Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



(image via starkgossip)

"Guitarist Jamie Hince was touring abroad and missed his girlfriend's outrageous London show - crawling cat-like on a bar while being 'whipped' .. Kate, with David Walliams as her date, started the party night at Nobu then on to M*vida. Noel Fielding and Rhys Ifans saw the model dancing on all fours on a bar while her pal lashed her with a £6,000 diamond whip and kissed her mouth. Wish you were here, Jamie?" (3AMGirls)

"The employees were transfixed. Standing on the mid-Manhattan trading floor of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in late 2007, a half-dozen staffers stared up at the ceiling-mounted TV as CNBC aired a report on the mysterious Palm Beach death of a hedge fund manager who had been leading a double life. The police, it appeared, were even considering the possibility that he had been murdered. 'Bernie,' someone casually asked as Madoff happened to walk by, 'have you heard of this guy?' Madoff glanced at the screen, blanched, and exploded: 'Why the fuck would I be interested in some shit like that?' The employees recoiled. 'I never saw him react like that before,' says a Madoff trader who witnessed the outburst. 'It obviously hit a nerve.'" (Fortune)



"(Richard) Haass took part in the decision to wage the 1991 war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq in his capacity as the senior National Security Council staffer for the Middle East. In that role, he helped the national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, define Saddam's sudden seizure of Kuwait as an unacceptable act of aggression that threatened the stability of the Middle East and the survival of the pro-U.S. regime in Saudi Arabia. Haass makes it clear that President George H. W. Bush himself held this view from day one. Both Bush and Scowcroft are the heroes of the memoir. Critical to the U.S. response, as Haass recounts, was the fact that Washington undertook a systematic diplomatic campaign to mobilize international support in order to prevail on Saddam to withdraw -- and, eventually, to compel him by force to do so. In the end, when force was used, the U.S.-led military campaign involved significant European and (geopolitically more important) Arab and Muslim military contingents. Even Syria took part." (Zbigniew Brzezinski/ Foreign Affarirs)



(image via deadlinehollywooddaily)

"Earlier this week, the head of a film company told me to count on this: GE is going to sell NBC Universal to Time Warner. A spokesman for GE had no comment. His counterpart at Time Warner denied it. I asked Rich Greenfield, the media analyst at Pali Research, about a deal between the two companies and he said he doubted it. Time Warner has only just spun off the company’s cable operations and the task of dealing with AOL is still at hand, he said. So Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes is 'just beginning to rebuild credibility' and hardly needs to undertake a giant transaction. Despite obvious reasons why Time Warner might not want a mega-deal right now, some factors might tempt Bewkes. He’s been pushing a concept called TV Everywhere recently in which Time Warner movies and television shows would be available to paying subscribers on television, laptop, handheld device—whatever, whenever. A deal with NBC Universal would give him a lot of TV to put Everywhere. The main lure for Time Warner meanwhile, would be NBC Universal’s cable channels: USA, Bravo, Sci-Fi, and CNBC. Those would go nicely with Time Warner’s HBO, TNT and TBS. And while no one’s getting rich off news, CNN and NBC News could make a strong combination. Universal Pictures, on the other hand, would likely be folded since Time Warner—which owns Warner Bros.—has no need for another film studio. Yes, that would truly be the end of an era." (Kim Masters/TheDailyBeast)



(image via gossipgirls)

"THE Emmy Award nominations won't even be announced until July 16, but drama is already heating up between HBO executives and the cast of 'Grey Gardens.' According to an insider, the cable net has been pushing Drew Barrymore, who plays 'Little' Edith Beale in the well-received HBO movie, to put herself in the running for a Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries Emmy nomination. Hoping to maximize its awards tally and prevent a vote-splitting scenario, HBO suggested to Barrymore's co-star, Jessica Lange, that she agree to put herself in the running for a Best Supporting Actress nod. But we're told Lange wouldn't go for it. 'Her immediate reaction was that she's won two Oscars, and that she has equal screen time to Barrymore,' says our insider. 'She felt she wasn't a supporting character in the film, and that it'd be dishonest and a manipulation of votes. She didn't want a part of it.'" (PageSix)



