We missed LL Cool J by a day. Oh, well. That’s the great thing about Michael’s: If it’s Wednesday, you can pretty much count on an interesting scene.

Today, there was plenty of tasty people watching. On the menu: Brian Grazer and Tom Preston (together!), one of our favorite designers (Isaac Mizrahi, who, we’re happy to report, wasn’t wearing those unfortunate sandals he chose for a recent appearance on QVC) and, just for good measure, a random reality star (Ramona Singer who, was no doubt dishing the dirt on the newest Housewives to join the New York City catfight. This season’s previews look downright scary!)

I was joined today by EIC Dara Caponigro and publisher Jennifer Levene Bruno, the dynamic duo at the helm of  Veranda, a magazine devoted to showcasing the homes, gardens and passions (by which we mean plenty of jewelry) of the moneyed but genteel set. The typical reader’s median household income is $149,000. Veranda isn’t a magazine to flip through while you’re in the elevator on the way to your apartment, but is best enjoyed sitting in your living room sipping a glass of wine. Get the picture?

This year marks the magazine’s 25th anniversary, and Dara just celebrated her second year at the helm, having assumed the title from founding editor Lisa Newsom, whose new book The Houses of Veranda is a stunning coffee table tome. Dara, formerly a founding editor of Domino (another one of our favorites!) told me she had long been an  admirer of Veranda‘s “gracious tone” and wanted to continue with the magazine’s mission to “make Veranda about living well through the lens of home.” Since taking the top spot on the masthead, she’s expanded the book’s jewelry coverage (“Our readers are collectors”) and “beefed up the front of the book.” I told her I loved the “Personal Luxuries” column where style makers from around the country share their lists of must-haves from perfume to pillows. “That’s one of our most popular features,” said Dara whose love of gracious living was something she inherited from her mother who was a decorator.

Jennifer, who is only the magazine’s second publisher, is equally enthusiastic about the book. “Everything in the magazine is carefully curated,” she told me. Advertisers obviously like what they see. In Jennifer’s first full year with Veranda, ad pages were up 17% with over 95 new brands.

Dara and Jennifer have been working as a team for about 18 months. “[Hearst president of marketing & publishing director] Michael Clinton knew what he was doing,” said Dara. The duo spends a lot of time traveling around the country hosting panels with industry leaders and talking to readers.

Some of their stops this year have included Atlanta (“The women in the south love dishes!” said Dara) and Los Angeles, where they hosted a ‘Bucket List’ panel on decorating with celebrated designers, including Mary McDonald of Bravo’s Million Dollar Decorators. Their winning formula is obviously working. Published six times a year,  newsstand sales are up 7 percent and, says Jennifer, 35 percent of the ad pages year-to-date through July-August are ”new business.” See, gracious living does pay.

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

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If you’re a fan of Billy Crystal, the stars aligned perfectly this week. Crystal is back as host of the Oscars for a ninth time. The Long Beach, New York native, was moved to head of the emcee line after several dominos fell.

First, new Oscars producer Brett Ratner was forced to resign after outrage from a gay slur. Ratner was instrumental in securing Eddie Murphy as host for the 2012 awards. Murphy is currently starring in the Ratner-directed comedy Tower Heist.

However, with Ratner out, Murphy withdrew Wednesday.

Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer, a longtime collaborator with Ron Howard replaced Ratner.

That set the stage for Crystal to extend his second-most hosting duties at the Oscars. Crystal, famous for his opening musical number parodying that year’s best picture nominees, previously hosted 1990 to 1993, 1997 and 1998, 2000, and 2004. (An example of Crystal’s work is shown below) 

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— DIANE CLEHANE

The media mavens, captains of industry and money men were out in full force today where a heaping helping of presidential politics were on the menu. Mayor Joe Armstrong, fresh off his latest trip to Paul Newman‘s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp hosted one of his legendary lunches where his guests were Robert Draper, GQ writer and author of Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush (Free Press), political pundit Jonathan Alter (who deconstructed FDR’s first 100 days in his book, The Defining Moment) and Joan Ganz Cooney. “There are some explosive things in Robert’s book!” says Joe. No doubt. On the other side of the aisle, I learned a fun fact about Estee Lauder’s Sally Susman who stopped to chat with me at the bar. Before she became a beauty bigwig she worked at the White House. Which one? I asked. “The only one,” she quipped. “The Clinton White House!” Of course. Coincidently, Sally was lunching with another Clinton alum, Internet exec. Margo Spiritus, who now toils as Pingg Interactive’s vice president of marketing. Turns out 55th & Fifth is a must-stop on the campaign trial. Are you listening Hillary & Barack?

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. Mayor Joe Armstrong and the gang.

