MONDAY, DEC. 15
YELLE taught us how to dance.
We could smell ya from here.

TUESDAY, DEC. 16
Prince Harry partied for a good cause.
Bazooka bubble gum has everyone puzzled.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 17
RuPaul did the Obama's. And yes, it's true.
Get Angelina Jolie on the phone!!! It's little Indian cuties.

THURSDAY, DEC. 18
Libertine kicked-off their sample sale with a PAPER party -- of course.
Peter Davis spent a lovely weekend at Bernie's.

FRIDAY, DEC. 19
Jeffrey Kilmer found them in Paris.
We located all the bars that bring the heat.

1. Sony BMG Music created a holiday website that lets you record "Blue Christmas" as a duet with Elvis Presley.

2. Big warehouse party tomorrow night (December 20) in PAPER's neighborhood-of-the-year Gowanus. It's the Third Annual Holiday Party with The Rub DJs and D-Nice. (232 Third Street at Third Avenue in Brooklyn, $10 with rsvp to www.meanredproductions.com/rsvp)

3. Casting Call: Universal Pictures is looking for "the next McLovin' or Michael Cera." No experience necessary. The film will be shot in 2009. 15 to 17-year-old males should report to Ripley-Grier Studios, 520 Eighth Avenue in NYC on January 10, 2009, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

4. Satellite broadcaster SKY plans to introduce 3-D television in 2009 using the company's existing hi-def boxes.

5. Red Bull is building a snowboarding arena in East River Park at E. Houston St. and the FDR Drive in February. The venue will host pro-riders (Shaun White, Travis Rice etc.) and performances by bands including Anthrax.

6. Hadouken! Yes or no?

This one goes out to all you out there in gay adult entertainment land who love a hot little daddy! (You know who you are.) Born in Utah, Josh West is not only known for what he packs below the belt, but has worked with every major company the industry has to offer. He is also one of the kindest people I have ever met!

What company do you shoot for?
I am not exclusive, so all the top companies -- Channel 1, Hot House, Titan, Raging Stallion etc. I love working with them all.

Where are you from originally?
Logan, Utah. And no, I'm not a Mormon.

How long have you been in the industry?
3 years

Are you single?
Yes

What's the last song you downloaded?
"Womanizer" by Britney Spears. YAY!

What's in your refrigerator?
Cottage cheese, milk, eggs, lunch meat and orange juice

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Fall has finally decided to go, taking its cruel outbursts of 60 degree days and leaving us to get the next three months of "wintry mix" over with. As such, we decided to make the best of all the sleet and ice to come with a roundup of bars and restaurants to keep toasty in! Below, grappa-infused toddies, habanero simple syrups, cozy fireplaces and free s'mores chip in to keep you comfy during the teeth-chattering days to come.

DRINK UP
In Tribeca, sleek subterranean lounge B Flat (277 Church St., (212) 219-2970) has a sinus-clearing, wasabi-infused vodka and sake martini called Giant Steps ($13), humanely garnished with a slice of cooling cucumber. In the East Village, it's also the house cocktail at mod Yakitori hideaway Mr. Jones (243 E. 14th St., (212) 253-7670) -- mixologist Shin Ikeda designed both cocktail lists -- and a dollar cheaper.

At Macondo (157 E. Houston St., (212) 473-9900), the Lower East Side's airy, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez-inspired latin eatery, bright, tropical cocktails will restore your vim and vigor on dreary days. Try the Tamarindo+Tequila, a peppy elixir made with acidic tamarind juice, D'Aristi Xtabentun (a spicy, honey liqueur from the Yucatan), ginger liqueur and glass rimmed in chili salt ($7.50) .

The mad scientists at Albert Trummer's Chinatown cocktail lab, Apothéke (9 Doyers St., (212) 406-0400), are serving Gluewhein ($15), a traditional Austrian mulled wine spiced with cloves and cinnamon, and, despite its name, is free of adhesives (you never know with these dudes). Trummer says he's filing the drink under "Health and Beauty" on his medicinally-themed menu, and would prescribe the drink for a sore throat. Cough drops are overrated, anyway.

