Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"A heckler hath heckled First Lady Michelle Obama! At a Democratic National Committee fundraiser yesterday evening in Washington D.C., a gay rights activist interrupted Obama’s speech with heckles demanding that the president 'issue an executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity.' And what fate awaited this hot-headed heckling heckler? A heckle from the be-heckled herself!" (VanityFair)

"When it comes to love, put it all on paper. It might not sound romantic, but getting everything — and we mean everything — in writing before you tie the knot may save you heartache down the road.
Pre- and postnuptial agreements are the standard for anyone with assets (or history). But lifestyle clauses — like weight requirements between partners, ultimatums addressing infidelity and even guidelines about the frequency of sex — are the newest trend in wedding planning ... Infidelity is the most common lifestyle clause, according to (a leading love contract lawyer). Jessica Biel reportedly has an agreement with Justin Timberlake that would net her $500,000 if he cheats. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones reportedly have a similar clause — not only would Zeta-Jones receive $2.8 million per year of marriage if they divorced, she would get a $5 million bonus if Douglas, an alleged sex addict, were caught cheating. Clauses aren’t just punitive, they can be used as a deterrent. Keith Urban, a former cocaine addict, won’t get a penny of wife Nicole Kidman’s fortune if he uses illegal drugs. ove contracts can get plenty specific: Newlywed Priscilla Chan is said to have made Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg commit to spending at least one night and 100 minutes of quality time with her per week. For the Web mogul and round-the-clock worker, this could be a challenge." (NYDailyNews)

"Does Michael Bloomberg want to be the next Michael Arrington? His company, Bloomberg LP, just announced the creation of Bloomberg Beta, a $75 million venture capital fund based in San Francisco. The fund will invest in some of the same companies covered by Bloomberg News, another division of Bloomberg LP. While it is a potential conflict of interest (in the ethical sense, not the SEC sense), this kind of arrangement is not unheard of in Silicon Valley, where Mr. Arrington started a venture capital fund while still editor-in-chief of the tech blog Techcrunch. Of course, Bloomberg insists that Bloomberg Beta and Bloomberg LP are 'separate legal entities,' which is true, though Bloomberg LP is the only investor in Bloomberg Beta." (Observer)

"In 2006, Jim VandeHei left a prestigious position Washington Post in 2006 for an unknown start-up called Politico. Today, the publication is a fixture of the political reporting establishment — so much so that a reporter on House of Cards joins a fictitious start-up  because: 'Six months from now, Slugline will be what Politico was a year and a half ago.' How does Politico plan to stay fresh while also making money? Executive editor VandeHei, who has an intense stare and speaks a bit like a character from a Christian Slater movie, shared some thoughts last week from the publication’s office in Arlington, Va. Here’s some highlights (our conversation has been edited for length and clarity).
Politico shook up the Washington media establishment when it launched in 2007. Do you feel as relevant now? JV: We’re still in the middle of the great media disruption. Anyone who thinks that because they have success today, they’ll have success tomorrow I think is a fool. We’re constantly evolving our content and our technology to the ways that people are actually consuming information rather than the way we wished they would consume it. One of the things that makes me most proud about Politico is that six or seven years into this, we’re as restless today as when we launched the publication. Every media executive has to think that way or you’re just going to get your clock cleaned. Who scares you the most? JV: Our core competition journalistically is the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times. Financially, our competitive sets are different. On issue advertising, it’s everyone from the Post to the Atlantic to Roll Call. When it comes to selling high-end subscriptions our competition is Bloomberg’s BGov and, to a lesser extent, CQ and National Journal. Who scares me the most? The entity that should worry media companies the most is Bloomberg because they have huge ambitions and huge cash reserves and they clearly have an appetite for more Washington coverage." (Paidcontent)

"A beautiful sunny day, yesterday in New York. Temperatures in the low 70s, and a soft breeze passing hither and yon. All that rain in the days before, and very cool Spring weather has left us with a lot of rich, fresh green bursting all around us in the city’s streets, as well as many tree-shaded Upper East Side and West Sides. Memorials and New York nights. I took that opening shot about 7:30 last night, over at the Franklin Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park Conservancy’s Sunset Garden Party at the Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island ... Getting closer to the entrance of the park, I could hear wonderful music in the distance – American songbook mixed with rock, and a woman singing – and the sound of voices chatting at an outdoor party. Reaching the tent at the foot of the grandsteps, I passed it by on my way up to the monument, figuring that if there were any official activities going on, they’d start there. The party had started at five. I arrived almost two and a half hours later and learned I missed Bill Vanden Heuvel’s welcoming speech about the monument and what Roosevelt’s speech to Congress in January 6, 1941 stood for ... The music in the distance was so steady you could feel like dancing. At first I thought they had an excellent DJ spinning a lively, sophisticated background and maybe some dancing. But it was too lively, sophisticated to be a recording. It turned out to be Peter Duchin and his orchestra and his songbird Roberta Fabiano (my favorite interpreter of Cole Porter, the Beatles and the Gershwins) ... On arriving there I saw Bill vanden Heuvel going up to the bandstand where Peter Duchin and Roberto Fabiano were doing their upbeat rendition of 'Happy Days Are Here Again' (an almost- anthem of the first Roosevelt Administration after the Market Crash – which turned out to be 'not really' that “happy”)." (NYSocialDiary)

"Vera Wang celebrated her CFDA Lifetime Achievement honor with a dinner for 200 at The Four Seasons Restaurant after Monday night’s awards. Wang, who spent nearly 20 years at Vogue and designed for Ralph Lauren before striking out on her own, was toasted by fashion luminaries including Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Zac Posen, Tommy Hilfiger, Dennis Basso, Hamish Bowles, Karolina Kurkova, CFDA Awards host Andy Cohen and 'House of Cards' star Kate Mara. " (NYPost)