Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"At this moment, there are more females serving on the United States Supreme Court than there are writing for Late Show with David Letterman, The Jay Leno Show, and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien combined. Out of the 50 or so comedy writers working on these programs, exactly zero are women. It would be funny if it weren’t true. Late-night talk shows have long snubbed female writers. ('Blaaaaame Johnny!') Now old charges of sexism have joined new concerns about sexual harassment, triggered by an alleged extortion plot that prompted David Letterman to admit on-air, 'I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.'" (VanityFair)



"Rosie O'Donnell stopped by (The Howard Stern Show) to talk about her new Sirius XM radio show – on Channel 102 – and revealed that, like Artie, she had was disturbed by outliving a parent: 'My mother died when she was 39 and that was a big reason why I left my [TV] show [when she was 39]' ... Howard asked Rosie if she planned to start dating famous lesbians now that she's most likely going to be single, but Rosie blew it off: 'I don't even think of dating to tell you the truth. With some heavy-hitter lesbo?' Howard listed Lindsay Lohan as a potential candidate, so Rosie explained her 'anti-fame' dating rule: 'Way too young...you're not allowed to be famous if I date you.' Rosie also claimed she'd never be interested in stealing Portia de Rossi from Ellen Degeneres: 'I have an anti-fame rule!'" (HowardStern)



"The U.S. economy’s worst recession since the 1930s seems to be over, said Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the financial crisis. The economic recovery in advanced nations will still be 'anemic,' Roubini, chairman of New York-based research and advisory service Roubini Global Economics, said via satellite to a conference in Cape Town, South Africa. The economist said he’s 'more optimistic' on the outlook for growth in emerging markets. Roubini’s July 2006 warning about the financial crisis protected investors from losses in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s worst annual tumble in seven decades. The U.S. equity benchmark has surged 58 percent from a 12-year low in March even as Roubini said that month the advance was a 'dead-cat bounce,' that it may 'fizzle' in May and warned in July that the economy is 'not out of the woods.' Roubini, also known as Dr. Doom for his pessimistic forecasts on markets and the economy, said this month that stock markets have “gone up too much, too soon, too fast.'" (Bloomberg)



"America's sweetheart, the actress Sandra Bullock, is being dragged into an unpleasant legal battle to prove that she is a better parent than her husband’s former wife, the star of more than 100 pornographic movies. Bullock is backing claims by her husband Jesse James, the television celebrity, that they have made a good home for Sunny, his five-year-old daughter. His ex-wife Janine Lindemulder, 40, star of such video titles as Mrs Behavin’, Sleeping Booty and Dyke Diner, disagrees. She has just been released from a six-month prison sentence for tax evasion. When she was in jail in Oregon she reportedly sent her former husband a bitter text message that read: 'U win. Sandra finally has her baby — congratulations.' The tattooed blonde remains in a halfway house in Los Angeles until the end of this year when she can seek custody of her daughter. James, 40, has launched a pre-emptive legal strike in wealthy Orange county, south of Los Angeles, where all three have beachside homes. He has asked a judge to rule on whether Lindemulder is a fit mother." (TimesOnline)



"A Taliban fighter killed this spring by NATO troops in southern Afghanistan was found to have a tattoo from the Aston Villa Football Club, indicating he may have grown up in Britain's West Midlands. It was the latest evidence that British Muslims of South Asian origin have joined the fight in Afghanistan. (Read the full report here.) For some time, Royal Air Force spy planes have picked up radio communication between Taliban fighters who speak with thick accents from Manchester, Birmingham, West Bromwich and Bradford, all cities with large populations of British Muslims of South Asian origin. 'But it was a shock to hear that the guys we were fighting against supported the same football clubs as us, and maybe even grew up on the same streets as us,' the Telegraph newspaper quoted an unnamed British military official as saying." (ForeignPolicy)



