• Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett of CNBC insist they aren't backbiting rivals. The business network said the Post created the rivalry from thin air. The Post said someone at CNBC "leaked" word of the supposed feud for free publicity and now everyone on the inside is trying to figure out who the leaker was. Which is believable, because it's not like they have anything better to do right now. [P6]
• Lindsay Lohan is dressing up as Sarah Palin for Halloween. Sam Ronson might be Todd. [Daily News]
• Sad Suri Cruise longs for friends her age, supposedly. [P6]
• Does fashion photographer Bruce Weber regret caring for a 91-year-old woman now that he's not been named executor of her estate or paid the $80,000 he said he's owed? The whole situation is so far from the young gay utopia of an Abercrombie catalog. [P6]
• Mark Wahlberg thought Saturday Night Live's impersonation of him was stupid and not as good as Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impression. But that doesn't matter because he hasn't watched the show in years anyway. In fact, uh, forget what he said about Tina Fey, he doesn't even know who that is, or what sketches she' s been in. [LA Rag Mag]
• The Sun thinks Leonardo DiCaprio is getting fat: "Hunk To Chunk." [Sun]
• Sandra Bernhard on Madonna: "I saw her at the gym, and I thought it was Dyan Cannon - all straggly and [bleep]." [P6]

Jeff Woodward, who publishes another gay mag called Next, wrote in to gay site Queerty:

Ben's a friend of mine… and straight… but as far as you can get from homophobic. I met him a few years ago. He is a Florida friend of Next's owner's boyfriend who is also from Florida. He would always hang around the Next offices when he was up in NYC doing shoots and auditions and all the boys here loved him.

I haven't spoken to him in a while, but can assure you he's not the idiotic homophobe he's being portrayed as. He's a sweet funny kid who is going to go far. He knows the gay boys like to look at him and could care less about how that is perceived.

Which, OK, fine. But why then did Massing freak out so much? What kind of model doesn't want to appear in a magazine? I mean, he's already done Abercrombie & Fitch ads, which couldn't really get any more scantily clad or homoerotic. Except, heh, maybe he didn't realize that. So now that it's right out there, a blatant acknowledgment that, yes, the gays are looking, how can his negative reaction be seen as anything but a knee-jerk homophobic moment? I don't think the kid should be tarred and feathered, and Woodward is probably right to come to his defense, but the guy does need to learn a lesson. The gays are everywhere, and they will find you and look at you if they want to, whether you're in Genre or in a Dior ad in Vogue. You see what I'm saying Ben? In the end, it's all kind of the same thing.

One world!

Update: Massing says it was the sexually suggestive nature of the photos that prompted the lawsuit, not the gayness. So, problem solved!

It'll go back to another vote in the House. Maybe. Something weird happened here, by the way, because in the modern era, votes don't go to the floor of the house until party leaders know how the rank and file will vote. Bills don't make it out of committee unless they're going to pass. This was either too volatile and rushed to work, or Pelosi lost control of her own party, or Boehner lied to her about how many House Republicans were going to grin and bear it.

So. Now, because of the Jewish Holidays, nothing will get done until Wednesday.

"Asked about the next step, Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said it would be up to those who opposed the bill." That is troubling!

Basically, nothing can get done until the election is done. Which is still a bit of a ways away! So let's hope this collapse of the entire financial sector can hold off, for a few weeks, while either another almost-identical bailout bill is drafted and pushed through or Dems create their own fuck-you bill that maybe nationalizes everything like Krugman and Brad DeLong want. (We like that option!) (It's a fantasy, but a guy can dream.)

The Dems, obviously, don't want to make this a one-party bill, because then they'll own the "HUGE BAILOUT." But, you know, they could draft an entirely different plan (the Dodd/Frank plan as proposed originally seemed sufficiently different from the Paulson "plan" to warrant a different name) and try to reframe the debate as Paulson's BAILOUT versus their tough love or whatever, but their majority is too small and their instincts too chickenshit to do that. So basically they'll muddle along as the banks burn, or something. Maybe we'll all be fine! Who needs credit anyway.

ANYWAYS President Obama is going to inherit one hell of a shitshow.

Abercrombie
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Altmire
Baca
Bachmann
Barrett (SC)
Barrow
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Becerra
Berkley
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blumenauer
Boustany
Boyda (KS)
Braley (IA)
Broun (GA)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Butterfield
Buyer
Capito
Carney
Carson
Carter
Castor
Cazayoux
Chabot
Chandler
Childers
Clay
Cleaver
Coble
Conaway
Conyers
Costello
Courtney
Cuellar
Culberson
Cummings
Davis (KY)
Davis, David
Davis, Lincoln
Deal (GA)
DeFazio
Delahunt
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Doggett
Doolittle
Drake
Duncan
Edwards (MD)
English (PA)
Fallin
Feeney
Filner
Flake
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Garrett (NJ)
Gerlach
Giffords
Gillibrand
Gingrey
Gohmert
Goode
Goodlatte
Graves
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Hall (TX)
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Heller
Hensarling
Herseth Sandlin
Hill
Hinchey
Hirono
Hodes
Hoekstra
Holden
Hulshof
Hunter
Inslee
Issa
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jordan
Kagen
Kaptur
Keller
Kilpatrick
King (IA)
Kingston
Knollenberg
Kucinich
Kuhl (NY)
Lamborn
Lampson
Latham
LaTourette
Latta
Lee
Lewis (GA)
Linder
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Lucas
Lynch
Mack
Manzullo
Marchant
Matheson
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul (TX)
McCotter
McHenry
McIntyre
McMorris Rodgers
Mica
Michaud
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Mitchell
Moran (KS)
Murphy, Tim
Musgrave
Myrick
Napolitano
Neugebauer
Nunes
Ortiz
Pascrell
Pastor
Paul
Payne
Pearce
Pence
Peterson (MN)
Petri
Pitts
Platts
Poe
Price (GA)
Ramstad
Rehberg
Reichert
Renzi
Rodriguez
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Rush
Salazar
Sali
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Scalise
Schiff
Schmidt
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Shadegg
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuler
Shuster
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Solis
Stark
Stearns
Stupak
Sullivan
Sutton
Taylor
Terry
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Tierney
Turner
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Visclosky
Walberg
Walz (MN)
Wamp
Watson
Welch (VT)
Westmoreland
Whitfield (KY)
Wittman (VA)
Woolsey
Wu
Yarmuth
Young (AK)
Young (FL)

