Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"If our terrorist enemies have been successful at cultivating a false notion of expertise, they’ve done an equally convincing job of casting themselves as pious warriors of God. The Taliban and al-Qaeda rely on sympathizers who consider them devoted Muslims fighting immoral Western occupiers. But intelligence picked up by Predator drones and other battlefield cameras challenges that idea—sometimes rather graphically. One video, captured recently by the thermal-imagery technology housed in a sniper rifle, shows two Talibs in southern Afghanistan engaged in intimate relations with a donkey. Similar videos abound, including ground-surveillance footage that records a Talib fighter gratifying himself with a cow. Pentagon officials and intelligence analysts concede privately that our foes also have a voracious appetite for pornography—hardly shocking behavior for young men, but hard to square with an image of piety. Many laptops seized from the Taliban and al-Qaeda are loaded with smut. U.S. intelligence analysts have devoted considerable time to poring over the terrorists’ favored Web sites, searching for hidden militant messages. 'We have terabytes of this stuff,' said one Department of Defense al-Qaeda analyst, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It isn’t possible that they are encrypting messages in all of this stuff. Some of these guys are just perverts.'" (TheAtlantic)



"Prince will release his new album via a U.K. newspaper insert Saturday, having declared the Web 'over.' Sour grapes have led the once-visionary musician to become embittered. When vanguardism fails, become a traditionalist. If that isn’t Prince’s motto, it could be—and that’s been true for some time now, in more ways than one. Take the legendary pop star’s distribution scheme for his newest album, 20Ten. On Saturday, he’ll releases it not through record stores or iTunes or even on a CD for purchase on a website, but by giving it away for free with the day’s copies of The Daily Mirror in England and The Daily Record in Scotland. This is hardly a new strategy for Prince: The July 15, 2007, edition of the London-based conservative tabloid The Mail on Sunday included free copies of his album Planet Earth. What is new is Prince’s dismissive attitude toward the Web—especially given how hard he’s championed it over the years. His career over the past couple of decades has been an odd mixture of prescience and wrong-footedness when it comes to the online world." (TheDailyBeast)



"Just as deadline was passing for my story in this week's paper about the semi secret that nothing has changed on Wall Street since the peak of the financial crisis, I had a conversation with an executive at a major U.S. bank about the story. I asked him about how seriously Wall Street takes the upcoming financial regulation. 'It’s taken seriously only how it could impact profits, not taken seriously in how they could solve problems,' he said, meaning that it may make life on Wall Street slightly harder, but it doesn't solve too-big-to-fail. 'It's truly stupid. The banks did okay and dodged this whole thing. But having said that, it’s not only incompetent proposals, it’s actually a negative because it’s making people think problems are fixed.' What's one way Wall Street has changed? 'Much more concerned about public image,' he said .." (Observer)



"Watching the images of Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week, a diplomat friend observed that angry stalemate had given way to, well, cordial stalemate. Perhaps this was a touch cynical, but then the Middle East makes cynics of most of us. In any event, the underlying judgment was probably right. Mr Netanyahu got the warm reception that Israeli prime ministers have come to expect from US presidents. The last time he had been in Washington, Mr Obama had denied him even a cursory photo-call. This time the US president laid on the honoured guest treatment, walking Mr Netanyahu to his car in the full glare of the camera lights. To the extent that for domestic reasons both leaders wanted to show that they could get on, the encounter was successful. Mr Netanyahu arrived promising to ease the blockade of Gaza; Mr Obama offered reassurances about the US stance on Israel’s nuclear weapons. In broad terms, they agreed on the need for an early start to direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It would be more than a stretch, however, to imagine that the choreographed harmony mirrored a private meeting of minds. After banging his head against the Middle East wall for the past 18 months, Mr Obama has little to show for it but political bruises – many inflicted by Mr Netanyahu." (FT)



"Think back to 1973. The great rock revolution of the ‘60s was over. Music had become what it is now: a business. A depressing time for me --- I kept looking for flowers sprouting through the concrete and, month after month, came up with only weeds for my troubles. And then, at Max’s Kansas City, I found what I had been seeking. Some friends of friends were playing; an unknown group called The Wailers was on the bill ... One night, in a Philadelphia club, I had dinner with The Wailers in their dressing room and watched them smoke so much ganja they should have passed out. Instead, they went on stage and — like angels, or aliens, or just humans blessed with telepathy — played a note-perfect set that converted everyone in the room to blithering fandom ...One afternoon, I went down to the Chelsea Hotel to suggest a movie to (Bob) Marley. Before I could tell him my ideas, he put his spliff down long enough to draw a square on a piece of paper. 'This one is us,' he said. He drew another square. 'This one is the bank.' He drew a connecting line, looked up at me and grinned — and our movie died right there." (Jesse Kornbluth/NYSocialDiary)



"I'm told this will be the biggest financial haul ever for a movie director from a single pic because James Cameron had a significant gross percentage of the Twentieth Century Fox megahit as helmer, writer, and producer. Though Hollywood pay experts tell me that the $350M all-in figure is largely attributable to his directing deal structured as 'first dollar' gross or more likely 'at cash break' gross. It's certainly bigger than either he or the studio -- or anyone -- thought he'd make from Avatar which, after its December 2009 release date, has grossed a best-ever $2.7 billion worldwide at the box office. 'But Cameron is making $350 million because the DVD did beyond expectation,' an insider tells me." (Deadline)



