Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



Billionaire Paul Allen's "Octopus" (image via smh)

"ST. Barts doesn't seem to be hit by the recession. 'People are still drinking magnums of Domaines Ott and spending 500 euros for lunch,' our spy on the former French colony reports. Nikki Beach Club, Isle de France and Taiwana are the hot lunch spots. Larry Gagosian had a party that included 007 Daniel Craig. Also spotted on the island are Eddie Murphy, Giorgio Armani, Jon Bon Jovi, Russell Simmons, Stephen Dorff, Tony Shafrazi, Roger Waters, Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour. David Letterman was spotted grocery shopping, but has avoided the clubs and restaurants .. The harbor is filled with yachts, including Ultima III, Ronald Perelman's 188-footer, and The Octopus, Paul Allen's 414-foot ship, where rival New Year's Eve bashes are to be held. Perelman's is more exclusive, but Allen's party draws the most interesting young women." (PageSix)



"Living the good life, Naomi Campbell flaunted her bikini figure while enjoying a sun-filled vacation in the Maldives over the holiday weekend (December 27). Accompanied by her Russian billionaire boyfriend Vladislav Doronin, the temperamental supermodel offered a rare smile as she splashed in the water alongside her beau and two of his scantily dressed guy pals." (GossipGirls)

"Mr. (Mel) Karmazin’s corner office on the 37th floor is a flight of stairs up from Mr. Stern’s studio. He and Mr. Stern have known each other since 1985, when Mr. Karmazin hired the shock jock at Infinity. But he is not responsible for Mr. Stern’s jump to Sirius, having joined the company after that deal. 'Would I like to have seen Howard get less money?' Mr. Karmazin asks. 'Yes. But I think any company that deals with content would say the same thing.'" (Tim Arrango/NYTimes)

"But if Israel goes ahead with an anticipated ground assault, says James Abourezk, a Lebanese American former Democratic Senator from South Dakota, it will encounter 'pretty stiff resistance.' Hamas has about 25,000 fighters in Gaza, said Abourezk, who frequently leads citizen tour groups to Syria. 'So Israel might not launch a ground incursion because Hamas has some pretty tough fighters in there.' On the other hand, 'Israel can do pretty much anything it wants' because of its firm backing from the United States in general and the Bush administration in particular, he said. The White House and State Department have blamed Hamas's rocket attacks on Israel for precipitating the crisis. 'The violence will keep going until the U.S. puts a stop to it,' Abourezk said." (CQPOlitics)



"Art prices extended a seven-year surge for much of 2008, with a Claude Monet painting of water lilies, Lucian Freud’s portrait of a civil servant called Sue and a Francis Bacon triptych setting records. A 111.5 million pound ($162 million at current rates) sale of Damien Hirst works in September featured pickled unicorns, flying pigs and a golden calf with 18-carat hooves and horns. From 2003 to 2007, worldwide auction sales of contemporary art grew more than eightfold, said the French-based database Artprice. The Hirst sale coincided with the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and the rise in auction prices then came to halt, said dealers. 'The mood has changed,' Anders Petterson, founder and managing director of the London-based art market research company ArtTactic, told Bloomberg in October. 'The magnitude of the economic crisis is such that even the ultra-rich will have second thoughts about buying things.'" (Bloomberg)

"In election terms, 2009 is an off-year, sandwiched between the presidential campaign of 2008 and the full slate of House, Senate and gubernatorial contests set for 2010. That means the action in ’09 will be limited to three marquee races: the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia and the mayor’s race in New York. Even though local dynamics tend to shape contests for these offices, they will invariably be watched and dissected for their national significance. Republicans, smarting from painful drubbings in 2006, 2008 and a host of special elections in between, will trumpet any success as a sign of resurgence and a harbinger of a strong midterm performance in 2010." (Observer)

"At dinner last night the conversation was ... still ... about Bernie Madoff and the Big Swindle. A couple of tables away, it was the same ..The losses keep mounting. One well-known Manhattan family lost upwards of $300 million (but don’t want it to get out). They remain very well fixed .. Evil aside, it’s about Due Diligence .. I’ve known two women in my life who were heiresses to great wealth and didn’t like the whole thing. One of them I won’t know name because she is still with us and wouldn’t like being singled out. Her first reaction when she learned of the size of her inheritance (in the nine figures), was to balk and figure out how to give it away, to get rid of it. The other was the late Bettina Bancroft, an heiress to the Dow-Jones fortune. When Bettina first heard about her vast inheritance, she said out loud: 'I don’t want it. Give it away!' Both of these women had a natural sense of its dangers and destruction, and they feared it. Both women, incidentally, didn’t give it away (although they were generous in their philanthropies)." (NYSocialDiary)

"Andy Warhol is dead and everyone's 15 minutes will soon be up. Make no mistake about that. As the economy unravels further and we head into a global worldwide 'Depression' the relative significance of who and what is important on New York's party circuit will matter far less. As far more folks find themselves living less glamorous lives our willingness to celebrate the petulant indulgences of others will dissipate. Perhaps then fame will become based more on some substantive and real set of values and accomplishments rather than doing coke at Bungalow 8 or merely staying out too late at parties at high end boutiques. A change is coming." (Asmallword via Cityfile)

"For the 12th week in a row — and the 378th out of the last 380 — Meet the Press was the most watched Sunday morning public affairs program. The David Gregory-moderated program also won in the A25-54 demo. NBC, ABC and FOX grew week-to-week in Total Viewers." (TVNewser)