Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"A funny thing happened when Val Kilmer started suggesting that he just may run for governor of New Mexico next year. He was serious. At least he’s serious enough to reportedly hire a political strategist, to seek out the advice of lawmakers among the state’s congressional delegation and to push back as the state’s journalists mine celebrity profiles and tabloid coverage. Any other celebrity candidate would have to trudge the same road, but if Kilmer does choose to run, he’ll certainly test the limits of a star seeking elective office. That’s not just because he’s had a colorful — at times crazy — career, playing roles such as Batman and Jim Morrison and even Moses, but there’s also the sheer chutzpah of it all. Arnold Schwarzenegger preceded his run for governor of California with a campaign for after-school programs. Sonny Bono was mayor of Palm Springs before he was elected to Congress. Jesse Ventura was mayor of the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park before he won the governorship of Minnesota. By contrast, Kilmer, 49, has no comparable political credits. In fact, the idea of Kilmer in elective politics is just as surprising among Hollywood’s political class as it is elsewhere. " (Politico)



"LIKE an elephant, the Chinese government never forgets. Earlier this week, Chinese censors cut Steven Spielberg's appearance at the Academy Awards when it was re-aired in the Far East 12 hours later. The Oscar-winning director announced the nominees for Best Picture, and the winner, 'Slumdog Millionaire.' But Chinese viewers saw their screens suddenly cut to the beaming 'Slumdog' crew without any buildup. Insiders say it was revenge for Spielberg quitting as artistic adviser to the Olympic Games in Beijing because China buys oil from the Sudanese government responsible for the genocide in Darfur. More than 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million made homeless in the conflict between Arab Janjaweed forces, supported by the government, and Christian villagers in the country's south. Spielberg's office had no comment on the censorship." (PageSix)

"As I've been reporting for weeks, it was SRO at Michael's today as the movers and shakers, undeterred by the unsettling economic news, were out in full force plotting their next big move -- or looking for a safe place to land .. (Table 3) No one puts a lunch together like 'The Mayor': Joe Armstrong, Glamour editrix Cindi Leive, George Stevens and Kerry Kennedy .. (Table 4). An early-arriving Matt Blank who chatted with Joe and I before The New Yorker's David Remnick and Lisa Hughes joined Showtime's head honcho for lunch .. (Table 8) 8. We marveled at New York Social Diary's David Patrick Columbia's graceful moves as he shoehorned himself into his seat at his table with three lovely ladies (All blonde, of course) .. (Table 9) Public relations powerhouse Lisa Linden with the president of WNBC TV, Tom O'Brien." (FishbowlNY)

"The Michael’s Lunch. Crowded with the usual suspects and then some .. producer John Hart with guests; Jill Brooke with Rosanna Scotto, Literary agent Ed Victor with Julie Grau who has her own imprint at Random House .. Jonathan Wald of CNBC and David Carey of Conde Nast; Dr. Gerry Imber, Jerry Della Femina and Andy Bergman; Henry Schlieff. At my table, Joy Ingham, Hilary Califano and Betsy Bartlett. The talk: The Speech the night before. A big hit with a large contingent. The Other Talk: Liz Smith’s seemingly sudden departure from The New York Post." (NYSocialDiary)

"Last night, Pakistani Amb. Husain Haqqani hosted 130 guests for a dinner in honor of a high-level delegation of senior Pakistani officials visiting Washington. Among those invited to dine with Haqqani, Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani: U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, NSC war czar Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, NSC homeland security advisor John Brennan, plus members of Congress including Sens. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ben Nelson (D-NE), Reps. Chris van Hollen (D-MD), Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), and Howard Berman (D-CA). Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, and Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, also attended. The dinner was held in a 'big room, 8-10 tables,' one guest told The Cable. The embassy served 'mushroom soup, rice, break, chicken, mutton curry, veggies, gulub jamun' a sweet, syrupy dessert, he said. The dinner was 'short on speeches,' he added. 'Just a welcome from Ambassador Haqqani.' The head table, where Holbrooke, Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi, and members of Congress were seated, 'talked on and on after others started to slip out the sides.'" (ForeignPolicy)



(Jemima Khan, Vanessa Seward and Plum Sykes via fashionweekdaily)

"Paris Fashion Week may be over a week away, but Tuesday evening it certainly felt like Paris in Mount Street as chic guests piled into the newest gem on the block: an Azzaro pop-up shop which will be open for the next month. Guests like Plum Sykes and Mrs. B -- Joan Burstein of Browns -- joined Vanessa Seward and Azzaro collaborator Jemima Khan. " (Fashionweekdaily)

"It's the biggest night in the rock'n'roll calendar, but obviously no-one had told Peaches Geldof. The 19-year-old imposed an alcohol ban on herself, telling organisers and pals to keep any booze away from her. And it was probably just as well, as she had a rather awkward moment when she bumped into her former boyfriend Faris Rotter. Our spy said: 'When she saw Faris they started having a very intense chat. They were very close and ended up hugging in a corner, trying to make sure no-one saw them. 'At one point, he was overheard saying that he only found out she got married when he read the papers.' Faris, frontman of the band The Horrors, was the poor chap who thought he was with Peaches when she shocked the world by marrying Max Drummey." (Thisislondon)

"Think back when YouTube was growing like a weed, and Google snapped it up. Most folks (including me) saw this as Google 'getting into the video business,' and sure, that in fact was one part of the equation. But as we all know, making money from consumer driven video ain't a cakewalk, and hosting that video is really, really expensive. So why did Google really buy YouTube? My answer, which of course looks brilliant given it's 20/20 hindsight: YouTube was a massive search asset. Afterall, YouTube now gets more searches than Yahoo, Google's closest search rival. So think about that. YouTube was the single fastest growing new form of search on the Web, and Google pretty much outflanked (and outspent) everyone to buy it. Not to get into video monetization, per se, but to harvest and control the most important emerging form of search. In short, Google could not afford to NOT own YouTube. So, fast forward to today. What's the most important and quickly growing form of search on the web today? Real time, conversational search. And who's the YouTube of real time search? Yep. Twitter. It's an asset Google cannot afford to not own, and also, one they most likely do not have the ability (or brand permission) to build on their own." (John Battelle via Paidcontent)

"Laurel introduces herself to Fox producers and asks them what a TVNewser Summit should cover. 'What's going on with Joe, Mika?' asks one guest. 'Why isn't the Morning Show doing better ratings?'" (TVNewser)



(Orchid centerpieces. via fashionweekdaily via patrickmcmullen)

"The haute-est of New York society came out last night for the New York Botanical Garden's famed Orchid Dinner, held at the Rainbow Room. The stunning event, which raised somewhere around $600,000 for the gardens, started with cocktails in 30 Rock's Pegasus Suite, which was filled to the hilt with exotic orchids up for sale. 'There's not one plain white orchid there!' exclaimed Gillian Miniter, one of the night's chairs, after browsing the gorgeous buds. But the evening's floral spectacle didn't end there; the twenty-something tables in the Rainbow Room each had a unique orchid centerpiece atop it, by leading florists and designers. Patrick McMullan flitted around snapping shots as one guest took in the lovely scenery .." (Fashionweekdaily)