Finally, Facebook is helping users create a list of real friends inside their official friends list. There's no need to share everything with everyone, after all. But watch out, because people will know when they're downgraded to your D-list. (Update below.)
In your departing Tuesday media column: Sam Sifton says goodbye to the NYT restaurant critic gig (with memo!), Nancy Franklin quits as NYer TV critic, more News Corp scandalism, and Mashable expands.
In last week's Republican presidential debate, the crowd gave Rick Perry a round of applause when the moderator mentioned that he'd executed 234 people during his time as Texas governor. So was he heartened last night, too, when some folks cheered in response to Wolf Blitzer's question, "Are you saying that society should just let [uninsured person] die?" Nope! That shit scared him.
What new, irritating things have recently gone down in the fire-soaked hell fields of America's anti-best state, Arizona? It's always important to check in, in case, say, Steven Seagal is riding a tank en route to a chicken/puppy massacre. The latest news doesn't involve any murder, thank goodness. Only the possible collapse of the Republican primary schedule. Hooray!
In the future, things will be very slightly different. In the future, things will be worse. The future is now.
Last night's episode of Bravo's suddenly grim series did, blessedly, mostly lay off the grim. There were certainly bleak parts, but mostly it was ladies rolling around in the snow and complaining about travel.
A horde of foamy-mouthed "frugalistas" took down the website of corporate megalith Target for several hours this morning, when Italian knitwear brand Missoni launched its 400-piece "Missoni for Target" collection. I won't lie, I am not above this. I, too, visited Target.com this morning, seeking a pair of zig-zag patterened shoes I saw in the Missoni for Target lookbook. My greed for reasonably priced footwear crashed Target.com.
Last night I was too busy getting a drink spilled on me by Christina Hendricks at a movie premiere so I didn't see The A List. Luckily I ran into Manhattan's most obnoxious homosexuals, Dustin and Jayden, as they made their way from Barrage to the Q Train. They filled me in on what happened.
Sweden is weathering a rare "tropical hurricane," forcing Swedes to use the term "tropical hurricane," with quotation marks, because this whirling dervish is strange to them, exotic, bewildering, foreign. Sweden's hurricane is named "Katia." She is Class 1, and tore through British Isles earlier, killing one. [The Local, The Local]
Michele Bachmann finally found an attack line to wrest ultraconservative support from Rick Perry last night: That he mandated vaccinations against HPV for "innocent little girls," by executive order, to help his campaign contributors. Good for Michele!...??? But it's the anecdote about the vaccine leaving one girl mentally retarded that really makes this somethin' else.
Megan Fox reassures the world that she is neither robot nor android. Underlings must "turn their faces to a wall" when Madonna walks by. Jane Lynch started smoking at the age of 12. Demi Moore tweets a "topless" picture. Tuesday gossip is practicing human emotions.
No need to hoard your allowances, all you curious young men who, somehow, haven't discovered the internet. The opportunity to see naked ladies in the October issue of Playboy will only cost you 60¢.
This actor has a penchant for porn babes with a little extra. This young actor has a crush on Belinda Carlisle's gay son, and this vampire franchise hunk and his best friend are on the down low. Being straight is so 2000 and late.
When you think "Things that I, as a taxpayer, want my tax money to pay for, in regards to my local water management district," you immediately think "propaganda masquerading as news." Because the important thing for a water district is good PR for the bureaucrats that run it. Water stuff? Later for that!
The print book publishing business was growing by huge margins and raking in ever-growing amounts of money—until now. Ikea has ruined it. Why do Swedish people love lingonberries but hate the printed word?
Remember that emperor penguin that somehow turned up on the shores of New Zealand after getting lost off the coast of Antarctica? Besides giving it the least original name of all time (Happy Feet? Seriously?), conservasionists set the penguin free on September 4, and were monitoring its progress with a satellite transmitter. Only problem: they superglued the transmitter to the penguin's feathers. Some not so happy thoughts from the AP:
