[Via Copyranter]

• We're glad the strike is over for myriad reasons, not the least of which is sparing us from thoughtless, insipid articles about how poorly we dressed just to stay warm. We're sure it was easy to pen crap like that from the comfort of your town car — did Daddy get you that job at the Styles desk? [NYT]
• Nothing a little anal bleaching can't fix. [CNN]
• The only difference we can think of between chick-flick staples Dermot Mulroney and Dylan McDermott is that we see one of them on the street all the time. The, uh, Irish one with the dark hair. [Fametracker]
• Of the five finalists for Jersey's new state slogan, "Love at First Sight" strikes us as the most misleading. [WCBS]
• Brangelina are rumored to have purchased Yves St. Laurent's $25 million Normandy coast summer home, where they will have wild, French animal sex. [The Daily]
• We're sorry, but a sorority just isn't a sorority if it calls itself "feminist." And sisterhood just isn't sisterhood unless you go down on a SigEp first. [Salon]

We've an addendum to our 123 Things to Love About New York:

Kate Moss Signs New Contract [Virgin Mobile]
Putting Humor to Use in Some Reputation Rehab [NYT]

Look at this fucking picture. Are you kidding us, New York mag? Is this your idea of a joke? How are we supposed to do anything with this week's Look Book when all you give us is the back of some dude's head? You may have been trying to show off his "leopard spotted" hair, but it just strikes us as some sloppily frosted tips. Nevertheless, sculptor Josh Levine insists his leopard hair is part of a long-term artistic project with his wife. Josh Levine is his own art, which works into his larger work as a living sculpture based around the narcissistic sense of self. Yep, sounds pretty narcissistic to us.

Perhaps lately you've taken notice of a recurring image on the streets of LA: a little buddha blissfully strumming a guitar, usually found on a Hollywood-type ass sashaying ahead of you. He should be smiling, because he's the logo for True Religion jeans, the $200-plus must-have clothing obsession of the moment. With the opening of their first store in Manhattan Beach, and plans for a wider expansion, the LAT gives the hot local company a closer look:

Every once in a great while, Bill Cunningham's "On the Street" photo feature goes deeper than the Upper East Side's continuing fascination with Mukluk boots. Yesteday, he pointed out a subtle wrong in the world: On a day when the temperature hovered around 14 degrees, Abercrombie & Fitch staffers were seen taking their lunch breaks while dutifully wearing their company-mandated flip-flops.

You've had a long week, kids, and you've earned your Friday treat: It's time for Blue States Lose, where we sort through the galleries of fucked-up hipsters at The Cobrasnake, Last Night's Party, Misshapes and Ambrel so you don't have to. Then we bring you our 10 favorites each Friday. After the jump, Joey Arak brings you the eye-bleeding magic.

• We know that it's not the art department's job to know much about politics, but someone should really help the poor fucks at Esquire brush up on the differences between Senator Joe McCarthy and Senator Gene McCarthy. [Off-Topic]
• Former Women's Wear Daily reporter and sexual assault suspect Peter Braunstein was spotted in Memphis two weeks ago. This is all we get after six years of no news on the matter? [Jossip]
• Bloomberg's Transit Strike Contingency Plan: "Commuters encountering MTA workers are asked to throw ROCKS, STONES and PEBBLES." [Cracked]
• You know why we mock hipsters? Because they're probably the ones buying stirrup pants from Urban Outfitters. [JJB]
• We also mock hipsters because they search for personal assistants who are familiar with MisShapes and wear "drainpipe/skinny jeans." This is why they invented suicide watches. [Craigslist]
• Britney Spears tops the Yahoo! Buzz Index as the most searched for term on the internet. Never underestimate the public interest in acne and trailer trash. [Reuters]

• Taking a breather from Anna Wintour, PETA lists Paris Hilton as their worst-dressed celebrity. Other honorees include Kimberly Stewart and Tara Reid, because being a skank hurts the fuzzy animals. [Scoop]
• Ashley Olsen is late to Karl Lagerfeld's show at the Chanel store, then fails to recognize the designer when he waves to her. Such unacceptable behavior, you'd think Olsen were raised as a civilian or some such. [Page Six]
• The cab-stealing continues: Bill Maher swipes a taxi from a man with a BABY in a SNOWSTORM. Next up, stealing cabs from paraplegics with broken breathing tubes. [Lowdown (2nd item)]
• Don't you hate it when your cock is so huge that it has to be digitally erased? Oh, you don't have that problem? Scoff. [Page Six]
• Nancy Grace of CNN is suing her stalker for damages. Just so long as she keeps paying attention to him! [R&M]

Sit up straight and chew with your mouths closed, because this week's edition of New York magazine's Look Book features Robin Chandler Duke, a grand old dame who doesn't deal with barnfolk such as yourself. Puzzlingly enough, Duke is a political activist and the former chairman of NARAL, yet she seems rather kind to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito — we chalk this up to her being 82 and having forgotten her morning round of meds.

