Two back-to-back Independence Day sequels are currently in the works, and star of the 1996 original Will Smith is on board – for a steep price. The actor is reportedly asking $50 million to sign up for the two sequels, as well as asking that wife Jada and daughter Willow be involved in them as well.

Smith played the lead role in the 90s hit film as Captain Stephen Hiller, a role which garnered him much respect as an action star as well as a larger fan base. He is willing to recapture that audience, but at the hefty price.

Additionally, Smith has some stipulations as to where he wants to film the movie. Ever the family man, he wants production to remain close to home, his wife, and his kids.

Regardless as to whether or not Smith will ultimately sign on to the projects, the two sequels are proceeding. Roland Emmerich is set to direct both sequels, and both scripts are nearing completion.

Our Haute 100 list details the happenings and accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets. To see the entire Haute 100 Los Angeles list, click here.

A luxurious 12-acre Silicon Valley estate that was once owned by a great-grandniece of denim entrepreneur Levi Strauss just sold for $53 million by the children of Madeleine Haas Russell, a San Francisco philanthropist and arts patron.

Originally listed for $59.5 million when it hit the market in April, the magnificent estate’s sale price of $53 million makes it the most expensive property sold in Atherton, California this year.

The sellers of “Pine Brook” were the children of San Francisco philanthropist and arts patron Madeleine Haas Russel, who passed away in 1999. The family had owned the home for a century and was using it as a summer retreat.

The property features seven bedrooms, an English Tudor-style house of more than 11,000 square feet and a seven-bedroom guesthouse. In addition, there is a pool with a cabana containing a hidden bar room, a caretaker’s cottage, a tennis court and gardens.

The buyer, who purchased the estate through a California limited-liability company, has not revealed their identity.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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Amangani Resort, an exclusive member of The Haute Hotel Network, is featuring for the second year, a four-night ‘Ski to Live’ package, which introduces Zen philosophy to winter sports. Kristen Ulmer, the legendary US skier and extreme sports pioneer, has developed ‘Ski to Live’ to allow people to gain greater awareness, consciousness and enjoyment in their daily life through special skiing and snowboarding instruction.

This four-night program will run from March 1-5, 2012 and anyone with intermediate to expert ski ability levels can join. The ‘Ski to Live’ package includes accommodation in an Amangani Resort Suite, daily breakfast, complimentary airport and ski area transfers, three days of on-mountain ‘Big Mind’ sport and life exploration with Kristen Ulmer, a Jackson Hole Mountain Resort three-day ski pass, private ski guides and four exploratory evening sessions.

Amangani Resort is perched on the edge of East Gros Ventre Butte in Jackson Hole, a high mountain valley in northwest Wyoming. Nearly 2,135 metres (7,000 feet) above sea level, surrounded by spectacular mountain ranges.

Book soon for this life-changing vacation as spaces are limited. For more information and reservations, please go to Amangani Resort on The Haute Hotel Network.

Ten years after closing Slanted Door on Valencia, Charles Phan officially opened Wo Hing General Store in the same location.

San Francisco was buzzing about the opening of Wo Hing General Store, located in the heart of the Mission.

With Executive chef Michelle Mah running the kitchen, Phan’s Chinese street food-inspired menu is divided into several categories: Cold Starters, Hot Starters, Rice, Noodles (soup or dry) and Entrees. Prices are reasonable and currently diners can come and enjoy dinner daily from 5:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. Lunch is expected to be added down the line.

There is also a cocktail menu that comes courtesy of Brooke Arthur, who was previously at Prospect. The interior of the restaurant was designed by Olle Lundberg and includes recycled bus shelters and a bar made from old bowling lanes.

Reservations are accepted and while the restaurant is still in it’s opening phases, it is recommended to make a reservation to ensure you can get in.

Wo Hing General Store is located at 584 Valencia Street, near 17^th Street.

Source: Inside Scoop San Francisco

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Ferrari is planning to give the 2012 California a slight update in ways that all sports car enthusiasts will surely appreciate: more power and less weight.

The refresh of the 2012 Ferrari California starts with an additional 30 horsepower from the 4.3-liter VB, making the final figure 483 hp thanks to revised engine mapping and improve innards. It should be noted, however, that the extra pep is only available when the tank is topped off with 98 octane fuel, but the ECU will accommodate 95 octane as well.

The new model will also be a skinnier weight than its predecessor because Ferrari is using aluminum alloys in the chassis structure. It is reported that Ferrari engineers have actually managed to take off as much as 66 pounds from the luxury vehicle.

Many are speculating that, logically, more power and less weight adds up to increased performance; certainly good news for those who anticipate getting their hands on the new model.

Source: AutoBlog

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With creative director Marc Jacobs at the helm, luxury brand Louis Vuitton is venturing into the fragrance arena by releasing its first perfume.  Jacobs has long expressed an interest for the fashion house to release its own line of scents and if his own personal success in the fragrance market is any indication, Louis Vuitton should see likewise achievement.

In June 2011, Jacobs had hinted that the revered fashion house was already “working on” a perfume, stating that while there was currently no beauty division, there soon would be.

Additionally, it is rumored that the debut perfume, which will begin its creation as early as January 2012, will employ the skills of Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud. The scent master is also rumored to be using “almost extinct”, ultra-exclusive flowers from France in its development.

Our Haute 100 list details the happenings and accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets. To see the entire Haute 100 New York list, click here.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump has partnered with a New York hedge fund to announce plans to launch a Trump-branded gambling website once Congress legalizes and regulates the controversial activity of online gambling.

The high-profile debate over the legalization of online gambling has an important ally in Trump. “Internet gaming makes total sense,” Trump explained, expressing interest in keeping keep Americans’ gambling dollars within U.S. borders. “There is so much money leaving the U.S. and the country is losing potential revenues,” he added.

