Out on DVD are volumes one and two of the glorious series, Bad Girls Of Film Noir. For years, I've dreamed of seeing a film by the Czech auteur Hugo Haas (who wrote, produced, and directed scores of juicy melodramas in the 1950s) on DVD. Well in these two volumes saluting the dangerous dames of crime drams there are two of his gems now in pristine condition starring one of his B muses Cleo Moore: Over-Exposed (1956), about a blackmailing photographer, and One Girl's Confession (1953), wherein a young woman steals from her boss and then merrily goes to prison for the crime without revealing where she buried the money. There are four movies to each volume, and you need both of them. In The Killer That Stalked New York (1953), Evelyn Keyes plays a woman who smuggles diamonds into Manhattan for her shady boyfriend. But she is also carrying small pox and quickly becomes Typhoid Mary infecting the population. The wonderful temptress Lizabeth Scott appears in Two Of A Kind (1951), which finds her dragging Edmond O'Brien into an inheritance scheme, and Bad For Each Other (1953), in which she plays a boozy socialite who tempts good doctor (Charlton Heston) to go against his conscience. The Glass Wall (1953) introduces America to handsome Vittorio Gassman, on the run after stowing away on a boat to America. He falls in with a down-on-her luck gal (Gloria Grahame) in this tense thriller. Night Editor (1946) is the tale of a cop whose extramarital affair keeps him from being an eyewitness to a murder. And the fabulous Women's Prison (1955) stars Ida Lupino as a bitch warden in a female penitentiary filled with B-movie greats like Audrey Totter, Cleo Moore and others. Don't pass these up!

From the cover of Chanterelle's first menu by Marisol in 1979, to its last by Chuck Close, which was completed after the restaurant was forced to close last July, the cult-favorite SoHo restaurant gathered more than 30 years of artwork by the likes of Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe, Bill Katz (the collection's curator), Allen Ginsberg, Cy Twombly, Mathew Barney, Marcel Marceau, and Kara Walker.

"The idea was to put art in people's hands, in an unpretentious accessible way, for the earthiness and pleasure of holding something in your hand" said Chanterelle co-owner and doyenne Karen Waltuck about an exhibition of the menus running through Tuesday night at denim repair and antiques boutique Kill Devil Hill, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

On the exhibition's unlikely location Waltuck said that when approached by Kill Devil Hill's "young, industrious renaissance-type" proprietors about doing the exhibition, she immediately loved the idea. The eclectic neighborhood, Waltuck said, with its ramshackle warehouses and burgeoning art community, recalled SoHo and Chanterelle's early days when she and her co-owner David's artist friends gathered to eat in their restaurant.

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NAME: Gene Bradley
OCCUPATION: I have been working as an event photographer for WSJ, Redbull, Interview, Hiro, Music Unites and some other random stuff. I'm also a studio lighting assistant, a part-time model and I DJ Bangon!NYC every Thursday at Home Sweet Home.
HOMETOWN: I am from this great place in Australia right on the beach called Mornington, but spent the earlier part of my childhood growing up in Frankston. If you ask anyone from Melbourne about Frankston, they will probably tell you its the biggest shithole on the east side of the city.
SHOT IN: Brooklyn
FAVORITE NYC HANGSPOT: NYC is a bit of a random place to stick to one venue, but when I do go out I go to Apotheke ( great Chinatown spot with killer cocktails) and I occasionally go to Royal Oak around the corner from my flat, but only when I am feeling like being solo.

WHO: Logan Neitzel

AGE: 26
OCCUPATION: Clothing designer. Updates and online store coming soon to www.loganneitzel.com.
HOMETOWN: Blackfoot, Idaho -- a farming town of 10,000 people. Currently living in NYC.
SHOT IN: Brooklyn
FAVORITE NYC HANG SPOT: I'm still exploring New York, but am looking for a dark hole-in-the-wall bar where I can put my head down and not be bothered by scenesters or the bridge and tunnel crowd. Somewhere with Sauza Hornitos, Tecate and taxidermy. Otherwise, I'm in my studio.

