Reality TV star and now "Skinnygirl" entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel has already deluged the market with her Skinnygirl brand books, makeup, ponytail (yes, really) and those (controversial) Skinnygirl margaritas.
But now, you can get Skinnygirl even closer to your body with Frankel's new line of Skinnygirl Smoothers 'n' Shapers.
Launching in May 2012, the shapewear will be available at select Macy's stores, and for the line's "Real Woman" campaign, Frankel put a bunch of her real life besties -- i.e. her hair stylist, makeup artists and personal assistants -- in Skinnygirl shapewear and towering heels.
Frankel told People that she wants real women to experience the "confidence" shapewear brings:
“I created [my shapewear] for real women, so having the actual women in my life model my collection was the only truthful choice ... Everyone has a body part they’re not thrilled about, and the campaign gives women a firsthand look at how a little shapewear can give you the confidence to show it off and feel great while you’re doing it.”
The Justice Department could sue Apple Inc as early as Wednesday over alleged electronic book price-fixing, while settling with several publishers as early as this week, two people familiar with the matter said.
The Justice Department is investigating alleged price-fixing by Apple and five major publishers: CBS Corp's Simon & Schuster Inc; HarperCollins Publishers Inc; Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group; Pearson and Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH.
A lawsuit against Apple, one of the parties not in negotiations over a potential settlement, could come as early as Wednesday but no final decision had been made, the people said.
Apple declined to comment. The Justice Department and the five publishers could not be reached for comment.
The Justice Department is investigating whether deals Apple cut two years ago with the quintet of major publishers - when the consumer electronics maker launched its iPad tablet computer - were done with the intent of propping up prices for digital books, sources have said.
As part of those agreements, publishers shifted to a model that allowed them to set the price of e-books and give Apple a 30 percent cut of sales, the sources have said.
Talks between the Justice Department and some publishers had been proceeding, with settlements expected as soon as this week, one of the two sources familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity, because the discussions were not public.
A negotiated settlement is expected to eliminate Apple's so-called "most favored nation" status, which had prevented the publishers from selling lower-priced e-books through rival retailers such as Amazon.com Inc or Barnes & Noble Inc , sources had told Reuters last month.
But the situation was fluid, those sources said at the time.
President Barack Obama's campaign formally welcomed Republican Mitt Romney to the White House duel Tuesday, with a caustic warning: the more Americans see of him, the less they like him.
Romney effectively clinched the Republican presidential nomination when his last remaining rival Rick Santorum bowed out, setting up a nasty, battle with Obama, who will ask voters for a second four-year term in November.
The president and the former Massachusetts governor have actually been squaring off for several weeks, but Obama's team could not pass up another chance to try to negatively define Romney in the eyes of voters.
"The more the American people see of Mitt Romney, the less they like him and the less they trust him," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement issued shortly after Santorum suspended his campaign.
Messina accused Romney of alienating key voting blocs including women, the middle class, and Hispanics and framed the election as a fight for a fair economy, a theme Obama spent the day hitting in swing state Florida.
The president touted his millionaires tax in Florida, a battleground state which could play a decisive role in the November 6 election.
The initiative, calling for a minimum tax of 30 percent on those earning more than $1 million a year has no chance of quickly becoming law, but it anchors Obama's vow to forge an economy where everyone has "a fair shot."
"What drags our entire economy down is when the benefits of economic growth and productivity go only to the few," Obama said.
"The gap between those at the very, very top and everybody else keeps growing wider and wider and wider and wider," Obama said.
The president argued that government-led investments in the future economy were not a "socialist dream" as some of his conservative opponents would have it, but were essential to future prosperity.
"Let me you ask you: what's the better way to make our economy stronger? Do we give another $150,000 tax break to every millionaire and billionaire in the country?" the president said.
"Or should we make investments in education and research and health care and our veterans?"
Obama calls his plan the Buffett rule, after billionaire financier Warren Buffett who complained that his massive investment income was taxed at a lower rate than the taxes his secretary pays on her wages.
Congress was expected to vote on the millionaires tax next week and the plan has almost no chance of passing.
But Democrats want to force Republicans to cast a vote to oppose the tax, which Obama and party allies can then use to castigate their foes on the campaign trail ahead of November's election.
Madonna's MDNA may be the first album to both top the Billboard charts and be a massive commercial failure.
The record debuted at No. 1 on the charts, prompting her longtime manager Guy Oseary to herald the singer's comeback as a great success. And though it was quite a triumphant return, it turned out to be a short-lived one buoyed by what some are calling a cheap trick.
MDNA sales have fallen a record 88 percent week-over-week, from 379,000 copies to a mere 46,000, Forbes reports.
