Michael Jackson’s Vegas home is now in the hands of fans who paid $3.1 million to be king (and queen) of the King of Pop’s castle. The new owners are a California based doctor-lawyer couple who also own assets in Asia.

The lavish mansion that Michael Jackson resided in for around six months boasts seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, three office suites as well as a theater room, a tennis court, an orchestra loft and basketball court. Reportedly, the mansion is the largest real estate property sold in Las Vegas in over a year. He paid $1 million to rent the luxury home.

Selling the pad was no a walk in the park. One of the real estate agents said after Michael’s death, tons of fans flooded the mansion pretending to be potential buyers but were lying just to get a peek at Jackson’s old place. Thank goodness, one deep-pocketed couple ended up being the real deal.

The W Hotel in Westwood may have chic dining and imbibing options, but there are some inherent issues – it’s in Westwood, home of UCLA students, and now it is the old W Hotel.  The new W, in Hollywood, has brought a strong hand to the table, especially with their new “eatery and bar,” Delphine.

Outfitted to make you feel like you stepped off of Hollywood Blvd and onto the French Riviera, Delphine is a restaurant and lounge featuring Mediterranean cuisine and an impossibly chic, beachside ambiance.  The best part is, they haven’t limited themselves to one region of the Mediterranean – their menu includes items signature to brasseries in the Cote d’Azur, the Costa Brava in Spain, and the Italian Riviera.  Just taking a seat in one of their cool, beige banquettes, beneath sleek lighting and white brick walls will have you listening for the waves in no time.

For breakfast, you can feel very Provencal with an Omelette aux Fine Herbes with Potatos, while at brunch you may be more in the mood for Eggs a la Basquaise.  At dinner, starting with a little Brandade is the way to go before tucking into a classic Moules Frites and a Warm Pistachio Espresso Brownie.

Its W Hotel cousins, The Living Room and Station, are the other lounge and bar areas this new and improved W Hotel has to offer.  Not to say we won’t go back to Westwood, but… for now the Hollywood location is like a shiny, new plaything.

We’re off to the French Riviera – you can finds us at Delphine,

Delphine at the W Hollywood is located at 6250 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood (323) 798-1355

Many people need their daily dose of a cup of Joe to wake up or perk up those spirits. Others feel just as strongly about beer on the weekends. Well, here’s some interesting news. According to Daily Dish, artisan coffee roaster Intelligentsia and newcomer local microbrewery Eagle Rock Brewery plan to join forces. “We are looking to do some really exciting things with coffee. Instead of going for a traditional dark beer, we want to experiment doing a lighter coffee beer,” a source told Daily Dish. A coffee beer? Well, we can’t wait to see how that turns out.

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Days ahead of the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, the Vince Lombardi trophy has arrived in South Florida. Designed by Tiffany & Co. and named after Coach Vince Lombardi from the Green Bay Packers, this trophy goes to the winning team of the Super Bowl XLIV. It’s been reported that the giant silver football is sitting pretty in the ballroom at the Westin Beach Resort, and is guarded by two armed security guards. The trophy will stay there until the morning of February 7, the day of the big game.

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When Giorgio Armani speaks, you listen.  Just as a general rule, when he speaks about chocolate, you’ll want to hang on his every word.  So in April, when he opened Armani Dolci on the third floor of the Giorgio Armani store in New York, you began planning your expedition to the promised land.

Now, with Valentine’s Day on the horizon and fast approaching, we’ve found something that you’ll either want to just buy yourself or hint and nudge at with your loved one – Armani’s Valentine’s truffles.  Little red boxes decorated with a heart in the center, the chocolates contain gianduia cream with hazelnuts and they come in a sweet box wrapped in red silk paper and tied in a bow with a suede cord and sealed with a small heart.

Available in any Armani store, this gives you a whole new reason to just pop into the shop with your significant other.  Not that you really needed one.

Though former talent turned TV tycoon turned multi-billionaire Jerry Perenchio keeps his caboose out of the limelight at any cost, he sure knows how to live the glamorous life. Perenchio bagged his latest real estate victim, the notably recognized Chartwell in Beverly Hills, for a staggering $9.2 million. The splendid 13-acre chateau is surrounded by vast gardens and a main gate.

