perez hilton Freedom of Expression

Perez Hilton and the First Amendment


Will.i.am's manager punched gossip toady Perez Hilton after Hilton called him names that made GLAAD pissed.


We here at FBLA haven't covered it.


Mainly because we care so little about Hilton and his wailing saccharin drama.


Both of us have tried to prod the other into caring/posting about this incident.


Alas, we've yet to.


Until today.


Today, we got an email, we've posted the whole stupid thing after the break but here is an excerpt:


"Freedom of speech should never be compromised"


"Wether (sic) you love Perez or hate Perez he is a entertainment icon that has the right to free speech"


There are two documents oft quoted and rarely understood.


One is the Bible, the other is the US Constitution.


The First Amendment refers to Congress not abridging freedom of speech.


Congress.


Congress.


Not Will.i.am's hired muscle.


Not people who disagree with you (yeah we're talking to you Carrie Prejean).


Congress.


Perez Hilton's free speech was not interfered with.


He has a big mouth and someone hit him in it.


That's assault.


It's in no way related to the Freedom of Speech.


Telling someone to shut up is not violating their rights (ahem Sarah Palin).


The government making you shut up is.


The government.


Not the press.


Not your neighbor.


Not a blogger.


Congress.


The government.


Hilton is not a martyr for Free Speech.


He's a nasty, shallow, catty gossip who has always enjoyed freedom of expression.


Gossip blogger Perez Hilton rally for support by NYC nightlife King JE Englebert after recent assault.


New York CityGossip blogger Perez Hilton rally for support by NYC nightlife King JE Englebert after recent assault allegedly by Black Eyed Peas band member Will.I.Am after the musician told the blogger not to write about his band on his website http://www.perezhilton.com/


Police charged the band's tour member with assault for allegedly punching Hilton during a confrontation at a Toronto nightclub early Monday morning.


"Freedom of speech should never be compromised" "Wether you love Perez or hate Perez he is a entertainment icon that has the right to free speech"


"I am inviting Mr. Hilton to be my guest of honor in NYC and have a VIP party for him and his thousand of followers at my nightclub Suzie Wong on a night to show love not hate.


Guess what is on the menu at the event?


I plan on serving "Pea" soup says Englebert


LBN HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By ELVIS PRESLEY:


Im not kidding myself.

















My voice alone is just an ordinary voice.


What people come to see is how I use it.


If I stand still while I'm singing, I'm dead, man.


I might as well go back to driving a truck.


1956.


LBN-MEDIA INSIDER:


***Simon Cowell, one of the worlds biggest TV stars, has joined forces with Sir Philip Green, the British retail billionaire, to form a global entertainment company that will create and own television content on both sides of the Atlantic.


The two men, close friends for the past decade, have been working closely together in recent weeks, with Sir Philip travelling to Los Angeles to advise Mr Cowell on a new contract to appear on the Fox networks American Idol.


***Washington Post staffers were notified last night that three cases of swine flu have been reported at the paper's 15th and L headquarters.


***Time Warner is the best stock in the media business, according to Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce.


The company has a good shot at more than doubling during the next two years, he says.


News Corp. is ranked further down on the list at No. 11, for "bulking up in newspapers."


***CBS chief Les Moonves's compensation was slashed by 76% last year, according to Salary.com.


Still, Moonves took home $13.6 million.


CBS's stock price fell by two-thirds in 2008, due in part to the advertising slump.


About 2,000 employees lost their jobs.


***News Corp. is naming Rebekah Wade, the editor of the British tabloid the Sun, as CEO of News International, the unit in charge of the company's U.K. newspapers.


Wade will oversee the Times of London, the Sunday Times, News of the World and thelondonpaper.


***Nikki Finke is selling her showbiz news site Deadline Hollywood Daily to Movieline owner Mail.com Media, in a deal said to be worth as high as $15 million.


A New York-based journalist will be hired to report to her.


The site will become available on "every device imaginable," Finke says.


***McGraw-Hill is rumored to be shopping BusinessWeek magazine.


Potential suitors, however, may be hard to find.


The struggling business title is estimated to have operated at a loss of $20 million last year.


Officially, McGraw-Hill says: "We don't comment on rumors."


***Bauer's In Touch is topping Time Inc.'s People as the best-selling celebrity magazine on U.S. newsstands, selling 1.2 million copies thanks to its cover photo of Kate Gosselin spanking one of her eight children.


People's "Hot Bachelors" issue is selling less than 1.1 million copies.


***Craigslist's Craig Newmark is among the supporters of All For Good, a new, online "Craigslist for service" searchable database of volunteer opportunities across the United States.


Other supporters include Arianna Huffington, YouTube, Aha! Ink and FanFeedr.


***The New York Times Company and the papers largest union agreed to cuts in wages, benefits and job security.

NIKKI FINKE GRILLED ?????

Nikki Finke Grilled


TheWrap's Sharon Waxman gets to the bottom of Finke's vision for the future.


Finke, who sold her site for $14 million to Mail.com Media Corporation, said, "A year and a half ago, there started to be interest, and about a year ago there was more.


It ranged from people kicking the tires to really wanting to buy it, to money to invest in it.


It was dizzying."


Iranian Taking To The Airwaves -- From L.A.








Expatriate hosts weekly newscast that gets beamed back home.


As Iranian citizens take to the streets, Hossein Hedjazi is sending his own message from abroad.


