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A woman who purchased a glass vase at Goodwill for $3.99 just bagged over $100,000 for it at auction. Regretfully, I am not this woman. Jessica Vincent thought her find might be valuable after spotting an ‘M’ on the bottom presumed to be for Murano, the Venetian island famed for glass blowing. Then an expert confirmed the piece was part of the Pennellate series by prominent Italian architect Carlo Scarpa. Scarpa was famous in his home country for revitalizing museum spaces, and apparently he also dabbled in glassware. There’s gonna be a massive stampede to Goodwill stores now, right?

A woman who bought a glass vase for $3.99 at a local Goodwill charity shop has seen the piece auctioned off for more than $100,000 after it turned out to be a rare and valuable piece of Italian glassware.

Jessica Vincent had bought the item at a Goodwill thrift store in Hanover county, Virginia, and had an inkling that it might have been worth a little more than was usual, she told the New York Times.

“I had a sense that it might be a $1,000 or $2,000 piece, but I had no clue how good it actually was until I did a little bit more research,” she told the paper after noticing a small ‘M’ on its bottom which she suspected might stand for Murano, and Italian island near Venice famed for glasswork.

After snapping it up for a penny short of four bucks, Vincent researched the piece online where enthusiasts pointed out it resembled a work by the famous Italian architect Carlo Scarpa.

Vincent eventually sent pictures of the vase to the Wright Auction House and almost immediately its president, Richard Wright, got in touch for a chat. “The minute I saw the photos I had a really good feeling,” Wright told the Times.

Last week it sold for $107,100 to an unidentified private art collector in Europe after it was officially identified as being part of Scarpa’s 1940s “Pennellate” series.

[From The Guardian]

Oh man, she hit the thrift store jackpot! I could be jealous (and I am), but I’m also plotting. You guys, my mother has a collection of mid-century Murano glass ashtrays. She doesn’t smoke, she just likes them as objet d’art. She’s also looking to downsize. So right now I have dollar signs in my eyes like Daffy or Scrooge McDuck (pick your favorite duck), dreaming of the fortunes that could be reaped. A quick perusal at Etsy, however, has swiftly brought me back down to earth. Prices for similar ashtrays range from $25 – $425. No slouch, but no $100k either. But I bet we could put away a decent stash if we add in some of our vintage Pyrex dishes. So I guess I’ll be at this “working for a living” thing for a little while longer, sigh.

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Over the summer, Kelly Osbourne got the attention she desperately wanted, and she did so by screeching about Prince Harry. According to Kelly Osbourne, Harry “whines” about how his life is “so hard.” Kelly’s whole career is built on being adjacent to fame and C-list reality stardom, and she bitches and moans constantly. Anyway, that was the first time I’d paid attention to Kelly in a while and I remember looking at her Instagram and being surprised by how she looks these days. Her appearance has changed dramatically in recent years – significant weight loss and something else, TBD. Well, in a recent episode of the Osbournes Podcast, Kelly announced that she wants “plastic surgery” for Christmas. Girl, haven’t you had enough?

Kelly Osbourne is ready to go under the knife. During the latest episode of The Osbournes Podcast, the 39-year-old told her family what she wants this holiday season.

“I think I’ve decided what I want for Christmas,” she began as her mother Sharon, 71, said, “Oh, here we go.”

“Plastic surgery,” Kelly proclaimed while holding her hand up to her neck and face.

“Oh f—. Kelly, don’t. Stop.” Ozzy, 74, told his daughter immediately.

Kelly defended her idea: “Well, I just think it’s my time!”

Sharon then noted that she believes it’s “too early” for Kelly to start her plastic surgery journey when Jack, 37, chimed in noting that their mom started getting work done around the same age.

“Can you f—ing believe it,” Kelly said.

This isn’t the first time the famous family has talked about cosmetic procedures on the show. Back in September, Sharon said on the show that she has “cursed off cosmetic surgery forever” when Jack quickly admitted that he wasn’t convinced.

“I thought you had, like, a two- or three-year, like, tune-up. It’s like a car,” Jack told Sharon as she laughed. “Every 5,000 miles, Mom goes in for a tune-up.”

“That’s right,” the Osbourne matriarch quipped. “Everybody needs it.”

Jack and Ozzy both said cosmetic procedures were not necessary, but Kelly Osbourne chimed in on her mother’s side.

“Yes,” Kelly said. “Look, I do not want one of those necks in which you can flick. That will never happen.”

