NBC is reporting that the 62nd street townhouse explosion may have been caused by a gas leak; the building housed doctors' offices and investigators are looking into a possible suicide attempt. Until more details emerge, let's go to the man-on-the-street interview with a notorious gas expert:
On Friday, a reader claimed to have heard Larry King fart on-air towards the end of his interview with Star Jones; the video presented a questionable noise that may or may not have been the sound of King's anal methane. While we may never know if he passed gas with Star Jones, we've since received more information to suggest that Larry King is a chronic crop duster:
After last week's debacle over at The View, one's interest in and tolerance of highly paid bitches should be waning — but not so over at CNN, where Reliable Sources took a vacation from relevance and thus focused on Star Jones' departure from the ABC henhouse. In an effort to keep the show close to its more serious, typical beat, New York Post television critic Linda Stasi embraces the power of simile:
The CNN rerun of last night's Larry King-Star Jones interview just finished airing — but they cut off the last bit of the tape where Larry King supposedly buttsqueaked. The resourceful Dr. Blogstein, however, grabbed the clip in question. Just as King says, "the tragedy of the Ramseys," you can hear an faint toot (it took us a couple of listens to pinpoint it). The noise could be a fart; it could also just be an emphysema gurgle. We're not sure but, for the sake of Summer Fridays, we're going to go ahead and call it a fart and let you pass the ultimate judgment.
And yet he keeps pushing for a gay-marriage ban.
It's come to our attention that in the final moments of Larry King's interview with Star Jones last night, the episode was given a special sign-off: As King was plugging tonight's forthcoming show, he took a pause and, "if you listen reeeeallly carefully," says our source, Ol' Shoulder Blades ripped an ass bomb. Or it certainly sounded like the man had gas, and ten rounds of DVR replays has our informant convinced. Because we're fucking idiots, we don't have last night's telecast recorded, so we can't confirm that Larry King did, in fact, fart at the end of his Star Jones exclusive. Granted, the flatulence could very well have come from Jones herself, what with her obvious gastro-intestinal difficulties. But unless it sounded like a foghorn, Jones is likely innocent.
Hey, the feeling is mutual, replies the news media.
Suddenly we have the terrible feeling we've missed a memo someplace.
Oh, now you tell us?
As you know, we've recently discovered some mixed emotions about our beloved Anderson. Now the Observer's TV queen, Rebecca Dana, reports that it seems the rest of the world has conflicted feelings on him, too. How so? Well, he's indisputably a star — VF coverboy, bestselling author, new 60 Minutes correspondent, Details columnist, Yale commencement speaker. But there's a catch: Turns out barely anyone is actually watching his TV show. Some numbers, as accumulated by Dana, after the jump.
The Coop was scheduled to speak at the 92nd Street Y tonight. But his talk has now been cancelled, because bad weather has prevented him from flying back from his most recent reporting assignment, in New Orleans. We're tempted compliment the FAA on the impressive work its officials are no doubt doing to keep planes and passengers safe, and to get them to their destinations as soon as possible, but we won't. Becauase we realize that to listen to people thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, we got to tell you, there are a lot of people there who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated. And we get the anger that's there.
Newsweek's cover this week is its first-ever "Giving Back Awards," a sort of honor of 15 people who "devote themselves to helping others." Naturally at least one or two members of such a list must have Katrina connections. One Katrina-connected award winner, as you might expect, was a certain CNN anchor who channeled the publics' anger at government officials and was ultimately transformed by the experience. By which we mean Soledad O'Brien, of course.
