Michael Wolff: Media Person of the Year
"Today's vast world of media is shaped by many bold and audacious personalities," says I Want Media. "But which individual most deserves to be recognized for his or her impact on the media in 2003? "
The Corsair thinks Michael Wolff was clearly the media person of the year. Audacious? Wolff! Wolff won the National Magazine Award in 2002 for columns and commentary. Then, this year Wolff stunned the world's media by making controversial statements about CENTCOM during the Second Gulf War, asking General Vincent Brooks, "I mean no disrespect, but what is the value proposition of these briefings. Why are we here? Why should we stay? What's the value of what we're learning at this million dollar press centre?"
Audacious!
Wolff also stunned the snarky and highly envious New York Media clique when it was revealed that he makes more than $450,000 a year from his gig at New York Magazine. And, to add salt to our wounded pride, he is currently in the thick of a bid to buy the aforementioned New York, thus transforming us all from fancy free scribblers to Masters of Our Own Fate.
Autumn of the Moguls, his paean to media moguls, was published in November 2003 to generally good reviews. In fact, Wolff declared the New York Times Book Review dead, and, later they gave Autumn of the Moguls a positive review. And even though he called Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein a "thug," that gangster of New York still attended Michael's book party at -- where else -- Michael's. That's "juice."
He buried the hatchet with Barry Diller and he analyzed Tina Brown's rough year, but in the end Michael Wolff looked down from all of this media hooplah from his Table No. 5 looking pretty solid. In fact, very solid.
Maybe we should all be wanna-be mogul's? Send your nominees to:
feedback@iwantmedia.com
Monday, November 17, 2003
Lord Black of Crossharbour to Step Down
Breaking News: Lord Conrad Black of Crossharbour has resigned as chief executive of Hollinger Inc after it was found that $32 million in unauthorized payments had been made to Black and other top executives.
See The Corsair's Take on the Conrad Black-Mort Zuckerman battle for the NY Daily News .
Breaking News: Lord Conrad Black of Crossharbour has resigned as chief executive of Hollinger Inc after it was found that $32 million in unauthorized payments had been made to Black and other top executives.
See The Corsair's Take on the Conrad Black-Mort Zuckerman battle for the NY Daily News .
The Return of Maer Roshan
Maer Roshan, the editor-in-chief of Radar takes aim at Forbes's false story on the Poynter.org Letters Forum.
"It may disappoint the ghoulish peers who keep predicting Radar's demise, but there's life in the old gal yet," writes Roshan. "Though some of Radar's phone numbers changed when we moved into new offices last month, our main number remains 212 55-RADAR, as Forbes would have discovered if it had bothered to call it."
Maer Roshan, the editor-in-chief of Radar takes aim at Forbes's false story on the Poynter.org Letters Forum.
"It may disappoint the ghoulish peers who keep predicting Radar's demise, but there's life in the old gal yet," writes Roshan. "Though some of Radar's phone numbers changed when we moved into new offices last month, our main number remains 212 55-RADAR, as Forbes would have discovered if it had bothered to call it."
Hollywood Studio Heads Hijack Indie Oscar Hopes
If anyone hasn't sold out yet it is Eugene Hernandez and the folks at IndieWIRE. But it seems that even the Indie mini-studios are in trouble.
Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) (hasn't he been in power for, like, as long as an African dictator?) has finalized the controversial awards season screener ban which "will only allow tapes for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."
In recent years, indie films that might have been overlooked by screeners have recieved nominations. The studio heads of Dreamworks, MGM, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Fox, Universal, Disney and Warner Bros have been criticized by indie luminaries, including:
Darren Aronofsky, Todd Field, Richard Kelly, producers Mary Jane Skalski, Jeremy Thomas, Eric Watson, and Eden Wurmfeld, and actors Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Sissy Spacek. Kevin Iwashina, Peter Levine and Jason Tuchinsky from CAA, John Lesher from Endeavor, Julie Yorn and Adam Schulman from The Firm, and David Schiff from UTA among others.
While Valenti uses the the anti-piracy argument, there is no question that this ruling will all but shut out the smaller independent features for Oscar awards, or even Oscar nominations.
If anyone hasn't sold out yet it is Eugene Hernandez and the folks at IndieWIRE. But it seems that even the Indie mini-studios are in trouble.
Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) (hasn't he been in power for, like, as long as an African dictator?) has finalized the controversial awards season screener ban which "will only allow tapes for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."
In recent years, indie films that might have been overlooked by screeners have recieved nominations. The studio heads of Dreamworks, MGM, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Fox, Universal, Disney and Warner Bros have been criticized by indie luminaries, including:
Darren Aronofsky, Todd Field, Richard Kelly, producers Mary Jane Skalski, Jeremy Thomas, Eric Watson, and Eden Wurmfeld, and actors Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Sissy Spacek. Kevin Iwashina, Peter Levine and Jason Tuchinsky from CAA, John Lesher from Endeavor, Julie Yorn and Adam Schulman from The Firm, and David Schiff from UTA among others.
While Valenti uses the the anti-piracy argument, there is no question that this ruling will all but shut out the smaller independent features for Oscar awards, or even Oscar nominations.
Norman Mailer: That Spooky Fart"
Oh dear Jesus. Norman Mailer, the countercultural literary hero and self proclaimed "heavyweight champion of writing" has suffered a TKO in his latest piece of ... "work" called Modest Gifts: Poems and Drawings.
The Corsair may blast The New York Press from time to time, but Alexander Zaitchik's vivisection of Mailer's new money making scheme is right on the money.
It takes a lot of nerve to expect $14.95 for this crock of shit. It doesn't even appear as if Mailer has ever tried to learn how to draw, or sketch, or whatever it is he is hoisting on us. His poetry is, as usual, uninspired, self indulgent and stupid. Mailer's got a lot of alimony payments and so maybe that's why he is hawking his wares in this untoward manner.
I guess that the venerated writer -- now past 80 years on Earth -- is so great that we should be happy to snatch up the scaps from his table from on high in P-Town. One should marvel in the godlike grandeur of his sloppy scribblings and adolescent, undisciplined poetry, for he is Mailer, he is our great American of Letters.
After publishing That Spooky Art, a weak cut and paste job worthy of anything William Burroughs produced in his last days (and that's not saying much), one should have seen this coming. In his senectitude Mailer has morphed from hipster to hustler, selling us knock of writing for real literature. Do not buy this book, dear readers, The Corsair has spoken.
Norman Mailer's Modest Gifts is not a book to be tossed aside lightly, to paraphrase Dorothy Parker, it should be thrown with great force!
Oh dear Jesus. Norman Mailer, the countercultural literary hero and self proclaimed "heavyweight champion of writing" has suffered a TKO in his latest piece of ... "work" called Modest Gifts: Poems and Drawings.
The Corsair may blast The New York Press from time to time, but Alexander Zaitchik's vivisection of Mailer's new money making scheme is right on the money.
It takes a lot of nerve to expect $14.95 for this crock of shit. It doesn't even appear as if Mailer has ever tried to learn how to draw, or sketch, or whatever it is he is hoisting on us. His poetry is, as usual, uninspired, self indulgent and stupid. Mailer's got a lot of alimony payments and so maybe that's why he is hawking his wares in this untoward manner.
I guess that the venerated writer -- now past 80 years on Earth -- is so great that we should be happy to snatch up the scaps from his table from on high in P-Town. One should marvel in the godlike grandeur of his sloppy scribblings and adolescent, undisciplined poetry, for he is Mailer, he is our great American of Letters.
After publishing That Spooky Art, a weak cut and paste job worthy of anything William Burroughs produced in his last days (and that's not saying much), one should have seen this coming. In his senectitude Mailer has morphed from hipster to hustler, selling us knock of writing for real literature. Do not buy this book, dear readers, The Corsair has spoken.
Norman Mailer's Modest Gifts is not a book to be tossed aside lightly, to paraphrase Dorothy Parker, it should be thrown with great force!
How Come Movies on the Media Don't Do Well?
Maybe we are all just navel-gazing at ourselves? It is a possibility. How else to explain why we love movies on the media than nearly everyone else in the Western world does? I was wondering how come movies dealing with the media -- i.e. journos, djs, talking heads, editors -- don't do so hot in their cumulative box office numbers?
Almost Famous, which is perhaps the most beloved journo movie of this age, had a cumulative box office of a measley $31.7 million. Elf made that much on its opening weekend! Even that Steven Glass movie Shatterd Glass has earned only about $269,898, despite tons of media attention, including Hayden Christiansen appearing on Reliable Sources, as well as tons of raves in everything mediacentric from Interview to The Observer.
Veronica Guerin hasn't even earned more than $10 million yet, depite -- tellingly -- critical and media raves. Howard Stern's Private Parts only earned $40 million, despite his being on every cover imaginable (Can you say overexposure? Can you say ultraoverexposure? Then again, exposed private parts and Stern go hand in hand, so to speak).
Woody Allen often spoofs the lives of television writers and we all know of his dismal box office numbers, which fly in the face of his East Coast media acclaim.
Let's face it, my fellow media monkeys we in the media and of the media love ourselves a lot more than the heartland loves us. Don't feel bad, though, cultural elites: I love you, baby. The Corsair will always love you and cover your snarkiness with affection. Now, bookmark us.
Maybe we are all just navel-gazing at ourselves? It is a possibility. How else to explain why we love movies on the media than nearly everyone else in the Western world does? I was wondering how come movies dealing with the media -- i.e. journos, djs, talking heads, editors -- don't do so hot in their cumulative box office numbers?
Almost Famous, which is perhaps the most beloved journo movie of this age, had a cumulative box office of a measley $31.7 million. Elf made that much on its opening weekend! Even that Steven Glass movie Shatterd Glass has earned only about $269,898, despite tons of media attention, including Hayden Christiansen appearing on Reliable Sources, as well as tons of raves in everything mediacentric from Interview to The Observer.
Veronica Guerin hasn't even earned more than $10 million yet, depite -- tellingly -- critical and media raves. Howard Stern's Private Parts only earned $40 million, despite his being on every cover imaginable (Can you say overexposure? Can you say ultraoverexposure? Then again, exposed private parts and Stern go hand in hand, so to speak).
Woody Allen often spoofs the lives of television writers and we all know of his dismal box office numbers, which fly in the face of his East Coast media acclaim.
Let's face it, my fellow media monkeys we in the media and of the media love ourselves a lot more than the heartland loves us. Don't feel bad, though, cultural elites: I love you, baby. The Corsair will always love you and cover your snarkiness with affection. Now, bookmark us.
Peltz In On New York Mag Contest
It looks like Nelson Peltz, the billionaire stepfather of ABC reporter Perri Peltz is in on the New York Magazine buyers sweepstakes. report Keith J. Kelly and Erica Copulsky of The New York Post today.
So that puts him in league with Mort Zuckerman, Donnie Deutsche and Michael Wolff, Tribune Co., American Media and William Curtis, the CEO of Curtco Media.
Who says it's the Twilight of the Moguls?
It looks like Nelson Peltz, the billionaire stepfather of ABC reporter Perri Peltz is in on the New York Magazine buyers sweepstakes. report Keith J. Kelly and Erica Copulsky of The New York Post today.
So that puts him in league with Mort Zuckerman, Donnie Deutsche and Michael Wolff, Tribune Co., American Media and William Curtis, the CEO of Curtco Media.
Who says it's the Twilight of the Moguls?
Have You Sold Out Yet?
Yes, even Elizabeth Spiers, the patron saint of all bloggers has admitted to selling out. then again, don't we all sell out sooner or later? Or, am I wrong on this? I mean, Johnny Depp lives in France, away from the whole star fucker capitol of the world, raises his child in relative obscurity, does intelligent and edgy films. But for every Depp, there is the John Favreau, king of the independent circuit and host of Dinner For Five, on the Independent Film Channel of all places. Of course Favreau caved at the chance to direct a Bif Fat Silly Hollwood Holiday Film called, Elf.
Then there is Nick Coppola, who was hailed for his quirky indie films, but leaped at the chance to play the alcoholic who falls for a hooker with a heart of gold in Leaving Las Vegas. We won't even mention Gone in 60 Seconds.
The Beatles and The Stones and even Dylan regularly sell their 60s tunes to The Man.
If Spy Magazine were still around -- or even Radar (where are ya Maer Roshan?) -- the cover story would almost certainly be "Have You Sold Out Yet?" It seems that everyone except David Lynch already has ...
Yes, even Elizabeth Spiers, the patron saint of all bloggers has admitted to selling out. then again, don't we all sell out sooner or later? Or, am I wrong on this? I mean, Johnny Depp lives in France, away from the whole star fucker capitol of the world, raises his child in relative obscurity, does intelligent and edgy films. But for every Depp, there is the John Favreau, king of the independent circuit and host of Dinner For Five, on the Independent Film Channel of all places. Of course Favreau caved at the chance to direct a Bif Fat Silly Hollwood Holiday Film called, Elf.
Then there is Nick Coppola, who was hailed for his quirky indie films, but leaped at the chance to play the alcoholic who falls for a hooker with a heart of gold in Leaving Las Vegas. We won't even mention Gone in 60 Seconds.
The Beatles and The Stones and even Dylan regularly sell their 60s tunes to The Man.
If Spy Magazine were still around -- or even Radar (where are ya Maer Roshan?) -- the cover story would almost certainly be "Have You Sold Out Yet?" It seems that everyone except David Lynch already has ...
Saturday, November 15, 2003
Celebrity Stage Names
In a world where justice is the law of the land a woman named Patricia Andrejewski would have just as much of a chance to be a star as Pat Benetar. Unfortunately we do not live in a world free of xenophobia, of fear of the strange and foreign sounding things, so Patricia Andrejewski changed her name to Pat Benetar and the rest is history. Or herstory. Whatever.
Celebrity Stage Names is a cool site that gives you the real names of stars before they were big. So: Tom Cruise was Thomas Mapother IV ,
Elvis Costello was Declan McManus and Ice T was Tracy Morrow ... hee hee ... Tracy.
In a world where justice is the law of the land a woman named Patricia Andrejewski would have just as much of a chance to be a star as Pat Benetar. Unfortunately we do not live in a world free of xenophobia, of fear of the strange and foreign sounding things, so Patricia Andrejewski changed her name to Pat Benetar and the rest is history. Or herstory. Whatever.
Celebrity Stage Names is a cool site that gives you the real names of stars before they were big. So: Tom Cruise was Thomas Mapother IV ,
Elvis Costello was Declan McManus and Ice T was Tracy Morrow ... hee hee ... Tracy.
It's Official: Cindy Adams Is a Picklehead
Coddler of dictators, purveyor of perfume, dog lover, all around annoying media persona and Park Avenue doyenne Cindy Adams did not get that 40 minute exclusive with Fred Durst. The Daily News' Richard T. Pienciak reports:
"It's bull----, but you know, that's the Post," said an angry Dick DeGuerin. "Those quotes are fabricated."
DeGuerin (who is aptly named and Fred Durst's attorney) claims that his client was tricked into a 45 second conversation by Debrah Charatan, his second wife. But Cindy said she had four ten minute conversations with Durst on the phone from his Galveston, Texas jail cell. Hmmm. There's something fishy going on here. Could it be that like the dictators Cindy Adams favors, she could be going in for the noble lie? Say it aint so, Jazzy ... say it aint so ....
Coddler of dictators, purveyor of perfume, dog lover, all around annoying media persona and Park Avenue doyenne Cindy Adams did not get that 40 minute exclusive with Fred Durst. The Daily News' Richard T. Pienciak reports:
"It's bull----, but you know, that's the Post," said an angry Dick DeGuerin. "Those quotes are fabricated."
DeGuerin (who is aptly named and Fred Durst's attorney) claims that his client was tricked into a 45 second conversation by Debrah Charatan, his second wife. But Cindy said she had four ten minute conversations with Durst on the phone from his Galveston, Texas jail cell. Hmmm. There's something fishy going on here. Could it be that like the dictators Cindy Adams favors, she could be going in for the noble lie? Say it aint so, Jazzy ... say it aint so ....
Is Bonnie Fuller Getting a Bum Rap?
Wow. The media is snarky. Whether you are a writer for a newspaper, or a radio DJ, or an editor of a glossy, one thing can be said with certainty: you, madame or sir, are in a snarky business. And there is no better way to see the snark fly than if your career is advancing at Mach 10. Then all the playa hatas come out and hate on you. So you say: don't negetate ... congratulate. Or something along those lines.
Anyhoo: Bonnie Fuller's career is in overdrive. However you may feel about Fuller, it is good to see her dump Jann Wenner, on his ass. My factchecker friend Tracy always said that Wenner's enterprises -- Rolling Stone in particular -- are not very girl friendly, but that's another story altogether.
Bonnie Fuller drew great media ire for the fact that she was going from US Weekly, a glossy, to American media with -- gasp! -- tabloids! There was something, oh, I don't know, louche about the whole enterprise, you know? One wanted to take a shower after reading that Our Bonnie was going the way of The Pecker at American Media. No, not our Bonnie ... she's one of us ... the New York Media Elite!
