A Little of the Old In and Out



(image via indiewire)

In: Bobcat Goldthwait. Indiewire scored an interview with The Bobcat, who directed the white-hot "Stay," you know: the charming film about blowing dogs. (A considerable pause) Not quite fair; although we did predict the buzz. It's about more than fellating canines, as Eugene Kaufman reports:

"Indiewire: Please tell us about yourself. How old are you? What is your current job? Where do you live?

"Bobcat: ... I'm Bobcat Goldthwait, I'm 43, and I'm the director of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC. I live in Los Angeles with my daughter, Tasha.

"Indiewire: Did you go to film school? How did you learn about filmmaking?

"Bobcat: I did not go to film school. I spent my formative years on the road as a comic. I wrote and directed a number of shorts, and a feature film once hailed as "the Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies" ('Shakes the Clown'). That is almost unbearably ridiculous and hysterical to me.

"Indiewire: What are your goals for Sundance?

"Bobcat: I still can't believe that 'Stay' made it into Sundance. As far as my goals there, I have none. "

And we'll try to forget about the Police Academy movies, which were strategically not mentioned. You do your thing, Bobcat; you do your thing ...

Full interview here.



(image via joonbug)

Out: GoTrump. Yeah, yeah, I know: By even just mentioning this shit, The Corsair is giving that short-fingered vulgarian undeserved publicity. Still, in order to backhandslap your enemy, you must make skin-to-skin contact for however brief and percussive a moment.

Anyhoo: Trump is getting into the search engine game. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) Really and truly. According to OANmedia (link via those alliterative Jesse's at gawker):

"We�ve been wishing that Donald Trump would go away for years now, so we were especially excited to be invited to a press conference at the uber glitzy Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, to hear about GoTrump.com. It turns out The Donald is staying put, but he�s hoping you will go somewhere and add to his fortune while you�re there. Donald Trump has launched a travel site, GoTrump.com. You can book airfares and hotels, and all the things you can book on the many other travel Web sites in that overcrowded genre. Trump�s hair, however, may fly away at any time."

We're headed over to GoTrump in search of Trump's class. It's been missing for, oh, what seems like forever.



(image via offlinehbpl)

In: Beth Comstock. The invaluable media resource Paidcontent hips us to Beth Comstock, President of NBC Universal Digital Media and Market Development (Since December). She, like Jeff Zucker, shares the key perk of reporting directly to NBC CEO Bob Wright. NBC's use of iTunes -- in the early stages -- has already added $2.5 million in revenues, "one third of it," says Comstock, "from 'The Office.'"Is Beth Comstock next in line for Zucker's job? According to Newsweek:

"On Friday, when GE reported fourth-quarter earnings, NBC Universal was the lone division that slid�profits were off 7 percent, to $801 million. (A massive one-time expense of $2.9 billion related to GE's exit from the insurance business pounded overall corporate profits.) And with profits expected to languish all year at NBC Universal, GE chairman Jeffrey Immelt is facing more questions from Wall Street, including whether GE's Hollywood ambitions are worth the trouble.

"Immelt's support is unwavering. 'I think we can drive consistent earnings growth and consistent returns' at NBC Universal, he said when addressing Wall Street analysts last month. 'We are investor-friendly in this whole game, and we'll continue to see if there are better ways to run it as an enterprise.' Two days later, after extensive consultation with Immelt, Wright reshuffled management and TV assets. The brash and confident Zucker, who began his rise as executive producer of 'Today,' nabbed the CEO post. One surprise appointment: Beth Comstock, a former NBC exec now returning from an eight-year stint at GE with broad powers to shift NBC Universal into the digital age."

"...She's been a star at GE, polishing its environmental image with the 'Ecomagination' marketing campaign and helping to generate billions in new business through an innovation push.

