Reuters - Vivendi's Universal Music Group has signed a new, long-term global deal with Andrew Lloyd Webber, allowing it to distribute and market hits from the composer behind "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Evita." Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 23 Feb 2010 | 3:03 am
•Archer! Do you like this show about a spy on FX? We do. It's being renewed for another 13-episode season because everyone likes it so much. The new season starts in 2011. [Variety]
•Another day, another threatened UK Alice in Wonderland boycott. Today, theater chain Odeon has said it will boycott the film because Disney is shortening the release window from 17 weeks to 12 weeks. Wait... England is another country. Why are we even writing about this? [TheWrap]
(Reuters) Reuters - Because Oscar organizers are pulling out all the stops to promote the Academy Awards on March 7, they might consider billing the costume design category as a smackdown for the "Project Runway" set. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 23 Feb 2010 | 12:37 am
Last night Stephen Colbert asked Shaun White about the differences between snowboarders and figure skaters and White's sparkly compatriots might not like his response. Tricky questions continued on The Daily Show, where Ricky Gervais proposed a scenario to Jon Stewart that began, "If we were in prison..." Finally, Craig Ferguson saw the benefits of having his legs broken. Watch our compilation to see what you missed.
Reuters - The BBC and PBS are developing a remake of "Upstairs Downstairs," as well as a contemporary update of "Sherlock Holmes." Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 23 Feb 2010 | 12:07 am
Back To Black(beard): Deadwood’s Ian McShane is in talks to play the villain Blackbeard in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the upcoming fourth film in the series. The Rob Marshall-helmed movie, from a script by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, would pit McShane as the nemesis of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, who is on a quest for the Fountain of Youth. Though let's hope he doesn't actually reach the fountain or we'll be dealing with these sequels for the next 50 years. [Variety]
Cheaters: Kevin James is in talks to join Ron Howard’s “untitled cheating project” (that's seriously how the Hollywood Reporter is referring to it) for Universal, starring Vince Vaughn. The plot centers on a man (James) who finds out his best friend’s wife is having an affair, and then must figure out what to do next. Frankly, we'd be more interested in a story about an Oscar winner who finds out he's directing an "untitled cheating project" with Kevin James, and then must figure out what to do next. [HR]
Life After Jim: Jim Belushi will star in the CBS legal drama pilot The Defenders, written by Niels Mueller and Kevin Kennedy and directed by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth). Coming off of a long stint on the comedy series According to Jim, Belushi will play a Las Vegas attorney with Draper-esque “marital and drinking issues,” marking perhaps the only time “Belushi” and “Draper” (debatably) belong in the same sentence. [Variety]
Who Gets The Leads?: Jane Kaczmarek (Malcom in the Middle) and Adam Arkin (Sons of Anarchy) will play the leads in ABC’s comedy pilot Who Gets The Parents?, in which they portray a couple who divorces after thirty years of marriage, both taking on more active roles in the lives of their three adult children. Which makes us wonder... what does Dewey look like now? [HR] Killer Instinct: Kenny Golde’s script Killer has been snatched up by Hyde Park Entertainment and Parkes/MacDonald Productions, who will produce the film together. The story follows a “rogue police officer” who finds a video left by his killer, setting off a chase, “with the investigator several steps behind his prey"... and months behind the release of the identically titled Katherine Heigl-Ashton Kutcher rom-com. [Variety]
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - TMZ is being sued for broadcasting allegedly stolen and confidential footage of an interview with Debbie Rowe soon after her ex-husband, Michael Jackson,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 22 Feb 2010 | 10:54 pm
“I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the United States military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan by sacrificing my soul for the sake of saving other souls." - Najibullah Zazi - discussing his bomb-making training in Pakistan in 2008 - in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn today, after pleading guilty to terrorism charges in what he described as an Al Qaeda plot to set off a bomb in the New York City subway last year. Zazi, 25, will face a possible life term when he is sentenced on June 25. [NYT]
To his neighbors on Cornelia St., Dr. Chynn—who runs Park Avenue Laser Vision—is well-known for his fixation on Number 33. He frequently complains about the graffiti on its brick face, the broken sidewalk out front and the rich absentee owner who doesn't care enough to clean it up. The first time one former neighbor met him on the street, Chynn asked for his email address to include in a petition demanding the property be fixed up. Later, the neighbor received an email from Chynn containing unsolicited information about his strange living situation: "His first email to me says: 'Hope to see you around the hood. I have a non-rent-paying housemate. A Six-foot blond model. She seems to think she can stay there without paying because she's all that,'" said the neighbor. Chynn then asked the neighbor to make sure his bombshell housemate wasn't carting off his stuff during the day. Chynn also has a dog named Hershey, whom he calls "the block mascot."
The neighbor has since moved away but is still on the extensive list that receives a copy of each angry email Chynn sends Sackler whenever something new pisses him off about 33 Cornelia St. And while he's sent some good ones in the past, the email Chynn sent out this afternoon should be taught in undergraduate creative writing classes as a study in long-simmering rage brought to a boil. "It was definitely the longest and he definitely seems the most agitated," the neighbor said. Probably because, this time, 33 Cornelia St. complained about him. Or rather, his hot tub:
Dear Dr. Chynn,
the tub has not been removed from the alley. we spoke about this over a month ago and you assured me it would be removed and placed on your property.Can you please have it moved this week? thanks,
Lee
An hour-and-a-half of ferocious typing later, Chynn unleashed his response:
As building manager of 33 Cornelia St. or whatever your title is working for Kathe Sackler MD, I find it highly insulting that all you or she cares about is a stupid hottub that I can move when I get back from Europe, and you ignore ALL of the following points:
He then lists twenty-two paragraph-length items of complaint. Years of being daily insulted by 33 Cornelia St's Grafitti-strewn facade and overhanging branches spill out in a sprawling howl of grievance. He details how he's been forced to become the de facto landlord, fixing up the property by:
b. putting out rat poison in the alleyway, you and she never do that, do you think that just happens magically, and dont you think you have an obligation to get an extermintor to come quarterly, not just when neighbors call NYC to complain? i mean, kathe is worth over $100 mil, you think she might take care of property some more
Throughout the email, Chynn takes many more digs at Sackler's dirty drug money:
And our personal favorite:
The letter continues like this for many more paragraphs, and covers the giant rats Chynn fears will eat his dog and the old couch out front he broke his toenail while moving. We learn that Chynn has resorted to emailing a board she was on to "embarrass her" into removing some graffiti. He eventually builds to an all-caps climax (Item "o."), explaining how everything could have been so much better if only a few million dollars exchanged hands:
o. I HAVE EVEN OFFERED TO BUY HER PROPERTY FROM HER FOR $3 MILLION, BUT BECAUSE I KNOW MONEY ESSENTIALLY HAS NO MEANING TO HER NOW, I OFFERED TO DO THAT WITH THE LEGALLY BINDING STIPULATION THAT I WOULD MAKE THE FRONT STRUCTURE A GALLERY THAT WOULD SHOW LOCAL NYC ARTISTS FOR FREE, AND WOULD TAKE $0 COMMISSION, AND LET THOSE ARTISTS KEEP 100% OF THE SALES PRICE, AS A WAY TO SUPPORT NEW AND STRUGGLING ARTISTS, AND WOULD NAME THE GALLERY THE SACKLER CHYNN GALLERY FOR NEW ARTISTS OR WHATEVER SHE WANTED AS SHE SEEMS TO LIKE SUPPORTING THE ARTS,
How much longer before windows start getting smashed? Why has the rich and mysterious Kathe Sackler, MD, left such a lucrative West Village property unoccupied and in shambles for years? And will Chynn ever move that damn hot tub? We've reached out to Chynn and Sackler's rep and will include their comments if they email back. In the meantime, feel free to read the entire email.
