Alex Balk
”Air Conditioning Problems Endanger The Media!
Many members of your Gawker editorial team are not in the Gawker office at the moment. Why? Because the AC there is a crap shoot (or has been), and SOME PEOPLE don't want to take their chances in DANGEROUS HEAT like we have today. I'm in a coffee shop in Brooklyn, and I'm sweating here, too! But it's not just us; a trendworthy number of key media figures are facing air conditioning problems. The media cannot work like this! More »The Mysterious Alex Balk Disease
"Serge Hefez, a practicing psychiatrist, has identified a new mental illness among bloggers: obsessive Balkosis, an unhealthy fascination with the Radar Online Executive Editor, Alex Balk." More »Gossip Girl's Eerily Familiar Opening Credits Sequence
From the mixed-up files of Mr. Alex E. Balk comes this YouTube video (at left). It's Gossip Girl! It's 90210! It's everything that makes me want to run around the room squealing and/or fall asleep and never wake up again, all at the same time! Someone has put those mesmerizing publicity videos and other random b-roll to good use, using the 90210 theme song to create a nifty little opening credits sequence. Hey, why doesn't Gossip Girl have one already? Are they not cool anymore? I wish they were. I loved 90210's, no matter how silly. What are some other good ones? More »New York's Six Gossip Monsters
Let's put aside any judgment on the literary qualities of Sloane Crosley's collection of essays, I Was Told There'd Be Cake. One talent is beyond dispute: the author, a book publicist in her day job, is one of publishing's most expert promoters. Crosley has secured interviews and profiles which must make writers with fewer connections insanely jealous; and she handles the suspicion that she's trading on those connections with expertly self-deprecating charm. True to form, her book party, itself a rare event in the penny-pinching publishing industry, drew pretty much the full contingent of New York's gossip columnists. From left to right: Spencer Morgan, slap-happy editor of the Observer's Transom column; some big-headed internet geek pretending to run Gawker.com; Paula Froelich of Page Six; her rival Ben Widdicombe of the New York Daily News; Jessica Coen of New York Magazine; and Radar's online editor, Alex Balk. In the gallery, Chris Wilson, Elizabeth Spiers, Russell Perrault of Anchor Books, Frank Rich's son, Nat, and others. Photos, as always, by Nikola Tamindzic. GALLERY»
Five Things You Didn't Know About John McCain's Penis
So now that we know everything we need to know about balls and penises, we've turned our attention to politics, and to the penis of John McCain, the man—the hero—who could be our next president. After the jump, five important facts about John McCain's penis. More »Your Balls, in Five Bullet Points
CBS News has been running a lot unappetizing stories about sex lately. First it was "Things You Didn't Know About Your Penis" (or "Four Things I Already Knew About Your Penis And One That Grossed Me Out"). Then there was "Top 10 Reasons To Have Sex Tonight" (or "10 Terrible Reasons to Have Sex Tonight.") Instead of waiting for CBS to produce their inevitable list of factoids about testicles, we made our own. After the jump, five terribly important facts about balls. More »
a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma
Who is Fake Nick Denton? Go Through The Looking Glass And Find Out.
Gawker publisher Nick Denton has his own very funny online imitator, Nick Guido Denton, aka Fake Nick Denton, who real Denton said in this comment no one should "out." But Gawker also has a video magician named Richard Blakeley, who sits awake, late at night, making charts and probably drinking too much coffee, trying to figure out who the hell Nick Guido Denton is, and going slowly insane. He has developed a number of theories and possible candidates, and once told me "I am like Kevin Costner in JFK." Blakeley apparently couldn't bear to keep the truth from the American people any longer and has finally floated his own very detailed theory about who is pretending to be Nick Denton, which is presented here in distilled format, along with a brief video of Blakeley trying to explain it: More »Gawker Alum Report
Our much-vaunted, delightfully lecherous Gawker photog Nikola Tamindzic has launched a new photosite, Home of the Vain. It's no longer just nightlife photography! By way of introduction, he's showcasing never-before-seen half-naked photos of Josh and Emily, back when things were brighter. Josh frankly glistens, and Emily? Well, she always looks like a million bucks. (Meanwhile, Alex Balk lets us know that the best thing about his new job is the "respect I get from my co-workers.")
scandal
Gawker Alum Report
Former Gawker editor Joshua David Stein's Page Six Magazine story on the unhappy end of his not-quite-secret romantic relationship with former Gawker editor Emily Gould leaves neither of them looking particularly mature. It is, poetically, not available online. The best recap may be this one, from Karen, an "avid quilter" and "middle aged blogger." Former Gawker editor Alex Balk gives Barack Obama "the coveted Balk endorsement," because he hates baby boomers, dynasties, and women (j/k!). He also pens the ultimate Radar post. Former Gawker managing editor Choire Sicha interviewed Paulda Abdul, commented on the Stein/Gould affair via IM transcript, and started a band. Jessica Coen: still Tumblring. Update: The full story, with commentary, may be found here.What You're Missing On Tumblr (And No, The Answer's Not "Nothing")
Anyone who follows Gawker's coverage of certain blogs on Tumblr could easily assume that the simple blogging tool is like LiveJournal for privileged white 20-somethings, and entirely unworthy of attention. But that's only the part that we, in our mocking masochistic obsession, have focused on, while ignoring the circus of delights that Tumblr can be. In fact, much as I want you to read my whole guide to the best and worst of Tumblr below, I'd rather you just went and read one of the best blogs from Tumblr, The Triumph of Bullshit. More »
alex balk
Alex Balk Finally Says Goodbye To His Soul
Former Gawker editor (and probably one the best we've ever had) Alex Balk now works at Radar. You'd think working at Gawker for so long is when he'd lose his soul but that turns out not to be true. It was under Radar's watch that on January 22nd, Alex Balk lost whatever shred of humanity lurked inside his hoary albeit well-sculpted bosom, or so his tumblr says. More »Today In Gawker Alums
Doree is bored by The Wire's Baltimore Sun storyline. Choire is at a seafood restaurant in South Carolina. Emily is posting photos of her dog (and criticizing books about sad literary men). Balk is really sorry he hasn't updated in a while but it's been totally crazy at work!Today In Gawker Alums
On his Tumblr today, Alex Balk muses on Nick Denton's morality, suggests that his vision of hell involves doing his current job with Radar, and makes one (1) tit joke. Guest-blogging at kottke.org, Choire Sicha continues mining Times metro sections of days past for ironies and gimlet-eyed commentary on the sorry state of 2008 New York. Doree Shafrir has a photo of Emily Gould's dog. Emily Gould has re-launched her blog. Jesse Oxfeld IMd us earlier to remind us that he has "a very small and entirely static presence" on the Internet. Jessica Coen's website has itself been fairly static since the start of the year. [Previously]
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