Unfortunate news for Rolls-Royce owners who enjoy announcing to the world that they're driving a car that costs as much as a house in most parts of the country: "That ultimate symbol of brand and luxury, the automotive hood ornament, seems to be nearing the end of the road." [AdFreak]

Seven months after his death, Heath Ledger's SoHo loft at 419-421 Broome Street is back on the rental market. The three-bedroom apartment, which according to the Post was quietly (and unsuccessfully) shopped around back in February, is listed with Corcoran's Darren Kearns at $26,000 a month, $4,000 more than what Heath was paying. Photos and the floorplan after the jump.

Everything's come up roses for Michael Kors is the theme of his profile in today's Times, which details how the designer has gone from surviving Chapter 11 in the '90s to being recognized by starstruck young girls in restaurants today. While quotes are wheeled out to testify to his talent—Bette Midler describes his clothes as "clean... but they have that little bit of edge," and Allure's Paul Cavaco says they're "chic but not neurotic"—reality TV is clearly responsible for making Kors the bankable brand he now is, a depressing indictment on the world we live in if ever there was one.

• George Clooney's ex-girlfriend Sarah Larson may have cheated on the actor when she had a "weekend fling" with a "media mogul," although it appears she's paying for her crime since her new boyfriend is a lowly nightlife promoter named Joey Vanas. [P6]

Jay-Z may be the richest man in hip hop, but there's at least one investment that hasn't been a homerun for the demi-billionaire: After months of rumors, the Vegas outpost of 40/40 has officially closed, and the venue will be taken over by the Palazzo Hotel. [LAT via TBS]

• Earnings are down at Eddie Lampert's Sears. [Bloomberg]

Some of the famous faces spotted in Denver for the Democratic National Convention: Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Crow, Richard Schiff, Eva Longoria, Spike Lee, Dana Delany, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Alan Cumming, Josh Brolin, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Cyndi Lauper, Rufus Wainwright, Melissa Ethridge, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Pete Wentz, Rachel Leigh Cook, Kal Penn, Kanye West, Jennifer Hudson, Fran Drescher, Dave Matthews, Method Man, Sean Penn, Josh Lucas, Wyclef Jean, Giancarlo Esposito, Danny Glover, Margaret Cho, John Legend, Gayle King, Hill Harper, Will Smith, Nas, Al Franken, Val Kilmer, Willie Nelson, Rosario Dawson, Quentin Tarantino, Jessica Alba, Ani DiFranco, James Taylor, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Tucker, Sofia Vergara, Fat Joe, Ana Ortiz, Ashley Judd, Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Stevie Wonder, Charles Barkley, Chris Daughtry, Matthew Modine, Wilmer Valderrama, Chevy Chase, Ed Norton, Ashanti, Sarah Silverman, RZA, Kerry Washington, Herbie Hancock, Carly Simon, Darryl Hannah, Bruce Springsteen, Moby, Oprah, Neil Patrick Harris, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, and Richard Dreyfuss. Are we missing someone? Email us!

One way to get some press for your upstart cosmetics company: send a group of naked girls to walk around Herald Square. [Daily Intel]

Post dining impresario Steve Cuozzo's list of everything he hates about new restaurants includes (but is not limited to!) consulting chefs, sushi in non-Japanese restaurants, poorly-cooked octopus, overly talkative waiters, overly quiet waiters, and overly expensive burgers. Someone needs a long weekend! [NYP]

• Arianna Huffington says her website is not for sale, but that's probably just because no one is interested in paying $200 million for it. [Gawker]

• Top Chef runner-up Marcel Vigneron was arrested in Laguna Beach this past weekend for driving drunk. [OC Register via Eater]

Fantastic news: Jumping into a public fountain to collect spare change is not, in fact, illegal. Enjoy, kids! [NY Post]

• Even though Whitney Port may have the least fake career on The Hills, her alleged PR job at Diane von Furstenberg won't involve actual working, will it? [The Cut]
  

Anna Wintour, John Lithgow, and Les Moonves and Julie Chen (left) watching a match at the US Open ... Rachael Ray buying fruits and veggies at the Greenmarket ... The four American Idol judges on a red carpet at Chelsea Piers ... Supermodel Miranda Kerr taking a stroll downtown ... Don Cheadle waving outside the David Letterman show ... ... Carmen Electra blowing kisses from her SUV ... Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian acting like idiots at JFK ... Vanessa Minnillo shuttling between talk show appearances in Midtown ... Lindsay Price heading into an event at the Empire Hotel ... and Katie Holmes showing up to watch a performance of August: Osage County.

You may have heard the name Jonathan Leitersdorf in connection with his real estate dealings around town. The Israeli-born investor spent five years trying to sell off Sky Studios, the 11,000-square-foot triplex loft at 704 Broadway with a rooftop pool. The backdrop for several episodes of Sex and the City and the space where Chelsea Clinton had a big birthday party and Jerry Seinfeld married Jessica, the loft was only unloaded in late 2007, when Leitersdorf sold it to supermarket mogul Ron Burkle for $17.5 million. (He first listed the place in 2002 for $27 million.) Unfortunately, his investments at sea haven't been any luckier. His 178-foot yacht was just hijacked by pirates off the coast of Corsica!

"Anyone who picked up the Village Voice this morning and turned to Lynn Yaeger's cover story on page 14 was met with a stomach-churning surprise that may have ruined their already unpleasant subway commute to work—a vivid, closeup pile of human excrement belonging to the artist Andres Serrano," writes Joe Pompeo in the Observer. Maybe this was just the Voice's way of being ironic, since no one actually reads the paper any more unless they're using it to clean up after their dog? [NYO]

Here's some unfortunate news for parents, their teenage kids, and Joel Klein: "New York high school students planning to go college scored slightly lower in the SAT entrance tests last year than they did the year before." Perhaps it's the tap water? [NYSun]

• Frank Bruni offers up a brief take on Marc Forgione's Forge in this week's Times and delivers a mixed review, ultimately concluding that the restaurant is "inconsistent." [NYT]

If you happen to be obsessed with Anderson Cooper and/or you're obsessed with the idea that he might somehow be Jewish (he's not), perhaps you'd be interested in this video of the Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar asking the CNN anchor about his "Jewish identity"? Watch as Anderson confesses that when he was a kid, he really wanted to be Jewish and go the Hebrew school, so he could be just like all the other boys at Dalton. (Let's skip the obvious joke there, shall we?) As a very special bonus, you'll get to see Anderson spout the first line of a prayer in Hebrew, proving once and for all that he's probably endured more than his fair share of Saturdays at Temple Emanu-El.

New York City tap water is the best in the state! At least that's what came out of the "Tap Water Taste Test" at the New York State Fair in Syracuse on Saturday. Second prize went to to the town Pulaski, which you've probably never heard of, but is supposedly located in Oswego County, which you've probably never heard of either. The big loser—as if it needs more reasons to feel ashamed—was Albany, which won top honors last year. [Ithaca Journal]