Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"While the doors to the Beatrice Inn have been padlocked since last week, leaving devoted regulars feeling as if they were 'locked out of their apartments,' word started to travel that there would be a "Free the Beatrice" party at an unnamed location in the days to come. While curiosity grew and rumours circulated regarding the events destination -- it became quite clear that the 21st floor penthouse of the Cooper Square Hotel would act as the Beatrice Inn on this past Friday night. With a wrap-around balcony featuring stellar views of the city, guests drank Andre Saraiva's 1X Belvedere Vodka and danced to the beats of Jackson 5 and James Taylor. With a guest list that included the likes of Nate Lowman, Waris, Aurel Schmidt, Beatrice resident DJ Matt Creed, Rebecca Guinness, Rory Guinness, Kai Kuhne and Lissy Trullie, the highlight was the crowd proudly wearing T-shirts (in various color variations might I add) emblazoned with 'Free The Beatrice' across the chest." (Papermag)

"Mel Gibson's wife finally throws towel in on marriage. Well, good on ya Robyn. She'lll be gettg a cool $450 m for her 28 yrs, no -pre-nup .. Robyn deserves EVERY penny. Let's hope she enjoys the hell out of the next 28 yrs as Hollywood's most eligible divorcee." (Bonnie Fuller/Twitter)



"The Coalition of the Willing is alive and well and chasing pirates in the Indian Ocean. In the past few months, 17 nations have sent warships to the Gulf of Aden and nearby waters to protect shipping lanes around the Horn of Africa from the brazen pirates off the Somali coast — such as the ones who commandeered the U.S.-flagged ship Maersk Alabama last week and took Capt. Richard Phillips hostage. Granted, most of the naval units are mainly interested in protecting their own countries’ shipping, and it’s easier to cooperate when you’re trying to patrol an area four times the size of Texas. But this is the first time that a fleet so diverse — including the United States, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, France, India, Great Britain, Malaysia and Canada, among others — has worked together, or at least communicated, on a common combat mission. In fact, it is Japan’s first potential combat outside its home waters since the end of World War II — the government in Tokyo is trying to decide whether to allow the ships to actually shoot anyone — and China’s first combat patrol in the Indian Ocean since calling its last treasure fleet home in the 15th century." (CQPolitics)

"The threat of these impudent maritime muggers has reduced cargo ships to defending themselves with techniques that seem almost comically derived from The Dangerous Book for Boys. Stand by to repel boarders with…fire-retardant foam, water hoses, and super-slippery goo on bulwarks and decks. Even more fun ideas for your next kiddie birthday party. The pirate drama feels like the perfect high-seas counterpart of what’s been going on in landlocked American business for some time: Big lumbering corporate entities hover on bankruptcy and plead for bailouts; baffled media companies beef about the Web insurgency; the Google boys rewrite the whole Web environment while mighty Microsoft is asleep; a football-scholarship kid called Howard Schultz comes into the beverage business and soon dwarfs everyone else with Starbucks; a Johnny-come-lately Japanese company, Toyota, humbles historic General Motors. And The New York Times reports that new, smaller risk-taking companies, staffed by the most talented employees who’ve left the struggling super-banks, are challenging the dominance of the financial behemoths who helped to fuel the financial crisis. Says Professor Matthew Richardson at NYU: 'If the risk-taking spreads out to these smaller institutions, it is not longer a systemic threat. 'In short, the mantra that the giants got bailouts because they were too big to fail is a fallacy. They weren’t. They were too big to succeed. (Tina Brown/TheDailyBeast)



"New York publicist, Peggy Siegel, held a private screening for HBO’s latest production, Grey Gardens, at Goose Creek in East Hampton this past weekend, attracting the likes of actor Jay McInerney, media mogul Martha Stewart, and supermodel Christie Brinkley. The movie which stars Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore as 'Big' and 'Little' Edie Beale, Jackie O’s reclusive aunt and cousin is based on the 1975 documentary, and will premiere on April 18." (Guestofaguest)



"ROBIN Givhan, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion editor of the Washington Post, is moving back to DC after nine years in New York -- and some folks are wondering if the move was her idea or her boss's. 'I'll continue to write about fashion, but will focus most of my attention on covering the Obamas,' Givhan told Page Six. 'Was it my choice? Of course. Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to chronicle history?' But a source snarked, 'I suspect that [new publisher] Katharine Weymouth wants her Washington Post fashion editor in Washington covering fashion in Washington.' Givhan once applied for a job at the New York Times. 'You could say that Time smen found her salary demands excessive,' the source said. She went to Vogue instead and then to the Washing ton Post, where she kicked up controversy with an essay on Hillary Clinton's 'unnerving' and 'startling' cleavage." (PageSix)



"Amy Winehouse has been monkeying around with the Gorillaz – and it’s driving her record company bananas. The Rehab singer is currently back in St Lucia, working on her third album. Universal shelled out a fortune to pay for Amy to return to the Caribbean because they thought it would help 'focus her mind.' But instead of getting into the studio with producer Salaam Remi, who masterminded her debut album Frank, she has trying out stuff with Damon Albarn and his band of Gorillaz. What has really sent Universal ape is that they are with rival record company, EMI!" (Thisisshowbiz)

"We live in a culture where some people get paid for performing a function and some people get paid because they generate revenues for a business enterprise, whether it is banking, trading, hitting home runs or making movies. It is a basic tenet of capitalism that if you are responsible for generating that revenue you should not only get a portion of it but you should be able to provide your services to the highest bidder. These bonus agreements are governed by contract law. It is an “eat what you kill” environment in which it usually hasn’t mattered all that much if one department or even the whole firm doesn’t do well. But this tenet apparently doesn’t fit anymore. It is also a tenet of capitalism that that companies survive or die on their own and don’t rely on the government to be saved. This is also, apparently, no longer true." (Alexandra Lebenthal/NYSocialDiary)



