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blindnessphoto.jpg the cinema

Arty Studio Movie About Mysteriously Blind People May Actually Be Bad

The much-ballyhooed film Blindness, a Fernando Meirelles (the harrowing City of God, the exquisite Constant Gardener) film starring Julianne Moore (the vagina in Robert Altman's Short Cuts), has been labeled a "misfire" at Cannes. Well, at least by New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis. The movie, some sort of political allegory (based on the Jose Saramago novel) about a whole town stricken with blindness (save for the wan, desperate Moore), is apparently "allegory with a very large capital A." Ahh, too bad. I was looking forward to this one. Oh wait, there's more? The film is also "nasty, brutish and nowhere near short enough." Ouch. Well, let's take ol' Manohla's early review with a little grain of salt. The film could change! Dargis could be completely wrong (as she often is)! If she's not, though, bad news for Miramax, which was pinning some major Oscar hopes on this one. Watch the trailer for the film, plus experience a little more of Dargis' ire, after the jump. More »

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"Oh God. Everything About This Hurts."

[Blake "Serena van der Woodsen" Lively at CW up-fronts at Lincoln Center yesterday; image via Splash]

81054860 Gossip Roundup

Newest Disaster Also Not Miley Cyrus' Fault

  • An LA band called Lustra called out Miley Cyrus by name for a song that sounds way, way too much like one of their songs. But it turns out Cyrus doesn't write any of her own songs, so now the band kind of looks like a bunch of assholes. [P6]
  • Natalie Portman took a jet ride with movie producer Ryan Kavanaugh and then supposedly "looked smitten." But she's still in love with hippie folksinger Devendra Banhart. [P6]
  • Sarah Jessica Parker insisted she is not in a massive catfight with Sex And The City co-stars, particularly Kim Cattrall. Supposedly Cattrall refused to sit through the movie's premiere. Parker said, "I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else," which doesn't really address the rumor. [Daily Star]
  • Pete Doherty keeps writing songs for Amy Winehouse, who keeps calling them "shit" and "rubbish." [Mirror]
  • You know how you can tell Britney Spears is, indeed, pregnant? Because she recently visited a doctor. [Showbiz Spy]
  • First Jack Black revealed Angelina Jolie is pregnant, now Dustin Hoffman has leaked the due date, August 19. More cameos! [Sun]

80287571 Books

Book Of Celebrity Dicks Coming Soon (Probably In Hardcover)

Obviously the forthcoming book Hollywood Babylon: It's Back is going to be the must-have ironic hipster book of the season, what with its collection of full-frontal shots of male celebrities like, allegedly, Mick Jagger, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ewan McGregor and, terrifyingly, John Malkovich. But in case you can't afford, or bring yourself, to buy the cock gawker for your coffee table, here are the Cliff's Notes: More »

Intern Sean Avery Basically Poised To Take Over Vogue "Observers say he's involved in all sections of the magazine, including features and accessories, and attends edit meetings... insiders say there's been talk of the hockey hard man attending the couture shows in Europe next month along with Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour." [WWD]

Up-And-Comer Bolts From Times' Global Disappointment "ENDING weeks of rumors, Michael Oreskes is stepping down from atop the International Herald Tribune and heading to the Associated Press to be its first-ever managing editor for US news." [Post]

Picture 1-25 TV

Gossip Girl's Network Being Killed By YOU

The CW network, home to teen drama Gossip Girl, may be closed next year thanks to you, a Web-surfing pop culture consumer, possibly between the ages of 18 and 34. If you actually sat and watched network television at the appointed time instead of flitting around the mediascape like a monkey, streaming things here and TiVOing things there, maybe the network could actually get some Nielsen ratings for its shows. Instead, ratings are down 28 percent among 18 to 34 year olds so far this year. Other networks' ratings are down in the wake of the writers' strike, but apparently things are worse at CW, because according to the Wall Street Journal, "the network's hopes of surviving are looking increasingly bleak," and at least one of the CW's owners, CBS and Time Warner, may abandon the network next year if ratings don't improve. And it's hard to see how they will: More »

Facebook

Marc Jacobs' Ex Can Play Facebook Status Games Too

Designer Marc Jacobs recently got a new boyfriend and changed his Facebook relationship status to "It's complicated" from "In an Open Relationship." Does that mean Jacobs is loyal to his upscale new boy toy in a way he never was to threeway-friendly ex Jason Preston? Perhaps! But Preston isn't going to send the new man threatening text messages as he did with Jacobs' last guy, Austin A. No no, he's moved on, and in fact has a new, awesomer boyfriend, who Preston wants all his Facebook buddies to know about, at least according to the status update above, forwarded by an email tipster. Let the race to a Facebook-able California gay wedding begin!

GAWKER STALKER

Latest Gawker Stalker Sightings

Submit your Sightings: stalker@gawker.com

  • Bon Jovi

    99 Prince St
    Jon Bon Jovi is currently having lunch in the Mercer Kitchen… looked bored and picked at his bread role, was with some lady he did not seem too interested in talking to – maybe his agent?!
  • ANTM Whitney

    30 Rockefeller Plaza
    Leaving 30 Rock in too much makeup and a wrinkled white (seasonally inappropriate) dress. Looked stressed and mostly how you'd think she would look, not 'fat' per se, but not especially cute. Tracks need a touch up.
  • Renee Zellweger

    Broadway & 57th St
    Wearing workout clothes - her legs are stick thin! She has the bmi of a starving African.
  • Ira Glass

    7th Ave & 14th St
    Just saw him at the 14th street stop on 7th Ave going to the uptown 23 track. Tall, slim, black track jacket. I recognized him by his glasses. MUCH better looking than his photos.

More »


Kopelson struggling writers

Professor Confesses To Lifetime Of Plagiarism

Kevin Kopelson's insanely complete confessional in the London Review of Books is probably going to destroy his academic career, but at least the University of Iowa English professor will have lent some (im)moral support to fellow plagiarists, from fake Harvard novelist Kaavya Viswanathan to Lonely Planet hack Thomas Kohnstamm to college students everywhere. Kopelson seems to take a certain glee in confessing his many acts of intellectual theft. They've been weighing him down for a while: Kopelson's plagiarism started in the fourth grade and continued through college, graduate school and beyond. More »

BREAKING: New Yorkers Say 'Fuck' A Lot "You routinely hear Wall Street suits use the word at high decibels in the subway. Police officers bounce it casually among one another, no matter who else is around to hear. Teenagers use it all the time." [Times]

78108751 The Gays

Ellen DeGeneres Can Lock Down Hottie Girlfriend, Says California Supreme Court

The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that gay people can get married like anyone else, and there was much rejoicing, particularly by TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. DeGeneres didn't waste any time acting on the legal change, announcing during a taping of her show the same day that she will soon marry her girlfriend, Arrested Development hottie Portia de Rossi. Which same-sex celebrity couple will be next to announce their engagement? LiLo and Sam? In 30 days the weddings can begin! As the old saying goes, the early betrothed get the buzz.

wall-animation.png things we actually like

MUTO, A Wall-Painted Animation

The artist BLU drew this gigantic animation on city walls and is now getting the attention he deserves with over half a million views on YouTube and Vimeo. See it below and restore your faith in the humanity's creative power. More »

queen%20with%20breasts.jpg Records

The Five Best Album Cover Memes

"Show us what happens beyond the borders of classic album sleeves," says this Photoshop contest that's getting (as so many memes do) its second round of popularity in blogland. It's one of five fantastic album cover memes, brought to you by a generation whose greatest art is a tribute to the ephemera around the last generation's art. More »

Pellicano Notebook

Remembering Anthony Pellicano: The End is as Good as it Gets

FROM DEFAMER.COM: And so it ends: The long local nightmare that was the Anthony Pellicano trial has ended with essentially the same whimpering inertia that marked its duration. More »

nixongirlfriend.jpg Lesbians

Cynthia Nixon's Girlfriend a Big Ol' Dyke, OK?

