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Rumormonger
The Cosiest Co-Anchors
Breakfast shows can fail if the anchors don't have compatible chemistry. But the on-air flirtation can go too far. Case in point: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC. The former Republican congressman—now reinvented as a liberal darling of cable news—hosts a show called Morning Joe with Brzezinski, daughter of Jimmy Carter's cold-war national security advisor. As this clip shows, Scarborough and Brzezinski—both married, Scarborough for the second time—have an exceedingly warm relationship; they'd better tone it down a bit because their on-air antics have convinced MSNBC grunts the two are pursuing an off-camera affair.
silly season
Crazy Dog-Cloner is Crazy Missionary-Assaulter
Bernann McKinney mortgaged her home to travel to South Korea to have her pit bull cloned. Turns out, 30 years ago she kidnapped a Mormon missionary, chained him to a bed, and allegedly forced him to have sex with her. The Times of London further reports: "To add further mystery and zing to the whole story, Mr Anderson was said to have been wearing a Mormon chastity belt at the time." [The Australian, The Times]
A Man From The Future
On the Nassau Ave. G train platform the other day, a young Latino man had stopped to look at an ad poster showing a news stand full of papers. An old white man in a fedora, pushing a walker, made his way up to him and pointed forcefully. "That's all going to be gone soon, you know!" he said, at high volume. The young man looked at him. "Newspapers. Reading." The old man mimed reading a newspaper. "It'll all be"—he stopped and made a typing on motion—"on the computer. No paper!" The young man looked at him and nodded politely. Then the old man continued on his way.
On the Nassau Ave. G train platform the other day, a young Latino man had stopped to look at an ad poster showing a news stand full of papers. An old white man in a fedora, pushing a walker, made his way up to him and pointed forcefully. "That's all going to be gone soon, you know!" he said, at high volume. The young man looked at him. "Newspapers. Reading." The old man mimed reading a newspaper. "It'll all be"—he stopped and made a typing on motion—"on the computer. No paper!" The young man looked at him and nodded politely. Then the old man continued on his way.
long goodbyes
Departing Intern Would Like to Discuss "the Nature and Merits of Public Service in America" With You
Ah, the Congressional internship. Stepping-stone to a lifetime of tireless public service, or just entitled whining and constant intoxication paired with exponentially growing cynicism about the entire process. Fun! We just obtained an email from an outgoing summer intern at a Senate office that, in the words of our tipster, is "comparable only with Washington's Farewell Address." It is a "gentle reminder" that today will be this young go-getters last day at the office. It goes on to explain "the nature of democracy" and features the phrase "the noblest self-disclosure." The young intern sent the email to everyone in the damn office, of course. "Dear colleagues and respected staff members," it begins, ominously... More »
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Fashion
W Magazine's Familiar Cover Pose
The September issue of W magazine features actress and Lance Armstrong lover Kate Hudson glaring purposefully down her nose at the camera. "The look is a definite departure for her!" writes W's flack, enthusiastically. The look's not a departure for the magazine industry, though; it's strikingly similar to this 1994 Harper's Bazaar cover. There simply must be new ways of looking at the camera, people. Click to enlarge. [via J'Adore Joey]
Post and News Falling All Over Themselves to Give Away Papers
Their salesmen aren't above throwing free papers into cars. [Business Week]
Their salesmen aren't above throwing free papers into cars. [Business Week]
GAWKER STALKER
Latest Gawker Stalker Sightings
Submit your Sightings: stalker@gawker.com
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Karolina Kurkova
5th Ave & 57th St
Karolina Kurkova at Niketown on 57th and 5th...she was bent over typing on her blackberry and her VS thong was alllll the way out, by like 6 inches. -
Carson Kressley
Avenue Of The Americas & 21st St
Just saw 'Queer Eye's' Carson Kressley waking up sixth ave. @ 21st street. He was chatting on his cell and looking like a straight Richard Simmons. -
Eric van der Woodsen
Broadway & Great Jones St
Just saw UES Super Twink, Eric van der Woodsen, leaving Au Bon Pain with two girls. He looked just as I would have imagined and the highlights were satisfyingly unfortunate in person. -
KRS-One
5th Ave & 38th St
KRS One sighting on the corner of 38th and 5th, walking alone by Lord & Taylor. Very tall, had on a white shirt, still rocking those short dreadlocks. A couple people noticed him and he said Hi to someone up in his face.
