Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"It’s easy to forget that CNN was once revolutionary. Founded in 1980, back when the idea of watching a channel other than ABC, NBC, or CBS seemed exotic (Fox would not start for another six years; Fox News not till 1996), it was, in terms of cultural impact, the Google of its day. Its gonzo 'fluid news' style, low-cost methods, and disdain for the woolly orthodoxies of traditional TV news- gathering terrified the big three, and attracted their most forward-thinking journos. And the internal contradictions in Turner’s vision (public service versus profit growth) were for years obfuscated by the extraordinary cash-spewing awesomeness of the cable business. By 2000, CNN was making $300 million, causing Jerry Levin, the CEO of Time Warner, to rank CNN alongside Time magazine as the 'crown jewels' of his empire. It’s hard to see the fervor of early CNN in today’s product, with chummy King cozying up to out-of-date celebrities and the resolutely humorless Wolf Blitzer stumbling through banter with Jack Cafferty. As with USA Today, CNN’s best work and workers (Sanjay Gupta, Christiane Amanpour, Fareed Zakaria) strain to break through a stultifying smog of midmarket general-interestness, neither high-toned enough to feed into upmarket affectations nor downmarket enough to be … fun." (Michael Hirschorn/NYMag)



"The RNC scandals are an embarrassment and a distraction for a party that needs to be working on other things, but the scandals are less damaging than the weak leadership at this point. The RNC needs to get its act together. But the scandals aren't, yet, that big of a deal. Unless the hits keep on coming, more scandals, more idiotic behavior, the RNC scandals are the kind of thing that usually fades away. Functionaries and underlings (which is all that you find at either the RNC or the DNC when all is said and done) aren't as interesting as elected officials. The kind of scandal neither party wants right now is a scandal involving serious improprieties by elected officials. The Democrats on balance are more vulnerable to that right now because the party in power is always the object of more suspicion than the opposition. It's easier to look as if you are abusing power when you actually have some power to abuse. A couple more scandals along the Rangel model could put Democrats much more deeply in the hole heading into November. Barring that, problems like those at the RNC simply provide innocent amusement for the rest of us -- if enjoying the spectacle as people's lives and careers flame out and burn because of stupidity and misjudgment is your idea of innocent fun." (Walter Russell Meade/Politico)



"By now you've likely heard all about LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy slamming the Village Voice's Michael Musto in the recently-leaked track 'Pow Pow' (which includes the lyric 'Eat it Michael Musto: you're no Bruce Vilanch'). In response, Musto told the Voice's Zach Baron that Murphy comparing him to comedy writer and former Hollywood Squares regular Vilanch (whom Musto is friends with) doesn't make sense as "we're not in the same racket at all, so it's like saying 'Sandra Bullock can never be Barbara Walters.' He also said he's disappointed Murphy didn't opt for the more "elegant" slight, 'suck it.' Fun stuff, right? We can't help but wonder if all of this possibly started at PAPER's 2009 Nightlife Awards, which was emceed by Musto and included Murphy jumping on stage twice to 'Kanye' winners, shouting that pal Justine D should have won the award for Best DJ. After the second time Murphy got on stage, Musto called him a 'douchebag.'" (Papermag)



"I was going to the book party for Kate Kingsley who has just published her third novel, Pretty On the Outside, A Young, Loaded and Fabulous ... I was there because I know Kate’s mother and father. Her mother and I were in summer stock together in Lake Placid, New York. Afterwards, I knew enough to quit the business entirely and Joan, Kate’s mother, married her father Philip Kingsley who is the most famous trichologist (hair doctor) in the world with offices in London and New York. And who goes to a hair doctor? Movie stars. Male and female. Very famous ... The party was given by Joan Jakobson and and Lorraine Boyle, old friends also of the parents. Kate and her sister Annabel went to grade school here in New York. Kate went to Chapin until the family (Joan’s American, Philip’s British) which had been living here pretty much full time moved back to London. It was a good size crowd with two generations of age ranges which is rarer than you might think in New York. One of the guests was a classmate of Kate’s from Cambridge (UK), Eddie Redmayne. Mr. Redmayne (who looks more like an Eddie than a Mister), as of this morning (although it’s not been a secret), is Broadway’s newest star, starring with Alfred Molina, in 'Red,' a play by John Logan about the artist Mark Rothko. Rex Reed first told me about it last week when I ran into him at the Café Carlyle opening of Leslie Uggams. He said the play was not to be missed, and that Eddie Redmayne was going to be a star ...Norris Mailer came in with her son John Buffaolo Mailer. If you haven’t read Alex Witchel’s profile of Norris in this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, look it up and do. It’s just about the best profile I’ve ever read of someone I actually know." (NYSocialDiary)



"Some have seen Barack Obama as shape-shifter, world-class networker, memoirist, savior or putz. In 'The Bridge,' David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker magazine and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'Lenin’s Tomb,' examines Obama’s life before the presidency 'and some of the currents that helped to form him' ..In the spring of 1992, he led a highly successful voter- registration drive in Chicago that brought him connections with wealthy Lakefront Liberals, important fund-raising sources. He won a seat in the state senate and lost badly in a congressional race. He was a lousy speaker: 'stentorian, professorial, self-serious -- a cake with no leavening,' Remnick writes. He got better. His dazzling oratorical performance at the Democratic convention in 2004, along with imploding rivals, eased Obama’s way into a Senate seat. There he was bored. ‘The job was too small for him,’ explains a helpful aide quoted by Remnick ... Remnick avoids hagiography. He’s keenly familiar with the cult of personality and its perils. His Obama benefits as much from uncommon gifts, hard work and lucky breaks as he does from the missteps and misfortunes of adversaries. Obama gained most, perhaps, from the extent to which the country had grown desperate for a glimpse of eloquence, intelligence and clarity after years of George W. Bush -- whom Remnick delights in denigrating as 'a national and personal embarrassment -- an incurious, rash, flippant, pampered, dishonest leader' ... What Remnick brings to a complex story are the tools of an exceptional reporter: persistence, curiosity, insight. He weaves in hours of on-the-record interviews with schoolmates, teachers, mentors, advisers and scholars. In one, Obama’s University of Chicago Law School colleague Geoffrey Stone, out of frustration, calls Obama a 'putz' for choosing politics over a career as a law professor. ‘What a waste,’ Remnick quotes him saying." (Bloomberg)



"Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy, who played the role of Clay in the movie of Bret Easton Ellis' novel 'Less Than Zero,' has signed to reprise the part for the audio version of Ellis' forthcoming 'Zero' sequel, 'Imperial Bedrooms.' The new book, out in June, focuses on the characters from 'Zero' approaching middle age. A source mused, 'McCarthy is already on board to play Clay on the audio version -- could this mean a movie sequel is also in the works?'" (PageSix)



"MSNBC's David Shuster has been suspended from MSNBC 'indefinitely' according to a spokesperson. The action was taken this morning by MSNBC president Phil Griffin after it was revealed that Shuster had taken part in a pilot for CNN. Shuster's MSNBC contract expires in December. Over the weekend, an MSNBC executive told TVNewser's Gail Shister, anything less than a suspension 'sends a message from management that this is OK.'" (TVNewser)



"Is the study of classical history pointless? What useful knowledge will I glean from reading about some dead Roman governor of Britain? How will studying what the Delphic oracle had to say about the Persian advance into Greece help me in my future job at the State Department? I hear such questions often in my seminar on Thucydides and other classical writers, which I teach at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. My students -- future policymakers, pundits, and managers -- approach the class with a good dose of skepticism about the value (aside from mere amusement) of reading about ancient times. Thucydides's history of the Peloponnesian War -- in particular the Melian Dialogue, a quintessential tale of the small, neutral Melians defending themselves against the strong Athenians -- is relatively common reading among budding wonks. But Tacitus, Herodotus, Julius Caesar, Plutarch? Most students favor the latest tome on the rise of China over the insights of these long-dead writers. My students' predilections reflect a wider skepticism about the present-day relevance of old texts. For modern academics and policy analysts, ancient authors are guilty of adopting an unscientific approach, relying on anecdotes, and showing a primitive fear of natural events." (ForeignPolicy)



"That famed photog rapher Harry Benson will be shooting the American Museum of Natural History leader ship chairs, in cluding Emilia Fanjul Pfeifler, Zibby Right, Veronica Webb, Emmy Rossum and Ivanka Trump for the next issue of Q magazine -- the fashion spinoff of Quest -- ahead of the Spring Safari Gala sponsored by Lilly Pulitzer on April 15." (PageSix)

NPR's Fresh Air Defers Buzzy Interview



Michael Hirschorn recently described our present media situation as "our rapidly metastasizing digital culture." Such is the speed of the present age. Eyeballs, in such a culture, are the coin of the realm. And the lowest common denominator -- sex, death, scandal -- often attracts the largest amount of eyeballs; that, in turn, attracts the advertisers and la gloire.

That is why it came as something of a pleasant surprise that the host of NPR's "Fresh Air" Terry Gross from WHYY in Philadelphia took a pass on a supremely buzzy interview with David Simon and Eric Overmyer of HBO's Treme on the cusp of the death of co-writer and producer David Miller on the set of a brain aneurysm on the morning the interview was to be aired. Any other media organization worth its salt would have aired the interview along with Facebook updates, Twitter blasts and lots of radio promos throughout the day as well as emails of viral audio clips to well-situated sites. But that is not the way of listener-supported NPR's "Fresh Air," which, we cannot fail to note, has a solid gold reputation among television writers.

On March 31st, the day of the interview NPR's FreshAir tweeted: "We are changing our show today, following the news that Treme writer David Mills passed away last night ... Details to come." And then, later, "Our show today will about the Sabbath -- the history, comforts, and annoyances with the weekly day of rest." Fresh Air ultimately aired author Judith Shulevitz on the subject of Making Room For The Sabbath.

The HBO Treme interview did not air the day after or the day after that decision. In fact, the interview aired one full week later (yesterday). Terry said on air that she didn't want to air it on the evening of David Mills' death because "it didn't feel right." What a strange idea. Doesn't she want eyeballs (or in the case of NPR -- eardrums?) Still, it was a pitch-perfect decision that rings odd in these almost amoral times. Imagine if more purveyors of information in "our rapidly metastasizing digital culture" allowed for some moral reflection when confronted with something so buzzy?

Then we might have more shows as well put together, as interesting and -- dare I say it? -- moral as NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"This week's Hello Magazine has a cover so Hello-ishly Hello-esque that one ought to wear sunglasses before picking it up. Royalty, in the shape of Queen Rania of Jordan, rubs shoulders with celebrity (Nicole Kidman), in a composition of flowing white robes and surrounded by decoratively angelic children. But wait, who is the outsize leprechaun in the corner? Surely not Rupert Murdoch, looking like he has wandered into a Broadway revival of Hair! The photographs were taken at the baptism ceremony of Murdoch's youngest children, hosted by Queen Rania at a baptism site in the River Jordan. It looked like a grand day out, but the question with anything Murdoch-related, is why did he do it? Swiftly followed by that other question when anything unusual happens in the Middle East: is it good for Israel? Murdoch recently bought part of an Arab media company, Rotana, and is partnering an Abu Dhabi film studio. These deals might explain why he is popping up in the Middle East. But Murdoch does not do things to send messages to the wider world. Rather, he sends calculated messages to the market and, more importantly, to the corridors of power in his Byzantine empire, News Corp." (TheGuardian)



"Would you pay a dollar to evidence you were at Lady GaGa's gig at the Cutting Room? Hell, I didn't even know she performed at the Cutting Room. I had to read the 'New York' profile to find that out. Music has forever been about hipsterism. Knowing who's good and bad and being there first. Everyone says they were at Woodstock, but how many have the original three disc vinyl set on Cotillion? How many bought that set just to belong? Belonging. Where you are on the social ladder. These have been key elements in society forever. Why not codify them, why not charge people to evidence how hip they are? For the last ten years, the music industry has been repeating the mantra that people must pay for music. What if this is the problem. What if music SHOULD be free?" (LefsetzLetter)