Dear Lee,
As building manager of 33 Cornelia St. or whatever your title is working for Kathe Sackler MD, I find it highly insulting that all you or she cares about is a stupid hottub that I can move when I get back from Europe, and you ignore ALL of the following points:
1. i tried to get my contractor to move it before but he was lazy so only moved the ballister and granite counter
2. im in EUROPE now and will not be back until NEXT MONTH so CANNOT HELP MANAGE THIS PROJECT FROM UKRAINE
3. your employer's building has many violations and i have been helping fix her property up myself, without compensation, on my own, including the following:
a. cleaning out refuse in her yard to prevent rats, i have taken out a dozen contractor bags of garbage from her space that was not mine, but i dont want rats in that courtyard as they will go into my house
b. putting out rat poison in the alleyway, you and she never do that, do you think that just happens magically, and dont you think you have an obligation to get an extermintor to come quarterly, not just when neighbors call NYC to complain? i mean, kathe is worth over $100 mil, you think she might take care of property some more
c. sweeping in front of your client's decrepit house, i have never, ever, once seen you or anyone hired by her do this, i do this weekly, again without pay, but because i don't want myh property looking like crap because the sidewalk next door is full of trash
d. removing a dumped couch in front of her property, it took me and my contractor to do this together as it was a very heavy couch, i dropped it on my foot and lost my big tie nail for SIX MONTHS—now, forgive me for being pissed, but why do I HAVE TO DO THE CLEANUP WORK FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD THAT YOU AND YOUR EMPLOYER KATHE SACKLER SHOULD BE DOING?
f. we both know that kathe is cheaping out by having you, who is some kind of assistant for her, handle this property, although you are not either a property manager or superintendant or handyman. why is a woman who is worth over $100 MILLION dollars and destined to inherit a BILLION dollars too cheap to hire a proper building manager and superintendent? i know this is not your fault, and you are really trying to be a good guy and just tack this on to your regular duties, but shouldn't you refuse and tell her you are not really qualified to handle this assignment and manage the property properly?
g. kathe sackler's property at 33 cornelia st in greenich village has been in a decrepit state for over a decade. it has been an eyesore on the block and in the west village for over ten years. the front building is falling apart, and i have seen bricks fall off from the facade, almost striking passersby. i reported loose live wiring sticking out of the building, and your boss, the owner, did absolutely nothing about this, even though i tested it with a voltage meter and found it to be live, endangering neighbors, passersby, and children. so someone in the neighhood who shall remain nameless had to cut it themselves with an insulated plier. the door to the alley is always open, allowing homeless people and drunks to hang out there, do drugs, drink, and defecate. i hired the very nice man who put in my central AC to actually install a lock on the door, at his cost, to secure YOUR OWNER'S PROPERTY—again, without compensation OR EVEN THANKS
h. there seems to be another live wire running from your client's front property to mine. again, i contacted her years ago to investigate and disconnect this, and of course she never respoded, because she never does. so i am probably going to have to contact coned to do an investigation, and probably hire an electrician to remove and cap this live wire (because it looks like hi voltage, not low like the neighbors cut). again, i highly doubt your employer will reimburse this cost, so i guess i will have to take her to court over this
j. YOU NEVER REMOVE THE GRAFFITTI ON THE BUILDING WHICH CREATES AN UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT IN THE BLOCK AND DEGRADES LOCAL PROPERTY VALUES AND ENCOURAGES OTHER PEOPLE TO TAG OTHER STRUCTURES ON THE BLOCK BECAUSE THEY SEE THE GRAFFITTI ON KATHE SACKLER'S BUILDING STAY THERE FOR MONTHS AND YEARS AT A TIME. I ALREADY TOLD YOU MANY TIMES THAT IT IS FREE TO HAVE NYC REMOVE GRAFFITTI, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL 311 AND CALL IT IN, AND THEY WILL SEND A TRUCK WITH CHEMICALS TO REMOVE IT, TO PREVENT NEIGHBORHOOD BLIGHT. I HAVE TRIED TO CALL MYSELF BUT THEY WILL NOT LET ME DO THIS AS I AM NOT THE OWNER. I ASKED YOU MANY TIMES TO DO THIS AND YOU SAID IT WAS HARD FOR YOU TO DO SO, AS YOU LIVE IN CONNECTICUT AND 311 WILL ONLY ACCEPT CALLS FROM A NYC AREA CODE. I MEAN, COME IN, GET A FRIEND TO MAKE THE CALL FOR YOU, IT WILL TAKE ALL OF FIVE MINUTES LEE. OR BETTER YET MAKE YOUR BOSS HIRE ME AS A HARVARD-TRAINED EYE SURGEON TO BE HER SUPER AND I WILL SPEND MY VALUABLE TIME DOING THIS FOR HER AS IT IS MAKING MY BLOCK LOOK LIKE CRAP!
k. the last time your boss's building had graffitti on it, it stayed on it for OVER A YEAR and EVERYONE ON THE BLOCK INCLUDING THE NEIGHBORS AND BLOCK ASSOCIATIONG WAS UNSUCCESSFUL COMPELLLING KATHE TO REMOVE IT AND I ACTUALLY HAD TO CC ONE OF THE BOARDS SHE WAS ON TO EMBARRASS HER INTO REMOVING IT AND THEN IT CAME OFF THE NEXT WEEK. DO YOU REALLY THINK IT IS PROPER THAT YOUR BOSS IGNORES THE ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD, AND NEVER DOES THE RIGHT THING AND TAKES CARE OF HER PROPERTY UNTIL I HAVE TO SPEND MY OWN TIME GOING TO RIDICULOUS EXTREMES???
l. i realize that her family is one of the largest art patrons in the country and you can see a sackler wing in many major museums, but does giving away tens of hundreds of millions of dollars entitle her to abandon her building and leave it a decrepit eyesore?
j. there are hordes of rats in her yard, the size of cats, so large that i am afraid they will attack my dog, so i never take him with me when i clean out the refuse from her property on my own for free, as i am actually afraid that THEY will attack HIM (and he is the block mascot, by the way, so people would go crazy if anything happened to him). other neighbors have also put down rat poison for free for your heiress boss, because she is too cheap or cares so little she cannot hire an exterminator to come on contract.
k. the local school kids know her yard is abandoned, so climb over the back way after school and do drugs and drink beer (much of the debris i am always removing are beer cases and bottles and 6 packs), so your boss is indirectly promoting underage drinking and drug use by not securing her property. i also find codoms back there, so she is also indirectly promoting underage sex probably
l. the larger vacant building in the back is falling apart, the roof of both buildings are leaking badly so it is basically raining inside whever it rains heavily (you can see this from the street if you just look in the bars of the smaller building on the street). one of these days, one or the other or both will fall down on someone's head and kill them!