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WHO: Dim
AGE: 20
OCCUPATION: I alternate between studying art and working as the graphic designer of Vice magazine France. Am also a weird artist.
FAVORITE PARIS HANG SPOT: I really like to hang out anywhere in Paris if I am with my friends, but I love the Disney Village, underground parties in squats where it's cheap and also every open bar party in hipster clubs. I like to improvise our own parties in friends' apartments and on rooftops of Paris.

WHO: Quentin
AGE: 20
OCCUPATION: I play guitar in my rock band, Ooh Check.
FAVORITE PARIS HANG SPOT: La Flèche d'Or, a great bar in Paris that hosts concerts for independant French, British and American bands as well as electro DJs. It's a place built on an old train station.

WHO: Jean-David
AGE: 19
OCCUPATION: Studying French and American law
FAVORITE PARIS HANG SPOT: It's hard to pick just ONE bar, but where I like to hang out with my friends is at the POP IN, a small bar in the 11th district of Paris, where they play great music, have great concerts and where you never know whether you'll be sitting on a chair or on your friends' laps!

WHO: Pedge
AGE: 20
OCCUPATION: Business school student and DJ
FAVORITE PARIS HANG SPOT: Chacha, a new club that just opened this summer. It's a nice old-restored apartment. On the first floor, you can find a room with a piano, dozens of guitars (acoustic and electric that you can link to an ampli) to play when you want with the first stranger you meet! Chacha is a club where you find nice people without ruining yourself!

As a big fan of Shrek, I arrived at the Broadway musical version with some trepidation. Thankfully, it all washed away as the screen characters came to life for the kid in me. My wife and kids also fell for the ogre with more layers than an onion. Brian D'Arcy James grows on you as Shrek and Christopher Sieber's Lord Farquhar is less sinister and more comical in this campy version of the screen classic. Daniel Breaker as the Donkey can't measure up to Eddie Murphy in the movie, but he certainly holds his own. I didn't love Sutton Foster as Fiona as much as I expected, but it's a small quibble for a show with beautiful sets and costumes. The message of embracing the freak within resonates with me and I even found a few songs that were hummable, an all-too-rare Broadway musical experience.

I am obsessed with Bernard L. Madoff and his 50 billion dollar Ponzi scheme. It's all I can read or think about. So when I discovered (by the dozens of cameramen outside his building at 133 E. 64th St.) that he lived two blocks away from me, it was like Xmas came early. Bernie is on house arrest all weekend from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m., so naturally I was outside his building at 8:45 a.m., Venti Starbucks in hand, waiting. By Monday, I predict Bernie will be in cuffs and that the next one to go is his wife, Ruth, who helped cook the number books for her husband's company. The owner of A & A Discount One magazine store told me: Madoff "came in often... He always bought all the business magazines, like Forbes." I'm staking out Bernie's all weekend... I'll be in touch.

Facebook can be so cool. I discovered this video thanks to an fb friend. Turns out it's a product of John Shecter's company Game. Shecter started the hip-hop magazine The Source and moved to Las Vegas where he set up his new entertainment biz. His latest discovery in Keith From Up Tha Block who brings humor back to rap. And given the times we're in, we definitely need it.

Rumor has it that newly-stateside Richard Engel –- NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent and the longest serving broadcaster that served in Iraq –- will continue reporting in style from NBC's New York headquarters before heading to the White House for their profuse network platforms including "NBC Nightly News," "Today," "Meet the Press with David Gregory," MSNBC and msnbc.com. It is expected that Engel will remain chief foreign correspondent while filing his reports primarily in the States -– a position not unlike CBS News' designation of Lara Logan. We sure are excited that Engel -- who can read and speak disparate dialects of Arabic, Spanish and Italian -- while no doubt a man of gravitas, also fully comprehends the gravity of slick hair, a sick suit and the significance of his sartorial selections. Oh, and he received the 2008 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University award, the Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism (the first in history presented to a broadcast journalist for his personal video journal documentary "War Zone Diary"), an Emmy in 2006 for his fearless coverage in Lebanon, and the Edward R. Murrow award for his hard news feature "Baghdad E.R." But we still swoon at his Conan-rivaling coif and signature panache.

Cameron Fuller, Non-Euclidean Zones
Despite the fact that it’s called “non-Euclidean,” there’s a lot of geometry going on here. The entire gallery has been transformed -- mostly with masking tape, ink and crayon -- into a bona fide two- and three-dimensional village. Although Fuller conceived his village before construction like any good urban planner, most of it was imagined in situ over the course of the few days he spent installing it. Colorful collages adorn.
Bespoke Gallery, 547 W. 27th St., (212) 695-8201. Opening December 18, 6–8 p.m. Through January 17.

