Media recession signal: This list—once a big generator of freelance work, and given splashy placement in VF—is now a web exclusive. UPDATE: VF tells us that a truncated version of the list is running in the October issue. Print lives!


By Profession
Corporate CEOs/ Company leaders: 18
Media mogul/ CEO: 18
Hollywood moguls/ power players:16
Media talent:11
Wall Street bankers/ Private equity: 7
Superstar Investors: 6
Hollywood stars: 5
Politicians/ Political officials/ advisers: 5
Ex-politicians: 2
Young Internet CEOs: 2
TV producers: 2
Authors: 2
International money managers: 1
Financial analysts: 1
Other celebrities: 1
Architects: 1
Scientists: 1
Athletes: 1

Biggest gainer: John Malone, from 86 to 21


Biggest loser: Stephen Colbert, from 45 to 79


Who got "down" arrows?: Rush Limbaugh, Bill Keller, Jeff Zucker, Evan Williams and Biz Stone (pictured), Steve Ballmer


New to the list: Lauren Zalaznick, Lebron James, Craig Venter, Anil Ambani, Jason Kilar, Simon Fuller, Bobby Kotick, Paul Krugman, Todd Phillips, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, David Einhorn, Meredith Whitney, Harvey Levin, the Politico guys, Stephenie Meyer, Glenn Beck, Wang Chuanfu, Matt Blank, Alber Elbaz, Richard Plepler, Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett, Lorne Michaels, Dan Doctoroff, Michael Bay, Ryan Kavanaugh, Tyler Perry, Meryl Streep, Gao Xiqing, Mike Duke, Desiree Rogers, JJ Abrams, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, Nicolas Sarkozy, David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, and Pete Rouse, Larry Fink (pictured, the highest ranking new entry, at #6)

All Alex did in this case was to hire a plane to fly over California beaches towing a banner that said "REGGIE MILLER STOP PURSUING MARRIED WOMEN," which—let's be honest—makes Alex look worse than Reggie. Particularly because the woman in question, Ali Kay, is not married. But this is a step toward civility for Alex, according to the New York Post; in 2003, AVF caught an assault charge (later expunged!) for beating up a dude who tried flirting with Ali:

Von Furstenberg's victim, Rowen Seibel, said he was sitting in his car at around 1 in the morning when Alex — also in a car — put his vehicle in reverse and repeatedly slammed it into Seibel's, according to court papers.

Von Furstenberg then got out of his car, smashed Seibel in the face and head with his fist, threw him to the ground and kicked him, court papers allege.

So, progress! We hope this was not due to intimidation by Reggie Miller, though. He's no Anthony Mason.
[AVF pic: AP. Ali Kay pic via]

TMZ "obtained" the pics (from?) and, yes, you can see how perhaps it is not the sort of pic one would just send to your totally platonic favorite former basketball player (John Starks). Alex VF's canny ploy of flying a plane with a "REGGIE MILLER STOP PURSUING MARRIED WOMEN" banner over public beaches is certainly paying off, in terms of "number of Americans who have now seen sexxxy pics of his fiancee." We also hear some vague and still-unconfirmed rumors that Ali and Reggie maybe made a tiny bit of a love connection, at one point? But who knows? No way to tell, certainly, from these photos.

Alex von Furstenberg, the heir to the Diller empire, ladies and gentlemen.

Alex VF is Diane von Furstenberg's son, and now the presumptive heir of her new husband, IAC megamogul Barry Diller. He owns a surf shop in Malibu! Now what happened was that former Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller, who by the way can totally blow me for beating the Knicks all those times, had some sort of little text message-based fling with Alex's fiancee, Ali Kay. The New York Post says their attraction was mutual, according to a lawyer, at least:

But fiancée Ali Kay sent two provocative photos of herself to the NBA announcer during a three-month phone flirtation, the former hoop star's lawyer Marty Singer insisted.

"There was one of her in bed and one with a bathing suit on," he said.

Pics or it didn't happen, Marty Singer. So! The average man, confronted with this situation, might 1) Break up with this girl; or 2) Keep this whole thing quiet, reasoning that the fact that one's fiancee is hot and heavy for a pro athlete is not something that reflects well on you, her ostensible man; but probably would not 3) File a restraining order against Reggie Miller, and then also hire a plane to fly over beaches in Southern California towing a banner that says "Reggie Miller Stop Pursuing Married Women."

