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The Chattering Class

A weekend-ready crib sheet for your cultural repartee

Cocktails tonight? Brunch tomorrow? Perhaps you’ll need a conversation starter or two. To paraphrase W.C. Fields, if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with a blind item. Below, our top talking points for the August 23rd weekend:

 

Did you hear about…

…The superstar CEO who’s become a burgeoning TV star?
This week Page Six reported that J.Crew head honcho Mickey Drexler (pictured right, husband of DuJour contributor Dr. Peggy Drexler) filmed a cameo appearance on AMC’s Breaking Bad, set to air this Sunday. The collaboration sounds great, but don’t expect to see anything inspired by the show—which follows a New Mexico meth operation—landing at your local J.Crew any time soon.

…The hotshot director who’s moving into an underground cave?
Last year Ben Affleck, the one-time tabloid staple and Good Will Hunting wunderkind, had tongues wagging thanks to his much-lauded turn behind the camera on the Oscar-winning Argo. This week it was announced that Affleck’s next big gig will require just a bit more spandex—he’ll be playing Batman in director Zack Snyder’s forthcoming sequel to Man of Steel.

…The National Book Award winner mistaken for a terrorist?
Everyone’s got his secrets, but for William T. Vollmann, a venerable writer who won the 2005 National Book Award for his novel Europe Central, being an infamous murderer isn’t among them. In an article published in Harper’s, Vollman reveals that his FBI file notes he was once suspected of being the Unibomber, in part because of the “anti-progress themes” in his work. It was a shocking discovery for Vollmann, but considering the state of the book industry he was surely glad to have had such dedicated readers.

…That other most famous baby of the year?
Considering Prince George is now a few weeks old and the Royal Baby mania has died down just a bit, there was no time like the present for the other most-anticipated offspring in recent history to finally show her face. On Friday, Kanye West revealed the first public photo of North West—his child with DuJour cover girl Kim Kardashian—during a televised interview with Kardasian’s mom, Kris Jenner. If the tyke has any of her parents’ business acumen, we’re sure her next appearance will be on her own primetime special.