NAME: Mikey Griffin
AGE: 20
OCCUPATION: Somewhat recently unemployed writer, non-profit "artist," freelance whatever.
HOMETOWN: Mastic/Shirley, NY. Currently living in Bushwick.
SHOT IN: Brooklyn
FAVORITE NYC HANG SPOT: Rock Star Bar (or any other low-key, sketchy bar), rooftops across Brooklyn and downtown, trackside LIRR, anywhere that I can lurk and get gnarly under the radar.

PAPER is teaming up with G-Shock to make your Valentines Day a little bit sweeter. We are giving five lucky winners a brand new G-Shock Mini watch!  Tell us in the comments section below in five words or less where/when you've had the TIME OF YOUR LIFE.
 
Example:
First picked up PAPER magazine
 
Five winners will be selected on February 12th -- so start posting now!

We all experience it at some point in our lives: Who am I? Why am I here? What gives my life meaning? Oh the angst and torment of the existential struggle. But isn't it kind of comforting to know that bars go through it too? Case in point, the Belgian Room. The recently re-opened spot started as the Belgian Room, tried a Latin theme on for size for a month or few, and ultimately realized it had to go back to its roots. A coming of age story if I ever heard one. But the identity crisis doesn't seem to be over yet. The drunken monk statuettes and beer signs galore give the front a more casual pub feel in front (as does a digital jukebox with ads involving scantily clad ladies) but once you make your way to the back, unexpectedly bouncy white banquettes, framed vintage beer ads, and sleek wood panels create a decidedly lounge-y atmosphere. Fortunately, the one thing the Belgian Room seems absolutely sure about is its beer. Its mile-long list of Belgian bottles on offer is the bar's showpiece, and its tap with Delirium Tremens ($9) and Maudite from Unibroue (pronounced "unibrow"; $7) isn't half shabby. And $2 off all beers until 8pm should help you figure out exactly what you're doing there, if not the meaning of life.

Belgian Room
121 St. Mark's Place
(212) 533-4467

Photo from www.newyorkontap.com.

Terribly Happy, which opened last Friday, is a grungy, deliciously demonic Danish film-noir about a Copenhagen cop named Robert Hanson (Jakob Cedergren) who is transferred to a shit hole of a small town where he becomes entangled with a wily, battered wife. Director Henrik Ruben Genz sets all the sleazy machinery into motion as Robert gets nightmarishly sucked down the rabbit hole into murder and mayhem. There's a nice, lurid and bleak Jim Thompson sensibility to the film and the lead has a scruffy, anti-hero handsomeness.
  

The reality TV gods really turned it out at last night's cocktail party by GUESS by Marciano and Elle Magazine benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Not only did I make three-second eye contact with Olivia Palermo, I was also blessed with the opportunity to chat with The Real Housewives of New York's most forthright, wide-eyed hot mama and business magnate, the one and only Ramona Singer. 

Friends, readers, you'll never GUESS where I was last night. Well, let me just t-ELLE you (and at that, I'll can it with the puns).The stars and the less-starry alike came out for a cause last night at the GUESS By Marciano and Elle magazine cocktail benefiting the Susan G. Komen For the Cure foundation. Hosted by Elle's creative director Joe Zee and the über talented actress/producer Eliza Dushku, the guest list included the likes of Chaske Spencer, Mark Indelicato, Rick Fox, Tinsley Mortimer, The City's Olivia Palermo, Whitney Port, and Roxy Olin, as well as The Real Housewives' Ramona Singer, Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen (whom I might go so far as to call a real housewife as well, but that's a different story). Guests schmoozed at the tightly packed GUESS store in Soho, sipped on Ultimat cocktails, and shopped to the sweet sounds of DJs Jamie Biden and Theodora Richards. I briefly spoke with Dushku, who looked fabulous in GUESS by Marciano, about her recent work both in front of and behind the camera, as well as her affiliation with Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Last weekend while driving up to CT for my mom's birthday with my brother, I came upon a familiar voice on the radio and it was none other than my friend Niki Russ Federman of Russ & Daughters, my favorite LES haunt for herring and other fishy smoked delicacies. I adore Niki. Always all smiles, she makes sure to chat with her legendary diehard customers (some who have been frequenting the neighborhood staple since her great-grandfather Joel Russ first opened it in 1914) even during the biggest rush of Thanksgiving orders.

