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I CAN HAZ MASTURPEESUZ
A Context-Free, Comment-Free Review Of Contemporary Art, With Suggestions
Things I Did On My July 4th Vacation: hit up The New Museum's Younger Than Jesus exhibition. It's a contemporary art exhibit showcasing only artists born after 1976. It ends today. Here is what I saw, presented without comment.
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media reporting
Sharon Waxman Ate Breakfast At Balthazar And Lived To Tell The Tale
For all the media fetishists in the house: Sharon Waxman wrote an excruciatingly facepalm-worthy report about what eating breakfast at NYC media-commissary Balthazar is like. Please go back to LA, and don't take my soft-boiled eggs with you. [HuffPo] -
(Inside) Media Softball
Old Person Blogs Thing Nobody Cares About
Village Voice EIC Tony Ortega has nothing to do during the weekend but read us. Yay, readers! :) ANYWAY. Ortega made an item out of Ian Speigelman's anti-Nick Denton screed in yesterday's comments. But: irony. More » -
housekeeping
Valleywag: An Instruction Manual
Dear Ryan:
As I head to NBC to run its Bay Area site, I'm leaving you one Silicon Valley gossip blog, used but in good condition. A few thoughts on how to keep it that way. More » -
hackers
Did Someone Hack Into the New York Times Twitter Account?
Earlier tonight I received an email from Gawker's eagle-eyed publisher Nick Denton (Seriously, nothing gets by this guy!) with an iPhone screengrab that contained an ad for naked webcam action on the Times' Twitter feed. More » -
feuds
The Writer Nick Denton Couldn't Let Go (And Then Secretly Smeared)
There are some bloggers Gawker Media overlord Nick Denton simply can't stand to lose. Some can be drawn back into the fold with generous counteroffers. Some cannot. Emily Gould could not. And she paid. More » -
twitterati
The Twitterati Buy Nick Denton Guacamole in Berkeley
So Meghan McCain, Suze Orman, and Bonnie Fuller walk into a bar ... no, we don't know the punchline either, but we suspect the real joke is that they're all on Twitter. Today's meetest tweets: More » -
auctions
Masterpiece Nick Denton, With Pancakes Back on the Market
Chris Mohney emerged as theremorseful buyerwinning bidder for Dan Lacey's portrait of our overlord. In news that will excite fours of Gawker Media employees, he's selling it. He paid $560, current bid: $72. -
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jazz feet
Old Man Twinkle Toes Delights Room Full of Children
Barry Diller was on hand to introduce the The CollegeHumor Show (his IAC owns a stake in the mostly-online venture) at last night's launch party. He made old man jokes and did some fancy footwork. More » -
auctions
Nick Denton With Pancakes Sells For Princely Sum
The most important painting of our time, Nick Denton With Pancakes on His Head, has just sold at auction for $560. That makes him 63% as valuable as Florida State's Keith Gessen. The buyer: More » -
auctions
Nick Denton Breakfast Art Update
Bidding on Dan Lacey's one-of-a-kind Pancake Head Nick Denton painting has reached $300, thanks to interest from current and former employees. Remember: the Keith Gessen remix book went for $890. Six days left, people. [Previously] -
masterpieces
Nick Denton, With Pancakes
Just when you thought Pancake-themed political artist Dan Lacey couldn't top his Obama bear wrestling piece, witness this: Gawker Media overlord Nick Denton, with pancakes on his head. This is for sale to the public. More » -
internal affairs
Consumerist, Defamer Leaving the Gawker Media Fold
You heard it here last: Nick Denton's slimmed-down fiscal plans for 2009 include two fewer blogs: Consumerist is now Consumer Reports's younger, hipper sidekick, while Defamer is seeking a new home. More » -
self-referential
Fake Nick Denton Outs Self
For anyone still wondering who cleverly mocked and impersonated Gawker Media overlord Nick Denton earlier this year, commenter Cajun Boy has confessed he was "Nick Guido Denton" of Tumblr. More » -
blogging the auto bloggers
ForbesAutos.com Staff Laid Off, I Start Saying Nicer Things To Ray Wert, Nick Denton
Rumors have flown all week about Forbes planning to axe their Forbes Autos division. Those rumors look to be confirmed by Alley Insider, though a spokesperson refused to confirm or deny those rumors to us. Though the Forbes auto site has never been a major player in the automotive news business, it illustrates a reality: less automaker revenue means less ad revenue means less automotive outlets. This is especially true for an operation like Forbes.com, which sought to squeeze out more luxo-advertising bucks by creating their own custom content channels and putting themselves in a bad position come a down cycle. Oh, yeah, and it also serves as a reminder of how the Financiapocalypse could affect me, personally. Therefore, I've decided to say some nice things about my employers before I end up getting canned or made to feed the hamsters in our server farm for a salary of wooden nickels and all the sawdust I can eat. [Jalopnik] -
self-referential
What If Sarah Lacy Had Run Valleywag?
