A Little of the Old In and Out



Iger's pimp-hand is strong. (image via fordstheater)

In: Bob Iger. Eisner, who? (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) If the thuggish, shark-eyed Michael Eisner seemed a little too Old School Entrenched to fully appreciate the rapid-fire ramifications of this Digital Age then Iger -- with perfect timing -- is the polar opposite. Iger also knows how to find the clitoris of those influential techie libertarians whose bete noir is governement intervention. Disney is, for lack of a better word .. cool.

And the nimbus of Big Media Love for Apple, it appears, has extended it's gossamyr wings over Disney. According to CNNMoney (via iwantmedia):

"The magic is back for shareholders of Walt Disney.

"Disney's stock is up nearly 20 percent so far this year, making it the second-best performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

"Disney CEO Bob Iger has won many fans on Wall Street thanks to deals he's made to get Disney shows on Apple's iTunes.

"Investors are excited about the fact that Pixar will soon become a fully owned subsidary of Disney. There were concerns that Pixar may have been looking to partner with another studio.
The Mouse that roared: Shares of Disney have surged so far in 2006 while other media stocks continue to struggle.

"What's more, Disney (Research) has vastly outpaced its big media rivals in 2006: shares of News Corp (Research). are up 7 percent while CBS (Research), Viacom (Research) and Time Warner (Research) are all in the red. (Time Warner owns CNNMoney.com.)

"How has Disney done it? In a word: Pixar. Disney agreed to buy its long-time partner in January for $7.4 billion.

"... Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger has already taken steps to ally Disney more closely with Apple (Research) -- videos from Disney-owned networks, ABC, ABC Family, the Disney Channel, ESPN and SOAPNet are all available at Apple's wildly popular iTunes store.

"Matthew Kelmon, president of Kelmoore Investment Co, a money management firm that owns Disney in the Kelmoore Strategy Liberty fund, said that investors are banking on Disney continuing to work closely with Apple now that Jobs will have a vested interest in the company."
Alleluia.



(image via roxanne)

Out: The Great Communicator. Everywhere the Social Contract is in entropy. Whither the Great Communicator -- the Kennedy, the Reagan -- who married a bold Weltanshaaung along with the white-hot desire to communicate and bring on board, if humaly possible, the hearts and minds of each and every one of his fellow countrymen? Has the archetype of The Great Communicator been relegated to the dustbin of History? Are the skills of the Communicator marginal in a Thumotic Age?

In an era of increasing globalization that leads inexorably to the alienation of Have Nots and Have Lesses, it is a fatal flaw indeed in any political calculus to assume, foolishly, that because international free trade is a fait accompli in the august Peterson Hall of the Council on Foreign Relations and the dining room of the Russell Senate Building that it is, eo ipso, a fait accompli in Peoria or, for that matter, in the Dordogne region of France. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment)

In Europe especially aristocratic Elites have disengaged from the public, foisting upon them a European Union they did not ask for and, increasingly, do not want. Does an working class Irishman feel more Irish or European? You know the answer.

And what happened? A rousing defeat, of course.

Had the European Elites taken their faces out of their glasses of port in Brussels and painstakingly explained the pro's of a Union -- at colleges, on blogs, on television, in the editorial pages, on the streetcorner, at town meetings -- then perhaps the outcome would have been different. Instead we stand on the precipice of a dark Protectionism, the purveyors of which are demogogues of the lowest calibre.

In France, at this moment, there is a revolt against the Elites, who reversed the labor benefits of the young, again without proper Communication.

Francis Fukuyama's wise reinterpretation of Wilsonianism for our era comes to mind. The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan in his astonishing book "On The Law of Nations" chronicles the tragedy of Woodrow Wilson, who, dying (rapidly diminishing in his lifeforce), was unable to convince the United States Senate to Ratify his "Fourteen Points." So he took his message to the people barnstorming throughout the country during the summer and autumn of 1919. He never poll-tested or "dumbed down" his fiery rhetoric. It was one of the last times an American President ever did so, leveling with the public about an issue -- World Peace -- of the utmost imprtance to the Republic (The Lincoln-Douglas debates on Slavery in the generation previous being another instance).

