A Little of the Old In and Out



(image via boonier.sa by Annie Leibovitz)

In: This Hillary Moment. A "U2" Fundraiser?! It sucks to be Jeanine F. Pirro right about now, but hey, she's taking one for the team. Raising funds for her reelection even as she is looked to as all-but-certain for 2008 must be easier than getting laid in 1969, as someone wise once said; and no one, not even the New York state Republican party believes Mrs. Pirro can out-and-out beat Hillary for the Senate. The plan is to damage her for the 2008 Republican nominee.

While we still believe that Hillary could not navigate to victory against the beloved Senator John McCain (Perhaps if she had run for the Senate in Arkansas and not New York?), she could conceivably beat a "second tier" Republican, should the party go all Jesus in 2008 find the pragmatic, even-handed McCain too "centrist (Averted Gaze)" for their tastes, Hollywood is throwing their cash hand-over-fist behind the former First Lady, who will all but certainly run in 2008. Hillary fundraisers in Hollywood are definitely social events. (link via Variety via defamer):

"Democrats in the entertainment industry, who started the year fatigued and frustrated following their unsuccessful effort to elect John Kerry, have been emboldened by recent political setbacks for President George W. Bush and other Republicans, and they're planning no fewer than three fund-raisers during the New York senator's West Coast trip.

Events include a $500-per-person reception at the home of Rob Reiner and a $1,000-per-person brunch hosted by film producers Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks. Television producer Marta Kauffman will also welcome Clinton to her home for a fund-raiser.

"Coin raised on this trip will go to Clinton's 2006 re-election campaign in New York. But speculation on a presidential bid is picking up momentum.

"'Certainly she hasn't announced yet, and she's probably not decided yet, either,' said Cohen, who also hosted a fund-raiser for Clinton's 2000 Senate run. 'The immediate task for her supporters here is to win re-election. That's what everyone is focused on.'

"On Tuesday two books were published prophesizing about a Clinton victory in 2008: Dick Morris' 'Condi vs. Hillary' takes the con position on the former first lady; arguing pro is Susan Estrich's 'The Case for Hillary Clinton.'

"And with the ratings success of ABC's frosh skein 'Commander in Chief,' which stars Geena Davis as the first female president, pundits see the portrayal as warming the country up to the idea'"

This Hillary moment, all smothered with Hollywood fundraising. Contrasted with:



(image via washingtonpost)

Out: "Conversations" with Karl Rove. The embattled Karl Rove is still so galactically influential that even his conversations told second-hand shake the corridors of power violently. Unfortunately for The Rover that those power-conversations are Grand Jury testimonials. (Of the equally embattled Scooter Libby we will make no mention herabouts) First, there was that little convo with Matt Cooper of Time, now this (link via family.org via wonkette):

"James Dobson: But we also talked about something else, and I think this is the first time this has been disclosed. Some of the other candidates who had been on that short list, and that many conservatives are now upset about were highly qualified individuals that had been passed over. Well, what Karl told me is that some of those individuals took themselves off that list and they would not allow their names to be considered, because the process has become so vicious and so vitriolic and so bitter, that they didn�t want to subject themselves or the members of their families to it.

"So, even today, many conservatives and many of �em friends of mine, are being interviewed on talk shows and national television programs. And they�re saying, 'Why didn�t the President appoint so-and-so? He or she would have been great. They had a wonderful judicial record.'

"They would have been the kind of person we�ve been hoping and working and praying for to be on the Court. Well, it very well may be that those individuals didn�t want to be appointed ... Karl Rove shared some of that with me."

So, the honorable former Senator and UN Ambassador John Danforth wouldn't have wanted a shot at the Supreme Court? (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment)



(image via asiansinmedia)

In: Asian Fashion Week. The growing influence of the Pacific rim is being felt on the catwalk. This, according to British Vogue:

"INTERNATIONAL MANAGMEMENT GROUP has bought Australian Fashion Week as well as its parent company, Australian Fashion Innovators, in a deal that is thought to have been worth 'several million dollars.' AFI will now be merged into IMG's new venture, IMG Fashion Asia Pacific, which will have offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Hong Kong and plans to produce and market Australian Fashion Week, which is due to run from October 26-28, as well as numerous other initiatives including the Singapore Fashion Festival and other events currently in development in India, China and Japan."

Actually we are surprised it took this long to extend into Asia.



(image via answers.com)

Out: Has Larry David Jumped the Whitefish? We generally do not agree with The Edgy Enthusiast (we liked "Almost Famous;" he thought it was too-cool by a half), but we read him often. He's good at his craft, and comes from the grand American literary heritage of Norman Mailer's new journalism school. This time he may have a point, as members of the JTS Message Board are growing concerned at the general suckiosity of Curb Your Enthusiasm this season (and ratings are down). This week, Ron Rosenbaum takes on CYE, which, we admit, has been off to a slow start (the first episode was a jejeune affair, let's face it people). Let's hope this subject keeps Edgy busy and away from the already excavated tombs of "Skull and Bones" He writes:

"The true test of the confessional genre�and I�d place the first four seasons of Curb high in the pantheon of pop-culture confessionalism�is the willingness to make yourself look like a real jerk, not just someone whose faults are endearing, whose 'honesty' is appealing, whose rottenness is redeemed.

