A Little Bit of the Old In and Out

In: Quirky actor Nic Cage getting married to 19 year old waitress:

"According to The Sun, Cage proposed to 19-year-old Alice Kim with a huge diamond and emerald ring.

Nicholas met Alice when he was out dining with friends on Valentine�s Day at Sushi Avenue, where she worked.

"The star of Gone in 60 Seconds became so captivated by Alice while he was there that he invited her to the Oscars with him the following month.

"Cage, who is more than twice Alice�s age, created quite a stir at some of the Oscar after-show parties when he was seen with her on his knee.

"Since their Oscar date the actor has taken Alice in his private jet for several romantic meals in New Orleans and Chicago, where he has been filming.

"A friend said: 'Nic has really fallen for this girl.'

Hmm.

Out: Halle Berry, the first African American woman ever to recieve a Best Actress Oscar, has filed for divorce from rhythm and blues singer Eric Benet (has anyone ever bought an Eric Benet album?), according to Ananova:

"The couple were married for three years and separated in October. It is the second divorce for the actress, who was previously married to Cleveland Indians outfielder David Justice.

"Tabloids speculated about Benet's faithfulness from almost the moment the X-Men star married Benet in January 2001.

"The two met in 1999 at a party to celebrate the premiere of Berry's movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

In: China. Jason Calacanis attended The Miliken Institute's Roundtable Discussion: Perspectives on China in the Global Economy, and he presents a daunting portrait of competition against China in the next hundred years. Harold Goldstein, the Managing Director of Xinhua Finance, the moderator, said:

"(Harold Goldstein) showed the following slide which shows the number of years to double per capita GDP. It took the UK from 1780 to 1838. It took the US from 1839-86. It took China less then ten years to do it twice�since 1978.

"Copper 97 to present 11 to 20% of the world�s total. Second largest importer of oil with 7% of the globe�s consumption. Harold says China has pricing power in shipping and commodities."

"... China may have a rough landing, it may see a precipitous drop in GDP over the next 24 months, but the more important story are the fundamental changes taking place. China is producing about 200,000 graduates in science and engineering each year � that is more then the US, Germany and Japan combined. I would argue the nature of the reforms means tha the china GDP growth story will continue even if there are bumps in the road."

Out: The always interesting Dick Morris takes George Bush to task for his presentation, his style and his rhetoric, which, Morris asserts, is way too geared towards white men (we agree):

"Asked whether they would give priority to 'letting terrorists know we will fight back aggressively' or to 'working with other nations,' men want to fight by 53-41 while women seek cooperation as their priority by 54-36 � a gender gap of 30 points!

"But much of Bush�s problem is linguistic. He needs to develop a war-on-terror equivalent of his highly successful 2000 rhetoric about being a compassionate conservative committed to leaving no child behind.

"Women are a lot less interested in forcing democracy on Iraq than they are in preventing suffering there and promoting safety here."

In: Wonkette. It's always a bonfire of the vanities over at Wonkette. But this time, she catches the city's powerful in DC making perfect asses out of themselves. To wit, the big Bloomberg after party for the White House Correspondent's dinner. Wonkette says:

"We hear that some enterprising journalists have been attempting to score invites to the big Bloomberg White House Correspondents' Dinner after-party by saying they need to get in because they are 'covering' the party. But those trying this tack clearly haven't coordinated very well -- either that, or a certain local paper is planning entire special issues around the event. What's more, some of these reporters aren't exactly known for their society coverage, though this has yet to stop anyone. Says our source: 'I can see it now: The Bloomberg after-party -- a pespective from Baghdad.'"

In related news, Kwame Jackson of The Apprentice will accompany Great Von Suistern to the Dinner on Saturday Night.

Invitees to the Bloomberg after party include Ben Affleck (Ben's acting career is at an all time low, a political career might do him sone good), Meg Ryan, Jimmy Kimmell, George Clooney, Drew Carey, hopeful country music crooner Minnie Driver, Mary Louise Parker, Candice Bergen, Mary-Kate and asley Olsen (please someone, give Mary-Kate some stew), Anna Kournikova, Serena Williams, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters and former Iraq War POWs Shoshana Johnson and Jessica Lynch. Drew Barrymore will be shooting a documentary at the dinner and after party on the 2004 election.

Sometimes, the respective roles of each component of the DC-LA-NY power nexus get all mixed up and the power, the glamour and the media all converge at a single event. This is that event.

Out: OneWorld? One debt. Remember OneWorld, that unreadable urban magazine with all the pretty pictures and interviews of Russell Simmons' family each issue? It's having trouble paying freelance writers. David Carr of the NY Times (and topic A with tina Brown) writes:

"Ward Sutton, an animator and illustrator, said he was owed $2,550 for a comic and illustration he drew for (OneWorld) magazine. He sent a note asking for payment after the final issue, and received this reply from the publisher, John N. Pasmore, 'OneWorld has no ability to pay its bills and unless something unexpected happens, OneWorld will file for reorganization (Chapter 11) or dissolution (Chapter 7).'"

wow. It sucks to be Ward Sutton right about now.