Gawker

Hipster Grifter Catching Mad Charges, In Utah [Kari Ferrell]

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:15:27 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Just when you were about to give up on life, there's a Hipster Grifter news update! Kari Ferrell had more charges filed against her out in Utah yesterday. Let's learn about them!

Salt Lake County prosecutors filed charges late Thursday against Kari Michelle Ferrell, 22. She is now charged with one count of identity fraud and issuing a bad check, both third-degree felonies. She was also charged with two misdemeanor counts of issuing a bad check.

That's in addition to the $60,000 she was already charged with stealing. The new charges are related to bad checks, and opening a cable account in someone else's name. And hey, you think our commenters are bad? Here's some of the hometown sentiment:

[KSL.com, TribTowns.com]

Anderson Cooper's Mom Would Like to Talk to You About Blow Jobs [Erotica]

Richard Lawson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:54:05 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Would you like to hear Gloria Vanderbilt, 85-year-old mother of CNN silverfox Anderson Cooper, talk about "sucking cock"? Good, because you can! Vanderbilt's naughty book called Obession: An Erotic Tale has an audio version. Here's a sample via Newsweek.

The passage she's chosen [very NSFW] is about a slave girl or something in a gold chain performing fellatio and waiting for milk and ohhhh God it's really wonderful/terribly disturbing. Perfect Friday fare.

Enjoy!

Proud Reputations of L.A, Television, Fox Destroyed by Harlot [Outrage]

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:44:00 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Body-displaying sex symbol Jillian Barberie Reynolds still has a job as a, heh, "weather and lifestyle anchor" on Fox TV in L.A., while actual journalists are getting laid off. How long will we allow sexy ladies to defile our televisions?

LA Times media moralist James Rainey, for one, is outraged. He was forced, for research purposes, to go listen to Reynolds talking to Howard Stern about sexy, sexual things:

Reynolds spared no detail professional or, in particular, sexual...

Particular highlights among the lowlights: Reynolds' description of a celebrity she had "done," others she made out with, and her recollection of fantasy play with her husband, including the time he held a gun to the back of her head. ("I don't even care that it's loaded. I said, 'Don't even tell me. I don't care.' ")

Excuse James Rainey as he wipes his fevered brow, but this is not the "news" he knows. Is this really what people want from their vapid TV personalities? Blatant, lurid, sexy, sexuality, from Barbie-esque women? James Rainey puts the question to the powers-that-be:

Well then, I said to Hale, wouldn't talking about bondage with the aplomb of a porn star at least press the edges of the Fox code of conduct?

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.James Rainey is coming from a place of caring, Jillian. He cares. A lot. About you. He wants to help you. He is willing to work closely with you. As closely as you like. He is even willing to put it to you in the voice of a finger-snapping "girlfriend," so that you get his message loud and clear:

But, girl, you're middle-aged and expecting a second child (as announced on the air this week)...Isn't it time to grow up, just a little?

Girl, you betta listen to James. He wants to help you, girl. He wants to hold you, girl. He wants to...to love you, girl. Call him.
[LAT]

Nazi Facebook Alarmingly Popular With Boys in Uniform [Racism Friday]

Pareene — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:24:21 -0400

Did you know that White Supremacists have their own social networking site? And that 40 of its users claim to be active duty military personnel? Yes, well. Is the rule against fascism enforced as stringently as the one against gays?

Extreme Dieting Prolongs Your Miserable Life, Say Donut-Munching Scientists [Fitness]

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:46:03 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.After torturing rhesus monkeys for decades with extremely low-calorie diets, scientists have finally proven that eating less can help primates (you) live longer. And the United States of America has proven that eating more kills you quick. Related: Donut Wars!!

These scientist-sadists had monkeys eat 30% fewer calories than normal for twenty fucking years, and found that "37 percent of the comparison monkeys have so far died in ways judged to be due to old age, compared with 13 percent of the dieting group." So you're three times less likely to die quite so soon, in exchange for a lifetime of hunger. Great.

Scientists know that actual humans won't stick to a diet like this so they're trying to find some chemicals that might mimic the effect of the diet, and the closest they've come so far is red wine. Yea, that's more our speed.

Meanwhile, in the mightiest city in the mightiest country on earth: Dunkin Donuts is taking on Tim Hortons Donuts in a Donut War so consequential it is covered in our city's largest newspapers, complete with analysis of Munchkins vs. Timbits, and which type of fried ball we, as New Yorkers, prefer to wrap our mouths around.

That's why America rules the world and monkeys live in cages being tortured by scientists, who are probably fat American blubbermonsters. Besides, maximum caloric intake is a key factor in total domination:

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Are More Jimmy Choos About to Drop on Dolce & Gabbana's Hacking Flack? [Crime]

John Cook — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:39:32 -0400

The antics of Ali Wise, the Dolce & Gabbana party-planner and publicist who was arrested this week on felony charges of computer trespassing and eavesdropping, extend beyond the one case with which she's been charged, Page Six reports.

Wise is accused of illegally gaining access to the voicemail of interior designed Nina Freudenberger.

But a source familiar with the investigation says the district attorney's office is looking at five or more other possible victims of Wise's alleged hacking.

"Ali has been harassing my boyfriend and I since November," one of the alleged victims, who's gone to the police but requested anonymity, tells Page Six. "I was getting phantom phone calls and losing voice mails. She was also sending e-mails to my boyfriend's publicist and posting comments about us online. I went so far as to hire a private investigator to figure out what was going on."

Freudenberger told the Post that she's never even met Wise, and suggests she was targeted because the two share an ex-boyfriend in Downtown Records founder Josh Deutsch. Another source told the paper: "Ali has basically been targeting people who have been with [former boyfriend] Jason [Pomeranc] and her ex-boyfriends."

And yesterday Cityfile reported that Wise's alleged ex-boyfriend obsession extends beyond the digital realm and into defamation and, apparently, physical threats:

"Wise's antics go beyond what's stated," an anonymous tipster tells us by email. "For that reason there's a restraining order in place against her now, effectual for 5 years. And there were multiple victims of her hacking hobby. A defamation suit is under way in addition to the felony charge of computer fraud she already faces. There are piles of irrefutable evidence against her."