But that is the course that Alex von Furstenberg chose to pursue! Strange also since his fiancee is not a "Married" woman! (However, as the Post points out, Alex was very "married to Duty Free heiress Alexandra Miller" — no relation to Reggie — when he first started dating young Ali.) But I guess that's just how Lakers fans do it! Barry Diller, your empire is in good hands.

There are oh so many of these Hamptons society magazines, with party pictures galore. Which one keeps it the realest, society-wise? The New York Observer finds a shocking number of people who will discuss that question as if it were not a self-evident farce. Decry the poseurs, fawning socialite chronicler David Patrick Columbia!

"With the great bubble of prosperity, you had all these aspirants to that world," Mr.[David Patrick] Columbia continued. "But since they are not part of it, they've actually created their own world-a satellite world which they call society, which it absolutely is not. They're trying to create a hierarchy based on publicity, which is something that follows hierarchy-it doesn't precede it."

Put your feud with rival vapid magazine Hamptonite into perspective, Social Life editor Devorah Rose, pictured!

"It was like Olivia Palermo versus Tinsley," Ms. Rose chimed in. "They were trying to Olivia Palermo us!"

Call out the fakers, celebrity photog Joan Jedell!

"Social Life doesn't interest me," Ms. Jedell said, "because it's like, ‘Who are these people?'"

Break it all down, Andrew Cuomo's sister-in-law!

"When Pamela [Gross, Avenue's editor] asked me to be on the cover, I asked her, ‘Don't you see this as competition?'" Ms. Cuomo recalled. "And she said, ‘No, we only cover society. You cover affluence.'"

Now everyone go throw up on purpose!
[NYO]

The NYT profiles Lisa today for her, uh, "philanthropic" activities, and while the disclosure about the huge stake in the paper that her husband's firm Harbinger holds is small, you can't say they don't allow her to hang herself with quotes:

Ms. Falcone was also reluctant to reveal her age, 40, saying she wanted to be a role model for young people.

Zingaroo! Lisa, a former model, made her name as a giving person by standing up at a banquet for the High Line and spontaneously pledging $10 million, of her husband's money! Since then, the city's cultural institutions have suddenly recognized Lisa's unique insight into, you know, culture:

When City Ballet asked her to be on the board last June, Ms. Falcone said she asked: "‘Why me? Do you really want me on the board? Is it about my husband or is it me?'"

We're scandalized you would even ask! The profile notes that Lisa's wasted who knows how much scratch by hiring publicist Matthew Hiltzik to hold her hand through the interview, and while he tries to cut her off repeatedly, he fails to prevent the creation of paragraphs like this:

While the couple live in the mansion that once belonged to Robert C. Guccione, founder of Penthouse magazine - which they purchased for $49 million last year - Ms. Falcone said she felt most at home in the basement apartment. "I'm still comfortable with the basic things," she said.

Lisa Falcone, you are a jewel of the city of New York! A precious jewel stuck right into a hissing, steaming subway grate, that's how valuable you are, to the city! "I speak from my heart," she says. "I know that sometimes can get me in trouble. But that's the only way I know how to be." Please—continue.

[NYT. Pic: Getty]

Out of the blue, Luciano made a phone call to the New York Observer's Spencer Morgan, who wrote the original story about him, and is now writing this weirdo little follow up as well, thankfully. Before Spencer could meet they guy in person, he got an email from someone who said they'd run into Luciano last month in Washington Square Park, and struck up a conversation and spent the afternoon with him until he started acting bizarro:

At one point he comes up to me, and asks if a woman I know is a lesbian. I said no. I am off talking to another friend, when I see him talking to that woman, and apparently he had asked her if she was a lesbian. Clearly upset, she tells him to get away, she doesn't want to speak to him, that he was being rude. He further continues to justify his inquiry, boasting how its ok that she is gay, his uncle is gay, he knows lots of gay people and how she looks very masculine. Because she wouldn't entertain his nonsense, he got very agitated and angry and started to scream at her and those around, you are all peasants. He should give that woman money to get plastic surgery to make her look more like a woman.
I stood there in shock, then he comes up to me, and is grabbing my arms...trying to plead with me how my friend attacked him. I was trying to calm him down, telling him, I am sorry, I do not think we can be friends...
He clearly is a sociopath and believes his lies. Much of what you wrote in your article, he told me about. His brother a banker, his sister a model, whom has an Italian police officer as a boyfriend. He claims to live in an Central Park West apartment. He told me that he just got out of rehab for cocaine. He was an interesting person.