Talking on the WNYC/PRI program, Studio 360, Niki recalled her hesitations getting into a family business of such notoriety and smell, and also having to forgo her college ambitions. She also talked about her friend and long-time customer John Zorn playing at her wedding. I don't want to spoil it for you. You should give it a listen -- it's short and sweet. And it sure made for a nice drive.

Creating a lifestyle brand comes with its fair share of difficulties, but Los Angeles-based interior designer Tobi Tobin seems to have effortlessly accomplished the task. Then again, she's had close to 15 years experience renovating homes, businesses, resorts and even spas, not to mention the homes of her select VIP clientele: Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr. are longtime fans. West Coast tastemakers will be too with the arrival of Tobin's latest feat, Tobi Tobin Design, located on Sunset Plaza Drive.

The 2,000-square-foot split-level boutique spotlights the Michigan-born former model's knack for cherry-picking unique home accessories and arranging them in a somewhat cluttered, mish-mash. A Loro Piana plush cashmere throw is draped across a mid-century Arne Jacobsen Swan chair (from Tobin's Vintage Furniture Collection), while a Malles Goyard steamer trunk (found on one of her travels last year) sits surrounded by antiques and a carefully curated art library. A 17th-Century stone floor from Tobin's signature flooring collection leads visitors to a counter-side vintage French display case containing an assortment of mouthwatering, hand-made chocolates.

Although the imported Italian linen display was appealing, best of all is the store's signature Tobi Tobin Candle Collection housed in a mini-boudoir showcasing custom-designed scents and 10-ounce candles packaged in black glossy containers, organic burlap, and drift wood branded with the designer's trademark insignia.

Tobi Tobin Design
8601 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
(310) 289-0951
tobitobindesgin.com

WHAT: The "Sonia Rykiel Pour H&M" knitwear collection preview
WHERE: bobo
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 4
SPOTTED: Nathalie Rykiel, Lola Rykiel, Leighton Meester, Michelle Williams, Amanda Hearst, Phillip Bloch and DJ Chanel Iman.
OVERHEARD: "You want to look like a fashionable Parisienne? Just step out in Sonia Rykiel, n'est ce pas!"

1. Want Beyonce in the front row of your fashion show next week?  That'll be $80,000, thank you. (via Fashionista)

2. Or, your money might be better spent on a limited edition "fashion icon" T-shirt benefiting Medecins Sans Frontieres or a Shepard Fairey print benefiting Artists For Peace and Justice.

3. Mr. Brainwash is coming!  The filmmaker-turned-street artist is having his first New York solo exhibit, "Icons," opening next week on West 13th Street.

4. Neon Indian, Teengirl Fantasy, Beach Fossils, Adventure and Blissed Out are playing tonight, February 5, at Market Hotel (1142 Myrtle Avenue at Broadway, Bushwick).  Doors at 8 p.m.and tickets $10.

5. We hear that Miami nightlife maven Sebastian Puga has split with Rokbar (1906 Collins Avenue) and is now running Coco de Ville (3277 Collins Avenue), a Miami off-shoot of the West Hollywood "Hills" hang-out.

6. Nashville musician (and former New Yorker) Daniel J. Cartier is working on a new album called Redemption with members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Wallflowers etc.  He's looking for backers via Kickstarter, so help him out.

One of our favorite art stars and our own "Next Irascible," Julia Chiang has made a collection of limited edition porcelain apples titled "All For You" exclusively for The Standard Shop NYC which is set to open on February 12 just in time for the Fashion Week brouhaha and Valentine's Day gifting anxiety. Each of these forbidden fruits is handmade and handpainted in delicious red glaze and comes in its own wooden box signed and numbered. In case you are wondering why these apples look like they are sweating, they all have droplets that intentionally make you wonder if the apple is sad or too hot. $200 each.

The Standard Shop, 444 W. 13th St. (Map), 7 a.m.-9 p.m. (Mon. - Fri.), 9 a.m.-9 p.m. (Sat. & Sun.).

