You knew the engagement of hip-hop artist M.I.A. and musician Benjamin Brewer — son of mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr. — would yield plenty of hilarity, but this? Since her 2007 album Kala launched her from rising star into actual pop songstress (we blame Pineapple Express for introducing her to Judd Apatow fans), M.I.A. has been trying to emphasize that she doesn't just sip wine at fancy parties, as when she dissed New York for its lack of gun violence compared to her war-torn childhood in Sri Lanka. Maya, we urge you, just let the music speak for itself. Quotes from a recent Spin interview in this morning's New York Post suggest she should have quit while she was ahead.
When it comes to her inner turmoil between her anti-establishment roots and the decadent wealth of her her new in-laws-to-be, M.I.A. explains how exactly she reconciles the two: "I've always had that [bleep]-the-system mentality, and his dad is so 'the system.' But then, they're the most liberal family - they bootlegged alcohol, for God's sake. They're rich because they threw big, illegal parties, so I don't mind."
She's referring, of course, to the Bronfman's old old family business, liquor company Seagram. So basically the system is awesome when it's netting her $100,000 to play MTV after parties, but otherwise, she's still an iconoclast. Oy. We love the music, but does she know she's making herself harder to like?
Keach Hagey, 
The 'Gossip Girl' ethnics are explained at last! "Originally, the Kati and Isabel characters on GOSSIP GIRL were actually listed in the breakdown as "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Jimmy Choos,' writes a tipster who auditioned for the show, but wasn't ultimately cast. "They were actually the funniest part of the show - they had these totally bizarre three line conversations at the end of each scene. Unfortunately, for those of us who went in 19 times for every part on the show and ended up coming down to the very end for those roles, the network decided that they had to go "ethnic," and they claimed couldn't find any black or Asian girls who were funny, so they, at the last minute, cast models and decided to just make them sight gags. No joke." 
The other day, a magazine arrived addressed to a former occupant of my apartment. It was a copy of The Nest magazine, which is published by theknot.com. The thinking seems to be that women go to theknot.com and buy The Knot magazine to prepare for their weddings, and then once they're married, they move on to The Nest. If there was ever a reason to want to avoid becoming a "married," as they refer to themselves, this would be it. 
Today, Page Six is "just asking" "which aging supermodel is ensuring her picture still gets taken, despite her bad behavior and spiraling demand, by having an affair with the head of a major photo agency? The sex is so strong, friends say, the agency owner is thinking of leaving his loyal wife of several decades." And we thought about doing a poll, but then we realized that when you look up "aging supermodel" in the dictionary, there's a picture of former Top Model judge and purported "world's first supermodel" Jan Dick. Not the one on the left, though. It's this other picture.... [NSFLife!]