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Drew Grant

By Drew Grant 2/22 4:29pm

New York Yankees

Is that a whiff of bubblegum and stale beer?

Smell Like Yankees Stadium: New Scent For Baseball Fans Evokes Childhood Memories, Sweaty Men

Merchandizing! It's as natural for the world of professional sports as it is for a Kardashian (or anyone else who sleeps with a member of a professional sports team). Jerseys, hats, kosher hot dogs (actually, scratch that last one), baby clothes...these chintzy, overpriced gifts make up a major part of the revenue for any red-blooded American league.

That's not to say that there haven't been missteps in marketing over the years. (Nascar scrubs, anyone?) And last night, going to the fragrance launch of The New York Yankees (and the more feminine The New York Yankees for Her) over at Catch Roof, we were expecting nothing less than a full-on flop. Why would anyone try to bottle and sell the rank sweat of a baseball stadium? And what women in her right mind would buy it?
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By Drew Grant 2/22 11:28am

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Dominique Strauss-Kahn's honest hooker mistake (Getty Images)

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Arrested, Lawyer Defies You to Tell the Difference Between a Nude Prostitute and a Nude Classy Woman

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is officially in hot water again, as French officials arrested the former International Monetary Fund chief yesterday , he could go down Al Capone-style. It wasn't that he participated in partner-swapping sex parties, you see, it was that some of these naked women might have been paid for the pleasure of the 62-year-old's company. Orgies? Well he's just being French! But prostitution? Merde!

Meanwhile, Mr. Strauss-Kahn's lawyer had an interesting take on the issue.

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By Drew Grant 2/21 5:25pm

celebrities and drugs

David Cross (Getty Images)

David Cross Only Did a Little Bit of Cocaine at Obama’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner

It would be hypocritical for us to wag a finger at David Cross for divulging to Playboy that he had snorted "a granule" of cocaine during the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2009, because who hasn't just fallen face-first into mind-altering substances during a celebrity-filled function before? It happens!

However, we do take issue with how self-righteous Mr. Cross--last seen slamming a producer for being the human embodiment of a negative Jewish stereotype--gets whenever talking about politics or narcotics. Combine the two, and it's almost like listening to the Bizarro Glenn Beck.

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By Drew Grant 2/21 4:08pm

Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham in 'Girls' (HBO)

A Video Primer for Lena Dunham’s Upcoming Apatow/HBO Collaboration, Girls

Are you very excited for HBO's April premiere of Girls, written and directed by New York indie film darling Lena Dunham and produced by Judd Apatow? Because it has a trailer now!

Hard to believe, but a lot of people outside of New York and Los Angeles still don't know who the 25-year-old is, or why she will be appearing on their television sets. If they have heard of her, it's because of her SXSW hit, Tiny Furniture, or the multiple profile pieces it spawned. (Not to mention the news that Mr. Apatow had taken Ms. Dunham under her wing, not just for Girls but as a leading lady in his Knocked Up spin-off, This is 40.)
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5 By Drew Grant 2/21 2:32pm

socialites

Prince Pierre Casiraghi with Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, pre-fight (Patrick McMullan)

Updated: Was Paris Hilton’s Ex Stavros Niarchos to Blame for Bottle Service Battle and Prince Casiraghi’s Broken Jaw?

Updated: An earlier edition of this item suggested that Ms. Hilton was at the club at the time of the assault. She was in Las Vegas, celebrating her birthday and winning a lot of money. The New York Observer apologizes for the error.

Today's biggest headline in the New York Post wasn't about Jeremy Lin or Cardinal Tim Dolan. How refreshing! Instead, the story of the day is about a spat at the Meatpacking Club Double Seven club on Saturday night, between former owner of Hawaiian Tropic Zone, Adam Hock, and a group of very young adults with very old money. The night ended with a sprained shoulder for Mr. Hock and an alleged broken jaw for 24-year-old Prince Pierre Casiraghi, the grandson of Grace Kelly. Mr. Hock is now being charged with four counts of third-degree assault.

Fights between socialites and bar owners are usually relegated to Page Six. So how did Emily Smith's team make Saturday's punch-up front page news? The answer might lay in a throw-away reference to the rest of the prince's posse.


