Lindsay Wixson In Chanel's Fall Campaign + Kanye West's Erotic Movie for Anja Rubik's 25 Mag in Today's Style Scraps

June 29, 2012, 12:30 pm

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Paris-based fashion designer Damir Doma, whose looks we profiled in our "Snow White & the Huntsman Runway Style" story, has opened his first brick-and-mortar shop in Paris at 54 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.  [via Damir Doma]

"I've never worn a scent," Kristen Stewart tells WWD, though she'll be the face of a new fragrance by Balenciaga, Florabotanica, which comes out in September. [via WWD]

Banana Republic is said to be planning a line inspired by Anna Karenina, bowing in October.  The famous Tolstoy novel has been made into a film starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law and will open on November 9th. [via WWD]

Here's Lindsay Wixson wearing a pink, bobbed wig in Chanel's new fall campaign. [via Fashionista]

Yesterday we mentioned how the Style Like U folks did a home visit with Girls writer and former PAPER contributor Lesley Arfin (read her hilarious account of a trip to Tokyo c. 2003 HERE) but totally missed the part where she gives us a shoutout!  She says:

I loved everything in PAPER Magazine.  I would read the back where they have a list of all the cool vintage stores, circle them, and then sneak into the city and go to them all.

[via Style Like U]

Dolce & Gabbana are gearing up to present their first-ever couture collection (though it will be quite small and only shown to a select group of clients and only three media outlets) as a way to test-run whether adding a couture division to their brand will be a profitable move. [via Fashionologie]

We love this structured, embroidered Chanel dress that Emma Stone wore to the L.A. premiere of The Amazing Spider-Man last night. [via Styleite]

Watch a kaleidoscopically trippy video made by Kanye West and photographer/director Barnaby Roper for Anja Rubik's new fashion-meets-erotica mag, 25. [via The Cut]

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Hot Town, Summer in the City: The Summer Pop-Up at Karma

June 29, 2012, 12:44 pm

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Brendan Dugan's gallery bookstore, Karma, is experiencing its very own staycation. The Downing Street storefront is looking remarkably oceanfront-y thanks to artists Aaron Aujla and Dylan Bailey -- assistants to Nate Lowman and Dan Colen -- who have created a temporary home décor shop fittingly named Summer. Having spent the last six months culling beaches in the Hamptons and Cape Cod and researching retailers like Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware, Aujla and Bailey's space is a musing (with actual merchandise) on home décor shops. Think a Nancy Meyers Endless Summer. Or a Lands' End catalog where the nautical knits are turned neon.

But Summer is also a keen study of how home goods stores like Pottery Barn market their goods, successfully branding a lifestyle of driftwood benches and decorative doodads. Aujla and Bailey have mimicked certain devices that these stores use like creating visual blockers or screens that pull customers further into the store rather than simply viewing retail from a single vantage point. Potted plants, for instance, are arranged at varying heights. Nothing is merely eye-level. One is encouraged to look up, down, and around. Customers become discoverers, it would seem.

Summer is selling everything from ceramics and enamel buckets, dip-dyed beach towels, barnyard paperweights, turquoise-shaped Shea butter soaps, an oversized rope ball, and a single cedar swing that adds an extra breeziness to the space. On some days you might even catch Aujla and Bailey sitting outside hand painting mini buoy key chains.

The selection varies regularly and weekly events are planned like this Saturday's (the 30th) Fourth of July barbecue. Come check it out. Lemonade, hot dogs, summer in the city.

PAPER Is Now On Google Play!

June 29, 2012, 1:30 pm

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PAPER is proud to announce that we're the newest additions to Google Play, which allows you to download your favorite music, books, movies, TV shows, apps, and magazines to your desktop, phone or tablet. That means you can download digital issues of PAPER -- laid out the way God and our art department intended them -- directly from the store. (You can also choose to buy individual issues or to get a long subscription!)

To learn a little bit more about it, watch the video below -- our April cover with Nicki Minaj is featured! And to check out PAPER on Google Play, click here. (Check out our on Google +, too!)

