Plenty of Apple fanatics are drooling over Al Gore's three 30" Cinema Display monitor setup, but few appear willing to comment on the infallible Steve Jobs' apparent endorsement of the failed presidential candidate and eco-warrior in the new Time cover piece by Eric Pooley [Photo: Time, Steve Pyke]:
This week's Time contains an except from Al Gore's new book about American democracy (apparently, it's in jeopardy), gays in Dallas (there are a bunch of them) and this fascinating charticle about the life and times of the fictional heroine from the Terminator movies. This is a smart, far-sighted strategy: The kids come for the fun pop culture stuff, but stay for the sobering analysis of the dangers facing the Republic. And let's not forget comedy god Joel Stein! It's working!
· Generally satisfied to produce movies that explore the lighter side of blowing shit up, Jerry Bruckheimer (and Disney) have acquired the movie rights to Mark Bowden's Atlantic Monthly terrorism article "Jihadists in Paradise," plunging Bruck into much darker explosion-related territory. [Variety]
· The team behind Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight continues to make impeccable casting decisions: after allowing Katie Holmes to "walk away" from reprising her character from Begins, they're close to signing up Aaron Eckhart to play Two Face. [THR]
· Al Gore will attempt to reverse global warming through a single day of simultaneous, worldwide rock concerts, a solution that climatologists have already dismissed as rooted more in the former Vice President's passion for the music of John Mayer than in proven science. [Variety]
· Various Fox entities (FX, 20th Century Fox TV, Fox Broadcasting) team up to shower Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy in cash for his showrunning/developing services. [Variety]
· Var thinks that Fox News Channel's right-wing Daily Show knockoff The 1/2 Hour News Hour feels like something "enterprising high-school kids with a video camera could replicate." [Variety]
And here's the full-court-press Good experience at last. The philanthropically minded mag venture celebrated its birth last night at Chelsea's Emergency Arts, and Gawker was there, and there. But wherever there is an open bar and tragically vulnerable boldface names, you can surely find Intern in Perpetuity Neel Shah. After the jump, enjoy one of Neel's trademark productions of fearless investigatory reportage, coupled with the cheerfully impolitic photography of Jennifer Snow. You got more Al Gore, more Matthew Modine, and even a few cupsful of Amanda Congdon, plus a gaggle of other well-meaning New York media mandarins.
In part the second of our efforts to flood the zone known as last night's Good magazine launch party, enjoy this more comprehensive clip documenting a little bit of Al Gore boogie, a smidge of Matthew Modine, a wodge of Demetri Martin, and a good bit of "Hey" almost immediately followed by the requisite "Ho." Early party prospects did not look promising, but the abundance of liquor and absence of food soon put the people into the right frame of mind. Munch on this while staying tuned for our full-bore but scrupulously kind party report, wherein we atone for past sins.
We're a couple of days too late to put in a bid of our own, but a lucky, deep-pocketed eBay bidder spent just under $3000 to win a private screening of Al Gore's global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, on the Paramount lot. The price includes seats for 20 guests and personally dedicated copies of Gore's book of the same name. Unfortunately, the winner and his pals have to pay their own freight to the Melrose lot, and Gore will not attend—though for three grand, the former Vice President should wander the theater with a bucket of cold water, occasionally splashing it on the viewers to vividly demonstrate just how unpleasant the melting of the polar ice caps and subsequent, cataclysmic coastal flooding will be.
