REFRESHING Stam

Bottled water being decidedly un-green, it's a wonder that any celeb-y types had the temerity to show up to the second annual "charity:water" ball in Manhattan on Monday night, an event striving to raise money to build wells throughout Africa, by, you guessed it, selling overpriced bottles of water to thirsty party-goers in New York. Nonetheless, model Jessica Stam showed up and expressed deep affection for the non-caloric $20 H2O on offer. But did it taste expensive? Or merely smug and tax-deductable? "It tastes like water. It's water. So it tastes like water. Plain old water," said Stam, before elaborating: "I am a water drinker. I drink a lot of water. I just down it straight up. Out of the tap, out of the bottle. I will drink tap water. I have no problem with that. I prefer bottled, but I'll drink what's around. We're really lucky with our New York tap water."

Indeed. But couldn't they have skipped the plastic, phthalate-spewing bottles and just sent cold hard cash to Africa instead? On that weighty matter, the Stam offered little wisdom.

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