Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"When the prince was the ambassador he was the toast of Washington, and plenty of toasts there were. Bandar bin Sultan smoked fine cigars and drank finer Cognac. For almost 30 years as Saudi Arabia’s regal messenger, lobbyist, and envoy, he told amazing stories about politicians and potentates, some of which, surprisingly, were true. Washington journalists loved him. Nobody had better access to more powerful people in higher places, or came with so much money, so quietly and massively distributed, to help out his friends. Over the years, Bandar arranged to lower global oil prices in the service of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and both the Bushes. At the behest of the CIA’s Bill Casey, and behind the back of Congress, Bandar arranged for the Saudis to bankroll anti-Communist wars in Nicaragua, Angola and Afghanistan. He was thick with Dick Cheney, and he was so tight with the George H.W. Bush clan—the father, the mother, the sons, the daughters—that they just called him 'Bandar Bush.' Now, the prince is a spy, or, more precisely, the master spy of the Middle East. He is the point man for a vast Saudi program of covert action and conspicuous spending that helped overthrow the elected Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt and is attempting to forge a new “Army of Islam” in Syria. Without understanding the man and his mission, there’s no way, truly, to understand what’s happening in the world’s most troubled region right now. Bandar’s goal is to undermine Iranian power: strip away Tehran’s allies like Assad and Hezbollah; stop the Shiite mullahs from acquiring nuclear weapons; roll back their regional designs; and push them out of office if there’s any way to do that. At the same time, he aims to crush the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni organization that pays lip service to democracy and is fundamentally anti-monarchy. The Bandar program makes for some interesting alliances. Never mind that there’s no peace treaty between Saudi Arabia and Israel, in these parts, as they say too often, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and Bandar has become the de facto anti-Iran ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin 'Bibi'Netanyahu. They are 'curiously united,' says historian Robert Lacey, author of Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia. Bandar has always been inclined to defy conventions and bend rules. 'Bandar is a man with chutzpah,' says Lacey. In recent months, echoing Bibi, Bandar has let it be known that one of the biggest obstacles to his goals is U.S. President Barack Obama. And Bandar reportedly told European diplomats last month that Saudi Arabia would make a 'major shift' away from its longstanding alliance with the United States." (TheDailyBeast)

"This is a column I have put off for weeks, because it makes me sad to write it. And ultimately, it begs an answer, which I am not sure I have. But with the year ending, I can no longer avoid it. After decades of writing about television and media, this is the year that I have lost faith in two TV news institutions in which I have long believed: '60 Minutes' and CNN. Actually, it was more than believed in the case of '60 Minutes.' The CBS newsmagazine was true north on the compass of TV journalism for me — proof that doing good journalism could also be good business in the world of commercial TV. As is usually the case with loss of faith, it didn’t happen overnight. These days, everyone is ripping '60 Minutes' for the Lara Logan report on Benghazi that it had to retract in November, the infomercial-like report Charlie Rose did earlier this month with Jeff Bezos about his drone delivery plans for Amazon, and correspondent John Miller’s in-the-tank piece last week on the National Security Agency. In the case of the latter two, it wasn’t just that they were beneath the usual standards of '60 Minutes,' they were beneath the standards of shows like 'Access Hollywood' or 'Entertainment Tonight,' which will do anything to gain access to people they think viewers will tune in to see. At least, with the Hollywood shows they make no pretense of doing journalism. But the seeds of trading integrity for access were sown long before this year at '60 Minutes.' After decades of celebrating the newsmagazine, which I regularly described as the most successful show in the history of TV because of its long record of commercial and journalistic success, I started questioning it in 2008 shortly after the election of President Barack Obama." (David Zuwarik)

"Some economists dislike Christmas. They allege that it 'destroys value,' which is, in Econoland, the first and only sin. The economist Joel Waldfogel, author of Scroogenomics, goes so far as to contend that the winter holiday season is 'an orgy of value destruction.' Waldfogel’s main concern is that the value of gifts to their recipients is typically far lower than the money that was spent on them. He found that of the $65 billion spent on winter holiday gifts in 2009, about 20 percent was wasted, in the sense that the gifts were worth that much less to the recipient than they cost. And indeed, it is an inescapable fact of life that people who receive holiday gifts often don’t much like what they get. If you’ve ever been presented with a sweater that you would never wear in public or electronic equipment whose purpose escapes you, you will understand what Waldfogel is talking about.
In hard economic times, when both the government and ordinary people are trying desperately to save money, this is a sobering analysis. We don’t propose that Congress should try to solve the debt crisis by requiring people to give holiday season money to the Treasury Department rather than spending it on presents. But mis-giving does no good for anyone, and we have a few ideas about how to make it through the season a bit more easily. IT HAS PROBABLY already occurred to you that the economic analysis of gift-giving reflects an incomplete understanding of the purpose of gifts, which involve relationships, as well as commodities, and which provide value not only to the recipient but also to the giver. Gifts represent messages—'signals,' in social science parlance—from giver to recipient. The signals tend to differ for individual givers and receivers, which explains why there are no simple answers to standard holiday etiquette questions, such as whether it is OK to give cash. Cash is best for some relationships but highly inappropriate for others. If you give your nephew $75, he’ll probably be thrilled. If you give your boss $75, it’s just weird. Gifts also serve as investments in relationships. When interpreted this way, the destruction of value can be part of the very essence of gift-giving. If I give you a $50 gift card for Best Buy and you give me a $50 e-certificate for Amazon, economists would tolerate the exchange, since no destruction of wealth has occurred. However, very little investment has occurred, either. Suppose instead that I give you an expensive sweater that you find loathsome, and you give me a fancy travel case for which I have no use. True, each of us might think that the other has terrible taste. But we will certainly notice the effort and money that went into the purchase. In fact, destroying value in an exchange of overpriced gifts can increase the likelihood that our relationship will endure. If we weren’t committed to the relationship, why would we waste the money? The absurd tension associated with gift-giving begins early in life." (TNR)

"By now, virtually every film critic has offered up a top 10 list surveying the year in cinema. But what about the rest of the film industry? Countless distributors, programmers, publicists and other film professionals see hundreds of new movies each year. So Indiewire has made it a tradition to give them some space in this conversation. Here are some of the most influential indie film people working today weighing in with their favorites of the year. In addition to inviting them to provide their top 10 lists of film and TV, we also asked participants to share their new year resolutions as well as what they're anticipating in 2014." (IndieWIRE)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"The story of how the Obama administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agencies tasked with implementing the Affordable Care Act got it so wrong is still unfolding. Much of the blame has to fall on an insular White House that didn’t want to hear about problems, and another chunk has to land on CMS, which instead of hiring a systems integrator, whose job it would have been to ensure that all the processes feeding into healthcare.gov worked together, kept that role for itself. As anyone who has worked with the federal government on such projects knows, it is utterly inept when it comes to technology. 'The government continues to struggle with how best to acquire the expertise to integrate technology,' says Stan Soloway, the C.E.O. of the Professional Services Council, which represents contractors who work with the government. Soloway has a scary stat, which is that of the 80,000 information-technology workers in the federal government, for every one person under 30, there are 10 people over 50. That lack of expertise explains why in building healthcare.gov, the government turned to industry contractors; in particular, to CGI Federal, a subsidiary of CGI Group, a Canadian company. To those uninitiated in the dark art of government contracting, it seems scandalous that CGI, a company most Americans had never heard of, a company that is not located in Silicon Valley (where President Obama has plenty of Internet superstar friends who could have formed a dazzling brain trust to implement his signature legislation) but rather in Montreal, could be chosen as the lead contractor for the administration’s most important initiative. While right-wing news outlets have focused on the possible relationship between Toni Townes-Whitley, senior vice president for civilian-agency programs at CGI Federal, and Michelle Obama, both of whom were 1985 Princeton graduates, CGI’s selection is probably more an example of a dysfunctional system than it is a scandal. 'A lot of the companies in Silicon Valley don’t do business with the government at that level [the level required for federal contracting],' explains Soloway. 'It is very burdensome, and the rules make it very unattractive.' Indeed, government contractors have to meet a whole host of requirements contained in a foot-thick book, including cost accounting and excessive auditing, to prove that they are not profiting too much off the American taxpayer." (VanityFair)

