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In your shocked Monday media column: a new low in college journalist-administration relations, Joe Levy out at Maxim, hard times at Newsbeast, James Rainey returns to reporting, and a CNN morning shuffle. More »
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International fameball Anna Chapman and the nine other Russian spies who were busted back in July were awarded the Kremlin's top medal from President Dmitry Medvedev today. That was right after Chapman appeared in a dirty Russian Maxim photo spread. More »
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Jersey Shore hooch JWOWW is one fit lady, so you'd think her body wouldn't warrant too much retouching for this new Maxim spread. Yet they inexplicably erased her belly button. Maybe it was just to get rid of the bling? More »
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Tonight, E! aired Maxim's Hottest Moments of 2009. Coming in at Number 3: McSteamy vs. Gawker, in the tale of the sex tape that never was. Watch the full segment after the jump. More »
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The man behind clubplanet.com wants to buy Maxim for $40m and is convinced he can turn the ailing magazine around using the internets. If the owners don't sell, says Andrew Fox, they will DIE. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5415068&view=rss&microfeed=true A tipster tells us Maxim fired three people in the art and photo departments today. More »
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Maniac publisher Felix Dennis sold Maxim for $250 million to Steven Rattner's Quadrangle Group in 2007; now, Rattner's firm is about to lose control of the magazine. Related: Dennis "once exclaimed at a meeting, 'I need to stop smoking crack.'" More »
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Felix Dennis is publishing's wild man! How is the former Maxim publisher and admitted (then hastily retracted!) murderer keeping himself busy these days? More »
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Maxim recently folded its UK print version, and it's facing the horrific specter of a world with no cigarette ads. Times are tough. So they're coming out with yet another brand spinoff! It's a full-blown trend now: More »
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In your magaziney Thursday media column: Maxim UK's dead in print, Airline magazines go terrestrial, Michael Wolff's Vanity Fair retribution piece, and Esquire plays with toys: More »
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Blender, the music magazine, is dead. Its owners folded it this morning, eliminating about 30 jobs in the process. More »
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Chris Wilson has had to do some major backtracking since writing, in a Page Six Magazine point/counterpoint article two weeks ago, that he saw a passenger on an American Airlines flight "either pleasuring himself to online porn, or whittling something under his blanket." The deputy Maxim editor was just joking people! Sort of like his magazine was joking when earlier this year it "reviewed" two albums which had not yet been released, allegedly via the magic of crafty editors. Anyway, Wilson was apparently invited on Oprah to talk about his traumatic airplane experience, and had to disabuse (ahem) one of the show's producers of the idea he had written something, you know, true. Now Wilson is setting the entire world straight, via his "old dear friend" at the Observer: More »
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Kent Brownridge, former deputy to magazine mogul Jann Wenner and recent overlord to Maxim and Blender, is now general manager of the U.S. edition of free-spending celebrity weekly OK!. It seems that between billionaire owner Richard Desmond supplying famous-baby-photo cash and editors Sarah Ivens and the creepy Rob Shuter keeping sources fluffed, OK! needed someone to, like, sell some ads or something. Brownridge apparently didn't compile a stellar track record doing that for Maxim and company, which earlier this month squeezed him from his job, but as Shuter knows, OK! is fast becoming a miraculous land of second media-industry chances. [Post] More »
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Was Sarah Jessica Parker’s mole removal so effective in the sexiness department that the simple laser treatment managed to majorly tighten the trousers of all those T&A experts at Maxim? As we noted this week, SJP found herself caught up in a mystery-laden MoleGate, in which her immortal beauty mark suddenly disappeared. Some (guilty as charged) played the optimist by suggesting the once-highly noticeable imperfection had simply been disguised by some genius makeup artist — but just one day later, her rep confirmed that the SATC star did go under the laser simply because "she was in the mood." More »
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Soldiers are fighting back against a government attempt to take their men's magazines away! Stars and Stripes talked to a bunch of our military men at a base in Germany, and they voiced universal opposition to a proposed bill to ban "sexually explicit" magazines—including Playboy, Penthouse, Maxim, FHM, and the like—from Army bases. They're good for morale, the soldiers say. And besides (everybody together now), they read them for the articles! More »
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Respectable publication Maxim has a list of the ten sexiest vegetarians, with predictable picks like Joss Stone, Pamela Anderson, and Natalie Portman. Missing from the list: famous vegetarian George Bernard Shaw. Who could be sexier than George Bernard Shaw? [Maxim] More »