"Because of their large fan bases, television actors and showrunners have flocked to Twitter since its inception. Not so the movie insiders. But that's all changing. No, you still won't find parenting tips from Brangelina, twitpics from Steven Spielberg or 'Pirates 4' revelations from the Tweetdeck of Johnny Depp. But over the last few months, Twitter has become the place to get tips about upcoming blockbusters like 'Iron Man 2' or 'New Moon,' or read riffs by the droll likes of Russell Brand. In deciding on the 30 tweeters to follow, TheWrap weighed certain criteria. It wasn't enough to have an account (hint, hint, Zooey Deschanel) -- stars, directors, scribes and journalists had to update frequently, too. We also tried to reward quality of tweets. Screenwriter Roger Avary's tweets crackle with the same love of language that made his collaboration with Quentin Tarantino on 'Pulp Fiction' a classic. And we had to make space for the bloggers and reporters who cover the studio scene. From fanboy favorites like Ain't It Cool News' Harry Knowles to veteran reviewers like Rolling Stone's Peter Travers, they're all must stops to find breaking news and fresh takes on buzzworthy movies." (TheWrap)



"DIANE von Furstenberg was mugged in Madrid on Sunday. The head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, who was in Spain to collect a Telva Fashion Award, tweeted: 'I just got robbed in the street in front of the Thyssen museum . . . My wallet, cash and all my credit cards!!' The Belgian-born wife of billionaire Barry Diller later typed, 'I am totally fine!! I hope it the worst thing that will happen to me. Getting a big prize tomorrow so going to sleep now.'" (PageSix)



"Last night I went to the annual fundraising dinner for the New York Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC). It was at 583 Park for the first time and it was a very pleasant place, indeed, to go to one of these gala dinners. Deborah Norville was emcee, as she has been for several years. She recounted the story that has been in the news this week about the four-year-old Jayden Lenescar who was beaten to death by someone in his household (the boyfriend? The mother? The both?) in Crown Heights last Friday. I have a hard time with those stories. They bring out in me the kind of rage that was expressed in the murdering of that child. I think to myself the murderers should get it but worse, if that is possible." (NYSocialDiary)



"The rustic properties on the Baltic island of Faro where the director Ingmar Bergman lived and worked will become a nonprofit retreat for artists and scholars. The sale of Bergman’s property, which includes a library, film collection, furniture and art, was arranged by Linn Ullmann, his daughter with the actress Liv Ullmann. 'Now the legacy of my father will be preserved,' Linn Ullmann said Monday in a telephone interview. 'Nobody has bought it to make Bergman’s Bed-and-Breakfast or Bergmanland.' Mr. Bergman first visited Faro, off the coast of Gotland, Sweden, in 1960 while scouting locations for his film 'Through a Glass Darkly.' He died at his home there in 2007 and was buried at a local church alongside his wife, Ingrid." (David Itzkoff/NYTimes)



"While Friday night revelers on Crosby Street may have had stilettos on their feet, they certainly had sneakers on the brain as they celebrated, along with hosts Frida Giannini and Mark Ronson, the official kick-off of the Gucci Icon-Temporary flash sneaker store opening ... Perfectly-coifed (per usual) and decked out in his own blue and white boat shoe/sneaker hybrids, Ronson confessed, 'There is definitely some pressure because I've never done anything like this before. You don't want the first thing you do to come out and be lame.' Lame was the last word on guest's minds. 'All these shoes are crazy,' Mary J. Blige gushed. 'But these are beyond,' she said, pointing to a gilded (naturally!) pair of lace-ups. 'Now these are crazy-crazy.' She paused from chatting with Wyclef Jean to bust out a quick dance move, underscoring her enthusiasm with a hip-shake." (Fashionweekdaily)



"Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO, will challenge California's Barbara Boxer for a shot at the Senate.." (CindyAdams)



"This past Saturday night, artist Todd DiCiurcio presented 'Heartstrings,' his latest exhibition of portraits at Confederacy on Hollywood. The high-end boutique and art space held a fancy reception sponsored by Rag & Bone, featuring photos by Rony’s Photobooth and complimentary pineapple vodkas all night long. Store owner Danny Masterson DJ’ed for all his famous pals and select pretty people. Among the celebs spotted darting between the racks of fabulous clothes: Hillary Duff, Ashley Greene, Taryn Manning, Christopher Masterson, Bijou Phillips and our vampiric-looking host, Ed Westwick." (Papermag)