Jimmy Kimmel Sabotages Jay Leno

Jimmy Kimmel was a video guest on 'The Jay Leno Show' on Thursday night, and was supposed to simply be a guest for Jay's normal 'Ten at Ten' segment, wherein he asks someone ten questions. With nearly every answer, however, Kimmel managed to find a way to twist his answer into some form of a Leno insult. While Jay took it in good stride, the answers were so anti-Leno we are really wondering if it was pre-planned or an act of pure disdain for Leno.

The laser-focus of Kimmel's aggression towards Jay is a sign of the overhwelming support fellow entertainers and fans are showing towards Conan O'Brien, who they feel was slighted by Leno. During the Leno-Kimmel exchange, the questioning went mostly like this:

Jay to Jimmy: "You're known for pranks ... what's the best prank you've ever pulled?"

Jimmy's Response: "I think the best prank I ever pulled was... ... I told a guy that five years from now, I'm going to give you my show. And then when the five years came, I gave it to him and then I took it back almost instantly. It was hilarious."

Jay to Jimmy: "Ever ordered anything off the TV?"

Jimmy's Response: "Like NBC ordered your show off the TV?"

Jay to Jimmy: "What's the most number of lapdances you've had in one night?"

Jimmy's Response: "Jay, my mother's watching the show. No wait, the show's canceled so nobody's watching. ... Strippers, I don't like in general because you have this phony relationship with them for money, similar to that of when you and Conan were on the 'Tonight Show' together passing the torch?"

Jay to Jimmy: "Is there anything you haven't hosted that you want to host?"

Jimmy's Response: "Oh, this is a trick right? Where you get me to host the 'Tonight Show' and then take it back? You've got $800 million. For God's sake, leave our shows alone."

US to give money to Haiti - where are we getting the money from?

Please don't get me wrong I for one want to take $20 out of my own pocket and donate to the efforts over in Haiti but when I read that my government is pledging to send $100 million dollars in aid and more American troops I can't help but ask;

Where are we getting this money from? We already have a debt into the trillions of dollars.

Why didn't we use this kind of money to help persons who were loosing their homes during the mortgage crisis or to help Katrina victims rebuild their homes and lives?

More troops? Haven't we lent enough of our troops out into the world? Here of course it most definitely needed but perhaps we should pull out of countries that don't really want us there and we'll be better positioned to help out countries such as Haiti.

And think about this, on September 11th the World Trade Centers were attacked and destroyed. Wasn't that a catastrophe? Then why didn't the government just open up its coffers then and pay for the rebuilding work of those towers (which btw are still not up and this is like going on 9 years!)? Heck for that amount you could build a tower as big as the worlds new highest marvel in Dubai!

I just find it strange that during times of natural disasters that we in America are so ready to take of our excess and yet when a financial disaster occurs we don't have that same compassion for our fellow man. Think, if each of us just took $5-$20 and donated to a fund to save the victims of Katrina or to help them rebuild what could have been done. To this day there are homes in New Orleans that still have not been rebuilt and probably never will be.

Taking that same model for example think of how many homes we could have helped be saved from bank foreclosures. Now I'm not saying that we should help those who lied on their credit applications, owned multiple homes or the like but you get the point. Where was or is our sense of responsibility and charity for our fellow man? And why is the media playing the scenes in Haiti out over and over while not giving the same media coverage to lets say homeowners being evicted out of their homes or grannies being shipped off to a nursing home because they lost all of their money in the Madoff scandal? If they did would we have been as generous to help?

I personally feel bad for those in Haiti for all that they are going through now and I hope that in time that Haiti can rebuild and move forward from this with perhaps a more forward thinking government running things. Those in Haiti will also need to learn from this and hold their government accountable for the gross poverty and substandard living that exists. True the country was poor but that's because the ruling class has long used the governments treasury as their own personal ATM. And let us not mention the mass corruption that exists at all the governmental levels.

So in ending I ask that we not only come together to help out our fellow man in Haiti but I ask us all to deeply ponder over the thoughts herein raised and ask "What am I doing for my fellow man?"