Hedjazi, an Iranian expatriate who lives in Los Angeles, hosts a weekly newscast on PARS-TV, which broadcasts out of Tarzana.


Its mostly political programming reaches viewers in Iran, despite the efforts of the Iranian government, which has blamed Western media outlets for encouraging protesters.


'Transformers' Poised For Huge Opening









Michael Bay-helmed sequel has only holdovers in its way.


Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is coming in for a major box-office kill.


After weeks of mid-budget comedies, like "The Hangover" and "The Proposal," and Pixar's "Up" dominating theaters, the PG-13 sequel to 2007's "Transformers" opened in 4,600-plus theaters at midnight.


Considering it has five days to go up only against holdovers, Optimus Prime and co. will easily take the title of biggest debut of 2009.


Time Warner, Comcast Go After Hulu







Conglomerates announce initiative to make online viewing more difficult.


Cable giants Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. are expected to announce toda y that they are teaming on a new venture that would make it harder for people to watch TV shows online for free.


Motivating the media giants is the emergence of online video as an alternative to television;


Hulu has become an overnight sensation with its steady stream of hit TV shows for free.



MySpace Cuts Worldwide Staff










Latest job eliminations come after site said it's getting back to 'start-up' mode.


Following last week's announcement of its plan to cut 30% of its U.S. workforce, MySpace is now slashing its international staff by two thirds, to about 150 employees.


The social networking site also plans to close four offices outside the U.S. MySpace said last week that it had planned to get back to "start-up" mode.

ten 10 nominees for Oscars 2010 ????

Beverly Hills, CA (June 24, 2009) —


The 82nd Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 7, 2010, will have 10 feature films vying in the Best Picture category, Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announced today (June 24) at a press conference in Beverly Hills.


“After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year,” said Ganis.


“The final outcome, of course, will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009.”


For more than a decade during the Academy’s earlier years, the Best Picture category welcomed more than five films; for nine years there were 10 nominees.


The 16th Academy Awards (1943) was the last year to include a field of that size; “Casablanca” was named Best Picture.


(In 1931/32, there were eight nominees and in 1934 and 1935 there were 12 nominees.)


Currently, the Academy is presenting a bicoastal screening series showcasing the 10 Best Picture nominees of 1939, arguably one of Hollywood’s greatest film years.


Best Picture nominees of that year include such diverse classics as “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Stagecoach,” “The Wizard of Oz” and Best Picture winner “Gone with the Wind.”


“Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” commented Ganis.


“I can’t wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February.”


The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2.


The Oscar® ceremony honoring films for 2009 will again take place at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.


Cowell, Retail Billionaire Form Global Entertainment Firm








Company will create and own television content worldwide.


Simon Cowell and retail giant Sir Phillip Green are teaming up to form a partnership that will generate TV programming on both sides of the Atlantic.


The new company will also serve as a holding company for Cowell's shows, including "American Idol," "The X-Factor" and both "America's Got Talent" and "Britain's Got Talent."


Cowell is also poised to become TV's highest-paid star, surpassing Oprah Winfrey.


[NYDailyNews]

the i PHONE app that will kill print ????

The iPhone App That Will Kill Print

A great little service that gives readers everything they want from newspapers.

New Wrap contributor Ray Richmond takes you inside the moment he knew it was all over for print journalism.

For a one-time payment of 99 cents, iPhone app News Fuse supplies users with content from 27 news outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and USA Today.

[TheWrap]

LBN-OVERHEARD:

*** Ed McMahon, the loyal Tonight Show sidekick who bolstered boss Johnny Carson with guffaws and a resounding H-e-e-e-e-e-eres Johnny! for 30 years, died early Tuesday.

He was 86.

*** Less than 24 hours after Jon and Kate Gosselins bombshell announcement about their decision to split up, TLC said Jon & Kate Plus 8 will be going on hiatus.

Following a retrospective of Jon and Kate's first 10 years, which will air on June 29, the show will be on hiatus until Aug 3.

*** Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are proud parents to a new set of twin girls.

The surrogate mother carrying the couples new children gave birth on Tuesday, Barbara Walters announced on The View on Tuesday morning.

*** Glitz, glamour and bronze trophies will be on hand during the Associated Press Television and Radio Associations (APTRA) 57th Annual Mark Twain Broadcast Journalism Awards at The Globe Theatre inside Universal Studios Hollywood on Saturday, June 27.

Hollywood celebrities will walk the red carpet, then honor more than 80 journalistic superstars during APTRAs formal black-tie gala featuring musical performances by Freddy Boom Boom Cannon and The Ohio Express.

LBN HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By JOHN LENNON:

Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives.

I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that.

That's what's insane about it.

1976

LBN-RECOMMENDS by

WILLIAM S. Cohen (Former Secretary of Defense):

The ability to win the hearts and minds of a people rarely comes at the end of a bomb or bullet.

Those who reach us through the magic of movies and multimedia technologies have far greater power to capture our ideas and attitudes than does any army.

Nathan Gardels and Mike Medavoy have produced an important book, American Idol After Iraq (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102619932251&s=9702&e=001SOf8qrOMqVNCTa6Awoqc9aKJG2TjW-cOy8S9EKQ6gf0jIAZestnIpPuRjw1euaduu9oyXH2zb0U1JDdSZHp_rhSDVmPCsB1UIh7NLB04OgFfvtanPBEPJQ==) that reviews the history of filmmaking and

the forces of globalization and illuminates the path that America needs to follow if we hope to restore our nation to a place of global prominence and moral influence.

