George Clooney might have a gazillion bucks in the bank but he’s apparently a union man through and through.
In a two-page letter released Thursday, Clooney adopted a neutral stance in the dispute between the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild.
“What we can’t do is pit artist against artist,” he wrote.
AFTRA has already reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios. SAG wants AFTRA members to vote against the deal, saying its approval will handcuff SAG at the bargaining table. Both unions’ current contracts are set to expire Monday, leaving Hollywood on edge about a possible replay of the 100-day writers strike that ended in February. Results of the AFTRA vote are expected July 8.
Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin and others have joined hundreds of actors in signing an online petition urging actors to ratify the AFTRA pact. Meanwhile, Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen and Holly Hunter have endorsed a SAG ad calling for AFTRA to return to the negotiating table to get a better deal.
Clooney called the fight counterproductive. “Because the one thing you can be sure of is that stories about Jack Nicholson vs. Tom Hanks only strengthens the negotiating power” of the studios, he said.
Clooney also called on higher-paid actors to chip in a greater share of union dues and for 10 A-listers — “people that the studio heads don’t often say ‘no’ to,” he suggested, listing only Nicholson and Hanks by name — to sit down with studio heads once a year to “adjust the pay for actors.”
The idea of millionaire actors unionizing, let alone going on strike, has always struck me as ludicrous. But Clooney’s instinct here is right: if they’re going to organize, the big money stars ought to take care of the little guys. It makes sense to have a system in place for the folks struggling for scale jobs trying to get regular employment. Not so much one that has the likes of Clooney and Hanks walking a picket line.
Yves Saint Laurent died today in Paris at the age of 71.
His close friend, Pierre Berge, confirmed his passing and would only say he died this evening after a long illness. He did not give any other details.
The reclusive French maestro, who had retired from haute couture in 2002 after four decades at the top of his trade, had been ill for some time.
During his farewell appearance seven years ago, Saint Laurent had told reporters he had “always given the highest importance of all to respect for this craft, which is not exactly an art, but which needs an artist to exist.”
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born in the coastal town of Oran, Algeria, on August 1, 1936, at a time when the North African country was still considered part of France.
A shy, lonely, child, he became fascinated by clothes, and already had a solid portfolio of sketches when he first arrived in Paris in 1953, aged 17.
Vogue editor Michel de Brunoff, who was to become a key supporter, was quickly won over, and published them.
The following year Saint Laurent won three of the four categories in a design competition in Paris — the fourth went to his contemporary Karl Lagerfeld, now at Chanel.
Discerning the young man’s potential, de Brunoff advised Christian Dior to hire him and he rapidly emerged as heir apparent to the great couturier, taking over the house when Dior died suddenly three years later.
Saint Laurent would say of his mentor: “Dior fascinated me. I couldn’t speak in front of him. He taught me the basis of my art. Whatever was to happen next, I never forgot the years spent at his side.”
However in 1960, like many Frenchmen of his age, Saint Laurent was called up to fight in his native Algeria, where an independence war was under way.
Less than three weeks later he won an exemption on health grounds, but when he returned to Paris it was to learn that Dior had already found a replacement for him, in the person of Marc Bohan.
With his close associate and lover Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent resolved to strike out on his own, with Berge, who survives the couturier, taking care of the business side.
Saint Laurent’s success lay in the harmony he achieved between body and garment — what he called “the total silence of clothing.”
He was also in the right place at the right time. Having learned his trade at the house of Dior, he founded his own couture house at the start of the 1960s, at a time when the world was changing and there was a new appetite for originality.
Saint Laurent rode his luck through the rise of the youth market and pop culture fuelled by the economic boom of the 1960s, when women suddenly had more economic freedom.
His name and the familiar YSL logo became synonymous with all the latest trends, highlighted by the creation of the Rive Gauche ready-to-wear label and perfume, as well as astute licensing deals for accessories and perfumes.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he set the pace for fashion around the world, opening up the Japanese market and subsequently expanding to South Korea and Taiwan.
Among his many fans in his native France was the actress Catherine Deneuve, who was always to be seen at his shows.
