Gawker
The panic of '08
The panic of '08
Nobel Prize For Times Columnist
"American economist Paul Krugman won the 2008 Nobel prize for economics for bringing together analysis of trade patterns and where economic activity takes place, the prize committee said on Monday." [Reuters via Fishbowl]
Conspiracy theories
Fox's Obama Expert Fears Jews
Andy Martin is the habitual politician and "researcher" who created the original smear of Barack Obama as a secret Muslim in a 2004 press release, begetting a mutating series of email forwards still coursing through the internet. Last week, he was featured in a Fox News special that, in the words of the Times, "allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government." But, hey, Martin isn't just worried about Obama and Islam, he's also deathly afraid of the Jews! The Times' Jim Ruttenberg dug into Martin's anti-Semitisim in this morning's paper after Martin tried to deny and brush off the issue last week: More »
The internet
Those people making Barack Obama monkeys and booing John McCain for saying Obama is a person "you do not have to be scared of?" Some of them have blogs! Which means they are free to put all sorts of terrible things on the Web, like the virtual poster at left, the one with Obama, a noose, and the headline, "Asphyxiation/The Fucking Solution." The gent who made that lovely thing, and posted it to his website Sunday night, said he did so in retaliation for comparably nasty images of Sarah Palin (also at left), apparently created by anti-Sarah Palin artists and spread by conservative blogger Michelle Malkin. Want to guess how long his over-the-top act of revenge stayed on the internet?
More »
Obama Noose Poster New Low In Citizen Propaganda
Those people making Barack Obama monkeys and booing John McCain for saying Obama is a person "you do not have to be scared of?" Some of them have blogs! Which means they are free to put all sorts of terrible things on the Web, like the virtual poster at left, the one with Obama, a noose, and the headline, "Asphyxiation/The Fucking Solution." The gent who made that lovely thing, and posted it to his website Sunday night, said he did so in retaliation for comparably nasty images of Sarah Palin (also at left), apparently created by anti-Sarah Palin artists and spread by conservative blogger Michelle Malkin. Want to guess how long his over-the-top act of revenge stayed on the internet?
More »
Scandal
Child Obama Consorted With Child Molester
When Barack Obama was 10, his grandfather would take him over to ole Fank Davis' house, where the two older men would drink whisky out of jars and play Scrabble. Sometimes Obama would help the men compose dirty limericks, or listen as Davis read poetry. This went on until the Democratic presidential nominee was 17, and during that time Davis acted as a mentor, according to Obama's memoir. It later emerged that Davis pseudonymously wrote a "hard-core pornographic autobiography" detailing his sex with a thirteen-year-old girl. This was all known in August, after a widely-blogged report in Britain's Telegraph, but the National Enquirer is now reporting it as an "Exclusive OBAMA SEX PERV SCANDAL," because Obama should be ashamed of almost being molested, or something: More »
Craigslist
'Edward Norton, You Sure Were A Dick At Vons'
Two years ago, after Ed Norton was chivalrous to a New York waitress, we wondered if his career was on the ropes because "Quality celebrities would never be nice to you." Well, the film star must have let the financial success of the Incredible Hulk go to his head, because now he can't buy groceries without pissing off Hollywood insiders with his insolence. Witness the attached Missed Connections ad on Craigslist, already pulled, which firmly establishes that Norton does not take kindly to being complimented while buying frozen shrimp. (Frozen shrimp? Those are tricky waters for a self-professed environmentalist!) Consider yourself warned the next time you see Norton at the Spotted Pig or whatever! (Click the thumbnail to view the original post.)