Katie Holmes Singing "On My Own" in 1998

June 29, 2012, 1:34 pm

≫ Next: Jason Wang Talks New Restaurant Biang!, Lamb Eyeballs & a Xi'An Famous Foods Storefront in Brooklyn

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In honor of Katie Holmes, who filed for divorce from Tom Cruise today, we thought it was only appropriate that we share with you this clip of Holmes circa 1998 as Joey Potter singing "On My Own" from Les Miserables on Dawson's Creek. This was the episode (season 1, episode 12) where Joey enters the Miss Windjammer pageant after learning that the winner gets $5,000 towards college tuition, and Dawson gapes at her from the wings, upsetting Jen, who wants to get back together with him. Sing it sister!  (An added bonus: Spanish subtitles!)

Jason Wang Talks New Restaurant Biang!, Lamb Eyeballs & a Xi'An Famous Foods Storefront in Brooklyn

June 29, 2012, 1:56 pm

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Jason Wang, 24, spearheaded the recent opening of Biang!, Flushing's first Chinese restaurant to have gentle lighting and a modern industrial design. He and his father, David Shi, have gained a cult following the past few years for their street food-style chain, Xi'an Famous Foods, but Biang! offers a full-service, sit-down experience. In between running errands and paying visits to various branches, Wang took a few minutes this afternoon to chat over the phone.
 
When I ate at Biang! I realized it was the first time I'd been to a Flushing Chinese restaurant that didn't have fluorescent lighting. Why do all Chinese restaurants seem to favor it?
I don't think they favor it, it's just about cost efficiency. It's not a cultural thing. If it were up to my dad we'd still be having energy-saving lights. I don't like the feel of fluorescents myself and don't use any fluorescent lighting at home either. That kind of lighting doesn't enhance the food. In China there are well-designed restaurants in the big cities. The Chinese restaurants in Flushing and in Chinatown don't really represent true Chinese culture as it is today. It's more about the Chinese immigrant experience in America.
 
There seems to be a new generation of Chinese restaurants opening right now, with Yunnan Kitchen and Mission Chinese Food on the Lower East Side.
I would not like to be compared to Mission Chinese Food. It's kind of a reinvention of Chinese food. I'm not reinventing anything. We have authentic Chinese food with Western-style décor.
 
I saw some young people eating the lamb burger with chopsticks. Is it bad manners to eat with your hands?
Maybe they were just trying to be clean. Or maybe it's because they were with their friends and didn't want to look too casual in the restaurant. In my experience breaking bread is very American. You would not see Chinese people doing that, but really, it's whatever works. I eat burgers with my hands.
 
You've got lamb eyeballs on the menu (in a dish that also includes lamb cheeks, tongue and palate). How many do you sell a week?
Each head makes three or four orders and we sell them at all our stores so we probably go through a dozen heads a week. It's a very small part of our business.
 
What does a lamb eyeball taste like?
Pretty fatty. It contrasts with the rest of the dish -- lamb tongue is chewy, the palate is crunchy since it's pretty much cartilage and the lamb cheeks are lean meat.
 
How many eyeballs do you get per order?
It's varies but usually up to one. They're sliced. If you see a circular disc of white with a pupil in the middle, that's eyeball.
 
Do mostly Chinese people order it?
Half and half, for the novelty of it. I thought only a couple of people would dare to try it, it's so freaky.
 
You've got a lot of accessible noodle dishes but you also have boiled beef stomach skewers and cubes of pig blood tofu. What's that like?
We're taking the pig blood tofu off the menu. It's black, not that popular and not that great. We're still experimenting. We've added new dishes like mung bean jelly, a Northern Asian thing. It's a savory cake, gelatin-like, cut into thick slivers, served cold. We've replaced our steamed buns with tiny, tiny buns about the size of half dollars, filled with lamb or pork. They're bite-size, eight to an order. And for a vegetarian option we have tofu skin skewers now.
 
Your place is full of stylish Chinese kids. They had to wait a long time to get this kind of restaurant in their neighborhood.
The young people are also flocking to the New World Mall in Flushing. It's styled after a suburban American mall and has a food court and a big grocery store on the ground floor. A lot of people have asked, 'Why aren't you there?' First of all the rents are ridiculous, cut-throat. The food there isn't that great and it's overpriced for what it is. I live in Flushing and when I want to eat I want it to be fast and with table service. Before, there were two kinds of restaurants, family-style with florescent lighting or food stalls for a quick bite. There was no medium. Biang! is good for dates and small groups. It's more Manhattan.
 