Saint Laurent’s career was not without controversy. In 1971 a collection modelled on the styles of World War II Paris was slammed by some American critics, and his launch in the mid 1970s of a perfume called “Opium” brought accusations that he was condoning drug use.
For fellow-designer Christian Lacroix, the reason for Saint Laurent’s success was his astonishing versatility. There had, Lacroix said, been other great designers but none with the same range.
“Chanel, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga and Dior all did extraordinary things. But they worked within a particular style,” he explained. “Yves Saint Laurent is much more versatile, like a combination of all of them. I sometimes think he’s got the form of Chanel with the opulence of Dior and the wit of Schiaparelli.”
In his later years the depression that had haunted him all his life became more oppressive, and at his farewell bash in 2002 Saint Laurent admitted to having recourse to “those false friends which are tranquillisers and narcotics.”
source: Yves Saint Laurent: a giant of French fashion [afp]
Dunkin’ Donuts has pulled an ad spot featuring Rachael Ray wearing a scarf around her neck because some thought it was a subtle nod of support to Palestinians.
Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.
more stories like this
Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott. ‘‘The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,’’ Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. ‘‘Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons.’’
The company at first pooh-poohed the complaints, claiming the black-and-white wrap was not a keffiyeh. But the right-wing drumbeat on the blogosphere continued and by yesterday, Dunkin’ Donuts decided it’d be easier just to yank the ad.
Said the suits in a statement: ‘‘In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial.’’
The terrorists have won. Or maybe we’ve just gone collectively insane.
I was blissfully unaware of both the commercial and the the controversy surrounding it until seeing a link on memeorandum this morning. But, seriously?
It’s true that wearing the keffiyah as a fashion symbol has been a recurring trend among Palestinian sympathizers and various hipsters over the years. But Ray’s scarf doesn’t look anything like Yasser Arafat’s.
Further, the terrorists wear headdresses because that’s how men throughout the Middle East and North Africa dress. It’s a protective covering for the head in brutally hot climates. In any case, none of them are paisley.
The iconic “spider-web” black-and-white keffiyeh is often displayed symbolically by members of Arafat’s Fatah party (which more generally uses yellow as its party colour), although it has never been able to expropriate it as their exclusive symbol. The zig zag style of stitching is sometimes described as symbolic of their historic struggle and their inability to progress towards their objectives without having to avoid obsticles. This is in contrast to how many members of the radical leftist PLO factions (such as PFLP, PFLP-GC DFLP) prefer the checkered red keffieyhs — red being both the traditional colour of the workers’ movement and the red scarf supposedly more indicative of a bedouin and rural (thus poorer, more popular) background. The Islamist factions, such as Hamas, use green — representative of the Islamic faith — as a party color, but for keffiyehs they stick to the traditional black-and-white or red variants, with no particular preference evident. While widely known, this color symbolism is by no means universally accepted by all Palestinians, and its importance should not be overstated — red or black-and-white scarves are used by Palestinians of all political stripes, as well as by those with no particular political sympathies.
But, just to be safe, we should assume that every white chick wearing a scarf is a terrorist or terrorist sympathizer. Ray’s lucky her ad’s just been canceled and she hasn’t been hauled off to Gitmo for questioning.
UPDATE: Via Steven Taylor, I see that Tom Grant has discovered a much more egregious example of terror chic:
These fiends are everywhere. (While Taylor is reminded of an old Monty Python sketch about communists, it seems more to me like Ray Stevens’ “Santa Claus is Watching You.”)
Meanwhile, Doug Mataconis thinks sympathy for Arafat is the least of Ray’s crimes.
(And while we’re on the subject, what’s with the extraneous “a” in Ray’s first name? Perhaps another homage to Arafat? Or . . . Al Qaeda?)
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has even caught Meghan McCain — daughter of Juan McCain, hero of the Reconquista — wearing a purple plaid scarf keffiyah! Gawker has the photographic evidence. Nick Denton’s terrorist loving staff thinks it’s funny. They won’t think it’s funny, though, when the Straight Talk Express rams into Gawker HQ and explodes!
Anne Heche says she can no longer afford to pay the nearly 15,000-a-month in child and spousal support because she’s unemployed after the cancellation of Men In Trees.
