Portrait of the Onanist as a Young Man

Nick Tosches, a former Florida snake hunter who started out as a journalist at Creem and Fusion, is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He is also the author of novels Cut Numbers and In The Hand of Dante, and biographies of Dean Martin and Jerry Lee Lewis among many others.

When Salon Read More

Morning Memo: Jessica Alba’s DNC Musings; Harsh, Anne Hathaway!; G Spa Closes

Jessica Alba did not approve of all the stars-and-stripes themed outfits at the Democratic National Convention, but still felt "fortunate" to be there. [Celebrity Myspace]

Bristol Palin and putative fiance Levi Johnston were sporting tattoos of each other’s names at the Republican National Convention last night.[US Weekly

Paris Hilton has canceled two screenings of Adrian Read More

Silly Sahara Makes No Sense

Sahara should, by all the rules, be one of those randy, rowdy adventure yarns in the tradition of old Saturday-afternoon matinee serials and every desert epic from Gunga Din to Indiana Jones.  Alas, the mumbling, mush-mouthed Matthew McConaughey is no Cary Grant, or even Harrison Ford, and can scarcely say “I’ll find the bomb, you Read More

Risky Indies, Hollywood Hits: Woody, Will and War

After the Academy Awards, Hollywood usually takes a little hiatus until summer, when the studios roll out a weekly parade of stadium-fillers. But in recent years, it’s become difficult to pinpoint when spring ends and summer begins-and 2005 proves to be no exception.

In early March, Michael Eisner’s kid Breck Eisner, along with Paramount Pictures, Read More