A Little of the Old In and Out



(image via cb21.co.jp)

In: Yahoo Music: The New MTV? Ask any plugged-in, thoughful "tween" and they'll tell you, dejectedly, that MTV has all but given up on the music video game, opting, instead, after producing new content --Think: DVDs for Paramount. As Yahoo! head of programming and label relations Jay Frank says to Billboard (via Yahoo news), "The Internet is now leading where the music video business is going." We agree, brother; the online triumph over the music video genre is quite significant (Astonishing, really, considering the valuable key demographic primarily affected by all of this). As usual, we go to Rafat Ali at PaidContent for the heavy lifting of the new digital landscape:

"Of all the Yahoo content efforts, this potentially will be the most disruptive, even though it may not seem like so initially since it has been doing some variations of it for a while now: Yahoo is launching a music video debut service November 1, where it will feature the online debut of a different music video each weekday. The videos will be available online at Yahoo exclusively for 24 hours. Most will be world premieres, though some will have simultaneous TV releases. The focus is mainstream acts.. Another show will StopWatch, which will highlight emerging acts, based on a user's music-listening history and stated preferences. Among the other reasons why it makes economic sense for both Yahoo and the labels, music videos for online-only are cheaper to produce. Plus the numbers themselves: about 3 billion music videos were viewed on Yahoo last year, and AOL says it receives 3 million-5 million music video requests per day at AOL Music. If this is not the new MTV, tell me what is... "

We can't Rafat. We simply can't.



Why is this man smiling? (image via thinkquest.nl via AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Out: Dick Cheney. Is this the end? If the Libby indictment is indeed not the end of it all (Libby being, according to TheHill, "the first White House aide indicted in 130 years"), and the investigation travels further on up the food chain, then, quite frankly, all eyes will focus on Cheney. Even Dick Morris thinks so. Cheney is not yet a millstone around The President's supine neck -- but he could become one. From the Old Gray Lady, who waxes wise:

"Vice President Dick Cheney makes only three brief appearances in the 22-page federal indictment that charges his chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, with lying to investigators and misleading a grand jury in the C.I.A. leak case. But in its clear, cold language, it lifts a veil on how aggressively Mr. Cheney's office drove the rationale against Saddam Hussein and then fought to discredit the Iraq war's critics.

"The document now raises a central question: how much collateral damage has Mr. Cheney sustained?

"Many Republicans say that Mr. Cheney, already politically weakened because of his role in preparing the case for war, could be further damaged if he is forced to testify about the infighting over intelligence that turned out to be false. At the least, they say, his office will be temporarily off balance with the resignation of Mr. Libby, who controlled both foreign and domestic affairs in a vice presidential office that has served as a major policy arm for the West Wing.

"... Christine Todd Whitman, the president's former EPA administrator and a longtime Bush family friend who was critical of the White House and the Republican right wing in a recent book, said that she did not expect the president's personal relationship with Mr. Cheney to change. Nonetheless, she said she believed that if more information about Mr. Cheney's involvement in the leak case becomes public, 'and if it keeps hanging around and getting close to the vice president, he might step aside - but that's an extreme case.'"

And then, Vice President Giuliani? (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment)



(image via bloomsbury)

In: David Margolick. The last time Dreamworks SKG had anything to do with Vanity Fair, the words "scumbags" were exchanged, Hollywood shook, averted Gazes were exchanged and powerbrokers were taken off each other's party A-List. (The Corsair pours himself a peppery Napoleonic-era Cognac) Let's hope then that this little VF-SKG collabo is less heated and calmer heads prevail. According to Liz Smith:

"Writer David Margolick's rich, thought-provoking boxing history, 'Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling,' has been optioned by DreamWorks, for big-screen possibilities. This is the perfect studio for Margolick's vivid book, which is so much more than a story of body blows and shots to the head. It is an astonishing � shame-inducing! � time capsule of American racism, the threat of Nazi domination, and rich character studies of two wildly disparate sports heroes � the reserved Louis and the flamboyant Schmeling."



(image via snitch.ch)

Out: The Kate Moss Snitch. The Corsair hates "snitches." (The Corsair slowly, menacingly, draws a finger across his neck) Snitches employ devious means to sabotage the efforts of the interesting to gain the favor of Tha Man (tm). The Kate Moss snitch was, we're not surprised, a "mate" of former rent-boy and perennial crackhead, Pete Doherty. According to ThisisLondon:

"The man believed to have filmed Kate Moss snorting cocaine in a sophisticated sting operation has been traced by the Standard.

"The 25-year-old, who lives in a council flat in Whitechapel, is an acquaintance of Pete Doherty, the pop star boyfriend of Moss.

"It is alleged he had a spy camera concealed in his jacket at the notorious recording session where the model was caught on film.

"But the man's lawyer today moved swiftly to prevent his identity becoming public, threatening the Standard with an injunction."

Ah, to be the most uncool man in the UK. (Averted Gaze)



Hello, sexy. (image via 3AMGirls)

In: Naomi Campbell. We love us a woman that is at least 3/4 "crazy-insane." Gymnastic flexibility is also a plus, but we digress. As we were saying, psychotic compulsions augur well with regards to 'neath-the-sheets sac-action, n'est-ce pas? And Naomi Campbell -- who actually beats people with her electronic gadgets and doohickeys -- certainly qualifies as hott, and more than a little "titched-in-the-head." This (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment), from the 3AM Girls:

"The Streatham supermodel didn't attend a lavish showbiz do in New York, hosted by her pal Damon Dash, because it started unfashionably early - and the organisers refused to alter things for her at the last minute.

"Naomi was one of the VIP guests Dash had invited to an exclusive party celebrating the launch of a 5th Avenue showroom for the Tiret watch brand, which the hip-hop mogul owns with jeweller Daniel Lazar.

"The Rolls-Royces had been booked, the Cristal champagne was on ice and the caviar was ready to be served. But before the doors opened at 7pm on Wednesday, 35-year-old Naomi had decided that she didn't like the arrangements.

"An insider tells us: 'Naomi asked that the whole Tiret showroom launch party be rescheduled because it started too early for her. Apparently she doesn't like to go out to parties that are early evening.

"A Rolls-Royce was booked for Naomi to use for the evening, but she didn't want to come out unless it was after 10pm."

Solipsism? Bitchery? Fear of catching a stray beam of sunlight? Nah; that's just Naomi being Naomi. And we love her for it. Call me?



Bah humbug! (image via cnn)

Out: Sino-American Relations. Our favorite Dickensian villain, Robert Novak, conveniently found himself halfway around the world when the "Scooter" Libby indictment was being handed down. We can only imagine the wicked fun Our Ebenezer had with the mandarins of Beijing, trading, no doubt, methods of suppressing peasant uprisings without leaving bruise marks (Averted Gaze). In China, Novak makes himself useful, gathering 2 pieces of interesting information, namely:

"Sources close to communist leaders say they're not really that concerned with nuclear weapons in North Korean hands but are aggressively engaging in the six-power process to please Americans."

This, The Corsair knew (Why should Kim Jung-il threaten Beijing? We never caught that rationale), but never had actual corroboration. And:

"The issue cited by (Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang) and other Chinese officials most dangerous to Sino-American amity is the Taiwan question. But sources say the regime actually is not eager to incorporate Taiwan as long as it does not move to independence. With the Kuomintang party apparently poised to regain power in Taiwan, the independence threat would be gone for now."

Good job, Novak. Now, back to funtime with the Mandarins over a no doubt positively polyphonic Chinese cuisine.