"Last week, fans of Beyoncé Knowles who went to the megastar’s official channel on YouTube got an unwelcome surprise. If you clicked on 'All the Single Ladies' or 'Video Phone' (her duet with Lady Gaga), you got an awkward text message stating: “This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.' Huh? Sony is, after all, Beyoncé’s label, and she is one of that company’s biggest acts (not to mention that Sony Music is part of a conglomerate that wants to sell you devices to watch her videos on). No further explanation for the blackout was given—and the videos could still be found a few desperate clicks away on other sites. A couple of weeks earlier, Viacom pulled full episodes of its popular Daily Show from Hulu, the much-touted free video Web site backed by big media companies. The move by Comedy Central made Jon Stewart’s show the latest to either withdraw from the site or have the number of episodes available online curbed. (You can still view them on the show’s own site.) Information may want to be free, but the people who create and own it don’t." (Richard Siklos/Observer)



"When Sarah Palin made her debut as the host of 'Real American Stories' on Fox News on Thursday night, she described several triumphs of regular people over insurmountable odds, but she missed an obvious one: her own. After her failed bid for the vice presidency, she was more or less told to head back to Alaska to serve out her term as governor — a kind of metaphorical kitchen. Instead, she quit her day job and proceeded to become a one-woman national media empire, with the ratings and lucre to show for it. With its tales of uplift and pluck, 'Real American Stories' trades in the kind of easy sentimentality that provokes eye rolls among those of us who work in media while quickening the pulse and patriotic ardor of almost everyone else. At the beginning of the show, Ms. Palin promised that it would 'reaffirm our pioneering spirit and unmatched generosity, here and around the world.' And so it did, with two million people tuning in." (David Carr/NYTimes)



" ... It has been a marriage vibrant in its steadiness, yet never far from the threatening rumors. For years there were rumors about her. An international figure of great beauty, a woman who enjoys the international social scene, unlike so many American wives of the rich who are local and, to some people’s way of thinking, provincial. With exceptions of course. There was one particular rumor that would not go away about the lady and a well known European aristocrat, also married. Who allegedly rendezvoused in Gstaad or St. Moritz. Why of course. This rumor was always denied, even publicly (in their style of publicly). And both couples socialized, if only to prove it. It was a story blamed on vicious neighbors. And there are more than afew of those in this land of Plenty, as you know. Jealous; that too. The husband, on the other hand, agreeable, proud of his beautiful, elegant (and younger) wife, was also rumored to have interests outside the private palace in which he dwelt like the magnate that he is. There was said to be a woman who enchanted him, who, whenever The Wife was traveling (as she was wont to do, whatwith all those farflung friends and the European property and the ticket to ride), was available for some enchanting. This copasetic relationship was said to go on for quite sometime without the wife 'knowing.' She thought, said a friend of hers, that whenever she was away from the nest, he was hibernating in his silk bathrobe and embroidered scarlet velvet slippers. With his feet up. Smoking a cigar. Watching Bill O’Reilly. It never occurred to her that the Old Boy might actually be getting himself spiffed up and out the door for a slap and a tickle? Uh-uh. It never occurred to her -- that boys will be boys and Old Boys Will Be Old Boys, no matter what." (NYSocialDiary)



"Forget the speculation about how the iPad performed out of the gate. Apple just released its own numbers: 300,000-plus sold as of midnight Saturday, including pre-order deliveries and Apple retail sales. That represents a minimum of $150 million in first-day sales, using the lowest-end model, and considerably more given the mix of sales. Apple also said iPad users downloaded more than 1 million apps and more than 250,000 e-books through its stores. There no real way to come up with a legit minimum value for that since Apple doesn’t break that down between paid and unpaid. The iBooks app comes with one free book, A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, which could account for the bulk of those downloads as people try it out." (PaidContent)



"I think that Marc (Jacobs) can do whatever he wants. I think that the celebrities now are the bloggers and I think for too long we [had] front-row celebrities, A-list to Z-list, who took over and it was just too much. And he probably felt that after Lady Gaga was at his last show, the emphasis was on Lady Gaga and not his collection. I think it was a smart move on Marc’s part. He’s a very smart person. And I think he wanted to have people pay attention to his work and not to the event." (Andre Leon Talley/Globe and Mail)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"LAST week the Latin pop star Ricky Martin — to the surprise of perhaps almost no one — came out of the closet. Did he give the exclusive to People? Nope. Whisper it to Page Six? Nuh-uh. Submit to a tearful interview with Barbara Walters? Not a chance. Instead Mr. Martin posted a statement on his fan Web site, rickymartinmusic.com. 'I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man,' he wrote. It was a departure from the typical celebrity coming-out, which goes something like this: find a sympathetic publication, say, The Advocate (Sean Hayes), Time (Ellen DeGeneres) or People (Lance Bass, Clay Aiken and Neil Patrick Harris); give a soul-baring interview; and watch the story land at the same time you are promoting a new show, album or book. Mr. Martin is one of a growing number of celebrities who, fed up with being hounded by tabloids and Internet gossip, want to control their public personas by addressing personal issues directly with their fans." (Style/NYTimes)



"It is 1975, and you are a 26-year-old high-school art teacher, the divorced mother of a 3-year-old boy, living in Russellville, Ark. You hear that a world-famous novelist is in town for one night, so you wangle an invitation to the party in his honor, hoping he’ll autograph your book. You find yourself smitten with this 52-year-old man — as he is with you — and at the end of the evening you go home together. After he leaves, you pour out your heart in a love poem and mail it to him. He mails it back — copy-edited, in red pencil. Do you: a) Hop a plane to New York and strangle him with your bare hands? b) Quit your job, move to New York with your son and become the guy’s sixth wife? Reader, she married him. Not only that, she became stepmother to the seven children he fathered with his five other wives and had another son with him. Still with me? That makes nine children and Norman Mailer for a husband. As she has said herself: 'Well, I bought a ticket to the circus. I don’t know why I was surprised to see elephants.'" (NYTimesMagazine)