"Fashion or football? At Calvin Klein's massive fête in Berlin last night, the American company's biggest-ever event in Europe, guests enjoyed both ... Taking in the scene were Calvin-philes like Kellan Lutz, Lara Stone, Diane Kruger, and Na'vi princess and new face of the brand's underwear campaign Zoe Saldana. The Avatar actress told us she was looking forward to a stint in Paris later this summer, where she'll be filming the Luc Besson-scripted Colombiana—a Colombian La Femme Nikita, she called it. As for the best part of her new modeling gig? 'Lots of free lingerie! Which I'm wearing right now, of course,' she said. We took her word for it. Kruger, for her part, slipped a Germany jersey over her Collection minidress once she was finished with the red carpet. But back to underwear: One guest observed, 'This is the first time I've seen two naked male models lounging around, and no one can take their eyes off the football match.'" (Style)



"ABC News' Kirit Radia reports: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates today strongly defended a controversial memo he issued last week clamping down on how officials in the military and its civilian leadership interact with the media. Reporters have since complained that the memo, in the works before the recent Rolling Stone article that torpedoed General Stanley McChrystal’s career, could cause a chilling effect in relations with the press. 'I spent my first few months on the job telling military audiences that the press was not the enemy and that to treat it as such was counterproductive and self-defeating,' Gates told reporters at the Pentagon. 'None of that has changed.' Gates said he had received complaints from both President Bush and President Obama about 'senior Defense officials, both civilian and military, speaking out inappropriately on foreign-policy issues.'" (ABCNews)



"It was stiflingly hot at Gaultier’s HQ on rue Saint-Martin, and the temperatures climbed even higher when Dita von Teese stripped down from a beautiful black column gown into a miniscule noir corset midway through the show. And that’s where being front row paid off for guests like Catherine Deneuve, Mario Testino, and Paz Vega .. Deneuve also appreciated the show and Gaultier’s overall effort. 'I would probably do this, too, if I had a body like hers,' she smiled. 'But I always come here, and it’s just all about this gorgeous, 1940s Hollywood paradise, all in Jean Paul’s wonderful mind.' Louis Marie de Castelbajac (Teese’s longtime boyfriend) attended the show with his father, Jean-Charles, and claimed he wasn't jealous to share Dita with the fashion world. 'It’s her art form and she really brings out an archeology of beauty,' he explained post-tease." (FashionweekDaily)



"The big buzz over the Emmy nominations, one day later, was not the success of new shows like 'Glee' and 'Modern Family' or the surprise nominations for stars of 'Friday Night Lights' or even the snubbing of longtime Emmy darlings 'Grey's Anatomy,' '24' and Charlie Sheen. Instead, it was NBC versus Conan O'Brien, Part 137. This round, it seems, went to O'Brien. In coming up with its nominees, the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences considered two versions of NBC's 'The Tonight Show,' one with O'Brien and one with his predecessor/successor Jay Leno, but only one, Conan's show, received a nod in the best comedy/variety category, as well as three lesser categories. Upping the drama quotient further, when the ceremony airs on Aug. 29, O'Brien will presumably be in attendance and may even win an award … on an Emmy ceremony being carried by NBC." (Medialifemagazine)



"TV Land’s now renewed Hot in Cleveland continues to drift down, to 2.935 million viewers from 3.07 million last week, and a 0.8 adults 18-49 rating vs. 0.9 last week. Still, Betty can rest easy, the next best show on TV Land last week was an Everybody Love Raymond repeat that drew 1.136 million viewers. Tosh.0 jumped vs. last week to 2.4 million viewers and a 1.4 adults 18-49 rating. Top Chef was also improved vs. last week." (TVBytheNumbers)



"Teen Vogue's web site has published a story on its web site declaring that the gay best friend is the summer accessory of 2010! ... Why, thank you! Ms. (Amy) Astley reminds her readers in an editor's note that the girls should fight for their gay friends' rights, but if her note is an attempt to dump some cold water on an otherwise fairly offensive post, her effort is really half-hearted." (Observer)



"Los Angeles billionaire Ronald Tutor and his partners Morgan Creek, Colony Capital and David Bergstein have reached agreement to buy Miramax from The Walt Disney Company, Waxword has learned. The sale price is believed to be $675 million. 'The deal is not done, but it's going to get done,' a person with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap. 'We've agreed in principle.' The agreement was struck on Thursday afternoon in negotiations led by Tutor, who will take the lead management position in the arthouse studio with a 700-film library, according to a second knowledgeable individual. The sale price includes $250 million in accounts receivable and $50 million in current cash holdings. So the price would immediately net out at closer to $625 million." (TheWrap)