[From People]

Yeah, Kelly is already getting work done, even though she claims it’s just weight loss and Botox. Like… I don’t know how you can have Sharon Osbourne as a mother and still think plastic surgery is the answer. Sharon has had a series of really horrendous facelifts and she’s still complaining about her most recent “botched” facelift. That would be enough to get me to swear off those kinds of cosmetic procedures. But again, Kelly is already partaking. She’s just lying about it.

Photos courtesy of Kelly’s Instagram.

Miranda Cosgrove has never had a drink or smoked. [JustJared]
George Santos correctly pointed out that he’s always going to be in-demand because y’all want the content, which is why I’ve barely discussed him. That man is a fraud, a scammer, a criminal and a nuisance! [OMG Blog]
Jessica Chastain’s matching shoes here are killing me. [GFY]
Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck’s holiday party was well-attended. [LaineyGossip]
The Crown went out not with a bang but with a whimper. [Pajiba]
Songs which became more popular years after their release. [Buzzfeed]
Kylie Jenner had a casual night out. [Hollywood Life]
Annalynne McCord got a job on Days of Our Lives. [Seriously OMG]
Jennifer Lawrence’s coat from The Row gave her linebacker shoulders. [RCFA]

The British papers just can’t let go of their Sussex obsession, so we’re getting “end of year” summaries of Prince Harry and Meghan’s ups and downs in 2023, with an overemphasis on sh-t like “South Park” and the Hollywood Reporter’s recent nastiness. The same emphasis is not given to Spare selling millions of copies, nor another successful Invictus Games, nor Harry winning his lawsuit against the Mirror. Well, here’s some sh-t from Hannah Furness at the Telegraph, from a piece called “Can the Sussexes really make a comeback?” Why is it any of the Telegraph’s business what two people do in California? They really refuse to ask themselves that question.

Meghan’s recent appearance at the Variety event: “Is that what this was all for?” one former palace source said incredulously at the time. “All this drama, leaving the Royal family for a life of service, just to be back on the showbiz circuit again?”

Omid Scobie’s Endgame: Widely considered as a Sussex sympathiser, despite regularly defending himself against accusations of being “Meghan’s mouthpiece”, Scobie’s account echoed much of what Harry and Meghan said in their own interviews but went further to heavily criticise their British family. Prince William was painted as jealous and angry, the Princess of Wales as a cold “Stepford-like” wife, and the King incompetent. No amount of denials about collaboration could separate the Sussexes from the book in the public imagination. “The credibility of the Sussexes now seems somehow linked to the credibility of Omid Scobie,” said one observer. “The more ridiculous the book seems, the more biased it sounds, the more fuss there is about who said what in which translation, the less people will believe the claims in it.”

No one believes the royals are racist, huh? Even the most powerful accusations, including the accidental naming of members of the Royal family with “unconscious bias”, will not work in the Sussexes’ favour, another expert believes. “It takes away the power of their own story,” he says. “If and when they want to talk about it themselves, the public will feel they’ve heard it all before.”

The business fizzle: Shortly after the Hollywood Reporter pronouncement, Forbes, the respected US business magazine, called the Sussexes a “compelling case study for Harvard Business School on the ultimate brand buzz failure”. A columnist advised readers on how to “avoid Harry and Meghan’s all buzz and no buyers strategy when building a brand”. A second article urged the Prince to stop focusing on a “fading career as a bon vivant philanthropist and B-list celebrity”, and choose not to “continue pursuing an increasingly pointless life of serving as an irrelevant hood ornament for good causes”.

[From The Telegraph]

The Telegraph also cited the recent People Mag story about the Sussexes going for a “total system reboot.” Y’all know my thoughts on all of this, as I’ve said many times this year: the Sussexes have had some big wins but they have legitimately had some tough moments and sh-tty newscycles. Their biggest problem is a terrible communications strategy. They’ve f–ked up their communications and messaging repeatedly, and I hope their “system reboot” addresses that. The Spotify story would not have been half as bad if they had gone on the record when the contract ended AND clapped back at Bill Simmons. This wasn’t some unhinged royal reporter – this was a Spotify executive and it was about their business. They also made significant mistakes in how they communicated what happened with the paparazzi chase in New York. As for the Scobie stuff – it’s hilarious that the one time Harry & Meghan refuse to complain or explain, that’s when the British media demands that they speak up.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid.