What plans do you have for expansion?
There's nothing definite in the works, we've been so overwhelmed, but we've been looking into working with someone else on food trucks. We don't see it coming to fruition until probably next year. Our commissary, on the border of East Williamsburg and Greenpoint, is now operating, making food for all our stores. We should have a Xi'An Famous Foods storefront there by next year, sort of like Momofuku's Milk Bar. I'm also looking to see if we can do pop-ups in Boston or on the West Coast. We want to let people know what our food is all about, and give a chance for our fans in other cities to have it.
 
What do you do for fun when you're not working?
I work pretty much all the time, day and night. Whatever time I can get off I go out with some friends. I'm kind of a perfectionist and if things are out of my control it drives me nuts. I'm OK for the time being. It'll be harder to work when I'm older so I might as well suck it up now and take a break later.
 
Biang!
41-10 Main St.
(718) 888-7713
Flushing, Queens

Photo from Eater.com.

5 Bottled and Tapped Cocktails to Try Now

June 29, 2012, 2:30 pm

≫ Next: Awkward.'s Beau Mirchoff Chats About the New Season, Tapping Into His Feelings and Being Nominated For a Teen Choice Award

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Manhattan on Tap at Saxon and Parole: Strong (but not stirred), like any Manhattan should be, this one is extra complex with W.L. Weller 12 yr, Cocchi di Torino and Jon's Leather Bitters. 

Gin and Tonics on tap at Gin Palace: Unbelievably inexpensive and invariably bright, the tapped drinks at new juniper-laden East Village watering hole are what we'll be drinking all summer long, especially when the rumored Ramos Gin Fizz hits the keg-erator. 

Daily carbonated cocktail at Lantern's Keep: From Negronis to Americanos, the Iroquois Hotel's bubbly cocktails are nearly perfect representations of the carbonated genre. You may question if fresh-faced head barkeep Theo Lieberman is old enough to drink the cocktails, but you certainly won't challenge his abilities behind the bar. 

Cabinet Cocktails at Saxon and Parole: Every month, head bartender Naren Young creates a limited selection of bottled cocktails that extra fancy bar patrons can purchase individually. The bottle will then be put under lock and key, and brought out whenever you make a visit -- bottle service for cocktail geeks. The last few editions have included an El Presidente, a boozy Perland and the classic Seelbach. 

The wild card at The Daily: The point of The Daily is that, well, it's daily. You never know what you might find behind the bar, but on occasion we've walked in and found a selection of delightful bottled, barreled and fizzy creations.

Above: Manhattan on Tap at Saxon and Parole via Bloomberg News. Photo by Paul Goguen.

Awkward.'s Beau Mirchoff Chats About the New Season, Tapping Into His Feelings and Being Nominated For a Teen Choice Award

June 29, 2012, 3:00 pm

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Season 2 of MTV's hit breakout show Awkward. has been scheduled on DVR for weeks.  The scripted teen comedy has developed a cult following (which includes several PAPER staffers) due mainly to its smartly written dialogue and highly relatable characters.  Oh yeah, there's also the hunky "Matty McKibben" played deftly by the equally hunky Beau Mirchoff.  We called Mirchoff for the scoop on the new season, his thoughts on tapping into his emotions, and monster trucks.

Why do you think people have connected so much to Awkward.?

I think Awkward. is unique in a lot of ways.  There's a little bit for everyone in the show because every character is very relatable and it stems from an honest place. So you have these outlandish stories with broad characters but it's always presented in a way that people can get something out of.

What can viewers look forward to this season on Awkward.?

It takes place two weeks after the finale of season one so everything is still very fresh and relevant. You'll get to know more characters this season and just dive deeper into their lives. It's funnier and better in every way and I'm just looking forward to the response from fans.

You were also on Desperate Housewives, which, like Awkward., featured several strong-willed and highly-emotional characters. Do you ever wish you could do a scene with less "feelings" and more monster trucks?

I think the feelings are part of why it's fun to be an actor.  It's not about the kind of superfluous things -- like monster trucks -- or anything like that. I would love to do a fun movie or something that involves monster trucks.  But do I wish that over [scenes with feeling]? No, not really.

I know you're nominated for a Teen Choice award? How does that feel?

It's great! I couldn't believe it when they told me. I was like "Me? Why did they choose me? And who else was up for it?" I was suspect. I'm so grateful and happy about it. Hopefully I win, that's all I care about. I need validation.

I've heard you're a bad loser, so...

Yeah, a little bit. A little bit.


Awkward. airs Thursdays on MTV at 10:30/9:30 central and you can vote for Beau at the Teen Choice Awards HERE.

Photo credit: Tyler William Parker

From the PAPER Archives: Magic Mike Edition, With Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello

June 29, 2012, 3:30 pm

≫ Next: The Sound of Music Live on NBC + Iggy Pop's Relationship to His Penis = Eight Items or Less

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We saw Magic Mike at midnight last night and all we can say is that Matthew McConaughey needs to play fatherly male strip club owners who walk around in chaps and silk robes talking about lawwwbreakers in every movie he does from now on. It's the only role he was ever meant to play. Besides that, MM is super entertaining and beefcakey and, spoiler alert, you see one stunt wiener in it, though we won't tell you who it belongs to. Anyway, in honor of the movie coming out today (besides blasting "Pony" on repeat) we decided to dig up our Beautiful People stories on MM stars Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello, as well as an interview we did with Bomer earlier this year in which he talks about Channing Tatum's super-human stripping abilities.

Photo by Dan Monick

From Bomer's Beautiful People feature, April, 2010:

Oh his role on USA's White Collar as a criminal-turned-investigator, Boemer told us: "I watched The Hustler, The Sting, and To Catch a Thief. But I also tried to throw in a little bit of Ferris Bueller and Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours. I like characters with flaws, who have shadow."

Photo by Katherine Wolkoff
Click to enlarge image

From Joe Manganiello's Beautiful People feature, April, 2011:

On identifying with his role as tough good-guy/werewolf Alcide on True Blood: "I was that big kid who wouldn't fight back in school and then my dad would say, 'Tomorrow you knock that kid's teeth out' and I would -- and then feel terrible about it. Alcide's a lot like that."


Bomer, who enjoys posing next to view finders just as much as Manganiello does, on Magic Mike: 

On preparing for his role by visiting male strip clubs:

I went solo and I think some other guys went to other places. I reached out to this group called The Hollywood Men who were super collaborative and welcoming. They let me come into the club and a lot of my character's scenes are in this Altman-esque world of before and after they go onstage and they let me experience a lot of that. They let me go onstage a little bit. I didn't perform but they let me hang in the wings while people were performing so I could get the relationship to the audience. So that was really fun. Then we did a lot of choreography with an amazing choreographer called Alison Faulk who choreographs for Britney Spears and Madonna and was able to take what we had and accentuate that and hide the things that we were really shitty at.

On who had the best moves:
Channing by far! Channing's dancing in this movie is, I mean, it defies the laws of physics!  It's insane. I can't wait for people to see it. They're just gonna freak out. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. [Ed note: This is true. People were screaming and hugging each other in our theater last night during Tatum's scenes. It was like an Oprah's Favorite Things episode, but with dry humping, dollar bills and butts.] 

On his Magic Mike body hair maintenance routine:
Yeah, I think everybody had to come correct in terms of what those people do. It was a lot of training, waxing, self-tanning, those kinds of things that are a necessity for that job. And while they weren't enjoyable, they definitely helped inform the experience and helped you out when you're out onstage doing your thing.

Magic Mike is out now. You will scream and hug your neighbor.

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The Sound of Music Live on NBC + Iggy Pop's Relationship to His Penis = Eight Items or Less

June 29, 2012, 4:00 pm

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1. NBC will team up with the producers of Smash on a live broadcast of The Sound of Music. Producer Craig Zadan said, "It isn't our intention to produce a remake of the movie version of 'The Sound of Music'... What we want to do, instead, is to give audiences a completely fresh experience of this great Tony Award-winning stage musical in the form of a classic television event... there will be no lip-synching to pre-recordings." [via EW]

2. Hairstylists are now eligible for Oscars! Werrrrrk. [via Vanity Fair]

3. #TomKatAdelHillocalypse

4. The Coney Island Cyclone turns 85 tomorrow. Happy birthday, old man! [via Gothamist]

5. Just in time for the sweltering weekend... how to sneak into a private pool.

6. "Has your relationship with your penis changed?" -- best interview question ever, courtesy of Andrew Goldman. Iggy Pop's answer is pretty epic, too. [via New York Times Magazine]

7. Framed frames. [courtesy of Miss Moss]

8. Do you realize? Last night in New Orleans, the Flaming Lips beat Jay-Z's Guinness World Record for the most concerts played in multiple cities during a 24-hour period. [via Pitchfork]

