RUDY GIULIANI SHOULD REBUILD WORLD TRADE

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THE WEB GOSSIP
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The guy or girl that writes this column is a very big industry insider who wishes to remain anonymous, but wants to write about all the headlines happening in Hollywood and the Music Industry.
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Rudy Giuliani

RUDY TO IT -- Veering away for just a moment from the somewhat shallow veneer of Tinseltown madness and all … I just watched a report on 60 MINUTES about the re-building of the Trade Towers … or, lack thereof. Everything was supposed to have opened last year; now, we’re at 7 million already spent; 9 years down the road; and, all sides fairly non-communicative … what has happened? Politics my friends … the show that never ends! I live right near there and on 9/11/01, it was sheer madness that day … everywhere. It felt like being in the middle of a war zone. I don't know how I survived, much less any of us. Life as we knew it ... ended that morning. It might come back … but, will never be the same. The 60 MINUTES profile goes on to say, after 9/11, the second disaster hit … the recession. Here’s an idea; let’s have Rudy Giuliani make it all work. Love him or hate him (and, I love him!) I've never met someone more determined. After 9/11 he was dubbed as America’s Mayor … and, I think rightly so. O. K., so he didn't make it as president, nor governor … but, this would be perfect casting. Part Rambo, part-Harrison Ford, and Woody Allen … but, all Rudy. Cast my vote! It is a national disgrace that the Towers have not yet been rebuilt. A friend of mine coming from Europe shortly after that fateful day said it best,”It’s like N. Y.’s two-front-teeth were knocked out.” Get Rudy ... now!

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Kobe Bryant

TIGER MY TIGER --- I watched, along with the assembled multitude via TVs, the net, and, cell phones, Tiger Woods’ words last Friday. Aside from looking shaken like never before and in a setting that resembled nothing so much as a mausoleum, his words were carefully chosen and read like a script off a piece of a paper, it felt more like a funeral than anything else. Uber-publicist Howard Bragman perhaps said it best, when he called it ‘”Tiger’s Yom Kippur … his atonement day.” Since Thanksgiving, Tiger’s troubles have just snowballed. I for one still wonder why it took him almost three months to even address it. I mean, I hope that PR-team has been banished to the ends of the earth, as their efforts definitely made things far worse than they ever had to be. As David Letterman did … you get out in front of his. Not let is fester and grow into the ugly mess it’s become. It amused me somewhat that some of the so-called mistresses felt like they had not been properly apologized too! What! Please … all these working girls (with their read -to-go–portfolio of nude photos) should be grateful for their day or two of media, then go burrow back into the background from which they first emerged. Shame on them! Truth be told, I've never been much of a golf fan … but, each time Tiger appeared on a TV-golfing event, the ratings doubled … and, that my friends is what it’s all about. Kobe came back … so will Spitzer and Edwards, and all those other despicable vagrants. We're in a new age my friends where greed, avarice, and lust … still command a huge weekly audience.

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Zooey Deschanel

500 DAYS OF SUMMER-- I just watched one of the most inventive and brilliant movies I’ve ever had the pleasure of reviewing, 500 Days of Summer, directed by Marc Webb and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, as star crossed lovers. The device that Webb utilizes, along with writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, is that they pick a day during those 500 days and so what happened. Obviously, the nearer they get to the magic 500 number, the worse their situation is; while at Day 40, it’s still fully in bloom. It might sound somewhat contrived, and I guess in a way it is, but it’s totally refreshing and works terrifically well. Gordon-Levitt is the same fellow, all grown up from the immensely successful TV series Third Rock From The Sun. There are moments in this movie where he sings and dances, and he is just fantastic. His recent hosting-stint on Saturday Night Live hinted at what he is capable of. Deschanel… always a favorite around here is terrifically sublime and beautiful as the character of ‘Summer.’ When I first heard the title of this movie I wrongly assumed it was just a long summer; as in season, not about summer. Wrong! The plot of both working at a greeting card company is out and all hilarious. The soundtrack was equally as good. The movie was recently nominated for a Golden Globe and Webb has been chosen as the director of the upcoming re-tooled Spider Man series for Sony. I must admit there were moiré than a few instances in 500 Days, which reminded me of the Tobey Maquire SM series. It’s too bad Maquire won’t being reprising the role, and he and Webb would have provided some interesting moments. This one is a charm from 2009. Must see...

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Harrison Forbes

ON THE CLOCK --- Modern Clockwork’s Harrison Forbes may have been born in ’90, but he has amassed an amazingly impressive resume for his young years. His first concert was Tina Turner at Jones Beach and he was immediately bitten by the performing bug. “I knew right then I wanted to perform in front of a crowd like that one day.”His favorite artists not unsurprisingly include The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. “ I like them all because they came up with their own unique sounds and image rather than adapting to the mainstream ... the mainstream adapted to them.” He actually got to record his first work at the mere age of 12, with Black Child, Cadillac Tah and the whole Murder, Inc. Crowd. He’s been interviewed on News 12 Long Island, the Today Show and on Geraldo Rivera. The noted William Morris Agency has even based a reality show around him; and, his music is featured in the new Rob Schneider movie AMERICAN VIRGIN. Wyclef Jean nicknamed young Mr. Forbes ‘Young Socrates’ for his wisdom and philosophy in his music. Now, he’s put together an EP called Astral Planes and partnered with PR-wunderkind David Salidor to secure the right deal for him. Says Salidor, “It’s been a challenging time for the music business of late, but unique and important artists can still come to the forefront and still be significant and relevant. Harrison’s music stands toe to toe with that.”

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Colin Firth

BAFTA -- Interesting choices of the usually-pro Brit BAFTA awards over the weekend. I am giddy with delight that Colin Firth won for A Single Man. What a fantastic film this was. In many ways, the film of the year for me. Also in the mix were Christoph Waltz for ‘Inglorious Basterds’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’ and its director Kathryn Bigelow won. These BAFTAs are often a harbinger for the upcoming Oscars. We'll have our own picks in a week.

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Jimmy Smits

GOD OF CARNAGE --- I finally caught God Of Carnage on Broadway last week; with the brand new cast (Jimmy Smits; Christine Lahti; Annie Potts; and, Ken Stott, who first began the play (in the character of Michael in London). Written by Art’s Yasmina Reza, it was nothing short of brilliant. The writing was of a crisp caliber that you really don’t find any more. When they say, ‘if it ain’t on the page … it ain’t on the stage,’ this is exactly what they were talking about! Essentially it’s about a pair of two soccer parents, whose kids have injured one another during a fracas. The kid’s behavior is very closely adhered with their parent’s deepest and darkest secrets. At first, it doesn’t seem like much of a plot for a play, but then the words and laughter fly. Smits is a stuck up lawyer-type, brimming with resentment below the surface; while, Potts, as his dizzy wife, has a sip of liquor and all hell breaks loose. Stott and wife Lahti, at first put forth a classy exterior … that soon changes, and not for the better. Stott was just out and out brilliant, while Smits, more than adequately summoned up the necessary fortitude for the role. They were all brilliant. There’s a brief sub-plot where Stott’s mother keeps calling asking about a certain drug … that Smits’ character has just learned may be damaging. Hilarious! I assume that the message from the play is, as our friend Soprano-Robert Funaro so aptly decried; “Are we as barbaric (couples) as when the caveman walked the earth?’ Of course!

Photos By: Walter McBride/Sara De Boer/RD/Leon/Dziekan/Retna