"The U.S. debut of Sacha Gervasi’s 'Anvil! The Story of Anvil,' a doc following the 'demigods of Canadian metal,' was the top Easter weekend newcomer at the specialty box office, according to estimates. The film - which debuted to great numbers in Canada last weekend - grossed $34,800 from 3 screens this weekend. The Abramorama release’s $11,600 was the best per-theater-average of any reporting release - even overall box office champ 'Hanna Montana: The Movie.' Anvil! beat out the debut of Lymelife, which grossed $29,000 from one more theater than Anvil! The Screen Media Films release, which stars Rory Culkin, Alec Baldwin, Timothy Hutton and Cynthia Nixon, averaged $7,250, which is perhaps not suggestive of much success as the film expands in the coming weeks. Though it is far and away from the meager numbers pulled in by the debut of the long delayed 'Mysteries of Pittsburgh,' which managed just $34,500 from an overambitious 18 screens. The Peace Arch release - an adaptation of Michael Chabon’s celebrated novel - averaged just under $2,000 a theater." (IndieWIRE)

"THE new Washington, DC, A-list is in -- and for the most part, George W. Bush and his crew aren't on it. Washington Life magazine's list of the town's 'A' names this year dropped Sen. Robert Byrd, Henry Paulson, Karl Rove, John Negroponte and Rep. Charles Rangel. On the list are, obviously, President and Michelle Obama, David and Susan Axelrod, Tom and Carole Geithner and George and Mari Will. On the 'Toxic/Radioactive' list are: Marion Barry, Sen. Roland Burris, Alan Greenspan, Scooter Libby and Donald Rumsfeld. Funnily enough -- despite protestations from Democrats -- Dick Cheney still made the A-list." (PageSix)



"Don't forget to RSVP for NYC'S First Official WEEKLY COUGAR PARTY...with the Cast of COUGARS: NYC! by 7pm on April 19th, 2009. For complete event details, click here."

"Security will be high when Bernie Madoff's penthouse goes on sale. People will be checked and rechecked to separate curiosity seekers from potential buyers." (CindyAdams)



"Ms. de Villeneuve, 29, is the daughter of Justin de Villeneuve, a fashion photographer who is credited with discovering Twiggy, and Jan de Villeneuve, a model. Ms. de Villeneuve briefly tried on modeling herself, but now mostly shoots for magazines like Vogue and Dazed and Confused. At the end of May, she will be showing some of her works at the Gallery of the Soho Grand Hotel. And while Ms. Delevigne is often spotted at more uptown functions, Ms. de Villeneuve is often seen downtown among friends like jewelry designer Waris Ahluwalia and artist Hope Atherton. According to Ms. de Villeneuve, the sudden popularity of the name among twenty-something British girls is a generational thing in England. 'Flower names in general were very popular in the late 70s and early 80s in London,' she explained. 'A very famous chef, Jamie Oliver, has too little kids called Poppy and Daisy so there are now thousands of little Poppy's in England!' (Ms. de Villenueve's older sister is named Daisy.) (Observer)



"Electronic Arts needs a massive best-selling game this year to make up for its lackluster titles last year—and judging from its new marketing blitz, the publisher is pinning its hopes on The Sims 3. Billboards hyping the game have sprung up in cities like New York, Boston, Chicago and LA; The Simmers Club notes that pics of the ads were posted to a Facebook Fan page (via Kotaku). Running larger-than-life outdoor campaigns has become a popular tactic for publishers looking to generate big buzz about upcoming games: *Take-Two* seeded Manhattan and Brooklyn with billboards prior to the launch of GTA: IV, for example, and Valve took over the San Francisco subway system with ads for Left 4 Dead. But EA’s goes above and beyond previous efforts, with its multi-city approach." (Paidcontent)



(Ann Rollings, Kirsty Hume and Donovan Leitch via patrickmcmullen via fashionweekdaily)

"As far as Hollywood is concerned, Thursday nights just got a whole lot hipper. The fashion, music and art scenes joined forces at h.wood last week to kick off a weekly series of mega-parties, entitled Diamond Dogs, celebrating L.A.'s creative talent with a rock n' roll retro party revolution that lasted well into the night. Hosts Bryan Rabin, Ian Cripps and Kelly Cole welcomed scenesters including Mischa Barton, Kirsty Hume, Donovan Leitch, and Katy Rodriguez who turned out in full force for an unforgettable party that spilled well beyond the packed dance floor and bars, but also into the two-story surrounding old Hollywood-themed lounge areas. Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry made fleeting appearance alongside Anne Crawford before ducking out shortly after seeing his album cover at the entrance to the party, while style sirens Dita von Teese and Rose McGowan arrived within seconds of each other and spent much of the evening mingling and dancing atop the banquettes facing the dance floor." (Fashionweekdaily)



(Visionaire's Cecilia Dean via style)

"Importing the cast of characters behind Paris' super-scene-y, super-debauched Le Baron nightclub to Moscow was no small undertaking. 'But if you want to have a wild night, these are the only people to call,' said Anna Dyulgerova. The former magazine editor organized the affair to create some buzz for her fashion initiative Cycles and Seasons, and the party didn't disappoint. There was the chic venue (an abandoned mansion in the center of town), the musical stylings of three-time Grammy winner Mark Ronson, a dance-off between Colette's Sarah Lerfel and art director Emma Reeves, giant disco balls, and more. Visionaire's Cecilia Dean, whose spiked Rodarte shoes matched the spiked mask of one reveler, threatened to break out some of the moves she'd seen at the famed Bolshoi Theatre." (Style)