Police say that they are currently working with a "large amount" of evidence to find Le's killer. Officials revealed they are looking at a suspect, but it is not Le's fiance. • The suspect is apparently a student, though "not necessarily a Yale student," who has suspicious wounds. • Kidnapper Phillip Garrido's bail has been set at $30 million. • His wife Nancy, meanwhile, has been placed in isolation after other inmates threatened to rape and kill her. • Judi Dench will donate the set from Shakespeare in Love — which was given to her by the filmmakers and is currently in storage — to a Shakespeare Company in northern England for use as an actual theater. • U.S. officials say they are in the process of approving a HPV vaccine for men. Like Gardasil, which is administered solely to women, the vaccine will protect against genital warts, come in three doses, and cost $375. • An ad network rejected Tucker Max's ads — sample line: "Sexism isn't the same as misogyny, you stupid bitch." — because they violated policy of not running "garbage." • 'Researchers have found that particular types of fat can cause the brain to ignore the messages coming from insulin and leptin that tell us when we are full, which leads to overeating. The study, performed on rodents, found that the effects of high-fat foods can last up to three days. •  Oh, god: Police in Bangladesh are investigating the marriage of a 13-year-old girl to a 75-year-old moneylender. They believe the girl was sold by her parents as payment for her father's debts. • This Daily Fail article, about women searching for their keys, seems a little too alarmist and sensationalistic for my taste. It basically screams big purses will get you raped, with absolutely no evidence other than the fears of several survey respondents. • The Fail also says men lie an average of six times a day — twice as often as women — and lies include "claiming their partner's behind doesn't look too big." • Due to a field that's "deeper in talent and geographic diversity" than it was a few years ago, women's tennis is doing well despite the recession. • And tennis-playing sisters Elizabeth and Mary Profit may be following in the Williams sisters' footsteps, despite Elizabeth's diabetes and living in an RV. • The awesome blog Sociological Images has uncovered a fascinating video series called "Consuming Kids," which explores the commercialization of childhood. The clips are enlightening, but be warned, you will come out feeling even more jaded and cynical. • The press won't be allowed into Sarah Palin's upcoming speech in Hong Kong — this way she can say anything she wants without those nasty reporters pestering her about the truth. • Though Pakistan's fighter pilots were all male until six years ago, seven women are now trained to fly for the Pakistani Air Force. Says cadet Anam Faiq, "We're more hardworking, more consistent and more patient" than men. • Judi Dench has kindly donated the entire set from the film Shakespeare in Love to a British theater company. The oak-timbered set was modeled on London's 16th-century Rose Theater, and will be now used as a "living history center." • Roy Colton, 75, is a former coal miner, and possibly Britain's oldest transsexual. Colton began living openly as a woman when she was 70, and has since changed her name to Rachel. • Radio host Neal Boortz, who once called Katrina refugees "debris," said that Obama addressing Wall Street today was "like sending a child molester to speak to a kindergarten class." • Samantha Orobator left prison several weeks ago to give birth in a hospital. Orobator has still not revealed who the father is, but there are rumors that John Watson, another prisoner, could have impregnated the 20-year-old. •

Notes Vanessa O'Connell of the WSJ, blogger Kelly Cook of Bagsnob.com has the YSL bag, which weighs 17 pounds when full. Ms. Cook suffers from chronic back pain.We've already talked about what it is we carry; the question is why do we need to carry so much? Why are bags so big? It would be one thing if designers produced huge purses and no one bought them — but giant bags are a hit. In a world where gadgets are getting smaller and on-trend celebrities getting thinner — what's with the wrist-snapping bags? (One thought: Maybe since the price of one of these bags could feed a third-world family for a month or two, a pinched nerve is penance?)

Extreme Baggage [Wall Street Journal]
Earlier: What's In Your Bag?
Does The Average Woman Really Have 21 Handbags?
My Week With A $4000 Snakeskin Handbag

Related: Fela Kuti: Expensive Shit/He Miss Road [Amazon]

Solomon begins at Chanel, highlighting the venerable French brand's classic handbag ($3,150). A passerby admits that she is going to score one by simply asking her mom to buy it for her. (Gotta love spoiled New York bachelorettes!) Some Swedish tourists explain that they're shopping at Chanel because it's cheaper here than in Sweden (damn dollar!) Solomon goes on to point out that unlike a house in the Hamptons or a painting, you can take a bag with you where ever you go — so everyone can see your status symbol. Wielding a $1,700 patent purse at Prada, she asks, "when did bags start to cost as much as cars?" Actually, Ms. Solomon, it's been a while, at least since 1998, when the Fendi baguette spiked in popularity thanks to Sex And The City.


