Gawker: Publicity Stunts

Horrible Cologne Mails Body Parts To Reporters

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:27:07 EDT

AXE Body Spray, the cologne of choice for rapists and lonely teens, scandalized the entire nation of India last month when it started running its ads there showing a man made of chocolate who walks around being eaten by women. It was all to promote their chocolate scent, to which I hope never to be exposed. Here in America, where reporters are more jaded, the company had to take more drastic measures to get attention:

A life-sized chocolate arm, sent to reporters. Sadly, broke reporters will actually be forced to eat it. [LA Weekly]

McCain Always Pulling This 'Suspended Campaign' Trick

Ryan Tate — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:18:51 EDT

"After telling the press (his base) that he was going to announce his run in March 1999, he melodramatically 'postponed' the announcement because of the U.S. bombing of the Serbs in Kosovo." [Wonkette]

David Blaine: Cheater

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:43:20 EDT

Is David Blaine a big cheater or what? The droopy-eyed "magician" is currently engaged in his latest stunt, hanging upside down for 60 hours in Central Park. Except that ever since he started yesterday afternoon, we've been getting emails from bystanders saying that he wasn't hanging upside down—instead, he was resting by standing on a platform, only to be hoisted up several minutes later. We don't know the official explanation, but whatever it is, this sure is a crappy stunt. Here's photographic evidence:

6:45 p.m. yesterday:

Sent in at 2:15 today by reader Jesse Waites:

Sent in about 4:00 today—even when he's not standing up on his cheating platform, he has a harness to hold up his head?

I think we now know that his big ABC special tomorrow night is gonna be pretty anticlimactic. Got an explanation? Email us.

[UPDATE: One reader writes in: "Myself and 3 colleagues were there today around 12: 45. We saw the same thing. The security there said the Emt’s check him out for about 10 min per hour standing upright on the crane you have pictured." How can you hang upside down for 60 straight hours when you come down every hour? Ha, it's a trick question!]

[UPDATE 2: Mollygood also noted Blaine's cheating ways yesterday. Backlash!]

[UPDATE 3: We got this email from Patrick Smith, an executive vice president at Rubenstein Associates who is Blaine's flack:

Rubenstein Associates represents David Blaine and I personally have handled publicity for every one of his challenges. There has been no claim that David was going to hang upside down for 60 hours without a break. In all of his discussions with the media, he said he would have to occasionally get his head above his heart and lower his legs to correct circulation. About once every hour, David comes upright for about five minutes for a medical and equipment check. He has something to drink and he relieves himself, something even David can't do upside down.

His doctors told him quite simply that if he didn't correct blood flow, he could die.

David began the challenge at 8:34 am Monday and concludes at about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday. That's about 62 hours.

Stop by the Wollman Rink, especially Wednesday night, and enjoy the spectacle. It's free.

And give the guy a break.

No You Did Not See Sarah Palin

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:33:19 EDT

The Daily News is locked in a cutthroat tabloid war with the New York Post. The winner won't be determined by journalistic quality, obviously. No, it's all about stunts! Gotta bring in those eyeballs. So the Daily News hired a Sarah Palin lookalike and taped her walking around Manhattan, fooling the hell out of clueless (likely) Daily News readers! One guy has her sign a hockey puck. Then she tries to go to NBC and see Tina Fey but is kicked out. I see it as a parable of media domination of our political discourse. Watch the full clip after the jump, and then please stop sending us Sarah Palin Gawker Stalkers:

Hurricane Blows Reporter Away

Ryan Tate — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:25:00 EDT

This Weather Channel reporter was just following in the footsteps of his colleagues at CNN and every other news network when he stupidly stepped into the hurricane-force winds still remaining from Hurricane Ike this weekend. But unlike them he was nearly blown into oblivion. Luckily there was a residential fence to keep him from, you know, dying. All this for one of the most clichéd shots in TV news. Someone end the madness.

[YouTube]

Mag Photographer's Grotesque McCain Trick

Ryan Tate — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:49:42 EDT

The Atlantic has said it didn't vet Jill Greenberg's politics before hiring her to shoot John McCain. Even if it had known about her controversial anti-George Bush photographs, it wouldn't have cared, as a matter of policy. The policy may soon change: Greenberg is gloating she left McCain's eyes bloodshot and skin gnarly for the Atlantic's October cover. Worse, from the magazine's perspective, is that she tricked the Republican presidential nominee into standing over an unflattering strobe light, then posted the worst shots and Photoshops to her personal site:

(There's also one of a monkey shitting on McCain's head, in case you want the full, appetite-robbing effect.)

The Atlantic said Greenberg "disgraced herself" and that it assumed she would act more professionally. The writer of the cover story called it "juvenile."

Greenberg, meanwhile, told PDNPulse it was "irresponsible" of the Atlantic to hire her in the first place for "heroic" shots of McCain, given her well-known anti-Bush photography. And she gloated over how she tricked McCain:

Greenberg asked McCain to “please come over here” for one more set-up before the 15-minute shoot was over. There, she had a beauty dish with a modeling light set up. “That’s what he thought he was being lit by,” Greenberg says. “But that wasn’t firing.”

What was firing was a strobe positioned below him, which cast the horror movie shadows across his face and on the wall right behind him. “He had no idea he was being lit from below,” Greenberg says. And his handlers didn’t seem to notice it either. “I guess they’re not very sophisticated,” she adds.

The photographer would like to sell her more provocative photos to another magazine.

So, counting NBC/MSNBC, this makes at least two news organizations whose contributors have been bitterly divided over political and ethical issues around the 2008 election. Who will be the third?

[PDNPulse via NewsBusters, Post]

(Photos via Imagebam)

Bizarre Vanity Fair 100 Adds Anna Wintour, Vladimir Putin

Ryan Tate — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:47:08 EDT

Graydon Carter and his team at Vanity Fair wisely, and not inappropriately, added Matt Drudge to their "New Establishment" list of important people readers should shamelessly imitate and pander to. The internet gossip ranks at 74, just above Donatella Versace and just below Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. More importantly, he posted the magazine's full list to his highly-trafficked website, thus encouraging his readers to go buy the magazine and figure out why, say, Vogue Anna Wintour has suddenly been added (mysterious) and why Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is entering the rankings this year at number (gimmick to generate buzz and boost sales). Other strange additions, and the full list, after the jump.