Karina Wisniewska, The Sand, the Line and the Consequences: New Paintings
This Swiss-based artist uses quartz sand and acrylic on canvas to create black calligraphic shapes. She was formally trained in classical music, but an accident ended her musical career, and now her “sound pictures” take on the task of harmony and counterpoint themselves.
Sara Tecchia Roma New York, 529 W.20th St., (212) 741-2900. Opening reception, December 18, 6–8 p.m. Through January 31.

Death Is Not the End
Rest in peace, 31Grand. The gallery is coming to a close -- but not an end -- after nine years of showcasing artists from the emerging to the established. Toast a farewell Saturday night at the retrospective group exhibition with works by artists who have exhibited there over the decade. It’s a celebration and commemoration, so hold your tears and just jam to DJ Kid Magic.
31Grand, 143 Ludlow St., (212) 228-0901. December 20, 6–9 p.m.

Last night, PAPER and Libertine threw a little champagne-fueled (Nicolas Feuillatte no less) party/sale with a huge chunk of the proceeds going to Citymeals on Wheels. A terrific selection of Libertine's punky-preppy duds (T-shirts, scarves, jackets, coats, etc.) were on super sale. Head on over to 187 Lafayette St., 7th fl., where the goods are on sale through Dec. 20.

1. U2 sticks it to the man! After signing a multi-million dollar deal with Live Nation, the Irish band is already selling their shares in the company's stock. Live Nation had guaranteed the stock's price when they made the deal in March, but the shares have since fallen 83% and they now stand to lose $19 million. More bad news could come in April when Madonna -- who also signed a huge deal -- is eligible to sell her $25 million in Live Nation stock. (via WSJ)

2. When Jeremy Piven left the Broadway production of Speed-the-Plow with health problems due to "a high level of Mercury," the play's writer, David Mamet, told Variety, "My understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer."

3. One of the last shows at the Knitting Factory (before the venue moves to Brooklyn) features a New York hardcore supergroup including John Joseph and Mackie from the original Cro-Mags, AJ from Leeway and Craig from Sick of it All. Using the name Cro-Mags, the band performs on Sunday. December 28.

4. UK record label Hed Kandi has filed cease and desist motions against a Miami nightclub called Hed Kandi that was scheduled to open in South Beach last night. (via Miami Herald)

5. Members of Congress are going to receive a $4,700 pay raise in January.

6. Concierge.com lists their top places to visit in 2009:
1. Tel Aviv, Israel
2. Bolivia
3. Utah
4. Acapulco, Mexico
5. Vilnius, Lithuania

It's no surprise that it isn't easy to secure a reservation at The John Dory. For one thing, there aren't many seats, especially given the neighborhood; the space is long, thin, and located smack in the middle of mega-restaurant row (sandwiched between CraftSteak and Del Posto, and across Tenth Avenue from Morimoto). For another, the fish house is from the team behind The Spotted Pig, which sets expectations (and buzz factor) fairly high. But on the evening we attended, the Friday after Thanksgiving, the eatery was relatively subdued (although, it must be said, both Charlie Rose and Craft's Tom Colicchio were dining there during our visit). I'm pleased to say that the menu, though limited, was mostly excellent. Starters like the fish soup with shellfish rouille ($15) and oyster pan roast with uni crostini (a toast with sea urchin spread served alongside a soupy dish of creamy oysters, $20) are the sort that make return trips inevitable. The pan-roasted cod with artichoke chips ($28), on the other hand, was only adequate -- the portion was small, and although the preparation was enjoyable, it ultimately seemed uninspired. Still, it's worth venturing out to the far end of the Meatpacking District to eat there: The décor is appealingly seaworthy -- fish tank, fish posters, fake fish embedded in the Lucite bar -- and the service is friendly and attentive. And the word, of course, is out: It's a little harder to come by a two-top on a non-holiday weekend.

