Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"With three weeks to go until the G20 Summit, the British government is assiduously preparing to host the world's leaders. It's beefing up security. It's passing out press credentials. And, like any shrewd party host, as shown by a memo
obtained by the Financial Times, it's naming the in-crowd." (ForeignPolicy)



(image via dailymail)

"The actress’s exploits began on Friday night after she had been partying at the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard. LiLo, 22, took her party bus for a 1.45am visit to none other than ageing lothario Jack Nicholson’s Mulholland Drive pad .. Witnesses said she repeatedly buzzed the intercom, calling out: 'Jack, open the gate.' At first, it seemed the 71-year-old was going to be a sensible pensioner and leave her on the pavement, but just as the starlet was growing agitated .. We are not sure if the wild child or the wild OAP gave up first, but .. Linds emerged three hours later, hiding her face and gripping a cigarette as she staggered to her car." (3AMGirls)

"When made public Friday as part of Bernie's bail appeal, mainstream press accounts, in headlines and lead paragraphs, dutifully noted $823 million to $826 million as Bernard and Ruth Madoff's net worth. (On Sunday the New York Post reported that Ruth has some $93 million her name.) Of course, that number declared by Bernie is total nonsense, since $700 million of that total is alleged to be the value of his company, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. There is no source for that valuation beyond Bernie, no appraiser's opinion attached. The document said the estimate was 'based on remaining capital.' That's other people's money the firm held in bank accounts. Daniel Horwitz, one of Madoff's legal team from Dickstein Shapiro, declined to comment on the document." (TheDailyBeast)

"Over in Maastricht, Netherlands, the 22nd European Fine Art Fair opened .. New York’s Sperrone-Westwater Gallery made two big sales on the first day: Evan Penny and Yann Worst. Angela Westwater was 'very happy. The sales have been extraordinary although I’ve noticed fewer Americans than previous years.' TEFAF is the most important fair in the world for Old Masters: paintings, drawings and prints with at least 75 specialist dealers in this field coming from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the US as well as the UK. Many believe that more and more collectors are turning to Old Masters from classical modern and contemporary art, not least because it is one area of the market which is showing stability." (NYSocialDiary)

"Everyone knows that corporate rebranding costs a bundle. So it makes no sense in this climate of economic crisis and budget cuts and staff layoffs that NBC Universal would waste money like this. Yet already put-upon GE shareholders are being Jeff Zuckered yet again. Stuart Elliott's always interesting advertising column in The New York Times reports that the Sci Fi Channel and its website today will introduce its new name of 'Syfy' and its plain vanilla logo and lame new slogan 'Imagine Greater', effective as of July 7th. Adding to the idiocy is that there's already a company called SyFi Global, an information technology company." (DeadlineHollywoodDaily)

"FOR some reason Parisians thought they'd get a normal performance out of drug-addled rocker Pete Doherty. Last week, Doherty abruptly ended a gig with his band Babyshambles halfway through the performance while jamming at club Neo. One disgusted guest told Page Six, 'Pete was performing and he smashed his mike against the ceiling a few times and fell offstage. Then he jumped into the deejay booth,' where DJ Vibe was spinning, 'knocking over a bunch of drinks and bloodying his hand had. It was so bad, they had to stop.'" (PageSix)

"REMEMBER John Edwards? Dem presidential candidate until he made the mistake of cheating on his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, and then allegedly - we think - maybe making a baby with this ladyfriend, although he still doesn't admit it despite amounts of money somehow dribbling to her? You will recall - you will, won't you - that I was first to report that, when the subject came up, his aides clammed up tighter than an oyster giving birth to a pearl? Well, now, Elizabeth's writing a book. In it she will acknowledge what she knows about the affair and the baby." (Cindy Adams)

"It's not like the federal government has no leverage against executives at AIG collecting bonuses from taxpayer bailout funds. Tell such companies to lay off those who do not voluntarily give up the money -- or there will be no more bailouts. What could the insurance giant say? We'll go bankrupt and out of business if we cannot distribute these bonuses and keep getting bailouts. Hard to believe they would commit corporate suicide over bonuses." (CQPolitics)



"HERE’s a sticky moment for Victoria Beckham as she makes a rare fashion boob while hanging out in London. The frock star’s bright pink outfit revealed more than she intended — including the skin-coloured 't*t tape' keeping everything in place." (Newsoftheworld)