m. she had illegally blocked the door to the alley with a pole and cinder block and lock that could not be removed from the inside, and this is a FIRE SAFETY VIOLATION FOR BOB COHEN'S BUILDING NEXT DOOR, AS HIS TENANT'S FIRE ESCAPE EXITS INTO THE SHARED COURTYARD, SO IF THERE WERE A BIG FIRE THEY WOULD ALL BE STUCK IN THE COURTYARD AND BURN TO DEATH AND WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO EXIT INTO THE STREET, which is why i had my HVAC guy replace the ILLEGAL LOCK with one that could be opened from the inside
n. i realize that since your boss is worth over $100 million and will inherit $1 billion, having a property worth $3 million sit vacant and abandoned and fall apart is in no way, shape of form germane to her own finances. by analogy, it would be like if a normal person had a bike and some furniture sitting in his front yard, rusting and decaying, and he didn't care if he lost the $100 they were worth. but there are local town ordinances about this in small towns to protect the look of the neighborhood and property values, and i bet if the local block associations, neighbors, lawyers, government agencies, and media investigated this, there is probably some NYC ordinance whereby they can compell your boss to either fix up her property and properly maintain it, or they will condemn it and coerce her to sel it
o. I HAVE EVEN OFFERED TO BUY HER PROPERTY FROM HER FOR $3 MILLION, BUT BECAUSE I KNOW MONEY ESSENTIALLY HAS NO MEANING TO HER NOW, I OFFERED TO DO THAT WITH THE LEGALLY BINDING STIPULATION THAT I WOULD MAKE THE FRONT STRUCTURE A GALLERY THAT WOULD SHOW LOCAL NYC ARTISTS FOR FREE, AND WOULD TAKE $0 COMMISSION, AND LET THOSE ARTISTS KEEP 100% OF THE SALES PRICE, AS A WAY TO SUPPORT NEW AND STRUGGLING ARTISTS, AND WOULD NAME THE GALLERY THE SACKLER CHYNN GALLERY FOR NEW ARTISTS OR WHATEVER SHE WANTED AS SHE SEEMS TO LIKE SUPPORTING THE ARTS, AND I WOULD RUN IT FOR HER, PAY FOR THE PERSON TO STAFF IT, AND SHE COULD CHOOSE HALF OF THE ARTISTS SHE WOULD WANT TO GIVE A FREE 0 COMMISSION SHOW TO AND I WOULD CHOOSE THE OTHER HALF, LIKE WE COULD ALTERNATE MONTHS, AND THIS WOULD BE AN INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC THING FOR THE BLOCK, THE NEIGHBORHOOD AS THE WEST VILLAGE HAS LOST ALL ITS ART GALLERIES AND ART FEEL FOR MARC JACOBS STORES, AND IT WOULD INCREASE RATHER THAN DECREASE LOCAL PROPERTY VALUES, AND HELP THE RESTAURANTS ON THE BLOCK WITH MORE VISITORS, AND OF COURSE, YOU GUESSED IT—NO RESPONSE!:(
i don't know what it's going to take other than an act of god or some of the very nice people ccd on this email forwarding it to every influential person they know so they can help coerce your boss to sell her property to me so i can properly maintain it and make it into a community resource instead of an eyesore, or maybe we can get a NYC government agency to get involved, or perhaps the local community boards to help with this, or a neighborhood protest with some media coverage, or some show like shame on you
but i am telling you that what your boss kathe sackler md is doing by letting her property fall apart for over a decade and be a local graffitti covered unsafe eyesore is unconscionable, unneighborly, unethical, uncaring, possibly illegal, and will not be tolerated
so here is what i suggest:
1. get a friend who lives in nyc to call 311 and get the graffitti removed. the day after it is removed (assuming it isn't before mar 1, when i return from teaching MDs in Ukraine how to do the more advanced, safer, noncutting LASEK technique), i will recruit some neighbors and move the hottub, no problem
2. get kathe to hire a super and/or building manager, and tell me who that person is and his contact info, so i can confirm he is actually hired to maintain on a regular basis and is not just paid to do things once the neighborhood is up in arms (like you only hired an exterminator 2 years ago when another neighbor called 311 repeatedly about the rats). or she can hire me at the bargain basement price of $100/hr, or 1/10 my normal rate, so i can make sure myself that this property is at least kept out of the eyesore category
3. she should really reimburse me for sweeping her sidewalk, and removing her refuse, and replacing her lock, and shoveling her sidewalk, and replacing her illegal fire violation lock, but i bet she will not do that, probably she can't afford it or something
4. as i said to you a MONTH ago when i ASKED YOU TO REMOVE THE GRAFFITTI which has been there since the summer, PLEASE TRY TO BEG OR PLEAD OR OTHERWISE CONVINCE YOUR BOSS TO SELL HER PROPERTY TO ME, AND WE CAN RUN THE FRONT GALLERTY TOGETHER, SHE CAN CONTINUE TO BE A PATRON OF THE ARTS, AND ALSO HELP RATHER THAN KILL THE LOOK AND FEEL OF CORNELIA STREET, ONE OF THE NICEST BLOCKS IN THE WEST VILLAGE EXCEPT HER HOUSE, AND THE BIRTHPLACE OF OFF-BROADWAY AT THE BUILDING NEXT DOOR TO HERS THAT CURRENTLY HOUSES PO
i do hope you take this email more seriously than my last ones you ignored, print it out and make her read it, and try to compell her to respond in a reasonable and positive fashion, as i really have nothing against her, other than she is destroying the value of my townhouse and making my block look like crap whthn it could and should be a jewel of the city
sincerely,
—
Emil William Chynn, MD, MBA
Dartmouth + Columbia + Harvard + Emory + NYU-trained
1st LASIK surgeon in NYC to have LASIK himself (in '99)
Only pure refractive surgeon in NYC who exclusively performs No-Cut/Flap LASEK!
15,000+ cases - 100% Legal To Drive!
Member AAO, ASCRS, MENSA
The Academy Awards may feel more like the Kids’ Choice Awards this year, though (unfortunately) no one’s getting slimed. After word got out last week that tween idols Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner of Twilight would be presenting at the March 7 ceremony, it was officially announced today that Disney royalty Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus will also attend and present. As it is unclear if Efron and Cyrus will be presenting together, we’re crossing our fingers for a Cyrus-Christoph Waltz pairing. [LAT]
Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio is inducting rock group Genesis into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month. The presenters were announced Tuesday by the hall, which is based in... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 22 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pm
The question mark that punctuates Love? just got more pronounced.
Not long after literally flopping at the American Music Awards, Jennifer Lopez has parted ways with her longtime label,...
Doth Rozlyn Papa protest too much?
The ousted makeup artist from the current season of The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love continued to insist on the always-uncomfortable Women Tell All...
Coming off of the recent capture of several high-profile Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, another member of the Taliban senior leadership has been detained, according to a Pakistani intelligence official. Mullah Abdul Kabir, a member of the Taliban “inner circle” and a prominent military commander, was captured several days ago by Pakistani authorities, the official said. Though American officials both abroad and in Washington said they had “received some indications” of Mullah Kabir’s capture, they could not confirm it. Mullah Kabir is a member of the Quetta Shura, a small group within the Taliban that directs its operations and reports to founder Mullah Muhammad Omar. Quetta Shura leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was captured last month by Pakistani and American intelligence forces. [NYT]
The kiddies have more than a big bunny to look forward to at the White House Easter Egg Roll this year.
"white. house. obama. yes. kbye," tweeted Glee star Kevin McHale Monday,...
A potential ‘grenade’ was deflected today, as a judge ruled against a New Jersey man attempting to halt tomorrow’s release of the Jersey Shore Season 1 DVD. Stephen Izzo Jr., who says he was beaten by cast member Ronnie Magro on camera, filed a civil lawsuit in Ocean County Superior Court against Ronnie, MTV and Viacom, claiming that the release of the DVD box set would result in “profiting off of Ronnie’s alleged criminal act" (Ronnie was charged with assault in the incident). Izzo also sued for invasion of privacy and for the unauthorized use of his likeness and image.
