Thursday, January 17, 2008

Media-Whore D'Oevres



"PROFESSIONAL life aside, Kate Moss has been keeping a low profile of late - but that didn't mean the supermodel was going to disappoint the paparazzi with a low-key event when she turned 34 yesterday. Crates of Champagne were seen being wheeled into her new home in St John's Wood yesterday morning, sparking rumours that the party would remain there. At around lunchtime, however, Moss left for The Dorchester looking demure in a white blouse and black trousers. With daughter Lila Grace, 5, in attendance alongside beau Jamie Hince and TopShop boss Philip Green, the party started kicked off with a Champagne reception before Davinia Taylor, Kelly Osbourne and Meg Mathews arrived for a spot of pampering. The guests then changed into Ziggy Stardust-style glam outfits and de-camped to Soho club Punk, where Moss's Chanel jumpsuit and gold star painted over one eye sparked a media frenzy." (Vogue)

"Clinton agents for many months have privately warned prominent Democrats that Obama as the presidential nominee could not withstand Republican scrutiny ("cannot take a frisk"). While denying my reports of this activity, the Clinton campaign went public when Obama's threat became real instead of merely potential. Billy Shaheen, Clinton's New Hampshire chairman, explicitly raised this long-ago use of cocaine and marijuana, and was fired ... Prior to Tuesday night's Democratic debate in Las Vegas, both campaigns declared an end to the 'race debate' over whether Martin Luther King or Lyndon B. Johnson was most responsible for civil rights legislation. But the fight really was about the Clintons' resenting an obstacle on their return to the White House. A prominent Democrat who saw the former president this week described him as 'furious, outraged, angry and utterly dismissive of Obama.'" (Novak)

"Remember all that laundry Kiefer Sutherland was doing in jail? PageSix.com has learned: Jack Bauer is separating Gary Collins' whites from his colors.The Daytime Emmy-winner joined Kiefer in the Glendale City Jail on Monday to serve four days for a DUI conviction. Collins isn't required to do any work because he's in on the 'pay to stay' program." (PageSix)

"The editor of KARL ROVE'S memoir will be PRISCILLA PAINTON, who has been deputy managing editor of Time and yesterday was named editor in chief of the Simon & Schuster adult trade imprint. Painton is well-known on the campaign trail - earlier, as a political correspondent and more recently as the editor in charge of Time's coverage of the re-election of Bill Clinton in 1996, the rise and fall of Newt Gingrich, the recount of 2000 and the 'Person of the Year' cover on George W. Bush. Earlier this month, she was out in Iowa with her 14-year-old daughter, Isabel Smith. And she first met Karl years at ago at an on-the-road dinner that included Donna Brazile - Painton's first hint that Rove was more multi-dimensional than most people realized. Painton's job as editor in chief, which starts March 3, includes acquiring manuscripts, mentoring authors and leading a team of editors. The Rove project is separate, for Mary Matalin's Simon & Schuster imprint, Threshold Editions." (Politico)

"I left the McCarthy apartment, hitching a ride with Ed Lobrano to the Upper East Side where I was having dinner with my old friends Marianne and Steve Harrison at Swifty's. Swifty's was jumping. Coincidentally we were seated next to Dominick Dunne. This was very interesting to Marianne who is a big DD fan and told the man that he was the only reason she read Vanity Fair. Dominick was having dinner with London's Nicky Haslam and Nina Garcia. Across the way Felicia Taylor was deep in conversation with Richard Ziegelasch, and waiting for their table was gallery owner Leila Heller and friend." (NYSocialdiary)

"As EU governments focus on securing ratification of the proposed Lisbon Reform Treaty in 2008, United States policymakers are concerned its provisions could present serious challenges to transatlantic intelligence and homeland security co-operation. The main US reservation is that, by transferring additional law and justice functions from the individual EU member states to EU institutions, the treaty could disrupt existing bilateral relations between US and EU governments without establishing anything better." (Janes)

"This year's touch-and-go awards season received a major boon in the form of Tuesday's National Board of Review of Motion Pictures gala. The Bulgari-sponsored Cipriani affair drew an Oscars-worthy crowd of celebs, including Julie Christie, Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, and Denzel Washington ... But Juno's Ellen Page was thrilled to learn Winslet had made it at all. 'She's here? Oh, wow,' exclaimed Page, who counts the Titanic star as one of her two idols (the other is Patti Smith). Would the fresh-faced starlet introduce herself? 'No,' she said. 'Too shy.'" (Style)

"Time columnist Joe Klein created a stir at the Council on Foreign Relations earlier today when he suggested that "an element of unwitting sabotage" may be behind Bill Clinton's series of apparently off-message comments while campaigning on behalf of his wife. Klein speculated: 'He's worrying, 'Maybe she's going to be a better president than I was' ... Klein presaged these remarks with a heavily ironic comment that he would not 'ever, ever want to speculate about what's going on inside of Bill Clinton's mind.'" (Observer)

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