Trump has since made his support for online gambling very public. The Union Gaming Group estimated that Americans spent approximately $3 billion annually on online poker before April 15, when three online poker website owners were indicted and their operations shut down.

In total, the group reported that online gaming took in $24 billion in revenue last year, with the American commercial casino industry raking in $34.6 billion – funds Trump believes should be kept within the U.S.

“Other countries are taking a lot of business away from the U.S.,” Trump said. He already owns and operates two casinos in Atlantic City and is only one of a growing list of casino industry executives to support the legalization of online poker.

Our Haute 100 list details the happenings and accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets. To see the entire Haute 100 Miami list, click here.

Born in Milan, 27-year-old Tamara Ecclestone is the elder daughter of Croatian former Armani model Slavica Ecclestone and “Formula 1 Supremo” Bernie Ecclestone. Heiress to her father’s £2.5 billion fortune, Tamara has an extensive shoe collection that would make most women green with envy.

It is reported that Ecclestone has approximately £100,000 of handbags and £70,000 of shoes in her wardrobe, including 100 pairs of Christian Louboutin heels, 15 pairs of Ugg boots, 20 pairs or tennis shoes and plenty of Ginas and Jimmy Choos. In fact, her collection is so extensive, it has literally taken over her spare bedroom.

Tamara is a self-described model and television presenter, however she is most well known around the globe as being the eldest daughter of Bernie Ecclestone.

In addition to all her shoes, Tamara also has countless designer hand bags, dresses worth £1,000 that “she doesn’t even like” and it has been reported that often she “only wears clothes once.”

Source: Daily Mail

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Miami developers will soon launch a new wave of condominium towers in downtown Miami. Their intended target? International pre-construction buyers who can pay cash.

Downtown Miami is once again a hot spot for developers who are rushing to buy up land and erect new condo towers. In the coming years alone, at least six new condo projects are slated to break ground in Miami and developers are promising to announce several additional projects soon.

Developers say the time is right because they feel they learned their lesson and they are adopting financial models with far less risk than the 20% deposit pre-sales that were popular during the last building boom.

Harvey Hernandez, whose Newgard Development Group recently announced plans for a new condo tower called Brickell House at 1300 Brickell Bay Drive, said, “It’s time to think of where we’re going to be rather than where we were. It could not be a better moment for us to launch a project.”

Over the past two year, cash buyers have bought thousands of units at discounted prices and downtown Miami is seeing a growth in population along with reduced construction costs. Resales in South Florida are up 65% this year, and according to The Miami Herald, only about 2,000 of the 23,000 downtown condos built during the boom remain unsold.

So where is all this demand coming from? Almost exclusively, it is coming from outside Miami. Buyers based in Canada, Latin America, the northeast United States and Europe have reportedly spent more than $3.8 billion on South Florida real estate this year. According to the Miami Association of Realtors, international buyers account for approximately 90% of new condo sales and builders believe that this surging international demand is strong enough to support new condo towers.

Builders are also hedging risk by requiring buyers to pay as much as 80% of the full price of a condo before construction is complete. Broken down, this typically means that buys pay 20% at pre-construction, 20% at ground-breaking and another 30-40% as the tower is topped off and approved for occupancy.

Craig Studnicky, principal of RelatedISG, a new development and sales partnership with Jorge Perez’s Related Group, said, “The beauty of this business model is it separates the men from the boys. There are no speculators. The contracts are not assignable. These are people that are planning to live there or invest and use them as rentals.”

This proposed financing model is popular in Latin America, but it has never been tested on a large-scale basis in the United States. It remains to be seen whether developers’ line of thinking will prove profitable. Some believe that developers are still testing the market and if the cash-buyers do not materialize as they expect, the project will never be built.

While international buyers are believed to help reduce current inventory, it’s hard to know if the supply of homes on paper really matches the true inventory. Bulk buyers and investors purchased many of the recently sold condos at discount prices. As the market rebounds, those investors may put their properties back up for sale.

Despite some uncertainty, international interest in Miami real estate remains strong. Condo prices in Sao Paolo, for example, are up more than 30% in the past year, making relatively low-priced Miami quite attractive to those looking for a second home.

Source: The Miami Herald

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Paul Oakenfold spins at Chateau Gardens with the Las Vegas Strip in the background.

With Paul Oakenfold spinning on the Strip for the first time in more than three years, Scott Disick dressed to bless and $20,000 in cash and prizes for the most elaborate costumes, Chateau Nightclub & Gardens was the center of Halloween celebrations in Las Vegas last night.

Wearing priestly black and a cross to match, Disick channeled his inner not-so-do-gooder as a club-hopping priest partying with friends. With total disinterest to scandily clad female fans clamoring for his attention, Disick showed off his saintly side by showing he only has eyes for his longtime-love Kourtney Kardashian. NBA legend Allen Iverson took in the costumes with friends, while MTV’s “Jersey Shore” star Jennifer “JWoww” Farley took a night off from dressing up and partied with her boyfriend Roger Matthews and a group of friends.

Thousands of Halloween revelers hit Chateau Gardens’ rooftop for a phenomenal set by Oakenfold. The centerpiece of Butterfly for the Blood Orange Masquerade Ball, the world renowned deejay brought energy and intensity to the multi-sensory event. Colorful characters and an elaborate setting lit up the sky above the Las Vegas Strip for an unparalleled Halloween fete.

From a 20-foot-tall Wild Thing and even bigger fully lit Transformer to ornate gold glitter-covered statuettes, Vivid Vodka’s $20,000 costume contest was filled with over-the-top contestants vying for the top prize. The winner, a Man of War, outdid the competition with an elaborate costume.

Click on the photos below to enlarge.

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