Gawker - Advent calendar DEATH MATCH!

By Kelly Conaboy

Which skincare calendar will survive?

Advent Calendar Death Match is a four-part series pitting Advent calendars against each other in a fight to the death.

Advent is a yearly tradition during which we celebrate the final month of the fetal stage of the Christchild. During this holy period many years ago, the small King, desiring of equally small gifts, sent Bethlehem’s hustling-est Magi to gather daily offerings, in both sample and luxury-sample sizes, from His favorite brands. He then unboxed them on His intrauterine TikTok, which kept Him occupied during those final pre-birth weeks.

Now the Advent calendar does the same for us.

To honor the reason for the season, every week this month we’ll be pitting two of the best Advent calendars that we could get brands to send us for free against each other in a fight to the death. They will each be judged by the same parameters: Christmas magic; whether the calendar numbers are scattered or in the correct order; the gifts; the gift unveiling process; and “bonus.”

Only one will survive. (Each week.) (This means that by the end four will have survived.)

First up: Susanne Kaufmann’s Refillable Advent Calendar ($510) vs. Rituals’s The Ritual of Advent: 3D Advent Calendar ($125).

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By Tarpley Hitt

At DealBook, he denied the polycule allegations and subtly shifted the blame

Against all odds, this Gawker blog, and sane legal advice, Sam Bankman-Fried showed face at the New York Times DealBook conference on Wednesday. Over the course of an hour-long conversation with finance pundit Aaron Ross Sorkin, he apologized. He denied the polycule allegations. He claimed his penthouse-sharing squad of crypto gamblers never partied, except to “play boardgames” and drink “three-quarters of a beer.” As for stimulant use, he said: “I've been prescribed various things at various times to help with focus and concentration.”

Usually, DealBook works like a mini-media Davos; attendees pay $2,499 to watch CEOs sit down with Sorkin to knock out softball questions, and a few fast ones, with business casual cordiality. But the Bankman-Fried interview was, to belabor the metaphor, a different ballgame. It was cordoned off on the packed agenda, in a section titled only “The Interview.” It was the talk guests awaited with keen interest, some more literal than others; BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told the crowd that his firm had lost some $24 million from FTX. It was also, notably, meaner. As Sorkin put it in his opener:

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By Kelly Conaboy

Well they’re allegedly having an affair, for one

Yesterday morning, we didn’t know who Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes were. (We watch the Today show.) This morning, the respectively married Good Morning America co-anchors who are allegedly embroiled in a sexy affair in which the Times Square Irish bar O’Donoghue’s plays a major role are all we’re thinking about. But who are they, and what is happening? Let’s see.

WHO ARE THEY?

Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes are co-anchors of Good Morning America’s third hour.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

They’re reportedly (I have to say that) having an affair.

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By Claire Carusillo

They're the worst thing to happen to America's smallest city since the Dunkin Shamrock Macchiato

If the city of Boston is known for one thing besides being a world fashion capital, it’s that its citizens hate the British. Besides the JFK of it all, it makes little sense that Prince William’s first US trip in eight years would be to Boston. He and Kate Middleton are only a day into their three-day trip for the Earthshot Prize ceremony (don’t ask), and already the climate in Beantown is changing: from one of convivial New England heckling to an environment where unconcealed contempt stokes the flames of impolite society. Or whatever.

First, they flew commercial to Logan Airport. But their Week of Flop didn’t stop there.

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By Claire Carusillo

They're determined to clear their names in the murder of Queen Elizabeth II

The trailer for Harry and Meghan’s new Netflix docuseries, a labor of love I haven’t stopped hearing about since the Suits siren and I used to wash our hands at the same time at the Toronto Soho House, has dropped.

Alway savvy, the Big and Little Edie of the Central California Coast premiered the teaser trailer on the heels of three different massive culture events: the Buckingham sacking of the racist handmaiden granny (who happens to be Harry’s estranged brother William’s godmother), William and Kate’s Boston-based environmental “Super Bowl” in collaboration with Lady Shailene Woodley, and the release of the first three episodes of aggrieved matricide-denier’s Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies on Peacock.

That’s a slam dunk for Harry and Meghan, stars of Harry & Meghan: they can underscore their American altruism in contrast to the British monarchy’s crusty old paradigms, eclipse William’s science fair, and also, hopefully, solve the Queen’s murder.

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