“I am continuing to look for work, but I have no offers pending and the impending strike by the Screen Actors Guild reduces my prospects for work even further.”
A judge Wednesday gave her a temporary break, saying she didn’t have to pay her next support payment to her ex Coley Laffoon, 34, covering the month of July. But Superior Court Judge Gail Ruderman Feuer ordered the actress to provide updated income and expense information.
In a court declaration, Heche indicated her financial straits were dire and that she can no longer afford to pay the $14,798 in monthly support, along with private school tuition for her 6-year-old son Homer, the mortgage on her house in Canada where Men In Trees filmed, rent on her Los Angeles home and car expenses.
“Since January 18, 2008, I have been unemployed and had no income from employment except for one very short-term contract for a movie role for which I received a total of $65,00, approximately the amount I received for one episode of Men In Trees, she writes.
She adds: “I do receive some residuals from previous acting work. However, the amounts are nominal and are offset by recurring business expenses that must be paid whether or not I am working.”
I bet Heche wishes she was still with Ellen DeGeneres, who is clearly doing quite well financially.
I’m sure their breakup had something to do with that hat.
source: Anne Heche: I Can’t Afford Child Support [people]
FHM magazine has comprised a list of the 100 Hottest Women of Hollywood. No real news value, just some good eye candy to ease your way into Friday. 100 women received almost 10 million votes ranking their levels.
Keira Knightley is 10th place on list and sir…I demand a recount. This woman is gorgeous from head to toe and could drink us all under the table while telling a dirty joke about a Rabbi. She almost makes me think twice about the lesbian option.
Blake Lively took the number 9 spot. Typical blonde girl next door who you don’t realize is banging hot until she gets gussied up for prom. Same thing for Tricia Hefler. Hefler scored the 8th rung on the ladder. I know…Tricia who? She is space hotness on “Battlestar Galactica.” Eh, she has a weird gum to teeth ratio when she smiles. Meanwhile, 7th place was given to Hilary Duff. It must have been a pity thing. Duff strikes me as total bitch whose movies go from post production to the dollar bin at Wal-Mart.
Emmanuelle Chriqui came in on the 6th spot thanks to her role as Sloan on “Entourage.” She is like this level of hot that is demur but can turn into a total minx at a moments notice. The rack of Scarlett Johansson rounded out the top 5. Yeah, big knockers always tend to climb their way to the top.
Elisha Cuthbert finally gets some love after out-hotting Scarlett. She just radiates pretty girl appeal at number 4. Cuthbert also has an approachable factor, unlike some aforementioned divas who will pimp-slap you for getting to close to their snack table.
Ugh, yes Jessica Alba and her high maintenance ass made it to the 3rd position. Bitch…enough said. Another Jessica, who is more tolerable, took the number 2 slot. Jessica Biel, who is currently bedding Justin Timberlake, made her way to the top.
Drum roll for the number 1 spot….
Megan Fox is the hottest of the hot. The Transformers vixen who tolerated Shia LaBeouf making eyes at her goodies tops the list and dethrones last year’s winner, Jessica Alba. This woman is now my queen.
Just because your favorite dramas and comedies are back on the air after the writers strike doesn’t mean you’re necessarily watching them. A preliminary look at ratings of returning programs on the big broadcast networks reveals that the “majority of original programming has failed to return to its pre-strike levels among key demos,” according to Havas media-buying shop MPG. The firm found that audiences are “coming back to some of the shows, but not most of them,” said Nina Kanter, VP-director of communications analysis at MPG.
[...]
There are legitimate reasons for the ratings declines. Some shows have seen their competition alter as networks rearrange their schedules. CBS’s “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds” now face Fox’s “American Idol,” for instance. Because most networks put the bulk of their marketing spending into promos that run on their own air, it’s quite possible that TV audiences, turned off by repeats and strike-replacement programming, didn’t get those messages, according to MPG’s analysis.
Some returning shows are doing well. NBC’s “The Office” and “Scrubs” have demonstrated improved post-strike ratings, MPG said, though both have aired without regular competitor “Grey’s Anatomy” on the air. CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother” also posted ratings gains compared to its pre-strike performance, but the sitcom may also have benefited from a guest appearance by singer Britney Spears.