Mel Gibson Hoping You'll Pay $12 to Watch Him Have Conversations with a Puppet [Trade Roundup]

Richard Lawson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:39:00 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Mel Gibson announces his next big movie role, and it's a strange one. The Green Lantern movie narrows its potential leads down to three curious choices, and little beaver Jon Heder has landed a TV show on cable.

Hm. Noted crazy Mel Gibson will star in the film The Beaver for noted lesbian Jodie Foster, who will direct and co-star. The film, once thought to be a project for Steve Carell, is about a man who finds comfort in a beaver hand puppet. So it'll be a cheapish quirky indie type affair, although it will star one of the most vociferously strange movie stars of the past twenty years. Could be great! Could be awful. [Variety]

The Green Lantern is nearing the end of its major casting process, mulling over three actors for the lead role of a hotshot Air Force pilot who meets a dying alien and gets deputized into a space police department. (That is an actual plot of a movie. And a comic book!) Warner Brothers is trying to decide between Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, and Justin Timberlake, of all people, but is apparently having some trouble reconciling their favorite with the director's. So we'll either get a kind of boring Green Lanternt, a wise-cracking kind of annoying Green Lantern, or a singin' dancin' Green Lantern. None of which sound terribly thrilling. [THR]

The Minnie Driver/Uma Thurman comedy Motherhood, which premiered at Sundance this year, has set an October release date. The movie is about a crazed mommy trying to plan a birthday party for her daughter while the crazy city world provides obstacles along the way. Obstacles like Isn't This Basically the Plot of Jingle All the Way and Uma Thurman Is Never Funny. [Variety]

Quirky comedy queen Zooey Deschanel has signed on to play James Franco's love interest in the David Gordon Green comedy Your Highness, about a lazy prince (Danny McBride) who must go on a quest to save his kingdom. Other than the fact that Natalie Portman plays McBride's wildly disproportionate love interest, this film is weird because it looks as though Gordon Green really is going down this broad comedy route. Will we ever get a George Washington, All the Real Girls, or Snow Angels again? [THR]

Nicole Kidman will star in and produce a movie version of the book Little Bee, about a wealthy British couple who has an encounter with a Nigerian orphan while on an African vacation. No word yet on whether Jerry Seinfeld will voice the orphan character. [Variety]

Everwood surly teen Gregory Smith has joined the cast of that Canadian Grey's Anatomy-with-badges police drama Copper that will air on ABC in the States. Treat Williams is wondering if maybe there's a part for a tough-but-principled chief or something. [THR]

Ugh. Shoulda-been-gone-by-now Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder has landed a Comedy Central sitcom. It's about a laid-off IT worker who leaves his urban life to return home to the small town where he grew up. Which has been the idea for basically everything these days. In a nifty little distribution deal, if the sitcom's first batch of episodes do well, an automatic 90 more will be ordered. Yeesh. [Variety]

Young Republican Leader Audra Shay Is Crazy, Illiterate, Racist [Politics]

Pareene — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:37:57 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.38-year-old Young Republican leader Audra Shay got in some trouble for lol-ing at racism. She is standing tough, though! So it is time to go back and find all the other crazy in her Facebook feed, for our own lulz.

The story, as of Monday: a Facebook friend of Audra commented, "obama bin lauden is the new terrorist....muslim is on there side .....need to take this country back from all these mad coons.......and illegals." And Audra responded: "You tell em Eric! lol."

Audra unfriended some people who complained about her reaction, but not racist Eric himself. And then the internet heard about it. But Audra is still running to be chairwoman of the Young Republicans. And John Avlon at The Daily Beast has tracked down all the other examples of Audra's Facebook nuttiness.

The weird and sad thing is that everything she writes is utterly crazy and deranged, but it is so within the current bounds of acceptable political discourse that we are like "why is she worse than Jim DeMint, again?" But here you go, here is the crazy:

In October 2008, in the wake of news that an effigy of Sarah Palin was being hung outside an affluent Hollywood home as an offensive Halloween decoration, Shay replied, returning to the "LOL" style that she employed after the "coons" comment: "What no ‘Obama in a noose? Come on now, its just freedome (sic) of speech, no one in Atlanta would take that wrong! Lol."

Posting and endorsing a conspiracy theory video that attempts to prove that Obama believes he can only "ensure his own salvation" and "fate" if he helps African-Americans above whites, complete with Barnum-esque captions ("LISTEN AS HE ATTACKS WHITE PEOPLE").

And so on! And she will still probably win her campaign for chairwoman of the Young Republicans. None of these crazy comments disqualifies her from leading them, because this is already what old Republicans say, openly, on TV and on the radio, all the time. So, good luck, Audra Shay. You certainly do represent the future of the Republican party!

Dead Man Sells Adhesives [Billy Mays]

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:06:02 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Billy Mays is dead, but his ghost will return to haunt your television until you order roll after roll of Mighty Tape, to quiet the bearded demon. It's what he would have wanted.

Billy filmed infomercials for Mighty Tape and the Mighty Putty Super Pack (do you really need both? Yes) before he died, and now that a suitable amount of time has passed (two weeks), the company is all set to roll 'em out.

"Billy loved being on camera. He loved making money for the companies that hired him," Sullivan said. "He'd roll over in his grave if the ads were being pulled off the air."

What a...great, great thing. Buy some tape, this tape is his legacy.
[LAT, NYP]

Murdoch Tabloid Spied on Editor of Other Murdoch Tabloid [Scandals]

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:30:06 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Scotland Yard now says that it will not investigate allegations published in The Guardian that Rupert Murdoch's UK tabloids illegally hacked into the cellphones of public figures. Boo! However: the victims may sue. You'll be amazed who one victim was!

The new allegations had their roots in a 2007 incident in which one of Murdoch's tabloid editors at News of the World, along with a private investigator named Glen Mulcaire, were jailed for illegally hacking into cell phones associated with the royal family. But the phone tapping was much bigger—look who else was a victim:

The BBC has learned that Rebekah Wade, the editor of the Sun, a sister paper of the News of the World, was among 75 people identified by police as having had phone messages monitored by Mulcaire.
Ms Wade - soon to become chief executive of the papers' parent company News International - was informed at the time but declined to press charges, according to BBC business editor Robert Peston.