The John Dory
85 Tenth Ave.,
(212) 929-4948
www.thejohndory.com

Waltz With Bashir, opening this week, is an extraordinary “animated” documentary by Ari Folman. The film follows Folman as he tracks down fellow soldiers from the Lebanon War of the early 1980s, in an attempt to document their experiences -- because he himself can recall very little of the war. The recounting is often surreal and horrific. One dreams nightly of being pursued by 26 snarling dogs; another soldier, whose regiment was wiped out, escapes into the ocean and swims alone one terrifying night; and one soldier, fond of patchouli, recklessly runs into the middle of a street during an ambush and spins and dances with his gun blazing. The memories creep closer to a nightmarish massacre that Folman has conveniently buried and hidden in his brain. The animation gives levels of strange beauty to this harrowing tale.

Mr. Mickey saw tons of adorable kids in India and here's a little photo essay highlighting some of them, including a toddler with a jacket on top and no pants on the bottom. Quite an unusual silhouette!

A man carries a woman on his back, and her face and yelps tell that she clearly does not want to be there. Men grin as women sensuously curl up and around with them. A woman runs after a man so resolutely that she appears injured. And for good measure, a woman with a sheet covering her face is thrown around the stage by a constellation of men.

The abuse of women by men is familiar territory for the legendary choreographer Pina Bausch, whose Bamboo Blues ends its brief run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Saturday. But then there's this moment, tucked into the middle of the show, when one of the men curls up underneath a woman's flowing dress. It's as if he's resigning himself to a fantasy, if not of the Orient, at least of the exoticized women who inhabit it. (Finally, a couple of men strut around in dresses more Asian-looking than those of their female counterparts.)

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Oxygen Network's “Live Out Loud” slogan hits dead center in their most popular reality show Bad Girls Club, now in its third season. The Bad Girls work through family and emotional issues while living together and partying in Los Angeles. In sifting through the shouting, accusations, threats, Grey Goose and broken glasses there stands Kayla Carter, a 23-year-old receptionist from Compton, Los Angeles whose incendiary attitude is the catalyst for many of the show's girl-on-girl showdowns.

So which is more dangerous: the Bad Girls house or Compton?
Compton is definitely more dangerous. In the Bad Girls house we can't have weapons. I have a 2-by-4 in my car. Definitely I would have to say Compton.

Were you always a bad girl?
Yeah I've always been that way. I've always been the bad seed. I'm always looked at with a microscope and everyone is always waiting to see what I'm going to do next, because I'm a rebel.

Historically, who are your favorite bad girls?
I would have to say Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian and that's about it.

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Winter chills makes me want to have more punk rock moments, so when I heard my friend, the forever chic Genevieve Jones, was selling her amazing safety pin earrings (in gold, silver and diamonds), I immediately visited her studio and grabbed two pairs. Stephen Sprouse meets Don Draper is my look for '09. "They're chic and easy," Jones tells me. "They transfer from day to night and you can wear them with anything, from jeans to a cocktail dress." Or a three-piece Timothy Everest bespoke suit. Viva la punk! Viva la prep!

Genevieve Jones Safety Pin Earrings are $300-$1400 and available at Bess NYC (212 260 6740), Confederacy LA (323 913 3040) and Colette Paris (+33 1 55 35 33 90).

1. If you liked the "shoe throwing" incident, here's a helpful guide to other offensive gestures.

2. Fox News reports that Rick Rubin is being "removed" from his role as co-chairman at Sony Music. Rubin, who was "being paid a fortune," supposedly spent most of his time producing hit albums for other labels.

3. Santa's Party House (96 Lafayette Street) and Ete d' Amour are hosting a Holiday Toy Drive on Thursday, December 18, with Rapture DJs, Gang Gang Dance, Francois K, Spencer Sweeney etc. Free admission with a new toy donation.

4. Beatportal's top singles of 2008:
1. "Nesrib" by Sis
2. "Orbitallife" by Johnny D
3. "Grindhouse" by Radioslave (Dubfire mix)
4. "Diva" by Sebo K
5. "Mango Cookie" by Sascha Funke

5. New York band Boss Hog re-united after eight years to play several shows in Europe last week and are set to perform tonight (December 17) at New York's Bowery Ballroom. The band features front-woman Christina Martinez and her husband Jon Spencer of Blues Explosion.

6. Artist Above is donating all of the profits from the sale of a limited edition print entitled "Giving to the Poor" to various homeless shelters. The edition size is 250 with a price of $144 including shipping to the US.