So why the dramatic drop? In a somewhat savvy move, Madonna packaged the album with ticket sales on Ticketmaster. Though Lionel Richie's Tuskegee was outpacing her in projected sales, Madge was able to surpass his release by essentially giving her album away to anyone who bought a ticket to see her tour. These "sales" were then counted in Billboard's tally.
The only problem? With her shows either sold out or nearly sold out, no one's going to be buying tickets any time soon.
Page Six notes that Madge didn't invent the trick. Both Bon Jovi and Tom Petty used the loophole to finagle their way to the top of the charts.
In his email newsletter, Bob Lefsetz slammed the singer and her team for failing to understand that Super Bowl shows don't translate to album sales, especially for "an ancient superstar dashing for cash."
"Oldsters just want to hear the hits, and youngsters ... just don't care," he wrote of her halftime show. As for her tour? "Charging a fortune and playing huge venues. It's like a going out of business sale. What do you do next?"
Richie, on the other hand, sold 20,000 albums in just one hour by swallowing his pride and appearing on the Home Shopping Network. That's almost half the number of albums Madonna moved all week.
In Oseary's defense, he claims that Madge has foregone traditional album promos, instead focusing on prepping what he's touting as an epic tour. "The focus is getting the show together so MDNA can come to life," he tweeted.
Though Lefsetz and other critics are making it seem as though Madonna's career has seen its last sunset, it's important to remember she still has some pretty fierce fans, including this lady who tattooed MDNA's artwork on her ribcage:
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, saying he hopes Lamar Odom's departure is "addition by subtraction," confirmed that a heated halftime confrontation between the owner and 13-year veteran was the breaking point that prompted the team and player to part ways.
During halftime of his final game with the Mavs, Odom and Cuban had the exchange in the visitors locker room Saturday night in Memphis.
Sources told ESPNDallas.com the heated words were "the culmination" of an exasperating weekend, when Odom was tardy to the team's Friday home game against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Saturday morning meeting in Memphis. That convinced team officials to initiate discussions on Easter Sunday that led to the parties agreeing to split for the rest of the season.
Cuban confirmed Tuesday evening the crux of the heated halftime confrontation was Cuban questioning Odom's commitment. Odom, who had played only four minutes in the first half, reacted angrily to the question, shouting "stop playing games" several times. Odom did not take his seat on the bench until after the third quarter began.
"Well, yeah," Cuban said when asked whether that exchange was the final straw. "Just his response to it. Everybody goes through ups and downs. Every player does. We tried to put him in a position to succeed. You guys saw it, saw what we did. It didn't work.
"And I just asked him, does he want to go for it or not? Is he in or is he out? I think he thought we were playing poker. I just didn't get a commitment. And that was the end."
This was not the first time that Cuban had confronted Odom during a game. During a March 6 win over the New York Knicks, Cuban shouted at Odom from the owner's seat near the Mavs bench after the forward's failure to hustle back on defense resulted in an uncontested layup for New York's Landry Fields. Cuban and Odom both downplayed that incident at the time, with Cuban pointing out that he's a passionate fan who frequently yells at players.
Cuban admitted Tuesday that Odom's lack of commitment, which manifested itself in a lack of effort on the floor and habitual tardiness to team meetings, practices and shootarounds despite living across the street from the American Airlines Center, had been an issue all season.
Perhaps the best advice you can give someone about having a relationship with a married man is telling her not to even start. However, that may not be practical for all women. As my friend Jenna* told me, "You can't help who you fall in love with. The love of your life just might be a married man."
Being part of any couple can be challenging and unpredictable, as we all know. But when the man with whom you're involved is part of another couple, someone else's husband, then the challenge and unpredictability can make your life a messy, unhappy waiting game that you will rarely win.
The woman who is in love with a married man lives a life that, for the most part, is shrouded in secrecy. Her close circle of friends might know about her affair, but she really cannot let anyone else, such as colleagues or her family, know. She is alone most of the time and spends it waiting: waiting for her married lover to call, to come meet her, to share some precious time together. She is not his wife, she is not mother to his children, she is not his parents' daughter-in-law. Her chance for happiness hinges on a future that is highly uncertain, to say the least.
Your own survival is crucial, and if you do happen to fall in love with a married man, there are several hard truths you need to know.
1. The needs of the many (namely, his family) will always outweigh your needs.
His family will always come first, and that includes his wife. Simply because he talks in a negative way about his marriage doesn't mean that his obligations to his wife are any less important to him. Whether or not they have children is a moot point; he will always feel as if he has to be a husband to her and take care of the marriage, whether he truly loves her or not. Their life together includes friendships and a social network that is shared and comfortable for him. He won't risk losing that.
