Reality-show subject, Hamptons auto menace, and PR party planner to the stars Lizzie Grubman is helping her client YRB Magazine put out its most glam issue ever! But to do it, she needs the help of you, young tastemakers who "embody street couture." Select stars of the scene are invited to YRB's sweet party and photo shoot, where they can pick out their own outfits from "racks and racks" of designer clothing, get their pictures taken, and—bonus—get a free tattoo in the "adult playground!" I can't imagine why anyone would turn down this opportunity to pimp themselves out. The YRB store has the freshest selection of t-shirts on Lower Broadway! Grubman's full email invite to the "beautiful people," after the jump:

Hand-wringing Cornell alums will meet to discuss the Future of Journalism, which ain't looking so bright: "The New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Seattle Times and countless smaller newspapers across the US have recently laid off reams of staff members and seen massive declines in advertising revenues. What does this mean?! Why are advertisers pulling out? If the newspaper dies, who's going to deliver hard-hitting, sleuthy, unbiased, quality journalism?! We can't get all our news from Jon Stewart, YouTube, or so-called citizen bloggers, can we?" Welcome; we are your new rulers. Please keep in mind that "truthy" is the new "sleuthy" while checking your 401(k)s at the door. [Cornell Entrepreneur Network]

Are you a company trying to get your products into the hands of the coveted but hard-to-reach "in prison" demographic? Why not advertise in Prisonworld Magazine? They're in over 400 institutions across the nation, and they're looking for advertisers. This could be a great placement for uh, Snickers, Newports... shower sandals? Shiv manufacturers. Just off the top of my head. And surprisingly affordable! Check out the jail rag's pitch and rate card:

The editor of gay mag Genre is a lover of both men and women, a rocker, an editor/consultant, and now... a fighter. While stepping in to defend gay rights against some meatheads at a bar the other night, he fought valiantly but still got a beatdown! "I hate bullies," Neal tells us. "But I hate homophobic bullies even more so I stepped in. Got my ass kicked but at least I gave the bastard a good fight he won't forget." An account of the fight from a tipster:

It's lucky for Russia! magazine that former Gawker and new NYT Magazine covergirl Emily Gould has already split up with Russian-born novelist and n+1 editor Keith Gessen. Otherwise, they'd be in trouble! Out now in their new issue is Gould's profile of Russian-American writers—including Gessen.

When media personalities were asked their 2008 resolutions by WWD, defiantly cigarette-loving restauranteur Graydon Carter said without any obvious irony: "less food, more exercise." It was an unusual ambition for the Vanity Fair editor, who so wanted a restaurant within waddling distance that he opened the Waverly Inn round the corner from his Bank Street townhouse. So how is the new fitness regimen working for the magazine heavyweight? Check out the self-mocking opening sequence from Carter's monthly video introduction to the latest issue of Vanity Fair.

Vanity Fair is a national publication, but it's gone to a lot of trouble to market itself to the tastemakers of New York City. The magazine has produced a 40-page guide to the summer in NYC, with lists and quick critiques of everything from the best outdoor bars with roof decks to the hottest summer concerts. It's a smart (if labor-intensive) promotional move: making the in-crowd know you went to a lot of effort on their behalf. Populists that we are, we're bringing the entire document to the public—you can view the whole thing here. Below, a sample page of VF's editorial comments on summer bars:

From Banterist, an image of what celebrity magazines could and should, perhaps, look like. Banterist says that the target would be people in their late 30's, but I think it could work for pretty much anyone who managed to let the celebrity machine rumble past them. (I mean, can someone please tell me who Stacey Kebler is?) My favorite is "Someone From Gossip Girl Squats." (Click through for larger)

Now that the rules for stealing news stories have been revealed, people are seeing stolen stories everywhere! At the National Review, they're accusing the New Yorker's Jeff Toobin of ripping off the Weekly Standard's profile last year of Nixon-loving political hit man Roger Stone. We guess that's true, if you consider it plagiarism to quote the well-rehearsed quotes of a veteran quote whore:

"I'm just happy to have a place that's as good as Radar for the kind of writing I want to do. I've never been good at judging a publication's longevity." [Observer]

