Jezebel: Heroes

Flattery Will Get You Nowhere With Veteran Reporter Helen Thomas

Jessica — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Rory Kennedy's documentary about longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas, Thank You, Mr. President, premiered last night on HBO, and Thomas glowed as the thoughtful, intelligent woman she's widely known to be. Here, she's discussing an interaction with President Richard Nixon during a press conference in the thick of the Watergate controversy. At the beginning of the conference, Nixon congratulates Thomas on becoming the first woman to head UPI's Washington bureau. Thomas was planning on asking Nixon a hardball question, but briefly reconsidered since Nixon had so publicly complimented her. "What would America think?" Helen asked herself. But then she asked herself a more important question: "What are my peers going to think? That flattery will get you everywhere!" Clip above. (Full schedule of other showings here.)

Earlier: "Excuse Me For A Second," But, Helen Thomas Is An American Patriot
Longtime White House Reporter Helen Thomas Is Critical Of Even Her Own Behavior

Gurinder Chadha Looks To Instill Confidence In Young Girls With New Film

Jessica — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:20:00 EDT

At a time when female directors are scarce and really teeny yet smart movies are, according to Maggie Gyllenhaal, "not financeable right now," Bend It Like Beckham's Gurinder Chadha has managed to make a really darling-looking film about the vagaries of being a 14-year-old-girl. Chadha's new movie, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is based on a best-selling YA book, and Chadha used Molly Ringwald's character in Sixteen Candles as a template for her heroine, the fictional Georgia Nicolson. Through this film, Chadha tells the Telegraph, she hopes to "instill confidence in [her young female fans], a sense of self-appreciation — to make them feel they can be spirited and say what they feel." The wholly endearing trailer, full of girls who look like normal teens and not over-rouged Bratz, is after the jump.

Gurinder Chadha Talks About Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging [Telegraph]
Maggie Gyllenhaal Interview [AV Club]

Lois Lee, Founder Of A Half-Way House For Underage Prostitutes, Makes Us Believe In Altruism

Jessica — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:30:00 EDT

For the more cynical among us, it's difficult to believe that someone could be as truly and purely charitable as Dr. Lois Lee. But after reading this profile of Lee in Good Magazine and the organization she singlehandedly founded called Children of the Night, which provides a halfway house for teen prostitutes, Lee's altruism is unassailable. Lee's first experience with underage prostitutes was as a sociology grad student at UCLA in the '70s. Lee attended a conference of the National Hookers’ Union, and there "she met Margot St. James, a former sex worker and a leader in the campaign for legalizing prostitution. James told her about a recent lawsuit won by the American Civil Liberties Union against Alameda County for prosecuting prostitutes and letting customers go free. A light bulb went on in Lee’s head. She returned to Los Angeles, where she filed a lawsuit against the LAPD for the same thing. And won. She was 27."

Since then, Lee has spent all her time advocating for prostitutes, and after meeting hundreds of teen prostitutes on the streets of Hollywood, she shifted her attention towards those under-aged hookers who were most in need of help. According to Kimberly Sevcik writing for Good, "Children who had formerly been locked up in detention centers were instead living on the streets, with no one to provide for them. If they turned to prostitution, as many did, they were no longer eligible to live in a foster home. 'They were falling between the cracks,' says Lee. 'There were no social services available to them.'"

So Lee founded Children of the Night in 1979, first as a drop in center, and then with large grants from Hugh Hefner and Johnny Carson, among others, she turned COTN into the full-fledged shelter it is today. And as a living situation, it's more Oprah than Oliver. At Children of the Night's homestead in Los Angeles, "All of [the former prostitutes'] needs are met, and many of their desires as well. They are flown into Los Angeles from all over the country, and delivered to the shelter in a cab. Upon their arrival, kids are assigned a semi-private bedroom, and issued either a CD player or a DVD player…[They are] also enrolled in school, which is right on-site, and fully accredited. …Residents at COTN get haircuts and manicures at high-end salons that volunteer their services. They attend workshops, where professionals drop in to teach them photography, yoga, meditation, acting, screenwriting, and dance."

