All the subscription money goes to a charity, which you can choose. You're definitely a bad person for not subscribing now. But! You can't in fact only pay a nickel; the lowest price offered is $1! Outrageous.

But pay $20, and your subscription comes with a year's free admission to Good parties. I've been to one of those and let me tell you my friend, their desserts were mad off the hook. So pay $20, go to the next party with a spare bag, and you have gourmet cookies for a month. Everybody wins.

Except the magazine, which will continue its inevitable slide towards bankruptcy (sorry).

[via FBNY]

“I got scared,” Mr. Goldhirsh told The Observer. “I personally got scared and I personally got stressed out about my ability to execute and really actualize the potential of the whole thing. And that for me wasn’t fun at all.” (Mr. Goldhirsh remains chairman of the company.)

The new CEO is Jonathan Grenblatt, 37, who has an MBA and sold the "Ethos" bottled water company to Starbucks for $8 million. He has moved to "really actualize the potential" of Good by signing on such "Good" advertisers as British Petroleum and diversifying the magazine into Web video.

Goldhirsh is fighting to keep what he called the company's "fail hard, fuck it all, let’s just do it" spirit, but he's also still ending his conversations with "peace, brotha."

[Observer]

I find it disconcerting that you choose to target the well meaning group of idealists at GOOD Magazine for your criticism for the supposed lack of male vs. female "diversity" in their ranks. Indeed, it has been my experience that small Gen-Y led media companies (as a whole) tend to be be much better at fostering an environment of true diversity, ie, black, white, yellow, male, female, gay, straight, etc. So if, out of 20 odd employees, one finds a slight slant towards more men or more women or more asians or whatever, so be it, if their overall intentions are noble (which they are). Your real target should be the large consumer publishers who truly lack diversity in their ranks. Go thru the masthead of most major consumer magazines (say the top 200 titles) and you will find most of the staff is women (80%+). This includes the top positions such as Publisher, Editor, Managing Editor, Ad Director, Mkg Director and the top sales people. It is also an industry lacking in many people age 50+. In addition, try and find black employees in these companies outside of the mailroom. So, the magazine industry discriminates against men, older people and black people. Meanwhile, the content for many of these rags promotes anorexia, vanity, materialism and our cultural obsession with celebrities. All of this on non-recycled paper (unlike GOOD Magazine), so it's an industry that's bad for the environment too. And while I'm at it- the industry is subsidized by the govmt. in the form of artificially low postal rates secured by scandalous lobbyists. To target some young, well-intentioned idealists, at a magazine with a skeletal staff is a waste of your time and reinforces out of date stereotypes and misconceptions. Yes, it's easy to pick on a rich guy. But the truth is, there are plenty of real magazines out there that don't find a spot on their staff for older people, men and blacks, also owned by rich people who inherited their money. Your story is off the mark.... Best Regards, Alexander Hamilton

Out of 21 editorial staffers—including Owner/Founder Ben Goldhirsh, and the photo, design, and web staffs—Good has six women. Three of them are in copy/research, one of them is an editorial assistant, and two others work on the web. So really, there's just one woman, Features Editor Siobhan O'Connor, in a significant masthead position. There are several male staffers with gender-ambiguous names! But a quick Google proves that Casey Caplowe, Morgan Clendaniel, and even Jaime Wolf are all men.

Sure, world leaders and the Good masthead are hardly comparable entities. But if you're going down that road about the wrongs of the world, well, you might start in your own backyard. Hiring a few more people who didn't go to Brown or Andover might be a start. (No, St. Albans and Harvard grad Al Gore III doesn't count.)

When you're covering a well-mannered affair like the Good #2 launch party, there's really not much for the camera to see. Really, how many times can you record the compelling "people talking" scene? Sometimes the only alternative is to make people react to the camera itself, with positive, negative, and indifferent results. Gawker videographer Richard Blakeley thus creates this montage of visible camera sense, set to the heartfelt holiday strains of Wham! for your listening pleasure.

Earlier: Team Party Crash: 'Good' #2 Launch @ Beaver House

have an equal disdain for Amanda Cogdon's rack, which made an appearance at Good's launch party, and trust fund babies. That being said, I unintentionally arrived an hour late. I was stuck behind a broken-down A train at Columbus Circle for what seemed like an eternity. A homeless guy decided to pass the time by showing everyone in the car his stab wounds; a present from some guy he robbed last week. Deep down inside I'm still a suburbanite from East Bumblefuck, NJ. I couldn't wait to get off that train and into the cold, prickly arms of the Beaver.

You know you're at a bad holiday party when there are more magazines than people. I'd like to thank videographer Richard Blakeley for that sentence; he can be somewhat amusing after six gin and tonics. Anyway, was happy to discover that Ben Goldhirsh (editor) and Al Gore Jr. (publisher) aren't douchebags. In fact ,Al admits — off the record of course — that he refreshes Gawker and Wonkette religiously. In a moment of drunken stupor, Richard and I think of stupid questions to ask Al, such as which Tennessean would win in a fight: James K. Polk or Reese Witherspoon. Al chooses Reese because she's still alive. I choose Reese because she's seemingly less pretentious than Gwyneth Paltrow and I don't know a single fact about James K. Polk other than the fact that's he's dead.