Guess who's on the cover of the new issue of Steppin' Out, the odd little celebrity magazine produced by Jersey gossip gadfly and Page Six enemy Chaunce Hayden? It's recently arrested former child star Tatum O'Neal! The interview obviously happened before her arrest, making this by far the most fortuitous coincidence of Chaunce Hayden's career. There are several questions about drug use in the interview, because that's what people always talk about with Tatum O'Neal. But she told Chaunce at the time that she felt "good, comfortable, and clear":

Bill Clinton—subject of a hostile profile in Vanity Fair—claimed Esquire's David Granger told him the piece was sleazy. Except it wasn't Granger who emailed, but one of his junior editors; and the recipient wasn't Clinton, but one of the former president's staffers. (Details have never been Clinton's strong point: after all, he claimed he'd never had sexual relations with that woman.) [Politico]

The media has lots of unwritten rules. Many of them are followed more closely than the written rules. After the Times ripped off a year-old Wall Street Journal story with no credit last week, we realized the need for a complete explanation of the powerful rules governing a time-honored and fundamental practice: Stealing stories. Every media outlet in the world does it—after all, there's much more space to fill every day than there are exclusives. Done the right way, it's perfectly acceptable; done the wrong way, it can be the start of an undercover war. After the jump, we explain everything you need to know to be an honorable, thieving hack. Memorize it:

Audio emerged tonight of former President Bill Clinton calling Vanity Fair writer Todd Purdum a "sleazy... dishonest... slimy... scumbag." Former Times reporter Purdum, of course, is the guy who wrote the just-released article about how Clinton is running around the world on private jets, including one called "Air Fuck One," with billionaire scuzzballs like Ron Burkle, Steve Bing and Jeffrey Epstein. Clinton told a Huffington Post reporter Purdum was awful, and that the Vanity Fair piece has "five or six blatant lies," but then added he had never read it. But that didn't stop him from continuing to trash it, nor did the fact that Purdum is married to Clinton's former press secretary Dee Dee Myers. Audio after the jump, along with a text summary.

We hear that Portfolio senior editor Bob Roe (formerly of Sports Illustrated) was let go today! Editor Joanne Lipman didn't like him! But we're told Roe was "popular and highly skilled." Anyone?

Remember Felix Dennis, the kooky billionaire British magazine publisher who gave us Maxim? He recently admitted (while admittedly drunk) to having "killed a man" in an interview. (He later took it back, post-interview and post-sobering up.) For an new interview in Business Week, Jon Fine asks the tough questions in an attempt to clear up the murder thing: "I'll just be blunt. Have you murdered anybody?"

Are you a wee bit unfree with your public pee? Have trouble letting it flow when you need to go? Need to be in private to drain your privates—of urine? So-called "shy bladder syndrome" has a technical medical name, paruresis; an International Association; and, best of all, a landmark 1976 study that scientifically tested whether the condition actually exists, or is just an urban legend. The results were totally worth all the secret urinal spying that the scientists had to do to get them.

Remember that Wired article about the various pluses and minuses of drug use that got the Times' panties all in a bunch about whether it would actually "promote drugs?" It was a stupid controversy over a relatively innocuous drug story. The Wired piece didn't deserve criticism for its content, but it might have been served by some disclosure; the author of it, Mathew Honan, is a reformed cokehead. That fact didn't appear in Wired, but on Honan's own blog:

In this week's cover story about Barack Obama, Newsweek distills the conventional political wisdom into a bitter tonic of condescending campaign advice. The Democratic presidential candidate is praised for having "wisely taken to often wearing and American-flag lapel" and advised "it would help to be seen venerating your white mother and grandparents as well as your black father" and that "whites resent being accused of racism for remarks they regard as innocent," in case the black politician hadn't learned that yet. To illustrate this cynical lesson in realpolitik, the magazine had originally planned to run the suitably stark cover above and on the left, according to the person who supplied us with a copy. But that cover was "killed" late Friday night, we are told, and replaced with the bright and sunny front at right — a bizarre choice given the gritty lead article and stark collection of supporting pieces on racial division. More outlandish still is the purported reason for the cover switch:

So. Chris Tennant sorta faded away from Radar a couple months ago. Tyler Gray just left. As did Leigh Ann Boutwell. Now an anonymous source tells us Radar president Fred Poust quit this week, along with Finance Director Dwight Holovach. They're both still on the masthead, but we've heard the Poust story twice now. Can anyone confirm? Is this the summer Radar folds again? What the hell are we supposed to do when we quit here? Not all of us are pretty enough for the Times Magazine. Update: Site manager Mike Small is leaving too!