On the heels of Baz Luhrmann’s heady film adaption, see the jottings of a writer who rivaled Fitzgerald himself, as Hitchens prepared for his May 2000 V.F. column “The Road to West Egg.”
Read Vanity Fair's full September cover story on Princess Diana's last true love and the only person who would never betray her.
Plus, how it all led to Rick Moranis getting hired, then fired.
Lady Gaga drew a standing ovation (and tears) for her Oscars performance of “Til It Happens to You.”
Political intrigue has taken a dark swoop ever since Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing waved farewell from the tarmac on May 14, 2006 (how did liberals survive the Bush era without it?), fading into the afterlife of cable reruns, boxed DVD sets, and fond mentions in Maureen Dowd columns. It’s as if this Emmy-bestrewn series, set in the White House, took TV’s last traces of Frank Capra idealism with it, leaving behind a Venus-flytrap jungle of power junkies and craven flunkies doing the bidding of turf warriors and vicious infighters running agencies that barely have names, only cryptic initials. Forget what you’ve seen on C-SPAN, the nonprofit public-affairs network and insomnia remedy whose static cameras portray the cog workings of government as a vast, multi-chambered drone machine, an ongoing civics lesson devoid of color, dash, and lingerie-model sex romps intended to wrest a bill out of committee. Beneath the glacial pace of progress is a churning, libidinous top-dog struggle. The genre of Washington melodrama is a far more malignant game of thrones, blood pooling beneath the presidential seal.
Read more here.
Christine Baranski takes the Proust Questionnaire. Here's a peek at what she had to say:
What is your idea of perfect happiness? At sunset or under the stars on the dock of our lake house just being with my family and pals.
Which historical figure do you most identify with? Cleopatra.
Which living person do you most admire? Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl who was shot for advocating that girls be educated.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? My competitive side, the one that keeps score.
What is your motto? “Wake up expecting things.”
Illustration by Risko.