"The mash-up of big-budget 3D movies continued to grab all the attention at the domestic box office Friday, with Warner's epic remake 'The Clash of the Titans' grossing $26.3 million, according to studio estimates, putting it on pace for a $60 million three-day haul, the low side of its pre-release projections. Back in the earthly realm of 2D, however, 'Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too' from Lionsgate quietly put together the most surprising opening of the weekend, grossing $12.3 million. The film, shot at a budget just above $20 million, is on pace to enjoy one of Perry's best openings, with a $30 million-plus haul expected over the three-day weekend." (TheWrap)



"A pristine edition of ZZ Top's King Biscuit Flower Hour performance from June 16, 1980, from before I was a fan. They were an American act on London Records. Explain that to me. And a million people went to see them, and they toured with livestock, but I wasn't in to base boogie. Sure, I liked to look for tush but I saw the band as a slightly improved Black Oak Arkansas, a red dirt version of Grand Funk. I couldn't have been more wrong. What changed me was 'I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide.' With its stuttering intro and humorous lyrics... 'Well I was rollin' down the road in some cold blue steel/ I had a blues man in the back, and a beautician at the wheel/ We going downtown in the middle of the night/ We laughing and I'm jokin' and we feelin' alright/ Oh I'm bad, I'm nationwide/ Yes I'm bad, I'm nationwide' This wasn't macho swagger, this was intelligent musicians having a LAUGH! That's what players used to be, cool. And I'm not talking about charismatic, not that that's mutually exclusive, no, I'm talking about cool cats. Removed from the mainstream, functioning in their own universe, laughing at the rest of the world." (LefsetzLetter)



"The scandal over the Catholic Church's handling of child sex abuse charges against priests has been building for years, but in recent weeks the controversy has focused closely on Pope Benedict XVI. A New York Times article about the Vatican's handling of the case of a Wisconsin priest accused of molesting hundreds of deaf boys and new revelations about abuse cases in the German church during Benedict's tenure as archbishop of Munich have raised questions about the pope's leadership. Both his adversaries and defenders have been amping up the rhetoric. On one side are those who see Benedict as central to the church's institutional corruption. They argue that he has done little to punish abusive priests, pointing out that he reportedly ordered that trials be dealt with in secret and covered up known cases of abuse. One the other side are those who see Benedict as the victim of an ideologically motivated media storm. These defenders have counterattacked the media for blowing up baseless accusations and underestimating how much the pontiff has actually done to address the abuse problem. The following are excerpts from some key voices on both sides of the good pope-bad pope debate -- a fight that has, at this point, knocked down more than a few metaphorical pews." (ForeignPolicy)



"Matthew Mellon II and Nicole Hanley announced via Facebook that they are getting married this weekend in a tiny ceremony in Harbour Island. 'Getting Married, Harbour Island' Mellon's Status Update simply read. Banking/oil heir Mellon was married to Tamara Mellon of Jimmy Choo, then engaged to Noelle Reno before breaking that engagement and proposing to Hanley, an old-guard East Coast social figure, on a boat off of Fisher's Island in August 2008. 'I've never had any illusions as to what my wedding would be,' Hanley told me shortly after becoming engaged. The couple have their own clothing label Hanley-Mellon and surely will be creating heirs and heiresses of their own soon." (Peter Davis/Papermag)



"For years, Bill Clinton tried to negotiate an arms control treaty for the post-cold-war era. He and Boris Yeltsin even agreed on a framework for a new Start treaty in Helsinki. But it never came to be. So when President Obama flies to Prague this week to sign a New Start treaty with Russia, it will culminate Mr. Clinton’s unfulfilled aspiration. Nine years after Mr. Clinton left office, Mr. Obama has in some ways picked up his Democratic predecessor’s mantle. While they are very different presidents and not personally close, at least some of the unfinished agenda items left from the Clinton administration have found their way to the top of the Obama priority list. And the 44th president is arguably profiting from the work, and the setbacks, of the 42nd president. The treaty to be signed this week and the health care overhaul signed into law last month represent the most obvious examples." (NYTimes)



"There is still some life left in the urban art category, judging by the solid results made in Paris last week at Artcurial, France’s third-biggest auction house. Its 'graffiti and street art' sale raised ($582,000) for 80 lots sold, with the top price going to a work by Speedy Graphito, 'Mandala' (2009), which sold for ($52,000) (est $30,000-$38,000). The artist had consigned the work himself, as well as a two-metre-tall sculpture, 'King Size' (2009), the cover lot, which sold for an over-estimate ($32,876). 'Generally we don’t sell works directly from the artists, but there are exceptions in the urban art category,' says sale specialist Arnaud Oliveux. The house also scored with older works, setting a new price high for US graffiti artist Futura 2000, whose 1984 'Baby Formula' made ($51,700). These levels are a far cry from those made by Banksy, the best-known street artist. In 2008 his defaced Hirst spot painting, 'Keep it Spotless' (2007), showing a maid sweeping up in front of a spot painting, made more than $1.8m at the charity Red sale in New York. But, says Oliveux, 'Banksy is a one-off phenomenon, and his prices don’t reflect others in this field.' But recent Banksy prices have tumbled: a version of his stencil-on-canvas 'Lenin on Rollerskates'(2003) sold for ($25,500) at Bonhams in London last month, while comparable pieces made almost ($76,000) in 2007 and ($54,000) in 2008. 'The recession has hit this category really hard,' says Bonhams’ specialist Pedro Lopez Pelegrin; the firm has ended its dedicated urban art sales and now rolls such works into its Vision 21 sales." (FT)



"Stormy Daniels may soon find out if sex and politics mix. The deadline day for filing federal tax returns also will be the day Baton-Rouge-born porn star announces whether she will run for the Senate seat held by David Vitter, a Republican. Brian Welsh, her political spokesman, said in an e-mail Tuesday that Daniels will make her announcement April 15. Welsh says Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, believes the timing will highlight the need for tax reform. While Daniels continues to promote her adult entertainment ventures and personal appearances online, she has said nothing publicly about the race since summer. She formed a committee to explore a possible Senate race in May 2009 after a series of public appearances. The porn star hasn't declared a party affiliation. John Sutherlin, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana, told CBS Radio News that he thinks Daniels will run as an independent though he said in her case party affiliation doesn't really matter. 'Stormy Daniels' candidacy remains sort of a trick or a ploy anyway,' Sutherlin told CBS Radio News. The campaign began as a grassroots movement on the Internet after Vitter's phone number was found in the black book of the so-called 'D.C. Madam.'" (CBSNews)

RIP John Forsythe



John Forsythe, who played the cartoonishly WASPY Blake Carrington from that significant 80s cultural artifact "Dynasty" has died. He was 92 and lived a productive life as an actor and voice over artist. Forsythe, who at one point was Public address announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, was also the leisurely voice of Charlie in "Charlie's Angels." He will be missed.

