Week of « Prev | Next »
1-20 of 52 articles « Prev | Next »
Which Prince Had to Choose Between Mariah Carey and Paris Hilton?
7 hours ago
Spain's Letizia, Princess of Asturias, looked regal in a red bead-embellished skirt suit at the Military Pasques annual parade and reception at the Spanish Royal Palace yesterday. In Canada, an unlikely interview will take place tomorrow when country-ish singer Shania Twain goes on Canadian public radio to ask Queen Rania of Jordan about her 1Goal charity, which promotes "education for all." Jordan's quiet support of the C.I.A. was thrust into the spotlight last week when a Jordanian double agent turned suicide bomber killed seven C.I.A. operatives and one Jordanian intelligence official in Afghanistan. This increased exposure is no doubt a source of discomfort for King Abdullah II, who occupies a precariously progressive position in the Arab world. »
What I Want in 2010
8 hours ago
Before it’s too late, and we are into the second week of January, I might as well declare now what I want to occur, and what I would prefer not to occur, in 2010. You will note that I have not asked for material wealth or for world peace. I have not asked to be introduced to Elin Woods once the divorce is final. I have not even asked for a blanket on an airplane. Never mind, I’ll sit in the cold. Instead, I have limited my hopes and dreams in 2010 to the practical. I want my Diet Pepsi bottles to return to the way they were a few years ago. I want Larry David’s show to just go away. I want to know what the differences are between Mel Gibson’s new movie, Edge of Darkness, and Sean Penn’s brilliant Mystic River. Oh, and I would »
Blackwater Still Making Ripples
9 hours ago
Blackwater C.E.O. Erik Prince in the tactical-operations center at a company base in Kabul. Photograph by Adam Ferguson. As Adam Ciralsky observed in the January 2010 issue of Vanity Fair, Blackwater may have changed its name in an attempt at a P.R. makeover—the company is now cryptically called Xe—but that has not quite helped it stay under the radar, as founder Erik Prince surely hoped it would. Quite the contrary: Blackwater has been all over the headlines last week and this week for a number of developments. Two of these should come as relief to the company, however. First of all, Blackwater dodged a bullet last week when charges accusing it of wrongdoing in the 2007 Nisour Square shooting in Baghdad were dismisse by a judge. And this week, it was reported that Blackwater has settled a series of federal lawsuits, brought by Iraqis, accusing of it using excessive force in Iraq, »
George W. Bush Gives Back to Andover
9 hours ago
The cold winters and elite intellectual atmosphere of Phillips Academy Andover were a jarring change for George W. Bush when, as a 15-year-old, he was sent off to the prestigious Massachusetts boarding school, where his father had gone twenty years earlier. He flunked his first English paper and adopted an outsider attitude initially, banding together with fellow southerners and Texan classmates. But Bush eventually came into his own and grew to appreciate Andover, becoming Head Cheerleader, earning the nickname “the Lip” for his sharp tongue, and coming in second for the title of "Big Man on Campus.” Andover served as a stepping stone for Bush on the way to Yale and Harvard Business School, where he made life-long contacts that served him in crucial ways later on in business and politics. Now Bush is giving back to Andover. The school's latest fundraising magazine shows that Bush gave somewhere in the »
Is It Illegal to Use the Obamas' Pictures in Advertisements?
9 hours ago
Left, the controversial Weatherproof billboard; right, a PETA image that shows Michele Obama. A new billboard in New York City's Times Square featuring Barack Obama wearing a Weatherproof jacket has recently become a source of debate. The outerwear company purchased the photograph from the Associated Press and apparently used the image without clearance from the White House, claiming that it doesn't need approval. The White House, which opposes the use of Obama's name and likeness for commercial endeavors, is asking the company to remove the ad. But just because the White House disapproves of the president's visage being used without permission doesn't mean that the practice is against the law. Or does it? We posed that question to Miami University law professor John Forren. It's a complicated issue, he says, that relates to how New York courts have interpreted the state's privacy-in-images laws in the past. Here's his "quick answer. »
Five Team U.S.A. Hockey Players to Watch
11 hours ago
When the 2010 U.S. Olympic hockey team was announced this past weekend at the N.H.L. Winter Classic, the theme was crystal clear: youth! Not that Team U.S.A. isn’t a serious medal contender, but it seems to be prepping a generation of leaders for 2014 and beyond. Here’s a look at the freshest of the fresh faces. Patrick Kane Age: 21. Hometown: Buffalo, New York. Team America’s youngest player is also one of its most dangerous. Kane leads the Chicago Blackhawks with 18 goals and 31 assists and is sixth in the N.H.L. in scoring. He’s presumably matured a little since last summer, when he and his cousin were arrested for beating up a 62-year-old cab driver over 20 cents. »
Directors Guild of America: Captains of the Obvious
12 hours ago
