BeansTalk Biz : Today’s newsletter appears earlier since we’re going to two pre-MTV Award events, the Luxury Lounge in Bel Air and the Silverspoon Beauty Buffet in Hollywood. We’ll be sure to let you know of any new and cool products we come across.
Sad News: Princess Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd has died in Scotland today. She was 68 and had been suffering from a degenerative brain disease. As royal expert Alicia Carroll told us this morning, Kydd had a particularly sad life. In the seven years since Diana's death, she'd only seen her grandsons by Diana, Harry and William, a handful of times (and had not seen Harry in the last two years). She had no say in her daughter's funeral, and it was alleged she was estranged somewhat from Diana right before her daughter's death in a car accident. Kydd was completely ostracized from the royal family, allegedly beaten by her first husband (Diana's father). Her own mother, Lady Ruth Fermoy took Kydd's husband's side, which helped his cause and he was awarded custody of their four children. Until right before her death, she lived alone in a detached bungalow on the Scottish Island of Seil.
Potter Phenom: Everyone around here is super excited about the newest Harry Potter film opening tomorrow. There’s excellent information at http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/harrypotter/. We’ll post a review (something new!) as soon as we see it. Chris Columbus, director of the first two films, attended the London premiere of Alfonso Cuaron’s Potter directorial debut (the latest). Mike Newell is already on board to direct the fourth Potter installment. Newell directed “Mona Lisa Smile” and “Pushing Tin,” as well as “Enchanted April” and more famously, “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”
Father’s Day: Still looking for ideas for Father’s Day gifts? Think of gift certificates to bookstores or CD shops, or go the other way and consider jewelry. Neiman Marcus may be touting David Yurman pieces, but who wears cufflinks these days? A great site to find super deals is Goldspeed www.goldspeed.com. They have the gorgeous and substantial Invicta Lupahs at the best price around – we’ve bought from them and it was a pleasant transaction all around.
Hudson’s Back: All those nasty tabloids (think In Touch Weekly) that slammed poor Kate Hudson’s post-baby weight can just shut up, because she was out in L.A. last night at the premiere of "The New Power" at Forbidden City, looking super slender and gorgeous in a navy blue fitted frock with lace overlay at the bosom. We hope she didn’t just cave to pressure, because she looks great at any weight. The dress also featured lace pleated insets at the bottom for a flirty, quirky, very “Kate” touch.
Fashion Notes: White, white, white. It’s still strong and popular – Naomi Watts was at that same premiere wearing a full-on white silk suit. White tank tops, of the lingerie variety (Holly Fields, same event) and of the more casual are also being worn at Hollywood industry events.
Kaley Cuoco (yes, at that same event) was wearing a baby pink version of the Juicy strapless terry cloth ruched top, made popular by Sarah Jessica Parker (hers was green) in the last season of “Sex and the City.” It retails for a relatively affordable $98 and we’ve seen it at Nordstroms. However, if you go to your local mall shop (we go to Style Express in Culver City at the Culver Center) you can get a perfect knockoff for a mere $11.99 – seriously.
At the “Six Feet Under” premiere in Hollywood last night, Rachel Griffiths (also back to gorgeous pre-baby weight) was wearing a very pale lavender silk “tux” coat, ideal summer color and red-carpet casual. Lauren Ambrose chose a geometric silk dress, that perfectly complemented her pretty light red hair.
Meanwhile, Mena Suvari (who has a recurring role on “Six Feet” this new season) opted for major va-va voom, with a fushia silk concoction, with hankerchief edges and a low cut scoop in front.
Most people may not look good with a very close cropped elven haircut and may regret going super short (perhaps Kirsten Dunst and best buddy Maggie Gyllenhaal? We think they’re still beautiful) but wow, Edie Falco, out at the Pierre Hotel in NYC for the The "Forget-Me-Not" Gala Benefitting The Alzheimers Association NYC Chapter looks STUNNING. The cut is perfect for her face. Now there’s a lady who knows how to handle a break-up.
You usually see Diane Sawyer out at evening events in a tasteful, but unexceptional pantsuit (and always elegant), but she was out in NYC last night at Cipriani's at the Second Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala in an amazing single shoulder white flowing dress that made her look like a movie star. Very nice choice.
Mini J-Lo Raquel Castro had to walk the red carpet alone at the London premiere of “Jersey Girl” since Ben Affleck apparently has bronchitis. She looked sweet and lovely in a black background floral print sundress with a kerchief edged bottom and her hair a frothy mass of curls. Was Affleck really sick or was he avoiding the inevitable questions from the aggressive British press about Jennifer Lopez and her now-divorced new boy toy Marc Anthony?
Latest Look in Handbags: The most recent addition to the Lauren Scherr handbag collection is the SASHA handbag. This kidney-bean shaped satin bag is adorned with two velvet daisies placed on the sides of the purse to allow it to slip easily an arm and contour to the body.