I missed these (horrible) photos of Prince William from last Thursday, when he visited The Lord High Admiral’s Divisions at Britannia Royal Naval College and he looked utterly awkward and completely out of place. He looks so much like his uncle Edward in these photos, and he also looks unmoisturized. Do the male royals have something against skincare? Anyway, William’s awkwardness reminded me of his big trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in 2022, where he awkwardly flailed his jazz hands and looked painfully uncomfortable. I bring that up because William was sent to Kuwait this week to pay the royal family’s respects and condolences to the Kuwaiti royal family following the death of Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Prince William is making an unexpected trip abroad just a week before Christmas. Kensington Palace announced on Monday that the Prince of Wales is en route to Kuwait on behalf of his father, King Charles, to pay condolences to His Highness Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah following the death of His Late Highness, Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The British royals have longstanding ties with Kuwait, with His Highness Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah having visited the U.K. three times in 2023: in May for King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation, in August as a guest of the government and in October to meet the King.

Prince William was joined on the trip by the Foreign Secretary, David Cameron.

[From People]

I mean, this is what William is actually supposed to do. This is what Charles did constantly, for decades, as Prince of Wales. Charles was always getting sent to foreign allies to pay the family’s respects in person, to attend state funerals and high-level international events. What’s notable is that William has rarely gotten sent to any of that stuff and the man is 41 years old. He still has to tell everyone that he’s a big-boy statesman now because he still doesn’t have those credentials. Will we see more of this? I wonder. If the past is prologue, William will be bragging about this statesman’s journey for months, meanwhile the Foreign Office will probably have to do damage control after Peg inevitably offends someone.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Most years, Prince William and Kate do a final push in December to increase their event-numbers. Not this year – we’ve barely seen them in December beyond Kate’s Christmas carol event. The work numbers were already tallied by the newspapers more than a week ago as well, so maybe Will and Kate were just like “f–k it, we can get away with not doing anything in December.” William undertook 172 engagements in 2023, and Kate did 128 engagements. Even those sad numbers are padded with “private meetings” and “phone calls,” and their numbers mirror the engagement numbers of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, who are 79 and 77 years old. Anyway, the Mail is still deeply upset that Omid Scobie mildly criticized Kate’s laziness in Endgame, and a recent episode of Palace Confidential was devoted to defending Kate’s work-shy honor.

The Princess of Wales shouldn’t be seen as ‘not working hard’ because she is ‘trying to raise our future King’, the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden has told Palace Confidential. It comes after an analysis of public events and official meetings by the Sunday Telegraph showed Princess Anne, 73, was the hardest working member of the British Royal Family this year, carrying out 457 royal engagements, 32 more than the King. The Princess’ workload recently came under fire in Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame, in which he branded her ‘technically a part-time working royal’.

Speaking on the Mail+’s weekly talk show, Mr Eden said: ‘There’s an element of truth in that in the sense that they want to spend more time with their children. Catherine is trying to raise our future King [Prince George], and the children, it’s a very important job so it shouldn’t be seen as not working hard. She’s doing that in addition to engagements. So you would always expect someone like Princess Anne to do more.’

The Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English added: ‘The Prince and Princess of Wales, they are always a bit low down and I think this highlights the balance that they are trying to find, which is, they also want to focus on a smaller number of charities and get more intimately involved in those charities. That does mean less public engagements. Queen Elizabeth was always of the opinion that you have to be seen to be believed, royalty has to be seen to be believed, and I think that highlights… questions might rise, are they getting that balance right? They’ve also made very clear that their other really big job is bringing their family up and being good parents.’

‘That’s what we saw in that lovely video of the three children going to the baby bank, is actually they’re bringing up three really happy, well-adjusted kids who are comfortable enough with the spotlight on them without being overexposed to it. So I think those numbers to reflect that balance they’re trying to find.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Yeah, the “she’s raising the future king” excuse is already wearing thin, as we’ve seen from some increasingly critical coverage of Kate. People noticed that she was too lazy to go to the Rugby World Cup semifinal. Even royalists questioned whether Kate is simply too lazy to travel this year. There was analysis in the Mail about how Kate basically only does events within a thirty-mile radius of her home, and only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays. Plus, she disappears every summer and returns with new wigs and fillers. Anyway, we’re going to hear this bullsh-t about “she’s busy raising her children” until Louis’s 18th birthday. Then they’ll invent a new excuse.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

The Daily Express had another unhinged hit piece on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, which is no real surprise. The surprise is that Deadline picked up the story and repeated it without any curiosity about whether the Express’s source was a rancid tabloid editor’s ass. This isn’t the first time one of the Hollywood trade papers has picked up on the “reporting” done by British tabloids, but it’s getting to be a more regular thing and it’s the worst. So, here’s the story: the Sussexes are “worried” that the Windsors have been blocking them from signing big sponsorship deals. Allegedly, WME has been trying to put together some deal but brands are like “no, we’d rather work with Camilla!” Seriously?

