Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"On a spring day in 2007, David Zaslav walked into an intimate, living-room-style conference room on the second floor of Harpo Studios in Chicago and sat down next to Oprah Winfrey. The 47-year-old television executive hadn’t met Oprah before, and although he’d spent his share of time in the presence of celebrities, he was struck by how life-size she seemed. As anyone who watches her show knows, Oprah’s great gift is the way she can be at once a star and Everywoman. She contains multitudes: There is empathetic Oprah (commiserating with abuse survivors, the parents of autistic children, or the entire nation of South Africa), indignant Oprah (seething at James Frey over fabricating his memoir), fun-loving Oprah (road-tripping across America with best friend Gayle King), news-making Oprah (Tom Cruise), tabloid Oprah (her weight is up, it’s down), mystical Oprah (The Secret and its Law of Attraction, suggesting you can get whatever you want if you just want it enough), and altruistic Oprah ('Everybody gets a car!'). That day, Zaslav was talking with Oprah the businesswoman. She sat quietly, with her glasses perched at the end of her nose; she was in tire-kicking mode." (NYMag)



"Nancy Pelosi showed Sunday why she is one of the most powerful Speakers in history. In shepherding one of the most controversial bills through the House, Pelosi achieved what some thought what was impossible after Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts two months ago. Pelosi's political stock took major hits at various points in the 111th Congress. Last year, she attracted widespread criticism for her seemingly contradictory statements on what she knew about U.S. interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists. Her handling of the Eric Massa scandal earlier this month was mocked by Republicans and her replacing of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) as Ways and Means chairman was anything but smooth. Headlines on those issues had some whispering that Pelosi did not have the pull with her caucus that she used to. Some Democrats in the nation's capital privately predicted Pelosi couldn't pull off this close vote, especially with more than 30 House Democrats facing tougher reelection races than when the House cleared its healthcare bill last November. Down at least two dozen votes earlier this month, Pelosi worked many members one-on-one." (TheHill)



"More people, more places in little ole Manhattan. The nights have been as beautiful as the days; and people were out on the town. Last Thursday night at Bergdorf’s Akris designer Albert Kriemler hosted an evening of cocktails to celebrate the opening of an exhibition featuring works from the designer’s 15-year collaboration with photographer Steven Klein, including campaign images from 30 seasons. There is the first campaign with Stella Tennant to campaigns with Trish Goff, Aurelie, Bridget Hall, Anouck Lepere, Maria Clara, Michele Alves, Lisa Cant, Bruna Tenerio, and Alana Zimmer, to the current campaign with the Infinite 'It' Girl, Daphne Guinness." (JH/NYSocialDiary)



"Maybe newspapers really are dying, as some media analysts have been predicting for decades, but apparently that does not apply to newspaper wars. A doozy is shaping up at the moment between The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. John Seeley, the editor of The Journal's forthcoming New York section. In an attempt to eat into The Times’s mass-market audience and lure away some of its luxury advertisers, The Journal has already edged away from its traditional role as a national business paper, adding a daily sports page and a bimonthly magazine, strengthening foreign and Washington coverage and shifting the mix of articles on its front page. Now The Journal, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, is making its biggest and most audacious move yet away from its roots, starting up a local news section for New York to compete directly with The Times for affluent, general interest metropolitan readers and the high-end advertisers who covet them." (RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA/NYTimes)



"I covered part of the premiere episode of Breaking Bad in my preview post Friday, but I'll say it again: having started its run setting a frantic pace and constantly upping the stakes, Breaking Bad has learned the dramatic power of setting up a menacing situation and letting it play out slowly. It was appropriate, then, that it should begin—and what a visually stunning opening this way—with two scary men crawling. And then, having set up the premise of two quiet, terrifying as hell Mexican assassins on the trail of 'Heisenberg,' the rest of the top-shelf premiere, 'No Mas,' did what they do: moved toward its target, steadily, deliberately and with killer confidence. It's redundant at this point to say how good Bryan Cranston is in his role, but I continue to be awed at how he can show us the gears whirring in Walter White's mind, as—even while he demonstrates that he has turned into a deathly competent criminal—he works to convince himself that he is still a good man and a good father. In that opening scene, in which Walt starts burning his drug money and the dumps it into the pool to extinguish it, it's as if he's drowning the part of himself that's repentant for what he's done." (James Poniewozik/(Time)



"I began writing 'The Big Picture' in 1998. At that point, there were no DVDs, the video market was still king and Blockbuster was a major part of Viacom. By the time I finished the book, the business had changed. Historically, Hollywood has changed from a business that derived its money from box office to a business that manufactures intellectual properties. Studios earn 20 percent of their revenues from theatrical distribution and the remaining 80 percent comes across other platforms. In 2005 , around when the book went to print, studios looked at DVD sales and they extrapolated about future revenue and made decisions based on those extrapolations. Well it fell apart, the independent movie business collapsed, broadband expanded, creating new ways of delivering movies. Studios have cut back on production and development. They've entered the second phase of this digital revolution, which is nowhere near over." (Edward Jay Epstein/TheWrap)



"On Friday, The New Museum teamed up with Powershovel and Tokion Magazine and the creators of the Digital Harinezumi camera to project some never before seen footage and home movies of some head honcho videographers, (like Bruce LaBruce, Jonas Mekas, Miranda July and Charlotte Gainsbourg) on and around the museum's lobby. Since the event was tremendously well attended (so much in fact, that probably by everyone in the city who possesses a pricey camera was there), the never before seen footage was hard to…see. Cameras were everywhere, as were their owners, like Karen O, Lady Fag, Cristina Guadalupe, Kim Gordon, and Enroll Morris. So despite attending with the intention of feasting their eyes on some previously private reels, they were more concerned by staying out of each other's way and had their eyes out in front of them, instead of on the ceiling and on the surrounding walls." (Guestofaguest)



"As you know, Frasier star Kelsey Grammer is headed back to Broadway, playing Georges in the latest revival of the yay-gay musical La Cage aux Folles. But as my media peer Andy Humm (from Gay USA) just pointed out to me, this is an odd bit of casting since in reality, Kelsey is a Republican, was a celebrity guest at Dubya's inauguration, and endorsed the likes of Giuliani and McCain. Why is he doing a play that seems so antithetical to his political bent? Did he need a job that badly? Or is he just refreshingly expanding his palette? Should we give him the hook or the ovation?" (Musto)