Marc Jacobs is "returning?" Well, if the designer can leverage his sex life into a New Yorker profile, he's probably a decent fit here, in the pages of the New Yorker's more fashion-conscious corporate sibling.
Movie moguls Harvey and Bob Weinstein plummet to 87 from 41. But they're so used to sinking feelings they probably barely notice them anymore.
Venture capitalist (and godfather to Google and Yahoo) Michael Moritz fell to 88 from 56. Is the shine off Google that badly?
What an odd time to add Walter Mossberg to the list. The grossly overpaid Wall Street Journal technology columnist was recently replaced on CNBC by the Times' David Pogue, whose theater background and hammy stage personality make him by far the more interesting gadget czar in the era of Web video. (Mossberg moved over to Fox Business, owned by his paper's new owner.) Pogue doesn't make the list, probably because he doesn't have a big power conference like Mossberg's D - All Things Digital.
Conceptual artist Damien Hirst debuts all the way up at 31??
Bill Keller of the Times is hip now! Wait, what?
Ha ha, nice knowing you, hedge fund guys! Wait, no, not "nice," the other thing. Awful!

Your comments on further strangeness are welcome in the comments, although really it's best not to think too hard about these things, which publishers change at random basically just to screw with you.

THE VANITY FAIR 100:
2007 ranking in parentheses

1. Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister (new entry)
2. Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. (1)
3. Sergey Brin (3), Larry Page (3), and Eric Schmidt (new entry), Google
4. Steve Jobs, Apple, Disney, and Pixar (2)
5. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway (5)
6. Jeff Bezos, Amazon (23)
7. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai (new entry)
8. Roman Abramovich, Millhouse Capital (30)
9. Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt, actors, activists (new entry)
10. Al Gore, eco-warrior (19)
11. Bill Clinton, Clinton Foundation (6)
12. Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, Bloomberg L.P. (9)
13. Bernard Arnault, LVMH (8)
14. Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks SKG (7)
15. Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren (13)
16. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft (returning)
17. François-Henri Pinault, PPR (new entry)
18. Barry Diller & Diane von Furstenberg (15), IAC; Diane von Furstenberg (15)
19. H. Lee Scott, Wal-Mart (12)
20. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs (new entry)
21. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase (new entry)
22. David Geffen, DreamWorks SKG (16)
23. George Lucas, Lucasfilm (40)
24. Jerry Bruckheimer, Jerry Bruckheimer Films (26)
25. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook (new entry)
26. Ronald Perelman, MacAndrews & Forbes (31)
27. Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner (22)
28. John Lasseter (66), Andrew Stanton (new entry), and Brad Bird (new entry), Pixar, Disney
29. Herb Allen, Allen & Co. (21)
30. Miuccia Prada, Prada S.p.A. (44)
31. Damien Hirst, conceptual artist (new entry)
32. Sumner Redstone, Viacom, CBS (70)
33. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California (50)
34. Tom Hanks, actor, director, producer (32)
35. Robert Iger, Disney (36)
36. Bono, singer, humanitarian (28)
37. Larry Ellison, Oracle (20)
38. Larry Gagosian, Gagosian Gallery (84)
39. Howard Stringer, Sony (17)
40. Peter Chernin, News Corp. (24)
41. Philippe Dauman, Viacom (68)
42. Vivi Nevo, NV Investments (59)
43. Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Productions (14)
44. Jon Stewart, The Daily Show (89)
45. Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report (87)
46. Carlos Slim Helú, Teléfonos de México, América Móvil (11)
47. Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel (52)
48. Giorgio Armani, Armani Group (37)
49. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Kingdom Holding Company (new entry)
50. Mike Nichols & Diane Sawyer, director; ABC News anchor (42)
51. Jacob Rothschild, financier (33)
52. Mickey Drexler, J. Crew (55)
53. Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation (38)
54. Leslie Moonves, CBS (25)
55. George Clooney, actor, producer, director, activist (27)
56. Jay-Z, hip-hop (47)
57. Oscar & Annette de la Renta, Oscar de la Renta (53)
58. Judd Apatow, producer, director, actor, writer (new entry)
59. Robert De Niro, Tribeca Enetrprises, Tribeca Productions (34)
60. Bill Keller, The New York Times (new entry)
61. Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones (60)
62. Bruce Wasserstein, Lazard; Wasserstein & Co. (43)
63. Ted Forstmann, IMG Worldwide (new entry)
64. Anna Wintour, Vogue (new entry)
65. Brian Roberts, Comcast (57)
66. Brian Grazer & Ron Howard, Imagine Entertainment (65)
67. Mukesh & Anil Ambani, Reliance Industries, Reliance ADA Group (new entry)
68. Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal (returning)
69. Jeff Skoll, Participant Media (61)
70. Jonathan Ive, Apple (83)
71. William McDonough, William McDonough & Partners (new entry)
72. Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard (new entry)
73. Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo (new entry)
74. Matt Drudge, the Drudge Report (new entry)
75. Donatella Versace, Gianni Versace S.p.A. (77)
76. Diego Della Valle, Tod’s (63)
77. Henry Kravis, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (51)
78. Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs, Marc by Marc Jacobs, LVMH (returning)
79. Jean Pigozzi, investor, art collector (86)
80. Paul Allen, Vulcan Inc. (71)
81. Charlie Rose, Charlie Rose (80)
82. Frank Rich, The New York Times, HBO (82)
83. John Galliano, Christian Dior, Galliano (new entry)
84. Jann Wenner, Wenner Media (74)
85. Joel & Ethan Coen, movies (new entry)
86. John Malone, Liberty Media (69)
87. Harvey & Bob Weinstein, the Weinstein Company (41)
88. Michael Moritz, Sequoia Capital (56)
89. Steven Rattner, Quadrangle Group (97)
90. Arianna Huffington, the Huffington Post (98)
91. John Paulson, Paulson & Co. (new entry)
92. Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures (62)
93. Jerry Weintraub, Jerry Weintraub Productions (76)
94. Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s (new entry)
95. Tom Brokaw, NBC News (returning)
96. Doug Morris, Universal Music Group (99)
97. Jimmy Buffett, Margaritaville (96)
98. Jeffrey Sachs, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Millennium Promise (new entry)
99. Steven Cohen, S.A.C. Capital Advisors (45)
100. Walter Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal (new entry)