The Express can exclusively reveal that parties linked to the Sussex camp have held crisis talks following a succession of failed projects and influential doors being slammed in their face.

“There’s a general feeling that there has been a vendetta waged against them,” the source said. “There have been talks held with high profile brands that didn’t lead to anything but should have done. Those brands then actively courted other members of the family.”

Queen Camilla wore Dior Haute Couture to the Palace of Versailles during an official visit to France in September. It was also revealed in November that Meghan had lost out on the opportunity of a lucrative Dior deal to Meg Bellamy who plays a young Kate Middleton in season six of The Crown.

“Both Harry and Meghan often wore Dior and were at one point huge fans of the brand,” the source said. “Harry wore a [Dior] suit to the Coronation and the Sussexes were starting to build up their partnership with the fashion house.

“Then the focus shifted towards Camilla and other members of the family. To add salt to the wounds, the actress playing Kate Middleton was announced as the new face of the brand. It was all very suspicious timing.”

It was announced in April that Meghan Markle had signed a contract with William Morris Endeavor (WME) in a bid to secure lucrative new deals. However, eight months later, there’s still no sign of any new projects and the Sussexes’ reputation remains in ruins.

Harry and Meghan’s self-titled Netflix documentary was released last December. Since then, they’ve lost out on a lucrative $20 million Spotify deal with exec Bill Simmons calling them “grifters”. Netflix cancelled the development of Pearl; an animated series created by Meghan and the couple are noticeably struggling in Hollywood.

“They [the Sussexes] are thrashing around like a fish out of water,” the source said. “The team doesn’t appear to know what to do at this point. The consensus now is to try and repair the damage done to the Royal Family and hope that link will help them out of the doldrums.”

[From The Daily Express]

Again, it’s really curious that Deadline picked up this story, since it’s clearly in the same vein as all of the other British tabloid stories about how the Sussexes are “desperate” to retain their connection to the left-behind Windsors. This also follows a similar pattern of “royal sources” making up some lie about what Harry and Meghan “want” and then those sources insist that the royals successfully blocked them. It’s actually become clear that the palace has “vendetta blocked” the Sussexes, because the palace is paranoid – the palace has gone out of its way to cry to the Biden administration and beg the Bidens not to do anything with or for the Sussexes. The palace wanted Camilla to get attention for wearing a Dior sack, so they made up a big lie about Meghan’s desperation for a Dior sponsorship.

Now, all that being said, all of us thought that WME would have announced something new with Meghan a lot sooner. We still don’t know what’s going on behind-the-scenes, but I hope it’s big.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.

These are photos of former rugby player James Haskell. Some of the pics are from 2017, when Prince Harry (then the patron of England Rugby) visited the team and had a chat with James. Some of the pics are from 2018, when James and his wife Chloe attended Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding. James and Chloe are getting a divorce now, she left him and he’s really bitter about it. James, Mike Tindall and Alex Payne cohost a rugby podcast and James was “joking” a lot in a recent episode, all about how he’s hid his money and Chloe won’t get anything in the divorce. I hope Chloe provides that episode to the court. Anyway, James also had some sh-t to say about Harry, because of course he did.

The Duke of Sussex admitted in his tawdry memoirs that he was slammed by some of his oldest friends for the explosive interview that he and his wife, Meghan, gave to Oprah Winfrey. One friend who loyally stood by him, however, was James Haskell, the former England rugby star who attended his wedding. Haskell said that he and Harry often compare notes on parenting and even defended his friend’s decision to publish his book, Spare.

‘When someone feels like they and their partner have been oppressed, lied about, contradicted and put into a corner, I think it’s very important [to speak out],’ he said.

Now, though, Haskell has let slip what he really thinks, claiming that Harry has changed for the worse since marrying the American former actress.

Referring to how he met King Charles’s younger son at the 2011 wedding of his friend and fellow former England rugby star Mike Tindall to Zara Phillips, Haskell said: ‘Who should be there, wandering around having a good time, but Prince Harry. He hadn’t met her [Meghan] yet, so he was still quite fun.’

Haskell made the comment on stage at Bath Forum, in Somerset, for the World Cup Afterparty: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – a live version of their popular rugby podcast. His remark was met with cheers and also applause from the audience.

On stage in Bath, Haskell mocked Tindall for his alleged deference to his in-laws.

‘I don’t know how to say this but Tinds is a proper brown-nose around the royals,’ he declared.
‘He’s taken brown-nosing to a new level. They called him “Solesy” at the palace because the only thing you see hanging out of their backsides are the soles of his feet. And he’s also known as a bit of a cuckoo because since he joined up he’s had Harry out and he’s had [Prince] Andrew out [of the family] as well. He’s one big plane crash away from being King.’