It may just be that the traditional model has been overtaken by events, with the strike-forced hiatus helping push trends along.
With the exception of sporting events, I seldom watch television shows “live” anymore, instead watching the handful of shows that we TiVo. And, increasingly, my wife and I are mega-time shifting our viewing, simply waiting until the shows are available on DVD. The ability to watch the entire run of a series at one’s own pace and without commercial interruption makes it very difficult to go back to episodic viewing.
Critics are saying Jay Leno crossed the line when he interviewed Stop-Loss star Ryan Phillippe Thursday night.
[For those of you that don't want to watch the whole thing -- it all starts at approximately 2:00 minutes in]
Leno was chatting with Phillippe about his first role as a gay teen on the soap One Life to Live when he asked,
“Can you give me, like – say that camera is your gay lover… Can you give me your ‘gayest look?’
Say that camera is Billy Bob – Billy Bob has just ridden in shirtless from Wyoming,”
Needless to say, Phillippe grew quite uncomfortable.
“Wow! That is so something I don’t want to do.”
Phillippe’s acting career began with an appearance in ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. His character Billy Douglas, whom he played from 1992 to 1993, was the first gay teenager in a daily soap opera, causing a stir.
GLAAD issued this statement today,
“We are proud of Ryan for refusing to participate in Leno’s thoughtless attempt at humor.
Under the guise of comedy, the talk-show host is demonstrating a lack of respect for the gay community and insensitivity to both his co-workers and the audience, to whom he owes an apology.”
What others said:
Dlisted says, “If Jay cared so much about seeing Ryan’s “gay face” he should have just rented “54.” There’s Phillipe gay face galore!”
A Socialites Life says, “I’m guessing Leno wanted Ryan to make his “gayest look” towards him. And follow it up with some Astroglide. Jay strikes me as one of those guys who’s watching the next-door neighbor’s son mow the lawn shirtless next door and playing with himself from behind the blinds.”
TMZ says, “Unfortunately, Leno has yet to apologize for 16 years of unfunny opening monologues.”
While Heidi Klum and Seal waited for their ride to roll up, the paparazzi decided to try and win Seal over with flattery. It backfired and the singer calmly asked:
“Why would I shake hands with scum? What you do is ruin people’s lives. I don’t like what you do. You are scum.”
The photog starts to laugh and fires back that he is just trying to be “nice” and likes his music. Meanwhile Heidi dances around nervously behind his back just waiting to get out of Dodge. The repartee continues between Seal and the press wagon surrounding them. Aware that they might be able to get him to strike and make a payday for them, they keep hounding him. After having had enough of the barrage, Seal finally says…
“Why don’t you ask your mother how I feel.”
Ooooo….that is how Seal and Heidi roll. It must be a sexy black British man thing. However, I am torn. On one hand…Heidi and Seal and the hotness. On the other, he and Heidi wouldn’t be where they are without the media….so…ungrateful or a bad case of the Mondays?
New York Governor Elliot Spitzer is “involved” in a prostitution ring. Details are still sketchy.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning. Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides inside his Fifth Avenue apartment early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He had scheduled an announcement for 2:15 this afternoon after inquiries from the Times. But his appearance was delayed by at least 45 minutes.
Mr. Spitzer, a first-term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform and end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.
Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved. But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.
The governor’s travel records show that he was in Washington in mid-February. One of the clients described in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, the Emperors Club VIP on the night of Feb. 13. Mr. Spitzer appeared on a CNBC television show at 7 a.m. the next morning. Later in the morning, he testified before a Congressional committee.
Aside from a general sense that chief executive officers ought to obey the laws they’re charged with enforcing and that married men ought to be faithful to their wives, I really don’t care much about this story. The interesting angle, really, is the hypocrisy bit:
Spitzer has built his political legacy on rooting out corruption, including several headline-making battles with Wall Street while serving as attorney general. He stormed into the governor’s office in 2006 with a historic share of the vote, vowing to continue his no-nonsense approach to fixing one of the nation’s worst governments.