A touch of sparkle from the daisies’ Swarovski crystal centers adds a twinkle. SASHA offers a roomier shape and the sturdy fabric exterior is ideal for more everyday wear. Scherr is known for her bag as art style evening bags frequently carried by celebs like Wendie Mallick and Melissa Joan Hart.
Lauren Scherr says she created the bag as a more practical accessory: “I choose colors, shapes, fabric textures, florals, feathers or crystals in varying degrees knowing that women will make a personality statement when choosing my creations.”
Lauren Scherr handcrafted originals are favorites of Sarah Jessica Parker, Naomi Watts and Renee Zellweger, among others.
SASHA is available in chocolate satin with crème velvet daisies and shiny, crystal-clear Swarovski centers; Navy satin with fuchsia velvet daisies and Capri blue Swarovski crystals and Eggplant satin, fuchsia velvet daisies and heliotrope Swarovski crystals.
Attention Fans of Musicals: The Tony Awards are this Sunday. Here’s a list of nominees, FYI:
BEST MUSICAL
Wicked
Avenue Q
Caroline, or Change
The Boy from Oz
BEST PLAY
I Am My Own Wife
Frozen
The Retreat from Moscow
Anna in the Tropics
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL
Assassins
Wonderful Town
Big River
Fiddler on the Roof
BEST PLAY REVIVAL
A Raisin in the Sun
Henry IV
Jumpers
King Lear
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Hugh Jackman, The Boy from Oz
Alfred Molina, Fiddler on the Roof
Hunter Foster, Little Shop of Horrors
John Tartaglia, Avenue Q
Euan Morton, Taboo
BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Tonya Pinkins, Caroline, or Change
Donna Murphy, Wonderful Town
Idina Menzel, Wicked
Kristin Chenoweth, Wicked
Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Avenue Q
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A PLAY
Jefferson Mays, I Am My Own Wife
Kevin Kline, Henry IV
Frank Langella, Match
Christopher Plummer, King Lear
Simon Russell Beale, Jumpers
BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Phylicia Rashad, A Raisin in the Sun
Tovah Feldshuh, Golda's Balcony
Swoosie Kurtz, Frozen
Eileen Atkins, The Retreat from Moscow
Anne Heche, Twentieth Century
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Raul Esparza, Taboo
Michael Cerveris, Assassins
John Cariani, Fiddler on the Roof
Denis O'Hare, Assassins
Michael McElroy, Big River
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Anika Noni Rose, Caroline, or Change
Isabel Keating, The Boy from Oz
Jennifer Westfeldt, Wonderful Town
Beth Fowler, The Boy from Oz
Karen Ziemba, Never Gonna Dance
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Brian F. O'Byrne, Frozen
Tom Aldredge, Twentieth Century
Ben Chaplin, The Retreat from Moscow
Aiden Gillen, The Caretaker
Moar Metwally, Sixteen Wounded
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Audra McDonald, A Raisin in the Sun
Margo Martindale, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Essie Davis, Jumpers
Sanaa Lathan, A Raisin in the Sun
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Anna in the Tropics
BEST DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Joe Mantello, Assassins
George C. Wolfe, Caroline, or Change
Kathleen Marshall, Wonderful Town
Jason Moore, Avenue Q
BEST DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Jack O'Brien, Henry IV
Moises Kaufman, I Am My Own Wife
David Leveaux, Jumpers
Doug Hughes, Frozen
BEST SCORE OF A MUSICAL
Stephen Schwartz, Wicked
Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, Avenue Q
Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner, Caroline, or Change
Boy George, Taboo
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Tony Kushner, Caroline, or Change
Winnie Holzman, Wicked
Jeff Whitty, Avenue Q
Martin Sherman; Nick Enright (original book), The Boy from Oz
More Moore! Another film we’re excited about is “Fahrenheit 911” and Studio Briefing reports: Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, which won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival last month, has landed not just one domestic film distributor but at least three, Lions Gate Films, IFC Films, and Fellowship Adventure Group (a company set up by Miramax Co-chairmen Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein to handle the politically hot film, which the two bought from the Walt Disney Co. after Disney refused to distribute it). The film has been scheduled for a swift release on June 25, when it will face little new competition. (Spider-Man 2 opens the following week.) Showtime won pay-TV rights for it, but DVD rights are still being negotiated. In a statement, Moore said: "Not only am I in good hands, I am grateful to them now that everyone who wants to see it will now have the chance to do so." In their statement, the Weinsteins indicated that other distributors might be added to the "coalition" releasing the film.
24 Star Engaged: WENN reports that Elisha Cuthbert, 21, is engaged to her boyfriend Tracy Ayala, who is Justin Timberlake’s personal assistant (hence the reason for earlier rumors she was seeing Timberlake).
Break-UpsWENN also reports that David Schwimmer has broken up with Gina Lee (they’d been together a little more than four months), and that Brooke Burns and Bruce Willis have also broken up, after 10 months together.
Charles/Camilla Update: LONDON (Reuters) - The Archbishop of Canterbury denied a media report Thursday that he has given his approval for Britain's heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles to marry his lover Camilla Parker Bowles in church. The Times newspaper said Dr. Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the world's 70 million Anglicans, had dropped his objections to the two divorcees remarrying. But a spokesman for Williams said: "There have been no developments involving the Archbishop in relation to this matter."