Yes: one of Murdoch's tabloids was tapping the phone of the editor of another of Murdoch's tabloids, allegedly. It's roughly the equivalent of...well there really is no US equivalent. And you better believe an American editor would be pressing some god damn charges, then perhaps buying some guns. Or at least complaining loudly.

It's truly incredible. And now Rebekah Wade (pictured) is the boss of the entire paper that spied on her! News Corp., ladies and gentlemen. It's not a job—it's a way of life.
[BBC, Previously. Pic: Getty]

"Next Scratch Behind Her Ears. She Likes That." [Open Caption]

Richard Lawson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:29:00 -0400

[Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick on the set of "Gossip Girl"; image via INF]

Which Weird Actor Will Compliment You On Your Pants In the Hopes of Getting In Them? [Blind Items]

Richard Lawson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:24:00 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Today we have an actor who's not very good at hitting on women, another actor who is not very good at getting movie work apparently, and a third actor who seems nice but is secretly a cheat.

1) "Which freaky actor - who currently has a girlfriend - hit on a wardrobe consultant on the set of his latest film with the line, 'I like those jeans. Can I have your number?'" [NYDN]

2 "What former Golden Globe Best Actor nominee has fallen so far down the acting ladder that earlier this week he was forced to audition against 50 other actors for a fast food commercial?" [CDaN]

3) "This actor is part of the ensemble cast of a current television show. You don't usually see him in the tabloids because he has a wife and kid/s and is quite low-key in his personal life. However, if those tabloids knew what he was really up to, they might start following him 24/7. He has been having an extra-marital affair with a barely legal actress who appeared on his show. You wouldn't recognize her name, but you would definitely know his. This bad boy should watch his step before his wife finds out." [BlindGossip]

Britney Spears: Almost a Jew [Gossip Roundup]

The Cajun Boy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:07:36 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Britney is converting to Judaism, Gwyneth is brainwashing her GOOP death cult into thinking that a cleansed colon is the way to God, Jeremy Piven preaches the horrors of fish and Katy Perry frolics in a bikini in Turkey.

Britney Spears is a woman who is dedicated to her man/agent. So dedicated that she's converting to Judaism to show Jason Trawick how much she loves him. She's been wearing a star of David around her neck and has enlisted a rabbi to tour with her to teach her the religion. As a Cajun/Louisianian, I'd like to offer a trade to the Jews. You guys take Britney off our hands, and we'll take Natalie Portman. Sound good? Sweet. Have fun with her. [UK SUN]
Gwyneth Paltrow, faux-lifestyle expert, physician, chef, dietician and Jim Jones in training, sent out a message to her GOOP death cult raving about some detox clease she did where she didn't eat anything for three weeks. In other news, Chris Martin probably isn't an ass man like Barack Obama. [Daily News]
Jerry Seinfeld, apparently not content with the billion or so dollars he's banked from Seinfeld, is doing wacky commercials for some bank in Australia. [Page Six]
Jeremy Piven says he hasn't eaten a piece of fish in 9 months since his horrible mercury poison thing. Now he's all into yoga and is all about achieving "balance." Whatever. Still a tool. [Gatecrasher]
Katie Lee Joel isn't wasting any time since dumping sad old man Billy Joel for some swarthy lothario—Now she's opened up a burger spot in West Village near her townhouse called "Burger County." [Page Six]
Jamie Foxx just can't contain his unrelenting cheesedickery. The other night he was at a party at Tao in Vegas when he took over the mic from the DJ and starting taunting Rihanna, who was dining with Jay-Z, to the point where she got up and left. [Page Six]
19 year-old Harry Potter star Emma Watson bought a $3,000,000 London home for her and her boyfriend, some 26 year-old "financier" named Jay. [Mirror]
Katy Perry is running around Turkey in a bikini with some mystery guy just putting his hands all over her and we have to admit, we're kind of jealous. She looks damn good! [Daily Mail]

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain [Things We Actually Like]

The Cajun Boy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:36:46 -0400

"Wet Sunglasses" is a series of photographs by Sebastian Szwajczak of people wearing glasses in wet conditions. The complete series can be viewed here. [via Ashley Simko]

The Cretin of the Klondyke Discovers Bartlett's Familiar Quotations [Palinisms]

The Cajun Boy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:11:32 -0400

Sarah Palin, America's most notorious goldbricking defeatist, obviously has no idea what to do with herself now that she's returned home from the most painfully staged fishin' excursion ever, because she's just dropping dumb quotes all over her Twitter.

Maybe her tweeting of a Walter Cronkite quote is all part of her elaborate plan to get back at the media by murdering one of their icons, as she's surely aware that Cronkite's brain would explode if he were to learn he was being quoted by Sarah Freaking Palin on Twitter. But wait, there's more!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. Sarah Palin actually quoted Plato on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Alaskan cock-gansta Levi Johnston has exposed the reason Palin quit her job so abruptly. Money!

Johnston says he lived with the Palin family from early December to the second week in January. He claims he heard the governor several times say how nice it would be to take advantage of the lucrative deals that were being offered, including a reality show and a book.

I think the big deal was the book. That was millions of dollars," said Johnston, who has had a strained relationship with the family but now says things have improved.

Naturally, this provoked a fabulously bitchy quote from Palin's deranged mouthpiece Meghan Stapleton.

"It is interesting to learn Levi is working on a piece of fiction while honing his acting skills."

And the world spins madly on.

Barbara Corcoran, Classic New York Broad [Lady Moguls]

The Cajun Boy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:24:57 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group and the Today Show's resident real estate expert person, is sort of a living legend in New York. Everyone knows her name. But do you know the secret to her success? Dick jokes!

Corcoran, whose track record in her two years as a real estate analyst for NBC is almost as horrendous as Jim Kramer's is as a financial analyst, is the subject of a Women's Wear Daily profile that revealed some somewhat surprising tidbits about Corcoran's penchant for potty-mouthery, something she claims has helped her get ahead in business.