With the audience laughing, Haskell joked: ‘He keeps trying to book their travel. Charles will be asking him, “Do we really have to fly to Afghanistan? And all together? And on Ryanair?”‘

[From The Daily Mail]

Eh. Given what little I know about British mindsets, it’s not incompatible to believe that “Harry had every right to tell his story” AND also believe “Harry was a lot more fun before he met Meghan.” I actually think it’s probably true in the sense that in his teens and 20s, Harry was a f–kup, a clown, a boozy mate, cheeky, naughty, what have you. Then he grew up, and people love to blame Meghan for the fact that Harry isn’t that naughty, drunk f–kup anymore. Anyway, this guy sounds like he’s mainlined toxic masculinity and now it oozes out of his pores.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.

Bradley Cooper’s Oscar campaign for Maestro is just as over-the-top as his campaign for A Star Is Born back in 2018-19. If anything, I’m sort of more offended this time around, given Cooper’s insistence on casting and directing himself as Leonard Bernstein, complete with a comically offensive prosthetic nose. Not only that, but Bradley Cooper is bragging about his “set rules” as a director and they’re completely awful.

Bradley Cooper has a unique set of rules while he’s directing, including “no chairs” on set.

“For me, it was such a natural transition, once I had the courage to write and direct a movie. But when I direct, I don’t watch playback. There’s no chairs,” Cooper, 48, told Spike Lee about filming Maestro in an interview for Variety published on Wednesday, December 14. “I’ve always hated chairs on sets; your energy dips the minute you sit down in a chair.”

Considering filming can typically consist of 12 to 16-hour days, Cooper’s commitment to keeping his actors in the moment certainly seems intense, which he understands. He admitted he “changed” during the process of filming, and he wasn’t surprised if his film wasn’t loved by all viewers.

“I will say this about Maestro: I grew up on this movie,” he continued. “It changed me as an artist. And people may not like it. I’m sure they won’t.

In addition to no chairs, the American Hustle actor also noted that “there’s no video village” on set, which alludes to him doing away with the monitors that usually surround the director while filming.

[From Us Weekly]

*looks at that fake nose again* Maybe if he was watching scenes as he was filming them in a video village, he would have seen that the prosthetics weren’t working? Seriously, I’ve heard bad things about directors who don’t leave the video village and I’m sure that’s a problem too, but you’re literally directing a film and you want to see if the setup works and you want to foster collaboration with your cinematographer, director of photography, etc. “No video villages” isn’t a flex.

As for no sitting… I usually don’t go to “that’s ableism,” but it is. Not every person is physically capable of standing for hours. It’s also not a moral failing for actors or workers to want to sit down in between scenes or setups. It also seems like not allowing seats on set would be a huge legal liability. What if someone faints, etc. Bradley Cooper sounds like such a f–king douche.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, screencap from ‘Maestro’ trailer.

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Taylor Swift made the journey to Boston on Sunday to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce play the New England Patriots. The Chiefs had a lot on the line – now that they beat the Patriots, they’re likely to make the playoffs, at least that’s what I’m reading? It’s not a 100% sure thing, but it’s very likely. Plus, the Chiefs lost their last two games, both of which Taylor Swift attended. She needed a win, so did Travis.

I also have to say, I like that Taylor wears different Chiefs merch for every game, and most of it is vintage. Someone in her camp made a $1200 order from Westside Storey, a vintage shop in Kansas City, and the Daily Beast spoke to the owner, Chris Harrington. Harrison talked about how everything changed for his business after Taylor started wearing the vintage sweatshirts from his store, and now he’s doing crazy business. He also said that other Kansas City businesses have been putting together free gift packages and trying to get the stuff to Taylor in the hope that she’ll wear something or mention something and their businesses will see an uptick too.

Last week, I went down a Swifty rabbit hole and discovered that the snake fam believes that Travis did get Taylor a ring for her birthday, but not an engagement ring. Like, a cocktail ring with emeralds. Which would be nice, even though there’s certainly a lot of energy around “will Travis propose.” Speaking of, Page Six’s sources claim that Travis has already asked Taylor’s father for his blessing to propose to Taylor, and Scott Swift gave it. Travis is apparently looking at rings and talking to Taylor’s friends about what she might like? Page Six also says that Taylor and Trav will probably spend Christmas together, and Taylor still loves the fact that Travis is more demonstrative and he’s fine with being seen out in public with her.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.