"Times executive editor Bill Keller weighs in, in full, on the paper's relationship with Julian Assange—such as it is, as he describes Assange as 'arrogant, thin-skinned, conspiratorial and oddly credulous.' The relationship, well! Assange was pissed that the Times wouldn't throw a link to the Wikileaks website, and then he got too big for his britches. Oh, and then he started wearing 'skinny suits.' Unfortunately, Keller reads the Swedish sex charges against Assange rather glossily to my taste: 'Two Swedish women filed police complaints claiming that Assange insisted on having sex without a condom; Sweden’s strict laws on nonconsensual sex categorize such behavior as rape.' That is not really how I would describe their testimony. In any event, the Times makes much of its willingness to choose and redact Wikileaks data that might embarrass the government or private individuals who provided information. They agreed to not publish things 'like a cable describing an intelligence-sharing program that took years to arrange and might be lost if exposed.' Gosh that is intriguing!" (Choire Sicha/ TheAwl)
"As the unrest in Egypt continues, and Washington wonks are beginning to weigh in, I'm starting to see a familiar pattern: The discussion is shifting from what's happening on the ground -- which is still in flux -- to what the United States should or shouldn't do about it. The Washington Post weighed in last night with a rather predictable criticism of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first statement on the protests, and now Politico is channeling some of the complaints by outside observers who say that the administration should be speaking out more aggressively in support of the demonstrators. My colleague Marc Lynch has already weighed in on this topic this morning, but here are my two cents: It's not about us. Indeed, what's been refreshing about the events in Tunisia and Egypt has been that very little of it has anything to do with the United States. For the most part, the demonstrators aren't chanting anti-American slogans; they're calling on their own corrupt, sclerotic rulers to stand aside. And that's a very healthy phenomenon. Instead of having Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama say some magic democracy words, I'd much rather see the United States think hard about its system of support for these autocrats." (ForeignPolicy)
"Giorgio Armani’s Couture show last night was the first-ever fashion outing for both Jodie Foster and Olivia Wilde. When it was over, Jodie turned to Olivia and said, 'What do we do now?' Easy. Join Mr. A., their host for the evening, at Mathis for an intimate dinner. The rest of the front row showed up, too: Pedro Almodóvar, Graeme Black, Poppy Delevingne with boyfriend James Cook, and Sophia Loren. Her date was her son Edoardo Ponti. Foster cut out early to work on her lines for God of Carnage, the film she's making in Paris at the moment with Roman Polanski (and there are a lot of lines, as anyone who saw the stage show will recall), but Wilde was happy to sit and chat about her flood tide of new projects." (Style)
"With Chaz Bono’s new doc Becoming Chaz debuting at Sundance (which was acquired by Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network), along with David Weisman’s historic doc We Are Here, awareness of gender issues is front and center. To that end, studios and celebs are getting on board the popular It Gets Better Project, formed in September 2010 by syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage in order to increase awareness of the bullying and suicides caused by homophobia (including those of Justin Aaberg, Billy Lucas, Cody Barker, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Raymond Chase, and Tyler Clementi). The mission of the It Gets Better Project: to help our youth 'see how love and happiness can be a reality in their future.' Thousands of people are contributing to the movement with videos. Sony Pictures’ group Out@SPE, as part of their SPECTRUM diversity initiative to raise awareness on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, invited their studio colleagues to participate in the making of a film ... There’s more to check out here." (IndieWIRE)
"Then last night I went down to Kenny Lane’s beautiful duplex apartment on Park Avenue South where he was hosting a small birthday dinner for Barbie Bancroft. Kenny, Barbie, Tommy Bancroft, Wendy Vanderbilt, Katherine Bryan and Carolina and Reinaldo Herrera. Cozy and elegant, with an excellent menu served with wine and champagne and conversation, including talk about the very popular PBS series of Julian Fellowes's 'Downton Abbey' which runs on Sunday nights at 9 pm on WNET here in New York. The last of the first series of four airs next Sunday." (NYSocialDiary)
"Prolific author and playwright Gore Vidal has listed his Sunset Strip-area home for $3,495,000. The 1929 Mediterranean villa of 4,782 square feet has a living room with a walk-in fireplace, a meditation room, a music room and an office. The main house has two en suite bedrooms and two staff or guest rooms. Including a separate guesthouse, the property has a total of five bedrooms and five bathrooms. The nearly half-acre of landscaped grounds contain a swimming pool, multiple patios and a koi fountain ... He bought the house in 1977 for $149,500, according to public records." (LATimes)
"Mia Moretti, the hottest thing to hit the DJ booth since sliced bread, and her co-DJ in crime Caitlin Moe, recently headed to the Sundance Film Festival where they manned the ones and twos at a slew of parties. Here's her second report from Park City. Moretti's pal, photographer Diggy Llyod, captured the madness. I'm starting to get used to the snow. I can't move my neck because I think I got whiplash snowboarding. Caitlin and I played a bunch of parties. We ran into our West Coast crew and our New York crew. I got to play some of the new (old) 45s I just got in Paris. Diplo made everyone wet their pants at Harry O's. I didn't. I held it in and peed in the parking lot and nightclub Tao. We saw Cee-Lo, who was with the coolest looking lady ever." (Papermag)
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