Afternoon Briefing:
Everyone gets his own talk show: Wednesday on CNBC it's tennis maverick John McEnroe's turn. He's been practicing his on-air manner for a few years now as a tennis commentator, but no one knows how the rowdy dude will do behind the host desk. The show is billed as a "mix of topical guests, music, art, sports and a lot of comedy." Says McEnroe, "I'm not at the point in my life where I want to be really serious. At this point, I want to have more fun." (CNN)
New York, New York: Adam Moss has created a new New York magazine, full of media coverage and buzz among the cognoscenti. Results so far? Newsstand sales are flat but ad revenues are up. (N.Y. Post)
Enigmatic even in death: No one is talking about Marlon Brando's funeral or if there will be one beyond private family services. His family is keeping things private. But the big man's voice will be heard in a new film, since Brando did a voice role for an indie animated film called "Big Bug" -- to be released in 2006. (NBC 11)
Meet me in Cambodia: The new destination for stars who want to make humanitarian headlines is Phnom Penh. First Angelina Jolie adopted a Cambodian child, then Minnie Driver arrived with Oxfam, Ashley Judd jumped in to help child prostitutes and Roger Moore was there recently to promote iodized salt under the auspices of the U.N. Michael Hayes, the owner of the Phnom Penh Post, is kind of picky when it comes to his favorite VIPs, commenting, "Ashley Judd? Who's she? Is she famous? Please, just send Angelina back. We like her." (Reuters)
Wedding bells: Dennis Quaid married Kimberly Buffington on July 4 in Montana, and Tori Spelling married actor/writer Charlie Shanian on July 3 in L.A. (USA Today)
-- Karen Croft
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Turn On:
It's a good night for Oz-ophiles Tuesday, with a new episode of "Outback Jack" (9 p.m. ET; TBS), a showing of the outback comedy "Kangaroo Jack" (9:30 p.m. ET; HBO), and a look at the finances of one of the biggest imports from Down Under, "It's Good to Be: Nicole Kidman" (10:30 p.m. ET; E!). "Perlman in Shanghai" (PBS; check local listings) is a documentary on violinist Itzhak Perlman's trip to a Chinese conservatory, where he tries to teach the techinically adept students that playing music is also about emotion and self-expression.
-- Scott Lamb
Morning Briefing:
Vice President Gephardt? The New York Post ran an "exclusive" story this morning claiming, "John Kerry has chosen Rep. Richard Gephardt, the veteran congressman from Missouri, to be his running mate." Running under the headline "KERRY PICKS GEPHARDT," the story continued, "Gephardt, 63, a 28-year veteran of the House of Representatives, could be named by the presumptive Democratic nominee as the party's vice-presidential candidate as soon as today." According to the paper, "many thought Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) would be the one," but "it was thought that Kerry felt more comfortable with Gephardt than any of the other candidates." Oooops! The cover image appears to have been pulled from the paper's Web site, but Drudge is linking to it here. (N.Y. Post)
It's .... Edwards for Veep: But the Kerry camp has asked Democrats not to weigh in on what they think about that until tomorrow, and let Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards have the spotlight today -- then come out in force to defend the duo against the Republicans' inevitable slights. These things have an order, it seems. (Salon's War Room and CNN)
In other Kerry news: There's talk that he may take the stage and strum out a few notes with musicians at his fundraiser -- featuring performances by the Dave Matthews Band, Jon Bon Jovi, Mary J. Blige, John Mellencamp, Wyclef Jean and Whoopi Goldberg -- at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Thursday. Kerry plays bass and guitar, but Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, who organized the concert, says an impromptu performance by Kerry, should it happen, "would be low-key." (N.Y. Daily News)
The presidential treatment ... from Christopher Hitchens: In his column in the August issue of Vanity Fair, Hitchens recounts a story told to him by a "prominent senator" in which President Bush called his daughters, Barbara and Jenna, "a pain in the a--." Hitchens also reports that Bill Clinton wasn't lying about not inhaling while he was at Oxford. Hitchens, who was at the university at the same time, says the former president "had no aversion to the brownies and cookies that were then a favorite method of marijuana main-line ingestion." (Rush and Molloy)
Problems in Parisland? Paris Hilton and her boyfriend, Nick Carter, were spotted arguing their way through various July 4 parties in the Hamptons this weekend. On Saturday, at a party hosted by Jay Z, Hilton was heard barking at Carter, "Come on, put down that drink!" Then later, at a Sean "Puffy/P.Diddy" Combs' White Party, they took their tiff outside and, said a witness, "You could hear them screaming from the parking lot." (N.Y. Daily News)
Harvey's turn? Speculation is intensifying that Harvey Weinstein may ditch Miramax and Disney as soon as this week, maybe even tomorrow. According to Page Six, "Under the plan being considered, Weinstein would leave to start his own movie company and Miramax would distribute his films, sources say. Harvey's brother and Miramax co-founder Bob Weinstein is expected to stay at the company, where he runs Dimension Films, a Miramax division that focuses on medium-budget action and horror films." Or the Weinsteins could try to scratch together enough dough to buy Miramax back from Disney outright. (Page Six)
What's that white stuff under Mary-Kate's nose? Not milk. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have been dropped from the "Got Milk?" campaign by the Milk Processor Education Program "out of sensitivity for [Mary-Kate's] situation." Apparently in light of Mary-Kate's treatment for anorexia -- and the attending (fiercely denied) rumors of cocaine addiction -- the marketers felt that the girls might not embody the "healthy" lifestyle they were promoting. (Page Six)
-- Amy Reiter
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