2. Gerry Byrne.

3. Terry Allen Kramer and her son, who, we hear, made the scene at the US Open this weekend.

4. Viacom’s Philippe Dauman.

5. 60 Minutes‘ Steve Croft, Brian Grazer (thanks to his distinctive ‘do we spotted him immediately) and a fetching mystery gal. We wanted to ask Brian about the upcoming season of 24 which, we’re told, has Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) matching wits with the first female president. But since he kept his back to the room throughout lunch, we abstained.

6. Luke Janklow (loved the charming photos of your family at home in this month’s Vogue!), Michael Soloman and designer Liz Lange.

7. An exec. from Satellite Radio XM, so we’re told…

8. George Leeds and Estee Lauder’s Lew Rice.

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America Ferrera and John Mayer

It’s arguably the most exclusive magazine party of the year. (Graydon Carter‘s Vanity’s Fair Oscar party perhaps being the other.) John Edwards mingled with John Mayer. Sir Richard Branson (just back from dogsledding in Alaska) commandeered the corner of the bar like a Virgin spaceship, and allowed Henry Kissinger to ride co-pilot. Craigslist’s Craig Newmark chatted up Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick walked through the cocktail hour unrecognized. Michael J. Fox, too, virtually unnoticed, chatted with Elizabeth Vargas near the glass window overlooking Central Park. Arianna Huffington was noticed. (Line uttered in every pre-dinner conversation: “Is that someone? It looks like someone, I don’t know … do you?”)

Time Warner execs — like Richard Parsons and Jeffrey Bewkes — buzzed along the edges as the usual media-on-media action (including Ad Age‘s Nat Ives, WWD‘s Stephanie Smith, Jossip’s David Hauslaib, New York mag’s Jesse Oxfeld, Gawker’s Lockhart Steele and Doree Shafrir, ETP’s Rachel Sklar, Glynnis MacNicol, Julia Allison, Radar‘s Jeff Bercovici, NYO‘s Michael Calderone) made nice use of the open bar.

But as much firepower as there was at last night’s Time 100 party at Jazz at Lincoln Center, just 36 of the 100 to make 2007′s “most influential people in the world” list made it, and there were plenty of notable no-shows: No Obama. No Borat. No Queen of England. Rosie. No Leo. No Gore. No Timberlake. No Tyra.

But impassioned speeches — delivered over dinner by Elizabeth Edwards, Brian Williams, Bloomberg (with an ode to late Boston Celtics’ exec Red Auerbach — huh?) Branson and others — and a three-song set by Mayer more than made up for the relative lack of A-listers.

Others spotted during cocktail hour: Cate Blanchett, Mayor Bloomberg, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, Simon Fuller, Charlie Rose, Tina Fey, Mario Cuomo, Martha Stewart, Brian Grazer, Gayle King (no Oprah), Matt Lauer, Chris Matthews, Brian Williams, Ziyi Zhang, Police Commisioner Ray Kelly, Suzanne Vega, Harvey Weinstein, David Lauren and Lauren Bush.

FishbowlNY’s Coverage Of Last Year’s Time 100:

Time magazine’s annual list of its 100 most influential people is out. Borat‘s Sacha Baron Cohen (not Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat”) Barack Obama, Osama, Tyra Banks, Brian Grazer and Tony Dungee and Yankees pitchers Chien-ming Wang (seriously) made the list. We (“You”) didn’t.

TIME 100: The Complete List

Leaders & Revolutionaries
King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia
Peter Akinola, archbishiop, Nigeria
Mohamed Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, president, Sudan
Osama bin Laden
Michael Bloomberg, mayor, New York City
Raul Castro, acting president, Cuba
Hillary Clinton, U.S. senator from New York
Queen Elizabeth II, United Kingdom
Sonia Gandhi, chair, Indian National Congress Party
Hu Jintao, president, China
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader, Iran
Liu Qi, chief, Beijing Olympic Committee
Tzipi Livni, foreign minister, Israel
Angela Merkel, chancellor, Germany
Barack Obama, U.S. senator from Illinois
Nancy Pelosi, speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
David Petraeus, commanding general, U.S. Army
Pope Benedict XVI
Condoleezza Rice, U.S. secretary of state
John Roberts, Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor, California

Builders & Titans
Bernard Arnault, French businessman
Richard Branson, CEO, Virgin
Rhonda Byrne, author, The Secret
Steve Chen & Chad Hurley, founders, YouTube
Steve Cohen, hedge fund manager
Clare Furse, chief executive, London Stock Exchange
Ho Ching, chief executive, Temasek
Steve Jobs, founder and CEO, Apple
Ken Lewis, CEO, Bank of America
Erik Lie, finance professor, University of Iowa
Pony Ma, founder and CEO, Tencent
Lakshmi Mittal, CEO, Arcelor Steel
Shigeru Miyamoto, game designer, Nintendo
Michael Moritz, investor, Sequoia Capital
Indra Nooyi, CEO, PepsiCo
Cyril Ramaphosa, South African union leader
Philip Rosedale, founder, Second Life
Stephen Schwarzman, CEO, Blackstone Group
Katsuaki Watanabe, president and ceo, Toyota

