And it continues: 02138, the glossy mag for Harvard alumni that was bought by Manhattan Media last May, is folding. The magazine was conceptually pretentious and we've made fun of it plenty in the past, but honestly, we don't really have the heart right now. At this point we support any publication with paying jobs. The Great Magazine Die-Off is going to be a bitch. The full statement on the magazine's death is below:
Relaunching your niche magazine in this miserable market and dismal culture? Get legendary designer George Lois on board! He cannibalized his old Esquire work for Radar, and now he's lending his talents to pretend Harvard Alum mag 02138 (can't believe we got the name of the mag right on the first try, sigh). If it wasn't late Friday afternoon we'd mock up a funny photoshop here. But now YOU CAN'T MAKE US. Anyway Lois is still awesome and cantankerous so it will probably be good, unlike the rest of that miserable magazine. The relaunch cover story? "The Harvard 100, the magazines annual ranking of the top 100 living alumni. " [NYP]
For some reason we thought 02138—the annoyingly named pretend Harvard alumni magazine that proclaimed itself Vanity Fair for people who went to Harvard and wished to read a second, inferior Vanity Fair each month—had already been shuttered by Atlantic Media. Well, it's alive. Tiny, unknown Manhattan Media (they own the New York Press and some things you've never heard of) bought the magazine from Atlantic Media for an undisclosed price. The publisher will remain cofounder Bom Kim (for now), but Manhattan Media has decided to expand the brand into—wait for it—social networking. Then they will introduce new versions of the magazine for every other Ivy League school, because if there's a group of people who don't have enough media outlets to write for, it's Ivy grads. Amusingly, the Manhattan Media press release announcing the deal leaves out their only existing holding anyone remembers reading: the embarrassing second-string alt-weekly New York Press. That release after the jump, along with a selection from this week's Press "guest sex columnist." [NYT]
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is suing to have unflattering documents unearthed by Harvard-themed magazine 02138—including "Mr. Zuckerberg's handwritten application for admission to Harvard and an excerpt from an online journal he kept as a student that contains biting comments about himself and others" to be stricken from the Internet. This is the same dude who made billions from a website that allows you to let everyone in your friend network know when you are peeing. [NYT]
If you're a "confident, witty writer and hard-nosed researcher" who hasn't yet firmed up your summer unpaid career advancement plans, take heart! "One part-time editorial internship is still available this summer at 02138, the new independent magazine for Harvard alumni," per their ad on Craigslist. But lest you think it'll be all confident, witty fluff pieces (like, say, profiling alumni-on-alumna Loves), 02138 wants to make sure you're aware that "while the magazine does not shy away from gossip and guilty pleasures, the heart of 02138 is stringently executed investigative journalism." Like the Spring issue's piece on the Harvard Hubris Hall of Fame, which details alumni downfalls (remember that Kaayva thing?) The full ad follows, in case your nose is feeling hard (up) enough to consider applying.
Doree and Nikola headed to the Puck Building last night for a Paris Review fundraiser. Their account, and photos, follow.
There are certain ways that one announces one's place in the social pecking order. Dalton or Spence. Summers in Nantucket, winters in Palm Beach. Really all out is the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For those truly interested in becoming a part of the literary establishment, there is the Paris Review and its annual gala. Most parties for the quarterly literary journal take place at its offices in Tribeca and are generally attended by the expected assortment of nattily attired lower-level publishing types and a couple of famous writers enticed by the free drinks or the comely assistants who drink too many of them. But the Revel, as the annual benefit is called, is an entirely different animal. Tickets started at $500 and one was welcome to purchase a table for $50,000, which is the annual salary of two assistants.
Let the Times have their Vows and the Post their... well, whatever they want to call it! Another publication has quietly muscled into the weddings announcement game—and the barrier to entry is much higher than either of those two rags. We're talking, of course, about 02138 magazine's online Loves column, which sporadically highlights a Harvard alum's nuptial bliss. Take Katherine Dowling, J.D. '98, and Marc Axelbaum's wedding in the Blue Ridge mountains. It's all so urban haute-bourgeois you could just die.
We're hearing that David Bradley's long-in-the-works Atlantic website relaunch may be on the rocks. The relaunch was described to job-seekers about a month ago as a "sure thing" to launch by mid-April, with all hiring completed by mid-March, and a tipster who applied for one of the positions at Atlantic Online sends along the following email from the Atlantic's Recruiting department today:
A gang of pretentious Harvard twits are coming to New York! (Unlike every other day.) Boston-based 02138 magazine—backed by Atlantic owner David Bradley and described ad nauseam as "Vanity Fair for Harvard"—made quite a splash with its first issue, in large part thanks to a Bill O'Reilly-attended launch party at the Core Club and cover shot of Rashida Jones wearing a tie and not much else. The second issue had Eliot Spitzer on the cover. Hmm. And now they're headed our way.
Yesterday we linked to IvyGate's report on the launch party for swanky new Harvard mag 02138. Being Ivy Leaguers themselves, they reported that the event had its moments of absurdity but, overall, was decent, drunken fun. The Observer's account, however, makes us wonder if anything held in a room full of Harvard alums could actually be tolerable:
Last night was the launch party for 02138, the glossy new Harvard magazine that's not specifically for alums but will only be read with any regularity by alums. The lovable snots over at IvyGate were in attendance and report that not only was the party somewhat decent (save for the speech from the UVA-alum publisher), but the magazine's good too. As for A-list attendance, however:
The public-schooled plebs will no doubt be pressed against the exterior of the Core Club tonight, pathetically trying to feel the magic emanating from the most fabulous event since last week — the launch party for 02138, the new Harvard glossy magazine not-officially-for-alums-but-really-for-alums. (The mag is apparently too hip for the Harvard Club — that, or they blew their financial wad on the magazine's "board of advisors," which includes the likes of Kurt Andersen and Steve Brill.) As mentioned last week, the first issue features the Harvard 100, a list of influential alumni. Included in this much-needed ranking of underrecognized and humble grads individuals:
From the media kit for 02138, Harvard's incredibly funded, independent alumni magazine:
Last Thursday 02138 - the independent magazine about Harvard alumni - carried and essay from Julie Buxbaum, a Harvard Law grad who threw it all away to pursue literature:
• The Village Voice's new EIC Erik Wemple changes his mind, quitting the gig before he had technically started. Not surprisingly, the New Times has fucked things beyond repair.
• Britney Spears assures Matt Lauer and the world that she's just as pathetic as we all suspected, if not worse. (YouTube then slaps us and takes away our video.)
• Finally, Page Six finds someone to accept their job offer, it's just not who you'd expect: Post City desker Bill Hoffman.
• Hour Media buys Absolute; the mag's audience of rich people shrug, go about with their usual, rich-people lives.
• Rite-Aid removes Shock from its newsstands, arguing that the magazine clashed with the drugstore's Danielle Steel selection.
• MTV begins filming its reality show in the offices of Rolling Stone; Men's Journal and Us Weekly staffs are promptly forgotten.
• Rocco DiSpirito refuses to disappear.
• Now that Ellen Barkin has removed her balcony's privacy fence, neighbors are easily treated to a night of watching her kids drink bongwater.
• AMI plans to sell off five of its lackluster titles, if only so the company can afford Bonnie Fuller's driver.
• Beyonce graces the cover of Spin, and it's overwhelmingly clear why Andy Pemberton was sacked.
• Hell has a zipcode, and it's 02138.
• Nothing's the same, not even the simple things.
