CULTURE: Assange Touts Gentleman Lifestyle!

Life is just so droll when you’re international man of mystery/rape suspect Julian Assange. Sure, he’s under house arrest, but house arrest doesn’t look so bad in the hilarious-yet-unfortunate “Christmas with Julian” photo gallery Newsweek is running. Maybe it’s because that “house” is a 600-acre British country estate that, the magazine assures us, puts Roman Polanski’s old Swiss chalet to shame.

In the gallery, Assange is seen relaxing by the fire, tending to chickens, and, in one sure-to-be famous shot, wearing an ill-fitting Santa suit, with a bag reading, “Dear Santa: I’ve been very, very, very good (most of the time).” Through it all, he manages to look like a carefree country aristocrat. “If this leaking thing doesn't work out,” Gawker quips, “Assange may want to embark on a career as an Eddie Bauer model.”