HighVizPR's getting good PR, dealing with bad PR: a case study approach

On the comeback trail in Vegas - Lord Knows he'll $ell tickets - Whitney Houston should open!

2006-12-24T16:19:00.000-06:00

Dec. 24, 2006 - Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: Michael Jackson landing on Strip?

Update: Reclusive superstar Michael Jackson arrived in Las Vegas late Saturday to begin a comeback in a city famous for reviving careers. Jackson and his three children arrived by private plane about 10:30 p.m. Saturday after a flight from Dublin, Ireland. Posted: 10:45 a.m.

Michael Jackson's 18-month self-imposed exile in Europe is coming to an end, sources say.

Ending 18 months of seclusion in Europe, reclusive superstar Michael Jackson was on a plane to the United States late Saturday bound for Las Vegas, where he plans a comeback.

Jackson and his three children, Prince Michael, Paris and Prince Michael II were due to arrive before midnight at a private executive terminal at McCarran International Airport, sources said.

We hear that Jackson's friend, Las Vegas dealmaker Jack Wishna, was instrumental in having the pop icon move back to the United States.

Reminiscent of Howard Hughes' secretive arrival in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving Day in 1966, Jackson's surprise move came after his father, Joe Jackson, vowed his son would not live in the United States again.

The 48-year-old deposed King of Pop has lived in Bahrain and a Celtic castle in Ireland since being acquitted in California of child molestation charges in June 2005.

Wishna, reached by telephone, wouldn't comment, other than to confirm Jackson was moving to Las Vegas and to say, "We are working on several projects."

Jackson has had more than a dozen No. 1 hits on the U.S. charts, the last in 1995. He has not toured since the mid-1990s.

Wishna wouldn't say where Jackson might land on the Strip. Wishna made headlines during Jackson's trial when he courted the entertainer, saying a Jackson comeback would earn a Celine Dion-like contract in Las Vegas.

Calling Jackson "one of the greatest entertainers in the world," Wishna said the singer "is poised to return to the top of the entertainment world soon."

It's the latest coup for Wishna. Two years ago, he brokered a deal that put Donald Trump's $2.8 billion Trump International Hotel & Tower on Phil Ruffin's New Frontier site.

After arriving in Las Vegas in 1999, Wishna put together a deal potentially worth $250 million for Wayne Newton at the Stardust. Wishna has dealt with Michael Flatley, Britney Spears, Richard Branson and Mohamed al-Fayed on Las Vegas deals.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Oscar winner Jamie Foxx has a film in the works that had its genesis in Las Vegas, when he lived here during the 1990s. Following up on a conversation we had four years ago, I asked him on Friday if the project, based on a Vegas stripper he knew who turned into a serial killer, was moving ahead. He confirmed he's producing it and has a script for the film, which is titled "Gone By Sunday." ...

Well, KRAMER, certainly hired the right man: this PR flack knows and loves the PR game -- Howard will make it alright, just by being Howard Rubinstein

2006-11-24T07:23:00.000-06:00

'Kramer' Apologizes, Hires Crisis Expert, (Howard Rubinstein PR, of course!)
Email this Story - Nov 23, 7:43 AM (ET)
By SOLVEJ SCHOU

(AP) Michael Richards arrives to celebrate the release of the first three seasons of the "Seinfeld" on...Full Image

Kramer's Racist Rant - "Kramer" Loses It On Stage. Get the Full Story.Reuters.com Seinfeld - Michael Richards Spews Racist Slurs Gets STAR PR MAN! CRISIS MANAGEMENT ((((new header courtesy HighVizPR)))

LOS ANGELES (AP) - First he went on national television to apologize for his racial tirade against two black hecklers. Now Michael Richards is taking his contriteness to the next level: he's hired a public relations expert with deep contacts in the black community.

New York publicist Howard Rubenstein took on Richards as a client Wednesday after being contacted by the actor-comedian. He then arranged for Richards to call the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

"I've known those gentlemen for many years," Rubenstein told The Associated Press.

"Michael apologized profusely. He wants to heal the tremendous wound that he's inflicted on the American public, and on the African-American community," he said.
Jackson, reached by phone, said Richards called "expressing his remorse and his confusion."

"He's embarrassed. He got caught on tape. That's a big part of his anxiety now," said Jackson.

"Clearly he needs some race sensibility training, and some psychiatric help. His anger is volatile and dangerous to himself and others," Jackson said. "I hope he gets the help he needs. But the culture that's producing this kind of animosity toward blacks must be addressed. ... We're increasingly facing cultural isolation in Hollywood, in the movies and in TV."
Jackson added, "We have to evaluate the use of the n-word and categorize it as hate speech, no matter who uses it."

Calls to Sharpton's home and to his National Action Network on Wednesday were not returned.
Richards, who played the kooky neighbor Kramer on the TV show "Seinfeld," lashed out at the hecklers last week during a performance at West Hollywood's Laugh Factory. A video of his rant then appeared on TMZ.com.

In a subsequent satellite appearance on David Letterman's "Late Show," Richards said his remarks were fueled by anger, not bigotry.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said in a statement Wednesday that the tirade and anti-Semitic comments by Mel Gibson earlier this year point to a pervasive trend in American culture, and that Richards' declaration "is indicative of the type of denial that too often accompanies racist rhetoric."

Rubenstein, whose media relations firm specializes in "crisis management" according to the firm's Web site, said he had never met or spoken to Richards before the actor called him.
Clients of Rubenstein's firm include Amazon.com, the New York Yankees, ABC Inc., Walt Disney Co., Time Inc., News Corp. (NWS), Columbia University, the NAACP Image Awards and Bloomberg L.P., according to the Web site.

"I've been very involved in the African-American community for 25 to 30 years," Rubenstein said. "It would be a tragedy if this exacerbated our race relations. I hope I can help. ... It's always been an effort on my part to improve African-American and Jewish ethnic relations."
As for reports that Richards shouted out anti-Semitic remarks during another standup comedy routine in April, Rubenstein confirmed his client did, but that he was only role-playing.

"He's Jewish. He's not anti-Semitic at all. He was role-playing, he was playing a part. He did use inappropriate language, but he doesn't have any anti-Semitic feelings whatsoever," Rubenstein said.
---
On the Net:
http://www.rubenstein.com/

Google sponsored links Tshirts About Nothing - Vandelay Industries, Liar George, Spongeworthy, The Human Fund & More www.lowdown-dirty.com Jerry Home Typing Jobs - $99 One Day Training Program. Earn $1000-$7000/Week At Home!Computer-Training-Center.Org African American Grants - $30,000 in African American Grants Never Repay - Get Your Free Kit.AfricanAmerican.Free-Grant-Kit.com

The Olsen Twins are pitching a diet show (!)

2006-07-05T07:04:00.000-05:00

Call Michael Pagliotti! Get me a valium!

SEE: http://abbebuckpr.blogspot.com/2006/07/olsen-twins-create-nutrition-show-yes.html

FILE UNDER: shock? awe?

###

Star Jones and Al Roker rebuilding the brand: "Yes, we're friends-Yes, I had a gastric bypass--" CUT to commercial

2006-07-02T15:52:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Media Bistro!*

Star Jones Takes Over 'Today' - [finally publicly acknowledges that she lost weight by bariatric surgery in effort to save her "image/career" - Larry King Pt.2]

MediaBistro: June 30th: Larry King spent an hour with Star Jones last night, in her first TV interview since leaving The View. CNN is rerunning the hour-long program at 11 am today. ("Figure out that counterprogramming if you will," Daryn Kagan said.)

But I'm hearing more buzz about Al Roker's chat with Star this morning. "When was the last time you saw the Today show come back to the same guest after multiple commercial breaks?," an e-mailer asks: "The interview went on for almost 20 minutes. Hillary Clinton's famous 'vast right wing conspiracy' interview with Matt Lauer didn't last that long."A second e-mailer adds:" Bet they wouldn't devote that much to the researchers who finds a cancer cure."

And NewsBusters says there was a hint of a personal relationship between Al and Star...>

Update: 10:31am: "Today producers -- always suckers for synergy -- followed up that segment with an expert on female relationships and backstabbing," FishBowlNY says...

Posted by brian 09:59 AM NBC

* [Now if they would only compare surgeons on live tv....] but wait, there's more!

HERE is the REAL STORY i have been waiting two years for this!

FROM NEWSBUSTERS

Mark Finkelstein's blog
Roker Holds Star's Hand

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 30, 2006 - 09:21.
Should we look for Matt Lauer to close his next interview of Condi Rice by clasping her hands? Perhaps a verklempt Dick Cheney thanking Campbell Brown for "standing by me through every crisis"? Could be, judging by Al Roker's interview of Star Jones this morning.

OK. Star isn't Secretary of State. She's someone who got bounced as co-host of a televised coffee klatsch. Even so, some of the journalistic values on display were eye-brow raising. For openers, what does it say about Today's news values that the interview, stretching across two half-hours and three segments, was the longest this veteran Today watcher can remember?

And then there was the personal relationship between Al and Star. The flag first went up when Star thanked Al for having phoned her with information: "I actually remember a phone call when you saw something in the paper that I had not even seen that was pretty nasty."

Later, in discussing Star's reluctance to publicly acknowledge that her dramatic weight loss was the result of bariatric surgery, Jones made clear just how friendly she and Al are:

"You've been holding my hand, recommending my doctors, standing by me throughout every single health crisis that I've had."

And speaking of holding hands, as you'll see, that's just how the interview ended.

In fairness, Al did ask a number of probing questions on a range of issues. And again, this is more soap opera than shooting war. Even so, the story involves the reputations and careers of a variety of individuals, and the corporate interests of some major players. Should we expect the same journalistic standards to be observed that we demand - if too rarely obtain - in the treatment of "hard" news?

Mark Finkelstein's blog login or register to post comments Categories: Entertainment Media Celebrities Journalistic Issues Matt Lauer Non-political Bias Today

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Roger the Shrubber Says:June 30, 2006 - 09:42
Well, I finally have decided I have found someone I find more visually apalling than Helen Thomas. Star now looks like . . . .

I am glad she is coming clean about her stomach stapling. Good for her (and Roker) for improving their lives, but she shouldn't be ashamed of it.

That being said, can we now stop posting stories on her? Please? We're entering Hufftard territory here, folks!
login or register to post comments »

iveseenitall Says:June 30, 2006 - 09:48
I agree. This proves the theories of writers many yearas ago that the media CREATES the news. I'm truly surprised that so many otherwise serious people are falling for this tripe and giving it thoughtful consideration.
login or register to post comments »

Mark Finkelstein Says:June 30, 2006 - 09:49
Please note that my report focused on journalistic issues, to the exclusion of celebrity gossip.
login or register to post comments »

Roger the Shrubber Says:June 30, 2006 - 10:05
I have to disagree, Mark. This story is nothing but fluff, and the Today Show is pandering to draw in more of that female demographic, and I think this hardly qualifies as media bias. Media pandering, perhaps, but this is no different than Larry King, Greta, Nancy Grace, etc, etc, etc, all having Star on to cry and moan.
We all know the Today Show is not all about hard news. Well, come to think of it, it is HARDLY EVER about hard news. The giveaway that this was not a hard news item was that Al Roker did the talking. I guess if it was hard news, Gregory would have done the piece.
On the other hand, Gregory spent a whole segment on youtube.com yesterday morning...
I agree with you 95% of the time, Mark. I guess this time is that 5%. I guess I do not qualify as a NB-bot...
login or register to post comments »

###

Star Jones Saga, Part 4: When bad PR gets worse, what do you do? Spin = "It's a business decision."

2006-06-30T06:31:00.000-05:00

AP: Star Jones Reynolds: ABC Said to 'Make Up a Story' - Jun 29 11:01 PM US/Eastern

NEW YORK - Ousted cast member Star Jones Reynolds said Thursday she was told she could "make up a story" about why she was leaving "The View" and her colleagues would have gone along with it.

The news that Reynolds wouldn't have her contract renewed for a 10th year on the daytime talk show exploded this week into a bitter war of words involving show creator Barbara Walters.

Reynolds, appearing Thursday on CNN's "Larry King Live," said she'd been told in April that she wasn't coming back but kept it secret. She revealed it on Tuesday's show, taking Walters and ABC by surprise with the timing.

The truth _ that Reynolds' ABC bosses didn't want her back because her personal popularity was plummeting _ might never have been known without the fight.

"They said you can make up a story," Reynolds said. "The audience didn't deserve for me to make up a story. That's not fair."

Longtime ABC newswoman Walters has confirmed the intended deception, but said it was done to protect Reynolds' reputation and feelings.

ABC said it canned Reynolds immediately after Tuesday's show because her announcement, and an interview with People magazine, took the network by surprise. Walters told The Associated Press that she felt betrayed and ABC said it couldn't trust Reynolds to tell the truth if she remained on the air.

Reynolds said she was "having trouble reconciling" ABC's statement with being told earlier that she could lie about her exit.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

[ Spoken like a good attorney :-) - "It's a business decision" --Good call, Star, mild, meek, delivery , let's see what happens next...- ABH ]

###

(((Queenie))) Drudge Report(s): The wigs are off, the claws are out -- STAR JONES, get off my show!

2006-06-28T15:12:00.000-05:00

Babs: "WE MADE YOU A STAR!"

NOW GET OFF MY SET! - You didn't stick to (my) script!

Early exit for Star Jones on ‘The View’
Walters says co-host's announcement made for 'uncomfortable' situation

• What's next for Star? June 27: Star Jones Reynolds leaving "The View" after nine years. Did she quit or was she fired?

NEW YORK (AP) - Star Jones Reynolds was booted from “The View” Wednesday, one day after surprising ABC and Barbara Walters by saying on the air that she wouldn’t be returning to the daytime talk show in the fall.

Reynolds was quickly erased from the show’s opening credits, now down to three women from the usual five.

“It is becoming uncomfortable for us to pretend that everything is the same at this table,” show creator Walters said. “Therefore, regrettably, Star will no longer be on this program.”

ABC had decided against renewing Reynolds’ contract months ago and the show was planning to let Reynolds announce it later this week, according to Walters. Reynolds could say whatever she wanted to about why she was leaving, “and we would back her up,” the longtime ABC newswoman said.

Instead, Walters said she felt blindsided when Reynolds broke the news Tuesday, then was quoted in People magazine as saying she felt like she was fired.

“We gave her time to look for another job and hoped that she would announce it on this program and leave with dignity,” Walters said. “But Star made another choice.”

Reynolds’ spokesman did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment.

Walters didn’t discuss on the air why Reynolds, an original cast member who’s been on the show for nine years, wasn’t being asked back. She said in an interview Tuesday that research showed audience members were turned off by Reynolds’ dramatic weight loss and glitzy wedding to banker Al Reynolds in 2004.

Reynolds later retorted that TV ratings and her book sales indicated this wasn’t true.

“The View” is bringing on Rosie O’Donnell to replace Meredith Vieira in September, and the hunt is now on for Reynolds’ replacement. Walters said Reynolds may still appear on the show in recorded segments.

© 2006 The Associated Press.

###

Star Jones saga: Your audiences know...things have been getting UGLY! But the truth is uglier- she was fried--fired.

2006-06-28T06:52:00.000-05:00

mediabistro: (Meoooooooowwwwww!)
View's Star Jones Quits; Barbara Walters Shocked, Angry (AP) Creator Barbara Walters said she was "betrayed" by Star Jones Reynolds' surprise on-air announcement of her exit from the daytime talk show Tuesday. Reynolds said in a magazine interview she felt she was fired. Either way, the "help wanted" sign is up again at the show. Lowdown: "The agreement was made many weeks ago that she would stay on the program till late July, and whatever reasons she wanted to give, I would back her up and give her a wonderful send-off," said Walters, seething, to Lloyd Grove. NYT: Jones' exit from the show was in the works for months. and,

VICIOUS 'VIEW': Barbara Walters: 'I was betrayed'...'

'I have always told the truth on this program, except in the case of Star'

Star Jones' star dimmed - OFF the view! "Being Unlikable hurts my show", says Babs

2006-06-28T04:53:00.000-05:00

DAMN! Who's gonna fight with Rosie O'Donnell?

Now, if she only fessed up to the gastric bypass, and did what Ellen DeGenere----did, she would be renewed until infiniti!

She can't even sell CHEAP SHOES now (although I happen to like the payless ballet flats :-)
we commoners do...) and Star did some cool things, like buy cheap suits at Dress Barn in her FAT SALAD days and put little Chanel buttons on them -- how tacky! How de riguer! How cute!

Star, just be yourself, and GO get a syndie show on TVONE and TELL THE TRUTH!

Abbe Buck, who came out

from the venerable (though it has had it's jaysonblair moments!) New York Times:

===============================

June 28, 2006

Star Jones Reynolds's Departure From 'The View' Was in the Works for Months
By JACQUES STEINBERG

Star Jones Reynolds's departure from "The View," which she announced on the show yesterday after weeks of rumors, was actually in the works for far longer than even savvy viewers realized. It came more than six months after ABC executives decided not to renew her contract when it expires later this summer, Barbara Walters, the show's co-executive producer, said in an interview after the broadcast.

"They had done a great deal of research, and her negatives were rising," said Ms. Walters, who, like Ms. Jones Reynolds, has been a co-host of the program since its inception nine years ago.

"Not so much because of what she did on the air. It was things she did off the air. The audience was losing trust in her. They didn't believe some of the things she said."

Ms. Walters declined to specify what in particular had concerned the network, but Ms. Jones Reynolds drew criticism when she arranged for suppliers to donate items for her wedding in 2004, apparently in exchange for being mentioned on the show.

Yet Ms. Walters said that the timing of yesterday's announcement had caught her off guard, even with all the recent speculation that Ms. Jones Reynolds would leave the show before Rosie O'Donnell, a sometimes critic of Ms. Jones Reynolds, joined it in September. Ms. Walters said she and Ms. Jones Reynolds had agreed to announce the departure tomorrow.

During the commercial break immediately before her announcement, Ms. Jones Reynolds, Ms. Walters and the two other hosts — Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck — had been talking about air-conditioning, which was to be the subject of their regular "Hot Topics" segment.
Instead, Ms. Jones Reynolds began the segment by interrupting Ms. Behar to say, "Excuse me one minute."

After clasping her colleagues' hands in hers, she continued, "Something has been on my heart for a little bit, and after much prayer and counsel, I feel like this is the right time to tell you that the show is moving in another direction for its 10th season, and I will not be returning as co-host next year."

Ms. Jones Reynolds did not mention Ms. O'Donnell by name, nor did she note that her contract was due to expire soon. But in an interview with People magazine completed before yesterday's show and posted on the magazine's Web site shortly after it, Ms. Jones Reynolds said she had been told sometime before the announcement of Ms. O'Donnell's hiring (in late April) that her contract was not being renewed.

"I feel like I was fired," she is quoted as saying in People.

A spokesman for Ms. Jones Reynolds, Brad Zeifman, said yesterday that she was giving no other interviews.

In addition to serving as a co-host, Ms. O'Donnell is to be the show's informal moderator, replacing Meredith Vieira, who left earlier this month en route to the "Today" show on NBC.

Periodic disagreements and undercurrents of tension have always been an element of "The View," which is essentially a kaffeeklatsch, albeit one in front of a studio audience. But Ms.

O'Donnell's public criticisms of Ms. Jones Reynolds have been notably sharp. In an interview on "Good Morning America" before the announcement that she was joining the show, Ms. O'Donnell expressed skepticism about Ms. Jones Reynolds's genuineness.

Asked on April 28 about Ms. Jones Reynolds's future in the O'Donnell era, Ms. Walters told a New York Times reporter: "Rosie will be there. And if Star wants to continue to be there, she is welcome."

Ms. Walters said yesterday that when she made those remarks, she was aware that the network did not plan to renew Ms. Jones Reynolds's contract. Asked to explain why she had suggested, erroneously, that Ms. Jones Reynolds would be the one making a decision about her future, Ms. Walters said, "I was trying to protect Star."

Ms. Walters refused to say whether she concurred with the network's decision. But she said she and the show's other co-executive producer, Bill Geddie, had lobbied ABC for months to put off making the final decision.

"They wanted us to tell Star in December," Ms. Walters said. "I said, 'I won't do it before Christmas.' Then in January her book was coming out. We didn't want to hurt her book. Then she told me in February she was having an operation" — a plastic surgery procedure — "I didn't want her to go under the knife with all this stress."

Abbie Schiller, a spokeswoman for ABC's daytime division, said "the network exhibited utmost patience at every step of the way, but at the end of the day we all felt it was time to move on."

On "The View" yesterday, Ms. Walters struck a more conciliatory tone, telling Ms. Jones Reynolds, "From the day you came on this program, nine years ago, I cannot imagine 'The View' being the success it has been without you." A moment later, Ms. Walters added, "Whatever is best for you is what I want, what we all want most for you."