Sarah Lacy, the Silicon Valley author, BusinessWeek reporter and notorious interviewer, worked a bit of grave-dancing into her blog "tribute" to Valleywag, the site gutted by Gawker Media Wednesday. Gawker Media chief Nick Denton was the "best" Valleywag editor, and his posts were "sexy, fun... and important." The site's current editor, Owen Thomas, has had far more time to dutifully torture Valley fixture Lacy and, what do you know, she writes that Valleywag "just stopped being a daily, must-read for" her under his tenure. Perhaps Lacy imagines she could have run the site better, had she taken Denton up on his offer to take the reins a couple of years ago, before Thomas came on the scene. More » -
sarah lacy
Valleywag woes won't stop SF journalist from talking about herself
"I always laugh when people talk about how 'self-promotional' I am," blogs vaguely-connected-to-BusinessWeek writer Sarah Lacy in a 902-word post, "given that for ten years of my career you never knew a thing about me other than my byline." Lacy says that Valleywag was more interesting when editor-owner Nick Denton wrote it. We think she's onto an interesting pattern: Sarah Lacy was more interesting when Nick Denton wrote about her, too. -
the way we were
Remember when Valleywag was a startup?
It was only two and a half years ago that Nick Denton launched Valleywag, Silicon Valley's tech gossip rag, at a time when the Internet hadn't yet resumed its froth. From the first, Paul Boutin and I were working for Nick Denton for free, feeding launch editor Nick Douglas tips and quips. As Denton wore us down, we both become official employees of Gawker Media. A bubble and a bust later, we're still here. At least through the end of the month — after which, I'll be the Valleywag both here and on Gawker.com, and Paul will no doubt return to his sub rosa role as advisor and instigator. Same party, different venue. Do tag along! (Photo by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid) -
nick denton
Extremely literal boss demotes editor to columnist
In the wake of his apocalyptic predictions for the online-advertising market, Nick Denton, the owner of Valleywag publisher Gawker Media, read my offhand quip about how I would soon be writing Valleywag as a column for Gizmodo or Gawker, whichever will take me" as a brilliant business suggestion, and he's taking me up on the idea. (Gawker, as it happens.) Nick, I was joking, but if you really think I have such keen insight into how to manage your Web properties, why not make me a strategic consultant to Gawker Media instead — and give me a hefty raise while you're at it? -
too insidery
Robert Scoble now reports to my ex-boss
This will be hilarious: Self-obsessed videoblogger Robert Scoble, managing director of FastCompany.tv, has a new boss — who's the same as my old one. Noah Robischon is leaving his job as managing editor of Valleywag's publisher, Gawker Media, to run Fast Company's websites, which include Scoble's personal blog, Scobleizer.com. More » -
nick denton
Nick Denton's Forecast Of Media Doom
Nick Denton, who rules over the entire Gawker empire, is the most pessimistic man in the media. In a way, this is comforting, because you know it's very unlikely that things will be worse than he predicts. In another, more visceral way, it is not comforting at all. But nobody said it was supposed to be, so oh well. Today Nick has issued his 2009 Internet Media Plan, which amounts to one big Forecast of Doom. Highlights: More » -
gawker media
Nick Denton: "Publishers are sleeping their way to extinction"
Think things are bad in the media business? You ain't seen nothin' yet. That's the message Nick Denton, the owner of Gawker Media, an online publisher whose properties include this website, lays out in a new essay now published on his personal blog. (A draft I saw was headlined "Publishers Are Sleeping Their Way to Extinction"; he has now headlined it "A 2009 Internet Media Plan." Denton never was much good at headlines.) Analysts project a single-digit increase in online advertising in 2009; we should be so lucky, according to Denton, who writes that a 30 to 40 percent decline in all advertising spending, online and off, next year — a scenario supported by analyses of economic recessions from Sweden to Indonesia. His conclusion? "Publishers should be planning for the worst, now." Here's what Denton's cost-cutting recommendations could mean for his own company. More » -
