Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"In a stunning escape, nearly 500 Taliban fled an Afghanistan prison through an underground tunnel on Monday. Ron Moreau and Sami Yousafzai talk exclusively to two freed men about how they pulled it off, what their next move is—and why this is a big blow to the U.S. war effort. Mullah Asadullah Akhund had a hunch that something was going on—but he wasn’t sure what. He recalls that over the past few months there was a 'sort of smile in the eyes' of one of the top Taliban commanders who was incarcerated with him in the political wing of the Kandahar jail. Early Monday morning he learned the secret the commander had been hiding. At about 2 a.m., as he was sleeping on his cell’s hard cement floor, he was awakened by someone tugging on the big toe of his right foot, Akhund told The Daily Beast exclusively in a cell phone call. It was the senior commander, who told him in a whisper to quietly get up and go to another adjoining cell, where someone would show him the way to freedom. Hardly believing what he had heard, he quickly did as he was told and soon found himself in an underground tunnel with a line of other Taliban prisoners who were making their escape. As he began moving through the narrow passageway in a crouch, he says another Taliban commander holding a flash light ahead of him told him to be calm, and that more Taliban were waiting at the end of the tunnel to take care of them. 'It was the greatest escape of my life,' he says. 'It was like a dream.'" (TheDailyBeast)

"The site of many historic protests, New York's Union Square had never witnessed a candlelight vigil quite as surreal as the one that convened there last November. Aggrieved by the news that New York City had banned Four Loko, a few dozen enthusiasts of the drink had gathered to mourn its extinction. Chanting slogans like 'What do we want? Four Loko. When do we want it? Forever,' the young consumers registered their outrage—only partly tongue-in-cheek—at the recriminations that had rained down on this new symbol of bleary-eyed youth rebellion. Four Loko fans had even coined a pet name for the drink: liquid cocaine. Their elders were not amused. After a wave of alcohol poisonings tied to Four Loko consumption, the F.D.A. demanded the immediate withdrawal of all alcoholic energy drinks. Even President Obama's Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, blasted the beverages, slamming them as “designed, branded and promoted to encourage binge drinking." (TheFix)

"Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, whom most people know as the diminutive former child stars of Full House and an endless stream of straight-to-video tween movies, are inspecting a rolling rack of crisp white cotton shirts and another one lined with black stretch-leather leggings seemingly sized for miniature gazelles. The sisters and the clothes are crowded onto an exceedingly unglamorous factory floor in New York’s garment center. The L-shaped workspace, brightly lit with fluorescent lights, smells vaguely of steam irons and fried rice. This is the Olsens’ new reality, one that has replaced a childhood lived on Hollywood backlots and an adolescence spent in the glare of the paparazzi. They built a billion-dollar empire on the cult of celebrity, adoring kiddie fans, and a vast array of tchotchkes. Now they are creating something else entirely. Against significant odds, the Olsens have found grown-up respectability and social purpose in the unforgiving world of high-end fashion with the success of their womenswear brand, The Row. The collection—embraced by older women with little patience for celebrity frippery—has been worn by business executives and first lady Michelle Obama ... The Olsens, who will be 25 in June, did not go to fashion or art school. They have built a considerable reputation by obsessing over darts (they hate them), gamely absorbing the blows of skeptical retailers, and keeping their celebrity mostly under wraps. They also have become champions in a longstanding effort to save this country’s garment factories. In 1965, factories in America produced 95 percent of the clothes sold in this country, according to savethegarmentcenter.org. Today, only 5 percent of the clothes sold here are produced locally." (Robin Givans)

"(Howard Stern) said that Brad Grey and Cassandra got married ... Howard said he talked to Gavin Rossdale, Bob Saget, Jon Lovitz and others. He said he was trying to be social. Then Les Moonves came up to him. He thought about walking away but he was a nice guy about it. He said Les came up to him like he had never sued him. He said he asked if he was going to hand him another lawsuit. Howard said he thought that he was going to serve him the papers. Howard said his wife was there so he told her that he watches 'The Talk.' Howard said he was just being nice like you do in Hollywood. It's all just business. Howard said that Mel told him once that it was just business and everyone sues everyone else. Howard said those words rang in his head so he just said hi to him. He said it was fine ... Howard said he talked to Jon Lovitz and Lorne Michaels too. He said he went up to Lorne and told him he's a fucking genius. Howard said Lorne told him he's a genius too. He said that he told Lorne that he's kept Saturday Night Live going all these years and he's discovered so much talent. He said that he was in the middle of that and then Jon Lovitz comes over. He felt like he was in show business. Then a gay dude walks over to him and tells him to please follow him. He said that someone wanted to speak to him. Howard didn't know who this person was. Howard said he was busy talking to Jon Lovitz. He had no idea who Sue Mengers was. He asked who that was. Lovitz told him she's the biggest agent ever. Howard said that maybe she should have walked over to him. Howard said he thought he did the right thing staying in the conversation with Jon. Howard said they summoned him to go over to speak to the bride. Howard said he grabbed Beth and went over to talk to Cassandra. Howard said Jack Nicholson was there and he asked if he was too good to speak to Sue Mangers. Howard said they fooled him into coming in to see Sue. Howard said he saw Sue there in a wheelchair and he didn't know that's why she wanted him to come to her. Howard said she wanted to tell him how much she enjoyed his books. Howard said Jack spoke to him this time and didn't brush him off. Howard said that's how Hollywood works." (Marksfriggin)

"Veteran producer Christine Vachon gave her thoughts on the art and business of filmmaking over the weekend at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival. The talk, dubbed 'The State of Cinema Address,' covered a number of areas, including the creation, distribution and definition of independent film. With well over 60 titles to her credit, Vachon noted that both the business and creation of independent film have had several cycles during her two and a half decade career, though the industry continues to fear evolution. 'I’ve produced over 60 films which is unreal. The important part of that is that I’ve seen independent film die and be re-born at least three or four times. When it does, it reminds me how terrified we are of change - how terrified the film business is of change.' During her twenty minute speech, which was then followed up with an audience Q&A, Vachon said that she began her career by identifying under served audiences and making and marketing film directly to them. She also touched upon how the whole filmmaking process continues to change with evolving consumption habits and platforms." (IndieWIRE)

"South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said Monday she is not satisfied with the message that the crop of GOP presidential hopefuls has brought to her state.  Haley — a rising star in the party and governor of a key early primary state — said that potential presidential candidates should craft a more positive message rather than just laying out the case against President Obama or describing their path to victory. 'A lot of what bothers me with where the presidential politics right now is that I don't want to hear about how awful President Obama is right now,' she said ... 'I want to hear what they are going to do different.'" (TheHill)

What's Eating Elvis Mitchell?

The mysterious Elvis Mitchell story is in equal parts fascinating and just plain odd. Mitchell, if you didn't know, just got terminated from Movieline, where he was Chief Film Critic (Disclaimer: this blogger was a writer for Movieline from 2009-10). The exact reason for Mitchell's termination is still unclear. But Elvis is, it needs to be said, one of the best film critics in the United States, as well as a very complicated -- and some might say strange -- chap. Although what I am about to say next wasn't the stated reason for his termination at Movieline, one cannot mention Mitchell without bringing up Mitchell's main problem which is, quite frankly, over-reach.

Mitchell has for some time harbored a desire to make some sort of spectacular Nietzchean transition from film critic to film mogul a la Peter Bart, a man who unapologetically veers between the worlds of journalism and the entertainment industry he covers. Bart has been, in various incarnations, a Hollywood studio chief, editor, producer as well as a former staff reporter for the New York Times. Mitchell, of course, was a New York Times film reviewer from 1999-2004.


The thing is: not everyone can do a Peter Bart. In fact, there is probably no one in the world that could pull off a Peter Bart except Peter Bart. That, of course, didn't stop Elvis Mitchell from appearing in a blow-job cameo on Entourage -- embarrassing, really -- not at all the type of appearance one would expect from a former New York Times reporter (OK, maybe the super-sleazy Neil Strauss).


Anne Thompson of IndieWIRE (via TheWrap) sums it up:

"Elvis Mitchell is such a fascinating, complicated character that he deserves a mini-series ...  Mitchell does what he wants to do: he was supposed to be on the narrative feature jury at the Florida Film Festival last week, emails indieWIRE’s Eric Kohn, 'but never showed up. I found out later he was at a festival in Krakow the whole time. He even did a TV appearance there.' As I have reported before, Mitchell is not good with money. Or meeting deadlines. Filing expenses. Or doing what he says he’s going to do. He has left or lost one job after another, from NPR to the New York Times. Famously, he never turned up for a job he had accepted at the L.A. Times, nor for a job as a development exec for Sony. He has expensive tastes. He likes Versace suits and staying at the Four Seasons in L.A. Here’s Mitchell in a nutshell. At Sundance, I was standing in line at a snack bar when juror Jason Reitman accosted Mitchell, asking him why he hadn’t returned any of his emails or phone calls. Mitchell demurred. He likes palling around with the rich and famous, globetrotting and tomcatting with the likes of Quentin Tarantino in Reykjavik and other places."

Yeah, but film critics are not studio heads. Critics never make as much money as the subjects of their criticism: it is an unspoken law of the cosmos. But Mitchell, clearly wanting to roll with the jet-setters, seemed to renounce the life of critical objectivity, landing sort of nebulous position at Sony's Columbia Pictures division that might have afforded him the lifestyle he so deeply desired.

But he didn't show up for work! From Deadline's Nikki Finke:

"I've known Mitchell personally since 1996 and believe him to be a  brilliant writer and reviewer. But controversy also has caught up with him again and again over the years. Some of it was captured in this New York Magazine article published right after he left the NY Times. Most recently Mitchell was announced as co-host on Roger Ebert's new review show Ebert Presents At the Movies only to have his departure announced shortly after the premiere date was announced. Before that, Sony's Columbia Pictures announced it was hiring Mitchell to start a New York office with producer Deborah Schindler in March of 2005. The studio hoped Mitchell would scout new minority talent and make movies for minority audiences. But he never showed up for work, insiders told me at the time, so Schindler headed the office solo."

Curiouser and curiouser ...

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"In the first months after the Arab revolutions began, the world's televisions were filled with instantly iconic images of a crumbling old order: the Ben Ali clan's seaside villa on fire in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak's stilted pre-resignation speeches in Egypt, Muammar al-Qaddafi's rambling, defiant diatribes from a bombed-out house in Libya. They were a reminder that one of the most enduring political archetypes of the 20th century, the ruthless dictator, had persisted into the 21st. How persistent are they? The U.S. NGO Freedom House this year listed 47 countries as 'not free' -- and ruled over by a range of authoritarian dictators. Their numbers have certainly fallen from the last century, which brought us quite a list: Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Pinochet, Khomeini, and a host of others now synonymous with murderous, repressive government. But invoking such tyrants, while a useful shorthand in international politics, unfortunately reinforces a troublesome myth: that dictatorships are really only about dictators. The image of a single omnipotent leader ensconced in a mystery-shrouded Kremlin or a garishly ornate presidential palace took hold during the Cold War. But dictatorships don't just run themselves. Performing the basic tasks expected of even a despotic government -- establishing order, levying taxes, controlling borders, and overseeing the economy -- requires the cooperation of a whole range of players: businessmen, bureaucrats, leaders of labor unions and political parties, and, of course, specialists in coercion like the military and security forces." (ForeignPolicy)

"The ridicule heaped on Scott Adams after being caught using a pseudonym to defend himself on message boards has left an indelible impact on the Dilbert cartoonist. He is now a defender of all famous people from the internet's smears. Let him explain why a black woman blogger has no right to criticize Gwyneth Paltrow's privilege, because she's a black woman." (Gawker)

"Topping the list of tyrants invited to watch the couple wed is the crown prince of Bahrain, whose Persian Gulf state cruelly crushed anti-government protests last month by declaring martial law and inviting Saudi troops to help quell the unrest. But after human-rights watchers cried foul, Sheik Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa cried uncle -- and announced he'd be a no-show. Not that he'll be missed. Other guest-list low-lights still include Prince Mohamed bin Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz and Princess Fadwa bint Khalid bin Abdullah bin Abdulrahman of Saudi Arabia, where hundreds have poured into the streets to call for human-rights reform, freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners. There's also King Mswati III of Swaziland, who's been blasted by Amnesty International for using security forces to crush demos in his poor country, where in 2008 he celebrated his 40th birthday with a huge party at a football stadium filled with 10,000 half-naked women. 'The invitations are a massive misjudgment by the monarch,' fumed human-rights activist Peter Tatchell. 'They show the queen is out of touch with the humanitarian values of modern, liberal Britain.'" (Cathy Burke)

"Over the weekend I watched L’Amour Fou, the new documentary about the sale of the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé Collection at Christie’s two years ago. Actually it’s the story of Yves Saint Laurent’s rise and fall. Actually it’s the story of the relationship of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. Actually it’s the story of Pierre Berge’s life. Actually Yves Saint Laurent is the story of Pierre Berge’s life. Period. Modern documentaries are more and more like movies. And frequently much more engaging and interesting (and satisfying). They tell stories and the good ones touch you. The subjects and narrators are the actors ...  It is interesting to see the young men at their beginning and to compare it to what age and lifestyle can do. The young Bergé is handsome with a shrewd, bantam-like energy. You can see he was not someone to mess with. Yves is tall and skinny and equine. And painfully shy. They had met a small dinner given by a friend in a restaurant in Montmartre and there was a mutual attraction. Soon after they were living together." (NYSocialDiary)

"Howard (Stern) said on Friday he got to Los Angeles and he can't take pictures at the big party out there. It was 85 degrees out there and he wanted to swim but he wouldn't because every fuck nut was taking his picture out there. He said he's 10 pounds too heavy to be photographed. He said that he and Beth (Ostrowsky Stern) just stayed out of the pool. He said they all had their phones out by the pool. He said they pretend that they're doing work but they're taking pictures. Howard said he ran into Jimmy Fallon out there. He said he's a really nice guy. He said he got up at one point and said he just had to go. He saw that Mario Batali there and ran over to him. Howard said Jimmy ran over to this power meeting with him and with Lorne Michaels. Howard said he saw David Beckham out there too. Howard said Beth saw him and wondered who the really hot guy was. Howard said he thought he knew it was Beckham. He said the guy was wearing a wool cap and it was 85 degrees out. He said the guy has a look and he won't give it up even for the heat. Howard said that dude is a good looking guy. He said he wants to look like that. Howard said he went to the Kimmel party on Friday night. Then on Saturday he went to Brad Grey's wedding ... Howard said he thought about having a vodka at Jimmy's party but he didn't. He said he did have one at the wedding. Howard said the wedding was wild. He said he almost felt acceptable. He said he had a nice conversation with George Clooney and his girl. He said that she was very hot. He said George was a very nice guy. Howard said he was fixated on Clooney's girl's arm. He said that he was telling him to come to Italy and visit ... He said that Brad Grey and Cassandra got married. He said that all of Hollywood was there. He said they all have to suck his dick. " (Marksfriggin)

"While Kai says he's 'lucky to make $100 in a day,' Andrew claims to sell about $8,000 worth of Adderall every month, but only clears about $2,000 in profit. He says that his clientele is '60 percent female,' made up of "mostly students and professionals between the ages of 23 and 45." He suspects that many of his customers use the amphetamine as an appetite suppressant. 'I guess the idea came to me when I was on the site constantly looking for a job,' Andrew says with a hint of frustration in his voice. He moved to New York eight months ago and has been unable to secure steady employment despite his college degree. He says a friend of his offered to pay him to get an Adderall prescription from a doctor and supply him with the pills. When he realized that what his friend was doing was lucrative, he turned around and enlisted some of his own friends to do the same thing. He sends them all to the same 'cool doctor,' who is both loose with the pen and 'actually cool.'" (VillageVoice)
 

 
"Melissa Barthelemy was last seen on July 12, 2009, sitting on a curb outside the Bronx basement apartment she shared with her five cats. The 24-year-old Buffalo native had a 'date' that night, but she wouldn't tell her on-again, off-again boyfriend with whom. Had she done so, it might have provided a critical clue to her murder. Barthelemy, who moved to New York from Buffalo in 2007 to work as a hairstylist, kept lots of secrets. She told her family she was stripping at a club, but business was slow. Her goal was to make enough money to return to Buffalo and open a hair salon. Along the way, she had her boyfriend's nickname "Blaze" tattooed on her upper back. 'She was pretty fearless,' said her mother, Lynn Barthelemy. 'She moved to New York all by herself.' Her mother had no idea Melissa was advertising on Craigslist, selling her body on the streets of New York City, and working, on occasion, for an escort agency called James Bond Entertainment under the pseudonym Chloe. She also didn't know that on the night her daughter disappeared, she had lined up a date to the tune of $1,000. Earlier that evening, the blond beauty told her boyfriend that she might be going to Long Island, a frequent haunt of hers. She regularly hung out there with a girlfriend who also worked as an online escort, as well as at the home of a regular client. Her boyfriend said he would oftentimes pick her up from the john's house. 'She would go to Long Island a lot,' said her boyfriend Johnny Terry, who spoke exclusively with The Daily Beast. 'She had some older man she was chummy with.' Terry, who law-enforcement sources say was Barthelemy's pimp, said she was very secretive about her plans that night and declined an offer for a ride. 'This time she said no,' said Terry, who denies that he was her pimp. 'I woke up in the morning and she wasn't there.'" (TheDailyBeast)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"I must have seen ten articles in the last week explaining why President Obama will lose the November 2012 election; or at the least, how he could lose. Most have been by conservative pundits, but a few have also been by Democrats. I certainly agree that he could lose, but it’s a question of how. I want to consider one of these articles—by Salon’s news editor Steve Kornacki. Not because I disagree with the conclusions, or most of the argument, but because it makes the wrong use of what could be an instructive analogy to the 1992 election. To deflate the expectation that Obama is sure to be re-elected, Kornacki points to the 1992 election. Eighteen months prior to that election, it looked like George H.W. Bush was a shoo-in, but in November 1992, he won less than 40 percent of the electorate against Bill Clinton. 'It was the economy that sunk the president,' Kornacki writes. If the U.S. economy 'remains lousy' next year, and if the Republicans don’t nominate someone 'outside the mainstream,' then Obama, Kornacki reasons, could suffer a similar fate. I agree with the final sentiment, but not with the logic leading up to it." (John Judis)

"'God this is scary. F---!' Helen Mirren is standing in the doorway of a cramped conference room on the 17th floor of NBC's celebrated 30 Rockefeller Center, staring in surprise at a sea of producers, performers and writers who are overflowing the tiny space. Around 70 men and women, many dressed in hoodies and jeans, are gathered at a large wooden table, on which plates of fruit slices and sandwiches sit half-eaten. With three days to go before showtime, much of the talent is exhausted on this Wednesday afternoon -- hardly surprising given that several of them, including head writer and Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers, haven't left the building since the previous afternoon. Within moments, Mirren has joined them at the table and is preparing for the Saturday Night Live read-through, which has been held at 30 Rock every show week since the program first aired in fall 1975. In any other setting, the Oscar winner would be the center of attention. But not here. One of the writers glances at an empty chair right next to Mirren, knowing that the person who matters most is the one who will soon fill it. At 4:25 p.m., silver-haired and dressed in a comfortable V-neck sweater and khakis, Lorne Michaels, SNL's creator and executive producer, eases into the room without fuss or fanfare. He takes his seat next to Mirren, and immediately the group plunges into the first sketch, a spoof of the Fox News morning show Fox & Friends, with Mirren playing a convincing redneck. In the intense four hours that follow, which are broken up by only one 15-minute break, Michaels gives no comment, no direction and almost no reaction, speaking only to read stage directions for each sequence, always in a hushed monotone. If he likes or dislikes what he hears, he says nothing, revealing only the occasional smirk or frown. By 6:15, the first half of the read-through is over. The crowd quickly disperses, and Michaels leaves the room as invisibly as he entered." (HollywoodReporter)

"Last week, the Pakistani government demanded that Washington end drone strikes against Taliban and al Qaeda targets in Pakistan's tribal areas and drastically scale back CIA operations. This followed a drone attack in North Waziristan that killed more than 40 civilians on the very day that Pakistan released contracted CIA operative Raymond Davis, who had been arrested for killing two Pakistanis in Lahore. The Davis affair caused intense anger among ordinary Pakistanis. Americans, meanwhile, are furious at Pakistan for sheltering the leadership of the Afghan Taliban, who are fighting U.S. forces and the Kabul government in Afghanistan. Given this explosive situation, is it really possible for the United States and Pakistan to go on working together against terrorism? The answer is complicated, but basically it is yes. The Davis affair has damaged the relationship between Washington and the Pakistani Army and military intelligence, but it is very unlikely to end it. Hard as it may be to swallow, the United States must go on cooperating with the Pakistani state, military, and intelligence services against terrorism directed against the West and not allow this relationship to be destroyed by Pakistan's sheltering of the Afghan Taliban ... Above all, though the Pakistani establishment and the United States differ greatly on Afghanistan, they are basically at one when it comes to preventing international terrorism against the West. This is in part because the Pakistani elites shop in the West, send their children to study in the West, and to a large extent actually live in the West. On any given day, a bomb in Harrods in London would be very likely to claim a Pakistani elite family among its victims." (ForeignPolicy)

"As someone who just handed his memoirs to Simon & Schuster, I am very sensitive about the concept of fake stories. For example, after writing about a threesome I was sure had taken place in 2002, I remembered that Finding Nemo was playing in the background when it happened, and that movie didn’t come out until 2003. In my manuscript, I offer a $1,000 prize to anyone who finds a major untruth in the book. 'I think you should take out that promise,' one of the editors told me. 'It’s too ambiguous.' I told him to leave it in and corrected the Nemo mistake. The problem is, James Frey has diluted the whole idea of what constitutes a true story. He published a book of fake memoirs and became not only a very successful writer but a formidable publisher in his own right. After publicly apologizing on Oprah, Frey now says he regrets his former regret and argues there’s no such thing as truth. For those of us whose youth really was wasted on heroin, orgies, fistfights with skinheads, acid trips, jail, squatting with anarchists, punk bands, vandalism, police chases, and dead friends, this is a slap in the face." (Gavin Innes)

"Is there such a thing as the perfect match? As someone who has been married four times, I've done my share of research on the subject of compatibility in the realm of Eros. The subject of food-and-wine pairing is perhaps even more bedeviling. Is there a perfect wine for oysters? For Camembert? For baked lobster with red-wine-braised sunchoke and fava-sprout bergamot emulsion? Does fish always call for white wine? You could do worse in your search for answers to these questions than to go to New York's Le Bernardin, the Michelin three-star temple of piscine cuisine. Aldo Sohm, 39, who was named Best Sommelier in America in 2007 and Best Sommelier in the World in 2008 (in a contest organized by the World Sommelier Association), is a master of matching food and wine. He has converted more than one skeptic, including my wife, to the concept of pairing. 'I can make the food look good,' he says. On the other hand, chef Eric Ripert, his boss, likes to drink red Bordeaux with pretty much everything, including oysters. This makes for some interesting discussions in the kitchen. Among the mentors that Mr. Ripert studied under on his way to becoming America's best seafood chef was the great Joël Robuchon, who shares his taste in wine. 'When Robuchon came to Le Bernardin,' Mr. Ripert tells me over a lunch at Ben Benson's Steak House in midtown Manhattan, 'he was offered the wine pairing menu. He just said, Bring me Bordeaux. I agree. I love Bordeaux. I'll even have it with salad.' And indeed, he is sipping a 1995 La Conseillante, a Bordeaux from the Pomerol district, with his Caesar salad." (Jay McInerney)

"Ariel Levy has written an excellent piece in the current New Yorker about Reed Krakoff, the uber-retailer/ designer/marketer of 'luxury goods.' This is a story about why people live in New York, why people come to New York, and it is classic New Yorker reporting with a lustrous garnish of classic who-me? bitchiness, and a healthy portion of insight into the man, the city and his world right now. Mr. Krakoff is a New Yorker (suburban childhood). He is in his late 40s. I met him in the 90s at a cocktail party he gave at his house in Southampton one August Saturday afternoon, He was a creative/marketing man for Tommy Hilfiger, in his early 30s and already with a reputation for being a successful man in his field, albeit not at the top. He was giving the cocktail for somebody or something, which is why I was invited – by his publicists. While hospitable, although neither engaging or charming, or even interested, he gave the impression of a young man who was 'going places,' but not really there yet in his own mind. He was neither party-giver or partygoer.  Actually, there was something wonky about him. He seemed distracted, like one of those brainy kids who’s always working a problem in his head. Maybe the word would be 'preoccupied.' The party was business (like the majority of parties in New York these days.)  A couple of years later he went to work for Coach and turned a healthy retail business into a a billion dollar blockbuster." (NYSocialDiary)



"Studios tell me this Easter Weekend has begun with rain in 2/3s of the U.S. and the first huge 'up' weekend (+40%) from last year at $130M. Twentieth Century Fox's Rio 3D may be about a bird, but Friday numbers show 'it's holding like a rock,' a studio exec just emailed me. Lionsgate's latest in Tyler Perry's franchise, Madea's Big Happy Family, looks soft. This is, after all, Perry's sixth cross-dressing film, but the last one opened to a $41M weekend and the one before to $30M. But overperforming is Fox's Water For Elephants based on Sara Gruen's best-selling book and written by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Francis Lawrence. Clearly, the classy ad campaign was intriguing for adults and Robert Pattinson's Twi-hards. 'Terrific start for Elephants as we could hit higher teens,' a Fox exec tells me. It's also a good day for Universal's holdover Hop from Illumination Entertainment after passing $100M. It'll pop on Saturday and Sunday for the little bunnies and their parents. And Disneynature's African Cats narrated by Samuel Jackson is also playing strong for a niche nature movie." (Deadline)

"When the celebrity hair mogul Vidal Sassoon – or, to be entirely accurate, when the celebrity hair mogul Vidal Sassoon’s people – told me he wanted to have lunch at the Monkey Bar in Manhattan, my cynical self leapt to certain conclusions: that, for example, Sassoon had chosen this restaurant because of its fame as a people-watching schmooze fest, thanks to owner Graydon Carter, aka editor of Vanity Fair magazine and the host of a mega Oscars party, who presides over meals from a banquette; that Sassoon would take a walkabout as he entered, past regulars such as author Fran Lebowitz and TV anchor Charlie Rose, meeting and greeting. In conclusion, that the whole point of choosing this place was to demonstrate, in the short space between hostess and table, the extent to which Sassoon has transcended shampoo to become a celebrity. These suspicions were only reinforced when, arriving for my date with Sassoon, I was shown to a banquette right next to the banquette where Carter and Vanity Fair publisher Edward Menicheschi were hosting Tom Murry, president of Calvin Klein. Here we go, I thought, sitting at the edge of the bench facing the door so I could watch the show. But I was wrong: seconds later, as discreet as could be, there was Sassoon, standing next to the table, a sprightly, if elderly (he is 83) man in signature black-framed glasses, cropped white hair, blazer and button-down shirt, a scarf knotted, ascot-style, around his neck and a big smile. 'So lovely to meet you,' he smiled, and shuffled around the table so we could sit next to each other. 'It’s so wonderful to be here,' he whispered. 'You know, I lived here for three months when I first came to New York in the 1960s to open my salon.' Here? In this restaurant? 'Well, in the Hotel Elysée upstairs. Marlon Brando used to hang out here...'" (LunchwithFT)

"On March 6, dozens of zebra finches were found dead outside the National Arts Club, at 15 Gramercy Park South. They belonged to the club president, O. Aldon James. The ASPCA is investigating the situation, though it's been suggested that Mr. James was likely responsible for their demise. 'The finches, it was absolutely him,' said Helga S. Orthofer, an artist and former club member. 'He did not know what to do with all the birds, and saw he had too many, and, idiot that he is, he let them out in the most horrendous storm.' Birds have brought Mr. James trouble before. In 2000, renowned biographer and Pulitzer Prize finalist Nancy Milford told New York about Mr. James—a self- professed 'bird man' and avid collector—and his problems feeding an endangered infant raptor. While she was staying at the club finishing a biography on Edna St. Vincent Millay (published in 2002), she said, 'One night he just opened the window to his bathroom and released the bird, just let it free into Manhattan.' Shortly after the discovery of the dead finches, the club announced that Mr. James would be going on a 'well-deserved vacation.' Many current and former members of the club, some of whom spoke to The Observer on the condition of anonymity, believe the vacation should have come long ago. The National Arts Club was founded in 1898 with a mission 'to stimulate, foster and promote public interest in the arts.' Its members have included three presidents as well as distinguished artists, architects and actors. (Current members include Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke, Robert Redford and Uma Thurman.) The club's building, the Tilden Mansion, erected in the 1840s, houses a public space, where events are hosted, and private apartments for some members. (The Poetry Society of America is also a tenant.) Long regarded as a treasured part of the Gramercy Park community, the club has become, under Mr. James' presidency, one of Manhattan's most controversial institutions." (Observer)
 

 
"To mark the arrival of Jeffrey Deitch's enormous and groundbreaking street art show at MOCA, we asked noted New York subway graffiti artist and author J.Son to tell us a little about what he thought of the installation. Jeffrey Deitch's 'Art in the Streets' exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Los Angeles inundates visitors with so many styles of street art that it's impossible not to find something you love or hate. I come from the early '70s NYC subway era and graffiti on trains will always rank highest in my pecking order. Nothing hung on a museum wall can ever translate the energy and frenetic movement of Technicolored trains rolling into stations and then vanishing into the horizon. The kids of Philadelphia and New York created a movement over 40 years ago that hijacked the alphabet and forged something unique. In the early '80s a more iconic variant blossomed when art school students and downtown hipsters created street art. It took the same tactic that graffiti artists did in appropriating the public space illegally but used imagery in place of lettering. It also banked on an image resonating with the public mind more than the traditional identity-based letter graffiti. Keith Haring's babies, Richard Hambleton's shadow men and Kenny Scharf's cartoon images caused a rethinking of the traditional aesthetic approach and paved the way for Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Cost and Revs and Kaws to inspire street artists the way SuperKool 223, Snake 1 and Stay High 149 inspired me." (Papermag)
 

 
"Nobody ever really knows what Donald Trump is worth. Forbes currently pegs his net worth at $2.7 billion. Trump insisted last week that it's actually "much more than that." The validity of his claim may depend on whether you measure net worth the way Trump does — according to how he's feeling about the world in that very moment. That's how Trump explained the process to lawyers during a deposition in 2007, after Trump sued Times scribe Timothy O'Brien for claiming in his book that the real-estate mogul was actually only worth between $150,000 and $250,000 .." (NYMag)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"Before Donald Trump's visit to Boca Raton last weekend stoked the enthusiasm of his Tea Party fans, the Sunshine State was already a power center in the Trump universe. Florida's home to Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club, Trump Grande, and Trump Hollywood, so it’s not surprising that it figures into Trump's pre-campaign campaigning. Indeed, his political fortunes may come down to a 12-block section of downtown Tampa. That’s where a convention center, a federal courthouse and an abandoned lot all sit, within easy walking distance from each other. The empty lot was to be home to Trump Tower Tampa, a 52-story luxury apartment project that went bust. A trial is scheduled in December at the federal courthouse, in a lawsuit that Tower investors have brought against Trump to recoup some of the money they lost in the failed project. And a few blocks away is the St. Pete Times Forum, where the eventual Republican victor (whoever that may be) will claim the nomination in August 2012. As Donald J. Trump fuels speculation that he wants to be the one making that nomination speech, it’s worth a look at the business record he’s made a central part of his pitch. He has been wildly successful and made lots of money on his own projects. Other money has been made on 'Trump' projects where he did nothing but sell the rights to his name. He’s also had spectacular failures, leading to bankruptcy court and investor lawsuits, and when that happens, the blame flies. Throughout, Trump has treated his name as his most valuable asset. It’s a brand that sells — in real estate, in casinos, in reality television, golf courses — even in an Amway-like marketing business. It means success. And it’s rich. Shiny, polished and conspicuously rich." (WNYC)

"In an interview with PopEater, Paltrow addressed just why she believes she has so many critics by saying: 'I think my work ethic is the reason why I'm successful. I think that a lot of people don't want to put in effort and it's easier to not change, not do something good for you…[They're just] pissed off at someone else doing that. Everything in my life that's good is because I worked my ass off to get it and to maintain it' ... Let me start by saying that I happen to be someone who does not hate Gwyneth Paltrow or GOOP' (whatever that is.) I think she’s pretty and talented, and on a side note her Oscar gown this year happened to be one of my favorites, but this interview finally made me understand why she engenders such enmity among so many. It’s not because she’s pretty and talented (okay, that may be part of it). It’s because like a lot of privileged people she’s under the delusion that she earned everything that she has, and then has the audacity to gloat about it. In an age in which America’s class-divide is greater than it’s ever been, our patience has simply waned for the George W. Bush’s, and Gwyneth Paltrow’s of the world—people who were born on third base and act like they hit a triple. America was founded on the idea that everyone has equal opportunity to carve out their piece of the American Dream, but increasingly that’s becoming less and less of a reality. And there’s something infuriating about listening to people born into the Dream—silver rattle in one hand, silver spoon in the other--lecture the rest of us on how easy it is to obtain—if we’re just willing to 'work our asses off' like they do. Gwyneth, for instance, was born to Hollywood royalty. Her father Bruce was one of television’s most legendary directors of shows like St. Elsewhere and her mother is the acclaimed actress Blythe Danner. I’ve heard nothing but great things about her family—a rarity in Hollywood—and I think it’s wonderful that she was so fortunate to have that. But when you credit landing one of your first film roles to 'your Uncle Steven,' as in Steven Spielberg, who directed a young Gwyneth in Hook, you have officially relinquished the right to say that 'Everything in my life that's good is because I worked my ass off to get it.'" (TheLoop21)

"Raise your hands, boys and girls, if you ever took drugs and went to NYC's notorious nightclub the Limelight. The de-consecrated church on West 20th Street -- which was finally shut-down by the powers-that-were in 2001 after a drug bust and allegations of tax evasion against owner Peter Gatien -- is the subject of a new documentary debuting this week at the Tribeca Film Festival. If you were a regular -- or a 'Club Kid' -- you might spot yourself in some of the barrage of footage of ecstatic dancers, and you'll also get a historical perspective on some of those drug-fueled nights we've all forgotten. Directed by Billy Corben and produced by Jen Gatien, Peter's Daughter, the film is a little one-sided: Peter Gatien does admit to doing drugs, but never ever ever inside one of his many clubs. It's also crammed with one too many talking-head interviews including Gatien's private investigators and attorneys and nobody from the prosecution, who all declined to be interviewed. On the other hand, we did sort of feel sorry for poor Mr. Gatien by the end of the film's almost two hours of mind-numbing historical and legal narrative and several of the interviewees are hilarious. Author and former Village Voice nightlife writer Frank Owen should consider a second career as a stand-up comedian and Steve 'Good Night Mr.' Lewis does not mince words: 'If I had a button to push that would eliminate (Gatien's wife) Alesandra, I'd push it.'" (Papermag)

"A diaphanous glitter has descended upon Tribeca in the form of beautiful people, fabulous parties, and youth—and it’s hard not to wax poetic about such a seemingly perfect cocktail. However, first-time director Alexandra McGuinness has cast anything but a sparing eye on the neophyte jet set in her La Dolce Vita–esque black-and-white film, Lotus Eaters. The film follows Alice (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), a young model-turning-actress, and her friend Felix as they stumble through a youthful haze of cigarettes, vodka baths, and late-night revelry to the point where the fabulous really starts to wear you down. It takes its title from a stop on Odysseus’s journey, where a tribe of narcotic-noshing natives seem to do nothing but laze about all day, coaxing Odysseus’s men to do the same. Under McGuinness’s deft direction, the film casts a gently critical eye on young Londoners similarly lost and without purpose. Sitting across from Little Gold Men at the Mondrian Soho, McGuinness presents her film to us as more than just an excuse to look good in monochrome: ' I’d always wanted to make a movie about London—about that period young people have in their 20s where they get waylaid.' She smiles as she recounts the vignettes of her own journey as a young Irish girl—and the daughter of U2 manager Paul McGuinness—who came to London to act, and the overall meandering she beheld. Looking at her, you can’t help notice a sort of strength reminiscent of Sofia Coppola, whom McGuinness, not surprisingly, admires: 'I saw Sofia Coppola on the street yesterday, that was cool,' she says." (VanityFair)

"I went down to Michael’s again yesterday to keep a lunch date with Leslie Stevens, the public relations executive who with James LaForce, founded the very successful LaForce and Stevens agency. Leslie and I share birthdays one day apart (I’m 26 July ---- and a lot older – and she’s 27). We joke that that’s our bond (Leos) but actually we’ve been friends from the first because we like to talk about our lives frankly with each other. Seated next door to us was Joan Rivers and Amy Rosenbloom, the television producer. Afterwards we got Steve Millington to take a picture. After lunch I decided to walk up Fifth Avenue for a few blocks in the Sun. The sidewalks were mobbed. I don’t mean crowded, which Fifth Avenue sidewalks inevitably are. I mean mobbed. There was mob scene outside the Abercrombie & Fitch store whose patrons are generally in the 13 to 20 age range, no matter how old they look. In the entry-way is a large black and white photo of a well-formed, almost naked, very young man. The crowd waiting to get in (both boys and girls) are busy ogling the boys who are the doormen. No room for pedestrians, and no one knows how to make way. It’s not intentional; they haven’t got a clue. That’s today’s 'no-etiquette'/no courtesy and it runs clear across the boards socially." (NYSocialDiary)

"The Bang Bang Club, a drama about war photographers in apartheid-era South Africa, resonated with the premiere crowd in a different—and grimly contemporary—way, given the recent deaths in Libya of photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros. 'Movies like this show us problems that I think people forget about when they live in New York and have a fast life,' offered Doutzen Kroes. On his way in, paparazzi target Ryan Phillippe explained how he'd initially struggled to embrace the role. 'I did have reservations about playing a photographer, quite honestly,' he admitted. 'The last decade or so of my life I've been pursued and hounded and invaded by them.' As he made his way down the red carpet, the cameras clicked. Maggie Betts' lyrical and intimate tale of Africa, The Carrier, focuses on an AIDS-ravaged family in Zambia. 'The landscape and the heart of the people lent itself to this kind of tragic beauty,' Betts said at the after-party at Kenmare." (Style)

"Fashion titans Valentino and Karl Lagerfeld had a grand, presidential-style meeting on the tarmac at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey when their private jets both landed from Europe within minutes of each other at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday. A spy told us, 'It was a coincidence, but a funny one. They are old friends and walked down the steps of their respective planes and greeted each other warmly. Then an amazing array of luxury suitcases were unloaded, along with each designer's beautiful entourage and quite a few dogs.' The icons then set off for Manhattan in their respective motorcades." (PageSix)

