By Drew Grant 5/18 3:12pm

Jay McInerney

Jay McInerney, Rielle Hunter (Patrick McMullan)

Jay McInerney’s Schrödinger’s Cat Explanation for Bret Easton Ellis, Rielle Hunter ‘Almost’ Threesome

“Bret is such a liar!” Jay McInerney said fondly of his old friend. It was Wednesday night, and we were chatting across the table during a dinner the author had co-hosted with Janna Bullock. Mr. McInerney was referring to our query about the infamous tweet of his friend Bret Easton Ellis, who had implied they the two literary brat packers had once ‘almost’ had a threesome with John Edwards’ mistress, Rielle Hunter. Read More

By Drew Grant 3/20 5:50pm

Book Launch

Lonely Jeff's fliers (Author Site)

Jeff ‘One Lonely Guy’ Ragsdale: Not As Sad After Flier Stunt Nets Book Deal

“It’s kind of like being in a David Lynch movie,” Jeff Ragsdale told The Observer over the phone. “Half of the calls I get are blocked, so I never know who I’m going to get on the other end.” Six months ago, Mr. Ragsdale started hanging up fliers around New York City, inviting people to call him. 65,000 people did so (including text messages).

Two days ago, The New York Post noticed and did a short profile on Mr. Ragsdale experiment. Since then, Mr. Ragsdale, who said he’s been battling loneliness and depression all his life and started the fliers after a painful breakup,  has received another 3,000 calls/texts. (Don’t worry, he’s on a limitless phone plan.) That’s even more than when his note went viral on the front page of Reddit.

Oh, and he has a book coming out today. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 3/07 9:27am

Post-Empire

james deen bret easton ellis

The Boyfriend Experience: Can Bret Easton Ellis Mainstream Porn Star James Deen?

The first time I met James Deen was in a co-ed bathroom. I couldn’t tell you where. He was in the middle of a foursome, having sex with a sweat-soaked blonde propped up against a porcelain sink who looked like she’d just swallowed all the MDMA in L.A. A friend told me one way to spot fake college porn is by the extras the producers hire to stand around and pretend to be students. Sure enough, a group of guys who might have trouble spelling the word “campus” were watching, slack-jawed, from the doorway. I was watching too, except from my MacBook in Brooklyn. Read More

By Drew Grant 9/22/11 12:19pm

Celebrity Twitter

rushdie

Update: Irrepressible Salman Rushdie Responds to Twitter Handle Win

Congratulations to Salman Rushdie, who finally gained his official Twitter handle after shaming another person off of it. Mr. Rushdie joined Twitter this week but had to take the handle @SalmanRushdie1 because some goofball had already been tweeting out from @SalmanRushdie. As of yesterday, it was still being reported that Mr. Rushdie was verified at @SalmanRushdie1, but had sent a message to the faux-tweeter: “Who are you? why are you pretending to be me? Release this username. You are a phoney. All followers please note.” Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 3/14/11 2:14pm

The Empire Strikes Back

The New 'Newsweek,' Week Two: Famous Author Praises TV Star Using Made-Up Lingo

Tina Brown has made good, in her way, on her promise to decode “crackling, confusing digital dots”: Newsweek this week synthesizes Charlie Sheen’s every manic Ustream with Bret Easton Ellis’s theory, long promulgated over Twitter, of “Empire” and “post-Empire” entertainments. Mr. Ellis, whose piece is live on The Daily Beast, connects Read More