celebritards
Oprah wept on Silicon Valley investor Sam Perry
The world watched Oprah Winfrey cry as our new Internet President delivered his victory speech. But whose shoulder did she dump mascara on? Sam Perry, a Reuters reporter turned venture capitalist based in Silicon Valley, who had volunteered as a communications director for the Obama campaign. Perry, who's due to appear on her show today, is now a visiting fellow at Stanford University and a consultant to startups. At Reuters, one of the investments he was involved with was Moreover Technologies, a news-aggregation startup cofounded by Valleywag's publisher, Nick Denton. Yes, small world. Watch Oprah sob on Perry: More » -
request for information
Send In Your Election-Night Party Pics!
The above shot is from the swank party at Gawker Media overlord Nick Denton's SoHo loft. Obviously we can't all have elite LCD wall projectors and a fancy media crowd because some of us are stuck in John McCain's REAL America, or maybe Brooklyn. All the more reason to send us pictures of your electoral shindigs tonight. Help us diversify this post! Mail your shots (however blurry/explicit/incriminating) to tips@gawker.com or post in the comments. We'll keep your name out of it unless you tell us otherwise. (Elitist parties are OK too. Heck, encouraged, even.) After the jump, the exciting scene at Gawker HQ. UPDATE: And more! (Last new photo: 11:52 p.m.) More » -
online advertising
Nick Denton promises 40 percent reduction in my self-esteem
“Anyone who isn’t prepared for ads to go down 40 percent is crazy.” That's what Valleywag publisher Nick Denton blabbed to the wantrepreneurs at an event in New York last week. AllThingsD reblogger Peter Kafka rolled up Denton's irrational gloom into a big-picture gloom post this morning. There's some good news buried in the middle of Kafka's post: More » -
nouriel roubini
Journalists Are 'Bunch of Wimps' Blackmailed By Gawker, Says Dr. Meltdown
Some background: Nouriel Roubini is an economist known for his longstanding pessimism, at the peak of his professional reputation, vindicated by the financial crisis. The NYU academic, when he's not predicting another great depression, throws parties at his vagina-encrusted Tribeca loft for young Facebook ladies. Nothing wrong with that—but the Iranian-Jewish playboy-professor equates any comment by this site on his decadent personal life with anti-Semitism. In a late-night Facebook rant earlier this week he slammed "trashy junky" Gawker and its Nazi-minded editor. Now the deranged professor disappointed by the supposedly independent journalists who've failed to take up his cause. After the jump: an extraordinary email calling New York magazine's Jessica Pressler a "coward" with a "trashy column." (By the way, Roubini's prescient warnings about the financial plight of the US won him the nickname Dr. Doom. Given his unhinged rants of the last few days, a more appropriate moniker might be Dr. Meltdown.) More » -
nouriel roubini
'Nick Denton Is An Anti-Semite With A Nazi Mind'
Playboy-professor Nouriel Roubini has never ridden so high. The NYU economist was one of the first to warn of impending financial doom; he's burnished his reputation as an eligible intellectual; and I'm sure the regular parties at his vagina-decorated Tribeca apartment are more popular than ever among his Facebook lady-friends. Unfortunately, his economic judgment and taste in women are not matched by public relations skills: provoked by two rather affectionate pieces on his parties and Facebook stalking, Roubini has launched the most extraordinary and embarrassing tirade on my Facebook wall. Apparently the words playboy and roué are the same terms used by Nazis to describe lecherous Jews; case closed. Roubini's personal meltdown—as dramatic as the economic disintegration he's so long predicted—is entirely understandable. It was 2am when he wrote the barrage of Facebook messages reproduced after the jump; the market plunged again yesterday; and Dr. Doom must feel beset by enemies—though not at Gawker, where he promises to provide weeks of good copy and entertainment.