The Director’s Guild of America has announced its nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film. The most surprising part of the list is the fact that there is nothing surprising about the list. In fact, The Hollywood Reporter predicted it as early as the beginning of December when they got these five—plus Peter Jackson—together for their annual directors roundtable. The video is above, and it’s well worth watching, if only to see the spark that still evidently exists between power-exes James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow. The DGA nominees happen to have directed the five frontrunners—I would even venture to say the five only sure things—in the best-picture race, and you can count on the same five being nominated for best-director Oscars. Of all the awards tossed out willy-nilly on the road to the Oscars, the DGA is statistically the most accurate forecast of the Academy awards, »
Unauthorized Obama Ads: The Outtakes
12 hours ago
President Barack Obama’s approval ratings may be persistently middling, but that sure isn’t stopping companies and non-profits from appropriating his image (and that of his megapopular First Lady, Michelle) for use in unauthorized ads. But why should Weatherproof and PETA reap all the free-publicity rewards that come from ripping off the president’s image? Vf.com wondered what it would look like if other iconic brands decided to ride the First Couple’s coattails. Here’s what we came up with: Official White House photos by Pete Souza. Photo illustrations by Hamish Robertson. »
Five Minutes to Fab
14 hours ago
Writing from her tiny Boston apartment, Jilly Gagnon is a 25-year-old struggling novelist who's starving more than she's selling. But this month, she's decided to "Goop" her way to the good life by following the advice outlined in Gwyneth Paltrow's weekly Internet newsletter. Track her progress with these daily status reports. Day Four I'd heard about the "five-minute makeover" before Gwyneth enlisted her celebrity hair- and makeup-artist friends to tell me all about it, and, I have to say, I don't buy it. Less than five minutes and I'm out the door? Significant changes in my appearance in that kind of time? Using real, grown-up-people makeup? Pshaw, Hollywood, get off your ivory-skinned, poreless tower and tell us something we can really use. But skepticism is not a luxury of the Goopy, so I must forge ahead. Having glanced over the rules, I set out various near approximations of the »
Nexus Shmexus: The Google Phone May Not Suck, but It Doesn't Sing
14 hours ago
I don’t get Nexus One, the Google phone. It seems like an expression of terrible ambivalence. All these expectations, all these competitive impulses, so they had to do something. But then, what? The word that developed—the word Google let develop—was that the company had something in the works that would, in a stroke, challenge the proprietary philosophy of Apple’s iPhone, and enable a constant, ubiquitous, ever-deepening connection to the information stream. The phone would be the next elemental link in the development of real-time media, the revolution of our time (or, anyway, of the moment). But instead it’s a what.? Just an iPhonish phone. A bit less, or a bit more, depending on your level of Google love and awe. It doesn’t seem to be bad. Apple certainly needs the competition—the world benefits. The minor choice among carriers that it offers is better »
Vampire Weekend Plays Its "Autotune" Song ... Live!
14 hours ago
Hey, whaddya know? Vampire Weekend’s “autotune”�song, “California English,” sounds good live. I witnessed the mixing session for this track—off of the upcoming album Contra, out January 12—when I interviewed the band for this Spotlight and was still struggling to wrap my head around the thing. Is this great or horrible? I asked myself. I now feel confident in saying, “Pretty damn good.”� Related: “Vampire Prep” (December 2009) [Via The Awl and Pitchfork] »
Welcome Back, Koppel?
17 hours ago
• Americans are becoming more ideological, and conservatives have the lead. Forty percent identify themselves as conservative, beating out moderates (36 percent) and liberals (21 percent). [Gallup] • Under-bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was indicted yesterday in Detroit, reportedly met with radical U.S. cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. Al-Awlaki is the same guy who has been linked to Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. No wonder the U.S. is trying to kill him. [Khaleej Times] • Also, a new report indicates that counterterrorism officials identified Adbulmutallab as a risk after he was already airborne and were waiting in Detroit to interview him. Talk about “too little, too late.” [Chicago Tribune] • Ted Koppel could earn a million bucks a year from ABC News to work three days a month. Sign us up for that deal! [Politico] • Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is said to be eyeing the exits. Somehow, Valerie Jarrett doesn’t seem nearly psychotic enough to replace him. »
Excerpt of Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America
6 January 2010 9:00 PM, PST
It was a high-stakes gamble, sending three of Hollywood’s biggest, most uncompromising talents—Warren Beatty, Elaine May, and Dustin Hoffman—to make a movie in the middle of the Sahara. As $51 million evaporated and relationships crumbled, a legendary disaster was born: the 1987 comedy Ishtar. In an excerpt from his new biography of Beatty, the author chronicles a cascade of dysfunction, from the triangle of May, Beatty, and leading lady Isabelle Adjani to the studio politics that sealed Ishtar’s doom. »
Will Tinsley Mortimer Land an Invitation to Denmark's Royal Wedding?
