Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images - Frank Schwere/Getty Images

Greening is everywhere. I can’t begin to name all of the products and companies that tout eco-sensitivity. Even media outlets as brash as Vice T.V. are focusing on ecological threats while Werner Herzog turns his attention to Antarctica in Encounters at the End of the World , touching upon global warming. Getty Images even has a keyword: “greening” in our creative collection search (results in photo on upper right) . The natural world has played a part in the fashion collections this year, but Australian designers Easton Pearson incorporate nature into their designs with bawdy whimsy.

The Australian fashion design duo showcased their Spring collection at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2008/09 today with a line of punchy fun and modern pieces. The collection mixed opulent fabrics with modest ones, transformed traditional ethnic references into modern shapes and married nature to fashion without seeming self-conscious. Feathers became acid yellow ruffles on a mini skirt and a coral reef life took motion on beaded satin pant ensemble. Platform shoes and bohemian jewelry in neon brights planted the look in the present. The most obvious tie in to nature, and perhaps the most heavyhanded, was in the headpieces worn by models. Beautiful, but mostly unadulterated crowns, headbands and hats made from flora were mated to vivid makeup palettes that verged on face painting to make models read like exotic bird species.

Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images -Ian Waldie/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

M.I.A. performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this weekend looking a teeny bit like an updated Jem character, in front of a projection of glitchy, primitive graphics. M.I.A. has always favored bold colors and patterns, but this look was a departure in its pure intent to serve as a performance costume. Reflective, bejeweled and white wigged, she glowed to throngs suffering over 100 degree weather in Indio, California.

The look is reminiscent of aesthetic celebrated by Paper Rad.  One wonders if the current neon obsession is in some way indebted to the collectives influence or if it is born out of the creative cultures zeitgeist. 1980’s raver looks have been on the streets and runways for the past few seasons, “trickling up” to celebrities such as Victoria Beckham and back down to retailers such as American Apparel, Converse and Kate Spade’s spring collection, featuring day-glo patent leather accents. Neon lipsticks were used on models at Alice Temperley last year, Christopher Kane incorporated fluorescent the year before and Kanye West embarks on his “Glow In the Dark” tour in April. When will we tire of the glo? We saw black-light neon in the raves of the 60s and 80s, and here we are again at the 20 year cycle. Though fluorescents have a tendency to burn out quickly with the public, they are apparently still going strong. What will be kiss of death for neon?

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images - Ted Streshinsky/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Kevin Mazur / WireImage/Getty Images

In the celebrity media’s desperate craze to find a superstar trainwreck even younger than Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, the blogs have been afire today (oh, and by ‘blogs’ I mean The New York Times) with criticism of Miley Cyrus’s Vanity Fair shoot, in which she appears ‘topless’. And by ‘topless’ I mean covered up with a blanket in a pose more or less devoid of sexual connotation, shot by Annie Leibovitz.

Damage control? Mission: Impossible for the Cyrus clan. They are now claiming that poor little Miley was ‘manipulated’, as if this was some kind of half-ass pap shoot, when in fact Miley’s parents were present at the shoot and all the photos were approved by the Cyrus family. Vanity Fair’s response to the controversy pointed out the latter fact, pretty much putting the lid on the theory that Miley had no idea what was going on (perhaps being half-naked in a studio might have tipped her off).

Do Hannah Montana fans even read Vanity Fair? I don’t think so. Any 11-year-old girl reading V.F. is probably more interested in Muslim cultural crises and the causes of rising oil costs than Hannah Montana’s beautifully-lit back. Simmer down, everyone! 

Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic/Getty Images - Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images

Kanye West wore one of his many crazy frames to the BAPE STORE opening on Wednesday. While these “nerd glasses” might be reminiscent of Urkle’s, they are also a throwback to those worn by Hip Hop fashion icon, Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels of Run - D.M.C.   Kanye has proved to be a fashionable guy, ditching the backpack and taking in runway shows from Yohji Yamamoto to Stella McCartney. Hip-Hop has put its mark on fashion over the past two decades as shapes shift from gangsta rap’s baggy XXXL looks back to a slimmer/classic silhouette. Let’s take a look at the finer points of hip-hop fashion’s evolution from Kangols to Cazals.

George Pimentel / WireImage/Getty Images

Because the world apparently adores Barry Gibb impressions and the unparalleled piece of modern cinema that is Fever Pitch, Jimmy Fallon will be taking Late Night reins from Conan O’Brien next February when the red-haired funnyman exits the show to take over for Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. If I am watching bad TV at that hour, I hope someone is still running Golden Girls, though in Fallon’s defense he could always bring on Queen Latifah and re-create some of my favorite scenes from the Taxi remake.