LBN-NOTICED:

***Nicole Richie, going on a toy shopping spree with 17-month-old daughter Harlow at Acorn in Santa Monica.

***Chace Crawford, partying at a birthday bash for talent manager Eric Podwall at L.A. club Jane's House.

The Gossip Girl star who wore a black blazer with a gray T-shirt underneath held court at a back table but also bounced around the club talking to partygoers.

At one point, he had a lengthy chat with fellow CW star Chad Michael Murray.

And while waiting on line for the VIP bathroom, the future Footloose star even busted out some dance moves when Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" started playing.

Also making the scene: Lauren Conrad and boyfriend Kyle Howard, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and beau Jerry Ferrara, Amanda Bynes and Leona Lewis.

***Hugh Jackman, picking up takeout at West Hollywood eatery Talesai.

LBN-MEDIA INSIDER:

***Stats on Arianna Huffington's L.A. based site from Ad Age story pegged to new CEO:

-Three rounds of financing: $5 million, $4.5 million and, most recently, $25 million.

-Money spent so far: About $12 million as of February.

-Ad revenue from January through April: $3.4 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

-Full-time, paid staffers: 61, including 35 in editorial, of whom five are reporters.

-Visitors: 5.3 million uniques in May, up 106% from May 2008 and up 5% from its election-season peak in October, according to ComScore.

LBN-THINK AGAIN:

Irving Azoff Gets "Golden Coffin" And More

Irving Azoff has long been derided in Hollywood as the "Poison Dwarf" because of his size and demeanor.

But Ticketmaster sure likes its CEO in the middle of the worst recession since the 1930s.

Even as his company laid off 5% of its employees last year, cash just pours into Azoff's pockets.

So says the preliminary proxy made public for his company’s proposed take-over of Live Nation.

First, Azoff’s management company Front Line – which handles more than 200 acts including the Eagles and Christina Aguilera, and which Ticketmaster bought last October --

paid him his guaranteed annual $2 million in salary and $2 million bonus last year.

Then “in light of Front Line’s exceptional performance in 2008,” Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller persuaded the board to give Azoff an additional $1 million.

Azoff-owned ATC Aviation got another $229,542 from Ticketmaster for the two months last year when he used an ATC plane.

But the most jaw-dropping numbers show up when you see what happens if Azoff dies, becomes disabled, resigns for “good reason,” or gets terminated without cause. Then he gets to vest stock with a market value of $77.9 million plus $13.1 million to make up for his tax payments.

(Disney's Bob Iger also has one of these Golden Coffins, whereby CEOs get paid even after they die. And it stinks like a rotting corpse.)

While he's still alive, Azoff takes good care of his family:

His daughter, Allison, got $225,000 in cash and bonus, plus $21,964 in auto expenses, last year for being a non-executive officer at Front Line.

Her husband Richard Statter is a non-executive officer at Ticketmaster, and Azoff’s son, Jeffrey, has a similar position at Front Line although they don’t make enough to be included in the public filing.

So, how much will Azoff make if the deal with Live Nation closes?

According to the filing, Ticketmaster and Azoff are “currently discussing” that.

MAIL.COM MEDIA CORPORATION ACQUIRES DEADLINEHOLLYWOODDAILY.COM

Signs Agreement With Award-Winning Entertainment Business Journalist Nikki Finke;

MMC To Distribute Nikki Finke’s Content Exclusively Across Its Digital Media Platform

June 23, 2009 (LOS ANGELES)

-- Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC), the digital media company that owns and operates the Mail.com portal and email service as well as a growing portfolio of lifestyle brands, including HollywoodLife.com,

MovieLine.com and OnCars.com, announced today its acquisition of the Internet’s highly respected and widely read website for original content about the infotainment industry DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com.

MMC also begins a long-term partnership with former Newsweek and Los Angeles Times and New York Magazine writer/reporter Nikki Finke, the founder and writer of DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com and one of the foremost entertainment business journalists in the world.

Deadline Hollywood Daily is Nikki Finke’s uniquely candid, informed and authoritative source for breaking news in the entertainment industry.

She started DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com with the purpose of creating a 24/7 Internet version of her must-read “Deadline Hollywood” column in LA Weekly, to provide up-to-the-minute coverage of insider news and fast-breaking scoops about the entertainment industry before anybody else in town, often as the story is still unfolding, and often to the very people she’s writing about.

Instead of the “show”, Nikki Finke is more interested in the “business” – in the story behind the story, in the truth beyond the press release, in the details that the people in power don’t want journalists to know and which only she can uncover and deliver with speed, accuracy, and regularity.

In a recent 2009 article on Hollywood business coverage, the Financial Times called Nikki Finke "the reigning queen of Hollywood news" because of her "unrivalled network of high-level industry contacts.

Since launching her Deadline Hollywood Daily site three years ago, she has earned a reputation as the best connected reporter in the industry.

" The New York Times wrote that the screenwriters’ strike “solidified her position as a Hollywood power broker.

Executive producers, writers and agents attest to her influence."

The New York Observer named her its "Media Mensch Of The Year” and said “she’s demonstrated that one determined reporter — with none of the support or backing of a media outfit, but also none of the entangling alliances — can, in fact, beat the big guys at their own game.”

And Elle magazine, before placing her on its 25 most influential women in Hollywood list, wrote, "Out West, where movies, moguls, and millions are made, Nikki Finke is the sheriff in town.