"A couple weeks ago I received an email from my friend Huw in London, telling me about a new technique he’s been using in his quest for eternal love. It’s called Listing. He said that physically writing out a list of the qualities you want and don’t want in a partner helps to focus your mind, thus allowing you to hone in on your 'target market.' He said that in life we have to dream big, but we also have to be realistic. I said that sounds like the sort of insane, desperate fat girl bullshit one reads in the pages of Cosmopolitan, and where do I sign up? The thing is, I love lists. They’re pretty much my favorite. I make a To-Do list every morning when I wake up. Admittedly, sometimes it’s not much longer than To Do: Nothing, but still, I get an extreme amount of pleasure in crossing it off. In light of this I asked Huw to send me an example of the list he made, to give me a clear picture of the task at hand (and possibly to steal some of his ideas). His list, however, was total shit. For one the ‘desirable’ column was almost identical to the ‘undesirable’ column, both of which included ‘lesbians’ and ‘pretend lesbians.’ Also number one in the desirable column was ‘easy girls,’ which was an immediate red flag. Despite his incompetence, I went ahead and made a list of my own. I believe it to be quite good. See below: Desirable: 1. Boys who look like girls / girls who look like boys. 2. Anyone possessing a general air of sickliness / malnourishment / weakness" (Karly)

Four Projects at Haunch of Venison



After getting all of my personal errands done yesterday, I schlepped over to Four Projects for a group exhibition at Haunch of Venison at 1230 Avenue of the Americas, across the street from NewsCorp. Contemporary artists Doug Argue, Bill Fontana, Alexandra Grant, and Les Rogers were featured in self-contained installations at the gallery's 17,000 sq ft space. One floor above, on the rooftop, was a kicking summer party in full-swing, including the seriously awesome Paula Froelich and the always interesting Richard Johnson of Page Six renoun.



(behind the scene shot from Les via artruby)

The works of Les Rogers, whom I have been admiring more and more of late, stood out from among the other works, which were also quite impressive. Les's latest work is Tangled Up In, a series of close-up nudes. His work has been described as "large, mostly gestural abstract paintings with interwoven bits of realism." That realism, on display at Haunch of Venison (meat, flesh), is clearly about skin. As Rogers himself has written on the subject: "It is hot in the city, very hot. So I imagine lots of skin at the Haunch of Venison opening tonight, which is perfect because my paintings are all skin." Rogers' palette, restrained, features blushy pinks and shadowy browns and "varying hues of purple." His chosen pieces were largely self-limited to the colors of the flesh in light and in obscure.



I am particularly fond of this abstract (above). The lack of photo-realism or even Rogers' signature "collection of glimpses" style makes it an interesting departure from the other pieces in the show.

Muscle Top: Part the Third

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Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited some interesting spots over the July 4 weekend. Her itinerary included Poland and Ukraine, both intriguing choices in light of the recent Obama-Medvedev talks in Washington. But she also traveled to a region that has not been on the American radar screen much in the last two years — namely, the Caucasus — visiting Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The stop in Poland coincided with the signing of a new agreement on ballistic missile defense and was designed to sustain U.S.-Polish relations in the face of the German-Russian discussions we have discussed. The stop in Ukraine was meant simply to show the flag in a country rapidly moving into the Russian orbit. In both cases, the trip was about the Russians. Regardless of how warm the atmospherics are between the United States and Russia, the fact is that the Russians are continuing to rebuild their regional influence and are taking advantage of European disequilibrium to build new relationships there, too. The United States, still focused on Iraq and Afghanistan, has limited surplus capacity to apply to resisting the Russians. No amount of atmospherics can hide that fact, certainly not from the Poles or the Ukrainians." (STRATFOR)



"Chelsea Clinton was at the Astor Place Starbucks yesterday morning in jogging clothes, drinking iced coffee and Smart Water, texting and talking on her BlackBerry about her upcoming wedding. 'Chelsea had a huge rock on her finger and was reading a book by Donna Leon,' said our spy, who sadly couldn't overhear details. Democrats are dying to know who will be among the 400 guests at the July 31 nuptials in Rhinebeck. 'This is the closest Americans get to a royal wedding," noted one Dem who won't be invited." (PageSix)



(image via NYSD)

"The word is Chelsea Clinton will marry her fiancé Mark Mezvinsky, on the 31st of this month in Rhinebeck, New York at what is called the Astor Courts on the old Astor estate Ferncliff Farm (later Ferncliff) ... The property, in Rhinebeck, overlooking the Hudson, was purchased in the middle of the 19th century by young William Backhouse Astor Jr. Mr. Astor, newly married to Caroline Webster Schermerhorn was drawn to the area for its beauty as well as its ancestral heritage." (NYSocialDiary)



"I used to write regularly about Mykonos as I would sail over from Athens every chance I got. I used to bring the Greek karate team over on my boat as the boys needed rest and recreation after our exertions on the mainland, and although I say so myself, we never lost a fight in a club throughout the 70s and 80s ... This is the second visit to Mykonos on Bushido, which I built in 2004. The first time I fell over in the dark onto two men engaged in you-know-what I swore at them, but they turned out to be two Russians sleeping al-fresco who did not take kindly to my insults. This time I’m over for my friend George Embirikos’s 50th birthday party which was held over three days—nights rather. Many of the 150 some guests came over on their boats, which the dreaded Meltemi—a wind that has been known to rip the horns off cuckolds—has forced into Ornos Bay, turning that particular cove into a tax collector’s wet dream. While government choppers have been hovering above photographing expensive houses with large swimming pools whose owners have declared tiny incomes, some wise guy inspector decided to shoot two birds with one cartridge and took pictures of yachts to boot. It got so bad that some of us decided our host must be a government informant. Still, I had a grand time, beating my record of 18 vodkas with ice and cranberry juice for the evening, and not a hint of a hangover the next day because of the Rubirosa rule of 'Todo Liquido.' Which means do not mix your drinks and do not ingest any food, not even one hors d’oeuvres." (Takimag)



