(Reuters)

Reuters - Milan's menswear shows kicked off on Saturday with major Italian designer names Dolce & Gabbana turning to a film about Sicily as inspiration and Giorgio Armani looking to geometry and urban grey for next winter's fashion.

Source: Yahoo! News: Fashion News | 16 Jan 2010 | 12:59 pm

Tiger Woods Is Not Where You Think He Is

Tiger Woods is in New York City. And the Bahamas. And Palm Beach. And Tucson, Arizona. And Phoenix, Arizona. And Mississippi. Busy guy....

Source: E! Online (US) - Top Stories | 16 Jan 2010 | 12:58 pm

Tom & Katie: Suri Picks Out All Her Own Clothes!

With Suri Cruise being one of the most fashionable Hollywood kids around, it's easy to assume that mom Katie Holmes is the one doing the styling. Turns out three-year-old Suri does...

Source: E! Online (US) - Top Stories | 16 Jan 2010 | 12:48 pm

Woody Harrelson is Okay With Not Winning More Awards for The Messenger

Like all other nominees for Best Supporting Actor (Drama) in tomorrow's Golden Globes, Woody Harrelson, who plays an intense, bad-news-bearing Army captain in The Messenger, will probably just have to consider himself lucky enough to lose to Christoph Waltz. And though Harrelson's Oscars stock has been rising steadily, with the Globes nod and a SAG nomination and a win from the National Board of Review, the reality of the situation does not escape him. "Fortunately, I saw Inglourious Basterds. I saw The Last Station. I have no illusion that I'm going to win anything at this point. So it's an easy ride for me!" he said, smiling and chomping on vegan risotto at a luncheon for The Messenger at Monkey Bar earlier this week.

Harrelson has done more publicity for The Messenger than he's done for any other movie in his career, including trekking out to every film festival that's showed it, from Sarasota to Woodstock. And the pre-premiere rounds have now blended into awards-season campaigning rounds. "I just go where they tell me, the dog and pony show," he says. "It really is shameless self-promotion. I just try to take it as fun and hanging out with cool folks and old friends and just having a fun time. It's not like I have this overwhelming desire to win anything and get nominated for anything." Why, because wanting to win turns good people into monsters? "Really," he said, "it's just a matter of dashed hopes that's the big issue."

In his effort to make awards season as much fun as possible, Harrelson and his co-star Ben Foster partook in midday Bloody Marys at a luncheon where all other glasses contained water or white wine. The duo, who spend all their time at awards shows hanging out together with the film's director, Oren Moverman, and producer, Lawrence Inglee, popped out frequently to smoke. (Foster had a pack of Winstons in each of his shirt pockets.) "We shot the film two years ago and we're like the last kids at the party to leave," said Foster. "When you find your group, it feels good. Friends like that don't show up very often, and we know it." That doesn't mean Harrelson is going to convince his new pal to turn vegan any time soon, though. "Fuck no!" said Foster. "Get me blood in a bowl and a straw. We tolerate each other's eccentricities."

Most of their interactions seemed to shift between deep, philosophical discussions and Foster's porkpie hat, which, Harrelson announced to Moverman, he planned to steal. "I am a thief," he said. "I cannot lie." This was not, apparently, an isolated occurrence. "If you wear a hat around Woody, inevitably he will be wearing it by the end of the night, and then neither of you will ever see it again," Moverman explained. "We've all learned that if you like a hat now, you have to buy two." Said Harrelson, "I'm a little bit Marxist when it comes to clothes. They're communal property. I stole this jacket from somebody and somebody will probably steal this jacket from me. And I'm going to steal Ben's hat before he leaves. He just doesn't know it yet." (For the record, Foster still had his hat by the luncheon's end.)

At the end of this halcyon period of downing hard liquor and chain smoking at awards shows together, if the gang of four walk away with nothing but each other's clothes, it's okay. They like working together so much that they're all planning to do another movie together with the production company Foster and Moverman just started together. (We think, they were all being vague.) Harrelson will star as a policeman in what he said is "probably the best role I've ever read. This one [in The Messenger] is going to have to take number two." Inglee, who's also producing, said Foster will have a small part, too, but it's mostly going to be about Harrelson in a "total body transformation." He didn't want to say much more for fear of jinxing the movie, but did offer this: "It'll do for another world of uniformed people what The Messenger did for the soldiers. And you know, it's funny, Woody said he could do a lot of things acting, but there are two things he could never do. One is to play a soldier, and the other is to play a cop."