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Rachel Marsden, the former pundit on the Fox show "Red Eye" who was tossed out for being too crazy, and who then went on to date Wikipedia guru Jimmy Wales before breaking up with him and putting his clothes up for sale on eBay, is now, predictably, unemployed. So she's trawling for jobs on Mediabistro, just like you! Marsden has supposedly applied to be a senior publicist at Maxim [P6]. Negatives: She has demonstrated that she is a serial loose cannon who will probably seduce the magazine's top editors and draw them into a scandalous and embarrassing public affair. Positives: She doesn't really like the Black Crowes, either. More »
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According to Jeff Bercovici, Maxim no. 2 A.J. Baime "quietly returned to Playboy, from whence new Maxim editor in chief James Kaminsky poached him." Maxim is suffering from declining newsstand sales and also that whole flap with the Black Crowes review they made up before hearing the album. Meanwhile, we hear... that former Page Sixer and current Maxim deputy editor Chris Wilson either got canned last week or is the kind of dude who uses the "I just got fired" line to pick up ladies at Beatrice. Update: According to Chris Wilson, Chris Wilson still works at Maxim. "Your spies must have misheard. Maybe I said I'm tired, because it was late." More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=364815&view=rss&microfeed=true Maxim got in a lot of trouble for giving the new Black Crowes album a two-and-a-half star review without even listening to the whole thing. But now the album is out, and, uncannily, that is exactly the rating it deserves. [New York] More »
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Maxim writer David Peisner gave specifics on how his editors recently faked up reviews of two albums neither they nor Peisner had heard: deception and chicanery. Who would imagine?! Freelancer Peisner told the LA Times he agreed to write two "previews" of new albums from the Black Crowes and Nas, and handed them in. Then the editors decided to go to town: More »
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In this clip, CNN picks up on Maxim's fake review of the Black Crowes album. But they fail to pick up any anchors who know anything about the Black Crowes. Instead, the anchors just spitball about the band's connection to the "grunge" movement, then, grasping at straws, congratulate them on lasting longer than Nirvana. Which does tend to happen when your lead singer hasn't committed suicide. Click to watch the fun! [Disclosure: We don't know anything about the Black Crowes either]. More »
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It appears the Black Crowes are not the only musical act victimized by Maxim's "educated guess preview[s]" now that rapper Nas has come forward to say that he, too, was irked to see the magazine publish a review of the album "Nigger" when he's not even done recording it yet. Like the Black Crowes album "Warpaint," "Nigger" got a decidedly "meh" 2.5 stars out of five. Nas told Page Six: "I don't know what a music rating from Maxim is . . . I don't know what it even means really." What it means, Mr. Nas, is that you've just had the honor of appearing in the premier forum for short musical fiction. (It's past the string bikini spreads, somewhere in the back of the book near the penis enlargement ads.) More »
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In the March issue of Maxim, writer David Peisner reviews the new Black Crowes album, "Warpaint." The verdict: Ehhh. Two and a half stars, out of five. The problem: Maxim didn't listen to the album. Their review, it turns out, was an "educated guess." Um, what? The full story, including the faux-review and the band's outraged response, below. More »
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Important musician Avril Lavigne has stepped up to correct those misinformed rumors about her with an official interview in the new issue of Maxim, an important source of journalism. "Q: NOW IT SEEMS ALL THE BLOGGERS ARE SAYING YOU'RE PREGNANT... A: Remember in high school when people would start fake rumors about you? Well, this isn't high school; it's like, the entire world." AH MAH GAH Avril you are so right! We were just sitting around the blogger table in the lunchroom talking about that. Also, she says she is a "wino." Plus, we are putting some of Maxim's sexy (if that's your type) pictures of her after the jump. Now you don't have to read the story at all! More »
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When professional journalists on deadline need a specific source to nail down a story, they turn to Profnet, which connects reporters and flacks. Like this request, from Maxim: "I need someone who can guess weights via pictures. A carnival barker would be ideal." Don't everybody call at once! Image after the jump. More »
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"According to the Salisbury Post, Judge Kevin Eddinger wrote in the contempt order that he saw attorney Todd Paris reading a Maxim magazine with a topless woman on the cover in Rowan County District Court." [WSOC] More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=349759&view=rss&microfeed=true Esquire readers are older and poorer than those of five other, less classy men's mags. The Esquire reader's median household income is a pathetic $53,783, compared to $76,865 for Men's Journal and $65,614 for Maxim. It seems that pictures of ladies in their underwear are somehow more popular with affluent young men than George Clooney! [Folio] More »
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"Ink-on-paper magazines" are having a "long slow sunset," according to Felix Dennis, fun-loony former Maxim owner—but they're not making up the cash on the web, in part because publishers just won't lower their standards far enough. Time Inc., the Economist says, "has stuck to its big magazine brands with People.com and with SI.com, its website for Sports Illustrated. The price, competitors say, is that Time Inc cannot do the sort of sarcastic, bitchy celebrity gossip that people like on the internet for fear of tarnishing the brand of People, and therefore cedes first place for entertainment to TMZ.com (also owned by Time Warner), which excels at it." Well, that doesn't mean they're not gonna try to take on TMZ! After all, not only did People hire Alyssa Shelasky, Glamour's former dippy blogette, they hired David Caplan, the mad ungenius behind the now-defunct 24Sizzler, the worst celebugoss site to ever tarnish the internots. So surely they're up to some secret standard-lowering project? More »