[Vanity Fair]

Most Ridiculous Hurricane Gustav Reporting

Ryan Tate — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:36:59 EDT

Now that Hurricane Gustav seems to have safely blown past New Orleans and Baton Rouge, we can turn our attention to ridiculing TV journalists who pointlessly risked life and limb to set up more of those clichéd, wind-whipped hurricane-reporting shots. Even CNN can't resist making fun of those guys, and it employs half of them. The Washington Post said storms tend to produce a "High Chance of Blowhards" and added that "no one covers a house fire by rushing into the burning building, or reports on a war by doing stand-ups in the middle of a tank battle." True, but that's just because there are firemen and soldiers to keep journalists out of those dangerous situations. They'd totally shoot there if they could! Click the video icon to watch some of the most insane moments so far.

Manifesto From Crystal Pepsi Protesters Upstages Clinton

Ryan Tate — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:12:07 EDT

Remember that guy who got his "Bring Back Crystal Pepsi" sign onto MSNBC while a political analyst was trying to talk about Michelle Obama's big speech or whatever? Well, we heard from his roommate this morning, and asked for some more information on the grassroots political campaign that's already threatening to eclipse both Ron Paul and Ralph Nader. What we got back was a manifesto that could easily be folded into the Democratic Party platform, and probably should, because honestly the convention is already so HARSH, what with all the talk of war and economic depression and sexism and so forth. Also, this Crystal Pepsi thing, along with (OK OK) the other street protests, is probably the closest the convention comes to actual political dialog. Escape the pageantry for the moment and think about important issues, after the jump.

The time for change is now, and the choice is clear, crystal clear. CRYSTAL PEPSI! It's like drinking hope. For us, Crystal Pepsi is freedom in a can. Our platform is based on peace, love, and Crystal Pespi. Down with war, up with Crystal Pepsi. For us it's not about politics, it's only about Crystal Pepsi. This is a movement that we can all get behind, it unifies us to our very core, Crystal Pepsi. The foundation of America is Crystal Pespi.

In all honesty, for me, it's kind of nice to lighten the mood a little bit. Everybody is down there, protesting, screaming about a cause, yelling at one another about how the other person is wrong. It can be kind of a tense situation. It's nice to walk away putting a smile on someone's face, getting a high five, and hearing someone say we represent a movement we can all get on board with. People initially hear the "protest" coming, you can see the look on their face, "Great, what are these people marching and carrying on about?" When they discover our cause is Crystal Pepsi, there is an overwhelming feeling of relief, followed by immediate support.

We hit the town again today. We couldn't help but notice all of the signs in the background of the MSNBC live coverage today. Our platform is so much easier for people to digest.

Who are we? Just some guys here in Denver, trying to have our voice heard. Trying to make a difference. Trying to have a little fun. Brian child of my roommate, and recent college grad, Peter.

As for the Obama picture... we contributed $10 to the Obama campaign to have our picture taken with the Obama cardboard cut-out. However, we have to add, we think Obama would endorse our movement whole heartedly.

Good luck topping that in your speech later tonight, Hillary "I Prefer Whisky" Clinton.

Protester Raises Crucial Issue At Convention

Ryan Tate — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:32:58 EDT

We take it back: The Democratic National Convention is more than just a meaningless dog-and-pony show. It clearly remains a hotbed of vibrant political discourse, as demonstrated an hour ago on MSNBC, when a brave protester stood behind talking head Michelle Bernard and sent a message to the Obama-PepsiCo cabal conspiring against delicious beverages pushed off the margins of society. This is truly a defining moment of our era.

Fox News Tries To Fake A Riot

Ryan Tate — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:06:46 EDT

There was a small, nonviolent, "mild" anti-war protest in Denver today, timed to the upcoming Democratic convention. The protest organization is stupidly named "Recreate 68," but has specifically decried the violence at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Fox News of course wanted to cover this boring thing in the most insane way possible, with race riots and burning flags and naked hippies on PCP. None of that was available, so instead Fox sent a nerdy correspondent to go right into the middle of a throng of protesters trying to march in the opposite direction. The protesters managed not to collide with the camera crew, so no one was hurt, but they refused to grant interviews and started chanting "Fuck Fox News," which means they are Censor Fascists who hate the First Amendment. Everyone has to grant interviews to everyone else, unless they are Nazis, which is why we are looking forward to our big video interview with Bill O'Reilly the next time we catch him on the street or outside his apartment or maybe in his office. Video of the leftist non-riot after the jump.

[via Politico]

Ruby Tuesday: Total Ripoff

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:11:54 EDT

Last week we gently mocked floundering artery-clogger Ruby Tuesday's announcement that it would be blowing up one of its restaurants LIVE on the internet as a signal to the world that it was changing the way it does business. But as dumb as that idea sounded strategically, it did have one redeeming quality: an exploding Ruby Tuesday. Well the stunt went off yesterday, and the whole thing was a pathetic hoax. Instead of blowing up their own location, RT pretended to destroy some neighboring fake chain restaurant to signify blah blah blah. You suck Ruby Tuesday, and your stock is just as poisonous as your fried mozzarella. Watch the video of the bait-and-switch stunt below, while booing:

Cuckold's Internet Revenge Against Top Banker

Ryan Tate — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:59:16 EDT

If you've visited sites like those run by New York magazine and the Observer over the past couple of months, you may have noticed, in the comments section, repeated instances of a message that begins, "Steve Ratner [sic]... has paid my wife $500,000.00 to leave me." If you saw these comments, you probably wondered what the hell was going on. Well, the Times this morning sheds precious little light on the situation because, get this, there is a Steven Rattner, he did sleep with that guy's wife and now, as a result of the angry ex-husband's smear campaign, he has vacated his job atop the private equity division of Credit Suisse. The lesson, as relayed by the Times' hotshot finance writer Andrew Ross Sorkin, is that the internet renders "helpless" ordinary plutocrats who just want to hush up stories about how they allegedly taunted and harassed the husbands of the high-class escorts they procured on trips abroad. Wait, what?

