Friday, April 10, 2009

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"Jay Leno’s first appearance at 10 p.m. for NBC will come on a stage in Manhattan. The network has scheduled what it is calling a 'comedy showcase' for the evening of May 19, inside the Town Hall theater, with Mr. Leno leading a roster of comedy performers from NBC. The group will also include Conan O’Brien, who will then be only a couple of weeks away from beginning his run as the new host of 'The Tonight Show.' By no coincidence at all, the show, which is not open to the public, will begin at 9 p.m., with Mr. Leno scheduled to take the stage precisely at 10 — the new time period he will occupy on NBC’s prime-time schedule starting in September. NBC has suffered through a dismal prime-time season, and the move to Mr. Leno at 10 p.m. has raised questions outside of NBC whether the network is scaling back ratings expectations (and program costs) by going with Mr. Leno simply because it has not been able to find any new hits among the scripted dramas that usually play at 10." (Bill Carter/NYTimes)



(image via JH/nysocialdiary)

"I met Luann with her husband Alex about ten years ago here in New York, through a friend of mine who is an old friend of theirs. It might have been less or more in terms of time. They were living in Malta. We had drinks one late Sunday afternoon in a restaurant on the upper East Side. Alex is very Euro although kind of Americanized. He’s relaxed with himself, easy to get to know. Luann is/was very American, almost small town girl. I knew she wasn’t because of our mutual friend: the de Lesseps had lived in what for Americans was/is a very international world, a kind of social world that is both Old World and new. That is generally unlike the American social experience. Luann was ready to spend more time in America. She wanted to pursue her career as an actress. She has that: she likes the limelight. It’s authentic. Anyone who’s ever wanted to be an actress, has that. The stars have it in spades ... LuAnn and Kelly Bensimon are a type unlike the other girls. They’ve both been traveling in the same circles for a long time. They’re American but they’re international in experience. Whether they’ve absorbed it or not, they’ve been exposed to a very sophisticated world somewhere across the universe from 'Housewives of New York.'" (NYSocialDiary)



"Last night, Katy Perry wowed an overwhelmingly beautiful crowd at Paper Magazine’s Party at Hiro Ballroom. Fittingly, the party was for the magazine’s 12th Annual 'Beautiful People Issue' of which Perry is on the cover. DJ Cassidy and DJ Jon Jon Battles were also on hand." (Guestofaguest)

"Obama’s approach to strategic defense policy (as it seems to be in all other policy arenas in which he has crafted an approach) seems to be multi-dimensional. As demonstrated in both health care and the financial crisis, he has a penchant for seeing problems as having multiple origins and solutions as requiring work on multiple fronts. In foreign policy, critics of the new administration seem to share the view that no president can walk and chew gum at the same time. They have jumped to the conclusion that the nuclear initiative must be Obama’s strategic centerpiece and that precludes other emphases. The mistaken assumption of the critics is obvious. Obama is not merely fighting the last war by confusing Cold War threats for the current, more pressing ones. It is the leakiness of nuclear weapons security mechanisms, not the bellicosity of Russia or China as potential direct users of such weapons, that Obama has identified as the main reason to resume negotiations with Russia and China. It’s the critics who are missing the point. It may be tanks and infantry that carry out the tactical aspects of conflicts along the old Soviet border and it may be rogue nations and terrorists who pose the immediate threats, but Obama’s stated reason for traditional plans for reducing nuclear weapons is for non-traditional reasons of just the sort critics themselves identify." (CQPolitics)



(image via nyu)

"THE Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the city's great centers of culture -- but things weren't always so civilized between museum director Philippe de Montebello, who served from 1977 to 2008, and his predecessor, Thomas Hoving. In 'Rogues' Gallery,; out next month from Broadway Books, Michael Gross writes how in the '70s, Hoving assigned de Montebello, who was then a curatorial assistant, to organize summer shows and write catalogue entries, a task Hoving says was done in an 'appalling' manner. 'He had a couple of statements in there that Hoving found inappropriate or offensive,' Gross writes. Asked by Hoving to rewrite them, de Montebello did so, but, Hoving tells Gross, 'He was kind of stiff about it." Gross adds that, '[Hoving] wasn't the first to reach that conclusion. Though Philippe thought himself friendly, a fellow graduate student . . . recalls him as 'a pompous ass.'" (PageSix)

"Final 2009 NCAA March Madness on Demand traffic figures: 7.52 million unique visitors to the NCAA March Madness on Demand video player (2008 figure was 4.76 million - 58% growth). 8.6 million total hours of live streaming video and audio consumed - (2008 figure was 4.92 million - 75% growth). 515 thousand total hours of video and audio were consumed during the semifinal and championship games of the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, a 51% increase over 2008 figures. 2.77 million clicks of the 'Boss Button' (2008 figure was 2.5 million for entire tournament)" (Alex Riethmiller/CBSSports)



"Lightspeed Champion is playing the Mercury Lounge in NYC on Thursday, June 18th. No ticket info yet. The Champion himself, Devonte Hynes, laid a huge update on his website/blog last night, with details on his three unique, upcoming UK dates and new book and album(s) info." (BrooklynVegan)

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