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Today Kent Brownridge, Jann Wenner's former right-hand man and the honcho of new Alpha Media, the former Dennis Publishing, shouts the praises of media headhunter Karen Danziger. She's the exec vice president of Howard-Sloan-Koller Group, and she was the one who suggested somewhat frightening former Rolling Stone guy Jim Kaminsky as the new editor of Maxim. Brownridge tells Portfolio: "Karen Danziger, the only headhunter in the editorial world that I think is worth anything, and she's worth a lot — I love her; she's my sister, shrink, priest, whatever — she gives me a list of people that I should go see, and on it is Jim, and I think, oh, well, Jim." Heh. That's how we felt about Jim too—but then Kent got all frothy on him, and hired him. We've met Karen—she's fun, mouthy, doesn't like idiots, and she dresses like the high-end version of a sharp Long Island lady. But is she all that? Your experiences sought, anonymity guaranteed. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=298164&view=rss&microfeed=true Multiple sources confirm that Maxim editor in chief Jimmy Jellinek has been canned by his new boss, Kent Brownridge, and his newly christened Alpha Media Group. Furthermore, a source tells us that it happened right before the 4 p.m. start of the Alpha Media Group launch party at the Cellar Bar at the Bryant Park Hotel. Ouch. UPDATE: Former Men's Journal editor Jim Kaminsky, who used to be Maxim's executive editor and was formerly deputy managing editor at Rolling Stone, will be the new EIC. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=292871&view=rss&microfeed=true Among the casualties of the Stuff shuttering: publisher John Lumpkin. [AdAge] More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=291178&view=rss&microfeed=true We understand that four people—and not necessarily Brits, either—were "let go" from Maxim today. The most surprising firing was #2 James Heidenry, who had been there from the magazine's start. A correspondent reports, "James' reward for 11 years of loyal service? All the higher-ups (including [Maxim EIC] Jimmy Jellinek) were conveniently out of the office when he was let go—the dirty deed was done by an HR assistant. Classy new ownership!" Yikes. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=290871&view=rss&microfeed=true Hey, it's nearly 1 p.m.: If you work at Stuff magazine, that means you're supposed to be at your desk, according to the HR department. Mass firings are so much easier than one on ones. Sorry, guys. From the mailbag: "Saw that email from a Maxim source, and wanted to comment. One third of the company has not been let go. The Stuff staff wouldn't even make up a fifth of the company, probably... and they haven't been let go. But the passport fears are true. Turns out they fired all the work visa employees first. In fact, the first firing on the edit side happened yesterday afternoon. A couple of designers at Maxim—and Ian Robinson, Stuff's art director and the longest-tenured employee at Stuff, was let go without severance. His visa was for a foreign company on US soil, which was obviously complicated by the Dennis sale (to American ownership). Damian Wilkinson married his girlfriend when news of the sale hit. Now it's even worse. Sitting around waiting to get fired is obviously not fun." More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=290183&view=rss&microfeed=true From the mailbag: "A little bird told me today that the Maxim people are freaking. 1/3 of the company's staff has been cut (the Stuff side) and most of the editors who have UK passports have already been informed that their visas will not be renewed." More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=289923&view=rss&microfeed=true Kent Brownridge's acquisition of the Felix Dennis lad titles is finally complete. As mentioned before, Stuff will be folded into Maxim. No word yet on layoffs or whether they're shopping Maxim editor Jimmy Jellinek's job, but the press release, which you can find below, does indicate that stuffmagazine.com "will continue to be a digital destination," presumably because there are enough people who are still willing to jerk off to it. More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=289729&view=rss&microfeed=true "The future owners of Dennis Publishing's men's titles plan to fold Stuff as a standalone magazine in the fall and make it a section in flagship Maxim, sources told Mediaweek. The move is effective with the November/December issue of Maxim. No word on the fate of Stuff's staffers. John Lumpkin, publisher of Stuff, said a change in Stuff's publishing schedule is news to him. 'There's been no discussion of suspending publication,' he said." [Mediaweek] More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=285776&view=rss&microfeed=true Lindsay Lohan will be on the covers of both Elle and Maxim's September issues. Also, October's Prison Bitch Review. [WWD] More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=282656&view=rss&microfeed=true Is Maxim editor Jimmy Jellinek's job on the block? [WWD] More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=281201&view=rss&microfeed=true Felix Dennis offloads Maxim, Stuff and Blender on Steven Rattner's Quadrangle group to the tune of about $250 million. [NYP] More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=269166&view=rss&microfeed=true Kent Brownridge rumored to have won the Dennis Publishing auction, which means he's now the proud owner of Maxim. It also means he beat out Ron Burkle. [AdAge] More »
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