Once upon a time retailers shied away from college campuses because they didn't know how to deal with the four months of the year business would be totally dead. Mercifully, sometime in the nineties many enterprising college presidents pinpointed "detestable materialism" and "abiding love for conspicuous consumption" as two of the primary traits in the psychological profiles of the average overprivileged young high school students they coveted or at the very least wanted to apply to their institutions for the sake of pushing down the acceptance rate, and they forked over some of their endowment zillions to offering kickbacks to companies like Urban Outfitters and Barnes & Noble. My old campus even has an American Apparel now!

Still, some retail chains found the whole "summer" thing to be a problem. So for them, the nation's institutes of higher education worked out a deal: open a "pop-up" store! Kiehl's and Havaianas and Victoria's Secret Pink are all doing it. They open mini-stores or stands for a day or a month and then pick up and leave! For some reason, according to the Wall Street Journal this is causing controversy. "We don't want our faculty and students overrun with commercialization," says University of Florida school spokesman Steve Orlando. Oh Steve.

*WHICH lucky campuses? Good question. The story doesn't say and I am going to pass on researching this one, but Google away!
Disclosure: I worked retail in college.

Image via APIAS

Retailers Give It The Old College Try [WSJ]

Monday's creepily gentle profile in the New York Times suggested that Epstein charged annual fees upward of $25m a year for "superelite financial advice"—leading Portfolio's Felix Salmon to remark on the profitability of private banking. Bullshit. Epstein's wealth is built on a "bizarre relationship" with single acknowledged client, Abercrombie & Fitch creator Leslie Wexner, one of America's most successful retailers.

Now that loaded quote comes only from an unnamed Wall Street acquaintance of Epstein who spoke to New York magazine for a profile of the money manager in 2002. There is no evidence whatsoever that their relationship went beyond that of aide to mentor. Epstein is pretty obviously heterosexual, or else going to extreme lengths to prove the point. The Limited owner Wexner himself is married with four children. It's bizarre to imagine any romantic connection between two men who are now 70 and 55 years old, a right-wing Ohio tycoon and a sex offender.

But no clients other than Wexner have ever emerged despite detailed profiles of Epstein in New York and Vanity Fair; the most plausible explanation is that Wexner has been Epstein's sole patron. And Epstein himself has done more than a normal money manager would: New York reported in the late 1980s Epstein even helped arrange a visit to Wexner's home by the crew of Cats. So close were they that Epstein was allocated a house near Wexner's in New Albany, Ohio; and he later took over the fashion mogul's vast Upper East Side townhouse.

Socialite and columnist Taki Theodoracopulos wrote last year: "Epstein got his start when Lesley Wexner, the Limited department store tycoon, took him under his wing and showed him the ropes, so to speak. Needless to say, there were a hell of a lot of rumours flying around about the tutelage, but what is certain is that Epstein ended up becoming a multi-billionaire financial adviser and close friend to Bill Clinton and Ghislaine Maxwell."

It's no wonder that Manhattan gossips have long wondered whether Wexner's attachment to Epstein was at one point romantic, even if unrequited. Wexner only married at the age of 56, several years after he first met Epstein. And blue-eyed Epstein wasn't always the weary pervert portrayed in his mugshot photographs. It would be ironic if the teen-loving masturbator had himself—two decades ago—got a little hand from an older and richer patron.

And who came out best from this bizarre relationship? Polly Adler said it best: "The women who take husbands not out of love but out of greed, to get their bills paid, to get a fine house and clothes and jewels; the women who marry to get out of a tiresome job, or to get away from disagreeable relatives, or to avoid being called an old maid — these are whores in everything but name. The only difference between them and my girls is that my girls gave a man his money's worth."

First there was the scary news of Chuck Bass's small taxi accident. Luckily he escaped unscathed. Then there is yet another interview with Chace "Nate" Crawford in which he's asked point blank if he's gay and he, of course, denies it. We do find out, though, that in high school he was a greeter at Abercrombie & Fitch, that store that can make some teens feel vaguely sad because the popular preppy kids all wear it and these other teens picture the cool preppy kids cavorting on beaches and drinking from kegs and laughing and being good-looking together and then in bitter contrast there are the other kids in ill-fitting button-ups from the Gap that their moms said were cool and there they are standing and staring like total weirdos at other kids in a clothing store. Hah! Hey! Where did I go there? Anyway, the real GG scandal of the day is a tipster who believes that Blake "Serena van der Boring" Lively used to have a different nose!

