The items, mostly copies of luxury objects, inside the little shop in downtown Manhattan are made of thin cardboard and might not even pass muster deep in the background of a movie set.

But that did not deter the police from arresting a shop worker on counterfeiting charges for selling several items, including Louis Vuitton and Burberry handbags.

There is just one problem: the items are supposed to be fake. Full Article »

Brands have pursued product placement for years, cutting deals to get sodas and sports cars in movies and on television. Some have even insisted on the opposite, having their logos and labels blurred by the camera when associated with the bad guy, for instance.

Now Abercrombie & Fitch is doing one better: it has offered to pay the cast members of the trashy-and-proud MTV reality show “Jersey Shore” never to wear its clothes on air. “This association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans,” the company said in a news release. Full Article »

Really not sure how this made it through the storyboard stage. I would have paid cash money to see the agency pitch this one!

Nice Suits  It’s almost time to haul your big winter coats and bulky sweaters out of storage, and you’re going to need to make some room for them. Well if you’re considering parting ways with some of your gently worn suits, Men’s Wearhouse is looking to help you out and help others out at the same time. Throughout the month of August, they’ll be collecting these suits and redistributing them through charitable programs that help the disadvantaged get a (pant) leg up in life. Just think—that old suit going nowhere in the back of your closet may be just the ticket to helping someone walk into an interview with new confidence and start building a better life. Learn More »

Little Men  Photograher Blake Little has made a name for himself capturing on film everyone from striking models to stunning celebrities. But in his exciting new book The Company of Men, Little turns his lens on the burliest, most masculine subjects he can find—who just happen to be gay—in the hopes of addressing societal stereotypes about the intersection of sexual orientation and masculinity. Oh, and they’re some damn fine men well worth looking at, to boot.

Podcasting Call  Just as a writer needs to do a whole lot of reading before he puts pen to paper, we listened to plenty of podcasts before we created The Focus Group: Casual Fridays. Some of Paul’s favorite podcast addictions, include the well-rounded roundtable at Pop Culture Happy Hour, the original purveyors of snark at Extra Hot Great, comedian Doug Benson and his parade of guests playing the Leonard Maltin game on Doug Loves Movies, funnyman Paul F. Thompkins serving up all manner of stream-of-consciousness amusements on The Pod F. Tompkast, getting our daily dose of Rachel Maddow and checking in with some of our favorite gays on Ben and Dave’s Six Pack.

“When people don’t answer my e-mails, I always think maybe something tragic happened,” said John Leguizamo, the writer and performer, whose first marriage ended when his wife asked him by e-mail for a divorce. “Like maybe they got hit by a meteorite.”

Betsy Rapoport, an editor and life coach, said: “I don’t believe I have ever received an answer from any e-mail I’ve ever sent my children, now 21 and 18. Unless you count ‘idk’ as a response.” Full Article »

My parents, Betty and Terry Doonan, met in a Royal Air Force soup kitchen at the end of World War II. They had both run away from home a few years prior and were disinclined to return to their respective birthplaces.

Eight weeks after their first encounter, they went to a registry office with two pals and got hitched. No family. No white dress. No nothing. The “reception” was held at the nearest pub, where Betty and Terry got thoroughly drunk and managed to lose their marriage certificate. Forever after, they were unable to recall the date of their marriage and as a result never once, in 60 years of marriage, celebrated a wedding anniversary. This always seemed to cause them great amusement. Full Article »

Everyone knows that having a good credit score qualifies you for lower interest rates on loans and better terms on credit cards. But it can also affect the rates you pay for car insurance — sometimes quite significantly, when the savings are measured over time.

The most important factors in setting rates generally are your age, where you live and driving record, says Des Toups, senior managing editor of CarInsurance.com, a rate-quoting Web site. But most insurers also check your credit when quoting a rate, because there’s a correlation between your score and the likelihood you will file an insurance claim. The higher the score, the less likely you are to file one. Full Article »

Keep on Ryan  The A-List: New York returns on Logo Monday, July 25th at 10pm EST; so we welcomed one of it’s break-out stars, celebrity hairstylist Ryan Nickulas of Ryan Darius salon to talk about how being on reality TV has affected his business, what he thinks about the A-List brand in general and get a sneak preview of the drama that’s coming our way in Season 2 of Logo’s guiltiest pleasure.