Steven Colbert gets His iPad (.. And Maybe loses A Kidney)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Stephen Gets a Free iPad
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

"Nevermind how I got (an iPad)—I had two kidneys,” the iPad lusty Steven Colbert said to audience cheers. “Luckily, there’s an app that filters urine.”

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: Ambassador Jon Huntsman Is The Candidate The White House Would Least Like To Face In 2012



Over at The Atlantic they have, on Friday's, Question Time with their Washington heavyweight thinker Marc Ambinder. The Corsair couldn't resist. We asked: I remember Karl Rove sort of feared John Edwards in 2004 (what a difference 6 years can make!). Which Republican do you think the Obama camp least like to face in 2012?

Also: Can Mitt Romney overcome the Mormon thing with evangelicals in the GOP primaries? Would he need a crowded race to do so?

He responded:

Jon Huntsman. Actually, I think Mitch Daniels would make some WHers quaky -- a successful Midwestern governor...yes, he has Bush links, but he's also got a new identity now. And he's not obsessed with social issues and isn't much of a panderer. But, I'll stick with Jon Huntsman.

Now -- that helps answer the second question, too. This is a tough point to make in writing, so please interpret what I'm writing in an analytical light: from the perspective of evangelical Christians -- many of them -- Romney is not just a Mormon. He's a MORMON. His style is contrived, stiff, starchy; he fits the stereotype. His reputation as a waffler plays into the idea that he is cast from a mold and not authentic. Evangelical protestants can absolutely get behind someones membership in the LDS Church. Jon Huntsman (had he not come out for civil unions) would have been perfect -- his style could not be more different than Mitt Romney's. I don't endorse anti-Mormon prejudice for one second. I do think there's enough of it in the Republican base to give Romney, or any Mormon, heartburn. Some Mormons, though, are more easily digested than others.

This is fascinating to me, a political junkie. John Huntsman was whispered about among Washington Insiders as a 2012 possibility at the beginning of Obama's administration. Almost immediately President Obama appointed him Ambassador to China, an offer no sane politikon zoon could possibly refuse. It was an absolutely fascinating political maneuver on the part of Obama. Huntsman is a Republican multi-millionaire many times over (from the Huntsman chemical fortune) well-liked across the aisle who is on paper tailor-made for the presidency -- minus the foreign policy expertise. Appointing him to Beijing is a risky gamble giving Huntsman that final, crucial component needed to buttress his blind side in a possible GOP run in 2016 -- but also effectively clearing him from contention in 2012. In the process it removes a formidable piece from Obama's chessboard in 2012, where the harsh medicines he's prescribed for the Great recession will not yet have fully had their effect. By 2016, if Huntsman runs, both men will presumably be at full political strength.

Fascinating optics; fascinating strategy at the highest level. It is the stuff that makes political junkies dissolve into tears of mirth.

It also, quite frankly, telegraphed a certain anxiety in the "no drama Obama" camp.

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"Tiger Woods has got a million problems -- and one of them is that he's out $10 million. That's reportedly the amount he paid mistress No. 1, Rachel Uchitel, to keep quiet right as the scandal broke. Uchitel was outed by the National Enquirer as having an affair with Woods in November. A week later, Woods crashed his car into a fire hydrant in his neighborhood, allegedly after his wife, Elin, confronted him about the story and the affair after finding text messages from Uchitel on his phone. In the day after the stories of Tiger's cheating came out, Uchitel hired power attorney Gloria Allred and threatened to hold a press conference, which was cancelled at the last minute. Reports came out that Tiger had paid her off -- anywhere from $2 million to $5 million, to keep quiet. Now, TMZ.com reports that figure was much higher -- $10 million." (NYPost)



"The US test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic Trident missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads from Saudi territory during a joint military exercise last week, a Western military official reported late Wednesday, March 31. A US defense spokesman denied the Trident's launch, Wednesday, April 1, but Saudi security sources stand by the report. debkafile's military sources report this was the first time in Middle East military history that a nuclear-capable missile was fired from the oil kingdom toward the Persian Gulf and Iranian shores. It came in response to Saudi and Gulf Arab concerns over America's failure to halt Iran's evolving nuclear weapon program ... The official did not reveal the location of the test, the type of submarine used, whether it was successful - or even the scale of US and Saudi strength taking part in the joint exercise. Our sources report they must have been American since Saudi Arabia does not have the units or radar systems for operating multiple-headed ballistic missiles. Regardless of the location - Saudi waters off the Red Sea or its Persian Gulf bases - the drill would have brought the Trident close to the Iranian coastline, either on the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea. This demonstration by the Obama administration aimed at showing Saudi and Gulf Arab rulers they are now protected by an American nuclear umbrella against an Iranian nuclear attack." (DEBKAfile)



"In the U.S., 11,750 allegations of child sex abuse have so far featured in actions settled by archdioceses (in Los Angeles for $660 million and in Boston for $100 million), but some dioceses have gone into bankruptcy and some claimants want Vatican accountability—two reasons to sue the pope in person. But in 2005, a test case in Texas failed because the Vatican sought and obtained the intercession of President George W. Bush, who agreed to claim sovereign (i.e., head of state) immunity on the pope’s behalf. Bush lawyer John B. Bellinger III certified that Pope Benedict XVI was immune from suit 'as the head of a foreign state.' The third Mr. Bellinger is notorious for his defense of Guantanamo and Bush administration torture policies, and his opinion on papal immunity is even more questionable. It hinges on the assumption that the Vatican or its metaphysical emanation, the Holy See, is a state. But the Papal States were extinguished by invasion in 1870 and the Vatican was created by fascist Italy in 1929 when Benito Mussolini endowed this tiny enclave—0.17 of a square mile containing 900 Catholic bureaucrats—with 'sovereignty in the international field... in conformity with its traditions and the exigencies of its mission in the world.' The notion that statehood can be created by another country’s unilateral declaration is risible. If it weren’t, Iran could make Qom a state overnight and the U.K. could launch the city of Canterbury on to the international stage by the same process. But it did not take long for Catholic countries to support the pretentions of the Holy See, sending ambassadors and receiving Papal Nuncios in return. Even the U.K. maintains an apostolic mission that, until 2005, was always filled by British Catholics." (TheDailyBeast)



