BAM

We are still rather of a divided mind as to whether or not Sundance East is a boon to Brooklyn, or if it hastens the inevitable shark-jumping moment of the entire borough (Posh Spice naming her precious little cargo after our wonderful little quadrant didn't help). From WSJ:

"Starting Thursday, the Sundance Institute will mount an 11-day program of feature films, shorts, screenplay readings and concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, better known as BAM.

"... By setting up shop at BAM, a facility in the Fort Greene neighborhood across the East River from Manhattan, organizers are hoping to highlight the Sundance Institute's role in the indie arts. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute hosts up to 130 fellows, from directors to composers, playwrights to producers, in 'labs' that run year-round. The BAM event is partly a recruitment effort to draw New York-area artists to Park City. But it's also meant to demonstrate to the general public that Sundance is more than a 10-day celebrity party.

"The event comes at a time of uncertainty for the art-house movie market. In the midst of this, Sundance is trying to build its brand, both at BAM and with digital ventures, such as streaming short films from the festival on Netflix and selling them through iTunes and Xbox videogame systems. About three dozen shorts will screen at BAM, including 'Force 1 TD,' an 11-minute story about a trio of friends who go on a quest to outfit a miniature horse with a set of sneakers.

"

More here.

Media-Whore D'Oevres



"There is a growing effort by the Clintons — led by Bill — to convey a sense of entitlement for Hillary's newly minted vice presidential ambitions. The theory seems to say that she has earned the designation by her strong showing in primaries throughout the nation, particularly by her recent victories in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana. Her supporters are demanding a place on the ticket as their right after a bruising primary season. But ever since Aaron Burr rose from a vice presidential candidacy to contest Thomas Jefferson for the presidency in the House of Representatives, the person who came in second in the balloting for president lost his entitlement to anything. There are no more rewards for second place. No silver medals in the presidential race." (Dick Morris)

"THE boldface-infested Hamptons were already in full swing over Memorial Day weekend with bashes all across the East End ... Leonardo DiCaprio ... was surrounded by models at the opening of Dune in Southampton, while DJ Reach spun for the crowd. 'Leo was sitting in a corner, with his South Carolina University hat pulled extremely low so no one could see him at his table,' said one attendee. 'He didn't stay long, maybe an hour. He looked irritated because it was too packed and too many girls were all over him.'" (NYPost)

"'I'm 45 and I don't have any party frocks,' lamented Maria Cornejo as she arrived at El Museo's 15th-anniversary gala Thursday night. No worries. The designer, who sported a dress of her own making, fit right in with the flurry of princesses as she was promptly handed a faux jeweled tiara ... Among the hundreds of guests who turned out on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend were Narciso Rodriguez, Fabiola Beracasa, Ruben Toledo, Paul Cavaco, Christian Cota, Gillian Miniter, Francisco Costa, Raul Martinez and Angel Sanchez, who revealed that he's not only moving to new offices a block away from his current digs, but apartments from TriBeCa to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in June." (Fashionweekdaily)



"As people arrived from all over the world to attend the opening weekend of the Reykjavik Arts Festival and participate in Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Olafur Eliasson’s 'Experiment Marathon Reykjavik,' the mood resembled a summer camp—albeit one attended by Björk, who was on my flight from London, and the country’s president, Olafur Ragnar Grímsson ... In the end, the marathon also demonstrated that experiments can be most interesting when they fail, as when a curious collaboration between Abramovic and Dr. Ruth Westheimer was canceled due to a blowout between the two personalities. After screening a video explaining how she had been rejected by the elderly sex adviser, Abramovic led the audience in breathing exercises, then instructed everyone to hug each other." (Artforum)

