Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"al-Malahim Media, the media arm of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), published the first edition of its new English-language online magazine 'Inspire.' The group had tried to release the magazine in late June, but for some reason — whether a technical glitch, virus (as rumored on some of the jihadist message boards) or cyberattack — most of the initial file released was unreadable. The magazine was produced by someone who has a moderate amount of technological savvy, who speaks English well and who uses a lot of American idioms and phraseology. We did not note any hint of British or South Asian influence in the writing. A government source has suggested to us (and we have seen the claim repeated in the media) that Inspire was produced by a U.S citizen who was born in Saudi Arabia named Samir Khan. Khan is a well-known cyber-jihadist — indeed, The New York Times did an excellent story on Khan in October 2007. Given Khan’s background, history of publishing English-language jihadist material and the fact that he reportedly left the United States for Yemen in 2009 and has not returned, it does seem plausible that he is the driving force behind Inspire." (STRATFOR)



"Vivi Nevo, that international man of mystery, surfaced yet again at the Sun Valley mogul confab held by Herb Allen. For a couple of years I’ve been among those trying to figure out who Nevo is, and why he enjoys the intimate status he apparently does among media moguls. Is he a fraud? A poseur? Or a real serious player? It’s been hard to tell. He’s supposedly a huge investor in Time Warner and News Corp. But neither company can confirm this. (Indeed, News Corp confirms he is not a major investor.) He’s certainly close buddies with everyone from Dick Parsons to Brian Grazer. He flies in private planes. He has a house in New York, and another in Malibu Colony. He's engaged to Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang. At the bar at the Sun Valley Resort he flitted from one buddy to another, passing from one conversation pod to the next. But there’s something weird there, as a former employer of Nevo’s suggested to me." (SharonWaxman)



(Mr. Sulzberger and Ms. Robinson via The Observer)

"The New York Times Company is 'well-positioned to thrive,' according to CEO Janet Robinson, who announced the company's second-quarter earnings this morning. The best news is that there were no major catastrophes this quarter. Flat may still be the new up. Revenue from print advertising continued to decline in the second quarter, but circulation and digital advertising picked up some of the slack. Ms. Robinson said that she did not expect circulation revenues to continue to grow, attributing recent gains to a newsstand price hike at The Globe and The Times. Revenue from print ads across the company was down 6 percent in the second quarter, a steady continuation of the first quarter's 6.1 percent drop. Revenue from digital ads — up 21 percent — now represents 26 percent of the company's ad revenue (compared with 22 percent last year)." (Observer)



"Let there be no mistake. Africom's job is to protect American lives and promote American interests. That is what nations and militaries do. But we also have found that our own national interest in a stable and prosperous Africa is shared strongly by our African partners. By working together, we can pursue our shared interests more effectively. Africa's security challenges are well known. They include piracy and illegal trafficking, ethnic tensions, irregular militaries and violent extremist groups, undergoverned regions, and pilferage of resources. This last challenge includes oil theft, as well as widespread illegal fishing that robs the African people of an estimated $1 billion a year because their coastal patrols lack the capacity to find and interdict suspicious vessels within their territorial waters and economic exclusion zones." (ForeignPolicy)



"Which evokes a romantic memory better, a fragrance or a melody? The latter, I am sure, despite the times I’ve felt a tug at my heart when some sweet young thing breezed by me followed by the aroma of Chanel no 5, the favorite scent of my first great love back in the fifties." (Takimag)



"This is the story of a Procedural. So I'm at a meeting with a producer the other day and he's pitching me a tv idea. As way of emphasizing why I need him and his idea, he brings forth a piece of paper. On it, my credits. He doesn't actually hand it over to me but he says this: PRODUCER: I've been looking over your credits, pretty impressive. ME: Thanks, we try. PRODUCER: Seems to me you're just missing one thing from these credits. And I'm gonna tell you what it is. ME: Please do. At which point he turns the piece of paper towards me and I see he's written in bold black marker near the top, pointing to the list: BIG FUCKING HIT TV SHOW. ME: Well, yes, I am missing that. Very true. I think about that a lot." (Hucksblog via Deadline)



