Usually too bogged down by his own egomaniacal, impossibly-high expectations to enjoy or appreciate any career accolades that come his way, it's sort of a shock to see Kanye West so genuinely overjoyed and humbled after Vanity Fair included him on its "International Best Dressed List."

In fact, the honor has rendered him unable to adequately express himself on his blog: "I've sat in front of this computer for 20 minutes trying to put into words how I feel… who all to thank… and how to celebrate… this is a true honor and I am humbled by it!!!" He does know that acceptance speeches aren't required, right?

EMPTY GESTURES Vanity Fair likes to include black and Hispanic actors and actresses on the covers of their annual Hollywood issues, just not on the part that people buying the magazine see first. It's the thought that counts, right? [Jezebel]

Unless you completely avoid entertainment news about white people or live under a rock, you probably heard about tween queen Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair scandal. The fifteen year old is shown in the magazine with no shirt on, covering herself with a white sheet. The photo, which was taken by the usually brilliant Annie Leibovitz, is not all that good in addition to being inappropriate (I mean, she's not showing anything but her back bones, but why couldn't she have just been wearing clothes?) Anyway, it's probably not that good because Leibovitz has already taken that picture before – for Vanity Fair, no less. Of course, Diana Ross does it a lot better.

Forget the brilliance of "When Doves Cry" (it's not really up for debate, is it?), who can crawl naked across a flower-strewn floor like Prince, recent recipient of Vanity Fair's "best soundtrack ever" honor? No one, that's who!

The guys on the list of up-and-coming young male stars in Vanity Fair's recent issue have one major thing in common, and it ain't that they're all actors.

Have you guessed yet? They're all white, with scruffy hair, and, on occasion, close to no experience under their belts. The black up-and-comers, like Hairspray's Elijah Kelley, have got to lose some melanin in order to really be on the rise.

[VF]

All the money spent on Vanity Fair's big, 20-cover Africa issue could have paid for thousands of computers for African children. But those covers sure were amazing. [MG]

Rapper Gucci Mane is launching his own record label. Good thing he's not launching his own clothing label, because he might get into some trademark issues. [SP]

When We Were Queens? Laila Ali's the subject of a documentary about her historic fight with Gwendolyn O'Neil in South Africa. [BV]

Ramona Douglass, a major player in the multiracial movement (instrumental in allowing people to check more than one race on census forms) had died. [RCLS]

The Black Lawyers Association should revoke his membership. A former administrative law representing himself in a $54 million lawsuit against a mom-and-pop dry cleaner that allegedly lost his pants started crying on the stand yesterday as he described the harrowing incident. [AP]

Bono, the entertainment business's resident bleeding heart, took over as guest editor for July's Vanity Fair issue and focused on his favorite continent, Africa. To commemorate this historic event, famed photographer Annie Liebovitz shot 20 different covers.

As for the covers themselves, I was wondering why it looked like Madonna was about to kiss Maya Angelou's ear and why Bush was violating Desmond Tutu's space like that until Jossip informed me that the whole thing was supposed to look like a game of telephone. I'm not sure that is readily apparent, but the covers — featuring Alicia Keys, Brad Pitt, Condoleeza Rice, Don Cheadle, and Barack Obama, to name a few — are impressive nonetheless.

[VF]