"I had dinner on Friday night at Le Cirque; the place was full up by 8 pm. On Sunday night I had dinner at Amaranth, the very popular Euro-bistro on East 62nd between Fifth and Madison. It was crowded but even moreso, I was told , at Sunday lunchtime. With a very international group: such as Kika Pagliai, widow of Mexican businessman Bruno Pagliai; international interior decorator Pierre Scapula and Umberto Penci; Irene Aitken; Katina and former Senator John Tunney who’d just returned from visiting Ted Kennedy. Kennedy and Tunney have been friends since they roomed together at UVA. Also at Amaranth lunch: Nina G. and Leonel P. (if you don’t know, don’t ask); Maestro Zubin Mehta and Mrs. Mehta, the once upon a time movie actress Nancy Kovack; Princess Caroline of Monaco and Hanover’s s son Andrea Casiraghi; international art dealer Larry Gagosian and a Chinese artist; former governor Elliot Spitzer and an unidentified man; the great American couturier from LA, Jimmy Galanos." (NYSocialDiary)



"'I can't be divorced from it now,' smiled Carine Roitfeld while discussing the amfAR gala after-party she was co-hosting with Silvia Venturini Fendi at Jimmy'z club on La Croisette. It was 12:30 a.m. on Friday night. The jam-packed traffic and a gala dinner dragged on for longer than expected, leaving some daunted, but the French Vogue editor, accompanied by daughter Julia, made the bash one of the best parties of the week ... Sharon Stone, who changed in a slinky Fendi number, huddled with Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman to gossip about the night's festivities while Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo scouted a private spot on the terrace for a champagne toast." (Fashionweekdaily)

Imagine: There's No Brain Freeze



God bless Ben & Jerry's, the most idealistic ice cream deliciousness ever. Delish notwithstanding, it is also a brilliant marketing scheme: caloric offsets! Ostensibly, those high carbs are being sweetly suffered -- in the quiet of ones own yum -- as an instrument in the reduction of geopolitical bad vibe emissions. From Newsday:

"Dairy delight maker Ben & Jerry's and The Lennon Estate are expected to introduce a new ice cream flavor Tuesday called 'Imagine Whirled Peace' -- while re-enacting the 'Peace Bed-Ins' staged by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969.

"...Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield are expected to reprise the roles. Efforts for spreading world peace and ice cream will most likely be announced.

"The new flavor is a caramel and sweet cream whirl of chocolate-covered peace signs and toffee pieces."

A credible plan for multilateral nuclear disarmament, to be sure, what with those robust chunks of gourmet toffee and savory frozen cream.

Picture Pages, Picture Pages ...



"Good news, sweetie, the test results are negative!" (image via thisislondon)



Soon to be feautured on junkiescratchingbabes.com? (image via thecobrasnake)



The pause that refreshes! (image via thecobrasnake)



And the winner of The Corsair 1st Annual "Embarassing Sex-Face" contest is ... (image via thecobrasnake)



He comes here for the Appletini's because they serve them up pronto with an extra shot of "gay." (image via thecobrasnake)



"It rubs the lotion on its skin .. It does this whenever it is told." (image via thecobrasnake)



Punk rock is feasting on the still-organically warm urine of the band's bass player. Then asking for seconds.(image via thecobrasnake)



If this angel-headed waif were kidnapped -- and, FYI, he doesn't really look like he'd put up much of a fight -- they'd have to put his photo on a container of Skim milk. I'm just saying ...(image via thecobrasnake)

A Little Of The Old In And Out



(image via peacecorpsonline)

In: Victoria Reggie Kennedy. We were wondering yesterday who would take ove Kennedy's Senate seat should he retire because of his illness. Clearly Congressman Barney Frank, who represents Harvard, has made rumblings about running for the Senate when the state's junior Senator Kerry was up for President. But now that the Dems control the House of Representatives, he has a plummy seat as head of the House Financial Services Committee -- where all that sweet-ass credit crunch legislation is happening -- and that might ultimately wind up being more appealing than a gig as a Junior Senator.