"None of us knew whom 'Justine Sacco' was, before she tweeted the racism heard round the world, and so there is (or will be) the urge to step back from the text itself—the tweet in question—and talk about her. Who she is, and what she is doing, and how she will suffer, or what she meant, and all that. In fact, there is no #HasJustineLandedYet without imagining her, without picturing (and enjoying) the spectacle of this clueless racist on an 11 hour plane journey, obliviously floating through the friendly skies while the world seethes; the whole thing is only interesting because we know something she doesn’t, because of the suspense of waiting for the big reveal. And the more we make it about her—thereby transforming this event from which her absence was the crucial thing—the more we can only become sympathetic, or at least less cruel: if she’s a person, she’s a flawed person, yes, but she’s not the racist caricature she became in our imaginations. If she is more than the text of her tweet, then our reaction to the text of her tweet comes to feel wrong, cruel, excessive, ugly.And that’s fine! While she was still in #HasJustineLandedYet, she didn’t really exist. She was a joke. When she landed, she became a real person (to us). And there’s nothing particularly pretty about many thousands of people shaming and humiliating a single person, who they don’t know; whether or not the shame and humiliation is justified, it’s nevertheless unsettling to realize how irrelevant the facts of the matter actually turned out to be. She could be the worst person in the world, or she could be the sympathetic possible version of herself—since the material in question will only allow so much sympathy—but since her absence from the drama was the key thing, it really doesn’t matter at all. She, herself, is irrelevant, and so there’s an arbitrariness to the spectacle that is, I’ll say again, unsettling, if we can see ourselves in her shoes: your good intentions, who you really are, will not save you. The only thing that mattered, in the event, were the words she wrote in a tweet, which were judged, found guilty, and granted no appeal, all without any opportunity to face her accuser." (TheNewInquiry)

"Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom's origin story is murky. Were she and Deen dating? They were not. Was the tape stolen? It was not. Was this, as she told Dr. Phil, a private video made for her own enjoyment, to celebrate her young, nubile body and eroticism co-opted by pornographers looking to make a quick buck? Does that even make sense? Farrah was rumored to have been paid $100,000 before the tape was filmed (It's not unlikely that Deen's base rate was no higher than his standard, which, as of a year ago, was roughly $800 to $1000 a scene), plus a cut of the profits. It's still unknown whether she approached Vivid or they suggested the idea to her, though paparazzi photographers did spot Farrah and her father entering the company's San Fernando Valley offices a few times in the lead-up to the release.And what a release it was! Backdoor Teen Mom crashed the Vivid servers—it was downloaded more than 2 million times during the first six hours of its availability, crushing the record set by Kim Kardashian: Superstar (all of Vivid's 'celebrity' videos add the dubious 'superstar' designation to their titles), but by whom? Who wanted to watch a young mother be sodomized by a bona fide sex professional? Who wanted to see Farrah's breasts in all their immovable (seriously, they don't move) glory? Who wanted to watch her be pressed up against the wall, Deen's hands between her legs manipulating her until—oh, I can't even say it! Which brings us to the point, I suppose: Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom is the only piece of cultural detritus released in 2013 that really, truly shocked me, not because of the acts (while graphic, Farrah and James go through the standard hardcore script familiar to anyone with an Internet connection), but because of who it's really for, why it exists. It's not an arousal product. It's a public stoning." (TheAwl)

"On July 3rd 2013, in a video published on YouTube that was almost immediately taken down, Doku Umarov, the self-proclaimed emir of a Caucasus Emirate in the southwest of the Russian Federation, lifted the moratorium on military operations targeting civilians that he unilaterally declared several months ago. He also called on his troops to do everything possible to oppose and to prevent the proper execution of the Sochi Winter Games in February 2014. The Caucasian leader could not forego this ideal occasion to remind the world of the enduring struggle led first by the Chechens in their fight for independence (1994-2005) and then taken up by a very loose network of Islamist armed groups that thrived in the neighboring republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria. What does this Caucasus Emirate represent today? And what can its fighters do?Russian federal security forces regularly launch operations to eliminate local or regional emirs throughout region. In Dagestan for instance, the 'republic' leader hardly ever survives for more than one year at a time. In Kabardino-Balkaria as well, the insurgency has been successively decapitated in 2010, in 2011 and in 2012, losing not only its leader but all of its deputies as well. In Chechnya, in January 2013, the Gakaev brothers, famous and well-respected warlords among the Chechen guerillas, were killed after six days of fighting. It is said that, almost out of ammunition, they asked their comrades to shoot them. The two brothers were the last of the reputed second-generation combatants who inherited the historical independence struggle, and who in 2013 were still in control of the most important insurgent groups in Chechnya. As for the Ingush, after losing Commandant Magas, their hero, in 2010, who has been imprisoned in Moscow, his successor, Emir Adam was killed in May 2013. The North-Caucasian guerillas, usually loosely structured, are now outright destabilized. To cope with these recurrent strategic losses, the armed groups have retreated to reorganize and recoup their tactical capacity." (GeopoliticalMonitor)

"Remember last year when the first Hunger Games movie came out, and fans of the book were up in arms that Rue was black? If you're part of a group that looks around and sees itself reflected back everywhere, guess what - that's privilege. Being white and having Santa reflected back at you as white for your whole life - that's privilege. Being a dude and assuming that a regenerating, shape-shifting Doctor can only ever be a dude - that's privilege. It doesn't reflect reality, it reflects one very limited - and limiting - version of  reality. That limited version is what leads to few women of color in Hollywood or on SNL; to token Smurfettes in a lineup of dudes and token girl sidekicks in cartoons; to onscreen sex servicing men to be greenlit but onscreen sex servicing women to be censored; to women excluded even from categories we wouldn't want to be in. There's more, of course, but the point is: Yes, Aisha Harris, there can be a Black Santa. And Emma Thompson would make a bitchin' Doctor. Related: 'Given our tendency to police people of colour from coast to coast, be it by banning them from school because of their hairstyles or shooting them dead when they come to our doors asking for help, all spaces in this country are arguably "white spaces". " (Rachel Sklar & Glynnis MacNichol)

"The Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), a non-profit organization working to improve the living conditions for village children in Armenia, hosted its Tenth Annual Holiday Gala on Friday, December 13, 2013 at Cipriani 42nd Street. The event was a resounding success as more than 400 longtime friends and supporters gathered together for an unforgettable evening, and raised nearly $3 million to support COAF's community-led programs. Special guests in attendance included Michael Aram, Patricia Field, Kerry Butler, and Benjamin McKenzie. For the seventh year in a row, Emmy and Tony Award winning actress Andrea Martin entertained guests throughout the evening as the Master of Ceremonies. Of Armenian descent herself, Ms. Martin is a longtime advocate of COAF's work. She is best known for her work on Broadway and roles in the films Wag the Dog and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She received her second Tony Award this year for her role in the critically-acclaimed show Pippin." (NYSocialDiary)

