Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"'Ferragamo has long been involved in film and Hollywood,' said Massimo Ferragamo at last night's Cinema Society screening of Two Lovers, sponsored by his eponymous brand. 'This evening, filled with actors, artists and stylish New Yorkers, is a great way to kick off Fashion Week.' Society founder Andrew Saffir managed to wrangle a serious cast of A-listers to the downtown Landmark Sunshine theater in support of the film, which is due to hit theaters tomorrow. The film's stars -- Gwyneth Paltrow, Joaquin Phoenix, and Vinessa Shaw -- were joined by Clive Owen, Kirsten Dunst, Michael Stipe, Moby, and Hilary Duff, among others ..Casey Affleck was a stealth figure as he followed Phoenix around the theater for an untitled documentary project about the actor's life. Despite making reporters sign a waiver regarding the documentary, Phoenix mugged for the cameras and passed the press line without comment as he ducked shyly into the theater." (Fashionweekdaily)

"The US House passed Obama's stimulus bill in a 246-183 vote, there were no Republican "yes" votes. Senate vote shortly." (BreakingnewsOn)



"Judd Gregg abandoned President Obama's nomination to be Secretary of Commerce just nine days after receiving the nod, not for any mysterious fever of principles, but rather because Gregg is good example of what is wrong with the Republican Party after Karl Rove and President George Bush turned it into clumsy crybabies. Why did Gregg quit? Was it because White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel means to strip the Census Bureau from Commerce and turn it into an election tool, or allow it to be run by a Republican, which was Emanuel’s idea in the first place? Or was it because Gregg couldn't stand up to the tantrum he was hearing from the enraged GOP over the Emanuel plotting? Yes to both, but then again, more importantly, why did Gregg agree to join up with the Obama administration to begin with? The answer is that Gregg is not a bipartisan-minded Republican conservative. Gregg is a nothing, not conservative, not liberal, not partisan or bipartisan: a blank, a cipher, an empty cabinet, to be pushed and pulled by bullies like Rove once upon a time and Emanuel now." (John Batchelor/TheDailyBeast)

"Though Republican Sen. Judd Gregg ’s rise to Commerce secretary ended Thursday, the political maneuvers that were set in motion by his nomination appear to be continuing in New Hampshire. Gregg said Thursday he would not seek re-election in 2010, keeping a potentially open-seat race on the map for the coming election cycle. When President Obama first chose Gregg to head the Commerce Department, he set in motion a domino effect of potential candidate moves in New Hampshire. Democratic Gov. John Lynch planned to appoint Republican J. Bonnie Newman to succeed Gregg in the Senate, but she was not going to run for re-election in 2010, creating an open-seat race. Candidates began angling for that race as well as down-ticket contests. Democratic Rep. Paul W. Hodes already announced his intention to run." (CQPolitics)



(image via papermag via PatrickMcMullan.com)

"'Excuse me--I need to say hello to one of my models,' said Yigal Azrouel, gesturing to a young gent standing atop a box at last night's second annual GQ party celebrating the Best New Menswear Designers in America. Hunks abounded, both models and civilians, as Jim Nelson and Jim Moore held court over the town's top designers, publicists and other notables to toast finalists Andre '3000' Benjamin, David Mullen, Alex Carleton, Robert Geller, Sam Shipley, Jeff Halmos, and Azrouel. The event space 620 Fifth Avenue was awash in white and flooded with florescent lighting, which had more than one chicster equal parts hot and haute.. But the third most popular guy in the room was none other than Benjamin, a relative newbie to the Fashion Week scene, having enchanted the edit set last September during a debut party for his line at Barneys New York. 'I'm happy to have a stage so I can show Benjamin Bixby,' he said. "A lot of people have seen the collection, which is really cool." As a result, Benjamin has experienced something akin to a lifestyle change. 'It's way more hectic, way more stressful. The fashion business is much harder than music ..'" (Fashionweekdaily)




(image via JH/NYSocialDiary)

"I started out at the Museum of the City of New York on Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street where they were holding their opening night of an exhibition of Valentina’s oeuvre and celebrating the publication of Kohle Yohannan’s book on Valentina and her work. I come at this particular exhibition from several paths. I’ve known Kohle Yohannan for about fifteen or more years. We met through our mutual friend John Galliher. I don’t know how they met but John introduced Kohle to Mary McFadden. Perhaps it was because they both loved to play tennis. A few months after, Kohle and Mary married. It was an unlikely looking alliance because of the age difference although Mary is imbued with waters from the Fountain of Youth. She and Gloria Vanderbilt are the only two women I’ve ever known who took on eternity ..In the years since he acquired a big, neglected house in Yonkers that has been described as a "castle" which he has restored to pristine condition. I’ve been told that he 'makes a fortune' renting out the space to film companies for television and movie productions, commercials, etc." (NYSocialDiary)