The judge determined that the DVD could still be released because Izzo’s face was blurred out and there was no proof that the DVD’s release would cause him "any financial or irreparable harm.” Situation avoided.
In an attempt to curb mounting deficits, the MTA has plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs, including about 600 administrative staffers and close to 450 subway station agents. In an earlier version of the plan, these employees would have been allowed to retire, the Times reports. The layoffs, which are expected to be announced Tuesday, will save the MTA close to $50 million.
While there has been no official statement yet from the MTA, chairman Jay Walder spoke last month about the possibility of layoffs.
"The current economic climate demands that we...transform the way the MTA operates," he said. "I know it will be painful...there will be layoffs."
Mr. Lama had this to say to Tiger Woods regarding self-discipline:
Spiritual, moral ethics are self-discipline. Actually, just like taking care of your own body. According to doctors suggestions. They say certain food you should use. Certain food you should stop. Like that.
Whatever. Do you think Tiger will ever be able to win Elin back? Is he really sorry or just pretending? Oh, yeah. That's right: This guy had the nerve to tell AP that he had never heard of Tiger Woods. Meanwhile, Brit Hume is doing everything short of giving Tiger one of those comic books that show what Hell is like to convince him to join Team Jesus.
It's like, you put on a robe, shave your head and win a Nobel Peace Prize and you start thinking you can just fly around the world pretending to be oblivious to the world's most famous Buddhist.
In an offer that makes the notion of “sectionals” seem laughable, First Lady Michelle Obama has invited the cast of Glee to perform at the White House Easter Egg Roll in April, according to Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello. He reports that Obama and her daughters are big fans of the Golden Globe-winning Fox hit series and that the show’s producers have made some scheduling adjustments to free up the cast for the event. Let’s hope eggs don’t cause them as many problems as slushies. [Ausiello Files/EW.com]
Reuters - Europe's top movie theater chain plans to withdraw from screening the Walt Disney Co's latest film "Alice In Wonderland", escalating a dispute over the U.S. studio's proposal to release the movie's DVD weeks earlier than usual. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 22 Feb 2010 | 7:18 pm
Reuters - Spending an evening in the company of Frank Gilroy's Pulitzer-winning 1964 family drama "The Subject Was Roses" is a little like visiting a museum that once held fond memories. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 22 Feb 2010 | 7:14 pm
AP - Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet" traces the evolution of an illiterate French-Arab inmate who uses his time well in prison, learning to read and write, studying economics, picking up a new language.
Weeds executive producer Jenji Kohan has signed a new two-year production deal with Lionsgate TV, the studio behind her Showtime hit, which is about to enter its sixth season. While Kohan will stay on as Weeds showrunner, she is working on a new “musical comedy” pilot for the channel with Stephen Falk, a Weeds writer.
"Having gotten to second base with Lionsgate in my former 'under the shirt but over the bra' deal, it's a thrill to now be in bed with them and going all the way," Kohan said in a statement. "Let us hope our creative offspring make us both proud and happy for years to come. And when I say 'come,' don't read into it. It's a business deal. Get your minds out of the gutter."
AP - A New Jersey man who says he was beaten during an episode of MTV's reality show "Jersey Shore" has lost his bid to stop the release of a video depicting it. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 22 Feb 2010 | 6:55 pm
Hilary Duff's NHL-playing fiancé, Mike Comrie, knows how to give good ice.
A source close to the Edmonton Oilers center, 29, tells us that...
According to the Times, the ultimate symbol of plutocratic excess, has slowly been slowly inching back toward acceptably gauche. One reason for this is that private jets are cheap now, since all the corporations got rid of their jets in the hopes that exposing themselves to us norms in business class would convince us that, yes, we would rather have these execs get belligerently drunk on tiny bottles of Jack Daniels in their own planes. And rich people began understanding also how much it sucks to have to fly commercial.
Fred Reid, the president of a charter flight company, told the Times:
One of the things that has happened is that people, for whatever reasons - financial distress, concern at the board level about public and employee perception - had to go to commercial aviation. And for people who hadn't done that in a while, they're suddenly reminded of how utterly, dreadfully inefficient that is.
If you think that's dreadful, wait until you try not having millions and millions of dollars.
To this day, the Seaver family still cares and wants the best for Richard "Boner" Stabone.
In a written statement released Monday, Kirk Cameron sent his well wishes and prayers...
A picture is worth a thousand words, and at least 500 of those would be hot and smoldering when it comes to Ian Somerhalder.
And when a photo is combined with the headline above, it...
AP - The publisher of a disputed book about the atomic bombing of Japan has confirmed that a key source misrepresented himself and promises that any errors will be fixed soon. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 22 Feb 2010 | 6:18 pm
The Senate pushed a $15 billion jobs bill over a pivotal hurdle tonight thanks to five Senate Republicans — including newly elected Massachusetts senator Scott Brown — who voted across party lines in favor of the Democratic-backed bill, engineered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Tonight’s test vote of 62–30 means it is likely that the Senate will ultimately approve the measure — which aims to create tens of thousands of new jobs — though it is unclear whether the House will follow suit and also back the bill.
Brown and the four other Republican senators who voted for the bill — Maine’s Olympia Snowe, Missouri’s Kit Bond, Maine’s Susan Collins, and Ohio’s George Voinovich — helped to break the Republican-led filibuster.
"It's not a perfect bill," Brown said after the vote. "I was comfortable with that vote ... It is the first step in creating jobs, not only for the people of Massachusetts but for the people of the country.”
Politicians weren’t the only ones buzzing about Brown; shortly after the vote, the senator was a top trending topic on Twitter.
Not everyone caught that Tiger Woods press conference last week, starting with a major spiritual leader of the faith the golfer may use to help him cope with a sex scandal.
Cheney has had four heart attacks and in 2001 has an electrical device implanted after he was found to have an unsteady heartbeat.
With two pairs in the top four (Davis and White in second, and Belbin and Agosto in fourth), the United States looks to put two teams on the medal stand after tonight's compulsory dance. Also, Freestyle Skiing continues with men's moguls. Plus, team Ski Jumping.
Blair Stewart from England wins for relevant cultural references:
I read your tepid, hack-y Gawker article on NBC's coverage of hockey and after perusing through your work I can say you're the Hipsterest Hipster that ever Hipstered in Williamsburg. Congrats, you've won the cliché lottery for sportswritin' usually given out to Rick Reilly.
Now go die in a Vice Magazine loft party.
Mike Marrone wins for racism:
You are an idiot. Go watch Yao Ming or the Korean speed skating team or play with your calculator. Don't write about hockey.
Jonathan Moncrief wins for sarcasm:
Yeah, you are right, Americans don't care at all about hockey.
This article from last April, stating that the NHL established record attendance for a fourth straight season, confirms just how correct you are: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=417969
Thanks for continuing to feed the stereotype and not doing any research at all. Took me all of five seconds to find that on the internet.
CORRECTION: A previous post mistakenly claimed that "Nobody in America gives a shit about hockey." In fact, two people in America and one person in England give a shit about hockey.
Chat away, friends.
Former vice-president Dick Cheney has been hospitalized with chest pains, his staff said Monday. Cheney is currently resting comfortably at George Washington University Hospital and his doctors are “evaluating the situation,” according to a statement. Cheney, 69, has had a long history of cardiovascular disease, having suffered four heart attacks since 1978. [CNN]
Bohner removed the site after threats from Schmidt's lawyers this weekend, according to a source close to the situation.
"When a billionaire threatens you, you get in line," this person said.