6 January 2010 2:29 PM, PST
We have confirmed with the Danish Palace that just before the New Year, Princess Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg became engaged to Alexander Johannsmann. The pair have been an item for about two years. No date has been set for the wedding, but we imagine the Princess, whose father is of the Berleburg branch of the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg family, will be inviting her relatives from the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn and Ludwigsburg-Carlsburg branch of the family. This means that if Tinsley Mortimer wants an invite, she'll have to rekindle her royal fling with Prince Johann Casimir Ludwig Karl Andreas Maria Rudolf zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, better known as Casimir Wittgenstein-Sayn, better known as the Prince who was dumped for American Idol contestant Constantine Maroulis. »
Will the Academy Recognize Motion-Capture Performances?
6 January 2010 2:00 PM, PST
When John Hurt played the title character in David Lynch’s The Elephant Man in 1980, it took a gifted makeup artist seven hours each day to sculpt Hurt’s bulbous forehead and twisted mouth. The actor was utterly unrecognizable under the heavy, Quasimodo-like prosthetics, but he managed to communicate sadness, grace and humanity in the role, and garner an Oscar nomination for his performance. Thirty years later, computer-generated special effects are replacing the dying art of prosthetics, but an actor has yet to earn a nod from the Academy for a purely virtual performance. One who could break the digital barrier this year is Zoe Saldana, for her work as Avatar’s alien heroine, Neytiri. To win a nomination for best actress, Saldana would have to overcome Hollywood’s skepticism about the motion-capture process director James Cameron used to make Avatar, a technique that relies on animators to enhance an actor’s work. »
Dear H&M and Wal-Mart: These 13 Charities Accept Donated Clothes
6 January 2010 1:30 PM, PST
This is ridiculous. The New York Times is reporting that H&M and Wal-Mart locations in Midtown Manhattan actually—ready for it?—throw away unused clothes that don’t sell. Not only that, but the stores also destroy the clothes first, cutting huge holes in garments and shoes so they can’t be reused. Why not donate the clothes to a charity? With a quick Google search and a few phone calls, in 10 minutes, Vf Daily found 13 organizations and charity-affiliated thrift stores in New York City that accept donated clothes. They are listed below. Some of the charities will even arrange for pickup, making H&M’s and Wal-Mart’s alleged behavior all the more egregious. »
Could Avatar Pull a Titanic at the Oscars?
6 January 2010 11:35 AM, PST
Picture this: a dark, gritty and uncompromising film about men being men. A breakout performance by a phenomenal young actor. The movie sweeps through the critical community and seems to have a lock on Oscar gold. Then suddenly, from left field, James Cameron rides in on a billion-pound gorilla, snatches up the Oscar and bellows that he’s the king of the world. As Little Gold Men’s film-critic calculus this week pointed out, for all intents and purposes The Hurt Locker has rounded up the critical consensus as best film of the year. But now that Avatar has done to box-office records what Stephen Lang does to 20-story trees, the possibility that it will also sweep the Oscars suddenly has serious weight to it. After all, Cameron did it once before when his boy-and-his-boat tale, Titanic sunk the battleship of L.A. Confidential. The parallel is pretty striking: »
Why the Academy Will Ignore Nicolas Cage and Tilda Swinton's Oscar-worthy Turns
6 January 2010 11:00 AM, PST
Uncaged: Nicolas Cage in Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. With a month to go before the Oscar nominations are even made public, the victors in the acting categories have virtually already been decided. The best actor race isn’t much of one thanks to the consensus that Jeff Bridges is “due” an Oscar and Crazy Heart is the vehicle that’ll deliver it. Meanwhile, supporting categories are historically kind to fresh faces, and thus outsiders Mo’nique and Christoph Waltz have their two races on lockdown, without even showing up to campaign. That so much seems to have been preordained in the preseason takes a lot of the fun out of watching the races unfold. It also all but ensures that the two best performances of the year, committed to celluloid by two previous Oscar winners lacking the heat of the new or the weight »
Hot List: Tumi Ski Luggage
6 January 2010 11:00 AM, PST
The hottest style trends according to V.F.’s fashion department. This week: ski luggage for traveling to Sundance, the Winter Olympics, or the Rockies. Fit all the items you’ll need for a day on the slopes in this Tumi Alpha Banff Backpack, which comes with several pockets for easy organization. The carryall has padded straps, a front flap that fits a snowboard, and side straps that can be used for skis or poles. $395. Go to tumi.com. »
Marrakesh ... Express!
6 January 2010 10:40 AM, PST
Writing from her tiny Boston apartment, Jilly Gagnon is a 25-year-old struggling novelist who’s starving more than she’s selling. But this month, she’s decided to “Goop” her way to the good life by following the advice outlined in Gwyneth Paltrow’s weekly Internet newsletter. Track her progress with these daily status reports. Day Three Recently, Gwyneth decided to take "an impromptu jaunt" to Marrakesh. Why shouldn't I do the same? Of course, for someone in my struggling-artist situation, a bit of budgetary planning is a good idea. First, there's the ticket. I'm sure Gwynnie would never travel coach, because if you don't have to, why would you? Gooping, though, seems to be about applying Gwyneth-isms to one's own life rather than following a rigid set of rules (unless you're doing a cleanse), so I'll assume that even though my seat would be a class below Gwyneth's and »
1-20 of 52 articles « Prev | Next »
