Funny. I’d have thought that Annie Leibovitz would be worth a bob or two. But it appears not.

An art finance company that loaned celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz $24 million against the value of her entire collection and her properties has sued Leibovitz for violating the terms of the agreement.

In a lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court, Art Capital Group Inc asked a judge to compel Leibovitz to cooperate with the person assigned to selling her copyrights and organising the sale of her properties, so Leibovitz can pay back the loan.

Leibovitz (59), who has photographed everyone from Michelle Obama to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and a heavily pregnant Demi Moore in the nude, approached Art Capital in June last year about her “dire financial condition,” the lawsuit said.

She initially obtained a $22 million loan from American Photography, which is held by Art Capital Group. Later that amount was increased to $24 million.

The breach of contract lawsuit accuses Leibovitz of “boldly deceptive conduct” and seeks to compel her to grant real estate agents access to homes in Manhattan and in Rhinebeck, New York, so they can be sold and the money used to repay the loan…

Two possible explanations: (a) that private jet was a step too far; (b) she was a client of Bernie Madoff.

Still, she can always pawn her Nikon D3s and that Hasselblad system.

Sadly, no.

“We hit it off right from the beginning. When he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy.”

Harvard Prof Henry Louis Gates, after being invited to the White House for a beer with the police officer who arrested him on suspicion of breaking into his own house.

[Source.]

En passant Obama’s original intervention in this fracas was uncharacteristically thoughtless. After all, for a guy who’s been trained as a lawyer to offer an opinion on a controversial encounter while at the same time saying that he didn’t know the facts was, well, idiotic.

Like Winston Churchill, I’m a firm believer in the efficacy of the afternoon nap. Turns out that I’m not that unusual — at least of the Pew Research Center can be believed.

On a typical day, a third of the adults (34%) in the United States take a nap.

Napping thrives among all demographic groups, but it’s more widespread among some than others, according to a Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,488 adults.

More men than women report that they caught a little snooze in the past 24 hours — 38% vs. 31%. This gender gap occurs almost entirely among older adults. More than four-in-ten ( 41%) men ages 50 and older say they napped in the past day, compared with just 28% of women of the same age. Below the age of 50, men and women are about equally likely to say they napped in the past day (35% vs. 34%)…

Er, zzzzzzz…..