Out on DVD is the bizarre Goodbye Gemini (Scorpion Releasing). Set in swinging London in the '70s, precocious twins Jacki (Judy Geeson) and Julien (Martin Potter) arrive at their father's flat and get rid of the meddling housekeeper by craftily placing their toy teddy bear on the stair landing. She takes a header and is carted off in an ambulance. They are then left to their own demented devices and head to a pub full of decadent swingers and a drag queen disrobing on the bar. There they meet a dissolute couple who unwisely attach themselves to the troubled twosome. The twins are weirdly incestuous and afterJulien is tricked into having a threesome with drag queens in a seedy hotel room the plot unravels into madness and murder. Jacki wanders aimlessly on the streets with a bloody sheet only to be rescued by a slumming politician (Michael Redgrave). Directed by Alan Gibson (The Satanic Rites Of Dracula) and with gorgeous cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth (2001: A Space Odyssey/Cabaret) this was also known as Twinsanity on VHS. The DVD unleashes its true beauty and enjoyably nutty oddness.  

Ah, lunch. That meal when I shouldn't be drinking wine. But what better place to play hooky than Danny Meyer's new Roman trattoria, Maialino? Dinner requires planning a month ahead and taking a 5:30 reservation (according to Open Table, that's about all that's available). Um, no. The restaurant started serving lunch last month and it's a relaxing, uncrowded time to go, with sunshine splashing through the broad windows and onto the blue-and-white-checked tablecloths. Even though my party was incomplete, I was immediately seated and got going on a $10 quartino of Frascati, Rome's signature white wine, which is light, fruity, and perfect for lunch. In your average Roman trattoria it's roughly $10 for a carafe but we're in New York, in the Gramercy Park Hotel no less, and I count 17 bottles on the all-Italian list for under $40. Nice. Why aren't more restaurateurs offering affordable wines like this? Food prices are pretty decent, too. Executive chef Nick Anderer has mastered classic Roman dishes like fried artichokes ($9), golden-brown, crisp and touched with anchovy, and tonnarelli cacio e pepe ($14), a satisfying bowl of spaghetti-like pasta tangled up with lots of sharp Pecorino cheese and black pepper. The porchetta sandwich on crusty ciabatta -- savory, slow-roasted sliced pork edged with fat -- is $12 and enough to split, especially if you're moving on to a lovely, super-fresh and simple sea bass topped with a citrusy mizuna salad ($21). The fish is so light it won't make you sleepy if you're going back to work, and a bracing dessert of affogato, creamy gelato doused with hot espresso, is an effective waker-upper.

Maialino Gramercy Park Hotel,
2 Lexington Ave., (212) 777-2410
www.maialinonyc.com

Besides being a troublingly handsome couple, Sean Lennon and girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl are psych-pop act The Ghost of a Saber Toothed Tiger. Together, the pair play jammy, kaleidoscopic music, performing live with Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda, and mi-gu's Yuko Araki on drums, and list their influences on MySpace as "Volcanoes. Seaweed. Trilobites. Dripping faucets. Quantum Computers. The end of the world. Tomato Catsup." Sounds about right. With no records out and Kemp Muhl, surprisingly, having just recently learned to play the bass, GOASTT is still in its infancy. Go check them out at a cozy Union Pool show Friday, February 19th, before they inevitably start haunting bigger venues.

Union Pool, 484 Union Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 609-0484. 9 p.m. $10.  


  

Maybe The Cold War Kids felt compelled to play 15+ songs at their sold out Terminal 5 performance Friday to compensate for their limited mini-tour. The concert marked the second of a two-night stint in our neck of the woods (they played the Music Hall of Williamsburg the previous evening), and was their fourth show on a short six-stop tour. They began in L.A. and San Francisco, headed next to New York, then moved on to the Windy City and, tonight, lay it down in Anchorage, Alaska of all places. I imagine during their stay they'll really live up to their name, no? (Bad joke?)