Yes indeed. InStyle has a little slideshow of photos of the actors when they were in high school and Blake's nose does look a little suspiciously different. Take a look at the photo below and judge for yourself.

God love a slow news day!

1. The Progress Poster: By the artist who brought you "OBEY" comes "PROGRESS."
Part of: The eternal meme that is Obey Giant, a graffiti joke turned art that started with stickers of Andre the Giant appearing in Charleston in 1986.
Stance: Pro.
See Also: The Pope version. And the Mavis Beacon version.

2. Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle: A series of one-liners about how much Obama likes you, the reader.
Part of: The "single serving site" meme.
Stance: Whimsically Pro.
See Also: Hillary Is Mom Jeans

3. Barack, Bert and Ernie: Ernie convinces Bert to vote for Obama.
Part of: Sesame Street fanfic.
Stance: Pro.
See Also: The Count explains race relations (a promising title poorly executed).

4. Barack OBollywood: A floating Barack head dances to Punjabi music.
Part of: Internet's obsession with modern Indian culture, stretching back to the classic music video "Tunak Tunak."
Stance: WTF
See Also: Some ad implying that Obama smokes dope a lot.

5. The Empire Strikes Barack: Obama as the hero of Star Wars.
Part of: The most lucrative franchise to ever spawn a million memes, jokes and mashups.
Stance: Pro.
See Also: Baracky: Obama as Rocky.

6. Obamacrombie: T-shirts mocking the guys dressed in Abercrombie and Fitch sitting behind Obama in a televised speech.
Part of: Every joke is worth putting on your chest.
Stance: Meh.
See Also: "Who killed Obama?" sweatshirt.

7. White People Like Obama: A chapter, maybe, of an upcoming blog book.
Part of: The book version of "Stuff White People Like."
Stance: Heh.
See Also: "Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle" also got a book deal.

8. Vote Different: Hillary as Big Brother.
Part of: Everything indie is like Apple.
Stance: Pro.
See Also: Hillary's a PC, Obama's a Mac — really.

9. Obama Girl: Oh, you know. Some girl went nuts for Obama and made the new "Dick in a Box."
Stance: Pro and sexy enough for YouTube.
Part of: Barely Political, a web show about being pro-Obama and sexy enough for YouTube.
See Also: McCain Girls: Raining McCain.

10. Under Barack Obama: A MADtv parody of "Umbrella."
Part of: A year of "Umbrella" parodies.
Stance: Pro-interracial-banging.
Actually Don't See Also: Obama and Hillary caught kissing.

11. Yes We Can: will.i.am's spoken-word song based on an Obama speech.
Part of: Songs for Obama; will.i.am's followup was "We Are The Ones."
Stance: Pro and embarrassingly earnest.
Part of: Celebrities love Obama.
See Also: John McCain: john.he.is

12. Muppets for President: What do you expect?
Part of: The Muppets, second only to Star Wars in mashup eminence.
Stance: Silly
See Also: Nothing else. Ever. Except maybe Dramatic Chipmunk and Pretty much everywhere, it's gonna be hot.

Obama trounced Clinton as expected in the southern state, 56 to 42 percent with 57 percent of precincts reporting, by appealing to elite latte-sipping, coal-miner-hating whites around universities, plus working class blacks. JUST LIKE JESSE JACKSON.

[USA Today] (Reuters photo via USA Today)

Who is more detestable? Dane Cook or Full House asshole Dave Coulier?

Sure, Dane's got that perma-shadow face on a monster head atop a Tinker-toy Abercrombie & Fitch body, fear-of-women material, and an audience full of frantically masturbating jocks in search of their next roofie rape—who he performs to in the round. But Coulier does Popeye without irony and used black magic to nail a young and apparently totally vulnerable Alanis Morrisette. Discuss.

Steve Allen MD, Chief Executive Officer
Rick Miller, President and Chief Operating Officer
J. Terrance Davis MD, Interim Chief Medical Officer
Michael Brady MD, Physician-In-Chief and Chairman of the Dept. of Pediatrics
Abigail S. Wexner, Chairman, Board of Directors
Nationwide Children's Hospital
700 Children's Drive
Columbus, OH 43205

Dear Dr. Allen, Mr. Miller, Dr. Davis, Dr. Brady and Ms. Wexner,

We are writing to urge Nationwide Children’s Hospital not to sell naming rights to the
Emergency Department and Trauma Center to Abercrombie & Fitch. Given growing
concerns about the sexualization of young girls, it is troubling that a children’s hospital
would name its emergency room after a company that routinely relies on highly
sexualized marketing to target teens and preteens. The Abercrombie & Fitch Emergency
Department and Trauma Center marries the Abercrombie brand to your reputation; a
company with a long history of undermining children’s wellbeing is now linked with
healing.

Abercrombie & Fitch is one of the most popular brands with preteens,1 yet the clothing
company routinely includes nudity and explicit sexual situations in its advertising. In
2003, the company was the target of boycotts and protests when its catalog featured
young people engaging in group sex.2 In February of this year, in response to complaints,
police carted away two large promotional photographs from an Abercrombie & Fitch
store in Virginia and cited the manager on obscenity charges.3 One current Abercrombie
website promoting its Gilly Hicks line features graphic nudity, boasting “(o)ur site shows
a lot of skin.”4 While visitors to the site are told that they must be eighteen to enter and
“see what we're wearing under our clothes,” Abercrombie does not verify that they are
actually of age. In other words, the preteens with whom Abercrombie & Fitch is so
popular can easily enter the site.