But Bonnie, who is famous for overworking her employees, is making quite a go at it, what with all the pilfered editors and the new NY offices of American media and what not.
Already controversy has erupted over running the picture of Kobe Bryant's accuser. Of course, the media went after Fuller like a pit bull. The problem is, Bonnie Fuller did not approve or disapprove of the publication of the picture: it was an editorial decision made by Jeffrey Rodack the Managing Editor of The Globe. Rodack wrote an interesting (and very oily) piece for Poynter defending his decision nto run the picture, and The Corsair blasted him for it (See Archive, November 5, The Corsair).
So I don''t see what the fuss is about Bonnie Fuller and all that "selling out her sisterhood" chitchat. The only thing I see Fuller as guilty of is overworking her poor employees: hey, Bonnie, some of your editors and writers and factcheckers have lives that do not involve the Lexis Nexis, my little pomegranate!
Wow. The media is snarky. Whether you are a writer for a newspaper, or a radio DJ, or an editor of a glossy, one thing can be said with certainty: you, madame or sir, are in a snarky business. And there is no better way to see the snark fly than if your career is advancing at Mach 10. Then all the playa hatas come out and hate on you. So you say: don't negetate ... congratulate. Or something along those lines.
Anyhoo: Bonnie Fuller's career is in overdrive. However you may feel about Fuller, it is good to see her dump Jann Wenner, on his ass. My factchecker friend Tracy always said that Wenner's enterprises -- Rolling Stone in particular -- are not very girl friendly, but that's another story altogether.
Bonnie Fuller drew great media ire for the fact that she was going from US Weekly, a glossy, to American media with -- gasp! -- tabloids! There was something, oh, I don't know, louche about the whole enterprise, you know? One wanted to take a shower after reading that Our Bonnie was going the way of The Pecker at American Media. No, not our Bonnie ... she's one of us ... the New York Media Elite!
But Bonnie, who is famous for overworking her employees, is making quite a go at it, what with all the pilfered editors and the new NY offices of American media and what not.
Already controversy has erupted over running the picture of Kobe Bryant's accuser. Of course, the media went after Fuller like a pit bull. The problem is, Bonnie Fuller did not approve or disapprove of the publication of the picture: it was an editorial decision made by Jeffrey Rodack the Managing Editor of The Globe. Rodack wrote an interesting (and very oily) piece for Poynter defending his decision nto run the picture, and The Corsair blasted him for it (See Archive, November 5, The Corsair).
So I don''t see what the fuss is about Bonnie Fuller and all that "selling out her sisterhood" chitchat. The only thing I see Fuller as guilty of is overworking her poor employees: hey, Bonnie, some of your editors and writers and factcheckers have lives that do not involve the Lexis Nexis, my little pomegranate!
Awful Celebrity Plastic Surgery
Okay, we admit, that even for The Corsair this is a very puffy piece. But it's Saturday, and yesterday we did a lot of political conversation (log down for that), so here goes. Those groovy cats at AwfulPlasticSurgery.com have done up their site with speculations and pictures of celebrity plastic surgery gone awry. Terribly awry. Courtney Love awry.
Check it out yourself. The Corsair's personal favorite is Patrick Swayze at the bottom. "Crazy like Swayze." Remember when -- for like a minute -- he was big in the 80s? And then came Road House. Hoo, boy (covers nose with hand).
Okay, we admit, that even for The Corsair this is a very puffy piece. But it's Saturday, and yesterday we did a lot of political conversation (log down for that), so here goes. Those groovy cats at AwfulPlasticSurgery.com have done up their site with speculations and pictures of celebrity plastic surgery gone awry. Terribly awry. Courtney Love awry.
Check it out yourself. The Corsair's personal favorite is Patrick Swayze at the bottom. "Crazy like Swayze." Remember when -- for like a minute -- he was big in the 80s? And then came Road House. Hoo, boy (covers nose with hand).
Michael Jackson's Dad: Spare The Whip Spoil The Child
Celebrity means never having to say you're sorry. Or even, it appears, censoring your rambling and incriminating thoughts. Intrepid Daily News staff writer Corky Siemaszko
reports that Michael Jackson's bizarre father, Joe Jackson(no relation to the mild and affable adult contemporary singer with the same name) admits to whipping Michael Jackson. Yes, you got that right: whipping. First Johnny Cash gets his sister in law pregnant and now this!
In a BBC interview airing tommorrow, Joe says, "I whipped him with a switch and a belt ... I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick."
Okay, Kuta Kinte!
Also showing up for the BBC chat was Majestik Magnificent, Michael Jackson's "personal magician." No, I'm not kidding here, everything I have written can be verified with a Lexis Nexis search. Although Bonnie Fuller might have one of her slave/employees hogging it.
Majestik told interviewer Paul Theroux that Michael Jackson is "not gay."
When confronted with the fact that the painfully shy Jackson vomits from nerves, his humane father answered, "He regurgitates all the way to the bank."
This interview will explain so very much about the strange man in the mirror who wears one glove and raves about Macauley Culkin's lips, The Corsair believes.
Celebrity means never having to say you're sorry. Or even, it appears, censoring your rambling and incriminating thoughts. Intrepid Daily News staff writer Corky Siemaszko
reports that Michael Jackson's bizarre father, Joe Jackson(no relation to the mild and affable adult contemporary singer with the same name) admits to whipping Michael Jackson. Yes, you got that right: whipping. First Johnny Cash gets his sister in law pregnant and now this!
In a BBC interview airing tommorrow, Joe says, "I whipped him with a switch and a belt ... I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick."
Okay, Kuta Kinte!
Also showing up for the BBC chat was Majestik Magnificent, Michael Jackson's "personal magician." No, I'm not kidding here, everything I have written can be verified with a Lexis Nexis search. Although Bonnie Fuller might have one of her slave/employees hogging it.
Majestik told interviewer Paul Theroux that Michael Jackson is "not gay."
When confronted with the fact that the painfully shy Jackson vomits from nerves, his humane father answered, "He regurgitates all the way to the bank."
This interview will explain so very much about the strange man in the mirror who wears one glove and raves about Macauley Culkin's lips, The Corsair believes.
Friday, November 14, 2003
Election 2004
It is probably time that Senator Joe Lieberman dropped out and gave his constituents in Connecticut his full attention. Why do I say this? Well, the other non electables in 2004 -- the foolish Al Sharpton, loony Dennis Kucinich and Carol Mosley Brann -- know they won't win. Brann is running to split the black vote and deny Sharpton the black spokesperson role. Kucinich is pushing Nader ideas. And Al is running to be President of Black America. Lieberman is a serious man and should be taken as such. Every Senator, sitting in that aristocratic club deliberating on geopolitical strategy, thinks they can be President. But Lieberman has no base and is lagging on funds. BTW: Did you know that Senator Kerry had chin reduction cosmetic surgery?
It is probably time that Senator Joe Lieberman dropped out and gave his constituents in Connecticut his full attention. Why do I say this? Well, the other non electables in 2004 -- the foolish Al Sharpton, loony Dennis Kucinich and Carol Mosley Brann -- know they won't win. Brann is running to split the black vote and deny Sharpton the black spokesperson role. Kucinich is pushing Nader ideas. And Al is running to be President of Black America. Lieberman is a serious man and should be taken as such. Every Senator, sitting in that aristocratic club deliberating on geopolitical strategy, thinks they can be President. But Lieberman has no base and is lagging on funds. BTW: Did you know that Senator Kerry had chin reduction cosmetic surgery?
Johnny Cash Got June's Sister Pregnant
Just like the dark country music he sang, Johnny Cash lived the life. The National Enquirer is reporting that he and his sister in law had a baby. The article goes on to say that on her death bed, June's sister begged her forgiveness. This story sounds to The Corsair
like a country music hit in waiting about family trees that look like Christmas wreaths. Ah, America, the incestuous: thank you Jerry Springer.
Just like the dark country music he sang, Johnny Cash lived the life. The National Enquirer is reporting that he and his sister in law had a baby. The article goes on to say that on her death bed, June's sister begged her forgiveness. This story sounds to The Corsair
like a country music hit in waiting about family trees that look like Christmas wreaths. Ah, America, the incestuous: thank you Jerry Springer.
Is NY1 CBS NY's Farm League?
Duke Castiglione. Andrew Kirtzman. Jay Dow. Kerri Lyon. It reads like a Who's Who of the NY broadcast news biz. All four talented reporters were originally NY1 talent "poached" by CBS NY in only the past year. CBS NY is shanghaing NY1's videojournalists like sailors out of the 19th Century, with one difference, of course: unlike those luckless shanghaied, the NY1 staff is voluntarily leaving the scrappy local 24-hour Time Warner news service. As the hierarchy dictates, CBS trumps NY1, so there is nothing anyone can really do about the loss of familiar faces on the 24 hour channel. This leaves me wondering: Has NY1 become a farm league for CBS NY to pilfer at will?
Duke Castiglione. Andrew Kirtzman. Jay Dow. Kerri Lyon. It reads like a Who's Who of the NY broadcast news biz. All four talented reporters were originally NY1 talent "poached" by CBS NY in only the past year. CBS NY is shanghaing NY1's videojournalists like sailors out of the 19th Century, with one difference, of course: unlike those luckless shanghaied, the NY1 staff is voluntarily leaving the scrappy local 24-hour Time Warner news service. As the hierarchy dictates, CBS trumps NY1, so there is nothing anyone can really do about the loss of familiar faces on the 24 hour channel. This leaves me wondering: Has NY1 become a farm league for CBS NY to pilfer at will?
Mob Goumba Dating Bruce Colley
You remember swordsman Bruce Colley who broke up the marriage of Kerry Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo? Well, now Page Six reports he is dating John Gotti's former mistress Lisa Gastineau.
You remember swordsman Bruce Colley who broke up the marriage of Kerry Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo? Well, now Page Six reports he is dating John Gotti's former mistress Lisa Gastineau.
Who Will Be The Next Secretary of State?
Colin Powell has all but turned in his papers at the end of his term, so the question arises: Who will be the next Secretary of State? Will it even be a Republican? If a Democrat wins, it will open up a chance for some of the most ambitious men in the world. The Secretary of State position carries with it a prestige, a hint of wisdom and internationalism, that is irrestistable to a certain type of person. Richard Holbrooke is one of those people. He wants to be Secretary of State so bad I can feel it over here in cyberspace. His whole life has been maneuvered for the job.
Nicholas Von Hoffman wrote in Spy in May 90:
"To interview Holbrooke is to learn the etiquite of media-government relations as they are observed in Washington. Some statements are on background, some are not for attribution. Some are deep background, others are deeper background, and a few are uttered on a swallow and forget basis." Ahh, Machiavelli and his nasty grandson Kissinger would be proud.
Other contenders are the creepy reptilian Fareed Zakaria and Michael Wolfe's interesting suggestion in his media column some time back of Walter Isaacson.
Colin Powell has all but turned in his papers at the end of his term, so the question arises: Who will be the next Secretary of State? Will it even be a Republican? If a Democrat wins, it will open up a chance for some of the most ambitious men in the world. The Secretary of State position carries with it a prestige, a hint of wisdom and internationalism, that is irrestistable to a certain type of person. Richard Holbrooke is one of those people. He wants to be Secretary of State so bad I can feel it over here in cyberspace. His whole life has been maneuvered for the job.
Nicholas Von Hoffman wrote in Spy in May 90:
"To interview Holbrooke is to learn the etiquite of media-government relations as they are observed in Washington. Some statements are on background, some are not for attribution. Some are deep background, others are deeper background, and a few are uttered on a swallow and forget basis." Ahh, Machiavelli and his nasty grandson Kissinger would be proud.
Other contenders are the creepy reptilian Fareed Zakaria and Michael Wolfe's interesting suggestion in his media column some time back of Walter Isaacson.
Warren Beatty Has Released More Bombs Than North Korea
A thought occurred to me: Warren Beatty sure has made a few stinkers. I mean, I know he is the father of the Washington-Hollywood connection, back in the McGovern days when he was a volunteer, and even when he was an informal advisor to Gary Hart in 1984, but it has been quite a while between hits for great swordsman.
Ishtar alone lost $37 million. And who can forget Town and Country, Dick Tracy and the regrettable Bullworth? Maybe he should stop being Halle Barre's advisor and take some advice on keeping a career going? (BTW: What is that creepy Padawan-Jedi Master relationship he has with Barre anyway and does Annette Benning approve) Or maybe he should just finally take the plunge and run for political office. He's obviously wanted to for years and that receding hairline will not help him in looks obsessed Tinseltown.
A thought occurred to me: Warren Beatty sure has made a few stinkers. I mean, I know he is the father of the Washington-Hollywood connection, back in the McGovern days when he was a volunteer, and even when he was an informal advisor to Gary Hart in 1984, but it has been quite a while between hits for great swordsman.
Ishtar alone lost $37 million. And who can forget Town and Country, Dick Tracy and the regrettable Bullworth? Maybe he should stop being Halle Barre's advisor and take some advice on keeping a career going? (BTW: What is that creepy Padawan-Jedi Master relationship he has with Barre anyway and does Annette Benning approve) Or maybe he should just finally take the plunge and run for political office. He's obviously wanted to for years and that receding hairline will not help him in looks obsessed Tinseltown.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Wendy Williams: Movin On Up
In New York, WBLS' Wendy Williams brightens the day of many an office worker. She really speeds up the day as you are typing or whatever it is you do. Williams likes to regale listeners with her early life -- pre-VH1 and syndicated radio. Today she outdid herself. Her riff on orange juice:
"Back when I was a kid we were only allowed one glass of orange juice a day because it was expensive."
But now? "In my house we drink as much as we want."
Thank god for upward mobility and god bless the USA!
In New York, WBLS' Wendy Williams brightens the day of many an office worker. She really speeds up the day as you are typing or whatever it is you do. Williams likes to regale listeners with her early life -- pre-VH1 and syndicated radio. Today she outdid herself. Her riff on orange juice:
"Back when I was a kid we were only allowed one glass of orange juice a day because it was expensive."
But now? "In my house we drink as much as we want."
Thank god for upward mobility and god bless the USA!
Lloyd Grove Job watch
How long do you think Lloyd Grove will survive in this town if he recycles old Jackie Kennedy gossip about her priest/confidante?
I mean, The Corsair loves Rush and Molloy. Those guys know how to hustle and get the scoop. And of course The Corsair loves Page Six. But Llod Grove is the worst. I don't think I have ever read something that made me widen my eyes in wonder.
The Corsair gives Grove another two months before the mercurial Mort Zuckerman sends him packing back to K Street.
How long do you think Lloyd Grove will survive in this town if he recycles old Jackie Kennedy gossip about her priest/confidante?
I mean, The Corsair loves Rush and Molloy. Those guys know how to hustle and get the scoop. And of course The Corsair loves Page Six. But Llod Grove is the worst. I don't think I have ever read something that made me widen my eyes in wonder.
The Corsair gives Grove another two months before the mercurial Mort Zuckerman sends him packing back to K Street.
Six Degrees of Nicolette Sheridan
It seems that everyone in Hollywood is seperated by Six Degress ... of Nicolette Sheridan, that is. As a media wag recently remarked, it seems that everyone in Hollywood has had a crack at her. I mean, what do Harry Hamlin, Marcus Allen, Scott Baio and Leif Garrett, James Woods and countless others have in common? Nicolette, of course! Nicolette even shows up in You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again -- the bio by a bunch of Heidi Fleiss ex- hookers. Of course she wasn't hooking, but she was hooking up with Marcus Allen, whose, uh, "member" was so large that Nic, well, had to invite people to witness it. Everyone's all-american girl; that little (Averted Gaze) "slice o' heaven."
Nicole has a higher proportion of actors and sports stars on her list than most people. She likes to date the famous. I mean, has anyone else ever become famous for the person they are dating? Then again, Nicolette Sheridan is not exactly famous -- she's Lifetime movie famous. Or, almost famous. Whatever.
Let's play Six Degrees of Nicolette Sheridan with, hmmm, Dean Cane.
I'd personally go the Brooke Shields route on that one.
Brookie lost her virginity to Dean Cane at Princeton. Brooke dated Michael Bolton. And Bolton dated ... yes, there you have it ... Nicolette Sheridan. All roads in Hollywood lead to Nicolette.
Let's all make this game the new fad and forget that silly Paris Hilton sex tape.
It seems that everyone in Hollywood is seperated by Six Degress ... of Nicolette Sheridan, that is. As a media wag recently remarked, it seems that everyone in Hollywood has had a crack at her. I mean, what do Harry Hamlin, Marcus Allen, Scott Baio and Leif Garrett, James Woods and countless others have in common? Nicolette, of course! Nicolette even shows up in You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again -- the bio by a bunch of Heidi Fleiss ex- hookers. Of course she wasn't hooking, but she was hooking up with Marcus Allen, whose, uh, "member" was so large that Nic, well, had to invite people to witness it. Everyone's all-american girl; that little (Averted Gaze) "slice o' heaven."