Bruce Willis ex and backyard 1-meter shallow-diving bronze medalist Brooke Burns clearly didn't learn her lesson from last month's accident. While the only apparent ill effect she's suffering from her pool mishap is paralyzing adorableness, the hundreds of copycatting aspiring actresses who throw themselves headlong into drained pools in hopes of authentically rocking a bedazzled Kitson neckbrace like Brooke's may not be so lucky, and likely will wind up in far less fabulous Swarovski-encrusted wheelchairs.

• Dave Eggers and Isaac Mizrahi: separated at birth? [Radar]
• If you're going to attempt to make your own Hot Toddy, you better do it right. The Webtender allows you to search a database and prevent any throat-burning fuck-ups. [Lifehacker]
• Gay "it boy" designer Zac Posen may not make clothes for fatties, but if you're a pregnant supermodel, he might be willing to help you out. [WWD]
• She may not be able to lure Lindsay Lohan onto her show, but Kelly Ripa can wheel and deal her way to the top of Manhattan's real estate pile. Homegirl's busy, yo. [Curbed]
• Dear Prudence: If my boyfriend's dad calls me a "bitch," does that mean I have to make him dinner and get his slippers, too? [Slate]
• Happy Something-or-Another to CNN, who celebrates its 1000th day in Iraq. Gosh, it seems like just yesterday that we first saw military light a reporter's face with that beautiful, fiery glow. [What's Happening at CNN]
• David Schwimmer is slated to star in the Broadway revival of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Sadly, there will be no monkey, no Rachel, and no interest. [Reuters]
• And, last but certainly not least, today marks the 25th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. Commemorate in your own special way, be it listening to Imagine, cursing Yoko, or taking LSD. [CBS]

It's a bit outside our usual zone, so we don't really have the insight to add much to the news, but longtime Bloomingdale's fashion director Kalman Ruttenstein died today. He was a fashion legend and a retail legend and genuine New York character, and, regardless of what field they work in, it always makes us happy to have old-fashioned brilliant eccentrics still calling shots in our increasingly corporate city. He was 69, the cause was complications from cancer, and now Bloomie's is, sadly, a bit more like every other store in the world.

The Times' Thursday Styles is like a bloodhound of fluff journalism, sniffing out the stories before they even break. Case in point: today brings us an exploration of the disproportionate number of successful gay males in the fashion industry to their straight, female counterparts. While Miuccia Prada and Donna Karan have built empires, notes the Gray Lady, the glittery buzz of being an "it" designer seems reserved for young gay men. Uh, no shit.

A little sampling from our new younger brother Consumerist (who, as some of you have noted, is aesthetically challenged — that's how we politely refer to sites designed by Hungarian goat-fuckers):

Tonight is the season premiere of Project Runway, Bravo's wildly popular reality show in which sixteen unknown fashion designers compete for the love of supermodel host Heidi Klum and the approval of her panel of fashionista judges, all in hopes of winning the grand prize: a spread in Elle and a mentorship from haute couture fashion house Banana Republic.

This thoroughly nauseating news — of interest, we're sure, only to a handful of people in the most rarefied Manhattan ZIP codes — was carried in last night's weekly Publishers Lunch deal roundup:

Just to clear some things up, right off the bat: the individual featured in this week's edition of New York magazine's Look Book is not, we repeat, NOT Fake David Cross. While the bald head and glasses may indicate Fake Davidness, we want to remind you that the beard automatically disqualifies any potential doppelganger.

Yesterday was a very Special Day for socialite Tinsley Mortimer and her friends at the Times Sunday Styles. Together, they worked their haughty magic into a big, fat article that tells you one thing: bitches borrow fancy clothes for fancy events.