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Drag Queens and Botany? Flowers Finds a Connection
23 December 2009 3:56 PM, PST
The cover of Todd Eberle’s new book. On a business trip to Dallas, Vanity Fair’s photographer-at-large, Todd Eberle, ventured into a gay bar and was unexpectedly hit by a wave of inspiration. Eberle had been working for months on a small book for a new Japanese publishing company, Super Labo, that features pictures of flowers he had taken in his backyard. But something was lacking, he thought: “Just the flowers alone didn’t seem right.” And then he attended the Miss Gay U.S.A. pageant at the Round Up Saloon. “It was kismet,” recalled Eberle on Monday night at the signing for his newest book, Flowers, at the Gagosian gallery’s store on Madison Avenue, in New York City. “I saw a girl in white and literally thought, I have a flower like that. And it all just clicked.” He photographed more than 200 belles at the bar that night, »
Is Prince William Homeless?
23 December 2009 2:53 PM, PST
Earlier this week, Queen Rania of Jordan received a presidential award from the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) for her commitment to 1Goal, which promotes education for all. The charity's ambitious goal is to see every child in the world receive an education, and FIFA has partnered with the organization to spread the word. An ebullient Rania tweeted, "I'm still at beginning of my game: let's make power of football a force for education For All." In Monte Carlo, Princess Caroline of Monaco and her eldest children, Andrea, Pierre, and Charlotte Casiraghi, enjoyed the Centenary Gala of the Russian Ballets. Karl Lagerfeld, longtime friend of Princess Caroline, was also present at the Chanel-sponsored event. He was escorted by male model Baptiste Giabiconi, natch. »
Q&A: Nancy Meyers on It's Complicated
23 December 2009 2:19 PM, PST
I’m under thirty, I’m not married, and I’m not a woman. So when speaking with Nancy Meyers about her new movie, It’s Complicated, I felt a bit like an interloper. I had the same feeling when I saw the film at a screening packed with women of a certain age—unlike my neighbors, I didn’t audibly moan at the sight of Meryl Streep tilling her perfect, organic vegetable garden, or cracking the feuilletée crust of a freshly baked chocolate croissant, or walking in on a naked Alec Baldwin. (To be fair, in the latter case, neither did they.) In fact, the only bit I could personally relate to was the sequence when the three get too stoned to function. Still, I found the film to be a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. Kind of like a lazy brunch at Le Pain Quotidien. »
Find New Love at the Vintage Swap Meet
23 December 2009 12:47 PM, PST
Last week, a fashionable few were invited to SoHo vintage shrine What Goes Around Comes Around not to shop but to swap. No, this was not a call to clear out your closet; rather, each invitee was instructed to bring a maximum of three carefully selected items at least 10 years old. We arrived with previously prized, unworn-of-late leather buckle boots, eager to swap, if unsure how it would work. The spacious store was speckled with primarily female, and exclusively well-dressed, young things who seemed to have reached a style consensus on the refined-rural look—flannels, faux furs, and commanding heels. Boots in hand, we maneuvered to a counter, where our offerings were assessed. In the name of fair trades, each item is classed as an “A,” “B,” or “C.” You may swap only within your item’s range or lower. (You can trade your “A” Ysl smoking jacket for some »
Sommeliers' Top Champagnes for New Year's Eve
23 December 2009 11:51 AM, PST
Deciding which bottle of bubbly to bring to a New Year’s Eve party can be a daunting prospect. In need of advice, we asked some of the country’s best sommeliers for their picks. The champagnes they recommend have such distinct personalities, they seem more like party guests than party favors. Herewith, a colorful cast of New Year’s offerings. The New Face This fresh addition to your social circle has really livened things up this year. You’ll miss her when her internship at BlackBook is over. A bottle of Larmandier-Bernie’s Nv Brut Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru retails for about $40 and is produced by a trendy young grower who has become quite the industry taste-maker. According to Levi Dalton, sommelier at the New York City restaurant Convivio, the champagne’s harmony of lightness and depth “seems effortless, which is exactly what you might expect from a producer who cares and cares. »
Talk About a Clueless Press Release [Update]
23 December 2009 9:10 AM, PST
You know, it’s hard to be sure, but I think this might be the single most poorly timed press release I have ever received. Astonishing, really. Paramount Digital Entertainment Releases Gameplay Trailer For Clueless - Now Available For The Iphone And Ipod Touch At The App Store Paramount Digital Entertainment today released the official gameplay trailer for the Clueless game for the iPhone and iPod touch, which hit the Apple App store on Friday. In Clueless, inspired by Paramount Pictures' film, players step into the fashion-forward shoes of Cher Horowitz, everyone's favorite Bff, self-proclaimed matchmaker and grade-a fashionista. Players will race to maintain their social status by helping over a hundred friends find happiness with romance, fashion and all the must-have items that make a girl's life complete. To download the trailer, please visit: http://bhimpact.gamespress.com/product_page.asp?i=1008 When players see a student or friend in need, »
