The students at Stuyvesant High School in New York are a tough bunch. The class of '04 is planning ahead for the centennial graduation next year and when some of them heard that President George W. Bush was on the list of possible commencement speakers, they spoke up. V.P. of the class of '04 Sophia Mokotoff said, "He's not an eloquent speaker. Students feel he wouldn't provide the inspiration." But just think, Sophia, maybe you could teach him some things -- like how to pronounce "nuclear." (N.Y. Daily News)
Speaking of presidents, a new book out by a Washington psychoanalyst/anthropologist called "The Productive Narcissist" says that a good narcissist is a visionary who makes his own world according to his own rules -- which can be a good thing unless he is swayed by competitiveness or sensitivity to criticism. Author Michael Maccoby says Bill Clinton had all of the best and worst characteristics of the big-N syndrome. As for the current prez? Maccoby calls Bush a "marketing personality," a term coined by psychoanalyst Erich Fromm. "These people are attuned to being what the public wants," he says. "They gather around them people who give them their ideas." (Washingtonian)
Poor Paul McCartney ... first he's not taken seriously by critics and Beatles fans, then he loses his wife to cancer and now there seems to be a family rift over new wife Heather Mills. In a nutshell, Paul's kids don't like their new stepmom. When Heather gave a surprise party for Paul, they didn't show, which makes this a Yoko-level dislike. (MSNBC)
When you look up the word "oxymoron," the dictionary gives "sexy golf togs" as an example. Nevertheless, a movement seems to be on to get gals sassed up for the links. The trend, of course, is being led by Mariah Carey who refused to wear geeky shirts with collars when she tried putting for the first time. Said the diva, "I went out on the links in three-inch high heels and barely anything on and they didn't mind. I'm now seriously contemplating designing sexy women's golf clothes." Hey, Mariah, when you're done with the gals, work on the men's clothing -- please? (Fox News)
Summer seems to have hit in a big way, causing even the New Yorker to get all sultry and silly. In a "Shouts and Murmurs" column that is actually funny (at least it will be to foodies), Henry Alford pokes gentle fun at cooking courtesan Nigella Lawson with his own collection of hot recipes. The effect is cumulative, so you may as well read the whole thing: (The New Yorker)
--Karen Croft
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Talk about a meta moment: In what may be the proof of his true genius, Eminem offered a sly commentary on celebrity strangeness yesterday by sampling Michael Jackson and dangling a baby over a hotel-room balcony.
OK, so it was a faux baby, but the rapper's surgical mask and slavishly devoted fans waiting below his Glasgow, Scotland, hotel room were totally real. (Click here for photos.)
As Eminem alluded to his Jackson-level popularity, a member of his entourage, New York DJ Green Lantern, saw fit to make a different comparison. Said he to the Glasgow Herald, "This guy is like John Lennon," and you know who he was more popular than.
Speaking of baby backlash and telling photos, Catherine Zeta-Jones is getting raked over the coals in the British tabs for packing on a couple of pounds after having given birth to her baby daughter two months ago. Regarding the new mother's appearance at a recent party in Milan, Italy, the U.K. Sun sniffs that her dress "looked a bit of a pinch at the top" and "a tad tight round the waist." They're so kind to their celebrities, the Brits.
Motherhood apparently doesn't get any easier, at least to hear Sharon Osbourne tell it. The Osbourne matriarch says that when she learned of her son Jacks drug addiction, "The first thing I did was put blame on myself -- and in a way I always will ... It's a natural reaction of a mother to think, 'What could I have done differently? What could I have done wrong? I thought I was a cutting-edge mom, and I didn't even know what was happening.'" (Us Weekly via the New York Post)
Who's to blame for this? Ann Coulter's getting her own blog. "If you thought her weekly column and her books raised the ire of liberals, wait until the Left gets a load of CoulterGeist," promises the conservative Web site on which her blog will appear, Human Events Online. Call the exorcist. (Via InstaPundit)
-- Amy Reiter
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