From her perch as the LA Weekly "Deadline Hollywood" columnist and queen of DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com, she has been going after the juicy business dramas of film [and television] moguls and agents."

Nikki Finke has been the “Deadline Hollywood” columnist for LA Weekly since 2002, writing about the business, politics and culture of the infotainment industry.

Together, her print column and her Deadline HollywoodDaily.com have won first place in almost every major entertainment journalism contest, both print and online, including the Southern California Journalism Awards' Entertainment Journalist Of The Year and a multiple winner of the National Entertainment Journalism Awards in which she swept every online category.

The insatiable appetite for the latest entertainment news and increased fascination with everything Hollywood are both a worldwide phenomenon, making MMC's global digital reach a perfect platform to scale the impact of Nikki Finke's singular editorial voice.

Within the first 90 days, DHD will become bicoastal with the hiring of a New York City-based senior journalist who will report to Finke.

The addition of DHD to MMC's expanding portfolio of lifestyle brands strengthens the company's position as an important player in the entertainment space.

With more than 10 million unique visitors per month prior to this acquisition, MMC will continue its rapid growth as one of the most dynamic companies to watch in the digital media arena

“We're thrilled to be working with Nikki.

As a world-class journalist, she is unequivocally recognized by the entertainment and business community as a unique voice and leading authority on news coverage of major media, especially Hollywood.

With this acquisition and partnership now complete, her DeadlineHollyoodDaily.com can continue to extend its reach and influence and finally have the web platform it deserves,” said Jay Penske, the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of MMC.

"Ever since the first scoop of Nikki’s that I read, I quickly realized that she has raised the bar on – if not changed the game of – entertainment journalism; and her work perfectly embodies our mission at MMC: to provide the most original and most authoritative content on the web.”

"I was fortunate to have had much interest and many offers from major corporations and media companies to consider over the past 18 months,” said Nikki Finke, whose title will now become General Manager, Editor in Chief, and Founder of DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com.

"First, I had to ensure that my DeadlineHollywood Daily.com would continue to be an independent editorial voice – and I would retain complete control over everything reported on the website -- so that DHD’s credibility with its readers could remain intact.

Second, I needed to make certain that an advanced infrastructure and capable team were in place, to bring DHD to the next level.

FinaIly, I wanted to join a major Internet player that was ambitious, up-and-coming, and far-sighted.

Jay Penske and MMC gave me all those assurances and more.

This deal was worth waiting for.”

About Nikki Finke

The native New Yorker and Wellesley College graduate has been reporting from Los Angeles since 1986.

Nikki Finke’s journalism career has included years as an AP foreign correspondent in Moscow and London, Newsweek correspondent in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, and Los Angeles Times staff writer covering entertainment and features.

From 1995 through 2000, she was West Coast Editor and Hollywood columnist first for the New York Observer and then for New York Magazine.

She joined LA Weekly as its "Deadline Hollywood" columnist in 2002 and started DeadlineHollywood Daily.com on March 3, 2006.

She was recently named among "100 Leaders You Can Learn From On Twitter" in the journalists category, and included among the 2008 Time Magazine ”Time 100” finalists.

She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and Esquire.
About DeadlineHollywoodDaily.comDeadline Hollywood Daily is the 24/7 Internet version of Nikki Finke's LA Weekly “Deadline Hollywood” print column.

She daily uses DHD as a forum to break news about the infotainment industry, which is why The Drudge Report, The Huffington Post, Gawker, Defamer, Hollywood Wiretap, MediaBistro, Jim Romenesko's Media News, TV Tattle, USA Today's Pop Candy, IMDB and other blogs and websites regularly link to her many scoops.

“She never pulls her punches.

So come for her cynicism.

And stay for the subversion,” has been DHD’s motto from its inception.

DHD is regularly included on lists of top entertainment websites, most recently the "50 Best Websites For Moviemakers 2009".

About Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC)

Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC) is a leading digital media company founded by Jay Penske in 2004.

The company owns and operates the Mail.com portal, a global multi-media platform.

In addition, MMC owns a unique portfolio of lifestyle brands that provide the web's best original content in categories including entertainment, sports, news, finance, health, shopping, fashion, and automotive.

Mail.com, HollywoodLife.com, OnCars.com, MovieLine.com, DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com, Fan.com, Young Hollywood Awards, and Style Awards, are all part of the expanding MMC portfolio.

For more information about MMC, please visit http://corp.mail.com/.---

For media inquiries, please contact:

Mail.com Media CorporationLos Angeles, Californiamailto:Californiapress@corp.mail.com

Nikki Finke General Manager, Editor in Chief,

FounderDeadlineHollywoodDaily.commailto:FounderDeadlineHollywoodDaily.comdeadlinehollywood@gmail.com

LBN-COMMENTARY By MITCH KAPLAN (Prominent Lawyer):

Do I believe English should be the official language of the U.S.?

I think there should be no official language of the USA.

Why?

Our nation has gone 239 years successfully without one and the only reason it is an issue is to divide us.

Let's remember that we are the UNITED States of America.

***To reply directly to Mitch Kaplan, e-mail LBNElert@TimeWire.net

( Please put Mitch Kaplan in the subject line).

LBN-DID YOU KNOW:

***Each year over $2,000,000,000 worth of Halloween candy is sold.

***Sugar is the only taste we are born craving.

LBN-QUOTE: A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson.

marilyn monroe's talent developed in privacy????

