ANTHONY MINGHELLA DEAD?!?

There are reports floating that screenwiter and super producer and director Anthony Minghella has died. I'm not really sure if he is actually or what the cause was but if he is, that's very sad for the industry.

TSK TSK TSK

Ok so this whole Gov. SPitzer/Emperor's club/$4300 for a hooker is just G-D ridiculous! augh.

Me: I can't believe he did this, I just want to see one of these wives just lose it during these embarring press conference
Dad: ummm they made a vow "For better or worse"

This just got to me. He also made a vow to stay faithful to her. How is it that these women put up these unnecessary façade. He was caught red-handed like the rest of the jerkoffs out there.I mean seriously, how hard is it to keep your penis in your pants. How embarrasing this must be for anyone especially one that was profiled in Vogue as having an idyllic marriage and portraying the perfect family picture. We all aren't perfect, that's what makes us human but damn, some things that are avoidable should be. I swear any day now a Columbus politico is going to be outed.
The Smoking Gun has the transcript of the investigation HERE

Enjoy this Cheaters clip cause this is what these wives need to do

IF YOU'RE ROCKING THE HOUSE

2 articles in today's NY Times caught my attention for diff reasons.

1: After Linking New Strain of Staph to Gay Men,

University Scrambles to Clarify

• In a matter of days, it jumped from a routine press release to a medical controversy. On Monday, a team of researchers led by doctors from the University of California at San Francisco announced that gay men were “many times more likely than others” to acquire a new strain of drug-resistant staphylococcus, a nasty, fast-spreading and potential lethal bacteria known as MRSA USA300. And sure enough, the study, published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was quickly picked up by reporters round the world and across the Internet, including a London tabloid which dubbed the disease “the new H.I.V.” But for gay men in the Castro neighborhood here, which was an early epicenter for the AIDS epidemic and a current hot spot for MRSA, the report also seemed to cast an unfair, and all too familiar, stigma on their sexuality.
  “The way they keep targeting gays as if gays alone are responsible for it, its like H.I.V./AIDS all over again,” said Colin Thurlow, 60, who is gay and lives in San Francisco. “And we’re sick and tired of it.” The report also inadvertently offered ammunition for many antigay groups, including the conservative Concerned Women for America, which issued a release on Wednesday citing the “sexual deviancy” of gay men as leading to AIDS, syphilis and gonorrhea.
  “The medical community has known for years that homosexual conduct, especially among males, creates a breeding ground for often deadly disease,” the release read.
  Another group, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, also cited the report as a way of proving that “homosexual behavior is unhealthy.”
  “Why aren’t all schoolchildren being taught that there are special health risks associated with homosexual behavior and that they should ‘just say no’ to homosexuality?” read a released posted on the group’s Web site. STORY

This is pretty ridiculous that freaking smart people would imply such a thing and asinine of these "advocacy" groups to run with it. MRSA is deadly yes but saying that a gay person is more times likely to die of it when most of the cases reported last year alone did not indicate this. The study was conducted in '03-04. The strain has since grown more resistant and does not chose it's host. The best way for anyone to prevent MRSA is to wash wash wash! also if you go to the hospital make sure attending to you either washes their hands or you see them use antibacterial gel. Unclean hopsitals harbor MRSA.

2:

Two new devices dispense entirely with the bulky turntables and CD players of traditional D.J. equipment. Instead, the new products are so compact that aspiring jam masters can put a D.J. rig in their pocket — or at least in a backpack — and head for the party, connect to the stereo system and rock the crowd.

One of the new players, the Pacemaker (520 euros, or about $760¹), created by a small Swedish company, Tonium, reduces the basic D.J. equipment of dual players and mixer to a device the size of a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. The Pacemaker has a 120-gigabyte hard drive, fits in the palm of the hand, runs on batteries and has a built-in mixer to layer tunes seamlessly so the music never stops.

