There’s Always Room for Half-Naked Wrestling
The well-intentioned folks at Gothamist today introduced us to the new hipster pastime of Amateur Female Jello Wrestling, which we’d presume is far more enjoyed by its spectators than by its participants. Indeed, there are apparently photos of events all over the Internet. (This one is from Kaitlyn Tikkun’s Flickr.) We’re telling you about it because we figured you’d like to know. Or at least half of you would.
Silly Trend Watch: Amateur Jello Wrestling [Gothamist]
Nothing Gets Between Dakota and Her Jacobs
Marc Jacobs, it seems, likes ‘em young. He has unveiled his new ad campaign — it breaks in February issues of fashion mags, and you can see two of the shots above — featuring 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning, as WWD reported today. Slightly skeevy fashion advertising, of course, is nothing new, but, still, this one manages to be, we think, a bit creepier than shaved pubic hair (Gucci), awkward celebrity stand-ins (Versace), or emaciated models (pretty much all of the major labels). Perhaps Marc’s avant-garde taste is more attuned to European tastes: WWD also reports that he’ll be showing Marc by Marc in the London shows for the first time this February. —Kendall Herbst
On Your Marc [WWD]
The ‘Times’ Wants to Get You Drunk
December 5, as you may or may not know, is Repeal Day, the day on which Prohibition ended in the United States. To celebrate the 73rd anniversary of that milestone, men dressed as thirties-style newsboys were handing out free copies of the Times at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street today, sponsored by Dewar’s scotch. Which seems about right: When the Daily News celebrates Repeal Day, no doubt the workingman’s paper does it with a six-pack of Bud. Whereas the Journal would insist on a single malt.
intel
Canoodling Cuomo?And speaking of somewhat unexpected goings-on at last night’s boldfaced parties, it’s worth noting that the UNICEF Snowflake Ball, hosted by Bryant Gumbel and filled with movers and shakers, marked the first time AG-elect Andrew Cuomo was seen in public with Sandra Lee since reports surfaced that the two have become a serious couple. Notice how they’re not actually touching each other? That’s ‘cause they spent the night explaining to people, as they’d explained to “Page Six” last week, that they’re just good friends.
Serious ‘Buds’ [NYP]
intel
And for $100 Extra, They’ll Make It Look Like an Accident
Now this is what we call thorough service. The good people at Code Shred, whose truck we spotted parked at 49th and Madison yesterday, will not only destroy the paper trail of your dirty dealings; they will also, crucially, murder everyone who sees them do it.
intel
Daily Intel Exclusive: Charmin Restroom, Perfect for Partying
We’ve been as excited about Charmin’s free-public-toilet-in–Times Square publicity stunt as the next rag. (Okay, fine, more so.) So of course we went to pay a reportorial visit. And what we didn’t expect was to find the place a completely tripped-out, Clockwork Orange–y disco candyland filled with twirling mirror balls, blue neon, deranged reggae-calypso reworkings of the brand’s jingles, white pleather, and spasmodically dancing employees.
It’s as if Charmin, while doing its New York research, discovered people were going to be doing coke in the stalls anyway, and just, um, rolled with it.
intel
Anything You Can Do, Denzel Can Do Better
Last night, Jada Yuan, New York’s intrepid party reporter, witnessed a rarity: Red-carpet gridlock. At right, arrivals for the premiere of Denzel Washington’s Déjà Vu at the Ziegfeld. At left, arrivals for the International Emmy Awards at the Hilton. At center, West 54th Street, jammed with limos, camera crews, and the occasional Hummer.
Only in New York, kids.
intel
When Good PR Stunts Go Bad (Although for Good Causes)
We received a press release last week from the Salvation Army, promising the world’s largest collection of holiday bell-ringers in Bryant Park this morning, and we were vaguely intrigued. It was a stunt, clearly, and a silly one at that, but, still, something about the image of a few hundred guys and girls in Santa suits, all clanging away together, warmed our cold hearts — mostly because we thought it’d be photographically interesting, all that red felt amid the gray and fading green of the park. As it turned out, the Salvation Army could muster only 62 ringers, none were in Santa outfits, and — this is the part that truly mystifies us — we’re told they didn’t even ring their bells. (You gotta ring them bells!) Bah humbug.
Salvation Army [OnlineRedKettle.org]
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Man Waits Four Days for First PlayStation, Claims Victory
The video-game blog FierceGameBiz, from which we’ve ganked the above photo, reports that New Yorker Angel Paredes was the first person in North America to purchase a PlayStation 3, which went on sale this morning. Paredes waited on line for four days at the SonyStyle store in midtown for that honor. Which we suppose explains the triumphant pose.