RYAN O'NEAL ASKS FARRAH TO MARRY HIM:

Though Farrah Fawcett is "fighting for her life," Ryan O'Neal tells Barbara Walters, "I've asked her to marry me, again, and she's agreed," ABC News reports.

"We will, as soon as she can, say yes," O'Neal, 68, says about his companion since 1980.

"Maybe we can just nod her head," he said, with a laugh.

LBN HISTORICAL COMMENTARY

By MARILYN MONROE:

Goethe said, `Talent is developed in privacy, ` you know?

And it`s really true.

There is a need for aloneness which I don`t think most people realize for an actor.

It`s almost having certain kinds of secrets for yourself that you`ll let the whole world in ... (1956).

LBN-COMMENTARY

By RICHARD GREENE (Air America Talk Show Host):

Do I believe English should be the official language of the U.S.?

I think it's time to move beyond parochial and small minded ideas in this global age.

As we continue to repair our relationship with the world, how wonderful it would be to officially declare that ALL languages are the official language of our great nation, with English, for practical purposes, being the one that is used.

Our history, our "brand" and our strength, more than any other country, is our pluralism and that we are the melting pot of the planet.

Let us truly embrace it and the "world" that IS America.

***To reply directly to Richard Greene, e-mail LBNElert@TimeWire.net

(Please put Richard Greene in the subject line).

LBN-MEDIA INSIDER:

***Al Rantel will be broadcasting for the last time this Thursday evening on KABC in Los Angeles.

The good news is his lymphoma has not returned.

His treatment took care of that.

The bad news is that Al is still ailing.

He's suffering a series of complications from a fall he endured in the parking structure of his West Los Angeles apartment complex.

He slipped and fell in August 2008.

Since then, hes had a shoulder replacement and a hip replacement.

***Since the explosion of gossip blogs and the resurgence of celebrity magazines, L.A.'s courthouses have grown used to accommodating throngs of paparazzi, videographers, camera crews and reporters who trail the famous to their dates with infamy.

But the crowd expected at this afternoon's preliminary hearing for R&B singer Chris Brown will be on a different order.

Fifty-two media outlets have asked to attend the proceeding, far more than were on hand for Paris Hilton's re-jailing, Britney Spears' divorce, the DUI cases of Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie, or the murder trials of Robert Blake or Phil Spector.

***Reader's Digest will cut its rate base to 5.5 million copies from 8 million with the February 2010 issue.

The magazine will also cut its frequency to 10 copies from 12.

The savings will be invested in new digital products, including mobile applications and single-topic digital editions.

***Nearly eight years after leaving CNN, Bobbie Battista has resurfaced as an anchor for Onion News Network, the online video arm of The Onion, the satirical newspaper.

***The Washington Posts decision to keep a two-part story of homicide and intrigue out of the print edition angered many readers who still pay for the newspaper.

SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT:

Personal manager and entertainment industry icon Ken Kragen along with approximately 300,000 other "influencers" understand that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.

L.A. has become part of integral information flow.

The dizzying speed of events and the global connection to them is driven by modern media technology.

TheWrap's Sharon Waxman says Los Angeles has become an integral part of the events going on in Tehran and parts beyond.

So are other cities such as London, where the BBC's Persian Service can be viewed over the Internet, and which often shows the latest Twitter feeds.

GEMS from MARK TWAIN

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Talent Managers on Hold ????/

Managers hold on while industry shifts


Feeling threats, opportunities during changing times


By Alex Ben Block


When Industry Entertainment partner Keith Addis recently went looking to add a talent manager to his company's roster, he didn't exactly need to hang a Help Wanted sign.


Industry, which counts as clients some of Hollywood's top writers, directors and actors, has been flush with employment inquiries lately, especially since the merger of WMA and Endeavor resulted in the layoffs of a host of top talent agents.


Addis ended up hiring former WMA motion picture literary agent Sarah Botfeld, but not before she made a clean break from her former agency.


"We've been specific with her about what she can and cannot say to those clients," Addis says.


"What she can say is:


'This is what I'm going to do.


I'm excited about the people I'm working with, and if I can ever be of service to you, you know where to find me.'


"Botfeld is not alone in making the shift from agent to manager.


While the industry has been abuzz during recent weeks about consolidation in the agency business, less discussed is the effect these changes are having on a management community that has grown exponentially during the past decade but faces the same industrywide slowdown in job opportunities.


"When I started in the '90s, there were about five significant management companies," says Brian Medavoy of the Glenn Rigberg Management Co.


"Now there are probably 50 big players.


With the WME shakeout, there are a lot of good pieces of manpower that did not make the cut who are now either starting management companies or joining them.


"Aaron Kaplan is one of those newly minted managers.


Squeezed out of WMA during the merger, he has started a management/production company, Kapital Entertainment, bringing along many of his TV clients.


Nearly all didn't already have managers, but one, writer-producer Jeff Rake, recently left Anonymous Content to join Kaplan


(Rake also departed WME for CAA).


"The business is continuing to change," Kaplan says.


"There's still a little bit of chaos.


Chaos breeds opportunity, and opportunity breeds success.


"That chaos is affecting the already tenuous relationship between agencies and management companies, and between established managers and upstarts.


More managers -- especially those who used to be agents -- mean more competition at a time when the industry is rattled by contraction:


fewer movies, lower salaries and greater anxiety about when the next job is coming.


