweight in connection with his Nov. 11 dustup with...
My folks saw Heidi Klum and Seal and their kids out in Aspen, with an army of nannies! Just how many nannies does a kid need?
—Jen, Fort Bend, Indiana, via the Answer B!tch...
Someone over at AT&T finally realized that a man made infamous for his marriage- and career-decimating naughty text messages may not be the best person to front your cell phone service...
All this week, we're counting down the most anticipated series of the new year and recommending what to watch and what highlights to expect from 2010's top TV. Coming in at No. 4 is...
But enough about the blog. Let’s talk about pop culture and technology these past 10 years. There were plenty of highlights: CGI and Pixar, The Lord of the Rings phenomenon, Rock Band, flat screen TVs, wireless internet, the birth of viral videos (cockroach weatherman, you know you’re out there), Ken Jennings, American Idol, Six Feet Under, Kelly Clarkson, Steve Carell, Eminem, The Office, The Amazing Race, Kanye, The View, Lambert, Gaga, oh, of course, Dreamgirls… to name a few of our obsessions and advancements over the past 10 years.
Scott's in truh-buhl!
On Sunday's all-new installment of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kourtney and Scott are preparing for baby, but Kourtney is not happy about how...
Rumors had been circulating this week, but now Comedy Central has 