Nicole has a higher proportion of actors and sports stars on her list than most people. She likes to date the famous. I mean, has anyone else ever become famous for the person they are dating? Then again, Nicolette Sheridan is not exactly famous -- she's Lifetime movie famous. Or, almost famous. Whatever.
Let's play Six Degrees of Nicolette Sheridan with, hmmm, Dean Cane.
I'd personally go the Brooke Shields route on that one.
Brookie lost her virginity to Dean Cane at Princeton. Brooke dated Michael Bolton. And Bolton dated ... yes, there you have it ... Nicolette Sheridan. All roads in Hollywood lead to Nicolette.
Let's all make this game the new fad and forget that silly Paris Hilton sex tape.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos: Freak
While The Corsair will not give in to the Paris Hilton sex tape, that doesn't mean that we are averse to the genre. Robecca Romijn-Stamos apparently own that rare Sylvester Stallone porn tape The Party At Kitty and Stud's. At the time, we cannot fail to note, Sly was a poor and hungry actor ... with a cheezy 70s soundtrack. When he wasn't playing a subway thug in Woody Allen's hilarious Bannanas, he was making porn. Freak.
While The Corsair will not give in to the Paris Hilton sex tape, that doesn't mean that we are averse to the genre. Robecca Romijn-Stamos apparently own that rare Sylvester Stallone porn tape The Party At Kitty and Stud's. At the time, we cannot fail to note, Sly was a poor and hungry actor ... with a cheezy 70s soundtrack. When he wasn't playing a subway thug in Woody Allen's hilarious Bannanas, he was making porn. Freak.
The Charlie Rose Drinking Game
The art of the interview is to draw out the subject while the interviewer recedes into the background. Although Charlie Rose delivers the goods on any given weekday, he uses the first person singular personal pronoun often. Excedingly often. Okay: all the damned time. Charlie, thank you for giving us those great interviews with Kiefer Sutherland and David Westin and John Kerry, but honestly: It's not all about you. All those I's and me's Charlie, puh-lease.
So, in the spirit of Charlie Rose's energetic use of the first person singular personal pronoun, The Corsair proposes The Charlie Rose Drinking Game. It's late at night, it was a hard day at work, you are about to go to bed and Charlie is interviewing some Master of the Universe -- so why not have a drinkie poo on the Chuckster? Every time Charlie uses the first person singular personal pronoun, down a shot.
And don't use any of the cheap stuff, ladies and gentlemen, this is Charlie Rose and that whole "corridors of power Illuminati Trilateral Commission" thingie we're talking about. You better recognize.
If you are still conscious after the drinking game, then you are a candidate for the Jared Paul Stern Ironman Drinkie-poo competition.
The art of the interview is to draw out the subject while the interviewer recedes into the background. Although Charlie Rose delivers the goods on any given weekday, he uses the first person singular personal pronoun often. Excedingly often. Okay: all the damned time. Charlie, thank you for giving us those great interviews with Kiefer Sutherland and David Westin and John Kerry, but honestly: It's not all about you. All those I's and me's Charlie, puh-lease.
So, in the spirit of Charlie Rose's energetic use of the first person singular personal pronoun, The Corsair proposes The Charlie Rose Drinking Game. It's late at night, it was a hard day at work, you are about to go to bed and Charlie is interviewing some Master of the Universe -- so why not have a drinkie poo on the Chuckster? Every time Charlie uses the first person singular personal pronoun, down a shot.
And don't use any of the cheap stuff, ladies and gentlemen, this is Charlie Rose and that whole "corridors of power Illuminati Trilateral Commission" thingie we're talking about. You better recognize.
If you are still conscious after the drinking game, then you are a candidate for the Jared Paul Stern Ironman Drinkie-poo competition.
Jason Bateman's Mexican "Issues"
Has been 80s actor Jason Bateman made a racial insult to a firefighter, so reports the National Enquirer.
"I only hope that Jason Bateman is as embarrassed by this story," Fernando Padilla says, "as I was when he insulted me in front of my children."
Has been 80s actor Jason Bateman made a racial insult to a firefighter, so reports the National Enquirer.
"I only hope that Jason Bateman is as embarrassed by this story," Fernando Padilla says, "as I was when he insulted me in front of my children."
Wiretapping in Hollywood
There is a very wierd story coming out of San Fransisco about Wiretapping in Hollywood. Apparently Warren Beatty and Gary Shandling, among others, have been questioned in a bitter child custody case. Maybe you can figure it out and explain it to me?
There is a very wierd story coming out of San Fransisco about Wiretapping in Hollywood. Apparently Warren Beatty and Gary Shandling, among others, have been questioned in a bitter child custody case. Maybe you can figure it out and explain it to me?
Whos Cares About the Paris Tapes?
Why is this story still getting anyone's time? Has our democracy degenrated to such a degree that we need to knwo about the sex tapes of a dummy? And no, I am not linking to anything ... I refuse to partcipate in the latest office craze: watching that darn tape. The only Paris tapes I want to watch are those made by Truffaut.
Why is this story still getting anyone's time? Has our democracy degenrated to such a degree that we need to knwo about the sex tapes of a dummy? And no, I am not linking to anything ... I refuse to partcipate in the latest office craze: watching that darn tape. The only Paris tapes I want to watch are those made by Truffaut.
Will Someone Give Bill Murray An Oscar Already?
Oscar is fickle about comedians. Oscar eludes those who seek him. Will someone give the Oscar to Bill Murray already? His performance in Sophia Copolla's Lost In Translation was brilliantly subtle.
Imagine a Best Oscar going to an underplayed performance. Denzel Washington's dirty cop was the most powerful and full-on performance in recent years and it would be wonderful to have Bill Murray's declining Hollywood actor in a foreign land win it this time around.
Murray has been snubbed by Oscar. He has never been nominated and that is a crime. Murray was endearing and complex in Rushmore. He was a rich personality in The Razor's Edge. And Murray was overlooked as the subtle but wildly funny psychiatrist in The Mighty Tennenbaum's.
My favorite Bill Murray flik is Meatballs, which is also the first film I ever saw. To me Bill Murray is the coolest man on the planet earth.
Oscar is fickle about comedians. Oscar eludes those who seek him. Will someone give the Oscar to Bill Murray already? His performance in Sophia Copolla's Lost In Translation was brilliantly subtle.
Imagine a Best Oscar going to an underplayed performance. Denzel Washington's dirty cop was the most powerful and full-on performance in recent years and it would be wonderful to have Bill Murray's declining Hollywood actor in a foreign land win it this time around.
Murray has been snubbed by Oscar. He has never been nominated and that is a crime. Murray was endearing and complex in Rushmore. He was a rich personality in The Razor's Edge. And Murray was overlooked as the subtle but wildly funny psychiatrist in The Mighty Tennenbaum's.
My favorite Bill Murray flik is Meatballs, which is also the first film I ever saw. To me Bill Murray is the coolest man on the planet earth.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
When Did Rolling Stone Magazine Jump the Shark?
I am of two minds on the subject. First, May 3, 1998, to me, was the day the music died. Rolling Stone Magazine, the embodiment of hip counterculture colluded with the Giuliani adminitration as a corporate sponsor for "Family Day" to displace the Million Marijuana March from Washington Square Park. No lie.
Also: putting April Lavigne on the cover of March 2003 was a very sad reminder that even though the music has died at Rolling Stone, the stink still lingers.
When precisely do you think RS Jumped the Shark Fonzie-style? Send emails to papermag@yahoo.com
I am of two minds on the subject. First, May 3, 1998, to me, was the day the music died. Rolling Stone Magazine, the embodiment of hip counterculture colluded with the Giuliani adminitration as a corporate sponsor for "Family Day" to displace the Million Marijuana March from Washington Square Park. No lie.
Also: putting April Lavigne on the cover of March 2003 was a very sad reminder that even though the music has died at Rolling Stone, the stink still lingers.
When precisely do you think RS Jumped the Shark Fonzie-style? Send emails to papermag@yahoo.com
Gore Vidal: About to be Gored
I love Gore Vidal. Always have. He is an essayist at least the equal of Camus, a playwright, an actor, an amateur historian, a wit, a bon vivante, a film director and a one-time candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Vidal is an intellectual in a time when intelligence in a variety of the humanities is quite rare. And he is about to get into the middle of a shitstorm from the right wing.
Matt Drudge is reporting that Vidal has said in an interview that, "Bush and Ashcroft would be 'hanged' by Founding Fathers; they are 'despots'" The story is developing but you know how this is all going to play itself out.
Once the story is out, probably later on today, right wing radio will unleash all manner of Old Testament Hell on the aging novelist. Chris Matthews will put him on to defend himself. Vidal's lacerating wit will not save him from a vivisection on Fox, on the radio and in the tabloids. Much ado will be made of the fact that he lives most of the year in Ravello, Italy and Hollywood. His patriotism will be called into question (Vidal fought in World War II).
The words "liberal elite" will interject themselves into any sentence concerning Gore Vidal. And his highly controversial statement that the Bush administration knew that the World Trade Center would be attacked ( which I don't believe for one minute) will be brought up.
Finally, Gore Vidal's sanity will be called into question and senility will be hinted at.
The Corsair had a brief phone encounter with this honorable man of letters. In 1995, while an intern at The Nation, Christopher Hitchens asked me to fax a story on Marty Peretz of the New Republic to Gore Vidal. Gore Vidal's fax was busy do I called him up to tell him it was coming through. In the background I heard voices and music, apparently Gore Vidal was having a party at his palazzo. "Pronto!" he yelled into the phone, sounding a little sloshed. I told him what was coming, he politely turned on the fax, and that was it. My brush with Vidal.
At that moment my desire to be a writer in the manner of Vidal was strengthened one hundred fold. I wanted to dash of essays Montaigne-style on Art and Politics and I wanted to enjoy life in all its rich glory.
It is unfortunate that Vidal uses such inflamatory rhetoric during this tense period in American history. The problem with Gore Vidal is that he was born rich and has lived his life where every utterance is taken as God's word, among idolizing students, servants, Presidents (Kennedy, Hillary?), and socialites (Jackie O, Eleanor Roosevelt, Joanne Woodward). He is for all intensive purposes the eccentric Southern Patriarch straight out of William Faulkner. Operating out of that kind of fawning cosmos, a person doesn't practice the necessary art of self censorship of the politically incorrect, or even socailly irresponible statement. Millionaire playboy-editor-journalist Taki is exactly the same way. Of course if you mentioned something like this to Vidal, he'd just say you're hopelessly middle class.
Older people tend to get more extreme with age as if all of their ideas past and present had crystallized into a sharp essence. For further reference, check out any talk show with callers that are seniors.
And it is very sad that Gore Vidal is on the brink of being villified at a time he should be resting on his commedable
laurels. Sadness all around. I can't bear to watch.
I love Gore Vidal. Always have. He is an essayist at least the equal of Camus, a playwright, an actor, an amateur historian, a wit, a bon vivante, a film director and a one-time candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Vidal is an intellectual in a time when intelligence in a variety of the humanities is quite rare. And he is about to get into the middle of a shitstorm from the right wing.
Matt Drudge is reporting that Vidal has said in an interview that, "Bush and Ashcroft would be 'hanged' by Founding Fathers; they are 'despots'" The story is developing but you know how this is all going to play itself out.
Once the story is out, probably later on today, right wing radio will unleash all manner of Old Testament Hell on the aging novelist. Chris Matthews will put him on to defend himself. Vidal's lacerating wit will not save him from a vivisection on Fox, on the radio and in the tabloids. Much ado will be made of the fact that he lives most of the year in Ravello, Italy and Hollywood. His patriotism will be called into question (Vidal fought in World War II).
The words "liberal elite" will interject themselves into any sentence concerning Gore Vidal. And his highly controversial statement that the Bush administration knew that the World Trade Center would be attacked ( which I don't believe for one minute) will be brought up.
Finally, Gore Vidal's sanity will be called into question and senility will be hinted at.
The Corsair had a brief phone encounter with this honorable man of letters. In 1995, while an intern at The Nation, Christopher Hitchens asked me to fax a story on Marty Peretz of the New Republic to Gore Vidal. Gore Vidal's fax was busy do I called him up to tell him it was coming through. In the background I heard voices and music, apparently Gore Vidal was having a party at his palazzo. "Pronto!" he yelled into the phone, sounding a little sloshed. I told him what was coming, he politely turned on the fax, and that was it. My brush with Vidal.
At that moment my desire to be a writer in the manner of Vidal was strengthened one hundred fold. I wanted to dash of essays Montaigne-style on Art and Politics and I wanted to enjoy life in all its rich glory.
It is unfortunate that Vidal uses such inflamatory rhetoric during this tense period in American history. The problem with Gore Vidal is that he was born rich and has lived his life where every utterance is taken as God's word, among idolizing students, servants, Presidents (Kennedy, Hillary?), and socialites (Jackie O, Eleanor Roosevelt, Joanne Woodward). He is for all intensive purposes the eccentric Southern Patriarch straight out of William Faulkner. Operating out of that kind of fawning cosmos, a person doesn't practice the necessary art of self censorship of the politically incorrect, or even socailly irresponible statement. Millionaire playboy-editor-journalist Taki is exactly the same way. Of course if you mentioned something like this to Vidal, he'd just say you're hopelessly middle class.
Older people tend to get more extreme with age as if all of their ideas past and present had crystallized into a sharp essence. For further reference, check out any talk show with callers that are seniors.
And it is very sad that Gore Vidal is on the brink of being villified at a time he should be resting on his commedable
laurels. Sadness all around. I can't bear to watch.
Help Tucker Carlson Name His PBS Show
Yes, you read me correctly, Tucker Carlson is going to get a gig hosting a talk show on PBS. "We wanted someone with a little levity on PBS," says executive producer Jeff Bieber. "Yes, I used levity and PBS in the same sentence."
Washington's WETA will produce the unnamed 30 minute porgram. Anyone want to help Carlson find name for his new show? Email The Corsair at: papermag@yahoo.com.
Yes, you read me correctly, Tucker Carlson is going to get a gig hosting a talk show on PBS. "We wanted someone with a little levity on PBS," says executive producer Jeff Bieber. "Yes, I used levity and PBS in the same sentence."
Washington's WETA will produce the unnamed 30 minute porgram. Anyone want to help Carlson find name for his new show? Email The Corsair at: papermag@yahoo.com.
Indiewire: Elephant Tops List
The folks at IndieWire are still keeping the indie banner alive even though everyone else seems to have sold their asses out (think Parker Posey, Peter Berg and even John Favreau with that big budget kids movie Elf) to The Man. I guess independent film is a waystation until you can smoke Camels at the Chateau Marmont and make big stupid Hollywood films with happy endings?
Even though Indie cred isn't worth a stack of celluloid, I still loves ya, Porgie! Elephant tops the IndieWire: Bot, which reports grosses for limited release movies.
They write:
'Elephant' continues to show some legs, returning to the
number one position on the iW: BOT after spending last weekend at number two. "Shattered Glass" switched places with
"Elephant" in its second weekend in theaters, while the final
film of the Sundance film series, "Die Mommie Die," sashayed
into third place. Also apparently opening well was doc "The
Revolution Will Not be Televised" on one New York screen."
The folks at IndieWire are still keeping the indie banner alive even though everyone else seems to have sold their asses out (think Parker Posey, Peter Berg and even John Favreau with that big budget kids movie Elf) to The Man. I guess independent film is a waystation until you can smoke Camels at the Chateau Marmont and make big stupid Hollywood films with happy endings?
Even though Indie cred isn't worth a stack of celluloid, I still loves ya, Porgie! Elephant tops the IndieWire: Bot, which reports grosses for limited release movies.
They write:
'Elephant' continues to show some legs, returning to the
number one position on the iW: BOT after spending last weekend at number two. "Shattered Glass" switched places with
"Elephant" in its second weekend in theaters, while the final
film of the Sundance film series, "Die Mommie Die," sashayed
into third place. Also apparently opening well was doc "The
Revolution Will Not be Televised" on one New York screen."
No Cash For Rosie!
Media Life reports that the judge has thrown out Rosie O'Donnel's case against G&J. Media Life reports:
"(Judge Ira) Gammerman essentially kicked the case out of court earlier this morning, ruling that neither side in the dispute over the collapse of Rosie magazine would collect damages."
Media Life reports that the judge has thrown out Rosie O'Donnel's case against G&J. Media Life reports:
"(Judge Ira) Gammerman essentially kicked the case out of court earlier this morning, ruling that neither side in the dispute over the collapse of Rosie magazine would collect damages."
George Wayne Gets Lucky
The always great Michael Musto gives us the goods on GW in the must-read La Dolce Musto.