"I got a complaint yesterday for using foul language in a speech I gave," Corcoran says. "I said, ‘holy s—t.' I mean, what other word can you use? There's no other word you can substitute for that. People loved my language. I usually get compliments on it. It makes them trust me. They say ‘She tells it like it is.'"

In fact, there are dozens of phrases one can substitute for holy s—t starting with "oh my gosh," but Corcoran avoids them when possible because they do not fit as readily within her media persona.

She tells dirty jokes, uses bad words, and makes vaguely inappropriate comments about your physical appearance less because she's a different kind of real estate broker than because she's selling you the idea of a different kind of real estate broker. By being ever so slightly inappropriate (more PG-13 than R rated) she says, "I'm your friend, not your salesperson." It's smart, another way to close the deal.

And naturally, Corcoran isn't shy about infusing her game with a little girly fliration.

"She was constantly telling her brokers how attractive they were," recalls a former Corcoran underling. "The first time I was in the office she felt my butt and said something like, ‘Welcome to the office.' Or she'd squeeze a guy's arm and say ‘You're so muscular.' She's not hitting on you, she's selling you. It usually works."

We suppose this all shouldn't be too surprising. After all, this is the same Barbara Corcoran who dropped her pants in the Central Park Boathouse to show off her ass to John Stossel and a group of her friends two years ago.

All told, we have to admit—We've kind of got a bit of a "Mrs. Robinson" crush on Barbara Corcoran. She'd probably destroy us though. Sigh.

For Barbara Corcoran, the Housing Crisis is a Glass Half Full [WWD]

Looks Like Those Considerable 'Numchuck' Skills Paid Off [Television]

The Cajun Boy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:26:57 -0400

Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder is getting his own scripted show on Comedy Central.

But Where Do They Get the Giant Tubs of Stale Popcorn? [Pic Of The Night]

The Cajun Boy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:44:28 -0400

Hundreds gathered in the grass of Brooklyn Bridge Park last night to watch Raising Arizona, part of the 'Movies With a View' series hosted by the Brookyln Bridge Park Conservatory, one of many NYC summer outdoor film screenings. (Chris Hondros/Getty)

They Dropped Off Too Many Kids at the Pool [Explanations]

The Cajun Boy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:28:38 -0400

The swim club in Philadelphia that turned away some African-American day campers fearing their presence would "change the complexion" of the pool, now says that over-crowding was the real issue and it all had "nothing to do with race." [NBC]

Aaron Sorkin Rides in on a White Horse to Save Moneyball [Hollywood]

The Cajun Boy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:53:03 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Aaron Sorkin, noted scribe, addict and boner of Maureen Dowd and Kristen Chenoweth, has been hired to write a new draft of Moneyball, the film based on Michael Lewis' bestselling book. But are Steven Soderbergh and Brad Pitt still involved?

Reports the Hollywood Reporter:

The writer has been brought on to do a draft of the baseball drama, drawing on Steve Zaillian's earlier take. The studio wants to move forward quickly with the new iteration, with Sorkin set to turn in his version as soon as next month.

Brad Pitt remains on board to star, but Steven Soderbergh no longer will write or direct and is not involved in the film.

Soderbergh, you may recall, fought with the studio over the creative direction of film, leading to production being killed by the studio just days before shooting was set to begin last June

Now, we like Sorkin's work (especially Sports Night!) so we're confident that if anyone can make an adaptation of the book work, it's him, but we still can't figure out how it would be worth a crap on the big screen. However, if it does work out, and we seriously doubt that it will, we do look forward to a scene in which Billy Beane and Jason Giambi walk down a long corridor, pause in front of the door to the locker room and turn to face each other so Beane can yell "You can't handle a curveball!" at Giambi. It'll be grand!

Aaron Sorkin Game for Moneyball [Hollywood Reporter]

Turning Out the Lights in Edison [Print Is Dead]

The Cajun Boy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:46:21 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.In 2008 the New York Times shut down its printing facility in Edison, New Jersey, laying off hundreds in the process. A reader wrote in tonight saying that the building is right now in the process of being demolished.

The old New Jersey bureau office of the New York Times is being torn down. Looks like they started today or earlier this week at ripping the Edison building to pieces. You can see the carnage from the Turnpike — a very sad sight for sure.

Yes. Very sad indeed.

The American President is an Ass Man, Apparently [Foreign Assets]

The Cajun Boy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:04:48 -0400

Uh oh. Somebody's sleeping on the White House sofa when he gets home from the G8 Summit in Italy! And Matt Drudge is never going to let this die.

But seriously, Is this not one of the best presidential photographs of all-time? Even Sarkozy looks like he's sneaking a peek, though he's French, so we expect him to do it. However, in Obama's defense, that is a great ass!

And naturally, Drudge is having some fun with this.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

We can't wait to see Robert Gibbs try to spin this one.

Photo via TMZ

'Bruno' Bestows His Top Ten Upon America [The Gays]

The Cajun Boy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:04:23 -0400

Earlier in the week Sacha Baron Cohen shockingly appeared out of character on Letterman's show. Tonight he returned in character as "Bruno" to read the Top Ten—"Top Ten Reasons to See The New Movie Brüno."

(UPDATE: The complete Top Ten has been embedded below.)

CBS posted the rather hilarious preview onto YouTube earlier and we'll post the full Top Ten here later after the show has aired and it's available online, but it looks pretty funny.

One last thing re: Bruno/Sacha Baron Cohen. We were chatting with a show business "insider" earlier today who offered an interesting tidbit as to why Cohen appeared on Letterman out of character earlier in the week—Word is that Bruno isn't tracking well in middle America where "viewers might not exactly be in on the joke," or, more likely, stricken with homophobia, so the studio may have been thinking that giving these people a chance to see that the star of the movie isn't actually gay may make them more willing to see the film. We'll see soon enough.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Wall Street Journal Editor's Newsroom Dig At Fox News [Synergy]

Ryan Tate — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:51:27 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The Wall Street Journal's managing editor Robert Thomson is close to News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch, personally and professionally. But that doesn't mean the Aussie is above somehow roughhouse ribbing of his corporate siblings.

