Media-Whore's D'Oevres

"... Ron Mwangagahunga of The Corsair blog thinks the photo agencies are taking the wrong approach. 'Couldn't they have settled for a highly visible link, which, in terms of personal advertising, might even be to their advantage professionally?' he told The Showbuzz. 'I believe that the daily blogs are the best friends of the paparazzi, whether by captioning their photos with snarky commentary or simply displaying them prominently across the blogosphere, thus enlarging their value to the weekly tabloids.

"'I just don't see why the automatic recourse is to the courts when, in many ways, celebrity bloggers and the paparazzi have enough in common that they could complement one another against the true and common enemy: the PR people who want to control the images of celebrities,' he added." (CBSShowbuzz)

"Artie (Lang) said that he probably will be leaving (The Howard Stern Show) in January. he said that he has to dry out and go hide in Europe or something. He said that this has nothing to do with the FOX deal or anything. He said he went to the doctor and he scared the shit out of him. HE said that he's totally burned out and needs to take a break. Howard asked him what was up with that and Artie said that he might go to rehab even though he's not abusing anything right now. He said that he's burnt out and needs a break. He might have to take 6 months off and just take a break from everything.

"Artie said that if he got his head straightened out, he thinks he could be happy working in a deli or something. Artie said that he's not really leaving the show, he's leaving show business. He said he feels like he's dying now." (Marksfriggin)

This was a strange day in Radio (Sun in Gemini?), fer realsies. First, FreeFM changed formats, then Artie Lang announces he leaves -- then: “'I have had a gun in my mouth 2 times in my life.' - Howard Stern, May 24th 2007" (SaveBabyGorilla)


"Julian Schnabel's 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' (Le Scaphandre et le Papillon) has been acquired by Miramax Films, in a deal for all North American rights to the Cannes '07 competition film. Adapted by Ronald Harwood, the film is the story of former editor-in-chief of Elle Magazine in France, Jean-Dominique Bauby. Mathieu Amalric portrays Bauby, who, after suffering a debilitating stroke, was forced compose his autobiography entirely by dictation through a series of blinks, grunts and movements. He died in France three days after the book was published. Produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Jon Kilik, the film also stars Emmanuelle Seigner and Max Von Sydow. (Indiewire)

"This has been percolating for weeks ... another batch announcement from CBS Interactive to show movement on a key front with its new CBS Audience Network-- this time, social media in the form of embedding. CBS will allow clips to be used in a variety of ways. In exchange, as the release carefully points out, CBS gets promotional value “while learning about its audience.” Expanded deals to allow embedding have been signed with initial distribution partners AOL, Brightcove, Netvibes and Veoh." (Paidcontent)

"'I feel like an impostor tonight,' said Laurie Anderson, the guest of honor at The Kitchen's spring gala at the Puck Building on Wednesday. 'Every day I wake up wondering who am I to call myself an 'artist,' so it's a humbling honor to be celebrated like this." Among those doing the humbling were her main man, Lou Reed, as well as David Byrne, Lily Cole, Paz de la Huerta, and Rag & Bone's David Neville and Marcus Wainwright. Guests got a chance to view some of Anderson's work on TV screens during cocktail hour, after which they were serenaded by Antony from Antony and the Johnsons, pianist Nico Muhly, and downtown rock quartet the Virgins. "I'm glad the party is still going," said Anderson, who turns 60 next month." (Style)

"All the Democratic presidential candidates in the Senate, save Joe Biden, are among the 14 Senators voting 'no' on the supplemental. And if you're really watching closely, Clinton votes 'no' after Obama votes 'no.' (BenSmith)