The role that fashion, media, and marketing industries play in the sexualization of young
girls is well documented, most notably in a 2007 report by the American Psychological
Association.5 Research links sexualization with some of the most pressing and common
mental health problems of girls including eating disorders, low self-esteem, and
depression or depressed mood.6 Research also demonstrates a link between sexualization
and the objectification of women in the media and body dissatisfaction and appearance anxiety.7

Appearance anxiety is in turn linked to the earlier onset of cigarette smoking
among adolescents.8 Adolescent girls with an objectified view of their own bodies are
also more likely to have poor sexual health.9 It is worth noting that the sexualization and
objectification of girls and women can have negative effects on boys and men, including
making it more difficult to have satisfying relationships.10

It is equally distressing that a children’s hospital would promote a company that features
impossibly thin and idealized body types in its advertising when 10 million girls and
young women in the United States are struggling with an eating disorder. 11 Frequent
exposure to such advertising is linked to higher rates of eating disorders.12 Mike Jeffries,
Abercrombie’s CEO has publicly stated that his company’s clothes are not for kids that
are overweight, unattractive or unpopular.13 In 2005, high school students launched a
“"girl-cott" of the store for selling T-shirts that demeaned and objectified girls by
featuring slogans such as “Do I Make You Look Fat?” and "Who needs brains when you
have these?”14

Abercrombie has described its clothing as “age-appropriate with an edge”15 but that edge
often means objectifying or demeaning young people. In 2002, the store sold thongs for
10-year-olds with "eye candy" and "wink wink" printed on the front.16 As stated in the
APA report, “Given that girls may be developing their identity in part through the
clothing they choose, it is of concern when girls at increasingly younger ages are invited
to try on and wear teen clothes designed to highlight female sexuality. Wearing such
clothing may make it more difficult for girls to see their own worth and value in any way
other than sexually.”17 The company was also the target of protests for selling shirts that
demeaned Chinese-Americans through the use of racist caricatures.18

Given how much criticism has been aimed at Abercrombie & Fitch, it is not surprising
that the company would want to associate itself with the good name of Nationwide
Children’s Hospital.19 It is distressing, however, that you are willing to promote a
company whose tactics and products are so antithetical to the hospital’s mission “to
enhance the health of children everywhere.”20

We understand that it is common for public health institutions to seek gifts from the
business community. But when these gifts include a quid pro quo like naming rights,
they cross the line from philanthropy to advertising. And, given this company’s
appalling history of targeting children with sexualized marketing and clothing, no public
health institution should be advertising Abercrombie & Fitch. We urge you – for the sake
of your hospital’s reputation and the heath and wellbeing of children – to rescind your
offer to name your emergency room after Abercrombie & Fitch.

Sincerely,*
[names cut]

Times: When a Corporate Donation Raises Protests

Campaign For A Commercial-Free Childhood: Original letter (PDF)

• From "LolCat" in Bernie Ward's Illegal IM Transcript: "I'm the best commenter who ever lived! Don't you guys think I'm soooo hilarious? This is like the time Spinderella said something really hilarious but not as hilarious as the stuff I say!" [This rings very true with me.]
• From ellagood in You're Going to Get Burned: "i had the pleasure of meeting julia at fashion week. of course, she had no idea she was meeting me, which made it all the more delightful."
• From exciting young upstart VirusWithShoes in There Are No Chicks on YouTube: "It might just come down to the fact that women, generally, have more fucking sense than men. And if I had tits, I wouldn't be spending time watching roller-skating cockatoos trip over mentos-filled babies or whatever shallow-end-of-the-fucking-gene-pool-video is enrapturing the globe in it's comedic high-jinks currently doing the rounds. No. I'd be at home, PC switched off, and I'd be playing with my tits and feeling good with myself, and the world in general. Everything comes down to tits, eventually. The gap between the Theory of Relativity and quantum theory? Tits. Blue States or Red? I say "tits". Arab or Israeli? Tits, tits, tits. I have a dream. Of tits. "
• From MisterHippity in The Comminations: "I nominate "WHAT YOUR FRIENDS ARE UP TO" for this one: 'Make friends: Next time you see a comment that's brilliantly illuminating and life-changing, click the 'Follow Commenter' icon next to it.' Oh, man! That one made me giggle till the frappucino came out my nose!"[This was nominated by the great AndSheSaid, who you should all thank because she sends lovely, detailed nomination emails and really cares about you. So buy her a Coke or something.]
• From Clarence Rosario in This Changes Everything: "Holy shit. What the fuck have I been doing all day?" [Sigh.]
• From Scroll_Lock in Remebering Abercrombie's Soft Smut: "The best part of the catalog is that the last page included a cigarette for the reader."

It was a scorcher, writes Guy Trebay of the day in 2007 that Andre J went out for a sandwich and came back a star.

Andre J. was running out for a sandwich and who should he bump into but Joe McKenna, the stylist who is the secret weapon behind the success of many, many very celebrated designers? Mr. McKenna was on the phone at the time. The person on the other end was Bruce Weber, the celebrated photographer of, among other things, dreamily homoerotic calendar art for Abercrombie & Fitch.When Mr. McKenna spotted Andre J., he immediately put Mr. Weber on hold. Mr. McKenna then called out to Andre J., whom he had met before and had once suggested for a V magazine pictorial photographed by Vinoodh Matadin and Inez van Lamsweerde.

