Exclusive: Hillary Clinton is busily writing her new book, due from Simon & Schuster probably on June 1, 2014 according to an amazon.com entry. The book will cover her time as Secretary of State, no doubt including the events of Benghazi. The goal is to clear the air and have everything in place for her 2016 campaign for president. So who’s writing Hillary’s book? Or ghost-writing it? I can confirm that the person doing the heavy lifting is Edward “Ted” Widmer, 50, a former speechwriter for Bill Clinton with some heavy credentials. It’s still unclear how he will be billed.

Widmer, a Harvard grad who wrote for the Lampoon, has a long association with Brown University, where he’s held the post of Director of the John Carter Brown Library. Between 2001 and 2006, Widmer was inaugural director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College, where, according to his bio, “he created numerous programs designed to enliven the teaching of American history and politics to diverse groups, ranging from Muslim college students in historically anti-American regions of the world to elementary students in under-financed public school districts of the eastern shore of Maryland.”

Yesterday I spoke with his wife, who assured me Widmer would call back after taking their son to the mall. He did not return the call or an email. Sources say that Widmer has conceded that Clinton–though she hasn’t said so directly– is “incredibly organized and planning her campaign.”

(NOTE: Widmer wrote to me late Thursday with this addition: “I have neither said that or anything like it to anyone, nor is it something I believe.”)

Widmer sounds like the right man for this job. The tone and revelations of Hillary’s book are going to be crucial to her campaign. Widmer should get a nice fee, too. Clinton’s last book fetched an $8 million advance. This one, say some reports, could be as high as $14 million–although in book publishing that would be ridiculous and impossible to earn back.

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EXCLUSIVE: You know Chris Messina. He’s Mindy Kaling’s foil, possible  love interest on her Fox TV show. He’s featured on “The Newsroom” as Jane Fonda’s son. He played Amy Adams’ husband in “Julie and Julia” and was the fiancee of  Rebecca Hall in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” But now Messina is spending his summer directing his first feature film. It has no title so far but it does have stars and a great producer in Jamie Patricof– “Place Beyond the Pines,” “Blue Valentine.”

The Messina movie will star Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Troy Garity, Derek Luke and the recently revived Don Johnson (“Django Unchained”). The movie is written by Jessica Strong with Katie Nehry and Justin Shilton based on characters the latter two created.

Here’s the description: “Workaholic attorney, Alex [Winstead] is forced to reinvent her life after her husband
suddenly leaves. Now faced with the humdrum and sometimes catastrophic events that permeate
the fabric of our lives, Alex discovers both a vulnerability and inner strength she had not yet tapped all
while trying to hold together her broken family.”

This sounds like a Sundance movie. But the timing might be tight for a mid-October acceptance.

I know that “Hot in Cleveland” has a Susan Harris-like wackiness, so this probably seems right to them. But Shirley Jones, the great Hollywood star of “Oklahoma!” and “Elmer Gantry” and “Carousel” will appear on the live premiere of the TVLand show on June 19th. Are you ready? She’s playing the mother–the mother– of William Shatner’s character, whatever that is. Shatner, the forever James T. Kirk, is 82. Hmmm….Betty White, 91, and youngsters Valerie Bertinelli, Wendi Malick and Jane Leeves are the regulars….No one’s mentioned their ages, the fact that Jones is younger than Shatner and more appropriately aged to play his sister. But that’s TV, I guess. Jones’s most famous role as a mother was as the matriarch of “The Partridge Family.”

Someone– Warner Bros., I guess– describes “Man of Steel” like this on the imdb: “A young journalist is forced to confront his secret extraterrestrial heritage when Earth is invaded by members of his race.” Well, this is a stretch since the latest iteration of Clark Kent is not a journalist of any kind in “Man of Steel.” Indeed, from the looks of things, strapping young Clark is in his early 30s and has been on a fishing trawler– or something. He’s quite old to have done nothing with his life or the superpowers he presumably has discovered in his early teens. But “Man of Steel” doesn’t make a lot of sense, so don’t dally here.

Zack Snyder is a stylish director, and his version of the “Superman” saga has plenty of eye candy whether it’s people or things. Clark makes his first appearance stripped to the waist, chiseled and bulked up very Hugh Jackman “Wolverine”-like at the start of the film. Luckily, British actor Henry Cavill is an old fashioned matinee idol, and he can act. So pretty much whatever will happen, he is watchable. When he finally runs across Lois Lane, an established star reporter, you see they have chemistry. Amy Adams can grab just about any role by the tail and toss it around. She’s perky and smart, and a good choice for Lois.

At first the screenplay seems promising. Since we’ve seen “Superman” dozens of times, we know the story. This one is a tad different. Lois works for Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) at the Daily Planet. When he won’t publish her story about space ships and aliens she turns it over to a Drudge like blogger whose name is “Wordbern”– for Woodward and Bernstein. (It’s a joke.)

Meanwhile, Clark is targeted by General Zod of Krypton, the enemy of Clark’s late real father, Jor El. Russell Crowe is a much more active and athletic Jor El than Marlon Brando, that’s for sure. He’s an action hero on Krypton! And Krypton is no longer a place of icicles and magic. It’s a CGI fortress with loads of sci fi stuff flying around. (I’d love to see that budget.) And Michael Shannon looks like he may be a worthy villain.

But trouble looms: there’s a great set up, a decent middle act as Clark and Lois meet, and then– no third act. The entire last third of the movie is mind numbing explosions. Don’t worry about spoilers because the story gives way to chaos. There’s not much humor or wit. There’s no sense of awe or wonder (I think of Christopher Reeve flying Margot Kidder around at night). And what had promised to be something interesting splatters.