· Audiences already seem tired of Al Gore telling them of the cataclysms that await us because of global warming. Maybe they can add a meteor the size of Texas hurtling toward Los Angeles in the second act and revive interest. [Variety]
· J.K. Rowling announces that at least two main characters will die in the seventh and final Harry Potter book, and that their names are "Harry" and "Hermione." OK, we made that last part up because it's probably going to wind up being Ron Weasley's twin brothers once her publisher offers her $250 million to do one more book. [THR]
· Halle Berry teams with writer Angela Nissel to develop
an HBO comedy series about "a biracial woman and her two friends as they tackle racial and financial issues post-college." We're not even going to try and make that sound more interesting. [Variety]
· Hell's Kitchen wins Monday night for Fox, beating NBC's Treasure Hunters. We should note that we're officially changing our allegiance from Team Busty Grad Students to Team Busty Miss USA. [THR]
· The director and writer of The Devil Wears Prada film will reteam to adapt further chick lit evil for the big screen, this time for a I Don't Know How She Does It movie. [Variety]
• Al Gore and Lindsay Lohan are in a "huge feud." "She knows what she did," says Gore. Wait — is he making a funny? Good for him! [Deadline Hollywood]
• There's a polio outbreak in Namibia, killing 7 adults and paralyzing 33 others — and the Times still manages to raise the Shiloh issue, if only to tell you that they've no idea whether or not she's been vaccinated. [NYT]
• The settlement regarding Shock's stolen cover photo is off; shitstorm to resume Monday. [AdAge]
• For the lazy fatty within us all, a list of restaurants within 200 meters of every single subway stop. [Taste of the NY Subway]
• No plans tonight? Staying home alone? Have some lotion, kleenex, and a good imagination? Then maybe you'll find some use for these not-so-hardcore Heather Mills pictures. [Fleshbot]
• Trolling Craigslist's women seeking men section brings surprisingly aggressive results. [Animal]
• Behind every activist working against "wealthy white masters" is a hefty trustfund, presumably from his wealthy white father. [Daily Politics]
• The Sun needs a new city editor. If you're a right-wing journo with pants hicked up to your ribcage, please contact editor Ira Stoll. [NY Press]
Wrap up the Powerbook cord and follow Esther Dyson to the next con — the D Conference winds down today. For actual news from people who are there, check out the Wall Street Journal's blog. (Favorite post: Turning the schmaltz up to 11.) For trumped-up news filtered through the snark machine, look no further. Photos by ZDNet reporter Dan Farber.
We gotta hand it to New York magazine this week. We've supported the guy before, naturally; we've voted for him in primaries and generals, and we've given him money and stuck buttons on our bags and hung posters in our windows. But we've never actually liked Al Gore. (Has anyone — other than Tipper, of course, and our yellow-dog mother?) But now, thanks to John Heilemann's New York cover story, we actually find ourselves a bit enamored of the guy. Never mind a general-excellence Ellie; this is truly an accomplishment.
A final takeaway from the SF Chronicle's story on Gavin Newsom and the Google guys. On a chartered jet to Switzerland's Davos summit, Larry and Sergey gave rides to a few A-listers.
• The HuffPost is like a town car, says Simon Dumenco. And he likes Town Cars. [Ad Age]
• Who'd have thunk it: Al Gore TV ain't so bad. [NYT]
• The newsweeklies are dying, apparently. Of course, the newsweeklies are always dying. [USAT]
• Lizzie Grubman, muse. [NY Mag]
• One vote for Charlie Gibson as the new Peter Jennings. [B&C]
• TK soon in Septmeber GQ: "Supreme Court Justices: They're Just Like Us!" [WWD, third item]
• Remember how the Post said the Bancrofts want to sell Dow Jones? Well, the Post also said Dick Gephardt would be running for vice president. [NYT]
• Al Gore's cable network, which launches today, is apparently a tapas bar, says a San Francisco Chronicle writer. This is, we think, a good thing, mostly because we had some excellent tapas last time we were in the City. [SFC]
• Katie Couric is a diva, but not one who throws lamps, says Ken Auletta. Not that we can actually get to his article online. [NYer]
• While her husband is on vacation, Judy Miller gets jail visits from journos. [E&P]
• TV on the web is perhaps finally here. Which comes as great news for your friends who worked at Pseudo five years ago. [NYT]
• GQ really, really likes The Dukes of Hazzard. [NYT]
• As if things were looking so rosy for media companies in the first place, now a global ad slowdown is expected. [NYP]
• Ten bought-out employees had their last days at the Times on Friday. [Romenesko]
• Apparently there's a clever guy in Los Feliz running a smart and funny blog about Hollywood. Who knew? [LAT]
The Clintons, Bob Rubin and George Stephanopoulos are all in New York, and Al Gore looked surprisingly at ease when in town for Saturday Night Live. With so many Clinton administration veterans, says New York Magazine, it's as if Manhattan were "a glamorous Elba, an outpost of forsaken ideals." Only difference: Napoleon came back from Elba.
Memo to Al (er, Mr. President): Make a brand-new start of it in old New York [New York Magazine]
· Harper Collins power publisher, Judith Regan, recruits Howard Stern to help her find a date and Eliot Spitzer is wearing Savile Row and Hermes on a government salary. [Page Six]
· Gwyneth's 70-person is entourage turned away in Cambridge and Charlie Rose learns to kiss by watching Al and Tipper Gore. [Liz Smith]
· Michael Douglas says what we've all been thinking: "I think I'm passé." [Cindy Adams]
· The singles scene is hopping at celebrity rehab. [NY Daily News]