"Andre," said Mr. McKenna, "you look amazing!"

ACTUALLY, he did not say it in quite that way. It happens that the adjective "amazing," pronounced with a bunch of superfluous vowels, is how fashion types, and also certain urban gay men and also one or two tuned-in heterosexual copycats, lately express their approval. Amazing has replaced such locutions as "genius" and "major," which today sound even more old-hat than "fabulous."

"You look amaaaaazing," Mr. McKenna said.

And, of course, Andre J. did.

A Cover Girl Who's Simply Himself [NYT]

The art world has a problem with itself, verging on self-loathing. No, I'm not talking about the impending bubble bursting that will render currently celebrated (or at least expensive) art work valueless. I'm not talking about the transformation of starving artists into celebrities who sashay about town with socialites and end up in the gossip columns alongside Paris Hilton or Jay-Z. They are both only symptoms of a bigger concern: Art is no longer just the stuff on museum walls or in wealthy collectors' homes.

Art has become a marketable and highly successful commercial product that can be sold in many different forms, across many different genres, to lots of different people, and that success is creating a rupture within the art world between artists who believe that art should remain elitist and artists creating those commercialized products who believe art should be a part of everyday life for all different types of people. For sure, the translation of art into a commodity has been big business since Andy Warhol, who famously aspired to be a "business artist." But never have we observed it with the gusto and ubiquity seen in today's commercialized art. And nowhere is this more present than in the street art movement.

A stroll through the art districts of New York or Los Angeles or London gives you a sense of the buzz surrounding the contemporary street art movement—something unseen since the days of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Lines stretch around the corner for Los Angeles-based artist Shepard Fairy's opening. The photographer Ryan McGinley became the youngest artist with a solo show at New York City's Whitney Museum for his startling images of young graffiti artists, "The Kids Are Alright." The anonymous London-based graffiti writer Banksy's show in a downtown warehouse in LA brought celebrities like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie along with 50,000 visitors. In the three days the show was open, every single piece of artwork sold. The Soho-based gallery Deitch Projects has become a pivotal force in the art world, forecasting the next rising star with frightening accuracy.

These days, New York City artists are playing a significant role in driving the city's economy. According to the Alliance for the Arts, a New York-based arts advocacy and research organization, in 2005 arts industries (ranging from theater to art galleries to commercial art) generated $8.2 billion in wages, $904 million in taxes, 160,300 jobs for New York City. If you consider what economists call the "spillover effect," which is all the restaurants, hotels, bars and clubs that arts patrons also go to when they attend art openings, museum exhibitions, comedy clubs or the Tribeca Film Festival, the arts have an overall impact of $21.2 billion on New York City's economy. Art galleries alone contribute $38 million in taxes and $420 million in wages, with an overall economic impact of $1.4 billion to New York City's economy.

Despite all the hype, some within the graffiti world resent the invasion of their subversive clique by wealthy art collectors, masses of gallery goers, and Abercrombie & Fitch-wearing co-eds. Thus has it always been: Success breeds disgruntlement and resentment. People have complained about the "undeserved" success of their peers for a long time. But instead of breeding nasty cocktail party chatter, this resentment over artists' "selling out" has bred something new: A campaign of violence (whether of actual or perceived danger) and intimidation against commercially successful artists.

In June, some kid lit a stink bomb at a Shepard Fairey opening in Brooklyn. Last November a hooded figure distributed propaganda flyers at a panel discussion that featured the street artist Swoon. And the last year has seen dozens of anonymous attacks on well-known street artists' work throughout New York City by "the Splasher" (widely believed to be a curmudgeonly vandal collective), who throws buckets of paint on the art work, destroying it in the process, and leaving anarchist messages like "destroy the museums, in the streets and everywhere." They also fancy themselves to be journalists, printing a mindless little treatise with the phrase "If We Did It, This Is How It Would've Happened" on the cover (a seeming play on the maybe-to-be-released OJ Simpson fictional tell-all) and a picture of a destroyed Fairey piece.

These attacks are not just for kicks. The attacks have been directed mainly toward street artists who have been able to translate writing graffiti into making a living. The attackers' fear is ostensibly invasion of the mainstream—save us from the pathetic masses coming from the Midwest or Pennsylvania or the Upper East Side to buy our culture. That this apprehension outweighs supporting artists' who are actually creating livelihoods out of their passion reeks of jealousy and resentment masked as self-righteous art snobbery. When it comes down to it, the Splasher(s) and his/her/their ilk (those who believe commercially successful artists are sell-outs) come across as losers who are pissed that their artwork wasn't good enough to get its own gallery show so they had to destroy someone else's. These stunts are the straw man equivalent of hating the Prom Queen because she's beautiful but pretending it's because she's a bimbo.