You wouldn't know it from reading Sorkin's column, which coddles Rattner while filleting his nemesis, but the cuckolded husband, Tommi Cosgrove, alleges much more than a simple affair on the part of Rattner and his wife

Sorkin omits most of Cosgrove's allegations from his column even though the banker himself told the Times, "everyone has heard... the damage is done." It's worth noting that Rattner tells Sorkin "most everything Mr. Cosgrove claims is either untrue or a gross exaggeration," but no details are provided.

Here's the smear "everyone has heard:"

Steve Ratner, of 11 Madison Avenue New York, and business partner of Donald Trump, friend of Bloomberg and rich kid has paid my wife $500,000.00 to leave me.

He further promised a Ferrari, house and more cash.

He met my wife when she was working as a high class escort in London through Bella's escort services, where he finds all his girlfriends and where all his rich mates shop.

He has had me followed, investigated and threatened and continues to send text messages bragging about his victory.

This guy couldn’t get laid if he was good looking, but uses his money to get what he wants

There are photos, emails, letters and even photos taken in Kirsty Alley's house in LA.

Rich People, they think they can buy anything. This guy’s favourite movies are "Pretty Woman" and "Indecent Proposal", jeez what an idiot.

I warned you MR. RATNER, I would not let this rest. I am coming for you big time.

To be featured on FACEBOOK & MYSPACE very soon

Also featured in the book, "the coffin maker", a true story.

Mr. Ratner keeps getting my posts removed as he is very embarrassed to have to admit to buying his girlfriends and having to pay for sex, but if you met him, you would understand why.............

Mr. Ratner - the story doesn’t end until i say so. have a nice life. Everyone will know Steve Ratner pays for sex and stole my wife with $500,000.00 and a car.

Even as his column bemoans the negative impact of these allegations on Rattner, Sorkin omits them in their particulars. He mentions only a nebulous "affair," doesn't press Rattner for a detailed denial of the other allegations and paints Rattner as a repentant, reformed husband and father. "This ought to be a story that, while painful, remained private," Sorkin scolds.

Cosgrove, meanwhile, is repeatedly implied, without any real evidence, to be mentally imbalanced, a liar or both:

To be honest, it’s hard to read Mr. Cosgrove’s florid account without concluding that he has, at a minimum, a vivid imagination. In one of my conversations with him, he alleged that he had “threats on my life by underworld associates;” that he was living in his car for a while; and that Mr. Rattner had been willing to pay him, through his ex-wife, $70,000 to disappear.

...Asked whether he was happy that Mr. Rattner resigned from his job, Mr. Cosgrove, reached on his mobile telephone Monday, said, “He should have thought about that before he did what he did to me.” Moments later, Mr. Cosgrove claimed he didn’t even know Mr. Rattner, which didn’t exactly heighten confidence in his accusations.

Sure, it's hard to trust a guy who, rather randomly, invokes Kirstie Ally in the sad saga of his wife's cheating, and then spams that story onto news websites, compounding his own humiliation. And it would be prudent to assume most of Cosgrove's wild allegations are false without evidence to the contrary.

But that doesn't mean the Times has license to paint Rattner as an all-but-innocent victim, swallowing his claim that he was literally "helpless against the destruction that can be wrought by aggressive campaigns on the Internet" and asserting in the headline that "On Wall St., Reputation Is Fragile," as though executives in other industries would somehow be left unscathed by tawdry escort-wife-stealing smears spammed to friends and associates via email and blog comments.

As a high-powered Wall Street executive, Rattner surely had the financial resources to mount a libel suit, as complicated as one might be across international lines, against Cosgrove.

But Rattner also could have fought back swiftly online, calling out lies while acknowledging those accusations that were true. A new website can be had for free at blogger.com or wordpress.com. The real cost would have been the pain of admitting to whatever actual, real wrongdoing he committed against his family and possibly others. That must be a brutally painful thing to do, particularly when the private lives of others remain just that. But it is far from a "helpless" situation.

Perhaps Sorkin slanted his story the way he did because he sensed his own role in this drama. His column, in the end, is what made Cosgrove's revenge complete, humiliating Rattner not in the sewers of the internet but from a distinguished platform on his home turf. And no amount of disdain can undo that.

[Times]

(Photo via TheDeal.com)

The Vicious Cycle Of Publicity Stunts

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:26:33 EDT

Summer is not just an excruciatingly slow time of year for actual news; it's also an excruciatingly slow time for manufactured news. It's not like ad agencies can just riff off all the interesting scandals in the news, when there are no scandals in the news. What does that mean for you, the consumer? A shitload of publicity stunts, in which advertisers try to create some interest out of nothing. What does that mean for advertising reporters? Stories about these very stunts—sometimes even a trend story, to give the appearance of being something more than just a roundup of items from Adrants. See, the system works! Although that doesn't mean any of these stunts are necessarily good:

A Chevrolet billboard that used real pennies was stripped clean within 30 minutes. In Singapore, advertisers painted an extra yellow safety line on a train platform with the name “Wonderbra” on it, leaving commuters to figure out the message (that the bra’s lifting qualities were so forceful that wearers would have to stand back)...

Many people did not get it.

You can't ask for everything to make sense. It's hot outside. Stay tuned here for breaking news coverage of only the finest future publicity stunts throughout the summer and beyond!