Former Congressman Joe Kennedy II, all hair and teeth, who's political career flamed out after he tried to get an annulment from a scorned Catholic wife who, because of her children, was not so into it, is now too close in ties to Citgo, the pet project of Venezuelan strongman Hugo "Bush Is El Diablo" Chavez that he may not be electorally viable.

What about this dynastic whispering we've been hearing about Victoria Reggie Kennedy from The New York Daily News (via TNR):

"Ted Kennedy has made clear to confidants that when his time is up, he wants his Senate seat to stay in the family - with his wife, Vicki.

Multiple sources in Massachusetts with close ties to the liberal lion say his wife of 16 years has long been his choice to continue carrying the family flame in the Senate. Kennedy won the seat in 1962; his brother John held it from 1953 to 1960."

More here.



(image via Newsday)

Out: Vice President Bloomberg. Not gonna happen, this. How much ink has been spent -- we're talking about you, Heilemann -- speculating on whether or not New York's mogul-mayor Mike Bloomberg would be somewhere on the Presidential ticket? And, we cannot fail to note, this blog is not entirely blameless.

Much of this thusness has to do with the facts that: a) New York City is the media capital of the world, and conversations begun here echo outwards, and, b) Bloomberg has $4 billion worth of what can only be properly construed as "fuck you monies," that are attractive, especially, to the presently cash-strapped Republican Party, and, c) The talented but Blarney-spinning Kevin Sheekey, has, it seems, a full-time job at Gracie Mansion just to stoke such media fires, perhaps entirely just to stave off lame duck status as Bloomberg's mayoralty dies down.

The general consensus in the Beltway, however, is that it is not going to happen.



In: Steven Soderbergh. And, no, we haven't seen the epic "Che" -- which may or may not be a self-indulgent stinker -- but judging from the chatter on the web, the mercurial director's film is the talk of Cannes. And being the white hot center of la conversation is pas mal, especially if you are front-and-center at Cannes. From the AP:

"Unless it is one of his 'Ocean's Eleven' casino romps, Steven Soderbergh never makes things easy for an audience.

"With his epic film biography of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Soderbergh defiantly has made the story he wanted to see, one that will prove a very tough sell to some audiences.

"The two-part saga runs four hours, 30 minutes. It is almost entirely in Spanish, a particular challenge for U.S. viewers who dislike subtitles. It dispenses with many cliches of the biopic, offering virtually no insight into the origin of Che's brand of humanism, instead presenting impressionistic glimpses of Che's idealism in action during the Cuban revolution and his attempt to foment a similar transformation in Bolivia."

What Is This Man Doing With Naomi Campbell?





image via Canada.com/Agence France-Presse

What is supermodel Naomi Campbell doing rolling the Croisette at Cannes with convicted fraud artist Christopher Rocancourt. Over the years, the trilingual grifter who is missing part of his left pinkie has pretended to be, among other things, a Rockefeller, a De Laurentiis (Eew) and, quite imaginatively, someone called "Prince Galitzine Christo." Doood (Averted Gaze). From Canada.com:

"Christopher Rocancourt, the infamous French conman whose 2001 arrest in Victoria's Oak Bay neighbourhood ended years of eluding the FBI, is back in the news.

"This time, his claim to fame hasn't come from presenting himself as a member of the Rockefeller family, a Brazilian race car driver or the son of Sophia Loren.

"Rather, he's arm candy for supermodel Naomi Campbell.

"...Rocancourt has always been comfortable in front of the cameras, whether it's the international paparazzi or a mug shot, like the one taken at Oak Bay police station April 26, 2001, after a dramatic arrest that put an end to his life on the lam.

He was charged with defrauding a Vancouver couple and put in jail, along with his then-wife Pia Reyes, a former Playboy model.

Then other allegations against Rocancourt began pouring in. He was wanted in several U.S. states, mostly for fraud.

"He was eventually sentenced to two years in jail for his Canadian fraud crimes, spending much of that time at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre."

We wonder if this has anything to do with Naomi's little emotional moment on the French riviera.