In many ways, the management biz always has been intertwined with talent agencies.


Actors, directors and writers began taking personal managers in the 1980s as agencies like CAA grew larger and more impersonal.


"No individual agent would be able to have the personal relationship or give undivided attention to the clients;


it just created this opportunity," says Alan Somers, a personal manager since he left WMA in 1979 and now a partner in Somers, Maudlin and the Rose Group.


By law, managers can offer career guidance, but only agents can "procure" work for clients.


In contrast, managers may produce, which always has been a source of frustration for agencies eyeing fat producing fees and backend that managers sometimes command.


In the early years, Somers recalls, SAG franchised agents and, as part of the deal, froze out managers.


"SAG had this deal with the agents where they would not favor managers," he says.


"They would say, 'We only speak to the agents.'


"But beginning with early companies like Brillstein-Grey during the '80s and '90s and newer powers including Anonymous, Untitled, Management 360, 3 Arts and Generate, managers began winning seats at the negotiation table.


Having the talent's ear helps, as does the perception that managers take the long view of a client's career.


The relationship changed for good in 2002 when SAG was unable to renew its franchise agreement with ATA, which represented agencies.


"Now SAG doesn't police any of us," Somers says, "and the result has been an expansion of the role played by managers as well as agents.


"Still, Erwin More, a manager before becoming a WMA agent, decided to stick with agenting when he was laid off.


He says there are a lot of similarities in the work.


"At the heart of what we do is something absolutely the same," says More, now with Paradigm.


"We're both representing actors, writers and directors, trying to do the best we can to see they succeed."


Crucial differences in culture between the agency and management communities still exist.


Poaching clients, for instance, has long been a reality for agents but remains relatively rare among managers.


Addis recalls the story of Judy Hofflund when she left agenting at UTA 14 years ago to become a manager at Hofflund/Palone.


"Judy left and called a couple clients and said, 'I'm going to be a manager, and I'd love for you to come with me,' " Addis says.


"She got calls that day from the heads of every single management company in town, saying: 'Judy, you're crossing the line.


If you do it one more time, there's going to be hell to pay.


' What that meant was we were all going to go after her clients.


It made complete sense to her instantaneously.


"Says Hofflund, whose client list includes Kenneth Branagh, Sally Field and Julia Louis-Dreyfus:


"That's true.


I am so happy to be away from the poaching culture; it's a huge relief to me.


It's one of the biggest reasons I like managing better than agenting.


"The seismic shifts in the agency business provide opportunities for managers in other ways.


"As there are changes in the agency world, talent relies more and more on managers to navigate through the thicket of Hollywood," says Jon Liebman, co-president of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, whose clients include Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt.


"For good, established managers, the changes make them even more integral to their clients' lives."


Plus, clients who might have balked at paying an extra 10% to a manager are more willing to do so now that jobs are harder to come by.


"In an environment where the market is constricting, the need for more hands on deck to get the job done seems more acceptable to clients," says Anonymous manager Michael Sugar, who reps directors Steven Soderbergh and Gavin Hood.


Managers also have grown in value to clients as deals have grown more complex.


A squeeze on the salaries of midlevel actors has cut cash flow, driving clients to ask managers to pursue such new avenues as branding and the Internet.


"Dealmaking has become far more complicated," says Suzan Bymel, a partner at Management 360, whose clients include Reese Witherspoon, Anne Hathaway and Kiefer Sutherland.


"It used to be that actors had their quotes, and their raises were calculated based on the success of their last picture.


It has become a much more creative and strategic process that differs with each project, depending upon your financial partners, the underlying material, its commercial viability and the other players involved.


"Managers and agents now work closely with a marketing and branding department to help the company's talent branch out through ancillary sales, marketing deals with brands and new media."


The new business model is you've got to work harder frankly to get the same things done," says Sam Gores, chairman and CEO of Paradigm.


"Representing people used to be an easier job.


You'd make a deal for a client with a major buyer and move on.


Today you actually have to be smarter, work harder, piece together movies, financing and elements of TV shows.


You have to look at every career -- whether it's an individual or a company -- as a brand and not get too distracted by areas where nobody is making huge amounts of money yet.


" Still, the subtext of every conversation in Hollywood is uncertainty about where the representation business is going."


Everybody is like a submarine with the periscope up, looking for land," says Joel Gotler, an agent-turned-literary manager at IPG.


"If anybody can tell you what is going to happen, they really are geniuses."

ERECTILES before DYSFUNCTION ?????

LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:














LBN Reader Comment:

Erectile's roamed this planet long before dysfunctions.

-----William N. Roemer -Jackson, CA

LBN HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By


SIGMUND FREUD:


Dreams are the "royal road to the unconscious".




This meant that dreams illustrate the "logic" of the unconscious mind. Freud developed his first topology of the psyche in The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) in which he proposed that the unconscious exists and described a method for gaining access to it.



The preconscious was described as a layer between conscious and unconscious thought; its contents could be accessed with a little effort.



LBN-NOTICED:

***Last night a large group of movers and shakers in L.A. went to the elegant home of Stewart and Lynda Resnick for a dinner in honor of the head of National Public Radio.

In attendance were new media titan Arianna Huffington, producer Mike Medavoy, attorney Bert Fields, CNN's Jessica Yellen, restaurateur Mr. Chow, LCO founder Michael Levine, L.A. Police Chief Bill Bratton and his wife among others.


LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER:



***Although it was first reported days ago by Spoiler TV which had gotten the info from TV Guide, the trades have now confirmed that JJ Abrams and Tom Cruise have agreed to co-produce a fourth "Mission: Impossible" installment.


***Reese Witherspoon has become attached to "Pharm Girl," an aspirational comedy being developed at Universal. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film centers on one woman's odyssey through the drug industry.


Glenn Ficarra and John Requa are writing the screenplay and are in talks to direct.


LBN-TICKET GIVEAWAY; LEVINE SPEAKS ON SUCCESS ON SATURDAY:




















After speaking to critical acclaim at the prestigious Oxford University in England and The Harvard Business School, media expert and best-selling author Michael Levine will speak this Saturday date........




at the Fine Art's Theatre (address) in Beverly Hills at 11am.


The theatre will be closing at the end of the month and will be the theatres last live performance prior to shutting.


The speech will feature Levine in "Question and Answer" format with the theatre's 500 person audience.




For Free tickets, please reply to Hollywoodevents2009@gmail.com.


LBN-RECOMMENDS By KATHY BATES (ACTRESS):











Im getting into Edie Falcos new show, Nurse Jackie. I love the black humor and its cynical take on life.



I havent seen anything I have liked as much since Six Feet Under.



I think that's due to the fact that there are way too many reality shows and not enough strong dramas on TV these days.



LBN QUOTE:



Books are the carriers of civilization.



Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.



I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business.



Henry David Thoreau


LBN-OVERHEARD:


***Now that Lauren Conrad's no longer on "The Hills," she's wasting no time spilling the world's worst kept secret:

The show is fake.















Conrad was on "The View" this morning, and when asked about Spencer Pratt's apology phone call to her in the season finale, she said she wasn't even on the other end of the line.


*** Michael Jackson has been going to the office of Dr. Arnie Klein -- dermatologist to the stars -- and he's been going there several times a week lately.


Klein and M.J. have a long history together.


Klein has treated Jackson's vitiligo -- a pigmentation disorder.


Baron Cohen Dons Bull Suit For 'Bruno' In Spain »



MADRID —

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen's latest movie character, an Austrian fashionista called Bruno, drew gasps and some cheers as he appeared dressed as a bull in front of Spain's main bullring Thursday.


The British actor-comedian who was in Madrid to promote his new movie _ "Bruno" _ arrived in a horse-drawn carriage escorted by muscular matadors just as the sun set on the historic bullring Las Ventas.

lindsay lohan topless on Twitter ??????

BRUNO lands in London

SACHA BARON COHEN'S ACTRESS FIANCEE ISLA FISHER

Christian Colson, Rubina Ali and Danny Boyle (Getty)

Danny Boyle mum on Asia for next film

'Slumdog' director keeps quiet on first of three-pic deal

By Patrick Frater

SHANGHAI --

Danny Boyle won't say whether his next film will be in Asia or take on an Asian angle, but the "Slumdog Millionaire" director seems to be whooping it up on his first visit to China as much as he did in India.

Boyle, who has not previously seen festival jury duty, said he accepted Shanghai's invitation to be president of its competition jury because "Slumdog Millionaire" was allowed to be widely released in China.

"I feel it as a courtesy and a responsibility," he said.

"Also, the world is obsessed with this city and on a personal level I wanted to come and see.

"During the festival he has been energetic, accessible and, despite seeing three films per day, has often been spotted hanging out in the lobby of the adjacent hotel.

Boyle describes the jury process as "valuable, because we are helping to build profile and careers," but he admits to being "concerned about not being too bossy.

All directors have a tendency to be bossy.

"So far, he has also managed to kept quiet about his next project which will come under a recent three-picture deal with Fox Searchlight and Pathe.

While they have optioned rights to Suketu Mehta's "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found," a book that also served as a reference while shooting "Slumdog," Boyle said that will not be first up.

"I'm looking forward to going back to Bombay, what a great place for a thriller, it has so many elements," he said.

Nor is Boyle put off by the tumultuous reactions within India to his picture or the media circus that has surrounded the film's treatment of the child actors.

"We'll use some of it in the next pictures," he said.

We've made a lot of decisions (about trusts and 10-year education plans for the kids) which we'll stick to.

"En route to China's business capital he stopped off in Beijing and Hong Kong, where he met up with an old pal from school.

"I've just seen three amazing Asian cities," he said.

"There's an appetite for cinema in Asia that Hollywood doesn't recognize yet," he said while discussing the region's onscreen talent.

On Tuesday, Boyle and fellow jurors took time out from the screening rooms to visit the filming of period actioner "Bodyguards and Assassins," shooting an hour outside the city on a backlot where Hong Kong's Central district, circa 1905, has been rebuilt on a full scale.

"The scale and ambition on display were amazing.

This (set) could be the difference between getting a film made or not," he said.

Boyle said he has been little changed by "Slumdog" bandwagon.

"It seems to have changed everyone else, I continue in the same vein," he said.

"I was lucky to have a success.

And I continue to aim to be ambitious, to promise myself 'don't be careful,' and to enjoy a spirit of recklessness.

"As to the films seen he and the jury have seen at the halfway mark:

"Quality simply surges out."

Lindsay Lohan TOPLESS On Twitter (NSFW PHOTO)

Perhaps in an attempt to divert attention from the alleged jewel heist at her London photo shoot, Lindsay Lohan tweeted a topless self-portrait of herself early this morning.