I'm not suggesting the dissent or disagreement is stupid—it's not—but throwing buckets of paint is. For more constructive, pointed, creative responses to the commercialization of art, consider the recent flurry of attention London artist Damien Hirst is getting for his latest installment of absurdity: "For the Love of God," a skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds, which, with an asking price of over $100 million, is the most expensive piece of art ever made by a living artist. You may or may not like Hirst's formaldehyde sharks, millions of dead butterfly wings or chopped up cows. His latest creation can be looked at as hilarious genius or simply an exercise in rococo kitsch. But even the critical responses to Hirst's work represent everything art dialogue could be. The Polish artist Peter Fuss is selling a parody, "For the Laugh of God," a skull encrusted in almost 10,000 fake diamonds. Another artist, known as "Laura", dumped a skull of her own with Swarovski crystals and a pile of trash outside of London's WhiteCube Gallery where Hirst's skull was being shown. Or consider the recent gag at the MoMA, "Excuse me, is this a work of art?," which entailed artists putting up signs complete with artist names, date of creation and origination in front of banal objects like water fountains, bathroom sinks and fire extinguishers, incorporating them into the museum's collection. Or Banksy's dozens of clever commentaries (and pranks) on the art world that are actually pieces of art in their own right. Creating a dialogue about what is good or bad art is important for the future of the art world, but at the very least the responses should be thoughtful and intelligent, not just thinly-guised jealousy towards an artist who became successful or famous.

Those within the art world who resent the commercial success of fellow artists who get book deals or commissioned work for fashion houses or sold out shows really need to think about what they really think they're up against. Is it that street art is getting respect and admiration from the general public not just art collectors and gallery owners? Is it that these artists' are able to hold down full time jobs as artists and not have to work part time as waiters or Starbucks baristas? Is it that these artists have become successful in a variety of different cultural ventures ranging from magazines to sneaker designs to clothing companies?

It strikes me that the anti-commercial sentiment within the art world ironically exhibits the very same "short cut to celebrity" that its followers rally against. Isn't throwing buckets of paint on famous graffiti and having your protests written up in major national newspapers just another version of getting attention the cheap and easy way?

One might argue that commercial success is not the same thing as artistic success, but Warhol taught us that things can be otherwise. Business art was the ultimate validation of one's aesthetic skills. If people bothered to buy an artist's work then by extension one could conclude that the artist was producing good art. These days, the intimate relationship between money and successful art means that really good art sells. And maybe some good art doesn't sell, but when the bohemian art demigod Ryan McGinley gets hired to do photography for the New York Times and has an entire project devoted to documenting Kate Moss, one might say that the economic market validated what the art world already knew: McGinley is an art superstar. His commercial success is merely a signal of his brilliance. Art goers can bicker endlessly about whether commercial art validates or detracts from the virtue of an artist, but ultimately this is an existential debate: The reality is that given the opportunity to make a living out of making art, many artists will choose to do so and there's really nothing wrong with that.

When I interviewed Shepard Fairey several months ago for the research I conduct, he (like the other artists I spoke with) bore no ill will toward either the masses or the elite art world. He just wanted to do what he loved to do, and he was happy that it had been a successful venture that allowed him to provide an income for himself and own his own company. He also told me that it was important that he was able to get his art out there to as many people as possible. As he put it, "I can make pieces that are expensive but I want to sell $35 screen prints and $25 T-shirts. Where I am coming from in my work is that art is empowering. I want people to be able to access me...I never started as a fine artist and felt like a 'sell out'. I went in the opposite direction. I really like the street artist - you didn't have to submit to a gallery or a magazine, you just went out and did it...A T-shirt is a walking piece of art. When I do a record label's album cover, I am producing art that gives people pleasure while listening."

I'm not exactly sure what's worth making a "splash" about other than the fact that street art is actually getting the respect and public interest it deserves. Isn't that what art was always about in the first place?

Previously: How To Become Famous: Join The Celebrity Network

Elizabeth Currid is assistant professor at University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning and Development. Her first book, The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art and Music Drive New York City, will be published by Princeton University Press this September.

Splasher photo: urban_data [Flickr]

The Lupita dress is sewn from "papery thin poplin in a corn-husk hue," and is currently available for $148. As for the lady: just ignore her. She is only crying like that because of the onions.

Žižek out at Abercrombie & Fitch, moving on to bigger and better things?

Via Mina Kimes at Elm Rock City.

• Watching Sunrise Earth on Discovery Channel each morning at 7 a.m. on my MONSTER FKING HI DEF TV. Seriously, it's the best show on television. A slowly rising, Hi Def sunset, w.out ANY COMMENTARY, beamed directly into yr shithole little apt, direct from THE GRAND TETONS, or YELLOWSTONE, or the banks of the YANGTZE.
  Jim Cramer
  
• If I am stressed during the day, I often sneak out of the office to check out the half-naked male models standing in the doorway of Abercrombie & Fitch.
  Ariel Levy
  
• For me—Inner Peace now means anti-anxiety medicine. I have tried therapy—I know I should exercise more, but who has the time?—so drugs are the route.
  John Leonard
  
• I unwind by fixing things and single-mindedly learning how to do manual tasks. My car is a favorite subject. I've replaced its timing chain, power-steering pump, radiator. For a while, I got into upholstery, I have recovered a couch and several chairs. I knit 5 scarves then stopped. Lately it's been carpentry, I built a closet then a woodshed. Cooking is another thing; used to be stews, now I've started to bake bread.
  Jesse Oxfeld
  
• I'm very sad to report, and I wouldn't report unless you'd promised confidentiality, that the only way I can relax is by ... watching really, really shitty reality television.
  Bruce Wasserstein
  
• Running 5 miles, lifting weights, then taking a short break and drinking 2 martinis and smoking 2 cigars.
  Vanessa Grigoriadis
  
