Media-Whore D'Oevres



"...Over on Fifth, in her palatial apartment overlooking the Met, the goodtime glamour girl/business tycoon, Georgette Mosbacher and her sister Lyn Paulsin hosted a birthday buffet for Jolie Hunt (yesterday’s Diary’s opening picture) who turned 30. Her boyfriend, the author Christopher Buckley, in part of his toast, praised the occasion because he would no longer have to refer to his girlfriend as 29 to his quite a bit more than 29." (NYSocialDiary)

"And so, the WASPs left in the room—and Joan Collins, who was wearing a leopard-print raincoat and a leopard-print shirt, and posed for pictures—continued sipping champagne and white wine. Taki Theodoracopulos kissed Ms. Collins. A blonde woman of a certain age was complimented on her jacket, which she said was vintage. She had purchased it at a shop on South Beach where she buys all her vintage clothing. A woman proclaimed that she had been Spy magazine's first receptionist, and freelance journalist Lloyd Grove said he and Mr. Buckley were friends from way back. A young reporter from Vanity Fair was holding two copies of the book, one of which he needed autographed for 'his boss.' Introductions were offered to Mr. Buckley, and he expressed surprise that a woman who exactly fit his narrator's demographic profile not only existed, but was standing right there in front of him." (Gawker)

"Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Senator Barack Obama in Pennsylvania on Tuesday by enough of a margin to continue a battle that Democrats increasingly believe is undermining their effort to unify the party and prepare for the general election against Senator John McCain. Despite a huge investment of time and money by Mr. Obama and pressure on Mrs. Clinton by the party establishment to consider folding her campaign, she won her third big state in a row. Mrs. Clinton showed again that she is a tenacious campaigner with an ability to connect with the blue-collar voters Mr. Obama has found elusive and who could be critical to a Democratic victory in November." (NYTimes)

"robbers off Lagos in the early hours of 14 April, it was just the latest in a long line of violent attacks in Nigerian waters that have put the international shipping community at a state of high alert. Last year, two seafarers were killed - with dozens more injured, taken hostage or kidnapped - in Nigerian waters as the number of actual and attempted pirate attacks reported to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) rocketed from 12 in 2006 to 42 in 2007. The figures were unveiled in the IMB's 2007 annual report, 'Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships', which was published in January this year. Speaking to Jane's soon afterwards, the bureau's director, Captain Pottengal Mukundan, blamed a 'lack of proper law enforcement' and said there was 'really no excuse' for the Nigerian Navy's (NN's) failure to 'deal with this problem effectively'." (Janes)

"Steven Soderbergh’s two pic Che bio and Clint Eastwood’s 'The Changeling' look like potential standouts at a 61st Cannes Film Festival that may be a touch lighter on Yank Palme d’Or contenders but is heavy on Hollywood glam, thanks to multiple U.S. pics, both studio and indie, packing out many out-of-competition slots. Soderbergh’s inclusion — he competes with 'The Argentine' and 'Guerrilla' — looks like a last-minute decision. For much of this week, there seemed genuine uncertainty as to whether he would be able to finish the two films by the time Cannes rolls. Three Stateside out-of-competition players, all with major star quotients, thanks to largely choral casts, look set to keep Palais flashguns popping at least every other day. As predicted, Steven Spielberg’s 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' world preems down on the Croisette, possibly on Sunday May 18. It promises this fest’s must-attend, highest-glam event." (Variety)

"The idea of a Brooklyn literary 'scene' is one that has become so ingrained in the city’s consciousness that, in true Brooklyn style, it has now become fashionable to consider writerly Brooklyn in an ironic manner, to comment on the ridiculousness of the idea that a place can, in fact, be said to help define a literary community. Take, for example, Colson Whitehead’s cheeky New York Times Book Review essay—'I Write in Brooklyn. Get Over It'—from last month, in which he questioned the very idea that the borough could be said to inspire any kind of literary imagination. He wrote: 'There was the famous case of the language poet from Red Hook who grew despondent when the Shift key on her MacBook broke. She couldn’t write for weeks. Overcome by melancholy humors, she jumped into the enchanted, glowing waters of the Gowanus Canal, her pockets full of stones. And … she was cured! The metaphors came rushing back. With eccentric spacing between the letters, but still.' Of course, as Mr. Whitehead himself tacitly acknowledges, writers have long found refuge across the East River (if often for financial reasons)." (Observer)



"Forget Beverly Sills or La Callas. On Monday night, the Metropolitan Opera's opening gala drew a diva of a different stripe to Lincoln Center — Miss Naomi Campbell. The supermodel and tabloid sensation was there accompanying Stefano Pilati of Yves Saint Laurent, the evening's sponsor. After dinner, the duo—along with starlets such as Ginnifer Goodwin, Diane Kruger, and Emmy Rossum—adjourned to the theater for the premiere of a new production of La Fille du Régiment." (Style)