Read more posts by Jada Yuan

Filed Under: golden globes, kudos, the messenger, woody harrelson

Source: Vulture | 16 Jan 2010 | 12:45 pm

Food, Sex, and Same-Sex Kisses at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards in Hollywood (Fashion Wire Daily)

Fashion Wire Daily - Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep sharing a kiss in front of hundreds of Hollywood's biggest stars? You see the strangest and most wonderful things at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and the 15th Annual show held at the Hollywood Palladium on Friday, Jan. 15, once again proved that the Broadcast Film Critics really know how to throw a party.

Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 16 Jan 2010 | 12:36 pm

Food, Sex, and Same-Sex Kisses at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards in Hollywood (Fashion Wire Daily)

Fashion Wire Daily - Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep sharing a kiss in front of hundreds of Hollywood's biggest stars? You see the strangest and most wonderful things at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and the 15th Annual show held at the Hollywood Palladium on Friday, Jan. 15, once again proved that the Broadcast Film Critics really know how to throw a party.

Source: Yahoo! News: Fashion News | 16 Jan 2010 | 12:36 pm

Outrage: NBC Will Get the Masturbating Bear in the Conan Divorce

Because all recurring characters like Pimpbot and The Masturbating Bear, and sketches like "In the Year 2000" are NBC's intellectual property, they'll be keeping them if and when they reach a settlement with Conan O'Brien and he moves on to another network. And by keeping them, we of course mean killing them. If NBC were a creature of Greek mythology, it would be Medea. [THR]

Read more posts by Lindsay Robertson

Filed Under: late shifting, conan o'brien, jay leno, masturbating bear, nbc, the tonight show with conan o'brien

Source: Vulture | 16 Jan 2010 | 12:24 pm

Medvedev's photo gets $1.7M at charity auction

President Dmitry Medvedev has outdone his powerful predecessor _ as an artist. A photograph Medvedev took of the kremlin, or fortress, in a Siberian town sold for 51 million rubles ($1.7
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 16 Jan 2010 | 11:58 am

Text Donations to Haiti: the Good News and the (Slightly) Bad News

The good news about that $10 donation you sent by texting "Haiti" to 90999 this week? It's already being used to help, and $10 million has already been raised this way, surely much more because of the convenience of texting. The bad news? Because cell phone carriers are not creditors and have to wait for you to pay your bill to forward the money on, it won't actually reach the Red Cross's coffers for 90 days. The donation is still very meaningful -- the Red Cross will spend money now knowing your donation has been pledged, and as their spokesperson points out "We'll still be here in 90 days," but if you want your money going to relief in Haiti right now, the best way to do it is to donate directly online. UPDATE: One carrier, Verizon, is waiving the 90 days, Sprint is getting 80% of donations out, and others are "looking into" speeding up donations.

How Your Text Message Donation Gets to Haiti [CNN Money]
American Red Cross: Donate Now [Red Cross]

Read more posts by Lindsay Robertson

Filed Under: haiti, charity, haiti earthquake, red cross, texting

Source: Daily Intel | 16 Jan 2010 | 11:10 am

Satan's Open Letter to Pat Robertson

Pat's a dealbreaker, ladies!

A Minneapolis Star-Tribune reader named Lily Coyle drafted the perfect answer to Pat Robertson's Haiti hate-speech earlier this week. It's almost enough to make the Bad Thoughts of the Bad Things we want to happen to Pat Robertson stop running on a constant Bad Loop in our head. And, as Elizabeth Spiers points out on her blog, it's What Mark Twain Would Do!):

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.

Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll.

You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan

LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS

As the kids would say, Lily Coyle FTW.

