A Little of the Old In and Out



"Effervescent." (image via onprobation via photos1.blogger)

In: Beyonce's Vanity Fair November 2005 Edition. Thanks to our old friend, Casey, for bringing to our attention a glaring omission on our part, namely, the effervescent Beyonce Knowles. For those of you who are new, The Corsair blog has been hounding Graydon Carter -- for years -- to put some people of color on the cover of VF, as, well, the entertainment industry is disproportionately black (And if Sandra Bullock can score a cover, then you know Oprah should as well, yknow?).

Years went by, but we continued to gadfly, fairly impotently. We cannot even remember the last African-American on the cover of VF (We have hazy, oneiric recollections of Denzel on a beach VF cover somewhere, somewhen, at the turn of the 21st Century; that was before, of course, the embarassing Gretchen Mol VF cover) Well, Graydon stepped up to the plate at long last. VF.com says:

"Jay-Z tells (Lisa) Robinson that the couple have broadened each other musically: 'We exchanged audiences. Her records are huge Top 40 records, and she helped 'Bonnie and Clyde' go to No. 1. What I gave her was a street credibility, a different edge.'

"'Sasha' is the name Beyonc� has given her alter ego, that 'other person' she becomes when she's onstage,' writes Robinson.

"... Beyonc� does admit that it's not always easy working with her father, telling Robinson, 'It's not an easy thing.� We bump heads, we have arguments. People expect me to be a certain way, like a Diana Ross�and they expect my father to be like Joe Jackson, because that's been the pattern when parents manage children. People think that he just controls everything and does everything, but I actually control everything.'"

Bravo Beyonce; Bravo, Graydon. More here.



... Oh no, she didn't (image via gawker)

Out: Cindy Adams' Candy Apple Red Panties. When we think of Cindy Adams' undergarments -- and, we assure you, we aggressively try not to -- Victorian corsets with whale-bone come to mind. Papermag sets us straight on this matter, however; the following is not intended for young audiences.

-- So, there we were, drinking a full-bodied Kenyan blend coffee, doing the diamond sutra, generally feeling full of ourselves, while checking out the Papermag Blogs.

Then it hit us. A bolt from the blue. Everything started spinning. It was like Mr. Mickey had violently suckerpunched us in the solar plexus in the middle of recounting a witty anecdote.

Why?

This, dear readers, is what caused us to expel our coffee at terminal velocity; this, dear reader, is what has The Corsair typing this from the fetal position, sweating furiously:

"Today in Cindy Adams' column, CA, talking about Bush Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, says, 'We won't even discuss fashionistas who are upset with anyone whose Big Day's blue suit featured two brooches, two necklaces and a large button.'

" ... And speaking of Cindy Adams. I was at a brunch at the late, great Eleanor Lambert's gorgeous 5th Avenue apartment and Cindy breezed in wearing a candy apple red suit with matching shoes and bag. She had her little dog Jazzy with her and was done up to the eyeballs. She had her little plate of salad and took a seat on an ottoman or something right in front of me.

"Her skirt was very fitted and pretty short so as she sat down I was treated to a birdseye view of her candy apple red panties. Now that's what Mr. Mickey calls thorough fashion coordination!"

Oh, dear Lord -- No! Auuoughh. We will never again eat candy or apples, or any combination of therein -- or drink Kenyan blend coffee, or listen to Jazz -- it's too redolent of "the bloomers." (The Corsair *shudders*) Too much information!



(image via worth1000)

In: The Fitty Cent European Tour. When last we left Fitty, his entourage had gotten into an altercation -- or two -- in Milan. Plus ca change plus le meme chose. Now, more ultra-violence, this time in the South of France, followed by some "fizzy" to whet the whistle after an afternoon of cracking heads. According to the 3AM Girls:

"Rapper (Fitty) and his crew got into a fracas with fans who tried to storm the tour bus after his gig in the South of France on Tuesday night.

"British tourist Paul Rossiter, who was at the Nice concert, tells us: 'The fans saw the bus at the lights and that was it - they rushed it. They were pulling the doors open and trying to climb in.

"... Apparently some of Fiddy's crew then got out and started fighting with the teens."

Charmed, we're sure:

"An onlooker adds: 'Bottles were flying - it was very scary. The riot police turned up in helmets, waving batons and scattered the crowd.'"

But there is a happy ending to this story -- for Fitty's entourage, at least, if not for the teenagers:

"The singer then went on to Monaco to party at the exclusive Jimmy'z nightclub. A fellow guest reveals: 'They spent a fortune on champagne. They were spraying it about and larking around..'"

Nice. Full story here.



(image via filmgalerie)

Out: The Arthouse-ish "Classic" Division, Over? Is the specialty film division a thing of the past? Eugene Hernandez of the Indiewire Blog paints a bleak, bittersweet picture for the "Classics" division at the Hollywood studios -- the well-beloved SONY Picture Classics notwithstanding:

"I was making the rounds at the Killer Films 10th anniversary party last nigth as buzz intensified about the situation at Paramount Classics. New studio chief Brad Grey had told company co-presidents Ruth Vitale and David Dinerstein ... that he wouldn't be renewing their contracts.

"How fitting that I immediately bumped into Bob Berney and John Sloss, two guys who had considered taking over at Paramount Classics. As the evening wore on and I stepped outside numerous times to take calls and get the story the significance of the news really began to set in. While the stalwart Sony Pictures Classics shows no signs of slowing down, all around them the era of the studio-owned specialty division supporting art, indie and foreign films is over. Fine Line, UA, old Miramax, October...all killed by big Hollywood. The delicate balance of Indiewood, mixing high-profile productions with edgier fare, has paved the way for Hollywood mini-majors like the new Miramax, Fox Searchlight, Focus, Lions Gate, Warner Independent, and now the new Paramount Classics"

The full monte here.