"Fresh off his completely ridiculous snub from the Academy Awards (not that we're still bitter), Christopher Nolan is ready to make another picture. And if you had selected 'sequel to The Dark Knight', you lost! The director and his Dark Knight studiomates, Warner Brothers, have agreed to what Variety calls a 'whopping seven figure deal' on Inception, an original screenplay that Mr. Nolan wrote and plans to direct. The science-fiction flick is described as a contemporary film based inside the 'architecture of the mind.'" (Observer)

"'I am a tourist' were his first words. The telephone line from Falluja was bad, but there could be no mistake. Possibly Iraq's, and certainly Falluja's, first Western leisure visitor was in town. Not for long though. A guard at a checkpoint caught sight of Luca Marchio among the Iraqi passengers on a bus that was heading from Baghdad to the once-notorious - and still tense - western city and alerted his superiors. Marchio, 33, a native of Como, Italy, soon found himself in the Falluja police headquarters surrounded by bewildered officers trying to make out why a Westerner would wander around their city without a translator or guards. Marchio may have worried the police, but his main concern was saving money." (IHT via Chris Lehmann)

"THE hottest 'get' in town for TV right now is Michael Phelps, winner of 14 Olympic gold medals. 'Everybody wants him on to explain why he was smoking marijuana,' said a source. 'Oprah Winfrey, ABC, CBS, NBC - everyone wants him.' While there were rumors that Phelps was asking $1 million for the interview - perhaps to compensate for the cash he lost when Kellogg's dropped him as a spokesman after the scandal - the source said, 'No money is being talked about.'" (PageSix)

"In the online world, word of mouth gets amplified, channeled and, ultimately, measured. The conversations are not all about consumer brands, and there is plenty of discussion around B2B products and services, issue advocacy, and public affairs and across most areas of interest from health to technology. The explosive growth of social networks, blogs, virtual communities, product review wikis—all create more access to conversations both for people as well as brands. We can now listen to what customers are saying, and we can engage them in conversation through cost-effective, nonintrusive means. We can build positive relationships with customers and constituents that lead to loyalty and advocacy. Some say that word of mouth has impact only in 'mature' mass media markets like Europe and North America—places where there is a decline in trust in media at the same time there are new ways for individuals to communicate online. Not true. Word of mouth will be just as relevant in emerging media markets like China, India and Russia. Places where there are other reasons for conditional trust in societal institutions." (John Bell/ 360 degrees via OgilvyPR)

"Every so often there's a Hollywood feeding frenzy for a New York Times 'trend' story that captures the momentary zeitgest. Such is the case with the newspaper-of-record's recent report on the charter members of 'Dating A Banker Anonymous' -- a support group and blog founded in November to help women dating or married to men in the banking industry cope with the inevitable relationship fallout from all the lousy financial news and related layoffs. So you won't be surprised to learn that the 'DABA Girls' -- Laney Crowell and Megan Petrus -- now have signed with United Talent in all areas and will be co-repped in books by Janklow Nesbit out of NYC. (I can sense you're grinding your teeth already.) " (DeadlineHollywoodDaily)

"The financial and economic crash of 2008, the worst in over 75 years, is a major geopolitical setback for the United States and Europe. Over the medium term, Washington and European governments will have neither the resources nor the economic credibility to play the role in global affairs that they otherwise would have played. These weaknesses will eventually be repaired, but in the interim, they will accelerate trends that are shifting the world's center of gravity away from the United States. A brutal recession is unfolding in the United States, Europe, and probably Japan -- a recession likely to be more harmful than the slump of 1981-82. The current financial crisis has deeply frightened consumers and businesses, and in response they have sharply retrenched. In addition, the usual recovery tools used by governments -- monetary and fiscal stimuli -- will be relatively ineffective under the circumstances. This damage has put the American model of free-market capitalism under a cloud. The financial system is seen as having collapsed; and the regulatory framework, as having spectacularly failed to curb widespread abuses and corruption. Now, searching for stability, the U.S. government and some European governments have nationalized their financial sectors to a degree that contradicts the tenets of modern capitalism. Much of the world is turning a historic corner and heading into a period in which the role of the state will be larger and that of the private sector will be smaller. As it does, the United States' global power, as well as the appeal of U.S.-style democracy, is eroding." (ForeignAffairs)