There's a reception tonight at the New Yorker — get there by 8 p.m. — but already, we hear, a troublesome piece of art has been removed from the show:

MAJOR BREAKING DEVELOPMENT IN GRAYDONGATE: In the June Esquire, director Barry Sonnenfeld endorses Tucks, and inadvertently exposes Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter:

There's a perhaps inexorable Manhattan process in which critics get assimilated by the world they criticize. Is this what happened to Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter? A former writer for Spy magazine explains one theory: The Dinner Party Syndrome.

As the investigation of Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter proceeds, our special graphics department (AKA New Yorkish) has been working feverishly on our graphical presentations. Just like the war in Iraq, a crisis with the magnitude of the Graydon Carter fiasco deserves only the very best.

In addition to the investigations of the LA Times and the New York Times, now it's said that the WSJ is all over Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter like green eggs on ham.

Today, Bloomberg's chief PR flack — an eight-year veteran — jumped ship for MacAndrews & Forbes. This seals the deal: there is officially an exodus at the news agency. Inside, an anonymous report from a disgruntled Bloomberg insider. Soon, s/he says, "one wonders whether there will be enough reporters and editors to get the news out."

After Page Six reported that the tabloid Star has returned to paying sources, some wonder if editorial director Bonnie Fuller won't turn the clocks back so far that she's out of a job. Speculates a tabloid fan:

Now illicit smoking is the least of his worries: both the LA Times and the NY Times are doing serious investigative reporting about the Hollywood habits of Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, according to Nikki Finke at the LA Weekly. Reporters want to know if Graydon profits financially from magazine placement, particularly celebrity covers.

We're not even sure WHERE to start tearing into this item. The perfect joke would have an "I Am My Own Wife" tie-in, and would also reference Anna Wintour and in-house surveillance. If you figure it out, let us know — we'll just sit here watching our drinks get warm.
Conde Nast VP Outed as Stasi Snitch [FWD]

· The barely-suppressed terror is made violently manifest at New York mag with the execution — err, termination — of features editor Jeremy Gerard. Plus, two staffers come on board: the NYT's (and former Nerve dirty bird) Emily Nussbaum to do culture and freelancer Amy Goldwasser to be Special Service Queen (SSQ for short. Uh, I think that's her official title.) [Keith Kelly]
· Ford model Noah Knipe (pictured right: waist 31, collar 15.5, shoes 11) was pulled from a Genre cover to avoid being pigeonholed as an assfucking enthusiast. [Jeff Bercovici]
· Clearly familiar with the work of Susan Sontag, NY Post editor-in-chief Col Allen claims that printing pictures of "naked Iraqis" willy-nilly (no pun intended) in the papers will "wear out public patience." Aww, who's a cute little right-wing rag editor? Who is? Yes, you are! [David Carr]

We received an urgent tip that we should be concerned about New Yorker editor David Remnick's hair. According to our correspondent, Remnick's hair changes colors frequently — ranging wildly from nut brown to suede brown.

· Is former New York editor Caroline Miller headed for TV Guide? [The Daily]
· Glenda Bailey, Harper's Bazaar editor, watches the tumbleweeds blow through her vacant offices. "Sixty percent of the staff at Harper's is gone," slightly exaggerates a departee. How odd — she was such a pleasure to work for, we hear. [NYP]
· Ad Age media reporter Jon Fine and Mediabistro's feather-boa-loving Laurel Touby have gotten engaged. Even though she first thought he was a homo, now she's busy getting liquor sponsors for the wedding. I think there's a lesson here for all of us, but I'm unclear on what it is... [WWD]

Attention NYT culture editor Steve Erlanger! The applications are in, and I think we've found a replacement for movie critic Elvis Mitchell for your paper. That was easy!

· Yesterday's Magazine Awards were subdued because evidently the country is "at conflict." What the hell does everyone think this is, the Oscars? [David Carr]
· Photos of Martha Stewart, on the day she was denied a retrial, looking sly and happy at the Magazine Awards. [Rahav Segev]
· Michael Wolff, former New York columnist and current Vanity Fair houseboy, makes an endless rambling awards speech, in which he thanks everyone involved in the old days of NY mag and claims "I might have preferred a different prize, but this one's pretty good." Ah, gratitude in action. [Lloyd Grove]

Ah, summer is finally in the air. Exhausted and/or lazy magazine editors and staff reporters are stoked for four-day weekends of crashing in whomever's beach house they can find. The long drunken days of slapped-together service stories and poorly-edited copy are soon to come for them all... except, according to yesterday's memo, for the poor critters at New York magazine. Back to your cubicles! No Hamptons for you!

Ben Silverman, biz columnist for the Post, reveals the sordid truth of what he's thinking as he interviews you by phone:

· Martha Stewart Living and Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly gave birth to today's glut of shopping mags — but it's not their fault, really. (Yeah, that's what Oppenheimer said about the Manhattan Project.) [Simon Dumenco]
· Bauer Publishing, home of In Touch Weekly, will bring out Life and & Style Weekly in November. Basically, the mag will focus on shilling celebrity product lines. (May we suggest a feature on those chairs that singer/poetess Jewel has been whittling on her porch in her spare time between careers?) [Paul Colford]
· Has Al Gore purchased the Newsworld International cable channel? Find out at noon today... [Wonkette]
· New six-month newspaper circulation numbers released: all major New York papers have an increase in circulation. That must mean they are better and more enjoyable! [Jacques Steinberg]

Wait, did you hear — NYT film critic Elvis Mitchell is leaving his job? I know, since we've been carping on it for the last 13 days, even I might not care anymore. Today, New York mag adds lots of no-comment speculation to the mix; Page Six stirs some shit.
Elvis and His Times [NY Mag]
Elvis' Exit Staggers the Times [NYP]

· We hear that today there'll be an announcement about Golf for Women publisher Kim Anderson Kelleher bopping over to be the publisher of Self. And Self publisher Beth Fuchs Brenner will be going to her new digs at the forthcoming Lucky home/interiors mag.
· Hirsute fashion designer Tom Ford to do coffee table book with contributions by Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter. [WWD]
· Media Matters, a liberal news/conservative-watchdog website, has a $2 million bankroll — and it looks like ass. What the hell does a website do with 2 million bucks? Are they programming it only gold keyboards? Are they living in some secret pocket of 1998? [NYT]

Randomly, it's an all-NY mag media roundup. We'll ban mention of the mag next week, I promise.