1. Fashion deity, Simon Doonan, has written that in these tough economic times luxury design houses are using devious techniques to ruin their rivals images…and, that’s how Jersey Shore‘s Snooki Polizzi got her Gucci.
2. I’m saddened that CNN no longer delivers 24/7 news. I guess to compete they need to attract the most common denominator. Their stars, Nancy Grace, and Jane Velez Mitchell certainly know how to do that!
3. The New York Times is pandering to the NY Post audience. What took them so long? They had a huge article on the Stephanie Seymour/Peter Brant divorce, and a Kardashian article that puffed their new season and spin-off, The Spin Crowd, about Hollywood publicists. The article also states that the public has been fascinated with the private lives and scandals of celebrities for more than 100 years. As if that makes it better!
4. Charlie Rose has integrity: On Sunday night, I’m watching Brian Williams’ gut-wrenching look at New Orleans, 5 years after Katrina as discussed on Rose’s show. But I will also check out other shows, and of course watch MAD MEN.

The latest TIME magazine has me enthralled. Charlie Rose interviewed the author of this piece, Jeffrey Kluger, who showed an incredible video of a highly intelligent, 29 year-old, Bonobo ape named Kanzi.

Millions of radioactive boars are now living in southern Germany. They are the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 25 years ago! It must be rather like Hollywood in the forests of Bavaria, there are millions of wild bores running around LA, mainly radioactive.

Basil Marceaux, Republican candidate for governor of Tennessee, may just take your spot. He’s has many similar views, and like you, is not afraid to speak his mind.

Barbara and Harry Cooper are the OGs, (Original Grandparents) an enormously sweet couple in their late-nineties. Happily married for 73 years, their granddaughters, Kim Cooper and Chinta Cooper, have been taking care of them – and brought them into the digital age. Sharing their wisdom on the Internet, the OGs teach much about life. Enjoy them!

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What about Bill Clinton‘s take on how to fix the blowout?

What about Anna Chapman, the beautiful 28-year-old redhead, alleged to be a Russian spy?

Relieved of his duties as captain of the biggest environmental catastrophe in history, after last week’s stonewalling in D.C., BP’s CEO Tony Hayward, former head of exploration and production for the oil giant, got a piece of his “life back” this weekend by participating in a yachting competition!

Originally the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., the multinational later changed the name to British Petroleum, then BP. And who can forget the other principles, Halliburton and TransOcean. In this intense piece, 60 Minutes speaks to a survivor of the Deepwater Horizon blowout, who revealed problems long before the spill.

In a thrilling series against the Celtics, the Lakers won back-to-back championships in a 7th-game nail-biter at Staples Center!  The teamwork was great, led by Kobe and Pau Gasol. Fisher, Odum, and Sasha Vujacic, off the bench, made important hoops. 

Unfortunately violence broke out after. Why does this happen?

On the national stage since Sept. ’08, I had hoped that by now Sarah Palin would be long over. But she has just begun: bestseller, handsomely-paid speaking engagements, Fox News forum–and the ear of a constituency. I watched her endorse candidates in the last weeks. Here in California I saw Carly Fiorina’s ads proudly announced: “Endorsed by Sarah Palin!” 3 of her 4 picks won their primaries. She speaks in sound bites, the media loves to cover her; she knows her audience, and how to incite them. A male friend told me that’s she’s sexy. Her whiny voice is slightly more modulated; she must be taking lessons. This woman is very calculating…and dangerous.

Mickey Cohen sweet talks "girlfriend," legendary stripper, Candy Barr. Sunset Strip, 1959. Photograph by Fred Tschantre / Los Angeles Times

For those awaiting the magnum opus: my forthcoming book, Technicolor Gangster: The Hollywood Life of the Notorious Mickey Cohen, is finished, except for final flourishes. Will keep you updated on publication date. I’m happy to shamelessly proclaim: This is a book I would want to read! Filled with provocative new revelations about Hollywood, and it’s self-promoting mob boss, (circa late 1940s-76,) you will learn much fresh and juicy info about certain prominent figures of the mid-20th century (like Shirley Temple’s encounter w/ MC!!!) and how Mickey Cohen, a hyper-phobic, asexual tough guy, learned to manipulate the media so well, that, among other things, he managed to be acknowledged as a bonafide ladies-man—bogus history that still holds. The high drama that constitutes the material is so operatic, I would love for it to become one!

