This world is so confusing. We look to the "news" "media" to "clear it up" for "us," but sometimes competing outlets have what is known as "different spins." It's almost impossible to know whom to trust in a world of Points and Counterpoints.
Just when we thought our gossip columnists had stopped comparatively measuring their dicks, Rush & Molloy go after the Post and, in a surprise move, the New York Times is dealt some sass:
OMG, you guys: Do you find the violence on shows like CSI, like, totally gross and off-putting? Bloody corpses and gunshot wounds and stuff? I know! It's so grody! But you know what's ten times worse? Genocide. For serious!
Remember today. Today is the day that the Observer went a little crazy and ran away to Orange County.
· Jim Windolf profiles MSNBC gossip Jeanette Walls, who seems to have survived the worst ever episode of MTV's True Life: My Parents Are Embarrassing. [VF]
· Peter Carlson has a crush on The Believer. [WaPo]
· Media Industry Newsletter reports on what magazine covers sold well in 2004 and which didn't. Funny, we can't fathom why New York's Joel Steinberg cover didn't fly off newsstands. [MIN, via I Want Media]
· Wolcott on Air America and The Atlantic. [James Wolcott]
· Former congressman Gary Condit has settled his defamation suit against Vanity Fair columnist Dominick Dunne. Dunne will pay Condit an undisclosed sum and issue a name-dropping, ego-oozing apology. [Page Six]
· CourtTV reporter Diane Dimond might have helped prosecuters gather evidence in the Michael Jackson case, the prospect of which makes Drudge giddy. [Lowdown]
· Allanah Star, the shemale party promotoer behind Trannylicious at Opaline, gets denied entrance at "all-male" night at Splash. Apparently not even trannies can have it both ways. [Page Six]
· Tonya Harding: too fat to box. [R&M (2nd to last)]
Today in the Metro section, a report on the return of sex shops to the area surrounding Times Square:
· Good Morning America booker Mike Nagel is arrested after going the distance for an exclusive interview; Nagel tried to crash NBC studios while Matt Lauer taped a segment with Atlanta hostage Ashley Smith. [TVNewser]
· All baby CNN anchors are angels, especially when they're sleeping. Savor the goo-goo preciousness of little Andy Cooper. Anne Geddes can only wish. [Modern Art Notes]
· Kelly Ripa makes $8 million a year, amongst other injustices. [NYP]
· If you had any doubts, blogs are real and now ready for stereotyping, courtesy of your friendly Times crossword puzzle. [Gotham Gal]
· The New Yorker exposes Greenwich Village restaurant Babu, ensuring that its "pay what you wish" policy will soon be destroyed. Thanks a lot. [NYer]
· Newsweek's Steven Levy goes all Village Voice circa 1995 and calls out the unbearable whiteness of blogging. [Newsweek]
·Two guesses as to what Times public editor Daniel Okrent is talking about: "It has been an amazing and interesting and tense at times experience, and I am glad I did it." No... guess again. [E&P]
· Brother man looks at The New York Times retread The Los Angeles Times' Paul Haggis profile. We find the photos oddly touching. [Defamer]
· The FCC has ruled that the Desperate Housewives/NFL commercial from last year was not indecent. It was just incredibly cheesy. [Reuters]
In her weekly analysis of the latest New York Times Book Review, Intern Alexis stumbles upon a disconcerting discovery: Sir Harold Evans, arm candy of one Tina Brown, has made a mistake. In the paper of the record, no less. Meta-tragic! Alexis soldiers on, however, to cover the annoying trends and tasteless references in the latest Review, all after the jump.
You know how it is when you run a family newspaper. Sometimes you can't publish the name of a bar you're writing about if there's a chance it could offend people.
This weekend, The New York Times broke new ground in book promotion by looking at the rotting Brooklyn apartment of Mike Albo, author of The Underminer (with, coincidentally, The Times' Virginia Heffernan) in the 'Real Estate' section.
