A Little of the Old In and Out
 
In: Tina Brown. According to The Boston Globe (link via Gawker), Tina (Lady Evans, if you're nasty) has conquered that fabled, gilded city:

"Calling Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton 'extraordinary,' CNBC's Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair, Talk, and The New Yorker magazines, hosted a lunch in her honor at Radius yesterday that proved to be one of the most popular gatherings of the week. Clinton covered several topics in her remarks including national security, saying the public cannot yet be assured that 'We've done all we can do' to protect against terrorism. And on the Bush administration's posture toward funding local police and fire departments: 'What they're giving with one hand, they're taking away with the other.' Spotted at the lunch were Larry David of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'; Kevin Bacon and wife Kyra Sedgwick; former US senator and Democratic presidential candidate Carol Moseley-Braun; the chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Sharon Patrick; deposed California governor Gray Davis; filmmaker Michael Moore; NBC chairman Bob Wright; and George McGovern, the former presidential candidate who can at least claim Massachusetts voted for him in 1972."

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, Tina Brown has got her groove back.

Out: Ben Affleck. The Corsair is sick and tired of pulling the Ben Affleck Watch duty, but, I suppose, someone has to, as he is of passing interest. But aren't we all just a tad "Afflecked"(TM)? I mean, The man is EVERYWHERE. 

According to the Times Recorder, "Ben Affleck will be with Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards when they stop in Zanesville for a rally Saturday night." And yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter reported that, "Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is in talks to co-star with Ben Affleck in Man About Town."  Affleck, Affleck, blah-blah-blah.

Even Affleck appears to be as sick of his own ubiquity as everyone else, telling the always excellent Rush and Molloy at GQ editor Jim Nelson's party Tuesday night at Boston's Federalist restaurant (The Corsair comes up for air), "'It's too much ... Who wants that? If I saw me, I would turn the other way. I'm trying to diminish it so that someone might actually be interested in dating me."

Oh, look, readers, there he is, at the Fleet Arena, getting kissed by that "Nordic milkman's daughter, with her flaxen hair," Vanessa Kerry, apparently,  kissed him "twice in a box at the convention Monday night and 'he didn't resist,' a witness tells (Rush and Molloy)." We might have offered some faint resistance, Affleck, if only as a show of virtue. But the Nordic milkman's daughter takes, plundering booty like it was The Dark Ages. Affleck booty, to be sure, but booty nonetheless.

Christy Lemire of the San Diego Union Tribune sums up our feelings, somewhat confliucted, of being, essentially, Afflecked:

"Here (Affleck) is making surprise breakfast visits to star-struck delegates from Arizona and Iowa, Missouri and his home state of Massachusetts. There he is joking with Boston Globe sports columnist and author Dan Shaughnessy on his way out the door of a 'Rock the Vote' party behind Fenway Park's fabled Green Monster. (And he was inside the park, too, watching his beloved Red Sox defeat the dreaded New York Yankees, 9-6, during a nationally televised game Sunday night.)

"Then there are the interviews on CNN's 'Larry King Live,' NBC's 'Today' show and Fox News Channel's 'The O'Reilly Factor.' He's even playing the role of interviewer himself for ABC News, asking Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy questions about Boston and his longtime friendship with Kerry.

"But the star of the blockbusters 'Pearl Harbor' and 'Armageddon' and the bombs 'Gigli' and 'Jersey Girl' says he simply recognizes the power of his celebrity and wants to use it to help John Kerry get elected to the presidency. "

In: Marlon Brando. In this week's Time Out New York, filmmaker Gordon Parks says:

"Marlon was quite a character. I was in Hollywood going up to see him when on the radio they announced that Martin Luther King had been shot and killed. When I got to Marlon's, he was stretched out on the bed, Brando-style, and I told him that King had been killed. He said, 'King killed?!?' He called the Panther headquarters in California and told his maid to call his gunsmith and order 12 shotguns and 12 rifles and 10 pistols. But then he went back to bed and went to sleep, and so I told the maid not to order those guns. She said, 'I wasn't going to.'"

According to Ananova, Jack Nicholson, who penned Brando's Obit in Rolling Stone, said of the Master:

"'This man was a true sensation.'

"(Nicholson) explains (in the Obit) how sneaking in to watch his idol on the set of Teahouse of the August Moon in 1956 was quite a problem.

"'On that picture, the crew had these smocks and kimonos to identify them, so it took me a little work to sneak in there and watch him.

"But nothing could have stopped me from watching Marlon Brando up close.

Apparently Nicholson has little patience for the Brando weight-watching crowd:

"... What Mr Brando does for a living ain't done by the pound."

You can say that again.

Out: Clint Eastwood. Brother can't hang, according to legendary "burlesque dancer" Cece Walker, in the pages of something called Bizarre Magazine. And it goes a little something like this:

Cece: Clint Eastwood -- can you believe I left him?

Bizarre: At least you can say you dumped Clint.