Maybe she should have stopped with last year's Marilyn Monroe spread in New York Magazine.

In 1962, photographer Bert Stern shot a series of photos of Marilyn Monroe at the Hotel Bel-Air that have collectively come to be known as "The Last Sitting."

The photographs are arguably the most famous images ever captured of America's most famous actress.

Six weeks after she had posed, Monroe was found dead of an apparent barbiturate overdose.

Lindsay Lohan recreated that photoshoot with NY Magazine, down to the lighting.

Her whole photospread with Stern is in the new fashion issue of the weekly.

There is more nudity and may not be safe for work.

FACEBOOK has 70.28 million US users, MySpace ? Twitter ?

LBN-MEDIA INSIDER:

***The elbow-tossing among the media elite is about to get even sharper, thanks to

Dan Abrams.

We hear certain top-tier advertisers have gotten a sneak preview of the former MSNBC anchor's new Web site, Mediaite, which promises, among other things,

"a proprietary mathematical algorithm (using a host of factors) to rank the relevance of hundreds of top media figures in various categories."

Marketers could use the site to measure Tina Brown versus Arianna Huffington, or Diane Sawyer versus Katie Couric, or Jim Cramer versus Jon Stewart.

So, is it time to start sucking up to Abrams?

He'd only say, "I will not be the one making any of those decisions."

***Eric Hippeau, managing partner of SoftBank Capital and former CEO of Ziff-Davis, will replace current Huffington Post chief executive officer Betsy Morgan as the company's new CEO.

Hippeau has worked with the Huffington Post since SoftBank Capital led a company financing initiative in 2006.

***This year's NBA Finals averaged 14.3 million viewers over the five-game series, down from last year's average of 15 million viewers.

Though Sunday night's Game 5 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic drew the second smallest audience of the series,

the five finals games are the five most watched telecasts since the end of the TV season May 20.

***Americans are spending less time with family members just as social networks like Facebook and Twitter are booming, says a study by the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future.

"It's not like television, where you sit with your family and watch."

The Internet is mostly one-on-one.

***Facebook, after eclipsing News Corp.'s MySpace in global users last year, now leads its social-networking rival in the United States as well, according to ComScore.

Facebook had 70.28 million U.S. users last month, topping MySpace's 70.26 million.

Twitter was third, at 17.6 million.

ALEC BALDWIN WAS SUICIDAL OVER ANGRY VOICEMAIL TO DAUGHTER:

It was the private voicemail message not meant to be shared and yet ended up being heard by nearly everyone Alec Baldwin's angry April 2007 tirade against his daughter, Ireland,

accusing the then-11-year-old of being a "rude little pig" who needed to have her "ass straightened out" after she had "humiliated me for the last time."

Only now, as the Emmy-winning 30 Rock star admits in a candid interview with Playboy for its July/August issue (on newsstands and online Friday), after the phone message was exposed,

he contemplated killing himself.

LBN-BOOK NEWS:

***Cue the theme music: Dick Van Dyke is writing a memoir.

The star of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and such films as "Mary Poppins" and "Bye, Bye Birdie" will tell of his long career in a memoir scheduled to be published in the fall of 2010 by Harmony Books, which announced the release Monday.

***Guerrilla P.R 2.0, the new, updated version of the best-selling P.R. book of all-time, will be released in audio version in September by Blackstone Audio Company.

LBN-COMMENTARY By KEVIN MORRIS AND GLENN ALTSCHULER

(Entertainment lawyer; Professor of American Studies at Cornell):

An informative state-of-play piece on contemporary music, Ripped suggests that technology is making it possible for a new generation of artists and fans to mess with the record business.

Global box office to jump 33% to $37.7 billion by 2013:

Hollywood studios don't have much to crow about these days, but they can take some comfort in a new report on the state of their business by consulting giant Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

In an annual survey that will be released Tuesday, the accounting giant projects that worldwide consumer spending in filmed entertainment --

a category that includes how much consumers spend at the box office, on home video rentals and purchases and on movie downloads --

will increase at a compound annual rate of 4% to $102 billion worldwide in 2013 from $83.9 billion in 2008.

That may fall short of the government's bailout of AIG, but it still seems like a lot of clams to us.

The biggest increases -- shouldn't be too surprising -- will occur in Asia Pacific and Latin America markets, which will grow annually at 5.7% and 4.5%, respectively.

North America will grow by a more modest annual rate of 3.4%, the study estimates.

Driving the growth will be an upswing in spending at the box office, which is estimated to grow from to $37.7 billion from $28.3 billion in the next five years,

fueled mainly by a growing number of 3-D releases that generate higher prices and ticket sales than do standard 2-D films.

Although the credit crunch has delayed the rollout of digital screens, there are nearly 50 movies set for release in 3-D in the next two years, the report notes.

Additionally, the authors predict that the much-publicized falloff in DVD sales -- which studios have relied on for years to prop up the movie business --

will be offset by a boost from the sale of Blu-ray high-definition videos.

Still, home video's share of entertainment spending is shrinking in North America and is projected to fall to 53% by 2013 from 61% in 2008.

During the same period, the combined share for video-on-demand, online subscription rentals and digital downloads will double to 20%, a clear sign of long-term shifts in how consumers buy entertainment.

Said Deborah K. Bothun, one of the report's authors:

"As the younger generation spends more time online, studios are going to have to be more agile in how they distribute content."

-- Richard Verrier