Ron Galella / WireImage/Getty Images

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 is a big day for a lot of folks. But there’s no presidential primary, it isn’t Mariah Carey’s birthday, your Mom is still not giving you your Dr. Dre CD back, and yes, that is a picture of Ron Howard from the Grand Theft Auto premiere on June 23, 1977.

What is this mystery event? Grand Theft Auto IV!!!!!!!!! Only like the most anticipated video game of all time, you worthless Luddite. You can kill more pedestrians, cops, and hookers from the comfort of your sofa this Tuesday, granted you own a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. A future Wii version may be complicated by the sex-themed mini-games. Gross…

 I hope you nerds are already in line. This will be even bigger than Halo 3, the last time any of you got this excited, save maybe the Iron Man trailers.

Eamonn McCormack / WireImage/Getty Images

The new James Bond film appears to be cursed. Perhaps the Bond franchise will replace Shakespeare’s Macbeth as the most commonly euphemized popular narrative troubled by ghostly apparitions. While Macbeth is known as ‘Scottish play’ to avoid the title’s deadly curse - reducing principals to blood-thirsty 16th-century wenches - the Bond films can now be referred to as ‘Misogynist anthem’ or perhaps ‘Daniel Craig’s thick neck play’.

In all seriousness, people are dying up in there! Some guy rode by the set on his bicycle to get a glimpse of the action, and promptly died of a heart attack. Add to that two serious stunt accidents that almost killed the drivers, and it’s clear something is haunting this production. Obviously, Cubby Broccoli’s ghost is pissed. I would be too if my beloved Bond franchise was basing its plots around the sexy superspy moping about his dead ladyfriends. Roger Moore didn’t mope, people. He moved right along, and said things like this (when offered an Egyptian prostitute in The Spy Who Loved Me); “When in Egypt, one must always delve into its treasures”.

Bobby Bank / WireImage/Getty Images

Skimming through the lovely WireImage website today, I discovered an amusing gallery of on-set stills from Woody Allen’s new flick. It seems the neurotic aging Jewish man paired with twentysomething Lolita formula is solidly intact. Also, Allen is back in New York!!!!! We knew he’d deal with the trade unions eventually…

Donald Bowers/Getty Images for Extra

NEW YORK - APRIL 20: (EXCLUSIVE ACCESS) Mario Lopez makes pre-boarding anouncement before Jet Blue flight during the ‘Extra’ takes Mario Lopez and cast of ‘A Chorus Line’ to L.A. on April 20, 2008 in New York City.

The other day I was fortunate enough to board a Jet Blue flight with Mario Lopez and the cast of A Chorus Line. We were headed to LA (from NYC) so Mario and friends could make a guest appearance on Dancing with the Stars. The television show “Extra” was also on the flight, filming his every move for their exclusive, behind-the-scenes feature. I was tagging along as the exclusive photographer of the weekend, shooting everything from the flight over there to the post-party at the end.

Donald Bowers/Getty Images for Extra

The best part of the trip for me was hanging out with the dancers. Their energy and enthusiasm is contagious! Everyone was very friendly and they all had really interesting and different senses of humor. Their biggest focus - how to get off the plane. What kind of entrance should a Broadway cast make at an airport? An energetic, choreographed one of course!

Donald Bowers/Getty Images for Extra

Mario surprised other travelers on the plane (some excited, some not so excited) when he showed off his airline steward skills during the pre-flight announcements.

It was going to be a long trip for Mario and he kept his energy level up by eating small snacks throughout the day. When we landed, I watched impressed as he handled media interviews and recorded segments for Extra with very little prep. It was clear that he is a natural in front of the camera.

He was also a natural in dealing with the attention from his lady fans. He smiled for every picture, gave everyone an autograph and was very gracious to the calls of “true love” he received.

Donald Bowers/Getty Images for Extra

Thank you to Mario and the cast of A Chorus Line for this wonderful adventure. It was a flight like no other…

Don’t miss Mario on Dancing with the Stars tonight and his segment on Extra will be airing later this week.

Hee Chul Kim / WireImage/Getty Images

Nikki Finke at DHD posted an item the other day about the ridiculous expectations for the box office performance of Iron Man, the latest in a near-endless line of mega-budget comic book adaptations. Finke argues that the $80-100 million some are predicting is ludicrous, as Iron Man is not as well-known a property as Spider-Man, The Hulk, or X-Men. I think she’s wrong. Daredevil, reviled by audiences and critics alike, managed to open with a spectacular $45 million riding on almost 100% negative buzz. Ben Affleck wasn’t the cause - men in tight spandex (or metal) suits dishing out comic violence are to blame. People eat this stuff up. On top of it all, Iron Man is tracking like a megablockbuster, and those nifty trailers are causing nerdgasms felt from here to those robot-loving Asian markets. This baby will do $80 million.