We have had several readers ask us to identify the "friend" pictured strolling with Anderson Cooper in the photograph that appeared in New York Post's "Snaps" section this Sunday. Frankly, we are at a loss. And the guy is ever so slightly ethnically ambiguous, enough for us to wonder whether he might be the reason why Coop's been so interested in Latino culture lately.
• On the scene at 72nd Street yesterday, Anderson Cooper looked just like a real reporter. Even off-camera, he's always in character. Intensity! [Flickr]
• Ellen Barkin is finally free of those troublesome jewels, netting herself over $20 million. Her 22.76-carat diamond ring was responsible for $1.8 million of that. Jesus, people — do you know how many African babies you could buy for that kind of money? [The Daily]
• Oh thank you, merciful God: Fashion Week is allowed to stay in Bryant Park. [Papierblog]
• If Ugly Betty is just too, well, ugly for you, don't give up: Fox TV Studios has bought the rights to The Devil Wears Prada and is developing it into a half-hour comedy series. From what we can tell, Lauren Weisberger is not involved in any way, so we've no objections to this new development. [Dark Horizons]
• YouTube hates vaginas. [The Apiary]
• So does the Tokion conference, for that matter. [Wooster Collective]
• Page Six's star map: a rousing success! [Star Map]
• That NYU tuition goes towards making porn available in an academic environment. [The Reeler]
• Con Ed finally places blame for July's massive blackout: not their fault. It was fate, they swear. [Crain's]
• Good, clean fun with gerbils. [Google Video]
• And finally, just because, our favorite lede of the day: "A woman has suffered severe burning to her anus after being struck by lightning which hit her in the mouth and passed right through her body." [News.com.au]
• The true heroes of September the 11th: those brave souls who manufacture and sell us ridiculous collectibles. [Zulkey]
• Oliver Stone considers a second 9/11 movie. Awesome, because we need more of that great shit. [The Reeler]
• The Taliban celebrates, making Anderson Cooper run a little more than he's comfortable with. [You Tube]
• Adding to the Road to 9/11 docudrama controversy: those bastards didn't even film in the U-S-of-A. [Swanky Beast]
• Maybe we just love the image too much, but when we see Paris Hilton in handcuffs, we have to think she's enjoying herself. Hell, just another romantic night for the lady. [TMZ]
• Ellen: What's the deal with blogs? [BWE]
• Is CBS looking to team Campbell Brown and Anderson Cooper as co-hosts for The Early Show? Just some advice to the network brass: if you put those two in captivity, they're not gonna mate. [Fox411]
• Blogosphere alum and Vanity Fair online editor Andrew Hearst hits the print edition, makes magazine funny. [VF]
• The majority owners of celeb-hive nightspot Butter are suing co-owner Scott Sartiano for using club profits to further his lavish lifestyle. Well, duh. [NYP]
• Thanks to the Johnny Walker Blue Label Index, you can now determine exactly how much you're being ripped off by chic watering holes. [Eater]
• Making Park Slope mommies look downright appealing. [CookieAssortment]
• We know she's just lifting her voice towards the heavens or whatever, but Dawn Eden should not be allowed to sing. Or, at the very least, she should not be allowed to record herself singing. C'mon, girl, have some shame. God likes 'em modest. [Feministing]
Before he was hosting The Mole and crusading around New Orleans, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was just a rich kid with a whitebread dream: to be a spy. Radar reports (correctly, we hope) that after his sophomore and junior years at Yale, Anderson Cooper eschewed paper-shuffling summer internships in lieu of some quality time in Langley, Virginia, at the CIA's headquarters, where he was part of a CIA summer program for student interested in intelligence work. (And, as an aside, doesn't the concept of a CIA summer program give you the chills? Like Space Camp meets WarGames meets Silence of the Lambs.)
On the same day that Anderson Cooper seemed sure to stay in the Middle East in perpetuity, he suddenly bailed just because of a little terror plot. A "source" wonders aloud to TVNewser: "Is Anderson Cooper the only star CNN has? It seems to be a one-man show at the network." You know who's not leaving the Middle East? CNN's Karl Penhaul. Reached for comment about Cooper's ascendancy and absconding, Penhaul narrowed his steely eyes to slits, rippled the musculature of his bald head, and replied, "Anderson Cooper? The fellah on Oprah? I crap bigger'n him."
As you know, we've recently discovered some mixed emotions about our beloved Anderson. Now the Observer's TV queen, Rebecca Dana, reports that it seems the rest of the world has conflicted feelings on him, too. How so? Well, he's indisputably a star — VF coverboy, bestselling author, new 60 Minutes correspondent, Details columnist, Yale commencement speaker. But there's a catch: Turns out barely anyone is actually watching his TV show. Some numbers, as accumulated by Dana, after the jump.
The Coop was scheduled to speak at the 92nd Street Y tonight. But his talk has now been cancelled, because bad weather has prevented him from flying back from his most recent reporting assignment, in New Orleans. We're tempted compliment the FAA on the impressive work its officials are no doubt doing to keep planes and passengers safe, and to get them to their destinations as soon as possible, but we won't. Becauase we realize that to listen to people thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, we got to tell you, there are a lot of people there who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated. And we get the anger that's there.
Newsweek's cover this week is its first-ever "Giving Back Awards," a sort of honor of 15 people who "devote themselves to helping others." Naturally at least one or two members of such a list must have Katrina connections. One Katrina-connected award winner, as you might expect, was a certain CNN anchor who channeled the publics' anger at government officials and was ultimately transformed by the experience. By which we mean Soledad O'Brien, of course.
