If this leaking thing doesn't work out, Assange may want to embark on a career as an Eddie Bauer model: See an apple-cheeked Julian tossing firewood; see him reading his fan mail in a tasteful pullover, or frolicking in a santa suit, carrying a novelty toy sack that reads "Dear Santa, I've been very, very, very good (most of the time.)" Well, it's definitely on again in Newsweek: The magazine shot a series of photos of Assange spending the holidays at journalist Vaughan Smith's mansion in the English countryside while on bail and under house arrest, fighting extradition to Sweden where he faces a sex crime investigation. Christmas With Assange [Newsweek via Gawker, Runnin' Scared/VV]
– 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.” Click here for more observations on the spread, and here to see the photos.