Letter of the day: Haiti suffers, and Robertson sees the hand of Satan [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
Via Elizabeth Spiers [Spiers.Tumblr]

Filed Under: satire, haiti, haiti earthquake, pat robertson

Source: Daily Intel | 16 Jan 2010 | 10:45 am

Anderson Cooper: ‘There’s Just Stupid Death Happening Here Now’

"Disaster fatigue" is a terrible concept when it describes the public's interest in a tragedy, but in the case of the journalists who are in Haiti right now who are trying to help as well as report, it's a real thing. Obviously, it's the people of Haiti who deserve the most attention and compassion, but as Alessandra Stanley points out in the Times today, unlike many disasters (or, we'd add, near-disasters, such as Balloon Boy or the annual parade of hurricane near-misses), "The Haiti story needs no hyping. If anything, television understates the horror by balancing harrowing sights with miniature portraits of hope."

As Stanley also points out, the public needs the hope stories to continue caring and giving, but one journalist is balancing the others' stories of hope with his own outrage at the senseless death he's witnessing. Anderson Cooper, who was one of the very first reporters on the ground in Port-au-Prince, where he's reported constantly ever since, usually covered in dirt and sweat and unable to hide emotions ranging from outrage to despair to terror, is the guy we've been glued to in order to help us understand the crisis — and, believe us, we're usually the last to praise TV reporters covering disasters. This time, though, there's nothing remotely sensational about Cooper's coverage.

Last night in an appearance on Larry King Live, Cooper described the bodies piled up and the frustration of senseless death: "There's just stupid death happening here now. It doesn't have to happen, and it's really upsetting to see. A little girl is dying because her leg was crushed. Someone doesn't have to die of that. A leg can be amputated if there's a doctor there to do it. If there's antibiotics, they can take an infection to be treated. It doesn't have to spread through the body and kill somebody. It's really stupid. It's infuriating. People died today who did not need to die. People will die tonight, in the next hour, who do not need to die."

Broadcast Coverage: Compassion and Self-Congratulation [NYT]
Cooper: 'Stupid Death' [CNN]

Read more posts by Lindsay Robertson

Filed Under: haiti, anderson cooper, cnn, earthquakes, haiti earthquake, larry king, larry king live, port-au-prince

Source: Daily Intel | 16 Jan 2010 | 10:20 am

Mo'Nique is Now Referring All Questions on Her Oscar Indifference to Her Husband

After months of being asked about her refusal to campaign for an Oscar for Precious, Mo'Nique has apparently had enough, and is now referring all questions regarding her indifference to her manager/husband, Sidney Hicks. When the issue was raised in the press room at last night's Critics' Choice Awards after she won for Best Supporting Actress, Mo'Nique sweetly said, "Any questions you guys have pertaining to my performance I am more than happy to answer. Any questions you guys have pertaining to our business you can ask him." Hicks joined her at the podium and said "I can understand why others would criticize that. Often people make accusations based on not having all the facts. I don't know if you know this, but she is the first woman of African American descent to ever have a late night TV show in conjunction to being that she is a mother. She is also a wife…. She would rather play a bad mother in movies than play a bad one in real life." So there!

Some other moments from the show and backstage:

The night's best moment came when Meryl Streep won Best Actress. . . and so did Sandra Bullock. "This is bullshit!" Bullock shouted as she came up to accept her award for the tie, then grabbed Streep for an open-mouthed kiss and dedicated her win "to the critics. I bet you never saw this coming." In the press room, a typically gracious Streep said she'd actually "had a marathon this weekend watching [Sandra Bullock's] movies, and not just these films, [The Blind Side and The Proposal], but a lot of other ones, when she was even younger than she is and just as beautiful." We're pretty sure she's referring to Miss Congeniality and Miss Congeniality 2. She turned to Bullock. "You have an amazing gift you really do. There are things that look effortless and easy but they're the hardest thing sin the world to do. Just to have that charm. This woman has it in spades.... I'm proud of you." A reporter later asked Bullock backstage how she has managed to remain "the most amazing person ever." "Because I'm an excellent actress!" she deadpanned.