"Just this past Wednesday, radio shows, entertainment blogs, and countless websites were all abuzz with Tyler Perry’s chastising words for fellow African-American director Spike Lee. The Hollywood powerhouse (and Oprah’s BFF besides Gayle), whose new film Madea’s Big Happy Family opens today, let loose some apparently long-held anger by declaring: 'I’m so sick of hearing about damn Spike Lee. Spike can go straight to hell.' It seems a while back, Lee took offense with Perry’s writing and choice of material for his weekly television shows and in his films featuring the ever-present Madea. Perry’s outraged response to Lee via his website and press conference turned out to be captivating news to many, but truly perplexing to even more. Not only did Lee’s comments referencing Perry’s characters and plot lines as buffoonish 'coonery' date back to 2009, the feeling that Perry’s movies often do more harm than good to the image of African Americans and even less for black actors creatively has long been Black Hollywood’s dirty, not-so-secret little secret. Certainly no one is more aware of this fact than Perry himself." (TheDailyBeast)

"The political kickoff of an election year in Virginia is the annual Shad Planking, an event filled with beer guzzling, glad-handing and bipartisan politicking. It’s the kind of event where Democrats like Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Bobby Scott might be spotted smiling and chatting with former Senator and current Republican Senate candidate George Allen in the woods outside a rural town southeast of Richmond — which actually happened Wednesday. This year’s event had the feeling of an election year, even though the Senate primaries are more than twelve months away. 'I look at this as the kickoff for the general election, so to speak,' Allen told reporters. 'This is ... the best bipartisan political event in Virginia. Folks have a good time, talking to one another, having their various viewpoints and so forth. And it’s fun. It’s the way politics ought to be.' Allen was in his element as he shook countless hands and chatted with attendees who knew him way back when. He has attended at least the past three years, using each one as another stepping stone in his quest for his old job. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s joke-filled speech epitomized the bipartisan nature of the event, even if most of this year’s attendees were Republicans. He described Allen, who was looking ahead to a run for president when he lost re-election in 2006, and Democratic Senate candidate Tim Kaine, who is only running because Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is retiring, as 'two men running for a job neither of them wants.'" (RollCall)

"President Barack Obama drew A-list movie stars and studio execs. He spoke from the sound stage that produced some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of the last decade. He even professed his love of Spider-Man. It wasn’t just any given Thursday for the president, who turned on the charm and pocketed big bucks from his loyal Hollywood base, a group that included Jamie Foxx, Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell, Berry Gordy and Sony honcho Amy Pascal. Some of this city’s biggest names turned out for three fundraisers at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City and Tavern restaurant in Brentwood — outings that cost attendees as much as $35,800 a head, helping to push Obama’s two-day West Coast fundraising haul into the millions. The president, who fashions himself as a no-frills, no-drama guy, appeared most starstruck not at the sight of Steven Spielberg or George Clooney, but by the fact that he spoke on the Sony stage most recently used to film Spider-Man 4. 'I’m all psyched up about that,' Obama said of the movie sequel, due out next year. 'Will you play a part?' an audience member shouted. 'Seriously, I’m very big on Spider-Man,' Obama said." (Politico)

"The Tribeca 25: Part 2. In our second installment, L.A. Collins gives five recommendations of twenty-five total for the Tribeca Film Festival. For the first installment, click here." (VMagazine)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"ZHU LIANGXIU gulps down Kenyan lager in a bar in Nairobi and recites a Chinese aphorism: 'One cannot step into the same river twice.' Mr Zhu, a shoemaker from Foshan, near Hong Kong, is on his second trip to Africa. Though he says he has come to love the place, you can hear disappointment in his voice. On his first trip three years ago Mr Zhu filled a whole notebook with orders and was surprised that Africans not only wanted to trade with him but also enjoyed his company. 'I have been to many continents and nowhere was the welcome as warm,' he says. Strangers congratulated him on his homeland’s high-octane engagement with developing countries. China is Africa’s biggest trading partner and buys more than one-third of its oil from the continent. Its money has paid for countless new schools and hospitals. Locals proudly told Mr Zhu that China had done more to end poverty than any other country. He still finds business is good, perhaps even better than last time. But African attitudes have changed. His partners say he is ripping them off. Chinese goods are held up as examples of shoddy work. Politics has crept into encounters. The word “colonial” is bandied about. Children jeer and their parents whisper about street dogs disappearing into cooking pots. Once feted as saviours in much of Africa, Chinese have come to be viewed with mixed feelings—especially in smaller countries where China’s weight is felt all the more. To blame, in part, are poor business practices imported alongside goods and services. Chinese construction work can be slapdash and buildings erected by mainland firms have on occasion fallen apart. A hospital in Luanda, the capital of Angola, was opened with great fanfare but cracks appeared in the walls within a few months and it soon closed. The Chinese-built road from Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, to Chirundu, 130km (81 miles) to the south-east, was quickly swept away by rains." (TheEconomist)

"I went down to Michael’s to lunch with Barbara Goldsmith. Michael’s was its Wednesday-jammed although Barbara and I quickly fell into an intense conversation about books, the state of the world, the President, the occult (she wrote 'Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull'), and writing. I’ve been a fan of Barbara’s since her book 'Little Gloria Happy at Last' was published in the late 1970s. A page turner that you can’t turn fast enough, about the childhood of little Gloria Vanderbilt. Since then I’ve also come to know her personally, and her interests and her generosity. Barbara is one of those people who quietly goes about living a very full life of philanthropy, work and literary activism while appearing to be stress-free. She 'shares' her know-how and her talents, and does so as a matter of course. She’s long been an active member and contributor to PEN where she endowed the PEN Freedom to Write Awards, given annually to spotlight writers imprisoned for expressing their views ... We talked about her most recent book, 'Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie,' part of the Norton paperback series on lives of people in the sciences. The idea had been presented to her by her friend Robert Darnton a few years ago on behalf of Norton and their special series. Madame Curie’s private papers had recently been released after 70 years under lock and key because their levels of radioactivity. The papers were considered too dangerous to handle for decades (something Madame Curie was unaware of in her work with the material – and which would eventually kill her)." (NYSocialDiary)




"How fair a rule is monarchy? A Byzantine scholar wrote that it was the fairest, to the point that God sustained it, as long as the emperors were elected by the army or an aristocratic senate. With their coronation, legitimate successors and usurpers alike automatically became sacred. The ancient Greeks had gone a step further. They did not require a Godlike sustenance or perfection from their kings, only greatness. Agamemnon, Menelaos, Odysseus, Achilles, and Leonidas were all great kings but not perfect human beings. Practical Romans distrusted Greek morality about kings and heroes, and in Marcus Aurelius they produced the supreme type of philosopher king of whom Plato had merely dreamed. Marcus wrote in his Meditations, 'One should rule in accordance with reason, in obedience to Providence, in the service of his subjects.' (Just like the self-appointed King of Kings, the scumbag Gaddafi.) Poor old Marcus: His reign was one disaster after another. Treason, a terrible plague, war, and bankruptcy. He sacrificed his own life to preserve his subjects’ vain life. So much for good intentions. The modern world has put water in its wine—an old Greek expression—and kings and queens nowadays are mostly constitutional monarchs, except in joke countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the rest of the tiny kleptocracies with black gold gushing underneath" (Taki Theodoracopulos)

"Last night at midtown Manhattan’s Monkey Bar, Vanity Fair celebrated the release of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s memoir, Idea Man. 'Whatever it is that precedes an early adopter,' said Reuters editor Jim Impoco, 'that’s what Paul Allen is, which is why he’s a god among techno men.' Among those who reveled in Allen’s glory were New York police commissioner Ray Kelly, Rolling Stone editor in chief Jann Wenner, and chairman of CBS News Jeff Fager. 'I think I’ll always be most remembered for Microsoft,' said Allen, 58, who also owns two professional sports teams (the N.F.L.’s Seattle Seahawks and the N.B.A.’s Portland Trail Blazers), plays guitar in the rock trio Grown Men, and is a significant philanthropist for neuroscience research and genome mapping. 'But I think the work I’m doing right now—trying to help scientists worldwide understand the genetics, connection, and development of the brain—could end up being my most significant legacy.' Also in attendance were novelist Jay McInerney, art dealer Larry Gagosian, and Italian entrepreneur Jean Pigozzi, who said of his longtime friend, 'I think Paul is a bit misunderstood, and this book is going to put him back on the map.'" (VanityFair)

"And so it begins, my annual trek to the ends of the earth, aka the Tribeca Film Festival! Last night was the opening ceremony complete with a free performance and outdoor screening of the Sir Elton John and Leon Russell music documentary, The Union, directed by Cameron Crowe. While I had every intention on making it to Tribeca, I got derailed on the way. However, I did hear great music and I 'made a movie' at downtown perennial hot spot, Indochine, where I attended a chic pre-concert dinner party in honor of R&B chanteuse Jill Scott. NYC Notables June Ambrose, Kelly Bensimon and a plethora of fashion insiders dined on red snapper and filet mignon (which I attempted to sear with a candle). After dunking my steak into a votive, we decided to head next door to Dominion to hear 'Jilly from Philly' debut songs from her upcoming CD, Light Of The Sun." (Bev Smith)

"Through April 30th, artist Isaac Julien has a show running at the Metro Pictures Gallery in Chelsea. Entitled Ten Thousand Waves, the exhibit features the photographic component to Julien’s nine-screen film installation of the same name, recently presented at the Sydney Biennial. Inspired by the tragedy that befell England’s Morecambe Bay in 2004, the films demonstrate the artists deep immersion into Chinese culture at that time, through a non-linear narrative addressing the deaths of the twenty-three cockle-pickers who were swept away by the sea. Actress Maggie Cheung appears throughout as the goddess Mazu, known for leading lost fishermen to safety. 'The project became a kind of search for me,' Julien says. 'I wanted to look at Chinese culture and an ongoing dialogue with the aesthetic practices of that culture and find my own contribution to that exchange.' The photographs on display comprise a filmic essay on the nature of human and artistic migration, filmed in the rural Guangxi province and also Shanghai, where the artist filmed in the legendary Shanghai Film Studio." (VMagazine)

Kurt Andersen on Donald Trump: "An Amazing Spectacle"

Studio 360's Kurt Andersen, former editor of the late, great Spy Magazine, was on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show this morning. The subject was Donald Trump, born again Birther, who the magazine coined at the outset as a 'short-fingered vulgarian.' "Back in 1987 he was flirting with the possibility of running for President and saying 'well, of course if I ran, I'd win.' This is in the 1988 Presidential election, almost a quarter century ago," said Andersen. "Just as he has been bankrupt many times, he has flirted with running for President many times."

And Trump has done so from many different philosophies. "It does seem, given that at this point he is more famous nationally than ever, has gone further out in suggesting that he's serious than ever before -- it seems as though it would be hard for him not to run," Kurt continued, further on in the conversation.

"What will his excuse be if he says 'I've decided not to run' ... The boy can cry wolf only so many times. So, he has done this again and again and again. I mean, sometimes he does it as a kind of left-wing Democrat saying that we have to have universal health care, and George Bush is the worst President in history, what he said a few years ago and now he says it as I love the Tea Party and I don't believe he was born in this country and he's the worst president in history. So it's an amazing spectacle, he is an amazing spectacle, which is why I guess I've been a sort of a student of Donald Trump for I guess these 25 years."

And so have we.

Audio of the full interview on WNYC.

The Exquisite Spectacle of Paz de la Huerta

The Corsair first encountered Paz de la Huerta, briefly, at the Milk Gallery about a year and a half ago on a cold January night. What is one to say about Paz? She really is really, really committed to nudity. Fer realsies, readers: Paz takes naked to the n-th degree.

And that graphic and arty nudity -- as well as the artfully crafted tequila cocktails -- perfectly offset the arch chill of the night. Rarely does this blogger, your faithful correspondent, remember any photography exhibit longer than a few months after the closing. That exhibition of exhibitionism, however, will always hold a special place in our memory palace.

Flash forward to March 20. At The Standard Hotel, Paz, driven by luscious demons, attacked The Hills star Samantha Swetra. The particulars of that sanguinary event are at present being untangled in the courts right now. From the NYPost:

On the night of the fight, the apparently drunk de la Huerta was stumbling around the bar with her breasts popping out of her low-cut shirt, a witness told The Post (Corsair note: that sounds like Our Paz!).

Meanwhile, Swetra was hanging out in the bar nearby with Lindsay Lohan. Swetra said she'd never met de la Huerta before that night.

"She kept coming over and over. We were like, 'We don't want her here,' " Swetra told The Post yesterday.

"There was no words before she hit me. It was completely unexpected. I turned around -- it was like her on top of me."

Prosecutors said de la Huerta pummeled Swetra in the face with her fists, bloodying her nose and mouth.

Clearly Paz -- like Prince -- does not like reality TV stars. On the Great Chain of Celebrity Being, reality stars are, by and large, just barely a step above shock jocks. To wit: before the pummeling, Paz shouted: "I'm a real actress on HBO! She's a fake actress publicity- seeker!"

There have been other spectacular incidents over the years involving Paz. Paz read Madame Bovary in an event improbably sponsored by Playboy -- she was not wearing any underwear. As de la Huerta read from that great psychological masterpiece on the interior of the life of the modern of woman, Paz, after her own fashion, expressed her own interiority. Crossing and uncrossing her legs, Paz showed off to the assembled crowd a vast expanse of hindquarter.

And then there was the "walk of shame" after a night she, at 22, spent with Jack Nicholson, aged 66 (Pop quiz: How many times does 66 go into 22?).

Quod erat demonstrandum: Paz de la Huerta, postmodern spectacle par excellence.