MEDIA
• Kanye West says Harper’s Bazaar “pissed me off” when they reported the rap star’s L.A. home features a giant mural of himself with angels. “That made me so mad. Because who would want to hang out with a guy with an 8-foot picture of an angel of himself?” Too bad Harper’s got almost every detail right, and Kanye is indeed featured in the painting. [WWD]
• CBS News writers voted to authorize their own strike. Watch out, Katie Couric! [NYT]
• Did Star really pull on an online poll because Ron Burkle, the billionaire investor the mag flattered with a recent photo spread, wasn’t doing well enough? Star claims they’re just planning to publish the results in the next issue — plenty of time to stuff the ballot box. [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
FINANCE
• The subprime meltdown claimed yet another victim: H&R Block CEO Mark Ernst, who failed to unload the firm’s money-hemorrhaging mortgage division. Former SEC chairman Richard Breeden, leader of a hostile proxy battle against Ernst, will now take the reins at H&R. [WSJ, Bloomberg]
• It’s not all good news at Goldman: The bank’s flagship hedge fund, Global Alpha, is on track to lose $6 billion this year. Good thing it’s just clients’ money. [NYP]
• Why were Goldman execs able to broker a deal for A-Rod when no one else could? Probably because the deal shares a lot in common with big-time financial transactions. [MarketBeat/WSJ]
LAW
• Winston & Strawn settled a lawsuit with super-senior rainmaker 74-year-old Anthony LoFrisco, a partner who brought in tons of work thanks to his close friendship with GE chairman Jack Welch. Will more age discrimination suits follow, or will LoFrisco’s case set a precedent? [New York Law Journal]
• Victor Rabinowitz, a leftist lawyer who represented everyone from the Black Panthers to the Cuban government to Dashiell Hammett, died Friday at 96 in his Manhattan home. This guy’s so cool he won Cuba as a client while playing chess in Havana with Che Guevara in 1960. [NYT]
• Law firm announces plan to buy one of those big leather chairs, you know, “the burgundy-colored ones with the gold buttons and the thick, fancy armrests.” [Onion via Law Blog/WSJ]
FASHION
• Models speak! Agyness Deyn, the gal of the moment, has a talking role in the new Burberry ads. [Fashionista]
• Henri Bendel is debuting a pop-up shop with PopGadget. [Crain’s NY]
• Robert Cavalli is adding wine to his résumé, on top of fashion and vodka. [British Vogue]