Stone Sells $1 Million Worth Of Madonna Items For AmFar



(image via thisislondon)

From FoxNews:

"Sharon Stone, who is the face of AmFar, was thrilled nonetheless. Thanks to Madonna’s just showing up, and Stone’s persistence in selling her at auction, AmFar raised a staggering $10 million Thursday night. That’s up nearly $3 million from last year. So say what you will, Madonna’s presence was her donation to the cause.

"She also let Stone put up for auction, under the glittering tent at Moulin des Mougins, Madonna’s diamond encrusted Karl Lagerfeld custom-designed handbag (including her lip gloss, lip balm, magnifying mirror, hair clips and lozenges), one of her guitars and the promise to sing two songs privately for a bidder before a concert this fall somewhere on her tour."

Also Stone auctioned off -- as a sweetener -- blotting paper smudged with Madonna's makeup. The Madonna package raised $1.5 million for the charity.

Corsair Classic



"Seriously folks, Is that a Tootsie Roll in his pocket, or is he just happy to see me?" (image via thisislondon)

We Like Huck



We are, to be quite frank, obsessed by the former Governor of Arkansas. He's country! But that doesn't make him a bad person. And Huckabee has a sassy mouth. Every time he speaks we hear a Bluegrass five string banjo playing the love theme from Deliverance (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment). Mike Huckabee is an amusing buffoon. He is entirely a creature of down-home American populism. He is not so much our Thersites as Shakespearean Fool, only without the redeeming quality of Wisdom. And we have an odd fascination with him and his psychological type. Imagine this: the buffoon ran a somewhat credible Presidential campaign, on the super-cheap, just so that he could land a vaguely swishy gig as a high-paid TV pundit.

What does that say about the assholes that actually voted for him?

Anyhoo: we sort of laughed out loud, choking on our Kenyan blend morning coffee, when reading this on Politico this morning:

"Former Arkansas Gov. Mike HUCKABEE: The veep search is like a greatest-hits of boosters and haters from the primaries. Longtime Huck-bashing columnist John Brummett of Little Rock compares the former governor’s subtleness in going after the bid to the cheerleader who wanted to go to promo with the quarterback and 'did a full somersault without wearing any underpants.'"

So. genius.

Media-Whore D'Oevres



"Hunt Slonem may have downsized his living space, but he remains a larger than life character. The artist's latest works, aptly called 'The Feather Game,' debut today at the Marlborough Gallery in Chelsea, and he celebrated with a Celine-sponsored dinner Wednesday night at his Hell's Kitchen studio ... Slonem's new digs have never been so populated. The sheer number of guests like Tatiana and Campion Platt, Jessica Joffe, Tara Subkoff, Glenn O'Brien, and Milly de Cabrol outnumbered Slonem's parrots. 'I feel like I'm at the Cooper Union,' remarked Genevieve Jones, who swapped her Celine dress for vintage after a tear mishap in the cab. 'It's so schoolish in here,' she said, later heading off to the Puck Building for The Kitchen's spring benefit." (Fashionweekdaily)

"The Bush administration's policies towards Latin America have contributed to the dramatic populist shift in the region since he took office. Bolstering governments of the region against the spread of the leftist menace as the Bush team did in its early years appears, in retrospect, stale, a holdover strategy from the Reagan administration. The chaotic reception President Bush received, for example, at the 4th Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 2004 was a pivotal moment in the history of U.S.-Latin American relations." (Ron Mwangaguhunga/ Kenneth Cole's AWEARNESS Blog)

"Cannes' perennial post-screening boos are not to be trusted. Neither, for that matter, are the standing ovations. To each his own cinema, to be sure: one viewer's masterpiece is another's misstep, depending upon your taste and even where you sit. It's been alleged that the Salles Bazin screening room is far less kind to a film than the bigger venues. Either Steven Soderbergh's 'Che' epic is an ambitious historical masterpiece or an unfinished mess (judging from the mix of cheers and jeers reported after its premiere ..." (Indiewire)

