Now this is a pair you probably never thought you'd see: Scarlett Johansson and Dita Von Teese. And the gals are getting rather frisky — in that sensual art noir kind of way.

The shots are for Flaunt — that "avant-garde mag for popular culture" — but their website is more 1980 than Drudge, so we don't have much info about the articles or basis for the shoot. We guess you could perform the ancient art of picking up the magazine.

If only to preserve in paper form the one time Scarlett Johansson looked tanner than someone. Get the tissues ready … more snaps, after the jump.

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• Do starving artists even exist anymore? We thought artists these days were all Socialites and glam model types. Ok, so they are starving … but because they're anorexic. Not because they're poor. [Gothamist]

• Is the New York Observer Republican now? And that Jared Kushner said he wasn't going to have any pull on editorial content. [NYO]

• This may have engaged our obsession with salacious gossip — but once they said "George Washington" we kind of lost interest. [NYT]

• In a week, all the homeless people of New York will be using Roger Toussaint's autographed photos for tp. [NYDN]

Today's Fashion Week Daily scoop is all about the opening night of opera season at the Met. And they preach that first rule of thumb: don't show up stag.

When floor length gowns and elbow length gloves are involved, you simply must bring a date, whether you’re betrothed or a swinging single. Some standby couples always have each other (see Bowie and Iman, Padma and Salman) while others were friendly-chic (Zac and Liv, Maggie and Mizrahi) at opening night of the Metropolitan Opera season.

Meg Ryan, apparently, didn't get the memo.

Will You Be My Date? [Fashion Week Daily]

• You may not believe us, but there is a world outside the East Village. It may not be as cheap or as awesome, but there’s other things out there nonetheless. (Tues. 9/12) [Free NYC]

• “Everybody Dance Now!” That's really all you need. (Tues. 9/12) [TONY]

• Introducing The Gossip, a band whose name sounds suspiciously like your favorite website ever. And their lead singer’s name is Beth — just Beth. Consider us sold. (Wed. 9/13) [Oh My Rockness]

• If you actually take time out of your day to hear Ken Jennings make fun of Alex Trebek, well then you’re a special kind of person. (Thu. 9/14) [NYM]

• Nothing makes you says "hardcore New Yorker" like random culture-y stuff on the Gowanus Canal. (Tues. 9/5) [Brooklyn Record]

• OMG! The cast of Oz! Put down whatever you're currently doing and just run. [Free NYC]

• What? Anderson Cooper at the 92nd St. Y? That, like, never happens. (Thur. 9/7) [NYM]

• In case you don't work in media and are the only one who hasn't seen the premiere of Sherrybaby, you should go. After all, Maggie Gyllenhaal has a family to support now. (Fri. 9/8) [Flavorpill]

• Dada at the Moma? There has to be some child psych issues in there somewhere. And this week is your last chance to take advantage of them. (Through 9/11) [Paper]

We really don't have the words to express this first view of Suri Cruise. Gross is actually the only the thing which comes to mind. Totally gross, unnecessary, and pretty freaking weird. Whoever is responsible for this piece of shit is really fucked up.

Well, you can see for yourself.

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• Considering all of New York is "gay friendly," an Ancient Order of Hibernians museum would be pretty controversial anywhere on NYC soil. [NYDN]

• Maybe DUMBO was cool … but just about anything that was once edgy loses its allure after ending up in Vanity Fair. [DumboNYC]

• What do rich, young kids do in the summer? Well, when they aren't running for Bryant Park, they have hot dog eating contests. (We'll stick with our stoop browsing and hula hoop contests.) [NYO]

• NYU: not just the top party school, but also maintains a very high "gay point average." [NYP]

• In hopes to get anyone to shop at her stores again, Ann Taylor starts fall Fashion Week early with a breast cancer awareness show. [FWD]

• It may not be Whose Line is it Anyway but we hear improv is pretty funny without Wayne Brady. Blasphemy, we know. (Tues. 8/22) [The PIT]

• If you must go to Williamsburg, go for booze and tater tots. (Tues. 8/22) [The Trash Bar]

• If you're feeling classy hip, check out David Eggers and Sufjan Stevens. (You don't even have to go to Park Slope!) (Wed. 8/23) [NYM]

• Tech nerds, and people with the most random tastes in music ever unite! (Thurs. 8/24- Sta. 8/26) [City Guide]

When it comes to finding out whether the new lounge at the Gramercy Park Hotel is open yet (it is) or whether the Cain Estate in the Hamptons is really worth checking out before summer's end (likely not), there are plenty of places to turn to. There's layman stalwart Shecky's, trying-to-be-trendy Thrillist, and hipper-than-thou UrbanDaddy. But with a broadband Internet connection, some may approach approach online culture guides the way they do porn: still images just aren't doing it for 'em anymore. Enter video — and enter CODE.TV.

