Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"In the United States this week, the focus of speeches and political debates will be jobs. It's not surprising. With almost 30 million Americans out of work, under-employed or so frustrated that they've stopped looking for a job, it's the issue that is widely considered to be the game-changer as far as next year's presidential election is concerned. But as urgent as the jobs crisis is, it is only one of a stunning array of economic crises and potential flashpoints competing for the attention of top politicians and making investors extremely uneasy. You see, the main contagion problem confronting the global economy is not that one of these economic troubles will erupt in one place and spread to other countries -- but rather that there will be a domino effect among these crises, even as each spreads geographically. Here are the top 10 in terms of their apparent relative urgency and potential global impact at this moment .." (ForeignPolicy)

" I am just finishing Molly Jong-Fast’s The Social Climber's Handbook. It’s not what you might think what the title implies. I’m not actually sure yet What the title implies, but I love this book.  It is also not a pretty looking book. It’s a paperback (although it’s $15) but the art director was probably flummoxed by the title too. My point is I started to read this book because I know Molly. She is a friend of mine. She’s also a very clever thinker. It’s in her genes, so it’s not such a surprise. She’s one of those New York girls, born and brought up and not the first generation; well educated at private schools, quick-witted, a sophisticated family life, travel, wealth celebrity always around, and down to earth when it gets to the bottom line. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I never would have bought this book for its cover (a bad sign in my eyes) -- BECAUSE it is so good. Getting closer to the end, I kinda don’t want it to stop, and it doesn’t matter who the hell wrote it (although the writer is very good. And funny.) I thought of going out on a limb and saying this is the best book I’ve read about New York right now. That’s a stretch because New York is such a polyglot culturally, economically and socially, and my reading is severely limited by time (and interest). But it is brilliant." (NYSocialDiary)

"The fall B.O. season got off to a typically sluggish start, as Warner Bros.' epidemic ensembler 'Contagion' topped the domestic B.O. with an estimated debut of $23.1 million and Disney-DreamWorks' 'The Help' dropped to second place with $8.7 million for a cume of $137.1 million after five weeks. Overseas auds paid for more of the same, as Sony's 'The Smurfs' held onto No. 1 for its fifth straight week. 'The Smurfs' turned in $14.9 million over the weekend, bringing the international cume to $321.2 million. But holdovers like 'Friends With Benefits' also did well, expanding to major markets. 'Benefits,' also from Sony, saw a solid weekend take of $10.2 million, driven by bows in the U.K., France and Germany; cume reached $29.2 million in four weeks. Meanwhile, 'Contagion' opened day and date in six markets including Italy with a weekend gross of $2.1 million. The Warner pic, which earned $2.3 million from 254 Imax screens (or 10% of its Stateside bow), had plenty of steam going into the weekend, as most B.O. pundits expected the pic to win with around $20 million-$25 million. 'Contagion,' toplining Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Marion Cotillard, beat two other wide releases: Lionsgate's 'Warrior,' which bowed below expectations with $5.6 million, and Sony's R-rated laffer 'Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star,' which earned a dismal $1.5 million." (Variety)

"Few things render us tongue-tied, but when the crowd of journalists at Y-3 on Sunday spat us out right in front of Samuel L. Jackson, we admit it: We froze. We have talked to Salman Rushdie about womenswear and once spent a blissful ten minutes talking to Kanye about whether he had an alter ego, but something about Samuel L. left us feeling tiny and dull. Maybe it was his robustly colorful shirt, or his ball cap, or the fact that he’s an ex-Jedi Knight who kills snakes on planes. Whatever it was, when a small window opened up in front of him that was just the size of our tape recorder, we choked, and then were carried away on a sea of photographers chasing NBA star Dwight Howard. We may never forgive ourselves, and indeed may drown our sorrows in a Royale With Cheese. The crowd surge carried us over into a clutch of photographers in front of the next section. 'Ugh,' said a girl next to us. 'Peaches Geldof. I don't know what she does besides sit on people's laps at fashion shows.' And, indeed, there was Peaches Geldorf, wearing a silver lamé dress and perched in the front row atop the lap of a dude with a bob. Regardless of her raison d'être, Peaches was photographed as fanatically as if she had a mile-long IMDb page. (Singer Omarion, on the other hand, was completely unmolested by the press, most of which didn't even notice he was there; perhaps his uncharacteristic Hawaiian shirt provided more effective camouflage than anyone could have predicted.)" (NyMag)

