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One of our very favorite New York stories of all time, the tale of 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon, Santa Claus, and the New York Sun, is set to be an animated special this holiday season. It'll star Jennifer Love Hewitt and Neil Patrick Harris, which is a little confusing, but we'll take it. [EW]
After Diane Schuler drove the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway and killed eight people because — according to the Westchester medical examiner — she was drunk and high, her husband and family vowed to clear her name. “She wasn’t an alcoholic,” her husband Danny Schuler says. For months, the family’s representatives have said they intended to do new tests to prove the medical examiner wrong. The accident occurred July 26, and after more than three months, tissue and fluid samples held by the medical examiner hadn’t been requested. Now, Schuler’s private investigator says the family has raised the money to pay for retesting. “I’m in the process of filling out the paperwork to request transfer of the medical examiner’s samples to our crime lab,” says Tom Ruskin, president of CMP investigative group. He expects results within a few weeks.
We've never actually smelled Sarah Jessica Parker's perfumes, but after reading the following quote from her December Elle profile, we're pretty sure we never, ever want to.
"I love the smell of diapers; I even like when they’re wet and you smell them all warm liked a baked good. Love it.”
LIKE A BAKED GOOD. Like a batch of warm chocolate-chip cookies. Really, she could just eat those diapers up. Wow, this will haunt us for days. Incidentally, how Elle failed to use the line "Sex and the City actress opens up about her scheisse fetish" on the cover is beyond us.
Gossip Girl costume designer Eric Daman, the evil genius who masterminded Chuck Bass’s look and invented the Cleavage Rhombus, had a few things to say about the Parents Television Council's war against the show’s impending threesome plotline. “So, it’s okay for them to be doing blow and drinking Scotch when they’re 18, but it’s not okay for them to be having a threesome?" the designer, resplendent in a Bass-worthy skinny suit, knee-high patent leather boots, and scarf told us at last night's party for his new style book, You Know You Want It, at the Gramercy Park hotel. “What is this society that we’re living in where sex is worse than teenage drinking?” We started to say that if the PTC had their druthers, they’d probably nix the cocktail quaffing along with the ménage à trois, but we were slow from the Champagne cocktails, and the designer (who noted that he frequently tweaks hemlines and necklines to make the characters’ outfits more "TV-appropriate") was on a roll. “Sex is good! People who are enjoying each other — that’s much better than people who are ostracized and have to feel bad or have to be on Ritalin or something.” True — although we would totally watch that show, too.
At last night’s after-party for the screening of Jason Reitman’s new film Up in the Air, 30 Rock star Judah Friedlander said he related to one of the movie’s themes — getting laid off. Years ago, the comedian and actor said he had a gig handing out flyers for a podiatrist on the streets of New York. He'd work on one street corner, and his manager would work across the street. "So one day, the manager goes to me, 'Fuck it, man, let's just go to McDonald's." "I'm like okay, he's the boss, so we go to McDonald's for like two hours. And we start doing that a while," Friedlander explained to us. “And then one day he calls me up, and he’s like, ‘Judah you’re fired.’” When Friedlander asked why, he was told that it was because their employer had checked on them, and they weren't on their spots."I’m like ‘Yeah, because I was at McDonald’s with you!"’ he said, asking if his boss was also fired. "'They’ve decided to keep me on,’” the boss explained. Many, many jobs later, Friedlander went on to star in a hit network television show and laugh about the whole thing.
Unsurprisingly, they prefer to read about great men: In Duff McDonald's Last Man Standing, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon claims to have read biographies of Caesar, Alexander, Napoleon, Nelson Mandela, and ten U.S. presidents, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses S. Grant. Meanwhile, Andrew Ross Sorkin's Too Big to Fail contains a scene in which Goldman Sachs's Lloyd Blankfein is reading David Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, in which Winston Churchill is a central character. [Das Krapital]
Major Nidal Malik Hasan emptied his apartment before going on the shooting spree that left 13 people dead and 31 wounded yesterday. The Army psychiatrist was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan to offer therapy to soldiers there, so his neighbors — who say they didn't know him — were not suspicious when he began passing around his personal belongings to them. According to the Post, he visited one woman's apartment and gave her a new Quran, plus some frozen broccoli, spinach, portable shelves, and T-shirts. A day later, he gave her his air mattress, a desk lamp, and several briefcases. He then, according to reports, "offered her $60 to clean his apartment Friday morning, after he was supposed to leave."