Launched publicly a mere two months ago, Code's flagship New York edition is already flanked by Hamptons coverage and, as of last week, a full-blown Los Angeles edition (which the publicity team at Freud managed to get The Hollywood Reporter to weigh in on). Its editorial mix is nothing but glowing praise of whatever is being covered, from Pink Elephant's reincarnation to Knife + Fork's East Village Euro offerings. And given that Code bills itself as "the first television network for wealthy 25-49 year old urbanites … who want and can afford a red-carpet style lifestyle," we had to know more — so we sat down for a Soho House lunch with founders Joseph Varet and Morgan Hertzan for a little chat on how they plan to become the DailyCandy of their space. Which might be hard, given that they're in DailyCandy's space.

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Have you ever wished you could have every single New Yorker article from 1925 to April 2006 at your fingertips? Tired of flipping through the piles and stacks which take up three bookshelves just to dig up that piece on Garcia Lorca's burial grounds or a piece of fiction worth snuggling up with?

Well, for $300 you can get "The Complete New Yorker" — and entire DVD archive of the most coveted bylines in the biz. The "I won't take your gossip" New Yorker blogger Emily Gordon has found her dream Christmas gift, and we're pretty sure there are a few of you out there who would cream over the concept of "instant access to every article, review, poem, illustration, and cartoon, exactly as it originally appeared in the magazine." Especially you delicate few who have managed to land a piece of published work in the pub.

In one of the first digital publishing initiatives of its kind, The New Yorker will release its comprehensive “The Complete New Yorker” archive on a hand-sized portable hard drive, it was announced today by Pamela Maffei McCarthy, Deputy Editor.

Read the full announcement, and cry for the N+1 crew who don't make enough between them to revel in what is surely their dream come true.

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• Will New Yorkers want to eat where homeless people sleep? Well, they are still eating at Starbucks. [NYT]

• Get your free golf cart tour of Washington Square Park while the offer lasts. [Curbed]

• Breaking, shocking news! You can buy expensive art even if nobody knows who you are. We, for one, are frozen in disbelief. [NYM]

• Now that it's been mosquito season for about three months now, the city is getting around to spraying for West Nile. [NY1]

• If an ugly person writes a book, will New Yorkers read it? [Galleycat]

Normally, we're not in the habit of running press releases for products … but this really is just sick. Just, like, flippin' crazy. As though it weren't bad enough that a museum full of wax celebrities exists in the first place, now they are actually promoting the products that are in this gross place.

This one is from KMC PR, who apparently reps the Stokke™ Sleepi™ bassinet that little baby Shiloh Pitt-Jolie sleeps in. And yes, little wax baby Shiloh sleeps in one too. (We're cooing and puking at the same time.)

It's bad enough that her parents whore her out, but does Shiloh really need these well-heeled PR princesses making commission off her baby powdered ass? Plus, what kind of crappy campaign totes: "a wax doll sleeps on our crib and she rests so peacefully. Go see for yourself." We'll do you a favor. Spare the wax museum trip, and just read the press release. We promise it's much more entertaining.

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• Since they’ve now started playing “Crazy” on adult contempo, expect a lot of painfully hip 40 somethings at this concert. (Thurs. 8/17) [NYM]

• Okay, we’re kind of cheesed out by this whole Amsterjam thing. But isn’t just a little part of you curious about how Busta Rhymes and Tom Petty will sound together? (Sat. 8/19) [Heineken]

• Nothing says summertime like watching Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci whack that guy from the Sopranos. (Wed. 8/16) [FreeNYC]

• $5 buys you all the champagne you can ever possibly drink. Which is pretty cheap considering how much the ambulance ride will cost you. (Tues. 8/15) [MyOpenBar]

• Wu-Tang Clan, at Webster Hall? Seriously, go and watch Baird Jones dance. Totally worth it. (8/16) [Oh My Rockness]

• A new building brings legitimacy to The Deuce. Though, we have to say, without the peep shows and sex shops, New York just hasn't been the same. [NYT]

• A drunken firefighter runs over a cop. Low and behold, anger erupts. [Metro]

• We thought those Ads for SVA were the subway art? No, Really? There's more? [NYC Subway]

• Bars and clubs are upping their door coverage. (As in more bouncers, not more cash.) We just hope this doesn't lead to an increase in bouncers murdering innocent young drunk girls. [NYP]

• There has to be a joke about Asians driving somewhere in here. [amNY]

Stop everything. The New York Times made a discovery. Africa, with all its AIDS and starvation, is really, really trendy. So hip. So Angelina Jolie, so Gwyneth Paltrow … hell, even Madonna picked up on the trend.

And much as it may strain the limits of good taste to say it, Africa — rife with disease, famine, poverty and civil war — is suddenly “hot.”

Hot. And not just in a "I'm sweating through my loincloth" kind of hot. Like, being interested Africa is super hip. So hip, in fact, the Times will stop at nothing to pick up on the latest news coming from the continent.

Into Africa [Alex Williams, New York Times]
African Grandmothers Rally for AIDS Orphans [Lawrence K. Altman, New York Times]