Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



(image via timeinc)

"A TVNewser tipster emailed us Pres. Obama's schedule for tomorrow that is made available for the press covering him. Ordinarily, not a big deal. But it turns out whoever sends out the final version to the press corps forgot to delete an earlier conversation thread. It contains a glimpse of how the President's daily routine is planned. But it also includes some blunt language. Oh, and the wrong day of the week in the subject line. One staffer writes about the president's hosting of seder tomorrow night: 'Apparently Jewish here and in neighboring states are now calling wondering why they have not been invited.' While another staffer wants to change the language of the president's morning event on mortgage interest rates to, 'put more emphasis on the real people aspect.' More than a dozen members of the Press Office including Press Secretary Robert Gibbs were on the email thread. We've included a portion of it .." (TVNewser)

"Mickey Roarke's first day .. Rourke does not disappoint .. Stayed late to watch dailies. It's great to see these characters come to life." (Jon Favreau/Twitter)

"President Obama is now coming to the end of the candyman phase of his presidency. That's the part where he can play to core constituencies and those whose support he would entertain with big gifts -- stimulus money, tax cuts, and promises of policy changes. It's the part where the booty of an election win is spread around -- jobs are given to loyal supporters, and foreign policy victories are scored simply by telling a once-disgruntled ally what they've long been waiting to hear. But now starts the hard part. Now, the president must grapple with the tough part of leading -- where friends don't get what they want, where allies are pushed and prodded and threatened and punished if they don't fall into line. When force is required, and all eyes are on the United States and the policy initiatives that are under fire can no longer be blamed on the last president." (ForeignPolicy)

"Amy Poehler has five parenting tips: 'Always remember your kid’s name. Always remember where you put your kid. Don’t let your kid drive until their feet can reach the pedals. Use the right size diapers…for yourself. And, when in doubt, make funny faces' .. Poehler is also one-half of two powerhouse comedy duos: best friend Tina Fey, with whom she collaborated on SNL and hit movie Baby Mama, and husband Will Arnett (of Arrested Development fame). Though tell her she and Arnett are on their way to first-couple-of-comedy fame, and she’ll freak. 'Certainly I’m not schizophrenic enough to be able to comment on that in a way where I could step back,' Poehler confesses. 'I would never deign to even… that’s a ridiculous premise' ..But don’t count on her and Fey finding time to work together again anytime soon. 'We’ve got 15 things in development: Laverne and Shirley, Starsky and Hutch 3, Cagney and Lacey, Wonder Twins Activate From Two Hot Broads, Little House on the Prairie: The Musical: The Movie,' Poehler deadpans. 'I’ve invested 10 million of my own dollars, and everyone advised me against it, but I think it’s gonna work. I haven’t even talked to Tina about it.'" (TheDailyBeast)



(image via patrickmcmullen via fashionweekdaily)

"'Come on, don't be shy--you need to walk the runway,' Monique Péan informed Lauren Bush last night as the jewelry designer celebrated her Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award for accessories (the first fine jewelry designer to be honored) with a Charity:Water-sponsored cocktail party. 'This has really meant so much to me,' she said. 'It's an honor to be in the class with previous winners like Zac Posen, Erin Fetherston and Alexander Wang. It's exciting to bring the fine jewelry market to the Ecco Domani world, because it's definitely a difficuly industry to break.' The runway in question provided a location for a 'Water Walk,' which invited guests like Kate Davidson Hudson and Robert Verdi to strut holding gallons full of clean water. For each turn down the blessedly short catwalk, Péan donated $20. 'Just do this and you can give one person clean drinking water for 20 years!' she pleaded." (Fashionweekdaily)



(image via style)

"Dasha Zhukova is plenty busy with her much discussed new gig as editor of Pop. But that didn't stop the Russian impresaria from wrangling both David Lynch and Christian Louboutin all the way to Moscow for the opening of their Fetish photography and shoe exhibition at her Garage Center for Contemporary Culture. On Tuesday night, the Russian capital's chicest, along with Western transplants like Josephine de la Baume, Charlotte Sarkozy, Byrdie Bell, and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, celebrated the collaboration with a traditional dinner at the Central House of Literature, one of the few restaurants in the city that still boasts its original pre-Communist decor. If most passed on a gray meat the English translation of which was 'neck,' the caviar went down easy, and everyone was impressed when a pack of performing gypsies busted out of a double door in the middle of dinner. The belly dancers had Louboutin on his feet, swinging this way and that—and perhaps too fast: Later, when he attempted to pound a shot, it somehow ended up pegging Sophia Hesketh in the head." (Style)