As for her next job, Ms. Jones Reynolds told the "View" audience, "I'm not sure what the future holds."

When Ms. Behar lamented, "Who am I going to fight with now?," Ms. Jones Reynolds tried to reassure her.

"Something tells me you'll have somebody to fight with," she said.

###

J O S S I P + DEFAMER = highvizpr inside out

2006-06-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

.

Let's go back to basics.

here is a barbie doll, c: 1962.

faye dunaway's plastic-fantastic surgery resembles barbie's skin texture.

Anna-nicole's slack-jawed expression is like barbie when the eyes look heavenward when....

and paris hilton needs to eat more burgers with pink.

Nicole Ritchie gives the word 'socialite' a bad name.

But what the ____ do I know? I am FAT, 50 and an oxymoron flack of a flack for them on the worst of days.

###

AbbeBuckPR -in the business of "High-Viz-Ability": [Groan Dept.] Connie Chung, Blow-torch singer for one night ONLY!

2006-06-20T13:36:00.000-05:00

http://abbebuckpr.blogspot.com/2006/06/mrs-maury-povich-when-your-ratings-are.html

Thank you Connie Chung, for the swan dive into media oblivion

2006-06-19T17:09:00.000-05:00

Trackback to HighVizPR -in the business of "High-Viz-Ability": Mrs. Maury Povich: When your ratings are that bad, and no one cares, do your own THANG!

AbbeBuckPR -in the business of "High-Viz-Ability": Mrs. Maury Povich: When your ratings are that bad, and no one cares, do your own THANG!

SO good I blogged it twice. We are still watching, and she will get another show.

###

Pat Robertson: Religious MORON who can bench press 200 lbs

2006-05-29T07:33:00.000-05:00

http://highvizpr.blogspot.com/2006/05/if-this-man-pat-700-club-can-bench.html --okay!

WORST

EVER!

But he does get viz-ability(tm), i grant the old codger that!

His protien shake is crap, you know. But hi sminions eat it up--and get no healthier in the process :-(

###

HighVizPR's getting good PR, dealing with bad PR: a case study approach: I [Love!] Richard Edelman, SEE: EDELMAN PR - WSJ

2006-05-24T06:40:00.000-05:00

HighVizPR's getting good PR, dealing with bad PR: a case study approach: I [Love!] Richard Edelman, SEE: EDELMAN PR - WSJ

NEWS from HighVizPR

2006-05-24T06:32:00.000-05:00

www.abbebuckpr.blogspot.com

I am going home today.

###

I [Love!] Richard Edelman, SEE: EDELMAN PR - WSJ

2006-05-23T06:35:00.000-05:00

Richard Edelman - 6 AM
Why does this subject belong in a blog devoted to communications and PR specifically? ...

HighVizPR says: OH, YEAH!

MEDIA Q & A

Questions for … Richard Edelman

PR Executive Turns to BloggersTo Spread Messages for Clients

By BRIAN STEINBERG, Wall Street Journal
May 17, 2006; Page B3C

With traditional advertising in the midst of massive change, some companies are turning to another marketing discipline that hasn't gotten as much attention: public relations. Richard Edelman has been pushing that profession into new frontiers.

The article: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114781836313754654-nMGIBffIdhHcF0xAfdlFjpIwLG8_20070516.html?mod=rss_free

And Edelman has a darn fine blog! - www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/

More great PR BLOGS are HERE: (three from HV PR!)
http://online-pr.com/OnlinePR%20Public%20Relations%20and%20Marketing%20Blogs.htm

###

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114781836313754654-nMGIBffIdhHcF0xAfdlFjpIwLG8_20070516.html?mod=rss_free

Richard Edelman - 6 AM
Why does this subject belong in a blog devoted to communications and PR specifically? ... The Edelman Technorati Deal; Why This Matters for Companies. ...www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/ - 39k - Cached - Similar pages

Edelman
RICHARD EDELMAN'S BLOG. My intention is to share trends in communications, issues and insights. More >. Edelman provides services to disaster relief and ...www.edelman.com/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages[ More results from www.edelman.com ]

Media Guerrilla:
Richard Edelman's blog was received positively by the blogosphere when it debuted late last month -- and rightfully so ...mmanuel.typepad.com/media_guerrilla/ 2004/10/dont_speak_up_e.html - 28k - Cached - Similar pages

Try this: Building your Brand with a BLOG

2006-05-19T05:43:00.000-05:00

--from the New York Times.

Makes perfect sense to me.

For a "how to" primer, see www.highvizpr.com/highvizpr__blogs

===========================

New York Times
David Carr
Building a Brand With a Blog

Published: May 15, 2006

WHEN it began a year ago, The Huffington Post seemed like a remarkably bad idea. The brainchild of Arianna Huffington, the blog was intended to be a liberal counterpoint to The Drudge Report, featuring an elite list of Hollywood bloggers — Gwyneth Paltrow, Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton, among others — who would share their innermost leanings.

A year later, The Huffington Post has succeeded by failing. The promised missives from stars never much materialized, but the site is booming, fueled by rapid-fire news postings and more than 700 bloggers, most of whom you have never heard of.

The Huffington Post had more than 1.3 million unique visitors last month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, and more than 2 million in February.

The site now has deals with Yahoo and AOL, is close to a deal with a video company, and has been approached by Barry Diller to help build a separate satiric news and entertainment site.

After investing about $2 million, a fraction of the $50 million it would take to create a magazine, The Huffington Post has become a well-known, oft-cited news media brand in the blink of an eye.

It seems that Ms. Huffington, who has taken to social climbing with the finesse of a ballerina and the ferocity of a fullback, has found finally found her métier. Nick Denton, founder and publisher of Gawker Media, calls her "the only establishment figure to make the transition to the Web."

After a zigzag career that included tours as an author, socialite, political wife, conservative maven, gubernatorial candidate and television commentator, the glamorous Greek ex-pat known for inspired political fan-dancing has found traction in a media space better known for rants from people who rarely leave their basements.

"I am an obsessive, and the Internet rewards obsession," she said, adding in passing that there is still no Greek word for blog. "We should come up with a better name for it, but I guess that ship has sailed."

And so it has, taking Ms. Huffington right along with it. Last Monday night, she was honored by Time magazine — along with Matt Drudge, still the unchallenged king of the blogosphere — as one of America's 100 most influential people.

AT the party at the Time Warner Center, Ms. Huffington, who has railed against the war in Iraq, finally had the chance to face off against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

When she finally had her moment, she asked the secretary of state, "Who designed your dress?"

Rena Lange, was the secretary's reply. "And who designed yours?"

"Kira Craft. She's a young designer in Los Angeles."

Ms. Huffington's readers, who have grown accustomed to a steady diet of red-meat attacks on the administration, were livid.

"I tend to agree with your positions, but this is important. You give up your power as a journalist when you're 'afraid' to ask questions just because you're at a social function," wrote one poster on the site. "Why, as a journalist, would you want to socialize with those in power?"

Her readers fail to understand that her air-kissed mastery of social conventions is how she arrived in the first place. Ms. Huffington, whom I have watched work the room effortlessly at both political conventions and Oscar parties, is a celebrity who occasionally functions as a journalist, someone who throws rocks from deep inside the glass house.

"I don't think she is giving voice to people who didn't have one," said Mr. Drudge, her foil on the right. "She is crashing the gates of her own home in Brentwood as far as I can tell. It's not like she is disenfranchised."

But a Brentwood address alone does not push a Web site above the clutter. Ms. Huffington smartly partnered with Ken Lerer, a former AOL executive who was convinced that the site could blend straight news and blogging. The duo hired Jonah Peretti, a viral marketing hotdog who has helped the site's visibility.

Beyond the bag of Web tricks, Ms. Huffington has introduced the sparkle of celebrity to the frat-house world of blogging.

In at least one case, she overdelivered, manufacturing a post by George Clooney (which he quickly disavowed) out of public comments he'd previously made.

"I tried too hard to speed up his journey to blogging," she blithely explained.
She may have stumbled with Mr. Clooney, but she has sped a lot of other journeys. The

Huffington Post came along at a time when the liberal penchant for polite discourse was being buried by the unalloyed opinions of conservatives, who used talk radio and the Web to tilt the playing field in their favor.

Ms. Huffington put the same kind of megaphone on the left at a time when the old hallmarks of civility and fairness were no longer prized, and in this new world, a bit passé.

After just a year, The Huffington Post has worked one end of the political spectrum to put itself right in the middle of things.

JWT, the advertising agency, has placed ads for several clients on the site and has invited Ms. Huffington to speak at a huge ad summit in Cannes, France.

"Clients have begun to realize that you can't just play it safe," said Bob Jeffrey, the chief executive and chairman of JWT Worldwide. "They have to be willing to look at things that have a point of view."

And part of the reason that her site is doing so well may be simply that the current administration is not.

"There are a lot of things that are doing well because of the failing of the Bush administration, and while our country might not be one of them, The Huffington Post certainly is," said Al Franken, the Air America radio host and occasional Huffington Post contributor. "Arianna has always tried a lot of stuff and some of it didn't stick to the wall. This just happened to come along at a very good time."

###

NY POST sez: What Show Business teaches us about PR

2006-04-28T05:40:00.000-05:00

READ: "EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY" About Alec Baldwin throwing temper tantrum during off-B'way rehearsals. Good PR for Baldwin. Bad for unknown actress? You decide.

ONE LESSON LEARNED: Alec Baldwin can make any career (or) PR choice - he is as much a colorful character as those he plays - and a life force coming into middle age. And wants us to klnow that he is thoughtful, intelligent, smarmy, smart, mercurial, a charmer, and an heir apparent to (C) looney somewhere down the line. It matters not what he does, because this PR will get him his next gig.

As for the actress, did you even open the link up? She has since been replaced.

WHO THE HELL IS SHE?
DOES SHE NEED A PUBLICIST?
WHY DID SHE CALL THE NY POST?
HOW MUCH WAS SHE PAID?
IS THE NY POST TRYING TO RETAIN ANY CREDIBILITY?
WHERE IS JARED PAUL STERN NOWADAYS?

Backtrack- Alec Baldwin, ad nauseum

###

CBS PUBLIC EYE on Jeff Jarvis, journos, bloggers and "Church VS State" mentality

2006-04-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

Full Disclosure: What Is It, And Would It Help Or Hinder Journalism? Jeff Jarvis is issuing a challenge to bloggers – and more importantly to journalists everywhere. Jarvis has gotten his hands on a copy of a questionnaire that The New York Times requires its freelance writers to answer. It’s a list of disclosure questions and Jarvis thinks that “every journalist, especially staffers, should fill out the questionnaire and that they should be made public.” Jarvis answers the questions himself and urges all bloggers to follow suit as a way to “pressure mainstream journalists into such open disclosure.” He is also soliciting suggestions for other questions to add to the list. First, the questions from The Times’ questionnaire, then some comments:

Read more Posted by CBS Public Eye Editor Vaughn Ververs 04.18.06 Media Issues posts

###

Stand up, Ron BILLIONAIRE! We need some integrity back!

2006-04-12T20:25:00.000-05:00

Move over, Ted Faraone. READ THIS. Stern was in the wrong, if what he did turns out to be FACT, which seems likely.

From WSJ:
WATCHING THE NEWS

Yellow Peril- Why I refused to play Page Six's game. BY RON BURKLE Wednesday, April 12, 2006 3:50 p.m. EDT

Two weeks ago, a New York Post writer made me an astonishing offer. If I forked over $200,000 or so, he promised, the Post's Page Six gossip pages would stop publishing false items about my personal life. The video recording of that conversation and others that occurred during my three hours of meetings with Page Six reporter Jared Paul Stern are now in the hands of law enforcement authorities, as are the volley of emails between him and a member of my staff. These include such statements by Mr. Stern as: "I'm just saying things are heating up and time is of the essence for several reasons . . . before putting myself on the line I need a firm commitment . . . if you want to get me a check or wire or something to get the ball rolling that's fine and we can sit down when you have time."

The media has had a field day with the revelations, but there are real lessons to be learned. At least since the Enron era, business leaders have faced more stringent accountability than ever before. They are versed in the rules of corporate governance, which require care in what is said publicly and demand full disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. However, these principles are not just for the boardroom: They must also be practiced in the newsroom. While the vast majority of the media maintain high levels of integrity, the resistance by some newspapers to correcting basic falsehoods is alarming.

After a series of letters to the New York Post complaining of one inaccurate item after another, I finally received a commitment that future pieces would be accurate and that the editors would contact me before any future article was published. Less than two weeks later, another inaccurate item appeared, without as much as a call for comment. The Post's reaction to the exposure of Mr. Stern's behavior was along similar lines. Without any investigation or reflection, a spokesman for the Post said straightaway, "It's only one person, the gossip page is the best page in the world and there's no reason to change any guidelines." This is despite allegations made by Mr. Stern and memorialized on videotape of unethical behavior or worse on the part of others on the Post's news staff.

Casual disregard for the facts may be synonymous with tabloid gossip. And it would be satisfying to reach the conclusion that simply holding gossip-writers to the same standards as other journalists will solve the problem. But it won't. For one thing, gossip and tabloid-style journalism has been spreading rapidly to other spheres of reporting. Gossip coverage that used to be devoted primarily to movie stars now encompasses politicians and business people.

With the rise of blogs, reality TV, camera phones and other types of instant media, one can see a day when anyone, anywhere could become the subject of salacious journalism. And as gossip journalism spreads, so do the shoddy standards that accompany it. I'm not talking about bribes or extortion. One hopes that's a rare practice. But consider what the New York Times reported about the way business is done at Page Six: "Keeping a list of reliable sources, of course, means having a list of people who need to be protected somewhat. Those who cooperate--called 'friends of the column,' according to people who work with and at Page Six--are rewarded; those who fight back are punished."

This appears to be standard operating procedure at Page Six. I was asked repeatedly to pass on secrets about my friends to gain protection against negative stories about myself. I refused to play this game, so I was punished. But this source game is not only played on Page Six. It is also played for high stakes on Wall Street and in Washington. We've all read how well-known and respected journalists have readily protected top-ranked officials leaking classified information. It makes one wonder: Where does the political reporter end and the political operative begin?

No doubt the challenge of upholding the highest media standards has never been harder. But institutions that give up will find that the lines between them and bloggers, demi-pundits and rumor-mongers on the Internet will be blurred beyond recognition. Newspapers that continue to go down the road of tabloidism, that adopt the shoddy standards of gossip reporting, and that arrogantly resist correcting their mistakes, risk losing their special role in our democracy.

Mr. Burkle owns the Yucaipa Cos. Jared Paul Stern has written at least four free-lance pieces for The Wall Street Journal in recent years.

RESPOND TO THIS ARTICLE

More on "Jared bilks the Billionaire" --> Soon to be an episode "Ripped from the headlines" on LAW AND ORDER

2006-04-09T17:38:00.000-05:00

{{{ clang-clang! }}}

All the telewriter has to do is make sure to kill the billionaire and fictionalize this sensational stranger than fiction STORY ON PAGE ONE OF THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWZ just a little bit...

sweet geez Louise!

###

THIS MAKES IT BAD FOR EVERYBODY - ALL JOURNOS, PR PRACTIONERS

2006-04-08T05:54:00.000-05:00

YES, I AM ON A SOAPBOX. Makes one struggling like me still smarting from the Abramoff scandal want to quit PR and get a job as a dog catcher. I'm serious!
More on www.abbebuckpr.blogspot.com

HEADLINE: DRUDGE

SENTIMENTS ARE MINE AND PROBABLY 5,000,000 OTHER PRACTIONERS.

SHAKEDOWN OF PAGE SIX GOSSIP TARGET... Letter to Rupe sparks scandal... Paper Suspends Contributor as Feds Move In...Did Harvey Weinstein Tell the Truth to the NYT?...
REPORTER CAUGHT ON TAPE: 'WE KNOW HOW TO DESTROY PEOPLE... IT'S WHAT WE DO'

jared paul stern, you are lower than any j.j. hunsecker-walter winchell ever was. shame on you.

###

AbbeBuckPR -in the business of "High-Viz-Ability": Who controls the Main Stream Media (M S M)? And why should we care if we really like Coke Zero?

2006-04-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

AbbeBuckPR -in the business of "High-Viz-Ability": Who controls the Main Stream Media (M S M)? And why should we care if we really like Coke Zero?

Katie is going to CBS - BIG FISH, the anchor gig. HighVizPR talks about Ms. Couric

2006-04-04T19:31:00.000-05:00

She was the reason I stuck with Today. Through the Steve Friedman era. Through the Deborah Norville debacle. Through a nasty divorce, job after job after job, childbirth, thousands of cups of coffee, writing to Sher Woodward that Roker HAD gastric bypass when he suddenly shed weight a year after the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake. Grieving for her when her husband Jay Monahan died, and being brave about my colonoscopy and heart cath. Seeing Steven Cojahara get the axe when he chose between Oprah and Katie. And the great chemistry between Matt and Katie will never be duplicated, I'm afraid. It was like those old radio "breakfast club" shows in the 40's. We knew Matt and Katie, like bacon and eggs and the top of the muffin.

I have never met the woman, but I will follow her anywhere, like those who follow the "Church of Oprah". Fifteen years from perky yet hard-hitting, Ms. Couric can call her shots. She is one of the few who have it all, and deserve to!

Goodbye, Today Show. I'll PRobably be switching to AMERICAN (CNN) MOURNING.

See you, Katie at 7:30 AM EST for your announcement (click Hollywood Reporter Story HERE)

###

PR Case Study: GAWKER-STALKER: Going after the stars isn't enough, now it's "stalk the publicist!"

2006-03-22T05:23:00.000-06:00

Uh-oh! I'm in trouble. SEE: CNN (AP)

NEW YORK (AP) -- You know it's hard out there for a celebrity -- even Geraldo's not safe.

RE: www.gawker.com/stalker. Yep. That's the one. Kenny Sunshine, Donny Deutsch, Stan Rosenfeld, Pat Kingsley. Geraldo. Kenny Rogers with the most horrible face-lift of 2006, they are all here.

This makes it bad for ANYONE trying to do their job, in case a celebrity does not want to be known slipping into "W" for cocktails or "coke", or even a mundane little press conference.

I remember Alec Baldwin writing "Tabloid", so long ago for Dick Wolf. What say Alec now? How could he ever 'rip this from any headline'?

Gawker, now that you have been purchased by the Yahoo! gang, I know that you have to find conniving ways to become bigger and better. STOP now. Please. Let us be able to do our little jobs for the show-folk who entertain us and make our laws.

Abbe Buck, Publicist
www.highvizpr.com

###

South Park: More STUPID Career decisions, or "Do you worship with Cruise-Hubbard"?

2006-03-20T08:16:00.000-06:00

(AP) "South Park" has declared war on Scientology. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the animated satire, are digging in against the celebrity-endorsed religion after a controversial episode mocking outspoken Scientologist Tom Cruise was yanked abruptly from the schedule Wednesday - with Internet rumors it was covert warfare by Cruise that led to its departure.

((((((((((((Isaac Hayes, "Chef" on South Park for many, many years has disappointed many a teenage boy, includuing my OWN Eugenious. What a maroon! Why leave the Jewish-inflected gravy-boat-train, Shaft? ARE U CRAZY?))))))))))))))))))))))))))

###

Our Gold Star Mother, 2005-2006

2006-03-19T18:05:00.000-06:00

Cindy Sheehan.

Millions of bytes on the internet.

Here is what she said to a reporter from SFGate, the only thing worth quoting, really:

As she finishes breakfast and readies herself for the day, Sheehan stresses that she would give up fame if she could have her firstborn back. "Why are we talking so much about me?" she says. "What the media should be focusing on is George Bush."

Everytime you mention Cindy, you are talking about George, trust me on this. And the reason why we are HERE.

And yes, Susan Sarandon has agreed to play her in the biopic. Nothing could be better, PR-wise.

###

Case Study by AmericaBlog: PR = Presidential "rhetoric" in war years. Even Rumsfeld is TIRED. [Yanquee----Condoleeza, go, home!]

2006-03-19T08:01:00.000-06:00

File/trackback/bushwa: www.highvizpr.blogspot.com

But why is being logged here and not starting out on "highvizpr"? Because this is pure PR from our country's Chief Executive. Mr. Bush said that this would be a long, hard, uphill battle, perhaps, because there are unchartered waters, with no forseeable end in sight. Should we pull out? Are we the laughing stock of the world, yet? Is China now the superpower? The President needs a message, or an exit strategy and he refuses to decide upon a "Plan B".

The conservative base will remain steadfast without understanding why. These Christisans are more zealous and hypocritical than ever.
The left contingency just want the Bush fiefdom out -- any means necessary.