"In late June, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra came within days of foreclosure on its concert hall, an imposing neoclassical structure that opened in 2006. Designed by a national architecture firm that specializes in faux-historical buildings, and costing $123.5 million, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, with its massive columns and impressive portico, was meant to give one of this country’s finest regional orchestras cultural and civic gravitas.1 But in March, leaders of the institution decided that they could no longer afford the interest rates on a letter of credit, and effectively threatened to default on their mortgage. A confidential agreement, brokered by wealthy symphony supporters, saved the orchestra from homelessness, but the situation remains bleak. In recent years, the Nashville Symphony has been running deficits of $10 to $20 million a year, and a contract with the musicians is about to expire. If recent history is any guide, negotiations will be complex and rancorous.It has been a dark few years for this country’s orchestras. In the past season, a bitter strike in San Francisco and a lockout in Minneapolis led to cascading cancellations, including of the San Francisco Symphony’s East Coast tour. Since the economic crisis of 2008, bankruptcies have afflicted orchestras around the country, leading to the closure of the Honolulu, Syracuse, and Albuquerque symphonies, and in April 2011 came the stunning news that one of the country’s 'Big Five,' the Philadelphia Orchestra, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Some of those groups reorganized, or opened in new forms, and Philadelphia emerged from bankruptcy in July 2012 with a hiring freeze, ten fewer players, and a 15 percent pay cut for the remaining ones.No surprise, then, that many of the attendees at the recent annual meeting of the League of American Orchestras seemed in the grip of a strange mania, a mix of bitter gloom and hysterical optimism." (TNR)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"Last week, a study commissioned by the president concluded that the National Security Agency had reached too far into the private lives of Americans. The study, which came after a series of journalistic revelations exposing the agency’s surveillance practices, recommended numerous reforms that would curb the N.S.A.’s prerogatives. President Obama said he was 'open to many' of the suggestions. It was exactly the kind of news-making moment that '60 Minutes' — America’s leading purveyor of serious television news — has often been responsible for creating. For more than four decades, the program has exposed C.I.A. abuses, rogue military contractors and hundreds of corporate villains.  But where was '60 Minutes' on the N.S.A. story? The Sunday before the damning study, the program produced a segment that scanned as a friendly infomercial for the agency. Reported by John Miller, a CBS News reporter, the piece included extensive interviews with Gen. Keith Alexander, the director of the N.S.A.  In a scene that served as something of a metaphor for the whole segment, the producers negotiated access to the Black Chamber, a supersecret area where the nation’s top code breakers work. The door is briefly opened, we see a deserted office hall that looks like any other and then the door is closed. We get a look in, but we learn nothing. Coming as it does on the heels of the now-discredited Benghazi report — in which '60 Minutes' said it was fooled by an eyewitness who was apparently nothing of the kind — the N.S.A. segment raises the question of whether the program has not just temporarily lost its mojo, but its skepticism as well." (David Carr)

"A few weeks ago, I had a drink with my friend Justine Sacco and we talked about what makes for a good Tweet. Justine is an easy person to like — frank, funny, quick to laugh. To a reporter, she’s the kind of flack who’s all too rare, the kind who doesn’t stop being a person when she badges in for the day at work. Although a tough and forceful advocate for her employers, I could trust her not to waste my time or feed me a line, even when we found ourselves at cross purposes. While we’ve never hung out socially, I’ve always enjoyed the occasional lunch or drink we’d have to catch up. It was over such a drink a few weeks ago that the subject of Twitter came up. Although she’d been using the service for several years, Justine was still figuring out its nuances. One thing she’d noticed was that people seemed to like the Tweets that were just a little bit risque or outrageous. She mentioned a recent post about Jimmy Fallon seeming like a 'grateful lover,' which had gotten a strong response. I flashed back to this conversation on Friday after Justine set off an avalanche of fury — on Twitter, on Facebook and in the news media across the globe — by tweeting, 'Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!' In the many, many blog posts and social media threads that ensued, 'racist' was the word that was most frequently used to characterize this joke. That was not my reaction. I interpreted it as a self-deprecating joke about white guilt and Western privilege — about the sheepish feeling of being physically close to tragedy while remaining safe in an economic and cultural bubble. Others have told me they read it much the same way, even without knowing the author. “I think she was more mocking the aloofness white people can have on this issue, not celebrating that aloofness,' says one friend." (Jeff Bercovicci)

"I go to this swanky Beverly Hills party, and there is Steve Martin. An actor that I have never particularly cared for.  Anyway, to my surprise he appears to be paying attention to me. Every time I glance up, he is looking directly at me. This is the oddest thing, but it has happened once before, with a famous tennis player, so it is not entirely outlandish, I assure myself. At one point he sidles past me while I speak to someone. He moves by me very slowly; I do not look at him but can tell his eyes are glued to me. Later, I am on the phone with Matilda, and she tells me she knows this guys who sells Steve paintings. She’ll check this out. She calls me back with excellent news: Steve likes English-accented mousy, brainy brunets; I’m his type. Later still she tells me he is shy, that he never approaches girls. He was looking at me. He definitely was looking at me.Matilda says she is going to get me Steve for a husband, that we’re perfect for each other, and that she knows exactly how to pull this off. I say, ‘OK, but go slowly and keep me posted all the way. I have the power to veto any of your choices.’ She agrees. But she is a major con artist, so why do I believe her? I guess it suits me.

Time flies. I’m busy writing my novel, and even though I’ve told all my close friends that I think Steve Martin was looking at me at this party that I went to, it all gradually fades into the background.
Then one morning the phone rings; it’s Matilda. She tells me that she called Steve’s doorman and left Steve a message from me. I know she is kidding, and I am too cool to appear shocked by anything, so I laugh and say, ‘That would be funny.’ And she says, ‘You wouldn’t be mad at me?’ And I reply, ‘No, I would think it was funny, but don’t, whatever you do, don’t do it.’ An hour later the phone rings again. It’s a gentleman claiming to be Steve Martin." (Christina Oxenberg)

"One of Cher’s biggest hurdles early in her ­career was convincing audiences she wasn’t a man, because of her deep-throated delivery, a new book on the iconic singer reveals.The tome from British imprint Plexus also chronicles her relationships with men from ­David Geffen to Gregg Allman, and how, one night, Cher saved a male musician’s life with ­advice from her gynecologist.
Josiah Howard’s 'Cher: Strong Enough,' ­recounts that when the future superstar broke onto the scene as a teen with her older hubby and partner, Sonny Bono, misconceptions were so prevalent that she was a man, a secretary was hired to persuade fans otherwise. 'Just three months after they hit the big time, Sonny and Cher’s . . . secretary was charged with responding to each and every inquiry, even those from fans, to refute the rumor,' the book says. A letter dated Sept. 8, 1965, to a fan reads: 'Cher, we assure you, is a girl. She is 19 years old and happily married to Sonny (who is 25) [Bono was actually 30]. As for Cher’s singing voice being too low: I think you will find that a lot of great female singers have low voices . . . Tell your mom that Cher is just a very slim, very pretty girl with a low voice. I think if you listen closer, you will find a lot of feminine quality in her voice.' In 1974, after Cher had become a star and while she was dating Geffen, one night she found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, the book details. At a party for the Average White Band, guests passed around a drug they thought was cocaine but turned out to be heroin. Drummer Robbie McIntosh died the following day from an overdose. However, Cher had abstained and saved band bassist Alan ­Gorrie’s life by bringing him home and 'following the advice of her gynecologist (her personal physician was unavailable) . . . induced vomiting, applied ice packs to his body and forcibly walked him around, preventing him from losing consciousness and lapsing into a coma.'" (PageSix)