I’m currently interested in the New York City Ballet’s upcoming Call Me Ben, a ballet about Bugsy Siegel, as conceived by Angeleno dancer and choreographer, Melissa Barack.

Warren Beatty is Bugsy-obsessed. (Examples: He lived in Siegel’s penthouse at the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel for years; did not just make Bugsy, a movie about the handsome gangster, he also married the leading lady; he titled Bulworth, another of his cinematic efforts, after a Siegel horse; and most tellingly, his first-born son is named Ben.)

but this is the first time I’ve gotten a real feel for Chicago. I’m impressed! Staying at the small, chic Talbott Hotel, we were on a beautiful tree-lined street, right in the middle of the Gold Coast action. Although time was short, we managed a tour of the Loop, seeing many significant skyscrapers, from early buildings of 19th C. architect Louis Sullivan, to contemporary showpieces. The multitude of European-style parks and Beaux-Arts public buildings, near Lake Michigan, were standouts. Big and bold, downtown Chicago, boasting both the Chicago River and the great lake, makes even Manhattan pale in comparison; our struggling downtown L.A. seems all the more sad–unplanned, provincial–unfortunately neglected. Driving north on Lake Shore Drive, which turns into bucolic Sheridan Road, we saw luxury high-rises turn into forty-miles of lakeside mansions; the sightseeing ended in the platinum village of Glencoe. No time for the Frank Lloyd Wrights–they were in another direction–but dinner at Il Mulino, a terrific Italian in the Victorian Biggs mansion, was a special treat. I will be back. BTW: Read the new book, Get Capone, by Jonathan Eig, while there.

I’m not quite sure what to make of them, but Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno, a series of short films about the mating habits of animals, on Sundance Channel, is really outrageous. She takes great delight in announcing the most intimate specifics of beastie anatomy, while appearing in simulated breeding rituals with construction paper animals. Coy, camp and filled with inter-species soft core, the shorts have won film awards (???) and, more fittingly, made “clip of the week” on Talk Soup, twice!

Naomi Campbell and Vladimir Doronin

Everyone will agree that Naomi Campbell is a fabulous model, but, as a person–not so much. In the last few months she has been in the news many times: slugging her billionaire boyfriend Vladimir Doronin’s limo driver; hitting a camera as she walked off an interview when queried about receiving a blood diamond from Liberian despot Charles Taylor; rumors of her engagement to Vlad; and, now, an upcoming Oprah appearance to clear the air. Who can forget the thrown phones, the run-in with Heathrow cops, Tyra crying that she tried to ruin her career, the street-cleaning sentences, and anger-management rehab. And that she dated Mike Tyson a million midnights ago. A Daniel Craig look-alike, Doronin has been seeing the toxic beauty for two years, so I guess it doesn’t faze him. He sat in the audience, with Campbell’s mother, to lend support during the Oprah taping. I must see that show.

UPDATE  from Oprah: The drugs, the tantrums, the tears–and her new life in Moscow. I believe Naomi’s story of trying to be a better soul!

Speaking of powerful, blonde Russian men named Vladimir, what about the gay rumors now circulating about Putin?

Google does. They  know how to innovate. Cutting their carbon footprint at the company’s northern California headquarters, a herd of goats have been employed to take the place of noisy, polluting old Toros to keep the campus looking trim. Of course they have a wrangler to trail after the animals.

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At performance artist’s Marina Abromovic’s current show at the MoMA, it seems even sophisticated New York art lovers cannot abstain from touching the naked participants. Oh, the way of the flesh.

Now highly controversial, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s corrupt government and “mental stability” are being questioned. On major news outlets, the former US envoy to Afghanistan strongly indicated–”wink-wink, nod-nod“– that the leader of the country that’s the world’s largest heroin producer has a drug problem himself! Does this kind of innuendo start when the “puppet” cuts his strings and runs away?