Up-and-Coming Retailers: Gilt Groupe

These days, walking into a Saks Fifth Avenue(SKS) store is confusing for most shoppers. To your left is a bizarre T-shirt for $58 and on your right is a pair of lace-up ankle boots for $524.99 (and that’s the sale price).

For the past year, the luxury store has taken to the tightrope -- trying to lower prices enough to survive while maintaining its elite, fashion-forward status. Despite its efforts, economic conditions have sent consumers flocking from high-end department stores to discount stores, such asT.J. Maxx (TJX), which reported a 10% increase in revenue for the third quarter compared to Saks’ 8.5% drop.

But as the masses started to migrate, Gilt Groupe was there as a tempting new gathering point.

The online re-seller offers designer clothes, shoes, and accessories at a discount, but is still structured with an elite flavor: Its “invitation only” membership scheme (anyone can join for free, but wannabe members have to wait for an opening) and its time-limited sales allow customers to experience the thrill of a designer sample sale without having to throw elbows. Online shoppers do have to act fast, however, as items only stay in virtual "carts" for 10 minutes before becoming available again to the other 2 million members.

Gilt stocks its online sales by acquiring excess inventory and merchandise from well-known brands, and even has some of its own signature products in the works. The site begins a sale every weekday at noon (when most of its shoppers are at work pretending to be busy with a spreadsheet), and offers products for up to 70% off, but ends the sale exactly 36 hours later. Many items sell out within hours. While women’s apparel was at the company’s core when it started two years ago, it has since expanded to include men’s clothes and travel deals. It's also grown its customer base; while most of Gilt shoppers are in the US, the company now caters to a sizable Japanese market.

The non-Saks business model that offers Saks-like merchandise has caught on like wildfire. Gilt rarely goes a month without being mentioned in high-profile publications such as Vogue,Marie Claire, and InStyle, and the site was named the E-tailer of the Year by Footwear News.

“At Gilt, people who would be deeply uncomfortable spending full price feel like they've saved money, not spent money,” CEO Susan Lyne, formerly president of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO), once told BusinessWeek magazine. “There is a psychological lift. And there is pent-up demand. I think people want to shop. It makes us feel better.”

But the new competition isn’t making Saks feel any better. The department store held its own 36-hour private online sale in October.

“We are still very early on in understanding the business opportunity,” said Denise Incandela, president of Saks Direct, in a Wall Street Journal interview. She added that the store will evaluate results of the sale before deciding “how we would proceed next year.”

Jami Stapelmann, a New York City resident and occasional Gilt customer, said she and all her friends who used to frequent Saks Fifth Avenue no longer live the Sex and the City lifestyle that might include a full day of beauty treatments, shopping, and long lunches -- but they still covet the Manolo Blahnik shoes and the bling.

“We know what we want and we shop from the comfort of our own home,” she tells Minyanville.

But retail analyst and Minyanville contributor Kristen Graham says that Saks shouldn’t be completely shrugged off. She says consumers, especially those willing to spend thousands of dollars, value the personal attention they can only get in a brick-and-mortar store with trained associates. “The ability to physically inspect and try on an item, and receive special attention, becomes increasingly important as the price goes up,” Graham explains.

However, retailers are coming face to face with the “new consumer”, who is choosing lower prices over almost everything else -- a shift that Graham says is likely to stay and one that will help Gilt transform the high-end retail industry.

Gilt made about $200 million in revenue last year and expects $500 million this year. With such rapid growth, there have even been rumors about an initial public offering in the works.

Up-and-Coming Retailers: E.L.F. Cosmetics

Talk about putting lipstick on a pig.

When Ted Rubin, head of marketing for E.L.F., a budget make-up company, talks about the Great Recession, he describes it as a welcome blessing, one part of “a perfect storm” that's helped facilitate stellar growth at the mostly online retailer over the past two years. Before the downturn, he tells Minyanville, “People would whisper about using E.L.F. They’d say, ‘Yeah, I use E.L.F. lip gloss, but I’m a M.A.C. buyer.’ Now, cheap is chic, and everybody is looking for ways to save a buck.”