"Then there were the refuse entrepreneurs. The man who used to show up across the avenue every Friday at 1 PM wasn’t there. A young woman (Hispanic) has taken over the station. I’m fascinated by these individuals, as you may have read before. They are taking the bull by the horns, and out there and doing what they have to do to get where they need to get. It used to be called 'doing what it takes.' This young woman is, as you can see, well and adequately, and even fashionably  dressed for this (or any other) task. I noticed her sitting on the doorstep of the apartment building with her shopping cart and her plastic bags. She was waiting. Ten minutes later, the black metal gate of the building next door banged open, and one of the super’s staff started tossing rubbish bags onto the sidewalk. When it was a bag of bottles or cans, he tossed them her way. She’s wearing gloves. She must be young — in her early twenties maybe — because she moves — and especially 'bends'— very quickly and with the automatic agility of youth. She went through each bag with a quickness that articulates focus, very fast, and saving each empty bag with many others in another bag. This went on for almost a half hour. I went back to my desk for ten minutes and when I returned to the window, she was gone. I was thinking about 'where' she was going with her acquisitions — just rubbish, by definition. I had planned go to down and give her a small contribution, in another words, a vote of confidence, but I missed the opportunity." (NYSocialDiary)

"Like 'Jingle Bells' and bad sweaters, 'dealing with family' is a time-honored holiday tradition. And since Christmas is in a couple days, chances are good that you are currently in the midst of that dealing, or at least you will be very soon. This year, though, we can all do more than deal with our family. We can be our best selves and have a drunken blast with them instead. I don't mean that your family holidays should resemble a bachelor party or a dinner thrown by Cher, but by getting drunk together — fun drunk, not sad, depressing drunk — laughter, camaraderie, and hang-over-induced movie marathons should squash out awkwardness, judgment, and boring stories about your uncle's most recent knee surgery. The goal isn't just to get your parents and your siblings sauced (don't just spike the eggnog); it's to wrest control away from your alcoholic aunt or your passive-aggressive grandfather and get everyone onboard with the party plans. They don't have to know the night will end with them taking part in a rousing, drunken rendition of Come All Ye Faithful (even though it will), but they're only going to get there if they start the day with a willingness to have a good time. Your job is merely to encourage that good time by making sure everyone has enough to drink. While every family is obviously different, and will require different levels of coercion, there are five foolproof tactics that will put you on the correct path." (NYMag)

"Very warm for the third week of December in New York, ten minutes after midnight, the day before the Winter Solstice. The weatherman says this next of the woods is going to get even warmer before the weekend’s out. That’s okay; I’ve even got the terrace door open as I write. However, I’m still hoping for a White Christmas (implying the jolly Ho Ho Ho! returning to our lives for no matter how brief a moment.)  This is a moment when New Yorkers are sharing cocktails dinners with friends and neighbors in each others’ houses and apartments and restaurants. For the NYSD, we’re in the catching up mode. For example, last Monday night at Stella 34 Trattoria at Macy’s, overlooking the Empire State Building spire, there was a roast and toast staged by the culinary and philanthropic communities joining the Citymeals-on-Wheels gang along with the just plain foodies to ... celebrate Gael Greene on her 80th birthday. 'I don’t know how this happened so quickly,” said the 'Insatiable Critic,' which was her moniker for forty years in New York magazine before they up and fired her, and she moved her critiques to insatiablecritic.com. 'One evening I was forty and disco-dancing and all men were 26, and then the next ... this frightening big number!' As she was speaking, two towering chocolate birthday cakes, each marked '40,' were being rolled out into the room. No one in the felt frightened, probably even the birthday girl herself. Gael Greene is one of the most prolific and productive writers of her generation here in New York. She’s written seven books, including two best-selling (erotic ) novels, plus a memoir, not to mention her hundreds and hundreds of 'Insatiable…' columns and other articles. She started her journalism career at the New York Post in 1957 when it was the fiefdom of Dorothy (Dolly) Schiff, a forward thinking progressive woman who let her sentiments be known in the press. Greene’s memoir, 'Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess,' documents the 40 year revolution in dining that she was documenting weekly in New York Magazine, the hottest weekly New York magazine of the era. Writing as the anonymous critic she could raise the hackles and flatten the soufflés of even the iciest of restaurateurs with her words." (NySocialDiary)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"Has Barack Obama turned into George W. Bush? This terrible fate, desperately hoped for since the outset of Obama’s presidency by the Bush administration veterans as a kind of vindication fantasy, has become a new conventional wisdom. It has been floated, with varying levels of certainty, by Chuck Todd, Chris Cillizza, Bill McInturff, Ron Fournier, and Politico. It is certainly true that Obama’s approval ratings have fallen to Bush-2005 levels. It’s also entirely possible they’ll fall further still: The administration’s panicky preparations for January suggest the first month of actual Obamacare coverage may be just as chaotic and unpopular as the onset of Medicare Part D. Yet the Bush comparisons state, or imply, broader forces at work than mere sagging approval ratings. They suggest a presidency that has hit a new inflection point beyond which its credibility is severed and its agenda broken. And that conclusion falls apart because it completely misses how power works in the Obama era. If you measure the power of Obama’s presidency as the ability to move his agenda through Congress, his presidency has been dead since Republicans took control of the House in January 2011. If you measure it by his ability to use his popularity to force the opposing party to cooperate, it has literally been dead from the outset. In Obama’s first few weeks, with approval ratings in the seventies, he could not persuade a single House Republican to support a fiscal response to the most dire economic emergency in 80 years. Bush’s power worked very differently. He enjoyed control of Congress for most of his first term and the first two years of his second. What’s more, his opposition party genuinely feared being seen as obstructionist. Substantial minorities of Democrats decided to vote for elements of Bush’s agenda on the calculation that being seen as bipartisan, and winning narrow concessions, made more political sense than opposing Bush. A dozen Democratic senators voted for the Bush tax cuts, and another seven abstained. Democrats supported the porky energy bill, and could have blocked Medicare Part D through a filibuster but decided not to. Republicans like to blame Hurricane Katrina for fundamentally breaking Bush’s presidency. It’s a handy rationalization both for Bush loyalists, who can blame his failure on a single freak event, and for conservatives, who can avoid implicating conservative ideology. (NYMag)





" This Christmas our thoughts need to be with our fellow Christians who are being threatened in the biblical lands. No ifs or buts about it, they are being told to either join the Sunni-led opposition to Assad and renounce Christianity or die. After decades of protection by a secular-leaning dictatorship, the Saudi-financed jihadists are giving ultimatums for a very dark future for Christians. There already has been Christian cleansing in Syria, especially in Homs, where 90 percent of the Christians have fled the city for Assad-controlled areas near the Lebanese border.In Iraq things are not much better. Cities such as Mosul and Tikrit, which is near Saddam’s hometown, were once vital centers of Christianity. No longer. Iraq’s Christian population, estimated to have been 1.5 million, has fallen by half. Thank you George W. Bush, a great Christian thinker, at least in Texas. In Egypt, there are at least seven million Christian Copts who are now treated as third-class citizens and mostly confined to squalid quarters. Things have improved in Egypt since the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood gang, but rest assured that if the Salafists have their say, and they still do with the military in power, the Christians are doomed in the long run." (Taki)




