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Bloomberg, Times Complete Each Other
"Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The New York Times, had two breakfasts with the mayor, and although no specific commitments were made [about endorsing Bloomberg's third term], an understanding was reached." [Times]
"Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The New York Times, had two breakfasts with the mayor, and although no specific commitments were made [about endorsing Bloomberg's third term], an understanding was reached." [Times]
Advertising
How 30 Rock Might Be Destroying Television
Tina Fey's 30 Rock is perhaps the most critically-acclaimed show on network television (and about network television), an arch meta-comedy about the production of a fake sketch comedy. But maybe the show's writers are too good at their jobs — and too willing to please NBC executives on whose whims the ratings-challenged comedy will live or die. New York talked to a variety of industry players about the clever way 30 Rock integrates paid product placements from the likes of Verizon, Snapple and women's beverage SoyJoy. Some, like Oz creator Tom Fontana and film-producer-turned ad man Charles Rosen think the show handled the product insertions in such a brilliant, self-mocking fashion that it lit the way for other shows to so likewise. Joss Whedon, the beloved creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, said that may be precisely the problem. He took particular umbrage at miniature episodes 30 Rock ran inside American Express ads: More »
Sun's Burn Rate
“What we needed, as a minimum, was an investor or a group of investors who would contribute $10 million per year, to be matched by the current group of investors. That would give us about $20 million, which is what we were losing.” [New York]
Tina Brown
Tina Brown unveiled this morning her new internet venture, the Daily Beast. The Post's Keith Kelly said the website, a revival of the fictional paper in Evelyn Waugh's Scoop, is in the "soft launch phase," meaning apparently that it's devoid of advertisers, and that it "sees itself as a must-read for hipsters in news, politics and pop culture." Ahem. From our quick look — it temporarily went password protected as we were reading — the site seemed more noteworthy for its slavish devotion to internet publishing memes than for any particular innovation. Some traffic-baiting Apple coverage? Yes, there's a column by former Think Secret publisher Nicholas Ciarelli. Celebrity contributors? Sure, if you count the likes of Bill Clinton, who mails in book recommendations, and Project Runway alumna Laura Bennett, who posted a column. There's counterintuitive, Slate-like material such as "Why I Call My Wall Street Patients Pussies," by an ostensibly caring psychiatrist. And, as if to prove she is now truly blogger, Brown concludes her debut column with the one-word sentence, "Heh." Soon she'll emailing Digg requests to her old publishing friends and trying to get to 10,000 friends on Facebook, and we'll all find it hard to imagine she ever edited the New Yorker.
Tina Brown Launches Daily Beast
Tina Brown unveiled this morning her new internet venture, the Daily Beast. The Post's Keith Kelly said the website, a revival of the fictional paper in Evelyn Waugh's Scoop, is in the "soft launch phase," meaning apparently that it's devoid of advertisers, and that it "sees itself as a must-read for hipsters in news, politics and pop culture." Ahem. From our quick look — it temporarily went password protected as we were reading — the site seemed more noteworthy for its slavish devotion to internet publishing memes than for any particular innovation. Some traffic-baiting Apple coverage? Yes, there's a column by former Think Secret publisher Nicholas Ciarelli. Celebrity contributors? Sure, if you count the likes of Bill Clinton, who mails in book recommendations, and Project Runway alumna Laura Bennett, who posted a column. There's counterintuitive, Slate-like material such as "Why I Call My Wall Street Patients Pussies," by an ostensibly caring psychiatrist. And, as if to prove she is now truly blogger, Brown concludes her debut column with the one-word sentence, "Heh." Soon she'll emailing Digg requests to her old publishing friends and trying to get to 10,000 friends on Facebook, and we'll all find it hard to imagine she ever edited the New Yorker.
