Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood has scheduled a meeting Wednesday in Washington as part of her continuing effort to find a higher office to run for, Inc. has learned.
The ambitious Wood is meeting with officials of the National Republican Senatorial Committee to discuss the possibility of a GOP run for the Senate against incumbent U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in 2002.
Wood’s staffers have been spreading the word that Democratic Secretary of State Jesse White will not run for re-election. Needless to say, the secretary of state job is another one that Wood is taking a look at.
Day in court
Meanwhile on the West Coast, Robert Downey Jr. returned to a California courtroom where–sporting glasses and slicked-back hair–the actor was granted a continuance on drug charges to Feb. 21. Before an enormous contingent of cameras, Downey barely spoke. He has already pleaded not guilty.
Beam me up, baby
William Shatner must have been pretty convincing as the manager of a beauty pageant in Sandra Bullock’s “Miss Congeniality.” Capt. Kirk himself will host the Miss USA Pageant in Gary.
Oops, all over again!
As the cliche goes, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em: We’re happy to report that Britney Spears’ recent expletive-laced backstage tirade is now available on a fan site bearing her name, easily downloadable for the kiddies.
Seeing red
While accepting an award at the Sundance Film Festival for her contribution to independent films, actress Julianne Moore explained that the best part of working with director Ridley Scott on the forthcoming “Hannibal” movie was that they shared something in common. “I was very happy to see he has red hair,” Moore said. “I thought there was bound to be something we understand about each other on a very fundamental level.”
Seeing double
We’ve gotten a look at the first movie posters for Michael Mann’s “Ali” biopic that has been filming, in part, in Chicago. To our surprise, Will Smith looks enough like a young Muhammad Ali to actually pull this thing off. We’re not so sure about Jon Voightas Howard Cosell, though. The finished product is tentatively scheduled to hit theaters next Christmas.
He said, she said
“I would watch both. I would happily TiVo both.” That’s “Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker explaining in Us Weekly magazine how she will handle NBC’s “Friends” and CBS’s “Survivor II” going head-to-head on Thursday nights.
… but who’s counting?
Tuesday birthdays: actress Brett Butler, 43; musician Phil Collins, 50; actor Charles Dutton, 50; actor Gene Hackman, 71; actress Dorothy Malone, 76; funnyman Dick “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” Martin, 78; actress Vanessa Redgrave, 64.
The Inc. spot
Warren interviews the author of a provocative new book.
Wendy Doniger, 60, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, is the author of “The Bedtrick, Tales of Sex and Masquerade.”
Inc.–The book title sounds a little naughty. Is it?
A–It’s pretty naughty. It’s about lying about sex. It’s about tricking people in bed.
Inc.–And this theme is an old one?
A–Certainly since the Hebrew Bible, where we have it in the story of Rachel and Leah. There are a lot of films with bedtricks in them. “Prelude to a Kiss” is a bedtrick. He thinks he’s in bed with Meg Ryan, but he’s not. And there’s an important bedtrick in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” that I didn’t know about. I’ll certainly put that in the paperback.
Inc.–So, is your book a scholarly treatise on “bedtricks”?
A–Not that scholarly. It plays by the rules: It’s got footnotes. It’s rather a lively appreciation. Sort of putting all the stories together, trying to see what they say.
Inc.–Well, what do they say?
A–These stories say that everybody thinks that the best way to get to know a person is to go to bed with them. But they also say that lust so deludes people, it’s very easy to fool someone if you go to bed … and people are fooled all the time.
Inc.–But in real life people don’t really have sex with one person only to discover it was somebody else.
A–Not literally. But in the morning, a lot of people say, “Why did I think I liked this man?” Or, “Why did I think he was single?” Or, “Why did I think he was interesting?” That’s a common feeling
Inc.–What project are you working on?
A–I just finished a translation of the Kama Sutra from Sanksrit to English. Warren interviews the author of a provocative new book.
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Send comments and tips to Warren & Armour at chicagotribune/go/inc or e-mail inc@tribune.com and catch the duo’s act on WGN-TV Ch. 9’s “Morning News” every Thursday.
