Tuesday, October 23, 2007

A Million Little Pieces


When James Frey, the author of A Million Little Pieces was revealed to have fabricated portions of his memoir, he was brought on Oprah and basically hammered by her and made out by her to be the worst human being in the world for making her look bad. You can read every question she asked James Frey, his publisher, and various media people about the situation right here.

By now most of you know that Jessica Seinfeld has been accused of stealing recipes for her new book Deceptively Delicious from a book entitled the Sneaky Chef which in turn I think might have lifted some ideas, but not recipes from Sneaky Veggies.

I think that every parent has tried to think of some way to make their kids eat vegetables or some other food they won't eat. I'm sure all of you tried to hide it, blend it, lie about it or whatever to get your child to eat the vegetable. What I don't think anyone has done is say, hey, "I'm going to add spinach to brownies," or "avocados with chocolate pudding." If you thought of the latter one, you are one sneaky person and I'm scared of you and your kids should be scared of you also because they will never get away with anything.

So here we have an unknown author who sent two different manuscripts to Harper Collins. One she sent before she had an agent and then another after she had an agent. The manuscript included recipes. Then, enter Jessica Seinfeld who on her own comes up with the same odd combinations of desserts and vegetables. I don't think so.

If this were anyone else, especially after the entire James Frey incident, Oprah would have had this person on, handed them back the $21,000 shoe thank you gift, and ripped her a new one in front of the world. Instead, because of who Jessica Seinfeld is, and who she is married to, Oprah lets Jerry come on, promote his Bee Movie, which looks funny by the way, and doesn't do anything to Jessica.

In my opinion this is worse than the James Frey book. In Frey's book, only portions were fabricated, and some others embellished, but at least it was his own work, and his own ideas.

In this case, I'm not sure we can determine whether this is really Jessica Seinfeld's own work. Allegedly Harper Collins wanted nothing to do with Missy Lapine when she came knocking twice because they had a similar book. Enter Jessica Seinfeld who had a great agent and a great name and who cares if it was a similar book to one they already had and one they rejected.

Let's take a quick look at the William Morris agent who brought Jessica Seinfeld to Harper Collins. Her name is Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. Name sound familiar? Probably not. But, she is also the agent of Kaavya Viswanathan who is the Harvard sophomore who was proved to have plagiarised her best selling book. I bet Oprah sure would like to have a few words with that agent huh?

Harper Collins is convinced Jessica Seinfeld is legit because she made them mac and cheese with meatballs. Wow, sure, that makes her a cookbook author alright. Jerry has also volunteered that he was a guinea pig for much of the recipes. I don't doubt that Jerry. I just want to know where she got the recipes from, and I think Oprah to be fair, needs to have her on and ask her.

46 comments:

PicadillyCircus888 said...

Wasn't Jessica Seinfeld barely back from her honeymoon when she met Jerry Seinfeld at the gym? Doesn't sound like Jessica thinks society's rules necessarily apply to her, huh?

tara said...

i love how jessica seinfeld's excuse is that she never "read" the other book. okay... well, maybe she never actually held it in her hands, BUT does anyone really think that a ridiculously rich fashionista cooks all of her family's meals? obsesses over how to get her kiddies to each their veggies? does she actually want us to believe that she never once googled "kids" "veggies" "puree"? her agent never thought to research competing titles?

maybe oprah will FINALLY stop her wholesale endorsements of books??? i guess she's a little preoccupied with the charges of "misconduct against a student" involving one of her employees at her school in africa???

jax said...

Sactimonious Oprah..she'll never utter a peep about this. I love me some Oprah but in the last few years she is so..full of herself.
And no in a Trump way..but in a Godcomplex way.

Tracee said...

Ain't gonna happen Ent. Oprah's got money on the brain and she's not going to railroad Mrs. Seinfeld. Oprah is no friend of mine.

I can appreciate her coming from the bottom of the gutter to be on top, but she is so self-righteous it comes off as ignorant. She's truly lost touch with her core audience.

She should just have a show on that the network created for millionaires, because that's all I think she relates to now.

I think what she did to James Frey was wrong. either way he wrote the book, now selling it as his life is another thing, but this chick is downright stealing and that's sleazy.

I expect this to be swept under the rug by next week. Whew! Thanks for letting me rant!

jin said...

oprah and her crew of self-righteous harpy hens would never get the same satisfaction out of skewering one of their own as they did raking a drug addict over the coals.

he didn't "suffer" enough for them to feel sorry for him and he was made to pay dearly.

she is the biggest fraud around.

tara said...

and i ask... are 21 pairs of louby's worth your credibility???

hell-lo??? at the very least oprah should have the author of the original book on to sell her "wares"...

dont think it'll happen though bc as you all have said oprah is a big ole racist... she sees no color when it comes to the "color" of money!

Reese said...