Not that a lengthy set from the Cold War Kids isn't a treat. The indie rockers played a solid set, plucking numbers from both their debut album, Robbers & Cowards, as well as their more recent release, Loyalty to Loyalty. Their EP, Behave Yourself, dropped January 19th, so it goes without saying that they tested out a few of these ditties, too (view the EP promotional preview video here). For those of you who have yet to snag it, Behave Yourself  is loads of fun: Four newbies and an alternate take on Robbers & Cowards' hidden track "Sermons Vs. The Gospel." Click here to peep the music video for "Audience," my top track amid the little collection, which features the guys and their respective girlfriends (how cute). Two things I love about it? Most of it takes place on a sailboat (sigh), and hot-as-hell lead singer (and pianist/guitarist) Nathan Willett is shirtless through most of it. Girlfriend? What girlfriend?

But I digress. Cold War Kids wound down their act with an encore, which included covering fellow Cali-bred band Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Long As I Can See The Light." My favorite bit, aside from Willett's exaggerated gesticulating, which included arms outstretched as if he were preaching his own gospel, was his sweet means of trying to quell a fight in the front row. "This is not rowdy music. This is about love," he said. "We're taking the angst out of you, I hope."

Photos by Meimi Yeung  

Better Than Jam is the first store to open within the Loom Arts and Commerce complex in Bushwick, BK. The new shop features a roster of local designers whose womenswear is handmade and priced to move. Owner Karin Persan formed the co-op so her creative peers in the neighborhood could showcase their work right at home, and she's gathered a vibrant group of designers, old school and newbies alike.

After closing her store last year, JoAnn Berman is back with more sexy, exuberant separates. The long-time underground gal is at the top of her game with reconstructed jackets, dresses, skirts and blouses that fuse fabrics, embellishments and silkscreened patterns (note -- you will not be 'blending' in Berman's apparel!). Also made of recycled materials -- but with a totally different vibe -- is Himane, a line of chic, sharp-tailored dresses and trousers. Fofelle (French for "Wacky Girl") is a collection of knee-length knit and jersey skirts that come in brick, gray, olive and raspberry hues and can double as ponchos.

There are also cute jersey dresses from Melissa Bell, funky jewels by WabiSabi Brooklyn and The House of Fatima, and Persan's own 6-year-old brand of colorful silkscreen cotton dresses, for which the store was named. (PS -- if you're heading on vacation soon, she's selling some comfy-cool Better Than Jam sundresses right now for $30! We scooped up one for Miami this month).

Better Than Jam is throwing an opening party Friday night and will be hosting trunk shows and workshops regularly. It's good retail news for the community and a great opportunity for local talent.

Better Than Jam
1095 Flushing Avenue
Bushwick, Brooklyn
(631) 377-2500
www.betterthanjamnyc.com

Photos by Rebecca Prusinowski

Calvin Klein's new "X" Underwear campaign was revealed yesterday, and though the ads stick to the company's long history of using an A-team group of spokesmen models, its approach to digital advertising is new and ambitious. The diverse model mélange includes Kellan Lutz, the heartthrob vampire of Twilight fame, Spanish tennis star Fernando Verdasco, True Blood actor Mehcad Brooks and legendary Japanese soccer player and style icon Hidetoshi Nakata. The ads, shot by Mikael Jansson in New York, will separately feature each star sporting the graphic and snug undies that are already available in stores. Going far beyond the usual TV spot, digital ads will be directly connected to a homepage featuring exclusive behind the scenes footage from shoots, in-store visuals will be enhanced with QR codes that can be scanned by mobile phones linking buyers to related videos, and print ads will have interactive 3-D components.Stay tuned.

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of one of New York's most venerable and beloved institutions, Film Forum, MoMA's Department of Film gave Karen Cooper, the director of Film Forum cart blanche with their February programming. The only criteria was that the selections be nonfiction films that premiered at the iconic movie house. Today MoMA and Cooper will screen the 1988 Bruce Weber classic, Let's Get Lost, a documentary about the tortured jazz heartthrob Chet Baker who fell prey to heroin addiction. This film sings with Weber's trademark black and white celluloid sizzle, and while the story is heartbreaking, the music is melancholy and lovely. If you have the afternoon free I really recommend this trip to the museum.