Archival Prints LLC is a family affair. Founded in 2004 by collage artist Chad Porter, surfer Flynn Porter and their mom Joanne Marroni, the company combines state-of-the-art surfboard design with Chad’s collage-work. Along with world-renowned shaper Jeff Timpone, the family has developed an unprecedented product: custom surfboards clad with original 150-year archival prints inside fiberglass. In the last four years, the board-making family has found much success, having collaborated with the Van’s Triple Crown of Surfing, EA Sports and Tetris Games. In October 2008, Chad moved from Maui, Hawaii, to Brooklyn, where he now lives, works and co-runs the business. We recently tracked him down for a brief talk.

Describe your artwork.
My art is a portrait of my thoughts and surroundings, which right now are in Williamsburg. There’s an underlying story to every piece.

Much of your work seems political too, no?
I’m definitely not trying to shy away from the political -- it comes into the themes. But I’m not red or blue.

What inspired you to put your work on surfboards?
When my brother Flynn wanted to get his first custom surfboard, he decided to get it shaped by Jeff Timpone, who is the best-known shaper in Hawaii. The guy’s boards are everywhere over there. Anyway, Flynn wanted a photographic image on the board and had the idea to merge a fine-art process with the surfboard process. He wanted art on the board’s entire surface -- a reproduction glassed in. We made one board and then went from there.

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In the above holiday card RuPaul portrays both President-elect Barack Obama and wife, Michelle -- a clever reminder of Ru's upcoming reality show on Logo "RuPaul's Drag Race", which premieres Feb. 2.

The winner will be crowned "America's Next Drag Queen Superstar," and take home $20,000, MAC make-up and a magazine spread in PAPER magazine. Yes, PAPER magazine! How hot!

Plus, the winner will appear in Ru's upcoming music video for the album, "Faster! Faster!"

The European royal cuties really came out in droves for the wedding of Marie-Christine of Habsburg and Count Rodolphe de Limburg-Stirum. Marie-Christine's mother is Astrid of Luxembourg and her father is Carl-Christian of Austria. The entire next generation of Luxemburgers came -- Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, Princess Alexandra, Prince Louis and his wife Tessy, Prince Sebastian and Prince Felix. Cutie Prince Felix is also shown with his cousin Princess Maria Annunicata of Liechtenstein (daughter of Margarethe of Luxembourg). They make a fun couple!
Princess Astrid of Belgium (who, like Astrid of Luxembourg, is married to a Habsburg) is pictured with her daugther Maria-Laura of Habsburg. Maria-Laura is the younger sister of perhaps the hottest Prince around Amedeo of Habsburg. Brother of the groom Phillipe de Limburg-Stirum escorts his relative Helene de France.
Wenzeclas of Liechtenstein (who was once romantically linked to Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima) escorts his wildly chapeux-ed mother Princess Isabelle. Oh the cuteness knows no end.

Photos from Royal News Summary

RxArt, a not-for-profit corporation that bridges art and healing, has been on a mission to make hospital-staying more tolerable. It has brought an impressive roster of artists (assume vivid astro focus, Frank Stella, Fred Tomaselli, Laura Owens, Rob Pruitt, Ryan McGinness, Vito Acconci, Wolfgang Tillmans and William Wegman, just to name a few) to create on-site work and installations to cheer up little patients at children's hospitals around the country since 2002. This year, RxArt teamed up with artist Dan Colen on a 200-piece puzzle from a photo of chewed Bazooka bubble gum. They also made a more child-friendly version with only 35 pieces. A signed puzzle goes for $250 while unsigned ones are $75. You can also find last year's puzzle by Terry Richardson and other original works by artists like Rita Ackermann, Will Cotton and Jennifer Steinkamp at RxArt's online store.

1. The Versace mansion in South Beach now open for tours. ($65 per person, call (305) 672-6604 to schedule an appointment.)

2. Advertising Age> lists the year's top songs in ad campaigns:
1. "List of Demands" - Saul Williams for Nike
2. "Creator" - Santogold for Bud Light
3. "New Soul" - Yael Naim for Apple
4. "L'Estasi Dell Oro" - Ennio Morricone for Nike
5. "Clear Island" - Liars for Timex

3. James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem) answers the question: Is dance music dead? "That's a fashion question," he tells The Irish Independent. "Dance music is always dead, and has been since it left the gay clubs of NYC in the '70s, but it's just skin that dies, sloughs off and grows back."

