Here's my obligatory "my friend was on the guestlist for the hipster ironic techno outfits Peaches and Electrocute show last night and for various reasons we never got around to showing up" post. In my mind, it was totally like this:
There's nothing I personally love more than the Times' Vows section every Sunday — particularly if a performance artist is force-feeding it to herself and puking it up. Ugh. Now even Lori Berenson, imprisoned in Peru since 1996 for treason, gets a luscious write-up in the Times on her recent marriage. Christ. Well, we're having a little bachelorette party tonight if you want to stop by, Lori — oh, whoops, forgot about that whole solitary confinement thing.
Vows [Low Culture]
The big hoo-ha in publishing this year was the mega-sale of blogger Salam Pax's book, a personal anonymous account from inside Iraq.
Magazine-junkie Simon Dumenco has evidently been sniffing the ink after a late night's closing. In his latest tirade, he calls bullshit on "the reflexive inclusion of brand names in stories," fashion magazines with tables of contents in the second half of the book, Photoshopped celebrity cover photos, and heavily-rotated and over-styled editor headshots. Obviously Dumenco is the enemy of all things great and meaningful in today's magazine world.
Who? Yah, we know. Martin Dunn. He'll be the new editorial director of the NY Daily News in a couple weeks.
Uh, who? Well, he's been in London. He did his time in tabloids. And since '97 he's been deep in the corporate brain of the Daily Mail Group, working more on internet and cable. Of course, he edited the Daily News in the mid-90s — your short-term memory loss is showing.
How's the NYDN gang going to take this? Possibly quite poorly.
Why him, why now? Don't be fooled by his title: Dunn's not here to edit the NYDN, here's here to wage a vicious assault against the NY Post. He worked for Murdoch; he knows the drill. You'll enjoy this.
Oh, you mean a old-school tabloid catfight? Absolutely. Be excited.
American Media Inc. is either showing signs of trouble — or is the victim of a serious smear campaign. WWD says AMI (publisher of Enquirer, Star, Globe, etc.) has ditched their general manager and is planning a desperate newstand price jump for all titles. Superstar Star editor Bonnie Fuller — the Dick Grasso of magazines — is facing flack for monster spending for big-name gossip columnists while other AMI titles downsize.
Shit. We knew this day would come, but we didn't think it would be so soon. Lloyd Grove's Daily News column today kind of... rules.
Violence! Violence! We're tickled about the upcoming bloodsports between the Post's Page Six guy Ian Spiegelman and New York Press's editor Jeff Koyen.
Triggering a flurry of competitive brainstorming in Rupert Murdoch's office, a game of Russian Roulette will be broadcast this Sunday on live TV. Unfortunately, the broadcast will be in England, and therefore won't be performed by the cast of vapid night-time soap The O.C.
Russian Roulette Takes Spin on TV
The O.C. [OC Central]
Founding Gawker Editor and New York Mag's New Hotness Elizabeth Spiers just can't keep her touch-typing fingers off the internet. At noon today, New York mag launches their first blog, The Kicker, helmed by Spiers. (A blog! How 2002!) And so the lil' Louella Parsons-that-could returns to us in a very fetching new corporate outfit.
Yesterday's Women Wear Daily reported that S.I. Newhouse (Advance Publications) was mildly aroused by the thought of owning New York mag. Today's Post says that Tribune Company (owners of Chicago and Chicago Tribune) is also vaguely not flaccid in the direction of New York.
Amy Astley — no relation, incidentally, to yesteryear's singing sensation Rick Astley — is the Anna Wintour of the pint-sized set. As editor in chief of Teen Vogue, it seems Ms. Astley rules her midget kingdom with a far more maternal hand than the grande dame. Of Anna herself, the Observer reports that Ms. Astley "speaks to Ms. Wintour 'every day' and that working with her was 'amazing,' 'incredible' and 'inspiring.'" There's just so much love in that Condé Nast building!
The yearly round-up of hot ad-page-hawkers features the 22 most media-mentioned ad sales people. Included are Kristy Frudenfeld, the Buena Vista VP who made bank out of animated Disney movies, VH1's Christina Norman, who dusted off the would-be music channel, and of course William Wackerman, the publisher of the rejuvenated Details. Mr. Wackerman, incidentally, says of metrosexuality that "We're on the verge of a trend." Hmm. I thought we were in the denouement of a trend?
The Year's Top Ad Industry Media Stars [Ad Age]
Last week, a story about a now-homeless Wall Street Journal reporter made the rounds. He's lived in his car for years, now he's getting a book deal. Honestly, it was too boring to report on Gawker. But now comes the fun backlash.
Remember when blogs used to be interesting? Yeah, me neither. But they could be useful at least. To that end, I'm putting together a commission list of items that we'd all like to read about. Bloggers, try some of these before you write about your dog's cancer surgery or just how much you love cheese sandwiches.
· Williamsburg: Where to Fuck Outdoors.
· The Five Obvious Things Wrong with Vanity Fair's "The New Establishment 2003" List. (Besides the photo of Vivendi's chairman dressed as Marilyn Monroe. Argh.)
· A Listicle of Alternate Titles for Gina Zucker's Story in GQ of Being Stephen Glass' Factchecker. (Start with this fine suggestion from our peanut gallery: "Steve Glass is why my short story collection is unpublished, why Rick Moody thinks I'm a drug addict, and why I pop pills.")
· The Top Ten Ways to Sleaze Your Way Into A Job In NYC.
· Why Chuck Palahniuk Has a Boyfriend and You Don't.
· Conde Nast: What's For Lunch?
Joe Queenan sets the record straight after a number of surveys inexplicably promote quality of life outside Manhattan. "Recently, I read a story about a dubious 'creativity index' reporting that New York is now the ninth-most-creative city in the United States, trailing not only fussy, self-involved San Francisco and Seattle, but such ghastly localities as Houston and Raleigh-Durham. Indeed, in terms of the percentage of inhabitants paid to think for a living, New York is only one slot ahead of Dallas..."
Eight Reasons New York Is Better [NYT]
James Surowiecki writes that piece we know you party-mavens always pass right over in each New Yorker: the financial page. I know, it's a lot of big scary words. But there are reasons why you shouldn't deprive yourself any longer.
Tina Brown just can't lose. Her bizarrely incontinent CNBC show Topic A performed awfully in the ratings. Yet the lady's up for more TV, and TV's up for more of her. The wily minds behind Queer Eye... are ready to give her a reality show.
