Us Weekly's "Hot Stuff" editor, Timothy McDarrah, was arrested last night for soliciting a minor for sex on the internet. "Mr. McDarrah has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation," Us Weekly spokesman Alex Dudley told Gawker. "Us Weekly has promised to cooperate fully with the FBI's investigation."
• Courtesy of The Daily Show's extra footage, it's author Kurt Vonnegut's unaired list of liberal crap he never wants to hear again. [CC]
• Does even the fashion set find fashion underwhelming? Can we not rally for Fashion Week fabulousness? Or did Katrina wash away our sense of style, too? [NYO]
• NYC IS EDGY, so much so that your Vitamin Water may be made of Drano. [Release the Kraken]
• Not even confetti dares to touch Vogue editor Anna Wintour. [OAN]
• Because sucking off Vincent Gallo in Brown Bunny simply wasn't enough, actress Chloe Sevigny has now taken on the role of a nun-ho. [Cinematical]
• Foxy Brown is being sued by designer Tanya Manderson, who alleges that the rapper falsely accused Manderson of beating the crap out of her in a bathroom. Clearly, the guilty party was actually Naomi Campbell. [KGET]
• And, finally, another devastating blow to The Gays: Central Park's famous homo penguins have broken up, as one chose to explore a relationship with a female. [ChiTrib]
We haven't really been following the saga of "Princess Antionette," the con artist from Buffalo who pretended to be a Saudi princess and tried to scam American Express and insurance companies out of nearly a million dollars. But we couldn't overlook the reason she was sentenced to merely one of year of time — and in a psych ward, not a prison — for grand larceny and insurance fraud. Buried in the last graf of the Post's report:
There's no question that the Federletus, when born, will be a thug — but this strikes even us as a bit premature.
We're thrilled to see that NYC IS EDGY has made it to the domesticated precincts of the Upper West Side, where now even ladies who lunch might be confronted by a hail of bullets while getting their midday manicures.
And he loved every minute of it.
From left: Jay-Z, Nas, and 50 Cent pose for their senior class portraits.
In honor of Death Row Records founder Suge Knight's celebratory VMA cap in the leg, the sneaky fellows over at The Smoking Gun got their hands on a secret NYPD dossier devoted exclusively to the shenanigans of our city's finest hip-hop stars. Upon running through the pages, we were impressed to learn that when attacked, sweet little 50 Cent called the authorities himself. Interesting, as we always figured he'd be the type to douse his chest in bourbon, remove a bullet and stitch himself up without ever saying a word.
We often lament the existence of August, a month that seems devoid of anything besides humidity, stench, and boredom. Recent weeks, however, have had at least a modicum of action:
A medical examiner's report has ruled that college students Mellie Carbalo and Maria Pesantez overdosed on speedballs — that tasty, evergreen mix of heroin and cocaine — and not on a poisoned batch of heroin. While we're relieved to hear that our smack supply isn't any more vicious than usual, a little part of us is secretly disappointed. If the girls died from a Belushi-approved drug cocktail, that's probably the end of any talk about a particularly deadly batch of heroin (unless another couple of young, attractive women die). And if there's no deadly heroin epidemic to which we can latch on, it seriously threatens our theory that NYC IS EDGY.
Courtesy, per usual, of Animal magazine's Bucky Turco.
When you're driving a black SUV full of cocaine and Belvedere vodka through Times Square, you're practically guaranteed to run into Damon Dash.
Major scoop in today's Page Six: Gambino mob daughter and reality show darling Victoria Gotti is a liar. And while we normally admire liars for their loyalty to the art of fabrication, we're not fans of individuals who lie about just to obtain some public pity. Victoria Gotti, it seems, has done exactly that — which pretty much breaks our little hearts, as we had always loved Victoria like no other.
So maybe you didn't believe us last week when we proclaimed that NYC IS EDGY again — granted, the slew of drug overdoses and recent murder were all confined to downtown neighborhoods, mostly in or around the Lower East Side. You're above 14th Street, perhaps chilling in Murray Hill, maybe domesticating yourself around the Upper East or West Sides. You're busy hitting the gym, eating at Zen Palate or something, and the new, gritty NYC isn't your problem. Just mind your own business, go check out a lecture at the 92nd Street Y, maybe finish your evening with a stop at Tasti D Lite. Keep on living the good life.
The latest in our round-the-clock coverage of EDGY NYC: 33-year-old Alfredo Morales has been arrested in connection with the drug-related deaths of Mellie Nicole Carballo and Maria Pesantez, both 18. The girls were found unconscious on Friday after reportedly injecting a nasty speedball, assumed to be derived from the same batch of highly-potent (or poisoned) heroin responsible for the recent slew of junkies gone to heaven.
• Does Mariah Carey insist on being a size 6 at all costs? One bloggy type notes that for a recent fashion shoot, a magazine staff had to replace all the size 12 labels in items before presenting the outfits to her highness. [Andrea Harner]
• In an article about gay men, we find the following lede to be particularly poignant: "The conversation over tossed salad, dinner rolls and iced tea was about dating." Oh, we bet it was. [NYT]
• Now that Diddy has dropped the "P" to his name, will other celebrities follow suit? Aris suits Ms. Hilton rather nicely, we think. [Radar]
• Moby blogs about the murder in front of his Teany cafe; maintains innocence. [Moby]
• Did you know there was a strike still going on regarding the projectionists at the IFC Center? Neither did we, but apparently it's over. [Reeler]
• "Men's Vogue is designed to be bought by the wives of the men targeted by Men's Vogue." [Bitchless Blog]
• We've been to more media parties of this ilk than we'd care to count. [Gaping Void]
So we sat down to write about our beloved Chinatown bus, one of which apparently burst into flames on Tuesday (no incoming visitors from D.C. or Boston were hurt). Just as we were about to predictably note that one gets what they pay for, we took a look at what we've been covering the past few days: heroin, stabbings, deadly personal trainers, and now, flammable mass transit. What the hell is going on?
The Daily News crashed yesterday's funeral for 18-year-old NYU student Maria Pesantez, who died Friday after presumably injecting a lethal dose of heroin and cocaine. Pesantez's death is one of a recent slew of heroin-related overdoses downtown, and her family is understandably searching for answers:
The traditional news outlets finally shed some light on yesterday's murder outside of celebrity vegan teahouse Teany; the victim, 40-year-old George Dresche, was "a down-and-out heroin addict with a long criminal record." (Sadly, we just knew heroin would have something to do with this.) Teany employee Roger Peffley — who, we must point out, is a musician who performs under the name Roger Human Being — was opening the teahouse when he saw Dresche:
Bad news for downtown scenesters wanting a $12 cup of tea and a vegan muffin: At approximately 9 AM this morning, someone was stabbed on Rivington Street between Orchard and Ludlow, just outside of downtown technobaldie Moby's Teany teahouse.