E.L.F., which stands for “Eyes, Lips, Face” makes an entire line of make-up that only costs $1 a piece. That’s right: lipstick is $1, foundation, $1, even brushes are $1 per stick. Two other “premium” labels within the company are slightly costlier, at $3 and $5 per product, which still compares favorably to $30 and $50 per item for most department store brands, even if E.L.F.’s quality is described by many users as simply “fine.”

College students and budget-conscious women have been ordering E.L.F. make-up online since 2004, when the retailer launched, though the products are also now available in Target (TGT) and K-Mart shops. According to Rubin, E.L.F.’s growth has been fueled almost entirely by word-of-mouth and social-media marketing, another part of the storm that's propelled recent revenue figures.

The company doesn’t have a traditional advertising market, says Rubin, but it's used blogs, email, and networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (GOOG) to reach millions of people in the US and around the world. In the past few years, these social-media outlets have hit a critical mass within a mainstream audience, enabling the make-up sellers to reach further and faster than ever before, according to Rubin. “Almost every day you’ll see another video entry from an excited E.L.F. shopper who has just received a package from us and wants to blog about it,” he says. The company claims more than 40,000 Twitter followers and 30,000 Facebook fans between its various sites. It also communicates daily with 400 bloggers.

And the third event to help E.L.F. reach its tipping point? A glowing, shine-proof review of its cheap products in O: The Oprah Magazine two years ago. When Oprah’s editors tell women to "go crazy without going broke" women listen.

Rubin will not disclose exact sales figures for the privately held company but would say that E.L.F. does tens of millions in sales annually. In the first quarter of 2009, sales were up 40% over the first quarter of 2008. In February 2009, online sales jumped 400% over the same month in 2008, according to Rubin. The company makes roughly 60% of its revenue from its website and 40% from brick and mortar stores.

So far E.L.F. hasn't opened its own shops and has no immediate plans to do so, though Rubin admits that the idea is “occasionally” discussed around the boardroom table. Such a move would put E.L.F. toe-to-toe with department store boutiques like Bobbi Brown or standalone stores like M.A.C., both owned by Estee Lauder (EL). For now, says Rubin, E.L.F.’s online business model and its prices put the label in a category of its own. "We consider everyone our competitor, and we consider no one our competitor," he says. “A M.A.C. fanatic might not ever switch to E.L.F, but she may put me in her car, or in her gym bag.

E.L.F.’s products, all made in China and sold with plain packaging, are quickly gaining fans abroad, too, in the U.K., France, Columbia, Japan, and India.

As the world pulls out of the current recession, the company expects to see demand for its butter pecan eye shadows or shimmering face whip stay stable. “Value will be at the heart of commerce for a long time to come despite upticks in the economy,” says Rubin. “Brands that ignore this new paradigm do so at their own risk."

Jessica Biel Weeps at Mt. Kilimanjaro Summit

Reaching the top of 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro proved to be an emotional experience for Jessica Biel and Emile Hirsch, who climbed
 Africa's tallest peak to raise awareness of the global water crisis.

"I
 walked over to Jessie and gave her a big hug," UN Foundation executive
 Elizabeth Gore, who also made the hike, tells PEOPLE via satellite phone. "The two of us embraced and
 we just cried. Every single one of us was in absolute tears."

"The temperature was zero degrees and so many people were struggling," she adds. "People had hurt limbs, people had altitude sickness."

After six days of climbing, the final stretch of the mountain Tuesday proved to be
 the most arduous. "We had a complete whiteout," says Gore. "There was so much
 snow, we could only see two or three feet in front of us. So we had to line
 up like a chain to make it to the final point. I'm so proud that every single one of us 12 climbers made it."

Once the group of climbers – which included Ethiopian-born Kenna and 
environmentalist Kick Kennedy, granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy – reached
 the summit, they quickly had to begin their descent.