2. His life with you is secret and always will be.
No matter how much you may want to walk in the sunshine with him and have him openly acknowledge his love for you, it won't happen. While he is more than willing to be your lover and to bring you gifts, he is not about to have you meet his friends and risk having his family find out about you.
3. No matter how nice a guy he is, you are a temporary diversion for him.
This is not an easy statement to comprehend. It's emotionally painful. Unfortunately it is true. The beginning of an affair is romantic and naughty at the same time. Planning to be together becomes a fascinating game and is thrilling to say the least. Stealing hours from work or home to have sex is exciting, and you may mistake his libido-driven passion for undying love. Don't. The game soon becomes a chore for him, and romantic interludes are just one more thing he "has to do."
resident Obama’s landmark health-care initiative, long touted as a means to control costs, will actually add more than $340 billion to the nation’s budget woes over the next decade, according to a new study by a Republican member of the board that oversees Medicare financing.
The study is set to be released Tuesday by Charles Blahous, a conservative policy analyst whom Obama approved in 2010 as the GOP trustee for Medicare and Social Security. His analysis challenges the conventional wisdom that the health-care law, which calls for an expensive expansion of coverage for the uninsured beginning in 2014, will nonetheless reduce deficits by raising taxes and cutting payments to Medicare providers.
The 2010 law does generate both savings and revenue. But much of that money will flow into the Medicare hospitalization trust fund — and, under law, the money must be used to pay years of additional benefits to those who are already insured. That means those savings would not be available to pay for expanding coverage for the uninsured.
“Does the health-care act worsen the deficit? The answer, I think, is clearly that it does,” Blahous, a senior research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, said in an interview. “If one asserts that this law extends the solvency of Medicare, then one is affirming that this law adds to the deficit. Because the expansion of the Medicare trust fund and the creation of the new subsidies together create more spending than existed under prior law.”
Administration officials dismissed the study, arguing that it departs from bipartisan budget rules used to measure every major deficit-reduction effort for the past four decades — including the blueprint offered last month by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
“Opponents of reform are using ‘new math’ while they attempt to refight the political battles of the past,” a White House budget official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the report was not publicly available. “The fact of the matter is, the Congressional Budget Office and independent experts concluded that the health-reform law will reduce the deficit. That was true the day the bill was signed into law, and it’s true today.”
Blahous acknowledged that his analysis departs from budget conventions, which, he said, make sense for the most part. He said that in this case, however, those rules do not fully illuminate the financial impact of the health-care law, since they permit what conservative critics have dubbed a “double counting” of proposed Medicare savings.
Medicare is financed in part through a trust fund that receives revenue from payroll taxes. Before Obama’s health-care act passed, the trust fund was projected to be drained by 2017 (later updated to 2016). Absent the health-care law, Blahous writes, Medicare would have been forced to enact a sharp reduction in benefit payments in the middle of this decade, or “other Medicare savings would have had to be found.”
Robyn is turning photographer, for a day.
The Swedish pop singer is joining an anti-apartheid icon, a former Irish president and thousands of people around the world in an attempt to capture a day in the life of the planet.
The project – aday.org – is inspired by the "Family of Man," a 1955 exhibition of international photography that became a multi-million-selling book.
Since then, digital technology and the Internet have made millions of people published photographers, and the project's organizers hope to harness many of the estimated 1 billion digital cameras now in the hands of people around the world.
Amateur and professional photographers are being encouraged to capture image of their home, family, travel or work on May 15. The uploaded images will be published on the Internet and compiled into a touring exhibition and a book.
Organizer Jeppe Wikstrom hopes it will provide a record of our common humanity – and of the details of everyday life that photojournalism doesn't always capture.
"Sensationalism has become more common in media, with celebrities and catastrophes and reality TV," said Wikstrom, a Swedish publisher and photographer who helped organize a similar 2003 project in his homeland, "A Day in the Life of Sweden."
"A few months ago we were looking for everyday pictures of Paris from a major photo agency, the first thing we got was thousands and thousands of pictures of Paris Hilton," he said. "It's an indication of our time."
Celebrity participants in the project, run by a Swedish charity, include Virgin boss Richard Branson, former Irish President Mary Robinson and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said the photos would help people connect with one another and "transcend the barriers of language, age, gender and culture."
Wikstrom says those signed up to take part range from Andre Kuipers, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, to scientists in Antarctica and climbers on Mount Everest.
Robyn, who admitted being an infrequent photographer, said she plans to take pictures of her life in Stockholm on May 15.
She said she was backing the project because, "I thought there was something very democratic about it, and modern."
"It's about looking into the future and letting all kinds of people have their say," she said.