"Tsk, tsk, Michael Phelps. Partying your face off in public is not the way to reclaim your good-guy image. The Olympian, who has been laying relatively low since his bong-smoking scandal in January, was out in full force Tuesday night at NYC hot spot Marquee. 'Michael was definitely having a good time,' an eyewitness tells us. 'He was drinking straight from a bottle of Grey Goose, and when the deejay started playing M.I.A.'s 'Paper Planes,' he got up, started dancing like a loon and kept on yelling, 'Shots!' Phelps definitely had enough alcohol on hand for several rounds — he'd ordered four bottles of vodka." (Gatecrasher)

"Amy Rice & Alicia Sams’ documentary about the new U.S. President, 'By the People: The Election of Barack Obama' (working title), has secured an international deal with Sony. All international media rights and domestic home entertainment rights (minus U.K. television) have been acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisition Group (SPWAG), Steve Bersch, president, SPWAG and Keith Le Goy, president, International Distribution, Sony Pictures Television announced Wednesday. Produced by Edward Norton’s Class 5 Films and directed by Rice and Sams, the film will be released in the U.S. by HBO Documentary Films. The company is planning to debut the just finished doc sometime this year, but has yet to detail theatrical and television release plans. Two and a half years in the making, the project was inspired by Barack Obama’s now famous keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Shooting began prior to his run for President of the United States after Rice was moved to track the Senator following his DNC speech. Class 5 took on the project, Sams joined the team and Norton approached Obama and his staff months before Obama’s decided to run. After securing inside access, the filmmakers traveled with Obama to Africa in the summer of ‘06 and were there when he announced his candidacy in early ‘07. The film includes access to President-elect Obama, his senior staff, family, friends, and campaign volunteers." (IndieWIRE)

"Ruminating over Tuesday night’s CASA benefit and Kirk and Anne Douglas, two really amazing people, now truly elderly statistically speaking, and yet still out there giving to the community. Yesterday a friend reminded me, apropos Kirk Douglas: It was he who broke the Blacklist in Hollywood by insisting that Dalton Trumbo (one of the Hollywood Ten) be credited with his real name for writing 'SPARTACUS,' which is, essentially, a film about 'naming names'" (NYSocialDiary)

"When the mystery series 'Harper's Island' debuts on Thursday night, there’s more on the line than just another prime-time offering. CBS will be watching closely to see whether the web can serve as a new vehicle to create awareness for its broadcast shows -- even before they air. 'Harper's Island' is a 13-episode 'close-ended' (think: '70s-style miniseries like 'Roots' and 'Shogun') murder mystery on which one character will be killed off each week, with the killer unveiled at the end. But for the last three weeks, the show's web companion, 'Harper's Globe' has been running online, with four episodes already launched." (TheWrap)

"The implication of much media coverage is that business has been universally blighted by the downturn. But many companies do not merit the currently popular journalistic epithets 'struggling', 'troubled' or 'recession-hit'. A degree of survivor’s guilt is inevitable among their owners and managers. One businessman I know has stopped driving to work in his Aston Martin. He takes his wife’s Mini instead. He does not want to look as if he is showing off when everyone else is doing badly." (FT)



"The practice of placentophagia, eating the placenta, is practiced in many parts of the world, and is said to stem postpartum depression and help to contract the uterus after the birth. After Chrissy Schilling had her first baby over the weekend, her twin sister Kathy cooked up the placenta and they had a feast. They put it on pasta and on a sandwich. They even put pictures of the meal on Facebook!" (Momlogic)



"As we mentioned last week, the ever-cool and tall Thurston Moore curated the Sessions at Santa's this past Tuesday night. And, Oh My God, it was the most ear-piercing Session yet!!! The first 'band' was Noise Nomads, a one-man drum solo freak-out -- so loud! The all-hell-breaking trio called Fat Worm of Error played next and they were so fucking loud too." (Papermag)