"You gave us an unsparing dark-comic portrait of bitter, selfish misanthropy rather than charming, harmless 'quirkiness' and 'eccentricity' � la Jerry S. (He ate cereal for a snack! That was about the extreme of eccentricity America could handle at that point.) And you specialized in exploring the extreme limits of social discomfort in an almost novelistic way rarely seen on TV.

"Of course I still had a few problems .."

Of course you did Ron Rosenbaum, Edgy Enthusiast of the salmon-colored weekly. Of-course- you-did. (NYObserver)



Mario Buatta and Jamee Gregory getting what can only be properly construed as "heezy" at The Ross' party. (image via nysocialdiary)

In: The Ross' Interiors. We turn to our favorite social chronicler, the always excellent David Patrick Columbia, who gives us a social X-Ray of the Ross' party last night, attended by Barbara Walters, Dominick Dunne, Muffy Miller and other assorted boldface rara avis. Says NYSocialDiary:

"Hilary and Wilbur Ross were throwing a cocktail reception for the world famous prankster and interior decorator Mario Buatta who recently completed the decorating of the Rosses� new apartment with its magnificent views of Manhattan, left right and center. The apartment is the cover story in November's Architectural Digest.There was a big crowd already tasting the pink champagne and the excellent hors d�oeuvres when we arrived.

"... Shortly after our arrival, a very tall Dame Edna look-alike (actually quite a bit taller, and somewhat slimmer � ahem), wearing a cotton-candy-pink coiffure and a kinda-magenta Chanel-y suit, came tearing through the crowd in that precious Dame Edna strut, with a bouquet of posies in hand, to wish the famously infamous prankster-decorator a Happy Birthday. For Mario will be marking a New Year in just a few days.The Dame Edna bit was a reference to Mario�s utter devotion to the Aussie former housewife-turned-Broadway-star whose show Mario saw sixty times. That�s right, Six-O. He liked it, as you might surmise."

We do. You do your thing DPC; you do your thing.



(image via lowculture)

In: The Paper Blog. We love our old pals at the PaperBlog. It reminds us of the cramped old Paper Magazine offices above a dodgy tanning parlor, working on the original Papermag.com site while bad 80s music wafted into our workspace. Today, in addition to the dazzling Mr.Mickey on the subject of 740 Park and Alex Kuczynski (and, ancillary to those concerns, on the merits of dating cabdrivers), Paper Magazine's Kim Hastreiter, the Great Lady of downtown chic, gives us some scoop in the Paper Blog on Odeon's 25th (Where, Faran Krentcil tells us GabiAsFour "salsa danced" on one of the restaurant tables, thus inspiring a moment):

"Last night we had a ball at the Odeon Restaurant's celebration of their 25th birtday! It was quite a crowd mixed up from old school to the new young kids whose parents raised them in high chairs there! It was a harmonious crowd last night as well, with many legendary family feuds put to rest. Remember, Odeon was founded by Keith McNally with his brother Brian and Keith's wife Lynn 25 years ago. At a certain point, Keith and Brian had a falling out and didnt speak to each other for years. Then Keith and Lynn split up and had a falling out. But last night, everyone came together, friends once again.

"... I ran into Isaac Mizrahi and we were remembering my 40th birthday party at the Odeon when I took over the whole restaurant and served nothing but french fries and their famous chocolate pudding with champagne!!! Isaac was meeting up with his friend Selma Blair who he was in the midst of shooting for his new upcoming daily tv show (wanna go to a taping??? check it out!) on Style network (premiering december 5th!).

"... Everyone had a story ... about who was caught shooting up or having sex in the bathrooms. Amazing and historical memories. Whether about Jean-Michel Basquiat or Andy Warhol or the time Pete Townshend got drunk and tried to pick up a boy or when Johnny Depp used to eat there with his young then-date, Wynona Rider or when Brooke Shields boozy mother yelled at her in the back booth. One of Odeon's ex-chefs Stephen Lyle was also there last night. He now owns one of my other favorite restaurant Village, on Ninth Street. I was yakking to Stephen reminiscing how fun the Odeon's 15th birthday party had been ten years ago and how I had brought Isaac Hayes there as my date that night... (We had just finished shooting Hayes and Naomi Campbell for our cover so we dragged him along to the Odeon for the party!)...then Stephen just pointed to the stairs and said, 'I remember watching Calvin Klein throw up on those stairs.' Oh if those walls could talk, it would be a best seller."

What's a little upchuck between compadres. Knowing Calvin (and, we most certainly don't), the aforementioned puke was proffered forth in neutral, appealing earthtones. Well, at least he wasn't pitching woo to violent basketball players on national television. (Averted Gaze)