"Wednesday, it was Michael’s. For those who can’t stay away, it was a big day. It was also the last Michael’s Wednesday this year. Next Wednesday is Christmas and the following is New Year’s. And then we make resolutions and start all over again. I was lunching with Rikki Klieman, who is known to the world for her frequent appearances first on Court TV, and now on CBS This Morning as a legal analyst. She is also well known in New York and Los Angeles as the wife of Bill Bratton, the newly appointed Police Commissioner under incoming Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Bratton has previously served as Commissioner of the Boston Police Department; once before in New York (1994-96) and Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 2002 to 2009. The Klieman-Brattons married in 1999. They’ve had a social profile in New York since day one. We’ve been in the same room together numerous times although I’d never had a real conversation with them.I say that only because they’ve always been a 'couple' in my perception – versus a single (Mr. Big and the Little Woman, etc.). It occurred to me as I was writing this that that “perception” of mine, of them, is probably the result of a very dynamic duo. Because what I learned at lunch is how full both their lives are with their own personal responsibilities and objectives.Because Rikki Klieman is nothing if not dynamic. We’d known each other on a 'hi' basis for some time, but never to have a conversation. Several weeks ago we were seated next to each other at a dinner at Shirley Lord’s. That led to this lunch. This is one of the wonders of New York – the constant connecting.She’s a fascinating lady. Forthright, upfront; a girl from Chicago. Born into very modest circumstances, she went to Northwestern where she majored in theatre, then to law school at Boston University, then on to an appointment as assistant DA for Middlesex County (Mass.); then joining a law firm in Boston, then starting her own private practice. I could just see her in the courtroom; no kidding." (NYSocialDiary) "Mariah Carey belted out her hit songs for Angolan despot José Eduardo dos Santos and his family last weekend for more than $1 million — even though she apologized in 2008 for performing for Moammar Khadafy’s family, a human-rights watchdog says. A smiling Carey posed for a picture with the Southern African dictator, his daughter and his wife.'I am happy to be here in this room, and I am honored to share this show with the president of Angola,' the pop singer said at the gala, according to the Human Rights Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on protecting and promoting human-rights globally. The foundation blasted her for taking payment from a 'tyrant.' 'Mariah Carey can’t seem to get enough dictator cash,' the group’s president, Thor Halvorssen, said." (PageSix)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"As we wrap up our publishing schedule for 2013, we looked into the Crystal Ball to offer some predictions for next year. While the picture is still a little hazy for the 2014 midterms, we’ve got some other prognostications related to the political year to come and some hints about what you should expect. 1. At least one additional U.S. senator will announce his or her retirement in 2014. We’re giving ourselves some wide latitude here, because it’s possible the retirement will come after the 2014 midterms. But we suspect at some point next year another senator will decide to quit; the question is, will it be an incumbent who determines he or she cannot win in 2014 — similar to ex-Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who retired in late 2011 after realizing his perilous political position — or will it be someone who retires for another reason — like ex-Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who left the game in early 2012 because of frustration despite having an easy road to another term.While it’s not technically a retirement, another important development shook the Senate Wednesday evening: Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is reportedly going to be nominated as ambassador to China. Baucus had previously announced his retirement, but this would open up his seat well in advance of the midterm election. After Baucus would resign, Gov. Steve Bullock (D) would then reportedly appoint Lt. Gov. John Walsh (D) to fill out the rest of Baucus’ term. Walsh was already running for the seat, and being an incumbent would make him a stronger candidate both against his main primary opponent, ex-Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger (D), and Rep. Steve Daines (R), the likely Republican nominee and current general election favorite. Obviously, there are a lot of moving parts here, so as of this writing — Wednesday evening — we’re not going to change our rating in this race yet. But provided this scenario unfolds as follows — Baucus resigns, and Bullock appoints Walsh to the seat — we’ll be very tempted to move this race from Leans Republican to Toss-up. 2. There will be at least one surprising result in a Republican Senate primary. Several Republican senators are facing primary challenges next year, and there are also Tea Party insurgents running in other Senate contests who are hoping to win the Republican nomination over more establishment-oriented challengers. Frankly, we think there is a little more smoke than fire in many of these races, but it’s also clear that the battle for the soul of the GOP continues, and that there are several outside groups (like the Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund) that will fund outsider candidates. So expect at least one upset in a Republican Senate primary this year in which either an incumbent senator goes down (like Richard Mourdock’s primary win over then-Sen. Richard Lugar in Indiana last cycle) or an establishment favorite is knocked off before he or she can advance to the general election (such as Sue Lowden’s loss to Sharron Angle in Nevada’s 2010 Senate primary)." (Sabato)

"Patty Hearst’s husband Bernard Shaw, who’d been a highly decorated police officer, died at the age of 68 this week. Shaw, who most recently served as Hearst Corporation’s VP of corporate security, passed away Tuesday in upstate Garrison after a long illness, the company confirmed. A source said he had valiantly battled cancer, and that his family, including his wife and their daughters — Gillian Hearst Simonds and Lydia Hearst-Shaw, as well as Patty’s sister Anne Hearst and other relatives — were with him when he died. The 37-year romance between Hearst and Shaw read like a Hollywood fable. After Patty was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army and arrested for robbing banks for the underground gang, she met Shaw, a San Francisco cop who was hired to guard her while she was out on bail. The two married in 1979 after she was released from prison. 'It was a 30-plus year love story between Patty and Bernard. He was a great guy and had won three awards for valor,; said a family friend. She reportedly would wear a replica of his police badge around her neck after they met. Shaw is also survived by his son Thomas Shaw and daughter Heather Shaw." (PageSix)

"Hallelujah, they finally get it right. I’m not saying Yes doesn’t belong inside, and Deep Purple for the riff to 'Smoke On The Water' alone, but it’s been years since there was no controversy and everyone agreed. Except for maybe Kiss. But the point is there’s no hip-hop, no jazz, no Madonna, no questionables like Patti Smith, everyone is deserving and it’s about time ... LINDA RONSTADT Oh baby don’t it feel like heaven right now/ Don’t it feel like something from a dream The waiting truly is the hardest part. The fact that Linda Ronstadt wasn’t inducted upon initial eligibility is a travesty. That she had to get sick for these moribund men to vote her in… These same men who jerked off to her, who didn’t even need a picture, who could just close their eyes, because she was just that ubiquitous, everyone knew the cute style icon the men wanted to impress and the girls wanted to befriend. Linda Ronstadt was the seventies’ biggest female rock star. Hell, only Zeppelin and the Eagles were in her league. But men hate letting the women inside. Then again, Linda never begged. She snorted cocaine and screwed the desirable people just like the guys. Which is why she was always an insider and the idiots on this committee are not. Because musicians comprise a club, and the fans are not included, not the critics, only the writers, players and singers. They’re who we want to be. And inside the inner sanctum…it’s all jokes and references and life in a lane so fast only the strong survive. If I were Linda Ronstadt I’d give the R&RHOF the middle finger and refuse to show up. But she will. And I know she won’t be conciliatory. I know she’ll tell it like it is. She’s not afraid to be three dimensional, to speak her truth, which is why she’s a star and you’re not." (Bob Lefsetz)