The Daily Mail explains, as if it's 1984, that even though the Sex and the City actress and her girlfriend look totally different, they still support each other. They even do things (dinner and the theater) that heterosexual couples do. They cannot stay away from quoting various descriptors of Christine Marinoni: "a great big lesbian in a lumberjack shirt" who is "short and dumpy" and "makes a point of being as unladylike as possible." Hey, Brits: we call ladies like that butch, and she could kick your ass. It's suggested that Nixon is keeping her life with her lesbian partner "discreet" as she promotes the most heterosexual movie of all time. [Daily Mail]

Picture 22-3 Newspapers

How Bussey Broke Up With His Girlfriend In The Shower And Other Journal Lore

John Bussey—the Wall Street Journal's DC bureau chief and one of the candidates touted for the newspaper's vacant managing editor position—probably won't get the nod from the Journal's new owners. To be sure, he's won respect from Rupert Murdoch's lieutenants for masterminding the newspaper's election coverage; one of them, Journal publisher Robert Thomson knows Bussey drive from their days together as rival foreign correspondents in Tokyo; and his less whiny underlings give Bussey credit for energizing the sleepy bureau in the capital. But Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici reckons Rupert Murdoch's lieutenants will bring in someone uncontaminated by the business newspaper's rather insular culture; and we're sticking by our original prediction that Robert Thomson will pull a Dick Cheney and nominate himself for the managing editor role (much like I have at Gawker). Anyway, it's too bad. Bussey has made a lot of enemies during his years at the Journal—and the backstabbing colleagues are offering a smorgasbord of delicious anecdotes about the newspaper exec that we'd love to have better reason to relay. More »

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"Yoga! Yoga! I Mean. Toga! Toga!"

[Gossip girls Michelle Trachtenberg and Lydia Hearst at NYLON's "Young Hollywood Issue" party in New York last night; image via INF]

lonelylady.jpg urban anthropology

A Woman Walks Into a Hipster Bar... and Is Ignored

Will you people give Nicole Brydson of the Observer a break? The lil' lady went to Williamsburg's popular Union Pool in a "frilly dress" on a Saturday night... alone. (Brave!) What did she find? Gen Yers can't go to bars alone anymore. Nobody will talk to you. More »

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Here We Are Now, Entertain Us Huh! Two separate essays from writers with new books to promote about Gen Xers "getting the shaft" in one month? Shouldn't y'all be slacking—or do you have mouths to feed, now that you're oooooold? [Time]

The Grim Reaper Works At McKinsey A tipster phones in some bad news: "A friend of mine works at the Boston Globe and says the place is crawling with McKinsey consultants. Everyone is fearing for their jobs."

timeoutpoll.jpg the fifth borough

Mysterious Island Off Coast of New York Slighted

Oh, dear. Time Out Kids is having a little poll about Real Estate. No one can afford to live anywhere in New York anymore, so they're asking where their readers would deign to move themselves should it become necessary to get more space for less money. It's early still, but the results already speak for themselves. Poor other borough. [TimeOut]

sleith.png Books

Sloane Crosley + Keith Gessen = Publishing Synergy

Is Hollywood PR practice infecting New York's lofty cultural industry? Two young stars together are always bigger than two separate entities. "Hot young New York authors Sloane Crosley and Keith Gessen," as the press release says, will do a joint reading next Wednesday in Brooklyn. Ooh! The n+1 editor (Gessen), and the popular twentysomething book publicist (Crosley) both have new books to promote—Gessen has already jokingly (we think) admitted in his NYT Styles profile to keeping a watchful eye on Crosley's sales, which are beating his. It's better this way: if readers get annoyed by Gessen's overblown male characters—at least they'll have her quirky essays to lighten the mood. [BookCourt]

military-salute-socialism-pledge-allegiance.jpg Under God

J-School Grads Pledge Allegiance to Not Making Stuff Up

Journalism students in Reno, Nevada (they have schools there?) are all going to sign a symbolic ethics pledge tomorrow, thus guaranteeing forever the survival and viability of journalism in America. The story is kind of too sad to even make fun of. Except not really! They're having a reception in the atrium of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada and all the seniors will solemnly promise to not make stuff up. If they ever get jobs. That's what's been wrong this whole time! We forgot to make all the reporters put their hands on bibles before filing stories! More »

Pellicano Notebook

BREAKING: Anthony Pellicano Convicted of Racketeering and Conspiracy

FROM DEFAMER.COM: In perhaps the most anticlimactic ruling in the history of celebrity jurisprudence, disgraced Private Eye to the Stars and all-around not-nice guy Anthony Pellicano was this afternoon convicted of racketeering and conspiracy in federal court. More »