"Both execs know their futures will rest on results. 'Our two biggest priorities are supporting prime time and moving the company into the new digital space,' Zucker said. 'Beth and I have a long relationship. We worked together for many, many years.' Asked whether she could be in line for the top job, Comstock simply answered: 'I've got work to do here now. That's what I'm focused on.'"



Waiting for the inevitable bitchslap with "pleading eyes" (link via NyTimes Magazine)



... Contrasted, nicely, with the "pleading eyes" of the French Lieutenant's Whore. (link via impawards)

Out: The Eyes of Abramoff. Is there no bottom to the Abramoff scandal? (The Corsair sniffs haughtily, sips a Armagnac Cames 1981) Just when we believe we have reached the dank, Dantean depths, another platform -- below -- reveals itself. Remember how Newt Gingrich -- the idealist -- and Tom DeLay -- the fixer -- loathed one another in the 90s when Newtie was Speaker of the House? Not content, it seems, with Republican control of the Texas legislature, DeLay may have engineered it so that his man held the Speaker's chair. Today Cindy Adams reports:

"Jack Abramoff's partner Mike Scanlon admitted to digging up former Congressman Robert Livingston's private life. Set to become speaker, Livingston then got sidelined for Tom DeLay's man Denis Hastert. Prosecutors now checking if Abramoff and Scanlon took Livingston down at DeLay's behest."

Jesus Christ.



(image via godgrewtiredofus)

In: God Grew Tired of Us. In the ultrahott Sundance Documentary Competition, the buzz -- round the blogosphere, at least -- is deafening for God Grew Tired of Us. Executive produced by Bradd Pitt and narrated by Nicole Kidman, the documentary deals with the plight of Sudanese Lost Boys. BloggingSundance writes:

"Christopher Quinn's doc God Grew Tired of Us, narrated by Nicole Kidman, tracks three young Sudanese boys as they immigrate to New York City. It's one of the most highly acclaimed films at this year's Sundance, and news broke yesterday that CAA have brokered a deal with TF1 International to distribute the film in all non-English speaking territories. TF1 is a big-time French sales house, and they've been trying to expand into the international arena."

And, from Steve Rosenbaum:

"OK, the documentary 'God Grew Tired of Us' has been turning even the most stone-faced screening audiences into Weeping Willies.

"But last night, after what seemed like a charged show, a total stranger opened his checkbook and wrote out a $25,000 check to the foundation started by one of the movie�s real-life stars. I think that�s a first.

�'God Grew Tired of Us' is a remarkable film about displaced Sudanese in Kenyan camps called 'The Lost Boys.' Forced out of Sudan in the late 1980s, thousands of Sudanese walked through their country and through Ethiopia to Kenya. It took them five years.

"By then, many of them were dead or worse, by the looks of things. Like the Rwanda genocide of 1994, the Lost Boys (and Lost Girls) are one of those international horrors.

"Director Chris Quinn has made a remarkable film that will likely win an award here and go on to tremendous popularity. They went to Sudan and chose three young men who�d been assigned new homes in the United States by Job Corps.

"They then followed Panther, Daniel and John as they first traveled to the West, saw TV, learned about electricity and other fundamentals in our lives � things they had not heard of, ever. And this was in 2001.

"You can check out the details of this movie and how to donate to save the Sudanese at http://www.godgrewtiredofus.com. More to come on this subject as the movie begins to get notice."



(image via justjared via ap)

Out: Michael Jackson is now an Arab Woman. What the fuck? What-the-fuck?! When The Corsair was a kid we kind of looked up to him. The Jackson 5 cartoon was cool. Later, the cool factor didn't diminish. He sang; he danced; he had armfuls of Grammy's; he had something vaguely sexual going on with Brooke Shields. Sure, his Jheri-curl wasn't as tight as it could be (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) ... but It was all good in Neverland.

Then, suddenly, his body started changing. And (trying to put it delicately), The Corsair doesn't mean in an adolescent growth spurt kind of way. He was way past adolescent. His ... nose started getting sharper, thinner. His ... skin took on an El Greco, lunar glow. His eyes -- always prominent -- now took on a Whitley Shreiber's Communion sort of dimension. Clearly, Michael Jackson was "becoming"; just what? (Shrugs) Fuck if The Corsair knew.