Robert Pattinson Smells Of Sex...Or Hunger

July 31, 2012, 12:30 pm

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Perhaps taking a page out of the "Katie-Holmes-Is-Showing-Her-Fashion-Line-At-Fashion-Week" PR playbook, a new clip of Robert Pattinson in the forthcoming film Cosmopolis has been released.  Though the scene is pretty opaque, it does what it's intended to do: capture our attention and capitalize on Pattinson's sex appeal (whether K-Stew appreciates it or not).  The kicker is when the actor's steely-eyed co-star (Sarah Gadon) utters the accusation, "I smell sex all over you," to which Pattinson replies, "It's what?  It's hunger you smell."  Hunger for food or hunger for sex?  Ba-dum ching.

The film, directed by David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence), is based on the Don DeLillo novel of the same name and stars the Twilight actor as a billionaire asset manager who roams the city in a limousine, conducting business from the back seat over the course of a day.  Throughout his ride, he meets a slew of people who go on to impact his life, leading to some major consequences.  Juliette Binoche and Paul Giamatti also star.  The movie premiered in Cannes and will open in the U.S. on August 17th, EW reports.

Nicki Minaj Gets Carnival Chic In New Video, "Pound the Alarm"

July 31, 2012, 2:30 pm

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Say what you will about Nicki Minaj's choice to emphasize pop songs over rap in Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded but this new video for one such pop track, "Pound the Alarm," is super fun.  In it we see the entertainer back in her native Trinidad (Minaj was born in the Caribbean nation and moved to Queens when she was a child) letting loose during Carnival.  Joined by a passel of festive dancers in showgirl gear -- lots of feathered headdresses, bustiers and jewels -- the singer struts down the catwalk street, partakes in a dance train, and rouses the crowd atop some massive speakers.  Basically, how much do plane tickets to Trinidad cost?

"Pound the Alarm" appears on Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, out now via Young Money/Universal.

2:54: Time Sensitive

July 31, 2012, 4:00 pm

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"There was never any grand master plan," 2:54's Colette Thurlow muses. Featuring Colette and her sister, Hannah, along with supporting members Alex Robins and Joel Porter, the London-based band "developed gradually," Colette says. "Hannah taught herself guitar in her teens and taught me and we made up songs together for fun until we realized that perhaps we could go a bit further." After both Thurlows moved to London from their hometown of Bristol to attend university, it was while working a series of odd jobs ("I think I've worked in every clothes shop there is in London," says Colette) that the two composed "Creeping," a dreamy rock song that, as Colette puts it, "was kind of like the ignition point" catalyzing the band's formation in 2010. 2:54 is currently getting ready to head out on its first major North American tour in support of its eponymous debut album, released in May.

Named for the sisters' favorite moment in the Melvins' "A History of Bad Men" (that would be two minutes and fifty-four seconds in, naturally), 2:54 favors a hazy, shoegaze sound with a touch of sludge -- inspired, the siblings say, by "heavier" bands like the Stooges, Iggy Pop, Queens of the Stone Age and the Deftones. But that doesn't mean they're all doom and gloom. When asked whom they'd like to collaborate with, Colette points to one Missy Elliott. "She might be up for it, man. That would be an insane collab," she says.

But before they team up on a doom-metal-meets-crunk venture, the band must prep for their aforementioned tour this summer, in which they'll crisscross the continent for the first time as headliners. With back-to-back dates, do the ladies have any rider requests that they absolutely cannot live without? Turns out, top billing hasn't changed the fact that they remain as humble and low-key as a second opener. "Just getting a rider is amazing," Colette says. "Normally it's just a few beers and anything above and beyond that is great. We haven't gotten to the stage where we really ask for much. When we do, we might become divas."

Will Ferrell Stops By Billy on the Street + Mr. Big May Appear on GIRLS = Eight Items or Less

July 31, 2012, 4:29 pm

≫ Next: Tips for Today: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs in NYC + "American Realism" in L.A. + First Aid Kit in Chicago + Flavours of India Festival in London

≪ Previous: 2:54: Time Sensitive

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1. Billy Eichner tweeted a photo of Will Ferrell shooting an episode of Billy on the Street. [via Twitter]

2. This might be the first street art collab we've encountered: Hanksy and Moustache Man teamed up on a Drew Barrymore-themed piece of greatness. [via HuffPo]

3. Is Mr. Big coming to GIRLS? Maybe. [via Pop Culture Brain]


4. The L.A. Times has a fascinating story about Wan Joon Kim, a North Korean immigrant with a record store in the Compton Mall, who throughout the '90s gave many of the city's gangsta rappers their big break.

