Gawker: Phoning It In

'Times' Bill Carter Has Dimples, Amnesia

Maggie — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:50:09 EST

As we mentioned earlier, Fox News anchor Shephard Smith is raking it in, to the tune of $7 million per year in a recently-inked deal with his network. According to today's story from New York Times media reporter Bill Carter, "Mr. Smith would be making more than anyone at CNN—if reports of $5 million for Anderson Cooper and $6 million for Lou Dobbs are accurate." Did Carter forget that in 2002, the Timesran a piece in 2002 about CNN talkshow host Larry King's potential $14 million salary? Perhaps. Harder to believe is that he forgot the piece the Times did way back in 1998 about King's earnings, which the paper reported at $7 million. He wrote it himself!

Roger Stone, who so totally did not make ...

abalk — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:30:49 EDT

Roger Stone, who so totally did not make that obscenity-laden phone call to Governor Spitzer's father, reviews Frost/Nixon, the play he wasn't actually at during the time the call was made. His verdict? "I highly recommend the play to Governor Elliot Spitzer because it underlines the dangers hubris and the inexerable web a public official tangles himself in when he tells a lie. Since the play has closed I hope the Governor can catch a revival." You cannot make this stuff up. Also, watch your ass, Ben Brantley. [Room 8]

Male 'Times' Columnist Discovers Housework

Doree Shafrir — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 12:20:26 EDT

This week, Michael Winerip's New York Times Parenting column focuses on a wild phenomenon. It turns out that when you work at home, sometimes you actually have to, like, take care of the house! Crazy. (Seriously, this guy makes their online-life columnist Michelle Slatalla look like Frank Rich.) You remember Winerip; he's the Times writer exiled to the lonely Regionals section, where he can safely muse about the fact that his kids aren't getting into Harvard from his comfortable Long Island perch.

Because I enjoy the perks of being the stay-at-home parent, I understand that I have the responsibility of anchoring the household and all that normally entails.
But this is the catch: Very rarely does our household entail just the normal stuff it is supposed to entail. Hardly a day goes by without some domestic breakdown, some issue with school or some sprained something that needs X-raying. In a two-week stretch in August, I had six medical appointments for the kids or me. And we are healthy people.

When my wife gets home at 8 p.m. and asks, "How come you didn't get more work done?" I can't remember. So a few weeks ago, I decided to investigate myself. I started making notes on where my time was slipping away to each day.

It's hard to tell what's most annoying about this piece: Probably it's his wide-eyed incredulousness that there could be so much involved in taking care of his house and his kids in a week. Has he ever talked to, you know, a woman? Turns out, life is messy! Is this really what Metro editor Joe Sexton had in mind? We joked about Winerip writing an essay about his local elementary school's carpool lane, and scarily we weren't that far from the truth.

At the Home Office, Life's Little Interruptions [NYT]

Julia Allison Has Little Personal Experience With Cheap Dates

Emily Gould — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:30:25 EDT

Let's check in and see how Julia Allison's new gig as Time Out dating columnist is going. Maybe she's dropping dirty secrets about media figure she's semi-seeing or offending us by suggesting that women should whore themselves out for shoes. Or! Maybe she's ... getting so lazy that she's calling in Neel Shah and his College Humor compatriots to pinch-hit. Oh, Julia. Already?

In fact, even the boys aren't generating original content: just repurposing dating-related bits from their book Faking It. And instead of weighing in with an actual girl's take on what seems like some highly specious advice—come on, "ask somebody where first class is [on the Staten Island Ferry], and before they get a chance to laugh, whisk your date to the upper deck"?—she seconds it.

"'It's a known fact that women love cheese and wine,' says Blumenfeld. (He is correct. Also, sugar.)" Besides calling Noah Blumenfeld "sugar," Julia's not so much her flirty self at all in this column. Maybe she's spent from her other endeavors?

Shoestring Theory [TONY]

Will Paris Hilton appear in person in court ...

Emily Gould — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:14:15 EDT

Will Paris Hilton appear in person in court this morning, or will she be allowed to speak to judge solely via her bedazzled phone-device? Developing. Also, devolving. [TMZ]