Until now. From out of the cocoon arises ... an Arab woman.



"A poised, creamy insincerity" notwithstanding. (image via MSN)

In: Diane Sawyer, CBS News Anchor? We thought this was a joke at first, considering the very public -- but not contract infringing -- courtship between Les Moonves and Katie Couric. And, keep in mind, this is an age where the competent Charlie Gibson was passed over for the anchor chair because of his age -- he is 62, Sawyer, 60. But, then we read Rebecca Dana's piece in the salmon-colored weekly and were left thinkin, "heyyy, Diane Sawyer"

Says Dana:

"At the Television Critics Association tour a year ago, Mr. McManus� boss, CBS president Leslie Moonves, announced his intentions to reinvent the Evening News, the sort of project for which only Ms. Couric might be capable. But this year Mr. McManus was far less revolutionary. 'I don�t see any reason for us to tear up the format or break the mold,' he said.

�'In this business, we�re way overdue on a woman sitting in one of those Big Three chairs,' said Ms. Vargas in an interview with The Observer in December 2004, almost one year to the day before she was made co-anchor of World News Tonight. At that time, a reporter asked her if she would be interested in the CBS anchor chair, which had just recently come available in the wake of Dan Rather�s flawed report on President Bush�s National Guard service. Ms. Vargas said she hadn�t heard from Mr. Moonves about the job.

�'I think they�re too busy calling Diane Sawyer,' she said."

McManus is a heavyweight; should CBS News ever partner with CNN in some way or form, as is widely predicted, they will need a heavyweight anchor as glue. "Poised, creamy insincerity" notwithstanding (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment), Diane Sawyer -- who was a Contributor to 60 Minutes and an aide in the Nixon Press Office -- has far more inherent gravitas than Katie Couric ever will.

The whole story here.

Out: Vince Vaughn. Is it just me, or is there something creepy and serial-killerlike about Vince Vaughn? According to Lowdown:

"Has Vince Vaughn moved in with Jennifer Aniston? The upcoming issue of Star magazine reports that the 34-year-old Vaughn, the 36-year-old Aniston's co-star on 'The Breakup,' has hauled some of his possessions into her shabby-chic Beverly Hills bungalow. 'He's endeared himself to her so much that she told him to move in,' the mag quotes a Jen friend."

"Endeared himself"? (Considerable pause) That sounds so ... calculated.



(image via carlcoxphoto)

In: David Gregory on Colbert Report. Steve Colbert's take on Bill O'Rielly and right wing gasbags is one of our great hidden pleasures. FishbowlDC's brilliant coverage of David "The Hair" Gregory's descent into the hinterland of Truthiness follows:

"David Gregory, perhaps the closest thing the White House press corps has to one of Stephen Colbert's much-feared bears (and we mean in the nicest possible way), ventured onto the Colbert Report last night. Colbert opened strong ('What is your agenda? To make Scott McClellan cry?') and then the conversation ranged from Gregory's hair to the cramped 'Hellhole' of a White House press briefing room to the cancellation of 'The West Wing' ('West Wing was basically just John Kerry fan fiction, wasn't it?').

"Gregory on the briefing room seats: 'Those seats in the White House, it's hard to sit there. It's like getting into a Geo Metro. It's hard at my size. I look sometimes that I'm slumped over, and I want people to know I'm not. I don't want to convey disrespect.'

"Some other choice exchanges:

"C: You are what we in the Truth World call, 'the filter.'

"G: I don't think of myself as a filter. I feel like I provide context for the viewer.

"C: You're a flavor, a spice. The soup just flows by you. You sprinkle your herbs on top.

"G: I think I bring out the best in Bush.

"C: You bring out the flavor."

More flavor here.