Bedford-Katonah Patch’s Jessica Schneidman reports on last week’s CrossTalk benefit in the Katona Museum of Art’s Sculpture Garden which paired a certain author with the actress Patricia Clarkson (above right). “In addition to their keen senses of humor, as one audience member remarked, both guests seemed focused on ‘authenticity’ and the exposition of greed, corporate and otherwise,” she writes. Speaking of greed and good material, today’s New York Post highlights administrator salaries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a story titled “Culture vultures.” Suzanne Brenner, the Met’s chief investment officer, made $1.28 million as she watched the value of the museum’s investment portfolio plummet, reports the Post’s Isabel Vincent. The museum’s 2008 tax return is here. It shows that outgoing director Philippe de Montebello earned $916,030, incoming director Thomas Campbell earned $246,335, museum president Emily Rafferty raked in $773,070, and chief flack Harold Holzer took home $445,445, which is $10,000 more than museum lawyer Sharon Cott. Those figures may be of interest to all the museum employees who lost their jobs in 2009. I wonder if any of the highly-paid survivors took salary cuts?