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caption contest
"I thought I ordered the pearl necklace"
Go ahead. You know you want to vent. The best caption for this timeless photo of Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton getting pied will become the post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: "Vulgar ostentation never looked so good," by Valleywag alumnus Jordan Golson. -
layoffs
Valleywag cuts 60 percent of staff
We would never sugarcoat someone else's layoffs. Why ours? Gawker Media, our publisher, has told me to cut Valleywag's costs, in anticipation of an advertising recession. In response, I have laid off associate editors Nicholas Carlson and Jackson West and reporter Melissa Gira Grant. They have all been doing excellent work, breaking stories and needling Silicon Valley. But our ultimate boss, Nick Denton, has decided he can't afford them. Paul Boutin and I will continue running the site. Denton's memo: More » -
envy
Does Nick Denton wish he were Peter Thiel?
"Thiel makes me sick!" read the note from Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton. His oddly personal declaration was prompted by a brief in the New York Post about former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel's success as a hedge-fund manager. Thiel will make an estimated $500 million this year running Clarium Capital, a hedge fund. (We reported this a few weeks ago, boss.) It hit me hard: Could Denton actually be jealous of Thiel? More » -
feuds
Blogfights: A 100-word history
Nearly ten years before Violet Blue vs. Boing Boing, the Internet's early bloggers discovered their new medium's killer application: Personal spats. Radar Online blogger Choire Sicha, angling for his 14th return to us here at Gawker Media, recounts blogfeuding's past. Choire: tl; dr. Only one era bears recounting: the months after 9/11. More » -
toby young
Toby Young on Gawker
Toby Young became famous long, long ago, when he was fired from Vanity Fair and then wrote a book about being fired from Vanity Fair. The book was also about how VF editor Graydon Carter is a bit of a tool. No one liked the book that much [Update! Besides Nick Denton and most of the UK!] but it was kind of funny and the media stuff was fun back in the early days of Gawker. But now! Thanks to The Devil Wears Prada we're finally getting the film of the book about getting fired from Vanity Fair. Toby Young's publicity campaign begins with an interview with Young Manhattanite, in which he says this: "[Gawker] has turned New York into what the philosopher Jeremy Bentham called a Panopticon — a type of prison in which all the prisoners are capable of being observed 24/7." And then he says this: "Who's Nick Denton?" Hah. [YM] -
party report
Founders Club partiers revel in the view from the top
HEARST TOWER, NEW YORK — Far from the sweaty, screaming fans that attended Digg's Brooklyn meetup Wednesday night, the suits of the Alley and Valley gathered last night on the top-most floor of the Hearst Tower for another Founders Club party to celebrate each others' transcendent splendor. All night, giant screens at either end of the party played clips from Citizen Kane, the barely fictionalized biopic based on the life of Hearst Corp.'s own founder, William Randolph Hearst. There wasn't a Hearst in the crowd, but there were those who aspire to be him. Blog moguls like PaidContent's Rafat Ali, Gawker Media's Nick Denton and AlleyCorp's Henry Blodget mingled. New Gifts.com CEO Jason Rapp attended, as did Digg cofounders Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's mentor, Valley bad boy Sean Parker, was rumored to be in the crowd as well. Jimmy Wales, cofounder of the world's most comprehensive list of William Randolph Heart's angry responses to Citizen Kane, attended with Andrea Weckerle on his arm. Photos below. More » -
once you're lucky, twice you're good
F is for Fitzpatrick, and "hookers and blow"
LiveJournal founder Brad Fitzpatrick is a prankster, as evidenced by his Halloween costume last year, when the new Googler dressed up as Facebook to mock his coworkers' fears of the social network. I'm told that in Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, Sarah Lacy's new book about Web 2.0, there's an anecdote about Fitzpatrick submitting an expense report — successfully! — for "hookers and blow" when he worked at blog software startup Six Apart. That was likely a reference to the early days of LiveJournal, when users made ridiculous accusations that Fitzpatrick was spending money meant for servers and bandwidth on "hookers and blow." We'd love to hear more, but alas, Fitzpatrick only got 8 out of 294 pages, according to the book's index. Here's the page for "D" through "F": More » -
asking for it
Emily Brill to Dad: Internet Notoriety Is a Job!