From AMERICABLOG:
Sunday, March 19, 2006 Three years later, the Bush Iraq strategy is just a public relations strategy by Joe in DC - 3/19/2006

READ: Bush's Iraq strategy has become nothing more than an effort to bolster his pathetic approval rating. He really thinks if he uses code words like "victory," it will make a difference, but, The American people have smartened up after three years of hearing it: (LINK: Washington Post)

On the eve of the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion, President Bush yesterday promised to "finish the mission" with "complete victory," urging the American public to remain steadfast but offering no indication when victory may be achieved. "More fighting and sacrifice will be required," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "For some, the temptation to retreat and abandon our commitments is strong. Yet there is no peace, there's no honor and there's no security in retreat. So America will not abandon Iraq to the terrorists who want to attack us again." (Question: what are we doing here, in the US, to protect our shores?)

And as John (Avarosis, founder of AmericaBlog, who started this very gay-liberal bastion to liberty and communication), noted below, AP busted Bush for using "straw man arguments" when he uses a term like "for some": When the president starts a sentence with "some say" or offers up what "some in Washington" (who???) believe, as he is doing more often these days, a rhetorical retort almost assuredly follows.

The device usually is code for Democrats or other White House opponents.

In describing what they advocate, Bush often omits an important nuance or substitutes an extreme stance that bears little resemblance to their actual position.He typically then says he "strongly disagrees" — conveniently knocking down a straw man of his own making.

Bush knocks down straw men regularly. That's the only victory he's achieving.

Comment myCount('114277260673343924'); s (12) Permanent Link Saturday, March 18, 2006

The "SEE, WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" Edition - George + Arianna, and all of that FREE PRESS!

2006-03-16T14:14:00.000-06:00

geez louise! sez the ny daily newz! lloyd grove, start to dish your dirt!

Clooney & Huffington's blog of war

George Clooney is steaming about how Arianna Huffington (above) used his political comments on her blog. She contends it was a misunderstanding.

George Clooney is spitting mad at Arianna Huffington - and the blogosphere is wobbling on its axis.

"She said some things that I won't share, but she did tell me that this could be bad for me - bad for my career. Well, screw you!" the movie star told me yesterday about a conversation he had with the doyenne of Huffingtonpost.com. "I'm not going to be threatened by Arianna Huffington!"

Clooney, in his only interview on the subject, took off the gloves in his fight with Huffington over a blog purportedly written by the "Syriana" Oscar-winner and posted on her Web site Monday.
"I feel abused," he said.

Yesterday, Clooney released an angry statement calling Huffington's methods "purposefully misleading," and she acknowledged that his so-called blog - slamming Dems who voted for the war in Iraq for fear of being labeled "liberal" - was actually compiled from Clooney's recent interviews with the UK's Guardian and CNN's Larry King.

But Huffington insisted (and forwarded me E-mails that seemed to back her up) that she believed she had explicit permission from one of Clooney's PR reps to publish his disparate quotes as a single piece of writing. "This was a misunderstanding," she told me yesterday, as the disputed blog was removed from her Web site.

Clooney told me: "Nobody has ever written an op-ed piece for me. If I say I've written something, I've written it. When I go to the Oscars, I write everything I say...I stand by what I do, but I'm very cautious not to take giant steps onto soapboxes because I think they're polarizing."

Clooney said that when he demanded a disclaimer from Huffington, she refused. "She told me that it's a big no-no in the blogosphere, where people are supposed to write their own pieces."
Huffington, who'd been haggling with Clooney's publicist, Stan Rosenfield, over the wording of a disclaimer, told me: "I believe it is time for all of us to move on."

###

Did George let loose on HuffPost (a Tribune Company)-- or did Arianna just leverage another moooovie star on her commercial web log?

2006-03-15T15:12:00.000-06:00

(((Hey, George, what's in the box? Printed pages of your web log?)))

Watch and learn,media mavens, as a new feud starts to take shape!

FILE: www.highvizpr.blogspot.com = showbiz = politics as usual
TRACKBACK = I do my own damage, thank you very much, madame huffinpuff.

I DIDN'T WRITE THAT, ARIANNA

ARIANNA: Publicist OKed...

~or~

George sez: http://stylescenes.latimes.com/fashion/2006/03/_oscarwinner_ge.html#comments

Arianna's take: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/on-george-clooneys-blog_b_17350.html

###

So long, Myron Wallace. Larry King, are you ready to head back to Brooklyn?

2006-03-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

The only thing we can't stop is age. Time. Living. Mike Wallace said that the decision was his.

Meanwhile, the nasty Miss Nikki Finke is going after Mr. Larry "ICON-IC" King. Should she?

Oh, what is a CNN to do?

###

You can't * buy * this * kind * of * publicity!* Lucky "Casino Jack" Abramoff hit the PR Jackpot with Vanity Fair Tell-all!

2006-03-09T14:42:00.000-06:00

---but Indian Casino Jack Abramoff still has to play that GO TO JAIL card!
He has a career after prison. Yes, the Vanity Fair piece becomes that tell-all book. He works teaching music and Yeshiva on the Reservation in Montana. Ah, life is good. Just ask Martha Stewart! She did just fine in lil' ol' Camp Cupcake. Martha made afghans. Jack can benchpress to his heart's content.

Vanity Fair: Bush Had Ties to Abramoff AP via Yahoo! News Wed, 08 Mar 2006 7:35 PM PSTConvicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. "What are you benching, buff guy?" Abramoff said Bush asked him. The president has said he doesn't know Abramoff.

Abramoff: Bush Knew Me CBS News Thu, 09 Mar 2006 3:25 AM PSTPresident Bush says he doesn't know Jack Abramoff. But the lobbyist told Vanity Fair magazine that the president knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. "What are you benching, buff guy?" Abramoff said Mr. Bush once asked him.

Abramoff Says Top Republicans Were Allies New York Times Wed, 08 Mar 2006 8:12 PM PSTJack Abramoff says in the latest issue of the magazine Vanity Fair that he worked closely with many top Republicans, despite their claims to the contrary.

Abramoff twits W New York Daily News Thu, 09 Mar 2006 1:18 AM PSTWASHINGTON - Disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff sarcastically suggests in an interview that President Bush and some of his political subordinates have a severe case of amnesia about their relationship.

RJ Eskow: EXTRA! Bush's Nickname For Abramoff Revealed! HuffingtonPost Wed, 08 Mar 2006 6:58 PM PSTI was right! As soon as Bush said that he barely knew Jack Abramoff and couldn't remember having his picture taken with him, I knew he had a pet name for him! That's why I ran my HuffPo contest: Guess Bush's Nickname for Abramoff . Do we have a winner? My brilliant deduction was elementary, dear Watsons. It was based on two simple rules. Rule #1 was, if anyone's committed a white-collar

Abramoff tells of Bush contacts Kansas City Star Thu, 09 Mar 2006 0:51 AM PSTWASHINGTON — Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says that President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting.

Abramoff Paid To Arrange Bush Meeting? CBS News Wed, 08 Mar 2006 5:12 PM PSTThe former prime minister of Malaysia says somebody ? not him or his government ? paid former lobbyist Jack Abramoff $1.2 million to organize a White House meeting with President Bush in 2002.

Vanity Fair: Bush joked with Abramoff about weight lifting WIS-TV Columbia Thu, 09 Mar 2006 6:09 AM PST(Washington-AP) March 8, 2006 - Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. He says Bush asked him,"What are you benching, buff guy?"

Abramoff says Bush knew him well enough for jokes Deseret Morning News Wed, 08 Mar 2006 11:27 PM PSTConvicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. "What are you benching, buff guy?" Abramoff said Bush asked him.

###

Best Picture: CRASH

2006-03-06T06:56:00.000-06:00

Good! (((In spite of Nikki Finke's LALALALA- blog-0-column)))

"Well, turns out I was right. Hollywood showed tonight it isn’t the liberal bastion it once was. That’s pitiful if you’re a progressive, and pleasing if you’re a conservative."

###

from the other HighVizPR Blog- the OSCAR edition

2006-03-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

Go to: http://highvizpr.blogspot.com/2006/03/lets-keep-it-politically-correct.html

Will George Clooney win? What will he say? Will he TOP Jon Stewart with POL one liners?

Tom Hanks shows the nominees how to accept their award statuette in 60 seconds.

EXTRA POST: WHY DO WE WATCH? What the Hell - why the hell not!!???

from the Hollywood--Reporter:

Feb. 28, 2006
Why watch the Oscars? Because they're there--By Ray Richmon---dAs if we needed more evidence heralding the official arrival of a new audience-fractionalizing D-Day (as in DVR, DVD, VOD and ADD), now comes word that Sunday's 78th Annual Academy Awards are in grave danger of tanking in the ratings by dint of the fact that mainstream America hasn't shown the least interest in this crop of nominated flicks and folks.Red alert! Red alert! A wake-up call has jolted an event that's rarely had to concern itself with the vagaries of competition or the evolution of consumer entertainment. Now that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences membership has gone all indie elitist in its Oscar lineup choices, fears of a Nielsen revolt are palpable at both ABC and AMPAS.So significant is the anxiety that a version of ABC's Oscar telecast poster has only one actual face on it, that of host Jon Stewart -- a known commodity from Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and a genuine selling point. The other three squares depict mere hands clutching statuettes in front of formally clad torsos, one of them a doctored image of the white-gloved Grace Kelly. Ah, the good ol' days.The sense of dread this week stems from the seemingly sound presumption that small movies equal small viewership, that America isn't about to flock to a kudofest dedicated to honoring films about gay cowboys ("Brokeback Mountain"), gay novelists ("Capote"), iconic TV journalists ("Good Night, and Good Luck"), racial unrest ("Crash") and the aftermath of a horrific act of terrorism perpetrated nearly 34 years ago ("Munich").Heath Ledger? Keira Knightley? Jake Gyllenhaal? Terrence Howard? Joaquin Phoenix? David Strathairn? Amy Adams? Michelle Williams? Who are these people? At least George Clooney is a magazine-cover kind of nominee. Why did the Academy's members snub Peter Jackson and "King Kong" and Russell Crowe and Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger and Ron Howard and ... and ... ?Well, I'm here to tell everyone to basically relax. It's all going to be OK, because the truth is that the Academy Awards aren't about having seen the nominated pictures. They're about watching the Academy Awards.It's the spectacle, stupid!As the closest thing that showbiz has to a public trust, the Oscars are like a protected spring in the middle of a forest, largely unaffected by the surrounding forces of nature (or in this case, industry). ABC and the film Academy have a huge amount riding on the show remaining what is typically television's second-most-watched program.In order for the ratings to truly plummet, millions of the diehards who make the Oscars appointment viewing would have to suddenly decide that this relative dearth of recognizable names may just inspire them to go out to dinner instead. It would almost be a case of standing on principle to bypass the year's preeminent water-cooler event.This isn't to say we don't see some genuine swing in the numbers. When a "Titanic" is sweeping things, you see a bounce. When the big kahuna is "Chicago," there's a noticeable dip. But you're always going to have a solid core of 35 million or so loyal Academy Awards junkies who are there come hell or high apathy. To believe there will automatically be a substantial tune-out or midshow exodus from the Oscarcast because there aren't enough stars or too many nominated films made for under $30 million is akin to thinking consumers will en masse forego turkey on Thanksgiving because the supermarket decided not to stock Foster Farms and Butterball.The Oscars really are like that: a tradition for which boycotting would be largely unthinkable even if it seems voters have lost touch with the moviegoing public. This remains, for the moment, the one Hollywood event that's essentially idiot-proof.
Now, getting people back intheaters the following weekend ... that's a different story.

###

Strike Me PINK!

2006-03-02T17:37:00.000-06:00

The Boston Herald nails it shut!

Methinks Pink song will raise a stink: Pops off in ‘Stupid Girls’By Sarah Rodman
Thursday, March 2, 2006

Pink is red hot again.

After a few years out of the spotlight the 26-year-old pop star has people talking with “Stupid Girls,” the first single from her forthcoming album “I’m Not Dead,” which comes out April 4.
The song finds Pink in attack mode. Her target? The Jessica Simpsons, Paris Hiltons and Lindsay Lohans of the world. She mocks their shallow obsessions with body images, weight fluctutations, mindless consumerism and tiny dogs while lamenting the shortage of “girls with ambition."

“Stupid Girls” would be fun if it was just a Hollywood celebrity cat fight. But the song is better than that. It’s an overdue smackdown of our culture’s ongoing celebration of female superficiality.

But the video is another matter. It depicts the young, lithe and very blonde Pink - often half-naked - spoofing other young, lithe and very blonde celebrities with takeoffs on Hilton’s sex video and Simpson’s racy “These Boots Are Made For Walking” clip.

Pink, if you’re out there, I’ve got someone who wants to talk to you: It’s the kettle calling to say you’re black, too.

((((----uh-oh----!!)))))

STARRING Anna Nicole: Only the juiciest GOSSIP for this BLOG, all the way to the SUPREME COURT!

2006-03-01T07:50:00.000-06:00

Check out these choice AP Photos. Anna Nicole in funeareal dress! NO AUTOGRAPHS, PULLEAZE!! Great PR PLOY, "Miss Trailer Paark", I [Heart] you!

She wants the money! And the gal knows her ROLE!

What's that song by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger?* Meeeooooowwww!

###

* Wanna hear it? -- www6.islanddefjam.com/www2/av_system/go.wvx?link=LnX217Jg124l7891238t9D85-51773
--just in case you don't have windows media." GET DOWN GIRL!! 18 years! 18 years! We want Pre-Nup! We want Pre-Nup!"

The Donald: Martha the Moron (anything to keep their names in the papers!)

2006-02-23T18:20:00.000-06:00

Ah, Donny Deutsch shares in the interviewing chores. And what has Martha been baking in those cupcakes of hers? Halluc-in-uh-jen-ics, sez the DONALD TRUMPED.

N.Y. Daily News
You moron, says Trump

BY BILL HUTCHINSON - DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The Donald wasn't backing down yesterday in his feud with Martha Stewart - calling her a "moron" and taking pride in his poison-pen letter to her.

Donald Trump is still fuming over Stewart having the nerve to blame him for sabotaging her own prime-time "Apprentice" show. Her rationale: Trump wouldn't step aside, retire his successful show and give her the entire "Apprentice" audience.

"What moron would think you're going to fire the guy with the No. 1 show on television?" Trump told Newsweek yesterday.

Stewart ignited the feud by claiming she was supposed to start her inaugural season by firing Trump, and that the real estate mogul nixed the idea.

In a letter Trump penned to Stewart Tuesday, the millionaire developer blasted her as a liar, likening her deception to the insider-trading scandal that got her prison time.

Facing the cameras yesterday on her nationally syndicated daytime show "Martha," the homemaking honcho bitterly told fans, "I'm hurt and I'm really very upset at my longtime friend and that's really all I want to say. Enough about it."

In another interview on CNBC's "The Big Show ----THE BIG IDEA! ---with Donny Deutsch," Trump said his letter to Stewart was intended to be mean-spirited because he was upset by her disloyalty.

"What I didn't like is that I defended Martha many, many times and I never got a note. I never got a phone call saying, 'Donald, thank you very much,'" Trump said. "See, you get a little bit tired of it. Then when her show fails, she blames me on top of everything else."

Mark Burnett, producer of both "Apprentice" shows, said firing Trump was briefly discussed after Stewart raised the idea.

"Martha had a number of ideas and, you know, my job is to listen to everything," Burnett told Deutsch.

Originally published on February 23, 2006

Business Week: Product testing the old fashioned way -- Eletrolux relies on Catherine, Monica, Anna and Maria...

2006-02-21T04:28:00.000-06:00

BW: Electrolux Cleans Up --Boosting R&D and getting all units on the same page delivers a rebound -->

Slide Show >>You will never meet Catherine, Anna, Maria, or Monica. But the future success of Sweden's Electrolux (ELUXY ) depends on what these four women think. Catherine, for instance, a type A career woman who is a perfectionist at home, loves the idea of simply sliding her laundry basket into a washing machine, instead of having to lift the clothes from the basket and into the washer. That product idea has been moved on to the fast track for consideration.

[MORE]

###

A PR Souffle: come on now, doncha love a good feud? Diva Martha and The Donald STRIKES BACK!

2006-02-21T03:22:00.000-06:00

----what if little me, Abbe Buck, nobody-a.p.r. slammed Donny Deutsch, and nobody cared, no bookers called me from the hallowed studios in Secaucus, and nobody watched him anyway, except on his TODAY SHOW segment, so there! (Uh-oh, now I'll never get on his show---!)

And Mark Burnett, who closed the Martha- Apprentice2 deal from Camp Cupcake, is strangely....silencio. This is HIS franchise, damnit, not TRUMP's...but in my opinion, that may be a good--er--smart thing.

But who really would have fired whom in this fake-ego clash? This is a PR souffle and probably made up over drinks in a hotel somewhere West of 6th Avenue, Manhattan. Make mine a vodka, straight up, yes, no leveled grey goose-- gimme the cheap stuff----sheesh!

=================

AP: NEW YORK, Feb 20:
Trump to Stewart: 'Take Responsibility'
Email this story Text us: 3d66c42eb954@news.ap.org

Sometimes there is too much of a good thing.

Martha Stewart believes her version of NBC's popular reality show featuring Donald Trump flopped this past fall because of too much "Apprentice."

Her show was supposed to be the sole show, starting out by having her fire Trump on the air, she told Newsweek for its issue on newsstands Monday.

"Having two 'Apprentices' was as unfair to him as it was unfair to me," she said. "But Donald really wanted to stay on."

Trump refuted the domestic diva would have given him a pink slip, citing the fact that he co-owned the show featuring him as a boardroom boss.

"I wish she would be able to take responsibility for her failure," Trump told The Associated Press Sunday night in Dallas. He said her show didn't have the right tone or the right demeanor.
Stewart lost an appeal last month, ending her criminal case for lying about a stock sale that sent her to jail for five months and nearly six months of house arrest.

Her company's stock was down by more than half during the past year, but the company is doing better now, and "we're back in spirit and in business dealings," Stewart told Newsweek.

Advertisers and subscribers are returning to "Martha Stewart Living," her magazine. And she has new projects planned, including a Sirius Satellite Radio show and a new magazine, Blueprint.
"You just have to do what you have to do and get on with it," Stewart said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Trump to Stewart: 'Take Responsibility'
Feb 20 12:20 AM US/Eastern
AP

###

Opinion: "I SHOULD BE IN THE BIBLE" - Kanye West and his true black experience - a "griot" riot.

2006-02-12T16:20:00.000-06:00

Now, a true PUBLICIST on Mr. West's behalf would have spun this souffle, by saying:

"Kanye's mother and father being professors of black history taught their son well. He is a modern day story teller and has now won the grammy's to prove it. The next major works will reflect the true west African ancestry on the word "griot" (meaning 'storyteller')."

But Nooooooo, Kanye, who may be dapper and dress GQ, is a gansta in Giorgio Armani. Instead, we get this 50-cents of claptrap: Oh, Brother, I would rather have the refined Joe Morton any old time! -- but that's me, just a lil' ol' JEWISH WHITE WOMAN as the vox populi and a PR flack to boot!

STORY (WIRE):
Contact Music (click here)
-----------------------------------------------
COCKY WEST: 'I SHOULD BE IN THE BIBLE'
Also see: KANYE WEST

Cocky rap star KANYE WEST is calling for a revised edition of THE BIBLE, because he thinks he should be a character in it.

The JESUS WALKS hitmaker, who picked up three Grammy Awards last night, feels sure he'd be "a griot" (West African storyteller) in a modern Bible.

He says, "I bring up historical subjects in a way that makes kids want to learn about them. I'm an inspirational speaker.

"I changed the sound of music more than one time... For all those reasons, I'd be a part of the Bible. I'm definitely in the history books already."

02/09/2006

###

Let's play a game with Britney - let's play "Blame the Paprazzi"

2006-02-08T07:22:00.000-06:00

Oh, the noble and wonderful Paparazzi, snapping Britney Spears. She says they drove (sic) her to do it! Here she is, fleeing the starbux in Malibu! Yes, folks, poster child for trailer trash housewives of america. Move over anna nicole!
Google what Harvey Levin and Michael Sands have to say (saw them on TODAY). Image improvement? - with her, does it even matter?

And Britney's story---spinout? Right this way---->

Spears explains driving with infant son in her lap
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Britney Spears, reacting to a furor over photos showing her driving a car with her infant son in her lap, insists she's a good mother and that the incident was the result of "frightful encounter with the paparazzi." Pictures published in the New York Post and elsewhere Tuesday showed Spears at the wheel of her sport utility vehicle, holding her 5-month-old baby, Sean, on her lap. A man identified as her bodyguard is shown next to her in the front passenger seat.