(Susan Fales-Hill and Jay Snyder via NYSD)

"Will and Laura Zeckendorf hosted a booksigning last night for their friend Susan Fales-Hill and her new novel, One Flight Up, at their building (which Will developed and built with his brother), the Robert A.M. Stern 15 Central Park West. For those of you who are not familiar with the address, this double building, which covers the entire block between 62nd and 63rd Street and Central Park West to Broadway, is a condominium for only the very rich, often compared as the 21st century version of 740 Park Avenue. Susan is one of those remarkable New York women who stands out by force of personality, intellectual bravado, beauty and a willingness to participate. She grew up in the city, the daughter of the late Broadway musical star Josephine Premice and a New England scion named Fales. She went to Harvard. She had a successful career in Hollywood as a writer on Cosby, Suddenly Susan, A Different World. She wrote a memoir about her amazing mother, Always Wear Joy (Mom’s advice was solid). She’s married to businessman Aaron Hill and they have a young daughter." (NYSocialDiary)



"Some things really do get better with age. There’s Scotch, Hillary Clinton and, 40 years after it first modestly opened its doors in San Diego, Comic-Con. Comic-Con has become the Cannes of blockbusters. To many, it’s the only film festival that matters. Sure, more snippets than full films are screened, a few purists declare it actually has gotten too Hollywood -- and the populists wish the geek stain would finally wash off. But it undeniably has become one of the most important stops on the Tinseltown circuit. Why? Unlike what fills the schedule at most film festivals, Comic-Con is where the movies that most of the world will actually see make their debut. And it’s no longer just comics and movies. Comic-Con also features TV – hello, Seth McFarlane! -- collectables and merchandise, anime, and videogames -- all things that thrive in American youth culture." (TheWrap)



"Sen. Carte P. Goodwin looked like any other Senator on Tuesday as he stepped forward to the clerk’s desk to cast his first vote. The West Virginia Democrat will have a Member’s pin, an office in the Russell Senate Office Building and all the perks accorded a U.S. Senator. But Goodwin, like several of his colleagues, won’t be getting too comfortable in his new digs. Call them caretakers, seat-warmers, placeholders or lame ducks. Just make sure you call them Senators. The Senate has four Members holding seats they do not expect to run for: Goodwin, who will fill in between the death of Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) and a special election this fall; Sen. Roland W. Burris (D-Ill.), who took now-President Barack Obama’s place; Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), who is serving in the stead of his longtime boss, now-Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ; and Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.), who succeeded former Sen. Mel Martinez (R) when he resigned. There haven’t been this many since 1954. But it’s certainly not unprecedented: Of the 188 appointments since 1913, more than a third of the appointed Senators did not go on to seek the seat they held. Not all caretakers approach their tenures the same way ..." (CQPolitics)



"Web empress Arianna Huffington is moving from Los Angeles to New York, multiple sources tell us, which means the globetrotting boss will finally be living in the same city as the editorial headquarters of her Huffington Post. Brace yourselves, underlings. Huffington has lived in LA since 1997, and the HuffPo editor-in-chief's Brentwood mansion has served as a sort of remote command center over the main Huffington Post offices in New York. When working from home, in a staffed newsroom hidden behind a bookshelf, Huffington is in near-constant touch with Gotham editors by phone throughout the day. Although she frequently travels to New York (first class + bulkhead + aisle!) to visit the office in person, she's typically preferred to stay in hotels like the Mercer and St. Regis, at least partly on the company dime, instead of renting or purchasing an apartment." (Gawker)