Artists & Entertainers
Cate Blanchett, actress
Sacha Baron Cohen, actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, actor
Alber Elbaz, creative director, Lanvin
America Ferrera, actress
Tina Fey, actress and writer
Simon Fuller, creator, American Idol
Brian Grazer, producer
John Mayer, musician
David Mitchell, author
Kate Moss, fashion model
Yossou N’Dour, musician
Anna Netrebko, opera singer
Rosie O’Donnell, comedian and talk show host
Brad Pitt, actor
Shonda Rhimes, actress and writer
Nora Roberts, romance novelist
Rick Rubin, music producer
Martin Scorsese, director
Justin Timberlake, musician
Kara Walker, artist
Brian Williams, anchor, NBC Nightly News

Scientists & Thinkers
Paul Allen, scientific philanthropist and co-founder, Microsoft
Chris Anderson, author, Long Tail
Elizabeth Blackburn, researcher, UCSF
Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist, Oxford University
Frans de Waal, chimpanzee researcher
Al Gore, environmental activist and former U.S. vice president
Monty Jones, agricultural researcher
John Mather, Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist
Douglas Melton, stem cell researcher, Harvard University
Steven Nissen, cardiac researcher, The Cleveland Clinic
T.C. Onstatt, geoscientist, Princeton University
Svante Paabo, paleogeneticist, Max Planck Institute
Lisa Randall, string theorist, Harvard University
Klaus Schwab, founder, World Economic Forum
Kari Stefansson, genomics researcher
Alan Stern, planetary scientist, NASA
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director, Hayden Planetarium
Craig Venter, founder, Institute for Genomic Research
Nora Volkow, director, National Institute on Drug Abuse

Heroes & Pioneers
Maher Arar, rendition survivor
Wesley Autrey, New York City subway hero
Tyra Banks, talk show host and model
Warren Buffett, businessman and philanthropist
Youk Chhang, executive director, Documentation Center of Cambodia
George Clooney, actor, director and activist
Tony Dungy, coach, Indianapolis Colts
Elizabeth Edwards, cancer activist
Drew Gilpin Faust, newly appointed president, Harvard University
Roger Federer, tennis star
Michael J. Fox, actor and stem cell advocate
Timothy Gittins, decorated U.S. soldier
Thiery Henry, French soccer star
Garry Kasparov, Russian chessmaster
Amr Khaled, Egyptian televangelist
Judith McKay, anti-tobacco activist, World Health Organization
Chien-ming Wang, pitcher, New York Yankees
Oprah Winfrey, talk show host and philanthropist
Zeng Jinyan, Chinese blogger

This morning at breakfast at the ultra-swank W Hotel in Midtown (blaring “salsatronica” at in the lobby at 8:00AM = unnecessary), Dean Baquet looked an awful lot like the next executive editor of the New York Times. As he sat alongside Gary Pruitt, president and CEO of the McClatchy Co. of newspapers, the Washington bureau chief of the Times and L.A. Times ex-editor/folk-hero fielded questions from the New Yorker‘s Ken Auletta on yet another panel about the future of newspapers, Baquet looked ever-the-general, politely slamming his former employers at the Tribune Company. “There was a lack of rational thought about the future,” Baquet said. “Panic had set in. It’s impossible to lead an organization when that happens.”

While Baquet admitted that some pressure from Wall Street on newspapers to reach the youth market — what he called the “Britney Spears pressure” — is healthy, he’s “not convinced young people won’t read the newspaper as they get older.” Baquet said some of the downward spiralling state of newspapers was “self-inflicted” — pointing to the slashing of sections, like book reviews, turning readers off.

Baquet, though, had optimism for his former company’s future: “If I were a multibillionaire, I’d [buy] the Tribune Co. right now.”

Pruitt, whose McClatchy Co.’s stock is down some 30 percent this year, conceded that the timing of the company’s purchase of Knight Ridder was “awful,” but that the newspaper business is “not for the faint of heart.”

Baquet also addressed the current scandal at the L.A. Times involving the resignation of the paper’s op-editor and the killing of a section that was to be edited by film producer Brian Grazer, saying he would not have approved the guest editor because “it invites conflict.”

Baquet said the morale the L.A. Times was “in the tank”: “They’re sitting there waiting for a sale, [waiting for] some cuts rolling down the hill — throw in the angst of the newsroom in general … it’s a tumultuous time.”

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