The High Line opened to the public a couple of months ago. And it's a delight, isn't it? Unfortunately, it appears the park is a little too delightful since four times as many people have been stopping to visit than Friends of the High Line originally anticipated. And now maintenance costs have gone through the roof, so the group is now looking to tax local residents to make up the difference.
John Travolta's rep is knocking down reports that he is contemplating leaving Scientology. Of course, Scientology can be a tough habit to kick if you are, say, a closeted gay man who was forced to privately confess in auditing sessions.
Ad mogul and fill-in MSNBC anchor Donny Deutsch thinks it's a totally super idea to ship New York's homeless population to far-flung places! At least that's what he said under his breath today as the cable network went to commercial break. His reaction probably won't come as much of a surprise, of course. But prepare yourself for the news that Deutsch's worked out a marketing deal to make JetBlue the official airline of New York City's unwanted masses. It's bound to happen sooner or later. The clip is below.
• Time Warner sucked wind in the second quarter as profits fell 34%. Newly-independent Time Warner Cable, however, posted a profit. [AP, Reuters]
• McKinsey has set up shop at Condé Nast. What it is the consulting firm's actually doing (or recommending), however, remains a mystery. [NYO]
• Barry Diller's IAC posted a modest profit for the second quarter, but reported that revenues at the media conglomerate were down modestly, too. [AP]
• Michael Milken is backing some sort of new business website. Exciting! [NYT]
• Even more exciting: Sarah Palin is thinking about hosting a radio show. [HP]
Michelle Malkin is a psychotic blogger well outside the political mainstream, and so she got to promote her book with a friendly chat with Matt Lauer on NBC's Today Show this morning.
The presser was straight out of Bonfire of the Vanities, beginning with an exceedingly strange two-minute-plus introduction from Whalen's attorney Wendy Murphy, who cautioned the assembled press to "leave her alone" before praising her as the "one person whose actions have been exemplary" and implicitly criticizing Barack Obama for failing to invite her to tomorrow's sit-down between Gates and Sgt. James Crowley. "I don't know, maybe it's a guy thing," Murphy sneered. "She doesn't like beer anyway." Then she nominated Whalen, the woman she wants to be left alone, to head a proposed blue-ribbon panel to examine the issue of racial profiling in Cambridge. Murphy is enjoying her 15 minutes.
Social Life editor Devorah Rose finds herself caught up in a bit of messiness today. Not because her vapid magazine can't find any advertising. And not because she embarrassed herself a couple of weekends ago when she sent out word that Ciara would attend the mag's big party at the "Social Life estate" in Bridgehampton, but then couldn't scrape together the $10,000 needed to pay Ciara's appearance fee. This time, she's been accused of an honest-to-God crime! It seems there's a newcomer on the Hamptons society magazine scene called New York Hamptonite, and Rose and her Social Life friends have been doing their best to stamp out the competition? How, exactly? By stealing all of their copies and replacing them with Social Life.
On the Late Show With David Letterman last night, Katie Couric told the story of how Michael Jackson asked her out on a date in 2000 (two years after her husband died), using Rabbi Shmuley Boteach as a go-between.
Who knew ABC Family was chasing the Logo audience. Witness their college frat house soap opera Greek, which, as this clip reel demonstrates, may just be the gayest show on television this side of Bromance.
Giving up her Upper East Side penthouse and all of its contents may not be all that Ruth Madoff has to sacrifice for living off her husband's vast Ponzi scheme for all those years: Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernie Madoff's investment advisory business, slapped Ruthie with a lawsuit today. Picard claims she was "massively enriched" by her husband's $65 billion Ponzi scheme (duh), and says he's identified an additional $44.8 million "that is subject to recapture." Ruth's lawyer says the suit is "perplexing and totally unjustified," since she's already forfeited most of her assets. You can read the full suit below if you have nothing better to do this rainy afternoon. But if you're a salesperson at Neiman Marcus or Barneys, you probably should take this as a sign that Ruthie's regularly-scheduled shopping expedition this weekend is not happening.
Are you a sad football-watching drunk who wants nothing more than to guzzle cheap American beer and pass out in front of the flickering televised sporting contest, momentarily forgetting your copious problems? No, you're the future of beer marketing!