Though Lee spends a lot of time fund raising (part of the reason that COTN is so nice is that it is privately funded), she's still at COTN headquarters four days a week. When Sevcik asked Lee what role she plays for the kids, Lee replied tersely, "I'm their mom…[and] their dad." Sevcik also adds that Lee's manner is not airy-fairy. "She is a fast-talking, no-nonsense, Type-A blonde, with an uncanny knack for procuring money and attention for her efforts…he is bracingly unsentimental, and she doesn’t have much patience for those who aren’t. 'Ooey-gooey,' she calls them. She jokes with the girls, she listens to their problems, she offers advice and encouragement—but her style is direct and matter-of-fact."

So to conclude, Lois Lee gets the Jezebel Medal of Honor for the following: advocating for the prosecution of Johns and Pimps as opposed to underage prostitutes who have been screwed by the system; being unafraid to fight the man at the tender age of 27; starting her own truly wonderful charity; and finally, having a no-bullshit, can-do 'tude while she did all of the above.

All-The-Way House [Good Magazine]

Lin Zhao Wrote Poetry In Blood So Her Comrades Could Run Their Liquor-Addled Mouths

Moe — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:00:00 EDT

This is obscure Chinese poet Lin Zhao. She was executed by the Chinese government in 1968, at the age of 36 and the height of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. For the decade or so prior she had been imprisoned, for the crime of not confessing to being a counterrevolutionary. Maybe a half million people died during the Cultural Revolution and Lin Zhao probably would have gone completely forgotten, but for the fact that she'd earned a reputation as being one of the few women at her college who liked to drink and dance and run her mouth, and also the fact that she was so pissed about being locked up and tortured when she'd been such a devoted Communist that she wrote hundreds of thousands of words worth of poetry about it, using her own blood.

Oh yeah, and none of that would have been discovered if an intrepid photographer for state-run news service Xinhua hadn't learned all this upon learning a few stories about Lin and daring to ask the question, "But why would the Party imprison someone so clearly passionate about socialism and the brotherhood of the proletariat?" After all, she had supervised a the execution of a landlord.

No really, he really wondered this. See, your average Chinese college student is almost as ill-informed about the Cultural Revolution as your average American college student. The difference is that your average Chinese college student, upon realizing this, might find something actually wrong with that.

For nearly a month, he had been trying to learn about Lin Zhao, an obscure poet who grew up not far from Nanjing and attended Peking University in the 1950s. A friend told him that of all the students at the school, Lin was the only one who refused to write a political confession during the Anti-Rightist Campaign, Mao Zedong's 1957 purge of Communist Party critics. Her intransigence was rewarded with a prison term, and then a death sentence at the age of 36. But she left behind a secret legacy: She had continued writing in prison, using her own blood as ink.

Hu was stunned. He had never heard a story like Lin's, never imagined that anything like it could happen in China. He began looking into her story and was quickly drawn in. It was as if he had stumbled upon a mystery waiting to be unraveled. Why had she been executed? What did she do?

In essence: she basically just refused to shut her mouth, or succumb to torture and use it to take back everything she said about the Communist Party needing scrutiny and input from dissidents etc. etc.

Hu read feverishly deep into the night. The document was ostensibly a letter to the People's Daily, the party's official newspaper, but it was unlike any letter he had ever seen. Lin condemned the Anti-Rightist Campaign and accused the party of taking advantage of the idealism of her generation. She wrote of the abuse she suffered in prison, of guards who handcuffed her in painful positions and force-fed her through her nostrils. She described how she wrote in blood after they took away her pen, and how the prison saved her writing to use against her. Occasionally the letter deteriorated into an incoherent rant, but every page was brimming with emotion and defiance.

Anyway, an ex-boyfriend of Lin Zhao daringly managed to save the poems, which is more than you can say for all the countless other priceless ancient edifices, artifacts, artistic and literary works and sundry other manifestations of counterrevolutionary thought destroyed during the campaign, and when Hu Jie got hold of them, he decided to film a documentary about Lin. Of course, since China is decades ahead of us on FISA-type tricks, the authorities were onto him, but after a brief chat, they decided not to break his legs or anything. So, the documentary is out and Lin's story can now go on to activate the spirits of that tiny half-percentage of the population interested in things like mob rule and groupthink and the disarming sincerity of the victims of some of history's most incomprehensible acts of cruelty... and maybe what the consequences suffered by people dedicated to the seemingly benign pursuit of the truth can teach us about the present condition.