"Black folks upset by the absence of black inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame really shouldn't. I mean is that institution really the place to expect a true representation of artistry by musicians of African descent? As it's name suggest its parameters are defined by 'rock & roll' as documented by Rolling Stone magazine. That's its core. Which means black music is primarily viewed via how it impacted white musicians. R&B, funk, disco, hip hop, etc have always been second class citizens among its voters. Chic and LL would only take a backseat to Kiss in this context. I've actually always been surprised when a worthy black artist makes it into that building in Cleveland. So 'whatever' folks." (Nelson George)

"Brooklyn's Al Goldstein had one of those captivating personalities that it's easy to not recognize is actually the presentation of mental illness until it all collapses and the interior self is revealed. An incredibly intelligent and hilarious man crippled by self-hatred, an inside-out Woody Allen, a lecherous troll from out of the Qumran caves, mid-life Al Goldstein washed up like a whale onto New York's public access channels. There he talked endlessly, lecherously and also quite hilariously, documenting New York City in a way that no one else did.For a man who worked in the industry of hardcore pornography, Al Goldstein apparently only ever spent six days in Rikers, although he was by his account arrested more than 24 times. His early life was at least more interesting than his time at Screw ... In the entwined pornography and publishing businesses, Goldstein acquired an actual fortune, including a townhouse on East 61st Street, and then lost it all. For a period, he was on probation and homeless. He never acclimated to the attention economy. Supported in his final years by Penn Jillette, who kept him in an apartment in Staten Island, he spent his last ten years in ill health and sometimes unhappy circumstances. In 2010, he nearly reconciled with his son but took ill before the meeting could take place. He was also an American hero, and the story of his life is appropriately American-sized." (TheAwl)

"Quite often when I am doing speaking engagements, client briefings or press interviews, I am asked questions like: “Given the events in Syria and Libya, is the jihadist movement stronger than ever?” It is a good question, but it is also one that is not easily answered in a five-second sound bite or a succinct quote for print media -- it really requires some detailed explanation. Because of this, I’ve decided to take some time to provide a more thorough treatment of the subject in written form for Stratfor readers. As I thought through the various aspects of the topic, I came to believe that adequately covering it requires more than one Security Weekly, so I will dedicate a series of articles to it. When gauging the current state of the jihadist movement, I believe it is useful to use two different standards. The first is to take jihadists' goals and objectives and measure their progress toward achieving them. The second is to take a look at insurgent theory and terrorism models to see what they can tell us about the state of jihadist militant networks and their efforts. This week we will discuss the first standard: the jihadists’ goals and objectives. Next week we will discuss insurgency and terrorism theories, and then once we have established these two benchmarks we can use them to see how the various elements of the jihadist movement measure up.There is a widely held narrative that jihadists are merely crazy people who employ violence for the sake of violence. This is clearly false. While there are unquestionably some psychotic and sociopathic personalities within the movement, taken as a whole, jihadists' use of violence -- both terrorism and insurgency -- is quite rational. It is also worth remembering that terrorism is not associated with just one group of people; it is a tactic that has been employed by a wide array of actors. There is no single creed, ethnicity, political persuasion or nationality with a monopoly on terrorism. Jihadists employ terrorism as they do insurgency -- as one of many tools they can use to achieve their objectives. Arguably, the objectives the jihadists are pursuing through the employment of violence are delusional. Although we can question whether or not they will be able to achieve them through violent means, we simply cannot dispute that they are employing violence intentionally and in a rational manner with a view to achieving their stated goals. With that in mind, we will take a deeper look at those objectives.It is very important to understand that jihadists are theologically motivated. In fact, in their ideology there is no real distinction between religion, politics and culture. They believe that it is their religious duty to propagate their own strain of Islam along with the government, legal system and cultural norms that go with it. They also believe that in order to properly spread their strain of Islam they must strictly follow the example of the Prophet Mohammed and his early believers. While all Muslims believe they must follow the Quran and the Sunnah, the jihadists allow very little space for extra-religious ideas and severely limit the use of reason to interpret the divine texts. Historically, after leaving Mecca, Mohammed moved to Medina, where he established the world’s first Islamic polity. He and his followers then launched military operations to raid the caravans of their opponents. Mohammed’s army eventually conquered Mecca and a large portion of the Arabian Peninsula before the Prophet’s death. Within a century of Mohammed’s passing, his followers had forged a vast empire that crossed North Africa and most of Spain to the west, reaching to the borders of China and India in the east. Just as Mohammed and his followers had conquered much of the known world, the jihadists seek to reconquer this empire and then expand it to encompass the earth." (STRATFOR)

Mitt: The Documentary

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"When I heard late last week that Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander—a Republican who was apoplectic about Harry Reid’s changing the Senate’s hoary filibuster rules—had said the majority leader should have the words 'The End of the Senate' etched on his tombstone, I imagined what Reid’s reaction would be: a broad, wry smile.In covering Reid for more than 25 years, I have seen that smile so many times. Reid is the most unconventional of politicians, one who cares little about public perception and delights in infuriating the opposition. He is the kind of guy who might walk up to Alexander and say, 'Lamar, I hope you’ll deliver the eulogy so people really know what I have done.' The former boxer’s ability to absorb blows and, even more importantly, to counterpunch, perhaps with an occasional hit below the belt, are the secrets of his longevity—and no doubt he will deploy them once again as the Senate fights this week over the budget deal. Unlike most of the preening Club of 100, Reid expends little effort tending to his public image. Driving home messages (the Tea Party is destructive) and advancing legislation (the nuclear option) are what energize this tireless son of Searchlight, Nev., a speck of a town outside Las Vegas where Reid’s hardscrabble childhood helped produce a man impervious to most political considerations and virtually immune to criticism. The majority leader is a mélange of contradictions—a Machiavelli with malaprops (otherwise known as Reidisms)—but you can’t understand them just from the vantage point of the theater up on Capitol Hill. I’ve seen them revealed over a quarter century of close observation back in Nevada, where Reid, 74, has always been both a study in outperforming expectations and a political fighter with bare-knuckles ambition. Many still puzzle over this—how Reid can be at once a seemingly soulless manipulator of the process while occasionally revealing deeply held beliefs; a religious man proud of his Mormon faith who has metamorphosed into a social progressive; and an outwardly meek, bland figure whose cutthroat ways make him easily the most feared man in Nevada by politicians of both parties. But Reid being Reid is inevitably on display when he comes back home." (Politico)

"The Condé Nast Christmas party was held Dec. 16 — much later in the season than ever before — without Chairman S.I. Newhouse, Jr., the man who for years had engineered the secretive seating chart that propelled it into one of the most-hyped parties of the season. It is the first time in memory that Newhouse did not attend. That’s apparently because the chairman has quietly retired from day-to-day operations. 'He retired around this time last year,' CEO Charles Townsend told Media Ink, 'although he still owns the company, so I guess you never really retire.'This year the party was held in the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and attendees had to endure a rather lengthy explanation of Egyptian artifacts from the Met’s curator.That’s a departure from its usual roost, a luncheon at the Four Seasons restaurant for top editors, including Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter, Vogue’s Anna Wintour, the New Yorker’s David Remnick and other publishing elite.
Newhouse, 86, is still the titular chairman but has been in declining health during the past few years." (KeithKelly)

