Media-Whore D'Oevres



"Soul legend James Brown was finally buried—temporarily, anyway—after his body sat around like a discarded frozen cannoli as relations squabbled over his fortune. Well the bickering has had another effect. According to singer Screaming Rachael Cain—an old friend of mine and an insider in this situation—the movie about Brown starring Usher has also been put on hold until his estate has completely divvied up the property. So until they get their 10 cents they can't get YOUR 11 dollars. Cain told me Brown's manager's reaction to the whole posthumous mess: "It's chaos—just the way James would have liked it.'" (Musto)

"So far, there are only a few actors officially attached to Oliver Stone's W., the epic biopic about our current commander-in-chief. Josh Brolin was cast as President George W. Bush back in January, then recently Elizabeth Banks was chosen as his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, and last week James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn were locked into the roles of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, respectively." (Cinematical)

"Slowly but steadily, a string of Democratic Party figures is taking Barack Obama's side in the presidential nominating race and raising the pressure on Hillary Clinton to give up. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is expected to endorse Sen. Obama Monday, according to a Democrat familiar with her plans. Meanwhile, North Carolina's seven Democratic House members are poised to endorse Sen. Obama as a group -- just one has so far -- before that state's May 6 primary, several Democrats say. Helping to drive the endorsements is a fear that the Obama-Clinton contest has grown toxic and threatens the Democratic Party's chances against Republican John McCain in the fall." (WSJ)

"Does your mom still have an AOL account? Does she email you her random, yet charming, thoughts on life and love? Does she wish you called more often? Postcards From Yo Momma collects all these emails and broadcasts them to the Internet. Your mom might be on there too!" (Postcardsfrommymomma)

"The main opposition party pressed its claim on Monday that it had won a landslide election victory to unseat President Robert G. Mugabe, but the government said nothing about the presidential vote 48 hours after ballots had been cast. The only official announcement was that both sides were tied in early parliamentary results.At a news conference on Monday, officials from that opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, claimed to have seen the results from more than half of the constituencies, and it said that according to its calculations the opposition presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, had won 60 percent of the presidential vote to beat Mr. Mugabe, who has been president for 28 years." (NYTimes)

"Although under-reported, the phenomenon of radicalisation in Macedonia's minority Muslim populations is being closely observed by Macedonia's counter-intelligence services and their Western partners. Macedonian authorities have already contributed actionable intelligence in at least one major Western European counter-terrorism operation. Although ethnic Albanians (25 per cent of Macedonia's population of two million people are Albanian) make up the majority of the Balkan country's Islamic extremists, smaller Muslim groups, such as the ethnically Macedonian Torbeshi and Gorani populations (approximately 150,000 people), are being disproportionately affected by foreign Islamists." (Janes)

"The chic set usually reserve Saturday nights for staying in, but this weekend, hosts Marianne Boesky, David de Rothschild, and Arden Wohl coaxed them to the Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea for a private dinner benefiting the Nest Foundation ... The likes of Gilles Bensimon, Diana Picasso, Waris Alhuwalia and Chiara Clemente, Claire Bernard, Lydia Fenet, Ivanka Trump, and Vanity Fair's Punch Hutton sipped champagne and white wine while dining on on Four Story Hill Farm beef, wild striped bass, and apple tatin with maple walnut ice cream. Given the current obsession for both nesting, the concept and the Nest Foundation, the charitable enterprise, one had to ask: how do you nest? 'It all happens in the bathroom!' laughed Trump, who wore a long-sleeved beaded vintage frock. 'The minute I get home, that's where I go. I love to take baths.'" (Fashionweekdaily)

"If you don’t know about the Waverly by now, then there’s no reason why you should. But it is, arguably the hottest restaurant in New York these days. At least for a certain crowd ... On Saturday, for example, we arrived for our nine o’clock reservation just as Farah Diba, former Empress of Iran, arrived with her entourage. The place was packed and it stayed that way for the rest of the night (we left about quarter to midnight): Charlie Rose and a very pretty brunette; Dave Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men’s Health (who’s rumored to be named 'Editor-of-the-Year' very soon) with Hilary Schorr; Calvin Klein holding forth with Toto Bergamo (in from Venice), Ross Bleckner, Christopher Makos; Kim Raver (from 'Lipstick Jungle'), Dan Abrams with Jaime Murray (remember her in 'Dexter'?), Cynthia Rowley and her husband Bill Powers; Ron Perelman with Danielle Levine and his daughter Caleigh, Matt Blanc (head of Showtime) and his wife Susan; Rufus Albemarle, million dollar model Jessica Stam, Simon Hammerstein, and on and on into the night." (NYSocialdiary)

"Lupe Fiasco is playing an 'intimate' (even more intimate than the last intimate one in NYC) at SOB's on May 14th. Tickets are on sale. Kanye West showed up last time Lupe played SOB's. Lupe & Kanye are going on tour together starting in April. The SOB's show is actually the night after they play Madision Square Garden." (BrooklynVegan)