Jerry Perenchio is originally from Fresno, CA where his family owned a vineyard or two and shortly after migrated to Hollywood in the 1950s. His Hollywood beginnings are so cliche: Snatched out of the mail room at MCA by the legendary Lew Wasserman who groomed him to become a top talent agent to superstars like George and Martha (a.k.a. Liz Taylor and Richard Burton), Dame Elton John, and, back in the day, Marlon Brando.

Perenchio then went into sports promotion around the early 1970s and is at least partially responsible for the iconic Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight at Madison Square Garden in 1971, as well as the famous “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match in 1973 when the great Billie Jean King humiliated Bobby Riggs in three straight sets after he blathered on about the superiority and strength of male tennis players. Perenchio has been around and behind the Hollywood scene during the golden age.

Perenchio is still around in the dismal, not-so-legendary P-O-S that is Hollywood 2010. Compared to what he’s seen, no wonder he avoids the spotlight ever so often. Keep your chin up, Jerry.

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Audemars Piguet is one of the hautest watch brands out there. Their new Royal Oak Offshore New York 57th Street special edition is exceptional, and was specially created to commemorate their new flagship store that just opened in New York in late 2009. Although Audemars Piguet has many, many variations on its famous Royal Oak Offshore line, we think this watch is as impressive as the others, with a rougher, more casual look.

The newly opened Audemars Piguet Boutique is located at 65 East 57th St., New York, NY.

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Amidst growing concerns of the global recession and other competing government issues affecting the development of disease control, Bill and Melinda Gates have vowed to pump $10 Billion into vaccine development and delivery.

The announcement came from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, and the money marks an increase from the roughly $800 million the Gates’ already spent annually on the cause.

“Hopefully we’ll have some breakthroughs,” Bill Gates said in an interview this week, pointing to funding from his foundation aimed at finding a vaccine for malaria.

Gates donates the money along with a call for more investment from donors, and comes with growing concern from the World Health Organization and other health groups that the distribution of promising new vaccines and the prohibition of diseases like Polio to spread will decrease because of shortfalls in funding.

Those concerns are spot-on, as health officials start rolling out new vaccines that prevent rotavirus, a cause of severe diarrhea, and pneumococcal disease. The new vaccines are fueling concerns in developing countries with the startling amount of decrepit primary health care systems that are already struggling with how to deliver existing vaccines. Many African countries, for instance, lack the refrigeration needed to keep vaccines fresh while they are being stored and transported.

The Gates Foundation currently stands as the world’s largest private philanthropy, with a staggering endowment of $34 billion, and has spent about $4.5 billion on vaccine work. The announcement follows a public letter this week in which Gates highlighted the need for governments to not cut their foreign aid amid broader budget and debt pressures.  Way to tell ‘em, Bill.

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Fresh Direct is apparently not satisfied enough with being the corner grocery delivery market in New York. Recently, they have come up with a new way to get into consumer homes via a vending machine. This machine will likely be installed next to mail boxes, laundry rooms, and in high-end buildings across the town. Machines will contain frozen four-minute meals, some coming from Rosa Mexicano and chef Terrance Brennan, for the low convenient price range of $6-$10.

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Irving Picard, one of many trustees that sought to recover damages and assets for Bernard Madoff’s clients from his Ponzi scheme, declared Wednesday that a $220 million settlement has been declared with the children of the late property baron Norman Levy.

The amount refers to the money that was withdrawn from Norman’s Madoff accounts but wasn’t used for charitable purposes. Levy had invested with Madoff since the 1970s, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The fraud was revealed in 2008, and many have pushed for full compensation from the former Chairman of the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.

Picard is also seeking $198.7 million from Bernard Madoff’s brother, Peter Madoff, as well. Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 felonies and admitted to turning his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors of billions of dollars.

Madoff said he began the Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s, but investigators believe it could have started as early as the 1980s; in fact, the investment operation may have never been legitimate . The amount missing from client accounts is supposedly a reported $65 billion.

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