It made for a frightening weekend for Bohner, and no wonder: Not only is the former CNBC and Forbes journalist trying to come to terms with her sobriety and past addiction, she doesn't appear to be swimming in the money it would take to mount a plausible legal challenge to a powerful and well-connected tech executive worth $4 billion. A public records search indicates her four-month-old pad in Delray Beach, Florida is the latest in a series of apartments and, according to a sign visible on Google Maps Street View, located in a tidy complex of smallish one- and two-bedroom units.
Yes, there was the tidbit about Schmidt (aka "Dr. Strangelove") giving Bohner an prototype iPhone, and being a "genuinely caring, concerned boyfriend." But almost everything else was about Bohner's yoga, time in a Buddhist temple in Thailand, friends in recovery and past addictive escapades.
Bohner's blog and book project seemed to have really inspired the ex-addict. Her entries were long, but also formed a potential lifeline for other addicts. In other words, they had merit aside from the bits on Eric "Not the Center of the World" Schmidt. So it's too bad they'll be gone. You can read them for a bit longer; they're here, on a Web caching server provided, as fate would have it, by Schmidt's company.
When popular actress-singer Jennifer Lopez was booked to appear on this weekend's Saturday Night Live as both the host and musical guest, the idea was for her to push April 23's artificial-insemination comedy The Back-Up Plan and her seventh pop album Love?. Complicating plans somewhat: Love?'s April release has been canceled and Lopez has "parted ways" with Epic Records.
Nikki Finke says the impetus was the chart failure of the record's shoe-themed lead single "Louboutins" and her hilarious performance at the American Music Awards, during which those very shoes caused her to fall down. Face-saving "Lopez insiders" tell Finke that Love? was "by no means done" and that J.Lo was "only a few songs into it," though, suspiciously, Back-Up Plan's release was once moved from January to April to coincide with the album's. In any case, Lopez will presumably be forced to sing something in between skits this Saturday, you just won't get to feel so smug about not buying it on iTunes.
Todrick Hall has so far survived Simon Cowell. But that's nothing compared to PO'd parents.
Hall, a member of American Idol's top 24 this season and a former Color Purple...
AP - The Metropolitan Opera is instituting an across-the-board ticket price increase for the first time in five years next season, when another traditional Franco Zeffirelli production will be jettisoned for a minimalist staging.
Captain Jack Sparrow's timbers could really be shivering this time around.
Former Deadwood star Ian McShane is in talks to join Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the...
Sometimes there can be a long gap between May and December.
Jacqueline Beems, the 41-year-old wife of silver-haired wrester Ric Flair, has been charged with misdemeanor assault for...
This just in: You can still pick up that Jersey Shore DVD tomorrow.
A New Jersey judge ruled against a local dude who tried to block the DVD release of the first season because he's...
Everybody wins in the battle of Pickleback versus Nickelback.
Although we may not have been able to fully throw the weight of our support behind the Betty White to host SNL (please?)! Facebook group, that doesn't necessarily mean that we are averse to the charms of social-media phenomena. Take, for example, the group Can this pickle get more fans than Nickleback? When we first heard news of the group a few weeks back, we immediately signed up for the cause, as did some 1.46 million other users of the network. Well, now that the weathered old cucumber juicy dill pickle pictured above has overtaken the popularity of Billboard's Rock Group of the Decade, front man Chad Kroeger doesn't seem to be taking the news so well.
Earlier this afternoon, Facebook user Coral Anne, the woman who started this group, received a Facebook message from Chad Kroeger (or someone pretending to be him):
Does this mean that Chad Kroeger is going to petition Mark Zuckerberg (or one of his minions) to have this page pulled off Facebook forever? Quite possibly! We're not sure what sort of grounds that Kroeger would rest his case on, but either way, he does not appear to be a happy camper at the moment. Cheer up, Chad, at least you lost to a big, flavor-drenched dill and not some mini, tasteless Gherkin!
2) Jill Zarin's figure skating routine of dreams that is just in time for the Olympics to be over.
3) Alex McCord's big pink chain dress of financial oppression.
4) The Countess LuAnn "Crackerjacks" DeLesseps sings a beautiful song about wanting things but not always getting them and it is lovely.
5) Ramona Singer dances a feverish nighttime tarantella and, we assume, twirls away into outerspace forever. Hopefully while "I'm Going Home" from Rocky Horror plays.
Also, Bethenny Frankel yells at everyone, but especially Kelly, who just stands there the whole time saying "Heeee haw, Heee haw, Heee haw," because she is a terrible donkeywoman.
I am crying blood, even though my eyeballs have already fallen out. This whole terrible machine whirs ear-piercingly back into life on March 4th. Never forget to not forget.
Ryan Seacrest had Bill Clinton on his radio show this morning, and endured a good long chat about Haiti and nutrition in school cafeterias and the environment and foreign policy before getting to the thing that he was really interested in hearing about, which is Chelsea Clinton's upcoming wedding to Marc Mezvinsky. Ryan, naturally, wanted to know all of the details: big, small, flowers, venue, colors, whether Chelsea had chosen a mermaid cut or a sheath.
But Bill didn't have much to give him.
"I'm just supposed to walk her down the aisle and pay the bills," Clinton told Ryan Seacrest on his KIIS-FM radio show Monday morning.
Ha, we bet he is. We bet he's also been put under strict orders not to deviate from the pre-written toast and especially, not to dance with or otherwise ogle any of the bridesmaids. Good luck with that!
Playbill - The Connecticut Repertory Theatre, in association with the University of Connecticut, will add a Jazz-Age flavor to its revival of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors Feb. 25-March 7 in Storrs, CT. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 22 Feb 2010 | 4:02 pm
It was inevitable: Someone decided to send their cat as an avatar into the scary/titillating world of Chatroulette, and recorded the results. (Actually, probably a lot of people have been doing this, but so far we've only seen one Tumblr devoted to the topic.) We can only imagine where this will go from here: Shatroulette ... Fatroulette ... Splatroulette — oh, wait, that last one is just another way of describing what Chatroulette already is. [Catroulette]
On Friday night, Daphne Guinness attended the premiere of Peter McGough's short Mean to Me, in which Agyness Deyn appears. Guinness wore a black veil, a look we've seen a lot from her lately. "I started wearing veils like four weeks ago. It's great. It's less pretentious than sunglasses, but it's just like you don't have to wear any makeup, all you have to do is tie a piece of tulle around your head.," she explained. "It gives you that slight distance from things. Everything's a bit grainy, like a super-eight film. Sunglasses are great, but I always feel a bit pretentious wearing sunglasses. I mean, I do love to wear them. It's very funny because another friend of mine completely independently said, 'Oh my God, I've been going through a veil thing, too.'''
That friend is not Lady Gaga, she confirmed. Guinness buys pieces of tulle and makes the veils herself, but she has no plans to sell them. "No! I'm not that commercial person. Are you kidding?" she said. "I mean, come on, fashion kills. It should have a health warning, definitely." We asked how she's holding up since the loss of her friend Alexander McQueen, and Guinness seemed to tear up behind that veil. "I just can't believe I'm never going to see him again."
That’s the tagline of my new horror movie, “The Craziest Costume”, in which it is revealed that the craziest costume of all is actually mankind. Whoops! Spoiler. I don’t have to make the movie now.
Here’s Lady Gagain her underwear on the cover of Cosmo. What love advice would “only Lady Gaga give”? “When you’re making love, wear a bunch of crazy costumes!!!” That’s what I imagine Lady Gaga would say. She does that like all the time.
Also, 50 Things To Do Butt Naked? I can think of like, three. And they’re all different types of showers.
