Media-Whore D'Oevres



"For years, Parker, 60, has defined American wine criticism with his '100-point scale' in The Wine Advocate magazine - reviews that can raise or lower prices and are relied upon by wine merchants around the world. That's led vineyards to create a 'standardized wine' that could be made almost anywhere - one that often relies on 'technology and additives to rack up Parker points,' Feiring writes. 'At stake is the soul of wine. This is the giant corporation vs. the independent winemaker . . . wine is being reduced to the common denominator, and this is sacrilegious.'" (NYpost)

"From Annie Lennox and Lily Allen to Diane von Furstenberg and Camilla al Fayed, a who's who of established and burgeoning icons packed the National Portrait Gallery for the Burberry-sponsored opening of Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008. 'It's a brilliant mix of English that only Vanity Fair and Burberry could pull off,' enthused Elizabeth Saltzman, whose boss, Graydon Carter, co-hosted the soiree with Christopher Bailey. 'It's great to be able to continue the Burberry history of supporting the arts,' said Bailey." (Fashionweekdaily)

"Leading banks were on Tuesday night under renewed pressure to fast-track plans to shore up struggling bond insurers after Warren Buffett revealed he had offered to take over the high-quality portions of the insurers’ portfolios. The billionaire investor told CNBC he had offered to take more than $800bn of municipal bonds guaranteed by three bond insurers – Ambac, MBIA and FGIC. They are fighting to retain the triple-A credit ratings on which their business model depends amid huge subprime losses on their non-municipal debt portfolios." (FT)

"Amid the wood paneling and chandeliers at the Prince George ballroom, Costello Tagliapietra (leopard prints; pencil skirts) offers frocks seemingly inspired by Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dresses, which is as close as I’ll get to DVF this season because Diane dumped me from her guest list. Is it because I wrote how silly I think her attempts to copyright her designs are? (In fashion, like co-op boards, country clubs, and sororities, you never know why you’re blackballed.) Oh, well." (VillageVoice)

"But Hillary is not the best test case for women. We’ll never know how much of the backlash is because she’s a woman or because she’s this woman or because of the ick factor of returning to the old Clinton dysfunction. While Obama aims to transcend race, Hillary often aims to use gender to her advantage, or to excuse mistakes. In 1994, after her intransigence and secrecy-doomed health care plan, she told The Wall Street Journal that she was 'a gender Rorschach test.'" (NYTimes)

"As Greek Cypriots go to the polls on 17 February in the first round of voting to elect a new president, they face a choice: do they put their desire for a solution to the island's division above economic stability? And can they bear to cross ideological lines? With just days to go before the polls, the vote appears almost evenly divided between the three candidates: incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos; Dimitris Christofias, the leader of the Cypriot communist party; and Ioannis Cassoulides, who is supported by the main right-wing party Democratic Rally (DISY). Papadopoulos currently has a slight edge over his rivals. Under the rules, if no candidate secures more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round, the two leading candidates will go forward into a second round run-off. At the moment, therefore, the smart money is on a second round decider between Papadopoulos and Christofias." (Janes)

"It snowed yesterday in New York, beginning in the early afternoon, tying up traffic in the city within a couple of hours ... Michael’s, however, was warm and sunny, almost but not quite just like the climate of its sister restaurant (Michael’s) in Santa Monica. Michael McCarty himself was on hand, and his daughter Clancy in her last year at NYU was at the table next to ours. In the bay, at table one right behind us was the Sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett and three ladies of three generations, all dressed like ladies for lunch. I have no idea what the conversation was about but I could see it was an equal give and take and very relaxed. Mr. Buffett was also highly amusing if the ladies’ laughter was any indication." (NYSocialDiary)