Media-Whore D'Oevres



"An ex-tabloid employee at Ben Widdicombe and Horacio Silva's house party: 'Not being one of those people who thinks mental illness is a spectator sport, I didn't think it was a good fit for me to work there.'... Web chatterer: 'The last time Simon Dumenco interviewed a gay twink (Queer as Folk's Randy Harrison), he ended up living with him. Will the same thing happen now that he's interviewed Zac Efron for Details?'" (Musto)

"From an introspective, sub-continental tactical force, preoccupied with neighbouring nuclear rivals Pakistan and China, the Indian armed forces are attempting to evolve into a comprehensive, strategic power with an expanded regional role. Backing the country's evolving economic profile, India's military has launched a diplomatic thrust overseas in addition to developing force-projection capabilities to secure growing national interests extending from the Strait of Hormuz to the Strait of Malacca, the northern Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and to Central Asia. 'India is anxious to convey to the world that it is not only an emerging economic but also a robust and proliferating military power on the march," said retired brigadier Arun Sahgal, an analyst with the United Service Institute in New Delhi." (Janes)

"Appearing on NY1's 'Inside City Hall,' Clinton Campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe praised Barack Obama’s ability to 'excite people,' adding that Clinton 'needs to make sure the next, whoever the next vice president is, could take over if anything happened to her' — though he said it was too early to seriously discuss potential vice presidential picks." (CNNPoliticker)

"Over the weekend, rumors broke that during one of (50 Cent's) Super Bowl weekend performances, he had shouted out Paris Hilton — who was at the show as part of her birthday celebration — and then promptly told her to 'get the f--- off the stage' when she jumped up under the spotlight with the Unit. As rumor had it, the incident caused Hilton to burst into tears, and a photo of the heiress crying at a 50 Cent show on PageSix.com seemed to support the claim. 50 and Whoo Kid scoffed at the idea, though, saying the only part of the story that was factual was that they did give Paris a birthday shout-out onstage. 'It's no way we would kick Paris Hilton off the stage on her birthday,' Whoo Kid said. 'We ain't that heartless.'" (MTV)

David Carr on The Pscar Nominees Luncheon: "Black limousines. Thuggish drivers. Laura Linney and Amy Ryan all dolled up and people drinking in the middle of the day. In other words, the machinery shifting back to normal, as fast as it can. There were plenty of stars. Even Viggo Mortensen, at my table, was smiley and spent a lot of time laughing it up with George Clooney. You could almost believe the strike mess was over. Scott Rudin and Jon Kilik appeared to be in charge of the New York contingent. Kilik had Julian Schnabel in tow. The big group photo they take every year allows for comparisons. Michael Moore is still about the beefiest nominee, at least among those who showed up. But Schnabel is no puppy." (Carpetbagger)

"Our Middle East sources report that prime minister Ehud Olmert and foreign minister Tzipi Livni have covertly given Cairo the go-ahead to at least double its 750-man Sinai police force. Although this is a breach of the Sinai demilitarization provision of the 1982 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, the prime minister did not consult the government or obtain parliament's mandatory approval before acceding to Egypt’s request. Our military sources report that Egypt transferred the additional troops to its borders with Gaza and Israel on Feb. 3 and 4, raising the number to 2,350, whereas Livni will put the proposal before cabinet ministers only on Wednesday, Feb. 6. DEBKAfile reports that Olmert and Livni, taken unawares by Hamas action in blowing up the wall between Gaza and Sinai, moved precipitately to try and pass the buck to Egypt, instead of stemming the Palestinian fundamentalist rampage at the Gaza end in good time." (DebkaFile)