Apparently GW, the quirky Vanity Fair interviewer and sometime star of Taback's Black and White touched the shlong of "a guy in glitter makeup and angel wings" at Susanne Bartsch's Halloween bash. Only in New York kiddies ...
The always great Michael Musto gives us the goods on GW in the must-read La Dolce Musto.
Apparently GW, the quirky Vanity Fair interviewer and sometime star of Taback's Black and White touched the shlong of "a guy in glitter makeup and angel wings" at Susanne Bartsch's Halloween bash. Only in New York kiddies ...
Monday, November 10, 2003
Who Is Your Favorite Talking Head?
News talking heads are sexy for a number of reasons. For one, they are wise, informing us of world events. Another reason that talking heads are sexy is that they are hired, in many instances, for their looks. Well, independent web site Gogomag.com offers readers who watch way too much tv a chance to rate their own favorite news talking heads.
The usual suspects place well: Laurie Dhue, Brooke Alexander, Anderson Cooper ... but there are some surprises. For example: who would have thought that Fox Tv's Shephard Smith would top the men's list? And while we are at it: who would have thought that readers of Gogomag.com think that NBC News hottie Campbell Brown would only get 3 percent of the vote? Who knew?
RESPOSES Jeremy Burnich votes for, "Mishal Husain - BBC World News Anchor." And Frank Lynch votes for Soledad O'Brian, CNN's American Morning"
Keep those votes coming!
News talking heads are sexy for a number of reasons. For one, they are wise, informing us of world events. Another reason that talking heads are sexy is that they are hired, in many instances, for their looks. Well, independent web site Gogomag.com offers readers who watch way too much tv a chance to rate their own favorite news talking heads.
The usual suspects place well: Laurie Dhue, Brooke Alexander, Anderson Cooper ... but there are some surprises. For example: who would have thought that Fox Tv's Shephard Smith would top the men's list? And while we are at it: who would have thought that readers of Gogomag.com think that NBC News hottie Campbell Brown would only get 3 percent of the vote? Who knew?
RESPOSES Jeremy Burnich votes for, "Mishal Husain - BBC World News Anchor." And Frank Lynch votes for Soledad O'Brian, CNN's American Morning"
Keep those votes coming!
Darth Vader: Journo Spotlight Leads to the Dark Side
Hayden Christiansen, who plays Darth Vader in the Star Wars series, weighed in on journos and media types in the latest Interview Magazine:
Richard Dorment: Tell me what crossed your mind when, eight months after Shattered Glass finished shooting, the Jayson Blair scandal broke?
Hayden Christiansen: They were both people who obviously sought the spotlight. Doing that seems to be a journalist's biggest downfall.
But, Hayden ... what about The Corsair? We want spotlight! We want the dark side!
Hayden Christiansen, who plays Darth Vader in the Star Wars series, weighed in on journos and media types in the latest Interview Magazine:
Richard Dorment: Tell me what crossed your mind when, eight months after Shattered Glass finished shooting, the Jayson Blair scandal broke?
Hayden Christiansen: They were both people who obviously sought the spotlight. Doing that seems to be a journalist's biggest downfall.
But, Hayden ... what about The Corsair? We want spotlight! We want the dark side!
Will Mort Zuckerman Make Bid For New York?
Michael Wolff and adman Donny Deutsch, American Media and CurtCo Robb Media have all made the Friday deadline for submitting bids on New York magazine, according to Advertising Age. Does this mean Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman is out?
Michael Wolff and adman Donny Deutsch, American Media and CurtCo Robb Media have all made the Friday deadline for submitting bids on New York magazine, according to Advertising Age. Does this mean Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman is out?
Jane Pratt in 2004?
In the Jane Magazine September 2003 edition, the staff spoofed the idea of a Jane Pratt candidacy.
But The Corsair has to admit: Jane Pratt does look stylish. Jane also is media savvy, from her old tv show as well as her magazine work. Jane could rock the vote with young, single Sex and the City crowd.
The Corsair says -- tongue in cheek:
'Run, Jane, run!'
In the Jane Magazine September 2003 edition, the staff spoofed the idea of a Jane Pratt candidacy.
But The Corsair has to admit: Jane Pratt does look stylish. Jane also is media savvy, from her old tv show as well as her magazine work. Jane could rock the vote with young, single Sex and the City crowd.
The Corsair says -- tongue in cheek:
'Run, Jane, run!'
Kobe Bryant Hearing Transcript
TheSmokingGun.com has posted the text of the preliminary hearing of The People of The State of Colorado versus Kobe Bean Bryant online.
TheSmokingGun.com has posted the text of the preliminary hearing of The People of The State of Colorado versus Kobe Bean Bryant online.
Padma Lakshmi: Bud Girl
Salman Rushdie's gorgeous model galpal Padma Lakshmi is set to become a Budweiser model, according to Hello Magazine.
The Corsair encountered Lakshmi and Rushdie several years ago walking arm in arm on a brisk Autumn night several years ago on the Upper West Side and shot a silent smile to Rushdie. Rushdie returned the existential aside, but Lakshmi scowled and tightly held on to the arm of her paramour before walking away.
The Corsair can understand the jealousy, however misplaced. Lakshmi has a good thing going with Rushdie and it is best to keep it close at hand. The Corsair wishes Lakshmi the best of luck at Budweiser and her quest to finally get the world famous novelist to make an honest woman out of her. But Padme, why not give an inobtrusive fan a fair shake?
Salman Rushdie's gorgeous model galpal Padma Lakshmi is set to become a Budweiser model, according to Hello Magazine.
The Corsair encountered Lakshmi and Rushdie several years ago walking arm in arm on a brisk Autumn night several years ago on the Upper West Side and shot a silent smile to Rushdie. Rushdie returned the existential aside, but Lakshmi scowled and tightly held on to the arm of her paramour before walking away.
The Corsair can understand the jealousy, however misplaced. Lakshmi has a good thing going with Rushdie and it is best to keep it close at hand. The Corsair wishes Lakshmi the best of luck at Budweiser and her quest to finally get the world famous novelist to make an honest woman out of her. But Padme, why not give an inobtrusive fan a fair shake?
Saturday, November 08, 2003
Toby Young Is An Ass
Toby Young blasts Tina Brown in The Telegraph today. In his missive he says of Brown, "The truth is that however hard Tina tries she can't seem to persuade the gatekeepers of media power that she is 'hot,' to use one of her own favorite yardsticks."
To be frank, The Corsair has always had a bit of fun with Brown, but this is just too juicy an opportunity. The comment that Tina Brown is not 'hot' to the gatekeepers of media power could only have been made by a very out of touch chump like Toby Young, on the other side of the Atlantic.
Now I have nothing against Britain, but everything against Toby Young. We met briefly at a dinner Taki Theodoropoulos at Elaine's when I was in my mid 20s. Taki introduced me to Young, who wrote for the Top Drawer section of the NY Press, back when the NY Press was relevant. I had read Young's first piece on Graydon Carter and thought it was very funny. Carter has this theory of "seven rooms" and if you make it into the seventh room you have made it, you are at the top of the status heap along with Tom Cruise and George Bush; Toby Young made Graydon Carter appear to be a status obsessed fool. On that evening I saw that it was Toby Young himself who is a status obsessed fool.
As I started to tell Young how much I liked the piece and ... slowly ... but ... surely ... Young turned away from me and looked towards the door. Finally his back was to me: conversation over. At the time I was appalled, but later realized that sometimes, at dinner parties, especially in Washington, status oriented asses will literally turn away from a conversation in search of someone "more important." As a young man at the beginning of his career, I was, I suppose, less interesting than other guests, like Michael Mailer and Christopher Buckley. Often I wonder -- l'espirit d'escalier style -- what I could have said to salvage the situation.
Several years after that I got a bit of revenge. The excellent Jim Romenesko, ran a hot web site for media insiders, which is still the best at what it does. Somehow a conversation started on Toby Young, who had been fired at Vanity Fair and was being disciplined at New York Press for passing off an urban legend as a first hand experience (I told you Toby Young was an ass).
Young emailed me almost immediately. I guess either he read ny account of him or one of his friends did. He wanted to know if I was sure it was him because he kept a diary and he didn't remember the event. Oh, I was sure about the events of the evening. I even told him I remebered him as "balding."
Young apologized and that was that. But now, hearing Young in London attacking Tina Brown as being unable to get through the gates of power in the US is laughable. It was Toby Young who was blacklisted in the US because of his asshole ways, at New York Press, at Vanity Fair.
Tina Brown may have her faults, but she's never done anything to bring about the opprobium of an ass like Toby Young.
Toby Young blasts Tina Brown in The Telegraph today. In his missive he says of Brown, "The truth is that however hard Tina tries she can't seem to persuade the gatekeepers of media power that she is 'hot,' to use one of her own favorite yardsticks."
To be frank, The Corsair has always had a bit of fun with Brown, but this is just too juicy an opportunity. The comment that Tina Brown is not 'hot' to the gatekeepers of media power could only have been made by a very out of touch chump like Toby Young, on the other side of the Atlantic.
Now I have nothing against Britain, but everything against Toby Young. We met briefly at a dinner Taki Theodoropoulos at Elaine's when I was in my mid 20s. Taki introduced me to Young, who wrote for the Top Drawer section of the NY Press, back when the NY Press was relevant. I had read Young's first piece on Graydon Carter and thought it was very funny. Carter has this theory of "seven rooms" and if you make it into the seventh room you have made it, you are at the top of the status heap along with Tom Cruise and George Bush; Toby Young made Graydon Carter appear to be a status obsessed fool. On that evening I saw that it was Toby Young himself who is a status obsessed fool.
As I started to tell Young how much I liked the piece and ... slowly ... but ... surely ... Young turned away from me and looked towards the door. Finally his back was to me: conversation over. At the time I was appalled, but later realized that sometimes, at dinner parties, especially in Washington, status oriented asses will literally turn away from a conversation in search of someone "more important." As a young man at the beginning of his career, I was, I suppose, less interesting than other guests, like Michael Mailer and Christopher Buckley. Often I wonder -- l'espirit d'escalier style -- what I could have said to salvage the situation.
Several years after that I got a bit of revenge. The excellent Jim Romenesko, ran a hot web site for media insiders, which is still the best at what it does. Somehow a conversation started on Toby Young, who had been fired at Vanity Fair and was being disciplined at New York Press for passing off an urban legend as a first hand experience (I told you Toby Young was an ass).
Young emailed me almost immediately. I guess either he read ny account of him or one of his friends did. He wanted to know if I was sure it was him because he kept a diary and he didn't remember the event. Oh, I was sure about the events of the evening. I even told him I remebered him as "balding."
Young apologized and that was that. But now, hearing Young in London attacking Tina Brown as being unable to get through the gates of power in the US is laughable. It was Toby Young who was blacklisted in the US because of his asshole ways, at New York Press, at Vanity Fair.
Tina Brown may have her faults, but she's never done anything to bring about the opprobium of an ass like Toby Young.
What Will Sumner Redstone Do About Blockbuster?
Blockbuster is in trouble.
Blockbuster rents videos and DVDs in an age of TiVo, Video on Demand, 500 cable channels, and the internet. Things do not look good for Blockbuster which, at Friday's close, was trading at $18.35 a share, down 0.43%.
Blockbuster is in trouble.
Blockbuster rents videos and DVDs in an age of TiVo, Video on Demand, 500 cable channels, and the internet. Things do not look good for Blockbuster which, at Friday's close, was trading at $18.35 a share, down 0.43%.
K Street's Carville on Clinton
In Ted Koppell's book Nightline authored with Kyle Gibson (p.400) there is an interesting excerpt from an interview with James Carville immediately after Bill Clinton was elected President:
"I'm scared. I think it's a little bit like -- I'm kind of scared to see him for the first time. I mean, my only other experience has been with governors and senators. I mean, I know that once someone gets elected, the relationship changes. It's inevitable. I have no idea what it's going to be like when you see somebody as President-elect. I mean, I've never talked to a President."
In Ted Koppell's book Nightline authored with Kyle Gibson (p.400) there is an interesting excerpt from an interview with James Carville immediately after Bill Clinton was elected President:
"I'm scared. I think it's a little bit like -- I'm kind of scared to see him for the first time. I mean, my only other experience has been with governors and senators. I mean, I know that once someone gets elected, the relationship changes. It's inevitable. I have no idea what it's going to be like when you see somebody as President-elect. I mean, I've never talked to a President."
How Mort Zuckerman Beat out Lord Conrad Black
In Richard Sikios' 1995 book Shades of Black he tells a compelling story of how Mort Zuckerman beat out Lord Conrad Black to buy the NY Daily News. Black eventually went on to back the New York Sun.
Lord Black of Crossharbour was always a fan of the New York scene and was after an American flagship. In 1992 he met Barbara Walters at a cocktail party in London. Walters suggested to Lord Black (okay, I just like saying that) that he talk to her investment banker friend John Veronis about buying the troubled Daily News. Lord Black did and things started rolling.
He assessed that the Daily News was overmanned and needed a new printing plant, but, as a businessman, approached it all from the point of view of getting a "a good deal or no deal." Enter Mortimer Zuckerman, an individual not tied to any company or justifications for his purchases.
Zuckerman made his wealth in real estate and wanted "face" in the New Yorkmedia swirl after buying US News and World Report and The Atlantic. Black and Zuckerman initially talked about buying the venture together. David Radler. president of Hollinger, Black's company, told Siklos:
"At one point (Zuckerman) talked, for instance, that we would switch every year who would control the editorial page."
Conversations broke down and a bidding war ensued. Rupert Murdoch weighed in, unsurprisingly, on the side of fellow conservative Lord Black. "I think Conrad would be very good for the News," said Murdoch at the time,"and he'd be better still for the city."
On August 17 Lord Black offered $75 million of Hollinger money and won backing of both the Board of Directors and management of the Daily News. Zuckerman won the drivers and pressmens unions. In the end Zuckerman won because he offered a more positive vision for the company as an individual buyer not linked to a corporation. Lord Black would have had to cut jobs to justify the purchase to investors in Hollinger. C'est tout!
In Richard Sikios' 1995 book Shades of Black he tells a compelling story of how Mort Zuckerman beat out Lord Conrad Black to buy the NY Daily News. Black eventually went on to back the New York Sun.
Lord Black of Crossharbour was always a fan of the New York scene and was after an American flagship. In 1992 he met Barbara Walters at a cocktail party in London. Walters suggested to Lord Black (okay, I just like saying that) that he talk to her investment banker friend John Veronis about buying the troubled Daily News. Lord Black did and things started rolling.
He assessed that the Daily News was overmanned and needed a new printing plant, but, as a businessman, approached it all from the point of view of getting a "a good deal or no deal." Enter Mortimer Zuckerman, an individual not tied to any company or justifications for his purchases.
Zuckerman made his wealth in real estate and wanted "face" in the New Yorkmedia swirl after buying US News and World Report and The Atlantic. Black and Zuckerman initially talked about buying the venture together. David Radler. president of Hollinger, Black's company, told Siklos:
"At one point (Zuckerman) talked, for instance, that we would switch every year who would control the editorial page."
Conversations broke down and a bidding war ensued. Rupert Murdoch weighed in, unsurprisingly, on the side of fellow conservative Lord Black. "I think Conrad would be very good for the News," said Murdoch at the time,"and he'd be better still for the city."
On August 17 Lord Black offered $75 million of Hollinger money and won backing of both the Board of Directors and management of the Daily News. Zuckerman won the drivers and pressmens unions. In the end Zuckerman won because he offered a more positive vision for the company as an individual buyer not linked to a corporation. Lord Black would have had to cut jobs to justify the purchase to investors in Hollinger. C'est tout!
Daphne Merkin's Cate Blanchett Profile in the NYT Mag
For quite some time Cate Blanchett has obsessed me strongly but I could never quite figure out why. I mean, Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep and Liv Ullman are also lo ultimo, or the best at what they do, which is acting. But there is something more about Cate Blanchett's project, the great work of her life, than there is to the other actors.
I think the key to Cate Blanchett and what makes her so haunting is Liv Ullman, who makes a brief appearance in Daphne Merkin's perceptive piece (p.78, Sunday Times) -- the most perceptive interview, incidentally, I have ever read on the mysterious subject of Cate Blanchett. Merkin mentions that Blanchett and Ullman have been talking. Apparently Blanchett is a fan of Ullman as director. Interesting. Ullman is definitely in that rarified stratosphere of world directors, after her work on Kristin Lavransdatter and Faithless, which made a strong showing in Cannes in 2000. But Ullman is more famous as perhaps the greatest female actress in the history of cinema, which, I would argue, also means that Ullman may be the greatest actor in cinema, period.
