Media-Whore D'Oevres



"Everybody hates Chris (Rock)... when he starts with the chat-up lines. Enjoying a night out at Mo*vida in London's Soho, the funnyman gazed into the eyes of one of our spies and purred: 'You've got beautiful skin.' What?!" (3AMGirls)

"Nearly every day a tiny new development trickles out from the stealth presidential campaign of Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York. He has talked with Chuck Hagel and Sam Nunn, potential running mates. He has delivered a tart critique of the presidential field. He is conducting intricate polling to test his appeal in all 50 states. Mr. Bloomberg’s dalliance with the idea of running for president has stretched on and on, with his enthusiastic approval despite the public denials. But even before actually entering the contest, Mr. Bloomberg may have already risked losing something: people’s patience." (NYTimes)

"Rising oil prices will have differing security implications for countries that are net oil importers or net oil exporters. For oil exporters, higher revenue flows could bolster authoritarian regimes, reducing domestic political risk while potentially increasing international belligerence. For oil importers, the rising cost of imports will put heavy pressure on government and consumer accounts. For the wealthier economies this will result in only minor disruption to the population, potentially increasing political risk. However, for more marginal economies the financial burden could put heavy pressure on incomes, increasing the risk of social unrest." (Janes)

"Sir Paul McCartney has been given something to smile about amidst his ongoing divorce battle after daughter Stella gave birth to her third child. Fashion designer Stella gave birth a baby boy, named Beckett Robert Lee Willis, in a London hospital on Tuesday morning." (Thisislondon)

"Mr. (Harvey) Weinstein told The New York Times that his New York-based company had come to terms with the Writers Guild of America in a deal similar to the one reached last week by United Artists, the first independent movie company to reach an interim contract with the writers, who have been on strike since Nov. 5.: (Observer)