It's just a Nexis dump, but it's perhaps the best Nexis dump we've read. The Observer's Rebecca Dana looks at Peter Jennings as a New Yorker — he called the city to register a complaint about Al Gore's campaign closing part of Central Park, he volunteered with the Coalition for the Homeless, he wished there were better restaurants on the Upper West Side — and she collates the best moments of that New Yorker's September 11 coverage:
The Observer's resident gadfly George Gurley embarks on a literary mini-series, in which he enters couples' therapy with his girlfriend Hilly. Gurley, like many a modern man, knows that his life is better with his beloved but, per usual, he's got marriage issues. What's the problem, George?
• Former Timesman Dean Baquet continues to be newly crowned LAT editor, as Tom Scocca goes west to confirm. [NYO]
• And Michael Kinsley did "a pretty horrible job" at LAT, says Nikki Finke. Come on, Nikki, what do you really think? [L.A. Weekly]
• RIP, Post's Hamptons Dairy, more or less. [Media Mob]
• Syd Schanberg teaches the right way to read the paper and watch TV. We can't believe we've been so woefully undertrained all these years. [VV]
• More virgins in Manhattan: Richard Branson considers free NYC daily. [Forbes]
• The American Society of Journalists and Authors doesn't love Judy Miller as much as it thought it did. [E&P]
• Nor should they, if Joe Conason has anything to do with it. [NYO]
• Things ain't OK at OK! America. [NYP]
• Fraternal foodies Matt and Ted Lee to pen Martha Stewart Living's first ever wine column. [WWD (second item)]
The Romenesko headline seemed so exciting: "Young NYT Staffers Told to Be Rebellious in Their Writing."
Ladies, meet Jacob Manczyk. An Upper West Side currency trader bedecked in the finest khakis, Manczyk hit the Makor/Steinhardt Center singles night in search of a single Jewess to capture his heart. It's not easy, however, to find mishpacha-making material:
With all the excitement yesterday about the Observer's fabulous new website, the medium entirely supplanted the message and we forgot to actually read anything in the pink paper. Which is why we're a day late getting to this:
We don't know about you, but, unable to get our regular Wednesday dose of Observer, we've had the shakes bad. And you can imagine how intolerable the paper's late lunching becomes when you're in the middle of a major jones.
We knew working conditions at The New York Observer are less than ideal, but now we're getting worried. Guys, you do get a lunch break at some point, right? Because it's 1:50 now, and we're still looking at this:
Because a retard convention is hardly blissful without a sack lunch.
Self-hating power-Jew paranoia runs deep, and now it's leading us to the Prime Grill — where, according to the Observer, the real power brokers are doing lunch. Forget the Grill Room and Michael's; it seems that everyone from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to General Wesley Clark is wheeling and dealing over the steak and (gefilte?) sushi. But it's not easy being kosher, and the Prime Grill struggled (as is necessary!) for years prior to its current success:
Scrappy litterateur Dale Peck, writing with all the animosity of a jilted lover, takes up 2,500 words of this week's Observer to decry the crass commercialization of the Star Wars franchise. It's a riotous, metaphor-laden jaunt through the series' history (SPOILER ALERT: Peck reveals that Darth Vader is Luke's father), with stops along the way that include comparisons to the search for weapons of mass destruction, Michael Jackson's public displays of affection, and a jewel-bedecked Liberace expiring in Las Vegas. You know, your typical negative review. We're not sure that we know what all the big words mean, but we are so looking forward to the inevitable Dale Peck just got bitch-slapped by an Ewok at Caf Mogador e-mail that's sure to hit our inbox momentarily. AB
We were reading Joe Hagan's column in the Observer today, but we got stuck on the first few sentences:
· Now that the ugly ol' Observer offices have moved out, this here town house sure does clean up real purty. Interesting how the Times never mentioned the previous tenant, huh? [NYT]
· "Manolo asks, when did the Matthew and the Penelope move to the Staten Island?" [Manolo's Shoe Blog]
· Louise MacBain wants to be an art publishing mogul, and she'll lie all the way to the bank. [NY Sun]
· Rex Reed mixes up his foreign films and his foreign foods. Frank Bruni is inadvertantly proud. [VV]
Today's Observer has a FASCINATING examination of the rise of downtown DJ (or whatever he is) Moby as the latest socialite accessory. What better to carry to the latest fundraiser than an interesting, bespectacled "hip" fellow? Hell, he even compliments your new Judith Leiber frog minaudiere! A sampling of our favorite bits, in which we've taken the liberty of boldfacing the important parts:
Remember today. Today is the day that the Observer went a little crazy and ran away to Orange County.