Ingmar Bergman is in my opinion the greatest filmmaker in the history of cinema. That lone Victorian-Modernist voice, so full of harsh close ups, post-Christian angst, Freud, Bach and Mozart, strange civil wars, failures of communication, discordant romantic betrayals interspersed with familial comfort all
served as background, in a way, to highlight Liv Ullman's historic performances. Ullman's strong work braught Ingmar's deepest feelings on human existence in the world. Bergman's pick up line on Ullman, it has been said, was "I believe that I will have a beautiful but painful tie to you for the rest of my life." Who wouldn't fall for a line like that?
Of course saying that is simplifying things greatly. Max Von Sydow served as Bergman's animus even while Ullman served as his anima, but I still believe that acting in cinema in the 20th century begins and ends with the Bergman-Ullman collaborations of high modernism. But this is a blog, so forgive me if I simplify a bit.
So that brings me back to Daphne Merkin's perceptive article on Cate Blanchett. Why would Merkin not draw the obvious comparisons to Blanchett, who is clearly Ullman's successor, or at least would-be-successor, in acting and not directing. Well, for one, we may be treated to Liv Ullman directing Blanchett as Nora in a film version of "A Doll's House." When Blanchett approached Ullman as a fan of her directing, it was a courtship of sorts. And the courtship appears to have borne fruit.
To a film geek like me this is big stuff. Then again, aren't we all film geeks now? Don't we all apply thought to the countless films we see -- on tv at the neighborhood bar, on TiVo, on Movies on Demand, on HBO, on DVD, at press screenings?
Anyway, back to the scariness of Cate Blanchett. I have never seen an actress so disappear into their roles in the manner that Blanchett does. That quality of acting is particular to her. She disappears into, say, the single southern mother in The Gift -- accent and all-- charging that character with her own peculiar cool energy. Meryl Streep also does this brilliantly, of course, with flawless accent, as well, but Streep does it with humanitarian intent in mind. Her characters are often (always?) flawed people whom she inhabits and makes touching, human, worthy of compassion. I'm thinking here of The French Lieutenants Woman, the tormented mother in Kramer vs Kramer, Sophie in Sophie's Choice. All of these flawed characters do not immediately elicit sympathy, but through the strength of her performances, Streep ethically forces the viewer to turn towards the characters and engage them as flawed but all too human.
Ullman's project, on the other hand, has evolved from the Bergman-centered expressions of angst and infinity rendered startlingly in the claustrophobic close ups where emotions are pushed to their outermost limits. I am thinking here of the scene in Cries and Whispers where the two sisters Kirin and Maria, long stranged and cold towards each other, put aside all differences as their third sister lies dying. In the close up, the two sisters come towards each other, fall into one anothers arms, embrace, kiss, and let all the years of animostity evaporate on screen. Dialogue dissolves into a particularly intense Sarabande from Bach's Cello Suite No. 5. An infinity of emotions in one scene.
The evolution of Ullman's "activity" has now progressed from playing those roles for Bergman into a sort of multidimensional "conversation," or, rather, competition with Bergman in the realm of directing. Ironically she directs many films in which he actually writes the screenplay. A complex relationship, to say the least. Beautiful ... just like Bergman said in his pick up line.
But what does that have to do with Cate Blanchett? Well, Blanchett's project is not Meryl Streep's or even Ullman's, nor is it Daniel Day Lewis', who, though brilliant, sometimes seems on the verge of giving himself a mental breakdown, not so much dissolving into his characters, but conquering and enslaving them through violence, at risk to his own sanity. No, Cate Blanchett is the most interesting and strange case in that strangest profession of them all: acting.
Daphne Merkin gets it just about right here:
"A day or two before I meet her, I admit to a movie afficionado friend that I cannot remember the role she played in 'The Talented Mr. Ripley,' and he sheepishly concedes that he can't remember either. It was said of the great English character actress Peggy Ashcroft that she didn't have a face, and in the sense of not seeming to be fixed in her own physyognomy, Blanchett doesn't have one either."
That is precisely what is so scary about Cate Blanchett. Not the impossible talent, though it is doubtlessly there: but the fact that when one looks back to the actor of any one of her brilliant performances ... one doesn't know who to cheer. Who is Cate Blanchett? Is she the face of Donna Karan? Is she the fashion icon who appears on countless magazine covers yet displays absolutely no emotion to Merkin on the subject, even going so far as to show disdain for, what she calls "lipstick talk"? Is she Veronica Guerin? Is she the pregnant mother of a child and a wife? Who is she?
Merkin askes Blanchett if she considers Veronica Guerin's lack of box office success despite her strong work as a result of taking on a Julia Roberts-type role:
'''Who knows,'' (Blanchett) asks, putting her finger on the existential mystery that underlies the construction of any screen persona, ''who Julia Roberts really is?'"
And then I finally figured out what is so scary about Cate Blanchett. Blanchett is the mother and wife and actress and model-spokesperson who stares at us from the magazine covers and the screen, she is all of those things. But they are all roles, waystations on an unknown destination. Asking who is Cate Blanchett is like asking What is a Self.
Note to self: See if you can interview Cate Blanchett on her next press junket.
For quite some time Cate Blanchett has obsessed me strongly but I could never quite figure out why. I mean, Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep and Liv Ullman are also lo ultimo, or the best at what they do, which is acting. But there is something more about Cate Blanchett's project, the great work of her life, than there is to the other actors.
I think the key to Cate Blanchett and what makes her so haunting is Liv Ullman, who makes a brief appearance in Daphne Merkin's perceptive piece (p.78, Sunday Times) -- the most perceptive interview, incidentally, I have ever read on the mysterious subject of Cate Blanchett. Merkin mentions that Blanchett and Ullman have been talking. Apparently Blanchett is a fan of Ullman as director. Interesting. Ullman is definitely in that rarified stratosphere of world directors, after her work on Kristin Lavransdatter and Faithless, which made a strong showing in Cannes in 2000. But Ullman is more famous as perhaps the greatest female actress in the history of cinema, which, I would argue, also means that Ullman may be the greatest actor in cinema, period.
Ingmar Bergman is in my opinion the greatest filmmaker in the history of cinema. That lone Victorian-Modernist voice, so full of harsh close ups, post-Christian angst, Freud, Bach and Mozart, strange civil wars, failures of communication, discordant romantic betrayals interspersed with familial comfort all
served as background, in a way, to highlight Liv Ullman's historic performances. Ullman's strong work braught Ingmar's deepest feelings on human existence in the world. Bergman's pick up line on Ullman, it has been said, was "I believe that I will have a beautiful but painful tie to you for the rest of my life." Who wouldn't fall for a line like that?
Of course saying that is simplifying things greatly. Max Von Sydow served as Bergman's animus even while Ullman served as his anima, but I still believe that acting in cinema in the 20th century begins and ends with the Bergman-Ullman collaborations of high modernism. But this is a blog, so forgive me if I simplify a bit.
So that brings me back to Daphne Merkin's perceptive article on Cate Blanchett. Why would Merkin not draw the obvious comparisons to Blanchett, who is clearly Ullman's successor, or at least would-be-successor, in acting and not directing. Well, for one, we may be treated to Liv Ullman directing Blanchett as Nora in a film version of "A Doll's House." When Blanchett approached Ullman as a fan of her directing, it was a courtship of sorts. And the courtship appears to have borne fruit.
To a film geek like me this is big stuff. Then again, aren't we all film geeks now? Don't we all apply thought to the countless films we see -- on tv at the neighborhood bar, on TiVo, on Movies on Demand, on HBO, on DVD, at press screenings?
Anyway, back to the scariness of Cate Blanchett. I have never seen an actress so disappear into their roles in the manner that Blanchett does. That quality of acting is particular to her. She disappears into, say, the single southern mother in The Gift -- accent and all-- charging that character with her own peculiar cool energy. Meryl Streep also does this brilliantly, of course, with flawless accent, as well, but Streep does it with humanitarian intent in mind. Her characters are often (always?) flawed people whom she inhabits and makes touching, human, worthy of compassion. I'm thinking here of The French Lieutenants Woman, the tormented mother in Kramer vs Kramer, Sophie in Sophie's Choice. All of these flawed characters do not immediately elicit sympathy, but through the strength of her performances, Streep ethically forces the viewer to turn towards the characters and engage them as flawed but all too human.
Ullman's project, on the other hand, has evolved from the Bergman-centered expressions of angst and infinity rendered startlingly in the claustrophobic close ups where emotions are pushed to their outermost limits. I am thinking here of the scene in Cries and Whispers where the two sisters Kirin and Maria, long stranged and cold towards each other, put aside all differences as their third sister lies dying. In the close up, the two sisters come towards each other, fall into one anothers arms, embrace, kiss, and let all the years of animostity evaporate on screen. Dialogue dissolves into a particularly intense Sarabande from Bach's Cello Suite No. 5. An infinity of emotions in one scene.
The evolution of Ullman's "activity" has now progressed from playing those roles for Bergman into a sort of multidimensional "conversation," or, rather, competition with Bergman in the realm of directing. Ironically she directs many films in which he actually writes the screenplay. A complex relationship, to say the least. Beautiful ... just like Bergman said in his pick up line.
But what does that have to do with Cate Blanchett? Well, Blanchett's project is not Meryl Streep's or even Ullman's, nor is it Daniel Day Lewis', who, though brilliant, sometimes seems on the verge of giving himself a mental breakdown, not so much dissolving into his characters, but conquering and enslaving them through violence, at risk to his own sanity. No, Cate Blanchett is the most interesting and strange case in that strangest profession of them all: acting.
Daphne Merkin gets it just about right here:
"A day or two before I meet her, I admit to a movie afficionado friend that I cannot remember the role she played in 'The Talented Mr. Ripley,' and he sheepishly concedes that he can't remember either. It was said of the great English character actress Peggy Ashcroft that she didn't have a face, and in the sense of not seeming to be fixed in her own physyognomy, Blanchett doesn't have one either."
That is precisely what is so scary about Cate Blanchett. Not the impossible talent, though it is doubtlessly there: but the fact that when one looks back to the actor of any one of her brilliant performances ... one doesn't know who to cheer. Who is Cate Blanchett? Is she the face of Donna Karan? Is she the fashion icon who appears on countless magazine covers yet displays absolutely no emotion to Merkin on the subject, even going so far as to show disdain for, what she calls "lipstick talk"? Is she Veronica Guerin? Is she the pregnant mother of a child and a wife? Who is she?
Merkin askes Blanchett if she considers Veronica Guerin's lack of box office success despite her strong work as a result of taking on a Julia Roberts-type role:
'''Who knows,'' (Blanchett) asks, putting her finger on the existential mystery that underlies the construction of any screen persona, ''who Julia Roberts really is?'"
And then I finally figured out what is so scary about Cate Blanchett. Blanchett is the mother and wife and actress and model-spokesperson who stares at us from the magazine covers and the screen, she is all of those things. But they are all roles, waystations on an unknown destination. Asking who is Cate Blanchett is like asking What is a Self.
Note to self: See if you can interview Cate Blanchett on her next press junket.
Night Support
My old college roommate and good friend Corin Cummings, the up and coming heavyweight champion of writers has completed the e-novella Night Support. The 79 page eBook is described this way: "Corin Cummings brings to life Dar es Salaam in Night Support, the first in the Wind River Press novella series. Entranced by the idea of Africa, Lynn, an aid worker, and Alex, a writer, find their ideals, their relationship, and eventually their lives tested by the realities of a world that is as harsh as it is beautiful."
My old college roommate and good friend Corin Cummings, the up and coming heavyweight champion of writers has completed the e-novella Night Support. The 79 page eBook is described this way: "Corin Cummings brings to life Dar es Salaam in Night Support, the first in the Wind River Press novella series. Entranced by the idea of Africa, Lynn, an aid worker, and Alex, a writer, find their ideals, their relationship, and eventually their lives tested by the realities of a world that is as harsh as it is beautiful."
Friday, November 07, 2003
Attorney Generals Are Cool
High profile mogul smasher Elliot Spitzer has made the position of Attorney General cool.
Just as Giulianni made it cool to be a gritty mayor and Steven Spielberg made it cool to be a director ... well, not like Spielberg, but you get the idea.
Rumor has it Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown will run for California Attorney General next time out and Mark Green will run in New York.
High profile mogul smasher Elliot Spitzer has made the position of Attorney General cool.
Just as Giulianni made it cool to be a gritty mayor and Steven Spielberg made it cool to be a director ... well, not like Spielberg, but you get the idea.
Rumor has it Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown will run for California Attorney General next time out and Mark Green will run in New York.
Jazzy: The Dog That Just Keeps Giving
Yesterday The Corsair came down hard on Cindy Adams' deceased lapdog and faithful companion Jazzy. Admittedly, coming down on a dead eight pound pooch with the full wit and ironical resources of The Corsair seems a bit much. But Cindy couldn't leave well enough alone, could she?
And so with my morning coffee I was assaulted once again by a full page devoted to that annoying Yorkshire Terrier, Jazzy. A picture of the moist eyed mutt interrupting my french toast. Even in death that dog has found a way to get under our skin! Adams writes:
"My pain was such that I lay in bed in a fetal position. I told almost no one because I couldn't stand it. Or understand it. I still don't. The trainer he's known since the Dec. 9, 1999, day he came to me has an upstate farm. He went for the weekend with his Yorkie sister, Juicy. He never came back to me. Sunday he was dead."
Okay, let's gloss over the fact that Cindy named the other damned dog Juicy. Let's leapfrog Juicy for a moment. Why is Cindy in the fetal position? I know that a beloved pet's death can hurt, but wouldn't her sympathies better serve the people of the Phillipines who suffered under the Marcoses while Adams was defending them in print to US audiences?
In her new book The Gift of Jazzy she recounts the gory details thusly:
"They said blood and everything was coming out from everywhere."
Only in New York, kiddies, only in New York!
Yesterday The Corsair came down hard on Cindy Adams' deceased lapdog and faithful companion Jazzy. Admittedly, coming down on a dead eight pound pooch with the full wit and ironical resources of The Corsair seems a bit much. But Cindy couldn't leave well enough alone, could she?
And so with my morning coffee I was assaulted once again by a full page devoted to that annoying Yorkshire Terrier, Jazzy. A picture of the moist eyed mutt interrupting my french toast. Even in death that dog has found a way to get under our skin! Adams writes:
"My pain was such that I lay in bed in a fetal position. I told almost no one because I couldn't stand it. Or understand it. I still don't. The trainer he's known since the Dec. 9, 1999, day he came to me has an upstate farm. He went for the weekend with his Yorkie sister, Juicy. He never came back to me. Sunday he was dead."
Okay, let's gloss over the fact that Cindy named the other damned dog Juicy. Let's leapfrog Juicy for a moment. Why is Cindy in the fetal position? I know that a beloved pet's death can hurt, but wouldn't her sympathies better serve the people of the Phillipines who suffered under the Marcoses while Adams was defending them in print to US audiences?
In her new book The Gift of Jazzy she recounts the gory details thusly:
"They said blood and everything was coming out from everywhere."
Only in New York, kiddies, only in New York!
Whatever Happened to BUST Magazine?
Remember BUST? That significant 90s artifact that everyone who is anyone read is not as omnipresent as it once was. Bust was founded in 1992 and went "from a handmade rag into a full on glossy" by the end of the decade. Memorable stories include 'The Myth of the Black Butt' and 'A Vindication of the Rights of Cunt.' Lest you think that Bust is porn, it is not: Bust is a sort of grrl power Buffy-esque feminist magazine that even men can enjoy. And I did often. I remember a withering critique they did of Lifetime television saying, basically, that all they did was run miniseries after miniseries of helpless women being victimized by evil men and in the end the courts vindicate them is not a good thing for Middle American housewives to be supporting. Arch!
I can't even find Bust on my local newstsand anymore, though, and that makes me sad. Bust was Grrly before Xena and Buffy were.
Remember BUST? That significant 90s artifact that everyone who is anyone read is not as omnipresent as it once was. Bust was founded in 1992 and went "from a handmade rag into a full on glossy" by the end of the decade. Memorable stories include 'The Myth of the Black Butt' and 'A Vindication of the Rights of Cunt.' Lest you think that Bust is porn, it is not: Bust is a sort of grrl power Buffy-esque feminist magazine that even men can enjoy. And I did often. I remember a withering critique they did of Lifetime television saying, basically, that all they did was run miniseries after miniseries of helpless women being victimized by evil men and in the end the courts vindicate them is not a good thing for Middle American housewives to be supporting. Arch!
I can't even find Bust on my local newstsand anymore, though, and that makes me sad. Bust was Grrly before Xena and Buffy were.
Asian Babies Take Over Upper West Side
An interesting social phenomenon has turned up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Seemingly overnight, scores of WASPy and Jewish Baby Boomer couples have taken to adopting Asian babies, often girls a la Faith Popcorn. What is this all about? Could someone email me some answers? papermag@yahoo.com
A friend told me he thought it might be liberal couples adopting Chinese girl babies to save them from the totalitarian regimes abortion politics. Interesting, but I don't think that is right. Whatever the case, a casual stroll between 59th and 96th street and you'll see many Asian babies with white couples or their black nannies.
