Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"I was so excited to hear that one week before the Tony Awards, First Couple Barack and Michelle Obama went to see the Tony-nominated revival of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Before the show, they had a leisurely two hour dinner at a West Village restaurant, Blue Hill, and then headed uptown to the Belasco Theater. What a great date night .. After the Obama's departure, actor Chad Coleman, who plays Herald Loomis in Joe Turner, blogged on the Lincoln Center Theater site that he 'still hadn't come down for the high.' And even though the show had a delayed start because of Presidential security precautions, the audience -- which also included Meryl Streep -- broke into a crazy applause as the curtain finally went up." (Papermag)



(image via cfr)

"Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, an influential member of the Saudi royal family and former head of its intelligence service, says the U.S. should kill Osama Bin Laden and then 'get the hell out' of Afghanistan. Turki, who was also Saudi ambassador to the United States from 2005 to April 2009, likened al Qaeda to a 'cult' and its leader to a 'hydra head with venomous snakes.' To destroy the cult, he said, 'you have to cut off the head.' 'After that,' he advised, 'declare victory...then get the hell out of Afghanistan.'" (CQPolitics)



"Sam Mendes is quickly amassing one of the most idiotic contemporary bodies of work that otherwise reasonable people consider credible. His fifth film, 'Away We Go,' continues the Brit stage director’s track record of tackling different eras in the American experience (earlier: the Thirties in 'Road to Perdition,' the Fifties in the god-awful 'Revolutionary Road,' and the two diametrically opposed halves of the Nineties in 'Jarhead' and 'American Beauty'), only to refract them back to us as collections of inanities. Maybe his films play better overseas where many generally assume the worst of us Yanks, but his stultifyingly fussy camera (usually needlessly fitted with cinemascope lenses) sucks the air out of nearly every scene like vacuum pump." (IndieWIRE)



"Andy Richter called in to celebrate his return as Conan's sidekick on 'The Tonight Show' starting tonight. Howard asked if he thought returning to the show was a sign of defeat, but Andy explained: 'It really isn't...you get older and the thing about going out and making your own thing and doing your own thing doesn't matter anymore.' Andy then refused to comment on the exit of Joel Goddard, the announcer who replaced Andy after he left the first time: 'I've learned that giving Howard Stern information at the expense of your personal life is not worth it.' Asked how the Conan's 'Tonight Show' deal came together, Andy explained: 'Conan started entertaining other offers...NBC didn't want to lose him so they did anything they could do to keep him around...I think they just kind of assumed that Jay would want to move on.' Howard wondered what Andy thought about Jay Leno's new 10pm show, but Andy refused to take the bait: 'I really don't know...all kidding aside, it's kinda fascinating to see what will happen.'" (HowardSternShow)


"No one is even trying to disguise the backward-looking mandate. In fact, Conan’s dash from N.Y. to L.A. was the show’s second element. The first: A vintage NBC intro, the one with the peacock and the quaint promise, 'the following program is brought to you in living color.' Conan is taking over a franchise that desperately needs to be shaken up, and that NBC really doesn’t want him to tamper with. The question is: Will The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien be a retro-smart reinvention or just backward looking?" (TheDailyBeast)



"NICOLE Kidman's loss is Lucy Punch's gain. Kidman dropped out of the next Woody Allen movie, in which she was to play an Ashley Dupre-type call girl, claiming she was too busy producing and starring in 'The Rabbit Hole,' directed by John Cameron Mitchell. So now the younger British actress has the part, Variety reports, which will conveniently be filmed in London." (PageSix)



(Lilly Allen via newsoftheworld)

"The Smile star's gaping gown left little to the imagination as she took a break from filming to smoke a cigarette with the crew in London's Covent Garden. A source says: 'Lily's in great shape and was obviously keen to show off her curves. There are quite a few surprises in store in the video - but this is one even she didn't plan!'" (Newsoftheworld)

"Sometimes it pays to be the tortoise, not the hare, and come fall the longtime tortoise of broadcast TV, CBS, is the one media buyers think has the most promising lineup of new and returning shows. This is indeed a switch. In similar surveys over recent years, it's typically ABC that's voted the network with the most promising fall schedule. This year, in a Media Life poll that ran last week, CBS edged out ABC by a comfortable margin. Asked which network has the strongest schedule for 2009-'10, 49 percent of readers chose CBS, versus 38 percent for ABC. All the other networks, including season winner Fox, ranked in the single-digit percentages: Fox at 6 percent, NBC at 5 percent, and the CW at 2 percent." (Medialifemagazine)



"Paris Hilton is taking her search for a best friend to the Middle East, where Lionsgate and Ish Entertainment have stuck a deal with a Dubai-based shingle to produce a new version of 'Paris Hilton's My New BFF.' Dubai-based Uniqon is funding most of the project, which will follow the celebrity heiress as she puts a group of young women -- half from the Middle East, half from elsewhere but currently living in Dubai -- through a series of tests to see who would best complement her lifestyle. 'I love it for the sheer wildcard aspect of it,' said Ish Entertainment co-founder Michael Hirschhorn. 'It's so out of the ordinary.'" (Variety)

"OK, OK---it was a great resort show, and what else is to be expected from one of the world's most legendary designers, Oscar de la Renta? As always, he earns the award for the best-edited assortment of flawless separates, which this season, were punctuated by glorious noir gowns and equally noir cocktail dresses. More on that later--right now, you're focused on the front row. So who was there? Well, Robbie Myers, sans Joe Zee but avec Anne Slowey and Kate Lanphear. The BG Trifecta (Jim Gold, Linda Fargo and Roopal Patel) scribbled notes furiously while earning the day's Best Dressed awards. And Anna, of course, in suns and a spotted sheath, squired by most of the cast of The September Issue (including Andre, who sported a giant blush-colored alligator coat). Nary a Horyn or JoCo in sight, as several seats were left empty due to those who opted to remain en vacances on this lovely summer Monday morning..." (Fashionweekdaily)



(image via JH/NYSD)

"There was one runway down the middle of the room. The seating arrangement was also very clean and organized. In the front row on one side of the runway sat Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Hamish Bowles, Andre Leon Talley and several others whom I didn’t recognize. At the near end of that row was Patrick McCarthy of 'W.' Farther down, in the next section was Glenda Bailey and her editorial coterie in the front row. In my experience of fashion shows, they always start about twenty minutes or a half hour later than scheduled." (NYSocialDiary)

"A masterful organizer of horses, rifles, food and tents, Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs probably had as much to do with winning the Civil War as Ulysses S. Grant. The resourceful Meigs is recalled in Simon Schama’s new history, 'The American Future' (Ecco Press, $29.99). The author looks into the mirror of the American past for signs of how the country might weather its current political and economic crisis. His portrait of Meigs testifies to the strength of the American character. He draws similarly hopeful lessons from other exemplary figures dealing with the problems of war, immigration, money and religion." (Bloomberg)

"Now I remember the day as if it were yesterday, in fact much better, as at my advanced age I sometimes do not remember yesterdays. It was three in the afternoon, I was tired from walking up and down 5th, and decided to hit El Borracho, hoping the barman would remember me. I had very little money but, when one’s 18, things like that hardly register. The place was just off Madison Avenue in the mid-50s. I walked into the dark, cool place, and plonked myself at the bar, trying to act bored and sophisticated. That’s when I noticed the man three stools down. My heart skipped a beat, then another and another. It was the greatest man in the world: Ernest Hemingway himself. He was drinking a whiskey sour, or so I was about to find out." (Takimag)