"Billionaire New York mayor-for-life Mike Blomberg has a dream: a dream that one day, through sheer spending power alone, he can build an editorial Centrist Dream Team that is as lavishly paid as it is widely ignored. His dream has come true. In The New Republic today, Laura Bennett takes a look at Bloomberg View, the opinion section of Bloomberg News. Bloomberg View is built upon this foundation: It has absolutely no reason to exist, other than the personal preference of Michael Bloomberg. It caters to no existing demand. (There are not reams of traders pounding their Bloomberg terminals each day and crying, "Enough with the financial news, I need some mildly prescriptive Peter Orszag columns about common sense and efficiency!") On top of that, as a rich man's pet project, it does not even have the good fortune to be the pet project of an inherently interesting rich man. An editorial board personally assembled by Larry Flynt might possess a natural public draw. An editorial team personally assembled by Mike Bloomberg just possesses Ezra Klein, on his off days. Bloomberg View is too 'centrist' to attract many readers who are not already likely to be reading Bloomberg for one reason or another. It is not that it lacks quality—some of its columnists are quite good—but that it lacks any real diversity. It offers the reader no potential surprises. Its spectrum of opinions runs from 'we could use some moderate reforms' to 'we could use some other, equally moderate reforms.' As a team, Bloomberg View's stable of writers lacks pizzazz. What they do not lack, thanks to their billionaire patron, is money. " (Gawker)

"Parties are a major part of the New York life. That is not to say everyone’s off to a party, at least not like this character. But they are integral in the commercial life in this center of the world’s commerce. They evoke the excitement that many of us feel living in this extraordinary city of dreams and schemes, of genius and elsewhere. There’s always a possibility that cajoles the imagination before you, and it motivates the invited to become a guest. Monday night there were several I heard about  (not necessarily invited to) in the city. Some of them come with an annual reputation. When I hear about them and am invited, I’m tempted. The problem is geographical. For example, on Monday James LaForce the public relations guru (LaForce & Stevens) and his partner Stephen Henderson give an annual 'come one, come all' at their Chelsea loft. Charlie Scheips, who writes Art Set on the NYSD, loves this party. He left his apartment extra early so he could be there for the very beginning. Evidently they’re practically beating down the doors to get in. Sounds good, no? LaForce and Henderson have kindly invited me more than once but I’ve never got there for one reason or another. I’ve been told (by Charlie) it’s mobbed from Moment One, and stays that way right to the end (9 p.m.)." (NYSocialDiary)

"Due to a broken leg, George Soros has asked for a delay in giving a deposition in his long-running legal battle with his former Brazilian girlfriend. The billionaire investor’s lawyers were in court Tuesday to seek a postponement in the case brought by Adriana Ferreyr, the former actress who is suing Soros for $50 million, claiming he reneged on a promise to buy her a $1.9 million apartment on the Upper East Side. ­Ferreyr said in her 2011 filing that they dated for five years and she was dumped in 2010. She was 27 at the time and Soros was 80. Ferreyr claims he gave her apartment to another girlfriend, Tamiko Bolton, who is now his third wife. Meanwhile, Soros is countersuing Ferreyr for defamation and assault." (PageSix)

"Last night’s episode of 60 Minutes on CBS included what basically amounted to an uncritical commercial for the embattled National Security Agency, led by a journalist who used to be a government colleague. While the show — which has faced recent problems of its own, from the Benghazi debacle to the Amazon drone PR stunt — celebrated its own 'unprecedented access to NSA headquarters,' it’s clear the meeting was on the NSA’s terms. In fact, NSA Director General Keith Alexander 'made the call to invite us in,' a 60 Minutes producer admitted. They pretty much let him say his piece, nodding along excitedly. 'Full disclosure, I once worked in the office of the director of National Intelligence where I saw firsthand how secretly the NSA operates,' said the reporter John Miller at the start of the segment. Then Alexander went right into his pitch: 'The fact is, we're not collecting everybody's e-mail, we're not collecting everybody's phone things, we're not listening to that,' he said. 'Our job is foreign intelligence and we're very good at that.'" (NYMag)

"With Christmas in view I’m reminded of a time with Rachel, eons ago, when I was in Los Angeles. I was renting a bedroom in a mansion halfway up one of the Hollywood canyons. These canyons are a place to run into movie stars as well as hustlers. My roommate, a hustler, was gone on some sort of all-expenses-paid ho vacation with a B-list actor. That first night was eerily quiet i...n the big house and I spent most of it on the phone with Rachel. Rachel and I were in our early twenties and neither of us had anywhere to be. 'Pick me up at LAX!' she commanded and sure enough the next day she flew in from New York City and I fetched her from the airport in the roommate’s navy blue automobile. Rachel is an orphan and ‘family’ is a complicated concept for her. It would be years before she discovered her birthmother was Cuban. But it sure makes sense, if you think of Cubans as good looking, charming, smart and wily. No one is better at crime than Rachel. She is ‘Unflappable’, to the strains of Nat King Cole. She once managed to impersonate the owner of a box at the Ballet. Rachel attended every night of the season, with guests! We lounged around the marvelous spread, petting the doggies and watching TV. But we had no cash and we were getting hungry. 'Prepare the car, Jeeves! I have an idea!' Rachel suddenly said. Off we rumbled to a fancy food store where Rachel’s boss had a house account. We were both ravenous and we picked out many yummy items, including Christmas dinners with all the trimmings. Two overflowing carts later, stuffed with champagne and a feast for a king, we were at the front of the checkout line. 'What’s the drill?' I asked, my appetite tempered by terror. 'My name is Leona!' Rachel whispered. That was the start of the end of me. I began to jitter and sweat and mumble, 'Rachel!' I said. 'What’s your name again?' The cashier began eye-balling us with curiosity. This made me weak at the knees. Realizing my level of liability Rachel shooed me off, dispatching me to the car. 'Get it ready!'" (Christina Oxenberg)

"Saturday night I was going to dinner at La Grenouille with JH and his wife Danielle, and his mother-in-law Kathleen. The reservation was for 8 p.m. Recalling my traffic gridlock a couple weeks before when the weather was clear, I planned to leave a half hour early for what is usually a ten or fifteen minute ride to 52nd and Fifth on a Saturday night. The big traffic is gone by that time of day – with the exception of this specific time of the year when the great Christmas tree is on display at Rockefeller Center only three blocks from the restaurant. This night the problem was getting a cab on East End. But it turned out not to be. I got one in less than five. His meter was off. He told me it was broken. I believed him at first and then it occurred to me that because moving around was going to be a slow process (slippery), he thought he could make a few extra bucks. He quoted me a price: about 30 – 40% above what it would normally be on the meter (for that distance). Naturally I accepted; I was grateful to have a cab. He was a very careful driver too – another plus." (NYSocialDiary)

"Investor James Pattison, owner of the Guinness Book of World Records, has emerged as Canada’s richest person after new information revealed that David K.R. Thomson, heir to the Thomson media empire, owns a smaller stake in his family’s investment company than previously reported.
Pattison’s namesake conglomerate has more than a dozen businesses, including media distribution, grocery stores, outdoor advertising and auto dealerships. He has a fortune of $9.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 'I haven’t done the numbers, so I really don’t know,' Pattison said in a telephone interview yesterday. 'I never pay attention to that.' Thomson owns about 14 percent of Woodbridge, the Ontario-based firm that manages the family’s assets, according to a person familiar with the Thomson family’s finances who asked not to be identified because the company is closely held. Chief among Woodbridge’s assets is a 55 percent stake in Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI), the world’s largest financial data company.  In addition to his stake in Woodbridge, Thomson owns Osmington, a commercial real estate developer, a collection of John Constable paintings and a minority interest in the Winnipeg Jets hockey team. He has a net worth of $4 billion, according to the Bloomberg ranking, which had attributed the entire Thomson family fortune to him since its inception in March 2012." (Bloomberg)