• Coming up with worthless theme issues.
  Adam Moss
  
• Sparking a J and doing the crossword.
  Maura B. Jacobson

  Give Inner Peace a Chance [NYM]
  

From reading the Joyce-on-crack ramblings you'd think that she weren't blogging sober, but no one could pen gems like "They call me Princess Sparkles, a secret agent mermaid from the depths of Shamu's tank at Sea World" without being fully in control of one's faculties. It's a long, illuminating screed, especially when Coldstare discusses her life as a Misshape:

A,B,C and all the way to Z...Let's face the facts people. You don't know me, I don't know you. I don't fit the description of Christina Aguilera or Johnny Depp; although having a penis would be kind of amazing for a day or two, perhaps then the guys would actually take notice of me instead of just passing me off as their little fag hag. Do I mind though? Of course not. Tell me something...how many guys and girls would kill for the chance to tackle, sleep with and kiss Greg.K and Geo whenever the hell they felt like it? Let me point out that when I use the term "sleep with" I mean it in the sense that we'll pass out on the bed or sofa together depending on where we want to crash for the night or should I say morning to be exact. My eyes have seen every little inch of them and that is not a pun people - they've both also seen every inch of me. Hard to believe three people can be so close and not want to get freaky just like that? I haven't even gotten to the core of it yet. How about we just skip a section that I'll delve more on later and explain that Greg.K and Geo are my bitches. They're my Jack and Will to my Grace/Karen. The Abercrombie to my Fitch. The tobacco to my cigarette, and a billion more clich 's I can place together. All in all they're my best friends and I'm not shy to say that the guys that have dated them and or are dating them have gone via me before even locking lips with either of them.

No clue if this is, in fact, the work of Lezark, but we do believe the hag pimps for her fags, personally testing every suitor.

DJ Leigh Lezark

After the jump, Intern Alexis rounds up the sly, knowing, recently dumped opinions of Emily Gould, Todd Goldstein, and David Cho, who lash out because they can't admit just how much they hurt.

Emily Gould, writer and editor

Lisa's "favorite thing in the world is when people can pull off really nerdy looks." What is her least favorite thing in the world?

Lisa's least favorite thing in the world, if she's anything like her fellow New School University alumni (Eugene Lang REPRESENT! Actually, Eugene Lang DECONSTRUCT is probably more like it...) is the Parsons/New School ads they show during Project Runway. Nothing makes you feel like your diploma might as well be printed on toilet paper like an ad on national television about 'learning at the speed of life.' My alma mater has put millions of $$ into rebranding itself while continuing to send me emails about how "students like you, that love the art of Creative Writing, should atend our MFA open hose." I'm sure Lisa is positively incensed about this. That, and the fact that she hasn't yet been tapped to be a Celebrity Judge. Can't Tim Gunn pull some strings?

Do you think she is able to pull off the little-old-lady orthopedics?

Hm. I'm all for comfort — fuck the drag queen platforms on all the runways — but I feel like the granny shoes might be a little too Viceily contrarian. At that Black Dice/Oneida show last weekend, every chick was wearing enormous vintage dork glasses from Fabulous Fanny's, and some of them didn't even have lenses in the frames. This has to stop somewhere. I feel like if I don't condemn Lisa's orthopedic sneaks now, I run the risk of tripping over some tool's ironic walker on Bedford in a month.

Oh fuck it, we can't be mean about Lisa; we think her look is great and we love Vena Cava. How much do you love Lisa?

I tried to fight it, but you're right, I do love Lisa. I tried her on, and now I have to buy her.

Todd Goldstein, musician/writer

Lisa's "favorite thing in the world is when people can pull off really nerdy looks." What is her least favorite thing in the world?

As much as Lisa loves people pulling off that studied nerdiness that the kids like so much these days, she equally hates animals who attempt the same. I mean, who are they trying to fool? When Lisa sees a pot-bellied pig waddling down Ludlow in a cardigan sweater and chunky glasses, a copy of "Ham on Rye" tucked behind his fetlock, she throws up a little in her pouty little mouth.

Do you think she is able to pull off the little-old-lady orthopedics?

Yes, there's no question. What I think she wears even better, though, is the creeping sense of her own mortality — how she's outlived all her friends, how her kids have moved away, and how she now spends her days filling in crossword puzzles with her dead husband's name, over and over. Looking good, Lisa!

Oh fuck it, we can't be mean about Lisa; we think her look is great and we love Vena Cava. How much do you love Lisa?

Wait a second — who's "we"? I can't stand this girl. And what's Vena Cava? Some kind of operation? Regardless of what I think of Lisa and her weird medical procedures, she's totally cute, and I am a big fan of her bag, which, if you squint, kind of looks like Wario.

David Cho, fan of ocelots

Lisa's "favorite thing in the world is when people can pull off really nerdy looks." What is her least favorite thing in the world?

Seeing how Lisa is a perfect angel descended from heaven, her least favorite things are probably: famine, the impending extinction of elephants in Africa, and anything/everything bad in the world. Realistically, she probably also hates people who wear jock-ish t-shirts that proclaim that they were on the Abercrombie 1982 co-ed wrestling team, but who doesn't?

Do you think she is able to pull off the little-old-lady orthopedics?

Of course she can(!), she also pulls off standing in fifth position and gazing wistfully into the camera for New York Mag better than any little old lady ever could.