[NYT]

Five Annoying Online Publicity Stunts

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:55:02 EDT

Michael Ian Black, comedian and VH1's go-to analyst of pop culture, has started an online feud with testosterone and beer-fueled guy blogger Tucker Max. Black challenged Tucker to a fight, Tucker accepted, and now they are both talking trash in a way advantageous to the promotion of Black's new book. This would all be cuter if Black didn't just try to start another online feud with David Sedaris, to promote the same book. These online publicity stunts are incredibly difficult to pull off without being annoying; below, a jaded look back at five that sucked the big one:

1. MIB Vs. Tucker Max/ Sedaris: Yes, Michael Ian Black is a funny and tolerable guy. But variety is the spice of life, man. How about an online encouragement of somebody?
2. Jakob Lodwick Quits The Internet: This one is lame because it will not stick, we guarantee. For one, he runs an internet company. Yea.
3. Julia Allison Quits Blogging: *Scoff*. Also: other things.
4. Patrick Moberg And His Subway Dream Girl: A guy sees a cute girl on the subway, draws a picture of her, puts it on a website, and gets famous. The two finally meet! They go on national TV! Everybody writes about them! Then they end up not really liking each other that much, proving that love is a dirty sham and we live in a cold and heartless world. Thanks for nothing.
5. The Keith Gessen Middlebrow Remix Book: We muddy the clearcut sides of this tedious feud by having Gessen remove the objectionable references to Harvard in his objectionable book and replace them with references to Florida State. Btw, bidding on this for-charity item ends tomorrow so bid bid bid!

This Times Headline Is Not An Error

Ryan Tate — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:50:45 EDT

Thank you, everyone who is awake right now, for emailing us about the nytimes.com headline pictured at left. I hope you don't feel bad when I tell you that it's not a "major fuck up," as one tipster put it. The headline is, in fact, "[headline about unlikely broadway musical]", which is kind of meta, un-Times-ian joke title for a story about a real play called "[title of show]." Even one Gawker editor, who IMed me, hysterical, was briefly fooled. Please, Times, it unnerves and confuses everyone when you put on these airs. It's like an old person trying to talk like a teenager. [additional point about Times trading onetime air of unimpeachability for presumption of error!] [Times]

Times Uglifying Own Building To Thwart Climbers

Ryan Tate — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:43:46 EDT

Though they clearly aren't experts at building security, executives at New York Times Corp. read their own paper often enough to understand that three examples of something marks a trend. So, after the third stunt scaling of the building since May, the company is having many of the climber-friendly ceramic tubes removed from the building's facade. How many? Even the Times' own reporters don't seem to know, though they're guessing maybe 8-10 feet worth, measuring from a canopy used by all three climbers.

We, and no doubt the Times, wondered a month ago if architect Renzo Piano's "lace" skin shouldn't come down, after two ascents in one day, but the Times wanted to first try beefing up security. That clearly didn't work, but maybe this way is better: at least the paper can truthfully claim to have become not only more secure, but also a significantly more transparent organization than it was even a month ago!

[City Room]

(Photo by David Dunlap via Times)

The Big, Throbbing Porn-News Hustle

Ryan Tate — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:45:08 EDT

Over the past week, publications like the LA Times, New York Post and even our own Valleywag have parroted a report from the Adult Internet Market Research Company about how the recent federal taxpayer stimulus checks led to a spike in porn site membership. Predictable: it was an interesting piece of news dangled in front of the media in the lull leading up to the holiday weekend, when filler is traditionally needed. Unfortunately, it looks like the report was "total bullshit," at least judging by the reporting of Adult Video News columnist and porn-market scholar Tom Johansmeyer (pictured).

First off, AIMRCo's website has existed for less than a month, according to registration records. The phone number for "head research consultant" Kirk Mishkin appears to go to a personal cell phone. And the only two companies named as being affiliated with the company, LSGModels.com and MoreyStudio.com, "look like low-rent adult sites at best... they are not major adult internet powerhouses," Johansmeyer writes.

Then there's the lack of any disclosed methodology:

What is missing from the story is detail. AIMRCo says that “[u]sing a connected network of over 400 paysites and 2000 affiliates/traffic trading sites, we gather the data necessary to make informed market trend assessments.” Yet, it does not indicate the size of the sample for this particular survey. It offers no description of the responding companies. For Fox’s survey, there is no comment as to whether members would have joined anyway.

Johansmeyere also notes that industry publication Adult Video News used to compile an overall report on industry sales but has been able to get reliable statistics. How did AVN not know about AIMRCo, if it is a reputable, lonstanding organization? And if AIMRCo is an upstart, where did it get the stats that AVN couldn't?

It's shocking — shocking! — that anyone connected with the porn industry would artificially inflate the size of something just for some cheap attention. It's obscene, really.

[Migrant Blogger, Migrant Blogger]

(Photo via Migrant Blogger)

Girl-On-Girl Singer's Shameful Christian Past

Ryan Tate — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:46:22 EDT

Katy Perry has a big dance hit with her pseudo-lesbian-curious song "I Kissed A Girl." The singer has been clawing for a break since at least 2001, and it turns out that before discovering the celebrity-making power of girl-on-girl tongue this year, and even before trying to win fame via her "really big boobs" in 2004, Perry pitched herself as a Christian singer. Her debut album was released under her prior recording name, Katy Hudson, and included gospel songs like "Faith Won't Fail" and "Last Call," the latter featuring the phone number for the church where her father was a pastor. UPDATE: Here's what Perry, still in her holy music phase, told Alison Rosen of Seventeen magazine about premarital sex:

Katy has a steady boyfriend, but she doesn't believe in sex before marriage. "I know what it does to people," she says. "One night my boyfriend and I went a little too far and I felt like I'd fallen so far away from God. I doubted myself and my strength. I was so weak at the time in my relationship with Christ."

If someone is going to have sex, however, Katy absolutely believes that person should use a condom: "Some Christians think that if you use a condom, it's premeditated. So nobody uses a condom at all and they have sex and get pregnant the first time."

That's a far cry from lyrics like, "I got so brave, drink in hand / Lost my discretion... I kissed a girl and I liked it... I kissed a girl just to try it."

Devout Christian music fans are now trying to figure out how Perry fell off the path of earnest righteousness, or if she was ever on it. But the preacher's daughter who once said "if people buy the record, that’s all the credibility I need" has probably just been looking for a winning angle of any sort and, after keeping her faith in the power of sex, has finally found it.

