Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"Colombia and Venezuela squared off Thursday in Quito, Ecuador, at an emergency meeting of the foreign ministers of the Union of South American States (Unasur), a recently created regional political and security association. The meeting was called by Ecuador, and was to be chaired by Unasur Secretary General Nestor Kirchner, the former president of Argentina, as the regional players attempt to defuse what has become a dangerous and growing crisis. However, it appears that many Latin American states are trying to keep their distance from this dispute: Several countries were represented by their deputy foreign ministers, and Kirchner himself pulled out at the last minute. This crisis began when Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez broke diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 22, immediately after Colombia's ambassador to the Organization of American States, Alfonso Hoyos, charged that the Chávez government is allowing more than 1,500 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the Marxist guerrilla group better known as the FARC, to live unmolested in 87 clandestine camps in Venezuelan territory. Chávez denied Colombia's accusations, and dismissed Colombian President Álvaro Uribe who leaves office on August 7, as a 'mafioso and liar.' Chávez depicted Venezuela as the 'victim' of an international conspiracy orchestrated by the Colombian and U.S. governments, claiming that the United States is planning a military invasion of Venezuela, via Colombia, with the purpose of killing him, toppling his socialist regime, and seizing his country's oil and gas resources." (ForeignPolicy)



"The big spenders who shelled out $30,400 a head for dinner with President Obama at the Four Seasons restaurant and at Anna Wintour's house didn't actually break any bread with him ... At 7 p.m., the president headed to Wintour's, where the Vogue editor-in-chief introduced him to 40 guests at her dinner attended by fashion royalty including Diane von Furstenberg, Calvin Klein, Vera Wang, Tory Burch, Harvery Weinstein and Marchesa co-founder Georgina Chapman, Gap designer Patrick Robinson, Theory chief Andrew Rosen and actress Kerry Washington. While guests dined on salmon or steak, Obama only drank coffee. He again spent time at each of eight tables. 'One table wanted to talk about politics, but a lot of people wanted to talk about stimulating jobs in the fashion industry,' said an insider. 'Obama was interested in what they had to say, talked about fashion and mentioned his suit designer in Chicago.' Senior advisor Valerie Jarrett trailed the president throughout the evening. 'She sat at all the tables and took copius notes on what they were saying,' said our source." (PageSix)



(image via NYSD)

"Saturday afternoon in Rhinebeck, New York at Astor Courts, Chelsea Clinton will marry Marc Mezvinsky in the presence of 500 guests in a wedding which is said to cost, in the final tally, $5 million. Ms. Clinton’s engagement diamond is said to cost $1 million. It is wise to remember that these numbers are all unconfirmed by the parties-that-be. However, spectacle weddings have become the norm with the Clinton/Mezvinsky generation and there have been many weddings in the past few years that came with that price tag and even larger. No doubt the bride-to-be’s parents and perhaps even the bridal couple themselves have attended such affairs because the international rich spend bigtime when it comes to tying the knot. Several weeks ago in Turkey there was a marriage of an Indian/Turkish couple in a wedding that took place over several days and is said to have cost as much as $20 million." (NYSocialDiary)



"To all the anonymous friends who follow my life on the Purple Diary, I have to tell you that I’m in a lot of pain. Natacha Ramsay dumped me on Sunday. She ran away with her lover (with whom she has had a long romance that I was aware of and accepted) for a summer of love. She called me to tell me that she loves him, that we are finished. I asked her to come back two times and she said no two times. As you know if you follow the Purple Diary I try to create and promote an alternative love lifestyle (that I used to call in French La Communauté des Amants). Natacha’s decision to leave me so brutally and painfully will certainly be seen by conservative people as a clear feminine revenge against the lifestyle Natacha and I used to share, and think that I’m a dreamer. Right now I’m just a mess. But I will hopefully recover soon and offer you some more pictures of love and sex. Olivier Zahm" (PurpleDiary)



(Ewan McGregor & Chace Crawford via DailyFrontRow)

