The LWALA benefit was last night at the Battery Park Gardens and we hear it was a success. The acroym stands for "Living With A Lifelong Ambition" and is a foundation that has been getting a lot of notice, especially after Natalie Portman started supporting. In this weeks' issue of NY magazine, the lovely Ms. Portman was interviewed along with Dustin Hoffman to promote their new film "Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium". Here's what she said:

What are you going to give this year? "One of my friends got his twin sister cooking classes, and she got him D.J. lessons. I thought that was pretty cool. Some friends of friends started this medical clinic in a village in Kenya, Lwala. They make beautiful jewelry that they sell at Lwala.org, and all of the proceeds go back to this medical clinic."

The jewelry she is talking about is that of sisters Danielle and Jodi Synder (pictured above). Their company Dannijo jewels features semi-precious stone, handmade jewelry and accesories (though they claim "Confidence" as the "accessory of the season"). You can purchase off their website for unique holiday gifts that also support a good cause.

This is the only way we can describe the hordes of people lining up outside of stores hours and hours before their openings to make sure they would get a piece of the "Black Friday" specials. And if you thought New Yorkers were different than the average American super idiots think again. We saw LINES of people forming at stores such as Best Buy in the city on Thanksgiving Day! We don't know whether to be completely ashamed of sharing a gene pool with people that chose to stand on street corners for days in order to save a couple hundred bucks on a flat screen, or be thankful that we have such groups to help pick up our dollar's worth, if at least for a couple weeks. This year, Black Friday sales beat forecasts, up 8.3% from last year.

We still just don't get what is going on in the brain's of these poor souls. What could they possibly be saving that could ever justify putting themselves through this madness? We have nothing to tell our friends from other countries when they ask us about the strange behaviors American's participate in on Black Friday. We have no answer for them except that it can't be THAT much of a surprise in a country that has held a reputation for making some less than thought-out-ahead-of-time decisions (hello, Bush re-election!) All we can offer is that everyone goes off their rockers now and then....you may need to use this as a comfort to move past the fact that YOU or a LOVED ONE actually participated in such mayhem....

P.S. Do you think people that participate in Black Friday Madness feel the slightest bit stupid? How about the days after when they realize that almost everything they waited in line for is the same price as when they bought it?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

[Fortunoff's Thanksgiving Turkey, 5th avenue store window]

This Thanksgiving, we here at gofg would like to take this time to go over some of the things we are most thankful for this year. So here goes:

Guest of a Guest's Most Thankful List:

-Armin Amiri for "Just seeing Cuba" and likewise needing us to experience his vision, thus creating Socialista.

-"Cocaine Highs" at The Box, for giving us a reason to dance with midget whores.

-Guidos and Guidettes for the massive quantity of material they provide us with each week.

-Rob Rich and his team for the extensive amount of coverage they provided us with this summer out east.

-Izzy Gold, LOLA, Unruly Heir, Tibi, Heatherette, and Abigail Lorrick, for keeping us in style.

-Polo matches, horse races and crew regattas for hours of WASP-sightings.

-Olivia, Tinsley, and Lydia for continuing to teach us the ways of becoming a socialite.

-Urban Rebounding classes for giving us yuppie buns of steel.

-Kenny Kenny , Richie Rich and the Club Kids...do we really need a reason?

-Mark and Eugene, Richie and Scott, Jason and Noah, Amy, and Danny A for continuing to take care of our need to party, and Nikola for the detailed documentation.

-The Martignetti brothers for giving us a chance to wear our hampton gear well into the fall and winter, and for giving all of our tall, popped-collared prepster friends a place to mingle with thier blonde future wives.

-Nello and the Cipriani's , for giving us tales from the "battle of the most retarded restauranters" file to blog about.

-Upstairs for providing a place where stars like Diddy and DiCaprio can act "Just like Us" in a secret setting, bar fights and all.

-Passerby, well at least for a couple more months.

-Marc Jacobs, for proving that even fabulous gay designers have midlife crises.

-Wass Stevens, for giving countless doormen around the world somthing to look up to.

-Gossip Girl, for providing us with the best network TV in decades and keeping us off the streets on Wednesday nights.

-And finally, for all our readers and faithful commenters, for our blog buddies and our email tippers, for our myspace and facebook friends.......Thank you and Happy Turkey Day!

...Everywhere we go!

[light tunnel outside Cartier store on 5th avenue]

Strolling up 5th Avenue is sure to get you in the Holiday spirit. Though I am not quite there yet...I prefer celebrating one holiday (Thanksgiving) before plowing full steam ahead into the Christmas one, but with the plummet in retail sales this year, it's no wonder why stores are trying to pull everything out of their sleeves to get you guys shopping. Black Friday will hopefully give store sales a much needed boost for their end of quarter earnings reports. I, however, will be as far away from anything remotely related to shopping this Friday and the following weekend. That's right, I joined Adbusters "Buy Nothing Day" campaign, an informal protest against consumerism.