MoMa, 11 W. 53rd St. (Map), Theater 2, 4 p.m., $10.
Check here for the complete listing.

B'L'ING is bootleg art video and DVD trading started by a bunch of smart-alecky Yale MFA students a few years ago. Tonight the unpredictable B'L'ING crew will hold a trading session in the pop-up Ooga Booga Room at the Swiss Institute with special screenings of cinematic art-nerdcore gems such as Michel Auder's "NY Apartment 1970s," Phyllis Baldino's "Animated Hands" and Michelangelo Antonioni's "Love in the City."

Swiss Institute, 495 Broadway, 3rd Fl., 6-8 p.m.

Although Arcade Fire were none-too-pleased that Fox Sports played "No Cars Go" without permission during a 2008 Superbowl promo, they've apparently had a change of heart. Fret not AF purists, it's for a good cause. Today comes word that the band, whose Regine Chassagne's parents emigrated to Canada from Haiti, have licensed their song, "Wake Up," to the NFL to air during the Superbowl with all proceeds going directly to Partners in Health's Stand With Haiti relief efforts. Between this news and this recipe, your Superbowl Sunday is bound to be a little more enjoyable this year.

I love me some Etsy. So I was very, very honored to be able to "guest curate" a selection of my favorite knick-knacks and doo-dads, picked from the hundreds and thousands of items on the site. It was sort of a daunting task, but I found it a wonderful procrastination tool; a good excuse to not do my actual work!

Check it out. And enjoy!

This winter seems especially brutal and it's only half way over. Yeesh! So every little bit you can do to chase the cold blues away helps to forge ahead a little bit closer to the spring. One thing I've been into a lot lately is pine -- from shower gel to room diffuser. A quick whiff of it can do wonders. Unlike the chemcal-y Pine-Sol (no offense Pine-Sol lady!), these fir-y treats are clean and crisp. Also, like a good bowl of soup or a big cashmere wrap, fresh earthy scents like pine are soothing, and will pick up your mood instantly. So I figure I'd channel Gweneth P. and make my own little Goop-y "Get" list. Here are some aroma-remedy-ready items you can have around your home, the best place to cozy up during the frigid wintry months.

1. Roland Pine Room Diffuser by Soap and Paper Factory
I would drink this if it didn't make me sick.
$32. There's also the room spray. $18.

2. Santa Maria Novella Potpourri
I've been a fan for a long time. This is really the best potpourri you can have around if you want potpourri. You can also put this in little sachets and put them inside your pillow. So good!
$30.
 

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NYC quartet (and PAPER TV stars) the Postelles are getting ready for a cross-country tour in support of their new, Albert Hammond Jr.-produced EP White Night. Before they hit the road, however, they're generously playing free shows every Wednesday at the Bowery Electric starting tonight through Feb. 17th. They'll also be swinging by Carnegie Hall March 2nd to partake in Who tribute concert, "The Music of the Who." Below, frontman Daniel Balk and drummer Billy Cadden discuss their recent shows with Vampire Weekend, how Woody Allen influences their sound, and give us a few travel tips.

Besides playing a tribute concert to the Who at Carnegie Hall the same night your EP debuts, how else will you celebrate White Night's release?

That night we will definitely be out and about, hitting as many bars as possible throughout the city in anticipation of our US tour. Having said that, Carnegie Hall is a perfect celebration for the release of our EP, as it is one of the most beautiful venues in the city.

What Who songs will you be covering?

We will be covering "Can't Explain" because we find our music relates well to the Who's early punk sound. We would be going out on a limb, trying to cover "Pinball Wizard."

You count Woody Allen and Grace Kelly among your influences. How have they shaped your sound?

Woody Allen's influence on New York City can not be overstated. His subtle descriptions of love in the big city have had a huge impact on our lyrics. Grace Kelly was the face of a generation that meant so much to us and has impacted our music tremendously. We often find great films to be similar to great songs. Watching Grace Kelly in Rear Window and Woody Allen's Manhattan inspires our band to create music that will have the same effect on music listeners as their movies did on the viewers.

White Night is out March 2nd on Astralwerks/Capitol.

