Wesley goes all "Leona Helmsley", Star goes all "Terry McMillan", and Kanye tells Alexis to just GO...
This week, Wesley Snipes joined Ronald Isley and Leona Helmsley in the "only the little people pay taxes" conviction club (and, like Isley and Helmsley, will do jail time- 3 years in the Fed), while a judge in the infamous Sean Bell case reinforced to African-American men in this country that their lives are worth absolutely nothing by acquitting (on ALL counts) the three cops accused of pummeling him with 50 rounds of bullets on the eve of his wedding- FIFTY! Kanye/Alexis and Star/Al went the way of Russell/Kimora and Liza/David (respectively) by ending unions that some people thought were social-climbing publicity stunts and others thought were just plain stupid with a shelf life that any smart Las Vegas booker would take odds on. In the midst of all this madness, these were some of the questions in the solipsistic bubble above my head. Also included are a couple of things I came across for those of you who, despite the recession, have money to burn...Enjoy!
1-There is no doubt that Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is the best selling album of all time (even its 2nd reissue, Thriller 25, went platinum worldwide). Its great that The Tribeca Film Festival in NYC is going to hold a "Thriller night", but...with both a zombie face-painting station AND a Michael Jackson lookalike contest scheduled- is there an unspoken argument (given his rumored extensive plastic surgery) that they are one and the same?
2- Speaking of the Jackson clan...Janet receives the Vanguard Award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), created to honor a member of the entertainment community who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people....how's THAT for "Feedback"?
2a- Did the whole world sleep on Janet's best video to date, "Rock With You"?
3- Fahamu Pecou (now known as Khalif Kelly) joins Kehinde Wiley as one of the art world's (black) darlings with his inclusion of African-American references in traditional art forms. Picking up the Jacob Lawrence crown by using spatial flatness as his theme- how SMART and TALENTED is this guy?
4- Just out of rehab, she goes on a party rampage with her "girlfriend" Samantha Ronson. After bi-coastal partying 9 out of 11 straight days, she passes out-again- in full view of the paparazzi. How many times is La Lohan going to fall off the wagon?
4a- Also just out rehab, she is arrested this week on suspicion of assault. Is Amy Winehouse competing with La Lohan for "hottest mess"?
5- Its great that "The Color Purple, "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" (and soon, "For Colored Girls"...)have added some color to "The Great White Way". But...when is someone going to stage a revival of George C Wolfe's "The Colored Museum" on Broadway?
6- At age 40 (and after having 2 children), she posed for Playboy. Now pushing 42, she's flossing on the cover of KING magazine's June 2008 issue. The question is... how FLY is Stacey Dash?
7- Looooove Ashanti's new single "The Way That I Love You". The accompanying video is uber-stylish, too. But...If you cut off the following picture (her new CD artwork) at the neck, wouldn't you SWEAR this was Beyonce?
8- Speaking of new CDs...Who can't help but wait for Tweet's new project "Love, Tweet", due to drop in June?
9- The Star Jones and Al Reynolds breakup/divorce...Who DIDN'T see this coming? Will Star go all "Terry McMillan" on us now? Or will she go all "Demi Moore" on us and become the cougar with the hot younger boytoy (word is that she has been making the rounds with Dwayne Wade). Why, suddenly, is http://www.starandal.com/, only about Star? Or, in retrospect, was it really ALWAYS only about her?
THE FASHIONISTA FILES
1- Victoria "Posh" Beckham graced their Spring cover. With Rihanna scheduled for the June cover, Mary-Kate Olsen on the August cover, and Jennifer Aniston in talks to overtake the September cover, when will ELLE magazine actually start using MODELS again?
2-Alessandra Facchinetti’s takeover of the Valentino label. Frida Giannini at Gucci. Rachel Roy's fashion empire is growing. Hillary Clinton in serious contention for the U.S. presidency. Is post-modern feminisism on the rise, or is being a woman of power "the new black"?
2a- Frida Giannini is making moves at Gucci, outfitting Lenny Kravitz for his upcoming tour. But...what happened to the menswear line he was developing with Tom Ford?
3- With the dissolution of her relationship with ex-fiance Kanye West, is Alexis Phifer's clothing line, Ghita, doomed? As Kanye has often credited Phifer for his sartorial vocabulary, will it also doom "Pastelle", his planned fashion line?
4- John Varvatos opens his new store at 315 Bowery in NYC- the old site of the punk music mecca CBGBs. Is this clever marketing or fashion gentrification?
