"The pledge by Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, and other billionaires to give away large parts of their fortunes leaves a question: Where will the money go? There's a new solicitor general in this country and his name is Warren Buffett. Who else can make a few calls, write a few letters, and rake in 40 billionaires and most of the vast fortunes they've spent their lives assiduously accumulating? With the help of Bill and Melinda Gates, Buffett's regal fundraising redefines the 'top down' strategy that undergirds most of the big campaigns for universities, hospitals, and museums in this country. Yet their fast-growing Giving Pledge campaign, which announced yesterday that it has received commitments from 40 of the richest Americans, leaves two huge questions in the wake of the press releases and conference calls: What's the money for? And what does it all mean for American philanthropy?" (TheDailyBeast)
"While Vladislav Doronin has been frolicking in France with girlfriend Naomi Campbell -- who interrupted their idyll to grumpily testify yesterday at the trial in The Hague of Liberian warlord Charles Taylor -- Doronin's estranged wife, Ekaterina, is spending the summer in Beverly Hills with their daughter, Katya, 13, who has the acting bug. The mother/daughter duo, who have been networking the town, were a bit shocked at a party at Milla Jovovich's house last weekend. Mom complained to friends that the crowd seemed overly enthused, and now she's having doubts about Katya pursuing a movie career." (PageSix)
"I learned this morning that Tom Selleck hasn't been accepting the scripts which CBS' Blue Bloods executive producer Ken Sanzel has been giving him. So a standoff developed over character vs procedural visions for the series, summarized to me as 'creative tension'. By midday, Sanzel was still staying with the show. No more. Insiders just emailed me that the former New York cop told the staff late today that he is leaving. There's no exit date yet. 'He's a stand-up guy; he won't leave the network or studio hanging,' a network source explains. 'Simply creative differences. It happens. He was brought in after the pilot as a showrunner to set the show up. We often do this for pilots picked up to series that have great writers but who haven't run shows before.' Now, to replace Sanzel, Selleck wants to find 'his guy' who must also meet with studio/network approval." (Deadline)
"In the new movie The Extra Man--SPOILER ALERT!--Paul Dano plays a guy who likes to try on women's clothes. At the climax, he dons full drag for sex with a woman, at which point he realizes that this is awful and 'I just want to be a man!' This twist is presented as some heartwarming last-inning revelation, similar to the fact the the messy John C. Reilly character has suddenly combed his hair and the wacky Kevin Kline guy becomes a sort of walking Hallmark card full of gratitude. Movies shouldn't bother to try on quirks and kink if they can't deal with them." (Michael Musto)
"More hot and humid in New York. Last night the weatherman was forecasting maybe a shower. Forget it. More hot on the way. These are not only dog days but as you’ve seen me complain already, in the news department it’s nada. Anyone who can has left town and anyone who hasn’t or can’t is sticking close to the fan or A/C. Looking for something to post on this Friday as the those who can’s flee the city, JH came upon a Diary we posted seven years ago next week – August 14th, 2003 when – remember this? – the town had a blackout when the power grid had an outage extending from Canada and Detroit and far south. It had been – what else? – hot and humid in New York and everyone had their A/Cs running full force, and then ... it was still hot but our priorities were instantly (and intriguingly) re-focused." (NYSocialDiary)
"Word leaked out earlier this summer that Nur Khan and Paul Sevigny had bought the west side's stalwart music dive Don Hill's ... 'We're not doing much to the space at all,' Khan said, as the band took the stage. "Putting in new booths and bathrooms, that's about it. We're making Don Hill's a little more female-friendly.' Khan went on to note that, as far as he's concerned, New York City nightlife is due a grime injection. 'It's been all about bottle service, people throwing money around. I want to bring back old, gritty, creative New York.' Not that the revamped Don Hill's isn't going to be hip. The space is reopening over New York fashion week, and top designers and publications have already booked parties. (We'd tell you who, but then we'd have to kill you.) The crowd at last night's show offered a preview: Stage right, Jamie Bochert and Michael Pitt; stage left, Zoë Kravitz and Annabelle Dexter-Jones; Liv Tyler, front and center. Over by the bar, Terry Richardson, André Saraiva, and Olivier Zahm were a few of the many attendees who had given up on muscling into the main room and were instead taking in the show via the bar's mirror. As the lights strobed, you could just make out (Alison) Mosshart, swinging her hair around like a dervish, sweat flicking into the crowd." (Style)
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