A Little of the Old In And Out



Silver chils with Natalie Portman. (image via wireimage)

In: Joel Silver. If there's anyone at the top of the Hollywood food chain that understands the growing importance of the Science Fiction genre in this digital age it is Joel Silver. (The Corsair pours himself a glass of claret) It's Joel Silver's world. We're all just passing through. According to Popwatch:

"J is for Joel Silver. Like any Hollywood talent, Silver refuses to be typecast. The V for Vendetta producer is hard at work on several diverse projects: Next is the Hillary Swank vehicle The Reaping (shot in a pre-Katrina New Orleans), a supernatural thriller. Then comes The Visiting, a sci-fi story starring aliens -- and Nicole Kidman. Silver's other undertakings are still in early stages, but carry enough hype to keep fans salivating: That Logan's Run remake Superman Returns helmer Bryan Singer has wanted to direct for ages? 'It gonna happen,' Silver tells us. Wonder Woman? 'Joss [Whedon] is writing it,' he says. 'He's writing away.'"

Logan's fucking Run. How hott is that?



A little penicilin will clear that right up, babe. (image via ohnotheydidnt)

Out: Is Paris Burning? What the fuck is going on with Paris Hilton? Yesterday, those intrepid Page Sixxies intrigued us with this report:

"WHICH cute young Hollywood couple is kaput? The blond babe dumped her hunk after she found out he gave her herpes "

And then, today:

"IT looks like Paris Hilton has grown bored of her on-and- off squeeze, Greek billion-heir Stavros Niarchos. She was trolling for hunks at the launch of 'Godfather: The Game' at Privilege in L.A. the other night."

Coincidence? Or public-pubic health warning.



(image via tv-images.de)

In: Science Fiction. Does newly minted NYTimes Sci-Fi columnist David Itzkoff know something the rest of us don't? The entire genre, once relegated to the imaginings of geeks, is undergoing a reevaluation and renovation in the marketplace of ideas. Revenge of the nerds? Shows like "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica" are gaining in influence, and unlikely players like Joss Whedon and the Wachowsky Brothers seem to know what they are doing in this chaotic digital revolution. Sci Fi and fantasy -- think: Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter -- are what the hoi-polloi wants.

Perhaps Science Fiction is the art form that best mirrors life in the last superpower, post-911, in a digital age.

The Sci-Fi Channel digital team is taking shape. In 20 years from now, we expect brands like Playboy.com and the Sci-Fi channel -- content companies tailor-made for the mobile platform -- to be prosperous. We are not so sure about Comedy Central anymore (it once seemed a no-brainer), which must needs acquire itself some vertebrae. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment)

By contrast, Sci-Fi has made no immediately discernible mistakes. According to Paidcontent:

"Flavor of the year: creating a digital media unit. So it is at NBC Universal-owned Sci Fi Channel, which has established a team devoted to creating original content specifically for digital media.

"Its broadband channel is slated to launch in May. Senior VP of SciFi.com Craig Engler, who was tapped to run the new-media division last month, has named Matthew Chiavelli as multimedia director. At the same time, Marlon Jackson has been appointed Web director, and Shara Zoll will serve as project director. Sci-Fi's online team has been among the innovators online and have created a bunch of online shows/content. It probably has the best blogger/fan websites relations among all the TV channels."



Naked ambition. (image via longislandpress)

Out: Kelly Killoren Bensimon. She's like the Sir Edmund Hillary of Social Climbing. Apparently, angling for position at Vanity Fair lost it's allure. Ron Perelman is the next conquest. She likes to be on top, we hear. (Averted Gaze) According to those intrepid PageSixxies:

"HAS bellicose billionaire Ron Perelman found a new bodacious blonde to replace Ellen Barkin? Sources say the Revlon mogul has been spending some quality time with former model-turned-magazine- editor Kelly Killoren Bensimon. Bensimon, who split with Elle magazine honcho Gilles Bensimon several months ago, is younger and hotter than the actress Perelman jettisoned in January."



(image via timeinc)

In: James Baker. Opinion varies on James Baker. We thought him to be a bloodless Secretary of State, a marginal historical figure at best (Angola Accords and Yanaev Coup notwithstanding). (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) And we cannot fail to mention he left the position to chair Bush 41's doomed re-election campaign only to let Lawrence "Larry" Eagleburger, an amiable and chubby Eastern Establishmentarian who never got a chance at the top job, the opportunity finish out the term at Secretary of State. The Bush 41 gang was, if anything, jocular. (Averted Gaze)

Margaret Thatcher reportedly referred to Baker as Bush's "stinking little fixer," and the outspoken Lyn Nofziger, when told that Baker had gone turkey hunting quipped that Baker killing a turkey would be "fratricide."

Like him or hate him, the immensely Machiavellian Baker has a way of coming back from the political grave, like a bad penny. He came back for the Florida recount, and now he's back to "Rethink Iraq." According to Arnaud de Borchgrave:

"As President Bush's closest advisers enter their fifth year of 16- to 20-hour days, physical and mental exhaustion appears to have produced a dearth of geopolitical thinking.

"Mr. Bush still sees translucent light at the end of the Iraqi tunnel he led the coalition into three years ago. Others are afraid this may be the search party looking for survivors -- or Iran's Aladdin lamp showing Shia Iraq how to rub it for a wish back to the dark ages of religious obscurantism.

"To sort it all out, Congress has asked veteran bipartisan geopolitical thinkers James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state, and Lee H. Hamilton, former chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and co-chairman of the September 11 Commission, to lead an 'Iraq Study Group' of 10 prominent Republicans and Democrats.

"With the president's 'war on terror' ratings down to 36 percent, the Iraqi 'rethink' group came not a moment too soon. Much bigger threats than civil war in Iraq already loom on horizon 2007. Israel is marking its new frontier with a 420-mile, $2.2 billion barrier that leaves Hamas free to cobble together a state from the patchwork of land left, sans East Jerusalem, which can be neither viable nor contiguous, as pledged by Mr. Bush. Intifada III is now only a matter of time -- with rockets and missiles over the wall."

More here.