Take Thomson's comments at the goodbye party for longtime Journal man Dan Hertzberg, the deputy managing editor pushed into retirement after 32 years. They may have been good for staff cohesion, but we wonder if lead Fox News viper Roger Ailes will take them so cheerfully.

The story as we've confirmed it with three different WSJ staffers, is that Thomson, in praising Hertzberg's newsgathering skills, ended up discussing the newspaper's new "Hub," an area on the sixth floor with loads of flat-screen displays blaring TV news around the clock — the beating heart of the new, multiplatform Journal. Thomson (pictured) was saying Hertzberg is like a human version of that room, or something, with his ability to gather and process news. Whatever.

The line that pricked up reporters' ears was when Thomson joked that the real reason the Hub was built was actually to "double the viewership of Fox Business Network," or words to that effect, making fun of the network's vanishingly small audience. Zing!

Thomson then instituted a "new old tradition" of "banging out" forcibly retired staffers by pounding on the wall as they walk out of the newsroom for the last time. Apparently this is a British thing and, according to one staffer (disclaimer: American), awkward, especially on deadline after many long speeches. Back to the Fox bashing, please; that's the sort of catty backbiting a great many English-speaking journalists can really enjoy!

(PIc: Esther Dyson)

Doesn't Shep Smith Know That Use of the Word 'Falafel' Isn't Allowed At Fox News? [Bill O'reilly]

The Cajun Boy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:15:46 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Shepard Smith was riffing about the latest additions to the Webster's Dictionary today when he suddenly started reminiscing about a deli on 48th street that served great schwarma, crispy pita bread, hummus and, that's right, falafel. Oops!

In the event you're somehow unaware of why the word "falafel" is an unholy profanity at Fox News, it dates back to the Andrea Mackris' sexual harassment suit against Bill O'Reilly in 2004, the one he settled out of court for what was rumored to be millions of dollars. Included in the court documents was the transcript of a phone call between O'Reilly and Mackris where he confused "falafel" for "loofah" in the course of sharing his shower fantasy with her.

So anyway I'd be rubbing your big boobs and getting your nipples really hard, kinda' kissing your neck from behind...and then I would take the other hand with the falafel thing and I'd just put it on your p***y but you'd have to do it really light, just kind of a tease business...

Then again, Shep's shown quite a rebellious streak of late, so maybe all of this was planned.

Of Mogul Hookups and Yoga Farts [Twitterati]

Ryan Tate — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:44:34 -0400

Two executives enjoyed an intimate moment by the pond at Sun Valley; Scott Rosenberg made peace with Mediaite's Power Grid and Courtney Reimer wished she could relax slightly less in yoga. The Twitterati remained calm.

Writer Courtney Reimer's overshare left us highly uncentered.

Scott Rosenberg, formerly of Salon, called Mediaite's Power Grid "idiocy," but took three tweets to do it. So if he's right, he lost to the troll. HAND?

Twitter did not allow the Wall Street Journal's Julia Angwin the space to define what she meant by "hookup" in this context.

Time's Karen Tumulty found she was denied even her maternal martyrdom.

Vlogger Veronica Belmont got a fond reminder of the days before she ever learned who "Jason Calacanis" was.

Did you witness the media elite tweet something indiscreet? Please email us your favorite tweets - or send us more Twitter usernames.

Horny Evangelical Christian Senator Got Mommy and Daddy to Bribe His Piece on the Side [Family Values]

The Cajun Boy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:11:13 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.This John Ensign thing is becoming amazing. Earlier we learned that Ensign's buddy Sen. Tom Coburn, an OB/GYN, is citing doctor/patient privacy for refusing to talk about him, now we know that his parents "gifted" his mistress with $96,000.

Read the hilarious letter some poor lawyer had to issue today on behalf of his Jesus-loving ass-goblin of a client:

In April 2008, Senator John Ensign's parents each made gifts to Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton, and two of their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000. Each gift was limited to $12,000. The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts.

After the Senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time. The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others.

None of the gifts came from campaign or official funds nor were they related to any campaign or official duties. Senator Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules.

Paul Coggins
Fish & Richardson P.C.

Counsel for Senator John Ensign

Ha! How stupid do they think Americans are if they think for a second that we'd buy this gift nonsense as an excuse for 51 year-old U.S. Senator funneling money to his mistress and her husband through his freaking parents? Wait, don't answer that—Sean Hannity will explain how this is all perfectly reasonable tonight on his show and millions of conservative sheep will fall in line with this horseshit.

Would it be crass of us to say that we ever find out our lady is cheating on us, we sure hope that she does it with a good ole "family values" Republican U.S. Senator. That way we could at least pay some bills and take an all-expenses paid trip to Amsterdam when it was all said and done.

Ensign Still Bringing Home Dirty Laundry to Wash [TPM]
Pic via

Lyle Lodwick, Dynastic Fameball [Protocelebrities]

Ryan Tate — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:45:01 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Eric Lodwick is the brother of hipster Web millionaire Jakob Lodwick. He's also now Lyle Lodwick, at least as far as his modeling career goes. Is it fair to tie the Topshop poster boy to his notorious fameball brother?

Perhaps not, if only because Lyle (née Eric) has been more successful in his overshares. His brother uploads videos of scary knife play and intimate moments to the video website he started, while Lyle runs naked through a forest in a Sigur Rós video, according to New York's The Cut. And we haven't heard anything about Lyle turning up topless at business mixers.

Then again, in Lyle's line of work, that would actually be appropriate. When you're prancing about for the likes of Burberry and Lanvin, you're moving beyond fameballing and toward outright stardom. Big brother could probably learn something from his example.

What Did Les Hinton Know About the News Corp. Wiretapping, and When Did He Know It? [Scandals]

John Cook — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:33:24 -0400

The wiretapping scandal rocking Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper holdings is getting bad enough that Rupert is ducking questions from his own Fox Business reporters. It could also reach across the pond to his beloved acquisition, the Wall Street Journal.