5. This 1,000-pound sea turtle was rescued off the coast of Long Island. [via Gothamist]

6. A Brady Bunch TV series is happening. Vince Vaughn is producing it. [via Hollywood Reporter]

7. Jet Blue is gonna have high-speed Internet on its planes by late 2012. [via JetBlue]

8. Sad: After 15 years, East Village institution Mama's is closing its doors. (For those still hungering for their tomato and feta salad, they have an outpost in Williamsburg.) [via Eater]

Tips for Today: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs in NYC + "American Realism" in L.A. + First Aid Kit in Chicago + Flavours of India Festival in London

August 1, 2012, 7:23 am

≫ Next: Morning Funnies: Michael Douglas & Matt Damon's Liberace Makeovers + Kanye West Spying On Everything

≪ Previous: Will Ferrell Stops By Billy on the Street + Mr. Big May Appear on GIRLS = Eight Items or Less

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New York

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, aka British electronic producer Orlando Higginbottom, will bring his raucous, hard-to-pin-down electronic dance music (and elaborate dinosaur costumes) to (Le) Poisson Rouge. [Flavorpill]

If you need a good hearty chuckle, we suggest heading to The Bell House for their Summer Fun Splashtacular. The stellar lineup includes Todd Barry, Wyatt Cenac, Janeane Garofolo to be accompanied by a performance courtesy of Bushwick-based, '60s-girl-group-esque band Starlight Girls. [Flavorpill]

New York painter Les Rogers (who was recently commissioned boy Oakley to paint Olympic volleyball player Kerri Walsh) exhibits his large-scale, abstract-ish paintings at an exhibit called "Summer Swells" tonight at Half Gallery. [via artcards]

Los Angeles

Katherine Brook's live performance, "American Realism," takes words from California migrant workers during the Depression-era from the audio archive of Farm Security Administration work camps and transforms the text into an endurance test for eight actors. The performance will be on loop for four hours as a reflection on contemporary labor. Check it out at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibits). [Flavorpill]

Erika Forster, formerly of Au Revoir Simone, is going solo with a new name, Erika Spring, and a brand new self-titled EP that features her breathy synth-pop. She plays tonight with Alt J at The Echo. [LA Weekly]

Chicago

Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Soderburg of First Aid Kit have been gaining a lot of buzz for their luminous folk tunes (Jack White asked them to record a single for his Third Man Records series). See why they deserve all the attention tonight when they play with Alabama Shakes (who are no slumps either), Dry the River and Filligar at Metro. [Chicago Reader]

There really couldn't be a more appropriate featured writer tonight at the Reading Under the Influence series tonight at Sheffield than Patrick Wensink, whose Broken Piano for President, follows man who lives a double-life when he gets black-out drunk. (Perhaps Wensick will speak to his book cover, which has recently elicited some controversy.) [Flavorpill]

London

At this two-day Flavours of India Festival, experience (and snack on) food and traditional dance numbers at the Royal Festival Hall. There'll be an emphasis on tea, coffee and spices, as the event is organized by the Tea Board of India. [via Zing]

Nineteen-year-old club-kid-turned-electro-phenom Charli XCX headlines XOYO tonight. [via Time Out]

Morning Funnies: Michael Douglas & Matt Damon's Liberace Makeovers + Kanye West Spying On Everything

August 1, 2012, 7:45 am

≫ Next: Feistodon's "A Commotion" Is Our Music Video of the Day

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Here's the first spotting of Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in character as Liberace and Liberace's boyfriend Scott Thorson, respectively. They're filming the upcoming Steven Soderberg-directed HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra about the glass-closeted pianist's tortured relationship with his much younger lover. The movie is not Morning Funnies fodder per se, but those wigs are. Loving Matt with a feathered bang. [DailyWhat]

Amy Poehler offers some really good advice about friendship in her latest installment of "Ask Amy" for Smart Girls at the Party.  Watch to the end for a Ruddiculous surprise cameo. [ONTD]
 
Skateboard cat is outta this world. Guitar squeal! [LaughterKey]

Get More: Music Videos, Free Music Videos

Watch Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis do a restless, super-awkward interview about The Campaign with Vh1. Our hearts go out to this reporter. [HuffPo]

Hypervocal has an entertaining/depressing roundup of people misusing the word 'literally,' including the New York Times. (David Cross has something to say about this, too.)

