Jon Friedman Loves Julia Allison

Much like the many men who want to do Julia Allison but don't want to be known as having done the charming Star Editor-at-Large, plenty of reporters want to write a story about Julia Allison, but don't want to be known for having penned a profile of the bubbly media figure. Marketwatch's Jon Friedman finds the perfect solution to the dilemma: Pretend it's a happy piece about a stupid weblog, and then, with that window-dressing in place, Allison it up! It's a charming, self-inoculating strategy, and who are we to begrudge the guy? Julia Allison, like it or not, is traffic! Think about that when you write your angry comments about why we're giving her so much coverage, okay?

• After some earlier unpleasantness, Jon has started to read Gawker again. This is probably all because of Doree Fucking Shafrir and her news stories.
  
• Gawker is witty again! This may have something to do with Managing Editor Choire Sicha's outlawing the word "twat." Every day he cuts and pastes a replacement for it, in the form of the more erudite "ladyflower."
  
• Jon "suspects" that we'll say that we hated reading this column. Jon is incredibly astute.

  But onto the good stuff! Julia, Julia, Julia!

• "A touchstone for Gawker is Julia Allison, one of the most media-savvy twentysomethings in New York. As a fixture of the cocktail-party circuit, Allison has developed an intense — if bizarre — following as Gawker's resident 'it girl.'"
  
• One editor - we promise you it wasn't us - calls her "our Paris Hilton."
  
• Gawker readers cannot get enough Julia.
  
• Gawker commenters are mean about Julia, but whatever; she knows that you're all "very frustrated people."
  
• "Allison's goal is make it in New York. How many 25-year-olds you know have two agents at the William Morris Agency?"

  You hear that, you jealous little people? She has two agents. And she's now been profiled in a Dow Jones publication pre-Murdoch. Mark our words, if there's still a nightly news program ten years from now, Julia will be anchoring it. And you know what? Good for her. We like Julia. So what explains the appeal? And the hate? Here's our personal theory:

  Ms. Allison is completely honest about her fame-seeking ways and doesn't pretend to be anyone that she's not. When you interact with the folks you do in this world, it's nice to occasionally deal with someone who has absolutely no pretense. We can see where people might feel like she's trading on — and getting famous from — her looks, rather than her talent, which is, you know, so unusual. She's also attained her level of "fame" in front of your eyes, in real time, so she's somehow easier to criticize. Also, the whole sex columnist thing... welI think it speaks to the fact that we have fucked up attitudes about women and sex — and especially women who write about sex, which means, gasp, they KNOW ABOUT IT — in this country, and that probably colors the reaction. Anyway, as mentioned before, commenters somehow fail to realize that every time they complain about Julia, and add to the pageviews she generates, they are pretty much ensuring more Julia and making her better known. And maybe that's the appeal.

  Or maybe it's just that she has a great ass. Either way.

  Gawker gets respectable — and remains humorous [Marketwatch]

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