"And in case you didn't know, the entertainment business is full of shit. Endless meetings with castles built in the air which collapse as soon as you walk out the door. Although it takes you a few years to realize this. And somehow I found myself in Lionel Conway's office on Sunset Boulevard back in the mid-eighties. Oh, he'll never remember. But back then anybody in the film business could get a meeting with anybody in the music business. The thought of getting your track in a film ... And Lionel's talking to me and my sidekick like we're legit, like we're really gonna pay to put any of his songs in a movie, and then...he insists on playing us something. This is a fate worse than death. Sitting there silently as a publisher, an act, any purveyor plays you music. They want you to jump up and down, do cartwheels, tell them the track is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and you just want to leave. The funny thing is, most people say the music IS the greatest thing since sliced bread, the two parties bullshitting each other over the desk. That's STILL the entertainment business." (LefsetzLetter)



"The return of Nigeria's long-absent President Umaru Yar'Adua to the capital city of Abuja in late February has thrown the West African country into a dangerous existential crisis. The president is still apparently incapacitated, but his cadres are certainly not -- and they are doing all they can to remain in power. Yar'Adua's henchmen now threaten not only the constitutional succession process, which had placed provisional powers in the hands of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, but also Nigeria's very stability. Ethnic violence in the city of Jos broke out in early March amid the current governance vacuum, leaving hundreds dead; worse could follow if the political stalemate isn't resolved soon. The stakes for the country's 150 million people couldn't be higher. Yar'Adua's inner circle has shown itself quite adept at spreading falsehoods -- misinforming and misleading Nigerians into mass violence if necessary -- to preserve its hold on power. Since the crisis began, the presidency has been framed as if it were a rotating office, traded every eight years between the supposedly Christian South and Muslim North. Yar'Adua's cabal has used this idea to whip up primordial sentiment, persuading the country and the international community of an invented North-South chasm and concealing a selfish agenda under the aegis of preventing a Muslim vs. Christian religious divide. It is a clever ruse to prevent Jonathan (who is from the South) from succeeding Yar'Adua (who hails from the North)." (ForeignPolicy)



"Passover may mean this week’s party schedule has slowed significantly, but New Yorkers still had a reason to celebrate last night—namely, New York. New York magazine’s launch of the new book My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City brought out quintessential Gotham types Parker Posey, Dan Rather, and Chuck Close, along with slews of media folk and ubiquitous NYC party presence Patrick McMullan, who captured le tout on film with shouts of 'What’s your name, big boy?' and 'Stunning, stunning, stunning!' 'When I was on a soap opera, there was a homeless man in Chelsea who I would see like every night,' (Parker) Posey said of an early New York memory. 'And I don’t know how he did this, but he watched me on the soap—I always wondered how he saw me at 2:00 on CBS. He called me Soap Opera. If you keep the ball in the air, you’re making stories with everyone you meet. People make characters of themselves.' The book of the hour, which includes more memories by the likes of Diane von Furstenberg, Liza Minelli, Mary Boone, Yogi Berra, Graydon Carter, Naomi Campbell, Mike Myers, and more, was right at home at the Paramount Hotel’s Library Bar, where stacks of graffiti’ed books lined the shelf above the bar. New York EIC Adam Moss mingled with the crowds while attendees snacked on chicken and shrimp skewers—the usual song and dance .." (Fashionweekdaily)



(image via JH/NYSD)

"About six I went down to the Javits Center on 34th Street and 11th Avenue for cocktails at the East Side House Settlement’s 11th Annual Gala Preview of the 2010 New York International Auto Show. The Javits, if you’ve never been, is massive and a perfect venue for this show which was mobbed even in Preview. Someone told me this was the only charity benefit in New York where the husbands are dragging their wives along rather than vice versa. I’m not so sure the wives were under duress. Most of the women I saw were ogling the fabulous cars as intensely as the men. Whatever, there were more than a thousand guests at last night’s preview. The evening, which included a Benefactor dinner beginning about 8:30, was chaired by Philip L. Yang and Joan P. Young. Media sponsor of the gala was New York Magazine. Benefit committee was chaired by Kipton Cronkite, Paige Ethington Hardy and Fe Fendi. They raised more than $500,000. Proceeds go to support college scholarships and technology education for the residents of Mott Haven in the South Bronx." (NYSocvialDiary)



"NBC's 'Meet the Press' was the most watched public affairs show this past Sunday morning as well as for the first quarter of 2010. 'MTP' marked hit 50 consecutive quarters at #1 in Total Viewers, something that hasn't happened since at least 1980. In Q1, NBC averaged 3.53 million Total Viewers, CBS' 'Face the Nation' averaged 2.98 million, ABC's 'This Week,' which was without a permanent anchor for the quarter, averaged 2.57 million, and 'FOX News Sunday' averaged 1.25 million. This week, 'MTP' was the only program to see an increase in Total Viewers week-to-week. CBS and NBC were both up in the demo. 'Fox News Sunday' drew an additional 2.86 million viewers (726K demo) via cable replays. Cable and network rebroadcasts of 'MTP' drew an additional 1.08 million viewers." (TVNewser)



"As rain beat down on the tarpaulin homes of thousands of Haitians on Wednesday, delegates to a Manhattan donor conference pledged US$9.9 billion to rebuild homes, schools and official buildings in the nation. The total sum comprises some $5.3bn over the next 18 months, topping the $3.8bn Haitian officials requested from the international community to repair the seismic devastation wrought on their Caribbean nation on January 12. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, lauded the pledge as 'international solidarity in action' and called for 'wholesale national renewal' in Haiti while stressing the need for its notoriously corrupt government to start delivering to a long-suffering population. Commentators dubbed the philanthropic parley the 'Bill and Hillary conference', with the podium dominated by the A-list couple of politics: the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and her husband, the UN special envoy to Haiti and former president, Bill Clinton." (TheNational)

Gawker's John Cook To Join Yahoo! News



Gawker Media's Nick Denton tweeted around 12:30 PM today: "Damn! Gawker's awesome John Cook is about to disappear into the maw of Yahoo. Someone else -- WSJ? -- should save him. We tried." Of course this sounded rather skeptical, coming on April 1st and I said so into the twittersphere. Nick responded to my tweet: "You're right to be skeptical. It is April 1st and that Yahoo news bloglomerate is a bad joke. But Cook is leaving."

As TheAwl noted in a post soonafter, "This is Yahoo's bazillionth hire in the last few months." Some of their most recent hires include: Chris Lehmann from The Awl and BookForum, Michael Calderone formerly of Politico and The Observer (whose new media hire was duly broken by HuffPo), Anna Robertson, a news producer from ABC’s 'Good Morning America (who tweeted yesterday: "@jaketapper i miss you all. don't miss 4 AM.")' and Jane Sasseen, formerly of BusinessWeek. From The NYTimes:

In February, Yahoo News had over 43 million visitors, more than any other news site, according to comScore, a research company.

The journalists have been hired to create original articles and videos on topics like politics and media. The coverage will complement the news articles that Yahoo licenses from other media organizations and brings together on its site.

The move mirrors a successful push by Yahoo into original sports coverage some three years ago, with the hiring of sports journalists and the acquisition of Rivals.com, a network of sports blogs. Yahoo began that push after a more costly and ambitious effort to create original television-style programming faltered.

“My hopes are to continue to build out a voice for our media properties and to replicate the success we have had in Yahoo Sports,” said James Pitaro, head of media at Yahoo.

Cook was an interesting hire for Gawker. He came along at a time when Gawker was evolving away from it's beginnings as the proto New York media-centric site towards becoming a national gossip site. Cook told John Koblin of The Observer:

"Nick and [Gawker editor] Gabriel [Snyder] and I had been talking about—and this is Nick’s term—is iterative reporting, or iterative journalism," he said. "One of the things we want to do is the kind of story that would be potentially a two-, a three-, a four-, or five-thousand-word investigative-type story that might be in a magazine or newspaper but do it one post at a time and toss seeds out and threads out and see what happens."

He'd been working at Gawker for a little more than a year.

The Corsair To Join The Daily Show Writing Staff



I'd like to thank the readers of this blog for all the support over the past 6 years. Today, fortunately and somewhat unfortunately, will be our last day of blog posting. For good. Fer reals. After today, this blog will be just another piece of unregulated blog flotsam, bobbing to and fro at the mercy of an ocean of icy information. I am proud of what I accomplished here over the years. But this is not a moment for sadness, it is one for looking forward. Starting next week I, Ron Mwangaguhunga, your fearless blogger, will be joining The Daily Show as the new "Blogs Correspondent" -- we're still working on what that means -- and member of the writing staff.

Jon and the staff have been very enthusiastic about my coming aboard, raising the numbers of minorities in the workplace and generally sharing what Mr. Stewart affectionately calls my "strange, bohemian experiences." That guy. I want to say at the outset to my loyal readers that I have not sold out: I bought in. I've got a ticket-to-ride. And rest assured, my peeps, that even as my bank account increases geometrically with each passing week -- I will always keep it real. I will always take time to smell the roses even if that means rolling down the window of my limousine as my driver and I pass a Korean deli. Cause I'm Old School that way.

This is an opportunity that, at my advanced age, I cannot let pass. Let's face it, I'm not a Spring chicken anymore. I'm getting, quite frankly, positively Autumnal *shudders*. Papi can't put back the bourbon like he used to anymore. Waking up in a strange woman's apartment on a Saturday morning next to a tapped pony keg is no longer cute (But if you do think it's cute and you are a "worldly woman," please feel free shoot me an email on Friday). You've got to strike, as they say, while the iron's hot! "But, when I became a man," it says in somewhere in Corinthians, "I put away the things of a child ..." So meaningful, right?


The writing and the Corresponding -- whatever that entails -- will be taking up most of my time, so I cannot in good conscience post with anything remotely resembling the present regularity. And I am too proud of my work here over the years to go out like that. I will not punk this blog. I decided long ago, dear reader, never to walk in anyone's shadow; if I fail, if I succeded, at least I'll live as I believe. (A small closing cough of. feigned detachment). Better to end this bitch on a high, bittersweet note, like Husker Du. To borrow from that significant cultural artifact, RUN DMC: "Going out out out like that I'm not."

I follow, as a new Daily Show Correspondent, in the footsteps of a true comedy giant, Steve Carell. Today: Midtown Manhattan studios; Tomorrow: Hollywood (its not inconceivable). It's been a magnificent 6 years writing this blog, thank you so much for putting up with my sometimes sporadic, sometimes outright silly posts. I will miss the structure that this blog gave to my "wacky" thoughts. I walked the razor's edge without a net, and now television beckons. Onward!

I am new to this sudden opportunity, a bit green really, so be gentle in your comments on my performance. I've delivered enough snark in my life to know that I've got some coming to me. My enemies are everywhere; I'll need you as my media allies, my undercover amigos. If you already watch The Daily Show -- good -- but if you don't, why don't you give it a try. You have good reason now. You've got a man on the inside. And, of course, we could always use the Nielsen's, people.

Seriously: Have you ever had a rollicking belly laugh watching the Charlie Rose show? Me neither. Charlie's so unironic when it comes to the dark gemlike evil that is political and corporate power (sigh). QED: Join me at 11 pm, instead of on your computer screen during the course of the day.

So this is not goodbye, dear sweet reader ....











.... It is APRIL FOOLS (Did you seriously believe that?)!!!