Sometimes in NY you can actually see the Jamaican nanny (UpperWest Siders favor Jamaican nannies while Upper East Siders favor European nannies who often have secret affairs with ... oh never mind) pushing a Japanese baby adopted by a Jewish couple. Only in New York, kiddies, only in New York.
An interesting social phenomenon has turned up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Seemingly overnight, scores of WASPy and Jewish Baby Boomer couples have taken to adopting Asian babies, often girls a la Faith Popcorn. What is this all about? Could someone email me some answers? papermag@yahoo.com
A friend told me he thought it might be liberal couples adopting Chinese girl babies to save them from the totalitarian regimes abortion politics. Interesting, but I don't think that is right. Whatever the case, a casual stroll between 59th and 96th street and you'll see many Asian babies with white couples or their black nannies.
Sometimes in NY you can actually see the Jamaican nanny (UpperWest Siders favor Jamaican nannies while Upper East Siders favor European nannies who often have secret affairs with ... oh never mind) pushing a Japanese baby adopted by a Jewish couple. Only in New York, kiddies, only in New York.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
The Charlie Rose Drinking Game
The art of the interview is to draw out the subject while the interviewer recedes into the background. Although Charlie Rose delivers the goods on any given weekday, he uses the first person singular personal pronoun often. Excedingly often. Okay: all the damned time. Charlie, thank you for giving us those great interviews with Kiefer Sutherland and David Westin and John Kerry, but honestly: It's not all about you. All those I's and me's Charlie, puh-lease.
So, in the spirit of Charlie Rose's energetic use of the first person singular personal pronoun, The Corsair proposes The Charlie Rose Drinking Game. It's late at night, it was a hard day at work, you are about to go to bed and Charlie is interviewing some Master of the Universe -- so why not have a drinkie poo on the Chuckster? Every time Charlie uses the first person singular personal pronoun, down a shot.
And don't use any of the cheap stuff, ladies and gentlemen, this is Charlie Rose and that whole "corridors of power Illuminati Trilateral Commission" thingie we're talking about. You better recognize.
If you are still conscious after the drinking game, then you are a candidate for the Jared Paul Stern Ironman competition.
The art of the interview is to draw out the subject while the interviewer recedes into the background. Although Charlie Rose delivers the goods on any given weekday, he uses the first person singular personal pronoun often. Excedingly often. Okay: all the damned time. Charlie, thank you for giving us those great interviews with Kiefer Sutherland and David Westin and John Kerry, but honestly: It's not all about you. All those I's and me's Charlie, puh-lease.
So, in the spirit of Charlie Rose's energetic use of the first person singular personal pronoun, The Corsair proposes The Charlie Rose Drinking Game. It's late at night, it was a hard day at work, you are about to go to bed and Charlie is interviewing some Master of the Universe -- so why not have a drinkie poo on the Chuckster? Every time Charlie uses the first person singular personal pronoun, down a shot.
And don't use any of the cheap stuff, ladies and gentlemen, this is Charlie Rose and that whole "corridors of power Illuminati Trilateral Commission" thingie we're talking about. You better recognize.
If you are still conscious after the drinking game, then you are a candidate for the Jared Paul Stern Ironman competition.
On Gloria Borger
Fox Tv's Laurie Duhe is so last week. And somewhat "porny" besides with those roccoco lips and endless legs. My latest crush is US News and World Report's Gloria Borger. I'm going for darker this time. More intellectual. More serious. (The Corsair moistens his lips) And who is more serious than Gloria Borger interrogating a Senator on Face the Nation? We love the hard boiled no nonsense style of Borger. We love the smile. We like Gloria Borger very very much indeed.
Fox Tv's Laurie Duhe is so last week. And somewhat "porny" besides with those roccoco lips and endless legs. My latest crush is US News and World Report's Gloria Borger. I'm going for darker this time. More intellectual. More serious. (The Corsair moistens his lips) And who is more serious than Gloria Borger interrogating a Senator on Face the Nation? We love the hard boiled no nonsense style of Borger. We love the smile. We like Gloria Borger very very much indeed.
George Magazine Could Have Worked Today
John Kennedy Jr's George Magazine probably would have worked today. When you think about it, the interviews with Castro, the Drew Barrymore Marilyn cover -- all were ahead of their time. We were just not ready to accept DC as a celebrity center when John John took us there.
K Street owes itself somewhat to John John's foresight. That DC series which my good friend on the President's Bioethics commission tells me shuts down the town from ten to ten thirty on Sundays is so John John. George Magazine would have had an audience, George Clooney and John John would have had power lunches, oh what might have been. Arnold would be a cover boy. Matalin and Carville would have been columnists. Dennis Miller would have been the Court Jester. It would have been Camelot all over again. George was ahead of the curve.
John Kennedy Jr's George Magazine probably would have worked today. When you think about it, the interviews with Castro, the Drew Barrymore Marilyn cover -- all were ahead of their time. We were just not ready to accept DC as a celebrity center when John John took us there.
K Street owes itself somewhat to John John's foresight. That DC series which my good friend on the President's Bioethics commission tells me shuts down the town from ten to ten thirty on Sundays is so John John. George Magazine would have had an audience, George Clooney and John John would have had power lunches, oh what might have been. Arnold would be a cover boy. Matalin and Carville would have been columnists. Dennis Miller would have been the Court Jester. It would have been Camelot all over again. George was ahead of the curve.
And All That Jazz
Jazzy jazzy blah blah blah! Cindy Adams' beloved Yorkshire Terrier get more press than The Corsair and we are not amused. We are playa hating that gently decaying pooch corpse now sits in the lap of the grandest lady of them all: Mother Nature.
And if it isn't enough to get our dander that we are totally being ignored by the mainstream media, here comes Jazzy Jr in The Observer! I mean, doesn't Cindy Adams have another dictator to defend? The Marcoses? Suharto? I hear Robert Mugabe needs some good pr among the Fifth Avenue ladies tea and cucumber set. Puh-lease. Give us some ink!
Jazzy jazzy blah blah blah! Cindy Adams' beloved Yorkshire Terrier get more press than The Corsair and we are not amused. We are playa hating that gently decaying pooch corpse now sits in the lap of the grandest lady of them all: Mother Nature.
And if it isn't enough to get our dander that we are totally being ignored by the mainstream media, here comes Jazzy Jr in The Observer! I mean, doesn't Cindy Adams have another dictator to defend? The Marcoses? Suharto? I hear Robert Mugabe needs some good pr among the Fifth Avenue ladies tea and cucumber set. Puh-lease. Give us some ink!
Gene Simmons to Sell Soul ... One Share at a Time
Legendary capitalist-musician Gene Simmons is planning to sell his soul one share at a time. "That son of a gun is clever," said Satan with an admiring smile. "God gave rock and roll to you, but Gene is a gift from yours truly." Since Simmons has sold virtually everything else to his band of gullible and financially solvent fans, the selling of his soul via over the counter penny stocks should come as no surprise. Simmons in the past has sold a very bad magazine called Tongue, as well as a KISS coffin, which, he at one point suggested would make an excellent beer cooler. Charmed, I'm sure. Insiders are predicting that Gene Simmons market capitalization for shares of his soul could fetch $7.25.
BTW: This piece is definitely satire in case you are wondering.
Legendary capitalist-musician Gene Simmons is planning to sell his soul one share at a time. "That son of a gun is clever," said Satan with an admiring smile. "God gave rock and roll to you, but Gene is a gift from yours truly." Since Simmons has sold virtually everything else to his band of gullible and financially solvent fans, the selling of his soul via over the counter penny stocks should come as no surprise. Simmons in the past has sold a very bad magazine called Tongue, as well as a KISS coffin, which, he at one point suggested would make an excellent beer cooler. Charmed, I'm sure. Insiders are predicting that Gene Simmons market capitalization for shares of his soul could fetch $7.25.
BTW: This piece is definitely satire in case you are wondering.
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Globe Managing Editor Speaks Out
Jeffrey Rodack, the Managing Editor of The Globe, pens his reasons for running the color photo of Kobe Bryant's accuser on the cover.
In defending the editorial decision Rodack basically says that the identity of the accuser is the world's worst kept secret. He then goes on like a man accused himself, wagging his finger at us, saying:
"Shame on all you others who go out of your way to be 'fair and ethical' while you continually condemn the accused in cases like this one and protect the accuser.
Your job is to provide information �- not to act as a jury."
The Corsair, as judge, jury and executioner charges Jeffrey Rodak with an overbaked and hammy performance.
Jeffrey Rodack, the Managing Editor of The Globe, pens his reasons for running the color photo of Kobe Bryant's accuser on the cover.
In defending the editorial decision Rodack basically says that the identity of the accuser is the world's worst kept secret. He then goes on like a man accused himself, wagging his finger at us, saying:
"Shame on all you others who go out of your way to be 'fair and ethical' while you continually condemn the accused in cases like this one and protect the accuser.
Your job is to provide information �- not to act as a jury."
The Corsair, as judge, jury and executioner charges Jeffrey Rodak with an overbaked and hammy performance.
When Comedians Try to be Actors
Bill Murray is the exception to the rule. When Jim Carey tried to be an actor in the noxious stinker The Majestic people around the world turned up their noses. Comedians make us laugh, they do not try to be Everyman. The Cosair has enough trouble with Tom Hanks as it is. Comedians: make us laugh and leave the Oscars to the big boys.
Bill Murray is the exception to the rule. When Jim Carey tried to be an actor in the noxious stinker The Majestic people around the world turned up their noses. Comedians make us laugh, they do not try to be Everyman. The Cosair has enough trouble with Tom Hanks as it is. Comedians: make us laugh and leave the Oscars to the big boys.
The Charlie Rose Drinking Game
The art of the interview is to draw out the subject while the interviewer recedes into the background. Although Charlie Rose delivers the goods on any given weekday, he uses the first person singular personal pronoun often. Excedingly often. Okay: all the damned time. Charlie, thank you for giving us those great interviews with Kiefer Sutherland and David Westin and John Kerry, but honestly: It's not all about you. All those I's and me's Charlie, puh-lease.
So, in the spirit of Charlie Rose's energetic use of the first person singular personal pronoun, The Corsair proposes The Charlie Rose Drinking Game. It's late at night, it was a hard day at work, you are about to go to bed and Charlie is interviewing some Master of the Universe -- so why not have a drinkie poo on the Chuckster? Every time Charlie uses the first person singular personal pronoun, down a shot.
And don't use any of the cheap stuff, ladies and gentlemen, this is Charlie Rose and that whole "corridors of power Illuminati Trilateral Commission" thingie we're talking about. You better recognize.
As Garry Kasparov is tonight's guest, The Corsair would like to suggest vodka, preferably Stolichnaya.
The art of the interview is to draw out the subject while the interviewer recedes into the background. Although Charlie Rose delivers the goods on any given weekday, he uses the first person singular personal pronoun often. Excedingly often. Okay: all the damned time. Charlie, thank you for giving us those great interviews with Kiefer Sutherland and David Westin and John Kerry, but honestly: It's not all about you. All those I's and me's Charlie, puh-lease.
So, in the spirit of Charlie Rose's energetic use of the first person singular personal pronoun, The Corsair proposes The Charlie Rose Drinking Game. It's late at night, it was a hard day at work, you are about to go to bed and Charlie is interviewing some Master of the Universe -- so why not have a drinkie poo on the Chuckster? Every time Charlie uses the first person singular personal pronoun, down a shot.
And don't use any of the cheap stuff, ladies and gentlemen, this is Charlie Rose and that whole "corridors of power Illuminati Trilateral Commission" thingie we're talking about. You better recognize.
As Garry Kasparov is tonight's guest, The Corsair would like to suggest vodka, preferably Stolichnaya.
Is Diane Sawyer Tired of GMA?
Diane Sawyer joined the cast of Good Morning America in 1998 to help ABC catch up to NBC's Today. It wasn't supposed to be a permanent gig, but Sawyer is a team player -- whether in the Nixon Administration or on 60 Minutes. The temporary position, though, notes Matt Drudge may be outlasting it's welcome.
Diane Sawyer began her broadcast career at CBS Morning News and the idea of a long term contract at Good Morning America cannot -- in the nature of the tv news biz and hierarchy -- be attractive. "She desperately wants to give up the vampire hours!" a top production source explained from New York on Tuesday, reports Drudgereport.com.
This isn't the first sign of unhappiness at the successful GMA. In 1998, Diane and co host Charlie Gibson were unhappy with marketing support and threaten to leave
the show. On-air support was said to be inadequate because the show's producers were not supplying GMA information far enough ahead of time to be effective.
As of September ABC's GMA caught and passed NBC's TODAY show in many of America's top cities, according to Nielsen ratings.
GMA is ABC's best chance in years to stop the juggernaut of Today with Katie Couric and Matt Lauer.
Diane Sawyer joined the cast of Good Morning America in 1998 to help ABC catch up to NBC's Today. It wasn't supposed to be a permanent gig, but Sawyer is a team player -- whether in the Nixon Administration or on 60 Minutes. The temporary position, though, notes Matt Drudge may be outlasting it's welcome.
Diane Sawyer began her broadcast career at CBS Morning News and the idea of a long term contract at Good Morning America cannot -- in the nature of the tv news biz and hierarchy -- be attractive. "She desperately wants to give up the vampire hours!" a top production source explained from New York on Tuesday, reports Drudgereport.com.
This isn't the first sign of unhappiness at the successful GMA. In 1998, Diane and co host Charlie Gibson were unhappy with marketing support and threaten to leave
the show. On-air support was said to be inadequate because the show's producers were not supplying GMA information far enough ahead of time to be effective.
As of September ABC's GMA caught and passed NBC's TODAY show in many of America's top cities, according to Nielsen ratings.
GMA is ABC's best chance in years to stop the juggernaut of Today with Katie Couric and Matt Lauer.
Who Owns What?
For those of you with an inexhaustible curiosity about all things media related, CJR has published a list of Who Owns What. Did you know, for example, that Clear Channel owns 7 stations in Rochester, New York? Well, now you do.
For those of you with an inexhaustible curiosity about all things media related, CJR has published a list of Who Owns What. Did you know, for example, that Clear Channel owns 7 stations in Rochester, New York? Well, now you do.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Message to Lloyd Grove: We Are In NYC not DC
Former Washington Post Reliable Source columnist Lloyd Grove is increasingly passing off bad beltway gossip for the good stuff in his NY Daily News Lowdown column.
Today he writes:
"Mon Dieu!: I hear real estate mogul George Klein is telling friends about a remarkable incident at a recent lunch with Vice President Dick Cheney. When the waiter brought a bottle of Evian, the veep's face took an expression of obvious distaste as he waved off the French import. I guess France is still in the Bush administration doghouse. Klein did not return my repeated phone calls."
Say what?! Okay, as a lowly blogger I know that there are slow days when the ideas and the scoop just isn't forthcoming. Cool. But, to quote beloved 80s icon Clara Peller: "Where's the beef"?
In this city of the fabulous Page Six and Gawker.com we need our gossip served pipin' hot, not lukewarm. I throw down the gauntlet, Lloyd Grove: extricate yourself from those swishy dinner parties at Tina Brown's pad and put your nose to the grindstone and give us the real lowdown. There's a city full of gossip out there -- get to it, man.
Former Washington Post Reliable Source columnist Lloyd Grove is increasingly passing off bad beltway gossip for the good stuff in his NY Daily News Lowdown column.
Today he writes:
"Mon Dieu!: I hear real estate mogul George Klein is telling friends about a remarkable incident at a recent lunch with Vice President Dick Cheney. When the waiter brought a bottle of Evian, the veep's face took an expression of obvious distaste as he waved off the French import. I guess France is still in the Bush administration doghouse. Klein did not return my repeated phone calls."
Say what?! Okay, as a lowly blogger I know that there are slow days when the ideas and the scoop just isn't forthcoming. Cool. But, to quote beloved 80s icon Clara Peller: "Where's the beef"?
In this city of the fabulous Page Six and Gawker.com we need our gossip served pipin' hot, not lukewarm. I throw down the gauntlet, Lloyd Grove: extricate yourself from those swishy dinner parties at Tina Brown's pad and put your nose to the grindstone and give us the real lowdown. There's a city full of gossip out there -- get to it, man.
James Caan Kicks Wes Anderson's Ass!
"He pulls me in front of the mirror - he is an extremely physical guy - and here I am in the middle of the room, in the dark, in my bathrobe, and he puts me in all these different holds, and he's throwing me around for about half an hour." So says "It" director Wes Anderson of James Caan.
Veteran tough guy character actor James Caan doesn't take any guff. In Index Magazine, Wes Anderson describes a tense moment with James Caan, who, it appears, is not so different from hot head Sonny Corleone.