"Last night’s exclusive listening party for Major Lazer at Bar Marmont was a heatlamp-induced jam session, showcasing the finished product of Diplo and Switch’s collaboration. Major Lazer came to life when Diplo and Switch, both wildly respected producer/DJs in their own right, joined forced to uncover their dancehall roots and cement their Rasta cred. The party, presented by Downtown+Mad Decent, featured snacks, special guests and DJ sets from cool dudes such as Andy Milonakis and Diplo himself." (Papermag)



(image via theelectoralmap)

"Disappointing early fundraising numbers have put pressure, both overt and covert, on Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to step up her game or get out of the Democratic Senate primary. Brunner raised about one-fifth as much as her Democratic competition, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, according to reports filed last week. Her $207,000 raised pales in comparison to Fisher’s more than $1 million, but it is especially brutal when considering that the unopposed GOP front-runner, former Rep. Rob Portman, raised $1.7 million and already has $3 million in the bank. Portman’s prowess and the swing-state nature of Ohio have Democrats openly concerned that a primary could drain their resources and damage their nominee. The next quarter of fundraising reports is shaping up as a do-or-die period for Brunner’s candidacy. 'She needs to ramp that up if she’s going to be taken seriously by a lot of folks,' said former Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Jim Ruvolo. 'Money isn’t the only thing, but in a state like Ohio where it’s a million dollars-plus per week for TV, you’ve got to have some resources.'" (TheHill)



(image via NYSocialDiary)

"Last night, feeling a little less threatened by the mysterious bug, I ventured down to the Plaza to catch the reception of the 12th annual Bergh Ball with the Theme: 'Rescue Me.' The black tie dinner dance honored Martha Stewart with the ASPCA Presidential Service Award, presented by Ed Sayres who is president of the ASPCA .. I arrived just as Martha was stepping onto the Red Carpet with a cute little pug all dolled up for the occasion and ready for a new loving home." (NYSocialDiary)



(image via latimes)

"A recent profile in a New York glossy described him as a member of Wall Street aristocracy, a man to whose parties the rich and powerful trip over themselves to attend, a networker nonpareil, in short, the greatest big hitter who has ever graced this poor earth of ours. Leave it to a celebrity-obsessed rag to get it so wrong. His name is Steve Rattner, and he looks like a rodent, except that he wears glasses. He is to Wall Street aristocracy what Paris Hilton is to discretion, a shifty little balding man whose business moves are even shiftier. He is Obama’s chief adviser in dealing with Detroit, the 'Car Tsar,' in fact. It was at a dinner and I was seated in the same table as the Rat and Mrs. Rat, a woman who calls herself Maureen White, socialite. It was the first and last time I set eyes on them. Madame Rat was quite unpleasant, making it obvious my wife and I were below her standards. The Rat was just as hostile, but kept his opinions to himself. The Rattners made their names by getting on every city committee imaginable. It is the quickest way up café society, and they took full advantage of it. The Rat comes from a modest background but learned early on to hook up with movers and shakers, as people who buy influence are known as in this town. His top catch was Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, the paper Rattner went to work for but eventually left for the greener pastures of banking." (Takimag)



(Ali Larter via Caroline Torem-Craig/papermag)

"Last night, The Cinema Society and MCM presented the well appointed premiere of Obsessedheld at the School of Visual Arts. All the film's stars -- Beyonce Knowles (who was showcasing her magnificently toned dancer's legs), Idris Elba, Ali Larter, Jerry O'Connell and Christine Lahti were there, dressed to the nines. It was an unusual night on the red carpet as no one was grumbling, knocking each other over or making snide remarks... just sighs of appreciation for the celebs who posed long enough for us to snap their photos." (Papermag)