We didn't much care for the New York Times' overly long, overly nuanced look at the hardworking life of people who own trashy local nightclubs and pretend to shirk exclusivity while "secretly" pandering to a celebrity/unrealistically attractive clientèle.
We did, however, commend the efforts of their innovative staff photographer. That long, panoramic shot of the pompous clubowners taken with a wide-angled lens and bird's eye viewfinder? Genius. If you squint your eyes and look at it from just the right angle, Butter impresario Richie Akiva (second from right) almost looks normal-sized! Almost.
[Image via NYT]
Last night, everyone who was anyone headed to Avery Fisher Hall for the Glamour Awards to whip out their (embroidered) handkerchiefs and sob their way through an emotional awards ceremony paying tribute to various strong, empowering women who, coincidentally, also happened to be famous.
Afterwards, the teary-eyed guests checked their designer watches, carefully shoved their balled up Kleenex into their shiny Marc Jacobs' bags, and hightailed it over to Butter for the restaurant/club's fifth anniversary party.
• Lindsay Lohan spent a Hamptons weekend rolling around with Butter co-owner (do their numbers ever slow?) Richie Akiva, who used to date Carmen Kass and was tied to Mary-Kate Olsen. If they weren't blowing each other, what else could they be blowing?
• A "well-dressed woman in a black Town Car" has been seen around town buying up all copies of the latest issue of Vanity Fair, but with Jennifer Aniston's interview and photos already leaked, rumor mongers are pointing to the likelihood of interested society gatekeepers preventing Dominick Dunne's piece of Lily Safra reaching their inner circle.
• Us Weekly's west coast editor Ken Baker is taking pot shots at Star's Bonnie Fuller and embroiled People's Todd Gold in his new novel, Hollywood Hussein.
• Scarlett Johansson ain't having any of The Island producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald's blame game. She's firing back at the producing couple, who spent the weeks leading up to the film's release on holiday in Italy.
• Usher is looking to follow in the footsteps of Jay-Z and Sean Combs, enlisting his industry know-how for some boardroom game play. He's approached Warner Music's Steve Stoute with his plans to to play a "more executive role" rather than continuing to pump out hit records. Though a Jossip spy spotted him dining very alone at Bed this weekend, so perhaps nobody's taken him up on a meeting just yet.
• What better locale to gab on the tony Plum TV than aboard your yacht? That's how Conde Nast's Steve Florio did it while telling the network's Jonathan Tisch how he cracked down on corporate dalliances.
