Latest random notes--ROLLING STONE, John Edwards, etc.

1. Let's start out with a NEW YORK TIMES article from Richard Perez-Pena regarding ROLLING STONE changing to a sort of ESQUIRE/GQ average-size glued-binding format from the oversized one used for most of the mag's 41-year history:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/business/media/11mag.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

Don't worry.  Mr. Wenner and his minions will ensure that future issues will contain half-naked cover photos of Katy Perry and other pop starlets--plus the obligatory Random Notes references to Billy Joel (whether or not anything interesting is happening to him--part of the apparent bargain made around 1982 when Joel's aspiring-to-seriousness album THE NYLON CURTAIN was released).

2. Time for a Larry King-esque random note: Do you think that anyone at Universal who may have seen the new version of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED has gazed upon Ben Whishaw's son-of-Anthony-Perkins appearance (in the role of Sebastian Flyte) without thinking "let's make a PSYCHO reboot"?

3. Does anyone think John Edwards can reboot his political career after the timing of Rielle Hunter's refusal to determine her child's exact father?  I don't think Edwards can put the genie back into the bottle and get the mainstream media to walk away; hell, I think the bottle has shattered into a million little pieces (sorry).

Here's a link to a NEW YORK OBSERVER roundup of articles about Edwards and the media coverage of the affair: http://www.observer.com/2008/media/monday-morning-john-edwards-rielle-hunter-round

Plus here's another OBSERVER piece by Steve Kornacki called "The End of John Edwards": http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/end-john-edwards

Update (8/15/08): Here's Elizabeth Edwards' attempt through surrogates to control her story (apparently political ambition has been airbrushed out for the PEOPLE audience): http://news.aol.com/article/edwards-affair-left-wife-difficult/132807?icid=200100397x1207720257x1200415474

4. Can anyone talk about the death of musician/actor Isaac Hayes without mentioning Scientology?

5. Can anyone talk about John McCain without denigrating the elderly in general and McCain's age in particular?

Tags: John McCain, Isaac Hayes, Church of Scientology, John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards sex scandal, Rielle Hunter, Ben Whishaw, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED 2008, PSYCHO, Anthony Perkins, Universal Pictures, ROLLING STONE, Jann Wenner, Katy Perry, Billy Joel, THE NYLON CURTAIN