While leaving the rest of us to ponder such questions as, 'So you think she used her menstrual blood?'

A Past Written In Blood [Washington Post]
Out Of Mao's Shadow [Amazon]
To Remember History: Hu Jie Talks About His Documentaries [Senses Of Cinema]

Mom Saves The Day

maria — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:20:00 EDT

Here is a heroic story to start off the weekend: Louise Zoller, mom of two, was picking up her children from daycare when she walked in on a man with a gun who was searching for his estranged wife, a daycare worker. The children and the teacher were huddled together in a bathroom and instead of freaking out when the man began firing, Louise knocked the gun out of his hand and gave it to police. Unfortunately, the gunman mortally-wounded his ex-wife, who bought the pistol at a pawnshop after he got "frustrated" with their impending divorce. [Reader's Digest]

Heroes' Sexy Kristen Bell Has The Handwriting Of A Hermit; Kidnapper

Anna — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Just how many blondes are there on the show Heroes? And how many of them have been on the cover of Cosmopolitan over the past year? I don't know the answer to that first question — I've never watched the show — but as to the second, the answer is, three. (Someone at NBC primetime publicity is giving his/her bosses their money's worth.) In October, we saw Ali Larter; in April there was Hayden Panettiere; and now, come May, we've got Kristen Bell. The 28-year-old actress, like her predecessors, is not only subject to a short cover profile but the magazine's 'Cosmo Quiz', in which she fills out a questionnaire about her likes and dislikes... and gives us a reason have her handwriting analyzed by graphologist Sheila Kurtz. So how does Kristen come off? The short answer: she's extremely protective, ambitious, intuitive and decent. As for the long answer, well, all that's after the jump.

This writer may be a public personality, but this sample is block printed, the variety of handwriting that tries to keep people from gathering much revealing information from it. (Cursive reveals much more.) Block printing is the choice of ransom note writers for that reason. This writer is very reluctant to allow others to know her until she knows them rather well first.

Furthermore, there are no loops on y's, an indication of a person who may seem to enjoy the company of others, but is very happy, thank you, to be all alone.

The swollen "d" forms signal a person who is acutely conscious of self, and can be wounded by destructive criticism.

Add to this an occasional slant to the left, a sign of one who represses emotions. Mostly the writing is vertical, which indicate a lack of impulsiveness. This writer thinks first, and then takes an action. The straight down-stroke of the y's indicates the determination to make an action succeed.

The bars that cross the "t" stem are placed at the top of the stem, the indication of a person who ambitiously stretches to reach a treetop tall goal. The bars are also heavy, which signals that the writer has the drive (gumption) actually to reach the treetops.

There are umbrella-shaped t bars that indicate extra portions of self-control. The block printing makes it difficult to figure out what the writer has developed controls over. The usual reason to develop such hyper-control is to stifle a recurrent fear, such as stage-fright.

The tops of the "m" forms come very close to needle-points, the sign of a very speedy thinker. Add to this a well developed "gut" intuition that skips over the usual steps of logic to get to trusted conclusions. Intuition accelerates the thinking process and allows the writer to get a handle on other people without much delay. Although some of the answers in this sample may seem dumb, the writer isn't. Some rounded "m" tops indicate that the writer can also be methodical (when absolutely necessary) and there are "V" formation in the m's and n's that signal an analytical mind that will take the time to figure out what's actually what.

Fairly strong final endings to words indicate an ability to make decisions and short t stems signal an independent thinker who makes up her own mind from information she selects.

Clean o's (the middles are without marks or blotches) are a sign of good integrity. The writer lives in the "real" world and abides by most of its rules in a way that is not secretive or devious.

There is what graphologists call a "conscious gesture" —- in this case the z's in "quizzed" are crossed. The writer has either grown up in a European-based country or has adopted the crossed-z as a kind of educated stylistic embellishment.

