Esquire Really *****d The *******s
In your overblownTuesday media column: Time is a biter, Michael Wolff is an exaggerator, Portfolio is a fantasist, Newsweek is stank, and Esquire is an [expletive deleted]:
Esquire Is Getting Nervous
Esquire's ad revenue dropped 22% in the first quarter, which actually put it above average. But we hear that the magazine's staff, and its corporate overlords, are on edge. There was a meeting yesterday [UPDATED]...
The Times Cuts Back, Trouble at ABC?
• The Times is folding in several sections of the paper (City, Escapes); scrapping the weekly fashion spread in the New York Times Magazine, and cutting the budget for freelance writers. Grim times, indeed. [NYT, Gawker]
• NBC CEO Jeff Zucker is reportedly concerned that CNBC has become too conservative and is…
No Need to Buy a Plane Ticket Just For the In-Flight Magazine Any More
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:
Pam Does Paris, The Return of Fur
• Pamela Anderson hit the catwalk at Vivienne Westwood's show in Paris today. Her boob popped out of her dress at the very end, which was totally an accident, you can rest assured. [SW, HP]
• Reports from various shows at Paris Fashion Week. [WSJ, NYM, T, Telegraph]
• You can credit/blame Barack Obama's inauguration…
Esquire Editor Admires the Kindle, or At Least the Hearst Replacement
Esquire editor David Granger loves the Amazon Kindle. Sort of. The e-book reader gives him hope that Internet-shortened attention spans will lengthen enough to spark a renaissance in books and magazines. He's utterly delusional.
Fox News' Shep Smith on Being Fair and Balanced: 'I Don't Care What Sean Hannity Thinks'
Esquire has a profile of every liberal's favorite Fox News jockey Shep Smith this month. It's cute-ish and funny, but a bit murky. Just who is this guy? Is he friend or foe?
Reorg at HarperCollins, Burkle on the Brink
• HarperCollins announced layoffs and a major reorg today. [NYO, Gawker]
• No one wants to take the editor job at OK! [Page Six]
• Ron Burkle's magazine distribution company is suing a bunch of publishing companies for trying to drive it out of business. We should be so lucky. [NYP]
• Michael Kinsley explains why…
Esquire Implants Ad Under Obama's Skin
Ever since Vice plastered an ad on its cover that was only visible in the dark, magazines have been researching better ways to sell out. Now Esquire has made a breakthrough in invisible cover ads!
Obama to Decriminalize Marijuana, Claims Really High Person
Obama will make your weed legal because he models himself after FDR, a presumably stoned Esquire writer asserts.
Paris Hilton Has a Nightclub In Her House, Doesn't Understand Why You Want One Too
Esquire can now retire their esteemed old "What I've Learned..." feature. Paris Hilton has filled out the questionnaire, and once you find out that someone has a nightclub in their house, there's just no topping it.
The Bright Side Of Magazine Armageddon
Oh, it's a terrible time to own a magazine. Advertising is falling and expected to plummet further. Everyone's laying people off, going online only or outright shutting down. But every editor worth his salt knows how to put a contrarian, positive spin on a dire situation. Time Inc. may be in the process of laying off…
Esquire Of Stripper Mags Is Hiring!
Chin up, unemployed journalists! Though media companies seem to accelerate their layoffs every day — Time Inc. Europe, People and CondeNet were on deck Tuesday — the optimist looks for opportunity in the panicked horror. One might, for example, sell one's soul to the horrid zombie Web corpse of a long-dead print…
'Esquire' Wants You to Know That Vince Vaughn is Fat Now
When Vince Vaughn first made his mark with
Swingers, he was so whippet-thin that his wild, improvised riffs almost seemed to be a unique form of cardio. Now that a decade has passed, though, things have changed — a fact that takes great pains to point out. , each line of its cover story (entitled "The Biggest Man in…
Esquire's Political Thanksgiving Recipes from 1984, Served Cold
In a move oddly prescient of the HuffPo's model—soliciting mundane content from famous names to make ya look—
Esquire is posting celeb and political Thanksgiving recipes from its 1984 issue—Walter Mondale, Nancy Reagan, William Styron, et al. Mmm, tastes like morning in America and trickle-down economics! It raises so…
Hearst Layoffs Hit Esquire
The
layoffs at Hearst this week have already hit and . So as not to be sexist, now they've come to . We hear the upscale men's mag laid off four editorial employees yesterday, including two editors, and decreed that another open assistant editor position won't be filled. "They gathered everyone together to tell them…
Hearst Cuts Back, Profits Fall at the Times
♦ Cuts have arrived at Hearst: Cathie Black (left) is "going floor by floor at the Hearst Tower to trim costs and staff positions." [WWD]
♦ Lloyd Grove talks to Tina Brown about her new site and the economic climate: "It's pretty scary. It's scary, scary, scary." [Portfolio]
♦ The New York Times Co. reported…
A Gentle Critique Of Esquire
Let's play the game "Who said it, and about what?": "It was a silly gimmicky thing." "Ridiculous." "I was embarrassed by it. I think most people at Hearst were embarrassed by it." "I was embarrassed that the
Esquire name was on it." "That wasn't great, that was just ridiculous." "This Mickey Mouse light clicking on an…
Redstone Forced to Sell, CosmoGirl Closure Confirmed
♦ Sumner Redstone is being forced to sell about one-fifth of his stake in CBS and Viacom to meet the terms of various loan agreements. Also: Shares in Viacom plunged after the company announced third-quarter earnings fell short of estimates. [Bloomberg]
♦ It's official: Hearst's Cathie Black announced CosmoGirl will…
A Sex-Starved Nation Turns To 'Sexiest Woman Alive' Halle Berry For Emergency Relief
Unlike
People's definitive , faces a great many challengers to its fairer-sex equivalent, from 's Power Cleavage 100 to the Bang-Worthy Countdown. Still, is to be commended for repeatedly rewarding quality over gravity-defying quantity, and so we applaud their 2008 choice of Halle Berry. Now 42 and a new mom,…