The
 way down is so steep," says Gore. "And we had ice, so you're stepping
 sideways, trying not to slip. And we hit big boulders, so we had to
 hop-skip. We had major knee issues."

PHOTOS: Jessica & Emile's Star-Studded Mountain Expedition

After eight days of hiking, the group finally reached the town of Arusha,
 Tanzania at the base of the mountain on late Wednesday. They planned to
 celebrate with a hot meal at a local restaurant and to toss back a few 
bottles of the local Tanzanian beer.

On Thursday, Jessica Biel, Kenna and rapper Santigold will join Gore on a
 trip to a United Nations camp in Ethiopia to see some of the 
world's most significant water problems. "We are all so tired, dirty and 
bruised," says Gore, "but we re trying to give a voice to people who don't
 have any."

For complete coverage of the expedition visit www.summitonthesummit.com


'Heroes' actor contacts parents in Haiti

On Thursday, Jimmy Jean-Louis finally received the phone call he had longed for: He spoke with his mother in Haiti.

"I got a phone call from my sister who said she was able to reach home," the Haitian native and "Heroes" cast member said. " So I picked up the phone and my mom answered. The first reaction from both of us was simply to cry."

The actor had been searching for his elderly parents in Haiti after a powerful earthquake struck his homeland. Adding to his desperation to find them was the knowledge that the house he had grown up in had collapsed during the disaster, killing several of his relatives.

Now he knows that his parents are safe physically, although they are sleeping outdoors for fear that their damaged home is not safe. While they are whole in body, emotionally and mentally his parents are in rough shape, Jean-Louis said.

"They don't understand what's going on," Jean-Louis said. "It's almost like saying 'Why [are we] living?' Shock is an understatement."

"Apparently they have not stopped crying ever since the earthquake happened," he said, his voice breaking.
Jean-Louis was born in Petionville, Haiti , where he grew up without electricity or running water before moving to Paris, France, when he was 12 to pursue a modeling career. He has supported his parents by sending money home since he started acting nearly 20 years ago.

The actor, who is best known as "The Haitian" on the NBC series "Heroes," returned from Haiti only a couple of weeks ago after spending the holidays with his parents. He was planning to return this month but will now be traveling much sooner to provide relief aid.

Jean-Louis said there is still no word on the many relatives and friends he has in Haiti. And while he is anxious not only to reunite with his family, he also wants to lend his support to his fellow Haitians.

He is the founder of Hollywood Unites for Haiti, a nonprofit organization whose original mission was to provide sports and cultural education to underprivileged youth on the island. Now he says their mission is to mobilize and offer whatever aid they can for earthquake survival.

He expressed gratitude for the many people of all nations who have come together to support his country in its desperate hour of need.

"I am very, very happy that there is unity," he said. "Only through unity will we be able to overcome the catastrophe."

Hollywood rushes to aid Haiti

Hollywood is sending its thoughts, hopes, tweets, prayers and money to the people of Haiti.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director Paul Haggis ("Crash") was at the forefront of mobilizing Hollywood's elite to lend their support for Haiti even before Tuesday's devastating earthquake.

Since starting the organization Artists for Peace and Justice in 2009 (http://www.artistsforpeaceandjustice.com/), Haggis has brought awareness of the island nation's plight to stars like Charlize Theron, Diane Lane, Josh Brolin, Maria Bello, Olivia Wilde, Oliver Stone and James Franco.

Haggis created the group after meeting the Rev. Rick Frechette, an American doctor, priest and community organizer who has worked in the slums of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, for over two decades. The director was so inspired by Frechette's work that he began organizing field trips to Haiti with his celebrity friends and raising funds to funnel directly to Frechette's efforts to build hospitals, schools and orphanages.

"After coming back from my trip I realized I had to do something to help, so I grabbed a bunch of my friends and created Artists for Peace and Justice. We have managed to sponsor three of their schools and part of a hospital," Haggis said.

n his years of service in Haiti, Frechette has built a children's hospital, 18 street schools and street clinics in addition to providing clean drinking water and food daily to the inhabitants of the poorest slums in Port-au-Prince. Frechette's hospital in Petionville was at the epicenter of Tuesday's earthquake and has collapsed. His St. Damien Pediatric Hospital, the Francisville Trade School and Kay Saint Germaine Rehabilitation Center have all been horribly damaged.

