Would You Shave Off Your Eyebrows in the Name of Fashion?

Behold! No eyebrows at Balenciaga Fall 2009. 

Photo: Karl Prouse, Catwalking/Getty Images

Eyebrows are currently creating quite a stir in the fashion and beauty industries. Or should we say the lack of eyebrows... A small but undeniable trend is picking up steam -- that being the trend of bleaching or (gulp!) waxing eyebrows into oblivion.  

The result? A very bizarre, androgynous alien creature completely void of expression. (But why doesn't it look weird on Whoopi Goldberg?) 

It started on the Fall 2009 runways of Balenciaga and Prada (fashion and beauty editors were shocked that someone was able to convince the top models to bleach their brows), and then came Brazilian bombshell Adriana Lima as a brow-free Marilyn Manson-lookalike for the latest Givenchy campaign.

Now the August cover of Italian Vogue features model Kristen McMenamy, also sans brows. Edgy McMenamy has been sporting this look on and off since the early Nineties, making her the patron saint of fashion icons minus eyebrows. (Well, her and Queen Elizabeth I.) A great question was posed in this article from the Daily Mail about whether or not the non-conformist trend will trickle down to the masses, like punk did in the 1970s.  

I'm sure a few lovers of the avant garde will give it a go, but I don't see how anyone else in their right mind would want to embrace the look.  

The article goes on to explain how eyebrows are linked to sex appeal and pretty much every expression a human face can make, which is why people look so alien when brows are taken away. (Also check out the Daily Mail's gallery of celebrities with their eyebrows airbrushed away. It's hilarious!) What's your take on the latest trend of eyebrow removal? Tell us in a comment!

Apple Asked Microsoft to End 'Laptop Hunter' Ads?

When  Apple first started throwing punches with its condescending 'I'm a Mac' ads, Microsoft struggled to hit back. The Redmond-based company's initial response was a series of ineffective, touchy-feely 'I'm a Pc' spots. After these fell flat, Microsoft came out with the 'Laptop Hunters'series of ads, claiming that PCs offer a better value than Macs. Something about these ads must have struck a chord at Apple, because the company responded directly to the 'Laptop Hunter' series with its own spin on the campaign. But, if Microsoft's Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner is to be believed, Apple's own retort wasn't enough to dissuade today's value-conscious American consumer.

Speaking at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, Turner claimed that Apple's legal team had contacted him, stating "you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." Ars technica writes that Turner wondered at first if the call was a joke, but went on to say it, "was the greatest single phone call in ... history that I've ever taken in business."  Apple may have cut it's prices recently, but the so-called "Apple tax" is still very much a reality. Entry to the cult of Apple will run you $999 for a MacBook. A comparably equipped Dell laptop will set you back $300 less.  If true, the story highlights how effective Microsoft's latest marketing campaign has been. After a few years of Madison Avenue dominance, we're actually kind of enjoying seeing Apple on the defensive.

However, owning a Mac myself I can honestly tell you that once you go Mac you won't go back to a PC. 

Straight Up Now Tell Me ... that Paula Abdul's not leaving?

Paula Abdul's new manager says she may not be returning to "American Idol."

According to a Los Angeles Times report, David Sonenberg says he doesn't have a proposal for a new contract for Abdul. He says it doesn't appear she'll be back.  Sonenberg began representing Abdul a few weeks ago.

Auditions for the ninth season of the highly rated Fox talent competition begin next month.  Abdul said recently she'd been invited to remain as an "American Idol" judge and was optimistic about negotiating a new contract.

Earlier this year, Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly called Abdul "an integral part of the show."  The other "American Idol" judges as you may recall are Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and newcomer Kara DioGuardi.

All I can say is "Say it ain't so Joe!"  and that Paula will be back next season because if not I can tell you this I won't be back for the whole season, I'll come back just for the finale.  I also hope this isn't the case of a new manager getting a bit to greedy and ruining a good thing for Ms. Abdul.

CNN Makes Fun Of Obama's "Mom Jeans" At Game

Well, he IS wearing MOM-JEANS.... lol

Going's on in Good Ole' FT. Myers, Florida

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Inside The Great American Bubble Machine

Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression

In Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83, Matt Taibbi takes on "the Wall Street Bubble Mafia" — investment bank Goldman Sachs(click here to read the whole story). The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi's piece is "an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories" and a spokesman adding, "We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good." Taibbi shot back: "Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also has former players fronting major TV shows. They have the ear of the president if they want it." Here, now, are excerpts from Matt Taibbi's piece and video of Taibbi exploring the key issues.

Matt Taibbi On Goldman Sachs' Big Scam

The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.

Any attempt to construct a narrative around all the former Goldmanites in influential positions quickly becomes an absurd and pointless exercise, like trying to make a list of everything. What you need to know is the big picture: If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain — an extremely unfortunate loophole in the system of Western democratic capitalism, which never foresaw that in a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.

They achieve this using the same playbook over and over again. The formula is relatively simple: Goldman positions itself in the middle of a speculative bubble, selling investments they know are crap. Then they hoover up vast sums from the middle and lower floors of society with the aid of a crippled and corrupt state that allows it to rewrite the rules in exchange for the relative pennies the bank throws at political patronage. Finally, when it all goes bust, leaving millions of ordinary citizens broke and starving, they begin the entire process over again, riding in to rescue us all by lending us back our own money at interest, selling themselves as men above greed, just a bunch of really smart guys keeping the wheels greased. They've been pulling this same stunt over and over since the 1920s — and now they're preparing to do it again, creating what may be the biggest and most audacious bubble yet.

See Taibbi discuss Goldman Sachs' big scam.

See Matt Taibbi discuss Goldman Sachs' role
in the housing and internet busts.

See Matt Taibbi run down Goldman Sachs graduates with government positions.

See Matt Taibbi discuss Goldman Sachs' powerful influence

See Matt Taibbi react to Goldman Sachs' excuse

Click here to read Matt Taibbi's entire piece, "The Great American Bubble Machine."

Franken Jokes at Sotomayor Hearing

It turns out Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and Sen. Al Franken were both Perry Mason fans as kids.

The two reminisced at Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings Wednesday, after the Minnesota Democrat noted that he and his family and Sotomayor and her family tuned in to the weekly courtroom drama on television.  And here I thought that this was actually a confirmation hearing.  What next a male stripper popping out of a cake for dramatic effect?