Sheila Kurtz [Graphology Consulting]
Bell Of The Ball [Cosmopolitan]

Earlier: Dea Cosmo Girl Hayden "Heroes" Panettiere: "Better To Be The Turtle Than The Hare"
•Cosmo Girl Rihanna: "Solitary & Self-Involved"
•Decoding Cosmo Cover Girl Katie Heigl: "She Refuses To Waste Time With Convoluted Crap"
•Cosmo Girl Hilary Duff: Intuitive, Practical And Younger Than She Looks
•Cosmo Girl Beyonce Knowles: Detail-Oriented, Thoughtful, Possibly Power-Hungry
•'Cosmo' Cover Girl Ali Larter: Self-Involved, Stubborn, Easily Distracted

Milan In The '80s: "It Was A Nonstop Party That Soon Became A Bloodbath"

Dodai — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Vice has an interview with Renata Molho, who was a stylist and writer in Milan in the 1980s, a wild time known as Milano da bere or "drinking Milan." Ms. Molho describes an era in which the fashion industry was full of creative people and fresh ideas. Magazine editors didn't cave to the pressure of advertisers; they wrote about the designers, the styles, the fashions that they actually found exciting. "Just think about the power that press offices have today," Ms. Molho says. "They probably dictate 80 percent of what is written. It wasn't so in the '80s. Fashion magazines were made by individuals with taste, or lack of taste, but they expressed opinions."

Then, in the early 90s, it all came crashing down, due to corruption in the Italian parliament, bankruptcy in the cities, deaths from AIDS and a lack of money in general. But Ms. Molho maintains it was great while it lasted. And possibly the fashion magazines were a lot more fun. Plus! Ms. Mohlo has some great insights about working in the industry: "There was a time when quality paid off," she says.

On being a young, low-on-the-totem-pole stylist:

"I instantly learned that the difficult parts of this job are the small ones. When you have the amazing dress and the famous photographer, you don't really have to do any work."

On the vibe in Milan in the 80s:

Easy money, constant partying, and one out of two people in the street was a foreigner. It was a very superficial atmosphere, but it was vibrant. The fashion money funded the arts. Think about the Fiorucci store that was entirely painted by Keith Haring. There was a sensation that everything was possible."

On why no one should go to fashion school:

"These schools today are pretty useless. They are very theoretical. What do you need theory for? Nothing. What you need is experience, to have lived and seen and done other things in life. I taught for a while and I used to tell my students: 'Seeing one picture by Chagall is much more important than reading all the issues of Vogue ever published.'"

On Giorgio Armani, whose biography she penned:

"Studying him and talking to all the people in his life, I think I managed to understand the reasoning behind some of his actions. There's a telling episode in his life. When his life partner, Sergio Galeotti, died, the only daily that mentioned AIDS was Rome's Messaggero. Immediately after that, Armani canceled his advertising account with that paper. It became something of a media scandal. Researching him as a person, I see that as an act of love aimed at the preservation of a man's dignity rather than an act of spite."

On what happened after the magical '80s ended:

"Everything turned into a soulless homage to other things we had seen before. Think about the era of successive revivals that began after the 80s. For example, even today in most runway shows the music is nothing but a mix of 60s, 70s, and 80s music. It's a big empty hole. Nothing is exciting anymore, and most things are tremendously boring. Often, the best things are written by unknown editors and journalists, while the big names seem to sign things off with their left hand. Haven't you noticed that nobody expresses an opinion anymore?"

Here's an opinion: If the pendulum would only swing back the other way, fashion (designers, magazines, ads, models) would be a whole lot less boring.

Drinking Milan [Vice]

Model Behavior

Slut Machine — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Upon learning the news that model/it girl Agyness Deyn will be releasing a single on June 23 on which she sings and New York band 5 O'Clock Heroes backs her, we realized that we've only ever seen pictures of her, and have never heard her voice. Ever. (Even that one time we saw her at a party.) Will the girl that "everyone wants to be" turn out to be the girl that everyone wants to sound like? Yeah, probs not. [NME via ONTD]

More Notable Quotables From Simon Doonan

Jennifer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:30:00 EDT

"No one respects an upward trajectory any more — transcending the grittiness of your home-town and heading for the spangly corsets of the big city. For me there's nothing wrong with being nouveau riche. It's about clawing your way to the top and not clambering down through the sewer. The American dream story is a bit of an old chestnut, but I cling to it." Ah, Simon Doonan: We hear ya. The creative director of Barneys New York spoke with Telegraph's Christopher Turner, and, as usual, he's just rife with musings on everything from his career ("Every motherfucker on earth sees my windows — even homeless people, which appeals to the populist in me") to his childhood ("Being around psychotics definitely influenced my creative sensibility") and the mantra he wishes all women would adapt ("BRUNCH - belligerent, resilient, uninhibited, naughty, creative and hilarious"). More bon mots from our favorite window-dresser and bon vivant, after the jump.