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Pets on PAPER, our recently resurrected blog series, features reader-submitted pictures of their pets sitting on top of, reading, playing with and generally doing their thing with a copy of PAPER Magazine.

What's your name? Melville
How old are you? 14 years young
Where do you live? Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Who do you live with? My mother Maddie and my dad Adam
What are your pastimes? Getting pet, looking for chicken bones on the street, sleeping, sitting on laps, relaxing in my Snuggie for Dogs, stalking my feline roommate's life, and blowing people away with my impressively bad breath.
What's your favorite cover of PAPER? My hair is curly and very floppy, so I love Andy Samberg's wash-and-wear look on the August 2007 cover. I also appreciate Gael Garcia Bernal's side part on the cover of your May 2009 design issue.

Want to see your pet on PAPER? Submit a photo/photos, plus answers to the above questions, to vip@papermag.com.

Happy Now? is a play with an intriguing title.  We've all heard that phrase, usually delivered with a sarcastic edge, after some sort of screw up.  Here the playwright, Lucinda Coxon, from England, and the director, Liz Diamond, have fashioned a contemporary comedy around just that question.  Mary Bacon plays the lead role of Kitty, a married woman with a solid job, aging parents and a dog.  I spoke with the director.
 
Hi Liz.  Tell me about this play.
First and foremost, it's a very funny play.  It's a contemporary comedy of manners, in the tradition of Congreve or other social satirists.  There's a kind of high velocity to it, which I associate with the great English writers of dark satire, like Pinter; but also some of the more light-hearted but incisive writers, like Oscar Wilde.
 
Alright.  Now tell me about some of what happens.
Lucinda has written a play that resonates with me because it describes most accurately that moment in a woman's life when she realizes that this life of dog shit between the toes, an overbearing mother, an overworked husband, and an overwhelming job is her life; and it may, or may not, ever get better, or more perfect, or more fulfilling.
 

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Out on DVD is one of my top ten favorite movies of last year: The House Of The Devil. This deliciously demonic tale by the talented director Ti West (Trigger Man), set in the 1980s, is about a pretty college girl named Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) who unwisely accepts a "babysitting" job at a spooky house in the country harboring many satanic secrets. She should have seen it coming based on the two weirdos who hire her, the skull-faced and looming Tom Noonan and the sardonically menacing Mary Woranov. West subverts the horror genre film playfully by insidiously setting up the mood and letting it eerily and slowly play out before slamming home with a fiendish finale. Tracking shots of Samantha wandering through this weird house with strange noises coming from behind closed doors keeps you marvelously unnerved and unsettled. For a promo they sent out the movie on VHS in the old big box format which made me crazy because the movie is such a perfect time machine back to those satanic drive-in favorites. The DVD has commentary with the director and star as well as behind the scenes footage and deleted scenes...

Last night marked the premiere of Bravo's latest magnum opus, Kell on Earth, a sassier Hills-esque show documenting the day-to-day happenings at Kelly Cutrone's renowned PR firm People's Revolution. After a long night of work, I somewhat anxiously but nonetheless excitedly pressed that fatal button on my Tivo, and was immediately transported into KC's fantasy world, where bitch is the official tongue. The spunky sleep-deprived brunette is, in my opinion, much more puzzling than anything in Avatar, although unlike the big screen blockbuster, I think I might have made some progress in understanding her mystique. Avatar is still lost on me (16 years of production and "unobtanium" is the best you could come up with? Really?).

But I digress.  Now let me preface this by stating that I have no formal training in psychology, behavioral studies, or gender theory. Nonetheless, I continue.  In the first episode of Kell on Earth we are introduced to the PR team, including the effervescent Robyn, the ultra glossed Ativan-pushing Andrew S, and the dynamic dirty-blonde duo Stefanie S and Stephanie V (PR tends to hire people with the same moniker, thus promoting the kindergarten classroom practice of attaching a final initial to someone's name in the event of doubling). The true star and ultimate enigma, however, is KC's personal assistant Mr. Andrew Mukamal. The towering, androgynous former stylist dons multiple mesh get-ups in the show's first episode, and always makes sure to accessorize with an arrangement of Goth studded rings and bracelets. Naturally we'd assume he was an unapproachable freakazoid, but upon opening his mouth it's revealed that on the inside he's... remarkably normal.

