• Drama abounded at DKNY's show yesterday: PETA protestors burst onto the runway, shouting and brandishing placards—to the apparent amusement of André Leon Talley—while Petra Nemcova's new bangs rendered her unrecognizable and therefore unmolested by the media. Meanwhile the rather random celebrity trio of Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci, and Nicole Richie were regaled with "combinations of electric blue and black, neon pink and yellow anorak dresses, parachute pants and color-blocked knits" and a finale led by Donna Karan's five-year-old granddaughter Stefania. [The Cut, Fashionologie, NYDN, Telegraph]
  
  

• Britney Spears drank at 13, lost her virginity at 14 and started taking drugs at 15, her mom said in a tell-all memoir. By 16 the singer was caught with cocaine and pot on a private jet, and mom was feeling guilty about letting her sleep with Justin Timberlake and make "raunchy" music videos. But releasing a tell-all memoir about Spears six months after Spears's latest trip the psychiatric ward? No regrets! [Sun]

There's no news in Denver. At least, no news that couldn't be reported by watching it on C-Span from the comfort of home. So what to do? Report on what all your fellow journalists are doing! So far, the single greatest example of this is HuffPo's constant reportage from their own "HuffPost Oasis" in Denver. At left, an unretouched screengrab from their front page today. The Oasis is remarkably popular with journalists, considering that we have no idea what goes on there but we don't think it involves free booze. Wait, maybe we do know what's going on there! "'I feel relaxed!' said a particularly refreshed Eric Alterman as he stepped away from a complimentary facial for a minute. 'I'll tell you this—everyone should add facials to their lives.'" Oh, wow. That quote is from John Koblin's piece in today's Observer. It's got more gems: Adam Nagourney couldn't find a seat at his own paper's workspace, then bitched about having to cover the convention with so many other, lesser reporters. Fox's Greta Van Susteren, though, was more than happy to be there.

If you happen to be obsessed with Anderson Cooper and/or you're obsessed with the idea that he might somehow be Jewish (he's not), perhaps you'd be interested in this video of the Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar asking the CNN anchor about his "Jewish identity"? Watch as Anderson confesses that when he was a kid, he really wanted to be Jewish and go the Hebrew school, so he could be just like all the other boys at Dalton. (Let's skip the obvious joke there, shall we?) As a very special bonus, you'll get to see Anderson spout the first line of a prayer in Hebrew, proving once and for all that he's probably endured more than his fair share of Saturdays at Temple Emanu-El.

"I would would love to teach any of the Russians including guys like Babel. Definitely Wilde and Virginia Woolf. I would want to do Illustrated Man by Bradbury. Mafouz, Naipaul, Saramogo, oh and Crab Walk by Günter Grass as a weird interesting look at WWII. Plath is wonderful. I could go on. For me I want to deal with books that in Kafka's words 'wound and stab us.'"—My favorite high school teacher emailing in response to this.**I went to a generally mediocre Catholic high school but every mediocre school has that one cool karate-teaching hardware store-moonlighting teacher whose lectures you would actually rather listen to (obligatory dating of self) than Anderson Cooper on Channel 1 and this one was it.

Yay for inadvertent double entendres! This is a screenshot (taken by commenter Josh Speed) from Oprah Boprah's website, and it implies something nefarious and seeeecret about, well, Anderson Cooper's life. What could it be? Does he butter his toast upside down? Oh and Gayle King, you're on notice too.

For some reason, the official John Edwards YouTube channel still includes a speech Edwards made in 2007 accepting a "Father Of The Year" award, even though it contains various comments that sound funny/awful now that the former presidential candidate has admitted to cheating on his wife. Edwards' people might have been expected to remove the video Friday, when it was discovered and linked by producers for delicate CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, a crew no doubt highly attuned to subtle irony delivered in front of a camera (though Deceiver beat them to it —Update). Of course, the Edwards camp was busy dealing with Nightline late last week, and maybe they also figured removing the speech would lend credence to charges Edwards fathered a love child, which he still denies. Plus, at six minutes long, the YouTube video is a slog most haters will never get through. So here are the best 23 seconds, courtesy CNN. Click the video icon to watch.

Did you catch Anderson Cooper on Live! With Regis And Kelly this morning? If you did, you got something of look inside the CNN heartthrob's conflicted soul. First Cooper said his favorite Project Runway contestant is the one who's really into leather — heh. Then came a long stretch where Cooper really couldn't stop himself from revealing more and more of his involuntary obsession with the with the "atrocious... trainwreck" of a reality show Living Lohan. Cooper said actress Lindsay Lohan's mother Dina and sister Ali are "horrific people," with Ali set to become a "striptease person" (well, of course). But he can't look away — Cooper even makes time for the show while reporting in a warzone. And don't we all sorta feel that way about reality television? This is why Anderson Cooper is America's Secret Boyfriend. Fall in love with him all over again after the jump.

Most gay men celebrate their coming out experience with increasing self-confidence and visibility (sometimes followed by a dark period that could be dubbed the "Fiesta Cantina stage"), and How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris is no exception. On the heels of flamboyant moves like starring in internet musicals and dressing up as a shoe fairy, the universally-adored actor has finally lost his gay press virginity, consenting to his first cover story in Out magazine. Though he admits to some trepidation (mostly fearing that his words will be taken out of context — why, who would do that?), he's not afraid to express his affection for a certain gray-haired anchorman:

• Tyra Banks is to dress as Michelle Obama for Harper's Bazaar, thus ending all rumors about the prospective first lady being kind of crazy and off the handle. [NYM, P6]

Men are suddenly wearing shorts to work, with ties and dress shoes and everything! And also muscle shirts and panama hats! Judging by the pictures in the Times style piece on the matter, they tend to look quite awkward. Who should we blame for this degenerate flaunting of the irresistible hairy male leg? The media in general and, in particular, Vogue's Sean Avery and CNN's Anderson Cooper. They made it cool to flash some skin, along with that ultimate arbiter of cool, Barack Obama:

Recently, we, uh..... The world was shocked to learn this week that... Ok nevermind, fuck it. It's July. It's late July. Even the fucking Cloverfield monster is apparently enjoying a lovely vacation in Montauk. So here is a video of the bestest, gayest moments of CNN unicorn Anderson Cooper and his all-bear news show. It was put together by intern Morgan Miller. Pour yourself a gimlet and enjoy!

