Isaac Mizrahi gave this talk at TED—the annual conference for elites from technology and design—back in February, but the video was only posted this week. If you have some time today, you can listen along as he explains his insomniac lifestyle, how he occasionally follows random people around New York, and why he's obsessed with men who happen to be named Eric. [TED.com]
Scientists are talking about how a "living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated for as little as $10 million," reports the NYT. Regenerated? One scientist says it "could work," although it would probs be "tedious and expensive," as regenerating long-extinct animals tends to be. But that is far from the most disturbing piece of reanimation news: there's an ominous "workaround" technique to turn chimps into Neanderthals. Don't say we didn't warn you.
The latest rumor is that MTV is planning a round of layoffs for early December. Now a tipster tells us that fellow Viacom property VH1 is holding a big HR meeting for department heads tomorrow. To sharpen the hatchet? Email us details. UPDATE: MTV layoffs are tentatively set for December 3 or 4, according to another tipster.
Some journalistic exercises just never get old, no matter how many times they're carried out, like the one in which a young woman asks for anti-aging procedures and then becomes mildly outraged when doctors recommend what they're in business to sell. (Slim woman seeking out liposuction works, too.) In today's Daily News, a "baby-faced" 26-year-old reporter named Leah Chernikoff goes undercover at Botox-peddlers and, what a surprise, the doctors are more than happy to inject her.
Remember Eugene Allen, the White House butler? The Washington Post put his story on the front page the Friday after Election Day. Allen, a black man, worked at the White House for 34 years, starting during the days of segregation and retiring during the Reagan years. He cast his vote for Barack Obama the day after his wife of 65 years died. It was a wonderful little piece of journalism that made everyone in the country cry. We're choking up just thinking about it again. So now it will become a mawkish, sentimental movie, probably starring Morgan Freeman. Sony purchased the rights to the story and Allen's life. It will be produced by Laura Ziskin, who is behind such classics as As Good As It Gets, Pretty Woman, and Spider-Man. We're thrilled Allen will get yet more recognition, and a little money, but still, ugh. We can't believe we weren't cynical enough to predict this quiet, moving story would soon become yet more manipulative pop trash. [THR, Variety]
Credit where it's due, people: the Post's cover this morning (click to enlarge) is simply a work of tabloid art. Sure, it's easy to sell papers when there's big news. But on a slow day, can you pull off a cover that combines revulsion, a perverse obsession with strange diseases, and a mythical monster? That's the news business at its finest. It's a heartwarming narrative: freaky baby born with freaky condition, doctors stumped, he begs for salvation, and it's finally delivered! Something we can all get behind. The Post is actually far more subtle than its tabloid ancestors:
Glenn Close walking her dogs in Central Park ... James Gandolfini making faces at photographers outside the Milk after-party at the Bowery Hotel ... Madonna walking on the sidewalk last night ... Natalie Portman carrying her dog and a cup of coffee ... Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price filming scenes for Lipstick Jungle on the Upper East Side ... Twilight star Robert Pattinson arriving at JFK ... Katie Holmes leaving her apartment on East 13th and later shopping at Dean & DeLuca with Suri ... and Beyonce unveiling her Seventeen cover at the Hearst building.
Cold-hearted bastards. The New York Times sent out a memo to employees this morning telling them that the 14th, 15th, and 16th floors are going to be closed over Thanksgiving weekend so that workers can finally put finishing on the wood floors—a vital job for which the paper has plenty of money. Do you know what this means? The cafeteria will be closed on Thanksgiving. Take your snack from the coffee cart and be happy, peons! Wait, that's closed too:
The chief executives of the big three American auto manufacturers were blasted by lawmakers in Washington yesterday for having the audacity to turn up on Capitol Hill with their tin cups in hand after having just stepped off their lavish corporate jets. The episode turned into a PR disaster for GM, Ford, and Chrysler—and damaged their chances of scoring a deal and landing billions in taxpayer dollars—but at least they were using the jets on company business. Even more eyebrow-raising is how often these palaces in the sky are used to ferry top execs on vacation, or to hang out at events like the Olympics. Of course, there's no way to be sure that GE execs weren't just negotiating a new microwave manufacturing contract when the company's Gulfstream touched down in Puerto Rico on the eve of a holiday weekend. But if you click here, you can see how two of the companies now collecting billions in taxpayer dollars have been making use of their jets over the last few months.