"The most-commented post currently on The Daily Kos' front-page 'Recommended Diaries' list is a story titled: 'Moment of Truth for Keith and Rachel coming up tonight with Update.' Within the thread, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has left six comments, including revealing 'it is true," that Jon Stewart has something against him and that he'll be appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher next week. But the crux of the post relates to whether Olbermann and Rachel Maddow would highlight the Daily Show's interview with Jim Cramer on their shows last night. Maddow did, but several commenters who say they are longtime viewers of Countdown expressed disappointment over the decision by Olbermann not to cover the story. Olbermann responded with reasons why, while noting, 'I threw Santelli in twice to Worst Persons, played clips, and called him 'Sick Rantelli'...and I never heard a word of criticism from management.'" (TVNewser)



"On Friday night, iconic music artist and 'Blondie' lead singer, Debbie Harry performed at the launch party for CARRERA’s 1980’s vintage-inspired sunglasses, at New York’s Angel Orensanz Foundation. VIPs including Taylor Momsen, Richie Rich, Agyness Deyn, Tyson Beckford, singer Peaches, model Jamie Burke, model Daisy Lowe, Josh Madden, designer Patricia Field, rapper Lil’ Mama, Danity Kane’s Dawn Richard, among others, sipped cocktails and watched Harry perform her hit songs including an explosive rendition of “Rapture,” from the venue’s main floor and mezzanine." (Guestofaguest)



"The Lower East Side was a jungle of people and traffic that spilled right into Tropical 128 on Saturday night, where Patrick McMullan photog Billy Farrell was celebrating his 29th birthday. Those in attendance including Totally Cool's Richard Renda (who was our godfather during New York Fashion Week); Wireimage's Kevin Mazur, Jamie McCarthy, Dimitrios Kambouris, PMC's Chance Yeh, Liam McMullan, Clint Spaulding and Nick Hunt; Getty's Astrid Starwitz; Vogue's Hannah Thomson; and yours truly..." (Papermag)



"'I've been in a Russian state of mind for a few days now,' quipped Alex de Betak. He was, of course, referring to his Russian Ark-inspired Moncler presentation, and even bigger commitment to the theme at John Galliano's show. He created a snowstorm (inspiring Stefano Tonchi to cover his face with a scarf) that lasted for about 20 minutes while models paraded Slavic fairytale-inspired designs to a thunderous applause from the audience. 'All of this flurry came from a little machine,' assured Betak. Everyone front row including Harvey Weinstein--in town for a film premiere--was impressed. Milla Jovovich however was instantly reminded of her childhood. 'John opened the doors and delights to every Russian and Ukranian fairytale of my dreams!' she raved." (Fashionweekdaily)

"Howard (Stern) said that he sometimes goes to fancy parties out in the Hamptons and he's been going out there for about 7 summers in a row now. He said that he used to meet actor Ron Silver out there and Ron is a great guy. He said that he read that he died of cancer. Robin said that she sued to see him there at work and the last time she saw him he didn't look like himself. Howard said that he and Ron always had long conversations at those parties and one of the conversations they had was about a movie that Ron was in where he played Henry Kissinger. Howard said he was a fan of Henry Kissinger so Ron was going to send him a copy of the movie he was in. He figured the guy would forget but he got it the next day. Howard said that someone told him about Ron having cancer at a party and they told him that he only had a couple of months to live. He said that he had a whole debate in his head and he wasn't sure if he should call the guy and let him know he knew. Howard said that he figured it wouldn't be good to call the guy since he wasn't supposed to know. Howard said that Beth told him not to call either. Howard said he started to open up about his life the last time he saw him and he figured that Ron would open up with him but he never did. Howard said he had opened up his whole life to the guy and Ron didn't come out with the cancer thing. Robin told Howard that he can't just start having an intimate relationship with someone like that and expect him to come out." (Marksfriggin)

"The television networks are hurting as the economy sinks deeper into recession, but the dip in ad expenditures the networks are seeing will be slight compared to a potentially massive decline over the next 10 years. The major broadcast networks are at risk of seeing more than 75 percent of ad dollars slip away in that time, according to a new report from Generator Research, a London-based research outfit. Generator is projecting that the traditional TV ad market in the U.S. could tumble from $58 billion to a mere $13 billion. What will drive that massive erosion is a shift of viewing away from TV sets to the internet, including consumers watching TV as normal but the signal is delivered through an internet connection, much as internet-based phone services such as Vonage operate." (Medialifemagazine)