"The White House late Friday announced it would impose high tariffs on imports of Chinese tires in a case seen as the first test of trade policy under President Barack Obama. A 35 percent duty will be set on the tires from China for a year, followed by a 30 percent tariff for a second year and a 25 percent tariff for a third year. The tariffs come in addition to a 4 percent tariff already applied. The petition for the tariffs was brought by the United Steelworkers union, which argued that increased imports from China had led to the closure of U.S. plants and elimination of U.S. jobs. Labor groups had urged Obama to impose the relief, which represents the first time a 'safeguard' mechanism approved by Congress in 2000 has been used. The safeguard was included in a law that provided China with more favorable trade terms when it joined the World Trade Organization. Former President George W. Bush rejected several petitions during his presidency." (TheHill)
"Horror and comedy are the best arguments for the superiority of the cinema experience over the small screen, in that you can hear and see whether people around you are enjoying themselves or not. They unite the community. Camp works best in theaters too—you don't see too many people renting The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Netflix. Also high on the list of circumstances that can affect your opinion of a movie is whether or not Megan Fox is in the audience. No wonder I was so pleasantly surprised at the midnight premiere of Jennifer's Body, a campy horror-comedy starring Megan Fox, who was in attendance, as were screenwriter Diablo Cody, director Karyn Kusama, stars Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons and Adam Brody, and producer Jason Reitman, who directed Cody's Oscar-winning first screenplay, Juno, two years ago. Toronto's midnight crowd—a mix of industry folk, press, and panting, drooling Fox-hounds—was energized, cat-calling and cackling before the lights went down, and responding to the anti-piracy warning with a hearty 'Arrrrgh!' and a 'Shiver me timbers!' 'This movie is a tribute to the fierce power of estrogen,' said Kusama, who has made a specialty of directing stories about tough women, from Girlfight to Aeon Flux to The L Word. The movie's opening line echoed her statement: 'Hell is a teenage girl.'" (VanityFair)
"Wow, so Thursday night was pretty terrific, with mobs of people out on the street. It reminded me of Halloween, except with fashion vans, candy trucks and balloons. We started out at the Opening Ceremony party, which was my favorite of the mix. We love Opening Ceremony with a passion. We saw Humberto and had a lovely moment with Phillip Lim. What more can one say; that was pretty sweet. There were ties being served like cigarettes, the new Pendelton line was front and center -- amazing, cute boys, cute girls. Next stop was OAK on Bond Street. All of Bond Street was pretty bumping. I saw some pretty crazy carni stuff happening on the street along with individual style maxed out. We stumbled over to a few other stops on Bond. The whole street was a giant party." (Lindsay Jones and Gautier Pellegrin/Papermag)
"Talk about fire hazards: Bouncers were simultaneously kicking people out of and barricading the tween-packed café where the Olsen twins were making drinks (read: pouring premixed drinks into a cup and asking patrons in line to pass them back). One of said tweens' experience inside: 'I told Ashley that I loved her and she smiled and said 'Thank you.' Thank you — the correct celebrity response to the completely unexpected I love you." (Esky)
"The Beatles: Rock Band has been getting all the buzz this week, but that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about all the other music games out there, particularly with news like this: Legendary punk rocker Iggy Pop is going to play a prominent role in Lego Rock Band. LRB plays like the other Rock Band games, except that it replaces the cascading notes with Lego blocks, and adds Lego-centric challenges such as toppling over towers of blocks with well-strummed guitar riffs. Iggy will instruct you in LRB’s in-game tutorial and will be a playable (and, true to his image, shirtless) character in the game. While Iggy is certainly one of the stranger choices to endorse a game aimed at young pretend-rockers — really, how many kids actually know who Iggy Pop is? — his inclusion is consistent with the wry quirkiness that’s become the trademark of other Lego videogames like Lego Star Wars and Lego Batman." (Popwatch)
"Worlds collided yet again last night at the Oakley pre-VMAs gifting suite and we discovered that we’d been preceded by whirling dervish Janice Dickinson, a.k.a. the World’s First Supermodel. According to witnesses, Dickinson swept into the room at around 5 p.m. and loudly announced to no one in particular, 'I’ve been drinking margaritas!' Then she would sit down and stand up, or stand up and sit down, each time declaring, 'I’m sitting down!' or, 'I’m standing up!' depending on the action required. Eight members of her posse loaded up on goodies, including her driver, who snuck out of the room with at least five pairs of free shades." (NYMag)
"Wednesday evening, the extended Vogue crew packed into Diane Von Furstenberg's vibrant Meat Packing boutique to toast Amanda Brooks and the release of her book, I Heart Your Style. A sharply written guide devoted to mastering any look, the livre (which you can find featured in The Daily Front Row) outlines the aesthetics of icons from Jackie O to Bardot, as well as Brooks's personal fashion mentors. 'I love the way Amanda dresses. I think everybody does. She's really original in her look and wears interesting things. She's even chic in her pajamas!' gushed Amy Astley while standing next to a Thakoon-clad Bee Shaffer." (Fashionweekdaily)
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