Les Hinton was installed as the CEO of Dow Jones shortly after Murdoch bought his new toy and thus ultimately responsible for the Journal, Barron's, and all of the company's news operations. But prior to that he was the executive chairman at News International Group, which ran the Murdoch papers that are now accused of illegally wiretapping government officials and celebrities, and then paying off said officials and celebrities to keep quiet about it after they got caught.

Hinton is no stranger to controversy. He testified before the House of Commons in March 2007, assuring members of Parliament that News International had conducted a thorough inquiry into former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman's wiretapping exploits and determined that "he was the only person" at the companys's papers who had been tapping phones. Yesterday the Guardian reported that "27 different journalists from the News of the World and four from the Sun"—both News International papers—made more than 1,000 requests to private investigators for wiretaps, phone records, and other illegal invasions into private data. Either Hinton lied to Parliament, or he had absolutely no clue what was going on at his own papers.

What's more, at some point after Goodman was jailed in January 2007, News International began paying out more than $1.6 million in settlements to Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, for alleged wiretapping of his phone by News of the World reporters. Taylor's involvement was undisclosed until the Guardian reported it yesterday, and the payments were contingent on keeping the story quiet—hush money. It's not clear from the Guardian's reporting when, precisely, the payments began, but they started after January 2007 and Hinton was in charge of News International until December of that year. In other words, Hinton, the man who now oversees the Wall Street Journal, appears to be up to his neck in a criminal wiretapping conspiracy back in England. He's been called to testify before Parliament about it again next week, the Guardian reports. We're sure his American employees will be very curious as to what he has to say.

Calls to Hinton were not returned. A Dow Jones spokesman referred to us to a News International spokeswoman, who did not respond to an e-mail inquiry.

Train Stop [Pic Of The Day]

Richard Lawson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:27:00 -0400

[A scene in the Mandela Day installation at Grand Central Station; image via Getty]

Canned! Pug Puke Arrestee Too Hot For TV [Scandals]

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:20:38 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Chrissie Brodigan, captured the hearts and minds of New York after pulling her puking pug dog off the L train and subsequently getting arrested for it. Now, she's been fired from her job. This has gone too far!

Earlier this week Gothamist reported that Chrissie had been suspended from her job at Plum TV after the New York Post reported that she was screaming anti-Semitic slurs at the Hasidic Jewish cop who arrested her for her pugskullery. Now, they say, she's officially been canned. She says it was for "'equivocating' in the press" when she initially denied making anti-Semitic statements; Plum TV told Gothamist "Her employment was terminated for valid reasons, unrelated to the determination of whether or not she made the objectionable statements as alleged in the press."

HMMM. All we ever wanted was for this to be a stupid, stupid story about a dog, and its puke, and the L train, to while away the long hours of the summer. Yet now it has metastasized into something bigger—and uglier. Brodigan very explicitly denies that she ever made any anti-Semitic comments. The only evidence she did is one mysterious "witness" quoted by the city's shadiest tabloid. It's turned tragic. The only one who could clear this all up is the pug. And he's not talking.
[Gothamist. Pic via]

Longest Tweet Ever Sucks Up to Boss [Shut Up, Twitter]

Ryan Tate — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:02:21 -0400

Exploiting a loophole in Twitter's gateway for external software, a Forbes reporter posted what the magazine claims is the longest tweet ever. What did fearless Taylor Buley do with all 247 characters? Buttered up publisher Steve Forbes, of course.

At last, libertarian political ideals can finally be expressed, on the internet. The tweet:

The Jailhouse Assault Dreamed Up by Angry Tech, Media Companies [Badvertising]

Ryan Tate — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:49:54 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.So the copyright wars have come to this: Incensed over rampant online file sharing, some of the largest software and media companies show how copyright violations can get you brutalized in jail. Subtle.

Also, the kid's poor mom is run down by police and hauled off to jail. The video, posted to YouTube, is so over the top we thought it might be a parody, until we saw it touted on the website of its purported author, the Software & Information Industry Association.

SIIA members include old-media firms like Dow Jones, Thomson Reuters and McGraw Hill and software companies like Adobe and Oracle. We couldn't find Microsoft listed as a member, but we're starting to suspect SIIA pirated a page out of the company's hapless advertising playbook.

Highlights above; full video below.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

'Now, John, This Might Hurt a Little Bit' [Malpractice]

John Cook — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:47:45 -0400

Doug Hampton, the husband of John Ensign's mistress, says Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) urged Ensign to pay Hampton off to the tune of $1.2 million to make the whole mess go away. Now Coburn won't talk, claiming doctor-patient privilege.

In a statement, Coburn, who is a doctor, said any conversations he may or may not have had with his pal Ensign about how to best keep his adulterous affair a secret are strictly confidential:

I was counseling him as a physician and as an ordained deacon. ... That is privileged communication that I will never reveal to anybody. Not to the Ethics Committee, not to a court of law, not to anybody

Except as Josh Marshall points out, Coburn is an OB/GYN. So any treatments he was giving to Ensign were highly unorthodox.

Russian Alcoholism and Britney Spears Combine to Comedic Effect [Wtf]

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:22:22 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.A chance to laugh at foreigners! This ad for some English-language school in Russia shows some old Russian people singing "Hit Me Baby One More Time," all crazy and Russian-like. They probably didn't even pay royalties! Then, the big reveal:

Turns out they're all beset by alcoholic tremors. Oh, mercy!
[Copyranter]

Would You Pay $5 a Month to Read the New York Times Online? [Media]

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:36:42 -0400

At long last, the New York Times may have figured out how to make money off its website: by charging for it.

Bloomberg reports that the NYT is floating the idea of charging $5 a month to access its website in a survey of readers. (It also asked if subscribers would be willing to pay $2.50 per month).

Unless anybody has any other bright ideas, this is inevitable, and necessary. There's no way the NYT—or most other papers—can continue to allow their own free website to cannibalize their revenue forever. Print subscription levels will probably never rise again in a meaningful way. Online news is the future. Online ads bring in only a fraction of the revenue of print ads. Therefore, the website has to find another way to generate cash. And that way is charging for content.

