Notorious for playing heroes in just about every film he's been in, Tom Cruise is facing quite the kampf in his new role as a failed hitman hired to off Hitler in the Bryan Singer-helmed Valkyrie. So what's the problem with Tom Cruise -- who's saved the world again and again -- donning full military regalia and kicking some Nazi ass? That would be his eyepatch.

You know you’ve been around for too long when you start interviewing the offspring of people you used to know. Add up all that "Uncle Stevie" talk and the obligatory "legend" rap (which I guess is better than being called an ass), and I feel like I’m due any second for a mid-life crisis. If I didn’t already have Nicole, my beautiful 21-year-old girlfriend, I’d surely have to get myself one of those. DJ Cassidy is a solid young man, as is his dad, uber-agent Johnny Podell. Cassidy reminds me of Mark Ronson a few years back; he’s super cool, well-mannered, extremely talented and always respectful. We talked about his upbringing, his obsession with rewatching videos of his own birthday parties, and a sad thank-you fax that never got answered.

BlackBook's Holiday Gift Guide presents two gift picks per day through December 19. One comes from our very own YOOX.com store; the other from the world at large. Suggestions? Let us know.

Curmudgeons may call ‘em creepy -- but for anyone on your list who's into cutsey stuff, it’s hard to beat the Harajuku Lovers Solid Fragrance Coffret ($60). Long lashes, bows, headbands ... the girls even have heart-shaped lips!

With a slew of new boutiques sprouting up on both coasts, you’d think no one was the wiser that there’s a recession going on (and that the retail business is among the hardest being hit). Just in time for the holiday season, temporary shops are popping up both in LA and NYC, while mega retailers like Barneys are forging ahead with international expansions.

The BlackBook edit staff decamped to the West Coast this week for our upcoming special Hollywood issue, embarking on a non-stop star-packed marathon of splashy (literally!) fashion shoots and do-tell-all interviews. We danced with Paparazzi (the 23-year-old next superstar deejay, that is) and tried not to gawk or stalk the many other awesome stars who crossed our paths. Hardest of all to resist: Morrissey, whose new album, due out early next year, we anxiously await. Several Morrissey sightings have left a resounding echo in our heads: the orchestral strains of "Everyday Is Like Sunday." Silent and grey, however, not so much.

How can anyone not love actress Illeana Douglas? For the last decade, her acting chops have been a proven, solid celluloid draw. A wry sidekick with soulful eyes, her characters specialize in lobbing bitter-funny bon mots with no mercy. And Douglas has found success, sure, but she hasn't lost sight of the process and the industry's overlooked underclass. This shouldn't come as a surprise, since there's something so honest about her, on screen or off, that it's hard to imagine her as another studio-owned, publicity-chasing Hollywood coke monkey. In her upcoming film Easy to Assemble, Douglas ditches her Hollywood gig to work at IKEA, but finds her sticky past hard to shake. Gossips, agents, celebs run amok. Last night, we chatted about Hollywood's killing floor, the Screen Actors Guild, and the slow soul suck of studio politics. Tinseltown upstarts, beware.

We wear our sunglasses at night ...

1. suite one8one (Tenderloin) - Wear your tight black T and flaunt VIP attitude on dance floor and off.
2. Ruby Skye (Union Square) - Go for the booth service that gives you VIP access, private lounge, cigar bar.
3. Empress of China Cocktail Lounge (Chinatown) - Lost in Translation meets suburban Holiday Inn. Kitsch factor and view a solid 8.

By now you must have seen it in the air or heard it in the wind -- a preview, a poster, a blog, an Entertainment Weekly cover (or ten), hysterical girls, a Today Show appearance, and women, from their early teens to late thirties, flailing and wailing at the mere mention of the name Edward Cullen. It's Twilight mania, and it hits full fury this weekend -- as if we had to tell you. We caught up with the film's screenwriter and Dexter producer Melissa Rosenberg, who had the daunting task of adapting author Stephenie Meyer's sprawling saga to the screen, without losing the book's appeal or inciting bloodlust from legions of fans.

I don't speak or read any Portuguese, but there's something about the way the letters cling together to former words and phrases that is aesthetically appealing, independent from any meaning. Today, during my daily perusal of all websites written in Portuguese, I discovered an unsettling picture of what looks like a dead Amy Winehouse, lying next to an also dead Minnie Mouse on BBCBrasil.com. Not being able to understand what the article said, I googled "amy winehouse dead," and the first two things that came up were amywinehousedead.com and whenwillamywinehousedie.com. Morbid. So with the article being all I had to go by, I scoured it for clues.

Reopened in October after an extensive reno, New York boutique hotel the Marcel at Gramercy offers five-star amenities in the realm of four-star prices, with cutting-edge modern décor and the posh Bar Milano restaurant, featuring Northern Italian cuisine upscaled for the Gramercy crowd. The hotel's facelift brings in modern minimalism in a cross between Oscar de La Renta's spring collection and the aesthetics of a lava lamp -- grandiose yet clean, with pops of olives & mustards next to futuristic metallics. Part domestic sanctuary, part club lounge, the fireplace, chandelier, and semicircular leather couch cater to cocktails and the creative set both. Co-owned by the people behind the Empire Hotel, the Marcel features five guest floors and 135 rooms, each complete with increasingly standard iPod docking stations, flatscreen TVs, and marble bathrooms.