If only we had that same caliber of Communicator governing us today.



Elegant Cate in Gucci, last night. (image via fashionweekdaily via patrickmcmullen)

In: Cate Blanchett. Cate Blanchett is one of the two of three greatest actors in the world (women being, all in all, better actors than men, IMHO). When Blanchett inhabits a role even watching her most minute body movements -- her defiant stroll in Elizabeth, the distinct way she held a cigarette in Veronica Guerin -- hastens the audience's suspension of disbelief, which is the hardest and most important thing for a stage actor to do. Now Blanchett, arguably the greatest living actor (big screen or stage), meets Ibsen, arguably the greatest dramatist of all time. Says Fashionweekdaily:

"'This is just a little something I threw together,' Cate Blanchett joked, as she arrived at Geoffrey Zakarian�s new bo�te, Country last night for a dinner Gucci hosted in honor of her starring role in Hedda Gabler.

"Commandeering the entire second floor of the stunning restaurant, art and fashion stars including Todd Eberle, Patrick Robinson, Horacio Silva, Lynn Hirschberg, Kim Heirston, Stefano Tonchi, and Anne Slowey stopped by for the night�s theatrically minded festivities. 'I first noticed her when she was in Elizabeth,' said Christopher Brooks. 'I think she was born to play that role.'

"And since no gathering of tastemakers would be complete without talk of fashion, conversation quickly turned to �what are you wearing.� 'It�s Gucci, of course,' said Blanchett of her dark two-piece skirt suit."



(image via filmstew)

Out: Marty Richards Versus The Weinstein's, The Musical. The kinder, gentler Weinstein's are about to face their first test in the form of Marty "Southpaw" Richards. According to FishbowlLa:

"'Chicago' producer Marty Richards today filed a $10 million suit against Harvey and Bob Weinstein over - what else? - 'Chicago' profits.

"Of course, this is becoming a habit for Harvey: A producer oversees a nice little hit movie that wins the Best Picture Oscar, and the producer finds he's a little light when it comes time to get paid - essentially a sequel to the financial mess of 'The English Patient.'

"Should be interesting to see how the 'kinder, gentler Harvey' handles this: With magnanimous liberality, or brutal, 'I'll-crush-you-like-a-bug!' rage."

Hmm. $10 large is like pocketchange to Harvey's Brobdinangian stash of VC-funded "fuck you" money. Still, it's a matter of what the Japanese call "Face." (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) If he lets Marty Richards walk all over him, then what about the next guy? Big Harv has got a choleric reputation to uphold.

We suggest that since this is all about a musical anyway, Harvey and Richards settle their differences in a friendly game of gay dodgeball.



(image via thesun)

In: Seeling the Ex's Gear. What the fuck is up with selling the clothes of a man who cheats? Apparently it's big in Hollywood. Doesn't Jennifer already have the high moral ground? Isn't that enough? Anyway: Selling an ex-lover's gear is "In."

Remember when Halle Berry sold her cheating ex's gear (to a homeless center, no less)? Then Lisa Marie did the same to Tim Burton, via a garage sale (BTW: Why did Burton give up a superhott lass like Lisa Marie to cheat with the thoroughly unyummy Helena Bonham Carter?)? Now, according to TheSun, Team Anniston join the ranks of the high-profile jilted, for whom the garbage can just .. isn't enough(link via defamer):

"JENNIFER ANISTON got revenge on ex-hubby BRAD PITT by giving his old clothes to charity.

"She was spotted dumping bags of Brad�s rags at a second-hand store in Burbank, California.

"A source said: 'When a woman in the shop realised that it was Jennifer Aniston, she went over to see what she�d left.'"

Kinda greezy, Jen.