Dynasties
Times Heir: 'Sarah Palin Can Suck A D--k'
Will the Times end up like the Wall Street Journal, sold off by disgruntled, money-grubbing family members? To find out, New York investigated the fifth generation of the Times' controlling Sulzberger family. The good news, for those who want to see the Times stay in family hands, is that none of these young men and women (some shown in this handy PDF chart) would talk smack about their poorly-managed company to a reporter, in contrast to the Bancrofts who sold off the Journal. All family kids are being indoctrinated at special "orientation sessions," camps and annual business meetings, starting at age 10. Everyone stays connected on Facebook, including an 87-year-old Sulzberger grandmother. The bad news: No one knows if this unity will hold together when the company cuts unsustainably high stock dividend. Also, the family twentysomethings seem at least as unlikely to ever run the company as acid-dropping Pinch Sulzberger did 35 years ago. Here, for example, is what Judith Sulzberger's young grandson Alex Cohen recently wrote on his Facebook: More »
Economic indicators
Sure, the S&P 500 fell 9 percent last week as financial problems spread further beyond Wall Street. But now one troubled bank. Wachovia, is in such high demand that the federal government had to step in to mediate a dispute between two bitterly competing suitors, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. This must be great news for the economy, because Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit has lost the scowl added to his Wall Street Journal woodcut in the early days of the financial crisis. See his portrait, left, taken from WSJ.com this weekend. He's even forgotten how embarrassing it was when Wells stole the Wachovia deal out from under him! This must mean the panic is over forever, right??
Wall Street Exuberant Again, Journal Woodcuts Reveal
Sure, the S&P 500 fell 9 percent last week as financial problems spread further beyond Wall Street. But now one troubled bank. Wachovia, is in such high demand that the federal government had to step in to mediate a dispute between two bitterly competing suitors, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. This must be great news for the economy, because Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit has lost the scowl added to his Wall Street Journal woodcut in the early days of the financial crisis. See his portrait, left, taken from WSJ.com this weekend. He's even forgotten how embarrassing it was when Wells stole the Wachovia deal out from under him! This must mean the panic is over forever, right??
Moguls
The New Yorker published its profile of Arianna Huffington. Though disappointingly far from the juicy takedown we hoped for, it does contain a few interesting nuggets. We learn, for example, that the Republican-divorcée-turned-internet-publisher bizarrely "hides" all three of her BlackBerrys in her bathroom at night, even though she lives only with a housekeeper and her two daughters. Her gay ex-husband Michael Huffington elaborates on how she knew of his interest in men before their marriage, saying, "in my Houston town house I sat down with her and told her that I had dated women and men so that she would be aware of it." And Huffington sounds downright proud of her lack of long-term friendships, saying, "I metabolize experiences fast." But there's so much missing, so much that should be in this 14-page story, starting first with how she runs the Huffington Post — would any male mogul be profiled at such length with so little said about how he runs his business? — and continuing through to juicer questions about her dating life and cultlike religious guru. A few specifics:
More »
The Missing Dirt On Arianna Huffington
The New Yorker published its profile of Arianna Huffington. Though disappointingly far from the juicy takedown we hoped for, it does contain a few interesting nuggets. We learn, for example, that the Republican-divorcée-turned-internet-publisher bizarrely "hides" all three of her BlackBerrys in her bathroom at night, even though she lives only with a housekeeper and her two daughters. Her gay ex-husband Michael Huffington elaborates on how she knew of his interest in men before their marriage, saying, "in my Houston town house I sat down with her and told her that I had dated women and men so that she would be aware of it." And Huffington sounds downright proud of her lack of long-term friendships, saying, "I metabolize experiences fast." But there's so much missing, so much that should be in this 14-page story, starting first with how she runs the Huffington Post — would any male mogul be profiled at such length with so little said about how he runs his business? — and continuing through to juicer questions about her dating life and cultlike religious guru. A few specifics:
More »
GAWKER STALKER
Latest Gawker Stalker Sightings
Submit your Sightings: stalker@gawker.com
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A-Rod
Park Ave & 59th St
Just had lunch with a friend at Serafina and saw A-Rod dining with three people, an older woman and two men. No Madonna in sight. -
Cynthia Nixon
57 E 66th St
Just saw Cynthia Nixon. She was walking alone, dressed nicely with a full face of make up. Looks like she was going to a meeting or something. Nobody noticed her but probably because she was staring at her blackberry mostly. -
Anderson Cooper
7th Ave
Just saw the Silver Fox strolling down 7th Avenue at 21st St. Very well-coiffed and wearing a TIGHT maroon shirt… typical gym bag in tow. -
Brooke Shields
555 W 23rd St
The amazing Ms. Brooke Shields, along with a friend, having lunch at Balthazar in Soho. Can any human being be blessed with more incredible genes? Simply breathtaking in person.
