Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"Madonna and Guy Ritchie have reached agreement on their divorce — with the British film director refusing to take a penny of the pop star's cash. An announcement could come by the end of the month, a source close to the negotiations has told the Evening Standard. Madonna will walk away from the eight-year marriage with her fortune, estimated at (USD$450  million), still intact. Although Ritchie, himself believed to be worth (USD $45 million), was entitled under English divorce law to as much as half her wealth, sources suggest he has done a 'Piper' — a reference to Billie Piper, the actress who divorced the broadcaster Chris Evans without asking for anything ..A second source said: 'Ritchie could have taken her to the cleaners. He is a very honourable man to have walked away.'" (Thisislondon)

"The Obama administration is working on the deal that will dominate political chat for the rest of this gloomy year, and the best information now is that all the stars have lined up for Mrs. Clinton to accept the job. There will be rough edges, such as dealing with the many entangled details of Bill Clinton's global affairs, but nothing profound. It will provide the Obama team a major voice in world affairs with credibility immediately on Israel and Palestine, on Russia, on China and East Asia economies. Mrs. Clinton will be the third female StateSec and not attract interference about being the first female, or being an awkward official for the hairy potentates overseas to deal with. She will need independence and broad funding support; she will need an air force and a whole new political apparatus built upon the antique political offices at State; but she will have the foundations of a massive reawakening of State as the traditionally first and most senior Cabinet post -- the Prime Ministry of the United States of America." (JohnBatchelorShow)

"Lindsay Lohan’s girlfriend was not Best pleased to catch her lover flirting with her playboy ex – no wonder their night out ended in tears and a massive tantrum. At one point things turned so nasty between the Mean Girls star and DJ Samantha Ronson that the pair had to be physically held apart. By none other than LiLo’s old flame, Calum Best. They nearly came to blows at London’s Boujis on Wednesday after Sam spied LiLo indulging in a little dirty dancing with Calum. Our source reveals: 'Sam had had a few cocktails earlier in the evening and was perhaps a little more emotional than usual. While she was in the VIP section, Calum shimmied up to Lindsay on the dancefloor. Lindsay was lapping up the attention, having a laugh – and a flirt. But Sam saw them and went ballistic. She marched over and started pushing and shoving the pair, demanding to know what the hell they were playing at.'" (3AMGirls)

"Call me dubious about Barack Obama's apparent enthusiasm for emulating Abraham Lincoln's choice to bring former political rivals into his Cabinet. It worked a century and a half ago when White House infighting was mostly private, but in today's world every squabble could become a public spectacle. When Lincoln did not like what was written about him, he ordered the military to shut down a New York newspaper and arrest the editors. Presumably, those days are gone. Scandal-crazed bloggers, out-of-control partisans and unmanageable leakers now lurk around new administrations like nothing before. Big egos, each with a unique political base and a personal agenda, could distract the nation and derail the new administration." (Craig Crawford)



(image via complex)

"I recently interviewed (rapper Jim Jones) about the play while sitting on the lip of the stage, and toward the end of our talk, I asked him how he felt about Obama’s victory. Since Election Day, every conversation I have eventually turns to Barack Obama and our emotional reactions to this American epiphany. Jim confessed that the election inspired him to drop the word 'nigga' from his vocabulary—where it was a nearly ubiquitous presence—and replace it with 'Obama.' He gave me a few examples: 'What up, my Obama?' 'Yo, did you see them Obamas last night?' 'Now that’s a real Obama.'" (Toure/TheDailyBeast)

"On his 85th birthday, Alaska counted enough absentee ballots to make it clear that (Senator Ted) Stevens lost his election. Even if he had won, Mr. Stevens had nothing but grief ahead of him – colleagues who feared him and respected him but may not have exactly liked him now were threatening to take away his coveted Appropriations seat to show they don’t tolerate corruption. And he’s trying to stay out of prison, appealing a federal court conviction for failing to report that he had taken a bunch of freebies from a crony -- big stuff, like a Viking grill, major home improvements and a gigantic fish sculpture whose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A man who zips so fast through the marble hallways that 20-something journalists have a hard time keeping up was moving a bit slower this week and looking not like a roaring Hulk but a thin, stressed-out old man." (CQPolitics)

"Remember the summer’s furious speculation over whether Marc Jacobs had married his boyfriend, Lorenzo Martone, in France? It may be that Lorenzo said no, or at least, not yet. After the Cinema Society screening of Milk, which tells the story of California's first openly gay elected official, Jacobs said marriage could be in his future. 'I am seriously considering marriage,' he told us. Gesturing to Martone at his side, Jacobs added, 'If I can get him to marry me, I would.' Jacobs claimed that this was not just a case of post-Milk pride. 'I’d do it in a minute,' Jacobs insisted. He laughed when we reminded him that California is not an option. 'I refuse to let anyone tell me who I can and cannot marry, and who I can and cannot love. That’s just bullshit,' said Jacobs. 'Wherever we’d have to go. If he’s up for it, I’m up for it.'" (NYMag)

("Liam McMullan and his crew" via papermag)

"It just doesn't get any easier, with one building housing both Milk Gallery and Phillips de Pury Gallery, with two different events happening there simultaneously last night. On the third floor, in the Phillips de Pury Gallery, Timo Weiland was launching his neckwear line TIMO with family and friends and no less than Robin Williams, who was sporting a casually-draped TIMO scarf." (Papermag)

"But here we are, only a few months later, and Senate Democrats, by a vote of 42 to 13, have done just that, re-issuing to Lieberman the gavel for the influential Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, a development most remarkable for how unremarkable it ended up being. After McCain’s effort to sell his party on Lieberman as a V.P. candidate failed in August, Lieberman changed course, tempering his attacks on Obama, well aware that he’d probably be back in the Senate after the election and could ill-afford to burn any more bridges with the ruling Democrats. The strategy worked. With a few exceptions, Senate Democrats rallied around Lieberman as his fate was decided these past two weeks. So, for that matter, did Obama, who made clear his preference that Lieberman not receive any serious punishment for straying. Their rationale was understandable: Lieberman votes with Democrats on just about every domestic issue. Why, with the party about to control both houses of Congress and the White House for the first time in 14 years, waste time trying to settle a score from the middle of this decade? Plus, many of Lieberman’s Democratic colleagues still like him personally." (Observer)



(image via style via patrickmcmullen)

"The space was jammed, but when it came to early bidding at Tuesday night's RxArt annual fundraising fête, the numbers were much like our economy: sluggish. Even Terry Richardson's self-portrait with Barack Obama — a meeting of icons if ever there was one—had just a single bid. Had Obama mania peaked? Too early to tell, insisted Vogue's Sarah Brown, pointing out that 'as more people hit the bar, we'll be in business.' She was right. Toward the end of the night, not only was Terry/Barack getting expensive, many of the other pieces—including Kehinde Wiley's Samuel Adams and Aurel Schmidt's Drag — were, too. In all, a tidy six-figure sum was raised for RxArt, an organization that places artwork in the patient, procedure, and exam rooms of health care facilities." (Style)