Who is that guy? Was he in that boxing movie? With the guns?

That’s right, it’s Mickey Rourke. And by the time February rolls around, you may be seeing him on the cover of a lot of magazines that weren’t returning his calls a scant few years ago.

His latest, The Wrestler just took home the top prize from Cannes (with a little help from indie auteur Darren Aronofsky), and its latest distribution deal guarantees him an Oscar campaign and a few months in the media spotlight. In other words, the folks at GQ are on the phone with his publicist right now—if he still has a publicist—and the early reports indicate he’s a hell of an interview. Hopefully, he can pull off a suit too.

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The trailer for Mickey Rourke’s comeback vehicle, The Wrestler, just hit the web, and we’re suitably impressed. The Rocky parallels are piling up, right down to the fresh wounds in the economy, but the real show is bound to be the morbid fascination with what the last twenty years have done to Mickey Rourke. At this point, he’s every bit as humiliated and broken as the role requires, so we should be in for some real life pathos. And anything that gets Darren Aronofsky out of director’s jail is fine with us.

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Face Off: We’ve been waiting for someone to explain what the hell happened to Mickey Rourke’s face. And finally, someone has. [Vulture]

There’s Always Money in the Banana Stand: Arrested Development comes to life with the Bernard Madoff scandal. Watch out for loose seals. [Gawker]

Horn of Plenty: The discreet charms of the shoe horn. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Fare The Well: Actor Sam Bottoms, best known as the surfer in Apocalypse Now, has passed on. [Take Part]

Behind the Camera: Natalia Vodianova sets out to make her name as a lingerie designer. But who will they hire to do the ads? [Luxist]

And the Winner Is…: Robert Geller takes home the GQ/CFDA award, beating out Rogues Gallery and Benjamin Bixby. Oh well, Maine will rise again. [Material Interest]

Dressed like a Porn Star: Sasha Grey shares her fashion wisdom…which seems to involve a lot of fishnets. [BlackBook]

Wrestling with Success: Mickey Rourke continues to be a magnificent trainwreck. [Vulture]

Dear Abby: Complex turns us on to the unique charms of British mini-star Abigail Clancy. Thanks, gentlemen. [Complex]

Blowhard 2, Blow Harder: A very brief, very critical history of Oscar speeches. [Esquire]

Slip Them a Mickey: Your guide to post-oscar careers, or exactly how long you’ll have to wait before Mickey Rourke is back on the street. [Vulture]

Regrets, I’ve Had a Few: Amy Poehler reconsiders a life in fashion. But not for very long. [BlackBook]

Don’t Mess With Lohan: Lindsay Lohan does another set of topless snaps, courtesy of Hedi Slimane. Does this count as a step forward? [FashionIndie]

In Japan, Thermal Wrap Wears You: Tadai Yanashi, the owner of Uniqlo, is now officially Japan’s richest man. Suck on that, Shigeru Miyamoto! [Luxist]

It’s Fundamental: Esquire starts to read again…as we slowly stop reading Esquire. [Esquire]

Mickey Mouse Club: Vulture imagines the sublime trainwreck that could have been the Mickey Rourke acceptance speech. [Vulture]

John Varvatos has made his name by channeling old school masculine icons, so it was only a matter of time before he worked his way around to the Hef.

We ran into velvet Lexington loafer at the designer’s SoHo outpost, and couldn’t help but notice Mr. Varvatos’ latest style obsession. Apparently Mickey Rourke picked up a pair during his most recent New York soujourn, and we can’t say we’re surprised. There’s a whole generation of men looking to Mr. Hefner as their sartorial guide, and these loafers might be the first time that impulse has served them well.

And if Mr. Varvatos ever feels like ditching rock photography for a more stirring kind of store décor…let’s just say we know where to look.

Narrowly Adverted: Gisele pops up in the new Versace campaign. [Bastardly]

Put a Ring On It: Mickey Rourke hangs up his spurs. Ladies, contain yourselves. [BlackBook]

More Pong in More Places: Yet another antique dining table gets repurposed for ping pong. [JoshSpear]

Hut, Hut, Hike: If you’re looking for a box of cigars, you might want to buy it before Wednesday rolls around. [Luxist]

Raising the Bar: Bar Rafaeli splits with Leo, presumably in search of a soft-spoken blogger type. [People]

Big Poppa: Esquire counts down the worst dads on record, including Stalin, Ivan the Terrible and Ryan O’Neal. [Esquire]

Men of Iron: Mickey Rourke’s Iron Man 2 outfit leaks, offering a clear improvement over his usual outfits. [CrunchGear]

Fare Thee Well: Florsheim Shoes loses the lease on its most famous New York branch. [Lost City]

Mickey Rourke has been stuck in sartorial purgatory for longer than we care to remember…but he still manages to surprise us from time to time.

Guest of a Guest managed to catch up with our favorite middleweight at a Merkato 55 brunch bash where they got this strangely compelling snap. We’re not sure if it’s Mickey pulling the old rose routine, the young woman’s palpably nervous expression or the deft combination of an argyle sweater and peak lapels, but for some reason we can’t look away.

It’s Hard to Say: A Sam Haskins retrospective unearths an anonymous temptress. We’re going with Claudia Cardinale…but we’re open to suggestions. [The Moment]

I’ve Linked to the Future: Gizmodo gets the tech exclusive of the year with pics of Microsoft’s new booklet, dubbed “Courier.” [Gizmodo]

There Were Ghosts in the Eyes of all the Recording Engineers You Sent Away: A peek into the recording of Born to Run. [Slate]

Eccentricities Revealed: Mickey Rourke may have been gunning for the lead in a Qaddafi biopic all along. [Boing Boing]