It all started in the summer of 2010, when author Joe McGinniss moved to Alaska. The self-assigned Sarah Palin biographer made headlines by renting a residence in Wasilla and moving in next door to the Palins as if moving in on his prey. The former Alaska guv sounded ticked. And much of the public chose sides.
And then there was a fictional twist that McGinniss never saw coming. In this surreal world, a stranger -- faux Fox News reporter Roland Hedley from the comic strip "Doonesbury" -- moves in next to McGinniss. The snooping khaki-clad interloper sets up surveillance and begins hectoring the author with back-porch taunts: "Moving next to Palin was seriously creepy," he says. "How does it feel to be stalked, stalker?"
But the fictional character's arrival in McGinniss' real life marked the beginning of a beautiful relationship. This month, Doonesbury's creator, Garry Trudeau, has partnered with McGinniss for a cartoon collaboration. Check out the funnies Monday, and you'll see Hedley reading excerpts from McGinniss' bio, "The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin," ahead of its Sept. 20 release date.
"You know what she was?" says a member of Palin's security detail in the excerpt Hedley reads. "A housewife who happened to be governor. I'd fly cross-country with her many times and she'd spend the whole trip looking at People magazine." From her preference for gossip tabs to her employment practices, from parenting to personal romance, these are among the sneak peeks into McGinniss' Palin biography that Trudeau provides in the comic-strip tease.
WASHINGTON POST
'Spartacus' star dies of cancerAndy Whitfield, the 39-year-old star of the cable series "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," died Sunday of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Sydney, Australia. In a statement, Whitfield's wife, Vashti, called her husband a "beautiful young warrior" who died on a "sunny Sydney morning" in the "arms of his loving wife." Whitfield -- who was born in Wales and lived in Australia -- was a virtual unknown when he was cast as the title hero in "Spartacus," a hit original series for the Starz network.
NO SHOW: Producers of New York's Fashion Week canceled a show scheduled for Wednesday by the daughter of the president of Uzbekistan amid pressure from a human rights group. Human Rights Watch had been in contact with organizers for about a week, raising objections to the planned show by Gulnara Karimova because of what it calls widespread human rights abuses in Uzbekistan. Karimova is the eldest daughter of Uzbek leader Islam Karimov. She has held several positions in her country's government, including heading its diplomatic missions in Spain and at the U. N. office in Geneva.
an angel: Naomi Campbell has made plenty of headlines for her bad behavior, but the spotlight is set to shine on the model for something positive -- her charitable work. Campbell and her boyfriend, Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin, are going to be honored Oct. 17 at the annual Angel Ball, which supports cancer research.