Since the quake struck, Haggis has managed to reach Frechette only on e-mail.

"He is in the Dominican Republic trying to reach Haiti and as soon as he gets on the ground there he is going to contact me with an assessment," Haggis said.

One of the friends that Haggis brought on board with Artists for Peace and Justice is actress Maria Bello, who traveled to Haiti a year ago and was able to reach Frechette for a brief phone call on Wednesday morning.

"He said he was on his way to go dig his people out," Bello said. "A lot of his volunteers have been buried. He said to get some equipment and put on some gloves and help him dig people out. Haiti was so devastated a year ago when we went down there that I cannot imagine what it is like now."

When Bello visited the country she helped Frechette build a graveyard and bury local children who didn't survive the various illnesses that caused them to visit his pediatric hospital.

"We are trying to mobilize right now and figure out if it is the best thing to mobilize a special rescue team here to go there," Bello said.

"House" cast-member and Artists for Peace and Justice co-founder Olivia Wilde traveled with the group right before the holidays.

"Having been there so recently I can tell you it was already a pretty desperate situation but Father Rick's programs were working effectively and what we need is to make sure things get up and running again," Wilde said.

During her trip the actress visited an orphanage founded by Frechette as well as a general hospital that served as one of the few alternatives to the priest's pediatric hospital. "I can tell you the general hospital was a very desperate place before this earthquake with sometimes three kids to a bed and carts in a hallway with dead children."

Artists for Peace and Justice is in the process of organizing a fundraiser in Los Angeles, California, next Saturday night to raise relief funds. All the funds raised by the organization will go directly to Frechette to help aid the people of Haiti.

"The Office" cast-member Rainn Wilson traveled to Haiti in October with his wife. They worked with the organizations Planting Peace (http://www.plantingpeace.org/) and The Mona Foundation (http://www.monafoundation.org/).

"We met beautiful, vital students in many schools, street children trying to educate themselves and many selfless Haitian teachers and doctors working to be of service to their country. I don't know if they are all alive or dead right now and it's breaking my heart," Wilson said via e-mail. "The hotel we stayed at and most of the places we visited now lie in rubble. I believe in the power of prayer and I believe in the power of service. Even if you can only give 20 bucks, that will go a long, long way in a country as devastatingly poor as Haiti. Please also send prayers and hope that the world takes drastic action to remedy this horrific disaster."

Haitian-American actress Garcelle Beauvais spent Tuesday night trying to contact family members who were still in the country.

"We found out that almost everybody is safe but we have a couple of cousins who are missing right now and my sisters-in-law slept in their cars last night. My brother-in-law was in his car when the earthquake started happening and he thought they were being bombed," said Beauvais, who is working with the Edeyo Foundation (http://www.edeyo.org/) to raise money and awareness. "We are trying to organize now. Since it is such short notice we are trying to see how the airport is there and see what we can to do to go there and help."

Ben Stiller, Adam Lambert and Lindsay Lohan all took to Twitter to urge people to lend their help and attention to the devastated nation.

"People in Haiti need our help and attention right now," Stiller posted to the social media Web site on Tuesday.
"Please, everyone donate even the smallest of what you can. We are so fortunate. Let us give where truly needed," Lambert tweeted.

Oprah Winfrey began her talk show on Wednesday by asking viewers to donate to the Red Cross. "This is a time where we, as a global nation, should come together and support those who are in need," Winfrey said.

Global recording artist Usher has been working to mobilize youth worldwide to help Haiti through his nonprofit, Usher's New Look (http://www.ushersnewlook.org/).

"With Haiti in a state of emergency right now, young people do have the power to save lives. I am asking young people of all ages to mobilize by organizing local fundraisers with the proceeds going to their peers in Haiti. This is one way we all can make a difference," Usher said via e-mail.