Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"(Paris Hilton) took the pink Bentley out for a spin with her 'new best friend' Brittany Flickinger, who she found through her reality TV show (a long and loving relationship they have in the offing then)..The pair were out shopping, but you can't buy taste." (Thisislondon)

"Hillary Clinton's former chief strategist, Howard Wolfson, is heading halfway across the aisle to work for the reelection campaign of New York's formerly Republican, now independent, Mayor Mike Bloomberg. 'As a New Yorker, I am very excited at the prospect of helping the Mayor at this very critical time in our city's history,' he emailed friends this afternoon. 'It is quite clear to me that the Mayor's strong record provides a compelling case for his re-election -- and that he will provide the proven leadership we need to guide the City through the unprecedented fiscal challenges we face.' Wolfson will be "senior communications strategist -- that is, an imagemaker for a mayor whose popularity has slid a bit with the economy." (BenSmith/Politico)

"Spotted (December 23rd, NYC)| Hugh Jackman carrying daughter Ava across the street ... Katie Lee Joel leaving Pastis in the back of an SUV ... Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw buying pretzels on the corner of East 61st Street ... Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer leaving the Olive Tree Cafe on MacDougal Street ..." (CityFile)

"(C)urrent beau Jamie Hince is understood to be exceedingly Hacked off about (Kate Moss') decision to invite ex-lover/father of her child, Jefferson Hack, along to the festivities .. Says our source: 'Kate is a modern woman with modern values. As far as she's concerned, so long as her daughter Lila Grace is happy and surrounded by the people she loves, then she's happy too. This means inviting both Lila's dad, Jefferson, and her boyfriend, Jamie to her Cotswolds home - and sod the consequences. Yes, it may be a little awkward and there are bound to be squabbles over who gets the last roast potato, but Kate reckons as long as she acts as a buffer, all will be fine.'" (3AMGirls)

"Given the group's spotty attendance record, buying a ticket to a Wu-Tang concert is a risky proposition. '8 Diagrams,' the collective's first LP recorded since the passing of ODB, and it's their best posse long-player in a decade might make it worth their getting to the show though. Show up for the old classics—and get blown away by brand new highlights like 'Rushing Elephants,' 'Campfire,' and the Beatles-interpolating 'The Heart Gently Weeps.' After all, not knowing exactly who will show up to perform adds a little excitement, right?" (Wu Tang, Dec. 23 TONIGHT/Hammerstein Ballroom/ $50 via Metromix)

"At the Taleses’ annual Christmas Eve dinner party tomorrow night, Nan Talese will be serving her favorite: Francis Ford Coppola’s Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot to compliment the white-wine-and-lemon chicken and tender filet mignon. Until 2001, the couple attended an annual holiday party on East 64th Street thrown by their dear friend, Serpico author Peter Maas and his wife, Suzanne. But when Mr. Maas passed away two weeks before Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. and Mrs. Talese volunteered to move the gathering to their own four-story townhouse on East 61st Street, and invite the Maases’ guests as well as a few of their own. This year, the guest list has grown to an intimate 150." (Observer)

"Even before taking office, Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking to build a more powerful State Department, with a bigger budget, high-profile special envoys to trouble spots and an expanded role in dealing with global economic issues at a time of crisis. Mrs. Clinton is recruiting Jacob J. Lew, the budget director under President Bill Clinton, as one of two deputies, according to people close to the Obama transition team. Mr. Lew’s focus, they said, will be on increasing the share of financing that goes to the diplomatic corps. He and James B. Steinberg, a deputy national security adviser in the Clinton administration, are to be Mrs. Clinton’s chief lieutenants." (NYTimes)

"IT was eat, drink and be merry the other night at Mañana on East 61st Street when Rodman and Jacqueline Weld Drake convened 70 amigos to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Inhaling the lobster faji tas and Inocente tequila margari tas were Daisy and Paul Soros, Christine and Stephen Schwarzman, Dominick Dunne, Aileen Mehle and Frederick Eberstadt. When the deejay cranked it up, the young 'uns - Fran Lebowitz, Steven Aronson and Christopher Mason - felt the beat. The night before, financier Antonio Farnos celebrated the birthday of his chic wife, Ayla, at Mañana with estrellas like Christy Turlington and Ed Burns and Matthew and Marissa Noel Brown." (PageSix)

"In New York, at least in the world that we cover in the New York Social Diary, everyone is talking or thinking about the catastrophe of Madoff and his merry band of thieves. I say Merry Band because it is becoming clearer now that the dust is settling that the man wasn’t doing this all by his lonesome. There were others. Others who in a police docket might be called accomplices. Last time I heard, accomplices are also considered criminal." (NySocialDiary)



(image via style)

"Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana opened their eighth U.S. D&G store on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles on Monday night, and young Hollywood naturally turned out to celebrate. Miniature burgers, pigs in a blanket, french fries, and tiny pizzas were on the menu and Bijou Phillips and Rumer Willis were on the dance floor, boogying to the musical stylings of DJ Mom Jeans (a.k.a. actor Danny Masterson). The designers themselves weren’t in attendance, but Ginnifer Goodwin, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Nicole Richie, Jennifer Morrison, Gabrielle Union, and Lauren Conrad represented .." (Style)

"Defense Secretary Gates has spent much of his term wheedling, cajoling and begging our NATO allies to send more troops to Afghanistan. I've got an idea: Why not get the Saudis to pony up, say, 20-30,000 troops for Afghanistan, about the same number that Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said Sunday might be added to the 30,000 we already have there? After all, we saved the Saudis' bacon in the first Gulf War. And they seemed to have figured out that arresting al Qaeda operatives in the Kingdom is a better alternative to sheltering them. (Arresting terrorist financiers, of course, is another matter.) And while we're at it, why not demand that all those royal princes who've made a private flying club out of their shiny American F-15s peel off to Afghanistan, where they might be put to the use they were intended for?" (CQPolitics)

"Contrary to most others in the American workplace this year, Britney Spears's father, Jamie Spears, just got a salary increase: to about $75 an hour. On Monday, a Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner boosted by an additional $51,000 the elder Spears's payment for acting as his daughter's conservator, the Associated Press reports. Since February, Jamie, 56, has been looking after Britney, 27, to the tune of $10,000 a month. Court Commissioner Reva Goetz has now raised his fee to about $16,000 a month – and made the pay retroactive. Jamie was also granted an additional $1,200 a month for office expenses, which Goetz said was justified by the fact that Britney's personal and professional life – her new CD Circus recently debuted at No. 1 – now appears to be back on track." (People)

"The problem with the Republican Party is there are too many wooly mammoths like me wandering around. It’s time to kill us off. Just slaughter us all. Drive us into the tar pits and move on. Republicans working in leadership and the trenches are largely old, white, male, out-of-touch, out of ideas, technology averse, and living in the past." (Mark McKinnon/TheDailyBeast)

"FishbowlDC's Patrick Gavin obtained an internal memo from DC bureau chief Bryan Boughton, informing staff that Brit Hume's last day anchoring 'Special Report' will be tomorrow. 'Anyone who can please join us at 9:30am tomorrow (tues) to spend a few minutes honoring Brit on his last day anchoring. We'll gather in the newsroom,' says the memo." (TVNewser via FishbowlDC)

"The dominoes continue to fall at the Washington Post ... Jim Brady, executive editor of WashingtonPost.com, is leaving the paper after a successful four-year run, his role increasingly marginalized following a series of executive moves and the decision to integrate the print and digital newsrooms. The promotion of Katharine Weymouth to publisher and the head of the new Washington Post Media Group earlier this year, followed by her choice of former WSJ managing editor Marcus Brauchli as Leonard Downie’s successor, altered the chemistry and accelerated the idea of integrating the news operations." (Paidcontent)

"Football was the ratings king Sunday, handing NBC a nightly victory and helping Fox finish at No. 2. NBC's 'Sunday Night Football' broadcast of the game between the Carolina Panthers at the New York Giants scored a 12.9 household rating/21 share in the meter markets, up 30% vs. the same night last year. Reliable time-adjusted total viewer and adults 18-49 numbers for the game won't be available until Tuesday, but NBC is expected to easily win Sunday night in both categories. An NFL overrun boosted Fox's Sunday slate of animated comedy reruns to second place in adults 18-49 (3.0/8) and third in total viewers (7.6 million). CBS, the only network to air an all-fresh nonsports lineup -- '60 Minutes,' 'Million Dollar Password,' 'Cold Case' and 'The Unit'-- averaged 10.7 million viewers and a 2.0/5 in 18-49. ABC (6.4 million, 1.9/5) was fourth." (THR)

"Bonnaroo, the East Coast's premiere multi-day, multi-stage gathering of the vibes (held in Manchester, Tennessee from June 11th to 14th) usually doesn't release its lineup until early February -- but RollingStone.com hears from reliable sources close to Phish that the band will top the bill for two nights, restoring the fest to its jam-friendly roots.......Also being buzzed about with some legitimacy: Bruce Springsteen as Sunday night's closer..." (BrooklynVegan)

"The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric saw their most Total Viewers last week in nearly two years, with NBC winning in the category for the 10th week in a row. NBC had its highest Total Viewer average since the week of February 12, 2007. For CBS — its highest since the week of February 26, 2007. NBC also won in the A25-54 demo, for the fourth week in a row. But it was also the only network to decline week-to-week in the category." (TVNewser)