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1. Jack Johnson is recording his next album using only solar power. (via KROQ)

2.  There's a "We Are the World Part Two: Haiti Edition." Since none of the original artists were invited to participate, we wondered who was?  Brian Wilson, Tony Bennett, Snoop Dogg 

I hesitate to call myself a fashionista in the fullest sense, but this isn't to say I don't care about what I'm wearing. To be perfectly honest, as a borderline unhealthy Facebook addict I'm plagued by an irrational fear of being photographed wearing an outfit on an inappropriate number of occasions. Thus I was overjoyed when I received my ultra exclusive invite for the new personal style website Check You Daily. After filling out a brief application and getting approval from site monitors, Check You Daily users can upload, tag, and share their looks in an interactive forum, or create  a personal style journal to archive their day to day garb. Looks are catalogued by both location and the items tagged, so searching for inspiration is a breeze. Also fun to note: the site is vaguely reminiscent of Cher Horowitz's mind-blowing achievement of 90's computer programming as seen in Clueless ("MISMATCH!"), and any opportunity to live out plotlines from said cinematic gem should be embraced wholeheartedly. In addition to the user-generated content, editors behind the site have included an ICON section, featuring interviews with some of style's biggest names, and a SCOPE section in which professional stylists select 3-5 of their editorial works, "[demonstrating] intricacies of their own work in their own words [and] giving insight to the development of a look." Très chic, non?

As wary as I am of any events lasting longer than three hours, exceptions can be made. Such was the case for last week's book launch of Preston Bailey's Celebrations (Rizzoli). For those of you who aren't a sheikh or a sultan -- or Oprah Winfrey, Uma Thurman, Donna Karan or Donald Trump -- Preston Bailey is the celebrity event designer known for his sumptuous, theatrical soirees, most of which are never seen by the public.    

That night, Bailey transformed the Armory on Lexington Avenue into a rose-strewn runway, thanks to a series of overhead light projectors. The evening also featured special performances by Gloria Gaynor and Martha Wash, and Leblon Cachaca hand-muddled drinks by the Liquid Chef team. Among the attendees were Joan Rivers, Clay Walker, Katie Lee Joel, and One Life to Live's Daphnee Duplaix and Brett Claywell.  And if you aren't able to shell out a cool million to have Preston Bailey design your next birthday party (or wedding) there's always his lavishly illustrated book to admire, replete with ten never-before-published events -- sure to make you believe that this is the stuff that dream (celebrations) are made of.    

For more information, go to www.prestonbailey.com. 

Have you noticed that Madonna is always wearing fingerless leather gloves lately? And Ke$ha (it hurts to type that dollar sign instead of a regular S) loves glovies too. My fave young jewelry designer, Shayan Afshar (the Jacob the Jeweler of L.A., minus the money problems and shady biz dealings) has designed jewel encrusted gloves for all you Madonna/Ke$ha types. "I wanted to figure out a way to mass produce a ring or bracelet, essentially a one size fits all type thing," Afshar told me. "I saw how in demand gloves were, so I put two and two together and here we are."

Out this week on DVD is The Evelyn Waugh Collection, featuring two exceptional British TV versions of novels by the acerbic author Evelyn Waugh (Brideshead Revisited) and his caustic looks at different factions of British society. In A Handful Of Dust, Waugh's gaze is turned on the lifestyles of the upper class, where a bored wife (Kristen Scott Thomas) takes up with a handsome but impoverished man (Rupert Graves) to spice up her life, leaving her husband (James Wilby) and young son back at their rambling estate. But tragedy intercedes. With Alec Guiness, Stephen Frye and Judi Dench. Scoop is about a young journalist and naturalist William Boot (Michael Maloney) who is mistakenly sent by his newspaper, the "Daily Beast," to cover an impending civil war in the obscure (fictional) African republic of Ishmaelia. A particularly sardonic look at politics and the press, based on Waugh's offbeat experiences as a war correspondent.