[More]

###

VARIETY puzzled that PR spinmeisters can't seem to get their jobs....right....if you are in PR, this is a MUST READ

2006-02-05T15:55:00.000-06:00

Hit the mute button
Squirming in spotlight, media co's flummoxed by press
By TED JOHNSON, JILL GOLDSMITH

http://www.variety.com/VR1117937407.html

RelatedShowbiz rumors trapped in Web 'Swift-boat' pros in demand in D.C. Peter Bart: Rivalries sharpen H'wood's buzz saw Business News Around This Date'Swift-boat' pros in demand in D.C.2/5/06 6:00amFox locks Tom-and-Jim show2/5/06 6:00amA galaxy divided2/5/06 6:00amNew sideshow for Roadshow?2/5/06 6:00amGuild goes 'Beyond'2/3/06 4:15pmZodiak buys into Russia2/3/06 3:36pmGore gives all for Emerging Lab2/2/06 10:01pmFox locks up top slots2/2/06 10:00pm
film openings

*After Paramount bought DreamWorks, NBC Universal was unable to explain why it could never close the deal.

*Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger nailed down an agreement to buy Pixar, but the cover of Business Week carried the headline "Steve Jobs' Magic Kingdom.

*Sony's PR machine was ready to promote the boost in its hardware business at the CES show in Vegas, but problems in the movie and music divisions seem to get all the attention.

The bottom line: Spinmeisters at the major media companies can't seem to get out of their own way these days.

Under the microscope of the press and shareholders, traditional media is facing the need for ever-more sophisticated methods of PR.

Corporate spokesmen often are forced to fend off an ever-expanding number of press outlets.

With online media increasingly covering the media, the demands to respond to charges and counter-charges have never been greater.

"The news cycle is a nanosecond," says Warner Bros. Entertainment exec VP of communications Susan Fleishman. "That can be difficult."

But as the media's demands get louder and faster, corporate culture grows ever slower and more insular. Some congloms can get defensive, retreating with a "no comment" that allows even negative rumors -- sometimes from misperceptions, but sometimes deliberately planted by competitors -- to flourish.

"No matter how many outlets are out there, one of the basic principles of P.R. still applies: If you don't tell your story, someone else will," says Chris Ender, CBS' senior VP for communications.

The relationship between P.R. and the media is a microcosm of larger issues for corporate America. Shareholders are demanding details on corporate perks and exit packages; they're looking for "transparency" (the new buzzword in corporate relations), but the executives are becoming more opaque.

Some PR reps are paranoid about the changing landscape. But some argue that, rather than feel besieged, they should take this as an opportunity.

CBS exec VP Gil Schwartz, a corporate PR vet, points out: "Certainly there is a lot more ferment and people crawling all over the subject (of media), but in our business, which is communication, that is a boon. If you have got a great company with a great story, you have more places to tell it."

Though journalists and shareholders alike can feel stonewalled, it's easy to have sympathy for the P.R. execs. Aside from rumors (true or false), they have to deal with newspapers, magazines and online outlets that often offer irreverence, and even snark. There's a premium on "gotcha" journalism. In the minds of some PR reps, how can they get a fair shake?

Another challenge: Execs fear saying something that might violate federal regulations. Securities & Exchange Commission rules limit executives from making "forward-looking statements," which some PR pros have taken to mean such things as predictions of box office performance. In the past, tubthumping your product was considered showmanship. Now it's considered risky.

"The general dilemma studios face is that they have a lot of different interests, all of which need to be considered before they decide to enter a debate," says Allan Mayer, head of the entertainment division at the crisis management PR firm Sitrick & Co. "Whether it is the crisis at the box office or the nature of marketing or the structure of compensation, they're often restricted from speaking openly and candidly as they'd like to do, for the sake of preserving relationships."

While their nervousness is understandable, some flacks are partly to blame. One vet says spokesmen are much more risk-averse in speaking to journalists. Instead of "choosing the easy way out" and remaining silent, they should take the time to talk journalists through a story, even on background, to convey a company's message.

For corporate flacks, the goal is control. They field queries, dole out access and often listen in on interviews. They often request -- or require as a condition of an interview -- that quotes be read back.

The problem is that by making such demands, they often get in their own way.
Sometimes only the most obvious or blandest quotes pass muster. In print, it can be hard to tell that, say, Howard Stringer is a hoot, Richard Parsons a charmer.

Like or not, this is the era of the cult of personality. You don't only have to deliver the numbers. You may have to deliver yourself to make your company attractive and to get your message out.

Granted, a lose cannon like Ted Turner mouthing off in the press is every PR maven's nightmare. But is there nothing in between?

"There's less of a relationship between the press and executives," says one former studio P.R. chief. "With more coverage, and more things being covered all over the place, people are less inclined to talk.

A turning point in the relationship occurred in 2000, when AOL merged with Time Warner. Before that, Warner Bros. kept things close to the vest -- and dictated its own image.

"Traditionally there was a silo mentality, with the film side running independently," one film exec says. "Now we are all under the same market pressure and we need to develop a really cohesive corporate identity."

The AOL Time Warner merger helped usher in a new breed of entertainment and media conglom that made it impossible for the insulated Hollywood studios to simply "let the work speak for itself" when it came to the press.

According to one exec, "Now, shareholders were saying, 'Screw you. I had shares of Time Warner and now they are worthless.' All over Hollywood, these companies were becoming highly leveraged, and there was a new level of accountability.

"That was a seminal moment in corporate communications for all of us. It wasn't just about us telling our good stories anymore. We didn't get to decide what we wanted to talk about."
WB once was known for keeping its inner workings close to the vest, and it was verboten to comment on such things as budget figures for movies.

Now it must contend with hundreds of news outlets and bloggers who are increasingly focusing their attention on the "inside baseball" mechanics of the business. (And rival reporters pay attention to them.)

Last fall, when the word was spreading that "Superman Returns" would cost $250 million, and therefore be the most expensive movie ever made, studio officials were pressured to clarify the figure, and at least on background said the movie would cost around $185 million, taking into account Australian tax breaks and other incentives.

The perception that the studio was making an out-of-control production could not come at a worse time for Time Warner, as Carl Icahn wages a battle to split up the company and is on the offensive against wasteful spending.

Corporate spokesman Ed Adler has been forced to defend, on the record, the use of such things as corporate jets. And lately, chairman Parsons has been more visible, promoting the company's side of things.

"Our story is how our businesses work better together" than split, Adler says. "We've been telling our story as people throw charges at the company."

Aside from dealing with their critics, P.R. chiefs have to contend with rumors. Paramount finds itself in a quest to defuse speculation that Gail Berman is on the way out and Stacey Snider on the way in.

No studio is immune. When, at the 11th hour, Paramount snatched up DreamWorks, it left NBC Universal execs with egg on their face. A deal that had been within their grasp for months had slipped through their fingertips.

Making matters worse, DreamWorks execs were talking.

"Dealing with GE is unpleasant and difficult under any circumstances," David Geffen told the Los Angeles Times. NBC Universal had no comment.

Coverage of the deal left the perception that the GE unit was undermined by a lumbering corporate monolith without a press strategy. No one from NBC Universal was making the case on the record that the price wasn't right or that Paramount may be overpaying.

A person familiar with the deal says the silence was intentional. U execs may have been crying in their teacups for losing DreamWorks, but GE brass wasn't all that concerned about "the sort of hothouse atmosphere that causes the gossip and positioning," says a person familiar with GE's thinking.

"GE does deals of this size and more all the time" and doesn't generally comment unless, and until, they are done, the person said.

"And anyway, we might want to be in business with DreamWorks," the person said. "There was no strategic benefit to responding."

It's much easier for PR reps to tell their story when they are well ahead of it. Believe it or not, it's still possible to keep a secret in an environment of scrutiny -- and be rewarded for it.
Apple and Pixar are notoriously mum on their upcoming products and projects, yet they enjoy tremendous good press.

Disney, meanwhile, is working to overcome the beating it took from the media during the contentious final months of Michael Eisner's tenure, when PR chief Zenia Mucha brought a new level of bullying and antagonism to the company's communications strategy. Mucha was even exposed in court for lying to the Los Angeles Times about a dinner party Michael OvitzMichael had thrown for Tim Allen -- a low point for Hollywood-media relations.

Until the official announcement last month, CBS and Warner Bros. managed to keep secret their plans to discontinue their respective weblets in favor of a new network called the CW. What helped is that the four executives involved in the deal all knew each other. There were no leaks. Even corporate P.R. types didn't know about the merger until a week before the announcement.
The result of all this secrecy? While once CBS was the symbol of stodgy old media, it reinforced the notion that the network is a content company on the move, with a tightly coordinated press strategy.

In an effort to better focus external communications, some Hollywood companies are turning to outside experts. Sony, with a bevy of corporate spokesmen, has hired P.R firm Freud Communications to try to beef up the image of the entertainment division. [SMART MOVE]

Whether more cooks in the kitchen can better simmer the stew remains to be seen.

Gabriel Snyder, Pamela McClintock, Chris Gardner and Nicole LaPorte contributed to this story.

###

At least the schoolboy didn't have a gun--- but the pen is mightier than the -----?

2006-02-02T14:08:00.000-06:00

Yes, a seventh grader, in Providence, Rhode Island.

AP - R.I. School Essay Brings in Secret Service

Feb 02 2:34 PM US/Eastern -WEST WARWICK, R.I.

The Secret Service is investigating a seventh-grader who wrote a school essay that authorities say advocated violence against President Bush, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and others.

The boy's homework assignment for English class was to write what he would do on a perfect day. In addition to the president and Winfrey, the boy wrote that violence should be directed at executives of Coca- Cola and Wal-Mart, police and school officials said.

"His perfect day would be to see the destruction of these people," Schools Superintendent David Raiche said.

The Secret Service investigation is ongoing, but the essay may have been a "cry for help," said Thomas M. Powers, resident agent in charge in Providence. Threatening the president is a felony, he said.

Authorities would not identify the boy or his teacher or release a copy of the essay. He was not arrested, police Detective Sgt. Fernando Araujo said.

"It wasn't any detailed, minute-by-minute plan," Araujo said. "It didn't meet the criteria for a criminal charge."

The boy has been temporarily barred from school, but as a mental health rather than disciplinary precaution, Raiche said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

OTHER TOP STORIES
HEADLINE
DATE
SOURCE

Man Jumps to Death From Empire State Bldg.
Feb 02 10:38 AM US/Eastern
AP
Indian Ocean girds for spread of incurable crippling disease
Feb 02 1:39 PM US/Eastern
AFP
US military chiefs denounce Washington Post cartoon
Feb 02 11:37 AM US/Eastern
AFP
Tornadoes Blow Through New Orleans
Feb 02 12:08 PM US/Eastern
AP
Intel Chief Says al-Qaida 'Top Concern'
Feb 02 11:48 AM US/Eastern
AP
Schwarzenegger Campaign Funds Nearly Gone
Feb 01 5:50 PM US/Eastern
AP
Rep. Boehner Elected House Majority Leader
Feb 02 2:12 PM US/Eastern
AP
Rage at Drawings Spreads in Muslim World
Feb 02 2:00 PM US/Eastern
AP
Floor Collapses at Olympic Center
Feb 01 2:35 PM US/Eastern
AP
Severe Thunderstorm Hits New Orleans
Feb 02 8:25 AM US/Eastern

###

You Gotta Have a Gimmick Dept: He certainly has spunk for a DEAD GUY! SEE RUSH PR NEWS ABOUT THE DEAD BODY GUY -- gotta love it! I do!

2006-02-01T05:48:00.000-06:00

SAY, BOYZ+GURLS: If you want a cool case study, bookmark this stuff!

It proves my point -- High-Viz-ability works! - Look, I am promoting him, and I get no kickback fee, and this is MY PR BLOG!--- but it truly is my pleasure.

((((I feel like a sideshow barker -- well, if the manolo blanko fits---shut mah mouth!)))

Dying to be in show biz? No lines? Walk-on, or drop-dead-on? Check this out:

MEDIA ADVISORY: DEAD BODY GUY FLYING TO LOS ANGELES

Posted: January 25, 2006 1:55:00 PM

MEDIA ADVISORY
After making a national appeal on his website www.deadbodyguy.com and on "The Today Show" on Wednesday, January 18th, Chuck Lamb was officially offered his first big screen role in "Stiffs,", a black comedy starring Danny Aiello, Lesley Ann Warren and Jon Polito, currently shooting in the Boston area, followed by two other firm offers.

L.A NEWS: Additionally, Chuck will be flying to Los Angeles TONIGHT for a role on primetime TV on the last episode of this season "What I like about You" starring Jenny Garth and will be on the set on the 26th and the 27th.

Additionally, he has accepted his first STARRING role in "Horrorween", a flick produced by Ed Meyer, being released on Halloween Night 2007, which is sure to please all the Rocky Horror Picture show fans out there.

WHAT: DEAD BODY GUY WILL BE IN LOS ANGELES SHOOTING THE FINAL EPISODE OF "WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU"

WHEN: January 26 and 27th in LOS ANGELES
FOR: INTERVIEW REQUESTS WITH CHUCK LAMB, AKA DEAD BODY GUY, ARE BEING TAKEN FOR THE 26TH AND THE 27TH IN L.A.

CONTACT: ANNE HOWARD AT anne@rushprnews.com * www.rushprnews.com
RUSHPRNEWS, PRESS RELEASE AND NEWS
###

TrackBack URL: http://rushprnews.iuplog.com/utility/tb/?id=138935Permalink: http://rushprnews.iuplog.com/default.asp?item=138935

Images View Album
MAIN ABOUT RECENT POSTS PHOTO ALBUMS CALENDAR

Dead Body Guy Get National Press Coverage

Posted: December 15, 2005 12:20:00 PM

Success story of the week: See what happened to Chuck Lamb as a result of joining www.YDKMY.com! Imagine what it can do for you too. Chuck Lamb, the dead body guy has hit the big time, (see below press coverage). His biggest complaint right now is being swamped and not being able to keep up with all the interviews' requests coming his way. It shows that if you have an original idea or talent combined with the right place to present yourself and the right media services that you can achieve your dream.

RushPRnews Daily Gazette: Citizen Journalism http://rushprnews.iuplog.com/default.asp
RushPRnews, press release distribution and web posting http://www.rushprnews.com
Montreal-based agency serving the global community
RushPRnews-Helps-Public-Relation-Agencies-be-in-news-now-7563496753.html

Insurance guy dying for chance to play stiff in Hollywood
Thursday, December 15, 2005
MIKE HARDEN
FRED SQUILLANTE DISPATCH

Chuck Lamb has a dream: to be cast as a corpse in a Hollywood
production. Then, of course, he wouldn't be caught dead smiling for the camera.
And he works at his dream, capturing his poses, such as falling off a milk
crate, on his Web site. "Just once, I'd like to have a chance to shine lying
down," he said.

Chuck Lamb, legs askew, head resting near a crimson pool
of food coloring and corn syrup, is dead ?" again.

This time, he died while trying to balance himself on milk crates to string Christmas lights along the front porch of his Far West Side home.

The last time he expired, he was crushed beneath his garage door.

When he kissed the floor the time before, he had slipped on a toy truck left on the stairs, tumbling rump over tea kettle to the landing below.

Images of his various demises are on Lamb's Web site, www.deadbodyguy.com

His goal is to get Hollywood to cast him as a stiff.

"I came into this world lying down," Lamb said. "I will go out of this world lying down. Just once, I'd like to have a chance to shine lying down.

"If I went to Hollywood and said, 'I'm Chuck Lamb and I'd like to see my name in the credits just once,' I know they'd say, 'Next.'

"You've got to be unconventional."

He doesn't expect a speaking part.

He doesn't even expect a breathing part.

"I can hold my breath perfectly for 45 seconds," he boasted of his ability to mimic a flatliner.
In the meantime, he has no plans to quit his day job.

"I'm a senior developer for Nationwide Insurance," he explained. "I do their intranet Web site.
"I sit in a cube day in and day out. Don't get me wrong. I love Nationwide."

Lamb, who is 47 and has six children, has done a little of everything since he was old enough to punch a time clock. He was the lounge disc jockey at a couple of West Side water- ing holes, Saddle Shoe and Blueberry Hill. For a while, he ran a sports cards and collectibles shop. He has driven 18-wheelers, he said, hauling everything from dog chews to explosives.

"I don't want to leave this world saying, 'If only,' about anything," he said.

He thinks death scenes are often the most memorable parts of cinema.

"Remember Ricky Schroder in The Champ? 'Don't die, Champ.' And when they take 'Fredo out in the boat in the Godfather. The death scene in Casino. They put Joe Pesci in a hole in the desert and beat him with a bat.

"Doc Holliday, after he shoots Johnny Ringo in Tombstone, says, 'It would appear that the strain was more than he could bear.'

"A friend of mine bought me this," Lamb said, holding aloft a coffee-table book featuring black-and-white stills of the freshly dead from Law & Order. "He said, 'You're going to need this if you do this dead body thing.' " ((((Method acting perchance - HighVizPR)))))

Thumbing through the book, Lamb paused at a page featuring a dead man slumped over the steering wheel of a car.

"Look at that," he directed, stabbing a finger at the corpse. "Now that's dead." Lamb's wife, Tonya, teased of her husband's dream to play a corpse, "I think it's great. Many women fantasize about that sort of thing."

"I don't even have to have 15 minutes," Lamb said of his humble supplications at the feet of fame.

As he spoke, the family's German shepherd, Tango, sauntered into the living room. Tonya, a treat in one hand, used her other to point a finger at the dog as she exclaimed, "Bang." The dog fell on its side.

It must run in the family.
Mike Harden is a Dispatch Metro columnist. He can be reached at 614-461-5215 or by e-mail - mharden@dispatch.com

category: Art and Entertainment
TrackBack URL: http://rushprnews.iuplog.com/utility/tb/?id=118217
Permalink: http://rushprnews.iuplog.com/default.asp?item=118217

###

94,000 OPRAH! Postings "Must...Defend.... the Brand!"

2006-01-29T20:13:00.000-06:00

GooooooglingWeb Images Groups News Froogle Local Desktop more »

Advanced Search Preferences
Web
Results 1 - 10 of about 98,400 for Experts: Oprah Sought to Protect Brand. (0.14 seconds)
News results for Experts: Oprah Sought to Protect Brand - View today's top stories

Update 1: Experts: Oprah Sought to Protect Brand - Forbes - Jan 28, 2006
Update 1: Experts: Oprah Sought to Protect Brand - Forbes.com Oprah Winfrey is not just one of the most popular talk show hosts in history,she is the woman behind a brand - including her production company, ...www.forbes.com/business/ feeds/ap/2006/01/28/ap2484246.html - Similar pages

John Kass' Oprah! Moment/POV, or why I will NEVER write my memoirs

2006-01-27T12:11:00.000-06:00

John Kass - Chicago Tribune (hometown rules!)

Oprah knows good TV, and that's no lie

Published January 27, 2006

Completely Exaggerated News -- Flush with victory after verbally slapping the heck out of a drug addict on her national television program, Oprah! Winfrey will continue her "Stop the Fibbers Tour" next week in New Orleans, where she's scheduled to visit Mayor Ray Nagin and demand he make a proper chocolate shake. Earlier, she confronted Michael Jackson over his decision to wear what looked like a burqa during a visit in the Middle East. "You're wearing a burqa? I feel duped. From now on, I'm not going to let anybody embellish on my show! Even you. I'm mad as hell and I just won't take it anymore!"Oprah! didn't say any of that. I was just kidding. I made it up, and I'm not even a drug addict memoir writer. I wouldn't want Oprah! to get upset with me. She doesn't even know my name, and let's keep it that way.The last thing I'd need is for her to ask me on her show so she could kick my butt like she did that lying drug addict on Thursday.

I wouldn't know what's worse: Being asked by a Chicago Outfit boss to come to his house for a late spaghetti dinner and when you get there it's just the two of you and the floor is covered with plastic tarp; or making Oprah! angry and then she asks you on her show.

She's the queen of media, and you can tell this by all the columnists rushing to write how brave she is for inviting that lying drug addict on her show, then beating him up for being a lying drug addict, and praising her for being the brave one.

Isn't that what drug addicts do? Aren't they liars by the nature of their addiction? And when they're humiliated on national TV by someone who defended them only a few days before, they might get nervous and call their "pusher-man" and ask for more drugs.That might make a good show too.

Still, Oprah!'s the brave one. She's brave. She's brave. There, I said it. I don't mind having mayors or governors upset with me. And I didn't mind teasing First Grandma Barbara Bush for making cracks about how the New Orleans poor were better off in the Astrodome than in poverty back home. But I wouldn't ever be foolish enough to get on Oprah!'s bad side. If she asked me to put on a puffy swashbuckler shirt and a Scottish kilt and dance, I'd have to pull my black socks up and start stretching.

By now most of you know what she did, and how President Bush angered millions of Oprah! fans by daring to hold a news conference during her show, thinking he should talk about nuclear Iran and the troubles with Iraq. And figured he didn't have to release those incriminating photographs of him smiling, his arm around crooked Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, because the country would be too preoccupied, eagerly anticipating a drug addict butt-kicking.