Today on Essentially Emily, Emily Brill asserts that Nick Denton is not the only reason why people bother to read Essentially Emily. No, they care about the pseudo socialite who is "friends" with Kristian Laliberte because of her dad, former media tycoon and current airport security specialist Steve Brill, and not because Gawker occasionally highlights her wit and wisdom. Emily claims, "Nick's greatest fantasy, indeed, would have been a public feud with Steven Brill over his humiliated daughter." I've been to Nick's apartment, and his fantasies have nothing to do with Steve Brill. More » -
time
Vote For TIME's Influential People
TIME moves its annual poll to decide the year's most influential people online (for You!). Screw up the poll and vote for finalist and Gawker publisher-editor Nick Denton. [TIME] -
nerdfight
Valleywag emeritus offers unsolicited advice for Michael Arrington
Newly softhearted Gawker Media head Nick Denton offers some kindly advice for TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington: "@Michael Arrington: Hey, everybody has been expecting the grand roll-up ever since you hired Heather. I don't see it happening. Certainly don't see it sticking. And, without a roll-up, you have a niche Valley site with some 3% of the traffic of Gawker or Weblogs Inc. Good luck with that when the tech bubble bursts!" -
memos
Gawker Sells Three Sites
Gawker Media Publisher (and acting Gawker Managing Editor) Nick Denton just sent word around that he's sold three sites. April Fool's! Except for real this time! Maura Johnston's Idolator, the music industry gossip and news site, goes to Buzznet—the "music-focused web and social
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blogging for dollars
Nick "The Slasher" Denton cuts loose three blogs: Gridskipper, Idolator, and Wonkette
Is Nick Denton going soft? Even his cutbacks are sentimental these days. In the old days, Denton, the publisher of Valleywag and 14 other Gawker Media blogs, would simply shutter blogs. These days, he worries first about finding them nice homes. Such is the velvet-glove treatment he's giving Gridskipper, Wonkette, and Idolator, his blogs about, respectively, travel, politics, and music. The three blogs amount to less than 3 percent of Gawker Media's traffic, he says. Fine, so why keep them around in any form? Silicon Alley Insider has the details on their new owners. More evidence of Denton's increasing namby-pambosity: Instead of threatening to fire leakers, he's encouraging us to post the internal memo announcing the move. Darling bossman, that's no fun. But also no reason to keep the memo from you, dear readers: More » -
blogging for dollars
Calacanis explains how Denton rips off his writers with "best pay in the business"
The week's not complete until bulldog-cute Mahalo chief Jason Calacanis writes in. Today JC emailed twice to call out a gaping hole in the much-discussed New Dentonomics of our 2008 Valleywag pay scale. His numbers are out of date; our new pageview rate for the second quarter is in, and it's $6.50 per thousand pageviews. But Calacanis spotted a bigger slap to the face than the CPM, one so big that Portfolio blogger Felix Salmon will have to do a whole 'nother post now to say he knew it all along. Can you guess what it is? More »





























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