Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"Having spent the better part of two decades traveling the negotiator's highway, I've often thought about why some deals get made along the way and others don't. Granted, I've labored almost exclusively in the Middle East coal mines -- an often bizarre, idiosyncratic, and exceptionally dysfunctional place where deals rarely, if ever, get done. But paradoxically, failure can be instructive about the factors required for successful diplomacy. And clearly the Middle East offers up a pretty good testing ground for what hasn't worked. Indeed, with so many canaries dying in those mines over the years, you'd think we'd have figured out by now how to keep them alive. Every conflict in the world is unique, and there's always a risk in overgeneralizing. But I think there are a number of core verities about how deals get done that transcend the politics, culture, and history of any particular dispute. Let me apologize in advance to any number of graduate programs in conflict resolution, peace studies, and negotiation theory to which students (and their parents) contribute millions of tuition dollars every year in return for questionable high-brow theories expounded by many professors with no experience in either successful or failed negotiations. Save your money.  Here's a low-brow but reliable guide to how and why deals get done. You can apply these principles to just about any negotiation anywhere, about anything that's worth negotiating about." (ForeignPolicy)

"Yesterday was Michael’s. How could you forget? It was its natural, jumpin’ self. Among the Michael’s mob: At Table One in the bay, producers Mike Medavoy and Bobby Geisler with director Spike Lee. One table over, Agent Wayne Kabak with publisher Joni Evans and Wall Street banker Sallie Krawcheck. On one side of them producer Jeff Sharp with PR guru Peter Brown. And on the other side of the K-E-K table, Mr Phil Donahue in jeans and a leather jacket. And next to them Henry Schleiff and Stew Rosenthal. Jason Binn was hosting a table next to me. Bob Friedman was across the way. Ed Victor was lunching with Sir Harry Evans; Barry Frey was celebrating a birthday; Rob Weisbach with Jess Cagle. A young woman in a leather jacket and boy-short blonde and pink hair stopped by the table and said 'Hi David!' I said: 'Who are you?' 'It’s me, Julie Macklowe,' she said. I should have taken a picture. The leather jacket was Balenciaga, I think she said. Maybe I’m imagining it. Julie was still partially in costume from Monday night’s Costume Institute ball at the Met. Moving right along: Da Boyz: Dr. Gerry Imber, Jerry Della Femina, Michael Kramer, Andrew Bergman; lotsa laughs over there; Jon Meacham, Ramona Singer, Susan Zirinsky, Euan Rellie. Quest’s Chris Meigher was with Jim Mitchell.  Chris stopped by the table to tell us that Katherine Bryan was married a couple of days go to Damon Mezzacappa by a Justice of the Peace in Palm Beach. Katherine, who is one of the most beautiful women in New York, is also the mother of journalist/author George Gurley, and shares his sense of humor as well as his bonhomie. The marriage is not a surprise as the couple of have been seeing each other for sometime." (NYSocialDiary)

"Last night's Costume Institute Gala offered plenty to marvel at, but it wasn't the red-carpet fashion or the Schiaparelli and Prada dresses encased in glass that had Karolina Kurkova buzzing at the Crown after-party:'"I loved the cookies!' the model told Style.com as she made her entrance with Rachel Zoe. 'There were a lot of amazing things—Bruno Mars!—but those cookies were really good." The crooner's performance back at the Met's Temple of Dendur had everyone on their feet. 'People were grooving out pretty hard,' said Jonathan Tisch, who added that his personal highlight was 'saying hi to Tom Brady, and that's a lot coming from me.' (Tisch, for the fashion types reading this, is a co-owner of the New York Giants.) There was no sign of Brady at Crown, but there were other sports stars in the mix, including Alex Rodriguez and basketball player Tyson Chandler—both of whom gave the model set a run for its money in the height department. 'Wow, I bet she could make a few slam dunks,' said a cocktail waiter when Chanel Iman strolled in. By 1 a.m., the party was winding down, with some in the crowd moving on to the Prada-sponsored bashes at the Fletcher-Sinclair mansion and at the Top of the Standard." (Style)

"As a jet-set-hipster-in-training growing up in suburban Illinois, few names elicited the aspirational glamour of legendary hair stylist Vidal Sassoon. The day I first saw his three-step hair care system on the shelves of my local supermarket I thought I'd finally found my ticket to the glam life of trips to Europe, elegant parties and designer ensembles. Once I had a driver's license, I rushed downtown to the Vidal Sassoon salon at Water Tower Place mall. I thought I'd finally arrived. Sassoon was handsome and chic and had that irresistible English accent we Americans are all suckers for. He revolutionized hairstyling in the '60s with his blunt easy-care cuts including the look he did for for Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. The world is a little bit less glamorous without him." (Mickey Boardman)

"After doing a heroic job making it up the red carpet with a cane at the Met gala, Brooke Shields hobbled into Jay McInerney’s party for his new wine book 'The Juice' the following night. She was injured dancing in Broadway’s 'The Addams Family' months ago and recently underwent surgery for a torn meniscus in her right knee. She said, 'While onstage, I heard something pop.' She joked that she had used a cane at the gala, 'So I would stand out in the glamorous crowd.' The city’s top sommeliers and wine experts were on hand at Jay and Anne Hearst’s Greenwich Village penthouse Tuesday — which must have created an agonizing choice over which wine to serve — including Daniel Johnnes of Daniel Johnnes Wines and Daniel Boulud’s restaurant group, Le Bernardin’s Aldo Sohm, Carla Rzeszewski of the Breslin, John Dory and Spotted Pig, Richard Luftig of Cookshop and Jordan Lari of The Lamb’s Club. Thankfully, Jay, the Wall Street Journal’s wine columnist, has valiantly tried most of the wine on offer and came up with a selection including 2010 Droin Chablis Vaillons Premier Cru and Pol Roger Brut Champagne. Also enjoying Jay’s vino were the city’s top wine auctioneers: Jamie Ritchie of Sotheby’s, Charles Antin of Christie’s and John Kapon of Acker Merral and Condit. Also there were Griffin Dunne, Taki Theodoracopulos, A.M. Homes, Nicole Miller, Hilary and Wilbur Ross, Diandra Douglas, Judith Giuliani, Sally Hirshberger and Irina Pantaeva. And artists Will Cotton, Ross Bleckner and Robert Wilson were admiring their own work hanging on the walls of the McInerney pad." (P6)