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Weekend Cocktail ChatterSlate's handy guide to small talk.


Posted Friday, June 2, 2006, at 4:15 PM ET

Slate offers a quick and easy guide to help you fake your way through overly cultured cocktail parties this weekend.

Start the conversation by clucking about the cancellation of the $2.5 million deal for Valerie Plame Wilson's book Fair Game. You'll have to wait until another publisher snaps up the title to learn the real story behind Plame's role in l'affaire uranium yellowcake.

You'll want to talk about the selection of Washington City Paper editor Erik Wemple as the new editor of the Village Voice. Admit that you haven't picked up a free copy of the Voice in 10 years and reaffirm that you might just start reading it again.

If you're at a party with Wall Street-types, start a betting pool about what the name of the new Condé Nast business magazine will be. The finalists reportedly include Quote, Portfolio, File, and Currency. Results on Monday.

Katie Couric got the royal send-off at the Today show this week, which featured the shedding of a few well-timed tears. Her soon-to-be rival at ABC, 63-year-old Charles Gibson, referred to himself as an "old codger" in a recent interview but doesn't seem to think that will preclude him from totally kicking 49-year-old Katie's ass in the ratings war.

And if you should find yourself at a party with a lot of comic-book nerds, ask them how much of Brett Ratner's record-breaking $122 million opening weekend for X-Men: The Last Stand they're responsible for.

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