The Anderson Cooper rumor mill most recently had the flirty CNN anchor dating an assistant to Barry Diller beard Diane Von Furstenberg in the wake of a breakup from 22-year-old JD Ordonez, a marine mammal trainer in California. Now we're told the silver-haired newsman is trying to settle down, albeit with a 24-ish guy, even as he trots the globe to film his upcoming Planet In Peril special. A tipster heard from the supposed boyfriend's associates that Cooper asked him to move in and that the boyfriend accepted. Is this boyfriend one and the same as Von Furstenberg's assistant? Who knows? (No, really — who knows?) The less friendly gossip is after the jump.

When dreamboat CNN anchor Anderson Cooper found footage of an adorable younger bear for his show in April, he couldn't get enough of the "cute" and "cuddly" creature. But tonight, after AC360 co-host Erica Hill narrated footage of an older, larger bear, Cooper seemed to get a little grizzly, asking "What is with this program and bears?" Why, only your bread and butter and honey, Anderson! The bedrock of your credibility! What happened to being the "most trusted name in bears?" It's summertime, these guys will be out in force, and there's no going back now. Besides, Hill has a killer merchandising idea, click the thumbnail at left for details. It's only a few more months, that shouldn't be too much to b... well, ya, you get the idea.

Did you catch Anderson Cooper's stint as guest host on Live! with Kelly Ripa yesterday? Well, then, you missed Kelly rather awkwardly try to pair him off with a former model-turned-stylist named Lawrence Zarian. (You can check out Zarian on MySpace here.) Not surprisingly, poor Andy looked a little uncomfortable by the set-up and took five steps back from the former JC Penney model. Maybe next time he should stick to guest hosting Larry King instead? Much less risky—just ask Ryan Seacrest!

Fox News has been hammered with a good deal of bad publicity this week, all stemming from David Carr's takedown of the network's PR operation in Monday's New York Times. One downside to FNC's aggressive attitude toward the press is that their own stars get relatively less attention than other cable news icons like Keith Olbermann or Anderson Cooper. Rachel Sklar points out that Fox News anchor Shepard Smith is "a handsome, affable and hard-working straight-up news guy" who's been "under-covered." That's true, and also lends itself to a "straight-up" joke, considering our past coverage of him as a closeted gay man. As we enter the new, liberal age of Obama, America is ready for real diversity-and Smith's gay status has now become conventional wisdom .

Last week brought the appalling news that pill-popping professional idiot Rush Limbaugh signed an eight-year, $400 million contract with Premiere Radio Networks. He'll now collect $38 million a year, which he'll probably direct to some of the passions detailed in a NYT Magazine profile of Limbaugh this past weekend, like La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Chisel cigars, private jets (he just purchased a Gulfstream G550) and life-size oil paintings of himself. (The deal also provided him with a $100 million signing bonus.) But what about the rest of the news media heavyweights—how much coin are they taking home annually? The salaries of America's most beloved anchors and blowhards of various political persuasions after the jump.

As a member of two vindictive cults - Fox News and Scientology - cable news anchor Greta Van Susteren is an absolute pro at channeling rage. Witness the blog post she typed up on the 4th of July holiday. The executive producer of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 last week called Susteren's On The Record "not a news program. It's missing-person of the day." Hoo-boy. Susteren's 1000-word response swiftly pinned blame for the comments on Cooper, since he should be able to control his producer, then basically called the silver-haired anchor a coddled, commercialized, Katrina-exploiting, polygamy-obsessed pretty boy. Susteren, meanwhile, has a magical law degree that obviates the need for a teleprompter, ever. A breakdown (and partial refutation) of her rant, after the jump.

The oddest thing about this clip of adorable CNN unicorn Anderson Cooper flirting with legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is that Coop calls Toobin a "city boy" and offers to take him to a rifle range later. This would be the Anderson Cooper who was born in New York to Gloria Vanderbilt and photographed by Diane Arbus as a baby, right? Anyway. These two New York-born Ivy Leaguers are going to "shoot some varmints" after work. Hey-o!

Anderson Cooper was talking last night about fundamentalist Christian attacks on Barack Obama with minister Al Sharpton, author Roland Martin and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. The talk turned toward religious tolerance, and suddenly Sharpton was outing CNN's prettiest anchor as, gosh, some kind of sinner? "I might think what you do, Anderson, is going to put you in hell, but I'm going to defend your right to get there," Sharpton said. Then everyone laughed, either because Sharpton made some kind of innocuous joke outing Cooper as a typical shouting-head TV news sinner, or because virulent, institutionalized homophobia is hilarious. Anderson blushed and managed to say something dignified, while maybe secretly wishing he was officially gay so he could let loose a verbal spanking that would make Keith Olbermann's "Special Comments" sound like bedtime stories The End. Clip after the jump. UPDATE: Changed a sentence to make it clear Sharpton might not have been alluding to Cooper's sexuality.