Style Watch

I am conflicted about this. Miss Piggy’s original blonde is her trademark, but she does look fantastic as a brunette. Kermit also looks fabulous. He is better dressed than a lot of the top male stars.

Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog arrive for the premiere of 'The Muppets' Wizard Of Oz' at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on Wednesday, April 27, 2005. (Fashion Wire Daily/Grant Lamos IV)

Mug Shots

From The Smoking Gun website, some interesting mug shots.

Lewis Powell (aka Payne), one of the men who conspired with John Wilkes Booth to murder President Abraham Lincoln. [thesmokinggun.com]

Sure, he's a New York gangster and labor racketeer, but don't you just want to hug Basil "Bobby Cherry" Cervone? Maybe even pinch those rosy little cheeks? [thesmokinggun.com]

George "Machine Gun" Kelly, the notorious racketeer who gave FBI agents the nickname G-men, was photographed by Tennessee cops in September 1933 after his arrest for kidnapping a wealthy Oklahoma oil man. Found guilty of that crime, Kelly was sentenced to life in prison, where he died of a heart attack in July 1954. [thesmokinggun.com]

José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

From BUST Magazine:

VIVA ZAPATERO!
Why we’re totally crushed out on the reign in Spain

While best known for pulling Spain’s troops out of Iraq after being elected last March, there are plenty of other reasons to take notice of José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain’s new Prime Minister, who calls himself a feminist, gave half the jobs in his cabinet to women shortly after taking office. His first bill was a measure to combat domestic violence, which Zapatero calls his country’s “greatest shame.” Zapatero also hopes to legalize abortion, which is technically illegal in Spain. His latest move? Trying to legislate gay marriage. Sadly for the ladies, Zapatero is happily married, but the way things are looking around here, it might be time to start boning up on your high-school Spanish. [DEBBIE STOLLER]

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the magnificent Emma Thompson, my favorite actress.

Read It First: Books to read before you see the movie.

Once in a while, I hear about a film production of a book I really enjoyed. Since it is usually the case that film adaptations don’t live up to the source material, I want to recommend that people read the book first.


Thank You For Smoking
by Christopher Buckley

Amazon.com

"Nick Naylor had been called many things since becoming chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies. But until now no one had actually compared him to Satan." They might as well have, though. "Gucci Goebbels," "yuppie Mephistopheles," and "death merchant" are just a few endearments Naylor has earned himself as the tobacco lobby's premier spin doctor. The hero of Thank You for Smoking does of course have his fans. His arguments against the neo-puritanical antismoking trends of the '90s have made him a repeat guest on Larry King, and the granddaddy of Winston-Salem wants him to be the anointed heir. Still, his newfound notoriety has unleashed a deluge of death threats.

Christopher Buckley's satirical gift shines in this hilarious look at the ironies of "personal freedom" and the unbearable smugness of political correctness. Bracing in its cynicism, Thank You for Smoking is a delightful meander off the beaten path of mainstream American ethics. And despite his hypertension-inducing, slander-splattered, morally bankrupt behavior--which leads one Larry King listener to describe him as "lower than whale crap"--you'll find yourself rooting for smoking's mass enabler.

--Rebekah Warren

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/