Below, the video for "I Kissed A Girl," in which Perry slinks around in lingerie with other women.

[Radosh]

Hooker Hotel Brings Together Obama, Clinton

Ryan Tate — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:03:00 EDT

Oh, hey, bitter Hillary Clinton supporters! The Barack Obama presidential campaign knows many of you are threatening to vote for Republican presidential candidate John McCain because supporting Obama would feel like swallowing insults to feminism and, I guess, the "popular vote" in the sham Florida and Michigan elections or whatever. To help you get over these irrational fears you are selling out, a triumphant Obama and a heavily-indebted Clinton would like to meet you personally, in Washington, at a hotel famous for bringing together powerful male politicians and desperate female whores. Bring your checkbook! Leave your uncomfortable analogies at home, please, kthxbai. [Daily News]

Elzabeth Hurley Still Not Enraging Denis Leary's Wife

Ryan Tate — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:18:00 EDT

Yesterday, Daily News columnists Rush & Molloy speculated that maybe, just maybe, the novel from the wife of comedian Denis Leary (above, right) is autobiographical, since it's about a wife whose famous husband is good friends with a hot Australian movie star, sort of like how Leary is friends with hot English actress Elizabeth Hurley (above, left). In the novel, the actor's wife is upset by his "schoolboy crush" on the friend. We wrote that Ann Leary had "sadly channeled her frustrations into a thinly-veiled 'novel.'" But she replies that Gawker is "crazy," and told Choire Sicha of the LA Times that we're just clawing for cheap attention. Well, that last part is true. But at least we can admit it!

While Ann Leary may not be genuinely upset at Hurley, it's impossible to believe she didn't see the PR value of writing a novel so seemingly parallel to her own life. And, as Sicha's story shows, she has not been shy about exploiting the opportunities that have arisen from the book: appearances on The View, Today and, if she chooses to accept, entertainment magazine Extra.

And Leary is clearly PR savvy. She wove a subplot into her novel about planting false rumors on the Web:

[Leary] wasn't angry about [the Gawker item], she said — in fact, she was validated.

You see, in her book, the angry wife sends in cruel and fake sightings of her cheating husband to none other than Gawker. "I think it's too bad that they're so desperately looking for this kind of thing," she said. "But it actually fits with the plot of my novel — how easy it is to place a rumor online and then to have it spin out of control."

Wait, so someone intentionally placed the false rumor about the Ann Leary/Elizabeth Hurley feud? Who would that be, exactly?

Noting, perhaps, that the chief beneficiary of any gossip column buzz around Leary's novel would be Leary and her publisher, Sicha asked if they didn't plant the Daily News item. Heavens, no, the publisher said.

But they didn't have to. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the life of Denis Leary could pluck it right from the pages of the novel on his own. Setting things up that way was (perhaps incidentally) smart — the book gets buzz, cheap or not, and the hands of Leary and her publisher remain clean. It's a fine, if not particularly original, publicity strategy, and it's probably a mistake — don't I know it — to mistake it for vengeful axe grinding.

[LA Times]

Edgy Filmmakers Explore Girl-On-Girl Kissing

Ryan Tate — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:12:33 EDT

Oh, wow, so have you heard this crazy thing about how female bisexuality is kind of hot right now? And how apparently female celebrities are hooking up with other women to boost their cachet, and TV shows are depicting girls kissing other girls, and there's this cutting-edge idea of sexuality being a spectrum instead of an either-or thing? Yes? The media strapped on lesbian-curious themes years ago and has been ramming them down your throat despite muffled cries for mercy? Well, unfortunately, Harvard-trained medical anthropologist Brittany Blockman, 27, didn't hear about any of these exciting developments in the evolution of American sexuality until Mischa Barton kissed some other actress on The OC, and she's been busy appropriating girl-on-girl sexuality for a documentary called Bi The Way that just came out. Her co-director was another (self-described) naive 27-year-old, Josephine Decker, who told the Times Style section she is totally dying to have one of those lesbian flings that are so hot right now:

Ms. Decker, 27, one of the movie’s directors, seemed a little embarrassed by her own limited experience.

“The sad thing is, I desperately need to get with a girl,” she said, adding that a few stolen kisses was all she could count on the female side of her sexual ledger. “I just didn’t want it to be some random woman.”

At least Decker is honest about her "desperate" attempt to jump on a trend. Given the tenor of the launch party for her documentary, it would have been hard for her to bill the film as a serious examination of female sexuality:

At the after-party for the screening, at Vlada on West 51st Street, the culture seemed to be shifting in several directions simultaneously. A woman in Ziggy Stardust makeup, wearing a prosthesis cast from a man’s penis, participated in a simulated sex act. A while later, the woman, Amy Ouzoonian, a dancer and performance artist, made out on a couch with a mannish woman in a black suit.

The documentary apparently does throw out some mildly interesting facts as it retreads the old idea that women, like men, tend to find women more stimulating to look at.

What really matters to women, Dr. Chivers said, at least in the somewhat artificial setting of watching movies while intimately hooked up to a device called a photoplethysmograph, is not the gender of the actor, but the degree of sensuality. Even more than the naked exercisers, they were aroused by videos of masturbation, and more still by graphic videos of couples making love. Women with women, men with men, men with women: it did not seem to matter much to her female subjects, Dr. Chivers said.

“Women physically don’t seem to differentiate between genders in their sex responses, at least heterosexual women don’t,” she said. “For heterosexual women, gender didn’t matter. They responded to the level of activity.”

So, generally-straight women like watch women masturbating and having lesbian sex. Interesting. Someone should do a study on the sexual appeal of a video of two disingenuous women going through the motions of a lesbian fling and then rushing to exploit the affair for cash and/or bragging rights. Who knows, maybe that'll still be hot! And bankable.

