Media-Whore D'Oevres



(image via JH/NYSocialDiary)

"Paige Peterson gave a booksigning party for Susan last night at her apartment on Central Park West. I was looking forward to that party not only because I really like those two girls – really good, frank, smart, enthusiastic women – but also because I knew what 'kind' of crowd it would draw ..Erica Jong and I talked about the current state of the world financial system, something that she’s been following closely for a long time. Her daughter Molly Jong-Fast, another writer who is working on something for NYSD was telling me about the fire that destroyed Amanda Burden’s East 79th Street apartment yesterday; that that was the apartment where Molly’s paternal grandparents lived out their lives." (NYSocialDiary)

"Fancy watch hoarder, Charlize Theron, will have to pay luxury watchmaker Raymond Weil for violating a $3 million endorsement deal with the designer by wearing a Dior watch in public, a Manhattan judge has ruled according to The New York Post. Last week, Daily Transom stumbled on the court documents on The Smoking Gun that indicated this wasn't the first time the actress has used her popularity in the press to expand her jewelry collection." (Observer)

"Love watching porn but hate having to see sex? Now viewers can tune into James Gunn’s PG Porn on its official site as well as on Spike.com to enjoy every other cinematic aspect that adult films offer. The series, created by the Gunn brothers,—James Gunn, of Slither fame, Sean Gunn, former Gilmore Girls star and Brian Gunn—premiered today with its first webisode Nailing Your Wife. Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum and Desperate Housewives’ Nathan Gillian star alongside other adult film stars." (Paidcontent)



"Last night, a small group of old-school Downtown types headed to the offices of P.S.1's radio station (Art Radio WPS1.org), the top two floors of a city building on Leonard Street, for an intimate performance by Antony Hegarty to mark the release of the new Antony and the Johnsons EP Another World. Along with folks like Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Michael Stipe, Thomas Bartlett (of Doveman fame), Cecilia Dean and Zaldy, we entered the space by walking through a lovely-smelling room of toga-clad siren-esque ladies, chanting and swaying in front of large video projections of coral." (Papermag)

"LIFE doesn't stop just because the economy is cratering. Life is a cabaret, old chum, for about 200 friends who helped Harvard-educated, blond, interior decorator Celerie Kemble celebrate her birthday Saturday at a performance of 'Siegeltent'on Pier 17, a bawdy revue with nudity. The beautiful and privileged guests - like Amanda Cutter Brooks, Alexa Hampton, Cynthia Rowley, Ghislaine Maxwell, Moby and Simon Hammerstein - also included reeling hedge-fund managers and investment bankers. At one point Bronson van Wyck, whose family has a Queens expressway named after it, was pulled onstage by a pair of dancers and stripped to the waist." (NYPost)

"Heartthrob Zac Efron was leaving the Apollo in Shaftesbury Avenue when a middle-aged man - thought to be a deranged fan - began shouting and pointing at him. The bespectacled attacker, who was carrying a laptop computer under one arm, was then said to have lunged forward and tried to grab his hair." (Thisislondon)

"In her new book, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, Debbie Nelson says the portrayal of Em's mama in the movie 8 Mile was as fictional as Slim Shady. Writes Debs, 'The Basinger character comes on to her own son and his friends. That is just sick. She's addicted to alcohol and bingo, her trailer is an absolute pigsty. Now I don't drink. And I'm compulsive when it comes to keeping my house clean...Marshall and I only once briefly had a home in Detroit just off 8 Mile...'" (Musto)

"The Justice Department on Thursday won an eleventh-hour extension to make its case against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), a move designed to blunt the impact of a federal judge’s decision to eliminate critical evidence from the trial .. The department had originally planned to rest its case Thursday, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) both entered the courthouse expecting to be called as character witnesses on behalf of Stevens. The senator’s team now may not begin making its case until late in the day. Inouye, who leaves for Hawaii on Thursday, may still testify, but Powell has been released for the day." (TheHill)

"The financial meltdown that started on Wall Street is now hurting farmers in Siberia, threatening a Russian agricultural revival that the United Nations says is needed to help avert a world food shortage. Cash-strapped banks have cut funding to an industry already reeling from plummeting grain prices and soaring borrowing costs. The collapse of the stock market has closed off the other main money source for Russian agricultural companies, which produce nine percent of the world's wheat." (Bloomberg)

"The Playboy mogul has confirmed rumors that he and Girl Next Door Holly Madison are splitting up. 'If she says it's over, it's over,' Hefner told E!. 'But like I've said before, she is the love of my life, and I expected to spend the rest of my life with her.' Hefner, 82, said that the beginning of the end came six months ago, when he learned that he could no longer father a child, thanks to low sperm count." (Seattlepi)