On why he thinks of himself and Kate Moss as kindred spirits:

We're both working-class slags from crap towns.

On how he thinks of his own work:

Hokey street theatre...I think I invented disgustingly messy windows

On being raised by a mother with oft-missing dentures, a parsnip-wine brewing father, a lobotomized grandmother, schizophrenic uncle and blind aunt:

They were self-invented, unconventional, and had no preconceived ideas about parenting [and] a stratospherically high tolerance for unconventional behaviour.

On fellow window-dressers who fancy themselves artists:

[They] should be taken off to internment camps and forced to become artists to see what a drag it is... artists agonise over their line quality and window-dressers agonise over their fashion accessories.

On the modern American celebrity:

Most celebrities are as boring as shit. The way they look, the way they cavort themselves - they look like a bunch of dreary Republican wives going to the country club.

Simon Doonan: All In The Worst Possible Taste [Telegraph]

Earlier: Five Quirky Quips From Wonderfully Wacky Simon Doonan

The Future Of Female Comedies May Sit Squarely On Tina Fey's Shoulders

Jessica — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:40:00 EDT

Despite the "Tina Feytigue" experienced by some media mavens sick of the writer/actress/producer's PhotoShopped face coming at them from the cover of every magazine, I am still deeply psyched for Baby Mama, the Fey/Amy Poehler vehicle coming out on Friday. The Los Angeles Times points out that Universal, the studio that produced Forgetting Sarah Marshall as well as Baby Mama, was much more aggressive in marketing the former because it was a more typical romantic comedy. Lorne Michaels, SNL and BM producer, tells the paper, "Normally [comedies are] about a guy who gets dumped by a pretty girl and ends up with a prettier girl. This is not that."

Because the film is not typical boy-meets-girl fare, the Times is wondering if two women in their late 30s can carry a comedy in a world where 14-year-old boys (and men with 14-year-old mentalities) are the comedy film "sweet spot" of ticket purchasers. Baby Mama has neither big boobs, nor big bombs. Here's what Poehler has to say on the matter: "Everything is a harder sell until it's a success and then it's not." She continues:

What I'm proud of about this film is that there was an actual beginning and middle and end, and characters change and all that kind of stuff. Which is kind of like an actual movie? It's nice to be a part of that. Especially coming from the world with a lot of sketch, where everything is transient and temporary. It's nice to explore an actual arc in an actual film. I like movies that 14-year-old boys like, I like a lot of those. I would hope that they would like the same things I like too.

We all hope, considering that Baby Mama may break or make a new generation of female-centric comedies getting the greenlight.

Fey and Poehler Gamble With 'Baby Mama' [Los Angeles Times]
Tina Feytigue [Videogum]

Earlier: Tina Fey To Amy Poehler: I Wanna Put My Baby Inside You
Tina Fey: Comedienne, Cover Girl And "Great Role Model" For Women

Tina Fey: Comedienne, Cover Girl And "Great Role Model" For Women

Jessica — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EDT

The much-beloved Tina Fey returns to prime time tonight with a brand new episode of 30 Rock, the first since the writers' strike ended. Not only that, but her new movie, Baby Mama hits theaters on April 25, and she's Entertainment Weekly's cover girl on the issue hitting stands tomorrow (she also graces the cover of the May issue of Marie Claire). The accompanying article, by Kristen Baldwin, is five pages long, so we picked out all the juicy quotes and placed them after the jump for your perusal.

Donna Langley, president of production at Universal, on Tina: "Tina really is the new woman who can have it all. [On TV], she navigates a man's world but maintains her own sense of self, she never has to compromise her ideals to get what she wants — yet she's not manipulative or coquettish. In her personal life, she's married, she has a lovely baby, she was the first woman to be the head writer at SNL — she's crossed all these barriers and milestones as a woman, so it makes her a great role model.''