After that moment, I convince Ben to give me his funniest quote ever. "We're going to bring it in 2007. Everything else in 2006 was just practice." We both agree it wasn't funny. Unfortunately, Ben and Al were slightly upstaged when "hot former intern Neel" made his fashionably late appearance. Neel kindly asked the three of us not to include him in today's write-up. And so, we shall not. Except for this part.

'Good' #2 Launch @ Beaver House [Photos]

Internship for New, San Francisco-based Magazine (financial district) [Craigslist]

^{Ian Wilhelm of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Later he got in a drunken shoving match with some loser from The Annals of Generosity.}

[Warning: The following write-up, often devoid of the s-word — hint: it ends in "k" — and, towards the end, rather kind-hearted and non-judgmental, in no way, shape, or form reflects the views and opinions of the rest of the Gawker editorial staff, nor is it indicative of any change in said staff's sensibility. Send all complaints to Jessica Coen. Thank you.]

So, Good: Gawker's callous dismissal of one young man's quest to pull an anti-Hilton and do his family legacy proud. Putting aside snips about the magazine's content (which content we actually enjoyed) and concerns about the seeming absence of a viable business plan (more on that later), the staff of Good took some time away from saving the world on recycled stock paper to throw an official launch party in Chelsea. And you know what? It was Good! (That's the first and only time we'll use that joke. Promise.)

^{Gary Shteyngart, shocked and pleased that he actually got into print.}

^{Why, who's this attractive couple? Don't you know this is a media party? It's designer spawn David Lauren and model Lauren Bush. Yes, his name is her name, too.}

Despite the unintended irony of bartenders dolling out drinks in little plastic cups, thereby creating Lord knows how many pounds of trash (c'mon guys! Practice what you preach!)*, the party was exactly what it claimed it would be: an open bar till 2 a.m., with DJ sets that people actually danced to. Not well, mind you — the types of people who subscribe to Good are not the types of people you'd expect to move with any semblance of grace and fluidity—but they danced nonetheless.

^{A certain individual reacts ambivalently to a bicep squeeze from HuffPo's Rachel Sklar.}

^{Matthew Modine needs a shave. Al Gore needs a pulse.}

Except Al Gore. We'd always thought that the guy was just sort of misunderstood — someone who is probably engaging and charismatic in person, but who happens to get unfortunately tense on camera, and thus comes off as wooden. Nope! He's just as droll in the flesh. We badgered him for a solid two minutes in a fruitless attempt to get him to say something entertaining, to no avail. To our standard, open-ended question of the evening, "What do you think is Good?," the best we got was, "Sustainability." Trade in the glass of icewater for a vodka tonic, Al. No one will know the difference.

^{Albert Gore, son of Al, hangs with his junior Secret Service detail.}

^{Michael Calderone (New York Observer) and David Hirschman (Editor & Publisher), strapped in with messenger bags and ready to dominate.}

<sup>You want to front with the manpurse, yo? Radar's Jeff Bercovici is strapped.



David Greenbaum (Miramax) and Demetri Martin. Apparently Greenbaum is the youngest executive at Miramax. He just turned 30. One of these boys is hot. The other's shirt is open far too much.</sup>

Comedian and The Daily Show correspondent Demetri Martin was, not surprisingly, funnier: "It's God with an extra 'o.'" Vice contributor Terry Richardson, less so: "Not bad." We didn't get around to Google boys Larry Page and Sergi Brin, Matthew Modine, or Elizabeth Berkeley, though we're really only disappointed by Berkeley. Our quest to figure out what exactly she was thinking during the epic waterfall sex scene d nouement in Showgirls will have to wait.

<sup>Dodgeball mogul Dennis Crowley. And Friend.



Amanda Congdon with FishBowlNY's Dylan Stableford, explaining her appeal.</sup>

To Amanda Congdon! Oh hello, how's the cross-country road trip going, cool, excellent, TV gigs lined up, swell, nice to hear you're moving beyond your feud with Rocketboom dude, so what do you think is good, oh, "living your life responsibly, spontaneously responsibly," great, yada yada yada, let's get to the good stuff: your tits: "I'm comfortable with my own sexuality but that's not what I'm all about," Congdon says. "I'm not going to deny that my looks have helped me, but it's not what I'm all about."

^{"Oh, wait, you know, I just realized that, uh, I have to go put my ferret to bed, so I gotta go, nice talking with you, buh-bye."}

But Amanda, what about all the critics who dismiss you as nothing more than a set of mammaries? "I would say that you need two things to be successful — looks and talent. There are a lot of pretty girls who are unsuccessful." Yes, Amanda. We certainly agree you have two things going for you.