Early in the show, Tobey Maguire spoke onstage of the earthquake tragedy in Haiti, and backstage the press took that to mean that he had deputized them to make sure celebrities were doing enough for the cause. Asked whether he was pulling his weight, Kevin Bacon (winner of the honorary Joel Siegel Award), had a long explanation of how his charity, sixdegrees.org, had immediately linked to aid organizations. Bacon was deemed appropriately charitable. They tried to prompt Sandra Bullock to brag about her $1 million donation to Doctors' Without Borders efforts in Haiti, but she wasn't playing: "Could you just talk about the recent tragedy in Haiti and if you've helped?" "I have." "Care to elaborate?" "No."

When the cast and director of The Hangover (winners for Best Comedy) were grilled, they at first tried to play ball, but then realized the utter absurdity of the cast and director of The Hangover speaking out on a global dilemma. Ken Jeong began respectfully enough, saying "It is a dire tragedy and our thoughts and prayers are with them. There's been a text messaging campaign raising millions of dollars and my wife and I are supporting. It does put all this in perspective; we're just trying to entertain and so our thoughts are definitely on helping the survivors." He then concluded, "I'd like to talk about my tiny penis if that is possible." Director Todd Phillips then said to the journalist who posed the question, "Really, way to take all the air out of the room, young lady." Added Justin Bartha, "Do you want to ask anything about Darfur?"

Read more posts by Corey Scholibo

Filed Under: party chat, critics' choice awards, julie and julia, justin bartha, ken jeong, kevin bacon, kudos, meryl streep, mo'nique, precious, sandra bullock, the blind side, the hangover, todd phillips

Source: Vulture | 16 Jan 2010 | 8:50 am

Conan's NBC Settlement Expected Soon, but the Battle of the Jokes Rages On

Laughing through the pain.

The New York Times is reporting that both sides of Conan O'Brien's dispute with NBC are meeting again today to hammer out the details of his settlement, which the Times estimates will be around $30 million. But that didn't stop Conan from devoting the majority of his show again last night to cracks and skits about the conflict and his impending departure from the network:

"In the press this week, NBC has been calling me every name in the book. In fact, they think I'm such an idiot they now want me to run the network."

Jay Leno also got in a few toothless barbs at NBC:

"Are you excited about the winter Olympics next month in Vancouver? If you can't wait until next month, stay on this channel between 10:00 and midnight and you will see NBC's coverage of 'Two Hosts Skating on Thin Ice.'"

The closest Leno came to approaching anything humorous was a jab at David Letterman's sex scandal:

"Even Dave Letterman is taking shots at me, which surprised me. Usually he's just taking shots at the interns."

The funniest of Conan's sketches, in which he and Andy try to auction off Tonight Show swag Home Shopping Network-style, devolved into the maniacal laughter of the bitter and overtired. You have to kind of wonder what Andy, famously the victim of so many wrong-headed and unjust cancellations himself, is thinking about the whole thing. That clip, and another funny sketch from last night's Conan, after the jump.

Conan and Andy's NBC parking lot shootout:

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien [NBC]
Agreement Expected in NBC’s Talks With O’Brien [NYT]

Read more posts by Lindsay Robertson

Filed Under: late shifting, andy richter, conan o'brien, david letterman, jay leno, jeff zucker, nbc, the jay leno show, the tonight show with conan o'brien, video

Source: Vulture | 16 Jan 2010 | 7:00 am

A poster for the film "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq", a spin-off movie from the hit TV series

A girl walks past a billboard showing the poster for a Turkish film called "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq", a spin-off movie from the hit TV series "Valley of the Wolves". The scriptwriter of a Turkish television...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 16 Jan 2010 | 5:56 am

Ozdener is the scriptwriter of "Valley of the Wolves"

Turkish screenplay writer Bahadir Oezdener pictured in 2006 in Berlin. The scriptwriter of a Turkish television series that sparked a diplomatic row with Israel has said his team is working on a movie...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 16 Jan 2010 | 5:56 am

Armani says will never sell empire: report (Reuters)

Reuters - Giorgio Armani will never sell his fashion empire and has no plans to hand over any of his workload, the 75-year old designer was quoted as saying on Saturday as his autumn/winter fashion shows kicked off.
Source: Yahoo! News: Fashion News | 16 Jan 2010 | 5:10 am