The Complete Guide to Will Smith Slap TakesWill Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, and now the opinions just keep coming. We’re cataloguing every variety of Slap reaction.
Sean Hannity Thinks Gay Kissing Is ViolentOr he thinks it’s sex. Either way, he thinks it has no place at the Oscars, which is basically like saying there’s no place for lap dances in Atlantic City.
Ellen Page Keeps Doing This Thing With Her ArmNow, we like Ellen Page as much as everyone else. She was super-cute in Juno and we even concede she is probably doable even though we’re a gay and a chick who’s not into that. But there’s this thing she’s been doing that bugs us. This thing with her arm. It’s kind of like a variation on the standard red-carpet pose — hand on hip, shoulders back — that one does to make one’s arm look thin, only Ellen does it in this really extreme way. It’s almost as though she is about to bust into the Funky Chicken, but with only one-half of her body. As you can see from the above photo, the arm has moved further and further back as she has progressively become more famous, until it is now almost almost perpendicular to her body. We’re starting to become quite concerned, not just because if this continues Ellen might actually dislocate her shoulder, but because the pose kind of screams, “I’m a red carpet novice! And also probably weird about my weight!” and you know, we just don’t want her to go all Jennifer Hudson on us and win an Oscar and only pop up again playing a bit part.
Related: Ellen Page Not Doable Enough to Win Best Actress, Blogger Claims [Vulture]
company town
Lawyers Advocate an Oscar for ‘Michael Clayton’ — That George Clooney Makes Them Look So Good!LEGAL
• Lawyers everywhere are crossing their fingers for a Michael Clayton Oscar win. “In 80 years, only 10 legal movies or actors playing members of the legal community have taken home gold,” a columnist sighs. Awwwwww. Wait a second. We didn’t do the math, but isn’t that more than like, every other profession? How many people playing bloggers have won Oscars, for instance? Slickster lawyers. Always trying to trick us with their fancy talk. [Law.com]
• Could John Edwards be our next attorney general? [The American]
• The Sean Bell “50-shot” case is set to go to trial on Monday. [NYT]
gossipmonger
Celine Dion Is F—ing With the Cast of ‘Spring Awakening’The cast of Spring Awakening likes watching the parody video “Celine Dion Is Fucking Amazing” before taking the stage. Jamie Johnson’s The One Percent, the second movie he’s made about rich Upper East Siders, premieres tonight. Alice + Olive designer Stacey Bendet got engaged to Eric Eisner, son of former Disney chief Michael Eisner. Entertainment Weekly canceled its annual Oscar-night viewing party at Elaine’s. Mary-Kate Olsen hung out with pals at old standby the Bowery Hotel on Friday.
in other news
‘Vanity Fair’ to Cancel Its Legendary Oscar PartyAccording to Radar, the latest victim of the writers’ strike is the Vanity Fair Oscar party. Usually held at Morton’s, it was scheduled to be at Craft this time around. Bummer, man! How is Graydon going to peddle reservations to the Waverly Inn for the rest of the spring?
Vanity Fair to Cancel Oscar Party [Radar]
Press Announcement: Vanity Fair Cancels Oscar Party [Vanity Fair]
gossipmonger
Breaking: Someone Fancy Went to Mohegan Sun!Vanity Fair style arbiter Amy Fine Collins went to the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. Central Park carriage owners responded to Pink’s animal-cruelty charges by deriding them as the “ignorant comments of a B-list pop star.” Nets chairman and real-estate developer Bruce Ratner is getting married to plastic surgeon Pamela Lipkin. At Sundance, Paris Hilton gave a lap dance to Jared Leto, David Katzenberg took pictures of his privates for girlfriend Nicky Hilton, Cisco Adler got into a shoving match, Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian made out, and Adrian Grenier lost his drumsticks. John Legend says he doesn’t get caught up with dating models and that he’s “more concerned with (his) happiness.”
company town
Oprah Will Eat Ellen DeGeneres for BreakfastMEDIA
• CNBC’s Dylan Ratigan proposes a toast at the anniversary of his show Fast Money: “Here’s to destroying … well, ‘destroying Fox’ is what I was going to say, to be totally honest about it. And I was going to say something even more profane than that except there’s press in the room.” [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• Oprah Winfrey won’t stand for Ellen taking her place as America’s favorite TV personality. The Queen of Talk announced plans to start her own network. And what’s it called? OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. Which is only appropriate for a woman worth upwards of $2.5 billion. [HuffPo, NYP]
• Will the Academy Awards suffer the same fate as the Golden Globes? WGA president Patric Verrone confirmed the guild has no plans to give the Oscars a pass if the strike hasn’t been settled, and it’s still unclear whether the Screen Actors Guild will cross picket lines to attend the awards. [B&C]
intel
From the Beginning, Donald Was a One-NamerSince this summer, the magazine Mental Floss has been running an online feature called “The First Time News Was Fit to Print,” in which they look up in the New York Times archives the first instances the Paper of Record mentioned people or items that are famous today (Woody Allen, for example, first appears in 1962 under the headline: “Young Men’s Hebrew Association Presents 2nd Jazz Concert”). Today they ran an all–New York edition, which reveals some gems:
• January 28, 1973: The big change in Fred Trump’s operations in recent years is the advent of his son, Donald Donald, who was graduated first in his class from the Wharton School of Finance of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, joined his father about five years ago. He has what his father calls “drive.” He also possesses, in his father’s judgment, business acumen. “Donald is the smartest person I know,” he remarked admirably. “Everything he touches turns to gold.”
neighborhood watch
Bed-Stuy Fires Back at the ‘Shwick!Bedford-Stuyvesant: Uh-oh. Bed-Stuy just upped the stakes in the blog battle between it and Bushwick. They even dis ‘shwick homegirl Rosie Perez. This is war, muthaf*ckas. [Bed-Stuy Blog]
Coney Island: So many people showed up last night at the first public meeting on the city’s plans for Coney that it had to be canceled for lack of space. Wow. This should be an epic novel. [Gowanus Lounge]
Jackson Heights: The hood’s got a new bulletin board! Where else will you learn where to get the area’s best pizza, Mexican cocoa power, and $5-or-under eyebrow threading? [Jackson Heights Life]
party lines
Stephen Schwartz Dishes ‘Cluelessly and Recklessly’ About His Opera ProjectWhat is Stephen Schwartz doing in his downtime with the stagehands on strike? Getting an education. The Broadway composer and lyricist told us he’s still working on an opera (commissioned in 2006) to premiere in Santa Barbara in 2009. “It’s like going back to graduate school a little bit,” Schwartz said at the Enchanted premiere at the Ziegfeld last night. Schwartz revealed to us, for the first time, that the opera is called Cluelessly and Recklessly, and it is a psychological thriller. He said he adapted it from the British film Séance on a Wet Afternoon and is getting used to composing for singers who don’t use microphones — for him, the biggest departure from his Broadway work. “Like in Wicked, you know, the orchestra’s just playing away. Or in Enchanted, the orchestra’s just playing away and you turn the mike up and you hear the singers over the orchestra. In the opera you can’t do that. So you have to make sure there’s space for the singers. So that’s a different way of thinking about writing.” This is Schwartz’s first opera. “That’s why it’s so foolish for me to be doing this!” he said. You call it “foolish”; we call it “the only good theater news we’ve heard since the stagehands’ strike began.” —Amy Odell
in other news
Who’s Blair’s Daddy?If we had to say that Gossip Girl was missing anything — and we mean had to, because obviously the show is pretty much brilliant and perfect, but say we were really under duress, like someone was waterboarding us, and we had to pick something to save ourselves — we’d probably say that the one thing the show is missing is a gay dude. Why is there no Ricky to Serena’s Angela Chase, no Matt Fielding to Jenny’s Rhonda Blair, no Clinton to Blair’s Stacy? This is New York City, for the love of Kathy Griffin! Gossip Girl’s lack of gayness is frankly eerie, especially when there are lines like, “Their feud was over faster than Jessica Simpson’s acting career,” which are clearly intended for a gay. But the good news is we totally forgot about Blair’s father, who supposedly left her mother for a male model! Now, the show’s fan site is telling us that John Shea, formerly of Superman, will turn up in future episodes. We can’t wait.
Blair’s Gay Daddy Will Be Revealed in a Later Episode [GossipGirl.tv via Gawker]
early and often
Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Apple? Chicago Is!Yesterday’s Chicago Tribune included an opinion piece that, even though we’re a day late on it, we just can’t let slip by. In it, writer Dennis Byrne rails against the fact that both party’s presidential front-runners are New York politicians (and Bloomberg, our mayor, might join them in the race). He claims it’s bad for America that the leading candidates are from somewhere so “provincial.”
I find it curious that American voters may have to choose between two New Yorkers and it has received little, if no attention, from the coastal media. Maybe they think the rest of us won’t notice. Maybe they don’t care whether the rest of us notice. After all, New York is the Center of Everything (followed at a respectful distance by the District of Columbia and a great distance by everyone else), so the rest of us should be glad that someone from New York would be sitting in the Oval Office.
Okay, first of all, stop projecting. And second of all, fuck you.
company town
Kanye West and His ‘Bazaar’ Angel MuralMEDIA
• Kanye West says Harper’s Bazaar “pissed me off” when they reported the rap star’s L.A. home features a giant mural of himself with angels. “That made me so mad. Because who would want to hang out with a guy with an 8-foot picture of an angel of himself?” Too bad Harper’s got almost every detail right, and Kanye is indeed featured in the painting. [WWD]
• CBS News writers voted to authorize their own strike. Watch out, Katie Couric! [NYT]
• Did Star really pull on an online poll because Ron Burkle, the billionaire investor the mag flattered with a recent photo spread, wasn’t doing well enough? Star claims they’re just planning to publish the results in the next issue — plenty of time to stuff the ballot box. [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
in other news
Handwritten Notes Are Even More Powerful Than Bob Morris Thought!We totally rolled our eyes at Bob Morris’s very last “Age of Dissonance” column in the “Sunday Styles” section this weekend, because the “Thank You Notes Are Nice” column has been written approximately 400 gazillion times before, although probably not ever preceded by the awesome caveat, “if you want to be sure to be included in a will…” But that was before we saw the true transformative qualities a handwritten note can have! This morning’s Post reports that such a note from Hillary Clinton actually managed to flip right-wing harpy Elisabeth Hasselbeck into a Democrat! Apparently, Hillary sent Hasselbeck a missive after the birth of her son a couple of weeks ago. It was “truly a most thoughtful and warm act,” Hasselbeck told the Post. “I may actually change my vote.” Well, how about that! If anyone needs us, we’ll be at home calligraphing thank-you notes to Jared Kushner and Stan O’Neal. Maybe they’ll include us in their wills!
A New “View” On Old Clinton [NYP]
Yes, Thank You [NYT]
intel
Oh NY1, Where Are Thy Stars?Even though it’s celebrating its fifteenth year on local cable, NY1, the city’s 24-hour news station, still has such a lovably, reliably dorky, do-it-yourself feel. But this weekend, it caused a small ripple when the News, then the Times, reported that longtime weekend anchor Gary Anthony Ramsay had left the station. It leaked that he’d phoned into the station’s talk show “The Call” under an assumed name (“Dalton, from the Upper East Side”) and mouthed off his own opinion on the current Bernard Kerik flap. “He did a really stupid thing,” said a former NY1 reporter, now with a local network affiliate. “His judgment was just horrendous.” No argument there — even Ramsey admitted as much in the Times. He was planning to leave the station soon, anyway. Which got us wondering: Just where do NY1ers go when they leave? The channel isn’t known as a star maker for anchors and reporters (why wasn’t Pat Kiernan in the running for Dan Rathers’s job, hmmmmm?). After the jump, a little list of where people have been going after they leave the 1 mother ship.
gossipmonger
Robert De Niro Pulls Out the Big Guns Against Art GalleryRobert De Niro sued an Upper East Side art gallery that gave twelve of his father’s paintings to a gallery in Rome as part of a debt-payment arrangement. Jason Binn had another kid. NBA commish David Stern, Derek Jeter, and Donald Trump showed up at the wedding of Ahmad Rashad and Sale Johnson, but estranged daughter Casey Johnson did not. Chris Noth and Steve Walter are thinking of moving their jazz club Cutting Room to Hell’s Kitchen. Ashlee Simpson begged photographers not to take her picture when she was smoking outside Angels and Kings. Theodore Sorensen, the lawyer who wrote JFK’s famous “Ask Not…” inaugural address, just bought at $10.75 million condo at 15 Central Park West.
in other news
Mary-Kate Olsen Hospitalized With Unglamorous Ailment, ‘People’ AnnoyedMary-Kate Olsen, poster child for a healthy lifestyle, was hospitalized last night for a kidney infection, according to People magazine, which apparently been deeply betrayed by this turn of events. “The actress recently said she was in good health,” they report in somewhat defensive tones, and to prove it they toss in a quote from MK saying she was at “the top of her game” as recently as September. How dare she lie like that! Anyway, according to her rep, Olsen Numero Uno is “resting comfortably and will be released in the next day or so,” so no worries, public, she’ll soon be up and back to doing whatever it is she does.
Mary Kate Olsen Hospitalized with Kidney Infection [People]
the sports section
The Knicks Have Us All in a TizzyThe Knicks are in such a puzzling downward spiral that Daily News reporters can’t even agree on what’s up with their favorite team. After coach Isiah Thomas kicked the whole team off the court during practice yesterday for lack of “hustle,” the paper’s main article claims that there is “increasing speculation that Thomas is on the verge of being fired.” “It is a three-ring circus” among the players and staff, said a source. “It’s getting worse.” But Mike Lupica, the paper’s legendary sports columnist, says “Isiah Thomas can’t get fired for anything Jimmy [Dolan, chairman of the Knicks] still believes in Isiah, and there is no reason to believe that he’s going to stop any time soon.” Lupica suggests Dolan and Thomas stand in the middle of the Garden have a town-hall-style meeting, listening to what their paying fans have to say about the way they are destroying New York’s team. They’d never do it, but we’re desperately hoping that when fans start speaking with their wallets and stop buying tickets to watch team’s debacles, the pair will start listening up. That or Jimmy’s dad, Charles, will finally pull off his belt and whup the team (and his son) back into shape.
Can we say “whup”? Does that make us sound too butch?
Thomas Kicks Knicks Out Of Practice [NYDN]
Jim Dolan Still Listening to Isiah Thomas [NYDN]
in other news
Pittsburgh Says Raffaello Follieri Is the PitsGod-loving folks in Pittsburgh are cranky that Anne Hathaway’s boyfriend, Italian developer Raffaello Follieri, has neglected to develop four dilapidated churches he bought from the Pittsburgh Diocese earlier this year. “Everything’s overgrown,” area resident Susan Kilgore complained to local news channel WTAE Channel 4. “They need to do something.” Follieri, who is being sued by his investor Ron Burkle for misappropriation of funds related to such nondevelopment of churches and who is, according to a Wall Street Journal story back in September, generally shady, declined to be interviewed by local reporters, although he apparently did offer them this awesome statement: “Neither development companies nor Rome were ever built in a day or with a linear budget.” He added that everyone can expect the new churches to be ready in time for the Rapture.
Anne Hathaway’s Boyfriend Sued By Pittsburgh Penguins Owner Ron Burkle [Pittsburgh Channel]
Earlier: Daily Intel’s Coverage of Celebrity Semi-Power Couple Hathaello
early and often
Giuliani’s First TV Spot: It’s No ‘United 93’
It’s a pivotal moment in the 2008 race: The day voters get to see Giuliani’s ferrety smile in a softly lit close-up. That’s right, the Republican front-runner finally answered the public clamoring for more multimedia Rudy and premiered his first TV campaign spot, which will begin running today in New Hampshire. The ad goes straight to Giuliani’s credentials: eight years running New York City, “the third- or fourth-largest government in the country.” (About that “third or fourth” thing — they couldn’t look it up?) As we know, whenever Giuliani mentions his hometown, he’s forced to perform a complicated two-step of praising it and dumping on it at the same time; this time he does it with, um, pictures.
obit
Norman Mailer’s Self-Penned ObituaryBack in 1979, at the height of his curly-haired glory, Norman Mailer composed a witty and sharp obituary for himself for Boston magazine, which has reprinted it on their Website on the occasion of his death this past weekend. “Norman Mailer passed away yesterday after celebrating his fifteenth divorce and sixteenth wedding,” it begins:
He was renowned in publishing circles for his blend of fictional journalism and factual fiction, termed by literary critic William Buckley: Contemporaneous Ratiocinative Aesthetical Prolegomena. Buckley was consequentially sued by Mailer for malicious construction of invidious acronyms. “Norman does take himself seriously,” was Mr. Buckley’s reply. “Of course he is the last of those who do.”
In it, he offers up fake eulogies from some of his friends, which in retrospect are surprisingly poignant. “He was always so butch,” “Truman Capote” says. “I thought he’d outlive us all.”
Mailer’s Death: We Called It [Boston]
Earlier Intel’s prodigious coverage of the death of Norman Mailer
intel
The City Is Tired of You Getting Your Bike Seat WetBehold the city’s newest benefit for bicyclists: a sleek public bike-parking shelter that will start rolling out next month. The structures are from the same company that’s installing those adorable new bus stops around town. As you can see, they look very similar, except they’ve removed the side and rear panels for easy access for up to eight bikes. (And their ad panels will show off the city bike map or reminders to pedal safely.) The Art Commission approved the design yesterday, and the contractor will build the first 5 of 37 at commuting hubs. Look for them at 17th and Broadway, DeKalb and Flatbush, Pelham Parkway and White Plains Road, Jackson Avenue at 50th Street in Long Island City, and the St. George Ferry Terminal. “You judge a good street by how you see people going out and using the space,” Transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan told us. “We’re working hard to make sure that the materials we put on the street are high quality and sustainable.” And, from the looks of it, pretty. —Alec Appelbaum
neighborhood watch
Okay, Now Who Leaves a Kitten on a Rooftop?Brooklyn Heights: Rumors are burbling that the hood’s symphonically hyped “Subway Cyrano” saga — where a guy reconnected with his subway crush after searching for her via an online vid — is a Lonelygirl-type hoax. Wouldn’t that be sad? [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
East Village: Sure, two low-paid young’uns can share a $3,000 Stuy Town one-bedroom. If they bring along their $1,000 pressurized wall. [Hunt Grunt]
Flatbush: Several cats have been abandoned on a rooftop! And they’re scared and hungry! [Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn]
obit
Norman Mailer, Warhol’s Inverse, Helped Invent Modern FameIt’s safe to say, now, that Norman Mailer did not become the heavyweight champion of fiction — safe to say because he’s no longer around to take a swing at you with his cane. Even in his last year, Mailer would vigorously defend his reputation if he heard something he didn’t like. After this magazine recently published an innocuous chart chronicling his many highly entertaining feuds, he called to deliver a loud, hearing-challenged verbal pummeling. But, though he doubtless wouldn’t fully concede the point, even he must have realized that his greatest work was not fiction.
party lines
Robin Williams, One-Man BandRobin Williams was in rare (okay, typical) form last night at the premiere of his new schmaltzy caper, August Rush. In it, he plays a Fagan-like proprietor of an abandoned theater, home to a gang of musical orphans (really). We asked him if he ever played a musical instrument in real life. “Yes,” he said, “and I’ve been asked to stop.” Turns out he spent some time playing the sax: “I did a black blues-player set,” he said; then he turned into a black blues player: “Man, you just gotta relax! You gotta make love to it, don’t hurt it, you know?” But his favorite music, he said, is the music of New York. “Look around you,” he exclaimed. “It’s like Gershwin flowin’! It’s got music, girl, everywhere. Uptown, downtown” — he turned into a feisty Latina. “Hola, mira, Mami. You got this thing, and it just keeps you movin’, ju know? You gotta have it, Papi. You know, leesten, leesten. Iss all crazy! You got to have music! And then you have the Russian clubs in Brooklyn” — with this he made some Russian-seeming sounds — “and Jewish music, Vhot, music!? It’s klezmer, what! Music to flee by! That’s why we take the skin off our penis — you gotta move! You can’t travel with that! Then you get in a cab” — he made some high-pitched wailing sounds — “Can you turn the radio down? Osama, please.” At this, the publicist began pulling him away, either because she felt enough was enough with the ethnic stereotypes or because the screening was about to begin. In his wake, however, there was a chorus of laughter. —Ben Kawaller
More Party Lines quotes and photos from the August Rush party: Keri Russell’s an instant cello virtuoso; Tamara Tunie philanthropically screws over her relatives.
sex diaries
The Titillating Temp WorkerOnce a week, Daily Intel takes a peek at what your friends and neighbors are doing behind doors left slightly ajar. Today, the Titillating Temp Worker: 23, female, Williamsburg, journalist, bisexual, single.
DAY ONE
9:40 a.m.: I wake up clutching my flimsy pillow as if it is a real person. In the two months I’ve been single, I’m beginning to prefer polyurethane to the pricks I’ve been sharing my bed with lately.
6:25 p.m.: I’m thinking about calling this guy I met last week for a date, but do I really want to go out with someone who has dreadlocks? I don’t do anything.
7:32 p.m.: I make sure my bra and underwear match and I’m wearing my favorite Star Wars T-shirt. In other words, I’m feeling lucky tonight or at least like getting lucky.
9:48 p.m.: My random night leads to hanging out in the hotel room of some band that has a VH1 reality show. I was expecting cocktails and feather boas on the floor. Instead, I get stoners watching HBO.
ByArianne Cohen
gossipmonger
Boobs at ‘Jane’Jane magazine asked girls to bare their breasts for a picture spread but canceled after a staffer mistakenly unveiled the identities of the participants. Jake Gyllenhaal and David Fincher had some “artistic differences” on the set of Zodiac. Phillip Bloch was not impressed by how Vogue’s André Leon Talley styled Jennifer Hudson’s thighs at the Oscars. Rosie O’Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselback got into (another) fight at The View, which ended with Hasselback (again) in tears. Graydon Carter and Jim Kelly hosted a book party for Kurt Andersen at the Waverly Inn, and a lot of media bigwigs showed. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are not looking to buy an apartment in the Dakota, according to a rep. Spike Lee hung out with Mayor Bloomberg at City Hall.
gossipmonger
Paris to Go Directly to Jail?Paris Hilton may go to jail for violating the terms of her probation after September’s drunk-driving arrest. Chris Rock’s marriage may or may not be on shaky ground. Jets owner Woody Johnson can invite his sister or his daughter to his birthday party, but not both. (They hate each other.) Jay-Z and Beyoncé are still together, despite the fact that he didn’t walk the red carpet with her at the Oscars. Meatpacking haunts R&R and Double Seven are being shuttered, but a rustic lounge called Retreat is opening. Justin Timberlake is opening a southern restaurant on the Upper East Side. (You can read more about it at Grub Street.) Fellow pregnant dumpees Bridget Moynahan and Mary Louise Parker had breakfast. Taki Theodoracopulos and Dominick Dunne have both made enemies on the party-writing circuit.
the oscars
William Monahan, Oscar Winner, Is Out of PrintHey, newly minted fans of Oscar-winning Departed screenwriter William Monahan, want to check out more of his work? Well, here’s the good news: Turns out he has an entire offscreen oeuvre. Monahan’s Wikipedia entry asserts that he “originally wanted to be a man of letters but found they no longer existed in America,” which, being on Wikipedia, may or may not be true. But we know that he’s an alum of both Spy and of the New York Press. And that he’s a published novelist, the author of 2002’s Light House. Plus, in 1997, he won a prestigious Pushcart Prize for a short story published in an obscure literary journal. So where can you find all this? Well, that’s the problem.
gossipmonger
Mama Don’t PreachMadonna won’t let her daughter dress like, well, Madonna. The U.N. campus has a pretty serious rodent-and-eel problem. Rockefeller Center and Chrysler Building owner Jerry Speyer is proficient with a yo-yo. Oscar presenter Jerry Seinfeld has been asked to host the Oscars next year but can’t because of a movie obligation. “The Secret” is Hollywood’s new Scientology/Kabbalah. Martha Stewart just bought an unfinished apartment in the West Village for $16 million. Someone stole one of Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel dresses and sent it to Courtney Love to wear. Kathie Lee Gifford has as soft spot for Britney Spears, though her son fancies Paris. Mark Ruffalo is far nicer to the press than he needs to be.
gossipmonger
Also, There Were Parties After the OscarsLeonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, and Vince Vaughn cruised the Vanity Fair Oscar party at Morton’s solo. (Everyone who is anyone was there.) Except Brad Pitt, who was a no-show at the Oscars despite having starred in Babel and been a producer on The Departed. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard are leaving the West Village for Brooklyn because of the paparazzi. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams are fighting. Oprah says that Barack Obama didn’t start the Clinton-Geffen feud. Zero-star Kobe Club owner Jeffrey Chodorow has banned Frank Bruni from all 29 of his restaurants. At $70,000, a private soccer lesson with David Beckham was the lowest winning bid at Elton John’s Oscar-night AIDS benefit. Natalie Portman left an Oscars party with Gael García Bernal.
the oscars
Pigging Out With Oscar
New York film critic David Edelstein and Hollywood producer Lynda Obst have been discussing the Oscar race since the nominations were announced. Today, their final thoughts.
To: Lynda Obst
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 1:38 PM
From: David Edelstein
Re: Last Year’s News
Hi Lynda:
The Oscars are such old news. Really, I went out for a hamburger last night and took a little walk (well, a half walk, half stumble) in the beautiful falling snow, and tens of thousands of bloggers filled the Internet with their musings. I wrote you last night that I had absolutely nothing to say and you didn’t think I had LITERALLY nothing to say, so I gather you were late for your post-Oscar party waiting for me and I’m so sorry.
the oscars
Let the Winners Speak!
New York film critic David Edelstein and Hollywood producer Lynda Obst have been discussing the Oscar race since the nominations were announced. Today, their final thoughts.
From: Lynda Obst
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 11:43 AM
To: David Edelstein
Subject: The Aftermath
Dear David,
So it was the Departed mini-sweep we suspected it might be, all centered on the inevitable crowning of Marty as Best Director. From Editing on, it became a drumbeat, didn’t it? But before that, the most interesting trend that I hadn’t expected at all was the love showered on Pan’s Labyrinth — for a minute, I thought I was watching the Independent Spirit Awards. Art Direction, Makeup, Cinematography! Why not Director? All these choices determine the look of the movie, all are made by the director, all complete his vision. There were many tough choices this year, with this movie coming out late in the voting season, but it is curious in retrospect that Del Toro himself was not nominated by the director’s branch of the Academy.
gossipmonger
So There Was Some Awards Thing Last Night?Forest Whitaker and other Oscar revelers celebrated at parties. In New York, celebrity viewers were either at Elaine’s, with EW, or the Spotted Pig, with New York. Brandon Davis ruined Paris Hilton’s birthday party by harassing Paula Abdul and Courtney Love. Ron Burkle had George Clooney, Beyoncé, Clint Eastwood, and a bevy of other celebs over his house for a private Giorgio Armani runway show. Harvey Weinstein used direct-marketing techniques to get Rosario Dawson and Lindsay Lohan to come to a party. To which Cameron Diaz showed up with Tyrese. Courteney Cox spent at least $750,000 on a Damien Hirst. Josh Hartnett brought Helena Christensen back to his room at the Chateau Marmont. VanityFair.com’s Jessica Coen left the Miramax Oscar party because it smelled too good, missed Ben Affleck and Helen Mirren.
the morning line
Poor Joe Bruno
• We’ve heard some incriminating things about Joe Bruno, Albany’s top Republican, lately; he’s been enmeshed in some fishy investments and nepotistic dealings, and the FBI is all over him. Now comes the most shocking revelation: All this hustle and the dude isn’t even rich. [NYT]
• The Health Department on the shuttered KFC–Taco Bell that became one of West Village’s main attractions this past weekend for its scampering rats: “It doesn’t look like the inspection that was done … met our standards.” What do you mean? There’s not a drop of trans fat on these babies! [WNBC]
• Apparently state senators were serious about protesting the $1.3 billion sale of Brooklyn’s subsidized enclave Starrett City to an -private equity group. After the obligatory photo ops glad-handing the residents, they’re actually trying to pass a bill that will block the deal. [NYP]
• More grief for JetBlue: Last night’s relatively light dusting of snow caused the now-extra-cautious carrier to cancel a whopping 68 of today’s flights. Yeah, we’d be unloading that stock right about now, if we had any. [AP via CBS News]
• And how can you tell someone’s got a touch of Oscar envy? James “King of the World” Cameron will hold a press conference in New York today — to declare that he has found Jesus’s grave. [amNY]
new york fugging city
Fugging the OscarsFor most of the red-carpet dog-and-pony show, we were perplexed by Jennifer Hudson’s froofy gold bolero made of alligator skin (or croc? snake? whatever — the point is, it was fashioned after the hide of something that would eat us if we gave it the chance). That is, until the ABC broadcast began, and deliciously flamboyant Vogue man-about-town André Leon Talley introduced a montage of his efforts at helping Hudson get a custom-made Oscar de la Renta. We should have known. From his fetish for reptilian textures to his recent penchant for tacky coats, Hudson’s hella-shiny jacket does scream A.L.T. more than anyone. Too bad for her that the Supporting Actor/Actress awards were moved to later in the ceremony; now she has to wait until much nearer to the end to exhale and get drunk.
Still, there’s plenty for us to write about, even if the early awards are probably the more boring ones. Without further ado, allow us bitches to bring you the blogged-up 79th Annual Academy Awards.
the oscars
Wistfully Wishing for Politics, Comedies, Chick Flicks, and Al GoreOscar night is almost here! New York film critic David Edelstein and Hollywood producer Lynda Obst continue their discussion of the race. Check back after the ceremony for more.
From: Lynda Obst
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 3:33 PM
To: David Edelstein
Subject: RE: Journey’s End
Dear David,
Maybe Al Gore will be that guy to bring politics to the Oscars tonight. This morning, the gang on This Week With George was still wistfully thinking he would declare for president when he grabs his statue tonight. If that happened, it would be news beyond a spectacular upset like Meryl beating Helen. I can report that Al was not, however, glad-handing or politicking Friday night at Mr. Lourd’s. Sorry, Cokie. At least the former vice-president will clearly remind us of what would have happened if the recount went right.
the oscars
And the Winners Are …Oscar night is almost here! New York film critic David Edelstein and Hollywood producer Lynda Obst continue their discussion of the race. Check back after the ceremony for more.
From: David Edelstein
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 12:58 PM
To: Lynda Obst
Subject: Journey’s End
Dear Lynda:
I thank you for that stirring account of life among the too beautiful and overpaid. I talk big in print (“Not up to snuff, Mr. Clooney”) but go agahhh-agahhh-agahhh when I see those kinds of stars in person. I am relieved to hear that mature women still find Peter O’Toole fuckable in the flesh, because you’d have to be a necrophile to want him as he’s photographed in Venus.
