Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"On Tuesday evening, the world’s most consequential turbaned man, Manmohan Singh, will glide through White House security and take his place at a dinner table beside Barack and Michelle Obama. He is the prime minister of India, a country that could, if Mr. Obama shoots his diplomatic hoops right, come to be a preeminent American ally in the 21st century, taking its place alongside Britain, Israel, and, assuming the bolshie Yukio Hatoyama doesn’t live forever, Japan. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize the political, strategic, and moral worth to America, the world’s most powerful democracy, of a strong alliance with India, the world’s largest. Mr. Obama, by no stretch a man of tepid intelligence, has calibrated things artfully: Not only is Mr. Singh the first state visitor to Washington since the president took office in January, his trip is the first time that India has headed an American president’s list for a state visit—ever. (Richard Nixon must be turning in his grave.)" (TheDailyBeast)



"Hollywood madam Michelle Braun is out to destroy the myth about Playboy Playmates which Hugh Hefner and his staff cultivated for decades -- that the pin-ups are wholesome girls-next-door who just happen to have incredible figures they don't mind showing off. Braun -- sentenced last week to three years' probation and six months of house detention -- is planning to write a tell-all about her 11-year career hooking up centerfolds and porn stars with the men who could afford the $10,000 minimum for a date. Her clients included the kings of two countries, Fortune 500 CEOs and professional athletes, two of whom -- a baseball star and a race car driver -- ended up marrying the Playboy Playmates they met through Braun's agency, Nici's Girls ... Braun, who now lives in Florida with her two daughters, won't name names yet. Of one very single TV personality, she said, "If I dropped his name to Page Six, I certainly wouldn't be his idol." (PageSix)



"There were two high points in the career of Tony Blair. One was 2003 when Hugh Grant played the British prime minister in Love Actually. The second was in 2006 when Michael Sheen played him in The Queen who was herself portrayed by Helen Mirren. Frankly, it's been downhill ever since. Of course, he had been the longest serving Labour prime minister in history. But he was also a victim of the Iraq war which he had supported basically against the wishes of his party and certainly of its rank-and-file. On the very day he told his monarch that he was stepping down and moving out of 10 Downing Street he was appointed Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, the quartet being the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia. A more motley group of intruders into the almost century-old Israel-Palestinian dispute could not be imagined, let alone invented. Anyway failure was its destiny and so also was it the destiny of Blair, poor bloke." (Martin Peretz/TNR)



"On a cold, miserable afternoon in mid-November, Ben Bronfman stepped out of a cab in front of the United Nations and walked through the security checkpoint, past the clusters of tourists in the lobby, and up to the Delegates Dining Room on the third floor, where there was a fancy luncheon to ramp things up for the big U.N. climate showdown that’s taking place in Copenhagen Dec. 7 through Dec. 18. A few minutes later, Mr. Bronfman, 27—son of the billionaire Warner Music CEO and Seagram liquor fortune heir Edgar Bronfman Jr., and fiancé of the Grammy-nominated electro–hip-hop auteur M.I.A.—was mingling with power players of the environmental movement." (Observer)



"President Barack Obama issued his sharpest critique yet of Robert Mugabe. The African strongman has been President of Zimbabwe for nearly 30 years, nearly ruining the country in the process of holding onto power by whatever means he deems necessary ... The sting came on Monday as President Obama at a ceremony of the Robert F. Kennedy Awards honoring Women of Zimbabwe Arise, or Woza. Woza's leaders Jenni Williams and Magadonga Mahlangu have been arrested dozens of times under Mugabe's regime. 'We deserve to live in dignity and free from fear; and it is our right to have our voices heard and respected,' said Ms. Mahlangu in her remarks. 'That is why I joined WOZA.' During the 2008 elections Mugabe's thugs beat up opposition party workers." (Ron Mwangaguhunga/AirAmerica)

"Last night I had dinner at Swifty’s with Heather Cohane. Heather is such a wispy name for a woman with such a strong personality. She and I met in 1992 right after I’d come to New York for that job that never worked out. Heather still owned Quest which she had started a few years before. That night, on first meeting, she gave me an assignment. That assignment turned into a whole career. It is seventeen years later and Heather now lives in Monte Carlo with her two dogs (both adopted) and near her (grown) children in Monte Carlo, Tuscany and Dorset, respectively. And I ponder the canyons of Manhattan looking for edit." (David Patrick Columbia/NYSocialDiary)



"Ben Chang is one Obama administration official known by many names. By day, he spins news as the deputy spokesman for the National Security Council. By night -- or at least before the weight of his current job responsibilities made doing so impossible -- he spins records as DJ MSG, also known as Hong Kong Hefner, a disc jockey and fashion photographer extraordinaire. Chang is an example of the new breed of Obama era up-and-comers who transcend the classical definition of the White House staffer. According to his personal Web site, he gigs in New York specializing in "Dancefloor jazz, funky breaks, old school & classic hip hop, indie pop/rock, new wave, dance punk, mutant disco...' His fashion-shoot work has been featured on elle.com, in such magazines as Express Mada ('I'm Big in Lithuania,' he writes), and in the March 2008 issue of Blackbook magazine, where he gave readers an inside look at the U.N. delegates' lounge. He was selected as one of Paper magazine's 'Beautiful People for 2008.' Somewhere in all that, Chang has amassed 13-plus years in the Foreign Service, including diplomatic assignments in El Salvador, at the State Department in Washington, in Paris at the U.S. Mission to the OECD, and in New York at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, according to his Web site." (ForeignPolicy)



"Art Basel/ Miami is hosting several 'salons,' conversations and artist talks in the center of the Miami Beach Convention Center (19th Street and Washington Avenue) including Shepard Fairey at 4 p.m. on December 3, Fred Tomaselli at 3 p.m. on December 4 and Ryan McGinley at 6 p.m. on December 5th. Fairey is also unveiling a new mural called 'The Public Works' at a reception on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon at 2700 NW 2nd Avenue in downtown Miami." (Papermag)



"'We've been doing a lot of press today, but I had the buddy system going with Zac. He's such a doll!' exclaimed Claire Danes during the screening of Me and Orson Welles last night at Chelsea Cinemas ... Friends and guests including Hugh Dancy, Amber Rose and Zac Posen stepped out to join in on the Wellesian fun. Efron's character plays a boy who schemes his way into a sweet gig and lands a role acting alongside Welles .. After the screening, the festivities raged on as guests including Courtney Love, Mamie Gummer and Gabourey Sidibe darted towards the Gramercy Park Hotel Roof." (Fashionweekdaily)