nora-ephron

Who Leaked Steve Wynn's Picasso Attack?

Chris Mohney · 10/19/06 05:30PM

This is a big story about a small moment, but it comes with a big price tag, and a small question about that big story. When Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn poked his elbow through Picasso's "Le R ve," he accidentally scotched a $139 million deal he'd just clinched to sell the painting to hedge funder Steven Cohen. Wynn, who has little to no peripheral vision due to an eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa, was gesturing while explaining the painting's history to his guests. After living through the bizarre experience, Wynn asked his guests not to tell anyone about the accident until he had time to deal with it himself. However, ten days later, the news was leaked to the New York Post. Nora Ephron, who was one of those present, wrote about it for the Huffington Post, feeling she was liberated from the vow of silence after the New Yorker also wrote about the incident. So who broke the silence first? Ephron says, "It was very clear who had given Page Six the item, and it wasn't me." Would you cross a billionaire who laughs like the photo above? Suspects after the jump.

Nora Ephron Regrets Not Documenting Elbow-Based Violation Of $139 Million Picasso

heatherfug · 10/18/06 04:31PM

It's the oldest story in the art-dealing book, really: millionaire owns Picasso's "La Reve"; millionaire sells "La Reve" for record-breaking $139 million; millionaire invites friends for one last private viewing and, in his orgasmic enthusiasm over the subject's secret cranial phallus, rapes it with his wildly excited elbow. Author, screenwriter, and Huffington Post blogger Nora Ephron witnessed casino owner Steve Wynn's very surprising, and unfortunately somewhat hilarious, penetration of his favorite — and indeed, no longer completely his — painting, yet tragically resisted her baser instincts to document it.

Remainders: Gawker Stalkering the Death of Love

Jessica · 12/28/05 04:46PM

• Mike Myers and his wife of the past 12 years, Robin Ruzan (whose Jewish mother was the inspiration behind Myers' Linda Richman character on Saturday Night Live), have filed for divorce. What went wrong? By using the clues in Gawker Stalker, you can piece together the decline of a marriage and the rise of an alcoholic. Which is exactly what we designed the feature for. [The Apiary]
• A court has lifted a Santa Fe woman's restraining order against David Letterman, who, she claims, used code words during his show to give her instructions on how to eat crayons and wear tinfoil hats. [AP]
• When bloggers turn unreasonably nasty on commonfolk, nobody wins. It's akin to cannibalism, snarking on one's own kind. [Perez Hilton]
• Yes, we know that horsey 90210 alum Tori Spelling is engaged to a new beau, despite being not yet divorced from her ex-husband. May her new man enjoy riding her around the Spelling mansion. [Us Weekly]
• Patrick Swayze is delving into hip-hop, using "rap rhythms as an emotional undercurrent for ballads." We always felt Dirty Dancing would be profoundly improved with the addition of gold teeth and bitches. [AllHipHop]
• You may consider yourself a gay wino, but are you gay and drunk enough to own a collectible bottle of Madonna's "Confessions on a Dance Floor" wine? [Celebrity Cellars]
• A new sense of pity for Women's Wear Daily reporter Jacob Bernstein, whose mother Nora Ephron will never be happy until her baby boy finds her a cabbage strudel. [NYT]