“Man of Steel” cost around $250 million to make. A lot of it annoyed me, especially when office towers are constantly blown up, people fall of out of them, papers and personal belongings go flying out the windows. There’s no thought of 9-11, or maybe there is. Maybe no one cares anymore. But I winced a lot at the mayhem. And it’s not like Superman is saving anyone.  Instead of a story, just more buildings are blown up. Metropolis is wrecked. You know in the old days, Superman flew around and stopped catastrophes– he held together falling bridges, or eye-soldered collapsing buildings. Now he causes the problems in pursuit of Zod, laying waste everywhere and not caring much. I didn’t him saving people so much in this film as obliterating them.

Oh, well. Maybe the fanboys will love this Superman. But the charm of the Donner films is far, far away. What Snyder has going for him is a strong cast. I don’t know how far that will go to help the film past a first weekend. The studio can cross its fingers and hope for big international numbers.

You’d think that being in love and expecting to be a father would bring out the crooner in Kanye West. Maybe one or two love songs, something inspired by his change in life, would turn up on a new album. After all, baby girl Kardashian West is due any minute. But no such luck. Last night about 200 people were summoned to a loading dock next to Jeffrey, the chic boutique on West 14th St. near the Hudson River.

It was there that Kanye presented his new album, “Yeezus,” coming next Tuesday, June 18th. The recording was completed this past Saturday night. “There were 54 emails over the weekend,” said a DefJam insider.

Indeed, there is no album art work. It’s just a clear plastic case with a CD. Last night there were no lyrics or liner notes. I asked. Someone from the label rolled his eyes skyward. They were lucky to have the album. It’s not like June 18th was a surprise. Kanye told DefJam he’d “make the date.” And so he has.

Before the listening session began, Jay Z and Timbaland showed up. Jay Z was wearing a very fashionable rain jacket with a hood. Since it was pouring outside–which was inches away from us– I said, “You came prepared.” He said, “It’s for fashion.” It hadn’t occurred to him that he could actually use it for inclement weather.

The sounds from “Yeezus” were so loud that we stood at the very entrance to the loading dock, as far back from the speakers as possible without getting wet. There were actual people standing a few feet away, outside, listening, despite torrents. These are true fans.

“Yeezus” sounds like a primal scream, or what it must be like in Kanye’s head after a year with the avaricious Kardashians. There are no melodies. The lyrics were hard to decipher, and the ones that were quoted to me can’t be reprinted. Anywhere. Most of the music was fuzzy, heavy metal, and dissonant. It’s possible that Billie Holiday was sampled. But it didn’t seem like a lot of old music was sampled. I did hear words like “Range Rover” rhymed with “hung over.”

Before the album was played, Kanye gave a little speech to the effect that he finally felt he was in the right place, that there aren’t too many opportunities for blacks to be billionaires, He said: “I just needed to get away from the usual systems. I have no system.” And: “We’ve been squashed by opportunity.”

I like Kanye, and I’m sure “Yeezus” will sell 400,000 copies during its first week. So many may have recorded it last night, there will be bootlegs galore today. But is there a single? There is no single. And you will not be hearing these tracks on radio any time soon. But he knows that. He’s after something else here. He’s an artist, and he don’t look back.

Yes, Cicely Tyson is the oldest winner ever of a Tony — she’s 88 years old although you’d never know it. Many data bases say she’s 79, but it’s not so. We checked it out when Trip to Bountiful opened in April. She looks amazing. I asked her then what was her secret? She said “If you drove a Bentley wouldn’t you put only premium gas in It? I only eat the best things.”
Also the Tony Awards rating were up in the demo and overall audience. Even though basketball beat it, the Tonys held their own quite nicely. Les Moonves should be pleased. He renewed the Tony show deal through 2018. Cicely will be 93.

WITH SPOILERS: Yes, last night on “Mad Men” Don Draper finally met his biggest nightmare. It wasn’t his past or any of the secrets he used to fear about his identity. It was his present. Little Sally, not so little anymore, caught him with neighbor Sylvia en flagrante. It’s an image that should put her into permanent therapy or turn her into a revolutionary. Don, the great philanderer, now has a secret with Sally. For the first time in six seasons he looks worried. Terrified, even. The whole Sylvia-affair is about to come crashing in on him. Will Dr. Rosen or Megan find out? And what about Betty? We have two episodes left.

“Mad Men” has notoriously not paid off on many plot twists in the past. Things just happened. But now, with the end near, Matt Weiner seems to be giving plot a little more urgency. Peggy and Pete, now both single, had a major moment together. Little addressed from the first season is the fact that they had a child together, which Peggy gave up for adoption. Now, on a mission with Ted, they’ve reconnected. Where will this lead? And Ted: obviously Weiner likes him and we do too. But now that we’ve met his family, you know he’s not going to leave them.

“Favors” (the episode title) had no Joan and little Roger. But we did get a little more Ben Benson, who’s gay (no surprise) and on the move. I still think he’s aiming for the Harry Hamlin character. And Bob has some kind of knowledge or past with Manuel, the man servant he assigned to Pete’s mother. She’s either actually sleeping with Manuel or fantasizing about it. I’m more worried about Pete’s hair.

And then there’s Megan. She is really out of it. Clueless. I fear for everyone when she wakes up to what’s going on around her. She and Dr. Rosen and maybe Henry Francis make me think Season 6 will end with a cliffhanger–“Who Shot Don Draper?”