Oh fuck it, we can't be mean about Lisa; we think her look is great and we love Vena Cava. How much do you love Lisa?

How much do I love Lisa? Enough to look past the fact that she looks like she's one botched pirouette from cutting herself to "feel again," so I mean yeah, that's a lot.

UPDATE: OK, so, while Marshall McLuhan's famous phrase is "the medium is the message," it comes from his book Understanding Media; he never used the line as a title. He did, however, use the punning phrase The Medium Is The Massage as the title of a subsequent book. But here's where things get weird: By this morning, the Times Mag had "corrected" the title from "Massage" to "Message" on its website. (Clearly, we — and they — know nothing of McLuhan's work.)

'The Medium Is the Massage' [Regret The Error]
And You Thought Abercrombie & Fitch Was Pushing It [NYTM]

Alrighty then, let's take a close look at the goods, which are marketed on a butt-ugly boilerplate Yahoo Stores site (skullandbonesjps.com). The copy is cringe-inducing ("Call it prep-punk if you will, wear it if you dare...") and the merch is nothing but little skull-and-bones logos embroidered on run-of-the-mill polo shirts, ties, "tennis sweaters" and so on. It's like learning-disabled Abercrombie, or Polo by Ralph Lauren as re-imagined by a junior-high student.

I mean, ooooh, a skull-and-bones logo! How edgy! The brand, of course, is supposed to call to mind dark Wasp Power — it's suggestive of the secretive Skull & Bones society that George Bush and generations of rich and powerful white men belonged to at Yale. As it happens, mummy and daddy actually sent Jared Paul to Bennington — the more-expensive-than-Yale college for coddled misfits who weren't smart enough or connected enough (or socialized enough) to get into Yale. There are lots of reasons to feel sorry for Stern, but chief among them is the fact that he thinks his Skull & Bones is a nifty brand.

But Simon's got a way to strike back. With his own offshoot fragrance brand:

The first in the line is "ENTITLEMENT by MEDIA GUY." It has base notes redolent of the inside of a Conde Nast town car, plus fresh linen infused with top notes of Maytag blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. Imagine, if you will, the Table 5 tablecloth at Michael's, "distressed" ever so artfully with the drippings of a $30 Cobb salad.

It's the perfect compliment, we're sure, to our prep-punk spring outfits.

A Hint of Jared Paul Stern? Media Guy's Got Brands Too [AdAge]
Skull & Bones by Jared Paul Stern [Yahoo Stores]

• Chris Sullen-trop. (That's "trop" like "drop.)
• Ben-wah Den-eh-zay Lewis.

And while we're at it:

• Yann When-er.
• Corey Seek-ah. (And he's a dude.)
• Mayor Ro-shan.

And, oddly, one of those gentlemen is even straight.

Earlier:
Breaking (We Think): 'Times' Unveils 'The Opinionator'
Benoit Denizet-Lewis Braves the Horror of Abercrombie & Fitch
Gawker's coverage of Jann Wenner
Gawker's coverage of Maer Roshan
Gawker's coverage of Choire Sicha

Early in the article, you admit to wearing American Eagle jeans. As AE is Abercrombie s main competitor, did this compromise your integrity while reporting? Also, what sort of hot gay dude admits to wearing American Eagle?

BDL: If I had it my way, I'd wear sweatpants to interviews. But thanks for calling me "a hot gay dude."

Well, you always have to butter up your subject. After the jump, Denizet-Lewis reveals Jeffries' "classically handsome" past and dodges our important questions.

Jeffries sounds OCD and insanely fixated on aesthetics. Could this be because he's relatively unattractive?

BDL: From what I'm told, for a long time he was a classically handsome man.

That just doesn't seem possible. I think Jeffries is secretly Jewish, was cut from the lacrosse team in 8th grade and got his ass kicked throughout high school. So he changed his name a la Ralph Lauren and the rest is history. Could this be?

BDL: Jessica, you're so "cynical."

When you were told that you looked really A&F, did you finally feel complete as a person?

BDL: That's between me and my therapist.

You re gay and have gaydar. Was Jeffries putting any blips on your screen?

BDL: Since when do gay guys automatically have gaydar? My gaydar sucks.

Pity! Then again, you also wear American Eagle jeans. Anyhow, do Abercrombie execs wear flip-flops year-round, or do they just make their salesclerks suffer?

BDL: My guess is that they wear shoes if their feet get cold.

Was this piece originally for Radar? And does Radar still owe you money?

[Denizet-Lewis declines to answer. Heh.]
[Update: He didn't mean to skip that question. Yes, he got paid by Radar. And, presumably, Salon. Cash money, B!]

When I was in high school and very stupid, I applied for a summer job at Abercrombie. I was never called back, which is like being told you're hideous. A year later, I was flipping through the sale racks and a manager approached me, out of nowhere, and asked if I wanted a job. Had something inside of me changed? Did they sense my blossoming womanhood?

BDL: A&F managers are told to approach attractive customers and ask if they have an interest in working there. The manager must have thought you looked like an "A&F girl."

Well, I was unshowered, hungover and wearing flip-flops at the time — so I guess that makes sense. Why do you think Jeffries backed out of the interview?

BDL: I can't say for sure, although I can speculate that he got nervous.

Maybe he was nervous about looking like a big 'mo. Speaking of which, if Jeffries were a flower, he d be...

BDL: A rich one.

The Man Behind Abercrombie & Fitch [Salon]