Sounds interesting, yes! If you've run into Giovanni, or, indeed, if you are Giovanni, drop us an email, because we like bizarre stories just as much as the next guy. Read the whole tale at The Observer. [Pic via]

The NYT says Kissinger "possessed a charming waddle and a smile." Some war criminals do indeed possess charming waddles! "Everyone from the judge to the court officers seemed enamored of Dr. Kissinger." War criminal charm is irresistible! This was his most important testimony:

At a dinner party Mrs. Astor had at her apartment in January 2002 for Kofi Annan, Dr. Kissinger testified, Mrs. Astor leaned toward him and asked, "Who is the black fellow who is sitting on the other side of me?"

"Kofi Annan," he said he responded.

It's a classic embarrassing old person racial moment, but with higher stakes. Then came Barbara Walters who offered a picture of steely reserve in the face of some dumbass lawyer:

That lawyer had gotten off on the wrong foot with Walters anyway — asking her, first question out of the box, "Any chance Ms. Loewy is going to be on 'The View' next week?" — that being prosecutor Elizabeth Loewy, who had conducted the direct examination.

"Did you ask me if she is going to be on 'The View?' " Walters said, angrily. "Are we serious? No."

Kissinger then ordered that that lawyer's home be bombed.
[NYT, NYP. Pic of Kissinger falling down stairs: AP]

Graydon published some pieces by Brooke Astor in his magazine. They were friends! But near the end, when they went out to lunch, she couldn't even remember who he was:

"Where is Graydon Carter?" was Astor's question to the exuberantly coifed, highly recognizable editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair — whom she'd known for nearly a decade.

"Have you seen Graydon Carter?" the doddering doyenne asked him.

"I put my hand on her shoulder and I told her, 'I'm Graydon Carter,' " Carter remembered yesterday, after taking the stand as prosecution witness No. 30 in the monthlong Astor swindle trial.

"Oh yes! Of course you are!" Astor answered, recovering awkwardly.

Alzheimer's is a tragedy for any family. But we were heartened to hear that the possibility of forgetting who Graydon Carter is still exists.
[NYP. Pic via]

The NYT demurely says that when Peggy Siegal got up to speak at the roast, she "veered toward promotional limits by reciting a lengthy roster of her greatest publicity events at the Four Seasons." We hear her speech was so long and terrible and self-absorbed that the room went quiet, and Page Six boss Richard Johnson started booing and hissing and eventually walked out in disgust.

Whose fault was this disaster? It was the fault of Jacob Bernstein, Nora Ephron's son, of course, because he did nothing to stop Peggy from making an idiot out of herself. She told Nora Ephron so!:

From: Peggy Siegal
To: [Nora Ephron]
Sent: Tue May 05 22:00:16 2009
Subject: Tonight/50 Anniversary of The Four Seasons/ roaster is chop liver.

Your son is a horrible person. Horrible. He read my non-roast for Julian and Alex- two men I barely know. He did not beg me to edit out all the boring self aggrandising bullshit...he merely told me do not make it about me and I gave a history of every event I ever did at The Four Season...Richard Johnson actually hissed....and I even gave him a short out...I am beyond the beyond sick. Your idiot son is howling - drooling- thinking he is so much smarter than me and half my age. How did you raise him? He is chocking on his saliva and I don't care. xoxo Peg

[Pic via]

The trial is finally starting for Anthony Marshall (pictured), accused of swindling grand NYC society dame Brooke Astor—his mom!—out of millions of dollars in the final, Alzheimers-ridden years of her life. What a presumed innocent dick. Let's hear some of the sensationally prickish things he did, allegedly!

