One Surreal Saturday in the HamptonsSweaty celebrities trying on dresses, hot men chasing a tiny ball while riding horses, and performance artists prancing through the woods with cardboard boxes on their heads.
Rufus Wainwright: ‘Britney Spears Is Basically an Analogy for the World’So we recently talked to musician Rufus Wainwright about his new big plan for the summer solstice, or, as he calls it, Blackout Sabbath. He wants everybody to turn off all their lights and unplug everything in their house for twelve hours, in order to better think about how you personally can save the environment for the next year. He’s even been collecting magnets so that people can hang their ecoresolutions on the refrigerator. “In American culture, the fridge magnet and things that are on the fridge are really a strong indication of what is going on in one’s life,” he told us. “It has a certain status in the household. It’s almost like a little biblical in terms of, like, you know, This is the decree! Stamp it on the fridge with the magnet!” Indeed. We told Rufus we were impressed with his efforts to save the world and asked him about his efforts to save Britney Spears. He has said he is “probably the one person who can really help her.” That’s two awfully big goals! “Britney Spears is basically an analogy for the world. Whereas Judy Garland was an analogy for the world in the fifties and sixties, Britney is now,” he explained. “Save the whale! Oh, God, that’s awful.”
Related: Rufus Wants You to Do It in the Dark [NYM]
gossipmonger
Lindsay Lohan Gives ‘Page Six’ the Chance to Use a ‘Retail Therapy’ Pun
Lindsay Lohan spent her Thanksgiving shopping in therapy and shopping in New York with her mom and sister, while her boyfriend spent it partying. David Wright bought jewelry for his mom for Christmas. Tory Burch has been dating both Paramount head Brad Grey and Katie Couric’s ex, Tom Werner. Whoopi Goldberg, who supports Bill Richardson for president, slammed John Edwards and Michelle Obama for canceling appearances on The View. Hayne Suthon, the owner of Lucky Cheng’s, has finally made peace with ex-husband Robert Jason. Jerry Seinfeld is planning to stick to stand-up, not movies. Alec Baldwin bought the cast of 30 Rock mozzarella sticks after their show at the Upright Citizens Brigade.
Rufus Wainwright Really Likes SausageParties for movies about human sex trafficking are a bummer. We guess we should have known that when we trekked over to the U.N. for the premiere of Trade, where we spent most of the night trying not to catch a case of self-righteousness from Mira Sorvino, Sigourney Weaver, Gloria Steinem, or the movie’s director, Kevin Kline. Happily, Rufus Wainwright was there. He had a song in the movie. “It’s by far my favorite placement of one of my songs in any films to date,” he said. “There’s nothing like having a song of yours play while somebody’s jumping off a cliff!” Rufus has a sense of humor! He also eats red meat. Jorn, his current German boyfriend, often cooks him Wiener schnitzel. “And every night for dessert,” he added, “we have sausage.” —Bennett Marcus