Hallelujah; I'm not the only one who can't stand Oprah! Sanctimonious doesn't begin to do her justice.

The thought of Jessica Seinfeld (had she even unpacked from her honeymoon with husband #1 when she absconded with Jerry?) fixing as much as a cup of coffee, much less dinner, is hilarious. The idea of her concocting recipes will have me rolling on the floor in hysterics.

Anonymous said...

Wow, ENT, you're right. We wont see her calling out Jessica Seinfeld, who appears to be mean and a scandalous bitch for reasons OTHER than this book! They're all a bunch of fucking hypocrites--I'll come up with my own recipes, or read those other books instead, thank you!

Jen Ryan's Brain said...

Pope-rah...at it again, shilling for anyone who will shill back. She's getting as intolerably ass-sucking as Larry King, who, by the way, still owes Larry Forgione for his $75,000 restaurant tab.

Besides I cannot fathom how putting spinach in brownies would be in any way appetizing.

Plenty of kids eat veggies; including my best friend's, and they are vegans! So the whole "kids dont eat veggies thing is just parental BS/laziness.

Crikey, quit spending your life pureeing beets and order a damn pizza with mushrooms and peppers. Bet your kids will eat that...and it wont give that self-righteous see-you-next-tuesday Jessica Seinfeld more shoe money.

Read up on her and her first gold-digging marital attempt to Eric Nederlander here....

http://nytimesweddings.blogspot.com/2004/11/cuckold-of-his-domain.html

Unknown said...

Darth Oprah can do what she wants. She is a woman, she is black and now she has money and a media empire built on the souls of white American women who have the brains of sheep and will follow any advice given to them on the Lifetime network. So, do not ask what Darth Oprah can do for you, but what you can do for Darth Oprah and her ego.

littleoleme said...

she is the biggest fraud around

Jindi - I couldn't agree with you more. I cannot stand Oprah and haven't been able to stomach her for years. I always thought that what James Frey did was wrong but what oprah did to him was worse. Way worse. I thought the guy was going to go home and kill himself.

This is the same woman who has her expensive black and white ball and insists that everyone wear black and/or white and then shows up in red.
She'll never do anyting re: Jessica Seinfeld and personally I think that Jerry said what he said ("I was the guinea pig") because he is whipped by his wife.

mooshki said...

Divabunny, I don't think this post has anything at all to do with racism. I don't mean to jump on you, I just hate when race gets drawn in to unrelated issues.

mooshki said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mooshki said...

Oops, sorry Divabunny, I wrote that before Kevin jumped in with his much more offensive comment.

tara said...

mooshki: i wasnt speaking of racism in "regular" terms...i was using it as a "class" issue. satire. james frey was white. seinfeld is white. notice i said "color of money"! frey doesnt have any and the seinfeld's have oodles... i was saying that oprah loves the rich... hope that clears things up for you. basically i was being "funny!"

tara said...

i didnt see what kevin said... what was that... also, plz let me know if my other post clarified where i was going with using the word "race"?

Unknown said...

DivaBunny.... your comment is so similar to what I read on the Jezebel webiste...."Sure, maybe she never literally held it in her well-manicured hands, but as every author or agent of nonfiction knows, before you prepare a proposal to present to editors, you research the marketplace to see if the concept has been executed before, and if so, how. It's called "Competing Titles", and it's part of Nonfiction Publishing 101, up there with "Write A Sample Chapter" and "Describe Your Intended Audience". And if there is a competing title that sounds a lot like yours? At the very least, you take look at it. Maybe you even acknowledge it! Also, are we to believe that, following her epicurean epiphany, Ms. Seinfeld never typed in the words "puree" "kids" and "eating" and "food" into Google? Or that once she signed with hot young literary agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, the importance of researching competing titles was never brought up? Yeah, it's about as believable a scenario as a filthy rich, fashion-obsessed, oft-photographed socialite who does all of her family's cooking."

tara said...

@hinkle: i didnt see a post by jezebel? i just re-read up to the other posts and still dont see it? did someone delete? or am i missing s/thing?

Unknown said...

@divabunny

http://jezebel.com/gossip/food-fight/jessica-seinfelds-i-never-read-that-book-defense-smells-a-little-fishy-313324.php

here is a link to the article.. let me know if it doesn't work:) This is also a cool site

littleoleme said...

divabunny. I believe ehinckle02 was referring to the Jezebel website - not a commenter named Jezebel.

Tracee said...

Divabunny, ehinckle is talking about a different website called Jezebel...not a poster named Jezebel. Hee!

Kevin, what do you mean she's a woman and black? What's that have to do with it? the fact is she's got soo much money coming from her ass that she can't see straight. In fact her view of the world doesn't have to do with culture, sex or race.

Her view, like Divabunny, said is Money. That's it. And if you ain't got it she'll siomp you and if you do...well her kinda a money, then you're best friends.

