Thursday, April 16, 2009

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"Over at the Mandarin Oriental The Friends of New Yorkers For Children hosted their 6th Annual Spring Dinner Dance – New Year’s in April: A Fool’s Fete. The evening is a benefit for youth in foster care in New York City. This is a very popular event among the younger sets (20-, 30-somethings, and then some) in New York. It is also a fashion event of the first order .. In the crowd: Fabiola Beracasa ... Tinsley and Topper Mortimer .. Selita Ebanks, Genevieve Jones, Josh Hartnett, Common, Alina Cho, Bob Colacello ..Serena Williams, Olivia Palermo, Zac Posen, Diane Kruger, Andre Balazs .." (NYSocialDiary)



"As candidates position themselves for California’s governor’s race next year, Hollywood money and name support is already up for grabs among a handful of familiar politicians, who know that the entertainment industry will play a key role in determining who survives the primaries. Each of the leaders has ties to build on: L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa got donations from dozens of actors from Tom Hanks to Eva Longoria, directors including Michael Apted, and Steven Soderbergh and moguls like producer Steve Bing and William Morris CEO Jim Wiatt helping him breeze to reelection last year. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s campaign to legalize gay marriage has endeared him to Sean Penn, Rob Reiner and Rosie O’Donnell. Plus, he’s married to an actress, Jennifer Siebel. And though he’s been out of the L.A. mainstream for a while, Attorney General Jerry Brown -- who at one point famously dated singer Linda Ronstadt -- has 'a large cadre of Hollywood folks supporting him,' said Barbara O’Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University, Sacramento." (TheWrap)



(image via nytimes)

"Any one else grossed out yet by the witch-hunt tone the hipster grifter coverage is taking on? Gawker is worst in high-horse vigilante mode." (Emily Gould/Twitter)

"SUZY Welch, the wife of retired GE chief Jack Welch, drew a stellar crowd to Tuesday's launch of her self-help book, '10-10-10.' Or maybe the turnout was due to the party's hosts, Tina Brown and Harry Evans, who opened up their East 57th Street maisonette, and Barry Diller, who backs Brown's Web site, The Daily Beast. Among those who raised a glass: Matt Lauer, who'd interviewed Welch on 'Today' that morning; News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch; Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski; Tom and Meredith Brokaw; Pamela Gross and Jimmy Finkelstein; Joe Armstrong; and Carl Bernstein, who was deep in conversation with Ben Bradlee, his old Washington Post boss. Bradlee's wife, Sally Quinn, told Page Six how busy she was with all the hoopla surrounding Grey Gardens, their house in East Hampton, and proudly introduced her son Quinn, who just launched his own book, 'A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures.'" (PageSix)

"Sen. Christopher J. Dodd's shaky status in Connecticut hasn't scared away too many donors, it seems. The five-term Democratic incumbent reported just over $1 million in total receipts in the first three months of 2009, his report to the Federal Election Commission states. Dodd ended March with $1.4 million in the bank. Dodd's cash is likely to give him an edge against two Republican challengers, former Rep. Rob Simmons and state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, who both announced they would run for the seat in March. Recent polls show Dodd trailing both men in hypothetical match-ups, but neither Simmons nor Caligiuri has the name recognition or fundraising clout of Connecticut's senior senator." (CQPOlitics)



"'We're staying the course,' said Bottega Veneta's Tomas Maier at Bergdorf Goodman on Tuesday night, as the designer air-kissed and greeted his good friends and chic followers at the fête thrown in his honor .. Graydon Carter and Glenda Bailey made appearances to show their love for the designe.." (Fashionweekdaily)

"India and China may press for the sale of the entire gold reserves of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to raise money for the least developed countries. The IMF holds 103.4 million ounces (3,217 tonnes) of gold that, if sold, can fetch about $100 billion. A draft paper exchanged between New Delhi and Beijing proposes that the gold be sold in bullion markets over a period of two to three years. The money thus raised must be used in tackling poverty in the poorest nations. 'We have been discussing with China a common position on the subject,' a senior finance ministry official told Financial Chronicle. Both prime minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese president Hu Jintao will have to clear the proposal before the representatives of the two countries can take it up at the IMF spring meeting in June in Washington." (MyDigitalFC via Bloomberg)

"Paris Hilton rolled into town last night and immediately put several noses out of joint. She first went to Mahiki in Mayfair, where she ordered her personal bodygoons to force all of the girls in the ladies' loos to leave." (Thisislondon)



"What do you call 714 million eligible voters, 5,500 candidates, 1,055 political parties, and 830,000 polling stations? Call it the world's biggest election ever, to be held in India, the world's largest democracy, beginning April 16." (ForewignPolicy)

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