Media-Whore D'oeuvres

"People have used books as a reliable tool to transmit and preserve information, ideas, and stories for hundreds of years. E-books have enjoyed wide use for only about six years — counting from when Amazon introduced its Kindle in 2007. Yet e-books have rapidly upended so many facets of the traditional book world that the changes they’ve caused have inspired a documentary, 'Out of Print,' by director Vivienne Roumani, which debuted April 25 at the Tribeca Film Festival.Through interviews with historians specializing in the history of books, as well as key figures in publishing, libraries, schools, bookselling, and cognitive science, and by presenting statistics culled from recent literacy surveys, 'Out of Print' presents a portrait of a literary landscape in the midst of rapid change, both positive and negative. The advent of e-books has made reading more efficient and affordable for many and has increased access to and acceptance of self-publishing. But on the other hand, 'Out of Print' portrays young people who are unable or unwilling to read long sections of text, and can’t retain or synthesize the snippets of information they skim. 'A book is something I’m being forced to read, so I spend my time thinking about how I’d rather be sleeping,' says one teenage boy in the film.
Another teenager describes the bewildering experience of visiting a library to conduct research. Although he may be hamming it up for his fellow interviewees, he describes it as 'probably one of the hardest experiences of my life. There were so many books, each book specific to one thing. It’s not like you could find one book with everything that you needed in it. I was like, ‘this is terrible. I just want to Google it.’'" (PBS)

"And yet skyscraper hatred makes no sense. Manhattan without them would be an expensive Queens, and there are fewer than 20 buildings in the city that top 800 feet. We have the Great Depression to thank for the way the city’s shape dips low south of Midtown, and we have 9/11 to thank for the new glass pillars going up in the void left by the Twin Towers. The stratosphere is not as yet crowded, the brownstones are still uncrushed, and the undertow of nostalgia is still strong. Here are the origins of the futuristic New York, as in the great Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis: Detained overnight as a German alien soon after the end of the Great War, Lang saw the city at night as an illusion. Its glaring lights and tall buildings helped him conceive Metropolis. Manhattan’s skyscrapers helped Hollywood create the playground of superheroes, headquarters of super-big corporations ruled by masters of the universe. The symbolism of strength in height and size is unmistakable and has made Hollywood’s life easier as a result. 'Skyscrapers,' proclaims Ayn Rand’s hero Howard Roark in The Fountainhead, are “the greatest structural inventions of man.” He then dismisses Greek temples and Gothic cathedrals as mongrels of every ancient style they copied. (That’s good old Rand for you.) Her philosophical belief in the value of the individual versus the collective somehow reminds me of the great lady the Brits just buried with style—a friend, Nick Scott, rang me after her funeral and told me it made him proud to be English. Hear, hear, just as it made me never want to set foot in the place after some of the remarks I heard by those ghastly lefties of the BBC. But back to Rand and her supermen. She set her novel in New York because New York means one thing only: power. Power is an active, dominating presence throughout the book, and even more in the movie made from the novel, with the sweeping skyline of the city, especially down Fifth Avenue, seen by the audience from the interiors of offices through enormous glass walls. Raymond Massey, impeccably dressed in double-breasted suits in his office with spectacular views of Downtown as background, is no one to mess with. And the movie knew what it was doing, even back when it was made in 1949. Roark’s dream was of a sleek, dynamic, individual edifice, not the boxy bores that the UN and Lever House are. Massey’s press baron was Rupert Murdoch long before Rupie baby owned a single newspaper. Massie dismisses neoclassical designs as “great big marble bromides.” Murdoch would most likely have said the same in a different accent, and that’s what bothers me about The Fountainhead." (Taki)

"Many regard TV as a dinosaur of the past. With the rise of social media and other new technology platforms, new media types predict that its days are numbered, soon to be buried under an avalanche of disruptive change. Yet it lives on, despite the skeptics. In fact, it thrives. TV programming has never been more diverse or of higher quality. My 3-year old learns math concepts on Team Umizoomi while I never miss an episode of Game of Thrones. For all the talk about cord cutting, viewership remains strong and TV’s share of the ad market is actually higher than it was a decade ago. In fact, the industry is going through a renaissance of sorts, where old models are mixing with new ones to create a vibrant new marketplace for content. For sure, the economics of TV are changing, but for the better." (Forbes)

"Supermodel Naomi Campbell’s five-year relationship with her Russian billionaire boyfriend, Vladimir Doronin, is on the rocks, sources exclusively tell Page Six. We’re told the pair, who have been dating since 2008, 'have been taking a break' as the British beauty’s career continues to soar with her TV show 'The Face' a hit in the US and taping in the UK, while she also appears in a sizzling shoot on the cover of Vogue Brazil. Doronin was noticeably not with Campbell as she attended numerous Oscar parties in Hollywood in February. The couple were last seen together on the beach in Miami in March.  A source told us, 'Naomi and Vlad have broken up, and he’s been out partying in New York.' A spy added that Doronin was recently spotted at the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel, flirting with a blonde. Another source said, 'Naomi and Vlad have a complex relationship, and sometimes break up and make up.' The source added, 'In many ways their relationship is like a business arrangement. Naomi brings glamor to his hotels and properties, and he treats her extremely well. But they spend a lot of time apart due to work commitments.' Campbell, 42, threw Doronin an extravagant 50th birthday bash last November in Jodhpur, India, with guests including Kate Moss, Eva Herzigova and Karolina Kurkova. Doronin, who has been building a futuristic mansion for Campbell in Moscow, is expected to be among the guests at her 43rd birthday bash May 22, which is reportedly taking place in Ibiza. Despite his long relationship with Campbell, Doronin has not divorced his wife, Ekaterina, even though they are believed to have separated in about 1998." (PageSix)

"When asked to describe a favorite vacation spot, rapper Theophilus London wrote on a postcard how he was fond of Monte Carlo 'because of how slow the rich walk.'" (PageSix)

"'Boys breastfeed longer . . . and then they never stop,' says Julia Restoin Roitfeld. The 32-year-old daughter of former French Vogue editrix Carine Roitfeld is posing in a skintight Victoria Beckham nude dress, her cheekbones as sharp as her curves are soft, and she can’t stop talking about breasts.'My boobs have gotten a lot smaller since giving birth,' she tells the photographer. 'They got huge and then poof, disappeared. It was very, very sad' ... 'Tom Ford gave me high heels for the baby,' says Roitfeld. 'They’re a little kitten heel with a velvet rope that you tie. It’s like a collection piece. I have to put it on the bookshelf, framed. I got leather diaper pants from Alexander Wang. And I got an amazing Givenchy shirt from Ricardo [Tisci] and this you can wear. It’s from the season with the black panther.' 'She’s been so spoiled,' adds Roitfeld. 'I just try to store everything. Her closet is a whole museum now.'" (Alexa)