All politics is monstrous
These People Are Major Political Donors
Yesterday the Washington Post reported an odd and sort of complex story about "bundlers" raising money for John McCain. The gist: the biggest of these bundlers net GOP candidates huge donations from weirdos and losers who often have never even voted before. The almost-accusation: the bundlers are funneling their own cash to the candidates via third parties, which is illegal. Clinton donor Norman Hsu got in trouble for this. One small problem—the most unlikely of these donations went to Giuliani and Clinton, not McCain. The Post's lede and photo implicated McCain. Correction time! "Those donors — Rite Aid manager Ibrahim Marabeh, and lounge owners Nadia and Shawn Abdalla — wrote checks to Giuliani and Clinton, not McCain." Oh, but here's the important part: Ana Marie Cox found Nadia and Shawn Abdalla's lounge's MySpace page (watch out for the [AWESOME] song!) and it's AWESOME. We're just going to reprint their entire "About Me" section after the jump, because it's great. More »
Trends
How Popular Are The Olympics, Really?
The Olympics are the most popular entertainment spectacle in the world. Or are they? Pictured above is a Google Trends report comparing web activity for "Olympics" to that of "Super Bowl." As you can see, outside of very short spikes coinciding with the actual games, the Super Bowl is the more consistently popular item. And that's just an American thing! How do the Olympics stack up against several other, more universal, pursuits? Three comparisons below give you all the perspective you need: More »
Exclusive
Martin Bashir's 'Boner' Video
The transcript was bad; the video is excruciating. Nightline host Martin Bashir—famous for interviewing Princess Diana and Michael Jackson—made some fratty/middle-aged comments last week when he was chosen to be the keynote speaker at the Asian American Journalist's Association: "I've never been in an environment with so many beautiful Asian babes in my life. In fact, I'm mightily relieved that the podium covers me from the waist downwards. I've been having trouble all evening." He also creeped out his ABC colleague, 20/20's Juju Chang. He's since said he's sorry (sorry he got caught!) Now that we have the video (full one here), which will haunt him via the Internet for years, he'll be really sorry.
open caption
"She Carries Everything For Me..."
[Particle physicist and sometime reality star Lauren Conrad with an assistant or friend (or, sadly, both) at a Whole Foods in Lorst Angrilys; image via INF]
In Case You Missed It
From the St. Petersburg Times, a crazy and, ultimately, uplifting story about a feral child and the family that rescued her. [The Girl in the Window]
From the St. Petersburg Times, a crazy and, ultimately, uplifting story about a feral child and the family that rescued her. [The Girl in the Window]
I'm Going to Move the Island
Ohhh Lost scoop. Two new characters (yes! more!) named Caesar (like Planet of the Apes, Doc Jensen guess) and Illana. Both are dangerous. WHEN IS FEBRUARY? [EW]
Ohhh Lost scoop. Two new characters (yes! more!) named Caesar (like Planet of the Apes, Doc Jensen guess) and Illana. Both are dangerous. WHEN IS FEBRUARY? [EW]
Love like anthrax
Anthrax Babes' Lament: 'We're Boring!'
Bruce Ivins, the scientist who killed himself after the government linked him to the 2001 anthrax attacks, reportedly loved sorority girls. As all Americans do! He was supposedly obsessed with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sisters of Princeton. Now, as you can imagine, those girls are fielding a lot of media requests. They don't get it, though! As a sister writes to IvyGate: "i dont really get why he would be so interested in Kappa…i mean of all the sororities on campus we are the most diversely boring…and also the most unworthy of obsession." Regardless of whatever the hell "diversely boring" means (Ivy League education!), surely there's something interesting enough about these ladies to encourage a man to commit bioterrorism, right? We may never know, if these Facebook messages imploring everyone to keep silent are effective. More »
Tucker Max
Words Of Encouragement
An email last year from cinematic and literary savant Tucker Max to NYC blogger-about-town Cajun Boy: "Your writing reminds me of that girl at the bar that at 8pm, you think is OK but don't look twice at, and then only think about again right before closing time if you don't have anything better. It's better than most, but not something you'd go after. But keep working at it dude, it takes time to develop a strong voice." Yes, you'll get there one day, dude. [Cajun Boy]
investigations
Banksy's Face
The image on the left is a portrait by UK artist Mister Aitch (which we brought you last week along with several awesome action photos), showing semi-anonymous street artist-to-the-stars Banksy in profile, dressed as the Queen of England. The image on the right is the actual photo of Banksy from which the portrait was drawn. A tipster sent us the full photo—which, as far as we can tell, is not currently published anywhere—which is part of a set of photos taken of Banksy at work in Jamaica in 2004. The much-hyped "only known photo" of the artist is taken from this set. But after the jump, we have two more photos from that set, including one of the mystery man's face in profile: More »
This Just In
Socialite/heiress Lydia Hearst-Shaw just took time out of her day to write us—and you—an e-mail. She has a couple things she'd like to clear up! Read it here.