"WHAT: 'Baby I'm a Star' presents the release of Kelis's new album, Fleshtone ... WHEN: July 7 ... WHERE: RDV, New York ... WHO: Kelis, Legendary Damon, DJ MOS, DJ Kiss, DJ Rashida, B.J. Coleman" (Papermag)



"One day there will be a book called 'The Collected Legal Works of Gawker Media,' said Gaby Darbyshire, the company's 39-year-old COO and head lawyer ... 'Gawker has had to tread a line between buccaneering journalism and recklessness,' said Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker Media. 'Gaby's the one that maintains that balance.' Or, in other words, she's the person who has to go in and defend Gawker's rowdy band of pirates when someone believes they have crossed the line. Virtually all editors who have worked with the site agree that she's very good at her very busy job, which is not just limited to being the head counsel. She is a sort of everywoman at Gawker, wearing hats that include overseeing law, finance, business development, the 401(k) deals, HR issues, maternity leave policy (which, as a testament to Gawker growing bigger and bigger, now needs to be drafted)-almost anything that is money-related and doesn't deal with editorial or advertising." (Observer)



"The Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, is the epicenter of schmoozing in the technology and media industries this week. The annual confab draws top investors, moguls and start-up executives to the resort town, where they mix serious business with casual activities like bike riding and barbecue ... a look at what happens when billionaires get together and relax." (WSJ)



"Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for the fans of True Blood and Dexter. I’m happy for HBO and Showtime, too. I’m not surprised Sons of Anarchy didn’t get a best drama nod (or any other nod at all for that matter), I am a bit surprised that True Blood was nominated for Outstanding Drama. Given the Emmy voter inertia, Dexter being nominated for Outstanding Drama is no surprise. Opinions on these things are of course subjective. I enjoyed the heck out of the second season of True Blood for the most part, and found it both fun and compelling television. Art, I’m not sure about that — but I still enjoyed it. I’m surprised it got a best drama shout out ... I still haven’t sniffed the Breaking Bad glue, perhaps a summer project. I watched and liked The Good Wife. But, it’s no Sons of Anarchy. The SOA snub for best drama would be easier to take if it would have gotten some other nomination(s). But it was shutout and it’s hard not to view that as a ridiculous snub." (TVBytheNumbers)



"The United States has become accustomed to its hegemonic military presence in the greater Middle East. The U.S.-led international coalition against Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in August, 1990 led to a massive increase in America's direct military presence in the Gulf. Its military presence accelerated after the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today, U.S. forces are deployed all the way from the Sinai desert through the Arabian Peninsula, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, as well as Afghanistan. While the U.S. has come to take its unchallenged military primacy in the Middle East for granted, key Asian countries -- especially India, China, Japan and South Korea -- have also increased their Middle East presence. The U.S. shouldn't view this as a threat but rather an opportunity for greater cooperation on a wide spectrum of growing security concerns. The signs of Asia's push into the Gulf can be seen everywhere. All around the Arabian Gulf, hotels, banks, schools, and shopping centers are managed by Asian expatriate workers, who also provide most of the region's manual labor. Without Asian labor, the oil-rich economies of the Gulf would collapse." (ForeignPolicy)

No Posts Today

Sorry, no posts today. Personal business to attend to. Be back tomorrow,

R

Five More Reasons We Are In A Clintonian Renaissance

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that I feel that we are in the midst of something of a Clintonian Renaissance. We love to hate and hate to love the Clintons, this blogger more than others. They are, though, the spice of American politics. After the thrilling summer of 2008 -- a roller coaster ride nearly every week -- we thought we saw the last of the Clintonian psychodrama at the forefront of the political landscape. Not so! Here are five NEW supporting arguments:



1) Chelsea Clinton's upcoming wedding to Marc Mezvinsky at the sprawling upstate New York home of John Jacob Astor is the ticket of the summer season. We have, of course, remarked on the sublime symmetries of that power couple previously.



2) Bill Clinton was the US' point man in Russia with Vladimir Putin (the real power in the Russian federation) over the 11 alleged deep-cover SVR (the Russian equivalent of the CIA 'agents') flak.



(Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton via WSJ)

3) Hillary Clinton of late has been skillfully navigating our "Reset" with Russia as well as the "Reassurance," mending our ties with nations along the Russian border. A difficult task at best for even the most seasoned career foreign service officer.

4) Bill Clinton's unofficial role as a roving Ambassador to bring home the 2018 or 2022 World Cup coincided, fantastically, with a Team USA rally (which, unfortunately, was short-lived). Hanging with Jagger was, as they say in DC, a key generational optic.

5) Bill Clinton's rough, blunt talk -- definitely not Stevensonian -- about possibly blowing up the BP oil well was probably stupid. But is sounds macho, a trait that often is not ascribed to Democrats. Still, as an ex-President who has no actual power in the decision it was politically brilliant, drawing praise from know-nothings on the right like Lou Dobbs. Talk like that is as cheap as it is priceless, accruing vast political benefits. That sort of obtuse tough guy shit goes over well in places like West Virginia and rural Pennsyltucky, where Democrats are quite vulnerable. And it has the added benefit as Bill Clinton is out of political power of ultimately coming to naught.

