Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



(image via wired)

"The Huffington Post's Media vertical alerts us to the fact that The Huffington Post's founder and namesake, Arianna Huffington, has been named 'Person of the Year' by I Want Media. According to the Huffington Post piece, "Arianna Huffington beat out contenders like Tina Fey, Rupert Murdoch and the Laid-Off Journalist to win I Want Media's Person of the Year 2008." (Observer)



(Streisand and Bush impersonator during a recent comeback tour via clevelandleader)

"Well, who ever thought this would happen. But Hollywood's best known Democratic liberal found herself face-to-face with her conservative Republican nemesis Dubya at the White House Sunday, and pool reporters were gleeful that President Bush gave her an awkward kiss on the cheek, and she gave him a light peck in return. When the lovefest between Bush and Babs was replayed later on video at the Kennedy Center Honors, the crowd laughed. 'Art transcends politics,' Streisand had explained earlier." (DeadlineHollywoodDaily)

"Results of the latest malaria vaccine trials will be published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, and from the looks of it, the news is good--fantastic, in fact. 'We are closer than every before to having a malaria vaccine for use by children in Africa,' says Christian Lucq, director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative .. The results today set the stage for more Phase 3 trials--the last needed before lisencing of the vaccine. Future trials will continue to test safety, efficacy, and the possibility of a 'booster' shot lengthening the already lengthy 18-month protection observed. 16,000 children will be involved in 11 sites found in 7 countries. As I wrote last month, a malaria vaccine would be a huge boost to the battle against the capricious and classically difficult-to-fight parasitic infection. The human race has never created a vaccine to fight a parasitic infection before. Here's hoping!" (Blog.ForeignPolicy)

"Howard (Stern) wondered if T.I. was worried about protecting himself from other prisoners' sexual advances while he was in jail, but Tip didn't think so, adding: 'That's not even worth joking about.'" (HowardStern.com/Rundown)

"It was a cold weekend here in New York with even some snow flurries on Saturday night. Social life in New York changes gears just like everywhere else across America as the holiday parties begin – often luncheons (lotsa luncheons at Doubles), cocktail parties, dinners Friday night dinner I had dinner at Le Cirque which was jammed and jumping. A private party in the room behind the bar, a private party in the room upstairs and the bar and the restaurant booked solid. At the table nearby, Charlotte Ford dining with a friend; across the way, a party of ten including Shirley MacLaine, Al Pacino and Julian Schnabel. One table over, producer Jean Doumanian and friends, and just beyond Michael McCarty of Michael’s with wife Kim and Michael’s GM Steve Millington and his wife celebrating Steve’s birthday." (NYSocialDiary)

"Barack Obama gently withdrew the helping hand that he's been offering to George W. Bush, telling NBC's Tom Brokaw on Sunday that the outgoing administration is moving too slowly on the mortgage crisis. 'I'm disappointed that we haven't seen quicker movement,' Obama said on 'Meet the Press' .. Obama's subtle jab on Sunday suggests that he will smartly preserve the option to blame Bush for not doing enough during the transition and before. That might be handy once Obama takes power - and responsibility." (Craig Crawford/CQPolitics)

"Emma Watson has confessed she would strip for a film role - and it looks like she was halfway there with his racy dress on the red carpet last night." (Thisislondon)

"But if Reagan burnished the anti-intellectual brand, Bush has now wrecked it. Sometime between the catastrophe in Iraq, the catastrophe in New Orleans and the catastrophe on Wall Street, Americans decided that people who didn’t know much about government weren’t likely to run it very well. Back in 2000, when Bush stumbled and fumbled his way through interviews and debates, his approval ratings stayed high. When Sarah Palin did the same this year, however, her popularity sunk like a stone. In September and October, when John McCain couldn’t talk fluently about the financial crisis, his campaign crashed and burned. n Washington, there are signs that even on the right, ignorance is no longer considered bliss. When Bush tried to put his absurdly unqualified White House Counsel, Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court in 2005, several prominent conservative commentators rose up in opposition. And this fall, many of them frankly acknowledged that Palin was not qualified to be a heartbeat away. Ask conservative pundits who they’d like to see win the GOP nomination in 2012, and many mention Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a health care super-wonk with an Oxford degree. On the left, meanwhile, Obama is stocking his administration with eggheads." (Peter Beinart/TheDailyBeast)

"David Lynch, diamond fancier? Cartier hosted a dinner in honor of the famously quirky director in Miami on Thursday night, and just before the appetizers hit the table, the venue transformed into an IMAX-like theater for a screening of Diamonds, Gold and Dreams, Lynch's new collaboration with the French jewelers .. Kirsten Dunst, meanwhile, was more interested in one of Lynch's other obsessions: transcendental meditation. 'I admire your work, Mr. Lynch,' the actress said, marching over with a girlfriend. 'But this girl here is your biggest fan. She made me try transcendental meditation because of you.' But did she stick with it?, the director asked. 'Nah, I quit. I got lazy.'" (Style)

"Hemlines rose with the temperatures on Thursday, as soirées for Visionaire and Interview battled to attract the Art Basel elite. Downtown at the Miami Art Museum, guests were greeted by an enormous silver Jeff Koons bunny balloon--which graced New York last week during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The party was a two-tiered affair with some museum guests relegated to mingling among the masses while Inteview's invitees were corralled into a roped-off area at the back of the plaza .. The Interview crowd headed post-party to an intimate dinner at the Mondrian. The ceiling was lined with silver balloons in homage to Koons. Artists Ryan McGinley, Hanna Liden, Nate Lowman, Justin Lowe, Jonah Freeman, and Aaron Young dined with Mary-Kate Olsen, Yvonne Force Villareal, and Andre Balazs. At the opposite studio space, Russell Simmons held court at a dinner and party for Whitewall Magazine and artist Mickalene Thomas. The VIPs finished their lamb chops and decadent mounds of tiramisu before heading to Le Baron to dance until the wee hours." (Fashionweekdaily)