Media-Whore D'Oevres



(image via popwatch)

"I love Heidi Klum, but she can't really sing! 'Amazing'-ly, she sounded better with Seal here than on her Victoria's Secret commercial, where I assumed there was the option of multiple takes.." (Popwatch)

"Minonline is reporting on last night's super boozy Radar party at The New Museum on the Bowery (Everything smells like Svedka vodka this morning). PJ Lucus, associate publisher at Penthouse, has been lured to Radar where he will start as AP on December 17th. Also seen by FishbowlNY at the party: former Mayor Ed Koch, Gawker's Emily Gould and a fox-fur hat clad blogger Josh, Spencer Morgan, Film-maker Craig Brewer, Maer Roshan, and various media luminaries smoking on the 7th floor balcony, flaunting the tyrannical museum's rules. It sucks, though, that they didn't allow drinks on the elevator ..." (Ron Mwangaguhunga/FishbowlNY)

"'The people want you to stay a certain way for the rest of your life,' says Ghostface Killah, Staten Island's (not to mention the Wu-Tang Clan's) finest. 'People don't want change, man. But you're becoming a grown man. You can't be 45 years old talking about how many bricks, how many kilos you turned over, how many you sold, at 45. People have to start talkin' grown-man shit.'" (VV)

"It’s deal-making time again. And much to the chagrin of Democratic lawmakers, it looks like President Bush may well hold the upper hand. And that’s the verdict of Democrats who have been in the trenches for recent year-end showdowns between Congress and the White House. With the two sides dug in now over the war in Iraq, domestic spending, terrorism policies and other issues, Bush has a number of inherent advantages." (Politico)

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday he wants to conclude the first session of the 110th Congress by Dec. 21, adding that he hopes the laundry list of items left for the Senate to tackle will not keep lawmakers on Capitol Hill through the week of Christmas. 'We would like to finish the business of this body by two weeks from Friday. That's our goal. I hope we can do that,' Reid said on the Senate floor. 'I hope we don't have to work on Christmas week. It's possible we might have to do that.'" (Thehill)

"Paramount Pictures has acquired life rights to intelligence operative Kathi Lynn Austin, whose adventures in arms trafficking and terrorism will inspire an action thriller vehicle for Angelina Jolie. Austin, who has most recently worked on contract for the U.N. Security Council, has undertaken field missions in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia and Central America. The drama will focus on a fictional arms dealer inspired by Victor Bout, the shadowy Russian who is considered one of the world's most prolific dealers in illegal munitions." (Variety)

"If you've been to the Sundance Film Festival, once or many times, you probably associate the Eccles Center theater with the squeak of hard-frozen snow under your boots--at least if you were late and dumped your car along the banked snow in the peaceful nearby neighborhood. When you're in the 1270-seat auditorium (which on Premiere nights carries the buzz of a home hoops game at your high school--if you went to a very big high school), you often sense that Indiewood history is about to be made--whether on the happy side, like recent successes Napoleon Dynamite, Hustle and Flow, and Little Miss Sunshine, or, alas, on the 115-35, repeatedly dunked-on side, like 2003's Masked and Anonymous." (Portfolio)

"While Chelsea Clinton was hanging out on the floor in an NYC Starbucks, in other first-daughter news, Jenna Bush was calling dad President George W. Bush while taping an appearance on Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show." (PageSix)

"Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is the oldest and perhaps most influential Islamist organisation in the world. Despite being formally banned in Egypt, the Brotherhood has enjoyed considerable electoral success in recent years (its members stand as independents) and it has emerged as the only current viable alternative to President Hosni Mubarak's regime. However, this rise to prominence has been accompanied by a fierce crackdown from the regime's security forces and a constitution, amended in March 2007, which makes it difficult for the brotherhood to be incorporated into the political mainstream. However, in recent months, perhaps a more critical challenge has emerged for the brotherhood. Until 2007, the organisation has successfully defined itself simply as an alternative to the corrupt and ailing secularism of the ruling National Democratic Party, with little detail beyond its ambiguous slogan, "Islam is the solution". Nevertheless, as the brotherhood's profile has risen, it has come under pressure to articulate its vision and policies more clearly." (Janes)