A Little of the Old In and Out

In: Who squealed on Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife, ex-CIA operative Valerie Plame? The Washingtonian's Buzz columnist Harry Jaffe writes:

"Galleys of former ambassador Joe Wilson�s book, The Politics of Truth, have begun to circulate in Washington, but word about which Bush official might have outed Wilson�s wife as a CIA agent have not leaked�yet." (italics mine)

Out: Hollywood has not been kind to David Duchovny; he that was once hot, now decidedly is not. The AP reports, "David Duchovny expects that Mulder and Scully will ride again one day. Duchovny said a second big-screen installment of 'The X-Files' remains in the works. It should only be slightly more exciting than watching plants absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Gag it with a fork, Duchovny, it's done. Even the hard core geeks have moved on, David. Post your comments to this inspired idea on VH1's Best Week Ever blog here, where The Corsair has been known to write, on occasion.

In: The Apprentice. Let's face it, Donald Trump is riding the crest of the reality show zeigeist. In slippers, balancing a teacup. Not since P Diddy hijacked the New York City Marathon to a pr stunt has anyone already rich and famous morphed themselves more rich and more famous (mo money, mo money) and a tv star to boot. Fuck. That's just what that short fingered barbarian did. TheDrudgereport's filched Nielsen numbers show that The Donald's Apprentice overnight got a 15.6 rating, or, 23 share for NBC. We're not even going to lie as if we know what those numbers mean, only thatv they are good. Very good. Aren't you curious as to how The Donald will fuck this up? I can't see him and NBC on friendly terms after ratings drop, as they always do in network tv. Remember So You Wanna Be A Millionaire? Regis' shtick was the line "Is That Your Final Answer," just as Donald's is (waves hand in a funny manner) "You're Fired." "And this too," said Lincoln, quoting the wise Chinese Emperor,"will pass away."

Out: The Trumper. Courtesy of OldHag, "My problem is verisimilitude.

"How am I supposed to buy this premise when dude is $1.8 billion in the hole? Pretty soon he's not even gonna be CEO of his own company. This cannot inspire confidence. Even his supporters concede that his casino business is getting killed by the new kids. (No surprise, really, when you look at the talent the competition is bringing in).

"Eight years running a publicly traded company and you've never posted a profit. Assets are falling, liabilities are growing. Last night you told your inner circle, "We're having a good year." WTF? Dude, you've failed at every task! Don't make me say it."

I think you just did. Read more here.

In: My old college buddy Shaw Isaacson's American Feed.

Out: Bend it like Bekham, who is accused of making the beast with two backs with one Rebecca Loos (what a meaningful name; note: link not safe for workplace, Rebecca's boob gets "Loos"). His little affair hasn't really got much press in the US, but it is big in the UK. Very big. Ananova reports:

"David and Victoria Beckham are planning another public show of unity as they brace themselves for more allegations about their private life.

"Becks is expected to put the claims behind him and play for Real Madrid on Sunday - and Posh is expected to fly to Spain to watch the game.

"However, the pair are preparing for more newspaper revelations. Rebecca Loos has reportedly signed a �300,000 deal to tell all about the affair allegations which Becks last week dismissed as 'ludicrous.'

"According to The Daily Mirror, Beckham returned to training yesterday to be confronted by jibes from his teammates.

"A source told the paper the England captain lost his rag in the dressing room and tore down a joke poster poking fun at his troubles."

Damn, that's cold. Omerosa cold.

In: Demi and Ashton to get married in June? So says that significant cultural artifact The Star:

"In the very early morning hours of Monday, April 5, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher arrived at Miami's Raleigh hotel laden with bags and looking jet lagged like a normal couple. But later that day, the attached-at- the-hip pair -- he in a white hat and she in a headscarf -- headed to the Westin Diplomat hotel in Hollywood, Fla., for a Passover Kabbalah retreat. The couple have become devotees of the mystical sect of Judaism -- Kabbalah. Now Star has learned that the couple is planning to celebrate their own Kabbalah wedding in June."

Kabbalah wedding?

Out: Glamourmagazine.com reports that Paris Hilton is out some money. "Paris Hilton has been forced to pay up after losing a diamond bracelet loaned to her for last year's Oscars. The Simple Life star borrowed gems worth more than �87,000 for the ceremony but claims they were stolen during the evening, and has been locked in a legal battle with New York jewellers Kwiat ever since. Paris has always maintained that the bracelet was faulty and kept falling off her wrist, so she put it in the glovebox of a friend's car, which was later broken into. It is thought she paid �54,000 to Kwait in an out-of-court settlement."

In: Engadget. The techie-oriented site comes away today with what might be an incredible scoop on gadgetry. The story begins, "Could Microsoft be preparing to drop a potential bombshell with the Xbox 2?" Then winds into a gossipy response, which may or may not be true (April Fools has passed) from one of their readers about the X Box and iPod:

"Regarding the Xbox 2 hard drive, I was snowboarding in Whistler, B.C. from February 19 - 26, 2004. We were in a bar called the Amsterdam Cafe in the village one night and J. Allard, the head of Microsoft�s Xbox division was in the bar with some friends. I recognized him from a recent Business 2.0 article and we started talking. (He bought my friends and I a round of drinks he called 'Hey Zeuses' - they were Red Bull and tequila and they were nasty.) Anyway, we were talking about the Xbox 2 and he said their current plan was not to include a hard drive in the Xbox 2 itself, but to offer a portable hard drive as an accessory you could buy separately. Here�s the kicker: He said what they were trying to do was to incorporate MP3 (and WMA, obviously) functionality into the portable hard drive and turn the thing into an iPod killer. Basically, the idea was to come up with an MP3 player that was as good or better than the iPod that would also serve as the hard drive for the Xbox 2. And he said they planned to sell them as a loss leader at $100 each."

Fuck. Bill Gates is an evil genius. Continue reading the story here.