Fort Hood shooter emptied apartment in days before attack [NYP]
Our beloved characters really grew up on this week's Gossip Girl and, as usual, you had a lot to say about it. Everyone appreciated the classic Beverly Hills, 90210 reference, though we have a hard time believing Blair would sit at home watching SoapNet to learn that line. You were all delighted when the writers finally admitted that Serena can sometimes be mistaken for a call girl, and praised them for finding a way to get Little J to take off the raccoon makeup. Of course, the question remains — when will Blair be back on top (double entendre intended)? And where's Wallace Shawn when you need him?
Citigroup's former chairman John Reed, who along with Sandy Weill helped build Citigroup into a giant fat dangerous waddling monster that is now a ward of the state, has apologized. “I’m sorry,” Reed, 70, told Bloomberg. You should know he's hurting, too: “You could imagine emotionally it’s not easy to see what’s happened.” Well. At least with the $23.4 million he took home between 1997 and 1999, he can afford therapy. [Bloomberg]
Representative Darrell Issa can afford to bite this microphone in half because he's the richest person in Congress.
Ever wonder why Congress so often feels so out of touch with regular Americans? It's because they're not regular Americans! A study by the Center for Responsive Politics finds that out of the 535 members of the Senate and House of Representatives, 237 of them are millionaires. That means millionaires make up 44 percent of the members of Congress, compared to just 1 percent of all Americans. That's a lot more millionaires!
This morning, President Obama made an appearance in the White House Rose Garden to provide remarks about the new unemployment numbers and the tragedy at Fort Hood. This time, Fort Hood came first. Yesterday, at around 5 p.m., President Obama stepped to the podium at the Tribal Nations Conference at the Department of the Interior and offered thanks to various officials for their participation. He then gave a "shout out" and a little wave to Dr. Joe Medicine Crow, a Congressional Medal of Honor winner. Then he spoke about continuing a dialogue with Native Americans beyond the day's conference. Nearly two minutes into his remarks, Obama finally addressed the massacre at Fort Hood.
Name: Artie Lange
Age: 42
Neighborhood: Hoboken
Occupation: Comedian and co-host of the Howard Stern Show on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. He’ll be performing tonight at the Beacon Theater as part of the New York Comedy Festival.
Who's your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Howard Stern.
What's the best meal you've eaten in New York?
Roy White knishes.
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
Read the "Sports" section and ask strippers if they can burp a Led Zeppelin song.
New York Times star business reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin has had a big couple of weeks. His blockbuster book Too Big to Fail is debuting this Sunday at No. 4 on the New York Times best-seller list (and he will be profiled in next week's New York Magazine). Sorkin is in London this week promoting the book's European launch. In addition to being a best-seller, Sorkin has been fielding job offers. New York Observer owner Jared Kushner tried recruiting Sorkin twice during the past year. Most recently, he talked to Sorkin last month about taking over the paper before editor Tom McGeveran announced his resignation on October 28, according to several sources familiar with the matter. According to an Observer insider, Kushner ran into Sorkin at a party three weeks ago and said "let's get together." The two had a meeting, but the talks never progressed very far. Last March, Kushner had also tried to recruit Sorkin to take over the Observer, as longtime editor Peter Kaplan was preparing to leave.
At least six* people have been shot at the Gateway Center, a sixteen-story office building in downtown Orlando. One of fifteen employees that came streaming out of the building in the aftermath told CNN affiliate WESH that just before the shooting, which occurred shortly before noon, "a former employee came into the office who hadn't worked at the company in over a year." The network is reporting that two of the victims are dead, and six have been injured. The shooter has not been found. [CNN]
Update: The shooter, who has been identified as Jason Rodriguez, 40, has been apprehended. Sgt. Barbara Jones of the Orlando police just said that he was found and arrested at his mother's house, where they always go.
