Billy Crystal Replaces Eddie Murphy as Oscars Host
Stateside hipsters are counting the days to the November 21 opening of Gaga’s Workshop, the dedicated holiday space crafted by Lady Gaga and Nicola Formichetti at the Madison Avenue flagship of Barneys New York. Until then, the fine fashionistas at Refinery 29 offered a quick report of Chanel’s holiday window display titled Christmas: Dreams of Far Away at the landmark Printemps department store in Paris. Karl Lagerfeld and the lovely Vanessa Paradis unveiled the windows that feature New York City and Moscow in addition to Paris as well as puppets in the likeness of Lagerfeld. Belle!
Novelist Lee Polevoi wrote a gushing review of James Wolcott’s Lucking Out: My Life Getting Down And Semi-Dirty in Seventies New York for Highbrow Magazine. Polevoi described Wolcott’s five, extended essays about launching his writing career in seventies New York as “Proustian,’ arguably the best compliment one can give a memoir. Granted, Polevoi admitted that the graffiti-sprayed, gritty glamour of seventies New York breathed life into Wolcott’s remembrances. It also helped that Wolcott’s tales involved movie screenings with Pauline Kael and concert reviews of Patti Smith at CBGB’s.
Angry Birds fans lined up at the first store dedicated to the wireless game phenomenon courtesy of Rovio Mobile in its home town of Helsinki, Finland. TechCrunch reported on the opening and the shelves stuffed with authentic Angry Birds merchandise including a cookbook, a school kit and plenty of stuffed animals. Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka previously confirmed plans for the next Angry Birds store in China. Fingers crossed that Angry Burds stores become as ubiquitous as Old Navy.
Veteran director and producer Brett Ratner made tsunami-sized Hollywood waves by resigning Tuesday as the co-producer of the 2012 Academy Awards telecast due to an anti-gay comment he made at a post-screening Q&A for his comedy Tower Heist as well as a racy follow-up interview with Sirius XM Radio host Howard Stern.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ratner’s resignation led to host Eddie Murphy stepping down (Ratner personally asked Murphy to be master of ceremonies). Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer replaced Ratner and Billy Crystal agreed to replace Murphy and host the Oscars for a ninth time.