Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"On Nov. 24, the White House threw open its doors for its first official state dinner of the Obama era, given in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This week, U.S. President Barack Obama is hosting French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his ex-supermodel wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. But the French leader is not being fêted in such grand style, instead dining alone with Barack and Michelle in their private quarters. Why? Because that's how Obama wanted it. Scores of world leaders visit Washington yearly, but very few receive the whole official shebang. State dinners are a highly sought-after honor, and they are given at the discretion of the president on the recommendation of his top foreign-policy advisors, his chief of staff, and the State Department, among others. Over the past two decades, they have become less and less frequent. During his two terms in the White House, George W. Bush gave just six state dinners, while Bill Clinton gave 29, George H.W. Bush gave 24 (in his one term), and Ronald Reagan gave 57. Why? One reason is that they are extraordinarily expensive, costing upwards of half a million bucks apiece, and time-consuming for the White House staff to organize. Foreign dignitaries and their delegations more often receive 'official dinners,' one step down but still plenty lavish. Official dinners are generally four-course black-tie affairs, but tend to have less fuss, lower-profile entertainment, and smaller guest lists than state dinners -- 100 to 200 guests, as opposed to 300 or more. And then there are 'working dinners,' where a much smaller group of around eight people per side continues doing business while they eat." (ForeignPolicy)



"(Tiger) Woods' preferred place to stay in Las Vegas was the Mansion at the MGM Grand, where a one-bedroom suite costs $5,000 per night. He would gamble in the ultra-exclusive V.I.P. casino nearby. According to a source known as Robin Hood 702, 'sometimes the only people in the place were me, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan. Each of us sat at our own private table and played big. Tiger plays big. Up to 30 grand a hand … and when you’re playing splits and doubles, you can have 150 grand on one hand' ... With many of his mistresses, Woods was allegedly exceedingly cheap. Mindy Lawton says the only thing he ever bought for her was a chicken wrap from Subway (he was stopping there on his way to meet her). Tiger and his mistress Jamie Jungers broke it off, according to Jungers, because he refused to help her financially. Of the women interviewed, Woods spent money on only one: Loredana Jolie Ferriolo (above) a Playboy model he met through madam Michelle Braun. Ferriolo says she went on $15,000 shopping sprees and charged everything to Tiger’s hotel room." (Vanity Fair)



"Right now, (Mitt) Romney looks fine -- he has money, name recognition, decent polling, and the like. What you have to do is project how the current dynamic is going to play in 2012. At the moment, Republican leaders are trying to demonize the Affordable Care Act, so they have little incentive to point out that it's basically Romneycare plus cost controls. But in the context of the 2012 race, with the Affordable Care Act settled into law and a contested GOP primary going on, there will be lots of Republicans playing up the comparisons between Romneycare and Obamacare. Romney appears politically viable right now because most Republican voters have not been exposed to the Romneycare-Obamacare comparison -- or if they have, it's been made by advocates of the latter, rather than by Republicans who they trust. When the attacks come, Romney just has no convincing reply." (TNR)



"Actor, rapper LL Cool J was listed as one of the guests on the premiere of Sarah Palin's Fox News series 'Real American Stories.' But late last night, LL, aka James Todd Smith, Tweeted that Fox News is 'misrepresenting' his appearance ... A Fox News spokesperson tells TVNewser, Real American Stories features uplifting tales about overcoming adversity and we believe Mr. Smith's interview fit that criteria. However, as it appears that Mr. Smith does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career.'" (TVNewser)



"For better or for worse, Washington has grown used to the fact that Barack Obama runs the most centralised – or 'White House-centric' – administration since Richard Nixon. When Nixon wanted foreign policy advice, everyone knew where he got it from: Henry Kissinger, variously his national security adviser and secretary of state. In contrast, Mr Obama has no big foreign policy strategist. Even insiders give different answers when asked to whom he turns for advice on the big international questions. But almost all agree with the following observation. 'The truth is that President Obama is his own Henry Kissinger – no one else plays that role,' says a senior official. 'Every administration reflects the personality of the president. This president wants all the trains routed through the Oval Office.' Fifteen months after he took office, the character and structure of Mr Obama’s foreign policy machinery is still evolving. But from interviews with dozens of insiders and outsiders, including senior officials both authorised and unauthorised to speak, and three former national security advisers, it is clear the buck not only stops with, but often floats for quite a long time around, Mr Obama himself." (FT)