Q&A: Guy Ritchie on Sherlock Holmes
23 December 2009 9:00 AM, PST
On the surface, Sherlock Holmes represents new ground for Guy Ritchie: It’s the director’s first literary adaptation, his first period piece, and the first of his films to call for extensive computer imagery. And it’s by far the most ambitious of his movies. But at its core, it’s vintage Ritchie. Like the early hits on which he made his name—Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch—Sherlock Holmes is a tortuous escapade through London’s underbelly, propelled by witty banter and male camaraderie. (Ritchie seems to have avoided female heroines after the disastrous excursions that were Swept Away and, presumably, his marriage to Madonna.) “My original take was that I wanted more Butch and Sundance than a traditional Holmes and Watson,” the director tells me. Casting off the Holmesian iconography dating back to classic screen adaptations—from Basil Rathbone to Basil the Great »
A Year in the Life of the 2009 Best-Dressed List: Purples
23 December 2009 8:30 AM, PST
Photographs by PatricMcMullan.com. What were the fashion trends of 2009? Look no further than the International Best-Dressed List. For the esteemed members of the roster, dressing for a night out has the significance of a final exam, albeit one that each of them aces every single time. But is there something that mere mortals can achieve from studying their stylistic triumphs? We combed through a year’s worth of photographs to bring you the top trends among those most in the know. In the third installment of a series of slide shows, Vf Daily notices a rainbow of mauves, periwinkles, and violets. »
Snow Report: Chamonix-Mont Blanc
23 December 2009 8:00 AM, PST
By Tony Marik. If you’re traveling to Chamonix-Mont Blanc, one of Europe’s most established ski towns, here’s where Vf Daily recommends you ski, stay, drink, and dine. Ambiance: Chamonix-Mont Blanc, located in the French Alps just a stone's throw from France's border with both Italy and Switzerland, is a dizzying mix of young, adventurous Europeans, mountaineering history, and jagged, white peaks. And there’s a little something called Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak, that adds to the town's allure. Accents: Besides the French (whether local or vacationing), the British and Scandinavian presence in the area is plentiful and nearly everyone speaks at least a little English. A scan of the crowd on a late morning bus from Chamonix Centre to the Le Tour ski area offers an impressive mix of French high school students on holiday, expert telemarkers wearing fashionable Scandinavian ski labels you've never heard of, »
Sherlock Holmes's Costume Designer on the Case of the Missing Deerstalker Hat
23 December 2009 7:43 AM, PST
What Up, Holmes? Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes, in Guy Ritchie's new take on Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth. You'll have to excuse Jenny Beavan if she sounds flustered. It’s understandable, considering that the eight-time Academy Award nominee for best costume design (winning in 1986 for A Room with a View), and the woman entrusted with bringing the fashion of 1891 alive for Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, is currently parked on the side of a highway in the middle of a blizzard. "I've driven six hours down through snowy Britain, in a rather small car, sliding around on motorways,” says Beavan. “I can't even remember what I've done in my career!" Part of Beavan's job is to set the mood, something she's done to great effect, however unwittingly, for our conversation. Beavan shares her thoughts on reimagining one of the most iconic characters from literature and film. »
Resurrecting Tennessee Williams with Loss of a Teardrop Diamond
23 December 2009 6:30 AM, PST
Bryce Dallas Howard as a classic Tennessee Williams Southern Belle in Loss of a Teardrop Diamond. The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, opening in New York and Los Angeles on December 30, is a little gem of an independent film with an incredible pedigree. The Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Tennessee Williams wrote it directly for the screen, with the assumption that, like his Streetcar Named Desire, it would be directed by Elia Kazan. Both men veered in different directions and the screenplay lay dormant for half a century, until it was resurrected by an enterprising first-time director. Set in the late twenties, just before the onset of the Great Depression, Teardrop showcases the classic Williams characters: the feisty and out-of-place southern belle, the grande dames, and the smoldering male coming to terms with his fate. It is the feature film debut of Jodie Markell, who has assembled an impressive cast—Bryce Dallas Howard, »
