Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Obama Orders Stephen's Haircut - Ray Odierno
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorStephen Colbert in Iraq


"Kudos to Colbert for putting on a great show for the troops and the viewers back home. But given that the show is paired with Colbert stint as 'guest editor,' of a Newsweek special issue on Iraq, it's fair to ask what exactly the point of this project is. Colbert quipped last night that, 'I thought the war was over, because I haven't seen any stories about it in a month,' and the show and the magazine seemed to be designed to bring media focus back to a war that Americans haven't been paying much attention to lately." (ForeignPolicy)



"Brad Pitt, Karl Lagerfield and Shala Monroque were all the buzz at the opening of Art Basel. GofG reported earlier today on the star-studded private dinner held in honor of designer Karl Lagerfeld. Art Basel is the premier international art show for Modern and contemporary works, and is a favorite rendezvous for the art community and all art enthusiasts." (Guestofaguest)



"Holding a dinner for VIP guests after a movie screening is standard these days. Yet some questioned the choice to do so after a viewing of the new documentary "Food Inc." on Tuesday night. After all, the film does investigate how big factory farms raise and slaughter livestock and poultry — and it ain't pretty. 'If I see chicken come up on the menu, I'm going to run screaming out of this place,' said Regis Philbin as he arrived at L'Ecole, the restaurant of the French Culinary Institute ..Daisy Lowe shops the Union Square greenmarket when she cooks for her boyfriend and David Lauren has started growing strawberries, potatoes and arugula at his home in Westchester. 'If you didn't [see this film] because you were interested in learning, you come out feeling like you're on a mission now to eat differently,' Lauren said." (WWD)



"Robin (Quivers) started off the show saying she went to the premiere of 'Food INC' last night and loved the message. After she finished discussing the documentary's subject, Ralph called in to say Robin was shooting herself in the foot: 'It sounds like you're preaching to people.' Robin admitted she might not come off well, explaining: 'I'm very passionate about it. I want people to understand' .. Howard took a call Lori Levine, who was at the 'Food INC' premiere and witnessed Robin's friend carrying her “arm couch” sling device: 'The thing is massive...there was someone who was like a couch handler.' Robin said the handler was just a friend who gracefully held her sling while her picture was taken in the press line." (HowardStern)




(image via timeinc)

"AMID all the chaos in Albany, the upstate billionaire at the center of the state Senate upheaval yesterday coyly confirmed he's dating tennis great Monica Seles. Buffalo Sabres owner and upstate king-maker Thomas Golisano, 67 -- credited with convincing two rogue Democratic senators to join forces with the GOP -- has been spotted for months squiring around Seles, 35." (PageSix)



"Just met Prince Albert again! We are at the palace in Monte Carlo!!! We talked about his mom Grace Kelly! WOW" (Kim Kardashian/Twitter)

"I went down to Michael’s for lunch with Judith Agisim, a public relations woman I’ve known since I came back here from California in the early 90s. Judy is one of those women who is eternally fascinated by the city and its characters. And Michael’s is a perfect place for the fascinated. Yesterday’s crowd was entertainment heavy. Entertainment and the money, of course. Ron Perelman was lunching with Ron Meyer. Next to them Stan Shuman was entertaining Marshall Rose; and next to them Barbara Walters was lunching with Wendy Goldberg who is in town for five minutes while her husband Leonard attends the CBS board meeting. Next to them were the two impresarios of NewLine Cinema Bob Shays and Michael Lynne. Next to them Randy Jones ('The Richest Man in Town') was entertaining a woman who looked a little like Catherine Zeta Jones (turned out not to be), and across the way was Pedro Almodovar. Next to (Mr. an Mrs.) Weinstein. Also Chuck Pfeiffer, Mickey Ateyeh with Joel Isaacs and John Sykes, Fredi Friedman, Sarah Silverman, Linda Janklow." (NYSocialDiary)



"Monday night, the Australian model turned DJ, Sky Nellor celebrated her birthday surrounded by her closest friends at Mr. West nightclub. Hosted by Venom Energy and Skam Artists Sujit Kundu and Jessica Rosenblum, guests included Jamie Foxx, Jay Z, AJ Calloway, and Lil Jon." (Guestofaguest)



"At a recent symposium at Tel Aviv University, Major General Aharon Zeevi Farkash, the former chief of military intelligence, described Israel's public perception of the Iranian nuclear threat as 'distorted.' His view -- which is shared by many in Israel's security and intelligence services -- is that Israel is not Iran's primary target, and therefore, Israel must not attack Iran unilaterally. Members of the audience took issue with his analysis. One woman, speaking with a heavy Farsi accent, said of the Iranian regime, 'They're crazy, and they will drop a bomb on us the moment they can. We need to deal with them now!' Her sentiment reflects the public mood in Israel, where many are convinced that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to annihilate them and is willing to risk the destruction of his own country to do so. For most Israelis, the question is not whether Iran will attack but when. Polls consistently show that Israelis are overwhelmingly in favor of striking Iran's nuclear facilities. A recent survey commissioned by Tel Aviv University's Center for Iranian Studies found that three out of four Israelis believe the United States will not be able to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and one in two supports taking immediate military action." (ForeignAffairs)