Update 2:* The tally is now one dead, five wounded.
Update 3: As reporters followed the captive Rodriguez, they asked him on camera why he did it. "They left me to rot," he said.
Supermodel and former Victoria's Secret angel Stephanie Seymour wouldn't talk about her terrible divorce from multimillionaire Peter Brant to Vanity Fair for their next issue. But for photographer Mario Testino, she would pose nude — and spectacular — which, as everyone knows, when you are a supermodel, is the best revenge. [VF]
Most financial criminals attempt to look dignified during their perp walks. Bernie Madoff wore a suit on his big day, as did Matthew Tannin and Ralph Cioffi, and even Marc Dreier (although the accompanying stubble and crazy hair in that case somewhat lessened the effect). But the gang arrested as part of the SEC and FBI's big insider-trading sting is so far doing little justice to the term "white collar" crime. Specifically, the collar part. Prosecutors said yesterday that those in the ring had taken a page from the handbook of drug dealers, and this appears to extend to their sartorial choices, as well. Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam at least made an effort by donning a blazer and pea-green cardigan; but McKinsey executive Anil Kumar wore a sweat outfit to his indictment, while "white shoe" Ropes and Gray lawyer Arthur Cutillo wore jeans. And Zvi Goffer, the former Schottenfeld trader known as "Octopussy" within the ring, wore a track suit, which is second only to the orange jumpsuit in the pantheon of outfits that make you look like a guilty criminal. Is there no decorum in insider trading anymore? Watch our slideshow with all four of the allegedly crooked guys, including a full photo of Goffer, which we swear we're not showing you just because he's actually kind of cute.
It's rare that The Daily Show devotes eight introductory minutes to one gag, but Jon Stewart's Glenn Beck impersonation — while it doesn't have that earnest fake-acty evangelical tone quite right — was clearly remarkable enough to deserve the airtime. Gawker's favorite parts are "references to old and discredited texts, the Founding Fathers, transparently phony stabs at nonpartisanship, crying," but ours is the chalkboard diagram that connects Beck's faulty appendix to his colon, anus, ACORN, Van Jones, global warming, NAFTA, the NEA, and Che Guevara. This is a must-watch.
An Upper East Side woman was halfway out of a window, 200 feet in the air, when cops started trying to calm her down yesterday afternoon. Their efforts worked, and officers were able to coax her back into the 85th Street building. We call it good work. The Post calls it "high drama." We guess both apply. [NYP]
“There should be a moment — hopefully before you’re holding a bag of cash delivered to you by somebody codenamed ‘the Octopussy’ — that causes anyone in a position to tip or trade on inside information to think twice before taking such a misguided step. And if you find yourself chewing the memory card in your cell phone to destroy any record of your misconduct, something has gone terribly wrong with your character.” —SEC enforcement director Robert Khuzami, at yesterday's press conference detailing the charges against fourteen people involved with the Galleon insider-trading ring
A year ago, when Mayor Bloomberg was pleading his case to the City Council for why they should be so bold as to overturn the term-limits law passed twice by popular referendum, one of his counselors pointed out "that the 586,890 people who formed the majority in a 1996 referendum represented a trifling 17 percent of all registered voters in the city." Well, this Tuesday, Mayor Bloomberg won a third term with 557,059 votes, or 13 percent of registered voters. Bloomberg called it "as close to a mandate as I think you can possibly come in a very difficult time." Well played, Clyde Haberman! [NYT]
After Michael Lohan released audiotapes of both Dina and LiLo sobbing to him, Lindsay tweet-vented about her parents' marital issues. But Michael's just blaming drugs and God for his daughter's downfall, since it couldn't possibly be the result of poor parenting. Because 2002's Swept Away was such a memorable success, Madonna has another film in the works, and this time she wrote it herself. Justin Timberlake is in talks to play Boo Boo in a big-screen version of The Yogi Bear Show. Nicole Kidman ditched Robert Pattinson by dropping out of Bel Ami, the film in which they were slated to co-star. The sixth in a slew of Hollywood burglars has been arrested after breaking into the homes of Megan Fox, Orlando Bloom, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Ashley Tisdale, and Audrina Patridge. Given that list, authorities were shocked to find that the robber wasn't a 13-year-old girl.