"Between the Obama motorcade bound for Anna Wintour's townhouse, and the entire cast of Gossip Girl at The Cinema Society screening of Twelve, camera-phone wielding tourists had an embarrassment of riches on East Houston Street last night. At the latter, Chace Crawford was clearly the draw. 'No one invited Obama to our party anyway!' kidded director Joel Schumacher at the 2(x)ist sponsored bash after complaining about the gridlock that delayed the screening for 45 minutes. 'I’m a Cinema Society regular but this whole press line thing as an actor is a little bit tiring,' said cast member Zoe Kravitz in between her wait. 'I just want my popcorn!' ... Other familiar faces at Landmark Sunshine included Mickey Rourke (who went on a beer run halfway through the movie)" (Fashionweekdaily)



"New York's young and beautiful descended on the Landmark Sunshine Cinema last night for the premiere of Twelve, Joel Schumacher's film about the darker side of privileged Upper East Side teens. In fact, many of them are in it. The cast of Twelve, based on the best-selling novel by Nick McDonell, is teeming with twentysomething actors and kids-about-town, like Liam McMullan and Zoë Kravitz (above), whose names you might not expect to see on a credits crawl. They were joined at the 2(x)ist-sponsored screening by Chace Crawford and Curtis Jackson, a.k.a. 50 Cent, who both play drug dealers in the movie. 'It's a very New York film, but I think it's more just about kids who have access to a lot,' Kravitz said, adding that her social life at the Rudolf Steiner School was hardly the substance-fueled tragedy that Twelve depicts. 'I had a lovely experience. We hung out in the park and sang Sublime songs and knitted. We would buy forties of Olde English and sit on people's stoops, but that's kind of as crazy as it got.'" (Style)



"US economic growth slowed in the second quarter of the year as a swelling trade deficit and weaker consumer spending dragged on the recovery. Gross domestic product increased at an annualised rate of 2.4 per cent in the second quarter after growing by a revised 3.7 per cent in the first, according to official figures released on Friday. Output was slightly weaker than Wall Street analysts had projected, although the revision added a full percentage point to first-quarter growth. The second quarter was the fourth consecutive period that the US economy expanded after four quarters of contraction, which had marked the longest recession since the Great Depression. However, the slowing rate of growth and stubborn unemployment have raised anxiety that the recovery is losing steam. The disappointing data rattled US investors on Friday morning. The S&P 500 fell 1.2 per cent to 1088.31 in early trading with all 10 main sectors down and six dropping more than 1 per cent." (FT)



"I attract freaks. Well, that’s not really what I mean. What I mean is, I think people feel like can be the weirdest, most twisted versions of themselves around me. I can’t decide whether this is a good or a bad thing. I guess it shows I come across as being very non-judgmental, welcoming of abnormalities, etc. I’m into that. However, it also just means I receive an insane amount of emails and Facebook messaged from strangers, pouring their deranged little hearts out about every fucked-up fantasy or sexual encounter they’ve ever experienced, and all the dark ambitions they’re too ashamed to share with their families and friends. Admittedly I do find a large portion of these messages extremely touching and amusing. However I’m actually just not the person you should be getting-real with about your impotency issues, your scat porn addiction or your hidden desire to fuck your mom. Seriously, get a psychiatrist. I also must give off the impression that I’m the type of girl who would enjoy being sent extremely crude, overtly sexual emails, because I get a shocking amount of those as well ... I’ve compiled a few of the weirdest, most lolz, most creepy messages I’ve been sent as of late." (Karly)



"Comic-Con being Comic-Con, where over the top is the norm, there was no end to alternative media stunts, but one stood out for the buzz it created and the sheer number of people it drew in. It was a pop-up created by Fox for 'Bob's Burgers,' an animated program launching at midseason that follows a family in the burger business. Fox took over a local restaurant, the Tin Fish, in San Diego, site of the annual gathering of comic book and pop culture enthusiasts, and decked it out as the fictional Bob's Burgers. The stunt peaked with a burger eating contest that drew 18 professional eaters. The rules were strict. 'Any mushing, mashing or mutilation of the American icon known as the hamburger is unacceptable,' said the rule book. 'Food warriors must keep bun and meat together and cannot purposely separate the two.'" (Medialifemagazine)



"... The tale sounds like the invention of a Dan Brown, but it is the truth, according to the testimony of Christine de Védrines, as summarized by her lawyer and related by a confidant. Her captivity and torture, which is alleged to have occurred in January 2008, would prove to be a decisive moment in the collapse of the French aristocratic house of de Védrines, many of whose members over a period of several years had achieved a significant disconnection from what is commonly referred to as reality." (VanityFair)