That ball she held celebrating black women was great...if they weren't all affluent and rich. What about the black women who do great things on a nickle and dime paycheck? That's what I want to ask her.

Lipstick Mystic said...

It's certainly unfair to that other author if Jessica Seinfeld did steal those recipes.

I tried several of the recipes, though, and they really are tasty! I'm a mum to furbabies but will definitely be using these on myself and my significant other guy.

I wrote a review about it addressing some of the criticisms people have been expressing about Deceptively Delicious on the Net. Basically, I encourage people not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. This is a cool book with some really great recipes in it.

The review:

Deceptively Delicious Review



Jen

tara said...

oh! ive never heard of/ been to jezebel website before...thank you for the link though! i read abt the allegations abt seinfeld the other day on rush&malloy/nydn site the other day.

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2007/10/19/2007-10-19_jessica_seinfelds_recipes_stir_up_plagia.html

tara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jin said...

littleolme (great handle, btw):

I was also on James Frey Suicide Watch and i went right out and bought multiple copies of My Friend Leonard immediately after watching her publicly flogging him.

i'm so glad to see this is a shared opinion >8)

SpaSuzy said...

I'm glad Frey was flogged. He's a lying liar who lies.

tara said...

agree... props to james frey for not letting the negativity stop his creativity!

if i remember correctly, wasnt it his publisher's decision to go forward with "a million little pieces" as non-fiction?

SpaSuzy said...

Frey is a liabetic.

mooshki said...

Divabunny, yeah, I got what you were trying to say, and I know you weren't calling anyone a racist, I just was worried that just having that word in the comments could bring out the crazies. :) I've seen some horrible, nastiness when Oprah and racism are discussed together, and in my own very clumsy way I was trying to prevent that.

kellygirl said...

This woman makes Heather Mills look like a saint.

She marries a rich dude, 2 weeks after honeymoon she dumps him for a richer dude.

Now she plagierizes a book.

At least the gold-diggee has a choice and is getting something for his money.
The Plagiered gets nothing!
I hope she gets sued for all of Jerry's money (whatever is left of it after she has fed her designer habits)

mooshki said...

Oh, and to clear things up, the reason I got upset about Kevin's comment was because I think bringing up a person's race when it has no bearing on the issue is horrible.

tara said...

kevin deleted so i didnt see it... i just wanted to make sure my comment wasnt misconstrued... thnx ;)

Kim's World said...

i think what happened in this case with oprah is that mr frey went on her show telling that the book was his idea and oprah but it on her book club so thats why she was mad at him it was more so he made a fool out of her...btw oprah is the best...

tara said...

off topic...oprah was a mistress...

http://socialitelife.com/2007/10/23/oprah_reveals_a_dark_secret_from_her_past.php

brendalove@gmail.com said...

I put some "street spinach" in brownies once ;-)

NatD said...

I HATE Oprah's self-rightous ass with the white-hot intensity of 1000 suns. Glad to see I'm not alone in that dept.

tara said...

brenda!!! i think you nailed it! jessica is putting "street spinach" in her kids food and THAT is why they're eating it!!!

Hez said...

ROFL @ Spasuzy... "liabetic"!

jax said...

If you think Oprah and race don't go hand n hand watch her show a few days and see the difference in the way people of both races are treated by Poprah.

I'm just sayin'
No need to start a race war.

fridayschild said...

I also hate Oprah and all her little minions of white women who lap up every word she speaks. It was plain to she that the only reason she lamblasted Frey was because she picked his book for her *hitty book club and felt embrassed by it.

tara said...

like i said...race doesnt see the "color of money"... just like oprah

WTF said...

I hate, hate, hate Oprah. I'm constantly amazed she hasn't dislocated her shoulder from patting herself on the back time and time again.

James Frey may have embellished his story but the fact is he can write.

Jessica Seinfeld is a waste of space.

Brenda22 said...

Not surprising she would steal material form another author. Not only did she leave first husband for Jerry as soon as she got back from the Honeymoon, she also got pregnant about a month after marrying Jerry. Way to seal the deal, girl.

MnGddess said...

All Oprah could say about this - "technically" - is that she suupposedly hand picks and reccomends the Book Club selections. Jessica Seinfeld's book is a sort of second-hand gesture to Jerry for coming on her show. Which, of course, is bullshit.

I pray that the actual author of the book sues Jessica Seinfeld's ASS off. She can get Gloria Allred (sp?) or somebody else that uses the media to build her client's case.

Kati said...

Recipes are not copyrightable. Jess could not have infringed - recipes are like news stories, fact. So "stealing" isn't possible.

dee dee lefrak said...

The responses on this thread are a great read very psycho-dramatic.

BURN THAT BILLIONAIRE WITCH.


Heh.

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