Socialite/heiress Lydia Hearst-
whiners
Gossip Girl Actor Demands More Money
Oh Chace Crawford, you greedy, hopefully gay prat. The Gossip Girl looker, who plays pampered rich boy Nate Archibald, has left ICM for CAA, hoping that their stable of high-powered, wicked agents can get him a bigger salary for the laughably stiff (ohhh) acting he does on the low-rated CW (hardly even a network!) show. He's looking for a "substantial raise," according to well-vetted hearsay. A substantial raise? From "here kid, now you're famous and we'll pay you a few thou while we're at it" to what? How much more could a glorified My First Twink™ blow-up sex doll expect? Maybe his next project, the sure-to-be smash hit The Haunting of Molly Hartley will solidify his place in the pantheon of forever-famous pin-up pretty teen-soap boys. Like Shane McDermott. You remember him, right? More »
Books
Random House Gives In to "Terrorist" Non-Threat
If anyone needs more proof about how backwards and reactionary the book-publishing industry can be, here it is. Yesterday, an opinion piece in the WSJ discussed the indefinite postponement of Sherry Jones' historical novel about the child bride of Muhammad, The Jewel of Medina. Random House "feared the book would become a new Satanic Verses, the Salman Rushdie novel of 1988 that led to death threats, riots and the murder of the book's Japanese translator." What made them think that? Oh, because one American academic didn't like it. After Islamic studies professor Denise Spellberg spread the word about how allegedly "racy" the book was, a couple Muslim bloggers went wild (without having read the book.) Spellberg also phoned an editor at Random House imprint Knopf, warning her that widespread violence might occur. (Fun fact: Spellberg also has a Knopf book contract!) Apparently, in these fear-mongering times, it's just that easy to kill a book. (Ms. Jones is shopping it around for a new publisher.)
In Brief
Jimmy Wales, the nobody everybody knows about
FROM VALLEYWAG.COM: "A nondescript man with thinning brown hair and a slight paunch" is how W nondescribes Jimmy Wales, the cofounder of Wikipedia, the site where anybody can write history, and nobodies do. More »
the cinema
Vicky Cristina Barcelona's Big Three-Way Lie
Wait a tick. The only reason to see Woody Allen's new gauzy romance Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the sexy-pex threesomes between coffee-voiced Javier Bardem and the lovely and supple grand dames of acting coy Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson, right? Well then don't plan on seeing the damn thing because there are no ménage à trois in the film. Or it's like "implied" or something. Which is total bullshit! We were lied to (sort of) and we won't stand for it! More »
charts & graphs
This Is All Meaningless Until the Conventions
John McCain's been hammering home his "Obama's a celebrity" angle for weeks now. The not-so-hidden message behind those ads is an old and effective one—Obama is the candidate of Europeans and Hollywood nutjobs. Get it? Now Democrats are upset that Obama's not fighting back hard enough. Meanwhile, the polls remain infuriatingly even. Attached, a graph of InTrade market predictions closing prices for Obama over the last couple months, measuring how likely an Obama victory is. As you can see, the polls are nearing a statistical tie but Obama's still the odds-on favorite to win. Here's the thing, though—nothing that happens in the campaigns between now and the conventions means a damn thing. More »
Ad Remixes
Gossip Girl Gets Poster-ized
Who could possibly top Gossip Girl's mind-blowingly transgressive ad campaign in which the show trumpeted its own negative reviews—which was itself an incredible follow-up to the astounding 'OMFG' ad campaign that shocked the show business universe? The anonymous Poster Boy ad remixer, that's who. Ha ha. Click for a larger pic. More »
In Brief