Music for poors
Britney Spears, Recast For The Depression
The Great Depression wasn't all bad! There was jazz, big band, cabaret, Irving Berlin and tops and tails! Art deco and modernism! So as we slide toward economic catastrophe, let's all nostalgically embrace the elegance of the era so we can stay in denial about the hobos, soup kitchens and fascist and communist rebellions that will soon be upon us. We've already suggested staging rent parties and carrying flasks, plus some songs about hard times and various relevant movies. But nothing quite says "Great Depression fun" like Weimar-era cabaret, which is probably why Max Raabe and a Berlin orchestra are again traveling around America and calming the former middle class with pop songs remade to sound at home in 1930s Berlin. Raabe's Depression-ey cover of Spears' "Oops, I Did It Again" is just the thing to put on your "turntable" when friends gather for some moonshine in your Victory Garden. It's like Wall Street is serenading you! Sample the song after the jump. More »
Nostalgia
One More Thing: Remembering the Suburbs
Ah, the Burbs. So many good times. Sadly, with the collapse of the economy, they'll probably disappear along with the middle class. The rich will live in inaccessible luxury high rises like in Land of the Dead, or on well-guarded manses like in a Philip K. Dick novel. The rest of us will hunker down in urban hell-zones, disaster-prone trailer parks, and underground bunkers. Actually, no, that won't happen. But, still, the suburbs figure so prominently in so many fine movies and TV shows that they deserve a dedicate clip-fest. I'll get us rolling after the jump. More »
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Olsen #1
West Side Hwy & Murray St
mary kate at prune for brunch with grungy entourage /patiently waited 30 minutes then was whisked to a private table (upstairs)? cause we never saw her again once she was inside. -
Sam Ronson
Bowery
Sam Ronson walking down Bowery. She kept looking back at me like I was following her. She look surprised that no one knew who she was. She is much shorter in person and kept messenging someone on her blackberry. -
Kors by Michael Kors
5th Ave & 12th St
Spotted Michael Kors buttering his popcorn before seeing Rachel Getting Married at the Regal Union Square movie theater looking exactly like he does judging project runway. -
David Blaine
6 Bond St
Saw David Blaine last night on the steps of Bond Street restaurant, waiting for his table, doing magic tricks for whoever was there. Very friendly and quiet.
Listicle
Cosmo Elects Johnny Depp Sexiest Man in the World
Cosmopolitan (I'm assuming the British version because Gordon fucking Ramsey made the list too) says that 21 Jump Street star Johnny Depp—who's also in movies—is the hottest male on earth. Usual suspect George Clooney is runner up. And (what?!) Jake Gyllenhaal comes in third place. Gyllenhaal? Like, from Bubble Boy? The rest of the list after the jump. Spoiler alert: Manshark Michael Phelps didn't make the cut. More »
Feuds
McCain to Report for Brutal Late Show Ass-Kicking
Now that everything else has failed for him, John McCain is crawling back to David Letterman to appear on the Late Show this Thursday, after weaseling out of an earlier appearance under the lie that he was needed in Washington to work on the Wall Street bailout. McCain's people are, well, stupid. If he'd appeared when he was supposed to, Letterman would have treated him to a gentle ribbing while the candidate tried to get his talking points out. Now that McCain has lied to the famously testy talk show host—and now that there are tons of new gaffes and missteps that simply didn't exist when he was originally supposed to appear—what can he expect? Slaughter. More »
Health
Travis Barker Recovery Update: Meat is Our Friend
Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker took to MySpace to let fans know how his recovery is going less than a month after he and DJ AM survived a plane crash that killed four—including his personal assistant Chris Baker, and security guard Charles "Che" Still—in South Carolina on Sept. 19. Barker, who was recently transferred from a Georgia hospital to an L.A. burn center says, among other things, that he's given up vegetarianism to aid in his recovery. More »
Politics. Horrible, Horrible Politics.
McCain/Palin Boosters Continue to Astound, Terrify
A roadside billboard sprung up in West Plains, Missouri, recently, featuring a caricature of Barack Obama wearing a turban along with the message "Barack 'Hussein' Obama equals more abortions, same sex marriages, taxes, gun regulations." While some members of that community are shocked and disgusted—the Obama campaign dismissed it as "a distraction"—other locals are of the opinion that if you don't like that sign you can drop dead. The billboard is after the jump. So is a video of McCain/Palin supporters at yet another rally in PA—one of them telling a really funny joke about sex assault victims who are forced to pay for their own rape kits. Starts at about 2:08. More »
Awww!