"Not long ago, former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss was spotted enjoying a quiet dinner with a couple of friends, one of whom happened to be Steve Bing—the politically connected real-estate heir and film producer. As they dined by candlelight at one of Hollywood’s favorite after-hours hangouts, Fleiss leaned forward and her hair dipped into the flame. And caught fire. Fleiss extinguished her locks, unharmed and seemingly amused. As her party departed, Bing told her, 'I can’t take you anywhere.' The smell of scorched hair lingered as waiters opened windows to clear the air. Such is the recent life of Steve Bing—still in the mix from Los Angeles to Washington, but with all sorts of fires to put out. On the plus side, Bing remains a big player in Democratic circles, an exceptionally generous philanthropist and committed activist who counts some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential people as his closest friends, including former President Bill Clinton. Two sources with knowledge of the former president’s affairs tell The Daily Beast that Bing pays Clinton $2.5 million a year to serve as an adviser to his green-construction business. But now it seems that some of Bing’s spending choices—in lockstep with the economic downturn—have taken a toll. Months ago, word began seeping through Democratic circles that Bing was no longer a go-to source for money. A similar story made the rounds in Hollywood: Bing, who had financed such big-ticket films as Polar Express, was pulling back from the movie business. In both of his worlds, it’s readily apparent that he has torn through staggering sums of money over the past few years." (TheDailyBeast)



"Over the past few years, it seemed that the boom in viewership for ad-supported cable networks would never end. Year after year their ratings just kept growing. But with many of the top networks now rivaling the smaller broadcast networks in terms of viewership, it looks like the boom is slowing. Half of the top 20 networks in primetime among total viewers and adults 18-49 saw their viewership decline during fourth quarter, according to Nielsen data crunched by Turner Networks. Some of the declines are easily explainable. USA, the top network across virtually every demo for a record-breaking 15th straight quarter, radically revamped its schedule, abandoning its longtime strategy of running new shows mainly on Friday and Sunday nights. USA expanded originals onto Tuesdays and Wednesdays as well, moving Friday shows 'White Collar' and 'Psych' into new timeslots, where both saw their numbers slip compared to their previous season. USA still had a dominating quarter, finishing at least 25 percent ahead of the No. 2 network in viewers and 18-49s, but it was down 4 percent and 12 percent, respectively, from last year." (Medialifemagazine)



"Howard (Stern) said that Janice (Dickinson) had sex with Sylvester Stallone and he had spoken to him about her one time. He asked if she heard what he said about her. He played some audio of Sylvester talking to him on the phone about Janice. He wasn't saying anything that bad. He was calling her a liar and things like that. Janice said she had a good month with him. Howard said it sounds like Sylvester is angry with her though. Janice laughed and said that's funny. She said that he has to protect his family so he has to say things about her. Janice said that she saw Sylvester out pumping gas into his Ferrari and he kind of said something to her but she didn't stick around long. Howard asked if she would still have sex with Sylvester if he asked. Janice said yes. She said they had fun when they were together. Howard asked why it ended. She said that he wanted his ex back. She said she may have been a bit too much to handle ... Howard said he heard that she wanted to bang Simon Cowell. Janice said she does ... She wants to chase after Simon Cowell. Howard said he thinks that Simon would be scared by her. She said that she put her hand on his ass and it was kind of flabby. She said that he made out with her and she stuck her hand back there. She said they were doing some event together and Simon planted a kiss on her." (Marksfriggin)



"So what happens to an editrix after Si Newhouse shuts down her magazine? Dominique Browning wrote in The Times Magazine last weekend that her life went into a free fall after House & Garden was shuttered in 2007. She details how she spent much of her time in pajamas, how she thought about death, how she obsessed over eggs. She is turning her post-Condé tale into a book, which is due out in May. Meanwhile, Brandon Holley, who lost her editor in chief job when Jane folded three years ago, has landed at Yahoo, and riffed to The Times earlier this month about how the no-frills lifestyle on the Web isn’t much like life at 4 Times Square. So! We wondered how other victims of Mr. Newhouse’s golden machete were adapting to life after Condé. 'It was definitely a tough experience,' said Pilar Guzman—the popular editor of the mom magazine Cookie, which folded in October—from her place in Park Slope." (Observer)