• The news is still big; it's the newspapers that got small. [Slate]
• David Carr asks: Is CNN news or entertainment? What, it can't be both? [NYT]
• Pissing off Dick Cheney was not, in fact, the Times' reason for running its financial-records-spying story, says Bill Keller. [NYT]
• As we already told you, WWD media man Jeff Bercovici is going to Radar. WWD media woman Sara James, however, is not. She's leaving Women's Wear — we're sure of that — but it's just unclear where she's going. [Jossip]
• Roger Ailes thinks with Fox Newsies aren't working hard enough. [B&C]
• Wednesday will be Charlie Gibson's last day at GMA, and his feeling will be hurt if he doesn't get as many video tributes as Katie did. [USAT]
• Spiers steals David Lat from slutty sister Wonkette for her nascent juggernaut. Next time, she'll just twist Denton's nipple directly, without the intermediary. [WWD (second item)]
• Bigshot VCs give people like Rafat Ali — proprietor of the distressingly capitalized paidContent.org and, years ago, an intern where we used to work — money. [WSJ]
• Anderson's Angelina interview is "a watershed moment in the history of CNN." Huh. And we thought it was just kind of boring. [LAT]
• Connie Chung has no regrets — well, at least too few to mention — about her "Thanks for the Memories" farewell. Probably because she's the only person who hasn't had to watch it repeatedly. [TV Guide]
• Dan Rather still eats lunch. [Media Mob/NYO]
• NYP business reporter Tim Arango wants to be on TV. Oh, honey, don't we all? [Jossip]
Er, BREAKING: After 10 years of mutual love and support, Diddy and PR man Dan Klores are getting divorced. Word is that Puff left DK for another woman — Jill Fritzo at PMK. But just in case Diddy gets involved in another shooting, Klores is staying on a $1K/month retainer. Gotta keep the bases covered.
In fairness to the daycare center, they only got freaked out when Andrew Sullivan couldn't provide a good reason for his visit.
We didn't entirely hate Anderson Cooper's interview last night with Angelina Jolie, even though we were bored out of our bedraggled little minds. There was one high point, in particular, that captured our hearts: footage of Cooper in Rwanda, filmed 12 years ago. Go ahead, just turn off the volume and stare at the hair.
Anderson Cooper had the honor of conducting Angelina Jolie's first American interview since giving birth to baby Shiloh, and oh, how we were excited. It was certain to be a night full of gossip and girl talk, laughter and tears. But Coop, love him as we may, is no Barbara Walters. There was no soft lighting, no tears, no hard-hitting questions about Jennifer Aniston. Instead, we were faced unbelievable boredom: two straight hours of Jolie effusively discussing the plight of refugees, her face lighting up with every new country she could name-check. There was no new information (except that Zahara is jealous of the new baby, which is positively earth-shattering).
• Completely unsubstantiated but nonetheless interesting: Are Jay-Z and Beyonce officially over? Does Jigga prefer the less-bootylicious Rihanna? Will Beyonce's dad resolve the issue with a shotgun? [Social Rank]
• Like an udder on a thick-lipped cow, Anderson Cooper milks his interview with Angelina Jolie, airing tomorrow night. He clarifies that People's $4 million Shiloh fee did not include a guarantee that he'd get first interview; rather, Jolie picked the Coop because she knew he wouldn't try to do her. [360 Blog]
• It's Christmas in June: Danny Meyer's ShackCam goes live! Updated every 5 seconds, it's the ultimate tool in planning your meal schedule. May it bring all of Manhattan together and working towards organizing dining, so as to forevermore avoid intolerable lines. [Eater]
• One of Brooklyn's beloved Jonathans writes an open, overwrought letter to Frank Gehry; if all the Jonathans would combine their powers, they could create a Super Letter, so strung-out that not even the most hardened developer could look away. [Slate
• What if Brokedown Palace involved a pair of jeans? [Wired]
• You can now purchase a clear cube full of authentic NYC garbage. Just goes to show that if you package a turd properly, someone will buy it. [NYC Garbage]
• GMA kisses Prince's boots, builds him a fortress. [OAN]
• Edward Champion ups the Okrent cocksucking metaphor to slightly uncomfortable, albeit satirical, levels. [EdRants]
• Performance art on a Monday morning is simply unacceptable. [Animal]
• Crackheadz Gone Wild: New York features raw, uncensored footage of local drug addicts on spring break, going crazy for Mardi Gras beads. [Metro]