[Times]

Best Promo Ever: Punching Employees In The Face

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:17:10 EDT

There's a new list of the top 40 publicity stunts of all time out, and we've found what is—without a doubt—the most worthwhile of them all, from just two weeks ago: a production company called Action Figure produced a techno-scored, super slow-mo, two-minute video of all their employees getting punched in the face. Really. This should be a mandatory stunt for many of America's top corporations. Its power can hardly be described; just watch it, after the jump.

[Trendhunter via Adrants]

"There are many layers" To The Fake Assassination Artist

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:08:12 EDT

Yazmany Arboleda, the masterful young media manipulator and artist of debatable talent, still has the national press talking two days after the Secret Service shut down his "art exhibit" about the Assassination of Barack and Hillary. But that's okay, because now the kid is digging his own grave with grand pronouncements. Hoax, you say? No, this whole stunt is probably just over your head:

"Anyone who calls it a hoax is misguided," says the diminutive, hyper 28-year-old. "They don't understand — there are many layers to this."

Oh really? Such as?

"My mission as an artist is to raise dialogue and conversation about substantive things," he says, staring through arty glasses that did not have any lenses. "There's so much media time spent on superficial things — like celebrities. My point is to bring substance back."

[Expert job of killing his subject with quotes, by the WP's David Segal]

How Long Before This Fox Intern Is Fired?

Ryan Tate — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:11:32 EDT

If you're working at a subdivision of 20th Century Fox, in Hollywood, as an intern, you can probably get away with writing an anonymous blog. What you can NOT get away with? Disclosing your college (USC), plus your gender (female), plus a plethora of details about your workday, like how you were asked to help play a prank on a celebrity and "find pools," whatever that means. With that much identifying information, you are going to get caught, even inside a large company like Fox, and everyone is then going to know about how you "sometimes... spend my day hoping no one catches me Gmail chatting with my best friend." And your boss is going to know you think he's kind of a disaster:

This has been the back and forth of working at Fox. Somedays are incredibly busy — my head boss, a fairly well-known producer, gave me a Meryl-Streep-in-Devil-Wears-Prada long list of things to do one day, 3 hours before I had to leave. The list included finding out the name of some upcoming directors at an agency, searching for ad rates on popular websites, and finding the HOME address of a popular celebrity CEO [NOT an actor, and NOT Ben Affleck], so he could "play a trick" on them.

"Oh, well, do you have any contacts for them?" I asked, hopefully. "I mean, can I drop your name to get it? I just don't know how I could get access..."

"No, no, no," he said, annoyed. "That would RUIN the prank. Just you know, google it or something"

...oic.

Later he walked in, threw his healthcare card on my desk, and said, "Oh, by the way, figure out my healthcare stuff, would ya? Like the online account."

...WHAT?

If you're going to get busted for blog, you might as well make it juicy enough to get you some other job once you're fired. So — quick! — start digging up dirt on your boss, TheBookworm! The hounds are closing in.

[College OTR via Jossip]

Fame-Seeking 'Assassination Artist' Succeeds In Making Power Structure Look Ridiculous

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:17:48 EDT

As predicted, Yazmany Arboleda—the publicity-seeking artist hastily shut down by the Secret Service yesterday for his exhibit about the "Assassination" of Barack and Hillary—made a clean sweep of the New York media. He is truly a master of his craft. The stories run the gamut, from the Post's throwaway one-off to the Sun's cautious warning that this whole art project might be a big hoax. And let's hope it is; it would be worthwhile comeuppance for the equally publicity-seeking New York Police Commissioner, who really should have had better things to be concerned about yesterday:

Arboleda was questioned for an hour and publicly denounced by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly before he was released. He was not charged with a crime. "It's my right as an artist to have that sign up," the defiant 27-year-old artist said after he was sprung...
Kelly called Arboleda's inflammatory art "totally inappropriate."

"This is all under investigation," Kelly said. "Obviously it could be interpreted as advocating harm. Our lawyers are researching it to determine if there are any violations of law."

Other things Kelly could have spent his time on yesterday: the big Mafia bust, the guy who died in the Bronx heroin raid, or the deputy NYPD chief who just got hit with illegal steroid charges.

Or, you know, pretend art.

[NYDN; pic via NYP]

Seth Rogen's Fake Weed Stunt: Fake, Sort Of!

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:03:24 EDT

The question that has kept an anxious nation on tenterhooks for the last two days—"Did stoner movie star Seth Rogen light up a real spliff on stage at the MTV Movie Awards last weekend?"—has finally been resolved. According to the AP, the stunt was a big fake; but they also say that Rogen and Pineapple Express costar James Franco weren't supposed to do it at all! Is anyone here telling the truth? Such a web of deception!

Before television viewers could get a closer look at what was real and what was not, the camera moved to a wide angle and stayed that way until Mr. Rogen and Mr. Franco left the stage, The Associated Press reported. It was an awkward moment that made some in the audience laugh. Backstage, Mr. Franco told The Associated Press that MTV had put them up to the joke — supplying the script as well as the fake pot and joint — and then had a last-second change of heart.

So it seems that there are three possibilities:

1. Franco is telling the truth here; MTV put them up to it, then had a change of heart, but Rogen did it anyhow.

2. MTV told Rogen and Franco to say that the network had a change of heart, as a way to make the stunt seem more edgy, but not too edgy.

3. It was truly an off-the-cuff display of weed smoking, and Franco was kidding when he told the AP it was the network's idea.

Watch the video here again and again, and decide for yourself. At least we know that they weren't smoking salvia

[NYT].

Seth Rogen Smoking Weed On Television?

Ryan Tate — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:45:51 EDT

It's not clear whether actor Seth Rogen is smoking marijuana, or something else, in this appearance at MTV's movie awards, which were televised live. But there are three thing you can say for sure. One, the camera pulls back, as though the network wants to obscure the smoking. Two, Rogen just earned some serious publicity for his upcoming stoner film, Pineapple Express, part of a resurgence for the genre of pot movies, which Hollywood considers cheap to produce but highly profitable. And, third, someone is going to get seriously scolded by various media watchdog groups for promoting marijuana use on national television, whether the weed is real or not.

