Author: Brett

Ari Emanuel Halts ‘Fifty Shades of Grey” Meeting to Take President Obama’s Call

Brett

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ari-emanuel-fifty-shades-grey-el-james-obama-305365

How hot was Hollywood’s courtship of Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James last week? The battle to secure film rights to the steamy romance novels was competitive enough that top WME agent Ari Emanuel took a meeting with James and her agent, Valerie Hoskins, even though he was expecting a call from the president of the United States.

Protocol is that when told to anticipate a call from the leader of the free world, one remains at one’s desk. But Emanuel took the meeting at L.A.’s Soho House with manager-producer Stephen Levinson, representing Mark Wahlberg. They were among the Hollywood legions pursuing the literary sensation about an ingenue’s graphic sexual adventures with a jaded billionaire. Sony Pictures, Fox 2000 and Warner Bros. all submitted proposals, with Universal emerging triumphant in the bidding on Monday with an offer of $5 million.

Nickelodeon Ups Brian Wright & Jenna Boyd to Heads of Live-Action & Ani Development

Brett

http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/nickelodeon-ups-brian-wright-jenna-boyd-to-heads-of-live-action-ani-development/

Nickelodeon has promoted veterans Jenna Boyd to SVP, Animation Development and Brian Wright to SVP, Live Action Development. In his new role, Wright will oversee all live-action development and pilot production for Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, TeenNick and international co-productions, reporting to Nickelodeon Group’s president of original programming Marjorie Cohn, while Boyd will oversee the development of all new animated series and the recently announced comedy shorts program, reporting to Nickelodeon’s president of animation Brown Johnson.

The First Ladies Club: Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush for the Women of Afghanistan

Brett

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/the-first-ladies-club-hillary-clinton-and-lara-bush-for-the-women-of-afghanistan/

The First Ladies Club: Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush for the Women of Afghanistan

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former first lady Laura Bush may have been political opposites as first ladies, but they’re in lock step on one  important issue: improving the lives of women in Afghanistan.

In her introduction of Bush,  the guest of honor at the 10th anniversary celebration of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, Clinton called herself and Mrs. Bush part of a “very small group.”

“And it’s a group that has made a great contribution in so many ways during the course of our country’s history,” she said.

She referenced Dolly Madison, who had famously saved White House treasures during the war of 1812, as one example of how America’s first ladies have influenced history.

“There are some stories which are well known, and other stories which have yet to be told, and, I hope, some stories that never see the light of day,” she joked to a laughing crowd.

My Son, the Straight Boy

Brett

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/24/my_son_the_straight_boy/

A week after my partner, Abbie, and I were married at Brooklyn’s City Hall, our 4-year-old son Tommy came out to me. Tommy had been excited about our wedding. He’d picked out his own tie and asked me to wear my hair like Princess Ariel in “The Little Mermaid.” But he had questions, too. “You already had a wedding,” he said — and he was right.

Three years before he was born, Abbie and I were married by an Episcopalian priest at the Bronx Botanical Gardens. Over 200 guests attended, and the ceremony took place in an enclosed garden on a warm night in July. It was one of the first same-sex weddings featured in a national bridal publication (Modern Bride 2004), and there is a picture of us from that day — two blond women in gowns — on Tommy’s bedside table.

The day Tommy came out to me, we were walking home from school. He was telling me about Taylor, his most recent crush, when he stopped in the middle of the story, looked up and said, “Mama, you know how you and Mommy are gay?”

I nodded and figured he was going to ask more questions about why we had to get married for the second time.

“Well,” he said, “I’m not. I’m a boy who likes girls.”

I was surprised by the declaration — we never thought Tommy was gay — but immediately replied, “That’s OK.”

“I knew you’d say that,” he said. “I just thought it was something I should tell you.”

Kovel is Food & Wine’s ‘People’s Best New Chef’ in New England

Brett

http://bostonherald.com/blogs/lifestyle/fork_lift/?p=7437

Catalyst chef/owner William Kovel bested nine other New England kitchen comrades in Food & Wine magazine’s annual “The People’s Best New Chef”award, it was announced today.

The classically trained Cambridge chef, who opened his Kendall Square eatery in September, was voted into the F&W class by readers and fans via an online poll. Nine other regional chefs won the same honor, but the top dawg was Tim Byres of Smoke in Dallas.