"It was the calendar that killed Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. Yes, the obituary will (correctly) list several causes of fatality, particularly the decision of her campaign strategists to essentially ignore a string of ten contests between February 9 and 19 to Barack Obama. In that 11-day stretch, Obama scored one landslide triumph after another, amassing the bulk of the popular-vote and pledged-delegate lead that Clinton spent the spring chasing in vain. Had Clinton not won Ohio on March 4, her campaign would have ended on the spot. As it was, the damage from her mid-February slide has, in the end, proven insurmountable." (Observer)

"Oh, no my friends! Stay as far away from them as you can—they are the devil with the face of angel food cake! They will rip your heart out and stomp it to the ground, destroying you with their addiction, while somehow functioning well enough to stay afloat only because they can carelessly careen past all their fuckups and ooze enough charm to make you endlessly forgive them ... They're cheap! Any extra dough they have, they want to spend it on nose candy. Their own." (Musto)

"Sean Penn is on the Cannes wagon. He claimed before the festival he would stay 'wise and sober' throughout. That's because he is the jury president. He has, however, been smoking like a fiend, even at the jury press conference in the Palais where smoking is supposedly banned ... Media comes in all shapes, sizes and smarts. Most are professionals. A few are idiots. Worst are those who, at the end of press conferences featuring stars, storm the stage begging for autographs. The spectacle at the Indiana Jones event was disgusting, giving the entire media corps a bad name. Something needs to be done (such as confiscating their media badges)." (EdmuntonSun)

Preventing Water Wars

Just wrote this on Kenneth Cole's AWEARNESS blog:

"Gold. Oil. H2O? We tend to forget that fresh water is a more valuable commodity than crude oil. Water is the indispensable resource, the sine qua non, on which human survival depends. And although water covers approximately 70 percent of the earth's surface, only about 3 percent of the planet's supply is fresh and thus suitable for consumption. Further, as the world's population increases, the competition for fresh water grows tighter. The United Nations estimates a global population of 9 billion by mid-century. Jeffrey D. Sachs wrote in Scientific American in January:

"Look closely at the violence in Afghanistan, Chad, Ethiopia, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan--one finds tribal and often pastoralist communities struggling to survive deepening ecological crises. Water scarcity, in particular, has been a source of territorial conflict when traditional systems of land management fail in the face of rising populations and temperatures and declining rainfall."

More here.

Carl Icahn Thinks Senator Obama Would Be A Bad President

Paleo-corporate raider

(image via cnn)

Carl Icahn, who is all over the news concerning his maneuverings on the Microsoft-Yahoo! front is waxing political. Icahn was also on the losing end of a battle with Dick Parsons to get an alternate slate of directors at Time Warner in 2006. He has a problem with an Obama Presidency. His argument is the typical response of an Upper East Side Republican to a Democrat who, record-wise, is still an unknown quantity on the subject of taxation. And the cucumber sandwich crowd tend to shoot first and ask questions later on the subject of Democratic candidates and taxation. From Bloomberg:

"Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said Barack Obama would be a 'terrible' U.S. president whose election would bring higher interest rates and a loss of international confidence in the dollar.

"'I don't normally get involved in politics, but this time I am,' Icahn told an investors conference in New York last night. 'I don't think Obama really understands economics.'

"... Earlier this year, Icahn donated the maximum $2,300 to the presidential campaign of Republican Rudy Giuliani, according to the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. Giuliani has dropped out of the race. He has also given to Democrats, including New Hampshire Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen.

"Obama does have support in the investment community. Among those who have donated to his campaign are billionaires Kenneth C. Griffin of Citadel Investment Group in Chicago, and George Soros of Soros Fund Management, according to the center."

Yeah, and good luck with that Giuliani candidacy, douchebag! Fuck you very much.

