GREEN & GLOVER: Open book

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By Stephanie Green and Elizabeth Glover

If there's one person who most certainly is not mysterious, it's celebrity blogger and provocateur Perez Hilton, whom we exclusively hear is publishing a book in December in which he addresses his very public spats with conservative former beauty queen Carrie Prejean and musician Will.i.am.

Titled "Perez Hilton's True Bloggywood Stories: The Glamorous Life of Beating, Cheating, and Overdosing," the book is "a year in review about all the scandals that happened in Hollywood," according to a source close to Mr. Hilton.

When we asked if "the queen of all media" takes a remorseful and apologetic bent toward Miss Prejean in the book, the source told us emphatically "no. [Miss Prejean] would not be where she is without Perez."

Look for a release date of Dec. 2, just in time for the holidays, and for the always snarky Mr. Hilton to rehash his clashes on a media tour.

Opera is work

Famed mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne — a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts 2009 Opera Honors — admitted she fell asleep during her first time at an opera. It was Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde." It's almost 4 hours of orchestra and voice with little action.

"I fell asleep in the first act!" she said with a laugh, then added, "Well, I'd been all day at school. I didn't get a nap, and I know now when you see 'Tristan and Isolde,' you nap!"

Miss Horne joined the other honorees at Sidney Harman Hall — composer John Adams, stage director and librettist Frank Corsaro, general director Lotfi Mansouri and conductor Julius Rudel — in a discussion about the challenges of marketing opera today, especially to younger people.

Mr. Mansouri later said, "I want people to stop this nonsense about opera being elitist. That's awful and I won't buy it."