Governor Paterson is serious about running for another term as governor — or, at least, attempting to get his rock-bottom approval ratings up above swine-flu levels before taking the full plunge. It's a long shot, but hey, it's either this or roll out the red carpet for Andrew Cuomo, so why not? Accordingly, Paterson has brought on Bill Clinton's former deputy chief of staff, Harold Ickes, and is already beginning to run his first campaign ads. In the first, Paterson, appearing more serious and stately than we're used to, argues that he's fought for the people by standing up to state politicians, unions, and corporations. The second ad is a biographical spot about the lessons Paterson has learned throughout his life. It's an ad that would have aired during his initial run for governor, if there had been one. Now, after over a year and a half in office, Paterson is finally introducing himself to New Yorkers. Is it too late to make a good first impression?
Our future ... if we're lucky.
The economy lost 190,000 jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 10.2 percent, the Labor Department said in a report released today, up from 9.8 percent in September. This is the highest it's been since 1983 and — despite employment being a lagging indicator — it's a bucket of cold water on those tentatively embracing the notion that the economy is in recovery.
“The rise in the unemployment rate is very ugly,” Ethan Harris, chief U.S. economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch told Bloomberg. “This is a big backward step to get this high of an unemployment number this early in the recovery.”
Dean Baker, a director for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told the Times he did not expect the rate to begin declining until spring. “We may be looking at very high levels,” he said, "for several years into the future.”
In the meantime, New York job hunters can always apply for a temporary job working the Charmin toilets in Times Square this holiday season. Of course, they'll have to compete with hundreds of people.
Unemployment in U.S. Jumps to 10.2%, Payrolls Fall (Update3) [Bloomberg]
U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%, Highest in 26 Years [NYT]
The Democratic leadership in the State Senate could still avoid putting the issue to a vote, but the Times reports that it's unlikely they will do so. Tuesday's the big day. For our analysis of the gay-marriage bill's prospects, read here and here. [NYT]
Raymond Jessop, the first of a dozen members of the Fundamentalist Morman sect living at the Yearning for Zion Ranch set to stand trial, was convicted yesterday of sexually assaulting an underage girl. The sect claims that the young woman, who was 16 when she became pregnant with her first child, was one of Jessop's nine wives, though internal documents indicated that they were aware of the illegality of the situation:
One of the most damning pieces of evidence presented in court was a written record of [sect leader Warren Jeffs’s ] instructions in August 2005 not to take the girl to a hospital even though she had been struggling in labor for three days at a clinic on the ranch. “I knew the girl, being 16 years old, if she went to the hospital, they could put Raymond Jessop in jeopardy of prosecution as the government is looking for any reason to come against us there,” Mr. Jeffs was quoted as saying.
It took the jury only two hours and twenty minutes to convict Jessop.
Finally a market indicator we can depend on. One Harvard Business School alum, now running his own consulting firm, has been saying for a while that when fewer Harvard M.B.A.s enter the financial industry the market is bound to improve. And it’s not just because they’re insufferable.
Harlan Coben, one of the thriller writers patronized by Glenn Beck, takes to the Times op-ed page today to let everyone know that there’s nothing more thrilling than getting a “big bearhug” from his childhood best friend and New Jersey Governor-elect Chris Christie (actually, hearing the Boss play all the tracks from Born to Run live in sequence is pretty thrilling, too). Now we know that all the times Jon Corzine was making fun of Chris Christie for being so fat, he was really just jealous that Christie gives better bearhugs. [NYT]
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Copyright © 2009, New York Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Nine
Did You Hear About the Morgans? Premiere
A Little Night Music Opening
Premiere of It’s Complicated
VEVO Launch Party
Doctor Parnassus Screening
Reasons to Love New York 2009
New York Politicians Refuse to Quit
A-Rod Has Babe Ruth in His Sights
McCain Yields to the Party's Pressure
