Slate’s Jacob Weisberg read from his new book The Bush Tragedy at a Domino-sponored shindig in Brentwood. 300 guests stormed Arianna Huffington’s mansion house. (Or home, as the invitations read.)

Adrian Grenier, sporting a beard that would have been a bushy tragedy on anyone else, Tracey Ullman, who does a wicked Arianna herself, and Christine Lahti represented SAG; Dale Launer and Stephen Gaghan were the WGA/DGA guys, and producers were thick on the ground with Lawrence Bender, Mike Medavoy, Irina Medavoy, Sam Goldwyn and George Stevens. Matt Groening had the animation arena all to himself.

Jim Ledbetter gave Arianna a copy of his new collection for Penguin–Karl Marx’s Dispatches for the New York Tribune, stopping her as she was enroute to her office. Gabe Snyder got the story behind her distracted expression: book deadline! (Who else was in the study, anyway?)

Usual coterie of LA media types–Mickey Kaus, Carla Hall, Kevin Roderick, Nick Goldberg, Kim Serafin, Ruth Shalit, Rob Barrett, Roman Genn–let’s move on, shall we?

Weisberg’s clever wife, Deborah Needleman (she edits Domino) brought her Conde Nast cohorts along–Clemmy Closson and Beth Brenner.

Oscars were discussed perfunctorily, Obama enthusiastically (Rachel Sklar’s cries of plagiarism! were dismissed as business as usual which means those dissing her didn’t read very closely. Or else they were drunk.) Plenty of food and drink, which is unusual for book parties–and lots of copies of the book which looks like a fast read. No need to send it out for coverage.

(photos by Stefanie Keenan for Patrick McMullan)

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Caricaturist and artist Roman Genn, has a talent for stirring up trouble. Arrested 9 times back in the USSR, his work has proved equally provocative here. Genn, who’s actually a fun-loving and genial guy, despite the poison he uses for ink, put down his glass long enough to answer our irrelevant questions.

1. What newspapers do you read? None. I just pile them on by my front door to prevent ants from escaping.

2. Which ones do you move your lips to while reading? The ones that contain any of my modest renderings.

3. Which Web sites are on your favorites bookmark? Irancartoon.com. I like to keep myself updated on the latest Zionist bestialities, the search for the 12th imam concerns me as well; his family is quite worried, you know.

4. Where do you get your car washed? The rain does an excellent job, wouldn’t dare to compete with Nature.

5. Do you know your dentist’s first name? Yep. And you should see the sadness in her eyes every time she sees what she has to work with.

6. Do you believe newspapers are going to die? Absolutely, they should just keep squeezing good journalists out to expedite the process. I’m surprised people still purchase the papers, given the abundance of the quality toilet paper in this country. If so, when? Hm…it will be Saturday…no, Thursday.

continued…

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Roman Genn went to the Barack Obama fundraising shindig, but couldn’t get past the velvet rope. But, thanks to his magic pen, Pajamas Media readers got to live vicariously.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.