"He pulls me in front of the mirror - he is an extremely physical guy - and here I am in the middle of the room, in the dark, in my bathrobe, and he puts me in all these different holds, and he's throwing me around for about half an hour." So says "It" director Wes Anderson of James Caan.
Veteran tough guy character actor James Caan doesn't take any guff. In Index Magazine, Wes Anderson describes a tense moment with James Caan, who, it appears, is not so different from hot head Sonny Corleone.
Donald Trump Schools us on Class
Short fingered vulgarian Donald Trump fresh from his elegant reality show The Apprentice took the time to school his producer on matters of taste. Trump refused to say the line "these guys will wish that they were eating bugs," in a planned commercial. The line, which parodies other reality shows was not to the likings of The Donald. "I don't like that line. It has no class."
Class is those McDonald's commercials in which The Donald snatches a hamburger from ex-wife Ivanna Trump.
Short fingered vulgarian Donald Trump fresh from his elegant reality show The Apprentice took the time to school his producer on matters of taste. Trump refused to say the line "these guys will wish that they were eating bugs," in a planned commercial. The line, which parodies other reality shows was not to the likings of The Donald. "I don't like that line. It has no class."
Class is those McDonald's commercials in which The Donald snatches a hamburger from ex-wife Ivanna Trump.
Jim Murphy Versus Howie Kurtz, or, Mister Kurtz, he Dead
CBS Evening News Executive Producer Jim Murphy is talking smack about The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, and if he isn't careful, frankly, my man Howie's going to find a "Reliable Source" (wink, wink) to be his second (is Bernie Kalb available?), repair to Weehauken, New Jersey, and square off in a duel with .56 caliber ancient pistols at the ready.
Quoth the saucy Murphy, via Romenesko Letters, that randiest of journo watering holes:
"The endless debate over how American politics are covered by domestic media gets another treatment in today's Howard Kurtz column in the Washington Post. And in the sidebar debate over television versus print as a source for comprehensive treatment, Howie comes down firmly on the side of print without ever saying so. But it's obvious in the subtext of Kurtz's report that he reached two conclusions from a selective viewing of the CBS Evening News reports about this year's issues called 'What Does It Mean To You?'"
Translation: Why you gotta be like that, Howie?
Read on and imagine, like I am now, a Barry Lyndon-like duel between the two media mavens.
CBS Evening News Executive Producer Jim Murphy is talking smack about The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, and if he isn't careful, frankly, my man Howie's going to find a "Reliable Source" (wink, wink) to be his second (is Bernie Kalb available?), repair to Weehauken, New Jersey, and square off in a duel with .56 caliber ancient pistols at the ready.
Quoth the saucy Murphy, via Romenesko Letters, that randiest of journo watering holes:
"The endless debate over how American politics are covered by domestic media gets another treatment in today's Howard Kurtz column in the Washington Post. And in the sidebar debate over television versus print as a source for comprehensive treatment, Howie comes down firmly on the side of print without ever saying so. But it's obvious in the subtext of Kurtz's report that he reached two conclusions from a selective viewing of the CBS Evening News reports about this year's issues called 'What Does It Mean To You?'"
Translation: Why you gotta be like that, Howie?
Read on and imagine, like I am now, a Barry Lyndon-like duel between the two media mavens.
Charles Murray: Ruggedly Ugly
Celebrated cryptoracist Charles Murray, who has made a career of providing statistics for the those inclined to bigotry, is feted in this week's New Yorker. In Saturday's Arts and Ideas section in the New York Times he was referred to as "ruggedly handsome" in a largely positive piece by one Emily Eakin. Murray, who co authored The Bell Curve with Richard Herrnstein (who had the good taste to expire before publication) argued that African Americans have the lowest IQ scores of all the races on this Big Blue Marbe and that is attributable to hereditary factors rather than, say, bad neighborhoods and schooling (environment). Conveniently, Murray and Herrnstein postulated that Asians have this highest IQs and Whites are .. just right. Rebecca Mead fawns over Murray's latest tome Human Accomplishment.
In Human Accomplishment Murray goes on to prove his own intelllectual shortcomings by rating Virgil a better writer than Count Tolstoi and Picasso a better artist than Rembrandt . That this man is postulating on intelligence and acquiring it in greater supply is ponderous. Charmed, I'm sure.
Celebrated cryptoracist Charles Murray, who has made a career of providing statistics for the those inclined to bigotry, is feted in this week's New Yorker. In Saturday's Arts and Ideas section in the New York Times he was referred to as "ruggedly handsome" in a largely positive piece by one Emily Eakin. Murray, who co authored The Bell Curve with Richard Herrnstein (who had the good taste to expire before publication) argued that African Americans have the lowest IQ scores of all the races on this Big Blue Marbe and that is attributable to hereditary factors rather than, say, bad neighborhoods and schooling (environment). Conveniently, Murray and Herrnstein postulated that Asians have this highest IQs and Whites are .. just right. Rebecca Mead fawns over Murray's latest tome Human Accomplishment.
In Human Accomplishment Murray goes on to prove his own intelllectual shortcomings by rating Virgil a better writer than Count Tolstoi and Picasso a better artist than Rembrandt . That this man is postulating on intelligence and acquiring it in greater supply is ponderous. Charmed, I'm sure.
Monday, November 03, 2003
The Real World: Not Happening
Finally, after years of vicariously watching that overdone Bunim and Murray confection where twentysomethings "hooking up," I can honestly say I'm over The Real World. Gag me with a fork, I am done. Watching plants produce chlorophyl could easily top The Real World Paris as far as excitement goes.
I'm not sure why I began to watch this show. I guess in the beginning before we all became jaded on reality tv shows like a hobo on muscatel .
The Real World was my crystal meth. And it was good while it lasted, I suppose in the manner of tweak. But I'm over it. Everyone would like to watch attractive twentysomethings get amorous -- wouldn't that explain the porn boom? It's just that watching these pretty but dim bulbs start "businesses" and compete against each other is a bit of a snooze.
The Greeks were great with wisdom. Cephalus quotes Sophocles the playwright and poet in The Symposium as follows:
Cephalus: . . . "I was present . . . one time when someone asked the poet Sophocles: "How are you in regard to sex, Sophocles? Can you still make love to a woman?" Hush man, the poet replied, I am very glad to have escaped from this, like a slave who has escaped from a mad and cruel master." I thought then that he was right, and I still think so, for a great peace and freedom from these things come with old age . . . . (329 c)."
Well, at 32 I don't need the viagra yet, but like Sophocles I am free from the tyranny of the cruel master The Real World. Basta!
Finally, after years of vicariously watching that overdone Bunim and Murray confection where twentysomethings "hooking up," I can honestly say I'm over The Real World. Gag me with a fork, I am done. Watching plants produce chlorophyl could easily top The Real World Paris as far as excitement goes.
I'm not sure why I began to watch this show. I guess in the beginning before we all became jaded on reality tv shows like a hobo on muscatel .
The Real World was my crystal meth. And it was good while it lasted, I suppose in the manner of tweak. But I'm over it. Everyone would like to watch attractive twentysomethings get amorous -- wouldn't that explain the porn boom? It's just that watching these pretty but dim bulbs start "businesses" and compete against each other is a bit of a snooze.
The Greeks were great with wisdom. Cephalus quotes Sophocles the playwright and poet in The Symposium as follows:
Cephalus: . . . "I was present . . . one time when someone asked the poet Sophocles: "How are you in regard to sex, Sophocles? Can you still make love to a woman?" Hush man, the poet replied, I am very glad to have escaped from this, like a slave who has escaped from a mad and cruel master." I thought then that he was right, and I still think so, for a great peace and freedom from these things come with old age . . . . (329 c)."
Well, at 32 I don't need the viagra yet, but like Sophocles I am free from the tyranny of the cruel master The Real World. Basta!
Is NY1 CBS NY's Farm League?
Duke Castiglione. Andrew Kirtzman. Jay Dow. Kerri Lyon. It reads like a Who's Who of the NY broadcast news biz. All four talented reporters were originally NY1 talent "poached" by CBS NY in only the past year. CBS NY is shanghaing NY1's videojournalists like sailors out of the 19th Century, with one difference, of course: unlike those luckless shanghaied, the NY1 staff is voluntarily leaving the scrappy local 24-hour Time Warner news service. As the hierarchy dictates, CBS trumps NY1, so there is nothing anyone can really do about the loss of familiar faces on the 24 hour channel. This leaves me wondering: Has NY1 become a farm league for CBS NY to pilfer at will?
Duke Castiglione. Andrew Kirtzman. Jay Dow. Kerri Lyon. It reads like a Who's Who of the NY broadcast news biz. All four talented reporters were originally NY1 talent "poached" by CBS NY in only the past year. CBS NY is shanghaing NY1's videojournalists like sailors out of the 19th Century, with one difference, of course: unlike those luckless shanghaied, the NY1 staff is voluntarily leaving the scrappy local 24-hour Time Warner news service. As the hierarchy dictates, CBS trumps NY1, so there is nothing anyone can really do about the loss of familiar faces on the 24 hour channel. This leaves me wondering: Has NY1 become a farm league for CBS NY to pilfer at will?
The Watchmen: Tales Of The Black Freighter
Here is the leaked Tales of the Black Freighter from the Watchmen DVD.
Here is the leaked Tales of the Black Freighter from the Watchmen DVD.
Whither Real Estate Gossip?
At what point during this whole postmodern gossip craze did we start to become fascinated by what can only be called Real Estate gossip? Don't get me wrong: I love my gossip served pipin' hot, but I'm not sure I need to know about the schematics of a particular celebrity home or even the price paid. Too much information, thank you very much. For example: nowadays, we can learn through New York Magazine, that: "Kathleen Turner is downsizing her real estate to match her diminishing box-office clout." We also are deluged with gossip about Woody Allen selling "his massive Carnegie Hill townhouse." Who can forget also that Lachlan Murdoch son of mogul Rupert, "has bought an enormous-and mysterious-14,500-square-foot building in Nolita for $5.25 million." Even 50 Cent got in the news when he bought Mike Tyson's $4.1 million Farmington, Connecticut mansion.
My point here is do we really need to know that much information? Do we need to know how much Katherine Hepburn's pad will go for? Is this just some elaborate game put on us gossip lovers by the Real Estate industry? And, finally, at what point did this useless information seep into the precincts of High Gossip?
At what point during this whole postmodern gossip craze did we start to become fascinated by what can only be called Real Estate gossip? Don't get me wrong: I love my gossip served pipin' hot, but I'm not sure I need to know about the schematics of a particular celebrity home or even the price paid. Too much information, thank you very much. For example: nowadays, we can learn through New York Magazine, that: "Kathleen Turner is downsizing her real estate to match her diminishing box-office clout." We also are deluged with gossip about Woody Allen selling "his massive Carnegie Hill townhouse." Who can forget also that Lachlan Murdoch son of mogul Rupert, "has bought an enormous-and mysterious-14,500-square-foot building in Nolita for $5.25 million." Even 50 Cent got in the news when he bought Mike Tyson's $4.1 million Farmington, Connecticut mansion.
My point here is do we really need to know that much information? Do we need to know how much Katherine Hepburn's pad will go for? Is this just some elaborate game put on us gossip lovers by the Real Estate industry? And, finally, at what point did this useless information seep into the precincts of High Gossip?
Page Six Busts Trans Continental
The fabulous Page Six, does it again. After aiding in the capture the lowlife rapist of Angela Bowie's daughter recently, the Page Sixers have shamed Trans Continental out of their hustle:
"TWO weeks after PAGE SIX reported that a modeling agency associated with Lou Pearlman's Trans Continental company had been labeled a scam by the state of New York, the boy-band impresario is getting out of the mannequin scouting business."
The fabulous Page Six, does it again. After aiding in the capture the lowlife rapist of Angela Bowie's daughter recently, the Page Sixers have shamed Trans Continental out of their hustle:
"TWO weeks after PAGE SIX reported that a modeling agency associated with Lou Pearlman's Trans Continental company had been labeled a scam by the state of New York, the boy-band impresario is getting out of the mannequin scouting business."
Simon Dumenco on Blogs
Okay, leaving aside the fact that Simon Dumenco left me out of his list of six compelling blogs, his article was interesting. There is a blog explosion on the web that is growing increasingly sophisticated. Bloggers are now regularly scooping the news and making news and publishing some damned interesting information.
So, I'll lick my wounds of exclusion from Dumenco's list. You know, Dumenco, being snubbed socially provokes exactly the same brain response as being physically hurt? Anyway, I won't press assault charges.
Okay, leaving aside the fact that Simon Dumenco left me out of his list of six compelling blogs, his article was interesting. There is a blog explosion on the web that is growing increasingly sophisticated. Bloggers are now regularly scooping the news and making news and publishing some damned interesting information.
So, I'll lick my wounds of exclusion from Dumenco's list. You know, Dumenco, being snubbed socially provokes exactly the same brain response as being physically hurt? Anyway, I won't press assault charges.
What Does James Truman Do?
Just what does Conde Nast Editorial Director James Truman do to fill his day? I mean, I know that he attends and throws a lot of parties. And he announces new editors. And he travels to exotic places, like Iran. On Persia, he writes in Conde Nast traveller (April 2003):
"I'd traveled to Iran last fall with the thought of overlooking the country's politics and focusing on its history and natural beauty. This thought quickly disappeared, not least because Tehran itself is short on both history and beauty."
Beauty seems to be a big part of James Truman's duties at Conde Nast. Hanging out with supermodels, throwing the swishiest party, spouting the bon mot -- in effect, being the best Aesthete that Newhouse money can buy. Hey, I'm not knocking it: the world needs at least one person expert in the incredibly diverse beauties on this Big Blue Marble -- from the Persian to the Polynesian to the Sub Saharan African to the Venzuelan. And maybe all the travel and worldliness might be reflected in a more diverse group of covers at Advance, no? I mean, how many times can Conde Nast actually run Heidi Klum's ample bosom and George Clooney at Lake Como? Can I get some diversity, people?
Just what does Conde Nast Editorial Director James Truman do to fill his day? I mean, I know that he attends and throws a lot of parties. And he announces new editors. And he travels to exotic places, like Iran. On Persia, he writes in Conde Nast traveller (April 2003):
"I'd traveled to Iran last fall with the thought of overlooking the country's politics and focusing on its history and natural beauty. This thought quickly disappeared, not least because Tehran itself is short on both history and beauty."
Beauty seems to be a big part of James Truman's duties at Conde Nast. Hanging out with supermodels, throwing the swishiest party, spouting the bon mot -- in effect, being the best Aesthete that Newhouse money can buy. Hey, I'm not knocking it: the world needs at least one person expert in the incredibly diverse beauties on this Big Blue Marble -- from the Persian to the Polynesian to the Sub Saharan African to the Venzuelan. And maybe all the travel and worldliness might be reflected in a more diverse group of covers at Advance, no? I mean, how many times can Conde Nast actually run Heidi Klum's ample bosom and George Clooney at Lake Como? Can I get some diversity, people?
Diddy Ran the City
From MTV's Diddy Runs the City:
P Diddy (taking off his Nike's undoing his sock, incredulous): What the f--k is that?
Trainer: A blood blister.
P Diddy: A what?!
Trainer: Your toenail will go black and fall off and then grow back.
P Diddy: Will it grow back regular?
Trainer (taking off shoes): -- Look at this
P Diddy (pause): --Yo, you got some F---ed up feet!
From MTV's Diddy Runs the City:
P Diddy (taking off his Nike's undoing his sock, incredulous): What the f--k is that?
Trainer: A blood blister.
P Diddy: A what?!
Trainer: Your toenail will go black and fall off and then grow back.
P Diddy: Will it grow back regular?
Trainer (taking off shoes): -- Look at this
P Diddy (pause): --Yo, you got some F---ed up feet!
Howard Stern Criticizes Oprah Winfrey on Exploiting Guests
King of All Media Howard Stern today attacked Oprah Winfrey for exploiting her guests. The nationally syndicated shock jock who has interviewed dwarves, homeless people, sexual abuse survivors, amputees and siamese twins blasted Winfrey. "She puts on these sad families and their stories ... then drives off in her limousine." Stern could not be reached for comment as he was busy catching a ride with Ronnie the Limo driver to his miltimillion dollar Millenium Buildings apartment.
King of All Media Howard Stern today attacked Oprah Winfrey for exploiting her guests. The nationally syndicated shock jock who has interviewed dwarves, homeless people, sexual abuse survivors, amputees and siamese twins blasted Winfrey. "She puts on these sad families and their stories ... then drives off in her limousine." Stern could not be reached for comment as he was busy catching a ride with Ronnie the Limo driver to his miltimillion dollar Millenium Buildings apartment.
Kurt Anderson to Colors
Kurt Andersen, the former New York Magazine Editor and founder of Inside.com is the new Editorial Director and chairman of Colors, that sleek globally thoughtful magazine put out by Benneton.
