Media-Whore D'oeuvres

"The State Department on Wednesday sent lawmakers a draft version of the long-awaited Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, the document that is meant to chart the long-term strategy for both State and USAID.  You can take a look at the document here (PDF). 'To advance American interests and values and to lead other nations in solving shared problems in the 21st century, we must rely on our diplomats and development experts as the first face of American power. We must lead through civilian power,' states the draft, which is marked NODIS (meaning no distribution) but was obtained by the Washington Post ... The document also proposes to 'Empower and hold accountable Chiefs of Mission as CEOs of multi-agency missions and engage them in high-level interagency decision-making in Washington.' Interestingly, the document proposes to establish a joint planning and budgeting process between the State Department and the Defense Department in areas where the two institutions work together, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. The document notes that the government is also "examin[ing] the creation of a unified National Security Budget.' The idea of combining Defense and State Department funding into one pool has been proposed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before, but could face resistance on Capitol Hill." (ForiegnPolicy)

"If you’ve been dating someone for 10 years (!) and you’ve never had sex with anyone else (!), but all of a sudden there’s this guy who you’re kind of infatuated with, and who’s into you, too — oh, and also your boyfriend once cheated on you years ago, but you’ve moved past that — what do you do? Do you cheat on your boyfriend and see what it’s like to sleep with someone else? I mean, I know the obvious answer is “no,” but also what if it’s yes?" (TheAwl)

"'Have you ever noticed,' the chairman of Citigroup, Richard D. Parsons, asked The Observer this Monday evening, "that in the NFL, or in the NBA, or in Major League Baseball, this guy was a failure at Cleveland, and then he becomes the coach in Houston? These guys just move around from one team to another. Why is that? Because there isn't a very deep pool of skilled talent that exists. 'And so, too, for a lot of financial stuff: Not everybody who's walking up and down Fifth Avenue at noon is capable of running a derivatives book,' he went on, voice low, sitting in the 57th Street offices of the firm Providence Equity, where he's a senior adviser. "It takes a certain amount of skill and knowledge to be in that business.' By now, the idea that Wall Street's cast of characters would have changed just because of a global financial crisis is considered quaint, as Mr. Parsons' short laugh when asked about it showed. 'Every time we stumble and fall we think we're the first ones to do it,' he said. 'Like, Oh the world is going to melt down! Well, it didn't melt down. In fact, you can still go down to the corner and get a pizza.' Finance is still finance, and the bankers are still bankers." (Observer)

"The Beverly Hills Police Department is dedicating almost half its team of detectives to investigate the shooting death of veteran celebrity publicist Ronni Chasen, who was gunned down on a quiet tree-lined street in Beverly Hills early Tuesday morning. According to sources close to the investigation, eight of the city’s 19 detectives are working on the bizarre case. Chasen was fatally shot as she was driving home to Westwood from an afterparty for the premiere of the Cher movie Burlesque at the W Hotel in Hollywood. She attended the party with her songwriter client Diane Warren and hobnobbed with her usual pals, celebrities and agents. Friends said Chasen left the party shortly after midnight. She traveled down Sunset Boulevard before making a left on North Whittier Drive, a quiet street with million-dollar mansions. A few minutes later, shots rang out into the night. Chasen was found slumped over the steering wheel of her Mercedes coupe, suffering from gunshot wounds. Her car had collided with a light post. Her passenger side window was shattered. Paramedics took her to Cedars Sinai Hospital, where she died of her injuries about an hour later. Two days later, Chasen’s death is still a mystery." (TheDailybeast)

"Also last night, the indefatigable and amazing Gloria Vanderbilt and her collaborator Wendy Goodman, held a book signing at the Corner Bookstore on Madison Avenue and 93rd Street for their new and wonderful book 'The World of Gloria Vanderbilt.' A few nights ago, the duo were feted by Charlotte Moss and Barry Friedberg at a dinner at their East Side townhouse to celebrate the release of the book. Charlotte and Wendy have been good friends for many years, and Wendy has known Gloria all her life. The book Wendy created is a beautiful, visual scrapbook of Gloria’s life as survivor, icon, artist, designer, writer, entrepreneur and heiress. Gloria, who will be 87 next February, represents many things to different people, but always a woman ahead of her time." (NYSocialDiary)

"It’s not just the UK movie business that is suffering from draconian budget cuts because of the global financial crisis. Europe has an enormous hangover, too. And other European film industries are also suffering as EU governments scramble to reduce their debt mountains ..." (Deadline)

"Yuri Milner is very popular among internet entrepreneurs. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, encourages him to drop by and Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga, an online games company, regards him as a trusted adviser. Among Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists, feelings are decidedly cooler. 'He came on a night attack when everyone was asleep and while you might be full of admiration for his audacity and cunning in taking advantage of that moment, we’ve woken up now and he won’t be able to do it again,' says one Valley investing veteran about Mr Milner, chairman of Mail.ru, a Russian internet company that floated in London this month. Mr Milner, who runs Digital Sky Technologies, the investment fund of Mail.ru, came up with a solution to the initial public offering drought that has afflicted venture capital funds and technology companies. He offers them a simple way to raise fresh money, and for their employees to sell shares, without going public ... One reason for the VCs’ irritation ('You can hear the frustration in my voice,' says the veteran investor) is that Mr Milner has avoided playing the traditional role of a foreign investor who tries to break into Silicon Valley or Hollywood – that of the greater fool who takes the worst deal. Instead, he outmanoeuvred those who pride themselves on building the next Apple or Google. Mr Milner’s trick was to spot that, as he told me last week at the Monaco Media Forum: “The company founder is charismatic and sees the future but some people just want to pay their mortgages and live a normal life.” In other words, visionaries such as Mr Zuckerberg are happy to be billionaires on paper and live in rented houses, while employees want to cash out." (FT)