It's not just about buying nothing on Black Friday (November 23) but about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste. "Stop Shopping, Start Living!" Granted if everyone lived by this mantra, our entire economy would probably collapse, but I need to make myself do this before my personal finances collapse on me! Whether or not I will be actually entering any of the stores, I really do appreciate all the work they put into helping me get in the Christmas spirit (Have you SEEN the window displays at Saks and Bergdorf yet?! Amazing!) Here are more pics I snapped from 5th avenue including the outsides of Lord & Taylor, Saks, and Bergdorf:

Anyone else remember André J.? He was the "Muse" in New York's Look Book back in March. You know, the one that no one really took seriously and Gawker bashed? (It was all in good fun of course). Well this ex-Patricia Fields store worker, Richie Rich-clan-bearded-homegirl is the new cover model for French Vogue, posing on the current issue with American Supermodel Carolyn Murphy (it seems the French are stealing the best of our fashion divas). We bet there's some pretty upset stylists here in New York, how could they have missed such a fantabulous creature as this? French Vogue is so much cooler than Wintour's. Even Jezebel picked up on that.

We Love you André J. and want you BACK!

Last night we finally went to Fuerzabruta, the unique production by Argentinian Diqui James of "De La Guarda". After reading about this show in the Times back in August, we decided we wanted to check it out, and we are glad we actually followed through last night. Fuerzabruta is a "wordless fushion of physical and visual feats"...what this really means is that it is 70 minutes of non-stop stimulation similar to being fucked up on drugs. For those spectators that actually were high on something, we have no idea what kind of world they could have possibly been going on in their heads during this show. It was a pretty intense one for us stone sober.

Diqui James along with musical composer Gaby Kerpel wanted to create a "new project with the objective to create a company that continues the creative search of motivation and innovation." One in which "The public doesn't take part, they form part. Injured. Celebrating."

"We want to break intellectual submission of the language."

What this translates to is a lot of fucked up dance moves, thumping techno music, and crazy ass props surrounding you that leaves you wondering just what drugs these two were to come up with something like this. We felt like we were in a scene from Minority Report. When walking home we discussed what the meaning behind the different scenes were throughout the show. The struggles against life? Against our own Humanity? Individuals banding together to overcome the forces of nature? You can imagine how dumb we felt when we read this morning on the website from the creaters themselves that "No one knows the meaning of the work because it doesn't have one. A door is a door. It doesn't mean more or less than that."

Wow, so the work has no meaning. This explains why the best audience members were the sweaty tweenagers in all their glory. Braced-faces and awkward conversations surrounded us. The few "real adults" there stood on the outer edges of the circle by us, mostly annoyed by the forced moving of the crowd, though satisfied at times by the display. Our favorite part was of course the water scene in which a huge mylar pool ascends down on you and female dancers move about above. You have to watch the youtube we found on it:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG4wTGmYH7U]

The teenage boys no doubt especially enjoyed these scenes that left little to the imagination. For all things Fuerzabruta go here...also, we recommend a couple of cocktails or whatever other poison of your choice before going. This is a show that the broadway strike will not affect so it could be perfect for your visiting parents this holiday season. You may just want to check it out first to make sure they are the kinds of older set that would enjoy this sort of thing. It could be just the thing to bring them back to their own old club days.

 [Source: View Images]
The well-manicured-pinstripe-wearing-southern-pretty-boy from Fox News has just signed a deal for a salary of about 7 million dollars a year. That puts him about 2 million above CNN's Anderson Cooper.

While many viewers received his Katrina coverage well, and enjoy his neutral (remember he IS on Fox) hard-hitting news hour, we usually sign in to see his 7pm broadcast because of his svelte style and the sartorial splendor of his wardrobe.  Lou Dobbs can't even compete!

[NY Times]

[photo from Portfolio.com]

Hotelier Ian Schrager recently sat down with Portfolio's Lloyd Grove for an interview. The creator of Studio 54, The Morgans Hotel group (The Royalton, Mondrian, Delano, etc.), Gramercy Park Hotel, and 40 Bond has most recently joined forces with "straight-laced" Bill Marriott this summer. The two are set to build more than 100 chic hotels around the world. An unlikely pair? Not according to Ian who had this to say:

"Is Bill Marriott any different than I am? Than Steve Rubell was?" (Rubell was, of course, his partner in Studio 54 and Morgans group, and closest friend who died of AIDS in 1989) "I mean we're complementary, our DNA is alike. We're both competitive and in pursuit of excellence."

Schrager was involved with partner Rubell in a large tax-evasion scandal from Studio 54 that sent them both to prison for 9 months and was widely publicized. When interviewer Lloyd Grove suggests that the whole thing may in fact add something to Schrager, a "second-act" at an American life, Schrager responded with:

"(there are) More than second acts. But people do forget to the extent that the stain comes out and the stigma goes away. Maybe it does add cachet, but I, for one, don't find any of that appeal in what happened to me. It could've destroyed me, so I really want to forget about it."

Boys from Brooklyn, the two came back with club Palladium and everyone, including their prosecutors were rooting for their "re-success".