4. A luxury train between New York and Atlantic City (www.acestrain.com) is now set to begin weekend trips on February 6 at $50 to $75 each way. (See photo of snazzy interior above.)

5. Today is the 60th anniversary of Scrabble. Over 150 million sold worldwide!

6. US anti-kidnap expert Felix Batista was kidnapped in Mexico City yesterday.

Tonight if you're looking to mingle for a good cause, head to Get Canned, a little shindig to benefit The Food Bank of New York City. Admission is either $10 or two non-perishable food items, and for that you will be entertained with several DJ sets, two "luxury raffles" and the comedic stylings of Leo Allen, John Oliver and Andy Blitz. All the deets are below:

Schedule of Events:

e l e m e n t
225 E. Houston St. @ Essex St.
Subway: F, V trains at 2nd Avenue
7-10 p.m.

Three Legged Dog has to have an excellent grant writer in their employ; they recently received a $200,000 Rockefeller Grant and followed that with a $400,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Fund. Wow! Some of that may well be utilized in this new show, conceived by sculptor Roland Gebhardt, with choreography and direction by Peter Kyle, video design by Reid Farrington and music by Stephen Barber. 3LD is truly unique in the visual magic it has been able to create in their productions, and Gebhardt’s show, The Only Tribe, based on a short story by Rebecca Bonnor-Addae, features masks, movement and projected images. I spoke to Gebhardt, whose design and sculpture work has garnered him a world-wide reputation.

Hi Roland. So what are these masks like that you have made?
They are very stark, white, geometric shapes. They’re carried by dancers that endow the masks with character. The masks belong to different tribes, hence the title.

Where are these tribes from? Are these actual specific tribes?
They are abstract tribes. The masks have to do with identities. These different masks belong to different identities of different tribes.

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No, Harry Prince of Wales is not hanging out at gay leather bars (as far as we know). He's attending a charity event at ICAP Charity Day. ICAP is some kind of brokerage house and their charity day supports 100 charities including Sentebale which has Prince Harry as its patron.

Photo from Royal Blog News Summary

Shrek, the Broadway musical version, opened last night on Broadway marking the movie making machine, Dreamworks's Broadway debut. Cameron Diaz, the original voice of Princess Fiona in the animated version, came out to show her support, as did other bold-faced names like Ben Stiller, America Ferrera, Hope Davis and Phylicia Rashad. The reviews weren't great in today's papers but I actually liked it much more than I thought I would when I saw it last week. Maybe I'm just accepting that Broadway is now largely made up of cop-out film to stage adaptations and appreciating Shrek as the best of the bunch. I mean, it's certainly better than Little Mermaid. And also what's not to like about the true Broadway star Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona performing an amazing tap dance number with a troupe of rats? Nothing, that's what. Here's a photo from last night's opening night party. Look at Sutton's low-cut number! Very risqué for a Broadway opening but she's giving Cameron a run for her money.

From left to right, Brian D'Arcy James (Shrek), Foster, Diaz and Daniel Breaker (Donkey).

Meet the newest addition to the PAPERMAG blogroll, Smell Ya, wherein our resident perfumaniac Jonathan Boschetto will talk base notes and aldehydes, while reporting on the latest fragrance-related goings on. Below, his first column.

Good news, perfumistas! French niche perfume house, Histoires de Parfums, is landing stateside. The collection, created by epicurean cum parfumeur Gerard Ghislain, was founded in 1999 and has been available only in concept stores and luxury boutiques outside the US. Until this January, that is. As Ghislain has it, the series of 12 fragrances reads like a library, each scent a story to be "read on skin." At the core of the collection is a set of seven eau de parfums, each named for the year of birth of an eminent historical figure. 1873, for instance, evokes Colette, the coquettish French writer, with a mix of refreshing citrus notes over a core of wild flowers and sweet musk. 1740 is the Marquis de Sade -- an enchanting and refined spiced wood, both tempting and seductive that definitely puts the Marquis back in the Sade. Three other scents are "soliloquies," richly crafted fragrances built on a single flower, such as Blanc Violette, Noir Patchouli and Vert Pivoine. Vert Piovine, inspired by Ghislain's mother's favorite flower, is a green, fresh floral that would wear particularly well in spring. The final two fragrances comprise the "erotic," cult lit section -- Ambre 114 is an oriental, spiced amber unlike any amber perfume we've encountered, with head notes of thyme and nutmeg, flushed out with rose, geranium, vetiver, sandalwood, cedar and patchouli over a musky tonka and vanilla base. Yum for both men and women. The real gem, though, is 1969, which is a free-loving caravan of fruits and spices, with the depth of patchouli and white musk. It smacks of a good time, just like its namesake.