If all 650,000 print subscribers paid $5 a month for the website, that would be an instant $39 million per year. More likely, many people would choose either only the print subscription (old people) or only the online subscription (non-old people). That means that the NYT could potentially sell many more online subscriptions than it sells print subscriptions. Its website is orders of magnitudes more popular than its print product already. Five bucks a month is not an outrageous fee for the premium newspaper site on the internet. Yes, the Times would lose some online readers, and therefore some online ad revenue. But they should be able to make up much more than that by charging a reasonable fee—particularly as this practice spreads and becomes more accepted. Bitch now, pay later. The paper will still have to face some pretty severe staff cutbacks. But this is the future. If you like to read the NYT, pay up.

Real World Cancun: At Least You Weren't Adopted! [Recaps]

Richard Lawson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:18:00 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.This week was the Cleaning episode. It was also the Blowdown episode. And it was the Let's Watch the Roommate Who Won an Online Contest to Be Here Alienate Herself and Yell At Everyone episode. So many episodes in one!

The problem was with Ayiiiiiiia. How do you solve a problem like Ayiiiia? How do you catch a frown and ask it to leave the house? No one knows.

This episode was one of those ones that's edited to such a weird degree that you can't really tell what's what or when's when. As the vomit-splattered curtain was drawn back on the scene last night, Emily and Ayiiiia and Shabazzle were getting along famously. They were riding pennyfarthing bicycles down by the arcade. They were flying kites and going to kissing booths and eating cotton candy and doing this and doing all of this stuff and it was summertime every minute of every day, just breezes and balms. Everyone was so happy!

Except Johnnay. Johnnay wasn't happy because she was sitting up on the deck, her black hair matted in nest-like snarls atop her little round marble head, staring down at the three frolicking ladies and seething. But she didn't care, she didn't care that they were having the best time of their lives, that they were becoming Sistahs with a capital SISTAHS, because she had the boys. She had tumble-topped Binky with his suspicious accent, creepy-faced Bronne with his bleary creeper features, that gay one, and Melody, the tattooed rocker hunk with chestnutty good looks and a badass attitude. She has all of them! So she doesn't need Ayiiiia or Emily or Mafarffle. And they don't need her.

So the house was divided and everyone was drunk so they couldn't stand. While at the club one night, Ayiiiia decided to up and leave and everyone got worried because this is downtown Mexico where the national pastime is gringo abduction and the official currency is crumpled twenties covered in blood. After 45 minutes of looking and yelling her name for a while ("Ayiiiia! Ayiiiiiiiia!" it sounded like Japanese soldiers dying in comic books from World War II), they finally found her standing on the street. Now if your roommates had been looking for you and had been worried that you were going to wind up mostly dead in the back of a rusted-out El Camino, you'd naturally do what Ayiiiiia did, I think. Which was yell at them. She got mad that they'd been worried and looking for her. Because... that makes complete sense I guess. So we started to see some cracks in the Ayiiiia veneer there.

This didn't stop the three girlyfriends from hanging out though. Mad that Johnnay had gone to lunch with the boys one day, they decided to go out club dancing without her. Just Ayiiiia and Emily and Verdell. So they went and drank fizzy drinks and the lights swirled and Emily saw Ayiiiia there across the way, grinding her hips into the air, her horsey bucks and thrusts hypnotic in their crassness. So when the ladies got home, sprawling down the stairs in their pointy boots and pointier features, Ayiiiiia and Emily left Gargamel twirling in the kitchen and went to bed. They went to bed, not to sleep. If you catch my meaning. If you're picking up what I'm laying down. What I mean to say is... I'm pretty sure that Emily and Ayiiia from The Real World: Cancun had sexual relations with each other after their girls' night out. So.

Sistahs were totally bonded! Everything was peachy keen! Except nothing was peachy keen. See while the three weird sisters were friendies, Johnnay was still hulking off in the perimeter, like Sirius Black in dog form. And as she stewed in her lonely juices, she riled up the dumb boys, who were just off in a corner hooting and throwing their feces around and drinking and annoying Emily. Dark clouds began to form in Em's eyes and the Earth began to tremble ever so slightly. But no one noticed, not yet. But soon they would.

Because they are nice or vain or probably both, the straight boys Binky and Bronne agreed to escort Derek to a gay bar for gay people. The gay bar in Cancun was basically like any other bar in Cancun except it was full of mens and only a scattered handful of women—those that just wanted to dance and not be bothered, those that needed the reassuring touch of a man but couldn't find it in Straightville. Bronne had asked Derek to "gay him up as hard as he could," which I half-chuckled at and thought That could make a could joke but really it's just too flat and boring. Gay me up real hard. Hardee hard hard. Bronne. Bronne was that guy you knew in college who was always just trying a little too hard. Wanted to be the party animal and the ladykiller and brah's brah and all that but was never quite sure how to do it, and you could tell that he was wildly reinventing himself from some nerdy obscurity he toiled in in high school and you sorta felt bad for him so you tolerated him and let him hang around but the more and more he pushed and pushed and pushed the more you got angry at him and eventually you just ditched him forever because oh holy God it was worth being an asshole and losing karma points because now he's gone and won't bother you and ahh blessed relief. Remember that dude? That is Bronne. It's sad.

ANYWAY. Nothing remarkable happened at the gay nightclub for gay people except that on the way back Derek got caught by a groundskeeper for peeing in the bushes and the small fellow tried to take him to apologize to the manager but Derek deftly eluded him by saying "No, I was just vomiting" and then making throw-up noises and motions. Blehhh Blehhhh! he went. And I felt bad for the teeny tiny Mexican man who was just trying to do his job, but really, son? Peeing in the bushes merits an awkward sitdown with the manager? This is Can-motherhumpin'-cun, friendo! The bushes must be practically made of pee at this point. Let it slide, dude. Just let it slide.

So the boys were supes drunks that night and when they woke up at 8 am, for a very important Student City business conference that involved ziplines and seal kissing, they were still drunk. Melody really wanted to be on time so he started bellowing the time to everyone and Bronne just acted cray-zay (it was just so exhausting to watch) and Emily started clawing at the walls and eventually she exploded into a furious ball of boy hating and screaming. The boys were not scared of her rage, just bemused by it, so they kept egging her on and she got madder and madder and when they finally got to the Student City Sitting In a Hammock Leadership Conference, she refused to participate in any of their reindeer games. She was mad at her roommates so she decided to punish herself with no fun zipline rides. I don't get it.

