Criss Angel sued for divorce

According to the New York Post, Criss Angel's wife, Joanne Sarantakos (Sarantakos is Angel's actual surname), is suing her husband for divorce, claiming that he kept their marriage a secret to help his career and make him more appealing to fans.
Their marriage was enough of a secret that I had no idea he was even married, though it's not as if I spend every waking moment keeping up with Angel's personal life. Still, whenever a girl was by Criss' side on Mindfreak, she was always just credited as "Criss' girl" as far as I remember.

BECKHAM ANGERS FASHION DESIGNER

VICTORIA BECKHAM has angered a British fashion designer by wearing one of his designs in public without permission. Christopher Kane admits Beckham asked to borrow one of the items from his new collection, but he refused because he did not think her figure was right for his designs. But the former Spice Girl found a way around the problem - by buying the dress regardless of the designer's objections. Kane says, "I couldn't do anything about it, to be honest. She wanted to borrow something, but I said no, so she went out and bought it. "I've got nothing against her, but she's not the woman I imagine wearing my dresses. I think more of women like (French Vogue's Editor-In-Chief) Carine Roitfeld because she's sexy and intelligent. Posh Spice doesn't even get a look-in."

Angelina in black face?

Despite disappointing box office sales, Angelina Jolie's latest movie A Mighty Heart has sparked its fair share of controversy in the media. At the heart of the matter is not whether Hollywood exploited the tragic death of journalist Daniel Pearl to make summer blockbuster cashola (my beef with the movie, for the record).

Rather, critics are up in arms about the decision to cast a very white Angelina Jolie as a woman of color. Insult, they say, was added to injury by the production company's decision to darken Jolie skin, change her eye color with contact lenses, and put her in a wig that resembled the Afro-Cuban-Dutch heroine Marianne Pearl's dark, thick, curly hair.

K. Emily Bond of the Huffington Post calls it "black-face" and goes on to suggest that "this casting choice illustrates the magnitude of the time warp Hollywood got sucked into or the vacuum within which it exists." Bond also makes the point that if they film wanted to downplay the interracial aspect of Daniel and Marianne's relationship, they should have left Angelina fair-skinned and blue-eyed.

But since the film obviously opted to portray Marianne's race, Bond suggests it would have been more "sensitive" to cast one of the many talented actresses of color such as Thandie Newton or Halle Barry, who she points out is just as hot as Jolie according to AskMen.com.

So what do you think? Is it acceptable for Hollywood to cast white actresses as women of color? If it is, how should they negotiate the difference in skin color? Is it better to leave the actress as she is, or to, as Bond puts, dress her up in black-face?

What the butt?!

Could butts be the latest fashion accessory? Kim Kardashian clearly thinks so. In a barely there flesh toned dress, Kim's asset looks huge massive (which was clearly the goal, so well-played).

Having Kim's "junk" block my vision makes me wonder if she will bring asses back. JLo surely did a few years back. Remember when JLo took out a million dollars worth of insurance on her backside and everyone wanted a piece? I was in college at the time and the flat-backed girls were doing all that they could to fill their jeans. Now I was in fashion school, so they weren't eating to fill them ... they were making butt pads to put inside their pants. Sounds crazy, but at the time they were actually on the market (seriously).

Kimmy here obviously had some work done because that thing just isn't natural. Do you think women will get so inspired by her curves to start filling out some jeans with booty power? I think a butt that big would be a curse, imagine how hard it would be to find pants.

by Lauren Messiah

Maria Sharapova: tennis goddess/fashion icon

For better or for worse, women's tennis these days is as much about a player's looks as it is about her backhand.

At the moment, my favorite "fashionable" tennis player is Maria Sharapova. The blond Russian, who also moonlights as a spokesperson for Canon, showed up to her match against Severine Bremond of France on Thursday wearing an incredible white dress by Nike. The tiered skirt with distinctive ruffled angel wings along the back made the high performance outfit seem as street-worthy as it was court-worthy.

While the feminist in me hates to reduce talented female athletes to their looks, the fashionista in me says Maria's dress was a definite tennis DO!

Would you wear a diamond made from a peanut?

Diamonds are expensive because they're rare -- or at least that's what the diamond industry wants us to think. But the truth about diamonds (not the Nicole Richie book, by the way) is that they're extremely common, and they're also made from a very ordinary substance: coal.

A team of scientists in Scotland is doing its part to muck up the diamond economy. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh are developing laboratory processes that replicate the atmospheric pressure that converts coal into diamonds.

The hope is that with a laboratory-controlled process "large gem-quality diamonds... [could be made] artificially" from all sorts of carbon-based materials, including peanut butter!

The PB bling is made by squeezing the spread between the tips of two diamonds, resulting in something called the "stiletto heel effect".

Given the dirty dealings and unethical practices of the diamond trade, I'm pleased to hear that the days of the status quo are numbered. Just the same I doubt many women will forgo the "Diamond is Forever" mentality for a rock made in a lab from jar of Skippy.

What do you think? Would you be happy wearing a diamond made from peanut butter?

[via BBC.co.uk]

Alfa Romeo to produce 8C Spider in 2008

Following the initial confirmation from Alfa Romeo that the drop-dead-sell-my-soul-and-both-kidneys-gorgeous 8C Competizione was going into production, however limited, the temporarily satiated hearts and minds of Italian sportscar fans (and really, who isn't a fan of Italian sportscars?) turned to the next obvious question: what about its equally jaw-dropping open-aired sister, the 8C Spider? We've been patiently awaiting any indication from the Milanese automaker, and the latest reports suggest that Alfa will indeed produce a limited run of the rolling piece of alfresco art.

Italian automotive publication Quattroroute claims that the 8C Spider will begin rolling out of the factory at the end of next year. Like the instantly sold-out fixed-roof version, only 500 examples will be produced, with a corresponding price increase to €180,000.
So, seriously...anyone interested in buying a kidney?