Good News: More Americans are surviving cancer for five years or more and cancer rates overall are steadily declining, according to the latest annual report on cancer in the United States issued on Thursday. (Reuters)
Our Favorite Oddities of the Day:
LONDON (Reuters) - British artist Damien Hirst, who uses dead animals in his work, promised to apologize for a "mix-up" Thursday, after a rotting cow was left outside his studio over a long holiday weekend. The artist won Britain's Turner Prize in 1995 for "Mother and Child, Divided," which featured an adult cow and a baby calf, each split in half, pickled in formaldehyde and displayed in glass tanks. Local authorities in Gloucestershire said they were investigating to see whether any regulations were broken when the animal was left in the street.
Fetish: LONDON (Reuters) - A British man with a fetish for medical items has become the first person to be banned from every hospital in England and Wales, the government said on Wednesday. Unemployed Norman Hutchins, 53, has harassed and abused medical staff more than 40 times since January in his quest for surgical masks and gowns, a court in the northern city of York was told. The court banned him from all private and state-run National Health Service hospitals and doctors' and dentists' offices.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A planned nudist bicycle tour in the Netherland's so called bible-belt has upset local churchmen who are holding their own youth charity bike ride the same day.
From AP: Woman's Leg Falls Hip-Deep Into Grave KENAI, Alaska - Hazel Felton did not have a near-death experience over the weekend, but she did have one foot in the grave — literally. Felton was cleaning up around family graves Sunday at Kenai Cemetery when her dog Boo Boo's leash became entangled in a wooden cross beside a nearby headstone. When she stepped onto the grave to get a better angle to free the terrier's leash, the ground collapsed under her foot. "I put one leg in past my hip bone. That's about 34 inches," Felton said. Planting her foot nearly a yard deep in an old grave understandably disturbed Felton, and she got herself out fast. "I just shot outta there like a light," she said. "It just creeped me out." Equally creepy for Felton is the fact she was named after the daughter of the man whose grave she fell into. Warder Showalter's daughter Hazel, who died shortly before Felton was born, was a good friend of Felton's mother.
Felton, who was uninjured in the mishap, called the Showalter family to let them know what happened. After hearing the story, Adeline Chaffin found humor in the incident. "I ask Hazel, 'Were you playing footsie with my dad?'" Chaffin said. Chaffin and her husband were concerned someone else might fall into the grave, so the couple went out to the cemetery the next day to see the hole for themselves and put up some safety measures. Chaffin, whose father was buried in the cemetery in 1983, saw no reason to get upset over the incident. "It's just one of those things that happens in life," she said. Bob Frates, director of the Division of Parks and Recreation, which maintains the cemetery, has never had a grave collapse before. His department routinely compacts the earth over a new grave and allows it time to settle before adding more soil and compacting again, if necessary. Frates speculated the delayed settling of the Showalter plot may have been due to a wood coffin that held out far longer than usual before collapsing. Whatever settling is going to occur usually occurs within the first year, he said.
A Note from Planned Parenthood:
Sweet Victory! Federal Abortion Ban Struck Down in Court!Federal District Court Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton ruled yesterday that the federal abortion ban passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last year is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. The ban, challenged in Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) v. Ashcroft, could have outlawed abortions as early as 12 to 15 weeks in pregnancy, including those that doctors say are safe and among the best to protect women’s health. Planned Parenthood Los Angeles hailed the ruling and questioned the Bush administration’s efforts to enforce the blatantly unconstitutional ban. Yesterday's ruling is a landmark victory for medical privacy rights and women’s health
Judge Hamilton's ruling:
• Prohibits Attorney General Ashcroft and his successors from enforcing the federal abortion ban against doctors who provide abortion services for Planned Parenthood and doctors who Planned Parenthood medical staff refer their patients to.
• Prohibits enforcement against the city of San Francisco and it's medical facilities.
Thank you to all of you who spoke up and participated in our action alerts against the abortion ban. We are still awaiting rulings in related court cases filed in New York and Nebraska.
Science and Ideology Don’t Mix
Over the past few years, many decisions that affect health and reproductive rights have been brought into the political realm and decided based on ideology rather than fact-based science. The most recent example of this politicization of science is the FDA’s rejection of over-the-counter Plan B emergency contraceptive (EC). There is no scientific reason for denying the approval of over-the-counter EC and virtually all major medical and healthcare organizations, such as the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, support making EC available over-the-counter.
In response to this issue of ideology creeping into scientific decisions, California House Representatives Henry Waxman (D) and Massachusetts House Representative John Tierney (D) proposed an amendment to H.R. 2432, the Paperwork and Regulatory Improvements Act. The Waxman-Tierney Amendment on Science and Ideology was defeated 201-226 http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll187.xml but would have created a commission to examine the politicization of science and make suggestions about how science can be protected from ideological exploitation.