Mary-Kate Olsen wore a beige dress with a transparent ink-stained train to British Elle's Style Awards in London today, while her twin sister wore a black dress with a transparent train of its own.
Whose look do you like better? And, more important, do you think they tripped on each other's outfits?
James O'Keefe, an undercover activist reporter who revealed ACORN abuses.
The national body of ACORN, the organization of state community-organizing groups that has come under fire since the 2008 election for voter fraud and other abuses, has not disbanded — contrary to some reports that say the organization has "cracked." (Get it? Like a nut? Dropped out of a tree by a squirrel?) But some state organizations have split off, including California, Massachusetts, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.
The New York outpost has been rebranded as New York Communities for Change, a group with a new board that still includes many old ACORNers. But though the national organization's website was down for a while today, it's back up, and a spokesman says it continues to function. “It is not true that ACORN is closed for business all across the country. It still exists," Kevin Whelan told the American Prospect. "Bertha Lewis is still the CEO."
Whelan wasn't terribly optimistic about the organization's future, though, as it continues to be a target of criticism from the right and faces a hold on government funding. "We know that organizers and leaders in different states are having to have discussions and making some choices," he added. "I don’t think there will be announcements like this from every place ACORN is now, but I would expect that there could be some more like this in the coming days or weeks."
Is Gunn a supporter of the Kardashians' Bebe line? "No! I just think the Kardashians have an absence of taste and I don’t think that that should be perpetuated. I’m sorry I’m sounding like an old farty snob but it bothers me." And on JWOWW launching a clothing line: "Preposterous! Preposterous! Sorry." [Wonderwall]
This coming September, the U.S. is officially changing the name of the Iraq War — currently known as “Operation Iraqi Freedom” — to “Operation New Dawn,” in order to reflect the nation’s reduced military involvement and to get people to subliminally associate the war with Twilight.
While “Operation New Dawn” and “Operation Iraqi Freedom” both have a certain cumbersome, bombastic ring to them, I think we can do better — here’s a list of 10 Even More Grandiose Names For The Iraq War, and feel free leave your own in the comments: 1. Operation Victory Mountain
2. Operation Dragonwin!
3. Operation Celebrity Iraqi Freedom
4. Operation Totally Brand New Era
5. Operation GEORGE BUSH’S MISTAKE!!!!1!!!!! [STANDING OVATION]
6. Operation Unbearable Lightness of Being
7. Operation Iraq War: SVU
8. Operation Lexus December to Remember Sales Event
9. Operation Hurt Locker Without The Bad Parts
10. Operation. Just, The Game Operation. Remember That? Aren’t We Slightly Happier Now?
Tomorrow, the September Issue DVD comes out, including 90 minutes of extra footage and an extra 30 minutes just on the Met Ball if you buy the Barnes & Noble edition. An extended unseen look at the scene of Grace Coddington shooting the couture spread with Raquel Zimmermann just surfaced online. Remember how Raquel worries about eating the little strawberry pies, not because she might spill and stain her couture gown or couture mesh gloves by eating one with her hands, but because her corset was so tight? In the extended scene, we learn Grace had to request more pies for Raquel — "the girl with the enormous hair" — because no one saved one for her.
It's been a long time since we've heard from Scott Galloway, the NYU Stern Business School professor, entrepreneur, and self-described "vagilante" that Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital forcibly placed on the board of the New York Times two years ago. As of last week, Galloway's no longer on the Times board, but he is back in the news. Earlier this month, a dilettantish MBA candidate who was denied entrance to Galloway's Brand Strategy class later sent him an e-mail in protest — an e-mail that, apparently, rubbed Galloway the wrong way.
The exchange has been making the Internet rounds, and is excerpted below.
Subject: Brand Strategy Feedback
Prof. Galloway,
I would like to discuss a matter with you that bothered me. Yesterday evening I entered your 6pm Brand Strategy class approximately 1 hour late. As I entered the room, you quickly dismissed me, saying that I would need to leave and come back to the next class. After speaking with several students who are taking your class, they explained that you have a policy stating that students who arrive more than 15 minutes late will not be admitted to class. As of yesterday evening, I was interested in three different Monday night classes that all occurred simultaneously. In order to decide which class to select, my plan for the evening was to sample all three and see which one I like most. Since I had never taken your class, I was unaware of your class policy. I was disappointed that you dismissed me from class considering (1) there is no way I could have been aware of your policy and (2) considering that it was the first day of evening classes and I arrived 1 hour late (not a few minutes), it was more probable that my tardiness was due to my desire to sample different classes rather than sheer complacency. I have already registered for another class but I just wanted to be open and provide my opinion on the matter.
To which Professor Galloway responded:
Thanks for the feedback. I, too, would like to offer some feedback.
Just so I've got this straight...you started in one class, left 15-20 minutes into it (stood up, walked out mid-lecture), went to another class (walked in 20 minutes late), left that class (again, presumably, in the middle of the lecture), and then came to my class. At that point (walking in an hour late) I asked you to come to the next class which "bothered" you.
Correct?
You state that, having not taken my class, it would be impossible to know our policy of not allowing people to walk in an hour late. Most risk analysis offers that in the face of substantial uncertainty, you opt for the more conservative path or hedge your bet (e.g., do not show up an hour late until you know the professor has an explicit policy for tolerating disrespectful behavior, check with the TA before class, etc.). I hope the lottery winner that is your recently crowned Monday evening Professor is teaching Judgement and Decision Making or Critical Thinking.
In addition, your logic effectively means you cannot be held accountable for any code of conduct before taking a class. For the record, we also have no stated policy against bursting into show tunes in the middle of class, urinating on desks or taking that revolutionary hair removal system for a spin. However, xxxx, there is a baseline level of decorum (i.e., manners) that we expect of grown men and women who the admissions department have deemed tomorrow's business leaders.
xxxx, let me be more serious for a moment. I do not know you, will not know you and have no real affinity or animosity for you. You are an anonymous student who is now regretting the send button on his laptop. It's with this context I hope you register pause...REAL pause xxxx and take to heart what I am about to tell you:
xxxx, get your shit together.
Getting a good job, working long hours, keeping your skills relevant, navigating the politics of an organization, finding a live/work balance...these are all really hard, xxxx. In contrast, respecting institutions, having manners, demonstrating a level of humility...these are all (relatively) easy. Get the easy stuff right xxxx. In and of themselves they will not make you successful. However, not possessing them will hold you back and you will not achieve your potential which, by virtue of you being admitted to Stern, you must have in spades. It's not too late xxxx...
During Friday’s big Apology Tour 2010 kickoff event, Tiger Woods said he would turn to Buddhism to help him on his road to recovery. However, if Woods thinks he can just waltz past the velvet rope in to Club Karma, he just got a rude awakening from the doorman. According to People Magazine:
Not everyone caught that Tiger Woods press conference last week, starting with a major spiritual leader of the faith the golfer may use to help him cope with a sex scandal.
In what was described as a “brief interview,” the Dalai Lama told the Associated Press that he had never heard of Woods.
Oh snap! Sick burn, D.L.! Way to knock that guy down a few pegs.
Almost every news report since this scandal began made sure to point out that Woods is “the most recognizable athlete in the world,” but the Dalai Lama is basically the Tiger Woods of spiritual enlightenment (minus that busted moral compass). He can ignore any iconic billionaire he wants.
Sorry, Tiger. Maybe try down the block. I hear the China Club is slow this time of night.
AP - English style ambassador Paul Smith put the classy into upper-class Monday, unveiling an autumn-winter collection that evoked country houses, outdoor pursuits and just a touch of urban decadence.