Time magazine had named him “Crusader of the Year” when he was attorney general and the tabloids proclaimed him “Eliot Ness.”
But his stint as governor has been marred by several problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear Spitzer’s main Republican nemesis.
Spitzer had been expected to testify to the state Public Integrity Commission he had created to answer for his role in the scandal, in which his aides are accused of misusing state police to compile travel records to embarrass Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno.
Having only cursory knowledge of the two scandals, the misuse of the powers of office to harass a political opponent strikes me as more problematic than patronizing prostitutes.
More commentary will follow if the story develops into something more interesting.
Other reax:
Marc Ambinder notes “Spitzer is a Clinton superdelegate.”
Flip Bidot entitles his post “From Troopergate To Shtupergate”
Steve Benen: “[I]t’s hard to believe brilliant people in positions of responsibility could be this stupid and this self-destructive. And yet, here we are.”
Jon Henke wonders if it isn’t time to change the laws.
Sean Hackbarth: “The man who demagogued his way to the governor’s mansion on the backs of Wall Street firms ends up in deep doo-doo.”
Will Bunch: “WNBC-TV says prosecutors have text messages from Spitzer(no link yet). On MSNBC, there’s also talk that this prostitution ring is linked to a probe of the Gambino crime family — still, just wow.”
Bob Owens: “It remains to be seen what political impact this breaking development will have, but all snark aside, my thoughts and prayers go out to his daughters—I think they are teenagers—and his wife.”
UPDATE: Various reports have Spitzer resigning. Headline changed accordingly. Developing.
CNBC reports that, “If Eliot Spitzer resigns, he would be succeeded by Lt. Governor David A. Paterson, who would become New York’s first African American governor and the first who is legally blind.”
UPDATE:Fox’s report on Spitzer’s resignation, “Sources: Spitzer to Resign Following Reports of ‘Involvement’ With Prostitution Ring, Faces Indictment,” is the most cited. Thus far, however, no confirmation. His presser was oblique:
Gov. Eliot Spitzer, accused in news reports of being involved in a prostitution ring, apologized to his family and the public on Monday at a hastily called news conference. He did not elaborate on the story.
With his wife at his side, Spitzer told reporters that he “acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family.” “I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself,” he said. “I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.”
The “private matter” bit is straight out of Bill Clinton’s playbook.
A deal has been struck between the major media companies and the Writers Guild of America to end the writers’ strike, former Walt Disney chief executive Michael Eisner revealed on CNBC.
“It’s over,” Eisner said. “They made the deal, they shook hands on the deal. It’s going on Saturday to the writers in general.”
Eisner, speaking live on CNBC’s “Fast Money,” seemed to hesitate initially about whether it was possible that the writers could still reject the agreement, but finally suggested the deal’s acceptance was inevitable.
“A deal has been made, and they’ll be back to work very soon,” Eisner said, adding, “I know a deal’s been made. I know it’s over.”
Eisner did not elaborate on terms of the agreement. He said he expects most of the media companies affected by the strike to have “small” write-downs as a result of the deal. Eisner said the deal was struck last Friday.
As a result of studio cutbacks, however, many of the writers who went on strike are unlikely to return to the same big-money contracts they’d had as individuals with the studios, Eisner said.
Shares of Walt Disney and CBS were both up in extended electronic trading Thursday.
It’s about damn time!
source: Deal Has Been Reached to End Writers’ Strike: Eisner [cnbc]
In a two-page letter released Thursday, Clooney adopted a neutral stance in the dispute between the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild.
The reclusive French maestro, who had retired from haute couture in 2002 after four decades at the top of his trade, had been ill for some time.
In a court declaration, Heche indicated her financial straits were dire and that she can no longer afford to pay the $14,798 in monthly support, along with private school tuition for her 6-year-old son Homer, the mortgage on her house in Canada where Men In Trees filmed, rent on her Los Angeles home and car expenses.
“Can you give me, like – say that camera is your gay lover… Can you give me your ‘gayest look?’
“It’s over,” Eisner said. “They made the deal, they shook hands on the deal. It’s going on Saturday to the writers in general.”