YESYESYESYES, NONONONO Cat has a friend! [TheAwesomer]

Think we all know who took that photo of Kanye dreaming of Kanye. [ImWithKanye via Kanye West Spying on Everything]

From Imprint's roundup of vintage motivational posters. Don't be Old Man 20 Minutes Late. [Via Flavorwire]

These brownies are maybe going to that after-party later. They'll text you. [TheClearlyDope]

There are not enough screams in the world for these terrifying nylon sculptures of the human form by artist Rosa Verloop. [LaughingSquid]

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Feistodon's "A Commotion" Is Our Music Video of the Day

August 1, 2012, 9:30 am

≫ Next: Bartender of the Year Joaquín Simó Talks His Big Win, New Bar and The Importance of Spell-Check

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This past April, Feist and Mastodon teamed up to create "Feistodon," releasing a split-single during Record Store Day featuring Feist covering Mastodon's "Black Tongue" and the rockers covering the singer's "A Commotion" (hence the portmanteau).  For those who missed out on the exclusive, fear not: the 7" vinyl single was released again yesterday via Cherrytree/Interscope and Warner Bros. Records.

Cooler still is the interactive music video accompanying "A Commotion" where viewers can crossfade between Feist's version and the Mastodon cover, creating their own mixes in the process.  While we could only upload the non-interactive version of the video, you can go HERE to play around with it yourself.

"A Commotion" appears on Metals, out now.

Bartender of the Year Joaquín Simó Talks His Big Win, New Bar and The Importance of Spell-Check

August 1, 2012, 9:44 am

≫ Next: Karl Lagerfeld Was a Meanie about Pippa Middleton + Ed Westwick Wore a Onesie in Today's Style Scraps

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Fresh off his win for American Bartender of the Year at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, Joaquín Simó, 34, talked about his final week at Death & Co. and his upcoming East Village bar, Pouring Ribbons.
 
Congratulations. What was it like to hear your name called?
It was a pretty emotional moment, almost at the end of a three-hour long awards show. The very first thing I did was ask for a big round of applause for the other nominees. It's always such a huge pleasure to be on any side of the bar with them. It's such a collegial profession. If one of my regulars is at a bar in Chicago I'll get a text from the bartender asking how he likes his drink and I'll do a cut and paste of a recipe and shoot it back. It's all about making a guest feel special.
 
And now you're leaving Death & Co.?
It's been my home for five and a half years and I wouldn't trade those years for anything. This Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be my final nights. It's bittersweet to say the least. But to finally be my own boss is an extraordinary feeling and I can start realizing my vision for what a cocktail bar can be.
 
What can you tell us about your new bar?
It'll be called Pouring Ribbons, referring to that moment of anticipation when your cocktail is ready and poured from a mixing vessel, the aerodynamic way it spirals down into the glass. It's a beautiful aesthetic. We'll open sometime in the fall at 225 Avenue B between 13th and 14th, on the second floor. My downstairs landlord is a liquor store.
 
Who are you opening it with?
Jason [Cott], Toby [Maloney] and Troy [Sidle], my partners from Alchemy Consulting.
 
What's your favorite drink of the summer?
For a shaken cocktail I'm never not in the mood for a daiquiri. For a stirred drink I always want an old-fashioned.
 
What's the most misunderstood drink?
A Ramos gin fizz should only be served during daylight hours. It's a morning drink.
 
You have a really impressive shake. Do you have to work out a lot for that?
I work out a little bit but don't do heavy weights. It's good for discipline. If I wake up at 10 a.m. to work out it's much less likely I'll be out until 5 a.m. Keeps me on the straight and narrow, which is good.
 
Have you ever gotten carpal tunnel syndrome?
I've battled my litany of injuries, sore shoulders and elbows. You can read about it in a piece Robert Simonson wrote for the Times. I've had to change my shake. It used to be over my right shoulder, like a piston back and forth. The funky chicken wing thing is a lot easier for me.
 
You were an English major so I have to ask about your summer reading.
The Art of Fermentation. I'm a big geek. I'm also reading a history of the Glock pistol. It's fascinating. And 1491, a history of America pre-Columbus.
 