HAIR
• Robert Pattinson ditched his messy, scruffy hairstyle last night when he attended the Orange British Academy Film Awards in London; he wore his locks slicked down and parted down the side. [Just Jared]
• NBC’s Peacock Productions announced that it signed hairstylist Nick Arrojo for an upcoming reality series about his New York City salon and staff. He's no stranger to reality TV — he formerly starred on TLC's What Not to Wear. [Beauty Xpose]
• Prell signed Alexa Ray Joel as the new spokesperson for the shampoo and hair products. The 24-year-old will star in a campaign and provide the music for the commercials. She follows in the footsteps of her mother, Christie Brinkley, who was a Prell spokesperson more than 25 years ago. [Page Six/NYP]
• Jane Birkin on cutting her own hair: "I never trust a hairdresser to cut hair — they make it look too neat, too like you’re 60. Hair ‘done’ looks ghastly, but if you sleep on it, it looks fine." And on going under the knife: "I wouldn’t have plastic surgery in case they fuck it up." [Times UK]
PLASTIC SURGERY
• Jane Fonda made a pact ten years ago to never get plastic surgery again. She broke that promise to herself this year and got more work done. "This year I got tired of not looking like how I feel," she says. Fonda is also working on a book about aging. [StyleList]
NAILS
• So far, London's runway shows introduced some new takes on nail polish. Henry Holland's show featured matte black polish with white block letters that spelled out acronyms, while at PPQ, the manicurist reinterpreted the French manicure to make the tips gold instead of white. [Beauty Counter/Style.com]
MAKEUP
• Maybelline started shooting its 2011 calendar last week. Some of the models booked include Erin Wasson, Julia Stegner, and Emily DiDonato, as well as Sean Lennon's girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl. [Page Six/NYP]
SKIN
• The latest trend in spa services right now is to cater to kids who come with their parents. [Independent UK]
FRAGRANCE
• Chopard will launch a new scent named Brilliant Wish next month, a follow-up to the company's Wish fragrance that came out in 1997. [Now Smell This]
Kara, 21, is also rush chair of Pi Phi at Duke, which sounds terrifying. Julia, 24, is a manager at Tod's in Chicago, and Laura, 23, the one who apparently had to ask her father what a financial crisis was despite the fact that she was a senior at Barnard, is currently looking for work. In the meantime, she's apparently just squatting around poking reptiles with sticks. Find out about the pursuits of more of Wall Street's progeny in Business Insider's slideshow.
AP - "The Forty Rules of Love" (Viking, 354 pages, $25.95), by Elif Shafak: Before he became a world-famous poet and Sufi mystic, a religious scholar named Jalal ad-Din Rumi struggled with a feeling of inexplicable emptiness. Despite his thousands of admirers and disciples, Rumi felt something was missing in his life.
Carey Mulligan upset the Telegraph's Hilary Alexander, who wondered why the English starlet did not wear a dress by a British designer to the BAFTA Awards — Britain's Oscars — last night. She wore a dress instead by newly revived French label Vionnet, but Alexander wonders why she didn't wear something by a British label like Christopher Kane or Burberry or Erdem. She writes:
If she was really smart, she could have chosen to wear a dress by Alexander McQueen, and thus honour the memory of the talented maverick who died 10 days ago.
But Mulligan is not running for political office — she's walking red carpets at award shows. And fashion magazines who might feature her probably won't be dissuaded from doing so as long as she looks elegant and relatively inoffensive. And even so, plenty of starlets with offensive style land on magazine covers regularly, so it probably doesn't even matter if she looks good!
However, one can't help but wonder about her chances at a Vogue cover. Though she's been featured in the magazine, she tells People StyleWatch:
“Anna said I should wear short for the Oscars,” says Mulligan. “I was like ‘No, that is so not what I had in my head when I was six years old!’”
Oh! So if actresses are living out the fantasies of 6-year-old girls, that may begin to explain why the state of red-carpet fashion is so tragic lately.
Jezebel tallied up the number of non-white models walking in New York Fashion Week, and it turns out this season wasn't any more diverse than seasons past. About 16 percent of slots on the New York runways went to models that weren't white. Over 60 percent of shows had casts that were 85 percent white. Fewer than ten designers, including Christian Siriano, gave an opening or closing spot to a non-white model. Fewer than five, including Preen, cast exclusively white models. And Calvin Klein was one of fewer than twenty designers to cast only one non-white model. [Jezebel]
We first noticed it at Preen, where model after model strode out in dresses that looked perfectly suited to a pregnant woman. Things with an extra-large fold or tent of fabric in the frontal region ideal for hiding a growing fetus. Jason Wu also showed a babydoll silhouette on his fall 2010 runway, along with Diane Von Furstenberg, and then — in a perfect climax and explosion of the trend — Proenza Schouler sent out a whole bevy of them the day before New York Fashion Week ended. The industry is tryingto argue that a womanly shape is back in fashion. Maybe this is one way of proving it — "Hey, customers, here are some dresses that will gladly fit your curves." (But not quite flaunt them, and that is key.) Take a look at fall's babydolls in the slideshow.
Last time we checked in on Prince William, he was getting smoke in his eyes and making wacky faces, which was great, cause it was the same day we’d just figured out an easier way to make pointless .gifs (fate? Or SUPERfate?)
Today, Prince William pulled a 180 on the Badass Photo Spectrum (definitely a thing), trying his hand at blindfolded archery while attending an institution for the visually impaired:
Blindfolded archery AND a charitable spirit? The man is literally a boat that people dream about. Or a boat that’s full of people’s dreams. Whichever the proper expression is.
I tried to log on to Rolling Stone’s website a little while ago to come up with some topical Justin Bieber references (ok, Lou Bega references actually), and was shocked to find their site had disappeared. After checking my spelling seven times, I started to wonder if such a magazine ever even existed in the first place or if the very idea was just a hallucination of mine stemming from a second helping of 5 Hour Energy cut with baby aspirin.
Hopefully Ranger Rick Magazine isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Then we’d all be in trouble.
AP - Watching up close makes for a fascinating and often unnerving re-examination of "The Boys in the Band," Mart Crowley's landmark drama of gay men brought together for the birthday party from hell.
Thanks to a crop of how-to dating shows, such as Bravo's "The Millionaire Matchmaker" and VH1's "Tough Love," more people are reaching out to matchmakers, making an age-old art fashionable again.
Fifteen-year-old Shena Moulton just cemented her status as a face to watch. Last season, the Jamaican newbie was one of the select models to walk for Calvin Klein, which put her on high visibility. In fact, Shena was the third black model to walk for the label in recent history, following the footsteps of Jourdan Dunn and Lyndsey Scott. Paris designers fell in love with her svelte figure, as she logged bookings at Anne Valerie Hash, Kenzo, and Louis Vuitton. As impressive as that season might sound, her show list this season was even better. With the approval of casting director Russell Marsh, she walked for BCBG Max Azria and Hervé Léger. Michelle Lee cast her for Marc by Marc Jacobs. And she closed out the week walking for Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Now we wait for her spreads in Russian Vogue and Teen Vogue to come trickling out.
The fashion industry continues to make an example of model Lara Stone as the big thin girl. At 26 years old and with a body more closely resembling a normal human being's than most models these days, she is a freak of her industry to be sure, but a universally beloved one. From Interview:
Adds Lagerfeld: "She made shape trendy and invented a kind of new girly femininity."