Tina on late night munchies: ''I was playing a game with the camera guys: Guess What's Inside Me. 'Yes, there is Cheez Whiz inside me. Toll House cookies? Yes. Salami? Yes.''' Tina on Baby Mama: ''I liked the topicality of the fertility issues that affect so many people. There's so much weirdness and emotion about it. If you start with something juicy, you end up with a better [movie] than if you just start with some jokes. And Amy liked that it did not have anything to do with a goddamn wedding.''

Tina on Fame: "They should draw up an equation: What level of fame do you need to achieve to keep doing what you want? Because you don't want any more than that. You don't want someone to take a picture of your butt on the beach.... How do you get to be Christopher Guest? Just live your life, make hilarious movies with your friends, and then go home.''

Tina on "Real Women" in film: ''There was a time when Teri Garr was in everything. She was adorable, but also completely real — her body was real, her teeth were real, you felt like she'd be your friend.''

Tina on her big mouth:''Pretty soon my kid's going to understand what I'm saying and be able to access it on the computer. I screwed up something a few months ago and I was like, 'You know who wouldn't do that? Tom Hanks. You know who would keep his mouth shut? Tom Hanks. I should try to be like Tom Hanks.'''

Tina Fey: One Hot 'Mama' [Entertainment Weekly]
Tina Fey - "Marie Claire" May 2008 [Just Jared]

Earlier: Tina Fey To Amy Poehler: "I Wanna Put My Baby Inside You!"
30 Rock's Liz Lemon Drunk Dials, Sings Alanis Morrisette Into A Wine Bottle Microphone

Star Power Is Not (Yet) Enough To Make Liz Claiborne Stylish

Jennifer — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Does anyone buy Liz Claiborne? In December 2006, following years of financial troubles, the company brought on William McComb, a swaggering CEO who knew nothing about the fashion industry but soon realized that a little makeover out of the pages of Management 101 were not going to be enough to revive the struggling brand. McComb's secret weapon, of course, was Project Runway's Tim Gunn, whom he hired as the brand's chief creative officer in March 2007. As the April issue of Fast Company reports, McComb loved Gunn's work in both reality TV and in academia and figured that if Gunn could salvage a paralyzed fashion design program and help create a hit show, surely he could figure out how to make women buy basics from Liz Claiborne again. Or not!

Just this past February, the company's stock fell 18% in a day, proving that Gunn's name was not enough to translate into action at the cash register. Even Gunn's attempts to up the company's fame factor — Isaac Mizrahi was hired to be creative director of the Claiborne womenswear line and John Bartlett hired to oversee menswear soon afterwards — haven't helped. (Sure, the day Mizrahi's new role at the company was announced the company's stock was up 25%, but "much of that evaporated within a few weeks.") It remains unclear on how this acquisition, helmed by Gunn, has done anything to get Claiborne out of the red and into the realm wildly popular. Says Gunn: "I honestly think that in the not-too-distant future, this company will establish new paradigms of operations, the likes of which I don't think this industry has ever seen. I think we're going to be a Harvard Business School case study." Sorry, Tim: I'm a major fan, and I know that your new starpower designers' stuff won't be seen until next spring, but I remain unsold on your products and verbiage, both.

Project Rehab [Fast Money]

Earlier: How Tim Gunn Is Connected To J. Edgar Hoover, And Other Surprises About Project Runway's Favorite Father-Hen

Ali Larter: Lucky Girl

Dodai — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Ali Larter is on NBC hit show Heroes. She's also on the cover of the May 2008 issue of Lucky magazine. And look! She was also on the cover of the March 2007 issue. The magazine that loves to repeat words is also repeating cover models! (They used the word "sophisticated" twelve times in the January issue.) Why does Ms. Larter deserve to be on the cover twice in a little over a year? That's a tough one. But if you're curious whether her shopping habits have changed since last spring, you're in luck (ha)! We compare and contrast her covers and stories from the interior of the magazine — then and now — after the jump.

