"And finally two years later, I left Becker. I was working on Andy Richter, and I just said to my agents, 'Send this script to David Chase, send it to Alan Ball.' They were both at UTA, which is where I was. And they told me Alan Ball wasn’t gonna read it; he only looked at playwrights, which I’ve since talked to him about and he was amused by. And David Chase’s show, they told me, they’re feature people, they’re Law and Order, they’re procedural, they’re one-hour people. I had since gotten a manager, who really did help me a lot. And my manager told them, 'If you don’t get this to David Chase, Matt’s gonna leave the agency.' So they got it to him, and a week later I was in New York on 'The Sopranos.' The most important thing people have to know is that I wrote a lot for free; I never sold a pitch." (Matt Weiner to Eric Estrin/TheWrap)
"We want our MTV back! The cable channel plans to unplug its famed studio overlooking Times Square at the end of the year, according to landlord SL Green, which has put the space on the market. MTV's parent, Viacom, didn't renew its studio lease when it extended its lease on more than 1 million square feet of offices at 1515 Broadway, between 44th and 45th streets, last year. And while it could still make an offer on the space that's now possibly 10 times more costly than it was 12 years ago, it has not yet done so. 'We're taking it back from MTV at end of year,' SL Green Leasing Director Steven Durels said. 'We're actively marketing it, and we think it will be the crowning touch of the retail development we've done since we bought the building,' which signed store tenants Billabong, Element and Bank of America. A rep for MTV and Viacom's real estate brokers at CB Richard Ellis declined to comment." (Steve Cuozzo/NYPost)
"Today is the birthday of my international beloved and/or reviled colleague, if I may be so bold, Taki Theodoracopulos, the international pundit’s pundit, playboy (ret.), yachtsman, Gstaadian literary gadfly-by-night, loyal friend, father and ex-husband. Taki, right now, from what I could gather, is on his yacht in the Mediterranean or the Aegean or somewhere beautiful and heavenly, living the good life. I’ve been reading Taki for many years -- at first in Spectator (Brit.). I must admit many times I was outraged at what I read. On the other hand, I liked the writer, even if I didn’t think the writer would like me. He's smart and witty. He has balls and he can laugh, including at himself. It always makes me laugh when I think of him; he gives that pleasure to even the passing parade. Taki was born a rich boy and it hasn’t changed him in the least. He’s still a rich boy. Happy Birthday Taki." (NYSocialDiary)
"It's official: Though she remained mum over the last nine months Jennifer Hudson is, indeed, a mom. The Oscar-winning actress and Grammy-winning singer, 27, welcomed son David Daniel Otunga Jr. on Monday, her rep confirms to PEOPLE. 'The baby is beautiful and perfect,' says Hudson's rep Lisa Kasteler. 'His parents are ecstatic.'" (People)
"Howard (Stern) played some of the Bob Dylan show clips and he really is rambling and mumbling in a way that was pretty much unintelligible. He was talking about the blood of the lamb and what that was all about but a lot of what he was saying was hard to understand. That all led into a song. Robin wondered if Dylan became a religious nut. Howard and Artie said that he was always kind of a religious nut. His songs were all based on religion. They talked about some of his songs and how they were influenced by the bible. Howard played some more of Dylan's ramblings. He was going on and on about masturbation and what the guy who invented the graham cracker was doing to try and stop it. Howard said that guy is really out there and he's pretty wild." (Marksfriggin)
"Earlier this year, Paper magazine's co-founder Kim Hastreiter attended a White House briefing and symposium on cultural activism. The Obama administration made an outreach to over 60 influential artists and cultural activists left out in the cold during the last eight years. But the speakers -- incoming political deputies with law degrees -- did not particularly impress our favorite gatekeeper as taking artists and the artistic process seriously. Artists, unfortunately, are not thought of as strategic assets in our country's national security portfolio. Artists at the White House are instruments of soft power -- charming cultural diversions, soundtracks and background music to the American Presidency, like those famous Pablo Casals concerts at Camelot. Kim Hastreiter argues, however, that artists are "true-blue American workers who deserve to be treated with the same respect as any other American worker." Further, artists -- by virtue of the fact that their craft is intuitive -- can contribute to the struggle against terrorism." (AWEARNESS)
"About 5,000 British investors with an estimated £2bn to £3bn in secret Liechtenstein bank accounts will be asked to come clean under a ground-breaking deal signed on Tuesday. HM Revenue & Customs wants to prise open the accounts by offering investors the chance to volunteer details of their deposits in return for limited penalties. Liechtenstein banks will be asked to close the accounts of customers who do not take up the Revenue offer. Banks and trust companies will then be independently audited to verify the undeclared accounts have been purged. Stephen Timms, financial secretary to the UK Treasury, on Tuesday said the 'ground breaking' deal was 'a big step forward for tax transparency.' The agreement, which could serve as an international model for opening up Liechtenstein accounts, comes a few months after the tiny Alpine principality agreed to ease its bank secrecy rules amid unprecedented international pressure on tax havens." (FT)
"FORMER Merrill Lynch chief John Thain at Park Avenue Summer restaurant not allowing a lady to pass him on the stairs" (PageSix)
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