"On the same day that Page Six reported Leonard Lauder, 80, had called off his engagement to Brooklyn Public Library head Linda E. Johnson, the very eligible-again billionaire mogul stepped out solo to a party thrown by Tommy and Dee Hilfiger. Sources said that ladies on the guest list were in a tizzy to get close to Lauder, Estée’s chairman emeritus, at the designer couple’s party in their swanky Plaza penthouse home. The fete was in honor of new Saks Fifth Avenue president Marigay McKee, who has arrived from London giant Harrods. Guests at the chic get-together included billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft, fashion designer Vince Camuto and Theory’s Andrew Rosen." (PageSix)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"Members of the Facebook generation are no strangers to the sensation of feeling a little left out when their friends post from that book party they weren’t invited to, or from someone’s latest transporting trip to the white sands of Tulum. Yet even for those familiar with the concept of social-media envy, Instagram — the highest achievement yet in social-media voyeurism — presents a new form of torture.  On Instagram, there is none of the familiar messiness of Facebook (which bought Instagram last year for about $1 billion) or Twitter, where the torrent of wish-you-were-here-but-not-really posts are lost in a clutter of birthday wishes to Aunt Candace, one-liners about airline food and links to the latest Onion headline or New Republic deconstruction of Obamacare. Instagram, rather, is about unadulterated voyeurism. It is almost entirely a photo site, with a built-in ability (through the site’s retro-style filters) to idealize every moment, encouraging users to create art-directed magazine layouts of their lives, as if everyone is suddenly Diana Vreeland. Mayoli Weidelich, 24, an Internet marketing manager and blogger in Toronto, said she once spent 10 minutes with a friend composing a picture of a margarita glass over a plate of tacos at a Mexican restaurant. The intention was not to show off, Ms. Weidelich said. She was simply following an unspoken rule adopted by Instagram users to avoid populating feeds with unedited, mediocre images. 'My Facebook feed is full of mostly opinionated rants and articles links, neither of which cause any jealousy,' Ms. Weidelich said. 'My Instagram feed, in comparison, is one amazing photo after another.'  Viewers, meanwhile, are expected to let the sumptuous photos wash over them and chip in with comments ('Gorgeous sunset!') and heart-shape 'likes,' which function as a form of social currency, reinforcing the idea that every shot is a performance worthy of applause. The result is an online culture where the ethic is impress, rather than confess. It is as if every last image is designed to call to mind Norman Mailer’s book title, 'Advertisements for Myself.'"  (Alex Williams)

"'The Rich Kids of Instagram' are getting a show on E! documenting their champagne and caviar-filled lives as the network looks to move on from the Kardashians — and it will star Magic Johnson’s flamboyant son E.J. Johnson. E! in January will debut '#Rich Kids of Beverly Hills,' which will follow five filthy rich Los Angeles 20-somethings featured on the popular Tumblr feed #richkidsofinstagram — a collection of Instagram photos featuring the young 1 percenters posing with their expensive cars, boats, clothes, food and drink. While E! insists the show and the blog are not connected, the characters include Dorothy Wang, 25, a self-described 'funemployed' daughter of Beverly Hills business mogul Roger Wang, the billionaire CEO of Golden Eagle International Group; blogger Morgan Stewart, an attractive blonde 'socialite' who runs a site, the charmingly called ­boobsandloubs.com; Stewart’s boyfriend, real estate executive and scion Brendan Fitzpatrick; interior designer Roxie Sowlaty; and singer Jonny Drubel. Openly gay Johnson will make numerous appearances with his friends, although it isn’t clear if his famous dad will be shown.
During the season, viewers will see Dorothy drop $3.5 million on an apartment for herself in the Century, the building where Candy Spelling lives, and Sowlaty go on a half-million dollar shopping spree for furniture. The group will also vacation to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico on a private jet to celebrate Brendan and Morgan’s anniversary. TV insiders are already suggesting 'Rich Kids' is being lined up as a successor to E!’s 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' franchise." (PageSix)

"Democratic lawmakers say staff changes at the White House are long overdue after the rocky rollout of the Affordable Care Act put them at risk of losing Senate control. A chief criticism among Senate Democrats is that President Obama and senior officials have not done enough to reach out and communicate with allies on the Hill.The paralyzing technical glitches of HealthCare.gov, the federal portal for the new health insurance exchanges, caught lawmakers by surprise and left them scrambling in response to angry constituents. Even before the debacle of the healthcare rollout, Democratic senators felt Obama did not call them enough and sometimes had a tenuous grasp of political realities in Congress. he president nearly suffered a humiliating defeat on the use-of-force resolution he asked the Senate to pass in September before Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly brokered a deal to neutralize Syria’s chemical weapon’s stockpile. The president appeared out of step with the Senate Democratic caucus during the episode. 'was long overdue,'Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said of recent staff changes at the White House. Rockefeller said that Democratic senators did not explicitly call for staff changes during a heated meeting with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, but made it clear they wanted him to shake things up. 'We said everything but that,'he said.Obama has made three key moves to beef up his team in recent days.He recruited former White House chief of staff John Podesta, who served in the Clinton administration, to work on energy and climate issues; he brought back Phil Schiliro, his former legislative director, to coordinate the implementation of the Affordable Care Act; and he tapped Katie Beirne Fallon to replace Miguel Rodriguez as director of legislative affairs. " (Alexander Bolton)

"I have to confess that the idea of traveling to Brooklyn from Manhattan has always sent me into a panic. When I have found the courage to actually make the journey I usually have to print out a Google Map direction search as my security blanket for the trip. Despite my irrational Brooklyn-phobia, last Saturday night the magnetic pull to that other borough was too great to resist as food historian Carolin C. Young was throwing a dinner in honor of fashion historian Becky E. Conekin’s new book 'Lee Miller in Fashion.' Lee Miller is one of those legendary figures of the 20th century whom the world seems never to get enough of. Carolin’s invite featured a color photograph taken by journalist Henry McNulty from the weekend of July 9, 1966 when Lee Miller, hosted a weekend for friends at Farley Farm — the property in East Sussex she shared with her second husband Sir Roland Penrose, the great English artist and writer. Penrose is remembered today mostly as one of the 20th Century’s great art promoters and collectors who was instrumental in founding the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in London. I first met Carolin during the 1990s when she was still living in New York. She moved to Europe soon after the publication in 2002 of her imaginative book Apples of Gold in Setting of Silver that told the stories of twelve legendary dinner parties throughout history. Today she divides her time between London and Paris where she teaches and organizes food-oriented tours as well acting as a contributing editor to The Magazine Antiques and Zester Daily. Carolin also finds time to translate and blog about the world’s first food magazine, the Almanach des gourmands. She is currently working on a book that will be a major study of the history of Parisian gastronomy. The setting for Carolin’s party last week was the townhouse of her mother Linda Graves Young in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn." (NYSocialDiary)