"I think he did it on purpose. Oh, that Bush!" said a woman in the lobby of a stately gothic building on Michigan Avenue. "I wanted to see Oprah beat up that lying addict."You've got to know the story by now. She put "A Million Little Pieces," the memoir of lying drug addict James Frey, on her Oprah! book club, and it became a best seller. Then it turned out he lied throughout the book. Then Frey showed up on Larry King (another tough interviewer) and Oprah! called in to defend Frey, saying truth didn't matter as much as feeling.Then she had Frey on her show Thursday, and she kicked his behind. Consider this from a ChicagoTribune.com story written by reporter Patrick T. Reardon:"It is difficult for me to talk to you because I really feel duped," Winfrey told a startled-looking Frey, who licked his lips often before speaking. "More importantly, I feel you betrayed millions of readers. As I sit here today, I don't know what's true and I don't know what isn't."According to Reardon, who watched the program (I was foolishly interested in a nuclear Iran), Oprah! appeared close to tears when Frey admitted that Lilly, a character in the book, didn't kill herself by hanging, but slit her wrists.

So Oprah! ripped into Frey some more and he licked his lips some more. That lip-licking detail really got to me. You know when a drug addict licks his lips on Oprah!, he's finished.

Recently, though, Oprah! called up the Larry King program and defended Frey from charges he was a liar. Details, shmeetails, she almost said, according to a transcript.

Oprah!: "Whether or not the car's wheels rolled up on the sidewalk or
whether he hit the police officer or didn't hit the police officer is irrelevant
to me. What is relevant is that he was a drug addict who spent years in turmoil,
from the time he was 10 years old, drinking and tormenting himself and his
parents. And, out of that, stepped out of that history to be the man he is
today, and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save
themselves. That's what's important about this book and his story."

King: "One quick thing, Oprah. So, therefore, you hold him no ill will,
have no less regard, and still recommend the book?"

Oprah!: "Yes. Yes."

But now she feels duped. And many of us media people are rushing to her defense as she protects her brand. But we're not duped. Honest.

jskass@tribune.com

###

Oprah's ultimate choice: DAMAGE CONTROL

2006-01-27T06:38:00.000-06:00

"When Oprah calls, you go." ---Sara Nelson, Publisher's Weekly

Story (AP-CBS) Oprah says author 'betrayed millions'*

Oprah clearly defended James Frey ("A Million Little Pieces") who clearly wrote a fraudulent memoir. On the Today Show, a piece by Anne Thompson ran on Oprah Winfrey's 180-degree turn from defending Frey's right to embellishing his memory of events, to his embarassing her reputation and the OPRAH BRAND (WHICH COULD MEAN [her] CREDIBILITY - [her] EMPIRE-YOU KNOW--ALL THE MARBLES). After all, Oprah is "queen of all media" and the closest thing to it was Arthur Godfrey in the early 1950's - his word was GOD. If he said you drink Lipton Tea, you drank it by the half-gallon!

Oprah in her role as influencer to the masses clearly was/is in the right, after defending Frey, to now protect her credibility by asking Frey on her show if he thought what he had done was wrong. His "getting away with being a fraud" ends HERE, because her audience said so. And it is clear, if you view the clip, that he was more glib, if not befuddled, than apologetic -- and this "brand" of notoriety will simply sell more books on ol' AMAZON.com.

*Previously...just two weeks ago: Oprah Defends Embattled Author -Says Flap Over Disputed Memoir Is 'Much Ado About Nothing'

###

Ten Days and we're going to IM-text-HELL ~ or ~ Bye, Bye BLACKBERRY

2006-01-26T09:42:00.000-06:00

EDITORIAL
BlackBerry withdrawal? {yep. As common as that carpul-tunnel syndrome thing, I reckon}

Wednesday, January 25, 2006
The San Francisco Chronicle

MANY PEOPLE know one of them. Those whose eyes dart nervously from the person they're talking to, to the object they are trying desperately to conceal. They try to fight the urge, even holding a conversation for as long as two minutes -- but then they succumb to the powerful lure, and once again, you've lost them.

Now it seems as if you may be getting their attention back.

On Monday, a U.S. Supreme Court decision threatened to stage an intervention for 3 million BlackBerry-addicted Americans.

You'd think it was Y2K revisited.

Research in Motion, Ltd., the makers of the portable e-mail gadget, has been involved in a long, nasty patent battle with Virginia-based NTP Inc. Canada-based RIM had asked the high court to rule on whether U.S. patent laws apply.

The Supreme Court has refused to hear the case, kicking it back to a Virginia court, where an injunction can be ordered, stopping all sales and services of the habit-forming device in the United States.

The case does highlight a flaw in U.S. patent laws, which can stand some reform because a company can be found guilty of infringement even if it was unaware of another patent.

But it also highlights the growing dependence American companies and their employees have on the gadget -- known as "crackberry" on the streets. Though it is available globally, 70 percent of RIM's revenues from BlackBerry sales and subscriptions come from the United States.

Perhaps it's time to kick the habit --{Say, folks -- I did!! SEE: http://www.highvizpr.com/washington_woman for my reasons why----}
or at least put it down long enough to hold a complete conversation.

Ads by Google {AHA! One habit we need to survive!}
What's This?
Monitor BES
Software for monitoring your BES server.
BlackBerry 7290 Promo
Don't Miss Out On BlackBerry Deals
Get Yours Today! 1-877-373-7100

###

The BlackBerry

MEMO to Star Jones Reynolds - you would sell more books and get better "viz" if you tell the truth and repackage yourself, girl!

2006-01-21T08:15:00.000-06:00

Star and Al and Soldier at Ft Dix, NJ, 12/05

NOT THIS:
http://juliahavey.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/01/diet_extremesst.html

I believe it is true, having had one. Yes, Mrs. Reynolds, CHALLENGE ME ON THIS.

But DO come clean, and do more of this:
http://emol.org/emclub/?q=starjonesreynoldsdressforsuccess

Star Jones Reynolds to Shine With Dress for Success in Seven U.S. Cities, promoting the release of her latest book "Shine -- A Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love"

###

Brand-gelina: does the brand matter anymore? And why does Jennifer (the jilted wife) still care, ad nauseum

2006-01-13T07:22:00.000-06:00

--only their publicists know fer sure-- My take: the way that Cindy Guagenti handled the "non-relationship" with the opening of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" was a mighty little p.r. phenom. But {we} knew better...

AP: Rep: Aniston Wasn't Alerted to Pregnancy
Thu Jan 12, 9:14 PM ET --NEW YORK - Brad Pitt did not call Jennifer Aniston to tell her about girlfriend Angelina Jolie's pregnancy announcement, entertainment TV show "Extra" reported Thursday.

Aniston's publicist, Stephen Huvane, cleared up reports that Pitt and former wife Aniston spoke before the announcement on Wednesday.

"All the reports about phone calls between Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie are all made-up lies," Huvane told "Extra."

Pitt's publicist, Cindy Guagenti, confirmed on Wednesday that Jolie, 30, is expecting a baby this summer with Pitt. Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N., leaked the news to a charity aid worker while filming "The Good Shepherd" in the Dominican Republic.

Pitt, 42, has also filed to be the adoptive father to Jolie's children, Maddox and Zahara.

Pitt and Aniston, 36, divorced last October after 4 1/2 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. Pitt has denied Jolie was behind the split.
___
On the Net:
http://extratv.warnerbros.com/

========================================

---let's move on to BIGGER and BETTER things, like the focusing on the rise of the gay epoch romantic western "Brokeback Mountain"! (Imagine Glenn Ford and Dana Andrews--no--doh--don't!--never mind!)

###

Advertising-----Publicity for Myself, by Norman Mailer... and the sequel?

2006-01-12T10:23:00.000-06:00

Now that Angelina Jolie is pregnant with the Brad Pitt baby (an aha! moment -- it was coming, and timed oh-so well!) Jack A. is going to jail and Lindsay Lohan is heading for Betty Ford (just a rumor, Leslie!) I thought I'd go into my own archives and showboat my own PR:

Shameless AbbeBuckPR blogging - I sing. Really. I sing like a thrush.
DRCTV.com is on-target - and David Burd is the best light commentator in town! and how--at WTOP
AP: "The Sound and The Fury" -Updated from 1929 to Today, wins (faux) Faulkner Prize
Sometimes you just need to take a donut break...
PAGE SIX: Nicole was a Scientologist? Yes?
Fly the friendly skies? Got any Topamax? Lexapro?
Danielle Iverson, Publicist: The Next Level
NYT: EPA allowing ghostwriters and PR - why not? we need the work!
Abbe Blogging = PR run amok (it should NOT be all about ME!--but it is my blog, damnit!)
Consider this: a movie about Rove and Novak, starring Gannon, produced by Abramoff - it could happen
stopping them!
HighVizPR gives Bush Architecht Karl Rove advice---passing the point of damage control(?)
Advice for MoveOn.org: Stay on message kids, and watch out who you invite!
Media Honchos consider online strategies -- just in time?
Who is Abbe Buck, PR, anyway, and what does she do?
Author "Sweet Smell of Success" dies, leaves movie as legacy!
SOON to be yet another TV Movie --or -- Whatever happened to the "good samaritan" in these united states? There ought to be a law -- against cops!
There may be a method to his madness - Spielberg and Cruise teamup, W O T W, makes 113 Million at the Boxoffice, Movie is # 1!
TVWeek.com - enough already! TOO MANY "stars"? No, not for us!
I am a publicist, I am not a magician! But is a journalist a blogger?
Tina, Tina, Tina! - Stars who get political - and there is no stopping them!

###

allhiphop.com: Patrick Swayze, a new show business beginning

2006-01-06T04:14:00.000-06:00

.
Hip-hop balladeer.

Well, if Jewish Rap rules, anything is possible! STOP LAUGHING!

STORY: http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=5193

It made the news, PICKED UP BY WIRE AND MAIN STREAM MEDIA, and that is what counts! He still has the NAME.

###

Paris Hilton: "BRING IT ON!"

2006-01-05T13:11:00.000-06:00

Could she be following in the legacy of great-aunt Zsa Zsa of the grand dame Gabors! OH my yes!

Former Hilton publicist Rob Shuter said in a deposition that Hilton asked him to help plant the story and that he gave the paper comments attributed to himself, Hilton and anonymous sources that were dictated by Hilton.

Hilton spokesman Elliot Mintz declined to comment on the case.
>>>The story is here AP: Hilton Faces Slander, Harassment Lawsuits (move over baby Lohan - this gal is the connsumate PRO -- makes Anna Nicole "trailuh-trash" Smith look like a kitty cat)<<<

We want our stars Dysfunctional! Anorexic! Paparazzi absolutely loves La Diva Lohan! Her PR Reps are ecstatic!

2006-01-04T14:04:00.000-06:00

.
Kudos to Leslie Sloane, of Ogilvy/B/W/R*, the actress' spokeswoman, for sticking by her client.
.
Lindsay Lohan VANITY FAIR Confessional: The Drugs, The Eating Disorder, The Breakdown, The BreakUps, The Compulsive Spending, The Illness, The Stress, The Showbiz Spiral...In hospital after reported asthma attack...
Man sets self on fire in courtroom after fine...
(So says DRUDGE, MATT)

*ABOUT Leslie Sloane: Leslie Sloane Zelnik, a ten-year veteran based in BWR's New York office, has been promoted from senior vice president of talent to managing director of talent. Working in tandem with senior publicists in BWR's Beverly Hills headquarters, among her clients are Ashton Kutcher, Chris Rock, Lindsay Lohan, Lauren Graham, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Greg Kinnear, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Renée Zellweger, and Jacinda Barrett.

###

The Comeback Kid, 2006, is Dick Clark! - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2006-01-01T05:47:00.000-06:00

.
Dick Clark, YOU ARE THE COMEBACK KID! If we all need to have New Year's Resolutions, they should all be working on making our own COMEBACKS! Thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing me this (below) on live television -- no one, before or since, does it better! --Abbe Buck, www.highvizpr.com

###

Dick Clark will rock in New Year's Eve, 2006, even in a wheelchair!

2005-12-28T07:50:00.000-06:00

An image of Dick Clark (left) before his stroke was used in this publicity photo with "New Year's Rockin' Eve" co-hosts Hilary Duff and Ryan Seacrest. Photo: AP

--that is Hilary Duff, right?

From the NY Post: (click here)

HighVizPR's comment: this is a good thing--bring Dick back and superimpose him, anyway. And the viewer will wonder,how much air time is Dick going to get, will they shoot him comfortably "on tape" from his home in Los Angeles? What will happen next? Let's call Dick Clark Productions for a statement.* This will make a great case study, come to think of it!

*DCPI, 3003 W. Olive Avenue in Burbank, CA 91505 - Phone: 818-841-3003

Better yet, I'm gonna call Dick's longtime PR guy, Paul Sheffrin. He has a few comments (also from the post) which I happen to agree with:

"There's no secret," he said. "This sort of thing is done all the time in publicity photos. It's just that Dick didn't sit for a new photo shoot, so they used an older photo.

"Look, when you're shown a picture of King Kong, there really is no King Kong — but that doesn't stop people from running a photo of him with Naomi Watts."

Enough said. Yes, damnit, we ALL ---even JOANRIVERS--- get older, and although we want to keep our stars like they were in 1957, that just doesn't happen. Sorry, kids. So, those who are curious, or those who are like me, an old time nostaglic fan who grew up with Bandstand, get ready for a cozy cup of New Years' cheer, about to sing a swan song the way that Guy Lombardo did 20 years ago (((sigh))).

###

From HighVizPR - Jack A. need to make movies --let's start that screen treatment right now "Abramoff Anxiety DE-LAYED"

2005-12-27T04:25:00.000-06:00

.
from WWW.HIGHVIZPR.COM (grin)
.
Bury My Heart on K. Street, Part 2

((((Say, didn't I have the same idea...hey is WA PO reading HVPR? mmmhmmm, my head is swelling REAL DARN BIG! But I digress -))):

Entertainment and The Arts - Monday, November 28, 2005

Commentary Jack Abramoff, cinematic genius? He shoulda stayed in Hollywood
By Peter Carlson, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — A guy walks into a bar. The guy's a commie commando, a hulking Russian killing machine named Nikolai.Nikolai swigs from a pint of vodka. Nikolai — played by Dolph Lundgren in this movie, called "Red Scorpion" — stumbles around. He grabs a submachine gun out of a cop's hand and sprays the room with bullets."Are you out of your mind?" the head cop asks him when he stops shooting."No, just out of bullets," he replies. Then he lets out a thunderous burp.Amazing! Not since Charlie Chaplin belched after eating his shoe in "The Gold Rush" has the lowly burp been used to such artistic effect. It's one of those rare moments of cinematic magic that leave you awed, wondering: Who is the genius behind this? Fellini? Spielberg? Stallone?No, the correct answer is: Jack Abramoff.Before Abramoff was a powerful Washington lobbyist and Republican fund raiser, before he was indicted on fraud charges, before he became the target of a Justice Department investigation of his alleged rip-off of casino-rich Indian tribes, before he was summoned to a Senate hearing where he took the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify, Jack Abramoff was a Hollywood producer.In 1989, Abramoff produced and co-authored "Red Scorpion," the Dolph Lundgren Cold War classic. In 1994, he produced "Red Scorpion 2" a sequel that had absolutely nothing to do with the original.But Abramoff was not merely a producer. He was a moral visionary: Between his first film, which was filled with violence, and his second film, which was also filled with violence, Abramoff founded an organization to crusade against sex and violence in film — the Committee for Traditional Jewish Values in Entertainment.But Abramoff's brilliant career was interrupted by a force even greater than his genius: history.In 1995, the Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, took control of both the Senate and the House for the first time since 1954. And Abramoff, who had served as chairman of the College Republican National Committee in the early 1980s, returned to Washington to serve the Republican revolution as a lobbyist.He made millions. In fact, Abramoff's lobbying firm and his partner Michael Scanlon's PR firm took in more than $80 million just from their Indian casino clients. Meanwhile, Abramoff raised millions for Republican pols and conservative groups.But then it all collapsed. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs investigated Abramoff and released e-mails in which he called his Indian clients "morons" and "monkeys" and bragged about "taking their [expletive] money."Then, this past August, he was indicted by a federal grand jury on wire fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with the purchase of a fleet of Florida gambling boats from a guy who was later killed in a gangland-style rub-out. Abramoff pleaded not guilty and is now awaiting trial.Last week, Abramoff's ex-partner Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring with Abramoff to bribe a congressman and other public officials in the Indian casino case.But let's set aside the scandals and focus instead on Jack Abramoff, auteur. Let's ponder the critical question: Where does the Abramoff oeuvre fit in the history of cinematic art?Obviously, it would be immensely valuable to ask Abramoff himself about his aesthetic philosophy and his unique artistic vision. But, alas, the auteur declined requests for an interview about his oeuvre. So we'll just have to rent the movies, pop some corn and hold a personal Jack Abramoff Film Festival.The Los Angeles Times dismissed "Red Scorpion" as "a numskull live-action comic book," and New York Times columnist Frank Rich called it "seriously God-awful." Personally, I believe that future scholars of cinema will see "Red Scorpion" as one of Dolph Lundgren's six or seven best movies.When "Red Scorpion" was released, it was picketed by anti-apartheid protesters angry that Abramoff had shot the movie in territory controlled by South Africa's white supremacist government, using soldiers and military equipment lent by the South Africans. The protesters would have been even angrier if they'd known that the International Freedom Foundation, a right-wing group founded by Abramoff, was secretly bankrolled by the South African army — but that wasn't known until a South African colonel revealed it in 1995. Ironically, Abramoff's e-mails contain better dialogue than Abramoff's movies. The man's a natural. And he'd be the perfect screenwriter for a blockbuster about influence peddling in Washington.

Hey, it could happen. Peter Mirijanian, a Washington PR man, says his friend Abramoff is actively pursuing several movie ideas: "He is in discussion, and he is moving forward on a couple of projects."

posted by HighViz PR @ 8:13 PM

###

AP: Iraq War Veteran to Become Action Figure

2005-12-26T05:54:00.000-06:00

.
Iraq War Veteran to Become Action Figure
Iraq War Veteran to Serve as Model for Action Figure, Video Game Model

The Associated Press

FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina Dec 26, 2005 — The questions were unusual for Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Wolford: Did you play with GI Joe action figures when you were a child? What if you could be one?

"Usually, it is not something good when the sergeant major calls a platoon sergeant into his office," said Wolford, 29, of Oakland, Oregon.

This time, it was good. Wolford, who used to own about 200 action figures, will now become one.

He will model for a new line of figures based on the sequel to "America's Army," an online video game released by the Army in 2002 as a recruiting tool.

The "America's Army: Real Heroes" sequel allows players to fight as actual decorated soldiers, such as Wolford. The game will feature nine soldiers, including a woman, said Lori Mezoff, a spokeswoman for the game venture.

The soldiers also will be used to create a line of action figures based on the game.

Wolford, as a member of the Fort Bragg-based 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, received a Silver Star for a firefight in the southern Iraqi town of Samawah. According to the award citation, Wolford put himself in harm's way to help the wounded, redistributing weapons and equipment and coordinating fire for the machine guns.

"I didn't think my actions stood out above anyone else," he said.

Game developers may incorporate a mission that mirrors Wolford's experience, but no decisions have been made on how the characters would be incorporated.

Each action figure will feature a biography card and a brief narrative on how the soldier earned the medal. Wolford hopes his character shows leadership.

Production on the video game and the action figures is slated to begin early next year, Mezoff said.

Wolford and his two children are looking forward to the process, but Wolford has some concerns about what he will look like as a plastic figure.

"I hope they don't make me look like a freak," he said.

###

In a season of peace on earth, good will to men, DRUDGE crosses the line into PR gossip-again!- slamming Mrs. John Conyers (D-MI)

2005-12-25T04:33:00.000-06:00

.
"Wife of Congressman Involved in Bar Fight."

--which really needs to be posted on www.HighVizPR.Blogspot.com - go there for a while, okay -- and just tolerate sifting through the Abramoff news -- I promise to web-log show business and politcal PR(un)reality in 2006 - it is the lifeblood of whatever is left of this business (tra la la!)

Now on a day like today, Mitch Albom, who has made his share of errors, has it right, saluting every Cleric, Rabbi, Minister, Preacher, Pope, Priest, and person of cloth on the on the planet. Thank you, sir. Without a higher power we simply would not BE. God bless Mitch Albom and all of earth.

SEE: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051225/OPINION01/512250327/1082

--Abbe Buck Hann, HighVizPR.com

Note to Mel Gibson about to film the HOLOCAUST -- "I'm confused...."

2005-12-08T06:03:00.000-06:00

....more

..."do you owe your filmgoers reparation, or are you still gunning for the average Jew as Christ-killer?"