"We think we were good guys who go intoxicated and lost our way, did something stupid...we kept our values intact and we remained friends with the same people. We loved our parents and family. But we just got intoxicated with the whole thing and did stupid things."

We especially liked that Schrager admits that people maybe remember Studio 54 as better than the real thing, and credits the timing in New York for it's success. Though a tad cheesy, we also liked how he totes his biggest accomplishments as being his daughters (Sophia, 13 and Ava, 10).

"My ambition is for them to be happy. It's not the same sort of middle-class syndrome that I came from. The idea is to be happy in life. There is no destination. It is just a trip, and enjoy yourself along the way."

For the entire interview with Ian Schrager, go here.

We were celebrating fall last Friday and managed to snap these arial photos of the beautiful display of colors in Central Park. Autumn seems to have left just as quickly as it arrived....the first snowfall of the year fell around 8:40am here in Manhattan today. It's not the inclement weather we are fearing, it's the hordes of tourist that are no doubt heading into our city this week and will remain here until after the new year. We are positive that even the Broadway strikes won't keep those spendy tourists out this season, it's time to prepare ourselves for some road blocks.

[Photo from Eater.com]

GROSS!! Eater just reported that the Department of Health has shut down the Upper East Side's Serendipity 3, you know the restaurant that just created the most expensive dessert in the world for $25K. The Report states:

"The Health Department closed Serendipity on 11/14/07 following its second consecutive failed inspection in a month. Both inspections revealed rodent and fly infestation and conditions conducive to pest infestation, including stagnant water in the basement. In last night's inspection, the inspector observed a live mouse, mouse droppings in multiple areas of the restaurant, fruit flies, house flies, and over 100 live cockroaches."

Well that just sucks for them. They had such a good week last week with their unveiling of the "Frrrrozen Haute Chocolate". This week they better use that money to clean up their act.

 [Photo from NYTimes]

New York Times food critic Frank Bruni made our mornings today.  In his piece titled "The Gloss of Opulence", Bruni had a jolly old time picking to shreads the lastest "in-the-news" Cipriani establishment, the Sherry-Netherland Cipriani on 5th avenue.  Giving it the poorest rating allowed (zero stars), here is how he opened:

"Over the years the Cipriani restaurant family and its employees have faced charges of sexual harassment, insurance fraud and tax evasion, the last leading to guilty pleas by two family members in July.  But the crime that comes to mind first when I think of the Ciprianis is highway robbery.  Based on my recent experience, that's what happens almost any time Harry Ciriani on Fifth Avenue serves lunch or dinner."

Ouch.  He then goes into detail on the ridiculous priced items, joking that it would be tempting to devote the rest of the review to a price list because "Nothing else I can present is nearly as compelling."  he goes on...

"It's a bizarre mix of indulgence and deprivation, the crisp white jackets on the servers communicating an ostentation that's contadicted by plenty else."  He does a great job of pointing out how cheap the Cipriani's establishments are, paying attention to details:

"Even in an enclave this expensive, there are things seemingly done on the cheap.  I can't think of a credible motive other than cost saving for serving an appetizer of turkey tonnato in place of veal tonnato.  That's for $27.95.  Although steak Rossini typically involves foie gras, what Harry Cipriani puts on top of a gigantic (and, it should be noted, juicy) filet mignon are chicken livers, chalky when I had them." And, our favorite: "The selection of wines by the glass-a small carafe, really-is pathetic, and that fabled bellini is $19.95 for a restrained ration of white peach juice and prosecco."

(We have always wondered why our friends RAVE about their bellinis, we have never been impressed by it there, it's been watered down 99% of the time).  Though later on today eater.com pointed out that the resturaunt is "doing just fine" because no one who actually eats there cares that they are spending that much anyway... And in a way, Bruni agrees with them ending the article with:

"But the people-watching is nonpareil.  You rarely see blondness this imporbable, cosmetology this transparent, wealth this flamboyantly misspent." 

We couldn't agree with him more, and think that the Cipriani's may become the new Nello Balan for rip-off restaurantuer of our time. 

Today, we read in Page Six  that our favorite greaseball mcgee Brandon Davis paid a visit on Saturday night to Frederic Fekkai and gave the stylists there quite a challenge.  They were "so appalled by his oily grunginess they donned rubber gloves..Even the shampoo person wore gloves."  Apparently Davis was completely out of it and was sweating profusely (sounds about right). 

Then, it goes on to report that, with half shut eyes he repeatedly asked them for carrot juice even though they kept telling him they only had oj.  While carrot juice is a great antioxidant, there's only so much it can do...he needs to go get his sweating problem taken care of asap.  This is becoming inexcusable...you can't even be within 5 feet of the guy without getting DRENCHED in sweat and grease.  We bet he expected that they would treat him "special" and run out to buy him his own personal carrot juice.  Kudos for the workers at Fekkai for knowing that with hair like that, you don't even deserve the oj!  It's pretty shameful really (not the part about him being fucked up either-it WAS a Saturday night-but the hair...just disgusting!!!)