Christmas Can't Come Too Soon for the U.S. Senate
23 December 2009 6:24 AM, PST
• Senators will remain on the job until tomorrow afternoon, wrapping up health-care reform and then passing a $290 billion increase in the national debt limit that will ward off default for another two months. [Reuters] • Atlanta Congressman Parker Griffith, who voted against the stimulus, cap-and-trade, and health-care reform, has switched his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican. Will other Southern Democrats follow suit? [CSMonitor] • Heartland liberals are in for plenty of Al Gore jokes, now that a huge winter storm is preparing to drop a foot of snow on the Rockies and the Great Plains. [AP] • But they can console themselves with the knowledge that incomes and spending are up, up, up! [Time] • The Michael Jackson F.B.I. files, released yesterday in compliance with a Freedom of Information Act request, contain a gross story about suspected hanky panky in a train compartment and something about a VHS tape labeled “Michael Jackon’s Neverland Favorites an All Boy Anthology. »
Jake Sully's Blue Period: His Speeches to the Na'vi
23 December 2009 6:06 AM, PST
Warning: major Avatar spoilers ahead. The bold exploits, the daring feats, the perils of aerial warfare—that was the easy part. After the events chronicled in Avatar, Jake Sully had to face the trickier challenges of everyday life as a Na'vi tribal leader. Here we present selected excerpts from the speeches he gave in the time following the forced departure of the Sky People. The Tree of Souls Speech "People! I have known three great joys in my lifetime. One of these occurred when we banded with our fellow Pandorans and, thanks to Eywa's assistance, defeated the terrible invaders. Then there was the time when Neytiri and I got together in the forest, and things got kind of intense. We 'saw' each other in a big way. But all that was nothing compared to finding myself reborn as one of 'the People,' when Mo'at hooked my braid thingy to the tree of souls, »
Is This, Finally, the End of Rudy Giuliani?
23 December 2009 5:30 AM, PST
It certainly feels like we dodged another bullet, Rudy deciding not to run for governor or for senator. But it seems suspicious, too. Why would he huff and puff about his designs, first on the governor’s race and then on the Senate seat, and then, with a whimper, shrug his shoulders and withdraw? What’s up his sleeve? Is this a feint? A brand-building exercise? A reflexive bid for attention? Just more incomprehensible and nutty Rudy stuff? Certainly the man has always done a bizarre amount of thinking out loud. So what we may have here is an inside glimpse at the ambivalence of ambition. He wants it, he dreams about it, or, anyway, believes he should want it and is a little haunted by it, but, in the end, it’s a lot of work. And, even for Rudy, who’s always prided himself on giving more than he gets, »
Reading into the Future at Mediabistro's E-Book Summit
23 December 2009 5:30 AM, PST
Days after William Styron’s estate divorced Random House for a digital platform and Stephen R. Covey cut a “highly effective” deal with Amazon, publishing’s visionaries gathered at the New World Stages in New York last week to discuss a matter as critical as climate change: the evolution of e-books. Representatives from BBC, Google Books, Sony Digital, and Adobe headlined Mediabistro’s two-day summit. But this discussion of new iPhone apps, social networks, and innovative business models seemed but a pretext for group therapy over the fate of the industry. Confusion over copyright, representation, and, most importantly, revenue loomed throughout. Was Nook, Barnes and Noble's e-reader, a digital savior or a mere stocking stuffer? Was Google creating a digital utopia or crowding publishers out? And should we listen to the alarmist cries of William Morris, who is telling writers to “opt out” before they become victims of free content? »
Astor Trial Wrap-up: How Anthony Marshall Sentenced Himself to Jail
22 December 2009 3:25 PM, PST
Brooke Astor and Anthony Marshall at her estate Holly Hill, in Briarcliff Manor, New York, circa December 2001. Photograph by Alec Marshall. Charlene Marshall tends to dominate any room that she is in. As her 85-year-old husband, Anthony Marshall—gaunt, weary, sad-eyed—stoically waited in Manhattan Criminal Court this week to be sentenced after being convicted for stealing from his mother Brooke Astor, Charlene sobbed uncontrollably. Although Tony was the one facing prison, he was in the odd position of trying to comfort his volatile wife, hugging her and whispering gently. Her loyal friends from St. James Church huddled protectively nearby, to no avail. Charlene wept noisily, making herself the center of attention. Indeed, the Brooke Astor trial really was always all about Charlene. During opening arguments back in April, prosecutor Liz Loewy declared that Charlene was “the motive” for Tony Marshall’s crimes. At the sentencing hearing this week, prosecutor Joel Seidemann, »
Which Royals Had the Best Christmas Cards?