Gibson, a Catholic, was criticised for allegedly portraying "Jewish authorities as the ones responsible for the decision to crucify Christ".

He said he had no wish to offend Jews, but added: "Anybody who transgresses has to look at their own part or look at their own culpability."

Geez Louise, here he goes again!

Gibson is an uber-marketer, naturally, but lacks ANY respect as a human being to the Jewish people everywhere.

Here's the whole story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/08/wgibs08.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/12/08/ixworld.html

###

Madonna the Caricature, and why we still love her---even though SHE IS REALLY JOAN CRAWFORD! Arrrrgggggghhhh!

2005-12-03T05:44:00.000-06:00

.
Forget ~~Kababbalahhhhh~~ and Dybbuk's (look 'em up!) They're for REAL JEWS!

From Salon (Confessions of a menopausal radical fem-cum-jealous paglia seeking a p.r. comeback!--Good for you, Camille!)

Yes, MADONNA IS 47, but she has a body that kicks ass, is in the media every hour, is happily married and pushing 50. This is the natural progress of this-show-business-life. Camille needs to get ________________.

If Madonna has decided to channel Joan Crawford, by all means, let her have it. There's nobody better! Joan from the DEAD needs a new audience, and today's youth is midguded as ever. Being a mother, I am in the know, trust me. Abbe Buck, apr

=================================================

Dancing as fast as she can
Madonna cannibalizes herself in a misguided attempt to appeal to today's youth. Who is she becoming? The crazed Joan Crawford of "Torch Song"? The pathetic Bette Davis in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane"? Charo? [Princess Margaret?]

Editor's note: Salon welcomes back founding contributor Camille Paglia, professor of humanities and media studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Paglia was a columnist at Salon for six years before taking a break to complete "Break, Blow, Burn" which was published earlier this year and immediately became her fourth bestseller.

By Camille Paglia

Last week Madonna's new CD, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," entered pop album charts at No. 1 in the United States, Canada and Great Britain, and in countries around the world from Europe to Mexico, Taiwan and Japan. It was also announced that, with her song "Hung Up," Madonna had become the first performer in the rock era to match Elvis Presley's record of 36 singles reaching the top 10.

This week, Madonna's album suddenly dropped to No. 4 on the Billboard chart, suggesting that, at least in the U.S., word of mouth has not been as enthusiastic as expected. Nevertheless, this smash success has restored Madonna's reputation for commercial viability after the flop three years ago of her excruciatingly unfunny film "Swept Away" (directed by her husband, Guy Ritchie), as well as the lackluster returns on her last CD, the stiff and dreary "American Life."

[More - if you care]

###

A visit to the gay side, (and all of the hush-hush PR that went with it!) - and "The Man who created Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Rip Torn,

2005-12-02T05:45:00.000-06:00

.
---from the Hollywood Reporter
New bio spills code of gay '50s Hollywood -By Gregg Kilday, Fri Dec 2nd

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Henry Willson, the agent who masterminded Rock Hudson's career along with those of such other Hollywood hunks -- straight and gay -- as Troy Donohue and Tab Hunter had rules for his clients: "No two men can live together and have a career in Hollywood," he advised one of his actors in the '50s. "It is not allowed. You'll ruin it all if you live with this other man."

If Willson, who died in 1978, were still alive, Hollywood's changing attitudes toward homosexuality would probably leave him at a rare loss for words. Although no A-list star has yet emerged to challenge Willson's long-held belief that the public will not accept an openly gay leading man, in most other respects the scene has changed dramatically.

Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," a tale of two men struggling with their attraction for each other, already is positioned as one of this year's major awards contenders. Performances like
Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of the title character in "Capote" and Cillian Murphy' s turn as a cross-dresser in "Breakfast on Pluto" are drawing raves. And though they haven't crossed over into the territory of romantic leading men, openly gay actors Nathan Lane and Anthony Rapp are headlining the films "The Producers" and "Rent," with both Broadway-trained actors playing thoroughly hetero characters.

By contrast, the '50s, when Hudson reigned as the country's top box office draw and Willson, one of Hollywood's leading agents, commanded the best tables at Ciro's and the Macombo, was far more rigid and closeted. It was hardly straight-laced, though, because the decade also harbored a subterranean gay culture with its own elaborate codes and customs.

In the newly published "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson," Robert Hofler offers a fascinating, compulsively readable account of an era that contrasts starkly to our own. [good book!]

Willson, born in Lansdown, Pa., the son of an East Coast record company executive, migrated to Hollywood in the '30s, first working as a fan magazine writer chronicling the migration of Broadway talent attracted by the talkies. By the '40s, he had become producer David O. Selznick's head of talent, where his duties included squiring Selznick's star and paramour
Jennifer Jones around town. By the '50s, Willson had gone into business for himself, representing a growing stable of clean-cut, hyper-masculine stars who appealed to the bobbysoxers who drove the box office.

He also became a controversial figure. When the gossip magazine Confidential threatened to expose Hudson, Willson, possibly working through intermediaries, fended off the scandal by feeding the magazine information about Rory Calhoun's criminal record and Hunter's attendance at an all-male "pajama party."

Willson, gay but homophobic and politically conservative, maintained a straight persona -- President Truman's daughter Margaret was just one of several dates he claimed was his "fiance." But his lecherous reputation was an open secret in Hollywood. So much so that in later years, many of his clients, both straight and gay, would deny he ever represented them.

Nevertheless, Hoffler makes a compelling argument that Willson, though hardly laudable, served an important function. Such womanizing moguls as Selznick, Darryl Zanuck and Harry Cohn might have had an eye for identifying female stars. But at a time when female executives didn't exist, Willson and other gay agents and managers took on the job of identifying and grooming many of the male stars who brought in female ticket-buyers. In short, they turned matinee idols into gold.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Email Story
IM Story
Photo above: Photoplay c: 1952

Sen. Arlen Spector stepping in, says Terrell Owens treated unfairly by Eagles mgmt, or, when show - biz and politics collide!

2005-11-29T11:32:00.000-06:00

.
NOW, LET ME PUT THIS QUESTION OUT FOR THE GOOD FOLK AT SI, ESPN, Around the Horn, Kornheiser, you know who you are, (my kid, the Eagle fan): how much influence does Mr. Svengali Drew Rosenhaus have? You know, the machivellian "what makes sammy run" agent-publicist who reps the famous Terrell Owens? Where is his soundbite?

Yes, The Eagles suspended Terrell Owens on Nov. 5 for four games and deactivated him with pay on Sunday after the suspension ended (snippets from the great Rosenhaus - Owens press conference are below):

Transcript from "THE NEXT QUESTION PRESS CONFERENCE.. by Drew Rosenhaus and other reporters

"Drew, had that statement (T.O.'s apology on Tues.) been read on Saturday, do you think he would have been suspended?[Drew Rosenhaus]: (ignores the question...)

"Did you make a mistake by having him (T.O.) renegotiate his contract mid-term?"[Drew Rosenhaus]: "Next Question!"

"Is it pretty damning when the quarterback of a team (McNabb) says we'd be better off without him [Owens]?"[Drew Rosenhaus]: "Next Question!"

"Drew, why didn't he read the full apology like he was supposed to (before the whole team on Fri.)? Your client would not be in this mess had he done that."[Drew Rosenhaus]: "Next Question!"

[Reporter David Henry] "What have you done for him [Owens] other than getting him kicked off the team?"[Drew Rosenhaus]: "Next Question!"...Terrell Owens smiles in the background

================================================

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Sen. Arlen Specter has accused the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles of treating Terrell Owens unfairly, and might refer the matter to the antitrust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Specter, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, ((((what, no taxes? no WAR IN IRAQ? no abramoff? football? yes, yes, yes, football IS AMERICA. Get over it!))) said at a news conference Monday in Harrisburg it was "vindictive and inappropriate" for the league and the Eagles to forbid the star wide receiver from playing and prevent other teams from talking to him.

"It's a restraint of trade for them to do that, and the thought crosses my mind, it might be a violation of antitrust laws," Specter said.

The Eagles suspended Owens on Nov. 5 for four games without pay for "conduct detrimental to the team, and deactivated him with pay on Sunday after the suspension ended.

Arbitrator Richard Bloch said last week the team's actions were supported by the labor agreement between the league and the NFL Players Association.

"The arbitrator's decision is consistent with our collective bargaining agreement, and it simply enforced the terms of the player's contract," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Some legal experts disagreed with Specter's view.

"To have an antitrust violation, you have to have a contract or conspiracy in restraint of trade," said Robert McCormick, a law professor at Michigan State University.

Matthew J. Mitten, director of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University, said, "We're in the labor arena, not antitrust."

Specter emphasized that he was "not a supporter of Terrell Owens."

"I am madder than hell at what he has done in ruining the Eagles' season," the Pennsylvania Republican said. "I think he's in flagrant breach of his contract and I believe the Eagles would be within their rights in not paying him another dime or perhaps even suing him for damages."

But Specter said, "I do not believe, personally, that it is appropriate to punish him (by forcing him to sit out the rest of the season). He's not committed a crime, he's committed a breach of contract. And what they're doing against him is vindictive.

###

Jessica dumped by publicist -- ((((bad sign when the flack fires the meal ticket ain't it?)))))

2005-11-20T19:51:00.000-06:00

E! UPDATE! By Marcus Errico as of Friday Nov 25, 9:18 PM EST

This time it's for real. Honest to GOD! --stop-- After months of speculation on their marital status, Newlywed duo Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey ( not lach-ee, say Luh-shhhhay) have come clean and announced they are breaking up.

The "official soundbite":

"After three years of marriage, and careful thought and consideration, we have decided to part ways," the couple says in a joint statement issued by their respective publicists, Meredith O'Sullivan (who also happens to rep Snoop Dog, aka Calvin Broad-us) and Rob Shooter (The PR Flacks reign-SUPREME-Pizza-here)

"This is the mutual decision of two people with an enormous amount of respect and admiration for each other. We hope that you respect our privacy during this difficult time."

There was no immediate word on whether a divorce was in the offing --- stop -------

===================

Now, from Wonkette's sister blog GAWKER - not the sell out that we thought it would be on Yahoo, is it, now?----- last Fri Nov 18, 2:45 PM ET

Yesterday was a bad day for whorelette (new word--not ours!) Jessica Simpson, as she was unceremoniously dumped by her publicist of the past two years, Brad Cafarelli.

Cafarelli, who also represents Cameron Diaz and Kate Hudson, was allegedly tired of dealing with Jessica's creepily involved father, Joe Simpson -- presumably, Cafarelli would rather devote his time to his clients that don't need a constant father-figure. (or a no-talent sister hanger-on like Ashlee, neithah!)

Interestingly, we hear Cafarelli's final straw was utter exhaustion, the sort that comes from pretending, for the benefit of the press, that Simpson's marriage to Nick Lachey isn't a total sham. Much like the rest of us, Cafarelli had had enough.

Moral of the story: When you can't even get your paid liar to lie for you, things aren't good.

POSTSCRIPT - Jessica may not want to lose this guy - he is a big deal in P.R. circles and "p--- power"

http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/news/ps/20050326/111183951902p.html

Latest News & Gossip - Page Six

COVER CONFLICT RATTLES MAGS---Sat Mar 26, 4:18 AM ET
By Richard Johnson

MAXIM magazine editor Ed Needham was shocked to see Jessica Alba on the cover of GQ this month.

One insider said: "Ed had wanted Jessica for the cover" of his lusty lad-mag. Making matters even worse, Alba's public relations man, the powerful Brad Cafarelli, also represents Maxim.

"Maxim pays Brad $20,000 a month to do its p.r., and Ed felt he should have gotten
preferential treatment over GQ," our insider said. "Ed said Brad hadn't returned his calls about Jessica either. Brad also screwed them with Cameron Diaz [another Cafarelli client]. Last year, Maxim wanted Cameron, but she ended up on Esquire's cover" instead.

"Look out for another big client of Brad's to appear on Maxim's cover very soon to smooth this over."

###

Read my hip hop scribes or DIE TRYING(tm) !!!! ~ 50 CENT aka Half a Dollar starting new book venue

2005-11-15T06:11:00.000-06:00

.
AP: 50 Cent to Launch Hip-Hop Book Line *

You can't make this stuff up -=- so I am publishing "THE YIDDISH LINE" -Modern Yid for the modern chick-en! You read-heard-read! IT HERE foist! And I will call it "2 cents" I believe that you gotta be schooled in the world of the Jew, WE JEWS RULE! Hell, I’ll even SING! www.abbebuck.com and I'll channel Sophie TUCCCCKKKKKEERRRRRRRRRR----get me the schamtz! Get me the matzo mix!

But we must give Half-a-Dollar (as my fellow "tribal" members, the Native American Indians, originally the lost tribes from Israel call him) credit – at least it is a new venture. amd like tea-rose Kaballah-doll Madonna Ritchie, he is branching out, mastering reinvention. Movies, more killing, now books. Think about it, the shooting at the concessions stand at "Die Trying" was great PR for "fiddy cent" (sic) say,
rhymes with "diddy"!----more 'highviz" (if you will pardon the pun).

But in launching a Hip-Hop line of novellas, can Mr. Cents be entertaining and educational -- even a little more non-violent—a lil’ like Kim a lot like Cosby's FAT Albert? Ah…..doncha just love the spinning of stereotypes! OY VEYS MERE!---but that ain't happenin' ----

============================

*NEW YORK (AP) Nov. 15, 2005 -- 50 Cent will again turn his reality into fiction with a new line of hip-hop novellas and graphic novels featuring his former G-Unit rap crew buddies, a publisher announced.

Pocket/MTV Books promised the venture would showcase "gritty" stories and cover much of the same terrain as 50 Cent's raps.

"These tales will tell the truth about The Life; the sex, guns and cash; the brutal highs and short lives of the players on the streets," the publisher said in a release over the weekend.

The G-Unit Books line of street fiction will feature G-Unit members Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck and Olivia as characters, the release said.

Nikki Turner, author of "The Glamorous Life" and "A Hustler's Wife," will pen the line's first novella. It is set to be published in 2007.

50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, was recently criticized by community groups in Philadelphia and Los Angeles for billboards promoting his semi-autobiographical movie, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." The ads featured an image of him holding a gun in one hand and a microphone in the other. [AND THEY WILL SELL]

###

Goodbye, Eddie Guerrero. Gone way too soon.

2005-11-13T19:08:00.000-06:00

The Wrestling superstar was only 38.

Click here for press conference with WWE owner Vince McMahon and Nephew Chavo Guerrero.

###

Dear Charlie Movie-star, now you GET IT! ~ Halleluljah, there is a God! ~ Tom Cruise wises up.

2005-11-13T10:24:00.000-06:00

.
Tom Cruise fires sister, hires a new publicity chief

From the San Francisco Mercury News

Tom Cruise has replaced his sister with a Hollywood insider as chief handler of his publicity, it was reported Monday, November 7th.

The 43-year-old actor hired veteran publicist Paul Bloch, who is also a co-chairman for publicity firm Rogers & Cowan, according to the Daily Variety trade paper. Bloch also will oversee publicity for the actor's production company Cruise-Wagner Productions.

Bloch replaces Cruise's sister, Lee Anne DeVette, who took over as his publicist in March 2004 after he left longtime representative Pat Kingsley.

"Lee Anne has done a wonderful job on behalf of myself and Cruise-Wagner Productions over the last few years,'' Cruise said in a statement. ``But she has always expressed a desire to oversee and expand the day-to-day activities of my charitable endeavors. With our current plans to increase those endeavors, and Cruise-Wagner's increased production slate of film and television projects, this seemed the appropriate time to make that segue and bring Rogers and Cowan on board to handle mine and the company's entertainment-related publicity needs.''

A call to Rogers & Cowan was not immediately returned Monday night. The shake-up comes after Cruise generated some negative publicity earlier this year by criticizing Brooke Shields for taking anti-depression drugs and by berating ``Today'' host Matt Lauer for suggesting that psychiatric treatment might help some patients. He also created a sensation on ``The Oprah Winfrey Show,'' when he got down on his knees and repeatedly jumped up on the talk-show host's couch, saying his love for actress Katie Holmes was "beyond cool".

Ritalin-bashing, self-medicating, Scientologist-loving, gay masking-love smitten-father-to be or not, Tom Cruise is finally smartening up. Thank Goodness! --Yes, damnit, I am back, thank you very mucho!
-- Abbe Buck, APR, who has approx. three readers of this here BLOG!

###

Will Robert Blake play himself in the TV movie? Of course!

2005-10-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

.
Two great hype-stories -- on one little MOSTLY UNREAD Blog! What the hell-- "Where are you going, red ryder?"* But PR is PR is PR and Blake is playing up his insanity like a great (((he's stoned!))) jazz musician -- give this man a wacky character role!

Norma Desmond comes back as a man! Ye gads! Or is he channeling the great oratory of the late, great CLAUDE RAINS?

From E! entertainment television: Blake Trial a "B-Movie" by Joal Ryan Oct 4, 2005

If the fireworks in the Robert Blake wrongful-death civil trial were worthy, as the judge suggested, of a "B-movie," then its star didn't disappoint in the dialogue department.

Back on the stand in Burbank, California, Blake on Monday admonished the attorney representing the family of his slain wife, with the potboiler classic, "Don't put words in my mouth, junior."

But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Schacter might have gotten off the line of the day, cutting off Blake and adversary/attorney Eric Dubin in mid-gesticulation, with a pithy, per the Associated Press, "Now we've had the B-movie version..."

And so it went as Blake logged his second day of testimony in which the onetime Emmy winner denied having any ill intentions toward Bonny Lee Bakley, the scam artist whom the actor wed in 2000 after a DNA test showed that he was the father of her newborn daughter.

"We got married to get to know each other and see if we could make it together," Blake said, according to the Associated Press, denying the assertion that he exchanged vows with Bakley in order to get custody of the baby, Rose, now 5 and being raised by his adult daughter, Delinah.

Bakley, 44, was shot to death on May 4, 2001, as she sat in Blake's car outside the former TV star's favorite Italian restaurant in Studio City, California. In March, Blake was acquitted of criminal charges in her murder.

In the civil trial, the Bakley family, with Dubin as their advocate, is alleging anew that Blake is responsible for the death. Former Blake bodyguard Earle Caldwell is the actor's co-defendant.

On the stand, the AP reported, Blake rejected Dubin's assertion that he once talked to an ex-loan shark, Carlito's Way bit player Frank Minucci, about "whacking" Bakley. But Blake allowed that when he gets angry, "I [do] run my mouth."

The running of his mouth might have included saying unkind things about Bakley and his bride's family, as
Blake said, per the AP: "I could easily have been venting and saying things."

Blake, 72, vented early and often in his first day on the stand last Thursday, when he memorably explained that he was a "human being...not a machine." On Monday, he began with an apology for his previous performance, City News Service said. And in the early going, Blake kept his answers short and sweet--a "yes" here, a "no" there, it reported.

But the civility didn't last. As Dubin continued to question Blake, voices got louder, and fingers got pointed, CNS said. "Well, if he can get dramatic, I can get dramatic," Blake said in his defense, per the wire service.

During the criminal trial, Blake eschewed the spotlight, and passed up the chance to testify on his behalf. Jurors only heard from Blake via a Barbara Walters jailhouse TV interview that was played in court.

Bakley's family rejected a reported $250,000 to settle their civil claim.

*Best known for the 1970s TV cop show Baretta, Blake spent time with the Little Rascals as a child actor in the 1930s and 1940s, which might explain the "junior" line.

========================================================

AP: Blake's Illegal Help? - By Josh Grossberg Tue Oct 18, 3:52 PM ET

For dramatic effect, the revelation came with its own bolt of lightning and rumble of thunder.

Taking the stand for a fifth day at his wrongful death trial, Robert Blake' Robert Blake for the first time in his legal odyssey claimed three witnesses could confirm his whereabouts at the time wife Bonny Lee Bakley was shot dead on May 4, 2001.

Right around then is when lightning struck the courthouse in Burbank, California. [literally!]

The ex-Baretta star testified that there were witnesses to back up his alibi came as something of a surprise, given that his defense failed to find anybody to corroborate his tale during his criminal murder trial, which ended with his acquittal in March.

While Blake never testified in that case, he was compelled to defend himself in the current matter, a civil suit on behalf of Bakley's three adult children (whom Blake refers to as "those monsters") and the young daughter Bakley had with Blake. Bakley's family are suing to hold him financially responsible for their mother's death. Blake's former bodyguard and handyman, Earle Caldwell, is a codefendant.

Blake had told police that Bakley, 44, was shot in their car by an unknown assailant a few blocks from Vitello's, a local restaurant where they had just dined. The Emmy-winning actor said the shooting occurred when he went back to retrieve a handgun he had accidentally left inside.