A Little Of The Old In And Out



In: Senator Jim Webb. As the United States Senate prepares for a showdown vote today on whether to give American troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan a free public college education via the 21st century GI Bill, all eyes are on Virginia Senator Jim Webb. And to add to the intrigue of this well strategically timed bill, the well-connected Margaret Carlson of Bloomberg writes today:

"After another drubbing at the hands of Senator Hillary Clinton in Kentucky, to say that Obama lacks appeal among non- college-educated, working-class Ronald Reagan Democrats -- the voters Clinton calls 'hardworking white Americans' -- is to call the Grand Canyon a hole in the ground.

"Barring putting Clinton on the ticket -- and most Obama folks do -- there's another Democrat who fills the bill, the freshman senator from Virginia, Jim Webb.

"Webb is all over the place this week -- Meet the Press, NPR, The Late Show With David Letterman, a party at the Four Seasons in New York -- promoting his book, 'A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America.'

"This isn't your typical Capitol Hill book of pasted-together speeches. Webb, 62, has written a vivid analysis of the folly of our foreign policy and the unfairness of our domestic one. He makes the case for the ordinary Joe who punches a clock and goes down in a coal mine to work for The Man, who makes in an hour what he earns in a year."

Webb, as we have already written, is the best Veep choice for Senator Obama. The junior Senator from Illinois should pick Hillary Clinton, but he must pick Jim Webb.



(image via vetofossella)

Out: The "Honorable" Vito Fossella. He of the wine-stained lips, and "love-child" may just cause the Republican party even more hurt. The whiff of scandal -- remember the Mark Foley-infused 2006 midterm elections? -- is the last thing the Republican party wants affixed to itself heading into the 2008 elections. Especially after three straight special-election losses in conservative districts thus far this cycle. From TheHill:

"If Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) is unable to reach a deal with prosecutors on his DUI arrest, he will likely have to serve five days in jail before the end of the year, making him only the fourth sitting member of Congress to be locked up following a criminal conviction and dragging his troubles back into the spotlight just as Republicans were counting on them having vanished.

"...Under state law, any resignation before July 1 gives New York’s Democratic Gov. David Paterson the option of calling a special election. And Republicans have lost three special House elections since March."

Towelheaded Diddy Flies Commercial To Cannes



What is it about Sean Combs, Europe and bathroom gear? While it's not quite billionaire-southern plantation owner eccentric, it is rapidly veering into that odd psychological region.

First there was that story in 2004 about a wet, frantic, shorts-clad Diddy running through the streets of Ibiza in a fur coat. And lo, how we chuckled heartily at that image. Now our favorite African-American eccentric -- next to the cracktastically colloidal RZA -- is headed to Cannes wrapped in a towel. From MTVNews:

"Diddy made surprisingly low-key travel arrangements to the Cannes Film Festival this year in a bid to show Hollywood directors that he does not need his entourage with him at all times.

"The rap mogul shunned private jets to France and instead chose to fly by himself on a commercial flight from the U.S. He spent much of the flight with a towel on his head to avoid getting recognised."

WTF?!

Fabian Basabe Was NOT About To Pee



(image via fabianbasabe)

A touch of Basabe in the night? Crypto-racist and allegedly straight "brocialite" Fabian Basabe wants everyone to know that he was not urinating when he got arrested. Although he seems to have no control of his verbal emissions, it seems, his biological processes are well under his control. From Papermag:

"I would like to address and correct the item regarding me, posted on Page Six on Thursday May 9, 2008. Around 11 p.m. I was on my way to Crown Bar in West Hollywood. I was in Brittny Gastinau's car, and she was driving. It was just the two of us. Two blocks or so from the bar, NOT in front of it, she pulled over and I got out of the car, and walked into an alley to look for parking. While I was looking for a parking spot for her, I was approached by a cop who thought I was about to take a pee. I was NOT peeing against a wall, and most importantly, I did NOT have my pants down at any time."

Whatevs. More here.