^{Good managing editor Zach Frechette, who wears this color quite well, so you don't have to. As if you could.}

On to the men of the hour, Ben Goldhirsh and the rest of Good staff, all enthusiastic and funny and charming and, yes, earnest, but in a way that actually makes you want to see them succeed if for no reason other than that they're putting a lot of hard work and effort and soul into something they're passionate about, which admittedly sounds cheesy and trite but which is nonetheless true (exhale). "When it comes down to it, this isn't some philanthropic endeavor — we're doing this as a business, to make money, and we're serious about it," says managing editor Zach Frechette, adding that they've already doubled ad pages in their second issue (granted, there weren't many in the first, but baby steps). "We just really want to do something that speaks to the sensibilities of our generation, which we don't really see elsewhere." Amen, brotha, can't hate on that.

^{Neel yuks it up with Zach Frechette and Good associate editor Morgan Clendaniel. So jovial!}

So, what's good to you, men of Good? "It's like the Earth swallowed Radar and heaven shat out Good," says Associate Editor Morgan Clendaniel. Huh? Does that even make sense? Who knows. Everyone was drunk. Wish 'em well. As for us, a couple final bonus shots, and we're out. Good night!

<sup>Neel and Rachel Sklar suddenly realize they can actually feel DJ Grandmaster Flash inside their brains. And he feels very, very good.



Amanda Congdon not apparently fooled by Neel's ruse of always glancing down at his notepad while speaking with her.</sup>

_{* Re: the cups, Associate Editor Morgan Clendaniel, the next morning: "I am going to go out on a limb and say that right now, people from that building are carefully washing each little plastic cup, to be used again at their next event. Or maybe they're going to make another installation with them." Phew!}

In part the second of our efforts to flood the zone known as last night's Good magazine launch party, enjoy this more comprehensive clip documenting a little bit of Al Gore boogie, a smidge of Matthew Modine, a wodge of Demetri Martin, and a good bit of "Hey" almost immediately followed by the requisite "Ho." Early party prospects did not look promising, but the abundance of liquor and absence of food soon put the people into the right frame of mind. Munch on this while staying tuned for our full-bore but scrupulously kind party report, wherein we atone for past sins.

You're welcome, Ben! Now excuse us while we work on a follow-up to that Steve-O penis piece.

The book itself won't seem unfamiliar to anyone who has read a magazine within the last ten years: The front is filled with charts, graphs, and pictures; it's a virtual riot of entry points. The subjects are similarly shopworn: food production, Paris Hilton, free trade coffee. (Note the edgy graphic accompanying the coffee piece. Wow.) The Marketplace section somehow makes New York's Strategist seem like a font of depth and wisdom; the brief portraits of "good" people, are, at the very least brief.

There are some heavy hitters writing for Good: James Surowiecki, Gary Shteyngart, and Kurt Vonnegut all make appearances (although Vonnegut's piece is a cartoon doodled on a napkin, pulled from his website; reminding us of nothing so much as David Mamet's HuffPo cartoons). We're nor sure what Goldhirsch is paying per word, but we can only imagine the joy on these guy's faces when their agents called. Also, there are stickers and Joel Stein. The back page is a goddamned project. Because, you know, that's how you fix America: making bumper sticker about voting.

It's easy to be cynical about Good: Every single influence is clearly displayed, and, good Lord, does the earnestness get grating. The letter from the editor comes atop a paean to the Creative Commons license and a message about how the paper stock chosen "saved the equivalent of 150 trees and lowered air emissions by 21,520 lbs." (Of course, Al Gore's kid is an associate publisher.) Still, we'd feel kind of bad completely dismissing it out of hand: Sure, it may be a rich kid's attempt to justify his inheritance. Yeah, it's basically a McSweeney's for the trust fund set. Okay, it's somehow even more self-congratulatory than McSweeney's. But we're tempted to give it a passing grade for this reason alone: If rich people are going to read anything, it's probably better that they read this than, say, Dealmaker. But again, that's assuming rich people read.

We guess it could be worse.

The Magazine [Good]

We just received a copy of Good, the new magazine on how to give away your money. There's too much to digest all at once, but we were drawn to the portrait of former Rocketboom (remember July?) anchor Amanda Congdon. What especially moved us was the pullquote:

"I'm only interested in projects where I'll be more than just the 'face.'"

You go, Amanda! Keep working the rack.

Cyberspace Oddity [Good]

Earlier: Gawker's coverage of Amanda Congdon

_{Click the representative icon above to see the actual photo (scroll down the WSJ article); original removed in interests of decency.}

Have you ever seen a more earnest bunch of well-off do-gooders yearning to make a difference? You can see the focus on each one of their faces. Well, except for the dude in the t-shirt. We're guessing he's the tech guy.

Wealthy Son Aims to Build His Legacy [WSJ]