The magazine up until now revolved around a single theme, like, say, "Death." Using thought provoking and compelling photographs, Colors would present global perspectives on the subject. Andersen, who has a rather evolved sense of design, like many of the Baby Boomer generation (he was a cultural and architecture critic at Time), should be an interesting fit.
(Ed Note: I was a factchecker at New york under Andersen and interviewed with him, unsuccessfully, as an editor at Inside.com)
Kurt Andersen, the former New York Magazine Editor and founder of Inside.com is the new Editorial Director and chairman of Colors, that sleek globally thoughtful magazine put out by Benneton.
The magazine up until now revolved around a single theme, like, say, "Death." Using thought provoking and compelling photographs, Colors would present global perspectives on the subject. Andersen, who has a rather evolved sense of design, like many of the Baby Boomer generation (he was a cultural and architecture critic at Time), should be an interesting fit.
(Ed Note: I was a factchecker at New york under Andersen and interviewed with him, unsuccessfully, as an editor at Inside.com)
Saturday, November 01, 2003
What's It Like Trying To Make It in NYC?
I get asked this a lot, mostly by college friends, mostly by email. I guess I would day that two things above all else are important: 1) To do something original and exceptional in your profession, and 2) get properly attributed for it in the press. The very cool Ivy Supersonic
outfitted Pam Anderson and Kelly Ripa with these very hip rock star hats for yesterday's Regis and Kelly Show, but alas, both Access Hollywood and the NY Post (I have nothing but love for you guys) ran photos and footage, but did not attribute the credit to Ivy, whose hip styles could have used the boost. So, for what it matters, Ivy, this space is behind you. Someday when Ivy's bigger than Donatella she can laugh at this. Cheers, Ms. Supersonic.
I get asked this a lot, mostly by college friends, mostly by email. I guess I would day that two things above all else are important: 1) To do something original and exceptional in your profession, and 2) get properly attributed for it in the press. The very cool Ivy Supersonic
outfitted Pam Anderson and Kelly Ripa with these very hip rock star hats for yesterday's Regis and Kelly Show, but alas, both Access Hollywood and the NY Post (I have nothing but love for you guys) ran photos and footage, but did not attribute the credit to Ivy, whose hip styles could have used the boost. So, for what it matters, Ivy, this space is behind you. Someday when Ivy's bigger than Donatella she can laugh at this. Cheers, Ms. Supersonic.
No Comment Necessary
From David Brock's Blinded By The Right, page 25:
"The dominant figure at the (Washington) Times was the editor in chief, Arnaud de Borchgrave, Newsweek's former chief of foreign correspondents ... the son of a Belgian Count, and the husband of a much younger, porcelain-skinned wife, Alexandra, an accomplished photographer and the great grandaughter of the esteemed book publisher Henry Villard, Arnaud was culturally about as far as one could get from Bible Belt fundamentalism ... (he) could occasionally be glimpsed doing early morning push-ups in his underwear in his office, or sunning himself with a foil reflector in the bureau adjacent to the Times building, maintaining a perpetual orange glow."
From David Brock's Blinded By The Right, page 25:
"The dominant figure at the (Washington) Times was the editor in chief, Arnaud de Borchgrave, Newsweek's former chief of foreign correspondents ... the son of a Belgian Count, and the husband of a much younger, porcelain-skinned wife, Alexandra, an accomplished photographer and the great grandaughter of the esteemed book publisher Henry Villard, Arnaud was culturally about as far as one could get from Bible Belt fundamentalism ... (he) could occasionally be glimpsed doing early morning push-ups in his underwear in his office, or sunning himself with a foil reflector in the bureau adjacent to the Times building, maintaining a perpetual orange glow."
And I Like K Street
I am pretty sure that I am the only one outside of DC that likes K Street. I have not met a single fan in the New York area. I will give you that the story is loose and could be tightened up; I will also concede that there are too many tentative moments, "hrmmphing" and "hahhing," especially from Mary McCormack and Roger G. Smith. Finally, yes, it is the revolving reality cast of stars and politicians that draws me in. And, no, I would not break off a dinner date to watch K Street at the appointed hour, I would, however, consult Mssr. Tivo on the matter.
I am pretty sure that I am the only one outside of DC that likes K Street. I have not met a single fan in the New York area. I will give you that the story is loose and could be tightened up; I will also concede that there are too many tentative moments, "hrmmphing" and "hahhing," especially from Mary McCormack and Roger G. Smith. Finally, yes, it is the revolving reality cast of stars and politicians that draws me in. And, no, I would not break off a dinner date to watch K Street at the appointed hour, I would, however, consult Mssr. Tivo on the matter.
A Short Defense of Michael Wolff
I thought Stephen Metcalf's brutal Observer Book review -- and I don't think I am going overboard in saying it -- was more about Michael Wolff than the book he wrote.
One line in particular kind of pissed me off. It purports to unravel Wolff's entire philosophy of life at one sitting:
"Messrs. Diller and Murdoch are at the top. Poets are at the bottom. (Mr. Wolff makes a big deal out of his status as a parent. One wonders what it�s like to grow up in a household where the prevailing sentiment is, 'What clear-eyed person would want to be a poet?') In between lies everyone Mr. Wolff condescends to. 'I had to summon my energy to want to talk to them.'"
Well, I consider the Bloggers the poets of the media world -- we are certainly not Barry Diller. We of the creative and fertile mind waiting to get a shot at the big leagues, Elizabeth Spiers is our patron saint. Michael Wolff has always answered my emails and showed me the highest respect over the years. Metcalf's article struck me as pretty personal for a book review, even in the snarky precincts of the New York media game.
Stephen Metcalf's feelings towards Wolff's style interfered in his review.
I thought Stephen Metcalf's brutal Observer Book review -- and I don't think I am going overboard in saying it -- was more about Michael Wolff than the book he wrote.
One line in particular kind of pissed me off. It purports to unravel Wolff's entire philosophy of life at one sitting:
"Messrs. Diller and Murdoch are at the top. Poets are at the bottom. (Mr. Wolff makes a big deal out of his status as a parent. One wonders what it�s like to grow up in a household where the prevailing sentiment is, 'What clear-eyed person would want to be a poet?') In between lies everyone Mr. Wolff condescends to. 'I had to summon my energy to want to talk to them.'"
Well, I consider the Bloggers the poets of the media world -- we are certainly not Barry Diller. We of the creative and fertile mind waiting to get a shot at the big leagues, Elizabeth Spiers is our patron saint. Michael Wolff has always answered my emails and showed me the highest respect over the years. Metcalf's article struck me as pretty personal for a book review, even in the snarky precincts of the New York media game.
Stephen Metcalf's feelings towards Wolff's style interfered in his review.
"Diana Vreeland Loved Soul Train"
Which high powered Conde Nast editor wrote this? Note: I've never met him (hint, hint), but I like this author much:
"I earned my Masters degree in French literature in the Spring of 1972. My topic was the pivotal role played by all the fabulous, exotic North African women in the world of poet Charles Baudelaire and painter Eugene Delacroix. My thesis was based on the whole sense of importance of Africa to the conception of Orientalism as it influenced art and literature in Nineteenth Century France, a topic in which I have a keen interest. Delacroix's Les Femmes d'Algiers featured prominently, as did Flaubert's Salambo. I truly loved writing my Master's thesis, and although I still yearned for the world of fashion, I moved on to pursuing my doctorate without hesistation."
Can you guess who wrote this?
One more clue:
"You see (Diana) Vreeland loved black culture. She loved the Saturday Morning Dance Show Soul Train; my grandmother cared nothing for it ... she went hog wild over every manifestation of black style. It all began, I think, with Josephine Baker, who truly was one of the most stylish women to ever walk this planet. Mrs. Vreeland loved to tell the story of watching a movie one night in the balcony of a Paris cinema back in the 30s. She had her elbows on the armrests and was intently watching this film, when all of a sudden, one of the armrests moved. She turned to see what was going on and found out that she had been resting her elbow not on the arm of a seat, but on the head of Josephine Baker's pet cheetah, and that both the magnificent cat and its magnificent owner were now getting up to leave. Mrs. Vreeland watched speechlessly as the cheetah padded in a stately fashion up the aisle of the theater, Josephine Baker walking regally behind, wearing a daring, bias-cut Vionnet dress with no underwear on underneath."
If you guessed that this is the wonderful Andre Leon Talley's ALT, then give yourself a pat on the back. Basta!
Which high powered Conde Nast editor wrote this? Note: I've never met him (hint, hint), but I like this author much:
"I earned my Masters degree in French literature in the Spring of 1972. My topic was the pivotal role played by all the fabulous, exotic North African women in the world of poet Charles Baudelaire and painter Eugene Delacroix. My thesis was based on the whole sense of importance of Africa to the conception of Orientalism as it influenced art and literature in Nineteenth Century France, a topic in which I have a keen interest. Delacroix's Les Femmes d'Algiers featured prominently, as did Flaubert's Salambo. I truly loved writing my Master's thesis, and although I still yearned for the world of fashion, I moved on to pursuing my doctorate without hesistation."
Can you guess who wrote this?
One more clue:
"You see (Diana) Vreeland loved black culture. She loved the Saturday Morning Dance Show Soul Train; my grandmother cared nothing for it ... she went hog wild over every manifestation of black style. It all began, I think, with Josephine Baker, who truly was one of the most stylish women to ever walk this planet. Mrs. Vreeland loved to tell the story of watching a movie one night in the balcony of a Paris cinema back in the 30s. She had her elbows on the armrests and was intently watching this film, when all of a sudden, one of the armrests moved. She turned to see what was going on and found out that she had been resting her elbow not on the arm of a seat, but on the head of Josephine Baker's pet cheetah, and that both the magnificent cat and its magnificent owner were now getting up to leave. Mrs. Vreeland watched speechlessly as the cheetah padded in a stately fashion up the aisle of the theater, Josephine Baker walking regally behind, wearing a daring, bias-cut Vionnet dress with no underwear on underneath."
If you guessed that this is the wonderful Andre Leon Talley's ALT, then give yourself a pat on the back. Basta!
When Did Rolling Stone Magazine Jump the Shark?
I am of two minds on the subject. First, May 3, 1998, to me, was the day the music died. Rolling Stone Magazine, the embodiment of hip counterculture colluded with the Giuliani adminitration as a corporate sponsor for "Family Day" to displace the Million Marijuana March from Washington Square Park. No lie.
Also: putting April Lavigne on the cover of March 2003 was a very sad reminder that even though the music has died at Rolling Stone, the stink is still around.
When precisely do you think RS Jumped the Shark? Send emails to papermag@yahoo.com
I am of two minds on the subject. First, May 3, 1998, to me, was the day the music died. Rolling Stone Magazine, the embodiment of hip counterculture colluded with the Giuliani adminitration as a corporate sponsor for "Family Day" to displace the Million Marijuana March from Washington Square Park. No lie.
Also: putting April Lavigne on the cover of March 2003 was a very sad reminder that even though the music has died at Rolling Stone, the stink is still around.
When precisely do you think RS Jumped the Shark? Send emails to papermag@yahoo.com
Turning Republican Is Good For Your Career!
We all know Republicans make more money than liberals, but now actually turning Republican might also be good for your career. Witness: Dennis Miller. Miller is moderately funny in a sort of very-near-nervous-breakdown kind of way. For years he has been trying to find his niche in Hollywood: He cannot act (Miller has always been frank about why he could not do skits on SNL), he isn't very compelling as a talk show host, and his comedy, well, to be fair: it's just not the type of comedy that assaults you, like, say, Bernie Macs does. Miller's comedy sort of lets you smirk at your own smartness for knowing the arcana he throws at you at the speed of a moderately challenging game of Trivial Pursuit.
Let's Face the Music in a very VH1 type of Leif Garrett-level frankness, Dennis Miller was one Call AT&T commercial away from being Chevy Chase. Or Carrot Top. Miller himself might characterize his plight in that manner.
But lo and behold, one time Ross Perot supporter Dennis Miller, fell in line behind the Republicans using the time worn cliche ("Let's face it, 9/11 changed everything")and chucked any sense of principle behind him and c'est goddam good, non?
Miller is now living large on the Republican dime. He is on Fox Tv's Boston Public.
Miller is also a commentator for Fox tv, and now CNBC wants a piece of him. Dennis Miller is like the prettiest girl in school fending offers from all the jocks. But does anyone really believe that a former Perot operative is now so Republican that he is willing to run for the Senate? His principles are reversed 180 degrees in a couple of years? He had a Paul in Damascus moment? Yeah, and I've got some Brooklyn Bridge property to sell you.
Forget turning Japanese, turn Republican!
We all know Republicans make more money than liberals, but now actually turning Republican might also be good for your career. Witness: Dennis Miller. Miller is moderately funny in a sort of very-near-nervous-breakdown kind of way. For years he has been trying to find his niche in Hollywood: He cannot act (Miller has always been frank about why he could not do skits on SNL), he isn't very compelling as a talk show host, and his comedy, well, to be fair: it's just not the type of comedy that assaults you, like, say, Bernie Macs does. Miller's comedy sort of lets you smirk at your own smartness for knowing the arcana he throws at you at the speed of a moderately challenging game of Trivial Pursuit.
Let's Face the Music in a very VH1 type of Leif Garrett-level frankness, Dennis Miller was one Call AT&T commercial away from being Chevy Chase. Or Carrot Top. Miller himself might characterize his plight in that manner.
But lo and behold, one time Ross Perot supporter Dennis Miller, fell in line behind the Republicans using the time worn cliche ("Let's face it, 9/11 changed everything")and chucked any sense of principle behind him and c'est goddam good, non?
Miller is now living large on the Republican dime. He is on Fox Tv's Boston Public.
Miller is also a commentator for Fox tv, and now CNBC wants a piece of him. Dennis Miller is like the prettiest girl in school fending offers from all the jocks. But does anyone really believe that a former Perot operative is now so Republican that he is willing to run for the Senate? His principles are reversed 180 degrees in a couple of years? He had a Paul in Damascus moment? Yeah, and I've got some Brooklyn Bridge property to sell you.
Forget turning Japanese, turn Republican!
Tommy Mottola: Alive and Well
This morning I ran into Tommy Mottola, or, rather, he did me a favor. No, no, no he didn't get me a recording deal or a meeting with Jane Rosenthal of Tribeca Films; rather, Tommy Supersized my fries for me at McDonald's. Thanks, Tommy!
This morning I ran into Tommy Mottola, or, rather, he did me a favor. No, no, no he didn't get me a recording deal or a meeting with Jane Rosenthal of Tribeca Films; rather, Tommy Supersized my fries for me at McDonald's. Thanks, Tommy!
At What Point Will Dave Letterman Concede Defeat?
Granted, if you go in for late night television, and I don't, David Letterman is the smarter, edgier comedian than Jay Leno. That having been said, Jay Leno is really kicking David Letterman's ass. No one denies it: the numbers speak for themselves. Middle America likes the friendly and untaxing and accessible Leno over the conflicted and angsty Dave. So, now that the battle is pretty much decided and costing CBS quite a bit of change to remain at number two, at what point does the Tiffany Network either: a) concede defeat and go home and try another attack, or, b) accept a mildly profitable (compared to Leno) 2nd place, be the alpha male, be Leno's New York bitch in the hopes that Dave will continue to hold on to young men -- a desireable demographic -- while Leno leads in every other demo, or c) kick things up a notch and really compete with Leno. If c) is the option, my Tivo is at the ready.
Granted, if you go in for late night television, and I don't, David Letterman is the smarter, edgier comedian than Jay Leno. That having been said, Jay Leno is really kicking David Letterman's ass. No one denies it: the numbers speak for themselves. Middle America likes the friendly and untaxing and accessible Leno over the conflicted and angsty Dave. So, now that the battle is pretty much decided and costing CBS quite a bit of change to remain at number two, at what point does the Tiffany Network either: a) concede defeat and go home and try another attack, or, b) accept a mildly profitable (compared to Leno) 2nd place, be the alpha male, be Leno's New York bitch in the hopes that Dave will continue to hold on to young men -- a desireable demographic -- while Leno leads in every other demo, or c) kick things up a notch and really compete with Leno. If c) is the option, my Tivo is at the ready.
Whatever Happened to Phoebe Eaton?
The astonishingly pretty Linda Evangelista look alike superhottie Phoebe Eaton, it appears, has been involved in The United States-Japan Foundation Media Fellows Program for 2002-2003. According to the Japan Society site: "Given her professional work with magazines in the U.S., Eaton will examine the magazine industry in Japan, and to satisfy her interest in crime, will look into the world of yakuza." That sounds fascinating.
The astonishingly pretty Linda Evangelista look alike superhottie Phoebe Eaton, it appears, has been involved in The United States-Japan Foundation Media Fellows Program for 2002-2003. According to the Japan Society site: "Given her professional work with magazines in the U.S., Eaton will examine the magazine industry in Japan, and to satisfy her interest in crime, will look into the world of yakuza." That sounds fascinating.
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