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"Richard C. Holbrooke, the White House's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, will travel to New York on Tuesday to help Afghanistan negotiate the removal of select Taliban members from a U.N. anti-terror blacklist, according to senior U.N.-based officials. Holbrooke's decision to visit New York comes weeks after Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed to the U.N. Security Council to drop Taliban from a list of individuals targeted with travel and financial sanctions, a first step in an effort to convince Taliban militants to end their insurgency and strike a peace deal with the government. The Afghan government's June 6 'peace jirga' on June 6 called for taking steps towards reconciliation with the Taliban, including the removal of former Taliban officials from the U.N. blacklist. The Security Council is now reviewing the status of 15 former Taliban members on the watch list, including a former Taliban education minister, Mullah Arsala Rahmani, who is currently serving in the Afghan senate." (ForeignPolicy)



"Over the years we have become accustomed to seeing Naomi Campbell in court. In 2000 she pleaded guilty to attacking her assistant with a telephone in a hotel room. Six years later she admitted hitting her housekeeper with a jewel-encrusted mobile phone, causing an injury to the head that required several stitches. In 2008 she was arrested at London's Heathrow airport on suspicion of assaulting a police officer after one of her bags was lost. Then, earlier this year, a limousine driver filed a report with the New York City Police Department claiming that Campbell had slapped and punched him. Campbell's court appearances, like the blooming of the cherry blossom or the migration of swallows, seem to have become a regular occurrence in the calendar. But not even the most seasoned Campbell watcher could have predicted that she would one day be pursued by the courts in The Hague." (TheGuardian)



"Richard Johnson cannot be bought! Well, he wants to be bought but he's not allowed. Gawker reported on Friday evening that Richard Beckman, who recently picked up Janice Min for The Hollywood Reporter, tried to snag Mr. Johnson from Page Six by doubling his salary and offering him a signing bonus. All of this was fine with Mr. Johnson! Post editor Col Allan prevented the deal from going through by holding him to his contract, which will keep him around for another few years. Retention is an issue at the Post right now. Investigative reporter Murray Weiss was the latest in a series of departures from the paper in recent months, and now would be a good time for Mr. Johnson to leave Page Six. His most experienced reporter, Neel Shah, just abandoned him last month after Corynne Steindler and Paula Froehlich took off last year." (Observer)



"Howard Stern's contract with Sirius XM Radio expires on December 31, 2010, and after that Stern is a free agent. Stern has yet to announce his post-Sirius plans, or if he plans to stay with the radio channel under a new contract. Since he's probably not replacing Simon Cowell on American Idol, Stern might even retire! 'Howard has said that if he were to stay [with Sirius], he wants to negotiate a later start time for the show,' Pop Eater reports. 'But Sirius execs aren't too pleased about that idea.' Since Stern has already had an incredibly long and successful run, raking in another $70 million last year, some are wondering if his time is up, or if he's just keeping his future plans under wraps." (NYMag)



"NBC PR is working overtime this holiday weekend, and it paid off! They successfully convinced Variety that 'winning' matters. Variety covers a lot of ground in trying to point out that Jay Leno’s Tonight Show 'winning' (beating Letterman’s Late Show) is relevant, but in television, 'winning' matters only for PR bragging rights, and of course to the egos of the players involved, which Variety did point out. (In baseball winning is what matters, in television it’s how many runs you score, i.e. your ratings). I’ll be the first to admit that we play up the horserace that is TV ratings more than just about any site out there, but I remind people that it’s all for fun and reader motivation (which helps our business), and doesn’t really matter to the television business. The absolute ratings, and their ups and downs, matter." (TVBytheNumbers)



(image via NYSD)

"The city became very quiet by noontime Friday. On Friday night I went to dinner with friends at Le Cirque. I had the Trout dish preceded by the Le Cirque salad – one of my favorites. Excellent dining in the tall, elegant Adam Tihany designed room; it was a quintessential New York evening. The dining room is run by Mario for whom the customer is always right, and to whom he (as well as the entire Maccioni dynasty) is always welcoming. Conversation that night was world financials, impending wars, and gossip was about the personal extravagance of local hedge fund richies. This was followed by the most stupendous desserts that shut everybody up and focusing." (NYSocialDiary)



"Ever wonder why premium movie channels (your HBOs and the like) get top-shelf Hollywood movies not long after their DVD release but yet you're still stuck streaming Mystery Science Theater 3000's greatest hits on Netflix? That situation could be changing thanks to a deal with Relativity Media, who you may not have heard of before but has had a hand in the production and distribution of big Hollywood flicks like 300 and A Serious Man. The deal with Netflix will bring some of the company's movies to Watch Instantly within months of their DVD release, avoiding the usual multi-year exclusivity window that pay networks usually require. Right now this deal only covers 14 movies over the next year (of which only The Fighter, Skyline, Movie 43, and Season of the Witch are mentioned), but it establishes Netflix as a player in this market, pitting itself against HBO and Showtime for first distribution of premium content to the small (but ever growing) screen." (Endgadget)