Nostalgia
One More Thing: Our Favorite Olds
Many, many movies and TV shows have been wholly saved by the presence of a sage oldster. While there certainly is ageism rampant in Hollywood—illustrated by the fact that there are just a freaking ton of new "actors" and "actresses" starring in flicks and shows that no one over 25 could ever identify—there is still, and always has been, a beloved place for the elders. So that's the preamble. I'm getting us started with Joel Grey kicking much, much ass in 1985 when he was just starting to become an old. More »
Trouble Begets Trouble
Who Can Save Amy Winehouse? The Scientologists!
Sad little street fighter and sinew exhibit Amy Winehouse (pictured, left, in somewhat better days) should not blame her troubles with drugs and life and everything in it on deeply entrenched psychological angst, severe chemical imbalance, and self-doubt. Her soul has simply been stored in a volcano and shown feel-bad propaganda for the last few million years! Or whatever crap the Scientologists sell each other for tons and tons of money! Whew! In any case, they are reaching out to the haunted songstress in the hope of robbing her blind and turning her into a proselytizer for—er, that is, they are trying to save her. More »
Email-gate
Know Who's In Trouble For Those Hacked Sarah Palin Emails? Sarah Palin
When Gawker published a selection of emails from Sarah Palin's hacked Yahoo! account, we got tons of psychotic (and anti-Semitic!) hate mail full of "Don't drop the soap in prison" jokes; Bill O'Reilly said we should go to jail forever; and cesspool blogger Michelle Malkin called Gawker "a cesspool blog." But now the real villain in all this being asked to answer for her villainy. An Alaskan activist—a Republican activist—is taking Sarah Palin to court to find out why she was using personal email accounts to conduct government business in the first place. More »
Wahlberg!
Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals
So many people in the Tina Fey thread were talking up the skit "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" from last night's SNL, that I had to see what all the fuss was about. And... Holy shit that's good! It feels almost like that moment 20 years or so back when some genius suddenly realized that a Christopher Walken imitation was needed in the world. Don't believe it? Click through and see! More »
The panic of '08
Crash Has Wall Streeters Lighting Up
While some shell-shocked banking douches are selling blow-jobs as a way to cope with the economic meltdown, others are turning to more pedestrian methods to ease their stress. Namely, they're smoking their lungs out. Now that their hopes and dreams are dead, there's not much point to looking after their health, and they can be found puffing away all over the financial district like metalheads behind the high school bleachers. "Before the turmoil, says [Erick] Giliberti, a manager at Deloitte who works with mortgage-backed securities, I was maybe a pack a week.' Now? 'Probably double that...I can't stare at my computer screen anymore and watch the market collapse in front of me—I just want to get away from it.'" More »
tomfoolery
Pranksters Descend on Chris Matthews
During Friday's taping of Hardball, some audience members felt that this election simply isn't as hysterical as it could be, so they decided to do something about it. Host Chris Matthews was blissfully ignorant that the real show was going on just behind his back, with people in the crowd holding up signs featuring such stirring political rhetoric as "Tire Swings Are Not Toys!" and "Shawshank Redemption Deserved an Award!" Hmm... Wonder why no one in Matthews' crew let him in on the fun? Click through to view the LOLZ. More »
it's alive
Rudy Giuliani: Still a Total A-Hole
We haven't heard from moleman, former New York City Mayor, and all around horrible creature Rudy Giuliani in a while. With his Presidential ambitions turning out to be a colossal joke, and the right wing GOP base sure to find offense with his gay-friendly, cousin-marrying, adulterating ways, surely he's found a nice quiet palace where he and his money can hide away in peace? No such luck. He's doing his best to shred his last ounce of credibility by wandering the hinterland and defending Sarah Palin—in that typically nasty Giuliani way of his. More »
007
New Bond Film Pays Homage to Classic Goldfinger Kill