Left, March 2007 cover line: "Heroes Star Ali Larter: Low-Key, So Glamorous" Right, May 2008 cover line: "Ali Larter: Secrets To Her Gorgeous California-Girl Look"

March cover clothing (left): Zac Posen dress, Bebe cardigan. May cover clothing (right): Banana republic silk shell and belt; Stella McCartney vest; Mason by Michelle Mason pants. March cover makeup: All by Chanel. May cover makeup: All by Revlon.

Her Way, March 2007 (left): "My easiest, never-fail outfit is a plain white tank, old Levi's, and a pair of chic thing sandals." Plus: "Ali MacGraw is inspiring because she consistently manages to look elegant, without being overdone." Her Way, May 2008 (right): "I literally go through at least two pairs of thong sandals a season, so I look for affordable ones that I don't have to worry about tearing up." Store shout-out: "I always have the best luck at Decades vintage in L.A. It's so much fun to wear clothes that have a story behind them."

Her Way, continued, March 2007 (left): "Sometimes I'm just craving a sweet floral print — and Dolce & Gabbana has such gorgeous ones." Store shout-out: "Malgosia is one of my favorite stores in L.A. It sells intricately detailed pieces that don't seem mass-produced." Her Way, continued, May 2008: "I've been channeling Ali MacGraw's fresh, all-American look from the '70s, with pink nails against bronzed skin." Plus: "To me, Jerry Hall's look in the '80s is the pure definition of sexy, with her long, wavy hair and really bold lips." (Hmm, like the March cover!)

Summary: Ali Larter likes thong sandals, floral dresses and Ali MacGraw. And she told us so, last March.

Earlier: Lucky Magazine's Idea Of "Sexy" Simply Isn't
Lucky Magazine's Sexy, Glamorous "Caption Dementia"
Lucky Magazine's Pretty, Sexy, Seriously One-Track Mind
Lucky Magazine's Ultra-Elegant And Sophisticated One-Track-Mind
'Lucky' Magazine's Subtle, Feminine, Chic, Annoyingly One-Track Mind

Personal Style: 10 Ladies Who've Got It!

Jennifer — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

To paraphrase esteemed former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, personal style, like pornography, is one of those things that's hard to define, but we know it when we see it! After the jump, the Jezebel's Top 10 Style Icons: They aren't afraid to take risks, and they always look fresh, chic, modern and crazy sexy cool. We can't wait to share why we love these ladies and their looks with you!

Sarah Jessica Parker
SJP taught us to have fun with fashion. Why not wear a fanny pack with a peasant top and a mini-skirt with feathers coming out of the ass?

Paris Hilton
Class, taste, sophistication: Paris Hilton made a name for herself for doing nothing other than getting dressed and showing up! With a net worth over $5 million, clearly, the lady did something right.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Everything boho was new again when the sisters Olsen piled on the layers and made looking homeless something to aspire too. What came first, the Lagerfeld or the Olsens? Ha!

Nicole Richie
Her Califorina cool style makes us want to throw a bandana around our heads, an easy denim mini around our waists, and get to the beach (and the bar!) ASAP! Baby Harlow optional. ;)

Lindsay Lohan
Girlfriend owns the leggings trend and how sweet it is!

Rachel Zoe
She is so thin. It is so awesome. Also, long flowy dresses are fun!

Miley Cyrus
The youngest style icon on the block, Miley manages to do the near-impossible, creating looks both age-appropriate and aspirational.

Victoria Beckham
A busy mama-of-three, she manages to look polished all the time. This soccer game-watching outfit proves that Posh is always dressed for success!

Lauren Conrad
Jersey dressing was never so easy until Lauren Conrad taught us how!

Amy Winehouse
When she told us to go back to black, we did...and how! Beehives away!

[Images via Bauer-Griffin.]

D.J. AM Doesn't Need A "Trophy Girlfriend" To Remind Him He's No Longer The Country's Fattest Crackhead

Moe — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:30:35 EST

Here's the thing about celebrity media: you think you abhor it, until you find yourself in the middle of a heart-wrenching story about the personal obstacles overcome by DJ AM on page 132 of the February Glamour and you're like, "Damn, I am really lucky to have celebrity culture to complain about all day when there are people in this country raised by abusive closeted fathers who find themselves in "tough love" mind control rehab centers where they're starved and brutally beaten by the age of 14." Because that is DJ AM. His father died of AIDS when he was 16. He was stuck in his "tough love" rehab "house of horrors"until he was 18. He started smoking crack at age 20 and it pretty much ate up all the cash he didn't spend at Mickey Ds.