"The PG-13 Eclipse flexed major muscles with a stellar $68.5M on Wednesday becoming the second largest opening day in box office history trailing just the $72.7M Friday of The Twilight Saga: New Moon from last November. Eclipse set a new benchmark as the widest release ever playing in 4,468 locations. The four-day weekend average hit $18,465. Exit polls showed a broadening of the audience with the new pic's crowd being 65% female compared to 80% for New Moon. Eclipse was also the first in the series to play on IMAX screens which helped out the grosses too. That format has pulled in a remarkable $9M to date from 193 playdates ... Bumped down to number three over the holiday weekend was Toy Story 3 which pulled in an estimated $42.2M in its third frame. The Disney/Pixar sensation watched its cume soar to an amazing $301.1M putting it at number 35 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters behind the $302M of 2009's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Toy Story 3 may still reach the $400M barrier." (BoxOfficeGuru)



"Welcome to the era of the algorithm as editor. For as long as hot lead has been used to make metal type, the model for generating news has been top-down: editors determined what information was important and then shared it with the masses. But with the advent of technology that allows media companies to identify what kind of content readers want, that model is becoming inverted. The latest and perhaps broadest effort yet in democratizing the news is under way at Yahoo, which on Tuesday will introduce a news blog that will rely on search queries to help guide its reporting and writing on national affairs, politics and the media." (NYTimes)



"Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Obama sat down together at the White House Tuesday for a visit that held considerable symbolic importance. One of the main goals for the two heads of state? A joint photo -- the first since a tense meeting two months ago during which the men never appeared before news cameras. The public show of unity matters for the delicate Middle East peace process and for domestic political consumption on both sides. Of immediate concern to the Democratic Party is the effect a perceived rift could have on the midterm elections, as Republicans angle to use any perceived rupture with Netanyahu to argue that Obama is insufficiently committed to Israel. Netanyahu arrived at the White House a few minutes before 11 a.m., having been driven the short distance from Blair House in a two-car motorcade. He entered the main West Wing entrance, followed shortly after by his entourage of aides." (Ann Korbluth/WashPo)



"On paper, Sotheby’s and Christie’s end-of-season evening contemporary sales (28 and 30 June) look broadly similar. Both sales’ totals came in at a similar level and at the low end of expectations— ($62,238,590 USD) at Sotheby’s against an estimate of £38.3m-£52.8m; £45.6m at Christie’s against an estimate of ($60,421,405 USD)-($85,710,564 USD)—and with 83% and 84% of works sold respectively. But perhaps the most telling statistic is that while Sotheby’s sale showed a healthy 60% improvement on the previous year’s equivalent sale, Christie’s managed to beat the nervous 2009 market by a whopping 139%. While the bidding levels couldn’t match the excitement of New York’s contemporary sales in May and are still nowhere near the contemporary market’s boom days, there was a buzz in Christie’s saleroom that had failed to materialise at Sotheby’s earlier in the week. 'They had a more curated, cohesive and stronger sale which was reflected in the bidding,' said New York art adviser Kim Heirston straight after the Christie’s auction." (TheArtNewspaper)



"Industry power players are getting ready for the annual post-July 4 tradition known as summer camp for moguls. Several hundred media and tech execs, financial types, agents, lawyers and assorted sports, entertainment and political stars are trekking to a relatively out-of-the-way retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, to talk shop and enjoy outdoor and social activities at an annual gathering organized by investment bank Allen & Co. Private jets will line up in this mountain resort as a substantial number of the media mighty, in many cases with family in tow, are expected to attend the 28th edition of the event. One habitue who is not expected to attend is Viacom and CBS chairman Sumner Redstone, though the men who run the businesses day-to-day, CBS president-CEO Leslie Moonves and Viacom president-CEO Philippe Dauman, are planning to be among the returning bigwigs. So is former MTV and Viacom head Tom Freston, who will fly in from Africa .. Among other topics expected to come up: the mergers and acquisitions landscape, especially the looming Comcast-NBC Universal deal; the future of 3D film and other content; retransmission and TV network carriage-fee disputes; and digital media strategies and business models." (THR)

Taking A Break

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Be back Tuesday with fresh content. Until then, Enjoy your Fourth,

R

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"And the world’s richest individual is . . . Carlos Slim. According to Sentidocomun, a respected website that carries economic and business news from Mexico, the country’s telecommunications magnate continues to occupy the top slot with a personal net worth of $59.3bn by the end of the second quarter of this year. Sentidocomun’s calculation is interesting for several reasons. One is that the website calculates Mr Slim’s net worth every three months instead of annually in the case of Forbes. Another is that the figure is consistently higher than that of Forbes. Eduardo García, founder of Sentidocomun, says that the difference almost certainly lies in the fact that his calculation includes the dividends Mr Slim receives from his shareholdings whereas Forbes’ figure does not." (FT)



"Naomi Campbell has been officially ordered by subpoena to testify at the international war crimes tribunal ...Campbell, who went to Cipriani's restaurant in London last night with her Russian boyfriend Vladimir Doronin and was seen leaving a hotel today in a car, is guaranteed to liven up the first trial of a former African head of state by an international tribunal." (DailyMail)



