“Matt Lauer Hall of Fame.” It has a nice ring to it, even if it freaks him out a bit. I have interviewed Mr. Lauer many times over the years and he is always a gracious and interesting interview subject. People ask me all the time who are the celebrities who are genuine and who are the crazies. Matt is genuinely a great guy and well deserving of his new status as a member of the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.
I was chilled to find this image while flipping through an old ad book. It’s a strange idea to make an adult penguin spark up a Kool smoke to sell your cigs. Now, take a look at baby penguin. Then take a picture, it will last longer. This was many years before the movies sent the penguins marching, but did we ever think it was cute to make our children smoke? It makes me wonder how our current commercials will look in the future. We’ve come a long way baby?
I felt like Casey At The Bat when my overconfident team sent me to find Christie Brinkley at the Billy Joel “Last Play At Shea” Concert. I stood with my crew waiting for the right limo to arrive to no avail. We had all but given up when show time hit. Then, as we were being escorted through the tunnel to take our place on the show risers the lovely Christie Brinkley walked right in front of us and into Billy Joel’s dressing room. The perfect pitch! Now all we had to do was wait and we’d hit the interview out of the park. Security had a different idea. They did not want us to get the interview, or even a shot of Ms. Brinkley. So, we politely waited with our camera at the ready. When Christie finally emerged we took our swing. Security did manage to crowd our plate BUT we still got the question off and got a comment from Ms. Brinkley - HISTORIC! There was indeed joy in Mudville that day.
The rumored wedding of Jay Z and Beyonce went off without a hitch on Friday night. By that I mean no one was run over, maimed or killed. I have covered celebrity events including weddings for over thirteen years and I have never witnessed anything as horrifying as the press coverage I was a part of the other night. My only thought is that this is the “TMZ” effect. There is now a group of people running around with prosumer video cameras who have no clue as to how to properly shoot an event, or even how to conduct themselves in public. Celebrity coverage is now in the hands of maniacs. Please check out the link above of Gwyneth Paltrow’s arrival and decide for yourself if this is what you want your celebrity news to look like.
The New York Premiere of Smart People had the stars and their supporters contemplating the smartest people they know. Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Quaid, Thomas Hayden Church and Jane Fonda all walked the red carpet. Who’s the smartest person you know and why?
I sat down with SJP FOR ET at the junket for Smart People. I found her to be lively, smart, funny and quite candid about where she’s at in life and what it’s like to be with her boys Matthew and James.
Today I sat for a chat with the latest winner of Project Runway. Christian Siriano is made for TV. I’ve started to notice a new trend - made for reality TV stars hatching their own eggs. These fab maniacs have studied the media, television, the internet and they have figured out the formula. Theses newbie network stars don’t need to wait to be discovered, because they have already discovered themselves and just need to get in front of the right audience to hit the big time. The great thing about Christian is that he not only has talent as a television star, but also as a designer. So rush out and grab the upcoming issue of Elle and read all about his ferociousness as you wait in line to buy his fashions for next fall.
I spent the last two days at an old fashioned stake out. I was one of many waiting for a glimpse of the gal who brought down the Governor. When a story like this breaks everyone is hyper. We all speed to the scene and set up for “the shot.” Then we wait. It’s a reunion of sorts as we all catch up with our friends and colleagues from the competing shows and networks. ”How are the kids, the wife, the golf game, the movie script?” Then we all discuss the story for a moment and trade a bad joke or two. Next, we settle in and wait. Wait. Wait. Then we wait some more. At first no one is willing to blink. Everyone needs to get that non-exclusive, exclusive shot of the gal who brought down the Governor. In the end, at least this time, no one will get the shot. It seems she escaped her own home during the night. Will any of us remember her name a week from now? Some might. Slowly everyone starts to leave as other stories take precedent. Finally we are called off the story. See you at the next big one!
The release of Bee Movie on DVD had me buzzing all over town. 100 humans dressed as bees descended on New York City and I put on me bee keeper’s hat to try and capture all the chaos. We covered all the tourist sites from Times Square to Top of the Rock and even Central Park. They say you should never work with kids or animals, but somehow I found myself working with adults dressed as kids dressed as bees. The stunt was a success so before I write any more cliches I’ll just say that it left me buzzed.
Who ever said, “You are what you wear” never stepped foot on the runway. I spent another fashion week pushing and shoving, crawling and climbing to cover the runways for InStyle.com. It’s hard work capturing enough content to create full fashion coverage each day for eight days straight. There are highs and lows, but in the end it’s always a fun and zany week. Here’s a look at the amazing team I worked with -
Steve “Sully” Sullivan
Kenny “KFC” Chin
Loe “How High Can You Go”
AND
Katrina Szish
Katrina was our amazing talent who made us all sparkle!
Fashion Week is tough, but I believe we conquered the runway.
