Thursday, April 23, 2009

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"The lineup for the 2009 Cannes Film Festival was unveiled in Paris today at a press conference shortly after Noon local time in the French capital. The news of the morning, for some, was the dearth of American filmmakers in competition for the Palme d’Or at the 62nd Festival de Cannes, running May 13 - 24, 2009. The roster features a number of previous award-winning Cannes filmmakers. Twenty films are vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or, with Quentin Tarantino as the sole American-born director. He’ll be in Cannes with his latest, 'Inglorious Basterds.' Taiwanese born filmmaker Ang Lee, who is U.S. based, will be in competition with his new movie, 'Taking Woodstock.' As anticipated, the festival will feature a roster of regulars who will be returning to the Croisette with new movies. Pedro Almodovar is in competition with 'Abrazos Rotos' (Broken Embraces), as are Lars Von Trier with 'Antichrist,' Jane Campion with 'Bright Star,' Ken Loach with 'Looking For Eric,'and Michael Haneke with 'The White Ribbon,' among others." (IndieWIRE)



(image via JH/NYSocialDiary)

"More raindrops although nothing like the night before. I put on a black tie and took a cab over to Fifth Avenue to the apartment of Georgette Mosbacher who was entertaining the troops at a book party for her pal Randy Jones and his 'The Richest Man in Town: the Twelve Commandments of Wealth' ..Meanwhile Mrs. Mosbacher was not to be seen at her own party, having come down with strep throat. Her sister Lyn Paulsin kept the locomotive on the tracks...From there it was down the avenue to the Pierre where the Versailles Foundation/ Claude Monet-Giverny was holding a black tie benefit In The Presence of His Imperial and Royal Highness Prince George Frederick of Prussia." (NYSocialDiary)



(image via thehill)

"House Select Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes has told the panel’s staff to begin investigating an incident in which Rep. Jane Harman was recorded on a wiretap talking with a suspected Israeli agent. Harman, D-Calif., was overheard on a 2005 National Security Agency (NSA) or FBI wiretap saying she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Congressional Quarterly reported this week. In return, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby for Harman to become chairwoman of the House Select Intelligence Committee, according to the report. 'In the context of the Harman incident, the committee is looking into the issue, including NSA involvement, as well as any other matter directly related to the committee’s jurisdiction over the intelligence community,' committee spokeswoman Courtney Littig said." (CQPolitics)



(image via mediasearch)

"The hostility between Fox News Channel and MSNBC reached a fever pitch Wednesday when a Fox producer infiltrated the GE shareholders meeting. Just before GE re-elected board members, company brass were hit with questions from shareholders critical of an alleged leftward political slant at MSNBC .. First up was a woman asking about a reported meeting in which Immelt and NBC Uni CEO Jeff Zucker supposedly told top CNBC executives and talent to be less critical of President Obama and his policies. Immelt acknowledged a meeting took place but said no one at CNBC was told what to say or not say about politics. One specific complaint about MSNBC concerned Keith Olbermann's interview of actress Janeane Garofalo, who likened conservatives to racists and spoke of 'the limbic brain inside a right-winger.' They were upset that Olbermann didn't bother to challenge her,' one GE shareholder said." (TheHollywoodReporter)

"We still don’t know why David Kellermann, the acting CFO of Freddie Mac, killed himself, and we may never. The act itself is grounded in irrationality, so it often defies rationale explanations. We know from interviews yesterday with his colleagues at the troubled mortgage giant that Kellermann was a generally happy man, though he seemed 'stressed out' recently while at work, according to The Wall Street Journal. Still, being stressed out generally isn’t a reason to take one’s life or everyone on Wall Street and at Freddie Mac would be cutting his or her wrists given the length and severity of the financial crisis that seems to have no end. But we do know something about Kellermann, and his job, which may provide some clues as to the breaking point for why he chose to hang himself in his suburban Washington, D.C. home. He clearly had a job that put him in the middle of all the problems facing Freddie—from allegations that the government agency created the mortgage bubble to, most recently, Freddie’s own disclosure that it is the subject of a Justice Department investigation into its accounting." (Charlie Gasparino/TheDailyBeast)

"As ever WWE RAW is a cable powerhouse, and it took the top spot. In Plain Sight returned slightly down from last year’s premiere, but last year it premiered in June away from broadcast competition so its 5.11 million viewers were still impressive. Law & Order: Criminal Intent returned with 4.58 million. Discovery gets a special mention for Deadliest Catch which pulled in 4.16 million last week. With a Johnny Depp voiced episode of SpongeBob in the mix (meaning a new SpongeBob Squarepants episode) the absorbent one had an especially spongy week. The top viewing of SpongeBob took in 5.78 million viewers and the second most-watched 5.20 million. There were five more episodes of SpongeBob that did four million or better, and an additional TWENTY-FIVE airings of SpongeBob that did three million or better." (TVBytheNumbers)



(image via babble)

"Téa Leoni .. butt-paints David Duchovny: 'I apply different colors to his cheeks, then he sits on the canvas. Sometimes I spank him to blend the colors.'" (CindyAdams)



(image via guestofaguest)

"Woody Allen took a break from battling American Apparel to attend the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of his new movie, 'Whatever Works' on Wednesday night at the Royalton Hotel. The film marks the end of Allen’s five year hiatus from shooting in his beloved New York City. Celebrating Allen’s cinematic homecoming were 'Whatever Works' stars Evan Rachel Wood, Larry David, Patricia Clarkson and Henry Cavill, as well as Tribeca Jurors Mary-Kate Olsen, Bradley Cooper, Parker Posey, and Melissa Leo." (Guestofaguest)

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