“It’s a great honor to be selected, “ Kovel told Fork Lift. “All the chefs that were nominated are extremely talented and have great restaurants. I am very proud of the staff at Catalyst who are the backbone of our success and the support we have received from our guests.”

The World’s Best Biscuits! In Boston?

Brett

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2012/03/21/the-worlds-best-biscuits-in-boston/

Okay haters, get your keyboards out.

Anytime I tackle the difficult issue of regional food specialties (I write a weekly column on this topic for USAToday.com), I hear angry responses from folks who say whatever I liked can’t possibly be better than their local favorite, even though they have not tried the place I am talking about and I have often tried theirs.

So I expect a bit of a backlash to my latest discovery, the most unbelievable southern-style biscuits I have ever tasted.

In Boston.

Maybe this should not come as so much of a shock – I was at judge at last year’s Jack Daniels Invitational World Championship of Barbecue, the Masters of the smoking world, and in the last three years, two different teams for Massachusetts took home the biggest prize in barbecue. Maybe the south is moving north?

Gay Athletes Chosen to Carry Olympic Flame

Brett

Gay athletes chosen to carry Olympic flame

Tim Sullivan, chairman of London’s gay rugby team King’s Cross Steelers, and Chris Basiurski, chair of Gay Football Supporters’ Network (GFSN), have been selected to carry the Olympic torch in the London 2012 torch relay.

Both athletes have been actively involved in London-based gay sports teams for many years.

Basiurski has played with London-based gay football team Leftfooters. He also sits on the FA Tackling Homophobia in Football Working Group and recently met the prime minister at a reception in Downing Street to talk about diversity in sport.

Olympic Bosses Comment on Gay Games Event Ban

Brett

Olympic bosses comment on gay games event ban

International Olympic Committee says discrimination is banned but fail to slap down Russian authorities who have outlawed Pride House from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Olympic bosses have backed equality at the 2014 Winter games but avoided criticizing Russian authorities who have banned a gay Pride House from the event.

The first Pride House was held at the Winter Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada and it set to be repeated at the 2012 games in London this summer.

But, as Gay Star News reported last week, a judge in Russia has backed the ban imposed by the authorities on organizing Pride House for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Gay Marriage Effort Attracts a Novel Group of Donors

Brett

LOS ANGELES — On a warm Friday afternoon three years ago, Rob Reiner, the director, arrived for lunch at the Beverly Hills estate of David Geffen, the entertainment mogul. Mr. Reiner and his political adviser, Chad H. Griffin, had spent six months drafting an ambitious legal campaign aimed at persuading the United States Supreme Court to establish a constitutional right of same-sex marriage.

Mr. Reiner, joined by Mr. Griffin and Mr. Reiner’s wife, Michele, told Mr. Geffen they would need $3 million to challenge Proposition 8, a California voter initiative approved the previous November banning same-sex marriage. He informed Mr. Geffen that they had recruited two renowned lawyers, David Boies, a Democrat, and Theodore B. Olson, a Republican, to argue the case.

“Our feeling is not to go state by state,” Mr. Reiner said. “Our strategy is to make this wind up in the United States Supreme Court and have this a settled issue for all time.”

Peter Guber And Mike Tollin Partner To Launch Mandalay Sports Media

Brett

http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/peter-guber-and-mike-tollin-partner-to-launch-mandalay-sports-media/

Peter Guber’s Mandalay Entertainment Group is expanding its presence in sports entertainment. Film and television producer/director Mike Tollin has partnered with Mandalay’s chairman and CEO Guber and vice chairman and COO Paul Schaeffer to form Mandalay Sports Media. Like Guber’s other companies, MSM is self-financed. It will develop and produce sports-themed entertainment programming for distribution across multiple platforms including film, television, mobile, and digital. MSM already has several entertainment projects in development with ESPN, Turner Sports, New Line Cinema, and Incognito Pictures, among other distribution partners. While creating content and intellectual property is key, “building enterprise value” is equally important, said Guber. Also joining MSM as a founding partner is CAA Sports, while Funny Or Die president and CEO Dick Glover, who has an extensive sports media background, including a seven-year stint at ESPN, will serve as a board member.