Monkeys Form Dangerous But Adorable Alliance With Tigers
Don't be lulled by the hypnotic cuteness of these photos of Anjana the chimpanzee and her baby white tiger friends Mitra and Shiva at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species in South Carolina. When the chimps start raising tigers, we're only a few years away from total world domination by our simian cousins. More pics after the jump. So you can, you know, study these deadly enemies of mankind. (Images from Barcroft Media) More »
Economics
Prostitution Still a Safe Bet in New Depression
Like the drug trade, booze, and motion pictures, prostitution can muster through any economy. Although New York City's ladies of the evening say that the $1000-an-hour sex workers that Eliot Spitzer favors are having a hard time of it, for the middle-range pros business is pretty much as good as ever. More »
Baby Bump
M.I.A. is Pregnant, Quite Pregnant
Rumors have been circulating that singer M.I.A. had canceled her summer tour because she's pregnant with fiance Benjamin Brewer's baby. Well, here she is at Friday night's Diesel concert at Pier 3 in Brooklyn. Congrats superbaby! [BrooklynVegan]
toxic
Yes, Sarah Palin, Your Fans Are Racists
Hours before Sarah Palin showed up to get BOOED at the Flyers opener in Philadelphia, she hosted a rally in Johnstown, PA. And the citizen at left showed up with a stuffed monkey with an Obama sticker on its head. "This is little Hussein," he boasted smugly to cameras. Surely the other McCain/Palin supporters admonished him in the no uncertain terms, yes? No. They giggled and clapped. Watch after the jump. More »
The panic of '08
British Banks Go Socialist
Trading in bank shares could be suspended across the G7 nations tomorrow as the British government carries out plans to take a majority stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland and major holdings in another three of the country's largest banks. More »
Fox News
Geniuses Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris Compare Depression Conspiracies
Don't be a sucker. Those complicated, long-winded explanations of the worldwide financial crisis are just a lot of big city hokum. Fortunately, your good buddies Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris are here to set the record straight: It's a dark, shadowy conspiracy between the fat cats on Wall Street, the elitists in Washington, and the nefarious Red Chinese who are secretly stealing our oil off the Florida coast! Huffpo's Rachel Sklar learned the awful truth from Huckabee's new talk show on Fox last night. More »
Books
Yet Another Publisher Wusses Out to Islam Extremists
Can a publisher somewhere please grow a pair and not keep letting fundamentalist assholes who want to see the world revert to the good old days of the 13th Century run their houses? The Jewel of Medina, Sherry Jones' historical novel about the little girl wife of Muhammad that Random House dropped because it was afraid of offending crazy people, is now on shaky ground with its British publisher. When that publisher, Gibson Square, was firebombed a couple weeks ago, they said they were going forward with publication anyway. Now, not so much. More »
Philadelphia
Hockey Fans Soundly Reject Hockey Mom
When Sarah Palin showed up at the Wachovia Center last night to drop the ceremonial first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers home opener against the NY Rangers, she was treated to such a chorus of boos that the PA system had to be turned up full blast. But you can still see the fans giving her a frantic thumbs-down in the background. In Palin's defense, Philly fans boo everyone and everything. They really are terrible people. Oh, and the Rangers kicked the Flyers' asses last night—not that hockey is even a real sport in America. Video after the jump. More »
Nostalgia
One More Thing: The Great Regression
What do you do when the world's economy is falling apart and God only knows when things will get better? Duh! You get together with your friends, pretend that you're six, and start building some sofa-and-blanket forts stat! Dig deep into your memories for the days when food and shelter was someone else's problem, and find some clips that hearken back to those warm and cozy—and lost—times. They don't have to be cartoons, but they do have to be from childhood. That's all. I'll start with my biggest childhood hero. More »
Because Why Not?
Here is Julia Alison eating brownies at her mom and dad's house in Chicago this afternoon. "God, they were good," she says. "Fudgey and moist and dense."
[NonSociety]
MORE » 
Music
Elvis Costello to Damage His Legacy With Fall Out Boy?
In other Elvis news, the Elvis that is Costello is, for some reason, going to make a guest appearance on Fall Out Boy's new album. Statement from band front-boy Pete Wentz, and a question from your humble editor, after the jump. More »
sinking
