LBN-NOTICED:
A large group of major leaders from both the world of Entertainment and Technology converged for a cocktail party discussion with author (The Long Tail) and Wired magazine editor, Chris Anderson, at the palatial Bel Air home of Peter Guber, last night.
Included in the guest list were Cuba Gooding Jr., Carson Daly, Jon Feltheimer and his wife Laurie, Michael Levine, Ed Victor, Alan Nevins, Caroline Graham, Andy Gavin with his wife Sharon and her twin sister Keren Perlmutter, LCO publicist Ali Duncan, Jane Fleming, HBO's Colin Callendar, James Patterson, Richard Rosenblatt, and Steve Bowen.
Anderson, who is in the process of writing a new book titled Free, took questions from the guests.
***L.A. District Attorney Steve Cooley as the guest of honor last night at the cocktail party of prominent attorney Eric George in Westwood.
***Henry Kissinger blowing out birthday candles on his chocolate layer birthday cake (he's 85) at the Mayflower Inn in Washington, Conn., with wife Nancy and two other couples.
***Whitney Port of "The Hills" sipping Inocente tequila with investment banker J.P. Gutfruend at Lily Pond in East Hampton.
***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT - send your celeb sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT?
Famed Hollywood photographer Harry Langdon, along with approximately 284,000 other "influencers."
LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: 
***Looks like Mel Brooks is exiting the movie business.
The comic powerhouse, who turns 82 next month, is quietly shuttering Brooksfilms, a source says.
Brooks founded his LA-based production company in 1980 to make "The Elephant Man" because he felt billing it as "A Mel Brooks film" would lead audiences to believe the heartbreaking tale was a farce.
***Legendary comedic actor Harvey Korman died yesterday.
He was 81.
The actor, possibly best known for his stint on the "The Carol Burnett Show" and in the film "Blazing Saddles," died at UCLA Medical Center after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago.
***The Screen Actors Guild's keeping a low profile as it returns to the negotiating table with no comment Thursday as execs met with the majors and with AFTRA reps, says Variety.
The Hollywood Reporter notes also that following AFTRA's tentative agreement with the studios - similar on key issues to the WGA and DGA pacts - it remains unclear how SAG might mark any further gains in those same areas.
50 CENT'S HOME BURNS DOWN:
REPORT:
A house owned by rapper 50 cent burned to the ground early this morning in a Dix Hill blaze.
Six people went to the hospital with non-serious injuries, Newsday reported on its Web site.
LBN-BOOK NEWS:
***Bob Morris sang " 'Bye, 'Bye Blackbird" for HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman, Marisa Marchetto and Jonathan Van Meter of Vogue at the party for Morris' hilarious new tome, "Assisted Living: True Tales of Double Dating With My Dad," at the downtown NYC loft of Jonathan Burnham.
LBN-PRESIDENTIAL BACK ROOM:
***Scott McClellan, making the media rounds to promote his book and push back against the ferocious counter-attack by Bush loyalists, declined to come out tonight for John McCain and said he liked what he had heard from Barack Obama.
"I haven't made a decision," McClellan told Katie Couric on CBS's "Evening News," when asked if he was backing the Arizona senator.
McClellan paid homage to McCain, saying that the Republican nominee had "governed from the center, and that's where I am."
LBN-MEDIA INSIDER:
***HBO might want to ask for a ratings recount.
The Sunday night premiere of its much-discussed original movie covering the 2000 presidential election fiasco was seen by modest number of viewers when compared to the network's other high-profile projects.
"Recount" was seen by 1 million HBO subscribers, which is on par with the network's last film, February's lesser-known Susan Sarandon telepic "Bernard and Doris."
***Google's YouTube is now seen as "the biggest television station on the planet," attracting some 1 billion views per day.
The video-sharing site is expected to generate $200 million this year.
Also: Republican presidential contender John McCain is "taking a serious drubbing" on YouTube.
***Jane Clark, a 12-year veteran of Fox News, says she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after being bitten by bedbugs at work.
Clark is filing a lawsuit against the owner of the Manhattan office tower where she works, claiming the building was not treated for months.
***The next generation of workers will demand access to tools such as social networks and instant messaging, according to a study by market intelligence firm IDC.
The younger generation is increasingly "hyper-connected" and expects to use a variety of communication platforms.
***After years of losses, TV Guide is returning to profitability, according to publisher Scott Crystal.
The title, transformed from a digest-sized guide to a full-sized entertainment magazine, is seeing a boost in advertising pages
"I don't think anybody has ever done this before," he boasts.
***Former Details and Star editor Joe Dolce and former MSNBC editorial director Davidson Goldin are teaming up to launch a media-strategy firm called DolceGoldin.
The firm aims to help businesses and others make sure "the attention they are getting is the attention they want."
LBN-VIDEO LINK:
Unfortunately, it appears he's joking. Running Time: 1:35
LBN-OVERHEARD:
***Susan Saradon, who appeared in three films last year and won kudos for her TV movie "Bernard and Doris," is still not a contented soul.
She says if John McCain gets elected, she will move to Italy or Canada.
She adds, "It's a critical time, but I have faith in the American people."
***No wonder Sharon Stone was apologizing yesterday for her suggestion that the earthquake in China was "karma" for the occupation of Tibet.
Christian Dior was pulling ads down from stores across China that feature the star.
***Kate Hudson and Lance Armstrong are already glued at the hip.
Hudson, who's filming "Bride Wars" all around Manhattan, must have missed her beau Wednesday, because she called Armstrong and invited him to come watch her work as she shot a late-night scene at the Plaza in NYC.
***Alica Keys will do anything to protect her pipes.
At a recent Seventeen magazine photo shoot in Paris, the songstress refused to speak to anyone because she wanted to save her voice for a concert later that night.
"She did not speak the entire time," said our source.
"She whispered a bit, but while the music was blasting, she'd just move her lips along with the words."
A rep for Keys said, "We had her on strict vocal rest for her performances, which was the right thing to do."
LBN-CURRENTLY READING: Attorney Richard Citron is reading The Shift Age by David Houle.
EVERYTHING. ANYTHING. HERE. NOW.
1. Author Howard Zinn's "populist and perennially popular" A People's History of the United States a definite must read and alternate look into America's people.
2. California Science Center Presents: " Body Worlds Two: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies"it will change your life and maybe even lifestyle.
3. LBN Reader Reminds:
"If you want peace stop fighting. If you want peace with your mind, stop fighting with your thoughts"
-Peter McWilliams.
4. Improve your vocabulary with vocabulary vitamins http://www.vocabvitamins.com/.
5. Website Alert: http://www.worldofinspiration.com/.
6. Author Chris Anderson offers a visionary look at the future of business and common culture in his book "The Long Tail"
The long-tail phenomenon, he argues, will "re-shape our understanding of what people actually want to watch" (or read, etc.).
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