Are you writing anything?
I haven't focused on that for a long time. I initially thought I was going to be an academic, do post-modern theory, patches on the elbows of my tweed jackets. I went to Boston University and then started working in bars in Boston. The closest I've come to using my English major was contributing to the Food & Wine cocktail book. More than anything else my major gave me the ability to communicate effectively. I can quickly summarize long and tedious tales, be articulate and specific when doing staff training. It gave me the right tools. I get resumes all the time that have spelling and punctuation errors. Those people don't get hired. It shows a lack of professionalism. If you can't spell there's spell-check. If you can't punctuate, find someone who can fix it for you. If this is your opening gambit and you're stumbling this badly, what's your attention to detail going to be like behind the bar? The devil is in the details.
 
It doesn't sound like you'll be resting on your laurels.
When your peers acknowledge you and you see all the other winners it makes you want to go out and try even harder. The notion of being content with where I am is a foreign idea. I'll rest on my laurels when they're considerably greater.

Photos by Danny Miller of Primus Studios

Karl Lagerfeld Was a Meanie about Pippa Middleton + Ed Westwick Wore a Onesie in Today's Style Scraps

August 1, 2012, 11:26 am

≫ Next: Stephen Colbert's StePhest Colbchella Returns With The Flaming Lips, Fun., Santigold, Grizzly Bear + More

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Karl Lagerfeld had some unkind things to say to The Sun about Pippa Middleton's face: "Kate Middleton has a nice silhouette and she is the right girl for that boy. I like that kind of woman, I like romantic beauties. On the other hand, her sister struggles. I don't like the sister's face. She should only show her back." [via Fashionista]

Ed Westwick wearing a onesie, eating his headphones while filming an episode of Gossip Girl yesterday. [via Coco Perez]

Cynthia Rowley's incredible resort 2013 lookbook, created by Cal Arts student "Yung Jake," sees a model escaping a YouTube video and taking a stroll through the Internet -- where she makes a pit-stop on Papermag.com! Peep it above.

Here's Proenza Schouler's fall/winter 2012 campaign.

Isabel Marant is opening a yellow-hued store in Tokyo this Saturday. [via WWD]

Victoria Beckham guest-edited the September issue of Glamour magazine. We love her "don't list": "Boat shoes (unless of course you're designer Alber Elbaz or on a boat!), Bermuda shorts, nose rings, Crocs, and American tan tights (that's nude panty hose to you)." [via Refinery29]


And here's Katy Perry on the cover of September's ELLE. [via Oh No They Didn't]



Hello there, Keds x Madewell Geo sneaker. [via High Snobette]

And a good day to you, Balenciaga Cambure Panelled Leather High Top sneaker. [via Hype Beast]

How to dress up like Cyndi Lauper for Halloween circa 1980-something. (Heather, before Halloween is maybe our favorite Heather!) [via zaandbrew]

Stephen Colbert's StePhest Colbchella Returns With The Flaming Lips, Fun., Santigold, Grizzly Bear + More

August 1, 2012, 12:00 pm

≫ Next: Don't Eat These Pretty Popsicles by Danish Creative Studio Putput

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More than ever, we're convinced that if the charmingly immature Wayne Campbell and Bill O'Reilly had a baby, it'd be Stephen Colbert. And just like Wayne's Waynestock, the Colbert Report host has his own eponymous music festival, StePhest Colbchella Rocktaugustfest, now in its second year, and he's lined up quite a roster of bands.  The Flaming Lips, Fun., Santigold, Grizzly Bear and Grandmaster Flash will take over NYC's Intrepid, the former aircraft carrier that's docked on the Hudson. The whole shebang takes place on Friday, August 10th, starting at 7pm. Tickets are free and, though they sold out today, it sounds like more will be made available tomorrow. Watch Colbert's announcement above. Cameo by Michael Stipe! 

Don't Eat These Pretty Popsicles by Danish Creative Studio Putput

August 1, 2012, 12:29 pm

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These would make washing dishes a little less tortuous. Or at least make our kitchen sinks  cuter.

Danish creative studio Putput has crafted this collection of sponges-turned-pretty popsicles that look good enough to eat. As the studio team explains on their site: 

"Referencing a classic product pack shot the 'Popsicles' series creates an imitation of a common object through a purposeless addition."

Seriously, don't eat it. 

A few more from the collection below. .

Images via Trendland.