On Monday, however, the 72-year-old actor told the jury that three busboys near the cash register spotted him re-entering Vitello's. Blake said he went back to his booth, collected the weapon and headed out the door, telling the men, "I'm cool. I found it." Blake said he believed the trio to be undocumented immigrants who couldn't speak English. They did not report what they saw to the police for fear of being deported, he claimed. There was no indication if there was any attempt by Blake's team to track down the men to testify.

But Eric Dubin, the lawyer representing the Bakleys, was quick to mock Blake's latest take.

"It's a new jury, so I guess we have a new alibi," Dubin said, per the Los Angeles Times. "I would call it a desperate and insulting attempt to create an alibi that had never been there for four years."

Dubin said he was unconvinced that illegals would clam up in order to save their own butts, prompting the judge to remark, "Well, if you're undocumented are you going to go to the police?"

Maybe it was the lightning strike or Blake's surprise testimony, but the rest of the day had a surreal, David Lynch' name feel to it as Blake recited speeches from World War II hero General George Patton to the ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus to diss his dead wife.

Blake's defense launched a series of vicious attacks on Bakley, calling her a scheming, wretched woman who trapped the actor into marriage by getting pregnant with daughter Rosie in a shameless play for his money.

Attorney Peter Ezzel cited a letter written by Bakley to Blake offering to drop a paternity suit against him and stop seeing Christian Brando (son of Marlon), if he agreed to marry her. (Bakley had apparently told the younger Brando that he was the father of Rosie, until a DNA test confirmed Blake was the dad. )

"I don't feel it would be worth it to sever that relationship for anything less than an engagement. It might not be just your money I miss out on, it might be Marlon's as well via Christian," Bakley wrote, adding that she wanted her engagement ring to be "at least a karat, size six."

Blake told the court he went ahead and married her out of pity more than anything else--this despite the fact that she was once convicted for running a lonely-hearts scam in which she sent naked pictures of herself and promises of sex to persuade hard-up men to fork over their money.

At the behest of Ezzel, who projected letters onto a screen while he questioned his client, Blake read one that contained anti-Semitic slurs. The actor told the court that he reprimanded her by quoting Patton, that effective communication necessitates both speakers be "short, hard and dirty."

The actor also cited Aeschylus to describe the nature of their dysfunctional relationship.

In another odd moment, Blake recalled the day of the murder, going into great detail about parking his car on the street instead of the restaurant lot because he was concerned a man he called "Buzz Cut" might have been tailing them after Blake had spotted him loitering outside his home.

The day also included a screening of 10 minutes of video footage taken by a freelance journalist after the shooting. The video showed paramedics attending to Bakely, Blake behind a Dumpster (where he vomited), and Blake talking to police.

Blake was back on the stand Tuesday.

###

Paris will not give up show although Fox axes it sans Nicole -- what gives? {{Paris, aren't you busy enough with sex videos now in syndication?}}}

2005-10-18T06:54:00.000-05:00

.
Our gal Paris -- "ALL Viz-Ability is good visibiliy " is her motto!

By WENDY URQUHART, For The Associated Press Mon Oct 17, 7:36 PM ET

CULVER CITY, Calif. - Paris Hilton says she isn't giving up "The Simple Life" just yet. "We're shooting Nov. 1," said the 24-year-old hotel heiress, who had a front-row seat at the Louis Verdad fashion show Sunday. "All the networks are fighting over it."

Fox said last week it had canceled the reality show starring Hilton and Nicole Richie. The network said its midseason schedule didn't have a time slot for a fourth season of the show, prompting speculation the feuding ex-friends no longer proved compatible.

Hilton said she and Richie will continue working on "The Simple Life" because other networks want it. [New title: "The feuding bitches in complicated life 5"?]

Last week, 20th Century Fox Television, the studio that produces the show, said it hopes "The Simple Life" will move to another network — with Hilton and Richie.

"We believe this series ... is still a dynamic and valuable franchise," the studio said. "We hope to be able to announce a new network partner in the coming days."

Bunim-Murray Productions, which produces the show with 20th Century Fox, also released a hopeful statement: "We're very excited about the creative plans for the next group of episodes, and are confident this situation will be remedied quickly."

Hilton's friend Kimberly Stewart, Rod Stewart' s 26-year-old daughter, dismissed as "rumor" reports that she had been touted as a replacement for Richie.

But Stewart was coy about doing a future project with Hilton, telling reporters Sunday, "You never know."[Gal Pal III]

In April, Hilton issued a terse statement saying it was "no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends. Nicole knows what she did, and that's all I'm ever going to say about it."

Hilton has given no reason for the split.

[Stay tuned.]

###

To the Media regarding President Bush - what's so bad about having a media coach? So, it's not "The West Wing" (Yes, NBC, Sunday nights, 8 PM EST)

2005-10-14T07:26:00.000-05:00

.

Blog: HighVizPR + Promotion = the new journalism. Politics = Show Biz!
Post: NOTE to the media: What is so bad about Mr. Bush having a DoD Media Coach?
Link: http://highvizpr.blogspot.com/2005/10/note-to-media-what-is-so-bad-about-mr.html

###

Madonna, Go Home! Go back to the prayer beads and crucifix!

2005-10-11T11:04:00.003-05:00

. oy vey!

(, ioudaisti, judaice).

This is no shana madel! It has been a big fat gimmick cum reinvention of (her)self for over 20 years!

While Madonna might have thought she was honoring a spiritual leader, the Israeli rabbis say she crossed the (border) line and is in danger of incurring God's wrath.

"Jewish law forbids the use of the name of the holy rabbi for profit," Rabbi Rafael Cohen said

Jewish mystics to Madonna: Lay off our sage!

Mon Oct 10, 1:21 PM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Word that Madonna's upcoming album includes a paean to a 16th-century Jewish mystic has prompted the rabbis who guard his legacy to accuse the pop idol of sacrilege and hint at divine punishment.

The "Confessions on a Dance Floor" collection includes a song titled "Isaac" -- in reference, entertainment media say, to Rabbi Isaac Luria, founder of the Kabbalah school of mysticism which counts Madonna, 47, as one of its devotees.

The custodians of Luria's tomb and seminary in the northern Israeli town of Safed accused her of breaking a taboo.

"There is a prohibition in Jewish law against using the holy name of our master, the Sage Isaac, for profit," the seminary's director, Rabbi Rafael Cohen, told the Israeli newspaper Maariv Sunday.

"This is an inappropriate act, and one can feel only pity at the punishment that she (Madonna) will receive from Heaven. The Sage Isaac is holy and pure, and immodest people cannot sing about him," he said.

Catholic-born Madonna, famed for her racy lyrics and on-stage antics, has drawn frequent censure from ultra-Orthodox Jews who say her embrace of Kabbalah debases their religion.

Deemed especially provocative was Madonna's music video for "Die Another Day," in which she wove phylacteries around her arm, a custom usually reserved for Jewish men, before escaping from an electric chair on which Hebrew letters spelling out one of the 72 names of God appeared.

"This kind of woman wreaks an enormous sin upon the Kabbalah," said Rabbi Yisrael Deri, caretaker of Luria's tomb.

###

Scotty Baio's coming back -- answers calls from mags - no publicist screening for this man!--from Radar

2005-10-10T06:31:00.000-05:00

.
[Scott is joining the xxxxxxxx and meschugenah cast of Arrrrested Development. Cool. Chachi grows into middle age. This is going to be interesting. He will fit right in. From Radar on-line]:

http://radaronline.com/web-only/q-and-a/2005/10/baio-feedback.php <--- tiny url (tee-hee)

###

Another good publicist loses gig - Katie Holmes chooses Tom Cruises enclave (sic)

2005-10-10T06:22:00.000-05:00

.
Holmes dumps publicist for Cruise's sister Pregnant actress Katie Holmes has fired her publicist Leslie Sloane-Zelnick after nine years together, and has hired her fiance Tom Cruise's sister as her new spokesperson.The Batman Begins star and Cruise announced her pregnancy last week, which comes only six months after the couple began dating. [RUMOR HAS IT: Holmes has baby gets 5 Million - has miscarriage--only gets $1 Million and divorce but career boost either way -- this is from anon.pr. flack - source + n.y. Daily News---more---]

Since Holmes began her controversial relationship with Cruise, she has parted ways with her management company, agents and now Sloane-Zelnick.

Holmes will now be represented by Cruise's sister and fellow Scientologist Lee Anne DeVette, who became the actor's spokesperson last year after he left his longtime publicist Pat Kingsley.

Sloane-Zelnick tells the New York Daily News: "We were with her for nine years. We wish her the best. She has chosen to work with her future sister-in-law. We wish her well, and congratulate her on her happy news."

###

I can't get it out of my mind...BEN AFFLECK is moving 50 miles from my house--- Ben Affleck is running for office here? PR stunt? Hmm, pretty likely.

2005-10-07T11:56:00.000-05:00

.
[SO, Kenny Sunshine, A.PR, how did this rumor get started anyway? Matt, maybe? Kevin Smith as SILENT BOB? Please. This is not limited to a Brit gossip rag, is it now?]

From showbiz to the Senate

By Carol Beggy & Mark Shanahan, Boston Globe Staff September 28, 2005

Senator Ben Affleck? Not likely. That's the word from the actor's publicist, who says his client is not moving to Virginia to run for the US Senate. ''This is absolutely crazy," Ken Sunshine told us yesterday. ''Ben might run for office someday, but it won't be now and it won't be in Virginia."

The actor's improbable candidacy was floated after a British tabloid reported that Affleck and his pregnant wife, Jennifer Garner, were in Charlottesville checking out property. Virginia Democrats, desperate to unseat incumbent Republican Senator George Allen, took it from there.

''It's spread pretty widely, at least in the political underground," University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato told Michael Shear of The Washington Post. [PROF. Sabato also said quite publicly that this was a great big publicity stunt -- and I think it was a damn good one! Go Benny boy!] Affleck, a generous donor to Democratic candidates and causes, was ubiquitous at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and got generally good reviews for his performance. ''Wolf Blitzer, Larry King, Chris Matthews, Bill O'Reilly . . . They all thought he was just extraordinary," said Sunshine, who added that if Affleck ever does run for office, it'll be in Massachusetts. In addition to the new baby -- a girl due in December -- Affleck is about to begin directing his first movie, ''Gone, Baby, Gone."

###

UGLY SCENE or does she have the right to sue for rejection?

2005-09-23T06:47:00.000-05:00

They say "beauty is as beauty does", and admit it, we all want to be a great beauty/ we ALL want looks. But was/is this highviz pr right for her or her dead sister? It was all going so well----and she asked for it - it was her choice, and things... sometimes...don't work out the way that we hoped --obsessed--that they would. Are the producers liable?

From the NY Daily News: Two stories about Deleese Williams.
'Extreme' tragedy 'Ugly' mom sues ABC for nixing makeover
By MICHELLE CARUSO

Deleese Williams can only sit and wonder what life would have been like if her extreme makeover had gone through.

-->LOS ANGELES - The producers of "Extreme Makeover" promised Deleese Williams "a Cinderella-like" fix for a deformed jaw, crooked teeth, droopy eyes and tiny boobs that would "transform her life and destiny."

But when the ABC reality show dumped the Texas mom the night before the life-changing plastic surgeries, it shattered her family's dream and triggered her sister Kellie McGee's suicide, says a bombshell lawsuit filed in L.A. Superior Court.

As part of the premakeover hype, producers coaxed McGee and other family members to trash Williams' looks on videotape, the suit alleges. When they suddenly pulled the plug on the project, and the promised "Hollywood smile like Cindy Crawford," a guilt-ridden McGee fell apart.

"Kellie could not live with the fact that she had said horrible things that hurt her sister. She fell to pieces. Four months later, she ended her life with an overdose of pills, alcohol and cocaine," said Wesley Cordova, a lawyer for Williams.

"This family is shredded. There is a human cost to this," Cordova said.

Williams, 30, and her husband, Mike, are raising McGee's two children, along with two kids of their own. The suit seeks unspecified money damages for breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other offenses.

"Deleese is so hurt and humiliated, she won't leave the house now. She grocery shops at midnight," Cordova says.

ABC declined to comment on the allegations.

The show announcing Williams' selection for a mega makeover had already aired on Jan. 7, 2004, when the producers abruptly dropped her because the dental surgeon told them her recovery time would be longer than expected, Cordova said.

Williams was alone in a Los Angeles hotel room reading her pre-op instructions when a producer showed up and dashed her dream of a new life with a "pretty" face, the suit alleges.

"You will not be getting an extreme makeover after all. . . . Nothing. It doesn't fit in our time frame. You will have to go back to Texas tomorrow," the suit alleges she was coldly told.

Williams broke down sobbing: "How can I go back as ugly as I left? I was supposed to come home pretty," the suit says.

The 31-page complaint begins with the line "Deleese Williams is considered ugly."

It details a horrendous tale of pain and humiliation that began when she applied for the reality show in December 2003 and had to submit a "full body shot" video showing "all of the body parts that need help."

For years, Williams' friends and family "didn't notice or pretended not to notice" her homely looks, but once she got picked for the show, they were coached to focus on nothing but her physical flaws, the suit says.

In McGee's taped interview, she tried to play up her sister's good points. But the hard-nosed producers "peppered Kellie with questions about her childhood with the ugly Deleese . . . and repeatedly put words in her mouth," the suit says.

To please the producers, Williams' mother-in-law also laid it on thick. "She said things like 'I never believed my son would marry such an ugly woman.' " Cordova says.

The family's comments never aired on TV, but Williams, who was in an adjoining room, heard them all.

The experience ruined her family life.

"Now that she returned in the same condition in which she left, there were no secrets, no hidden feelings, no reward," the suit says.

McGee's "guilt was overwhelming." She OD'd on May 25, 2004, four months after the show's producers sent her sister packing.

"These programs are cheap to produce - there are no actors or screenwriters to pay. But there is a very high human cost," Cordova said.

------------------------

The dark side of reality
By MICHELLE CARUSO

LOS ANGELES - Warning: Reality TV may be hazardous to your health.

The suicide of a jilted "Extreme Makeover" contestant's sister isn't the first tragedy to strike the popular TV genre.

In February, a contestant for NBC's boxing reality show "The Contender" took his own life less than a month before the show's broadcast debut.

Najai Turpin, 23, sat in a parked car outside the West Philadelphia gym where he trained and shot himself in the head.

It was later revealed that Turpin had lost his make-or-break bout in Week 5 of the series and was disqualified.

Fight trainer Percy (Buster) Custus, who had known Turpin since he was 12, said the boxer enjoyed taping the show but seemed "troubled" afterward.

In 1995, the Chicago-based "Jenny Jones Show" turned deadly when one guest murdered another who had made a homosexual pass at him on the air.

Jon Schmitz, 24, went berserk after the stunt in which Scott Amedure, 32, revealed he had a "secret crush" on Schmitz and fantasized about tying him up for a "whipped cream and champagne" adventure. A shocked and humiliated Schmitz insisted "I'm 100% heterosexual" as the studio audience howled.

Three days later, Schmitz drove to Amedure's Pontiac, Mich., home and shot him twice in the chest with a shotgun.

Schmitz was convicted of second-degree murder in 1996, but the case was overturned.

At a 1999 retrial, Schmitz again was convicted and sentenced to serve at least 20 years in prison before parole eligibility.

###

MSNBC: P & G's Claudia Kotchka is my "HighViz"hero! - her "case study" follows---

2005-09-20T09:58:00.000-05:00

.
Going Home With the Customers

CONSUMER PRODUCTS: Procter & Gamble hasn't just tweaked its packaging. It's rethought how you use what's inside.

PHOTO: Ramona Rosales for Newsweek

Mother of reinvention: As VP for design innovation and strategy, Kotchka has helped breathe new life into such gold-standard brands as Olay and Mr. Clean

By Dorothy Kalins, Newsweek May 23 issue - Maybe you've noticed, if you're a teenage girl and these things matter to you, that the Tampax you sneak into the bathroom stall no longer makes an embarrassingly loud noise when you open the wrapper. Maybe you've noticed, if you're a guy with a thing for washing your car, how Mr. Clean's butch power-gun sprayer now yields self-drying, spotless results. Or maybe you're surprised, if you're a woman with skin-care issues, that you've somehow stopped buying $100-a-jar creams at department stores and are hooked instead on Olay products from the drugstore.

Story continues below ↓

None of these and a thousand other changes at Procter & Gamble, the nation's No. 1 consumer-products powerhouse, has happened by accident. Until A. G. Lafley was made CEO in 2000, P&G was in a downward spiral—a classic case of an aging company with mature, gold-standard brands (think Pampers, Tide, Crest) suffocating from lack of innovation. One of Lafley's first acts was to appoint Claudia Kotchka, a 27-year P&G veteran, as the company's first vice president for design innovation and strategy. And one of Kotchka's first acts was to embed top designers in brand teams to help rethink not just the superficials—graphics, packaging, product design—but, more importantly, how consumers experience products.

P&G’s Kandoo wipes have ‘empowered’ some very young consumers

Kotchka now teams with such outside design firms as Palo Alto, Calif.-based IDEO. Their m.o.?

Don't interview consumers—go home with them. Observe, for example, how they use diapers.

"They'll tell you," Kotchka says, chuckling," 'I want it to work better.' But our products always work. What we discovered is that parents don't feel good about putting plastic on their babies. The fabric's got to feel stretchy and cottony; the tapes have to be round and soft. We have a fashion designer working on Pampers now—it's really underwear we're designing."

A high-end look for Olay

P&G isn't neglecting slightly older consumers, either. "Look at kids who are toilet training,"

Kotchka continues. "Their line is 'I want to do it myself.' So, we said, 'OK, we know how to make a great wipe—what can we do to empower kids to use it themselves?' We made this clever pop-up box that lets a kid grab a wipe with one hand. And the kids went nuts for it."

This fresh approach goes hand in hand with another of Lafley's innovations: blowing out the stuffy walls of P&G's executive floor in its Cincinnati headquarters, letting in light and color and a new institutional transparency. It might be a stretch to credit the company's turnaround to good design.

Then again, it might not.

© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

Omigod! Was it a FRAUD?! Using Photoshop?! Reuters! Geez Louise!

2005-09-15T18:46:00.000-05:00

.
From Photo Distict News: Reuters Explains Photo Of Bush Bathroom Note
September 15, 2005
By Daryl Lang

Don't blame the photographer.That's the message from Gary Hershorn, a picture editor for Reuters, about the photo yesterday that shows President George W. Bush writing an all-too-human note during a UN meeting.Bush is shown writing: "I think I may need a bathroom break.

Is this possible."The photo, which quickly became fodder for blogs and e-mails among friends, was taken by Rick Wilking, a contract photographer based in Denver who recently covered the flooding in New Orleans.

Hershorn, Reuters' news editor for pictures for the Americas, says he's responsible for zooming in on the note and deciding to transmit the photo to Reuters clients. He says Wilking didn't know what the note said when he shot the picture."I'm so adamant that Rick has nothing to do with this. He was just the guy who pushed the button," Hershorn says.

In response to the attention the photo is getting, Reuters' spokeswoman in London released a two-sentence statement about the picture: "The photographer and editors on this story were looking for other angles in their coverage of this event, something that went beyond the stock pictures of talking heads that these kind of forums usually offer. This picture certainly does that."

So how did the picture happen? (or why???)

According to Hershorn, Wilking was one of several photographers covering the United Nations Security Council meeting between about 11 and noon yesterday. He was part of a pool stationed on a balcony that faced Bush's back; a group of White House photographers was on a balcony facing the president.Wilking shot about 200 images and sent two memory cards to the press room at the U.N., where Hershorn was working. Hershorn looked at the images on a computer and initially decided not to send any of them.

But a few hours later, he started to wonder about a note that Bush was seen writing in three of the pictures. Out of curiosity, he zoomed in to see if he could read it. Once he saw what it said, Hershorn decided the note was interesting and worth publishing. The white parts of the picture were overexposed, so a Reuters processor used Photoshop to burn down the note. This is a standard practice for news photos, Hershorn says, and the picture was not manipulated in any other way.

Around 4:30 p.m., Reuters transmitted two versions of the photo, including one that was tightly cropped around the note and Bush's hand.The caption says that Bush was writing the note to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice; Hershorn says Wilking saw Bush write the note and hand the note to Rice.

Hershorn says heads of state seldom attend Security Council meetings, and it's possible that Bush was simply asking his secretary of state what the proper protocol was to be excused.

Online, some accused Reuters, and the media in general, of being insulting or juvenile. A letter writer to Editor & Publisher wrote, "You ought to all be ashamed of yourselves for this stupid trivia and childish focus."It's unclear how widely the picture was published; Hershorn says The (Toronto) Globe and Mail published it but he wasn't sure of any other outlets. Hershorn says he decided to transmit the picture because it was interesting. [yeah. like interns.]

"There was no malicious intent," he says. "That's not what we do."