"I traded in the Big Apple for a little apple strudel last weekend and headed off to Vienna to DJ at the annual Life Ball. Since 1993, this opulent celebration has raised money and awareness for HIV and AIDS. The city's breathtaking Gothic city hall is the perfect backdrop for its thousands of extravagantly, creatively costumed revelers ... Dita Von Teese, Patti Labelle, and speeches by Bill Clinton, Whoopi Goldberg and Sharon Stone were slated, but a thunderstorm cancelled the acts along with a fashion show by Kenneth Cole, and Calvin Klein and a performance by the Rockettes dressed by Diane Von Furstenberg. But we didn't let a little rain dampen the mood, and the party continued on till the break of dawn. To date, Life Ball has raised over 12 million Euros... dancing the night away, being with frinds and raising money for AIDS." (Ladyfag/Papermag)



"Big changes afoot in the TV news world. ABC News Nightline co-anchor Martin Bashir is leaving the network and joining NBC News. At the same time, ABC has announced Bill Weir, who is co-anchor of Good Morning America Weekend is leaving that post to become a co-anchor of 'Nightline.' Bashir joined ABC News in 2004, not long after his landmark 2003 documentary 'Living with Michael Jackson' prompted a police investigation of the singer. He has been co-anchor of 'Nightline' since October 2005. Before joining ABC News, British-born Bashir reported for Britain's ITV. Bashir will be joining MSNBC anchoring a daytime afternoon hour on the NBC News channel. He'll also contribute to 'Dateline.'" (TVNewser)



"Bloomberg's James Rowley and Patrick O’Connor: 'Nancy Pelosi keeps a watchful eye on her cubs. She marks milestones in their personal lives and pays close attention to the politics back home. She can be fiercely protective and stern in her demands. 'Think lioness,' she said. That combination of personal touch and hands-on management has made Pelosi, a California Democrat and the first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the chamber’s most powerful leader since Sam Rayburn died in 1961." (Bloomberg via Politico)



"It's rare to see a dry run for an election campaign. But over the next month, Australia will provide a testing ground for some of the core themes in this November's American elections. Last weekend, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who took office in June after the fall of her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, called an election for Aug. 21—they do things fast down there—in which her Labor Party will be using a central argument that Democrats hope to invoke against the Republicans. Gillard's statement opening the campaign left no ambiguity about Labor's message. 'This election will revolve around a clear choice,' she declared, 'whether we want Australia to move forward or back.' In one minute and 41 seconds, Gillard used a variation of "move forward" six times and 'go back' four. Labor's slogan, 'Let's move Australia forward,' is thus all about its subtext: that Australians don't want to return to conservatives who governed the country for 11 years before Labor's 2007 victory. And in the coming months, one of the Democratic Party's very favorite words will be 'Bush,' as in George W. Bush, by way of making the same point. Democrats now hope they can persuade voters to see their ballots in this year's midterm elections not as an up-or-down vote on their own stewardship but as a choice between—well, going forward, or moving back to the Bush era." (TNR)



"Howard (Stern) asked what Tracy (Morgan) said to the President (at their recent meeting). Tracy said that he would have been proud of him. He said that everyone was there. He said Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and other guys were there. He said it was like the Golden Globes to the sixth power. Tracy said that he was there too. Tracy said he walked in and figured he was in that league now. He said that the President took a picture with him near his desk. He said you just walk into the room at this hotel the Hinkley Hilton or something like that. Tracy said he said hi to the president and he knew who he was. He said Michelle knew who he was too. Then Colin Powell came over to him and gave him a hug. Tracy said he was crying because he was overwhelmed with the whole thing. Tracy said he asked Colin if he could tell everyone that he was his biological father. He said Morgan Freeman was looking at him and he figured he couldn't place him. He then said to him 'Daddy?' which scared Morgan. Howard said that he got chills hearing that Tracy cried after Michelle said his name. He said his grandmother would have been proud of that. Tracy said you just have to believe. Tracy said he wouldn't change anything that happened in his life. It all made him who he is now." (Marksfriggin)