— He stole a valuable painting from his mom's house!
—Oh and this:

That same year, a nurse watched in helpless shock as Marshall and his shady attorney marched the doddering, 101-year-old doyenne — one man clutching her by either arm — into her drawing room to sign papers in which Marshall gave himself sole power of $60 million of his mother's money, prosecutors charge.

Supposedly he was funneling a lot of the stolen cash to his wife, which gives the tabloids a moral excuse to note that his wife has a big fat ass (seriously, paragraph six!).

Anthony Marshall is 84 years old and he's gonna trot out character witnesses like Barbara Walters, so the trial should be a good time for one and all.
[Pic: Getty]

Here's what she had to put up with in this heartwarming marriage, besides her CEO husband George David's alleged divorce sex fetish:

David, she claims, controlled everything in her life buying her with fancy homes and vacations, and now trying to sell her on the cheap, dumping her on the street with nothing to her name but a measly $36 million in United Technologies stock.

Yes, he bought her diamonds and vacations and furs and houses etc. Be happy, bitch, amirite? But it was all in his name. Including, romantically, her engagement ring:

"When you gave her her engagement ring, did you tell Mrs. David that while she was going to have physical dominion over it, she did not actually own her engagement ring?" the countess' celebrity divorce lawyer, William Beslow, asked the mogul.

He answered, "I took the position consistently that she had it constructively. I said to her, it's absolutely it's constructively yours."

The words that shall melt the coldest woman's heart: "It's constructively yours." Also he was outta town when she said she had a miscarriage, and then he didn't believe she did. Okay! On the flipside, here's what he had to put up with: "nonstop verbal violence," the time she decided to bang that fencing champion, and this:

Douglas-David, on the other hand, sued her husband for divorce just once, three years ago but spectacularly.

She tried unsuccessfully to have him served while he attended a solo marriage-counseling session in Manhattan.

Why give up on this storybook romance? [NYP]

Marie wisely told her story to the sympathetic ear of New York Post condemnation columnist Andrea Peyser, chronicler of all things kinky. Like the wild breakup/ makeup sex fetish of Marie's 66 year-old CEO hubby!

Douglas-David, the Swedish countess, told me yesterday he filed for divorce from her regularly as a method of control and as a kind of weird sexual foreplay.

He filed for divorce four times during their loopy, seven-year marriage. But the separations ended, sometimes hours later, with bouts of crazy sex.

Sounds like a happy ending, ha! How about some salacious details of this "crazy sex," Marie?

"I went up and hugged him. I was completely in shock. We spent the rest of the day kissing and hugging and [him] saying he loved me.
"He had sex with me that afternoon. We went to dinner that night."

You kinky bastards. Marie claims that his off-the-wall fucking and her husband George's refusal to use in vitro fertilization are worth $100 mil, but sheeeit. Andrea Peyser has endured a young man's X-ray pubic hair for nothing more than a Post salary, and personal satisfaction. [NYP, Previously; Pic via]

Here's Adrien Field, a fella who loves bow ties, and here's Alexandra Alexis, a Myspace-quality singer, and we'll be goddamned if we ever heard of either one of them before, but one thing is for sure: if you watch The City, read Gawker, and know the names of people like Julia Allison and Kristian Laliberte, the only place you are fit for employment is right here. God help you.
[Craigslist; Pic via Guest of a Guest]

[via EV Grieve]

Memorial Day Weekend:

• Lily Pond (East Hampton), featuring R&B singer Estelle this weekend.
• Pink Elephant (Southampton), featuring Jaslene Gonzalez of ANTM. The owners of Pink Elephant also opened a large new Southampton club called La Playa, ready for this summer.
• The Surf Lodge (Montauk), featuring reggae star Julian Marley this weekend.
• Blue & Cream (East Hampton) hosts a party for model Maggie Rizer.
• TenJune, which opens its private house, "The Estate." Molly Simm birthday party, May 24.
• DUNE (Southampton): various DJs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. Yankees star Alex Rodriguez is expected to attend. Table cost: $2,000.

Other Events: Jason Binn is hosting a party for Kim Cattrall at his house in Southampton Saturday night, and Kelly Ripa is hosting a store opening in East Hampton the same evening, a tipster says.

I'd like to see someone from IMG do that!

[Intelligencer]