For Courtney Love, the issue is not whether you're crazy or not: It's how to calibrate exactly the correct amount of crazy, so you shock but don't repel. The secret is found deep in today's New York Times profile.

Given that it's Courtney Love, a lot of finding the correct amount of crazy is about finding the exact situation in which to expose her naked body. Sort of like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, if Goldilocks was a serial exhibitionist. It was too crazy when Courtney Love posted naked pics to Twitter and Facebook. Come on, that's like releasing your own sex tape. Tacky!

Also too crazy: Courtney Love strutting around naked in front of New York Times journalist Eric Wilson, then demanding he zip up her dress, as described at the beginning of today's profile:

Shortly after 8 p.m., Ms. Love burst into the room with the Marchesa dress slung on one arm and the noted German Neo-Expressionist artist Anselm Kiefer on the other. She was entirely naked and leaning on Mr. Kiefer for support. She made one lap around the room, walking in front of a photographer, an assistant, a hairstylist and me. She pulled over her head a transparent lace dress that covered up nothing, and demanded my assistance - "Not you," she said to Mr. Kiefer, who was bent over trying to help her - to stuff her feet into a pair of black Givenchy heels that were zipped up the back and tied with delicate laces in the front.

Yikes. Maybe war correspondents shouldn't be the only Times journalists to get free flak jackets?

But there is hope, as Love appears to be getting more savvy (sober?) in her exposure. During this year's Fashion Week, Courtney Love managed to not wear the right clothes at exactly the right time. From the Times:

She was the queen of New York Fashion Week, provocative, but not out of control. [Designer] Narciso Rodriguez said someone had sent him a photograph of Ms. Love, backstage at his show, looking intently at his lineup with her top off and her hands covering her breasts. "She's brilliant," he said.

Just right.