Media-Whore D'Oevres



"The models here are super-stunning and have the sickest bodies. These girls are so skinny with the longest limbs ever yet they're so bouncy and curvaceous with killer bootays! A lot of Jamaican models were flown in from New York for the CFW. Some of them are way big-time like Jaunel McKenzie, Sunna Gottshalk, Oraine Barrett and a couple of America's Next Top Model contestants. Here are some backstage shots of them eating, getting hair and makeup done, and just waiting around." (Papermag)

"Noah Davis of brother blog FishbowlNY attended last night/ today's Peabody Awards, where Brian Williams was slated to present the awards. But Williams, just back from Afghanistan, was spending time with his NBC family mourning the death of his colleague Tim Russert. Instead, CBS' Lesley Stahl filled in." (TVNewser)

"'Acting is my career, architecture is my passion,' Mr. Pitt said in an earnest press statement reported by Bloomberg on June 2. The Dubai hotel will feature 'environmentally friendly architecture, but also embrace my career in entertainment.' In publicizing the green hotel venture, Mr. Pitt made no mention of the endemic labor abuses beneath the glitter and glitz of the oil-slicked emirate. But according to Nick McGeehan, the founder of the NGO Mafiwasta (which roughly translates as 'without connections') who spoke with Mr. Pitt’s representatives last week, the actor-cum-architect is "definitely looking closely at the issue of workers' rights before proceeding.' That puts Mr. Pitt in the minority in the Gulf, especially in Dubai. At the moment 'conditions are appalling at every single construction project that goes on there,' said Mr. McGeehan, though he declined to speak specifically about Zabeel’s developments. 'It is not currently possible to engage in work in Dubai or Abu Dhabi without being involved in the abuse of migrant workers,' Mr. McGeehan wrote in a follow-up e-mail. 'This is the message we will be putting across to Brad Pitt, backed up by Human Rights Watch.'" (Observer)

"This country has had many philanthropists dispensing their great wealth, including several of the time of John D. Rockefeller such as Andrew Carnegie, the brothers Paul and Felix Warburg, and Jacob Schiff. Some gave away more of their fortunes than John D., but nobody gave away more than John D. Because of it, and his strictly disciplined daily life, (and his piety), he became convinced he was going to Heaven and to a palace that would make Kykuit, his house in Pocantico look like a shack. Knowing this set the man into his golden years in a kind of zen state. The philanthropy had returned itself in the former of a lasting bliss. That may be the main lesson." (NYSocialDiary)

"JAY-Z dining with Gov. Paterson at the Spotted Pig" (PageSixxies)

"Over the weekend, Paramount Pictures International went over the $1 billion mark, reportedly thanks to the success of its distribution of summer blockbusters Iron Man ($210 million), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($350 million) and Kung Fu Panda ($41 million), as well as earlier releases The Spiderwick Chronicles ($91 million), Cloverfield ($90 million) and No Country for Old Men ($86 million). Paramount is the first studio to reach a billion bucks in international grosses this year, and it did so faster than in 2007, when it didn't top the figure until late July." (Cinematical)

"MTV Networks’ (NYSE: VIA) Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group is continuing its emphasis on online gaming and virtual worlds by carving out two separate divisions around those efforts, the company told me earlier today. MTVN has upped two execs from each area to run the new units, each as SVP and general manager: Dave Williams will run the Games Group, moving up from SVP/GM of MTVN’s existing casual gaming sites Shockwave and AddictingGames, while Kyra Reppen, who oversees the Neopets community site, will head the Virtual Worlds Group. Williams and Reppen will report to Steve Youngwood, Nick’s EVP-digital media." (Paidcontent)