Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

George Clooney arrives for the red carpet of Omega Le Jardin Secret dinner party on May 16 in China.

"George Clooney may be ready to take his interest in politics to the next level.
The Oscar winner, 53, is seriously contemplating running for the Governor of California, Us Weekly reports. 'George has been talking to politicians about running for years,' said an insider. The 'Monuments Men' star, who counts President Obama as a pal, would like to ultimately become a senator. 'George has said his ultimate goal is to become a U.S. senator, but he knows he would have to hold a position like governor first,' the source adds. A friend of Clooney’s predicts a 2018 run saying, 'He has good ideas that he wants to implement.' Clooney famously claimed he couldn’t run for office because of his past, saying, 'I’ve slept with too many women, I’ve done too many drugs and I’ve been to too many parties.'" (PageSix)

Jackie and Rod in 2013.

"This past Sunday, June 22nd June in far off Gloucestershire, UK, the Goldin Group Charity Polo Cup 2014 took place at the Beaufort Polo Club sponsored, by Goldin Group and its Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club. The Piaget and Royal Salute teams battled it out on the famous Beaufort Polo Club field in Tetbury. Piaget brought home a victory, with a close score of seven goals to five and a half. The event had two very special guests - HRH Prince Henry of Wales playing for Piaget, and HRH The Duke of Cambridge – otherwise known to Americans as Harry and William (or Wills) playing for Royal Salute ... Back in town. Yesterday morning many New Yorkers awoke to the very sad email message that Rodman (Rod) Drake had died the night before, in his sleep, surrounded by his family at his apartment on Park Avenue. Rod had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer three and a half months before. He had undergone some treatment and been hospitalized recently. Although his friends all knew of his illness, yesterday was the day that he had planned to host a birthday party for his wife Jackie at their home. A graduate of Yale, Class of ’65, he received his B.A. in Latin American Studies, and later acquired an MBA at Harvard Business School. Investment advisor, consultant, investor, board member, a passionate collector of American illustration art and a Dog’s Best Friend (he’d served as a Director of the Animal Medical Center), in the following almost five decades from his graduation at Yale, Rod had served on many corporate boards, as well funds and investment groups. The father of two sons by his first wife, he was a friend to many (including  lifelong friendships with his suitemates from Yale. He and Jackie, author and biographer, the former Jacqueline Bograd Weld, married in December 1998 in a ceremony in Jackie’s apartment before 30 guests and Rod’s dog, Vasco de Gama. Their friend Susan Cheever who attended, described the couple to the New York Times, 'She’s like a parrot, and he’s like an owl. She’s very colorful and flamboyant, and he’s solid and sweet and wise. And he goes out a night, which she requires.' It was a good one. The marriage to Jackie also brought him a social life, which Cheever referred to." (NYSD)


                                

                                    

"It was past midnight, Charlie Rangel had been speaking for a half hour, and he was just getting warmed up. The stage he was standing on in an East Harlem ballroom was buckling — didn’t matter. He kept going for nearly an hour altogether. 'The Teamsters are in the house!' Rangel rasped. 'My office is in the house! My wife is in the house! My girlfriend is in the house!' Whatever that last line meant, the bottom line was that Rangel was in the House, the House of Representatives — still. Last night he won his 23rd straight race — unofficially, until the Board of Elections opens the absentee ballots — by about 1,800 votes, in a bitter Democratic primary rematch with State Senator Adriano Espaillat. All the data and demographics mattered: the redrawing of district lines to include a section of the Bronx. The fact that black New Yorkers continue to vote more dependably than Latino New Yorkers, and that Latino New Yorkers are by no means politically monolithic. The money that Rangel has delivered for the district since he first took office in 1971. But there is also the highly unscientific, unquantifiable quality that kept Rangel talking last night: The man wanted it very badly. Voters, whatever their grasp of policy, respond intuitively to politicians who need them, who care so much it hurts. Two years ago, Rangel campaigned through scandal and a debilitating spinal infection. This spring, the sight of an 84-year-old man sweating it out on street corners, alternately grinning and raging, contrasted with the curiously lackluster effort of Espaillat." (Jonathan Chait)

"Jann Wenner promoted his son Gus to head of digital for all Wenner Media titles, which means that the 23-year-old is in charge of the websites for Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Men’s Journal.'Under Gus’s direction, RollingStone.com has reached new heights in terms of growing our audience and revenue and enriching the site with extraordinary feature content and design, and we are certain he will have continued success in expanding his focus to further the development of UsMagazine.com and MensJournal.com,' the elder Wenner said in a statement. It seems like just yesterday that Gus Wenner was a starry-eyed Brown grad entrusted with managing RollingStone.com. But in fact, it was a little more than a year ago. So obviously, it’s time for a promotion." (Observer)