One night I happened to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It had been at least a year since I'd really looked at myself — I'd started to avoid it because I felt so disgusting — but now I could literally not look away. I was dripping wet because I always sweated [sic] when I smoked crack. I was hugely fat, because whenever I wasn't high I was gorging on food.

He was 323 pounds. Imagine if he hadn't had a crack problem!

So I went into my living room, reached into a cabinet above my TV and grabbed my gun, a loaded .22. I sat back on my heels, cocked it and put it in my mouth. Then I squinted my eyes and said "Fuck this." I pulled the trigger. The gun didn't go off. I thought, Are you fucking kidding me? I'm such a fucking failure I can't even kill myself?

It ends on a positive note, with DJ AM noting that he knew he was better when he "no longer needed a trophy girlfriend or drugs to feel good about myself."

If I go to a restaurant and hear there's a 45-minute wait, my ego wants to say the worst sentence ever: "Do you know who I am?" Which, of course, really means, "Do you know who I think I am?" That's when I have to remind myself of just who that is: a fat crackhead who's lucky to be alive.

Um, wow. Words to live by for us fucking dykes! He's almost as inspiring as Barack Obama. Or maybe even Auntie Anne!

Fergie's Getting Hitched

Jennifer — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:30:00 EST

Fergie and actor Josh Duhamel are engaged. We hope Fergie didn't wet her pants when he proposed! [People]
Good news for society, bad news for Paris Hilton: Paris' grandfather, Baron Hilton, has decided to give 97% of his $2.3 billion fortune to charity when he dies. [Reuters]
Lindsay Lohan spent Christmas Eve with Adrian Grenier at his Brooklyn apartment, but they're definitely not a couple. [Page Six]
Also, Lindsay's dad called paparazzi photographers to tip them off to his reunion meeting with Lindsay at the Mercer Hotel. Aw, sweet! [Gatecrasher]
Also: Lindsay's ex, Riley Giles, is selling his personal photos of her to the tabs. Again: How sweet! [MSNBC]
Pete Doherty gave Amy Winehouse's husband Blake Fielder-Civil some tips on how to make the best of his prison time. Fielder has also asked Doherty to look out for Winehouse. Oh lord: Not a one of them stands a chance! [The Sun]

Will Smith: Scientologist? [Page Six]
Move over, Fergie: I Love New York star Tiffany "New York" Pollard is also engaged: Her future intended is show winner George "Tailor Made" Weisberger... [People]
...who is apparently already cheating on her. [Gatecrasher]
Courtney Love is moving to New York. She bought a townhouse in the West Village. She says on her MySpace blog, "itllcost ...alot...to returjn it to a house biut fbc doesnt need to have all that space til she moves here at 18." [Gothamist]
But whatever will Courtney fill all that space with after having been robbed yesterday? [Perez Hilton]
Ah, nevermind: The stolen goods have been returned. [Perez Hilton]
Britney had to return the kids back to K-Fed after spending Christmas with them. The exchange of progeny took place at a Starbucks, naturally. [Daily Mail]
Johnny Depp: Too emotionally scarred to ever marry again. [MSNBC]
Top Chef host / former model/former Mrs. Salman Rushdie Padma Lakshmi dnies that she and "financier" Teddy Forstmann are dating. [Page Six]
Drew Barrymore and her boyfriend Justin "Mac Guy" Long: Definitely together, united against parking tickets. [Page Six]
Leonardo DiCaprio and Bar Rafaeli are definitely back together. [Gatecrasher]
Also a couple: Gossip Girl co-stars Blake "Serena van der Woodsen" Lively and Penn "Dan Humphrey" Badgley. [MSNBC]
Jennifer Aniston reportedly celebrated Christmas with real-life best Friend Courteney Cox Arquette. [Daily Mail]
Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown has won the custody battle for her daughter against her ex-husband, Jimmy Gulzar. Which is good, 'cause it's so much more effective when the Spice Girls sing "Mama" in their reunion tour when their very own kids are front and center. [TMZ]