A Little of the Old In and Out



(image via webforum)

In: Davos Buzz. Last year, Sharon Stone stole the show by raising $1 million in five minutes for bednets to help stop the spread of malaria in East Africa. Whither this year at Davos? According to Deutche Welle:

"The World Economic Forum brings the world�s most powerful business and political leaders together to plan changes for good. Or does it? Maybe it's just an excuse to gossip in designer clothes and dine on lobster.

"The World Economic Forum is underway this week in the Swiss alpine resort of Davos. The forum brings together over 2000 of the world�s most powerful business and political leaders. 'The aim,' the forum's organizers say, 'is to tackle the big challenges facing the world.' Critics say the forum is little more than a networking opportunity.What is the world economic forum exactly? Is it a schmooze fest or an informal summit that can really solve some of the pressing problems facing the planet? It depends who you talk to.

"... Fur coats and face lifts abound in Davos during the forum; lobster and champagne become boringly common at late night soirees. And the list of sessions, meetings, interactive midnight chats is so long and so varied that it's hard to know what�s really important, or even what�s happening at all.

"In one single day you can hear the UN secretary general talk about the importance of sports, you can listen to Christian archbishops and Moslem clerics discuss the way to do business in a religious world, you can drop in on a meeting of the world�s big insurers talking about the problems of insuring against terrorist attack�and you can even go to a debate on the meaning of happiness."

More here.



(image via tvnewser)

Out: ABC World News Tonight. Big, brassy theme song notwithstanding (Averted Gaze), the news division at ABC has never quite recovered from the sudden loss of the legendary newsman Peter Jennings. According to Brooks Barnes of the Wall Street Journal (link via TVNewser):

"The prime-time schedule at ABC is on fire, with juggernauts such as 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Dancing With the Stars,' 'Desperate Housewives' and 'Lost' helping the network close in on the No. 1 spot.
"But the rising tide hasn't lifted the boats very much at ABC News: Although news magazines 'Primetime Live' and '20/20' have had ratings improvements lately, most of ABC's news programs, including 'World News Tonight,' are stuck in second place or running a distant third.

"More than its rivals, ABC has tried to shake up how television news is gathered and presented. Earlier this month, ABC News tried officially to step out of the old television news era and into the new, with the installation of Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff as co-anchors of 'World News Tonight.'

"Instead of sitting behind a desk reading headlines, the two would-be globe-trotting correspondents run the evening newscast from the field while filing daily dispatches for video iPods and the Web. But the bold approach hasn't paid ratings dividends yet."



Kiefer at Christmastime. It was the Nog. (image via justjared)

In: Drunken Kiefer Sutherland Stories. Are we the only ones that get a soft chuckle out of every drunken Kiefer Sutherland story? Remember how he lost Julia Roberts, then his fiance, and the biggest star on the face of the planet? Can anyone say "self-destructive"? Keifer fucked the whole shit up by cheating on Roberts with a marginally hott -- at best -- Vancouver go-go dancer named Amanda Rice, AKA "Raven (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment)." WTF?!

Then, of course, there were the legion tales --Brobdinangian, really -- of Kiefer getting ass-clown drunk, usually before noon, on a weekday at a dive bar. Ass clown, we tell you (The Corsair sparks a Cohiba); The Corsair is talking about crawling on the floor ("20-floor"), lacrymose, monkeyface drunk. Blind drunk. Keifer drunk. (Averted Gaze)

Today, the Page Sixxies add another piece to the Drunken Keifer Mystique:

"'24' STAR Kiefer Sutherland shocked staffers at the Ye Rustic Inn in Los Feliz, Calif., the other morning when he bellied up to the bar around 9 a.m. demanding to start a tab, reports Steppin' Out magazine. Editor Chaunce Hayden says the normally thick-waisted Sutherland looked 'rail-thin' when he entered the tiny dive bar with a group of rowdy pals and ordered a round of drinks. According to witnesses, when presented with the bill, Sutherland claimed his wallet was 'indisposed' - 'It's been stolen! I promise I'll come back and pay.' At that point, things got weird."
One can imagine ...

"'He started to go into a series of karate kicks in the middle of the floor while the bartender, waitress and several customers looked on,' Hayden reports.

Clearly, Keef is in a late-Elvis stage of disintegration:

"Thankfully, a star-struck fan agreed to buy him several J&B's on the rocks. After devouring a plate of chicken wings and littering the floor with bones, the star left without tipping. Sutherland, it turns out, was winding down from a very long night at the Drawing Room across the street. A rep for Sutherland did not respond to a call for comment."

Bone-gristle, greasy, smeared fingerprinted shotglasses and all ...



(image via boston.com via AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Out:Wordplay. Frankly, we were kind of surprised that Wordplay was acquired by a studio at Sundance. From what we heard the film was a magnum of chloroform. A real snoozer. Now, it seems, there is controversy surrounding the sale, according to Kim Voynar of Blogging Sundance:

"As Karina reported yesterday, Wordplay, Patrick Creadon's documentary about crossword puzzles, sold yesterday to IFC. This morning The Hollywood Reporter's Anne Thompson has a story up that there is some controversy surrounding IFC's acquisition of the audience-pleasing film, which sold for about $1 million.

"Warner Independent Pictures president Mark Gill reportedly accused attorney John Sloss, who brokered the sale, of spreading false information regarding Warner's bid in order to drive up the film's price. Sloss denied Gill's charges.

"Another studio exec, Sony Pictures Classics' co-pres Tom Bernard, is also unhappy about the way the deal was handled, alleging that the Wordplay filmmakers were not apprised of his studio's bid. Bernard reportedly implied that if there is not some kind of regulation over the way deals are brokered, 'there will be major lawsuits', and said that filmmakers are not empowered in the deal-making process."



(image via cnn)

In: Across-the-Board leadership elections. The Republican Party is hierarchical and built on the masculine virtue of loyalty. As a result, it is, as an institution, averse to reform and more favorable to the concepts of authority and tradition. That would explain why the daily tally for the House Ladership races favor the Establishment choices overwhelmingly. Still, the fight is not over; anything can happen. From TheHill:

"At least 18 House Republican lawmakers have signed a petition for across-the-board leadership elections on Feb. 2, for now leaving its supporters well short of the 50 signatures needed to consider whether to replace the entire House leadership except Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), according to an emailed copy of the petition obtained by The Hill. Yet, even if the petition's sponsors, Reps. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) and John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) do not collect the signatures of 32 more lawmakers necessary to convene a conference for the purpose of down-slate leadership elections, lawmakers could still demand those contests separately on Feb. 2, when House GOP lawmakers will choose their next majority leader.

"During the conference, which Hastert scheduled to conduct a vote to replace former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), a lawmaker could move to vacate any one of the current leadership position. But doing so could prove difficult because it would require a majority - 117 - of the GOP Conference's 233 members to vote in favor of approving the motion once a meeting of the conference convenes."