Al Jazeera English To Explore Hangings And So Forth

Ryan Tate — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:22:49 EDT

Al Jazeera English isn't carried by any American cable TV systems, and that's in part because "some... were disappointed it wasn't hanging people or torturing people, said a former executive... 'If it looks like the BBC, why should we add it?'" In other words, the network is floundering not just because some associate it with Islamic extremists, but because others find it not extreme enough. The new managing director of the network, a Canadian named Tony Burman, is promising to change all that and to emulate some of the "fearless, bold and provocative" coverage of Arabic Al Jazeera. The change came after a bunch of Americans and Brits left the network, saying it was being controlled more tightly out of Qatar. Outgoing anchor Dave Marash said he saw signs of anti-Americanism creeping in to coverage before he left. But a certain skepticism toward U.S. foreign policy would make for an enlightening viewpoint on cable news, if only to contrast with the increasingly opinionated coverage from the American channels. And who better to lead some sober antagonism against America than a Canadian? [Times]

Smack-Talking Celebrities At Time 100 Gala

Ryan Tate — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:41:07 EDT

Time magazine brought together members of its 100 "Most Influential People" list at Time Warner Center tonight, and thanks to phone-blogging members of the press, the celebrities' trash talking, braggadocio and false humility has already hit Twitter in a sort of first-draft of the recaps that will probably hit blogs and newspapers over the next few days. after the jump are some highlights, including quips from Robert Downey Jr., Amy Poehler and John McCain, plus fameball Julia Allison explaining why she wasn't invited.

Everything is pulled from Twitter, specifically from the accounts of Brian Stelter, of the Times and its TV Decoder blog, and from MediaBistro's FishbowlNY.

Requisite "Celebrity X shorter than I thought" observation, let's get it out of the way (it is, after all, our mission!):

Smack talking!

More smack talking!

Your fearless future White House press corps:

McCain toasts Clinton and Obama? Civility is the new black??

I don't know what this even means, but it sounds interesting:

Schadenfreude...

...followed by defeated sigh:

Alright, so most of the smack talking was joshy intra-insider stuff, but it sounds like a reasonably interesting night. If Time is going to go to the trouble of staging this event, the magazine should Webcast at least some of it. The speeches, at least.

{Twitter/brianstelter, Twitter/FishbowlNY]

Another Obama Speech, Another Doofus Acting Crazy Behind Him

Ryan Tate — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:21:38 EDT

We've all heard Barack Obama's Message of Hope a thousand times, and probably already voted this primary season, so let's all just keep an eye out for the most insane supporter standing behind the Democratic presidential candidate whenever he gives a victory or concession speech. A couple of weeks ago it was three hyperactive tools in Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts. In February it was a woman in some kind of emotional rhapsody. Now, in the background of Obama's North Carolina victory speech, it's this wahoo in a pastel blue shirt, in the upper left corner, behind CNN's "Raleigh, NC" logo. Oddly, he's surrounded entirely by women and other white people in pastels, except for a lone black face. Watch him go crazy over shouts out to minor dignitaries and every other thing Obama says in the video after the jump. Also dig Obama's new southern accent.

Obama trounced Clinton as expected in the southern state, 56 to 42 percent with 57 percent of precincts reporting, by appealing to elite latte-sipping, coal-miner-hating whites around universities, plus working class blacks. JUST LIKE JESSE JACKSON.

Anderson Cooper Continues To Support Hot, Sweaty Troops Abroad

Ryan Tate — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:57:02 EDT

Anderson Cooper continues to let it be known, in every possible medium and format, that he is willing to entertain America's brave, well-toned troops in troubled hotspots should his services as a tough-but-emotionally-nurturing (and sometimes giggling) CNN anchor be required. You'll recall Cooper's message of support in Outside magazine's May issue: "I don't understand why more artists don't go and entertain the troops... I saw this documentary on Marlene Dietrich, and during World War II she was going out, right to the front lines. I think she was having sex with a lot of the troops, too." Cooper must have gotten to thinking about Dietrich's personal sacrifices, because a Rush & Molloy tipster just spotted him "looking patriotic in a USO tee on an early flight from New Orleans to JFK last week." Your salute to the troops, like those before it, will surely not go unnoticed, Anderson. [Daily News]

Magisterial King of All Online Reviewers Reaps $900

Alex Carnevale — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:49:19 EDT

Insane creatures of all different backgrounds and creeds have been sucked into the seamy world of online reviewing, but no one has come out quite as shiny as blogger Dave Cassel. Some write online reviews for the love of sharing their views with others, but not Dave. He does it all for the zeroes in his bank account. For 100 days writer marketing website Helium.com offered all users $3 per review to review anything, and Dave went haywire. All told Cassel churned out about 200,000 words over the course of 300 articles, weighing in on everything from Cyndi Lauper's Christmas album to the classic 70s series Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp and Thomas Wolfe's poetry. And the reviews, though often centered on absurd subjects, are far from terrible. Cassel's review of the syndicated Natasha Henstridge comedy She Spies has us wanting to pick up a season set: "It was intentionally unbelievable. But it was also a lot of fun." A fitting epitaph for your accomplishment, you brave bloggeur you. [Destiny-land]

Fox Business Pundit Sells Sex Potion, Used To Wrestle

Ryan Tate — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:50:29 EDT

John Layfield was not genetically engineered to be a talking head on Fox Business Network, but he might as well have been. He's a 6-foot-6 former professional wrestler who does some sort of investment work, the right combination of showmanship and plausible expertise for the attention-hungry network, whose gimmicks have included a segment on semen detectors and a failed ambush interview. Layfield got written up in the Times this morning for yet another sideline, a supposed "sexual endurance drink" called "Mamajuana," a non-alcoholic version of a Dominican rum-and-herb concoction. A doctor from NYU basically said the drink is useless, but Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto is very interested in trying some:

“I keep hitting him up for a bottle,” said Neil Cavuto, the Fox Business Network anchor, laughing. Mr. Cavuto, who is also managing editor for business news at the Fox News Channel, added that Mr. Layfield “has an excellent sense of the marketplace, so my bet is that he’s on to something.”

[Times]