Much has been made of the distinct writing style of the blurbs that accompany Groupon flash-sale postings—a kind of vanilla-absurdist tone, dubbed the Groupon voice. Following the company writing manual, an editorial staff of would-be writers and M.F.A.’s uses nonsensical images, fake proverbs, mixed metaphors, and other devices to write mildly irreverent copy for the company’s daily deals. How might’ve literature’s greats written, had they cut their teeth in Groupon’s copywriting department? Herewith, fake Groupon offers—presented with very sincere apologies. Full Article »

How you feel about money can have a significant impact on how you save, spend and plan for your financial future—not to mention on your overall mental and emotional well-being. This is one of the findings of a new academic study, “Money Beliefs and Financial Behaviors: Development of the Klontz Money Script Inventory,” published in the current issue of The Journal of Financial Therapy. Full Article »

During the recession, you needed a job and wound up taking one for which you are overqualified. Although you were initially grateful just to have the work, you now feel bored and depressed. Is there any way to change that? Start by changing your perspective, says Caitlin Kelly, author of “Malled,” a book based on her experience as a retail sales clerk after losing her job in journalism. Full Article »

Whether it’s Mark Zuckerberg talking about killing pigs or a Hollywood blockbuster under its belt, Facebook has plenty of attention in our lives. Twitter falls into the same camp. From Justin Bieber’s noisy 10 million followers to hordes of social media gurus tweeting the benefits of 140 characters or less, it’s easy to discover how and what makes Twitter work. However, there is one social network that lacks drama but makes up for it with a devoted business community and plenty of compelling features. [Full Article]

The battle to legalize same-sex marriage may be dominating the headlines, but that issue could take years to resolve. More immediately, a growing number of companies have taken it upon themselves to make life a little more equal for their gay employees.

These companies are reaching into their own pockets to pay for an extra tax that their gay employees owe on their partners’ health insurance — something that their married heterosexual co-workers don’t have to worry about because the federal government recognizes them as an economic unit. [Full Article]

Isn’t that Captain Von Trapp?  If you’re like me, the name Christopher Plummer calls to mind a picture of the great actor crooning to Julie Andrews in a Viennese gazebo in “The Sound of Music.” Well, if you exchange Fraulein Maria for former ER hearthtrob Goran Visnjic, trade in Leisel for Ewan McGregor and ditch the rest of the Von Trapp children, you’ll begin to get a picture of Beginners. Though there are a number of “beginnings” in the film, it starts with an ending: Plummer has died, leaving his son Oliver (McGregor) to care for his father’s adorable dog and make sense of the fact that Hal (Plummer) spent the last few years of his life finally embracing his gay identity (after a long, unhappy marriage to Oliver’s mother). Over the course of the film, we look back to see Plummer build his new, gay life only to have it abbreviated by his sickness and death. At the same time, we watch McGregor attempt to make sense of life after his father’s death and love after witnessing his father’s late-in-life change of heart.

More than Meats  Though NYC’s Meatpacking District has now become a trendy mecca for upscale eateries and purveyors of high fashion, it once was once a kind of no man’s land that contained some of Manhattan’s seediest gay bars. Many credit the beginning of its gentrification with the culture that arose around Florent—an eatery with the menu of an upscale bistro, the architecture of an old-fashioned diner and a clientele that ranged from uptown foodies to downtown misfits. A new film, Florent: Queen of the Meat Market, available via many video on demand video services as of June 7, explores the legacy of the restaurant and its proprietor, activist Florent Morellet, with the help of famous faces like Julianne Moore, Isaac Mizrahi, Michael Musto and many more.

That Book Is So Gay  In an age when popular culture is so obsessively fixed to screens, it’s a joy to take a moment to celebrate the printed word. LGBT literature is so important to our community—it’s often where we find our bravest, most-forward-thinking voices. In anthologies, it shows how our experiences come together—our similarities and our differences. In non-fiction, it teaches us more about the truth of our struggle. In fiction, it presents a pathway to a shared understanding of our experience, and in poetry, it paints a picture of our collective soul. This year, the Lambda Literary awards honored a extraordinary works (including several that we’ve recommended right here on “The Focus Group”), in addition to paying homage to phenomenal playwright Edward Albee and prolific (and charming) crime novel author Val McDermid. See more of this year’s finalists and winners at lambdaliterary.org.

Standing amid pleather ottomans in a dimly lit Manhattan lounge, New York Giants defensive lineman Jason Pierre-Paul was mystified by the vodka bottle before him. It had a screw top; conspicuously absent from its label were a flock of gray geese, a mogul’s chateau, or any symbol of gratuitous wealth. Concerned, Pierre-Paul looked up Wódka Vodka on his smartphone and discovered that it retailed for $12. “What the f—k are you serving this for!” he barked at Matt Shendell, proprietor of The Hill bar and restaurant. In response, Shendell persuaded Pierre-Paul to taste the one-time Soviet favorite before passing judgment. He did. At the end of the night, he took a bottle home with him. [Full Article]