Tonium will begin shipping Pacemakers in February, said Ola Sars, sales and marketing director for the company, which is based in Stockholm. It will focus first on customers in the European Union, Japan and South Korea, and then on the United States. American consumers will be able to order through the Web site, www.pacemaker.net, in February, he said.

The Pacemaker lets the D.J. preview one track in the headphones while another song is playing for the audience through speakers. “You can select the second song, and then mix the songs together so one song goes into the next smoothly,” said Jonas Norberg, the chief executive of Tonium. “I wanted a PlayStation Portable for music,”

Another mobile D.J. device comes from Numark Inc., a longtime maker of professional D.J. equipment. Called the iDJ2 (about $600), this lightweight mixing console has been on sale since September

“People looked down their noses when D.J.’s brought in CD players and computers instead of turntables and vinyl records,” and now it is iPods that are scorned.

Slowly, though, this new stigma will fade. “If you are rocking the house,” he said, “who cares what equipment you are using?”



¹ look at how much the dollar has depreciated and the euro now king. augh the bush admin

6 MONTHS IN JAIL

This is so sad on all levels. Some American athletes bring shame and a black eye to those that bust their asses everyday in their sport and weightroom.

Marion Jones was sentenced to 6mos in jail as well as 2 years probabtion and community service.

Before the sentencing, Jones broke down as she asked Karas not to send her to prison. "I plead with you to alleviate the situation by not separating me from my boys, even for a short period of time," she said... Karas noted that "athletes in society ... serve as role models to children around the world. When there is a widespread level of cheating, it sends all the wrong messages." "People live with their choices," he added, "and the choice not to play by the rules has been compounded by the choice to break the law."

She has been cast from American hero to national disgrace. This part of her story will forever be one of personal tragedy. To be clear, the public scorn, from a nation that once adored her, and her fall from grace have been severe punishments. She has suffered enormous personal shame, anguish and embarrassment. She has been stripped of her gold medals, her accomplishments, her wealth and her public standing...Jones has lost her livelihood, as "professional track and field is the only career Marion has ever known." There was no need, the attorneys claimed, to send her to prison, as she posed no threat to the public.

Does anyone else remember how quick she dropped CJ after he got busted for doping then went on to Montgomery. Hell the whole running circuit knew her Graham was the juice man. It's just so sad that as I was once in awe of her after winning all those medals. I just pray and hope her family is able to move on. On a sidebar why would you be counterfeiting checks when you've got a Nike endorsement-damnit!

C&C CALIFORNIA ACQUIRED BY PERRY ELLIS + OTHER FASH NEWS

Men's wear firm Perry Ellis International is breaking back into the women's apparel business by buying C&C California and Laundry by Design from Liz Claiborne Inc. for $37 million.Perry Ellis' purchase of the two brands from Claiborne decided to shutter better label Sigrid Olsen and keep urban brand Enyce. Perry Ellis is also in the bidding for at least one of Claiborne's remaining five brands under review — Ellen Tracy, Dana Buchman, Prana, Kensie and Mac & Jac — although Perry Ellis chairman and chief executive officer George Feldenkreis declined to name which one. They have plans to keep Laundry's and C&C's New York and Los Angeles showrooms




SUSMAN OUT!

Sally Susman former Executive Vice President for Global Communications at The Estée Lauder Companies has jumped ship to Pfizer to become the SVP of WOrldwide Communications and CHief Communications Officer. She will be reporting to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Kindler. She will join Pfizer's Executive Leadership Team.
-is there something going on at ELC? it seems high levels have been resigning or quitting lately.




SHU UEMURA DIED



Shu Uemura, the Japanese makeup artist and founder of the Shu Uemura cosmetics brand, died of pneumonia Dec. 29 in Paris. He was 79.

-this is sooo sad cause i remeber one of the last major things he did publicly for the company promoting that futuristic lipstick







SPICE TO TAKE IN CAVALLI MEN



all the Spices — Posh, Baby, Sporty, Scary and Ginger (otherwise known as Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown and Geri Halliwell) — will glide off stage to attend Cavalli's men's wear show in Milan on Monday.