"Blackstone Group Chairman and Chief Executive Steve Schwarzman stood out in the crowd of models and artists at Phillips de Pury & Co. Friday night to celebrate the opening of a Richard Hambleton retrospective. Wearing a pink-and-white striped button-down shirt and beige pants, Schwarzman walked past three models: silver-suited Karolina Kurkova, Byrdie Bell (also an actress) in fedora and skinny jeans, and top head-turner Theodora Richards, who had been poured into a black catsuit with head-to-toe slits. 'We’re looking for our friend,' Schwarzman said in the second-floor galleries, filled with Hambleton’s energetic canvases. He scanned the crowd, which totaled about 2,000, while his wife, in a cream-colored dress and jacket, checked her BlackBerry. The friend was Gherardo Guarducci, a partner in the restaurant Sant Ambroeus, whose Madison Avenue location isn’t far from the Schwarzmans’ Park Avenue residence. The couple, recently returned from several months inFrance, picked a hectic night to dip back into New York’s social scene. Pre-9/11 security measures had snarled traffic. 'It’s a zoo,' Schwartzman said." (Bloomberg)

"With her platinum hair, enhanced lips, flawless skin, and 38-23-38 measurements, Amanda Lepore is not your typical girl next door. And that’s just fine with her. 'A lot of people don’t understand that I don’t want to look like girls that they went to school with.' A quick glance at anyone’s Facebook high school reunion photos and you can see why. Even in New York, a city of 8 million people, most considered freaks by the rest of the world, Lepore has managed to stand out. Self-described as 'striking,' the transsexual burlesque starlet has made a career out of publicly transforming herself into a fantasized ideal of hyper-femininity. A former club kid in New York’s notorious nightlife in the ’90s, Lepore gradually evolved into a modern day Betty Page. 'People like Page were really important. She’s been such an influence on fashion and fetish,' she says. 'And it’s all really beautiful, I’m really into the aesthetic of the clothes and shoes, it’s not just for perverts. But thank god for them, they make it easy for us struggling stars.'" (SocietePerrier)

"Two of my favorite shows during New York Fashion Week are Charlottoe Ronson and Diane Von Furstenberg because they are filled with friends and fun. Charotte Ronson’s show was Saturday night at Lincoln Center. Samantha Ronson, Ali Wise and Kelly Osbourne were there, the clothes were great and the party was fun. The DVF show was Sunday and brought lots of fabulous people out including fellow designers Valentino and Oscar de La Renta, Rchel Zoe, Nicky Hilton, Poppy Delevigne, Barry Diller, Carlos Souza, Coco Brandolini, Lorenzo Martone, Anne Mcnally, Ahn duong and Anna Dello Russo. Diane showed such great new paterns and bright colors for next season followed by dinner at Indochine where Mayor Bloomberg came and gave a speech." (Dori Cooperman)

"Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney endorsed Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Monday, adding another big name to the endorsement list of the longtime incumbent, who may face a tough primary challenge. 'Orrin is a committed public servant who always puts the people of Utah first,' Romney said in a statement put out by Hatch's campaign. 'I couldn't be prouder to endorse him in his reelection bid.' Romney, who is Mormon and helped turn the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics into a success, is a popular figure in the state. He won the 2008 primary there with a staggering 89 percent of the vote. Hatch has already endorsed him for president. Hatch has faced charges he is not conservative enough for the deeply red state, and because Utah has a closed nomination process dominated by party activists rather than an open primary, he is vulnerable to a challenger. Utah Tea Party activists knocked off then-Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) in 2010, but Hatch caught a break last month when former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) decided against a Senate bid. But the six-term senator could still face a primary. Deep-pocketed Tea Party group Freedomworks has said they will target Hatch for defeat no matter who runs against him, and the Club for Growth, which was set to back Chaffetz if he had run, has indicated they might support a serious challenger to Hatch." (TheHill)