5- She paints the faces for runway shows from John Galliano's Dior couture collections to Dolce and Gabbana to Gucci. Giorgio Armani tapped her to help create his namesake cosmetics line. She is also known for gracing the faces on the cover of i-D magazine. Currently, she is the Global Color Cosmetics Creative Design Director for Procter & Gamble, serving as both the beauty expert and creative force behind the New MAX Factor line. So...why doesn't makeup maven Pat McGrath ever wear any makeup?
6- Speaking of giving face... Pat McGrath's cohort Gucci Westman has been named Revlon's new global artistic director. My question is...When is someone going to get smart and offer makeup guru Byron Barnes (who developed and is the creative director of Iman's makeup line) a line of his own? Hello, KLS cosmetics? Hello, MAC?
7- Tina Knowles unveils Miss Tina fashions for the Home Shopping Network. Sequined tunics (Tori Burch should be MAD!), lime green doubled-breasted knit jackets with green patent leather trim (WHAT?!) and cognac peeptoe slingbacks (ummmm, oooook!). We won't even get into the accessories!(epoxy, anyone?) A fellow fashionista says that her design inspiration "feels like it comes from late 90's Lane Bryant"... Is Miss Tina fashions a diffusion line for House of Dereon (which is a diffusion line for Dereon Couture) Why haven't we seen Beyonce (or Solange for that matter) in any of Miss Tina's "fashions"?
8- Hanging out with Kaiser Karl...Who's down to hit South Beach for the Chanel Cruise show on May 15?
9- Who knew that Naomi was the new face of YSL? Will Stefano Pilati have to take some "cellphone-dodging" defense classes?
10- Now that skincare success story Carol's Daughter is being repped by PR powerhouse Trachtenberg. & Co., will we see non-African Americans in their advertising? Will Carol's Daughter ads now appear in Vogue and Cosmopolitan as WELL as in Essence and Vibe?
11- For those of us who didn't cop the Alessandro Dell' Acqua metallic hightops last year, aren't we lucky that Kris Van Assche (who assumed the Dior Homme helm after the 2007 departure of Hedi Slimane) took time away from designing for the Dior Homme line to give us THESE from his Spring/Summer 2008 namesake line???
THE RECESSION-PROOF CLUB...
Okay Sybarites and Voluptuaries, if you have no worries about the country's recession and are completely unphased by the price of gas, here is some retail therapy that I've come across this week...
1- Grab your picnic basket, some beluga, some crème frâiche , and a gingham throw...
Karim Rashid teams up with Veuve Clicquot to make sure your champagne is never warm again. Enter The Globalight, which not only transforms the bottle with a glow, but also serves as a portable cooler for your bottle of choice. This limited edition "toy" will set you back $4,000, but hurry up because only 500 have been created.
2- Iphones be damned...I bet Naomi wouldn't throw THIS phone (or maybe she would!)
For those looking for the ultimate in technological luxury (or technological pretension), Tag Heuer brings you The Meridist. For about $6,000 this cell phone comes covered in either crocodile, leather, or rubber, with a sapphire crystal main screen. Oh yeah, you also get a 2 megapixel camera, 1.9-inch QVGA display, and it's Bluetooth capable. Can you hear me now? GOOD!
3- Learn Arabic, convert those dollars to dirhams, and get going...The United Arabic Emirate (UAE) peninsulas of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are sure to be the new playground for the rich and famous....Move over Capri and St Barths! American superstars like Madonna and Justin Timberlake have made tour stops at the $3 billion Emirates palace, where they sang and danced under the 200-foot dome housing a thousand Swarovski-crystal chandeliers. Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island will house Zaha Hadid's Performing Arts Center, Frank Gehry's Guggenheim, Jean Nouvel's Louvre, and a completely new NYU campus that is designed to put the original urban campus to shame (and offer the same degrees). Take advantage of 29 luxury hotels, three marinas, two golf courses and hundreds of waterfront villas. In Dubai you have the Jumeirah, which is acknowledged as "the best hotel in the world". Christian LaCroix is designing the facade, lobby and luxury interiors of a 38-unit beachside property in Jumeirah's suburb.
Not to mention The World, a collection of man-made islands shaped into the continents of the world, located off the coast of Dubai . It will consist of 300 small private artificial islands divided into four categories - private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands.
Just don't make the "Dallas Austin" mistake and think you can smuggle any funny white powder into their borders-they don't play with their drug laws. Also (if your gay), don't think you and your boyfriend are going to be able to lay out on the beach with each other; even though they seem miles ahead of the world in terms of luxury, homosexuality is still outlawed in the UAE (knew there was a catch!)
FLASHBACK...Even though Janet's "Rock With You" video is hot, Lets take it back to the original "Rock With You" by Janet's older brother, Michael
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