"It was Andy Warhol who x-marked the point of impact where celebrity and mortality meet in head-on collision, spilling blood and tabloid ink. With his multiple silkscreens of Jacqueline Kennedy in veiled mourning and his portrait series of Marilyn Monroe (begun within weeks of Monroe’s fatal overdose, in the summer of 1962, the art historian Thomas Crow reminds us), Warhol perceived that in the age of Hollywood and mass media the front-page deaths of Pop icons aren’t one-day headlines—they forever flash before our eyes, like newsclips or movie close-ups in endless, monotonous replay. That very monotony—the grainy repetition, the bland detachment, the blank emotion—exerts a compulsive force that eludes closure, feeding an addiction that gets us no deeper into the mystery of Marilyn Monroe’s platinum martyrdom or the lunky slack of Elvis’s jaw. Warhol made celebrity death seem both momentous and mundane. With Warhol no longer around to lacquer the beautiful dead, the culture has produced an unlikely successor, a tenacious sea dog who always sounds as if he’s been eating crackers: CNN host Larry King, whose Larry King Live has become an institution—the funeral parlor of the gods. Post-Warhol, King has assumed the indispensable role of designated mourner to the stars, tollbooth collector at the last stop before the Hereafter, pallbearer beyond compare. Who elected Larry King America’s grief counselor?" (James Wolcott/ Vanity Fair)



"The most striking characteristic of the fictional works of Vladimir Nabokov is uncanniness ... Nabokov’s singular prose style burnishes the commonplace world so that genies jump out of it, and the reader’s response depends on whether he is willing to be magicked away into a realm that he knows well and yet feels not quite at home in. No doubt Nabokov’s literary sensibility was to some degree formed by his own forced transmigration from what seems to have been truly an idyllic childhood in prerevolutionary Russia to, first, war-torn Western Europe and then onward to America where, seemingly to his surprise, he found, for a time, a new world even more congenial than the old one he had left." (NYRB)



"People used to say ‘You know that girl is after Virgil’ and I used to say ‘Oh, good for her!’ I never thought about it because for one thing I was very busy. I had my job for all my life. And I’ve had my own … sort of … identity. And also I got sick when I was 29 with all those cancer operations, so I wanted something for him to do while I was away in the hospital! He was a wonderful husband and father." (Interior designer Betty Sherrill/ NYSocialDiary)



"On Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi's main drag, the Museum of the Soviet Occupation stands right across from Georgia's national parliament. Constructed in 2006, the museum takes visitors through the history of Georgia's encounter with the Soviet Union, from the Red Army's invasion in 1921, through the mass murder of the Georgian political and cultural leadership over the following decades, all the way up to the end of the Cold War and Georgia's declaration of independence in 1991. Not long after the museum opened, then Russian President Vladimir Putin complained about it directly to his Georgian counterpart, the young and exuberantly pro-Western Mikheil Saakashvili, protesting what he considered to be its anti-Russian tone. After all, he pointed out, some of the most ruthless figures in the Soviet hierarchy -- including Joseph Stalin and Lavrenty Beria -- were themselves Georgian. Saakashvili responded sarcastically that Russia was free to open a museum to memorialize Georgian oppression of Russians, and that he would even donate the funds." (ForeignAffairs)



"The 10 states that fill out the top ranks of this year's Failed States Index -- the world's most vulnerable nations -- are a sadly familiar bunch. Shattered Somalia has been the No. 1 failed state for three years running, and none of the current top 10 has shown much improvement, if any, since FOREIGN POLICY and the Fund for Peace began publishing the index in 2005. Altogether, the top 10 slots have rotated among just 15 unhappy countries in the index's six years. State failure, it seems, is a chronic condition. This year's index draws on 90,000 publicly available sources to analyze 177 countries and rate them on 12 metrics of state decay -- from refugee flows to economic implosion, human rights violations to security threats. Taken together, a country's performance on this battery of indicators tells us how stable -- or unstable -- it is. And unfortunately for many of the 60 most troubled, the news from 2009 is grave." (ForeignPolicy)

Travelling Denim

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'Traveling Denim' is a short, interesting film by Takayuki Akachi which documents how a pair of jeans fade and wear out over the course of a two year trip across fifty countries.

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"Here is the problem I have with the Republican approach. Yes, they are right that it is not good to have a war policy the military doesn't like. And I think there is a good argument to be made against the Obama deadline. That said, just because the military is strongly against an approach doesn't mean the approach is wrong. For example, in World War II, the U.S. military, from Marshall on down, vigorously opposed Operation Torch, the U.S.-led invasion of North Africa. They suspected FDR backed it for base political reasons. Yet in retrospect, the move made good military sense. The U.S. military had a lot to learn and needed to do a couple of these major movements -- Africa and Sicily -- before crossing the Channel. Had they tried to send a force across the Channel in 1942, or even in 1943, I think the landings might have been disastrous and demoralizing. And so the war might have gone on a year or two longer. Likewise, in military terms, MacArthur might have been right during the Korean War in recommending blockading Chinese ports and bombing Chinese cities. Yet President Truman correctly concluded that the American people had no interest in going to war with China, and that MacArthur was way out of touch with the American people." (Thomas E. Ricks/ForeignPolicy)



"He's gotta keep his birdies away from his cubs. Tiger Woods has been banned from bringing his floozies near his two kids under a divorce agreement, Britain's Sun newspaper reports. In exchange, his ex, Elin, who'll be getting $750 million, has to keep her trap shut. Elin gets to keep their $4.5 million house in Windermere, Fla., plus an apartment in Stockholm and a farm nearby. Tiger gets the $75 million Jupiter, Fla., estate, and his $3 million apartment in LA. 'Everything's signed,' a pal told the Sun, adding that the paperwork will be finalized in Orlando within a week. Elin will get physical custody of the kids, but both parents will get to make decisions about their futures. Tiger will get to see them for up to half of each week." (PageSix)