"The Young Hollywood Awards, sponsored by Sebastian, were, as promised, filled with the brightest young stars of Tinseltown. I got there expecting a paparazzi herd, a stampede of stalker fans, and only brief cameos from celebrities, but I was one of the few editors actually allowed into the space to mingle up close and personal with all of the YH faces. The event was held in a small Santa Monica theater and was short and to the point unlike the standard eight hour ceremonies. The after-party featured a hot tea bar, sushi catered by NoBu, beverages by Alize, Music by DJ AM, and tons of beautiful bodies. I have always been impressed with Evan Rachel Wood and her performances in 13, Across the Universe, and The Wrestler, so when she was recognized as the YH Superstar I was not surprised. The girl that stole my heart was 19 year old environmental activist Q'Orianka Kilcher who played Pocahontas in The New World and will be playing the last Hawaiian royal in Barbarian Princess." (Papermag)

"We caught up with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails last night at the Webby Awards. Reznor recently took up the cause of Eric De La Cruz, brother of former CNN correspondent Veronica Del La Cruz, and has helped raise more than $900,000." (Webnewser)



"By day, the back of the Stella McCartney store in West Hollywood is a parking lot. But on Friday, otherwise known as World Environment Day, the gas-guzzling BMWs were replaced by picnic tables, cotton candy and popcorn machines, baskets full of vegan food, and an outdoor movie screen to premiere Home, a socially conscious documentary directed by Yann-Arthus Bertrand and distributed by Luc Besson and François-Henri Pinault, the chairman and CEO of PPR. The evening was, in part, sponsored by Lexus." (Style)



"'This content hub will be the most powerful generator of news and information anywhere in the world,' said Robert Thomson, the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. He was speaking from his offices in the World Financial Center on Liberty Street, for the past 24 years the home of The Journal. But he was talking about 1211 Avenue of Americas, the corporate headquarters of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. On Friday, The Journal will move the bulk of its reporting operation to floors four through eight at the building reporters at the newspaper, bought last year by Mr. Murdoch, refer to as the Death Star." (Observer)



"Architect Philip Johnson hung sparkling curtains of metal mesh in the windows of the Four Seasons restaurant in 1959, then lunched there regularly for decades, keeping an owlish eye on the place through his thick, round glasses. After all, the restaurant is as famous for its modern grandeur as for its food and power-broker patrons. The Four Seasons is throwing itself a half-century bash tomorrow, with 800 of its closest friends, including Blackstone Group co-founder Peter G. Peterson, home-style doyenne Martha Stewart, and fashion royalty Oscar de la Renta. Then it’s quietly giving itself a facelift." (Bloomberg)



"What we decided was to do something different with the Daily Beast. We knew we would not produce any real revenue until we had established the brand, so to speak, established the content as a place that anybody wanted to access. What we said was we’re not going to take any ads. I didn’t not want to—we actually did in a misunderstanding, we did take an ad very early, which when I saw it, I said, ‘how can you do this? This is terrible.’ I don’t want to take an ad now because it’s not going to produce revenue for us at this stage and until we conceptualize a manner of advertising that is different than standard display, the little 2X300 box, which we don’t want to do at the Daily Beast, until we figure that out, I don’t want to take any adverting. In the early period, we worked on a concept for advertising that was different than the current method of display advertising. The first rollout for that was a Bottega Veneta ad, which nobody had ever seen before. That’s what we’re going to pursue—a magazine approach to advertising, an art approach to advertising rather than an internet approach to advertising." (Barry Diller/Paidcontent)



"My agent, Joe Machota (who was also my date at the Tonys), gave me all the reviews of the play the last day I was in New York and I had time to quickly read through them all before leaving for Paris. I deliberately avoided reading reviews until it was over and I am glad I did. They reflected such contradictory opinions of the play and of my performance that I would have gotten confused. Some really liked what I did. Some really didn’t like what I did and some were ambivalent. I find it very useful to read reviews. I always have. I learn from the reviews both the good ones and the bad ones. I learn about the reviewers themselves, about perceptions they have about me as a woman beyond me in the role and I learn how what I do can be perceived by others. This last is especially useful, I think. In a few weeks, while I am recovering from my up-coming surgery I intend to reread the reviews so that I can better interpret them and decide what’s important to know about my work. I will probably write more about all of this later. Right now I am in Paris memorizing my French dialogue for the L’Oreal commercial I will be shooting." (Jane Fonda's Blog)

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