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1. Twenty classic hip-hop album covers re-created with LEGOs here.

2. P. Diddy is feelin' the credit crunch: "Out of respect, I've been trying to dress less flashy. It's one thing to be stylish, it's another to be over the top. You got to know when to hold back and not to rub it in." (via The Guardian)

3. It looks like Diddy won't be staying at the Palazzo Versace in Dubai. The hotel plans to create a refrigerated beach so guests can walk comfortably on the sand on hot days. The hotel's owner claims that, "This is the kind of luxury that top people want." (via The Australian)

4. NYC's Standard Hotel is now scheduled to open on December 21 due to "construction delays."

5. American Idol announced an increase in its semi-final contestants from 24 to 36 and the return of a "wild card" round. Both changes begin in 2009.

6. As part of his plan to cover New York's budget deficit, former SNL fan Governor Paterson has proposed a tax on non-diet soft drinks.

French singer Yelle and her band show PAPER TV some of their best dance moves. Our fave? The Multi-Speed Vibrator Dance, of course!

On an abandoned street in Shoreditch, the sneaker mafia assembled for the launch of CP X Nike Blazers designed by menswear designer Cassette Playa. I wasn't quite sure where the hell I was in London (neither did the taxi driver, really) but I bravely headed down the dark, East End street where the fiesta supposedly was being held. Pretty unconvinced there was a party going on anywhere in the vicinity, I eventually spied a bunch of people wearing the flyest kicks this side of the pond and suddenly I knew I had found it -- I was like Dorothy stumbling upon the Emerald City.

Once ushered inside, the event was a fantasy in neon. Neon lights, neon shoes, neon screens depicting skate scenes and Cassette Playa's last menswear show. Even the crowd was neon -- not literally, but their style definitely glowed. The piece de resistance was the presentation of the new Nikes, which were encased in ice, atop a ziggurat-like structure with dry-ice induced smoke billowing out, set on the backdrop of three giant pictorials depicting the new kicks.

Like Mickey D's, I'm lovin it.

Just like that it becomes a holiday tradition! Three years ago, designer Kai Kuhne, his pit-bull Powder and PAPERMAG arrived at Susanne Bartsch's toy drive and party in a pedi-cab, as Powder growled in the driver's ear the whole way. And here we are again! Held at Greenhouse, the dress code was festive with a little bit of Halloween leftovers thrown in. Everyone told me, "Wait until you see Susanne. She looks fantastic -- skinny, skinny, skinny!" I asked her who did the Art Deco/'60s/Pucci-esque bodysuit and she literally scolded me for not recognizing the work of Zaldy. When I asked her husband David Barton who did his, he laughed and said, "Who did my outfit?? I look much better naked." Everybody came armed with an un-wrapped toy, cause you know, ahem, it was all about the kids -- and, of course, about getting your freak on!

One of Mr. Mickey's favorite charities, Unicef, is doing a special fundraising campaign with Kimberly Clark, the Kleenex people. Any donations you make before December 31st will be matched by Kimberly Clark. So you can wipe your nose and make a difference for kids around the world! Give till it hurts kids!!!

I crave couture and custom-made everything in life. So to go with my new bespoke Timothy Everest suits from London, I now have nine hand-tailored bow ties from Los Angeles by Ashton Hirota (his label is called Ashton Michael, which was his stage name as a kid). Cute and talented, Ashton has a store/atelier in Hollywood on La Palmas Avenue. He designs clothes and crazy show costumes for clients like Regina Spektor, Fergie and James St. James. Nothing is too outrageous for Ashton to whip up. "My business partner Marco and I had to create wearable windmills for the the twirling twins on America's Next Top Model this season, cycle 11. The costumes were made of wood, foam, corduroy, plexiglas. You name it, and it was used to construct it," he tells me, adding, "I cut off the tip of my finger the night we made these outfits and spent the early morning in the ER." We bleed for good fashion!