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By Drew Grant 2/21 12:06pm

Smash

Video

They should just change the shows title to 'Splash'

Anjelica Huston Loves Throwing Water on People! (Video)

We were a little put out after watching the pilot for NBC's "hit new show(tm)" Smash and finding out that not once in the entire first episode did Anjelica Huston throw a glass of fluid in someone's face.

The previews for the show had lied to us, because we distinctly remember an entire commercial dedicated to what looked like a super-cut of her character, Broadway producer Eileen Rand, splashing people (usually her ex-husband) like she was on a really classy version of Punk'd. Luckily, the subsequent two episodes have had a lot more pizzazz. Look at that guy's face! Every time! Womp-womp!
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By Drew Grant 2/21 10:20am

Drugs

Just one more hit, and we're ready to face the world!

AeroShot Plans to ‘Fully Cooperate’ with F.D.A. Investigation on Caffeine Inhalers

As people who have personally experimented with the AeroShot, the breathable caffeine inhalers (to varied degrees of success), we have our own opinions of its relative safety as the latest club drug. Just like we have our own opinion on Senator Charles "Kill all the Fun Things" Schumer, who this weekend teamed up with the F.D.A. to launch a full-scale investigation into the safety of the Breathable Food product.

But now that this ball is in motion, AeroShot's founder Tom Hadfield is agreeing to comply with the government examination of his product.

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By Drew Grant 2/20 9:00am

Jeremy Lin

SNL tackles Linmania (NBC)

Saturday Night Live Breaks with Tradition to Tackle Jeremy Lin Racism in Cold Open (Video)

It's a testament to how big Linmania has become when Saturday Night Live takes a break from opening their show with a political parody in order to address the racial issues surrounding the Knicks' point guard.

On this weekend's episode, the first sketch of the evening was a play on the double standard of talking about race in sports: while talking about Jeremy Lin during New York Sports Now segment, Jay Pharoah and Keenan Thompson cracked about "Me Love You Long Time" and "Wax on, Wax off, Mr. Miyagi!" Meanwhile the Caucasian Taran Killam got blasted any time he tried to make a similar joke about an African-American player.

Funny! And relevant, thanks to the ESPN-shaped elephant in the room that SNL writers must have hastily written into the sketch in order to make the comedy bit work.
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By Drew Grant 2/17 4:07pm

Nicolas Cage

Video

Nicolas Cage: Vampire? (CBS)

The Cage Doth Protest Too Much: Nicolas Cage Reiterates That He is NOT a Time-Traveling Vampire (Video)

If you haven't been keeping track of the topsy-turvy adventure that is the Nicolas Cage promotional tour for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, then you aren't maximizing this Friday to its fullest WTF potential.

From finally confronting those rumors that he's a vampire ("It's possible") to comparing his skills with that of Led Zeppelin, to saying that he's definitely not a vampire, take 10 minutes and remind yourself why Cagemania was the original Linsanity.
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3 By Drew Grant 2/17 12:47pm

Sheenstorm

Charlie Sheen refuses to sip from Ashton's Appletini

Charlie Sheen Betrays Two and a Half Men Successor by Courting Demi Moore, TMZ: ‘I’m Tired of Pretending Ashton Doesn’t Suck’ (Video)

Backstabber! Just last month, Charlie Sheen was praising his Two and a Half Men replacement, Ashton Kutcher, for following in his footsteps and completely falling apart the classy way he was handling tabloid pressure. (Since joining the show, Mr. Kutcher has separated from wife Demi Moore after illicit, drug-fueled photos of him with other women began cropping up.)

"I was kind of impressed... I thought, 'Hey, man, make it colorful!'" Mr. Sheen said about Mr. Kutcher's exploits. He'd previously given Mr. Kutcher his blessing on taking over for him on the show as well.

But Charlie Sheen, truth-sayer that he is, couldn't contain his contempt for Kutcher and CBS during a TMZ phone interview yesterday.
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By Drew Grant 2/17 11:59am

Broadway

Julie Taymor makes Spidey spin green (Getty Images)

Julie Taymor’s $10k-a-Week Settlement for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

There's one less lawsuit plaguing the cast of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark today, as the theater-director union decided yesterday to settle claims in favor of Julie Taymor to continue receiving royalties for the production, despite the fact that she was booted out of her director's chair back in March. The New York Post reports that this decision could lead to $10k a week for the rest of Spidey's run.

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