22 December 2009 2:46 PM, PST
Personal letters written by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, reveal that the royal had trouble waiting for Christmas to open her presents. More than 30 pieces of correspondence written in the 1980s by the Princess to her beautician Janet Filderman will be made available at a February 13 auction at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, in London. The items may well fetch more than $30,000. In one especially charming letter, the Princess admits she opened a present from Filderman weeks before Christmas and goes on to muse, "I fear that [Prince] William has also picked up this dreadful habit from his mother, as I find wrapping paper undone in the most extraordinary places!" »
Worlds Geekiest Rap Video Explains Cern's Large Hadron Collider
22 December 2009 1:02 PM, PST
Thanks to Arts & Letters Daily, a new, bookish set of brainiacs is geeking out over Kurt Andersen’s electrifying (sorry) article about the Large Hadron Collider at Cern. But you don’t even have to know how to read to get a kick out of this genius (sorry again) rap video that explains, in classic old-school rhythm, the inner workings of what Andersen called “a $9 billion cathedral of science that is in any practical sense quite useless.” Check it: Also, how is it possible that this is the best song by a white rapper since Eminem’s third album? Related: The Genesis 2.0 Project, by Kurt Andersen »
Coco De Mer: A Sex Shop With a Touch of Class
22 December 2009 11:00 AM, PST
Coco de Mer's new store, on Elizabeth Street. The first clue that Coco de Mer is not your mother’s sex shop is the way that Justine Roddick pronounces the word “debauchery.” Swaddled in her jammy British accent, the word sounds comforting and good-humored, as if debauching oneself was no different than a long lunch at a particularly cozy wine bar, or a pleasurable afternoon of antique shopping. And that’s pretty much the vibe that Justine and her little sister, Samantha, have established at the chain of erotic emporia they’ve opened in London, Los Angeles, and, as of last week, Elizabeth Street in Manhattan’s NoLiTa district. While the typical purveyor of sex paraphernalia tends to employ garish lighting, bad heavy metal soundtracks and sales associates who just love the vibrator that comes with a carburetor and a kickstand, Coco de Mer cultivates a warmer, less intimidating approach for a more discerning clientele. »
Why Don't Rich People Get Five-Star Service at Home?
22 December 2009 9:00 AM, PST
Sure, it’s big, but the service is terrible.A good friend of mine, who hosts me from time to time on my travels, lives with one extravagance in particular that never fails to make an impression on me. Upon returning home from each car trip, he drives as close as he possibly can to the front door of his mansion and parks with the nose of the car facing the house. Then, after he has walked inside, a staff member discreetly darts out from a concealed service building and re-parks the automobile by turning it around, which conveniently prevents the owner from ever having to reverse awkwardly from his own driveway. My holiday travels to luxury hotels where employees repeatedly offer to assist guests with even the most trifling affairs has me thinking about personal service and the meaning it holds for the vastly rich. What I’m beginning »
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