BREAKING NEWS*

* This might not be breaking news at all.

Today, I noticed a momentous thing at the bottom of the weekly GOOP mail: "GOOP is made by Reindeer at 30 Vandam Street, New York, NY, 10013." Noooooo! Say it ain't so, Gwyneth. I love faux first person as much as the next, but this shattering of the fourth wall is devastating.

Reindeer is a branding agency. Their tagline is something about connecting your brand with your heart and your business model with your brain. Sounds all well and good but will they be able to capture the contradictions and idiosyncrasies of dear Gwyn? For example, she did a couple of things up until her first pregnancy: followed a strict macrobiotic diet and yoga regimen; smoked a pack a day. She has seriously studied meditation and kindness-based mindfulness for years; she recently called herself "the queen of passive aggression" and also said she's mean and knows how to "ice people out."

GOOP was the fruit of this delightful mix of things! E.g. one week, she'd talk about how to help in the Gulf and the next, an account of a more or less unnecessary renovation of a space in Nashville into a luxury loft on an "independent film budget" for her brief stay there. Those were the days!

Sigh, Gwyn. We hardly knew ye. Here are some pics of her in the Talented Mr. Ripley :(