Not to discredit Lara, who is a great model, but did she invent a "new girly femininity"? If we're not mistaken, girls with breasts and flesh on their hips have been around for quite some time. It's only recently that fashion decided Lara's figure was in vogue. Her big break came in 2006 when Riccardo Tisci decided he simply had to have her for his Givenchy couture show. Other admirers followed, including Carine Roitfeld and Karl Lagerfeld. But even they have hardly displayed a penchant for other more normal-looking figures. So it's no wonder Lara still feels self-conscious on swimsuit shoots.
Well, I'm a bit better now, but I was pretty self-conscious about it a few months ago because everybody kept going on like, "Oh, she's so curvy!" and "She's a plus-size model!" and this and that. It's all people would talk about-how I'm not very skinny. For a while, it made me pretty upset and I got a bit obsessive about it. I did a bunch of dieting and exercising and everything. I was losing weight, but I was still much bigger than everybody else. I didn't really see the point of making myself crazy anymore, so I kind of toned it down a little bit.
We wonder if that has anything to do with this statement:
I think about quitting all the time. I'll take such a little thing and be like, "I quit! I've had enough of you people!" And then ... I don't know, it gets better.
Stone's lucky she doesn't have to worry as much about her weight as other girls. But it's also too soon to say whether she's "made shape trendy." We just saw dozens of shows in New York in which model after model looked, well, sick.
This handout image from Polish national bank, Narodwy Bank Polski (NBP) shows the face of the new 20 Zloty currency note, produced to commemorate the 200th birth anniversary of Frederic Chopin. A marathon... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 22 Feb 2010 | 12:15 pm
AFP - Pierre Cardin likes to talk about selling his multi-billion fashion empire, but though aged almost 88, he seems to have too many irons in the fire to contemplate retiring any time soon.
What are you doing this April? The answer to that question is simple… you should be booking your cabin on the VH1 Best Cruise Ever presented by Sixthman, a 4 day oceanic adventure hosted by 3 Doors Down and featuring the bands Lifehouse, Shinedown, Angel Taylor, and Carolina Liar, among others, as well as a NON-STOP activity extravaganza including non-stop music, people and alcohol. Sure, there are many other things on board the Carnival Inspiration (casino, theme nights, live concerts… me), but let’s face it, we’re all pretty much there for the music and alcohol, right? That’s 10 percent of the reason I myself am going.
The other 90 percent boils down to, yes, the line-up — featuring plenty of VH1 You Oughta Know artists which you can check out here– and the ship’s destination: The Grand Cayman Islands. You’ll be “Looking good, Louis” on Seven Mile Beach, known for its water and sand (I just made this up, but technically all beaches are known for this). If you love the ocean, this is your paradise. You can pet a stingray while scuba diving! I plan on going all the way and sexting a stingray at some point, but that’s just because of how I was raised.
The VH1 Best Cruise Ever sets sail from Tampa on April 15 and returns from the Grand Cayman Islands on April 19 — the perfect short getaway from your winter induced blues. But cabins are filling up, so book fast before it’s too late. I’ll be there along with some other VH1 personalities hosting a handful of events and, yes, shaking hands with the captain*. (*Not a euphemism.)
Check out www.vh1bestcruiseever.com or call 877-SIXTHMAN to book your cabin now. Hope to see you on the poop deck*. (*Again, not a euphemism.)
The Ricky Gervais Show premiered on HBO this past Friday, and perhaps it’s my own fault for not reading into the show’s premise, but to my knowledge, the show was billed as an animated adaptation of the unquestioned greatest podcast ever of the same name, featuring Gervais and co-writer Stephen Merchant provoking and unashamedly ripping on their ridiculous pal and caricature, Karl Pilkington.
I, like any humans I’d associate with, was immediately hooked by the podcast in 2005 — the first one I ever regularly downloaded — and listened through all three seasons multiple times with a zeal that might’ve been endearing if I was loving something that much at age five, but which crossed over into the nerdily obsessive at age no-longer-five.
I obviously couldn’t have been more excited to experience new adventures from the beloved podcast trio, who, I further imagined, would perhaps even step up their game in the pilot episode of a new endeavor geared towards a wider audience. Within the first minute, however, to my confusion and eventual disappointment, I realized that this was not, in fact, a new show: The first episode was literally the audio from the first podcast, which came out in 2005, thrown overtop animation of the conversations. It wasn’t just subjects they’d covered before, or a compilation of material they’d already recorded or some kind of podcast backstory — it was just the first episode of the 2005 podcast, essentially intact, with a couple of minor visual jokes added.
Granted, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that would enjoy the Ricky Gervais Show but never listened to the podcasts, and for them I couldn’t recommend the show enough, but it was still the most downloaded podcast of all time at one point with an average of 260,000+ subscribers in its first season, so the last thing I would’ve expected was for HBO to pass off largely unaltered four-year-old material as new. Sure, the animated bits add a different element to the material, but certainly not enough to curb my or any other fans’ self-induced appetite for new Gervais/Merchant/Pilkington nonsense.
HBO promoting this as “new” was like Radiohead announcing a new album, then releasing a remastered OK Computer with expanded liner notes, or Showtime teasing a new Louis C.K. special that turned out to be his 2004 special synced up with cartoons, like Comedy Central’s Shorties Watching Shorties. Anything that gets more people familiar with the likes of Karl Pilkington can’t be a wholly bad thing, but to any Gervais/Merchant devotees, watching this show — next week’s episode is also just audio from an existing podcast — will be dissatisfyingly redundant.
Don’t get me wrong, the show is still excellent — did I laugh again at “None of these things now needed. Baby Dead.”? Of course. But it’s excellence that already occurred.
Thoughts on the Ricky Gervais Show, podcast devotees or Pilkington-newcomers? Leave ‘em in the comments.
Team Canada’s crushing loss to Team USA in hockey last night was bad enough, but to make matters worse they did it in front of one of their most valuable exports, Will Arnett.
If I had been coaching Team Canada and found myself losing 3-2 after two periods, I would have pulled Arnett in the locker room before the 3rd period to give a fiery, impassioned speech that would have rallied the Canucks past the Americans and in to Canadian sports legend. However, I would have wasted most of the break by first grilling him about what is happening with the damn Arrested Development movie, already! That’s probably why I didn’t get the coaching job in the first place.
At least if the Canadians don’t win gold, they can look forward to a potential new Arnett-Hurwitz sitcom that will be unjustly cancelled too soon. That is what these Olympic Games are really about anyway.
Television shows and movies may take you to worlds far away, but their makers, aware of viewers' need for believability, say they consult scientists to make things more real.
When a grassroots campaign involves both Facebook and a beloved Golden Girl, the scope of its influence cannot be underestimated. To wit: Sources confirm to me exclusively that Saturday Night Live is thisclose to signing TV legend Betty White to host the show for the very first time.
Spanish chef Ferran Adria, seen here in January, has said his famed elBulli restaurant, which has repeatedly been crowned the world's best, is to become a non-profit foundation from 2014. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 22 Feb 2010 | 7:55 am
AP - You won't find a more entertaining 90 minutes of first-rate country music, mixed with stories of gals who've been done wrong but keep right on going, than the exuberant off-Broadway revue "Good Ol' Girls."
The neighbor has since moved away but is still on the extensive list that receives a copy of each angry email Chynn sends Sackler whenever something new pisses him off about 33 Cornelia St. And while he's sent some good ones in the past, the email Chynn sent out this afternoon should be taught in undergraduate creative writing classes as a study in long-simmering rage brought to a boil. "It was definitely the longest and he definitely seems the most agitated," the neighbor said. Probably because, this time, 33 Cornelia St. complained about him. Or rather, his hot tub:
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