Media-Whore D'Oevres



"Steven Soderbergh's epic two-part Che is unquestionably one of most talked-about films of the Cannes film festival. Nobody's seen it, everyone wants to buy it, and the biopic has dominated club sandwich conversations at Du Cap for a week straight. It's perfectly fitting, then, that the party's first bash occurred a day before its premiere on Alberta Ferretti's posh yacht Prometej ...Ferretti played a proper host to shoeless guests like Victoria and Dennis Hopper, Tang Wei, Lily Donaldson, Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, Olympia Scarry, Coco Brandolini, and Daniel Benedict and Andrew Saffir. 'This yacht is like a lovely present for myself for a couple of weeks," the designer confided.'" (Fashionweekdaily)

"Last night down at Christie’s, Maggie Jones, Executive Director, and Silda Wall, founder, of Children For Children hosted their 8th annual 'The Art of Giving' gala dinner benefit and honored Sherrie Rollins Westin of Sesame Workshop and David Westin of ABC News. Co-Chairs: Blair Husain, Kathy Lacey and Jim Hoge, Cynthia McFadden, Daniel and Leora Rosenberg, and Joe Versace." (NYSocialDiary)

"When we arrived at Michael's, at first blush the squadron of suits and celeb-free dining room (Okay, Kathie Lee was there) told us it would be a somewhat staid lunch today. Then things got interesting when David Gergen walked into the dining room — and was ushered to the Garden Room. Take that all you wannabees! Power is where you find it!" (FishbowlNY)

Separated at Birth?



Talented character actor, the leonine Nick Nolte. (image via defamer)



-- And unreasonably fearful Oz character, The Cowardly Lion?

John Zogby: Obama Was Right Not To Campaign In WV, KY



On The Ed Schultz Show today pollster John Zogby noted that West Virginia and Kentucky will probably go Republican in the Fall. "Color Kentucky red," he said, later adding Kentucky to the list. When asked if Obama was right not to have campaigned in those states, Zogby responded that it was "better that he had not spent his resources (there)."

BREAKING: Karen LeFrak And Muffie Potter Aston Wear Same Dress To American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala!



Fashion Fight Club: Two Socialites Enter, One Socialite Exits ..

Brace yourselves. Grab yourself an Espresso. You might want to sit down for this. Ready? Today Fashionweekdaily notes:

"Karen LeFrak and Muffie Potter Aston gleefully played off their fashion faux pas, twirling beside each other in the same Carolina Herrera gown."

Things will be moving pretty fast from here on out ..

Mike Tyson Promises Madonna To Fight ... For Malawi



Unlikely as it sounds, Mike Tyson will be joining Madonna in Malawi late summer to help raise awareness of the African nation. We have been hard on Tyson -- see Tyson v. Snipes -- who, after gnawing on Evander Holyfield's ear has been trying to reform himself. Tyson is on the French Riviera to promote James Toback's buzzy doc on his life (for which he provides world-weary narration).

If this noble endeavor pans out, we promise to give him a fair shake. It all happened, apparently, in the VIP backrooms at Cannes. From the 3AM Girls:

"Mike, who was surrounded by a bevy of babes half Madonna's age, sent them all packing so he could listen to her talk about the poverty-striken African country.

"They then swapped numbers and Madge now has Mike on speed dial.

"Mr Tyson, who has been hanging out with P Diddy at Cannes, is not an obvious champion of orphans in the developing world - given his chequered past, including three years in the nick for rape, drugtaking and a penchant for biting the ears off opponents.

"But he is keen to prove he's a changed man and Madonna is delighted to have such a big-hitter fighting a cause close to her heart.

"We're told: 'Madonna thinks Mike is amazing and asked if she could have a private screening of his documentary, Tyson, while she was in the Riviera.

"'Mike agreed immediately. And, aware that having a celebrity fan will do wonders for his doc, he offered to do a favour in return.

"He has promised to fly with her to Malawi in late summer, to promote awareness of children with AIDS there.'"

More here.