ANYWAY. Emily was also kinda mad at her once beloved Ayiiiia, because when the shit hit the fan with the boys, only brave Mulligatawny was woman enough to stand at her side and fight. Ayiiiia, on the other hand, just disappeared into an occluding smoke and mist of mutters and bleeped swears, carrying on some fight with herself and maybe other people, it was hard to tell. Whatever it was, Emily felt it was a Reason Why Not to like Ayiiiiia anymore. So being a mature individual, she decided to just not talk to her anymore. Like, really, she just blatantly ignored direct questions. She and Bilbao finally made friends with the boys and Johnnay again, and Emily apologized for being a bitchy bitch because it's not nice to be that way when you live with people for a TV show.

Ayiiiia sat alone in a hammock, sticking pins into little Melody-shaped dolls.

Back at the ranch, Ayiiia was stomping around and starting fights with people. She shoved Binky down a flight of stairs for no good reason. Derek came up and tried to give her a hug, so Ayiiiia ran him through with a curtain rod. He slumped over dead. Melody came walking by, singing a song, and she based a priceless Ming vase over his head. Ker-thunk. Johnnay was in another room entirely, doing her knitting, but Ayiiiiia closed her eyes really really tight and focused really really hard and suddenly Johnnay felt a pain in her head and then fell over, perished. Suffices to say, Ayiiiiia was in a bad mood. But then she made a critical error. She started some shit with Schlimazel. Their fight went like this:

AYIIIIA: Let's get in a fight, but don't be attitudey.

SCHLIMAZEL: Attitude? Who's got attitude?

AYIIIIA: You've got attitude.

SCHLIMAZEL: Attitude? I've got attitude?

AYIIIIA: Attitude: You've got it.

SCHLIMAZEL: Attitude?

AYIIIIA: Attitude.

SCHLIMAZEL: Attitude.

That was a verbatim transcription. They just said the word attitude back and forth for ten minutes and then both stormed away. Later Shlomo was bitching to Emily about their newfound Enemy and said Enemy was caught lurking behind curtains, listening. It was like that movie The Lives of Others except in this case instead of a conflicted East German Stasi officer listening in on a playwright, it was a stupid girl named Ayiiiia who won an online contest to be on a reality show standing behind a curtain in Cancun. But they're close relatives!

Finally the two lovers, dim Emily and rabid Ayiiiiiia, got in the spat to end all spats, shrieking and caterwauling while the other roommates milled about the living room like Sims that you don't control, they're part of some other person's game, and finally Ayiiiia said "At least I wasn't fucking adopted!!!" and ... oh dear, Ayiiiiiia. Just oh dear.

So that was basically the end of Ayiiiiia. All the other roommates were happy as clams, and decided to play kings. When they got to 9 Bust a Rhyme, Crickets or Fallujah or Jasmine or Attitudes or whatever her name is said both "cat" and "hat" which is really annoying because she took two words when she only needed one.

ANYWAY. Ayiiiiia went to go drink wine on the porch by herself. Which, all things being equal, is not a bad way to spend an evening. Watching the Mexican waves roll in while sipping wine and not having to go to work or pay bills or do anything unpleasant tomorrow. But when you're roommates are inside doing waterfalls and 2 For Yous and hating you, I guess it's a sad thing to be doing. So I guess Ayiiiia might go home. Pity.

What is it, though, about these contest winners? They never work out! Remember that fool from the Hollywood season a couple years back? Man that guy was a DISASTER. I mean, Ayiiiia sorta worked for a little while—she even did a lady!—but I guess it had to come to this. Yelling for no reason and then lonely porch drinking. Maybe the end came in the beginning, when she started bitching about dishes. It's never a good idea to bitch about dishes on this show. It just never works out well.

ANYWAY.

Here:

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Fox News Can't Quite Get Its Head Around CNN's Wall of Wonder [Useless Technology]

John Cook — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:15:54 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Remember the election? The dancing of the numbers across John King's magic screen on CNN, as states rose and fell and changed colors before your eyes? Viewers liked that, apparently. Fox is just now figuring that out.

Except the magic screen concept isn't so magical when all you're doing is trying to illustrate the impact of America's 20 million-barrel-a-day oil habit by taking a clipart image of a barrel of oil and reproducing it a couple times and saying, "And then you've got all these different oil barrels." A refrigerator and some magnets would have done the trick.

Poster Boy, His Arms Star in Documentary [Artists]

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:02:32 -0400

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Poster Boy, vandalartist-in-chief of the NYC subway system, has been quiet lately. Or has he? He just had another art show in Jersey, and he stars in this mini-documentary lauding his folk heroism. 'America's Got Talent,' he's ready! [AnimalNY]

Dolce & Gabbana Flack's Felony Computer Trespass Complaint [Crime]

John Cook — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:53:16 -0400

Ali Wise, Dolce & Gabbana's party planner and publicist and all-around-gal-about-town, was arrested Tuesday for hacking into the voicemail of interior designer and rival socialite Nina Freudenberger. Scandale! We have the criminal complaint.

Wise, 32, allegedly used a Spoofcard to bypass the security features on Freudenberger's voicemail, snooping on her from January to March of 2008. She was arrested on Tuesday night on felony charges of computer trespass and eavesdropping, and, according to the complaint, confessed to the arresting officers: "I used the Spoofcard to get into Nina's voicemails."

She was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday and has a court appearance scheduled in October. According to the New York Daily News, "Wise's breakup from hotelier Jason Pomeranc six months ago was fodder for media gossip," but they must mean the old-fashioned, word-of-mouth kind, because we can't find anything out there on their parting of ways (let us know if you can).

Freudenberger is a Munich-born decorator-to-the-socialites who once lived in an apartment painted entirely in a color called "dead salmon" and had a mechanic spray-paint a Louis XIV dresser with lacquer, according to Page Six magazine. We have no clue why Wise would want to listen to Freudenberger's voicemails, or why Wise would get caught for it more than a year after the fact. Do you?

Here's the complaint: