Ha. Daily Intel has obtained a photograph of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, the most important woman in fashion, standing in line to vote. This grainy image raises so many questions: Why does she seem to be hiding behind a concrete column? Why have her fellow voters turned their backs on her? And most importantly, is she in the tank? Anna, please write in with answers. This is what democracy looks like. [Daily Intel. Click to enlarge]
A Gawker tipster brought word this morning that liberal firebrand/trail mix smuggler Tim Robbins caused a scene at a Manhattan polling place today, accusing the poll worker of voter intimidation until a volunteer called the police. Now, Robbins has done what's expected of every responsible citizen whose democratic rights are in peril: he's blabbed all to a TMZ paparazzo!According to Robbins, the polling place he's used for the last decade didn't have his name on the register, and he certainly wasn't about to fill out a provisional ballot like a common plebe! Sadly, Robbins handled the issue not with pleasant, Bob Roberts-style folk songs but with a high-octane argument that brought the NYPD (though they couldn't prevent him from decamping for City Hall to find a judge who could prove his case). Was the actor simply listed on voter rolls under "Tom Ribbons," or is this a Susan Sarandon-aimed revenge from jilted New York senator Hillary Clinton? Developing!
We had an on the scene report of actor and Hollywood liberal Tim Robbins making a scene at his Manhattan polling place this morning, yelling about "infringing upon his freedom to vote." Then the cops came! What had him so upset? Robbins told City Room, "The issue is that they removed my name from the voting rolls. My name was there for the primaries.” Which is totally unfair, he shouldn't even have to follow the rules because “The poll workers here know me... I’ve been voting here 15 years.” (TMZ has a video of a disgruntled Robbins explaining the indignity of it all.) After filling out an affidavit ballot and visiting the Board of Elections office, he's resigned himself to carrying out his election-monitor duties. According to a stalker, Robbins is "expressing concern to an election official about the old voting machine, shaking hands with a highschool buddies, reading the NYT and texting."
The departure of Scott Moore, head of Yahoo's Media Group, seemed hasty. Microsoft exec Jeff Dossett, in talks with Yahoo for an entirely different job, ended up replacing Moore. And in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Moore only gave the vaguest of hints as to what he'd do next — which suggests he hadn't really had time to think it through. But a tipster suggests why Moore might be leaving now: Retention bonuses, issued to top execs after Microsoft's takeover offer, are kicking in.
Today is one freighted with fateful questions for America, perhaps none more so than, "Where's Kirsten Dunst?" But after being tipped last month to her early-voting rendezvous in Norwalk, which she fled after doing her civic duty to both cast her ballot and urge the paparazzi to do the same, we turn to KiKi's pursuers at the Associated Press for the must-read follow-up from... North Dakota?Dunst is tagging along with filmmaker/real estate scion Jacob Soboroff as part of his Why Tuesday? campaign — videotapes of which are to be fashioned into their documentary about America's lag in voter participation. In other words, what she really wants to do is direct:
Rumors of pending layoffs at Viacom have been floating around for weeks now. The media conglomerate is in terrible debt, and just yesterday announced that it's canceling its holiday parties from coast to coast. Today, a tipster has sent us an internal memo from Bob Bakish, the head of MTV Networks, that grimly alludes to "unprecedented economic challenges" that have caused a hiring freeze, and will affect spending "dramatically" through the entire coming year. Will the company start off the new year with a round of layoffs? Eminently possible. Bakish's full internal email, after the jump:
In the runup to today's vote, we've gotten three separate pitches for new websites which mash together Twitter messages and election results. Three's a trend. But what's the story? Twitter's hot, and the election's hot, so these wantrepreneurs figure that putting them together will land their startup some VC funding. But these efforts just leave me cold. Why not visit Twitter's live stream of status updates? Last I checked, it was all election, all the time.
· Election Day is finally here, and celebrities are pulling out all the last-minute stops: "Patricia Heaton was on the trail in Indiana for McCain, [while] Hank Williams Jr. started the National Anthem at a rally for Sarah Palin in Colorado Springs, Colo., by saying, "You know, I’m usually at ‘Monday Night Football’ tonight, but Colorado, this is a lot more important tonight. Join me now in our national — you know, that, uh, Mr. Obama’s not real crazy about, we’re singing it right now." Should he win, Obama's first order of business is replacing "The Star Spangled Banner" with the Subway $5 Footlong jingle. Too bad there's nothing you can do about it, Colorado! [Variety] · Charlize Theron will star opposite Tom Cruise in The Tourist, playing a female Interpol agent who's always standing in a 12-inch-deep ditch for some reason. [Variety] · Iron Man helps nudge Marvel comfortably into the black in its third-quarter, but the company warns that 2009 should provide less robust dividends. And that's even factoring in the money they'll save on Terrence Howard's personal moustache groomer and fresh fruit requirements! [Variety] After the jump: Who is Jack Falcone, and why is Steven Soderbergh making him?· The busy, busy Steven Soderbergh, when not making Dogma fleshcore [NSFW] or Liberace biopics, and 3-D Cleopatra extravaganzas, is also planning Making Jack Falcone, an undercover mob story for Paramount. [THR] · Ron Livingston will star in Defying Gravity, an international co-production about "eight astronauts from five countries who take on a mysterious six-year mission through the solar system." If the distance between Earth and the nearest star system is 2.7 million light years, how long would it take Astronaut Livingston to get there and back, assuming he's traveling in a vacuum during a non-Leap Year year. Use the space below for scrap. [THR]
Before the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle, when newspapers were read by everybody, the morning-after headers had much more urgency. (Hopefully we won't have another "Dewey Defeats Truman" debacle, though.) Newseum has a slideshow of post-election newspaper front pages. (Tomorrow's heads should read, "As you already read on the Internet/saw on TV, so-and-so won.) But hey, remember that great Chester County Times headline after Abraham Lincoln was elected? It was a "clean sweep!"
When producers for the Eva Longoria Parker ghost comedy Over Her Dead Body went looking for a male lead, we're sure that even they expected to settle for a "Paul Rudd type," not Rudd himself. Yet the actor turned up in the movie anyway, a decision that puzzled many after Rudd finally broke through this decade with woolly, improvised performances in Wet Hot American Summer and the bulk of Judd Apatow's cinematic oeuvre. Now, while speaking to AICN's Capone on the promo tour for his new film Role Models, Rudd admits that he'd rather leave Body off his body of work:
You've waited two years for this (or maybe you haven't), but if the thought of watching the election returns at home tonight depresses you, rest assured that nearly every bar or restaurant in the city will be tuned into the coverage. Many will be offering silly drink specials and silly live performances, too! After the jump, a long list of events at a bar or restaurant near you where you'll be able to celebrate or mourn, depending on what happens.
There are two "Black Panthers" standing outside of one polling location in Philadelphia. One of them has a billy club. It's kind of the most hilarious story ever. Fox is all over it. Below, raw live unedited footage of these two American Heroes, who just arrived from that Life on Mars show. Anyways! Race war, guys, let's all head to Ricky's and take advantage of these post-Haloween bargains on Manson Family costumes.
When Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock.com, isn't issuing paranoid rants about "naked shorts" ruining Wall Street, or admitting that his online store's buggy software has been producing false financial reports, he keeps busy lying to journalists. Including yours truly. Back in 2002, I interviewed Byrne for Business 2.0 magazine, a tipster recently reminded me. Here was the exchange:
The Times wants to know how you're feeling, today. Are you hopeful? Or scared? Type a word, and say who you support in the election, and the word will fly by on the screen, magically. What we learned: McCain supporters are scared, patriotic, worried, determined, tired, depressed, upset, anxious, terrified, and, yes, hopeful. Obama supporters, in calm, soothing blue, are hopeful, happy, ready, tired, relieved, and, of course, nervous and anxious. Everyone in America needs a damn nap. [NYT]
CNN is live on the scene today in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where people are very enthusiastic about getting to the polling places. They interviewed real live man-on-the-street "Ron Jones," who allows that he's so excited to vote that he's "been back a couple times." How could Matt Drudge allow this to happen? Click to watch the liberal media- African-American- ACORN- terrorist voter fraud revealed.
Hope For The Hill? The recently canceled King of the Hill may yet live on, as a Fox rep has confirmed that "another network is interested" in the long-running and consistently solid (but terminally unbuzzworthy) series. The show is still averaging at about a 3.4 rating—the same numbers CBS's "breakout hit" The Mentalist is getting—and reached as high as a 4.3 after last Sunday's Simpsons Halloween special. Fun fact: Did you know Bobby is voiced by Pamela Adlon, aka Mrs. Louie from short-lived Louis C.K. sitcom Lucky Louie? [THR]