For the upcoming 007 flick Quantum of Solace, director Marc Forster wanted to come up with a visual comparable to Shirley Eaton painted gold from head to toe in her famous Goldfinger 1964 death scene. Solution? Goo. Well, a Bond girl drowned in crude oil and her body draped across a white bed. Dick Cheney is the ultimate villain! More pics after the jump. Semi-spoiler alert: If knowing which Bond girl gets it will ruin this movie for you, don't click through. But since the filmmakers themselves are releasing these shots, it's probably not a big deal. More »
The Limelight
The Dark, Secret Life of The Hoff
Now that her messy, messy divorce from Knight Rider/Baywatch star David Hasselhoff is finally over, Pamela Bach is freely dishing about the poor man's troubles. And, really, it behooves us to read every last detail. In 2002, for example, Hasselhoff called Bach from a hotel one dark night. "I'm drunk and I think I'm dying," he said. Then the line went dead. More »
guilty
O.J. Simpson Plays the Race Card, Loses
Before being found guilty of kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon, O.J. Simpson spent his three week trial in Nevada complaining to friends and associates that he's a victim of racism. If only the Dream Team had still been around to defend him! If only Johnny Cochran wasn't dead! If only you hadn't stormed a seedy hotel room with a gang of armed thugs to get some stupid old trinkets! More »
Letters
Inside the Angry, Angry Brain of John McCain
Way, way back in February of 2006, Senator John McCain invited a shiny new Senator from Illinois to a meeting to discuss campaign finance reform. A day after the meeting, the junior Senator, a polite young man named Barack Obama, wrote to McCain, "I know you have expressed an interest in creating a task force to further study and discuss these matters, but I and others in the Democratic Caucus believe the more effective and timely course is to allow the committees of jurisdiction to roll up their sleeves and get to work on writing ethics and lobbying reform legislation that a majority of the Senate can support. Committee consideration of these matters through the normal course will ensure that these issues are discussed in a public forum and that those within Congress, as well as those on the outside, can express their views, ensuring a thorough review of this matter." McCain's brain somehow translated that to mean, "Go fuck yourself, ass." Because this is what he wrote back: More »
In Brief
Top Ten Reasons The Paris Auto Show Press Room Sucks
FROM JALOPNIK.COM: Unless you're deep in the bowels of the automotive journalism industry, it may come as a surprise the Paris Auto Show is — despite the big reveals and beautiful flora and fauna — More »
Political Theater
Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, Now With Queen Latifa!
Comedy goddess Tina Fey came back to Saturday Night Live again last night to further demonstrate that she's the only good thing about Sarah Palin. The skit is just like the real VP debate, except not completely frustrating and pathetic. Also, props to the writers for having Joe Biden call Scranton, PA, a "genetic cesspool." Clip after the jump. More »
Nostalgia
One More Thing: Great Moments in Overacting
Last week, Paul Newman passed away while his contemporaries Al Pacino and Robert Deniro stunk up the screen with A Righteous Kill. And I got to wondering, when did Pacino go from the soft-spoken, menacing, understated actor that made him a legend, to this guy who just shows up and screams the end of every sentence? But then, it occurred to me, that overacting and eating the fuck out of the scenery is actually a very good thing now and then, depending on the movie or TV show. So, let us give props to the masters of straight-up over-doing it tonight, shall we? Come on, you know you love it when they go over the top, crap on the top, and then eat the top. I'll get us started after the jump. More »
Yes!
Jeff Bridges Discusses Tron Sequel
If you had told me that someone really was making a sequel to compu-nerd classic—and greatest arcade game ever—Tron, I would have told you stop lying, liar! But, whoa, here is Jeff Bridges saying it's happening and he's part of it and he's psyched! "Yeah, that's another unique, wild experience that was too good to turn down," he says. "Engaging in that world again feels just like it did all that time ago. Basically, I'm still a child, I love being childlike, and here was another chance to play with these crazy toys. And the cutting-edge technology makes it exciting. Doing the teaser trailer for Comic-Con, I had my first experience of motion capture. And that's turning the industry on its head. It's amazing being part of that." More »
Hottie Update