Blog love, XO

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"A recent trip to Washington with the dual purpose of attending a reception honoring my former boss, Steve Hadley, and separately meeting with current national security officials put this issue in sharp relief for me. My friends from the Bush era, looking much better rested and healthier than I remember them appearing before, swapped stories of our time in the fox-hole. And my friends from the Obama era shared eerily similar stories with some of the very same complaints: outsiders just don't get it or get distracted by secondary trivialities. One current insider confided to me that when he reads outsider critiques of the Obama team, he is reminded of similar critiques he offered of the Bush team when he was in the shadow government. He thought some of my own analysis missed the boat and conceded that perhaps the same was true for some his earlier analysis of Bush decisionmaking. That is a wise cautionary to remember. Those of us in the loyal opposition may have a better understanding than most about the travails and triumphs of the current team, but our perspective is limited. We should not be surprised to read internally contradictory accounts of what is going on behind the scenes. And we should be willing to give the benefit of the doubt from time to time." (ForeignPolicy)



"In the spring of 1975, Mr. Mailer came to Arkansas for a lecture, and an academic, with whom he served in World War II, threw him a party. Mrs. Mailer heard a famous author was in town and decided to crash the party. The night would end on the floor of her living room. He promised to write; she suffered rug burns. Mr. Mailer did write, but he was still living with Carol Stevens. After he brought his Arkansan pen pal to watch Muhammad Ali beat Joe Frazier in Manila, he broke things off with Ms. Stevens. On the way back from the Philippines, authorities in Hawaii found an old roach in Mr. Mailer’s briefcase, and the couple were detained, though not arrested ... In the late ’70s, the couple were famous for their parties. They hosted a wedding reception for Doris Kearns and Richard Goodwin attended by Woody Allen, Jackie Onassis, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Kurt Vonnegut and Ali MacGraw. Hunter Thompson, among the last to leave, came back and rang the doorbell at 6 a.m., asking for bacon and eggs, which Mrs. Mailer duly served up. Mr. Thompson crashed in a hammock in the Mailer living room, flipping out of it at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon. 'Thanks for a great party, Norris,' he said on his way out." (Observer)



"Supermodel Naomi Campbell is set to become a member of United Russia, a source in the party said Thursday, adding that the party saw her as an asset who could become the faction's new poster girl. 'She is a young, sexy, intelligent woman who has shown how the new Russia can attract the best in the world,' said the source, who asked for his name not to be used because he was not authorized to speak to the press despite working in the United Russia press office. 'Once she modernized the fashion world, now she is part of the modernization of Russia,' the source said. The British model, who is engaged to real estate mogul Vladislav Doronin, currently spends much of her time in Moscow and recently guest edited the Russian edition of Vogue, where she appeared clothed in only a big snake." (TheMoscowTimes)



"I sat down to write this Diary with another objective but responded to the date which of course is April Fool’s. I was going to write about my luncheon at Michael’s with Wendy Burden, author of the newly published (today) Dead End Gene Pool, which is one of the best contemporary memoirs I’ve ever read. I liked it for several reasons but what got me and held me was the author’s personality and wit which had me laughing a lot of the time. I was reading a serious life story with a grim subtext that included suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction and rich and famous people who lived in many mansions and in great luxury, along with weirdos who married the parent, and shocking family discoveries, and yet guffawing in some parts. Sort of like film noir in Technicolor." (NYSocialDiary)



"Look who's behind the un-necessarily cruel and mean-spirited In-N-Out April Fool's Joke. Bee Shaffer, how could you do this to us? If you're gonna hang with the lay people, you have to understand how they think." (Guestoaguest)



"I met him in the Hotel du Cap in the mid-Sixties. We became fast friends and spent our time in the cabanas of the hotel playing quiz games about classical music. We had tapes or records, and a stopwatch. The quicker one answered the more points one got. Louis had invented the game and apparently it was popular among certain Hollywood parties, certain being the operative word, according to Louis ...The Jourdans gave a wonderful party for me in LA on my way back from Vietnam, and afterward broke the news that Lulu had died. It was typical of them, thoughtful to the end. Louis is now 91 and I haven’t been in touch since exactly twenty years. Seeing the movie reminded me of our lost youth and old friendship." (Taki Theodoracopulos)



"These are grim times for the academic humanities. Seen as useless frills, which nations can prune away to focus on the 'things that really matter'—by which the speaker so often means “things that contribute to national economic growth”—the humanistic disciplines are being cut at all levels, from elementary school to college and university. Even worse, they are being asked (on pain of extinction) to refashion themselves as tools of profit, demonstrating the (economic) 'impact' of their inquiries. To begin thinking about why this focus on 'impact' is a pernicious business, we can do no better than to pause to honor one of the greatest classical scholars of the past century, who illuminated the world through such unfashionable values as mastery, rigor, and a passion for truth." (Martha Nussbaum/TNR)

Jon Stewart Spanks C-Span Host

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Earlier in the week, a racist caller was met with an almost pharmacologically-friendly response from the C-Span host. You've got to sort of give it up for those C-Span hosts. Those are some patient fuckers. The all seem to have that affable, preternaturally Brian-Lamblike demeanor. Where do they find them?

While we understand that, yes, we live in a democracy -- not all ideas are equal. As peaceable as it is to watch "Washington Journal" -- where civility reigns -- in the mornings, it is not alright to allow anti-Semites, racists, chauvanists and schizoids to rant unchallenged. And while C-Span's allowing of "the freaks" to vent might just let out some of America's excess gaseous steam, that process also appears, apparently, to give an eerie acceptance of those errant ideas.

The Manga-eyed Susan Swain is particularly noteworthy, letting even the most batshit crazy callers get out their most cringe-worthy points without batting an eye. "Thank you, caller," she says, charmingly, to everyone, treating John Bircher's and Larouchies alike as intellectually equivalent to a sober, moderate voter with a legitimate point on public policy.

But we cannot fail to note Peter Slen's eerie narcotic calmness as well as Steve Scully's catatonic dreaminess and, of course, it wouldn't be C-Span without Greta Wodele's almost depersonalized, woozy gaze.

Edmund Burke once said: ""All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."

Thanks Jon Stewart, once again, for saying what rational people have been thinking.