Bastille Day in the Hamptons

Last Monday was Bastille Day, which for those of you who are unfamiliar, is the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille in France at the onset of the French Revolution. It's kind of like the equivalent of Independence Day for Americans. Classy French people celebrate Bastille Day in the Hamptons at Sunset Beach on Shelter Island, a cutesy little French establishment right on the beach.
Plum TV's Robyn Moreno and I set out to investigate the activities on board for the day. Pretty typical Hamptons daytime party. Champagne. Bikinis. Millionaries. And...Petanque? I shot and edited, Robyn got tipsy and flirted with Frenchmen. See for yourself, here.

Making White People Uncomfortable One Segment at a Time

On Monday afternoon I was asked to cover an event called the Hamptons Golf Classic. Basically, it's this annual thing that's in its fifth year running where b-list celebrities and athletes come together to play golf at a ritzy country club in Westhampton to raise money for charity. This year, the point guard for the New York Knicks, Chris Duhon, was the official host of the Classic, with proceeds benefitting his charity, the Stand Tall Foundation. Chris set up this charity in his hometown of Slidell, Louisiana to raise enough funds to re-build all the basketball courts that had been destroyed in the hurricane.

While that's all well and good and touching, in true Plum TV fashion, I was told to make my coverage of the event less about the charity, but rather about something more...interesting. So I chose to put a bit of a twist on the segment. I decided that I would make the piece about whether or not black people play golf. Now of course, this question made some people extremely uncomfortable as well as the founder of the Hamptons Golf Classic, a particularly huge prick in my opinion, who was to say the least, a bit perturbed. He's one of those Long Island boys, recently-made-millionare, self-proclaimed "party promoter" who probably drives a Mustang. Asshole.

Anyway, I spent all week editing this shit, and it's all done, but the piece hasn't aired yet, as some of the staff at Plum TV finds it slightly obtrusive and potentially controversial. I say, piss off. It's funny and it's good TV. God. White people are so sensitive. So here it is. You can decide for yourselves.

The Million Dollar Question: Low-Key Summer in the Hamptons?

About a month ago, the New York Times predicted that in the current spirit of hard times, this summer in the Hamptons would be far less flashy and far more 'low-key and beachy.' See NY Times article here. The article goes on to say that flip flops, rather than high heels and summer Prada loafers, will be the shoe of choice this summer in the Hamptons. And that the very visual of flip flops in the Hamptons is some indicator of economic hardship. Because people in the Hamptons would otherwise neeeeveerrr eeevvveerr wear... flip flops.

So Plum TV has taken it upon themselves to enlighten any and everyone who's interviewed on camera as to the details of this NY Times article, and inquire their opinion of such a claim. Will the Hamptons follow suit with the rest of the country and cut back on their shoe wardrobe spending? Or will the Hamptons remain untainted by the low tides in the economy?

Last Saturday I accompanied two of my bosses at Plum TV, Nick Leighton and Nora Magleby, to a whole bunch of social events around the Hamptons and filmed them interviewing a whole bunch of people (among them Jonathan Adler, Fern Mallis, Ivanka Trump, Kelly Bensimon, and some random models), posing that very question: will this summer in the Hamptons be like no other? Will this summer indeed be 'low-key?'

Here's what they had to say...

Let's Try This Out...

Never had a blog before. But if there's any time to start one, it's now.

I'm living in East Hampton, NY for the summer, working as an intern for Plum TV. It's a local cable network with affiliates in expensive vacation/resort locations. Think Aspen. Nantucket. Martha's Vineyard. Miami. Vail. Sun Valley. Telluride. Plum is there, in all those places. Except the Hamptons, perhaps second to Miami, is clearly superior to all the others.

So here I am. Having run-ins with the Real Housewives of New York City. And Ivanka Trump. And Justin Timberlake. And Lindsay Lohan. And Nick Cannon. And Fern Mallis. And Jonathan Adler. And it's only been three weeks. I figure, why not start a blog and share with the world the tales of such run-ins. Who knew Justin Timberlake looks way older in real life? Well, I do now. And I guess you do too. And yes, Lindsay Lohan really is that skinny. And a hot mess. And Kelly Bensimon really is that pretty. And Ivanka? Taller than I expected. Fern Mallis? Total sweethart. Super thick hair. Jonathan Adler? If you've ever questioned this man's sexuality before, question no more. Ladies, he's off the market. Oh and Nick Cannon? Bad style. Plaid suit...enough said. And his publicist is a huge bitch. Nice ass though.

It's such a strange phenomenon meeting these celebrities and television personalities in real life. Having first-class access to some of the hottest, most exclusive events and night-spots in the world. I hope I don't become jaded from all of this, because the intent of this blog, my very first blog, is to share with you with complete honesty and humilty my witnessings as a summer intern in one of the toniest resort communities on the planet.

Consider this your real person's insider's guide to the Hamptons. From the gossip to the hot spots to the weather, I am your girl. I'm just a middle-class Mulatto senior at the University of Michigan living the life of a skinny, prissy East Coast millionare socialite. But I've still got my sanity, and I've still got my roots, and at the end of the summer, we'll see if the other side of the tall green grass hedges are really that much greener.

Enjoy.