[That's nice to know. We still love you, Reuters. You know that.]

###

Reuters going for a pictorial scoop that we really should not know about!

2005-09-15T01:05:00.000-05:00

.
---in this media-saturated age, this is just too much. I for one would not follow a President into the men's room. That is so NOT RIGHT!

REUTERS: HIGHLIGHT
U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's vision of freedom from want, persecution and war. REUTERS/Rick Wilking Wed Sep 14, 4:39 PM ET

###

Richard Roeper's MUST READ: Say that again? 'Things are going relatively well....' (really?)

2005-09-13T17:11:00.000-05:00

-------------------------------------@-------------------------------------
Read this entire story, then email it to all of your friends

Read this entire thing, then email it to everyone you know.

Post it on your personal blogs. BUT MAKE SURE IT IS READ. AND READ AGAIN by someone else.

Read it and THINK.

From the Chicago Sun-Times.

Say that again? 'Things are going relatively well

'September 12, 2005

BY RICHARD ROEPER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

From the disputed presidential election of 2000 to the terrorist attacks on America on 9/11/01 to the failure to find Osama bin Laden to the quagmire of a war in Iraq to Hurricane Katrina, this has been a terrible decade, century, millennium.

It's got to get better in 2006, doesn't it?In the meantime, we're two weeks into one of the most tragic and shameful events in American history. Here, in chronological order, are some of the most memorable quotes from evacuees, politicians, journalists, media personalities and celebrities.

*"I wasn't going to let a little thing like a hurricane keep me from wearing my bathing suit." -- Eva Longoria on the Video Music Awards, Aug. 28. Had Longoria known what was going to happen in the days to come, one imagines she would have come up with another bit.

*"The looting is out of control. The French Quarter has been attacked." -- New Orleans councilwoman Jackie Carlson, Aug. 30. Meanwhile, President Bush was playing guitar with country singer Mark Willis in San Diego. Bush would return to Crawford, Texas, that night, for one more night of taking it easy before finally cutting his vacation "short."

*"I must say, this storm is much bigger than anyone expected." -- FEMA Director Michael Brown, on CNN, Aug. 31.

*"Excuse me, senator, I'm sorry for interrupting . . . for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people out here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated . . ."And when they hear politicians . . . you know, thanking one another, it just . . . cuts them the wrong way right now, because literally there was a body in the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman had been laying in the streets for 48 hours . . ." -- CNN's Anderson Cooper, Sept. 1, in an awesome tirade directed at Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who had been tossing compliments to fellow politicians and blowing bromides up the wazoo before Cooper cut her off.

*"George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual for this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed." -- New York Times lead editorial, Sept. 1.

*"It was chaos. There was nobody there, nobody in charge. And there was nobody giving even water. The children . . . they're all just in tears. There are sick people. We saw . . . people who are dying in front of you." -- CNN producer Kim Segal, describing conditions in the New Orleans Convention Center, Sept. 1.

*"Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." -- FEMA chief Brown, Sept. 1.

*"From here and from talking to police officers, they're losing control of the city . . ." -- CNN's Chris Lawrence, Sept. 1.

*"We just learned of the convention center -- we being the federal government -- today." -- FEMA Director Brown, trying to deflect criticism to local government, on "Nightline," Sept. 1.
----->>>>>>
*"Don't you guys watch television? Don't you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting on it for more than just today." -- Koppel's response.

*"Many of these people, almost all of them that we see are so poor and they are so black . . . " -- CNN's Wolf Blitzer's well-meaning but unfortunate description of the evacuees, Sept. 1.

*"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job." -- President Bush, Sept. 2. One of the most idiotic, misguided, clueless and smug things the president has said during his two terms in office.

*"I'm satisfied with the response. I am not satisfied with the results." -- President Bush, later that day.

*"Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." -- President Bush, cracking wise in Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2. And maybe when he sits on that porch, one of those unemployed evacuees can bring him a nice iced tea and a fan. After all, they'll be looking for work.

*"George Bush doesn't care about black people." -- Kanye West Sept. 2 on an NBC telethon for hurricane relief, as a deer-in-the-headlights Mike Myers stood beside him, no doubt wishing he was off making "Shrek 57."

*"I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fund-raisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. . . . Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened in Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh!" -- Excerpt from Michael Moore's open letter to President Bush, Sept. 2. Moore is reportedly considering making a documentary about Bush and Katrina. It would be the easiest film he's ever done.

*"I open the television, there's people still there, waiting to be rescued, and for me that's not acceptable. I know there's reasons for it. I'm sorry to say I'm being rude, but I don't want to hear those reasons." -- Celine Dion in an interview on "Larry King Live," Sept. 3. An hour later, yours truly was in the audience at Dion's show in Las Vegas, where she told a baffled audience that she had cried and yelled at Larry King earlier that evening. ((((she did????))))

*"The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in a St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, 'Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?' [starting to cry] And he said, 'Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday.' And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night." -- Jefferson Parish president Aaron Broussard, Sept. 4, on NBC's "Meet the Press," in one of the defining media moments of all the hurricane coverage.

*"We lost everything. Katrina didn't care if you were poor or rich; all the houses look the same now." -- Mississippi resident Penny Dean, quoted in People magazine, which has covered the hurricane story in honorable and comprehensive fashion.

*"What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them." -- Former First Lady Barbara Bush, sounding like a bad caricature of a "Dallas" character, in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5.

*"I understand there are 10,000 people dead. It's terrible. It's tragic. But in a democracy of 300 million people, over years and years and years, these things happen." -- Republican operative Jack Burkman, MSNBC, Sept. 7, in an obvious attempt to go for the Humanitarian of the Year Award.

*"Go f-- yourself, Mr. Cheney. Go f-- yourself." -- Off-camera citizen heckling the vice president during a live interview that aired on CNN and MSNBC, Sept. 8. The "Go f-- yourself, Mr. Cheney" guy has his own Web site and is auctioning copies of personal video footage on eBay.

*"First time I've heard it. Must be a friend of John, er, uh, never mind." -- A chuckling Cheney's nonsensical, half-joke of a response when a reporter asked if he'd been hearing a lot of that sort of thing.

*"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." -- Rep. Richard Baker (R-La.), Sept. 8, in a quip to lobbyists quoted by the Wall Street Journal. Baker is denying the quote; the WSJ reporter stands by his story.

*"How, then, did we get here? How did the richest country on Earth end up watching children cry for food in putrid encampments on the evening news? How did reporters reach crowds of the desperate in places where police, troops and emergency responders had not yet been--three days after the storm?" -- Time magazine.

---Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper are hosting a special benefit screening of "Walk the Line" starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon on Sept. 25. All proceeds to hurricane relief efforts. To purchase tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.

The underworld of photographing the celebrity - even if we 'care' just for the hell of it!

2005-09-12T02:58:00.000-05:00

.
From SLATE: Unearthing the underworld of celebrity photography. By Brett Sokol Posted Friday, Sept. 9, 2005, at 11:55 AM PT

Click here to read an accompanying slide-show essay about the anatomy of a tabloid photo.

"This is the five minutes I love the most, when it's just me and my scooter," Seth Browarnik yells back to me over the whine of his Vespa's accelerating engine. "Right now is the only time that's really peaceful," he adds with a laugh, as I nervously grip his waist. Peaceful is the last word I'd use. Browarnik ignores my protests and continues answering calls and scanning the incoming stream of text messages on his cell phone, pausing only to maneuver his speeding scooter between a large puddle and an even larger SUV.

Zooming around MiamiNearly half of greater Miami is without electricity on this late Friday night—the result of Hurricane Katrina's initial landfall. But here on South Beach, the MTV Video Music Awards are hardly interrupted. After a round of rescheduled flights, young Hollywood and much of the music industry have finally converged on the area, which means it is time for the 27-year-old Browarnik, one of Miami's best-known celebrity photographers, to go to work.

(MORE)

###

Worst Prez ever? You decide - real PR case study newz will be back next week!

2005-09-10T12:21:00.000-05:00

Okay PR kiddies --- check this out (ABOVE):

Today, with a 39% approval rating, tee shirts being sold courtesy of John A. at AMERICBLOG.COM's Cafe Press annex

Now, look (BELOW) at this wristwatch from 1973 - from Boomertime. I do believe I had one in high school! ye gads!

Makes ya kinda nostalgic for Tricky Dick, don't it?

###

Spin City anyway - Rove and Bartlett are back at work

2005-09-06T07:07:00.000-05:00

.
Just ask Josh Marshall at the Talking Points Memo page and of course, the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05bush.html?oref=login

Rove and Bartlett hard at work right now. Whip the media. Whip it good.

The President
White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: September 5, 2005

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - Under the command of President Bush's two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.

The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional aides.

As a result, Americans watching television coverage of the disaster this weekend began to see, amid the destruction and suffering, some of the most prominent members of the administration - Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Donald H. Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense; and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state - touring storm-damaged communities [more]

###

TIME: "An American Tragedy" - [ It is called "Ineptitude" ]

2005-09-05T16:41:00.000-05:00

Matthew Cooper nails it down cold.

From the Magazine Dipping His Toe Into Disaster
Slow, awkward and at times tone-deaf, Bush mishandled the storm's first days. Now he has his own recovery problem By MATTHEW COOPER
E-MAIL MORE BY AUTHOR
Posted Sunday, Sep. 04, 2005 It isn't easy picking George Bush's worst moment last week. Was it his first go at addressing the crisis Wednesday, when he came across as cool to the point of uncaring? Was it when he said that he didn't "think anybody expected" the New Orleans levees to give way, though that very possibility had been forecast for years? Was it when he arrived in Mobile, Ala., a full four days after the storm made landfall, and praised his hapless Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director, Michael D. Brown, whose disaster credentials seemed to consist of once being the commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association? "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," said the President. Or was it that odd moment when he promised to rebuild Mississippi Senator Trent Lott's house--a gesture that must have sounded astonishingly tone-deaf to the homeless black citizens still trapped in the postapocalyptic water world of New Orleans. "Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house--he's lost his entire house," cracked Bush, "there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."

Bush seemed so regularly out of it last week, it made you wonder if he was stuck in the same White House bubble of isolation that confined his dad. Too often, W. looked annoyed. Or he smiled when he should have been serious. Or he swaggered when simple action would have been the right move.

And he was so slow. Everyone knew on Sunday morning that Katrina was a killer. Yet when the levees broke after the storm, the White House slouched toward action. And this from a leader who made his bones with 9/11. In a crisis he can act paradoxically, appearing--almost simultaneously--strong and weak, decisive and vacillating, Churchill and Chamberlain. This week he was more Chamberlain.

There was no breaking off from his commemoration in Coronado, Calif., of the 60th anniversary of victory over Japan, but there were videoconference calls and the like. The White House is "very, very slow sometimes," says a former Administration official. Besides, members of the A team were on vacation: chief of staff Andy Card was in Maine; Dick Cheney was in Wyoming; even Condoleezza Rice was out of town, shoe-shopping in Manhattan. Many of Bush's best p.r. minds, including media adviser Mark McKinnon, were in Greece at the wedding of White House communications director Nicolle Devenish. Had they been around, perhaps Bush would not have been accompanied only by his dog Barney when he returned from vacation in Crawford.

Part of what dogged Bush was long-standing traits. He showed his usual reluctance to ask for sacrifice from Americans, and that added to the sense that he just didn't get it. While Southern Governors facing fuel shortages in the coming days have called on drivers to scale back use of their cars, Bush did so only as an afterthought. "We ought to conserve more," he finally said on Thursday, making it seem like a vague option. The same day, Bush all but spurned offers of help from allies because of the way it would look. "I'm sure he saw it as a sign of American weakness to be taking aid from other countries," says the former Administration official. A Bush aide countered that his boss "wasn't rejecting offers; he wasn't focused on it."

Bush did begin to admit that the response was "unacceptable." But even when it came to enacting the role of Consoler in Chief, he sometimes sounded more like a quartermaster, running through long lists of things the government was sending to the Gulf Coast, rather than empathizing with people. That may be why the White House wheeled out his pitch-perfect wife Laura on Friday, to lend some genuine compassion to the moment.

Of course, Bush has a history of floundering at the start of a crisis and then finding his voice. Handling Sept. 11 is now considered his finest hour, even though he stumbled dramatically at first. But last week offered no New York bullhorn moment. He can't threaten to get Katrina "dead or alive." The victims didn't need a photo-op gesture of reassurance so much as water, food and escape, plus help for the long haul. And for an Administration that has staked its reputation on fighting the war on terrorism, no one can be very encouraged by the first crisis test-drive of the Department of Homeland Security. What's more, while Americans might have rallied around Bush as he faced a foreign threat, this time the enemy is his own bureaucracy, the one that left American refugees to fend for themselves far longer than anybody thinks is acceptable.

As he drove to meet the President, Bobby Jindal, the Republican Congressman from metro New Orleans, complained about aspects of the federal response: "The bureaucracy needs to do more than one thing at a time. It's appropriate to save people with helicopters, but it can't be done to the exclusion of everything else." Jindal, who served in the President's Administration, would like Bush to ask Colin Powell to come back to run the relief operation. Others urge Bush to rope in New York City's savior Rudy Giuliani. Given the President's own performance, passing the buck wouldn't be the worst thing.

###

HighVizPR's getting good PR, dealing with bad PR: a case study approach

On the comeback trail in Vegas - Lord Knows he'll $ell tickets - Whitney Houston should open!

Well, KRAMER, certainly hired the right man: this PR flack knows and loves the PR game -- Howard will make it alright, just by being Howard Rubinstein

The Olsen Twins are pitching a diet show (!)

Star Jones and Al Roker rebuilding the brand: "Yes, we're friends-Yes, I had a gastric bypass--" CUT to commercial

Star Jones Saga, Part 4: When bad PR gets worse, what do you do? Spin = "It's a business decision."

(((Queenie))) Drudge Report(s): The wigs are off, the claws are out -- STAR JONES, get off my show!

Star Jones saga: Your audiences know...things have been getting UGLY! But the truth is uglier- she was fried--fired.

Star Jones' star dimmed - OFF the view! "Being Unlikable hurts my show", says Babs

J O S S I P + DEFAMER = highvizpr inside out

AbbeBuckPR -in the business of "High-Viz-Ability": [Groan Dept.] Connie Chung, Blow-torch singer for one night ONLY!

Thank you Connie Chung, for the swan dive into media oblivion

Pat Robertson: Religious MORON who can bench press 200 lbs

HighVizPR's getting good PR, dealing with bad PR: a case study approach: I [Love!] Richard Edelman, SEE: EDELMAN PR - WSJ

NEWS from HighVizPR

I [Love!] Richard Edelman, SEE: EDELMAN PR - WSJ

Try this: Building your Brand with a BLOG

NY POST sez: What Show Business teaches us about PR

CBS PUBLIC EYE on Jeff Jarvis, journos, bloggers and "Church VS State" mentality

Stand up, Ron BILLIONAIRE! We need some integrity back!

More on "Jared bilks the Billionaire" --> Soon to be an episode "Ripped from the headlines" on LAW AND ORDER

THIS MAKES IT BAD FOR EVERYBODY - ALL JOURNOS, PR PRACTIONERS

AbbeBuckPR -in the business of "High-Viz-Ability": Who controls the Main Stream Media (M S M)? And why should we care if we really like Coke Zero?

Katie is going to CBS - BIG FISH, the anchor gig. HighVizPR talks about Ms. Couric

PR Case Study: GAWKER-STALKER: Going after the stars isn't enough, now it's "stalk the publicist!"

South Park: More STUPID Career decisions, or "Do you worship with Cruise-Hubbard"?

Our Gold Star Mother, 2005-2006

Case Study by AmericaBlog: PR = Presidential "rhetoric" in war years. Even Rumsfeld is TIRED. [Yanquee----Condoleeza, go, home!]

The "SEE, WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" Edition - George + Arianna, and all of that FREE PRESS!

Did George let loose on HuffPost (a Tribune Company)-- or did Arianna just leverage another moooovie star on her commercial web log?

So long, Myron Wallace. Larry King, are you ready to head back to Brooklyn?

*You * can't * buy * this * kind * of * publicity!* Lucky "Casino Jack" Abramoff hit the PR Jackpot with Vanity Fair Tell-all!

Best Picture: CRASH

from the other HighVizPR Blog- the OSCAR edition

Strike Me PINK!

STARRING Anna Nicole: Only the juiciest GOSSIP for this BLOG, all the way to the SUPREME COURT!

The Donald: Martha the Moron (anything to keep their names in the papers!)

Business Week: Product testing the old fashioned way -- Eletrolux relies on Catherine, Monica, Anna and Maria...

A PR Souffle: come on now, doncha love a good feud? Diva Martha and The Donald STRIKES BACK!

Opinion: "I SHOULD BE IN THE BIBLE" - Kanye West and his true black experience - a "griot" riot.

Let's play a game with Britney - let's play "Blame the Paprazzi"

VARIETY puzzled that PR spinmeisters can't seem to get their jobs....right....if you are in PR, this is a MUST READ

At least the schoolboy didn't have a gun--- but the pen is mightier than the -----?

You Gotta Have a Gimmick Dept: He certainly has spunk for a DEAD GUY! SEE RUSH PR NEWS ABOUT THE DEAD BODY GUY -- gotta love it! I do!

94,000 OPRAH! Postings "Must...Defend.... the Brand!"

John Kass' Oprah! Moment/POV, or why I will NEVER write my memoirs

Oprah's ultimate choice: DAMAGE CONTROL

Ten Days and we're going to IM-text-HELL ~ or ~ Bye, Bye BLACKBERRY

MEMO to *Star* Jones Reynolds - you would sell more books and get better "viz" if you tell the truth and repackage yourself, girl!

Brand-gelina: does the brand matter anymore? And why does Jennifer (the jilted wife) still care, ad nauseum

Advertising-----Publicity for Myself, by Norman Mailer... and the sequel?

allhiphop.com: Patrick Swayze, a new show business beginning

Paris Hilton: "BRING IT ON!"

We want our stars Dysfunctional! Anorexic! Paparazzi absolutely loves La Diva Lohan! Her PR Reps are ecstatic!

The Comeback Kid, 2006, is Dick Clark! - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dick Clark will rock in New Year's Eve, 2006, even in a wheelchair!

From HighVizPR - Jack A. need to make movies --let's start that screen treatment right now "Abramoff Anxiety DE-LAYED"

AP: Iraq War Veteran to Become Action Figure

In a season of peace on earth, good will to men, DRUDGE crosses the line into PR gossip-again!- slamming Mrs. John Conyers (D-MI)

Note to Mel Gibson about to film the HOLOCAUST -- "I'm confused...."

Madonna the Caricature, and why we still love her---even though SHE IS REALLY JOAN CRAWFORD! Arrrrgggggghhhh!

A visit to the gay side, (and all of the hush-hush PR that went with it!) - and "The Man who created Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Rip Torn,

Sen. Arlen Spector stepping in, says Terrell Owens treated unfairly by Eagles mgmt, or, when show - biz and politics collide!

Jessica dumped by publicist -- ((((bad sign when the flack fires the meal ticket ain't it?)))))

Read my hip hop scribes or DIE TRYING(tm) !!!! ~ 50 CENT aka Half a Dollar starting new book venue

Goodbye, Eddie Guerrero. Gone way too soon.

Dear Charlie Movie-star, now you GET IT! ~ Halleluljah, there is a God! ~ Tom Cruise wises up.

Will Robert Blake play himself in the TV movie? Of course!

Paris will not give up show although Fox axes it sans Nicole -- what gives? {{Paris, aren't you busy enough with sex videos now in syndication?}}}

To the Media regarding President Bush - what's so bad about having a media coach? So, it's not "The West Wing" (Yes, NBC, Sunday nights, 8 PM EST)

Madonna, Go Home! Go back to the prayer beads and crucifix!

Scotty Baio's coming back -- answers calls from mags - no publicist screening for this man!--from Radar

Another good publicist loses gig - Katie Holmes chooses Tom Cruises enclave (sic)

I can't get it out of my mind...BEN AFFLECK is moving 50 miles from my house--- Ben Affleck is running for office here? PR stunt? Hmm, pretty likely.

UGLY SCENE or does she have the right to sue for rejection?

MSNBC: P & G's Claudia Kotchka is my "HighViz"hero! - her "case study" follows---

Omigod! Was it a FRAUD?! Using Photoshop?! Reuters! Geez Louise!

Reuters going for a pictorial scoop that we really should not know about!

Richard Roeper's MUST READ: Say that again? 'Things are going relatively well....' (really?)

The underworld of photographing the celebrity - even if we 'care' just for the hell of it!

You can't * buy * this * kind * of * publicity!* Lucky "Casino Jack" Abramoff hit the PR Jackpot with Vanity Fair Tell-all!

MEMO to Star Jones Reynolds - you would sell more books and get better "viz" if you tell the truth and repackage yourself, girl!