• These are Nicole Kidman's last moments as a single woman — she and Keith Urban will marry tomorrow in Sydney. Should things go by the wayside, Urban will get just $600K for every year of their marriage and not a single penny if he goes back to blowing rails. [Page Six]
• Speaking of powdering one's nose, producer Dallas Austin is currently in a Dubai prison for trying to smuggle drugs into the country. The occasion? Naomi Campbell's birthday party, of course. And she was pissed when he didn't make it. [R&M (2nd item)]
• Being famous is hard for Anderson Cooper — people offer him free stuff and know his name and ride in his car and want to be his friend. Poor Anderson. (Jesus, listen to us: are we headed towards a backlash? No, no. Just a rough spot, that's all.) [Lowdown]
• A paparazzo sketching around Maddox Jolie's daycare center is arrested for trespassing, though he didn't jump any fences or set foot on the center's grounds. He was just innocently, legally stalking. [TMZ]
• Drag queen Kevin Aviance, whose jaw was wired shut after he was beaten in a hate crime, will have his mouth set free for one day so that he can perform for Sunday's gay pride parade. Let's hope he sings his hit song "Cunty," if only so we can see how the Times covers it. [Page Six]
• American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee will not let you forget about her, even if that means she has to pull the bulimia card. [People]
• Just in time for the premiere of Superman Returns, Kate Bosworth nears death. [Popsugar]
• Finally, thank God, the Coreys reunite — we're praying for License to Drive 2. They owe it to us, really. [E!]
• Anderson's Angelina interview is "a watershed moment in the history of CNN." Huh. And we thought it was just kind of boring. [LAT]
• Connie Chung has no regrets — well, at least too few to mention — about her "Thanks for the Memories" farewell. Probably because she's the only person who hasn't had to watch it repeatedly. [TV Guide]
• Dan Rather still eats lunch. [Media Mob/NYO]
• NYP business reporter Tim Arango wants to be on TV. Oh, honey, don't we all? [Jossip]
Oh, dear Jon Stewart. Oh, dear fearless progressive gay-rights-loving Jon Stewart. How many questions, we wondered yesterday, would Jon ask our beloved Anderson Cooper, his guest last night, about the quasi-mysterious "Julio"? The answer: Zero. But Jon did talk Anderson up for a while on the topic of just how hot Angelina Jolie is — while the Coop held up his end of the conversation by giggling like a little girl and shifting nervously in his chair.
Er, BREAKING: After 10 years of mutual love and support, Diddy and PR man Dan Klores are getting divorced. Word is that Puff left DK for another woman — Jill Fritzo at PMK. But just in case Diddy gets involved in another shooting, Klores is staying on a $1K/month retainer. Gotta keep the bases covered.
We just want make sure you know that our beloved Coopie will be Jon Stewart's guest on The Daily Show tonight. This is, in itself, not terribly newsworthy, as Anderson has long been willing to appear on just about any talk show or magazine cover that will have him, and that habit has become even more pronounced now that he has a book to promote.
We didn't entirely hate Anderson Cooper's interview last night with Angelina Jolie, even though we were bored out of our bedraggled little minds. There was one high point, in particular, that captured our hearts: footage of Cooper in Rwanda, filmed 12 years ago. Go ahead, just turn off the volume and stare at the hair.
Anderson Cooper had the honor of conducting Angelina Jolie's first American interview since giving birth to baby Shiloh, and oh, how we were excited. It was certain to be a night full of gossip and girl talk, laughter and tears. But Coop, love him as we may, is no Barbara Walters. There was no soft lighting, no tears, no hard-hitting questions about Jennifer Aniston. Instead, we were faced unbelievable boredom: two straight hours of Jolie effusively discussing the plight of refugees, her face lighting up with every new country she could name-check. There was no new information (except that Zahara is jealous of the new baby, which is positively earth-shattering).
• Completely unsubstantiated but nonetheless interesting: Are Jay-Z and Beyonce officially over? Does Jigga prefer the less-bootylicious Rihanna? Will Beyonce's dad resolve the issue with a shotgun? [Social Rank]
• Like an udder on a thick-lipped cow, Anderson Cooper milks his interview with Angelina Jolie, airing tomorrow night. He clarifies that People's $4 million Shiloh fee did not include a guarantee that he'd get first interview; rather, Jolie picked the Coop because she knew he wouldn't try to do her. [360 Blog]
• It's Christmas in June: Danny Meyer's ShackCam goes live! Updated every 5 seconds, it's the ultimate tool in planning your meal schedule. May it bring all of Manhattan together and working towards organizing dining, so as to forevermore avoid intolerable lines. [Eater]
• One of Brooklyn's beloved Jonathans writes an open, overwrought letter to Frank Gehry; if all the Jonathans would combine their powers, they could create a Super Letter, so strung-out that not even the most hardened developer could look away. [Slate
• What if Brokedown Palace involved a pair of jeans? [Wired]
• You can now purchase a clear cube full of authentic NYC garbage. Just goes to show that if you package a turd properly, someone will buy it. [NYC Garbage]
• GMA kisses Prince's boots, builds him a fortress. [OAN]
• Edward Champion ups the Okrent cocksucking metaphor to slightly uncomfortable, albeit satirical, levels. [EdRants]
• Performance art on a Monday morning is simply unacceptable. [Animal]
• Crackheadz Gone Wild: New York features raw, uncensored footage of local drug addicts on spring break, going crazy for Mardi Gras beads. [Metro]
Let's start this lovely morning with something of great, pressing import: a glitter-sprinkled press release brings news that our dear Anderson Cooper, Chelsea's beloved prince, will be interviewing Angelina Jolie in her first U.S. television interview since the birth of the world's sexiest baby. Naturally, Coop had to submit to doing it under the guise of a serious look at African refugees and airing it on World Refugee Day (June 20), but you know he won't let her leave without talking some Shiloh.
