Saturday, April 25, 2009

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"Matt Lauer wasn't on the Today show today...and now we know why. Lauer was in Vermont interviewing Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips — Capt. Phillips' first interview since returning to America after being held hostage by Somali pirates. The interview airs on Tuesday's Today show." (TVNewser)



"China has quietly almost doubled its gold reserves to become the world’s fifth-biggest holder of the precious metal, it emerged on Friday, in a move that signals the revival of bullion after years of fading importance. Gold rose to a three-week high of more than $910 an ounce after Hu Xiaolian, head of the secretive State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages the country’s $1,954bn in foreign exchange reserves, revealed China had 1,054 tonnes of gold, up from 600 tonnes in 2003. The news could spark interest in gold among other central banks. 'When the largest holder of foreign exchange reserves discloses an increase in gold holdings, other countries may decide to think more carefully about underweight gold positions,' said John Reade, a precious metals strategist at UBS." (FT.com)



"'In the most simplistic way, it’s really about the collison of politics, celebrity and the media,' Barry Levinson told indieWIRE about his new documentary 'PoliWood,' premiering next Friday night as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. 'Basically, how they collide and how they feed off one another. That’s the theme of the piece.' More specifically, the piece uses interviews with a variety of high-profile celebrities and political figures (from Anne Hathaway to Ellen Burstyn to Sting), exploring the influence Hollywood has over today’s political process. Levinson is attempting to exemplify the exceedingly thin line between politician and actor, and news and entertainment." (IndieWIRE)

"Despite my congenital optimism, I increasingly get the sense—a sense that’s reinforced by my conversations with economic pointy-heads—that the economic crisis is actually accelerating, and that the latest round of good news represents the beginning of a pseudo-recovery that might actually make matters worse over the long run. You might say that President Obama has the distinct misfortune of having taken office a few years too early. When FDR took office in 1933, the economy had already been in a spiral of decline for years, and his first term saw a fairly dramatic fall in the unemployment rate. There’s no doubt that Roosevelt’s New Deal policies helped generate jobs, yet it’s not clear that his policies would have worked as well right after the Crash. And Obama isn’t taking office in 1933. Rather, he’s taking office in 1929, right after another massive financial collapse. Chances are that the sharp increase in unemployment has just begun ...Obama’s challenge is to carefully calibrate his rhetoric, to avoid sounding too sunnily glib or too wrist-slashingly dour." (TheDailyBeast)



(iggy via andrewsmithgallery)

"ELTON John, during a party in the 1970s before he became sober, allegedly took so much Valium, he jumped into a hotel pool and shouted, 'I'm going to die,' " according to 'Everybody Must Get Stoned: Rock Stars on Drugs,' out this week from Citadel. The author, who calls himself R.U. Sirius although his name is Ken Goffman, reports: 'His grandma commented: I suppose we're going to have to go home now.' In the book's other 'twisted highlights or lowlights' of rock 'n' roll: Iggy Pop and the Stooges between 1969 and '70 injected 'massive amounts of drugs, mostly heroin. When setting up a hit, the Stooges would squirt the blood out of their syringes and shoot it all over the walls and ceilings." (PageSix)



(image via thecobrasnake)

"I get hives when I hear someone sidle up to a bar and order 'Ketel One with cranberry' or 'Grey Goose with soda.' What happened to the good old days when people would simply say 'vodka cran, please'? Not pretentious enough? The specificity of today's drink orders is supposed to reflect the consumer savviness of a new generation who don't want just any poison down their throats, they want precise forms of it. But their endearing idiocy is what really emerges with every syllable." (Musto)



"On Thursday, April 23, socialites such as Tinsley Mortimer, Richie Rich and Kristian Laliberte gathered on the rooftop lounge of 20 Pine: The Collection for La Notte Arancione, an Italian evening to celebrate the launch of Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur. Hosted by Mortimer, Alexandra Lind Rose and Adelina Wong Ettelson, the event benefited Save Venice, a charity devoted to the preservation and restoration of Venice." (Guestofaguest)

"Howard (Stern) said that he was supposed to do Letterman on May 8th and also help Jimmy Kimmel out when he fills in for Larry King. Howard said he's not sure he wants to do any of that stuff. He said he was supposed to talk to his agent about doing it and he hasn't done that. Howard said that he wants to help out if Letterman really needs him but he really doesn't want to go on unless he has to. Howard said that Dave will be fine if he doesn't go on though. Howard and the guys talked about how different things were many years ago with the Tonight Show because there were so few things to watch on TV." (Marksfriggin)

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