Barney Frank is now the recipient of two lengthy, glowing magazine profiles—though each in magazines aimed only at his constituents. One is Moe Tkacik's Boston Magazine piece, and the other is in The Advocate, which also gives Frank the cover. Unless you are a right-wing dick convinced that black people buying houses is what caused the economic meltdown, you will only love Barney Frank all the more more upon reading each.
Hypersexual lesbian temptress Ellen DeGeneres usually keeps her daytime chat show somewhat neutered, but today's Brad Pitt interview (beamed via satellite from New Orleans, where he was busy building homeless shelters using only the telekinetic energy stored up in each ab) really brought out the gay.
Although the business of journalism is currently in the process of imploding, the romance of journalism remains. So while journalists can't find jobs any more, they can at least take comfort in the fact that they are very attractive subjects for Hollywood! The Sundance Film Festival released its lineup today, and there are no less than three documentaries that are all about the drama of the A-list press. They could all conceivably be good, although Anna Wintour sounds like a far more compelling subject than Nick Kristof:
Just as she promised us this morning, Tricia Walsh-Smith has posted her new "music video" to the Web. And if you ever wondered what the embitttered, batty Internet sensation looks like dressed up like a dominatrix, dangling from the ceiling, and/or bouncing up and down on a leopard-print bed, well, consider this your lucky day. The video of "I'm Going Bonkers" is below.
The cast members (and executive producers) of the MTV's Real World Brooklyn will be doing a very, very important Q&A at the Paley Center for Media this Friday. They are actually charging money for tickets. If you go to the website you can write in the questions you would like the panelists to be asked. We had a few "questions" of our own!
Fancy business school degrees—who has time for them? Instead of an MBA, wouldn't you rather have some sort of laser-printed homemade certificate stating that you spent six months hanging out with a dude who writes books about "Purple Cows" and "Small is the New Big" and "Meatball Sundae" and other made-up marketing terms? Well Seth Godin's game-changing new "Alternative MBA" is just the program for you! "This sounds as good as summer camp, MBA school, and a spot on 'The Apprentice' mixed together," says one of Seth's enthusiastic minions. Yea, that sounds about right!
What would you do if an old man broke into your house in the middle of the night and tried to pleasure your children? We would leave him milk and cookies. No, silly! We're not talking about creepy Mr. Pryzborowski down the street. We're talking about Santy Claus! Who, actually, can be pretty creepy himself. What with the beard and chortling and likely booze-stink. In fact, just in time for the holidays, Flabbergastedly has a little gallery of photos of children being terrified by Father Christmas (culled, it seems, from this bigger list) that we find delightfully funny. Look at a couple of our favorites after the jump.
Sharon Stone has worked with Samuel L. Jackson exactly once: on the 1998 flop Sphere. However, this was hardly her best qualification to make a speech to Jackson during 23rd annual American Cinematheque Awards, which honored the actor. No, Stone was almost certainly booked for the special brand of crazy she brings to such occasions, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, she did not disappoint:
Stars — they're just like us, if by "us" you mean "people who use the Internet too much." Luke Wilson, the Hollywood B-lister best known for playing a schlubby everyman, also appears to be a typical user of Twitter, the blogging service which sanely limits its users' oversharing to 140 characters at a time, when it's not actively destroying the news business. Someone signed up for a "LukeWilson" account back in April.
Forget cover girl Tina Fey and her scary scar story. The most interesting tale in this month's Vanity Fair is that of Christian Gerhartsreiter aka Christopher Chichester aka Christopher Crowe aka Clark Rockefeller. He's the mystery fellow who was arrested this summer after kidnapping his daughter, Snooks, whom he lost custody of during his messy divorce. Though he's a nefarious conman, he's also a brilliant one, with a fascinating story, as detailed by VF's Mark Seal. And we're kind of obsessed with it. It's a crazy, crazy thing.
♦ Claudia Schiffer is the new face of Yves Saint Laurent, succeeding Naomi Campbell. [Vogue]
♦ Beyoncé has tapped Thierry Mugler as "creative adviser" for her upcoming world tour. [WWD]
♦ Another giant American Apparel store opens in Soho this weekend. [Racked]
♦ Forever 21 is opening a 90,000-square-foot store in Times Sq. in 2010, God help us all. [WWD]
♦ A map of all the holiday pop-up shops popping up around town. [Racked]
♦ Your sister-in-law doesn't want another cashmere sweater for Christmas. She'll just take the cash, thanks. [WSJ]
John Maynard Keynes is one of the most important economists ever, and after a lengthy period during which rejection of his ideas of government intervention led us directly to financial ruin, he is suddenly back in favor. Barack Obama's economic team, in particular, will be looking to Keynesian economics for a way out of the current crisis. But did you know he was a ravenous sex fiend who obsessively recorded each and every one of his hot gay hookups? It's true! And his secret second sex diary is in code!
If the government hasn't investigated you, why should anyone listen to your stock tips? That's the lesson of three Wall Street chatterboxes who once faced SEC scrutiny — and are now bigger in the stock-talk business than ever.
The annual tree lighting at Rockefeller Center takes place tonight beginning at 7pm. Fifth Avenue between 47th and 50th will be closed to traffic for much of the evening, so be sure to stay far from Midtown. Or go mingle with the tourists and make them feel welcome, assuming you have nothing better to do. [NY1]