Yesterday you guys figured out that the world famous band that's on the verge of a breakup was none other than that British hodgepodge of soaring balladeers known as Coldplay. What will wannabe artsy studio pictures use for their trailers?? Today we have a singer whose boyfriend pressures her into abortions, and a gold digging celebrity wife. 1) "This B- list R&B singer just had her second abortion that her A list producer/singer boyfriend made her get. He says he doesn't want anymore kids and that if she wants to be with him then she needs to stay childless. I don't know if she is on birth control or not. I just know the details of what happened. She did get a nice $200,000 piece of bling after the first abortion. No word on what she got after this most recent one." [CDaN] 2) "Which celebrity wife is leaving her celebrity husband because he can’t support her over-the-top lifestyle anymore? Her husband was a high flyer who provided her with multiple homes, cars, jewels and financial support for her own ventures. Now that he’s having money problems, she is looking to bail. He is begging her to stick out this tough period with him, but she has already told friends that she has her eye on a replacement." [BlindGossip]
Mark "The Maverick, when it comes to blogs and also finance" Cuban is proclaiming his innocence, in detail! Cuban, the mouthy tech billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was charged with the world's least sophisticated insider trading scheme by the SEC earlier this week. He issued a rote statement the same day denying the charges, and lamented that he wished he could say more. Well now he's saying more! Cuban's basic defense: Yes, I sold a bunch of stock after the CEO of a company I partially owned told me confidential, nonpublic information that I knew would hurt the stock price. But I never agreed to keep the information confidential, so there! Then he says (through his lawyer) that the CEO of said company is full of shit because he can't even remember the conversation. They posted this excerpt of an interview with the CEO:
She has a job in real estate, a brand of jewelry, and a line of microwaveable meals, but it looks like Ivanka Trump is now branching out into book publishing, too. According to Publisher's Weekly, the daughter of The Donald has inked a deal with Touchstone to pen a motivational book for women based on her "personal experiences in life and business" as well as "lessons learned from her father." The book is scheduled to come out in 2009. No word yet on what seemingly insurmountable hardships Ivanka managed to overcome that will provide her with the fodder to inspire and motivate, although something tells us her oft-repeated story of having to model in high school to pay her own phone bill will somehow make its way into print.
Contrary to popular belief, the massive amount of time teenagers spend online does not necessarily mean they're destroying their minds and social skills while being lured to a deserted truckstop by a 50-year-old miscreant posing as a 14-year-old fellow Jonas Brothers fan. A new study by the MacArthur Foundation suggests—not very convincingly, but still—that the internet is giving kids "the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They're learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page."
♦ After briefly listing his fifth-floor "Astor Suite" apartment at the Plaza for $55 million for one day in September and then taking it off the market, Esprit's Jurgen Friedrich has put the 5,000-square-foot spread back on the market for $38 million. [NYP]
♦ David Smilow, the co-founder of TeleBank, which was sold in 2000 to E*Trade for more than $1 billion, has put his duplex penthouse at 140 Perry Street on the market for $19.5 million. Curbed.com has photos and a floor plan here. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
♦ Screenwriter and director James Toback has listed his 15th-floor apartment at the Majestic for $3.75 million. The 2,200-square-foot apartment comes with two bedrooms and a handful of celebrity neighbors including Conan O'Brien. [NYP, BHS]
It's official: The art market has crashed and just like with real estate, expensive artworks are now worth considerably less than their owners paid for them. Shares of Sotheby's, worth $50 a year ago, have fallen to $9, and the auction house is now planning to let staff go—or, as CEO William Ruprecht puts it, "we'll be resizing our organization." Previously white-hot artists are finding that collectors are no longer fighting to pay millions for their pieces, although it's hard to feel too bad for anyone who's ever sold a canvas daubed with paint for seven figures.
Today is the Great American Smoke Out, the perfect day to speculate, as Michael Kinsley has in today's Washington Post, that it's doubtful that Barack Obama has really managed to kick the habit: "If Obama actually has accomplished the miracle of giving up cigarettes at the apogee of a presidential race, he should be happy to let us know this and add to his superman image." But Kinsley appears willing to forgive him for his sins: "Obama's steely calm is now one of our country's major assets. If he needs an occasional cigarette to preserve it, let's hand him an ashtray, offer him a light and look the other way." [WaPo]
Joe Biden has one more thing to celebrate today: It's his 66th birthday. Others blowing out candles today: The Soup's Joel McHale is 37. Author Don DeLillo is 72. Longtime TV journalist Judy Woodruff is 62. Avant-garde singer Meredith Monk turns 66. Bo Derek is 52. Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton is turning 60. The Beastie Boys' Mike D is 43. Hannah Montana star Cody Linley is turning 19. And Mark Gastineau, former football star, ex-husband of Lisa, and father of Brittny, is 52 years old.
♦ Paris Hilton has broken up with Benji Madden after nine months of dating, reportedly so she can return to the party circuit and possibly reunite with her ex, Stavros Niarchos. The second part of Paris' plan might be tougher than she thought, though, since Stavros may have his eye on Annabelle Dexter-Jones. [Star, People, P6]
♦ Anna Wintour's reps say she has no intention of leaving Vogue. And she has no plans to accept a "cultural post" in Barack Obama's White House either, just so you know. [MSNBC]
♦ Have Madonna and Guy Ritchie finally reached a divorce settlement? The couple has supposedly sealed a deal that will let Madge keep her cash and allow Rocco and David to spend half their time living with Guy in England. [ThisIsLondon]
♦ Winona Ryder's British Airways flight had to make a special landing in London yesterday after she fell ill, allegedly because she "accidentally overdosed" on Xanax. [The Sun, NYDN]