But for us, the moment of clarity comes when unnamed guy says, "You reach a level. You have a house. If you got any brains you have the house first, and then you get the Prada. But getting the Prada while you're in a small apartment? You've got the priorities wrong." Those words stung. Even though ours is Dior and not Prada. We're totally guilty of buying into the luxury brand brainwashing even though we know it's evil. We're not Carrie Bradshaw, with $40,000 worth of shoes and no savings account, but we have made some absurd purchases that made perfect sense. And what that guy doesn't understand is that we're living in a world in which we're constantly being judged. No one can see your wit from across the room. The basis of who we are begins with what we wear. And that can include a well-chosen, well-made, tasteful handbag that just happens to be expensive. Also, some of us have a bag problem. We're working on it, okay? (And by that we mean thinking about buying another bag.) Anyway, here are the top 5 rationales we use when considering expensive shit:

• 1. It's classic. (For the next 6 months, anyway!)
  
• 2. It's so me. (Not taking my credit limit into account!)
  
• 3. I'll use it forever. (Or at least until it falls apart, gets lost or I fall in love with something else!)
  
• 4. You can't get it anywhere else. (eBay be damned!)
  
• 5. It makes me happy. (Momentarily!)

Handbag Sales Boost LVMH [Financial Times]
Handbag Sales Boost Burberry Revenues [Financial Times]
The Power Of The Purse [NY Times]
Earlier: Does The Average Woman Really Have 21 Handbags?

I was feeling super proud for rousing myself out of bed on this rainy Wednesday in order to attend a yoga class in Union Square (this close to achieving a headstand, woohoo!), but my efforts were totally overshadowed by the huge crowd of people lined up outside (and around the block) of the neighborhood Whole Foods. Was there a sale on the normally $6-bucks a pound grapes or something? I asked one of the many fashion-y girls waiting in line and clutching half a dozen shopping bags what the deal was. "I'm not a plastic bag," she snipped.

Yeah that's obvious! Oh wait! She was referring to that tote bag by designer Anya Hindmarch that's been the must-have handbag for suddenly-green celebrities. Wow, 200+ environmentalists waiting in line for hours in the torrential rain just so they can grocery shop without the weight of planetary erosion on their conscience? They must be more in touch with the Earth Goddess than me and my headstand! Except for the fact that this $15 bag is produced in sweatshops, is already being auctioned off on eBay for the unethical and retarded sum of $255, and is undoubtedly going to be swathed in a plastic one to protect it from getting wet. But being that I Am Not A Politically Correct Shopper, I suddenly realized I want one for myself. Uh, do you guys know if they're sold-out yet?

We love a nice handbag as much as the next person, but Jesus Christ, people! According to today's WWD, our obsession with luxury handbags has grown to such a fever-pitch that luxury retailers (and the well-preserved women who love them) are entering a proverbial arms race with regards to price and design. Says the paper:

Designer handbag prices have been on a steep climb for several years, ranging from $1,000 up to a whopping $148,000, and many retailers and designers said they weren't even close to reaching the proverbial glass ceiling.

"It's been astonishing how high a price point we are being able to sell, and not a few but a lot of handbags at these prices," said Lundgren. "I don't know that there's a specific limit [as to how much a consumer will spend]. It needs to have a uniqueness and specialness to it"

According to WWD, fault can be found squarely on the shoulders of the middle-class:

"The luxury sector has become democratized over the last few years, so in order to stay on top, you need to go up and up and up," said a spokeswoman for Louis Vuitton, adding the essence of luxury today is "to be even more luxurious," with products attaining more sophisticated and "couture-like" heights each season.

Hmm. So maybe we shouldn't have laughed when our friend's writer-mom told us the other day that she thinks that handbags are symbolic stand-ins for vaginas. After all, with all the designer pussies out there now, we wouldn't totally shocked if Park Avenue socialites started outfitting their vaginas in Lamberston Truex crocodile.