Media-Whore D'Oevres

"Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) received a warm phone call from President Bush on Monday during his third day at a Massachusetts hospital, according to the Democrat’s office. Bush called the cell phone of the senator’s wife, Victoria, sending his best wishes and telling her to 'take care of my friend,' Kennedy's office said. Despite the heated partisan rhetoric in Washington, Kennedy and Bush have worked closely together on some key White House initiatives, including on education and immigration reform." (TheHill)

"At the midpoint in the competition for the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the South Americans are in the lead. Arguably, the two best-received films so far have been Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas' 'Linha de Passe' from Brazil and Pablo Trapero's 'Lion's Den' from Argentina ...There will be general agreement in this, however: It's been a tough slog through an urban plague, social decay, war crimes, crime wars, families in prison and families torn apart by dead children." (Reuters)

"Continuing coverage of the Marche du Film in Cannes, indieWIRE reports on the latest deals and news from the Croisette. The Weinstein Company buys the rights to best-selling book 'The Alchemist,' Reliance announced plans to fund Hollywood production companies, IFC Films takes 'L'Aventure,' MGM heads discuss the company's future at the American Pavilion, a look at the Korean Pavillion, and more ... The Weinstein Company co-founder Harvey Weinstein will personally produce the screen adaptation of author Paulo Coelho's bestselling novel, 'The Alchemist,' in which Laurence Fishburne will direct, star as well as produce, the company announced from Cannes Sunday morning. The $60 million-plus project will begin production later this spring or early summer, Mr. Weinstein said during a press conference at a seaside restaurant off the Croisette." (Indiewire)

"Lily Allen has been seen partying on Formula One mogul and Queens Park Rangers owner Flavio Briatore's yacht in Cannes. The singer was also photographed topless on the yacht in the south of France." (NME)

"Squeamish alert: I just watched Service, a jauntily unsanitary Filipino film in competition for the Grand Prize, in which a young man, well, he pops a boil on, as it were, his buttocks, with, to be exact, the lip of a Coke bottle. In close up. J'aime world cinema! And so to dinner." (Lisa Schwartzbaum/ Popwatch)

"It has been some months since Lady Victoria Hervey has graced the social pages, so it's little wonder she might seem keen for a little attention at Cannes. And the socialite certainly turned heads at the Cannes Film Festival last night with her barely there dress." (ThisisLondon)

"Usually I scream bloody murder when a gay man marries a woman, but when Jack Wrangler hooked up with Margaret Whiting all those years ago, I thought, 'Well, maybe.' She was 55, he was 33. She was a classic, old-style singer, he was a once-raunchy porn star. She was a woman, he was a gay. But they both liked showtunes! And when Wrangler told her he was gay, Whiting's response was 'only around the edges, dear.'" (Musto)

"Endings are rarely as joyous as beginnings--and in the case of a long, wearing, and ultimately disappointing campaign, they can be downright brutal. But they also have the potential to be educational, for participants and gawkers alike. So it is that we asked (begged, really) a range of Hillarylanders for their up-close and personal lists of 'What Went Wrong?'" (TNR)

"Liz Smith has it first: the title of my next book on the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be Rogues’ Gallery. La Liz gets a few more things right, too. The Met is 'remarkable, incredibly valuable and super-important,' and so is its incredibly rich story, which is why I chose to write it. The Met has refused to let a photo archive 'sell photos of the building for the book jacket. (Even though the museum is owned by the city and sits on public land.)' And the Met 'will survive' my daring to look at its history without its blessing. If all goes according to plan, Rogues’ Gallery will be published next year by Broadway Books, despite the museum’s attempts to stop it. " (Gripebox)