Cece: My mother has never forgiven me .. we were together between 1966 and 1968, but he was suck a busy man and he wanted to make money. He kept saying, 'When I'm 70 years old I wanna be able to kick back and I wanna be able to direct and I wanna be able to do this and that ...' I was like, 'And in the meantime can you finish screwing me?' He'd be so tired. My ego couldn't stand it, I don't care who you are, if someone's falling asleep when I'm on top, riding them like a cowboy ... that's not right."

Thanks for sharing, ceece, really. On the subject of who are the best burlesque dancers right now, the outspoken Cece said, "For me, Dita Von Teese and Catherine D'Lish are probably the closest you'll get to the real thing."

Another interesting Clint Eastwood factoid: When he was dating actress Sandra Locke (2nd from left), he had her call him "Daddy."  Ewwww. 

In: Lads, the book, by  Dave Itzkoff. According to Fashionweekdaily:

"Move over Toby Young: a new media memoirist is set to debut in September with a scathing book that?s sure to embarrass some major players almost as much as Young did Graydon Carter. 'Lads,' by Spin magazine editor, Dave Itzkoff, is sub-headed 'A Memoir of Manhood' and is a recounting of Itzkoff?s days toiling at Details and Maxim. While former Details editor, Mark Golin and Maxim?s Mike Soutar don?t get very flattering portrayals, it?s former Maxim staffers Keith Blanchard, who went on to edit Rolling Stone, and James Kaminsky, who went on to head up Playboy, that come out looking the worst. There's also the requisite gratuitous slap at tabloid queen Bonnie Fuller, with whom Itzkoff?whose nickname is 'Bitchkoff'?once interviewed at Glamour.  'Her  (manhood) was bigger than mine,' the lad notes. The book?s being published by Villard."

Damn, another week, another suckerpunch to the liver delivered with lovingkindness from the media to Canada's gift to the US, Bonnie Fuller. Pow!

Out: Claudia Schiffer. According to British Vogue:

"ONLY the best for Claudia Schiffer. The German supermodel, who is expecting her second child in November, pays ($218) every two weeks to have her ($127,000) Range Rover thoroughly cleaned, inside and out. The Evening Standard revealed last night that Schiffer, who is thought to be worth in the region of ($72 million), pays Lellers Car Valet Service twice monthly to steam-clean the engine, treat the windows to 'restore optical quality', clean and soften the interior leather upholstery with a glycerine-based cleaner, vacuum and shampoo carpets and upholstery, repair scratches to the paintwork and remove tar, buff chrome fixtures, paint the tires black and use an air freshener."

The Corsair would gladly "buff" Claudia's "fixtures" for free.

In: According to Fashionweekdaily, "Charlotte Ronson is to begin designing a C. Ronson for Rocawear men?s line."  We are so there. Big fan.

Out: If you thought Bill Cosby's musings on the state of African Americans was inappropriate, or, at least, ventured forth in the wrong forum, wait till you get a load of where the discussion has continued. Ready? Hold on to your keyboards, true believers: That significant cultural artifact, The National Enquirer, has taken up the cultural debate with high solemnity:

"'I think Bill Cosby is saying something he perfectly believes,' Niger Innis, national spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality, told The ENQUIRER. 'These are legitimate critiques and criticisms that I'm sure he's experienced from examining black culture.

"'I don't consider his remarks racially insensitive at all.'" 

I kid you not, The National Enquirer has taken on this cultural debate. I repeat: This is not a Fellini film. This is real life. No fooling.

In: According to Hello! Magazine, another royal is now legal, so, gentlemen, break out the Chateau D'yquem (The Corsair loves him his D'Yquem):

"Monaco's newest glamour girl, Charlotte Casiraghi, is set to ring in her 18th birthday in style this weekend with three days of lavish celebrations in Monte Carlo.

"Festivities kick off on Friday with a private party organised by Charlotte herself at the Stars 'N' Bars restaurant ... overlooking the Port de Monaco. Her closest pals, including best friend Valentine Pozzo di Borgo and equestrian trainer Thierry Rozier, are expected to attend.

"On Saturday, Charlotte's brothers, Andrea and Pierre, have reportedly planned a beachside brunch for the young beauty to continue the celebrations. But it is the night's spectacular gala which is the centrepiece of the weekend. The birthday soiree will be held at Prince Rainier's La Vigie, one of the most prestigious villas on the Riviera. The historic 40-room mansion, famed for its panoramic views of the sea, was apparently handpicked by Charlotte's mum, Princess Caroline, for the occasion.

"Sunday will see the whirlwind weekend wind down, with a private Grimaldi family breakfast at the royal palace. And August 6, three days after her 18th birthday, Charlotte will make her official society debut at the traditional Red Cross Ball."

Out: Renee Zellwegger in her High School Year Book Picture. Stereogum notes that although Zellwegger is a hottie now (link via stereogum via the Sun), she was not a hottie back then.

In: Sailing. Takes me away. La-la-la-la.