Nordstrom may well have a secret weapon come New York Fashion Week — Jeffrey* Kalinsky. The department store owns a majority share in his Jeffrey stores, and Kalinsky works for Nordstrom in a design consulting capacity. Now he is said to be set to appear in a series of episodes for Nordstrom's Web site, dispensing color commentary on selected fall 2008 shows.

*always chuckle cause of teh SNL spoof with Will Farrel and the tiny tiny phone and Horatio Sanz and the super tight turtleneck thingy





LARS NILSSON HARD AT WORK

In between sketches and fittings, Ferré's new designer, Lars Nilsson, is busy signing up a crop of seasoned image makers to raise the brand's profile. First he tapped Fabien Baron as a consultant to redefine Ferré's image, including the ad campaigns, logo and labels. Karl Templer will style both the men's wear presentation next week and the women's fall collection in February, while well-known production and set designer Michael Howells has created a chic and intimate installation for the performance Nilsson will use to present the men's line.







Caroline Grouvel has left Givenchy as director of couture after a decade at the house. Grouvel, reached by phone, cited personal reasons for leaving.





DIESEL TO OPEN OFN FIFTH AVE.

The company has signed a letter of intent to lease 685 Fifth Avenue, at 54th Street, from the Gucci Group...Gucci is moving its flagship two blocks north to Trump Tower.

AKYAH O NISH NISH ON THIS OUTFIT?

APPEAL DENIED

From the Dispatch:

A court has denied the appeal of a former Dublin high school lacrosse coach who was convicted in February of pressuring a player to recant claims that he was sexually assaulted by two other coaches.
Frank Simpson, 58, was convicted of witness intimidation, a first-degree misdemeanor, and was sentenced to pay the maximum fine of $1,000 plus court costs.
The Franklin County Court of Appeals upheld that decision on Thursday.
The Ohio Board of Education permanently revoked Simpson’s coaching permit in October.
Simpson was a volunteer coach for the Dublin Coffman boys lacrosse team in March 2006 when a player said he was sexually assaulted on the team bus during a trip to Memphis, Tenn.
According to prosecutors, Simpson’s son, Greg Simpson¹, held the player down while coach Dustin Pentz inserted fingers into his rectum.
Pentz, 27, and Greg Simpson, 29, face felony aggravated rape and misdemeanor assault charges in the Shelby County Criminal Court in Tennessee.
Frank Simpson, who was not on the bus when the student said he was attacked, pressured the player to recant his claim during a team locker-room meeting.
The player, now a 20-year-old sophomore at Ohio University, testified in January that Frank Simpson said during the meeting that he would “resist any charges that would be brought up.”

¹- I think this is a sad sad situation on all sides I hope these people can regain respect they lost in the community. Greg Simpson is not a malicious person just a joke gone horribly wrong that in no way shouldbe condoned

Dr. DONDA WEST DEAD AT 58

Reports have now confimed that Dr. Donda West, mother to Knaye West died in an L.A area hospital. They think she might have died of Cosmetic surgery complications but it has not been confirmed yet. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their family.
She most recently appeared with him over the summer at the House of Blues in Chicago for the Kanye West Foundation concert. As an educated single parent, she supported and managed her son through numerous media controversies. She was 58.

Sad Sad

This is sooo soo sad:

"Boitumello "Tumi" McCallum, 20yr old daughter of 2 NYU professors was found dead in her apartment. Her rotting corpse was found on the floor with condoms surrounding her. The incident reportedly happened on Thursday and she wasn't found until Sunday when her roomates discovered a foul smell in their apartment. Her jealous, protective boyfriend Michael Cordero confessed to killing her and he tried to kill himself by slitting his wrist. It seems she was about to break up with him and also hosted a party without inviting him."

This is sad because there were probably warning signs that he's a crazy creep. What's worse, her dad just got married and mom was vacationing in South Africa, where they are originally from.