"An international court Thursday subpoenaed reluctant supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify this month in the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, warning her she could be jailed for up to seven years if she refuses. The Special Court for Sierra Leone issued the order forcing Campbell to testify after she avoided prosecutors for a year and made it known she had no wish to be part of the case. She was ordered to appear in court in The Hague on July 29 at 9 am "or to show good cause why you cannot comply with this subpoena.' Refusal could lead to prosecution for contempt, which carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence and a fine of 2 million Sierra Leone leones, or about $510, according to the subpoena released by the court." (AP)



"When I met (Countess LuAnn De Lesseps) she was living in Malta with her husband, an international businessman and hail-fellow-well-met, friends of a mutual friend. It would never have occurred to me that either woman would ever have ended up as national celebrities on television shows. Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minute Fame was still a funny idea. Sort of. I’ve only seen a bit of those shows. LuAnn’s character became what it evidently is, although it’s not personally familiar to me. The LuAnn I met was a wife-companion at the time. They seemed like a cool international, low-key, hip couple. When our friend told me LuAnn was interested in an acting career I was surprised. She struck me as one of those women who was the man’s woman, very cozy and comme il faut, very European sensibility." (NYSocialDiary)



"The 11 people arrested and accused of spying for Russia have titillated the tabloids and reminded Cold War veterans of the good old days. But they won't do much damage to U.S.-Russian relations. In fact, the two governments are getting along much better at the moment. There are three major reasons for this, and all of them have to do with the view from the Kremlin. First, Russia's recently ailing economy is now feeling much better. The financial crisis inflicted more damage on Russia than on most other emerging markets, in part because of a steep drop in oil prices. When Obama first proposed a 'reset' in U.S.-Russian relations, Moscow was hemorrhaging reserves, and Kremlin officials hadn't arrived at any clear idea on what to do about it. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was traveling the country assuring local workers that complacent oligarchs, not state officials, were to blame for the volatility, and that their government would ensure that all would again be well. President Dmitry Medvedev and his more western-oriented advisors were beginning to look like convenient scapegoats should the public become restive and Putin run out of businessmen to punish. Things have changed. The economy has picked up thanks to some skillful economic management and a rise in oil prices out of the danger zone. Second, Russia is feeling much better about its neighborhood." (ForeignPolicy)



"Clubbing in Ibiza is EXPENSIVE! How expensive? I'm not exactly sure. You can pay at the door. Or buy a package, so when you fly from the U.K. for the weekend, admittance is included. Or you can be like me and get on the guest list for the V.I.P. area, allowing you to breeze through the entrance for nary a dime, and then sit down on a couch and get nicked for expenses so grand you want to cozy up to Live Nation. It's kind of like Vegas. You know, those parties with 'bottle service'. Which is a euphemism for very expensive alcohol included. So we march into Pacha on Monday night, feeling like kings, sit down in our couches and are immediately served a tray of water, juice and Grey Goose vodka on ice. Price? 400 Euros. That's $500. More, actually. Order another bottle of vodka, which does come in a lit bowl, and you're in for another 300 Euros. Who can do this every night? Russians. The truly rich. Which there's no shortage of." (LefsetzLetter)



"Just because Eliot Spitzer will co-host a primetime show on CNN doesn't mean he's given up his dream of a political comeback. Sources say the disgraced ex-governor, who had to quit once he was revealed to be a regular customer of prostitutes, sees the TV gig as a way to repair his reputation. 'He thinks that after he's on air a few months, he'll become a familiar face and the scandal will fade away,' said an insider. But upstate voters are less forgiving, and Spitzer knows he can't win a statewide office. 'His plan is to run for mayor when Mike Bloomberg's third term ends in 2013,' our source said.' (PageSix)



"CNN's Anderson Cooper picked up yet another award for his Haiti earthquake coverage on Sunday. This one -- the LA Press Club's Presidents Award -- was presented to him by Sean Penn." (TVNewser)



"My last week in London and it is just as well. One more would most likely kill me. The least frantic night was the one that Simon Phillips and Roger Moore threw in Harry’s Bar for Unicef, as worthy a charity as there is, following 'Masterpiece' at the former Chelsea Barracks. I sat next to Britt Ekland, still sexy and still working, but my high moment was finally meeting Sir Roger’s youngest son, Christian." (Taki Theodoracopulos)



"In the four weeks that Jay Leno’s Tonight Show overlapped with Conan’s on a calendar week basis (2010 vs. 2009) he’s finished behind Conan. However, that was during the 'premiere' phase for Conan. It was the fifth week of Conan’s run in the summer of 2009 when he settled near his 'hubbub free' ratings level of between a 1.0 and 1.1 adults 18-49 rating. If Jay can hold at the 1.0 adults 18-49 rating he scored last week (June 21-25), he’d tie Conan’s ratings for much of the summer. Stay tuned. The folks dwelling on Leno beating Letterman (which he did again last week) miss the point that beating the competition is important only in press releases (and to sites like ours that focus on the horserace) not to the network’s business. What matters to NBC are a show’s absolute ratings (and their trend) which correlate to its advertising potential. NBC’s ad revenue is based on the Tonight Show’s ratings, not whether it beat the Late Show or not." (TVBytheNumbers)