Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



(image via JH/NYSD)

"Meanwhile out in Hollywood, the land of dreams, schemes, the Huffington Post yesterday quoted a 'family confidant' (now who could that be?) claiming that Dennis Hopper’s eldest daughter Marin is engineering 'a deathbed divorce' for her father and 'sending out lies to the media to try to bleed extra millions out of his sizeable estate.' Ho-hum bunkum, as they say. The same item reported that Hopper has only weeks to live (evidently true) and is currently heavily medicated at his Frank Gehry-designed compound (six buildings) in Venice beach. Painkillers yes. Compes mentes also yes. You may have read here that Hopper has filed for divorce from Victoria, his fifth wife of thirteen years who is almost thirty years his junior. According to the Huff Post, daughter Marin is 'pulling her father out of his bed and driving him to the divorce lawyers. The poor guy has no idea what is going on.' In other words he didn’t mean it. Friends I spoke to tell me that the man is quite aware of what is going on, continues to make his own decisions, and that he had filed for divorce to protect himself from his current wife’s blatant activity in gathering her assets before his will takes over. The Hopper marriage has been in trouble for quite some time." (NYSocialDiary)



"The appointment of Jeffrey Deitch as director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art last week — the first time a major art dealer will run an American museum — leaves a vacuum in the New York art world and boosts or hurts a host of players. It’s a game-changer, but whose game, exactly, does it change?" (NYMag)



"While the rehearsals for the Golden Globes were in full swing two hundred feet away, The Art of Elysium hosted its Third Annual Black Tie charity ball themed 'Heaven.' It was filled with dozens of starlets, Red Bulls on ice and a punk-rock theme. 'Boucheron and punk rock is a nice little juxtaposition,' smiled one of the event chairs, Cameron Silver. 'I'm not punk enough in this pretty white dress,' said Katy Perry. 'But I think Russell [Brand] is working it for us both.'" (Fashionweekdaily)



"Democratic officials in Washington blamed the defeat on the deficiencies of Coakley, who as recently as November enjoyed a 30-point lead; her campaign claimed she had been pulled under by a sour national mood and general disenchantment with Washington. The recriminations began even before the Massachusetts polls closed. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama — who had traveled to Massachusetts in the final weekend of the race in an effort to rescue Coakley — had been 'surprised and frustrated' by the turn the race had taken. And David Axelrod, the President's chief political strategist, told the Baltimore Sun, 'The White House did everything we were asked to do. I think if we had been asked earlier, we would have responded earlier." But the Coakley campaign, in a memo leaked to Politico.com, blamed "the failure of national Democrats to support Coakley,' saying the national party had ignored the campaign's warning that a political catastrophe was on the way. Brown ended up winning with a solid 5-point margin, riding a late surge of support. Though he ran a largely upbeat campaign, the mood of the electorate was angry — as evidenced by extraordinarily heavy turnout for a special election." (Karen Tumulty/Time)



"Cinema Society-goers got a lesson in literature last night at the Thompson Reuters-sponsored screening of Howl--the film based on Allen Ginsberg's famous poem. 'I thought this was supposed to be funny,' one attendant wondered as the Crosby Street Hotel's screening room lights began to dim. 'He went from Pineapple Express to this?' ... Bjork and Matthew Barney chatted with (James) Franco, Agyness Deyn and Mischa Barton provided plenty of (angelheaded?) hipster quotient, and the likes of Brooke Shields and The Daily's favorite man-about-town, Michael Stipe, looked on, sipping cocktails and snacking on mini sliders or fish and chips. Lee Pace caught up with Star Trek's Zachary Quinto, and even Alicia Silverstone made a surprise appearance. Not surprisingly, no one seemed perturbed by Howl's so-called obscenity (the film centers on the obscenity trial sparked by the publication of the poem; Jon Hamm plays the defending attorney, with Mary-Louise Parker and Jeff Daniels making appearances as conservative teachers practically scandalized by Ginsberg's words)." (Fashionweekdaily)



"The Greek government has promised to slash its fiscal deficit from an estimated 12.7 per cent of gross domestic product last year to 3 per cent in 2012. Is it plausible that this will happen? Not very. But Greece is merely the canary in the fiscal coal mine. Other eurozone members are also under pressure to slash fiscal deficits. What might such pressure do to vulnerable members, to the eurozone and to the world economy? Having falsified its figures for years, violating the trust of its partners, Greece is in the doghouse. Yet, even if it bears much of the blame, the task it is undertaking is huge. In particular, unlike most countries with massive fiscal deficits – the UK, for example – Greece cannot offset the impact of fiscal tightening by loosening monetary policy or depreciating its currency." (Martin Wolf/FT)



"JD came in to recap his date with Ashley Dupre, saying they met for hot chocolate at a place called Cafeteria: 'She's a very nice girl. Very attractive and very nice.' JD said he wore 'khaki-type pants and a button shirt...I shaved. It was a big special occasion.' Asked what he liked best about Ashley, JD said he loved it when she mouthed words without voicing them: 'It's like she's saying something but she doesn't want to say it too loud...or whatever.' Howard wondered if JD planned to see her again, and JD nodded: 'She said when she gets back from LA maybe we'll see a movie." The crew all speculated that JD was in love with her, but JD denied it: "I'm not in love with her. I'm smitten with her.'" (HowardStern)



"What would the Golden Globes be without wrangling those freelance journalists from the Hollywood Foreign Press? For the second straight year, Andres Balazs, Peggy Siegal and the New York Times all-star team of Gerald Marzorati, Stefano Tonchi, and Lynn Hirschberg gave us a pretty good idea ... But it was Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes who spent the most time blessing and praising guests and friends like Anna Kendrick, Sofia Coppola, and Ben Stiller. 'Suri finally gave us a night off,' joked Cruise. 'We've made this a Cruise family reception line' ...Quentin Tarantino joined his cast soon after and was surprised to see the presence of press deep into the sixth floor of Marmont. 'They told me there'd be no journalists at this thing,' he wondered aloud. 'This is a party hosted by the New York Times,' a smart soul shot back. Tonchi and team were joined by fellow Gothamers. Lucy Sykes and Euan Rellie came into town for Sykes' stint as a stylist for a national TJ Maxx commercial." (Fashionweekdaily)