The PlayStation 3 Launch Event in 25 Photos [FierceGameBiz]
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Continued Investigations Into Marathon Urination
The day before the marathon two weeks ago, we suddenly got very worried about where runners might be allowed to pee along their 26-mile jaunt. A bit belatedly, we get the answer: alongside a Dunkin’ Donuts on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. But only, apparently, with a large, anthropomorphized coffee cup keeping a creepy eye on you.
Earlier: Can You Pee in the Park During the Marathon?
in other news
‘Times’ Agrees With Microsoft: Zune Is Cool
The Times runs a long Bizday piece today on Microsoft’s fancy new MP3 player called Zune. The breathless article tells us not only how super! duper! amazing! the device is but also just how gritty, dedicated, and, well, real the Microsoft operation to build it was. There are many pieces of evidence offered for this thesis — an executive who uses merely “J” as his first name; the “creatively fervid overcrowded office space” in which the team worked, where on “hot summer days” the engineers “had to decide between lights and air-conditioning” — but one is by far the most convincing. It’s the accompanying photos, apparently shot by MSFT itself and credited to it. With engineers and marketing execs who seem quite so, well, punk rock, there’s no way these guys didn’t make the coolest MP3 player around. And wasn’t it nice of the Times to gamely run the company-provided photos that prove the point?
Microsoft Counting on a Twist to Make Zune Shine in Shadow of iPod [NYT]
The Tea Room Is Coming! The Tea Room Is Coming!
The Russian Tea Room most recently closed four years ago. It’s most recently returning this week, opening for a soft launch on Wednesday and taking its first reservations for Friday night. And today our very own Grub Street scores the first pictures of the caviar emporium; rest assured, there’s still a juggling bear.
First Look Inside the Russian Tea Room [Grub Street]
in other news
Hillary in ‘65 or Spencer in ‘69: Do You Think They’re Sexy?
Yesterday’s Daily News brought word that Republican Senate candidate John Spencer thinks Hillary Clinton was ugly as a kid. “You ever see a picture of her back then? Whew,” Spencer said to the reporter Ben Smith as the two flew to Rochester. “I don’t know why Bill married her.” In today’s News, Hillary shot back. “I thought my high-school picture was cute,” she said. Meantime, in Friday’s Times, Spencer pointed out the drastically different lives they led back then. “She had flowers in her hair, and I had a rifle in my hand,” he said, highlighting his time in Vietnam versus her time at Wellesley. All of which raises an obvious question: Who was better-looking in the sixties, Hillary in 1965 or Spencer in 1969? (Do your best to ignore Spencer’s adorable puppy.)
intel
In a Post-Apocalyptic New York, There Will Be Lightsabers
Yesterday afternoon we brought you Intern Everett’s photos from Washington Square Park, where production crews for a forthcoming Will Smith movie were turning the central fountain into a post-apocalyptic wasteland by means of a large, inflatable thing. Eager Everett went back last night, when presumably the shooting was taking place, to see just how much more post-apocalyptic things would get. Not very, he reports: “The extent of what they were bordered on nothing. They spent an hour with a giant jungle-leaf thing, putting it in various positions in front of a light so that it’d reflect up at the monument and cast a giant leaf shadow.” On the other hand, there was also a lightsaber battle. And you can’t complain about that.
Earlier: Will Smith Brings the Apocalypse to Greenwich Village
Will Smith Brings the Apocalypse to Greenwich Village
So how do you turn New York into a post-apocalyptic world? Practice, practice, practice? Let Al Shanker get hold of a nuclear warhead? (Ha! We kill ourselves.) No, apparently you do it with a large, inflatable thing in the middle of Washington Square Park. Production teams for a new Will Smith project, I Am Legend, are out in NYU-land this afternoon, preparing for what our intrepid intern-photog, Everett Bogue, gathers will be a shoot this evening. In addition to the large, inflatable thing, Everett reports the addition of a variety of fake trees, random species of plastic jungle underbrush, and a half-dozen large lighting rigs. Will the Fresh Prince himself show up? Will the Square get even more post-apocalyptic? Developing, as they say.
(Oh, also? In this post-apocalyptic New York, that might not even be Washington Square. As New York reported a few months ago, the script puts the MetLife Building on Seventh Avenue and Balthazar on 14th Street.)