Programming Note
Seth will be appearing live on the Dr. Drew program now. Thanks to the magic of streaming radio on the internets, you can listen in if you go to 1260 AM. He wants to ride the pony, too!
Publicity-Averse Ed Norton Reveals Previously Unknown Sense Of Humor In 'Hulk' Short
The battle this spring between hands-on artiste Ed Norton and the Marvel Studio brass over the relaunch of the Hulk franchise has proven to be one of the most acrimonious displays of "creative differences" that we have seen in some time. The notoriously "passionate" (read: difficult) actor has been accused of …
Brand Perez
The Perez Hilton brand is becoming an empire! Well, sort of. The off-putting celebrity blogger has been stamping his name on shitty clothing, he might be getting his own record label, and now he's had a damn musical written about him. Is he really becoming an unstoppable juggernaut corporation, or is it just hooey?…
Kristian Laliberte's Identity Stolen! How Will He Know Who He Is?
Oh noes! Publicist/stylist/funboy-about-town Kristian Laliberte's Facebook page was hacked and someone's been sending his friends the most horrible messages! "Dear All," he writes. "This is Kristian and this message is real. Sometime between midnight and nine am, my facebook account was hacked into. A similar…
PETA Condemns NYT Photos On Pure Reflex
PETA, the perpetually outraged animal rights group, is very upset that the New York Times Magazine ran a fashion photo shoot last weekend featuring bees. "The entire world is talking about the fact that bees are dying off—The New York Times has even reported on it—and yet The New York Times Magazine does a fashion…
Arianna Huffington Is the Most Popular Lady on the Internet
The May W features an Arianna Huffington interview in which she reveals how influential and important she is. She lunched with David Geffen and Ari Emanuel calls her every day! Also she's all over the TV pimping her new book, which is about how much she dislikes Tim Russert. And she's single! This might be a good time…
James Frey Is Trying Too Hard
If just buying James Frey's new novel isn't enough for you, you can purchase the "companion volume" called Wives, Wheels, and Weapons for just $150, hardcover. But it has a bunch of Terry Richardson photos of MILFs, gangsters, and rad cars. The three things that symbolize L.A.! I don't really understand the market…
Sloane Crosley: She's Everywhere Keith Gessen Wants to Be
Book publicist/author Sloane Crosley is so magically delicious that she even brightened the painful Sunday Styles feature on N+1 editor and Emily Gould-dater Keith Gessen in today's Times. "At the football game, he admitted to monitoring his novel's Amazon.com sales obsessively. And he lamented the fact that more…
Are You Cool Enough To Blurb This Book?
The upstart Dumbo Books of Brooklyn thought of a not-so-ingenious way to get real life teens to blurb their upcoming release of Queens writer Richard Grayson's new book: Craigslist. With only a Blogger website to their name, the small press has turned to blind posting in 'Writing Jobs', looking for "18-25yo…
Pop Fiction is a "Genies Idea"
That Ashton Kutcher E! show Pop Fiction, where annoying celebrities like Eva Longoria and David Spade play tricks on the paparazzi to teach us all a lesson about reality and truth, is employing some marketing tactics that seem a bit antithetical to the show's mission. It seems that E! hired a PR firm called Cashmere…
Strip Club Tour Is VERY INTERESTING To Journalists
A brilliant way to get reporters' attention: Invite them to a strip club. On assignment, of course! Unlikely crunk crossover rap group Three Six Mafia is promoting its new single with a "Strip Club Tour," and the media is encouraged to attend. "Please reply to this email by 3PM today (3/12/08) if your site has…
The Gene Simmons Sex Tape Conspiracy Theory
"Exactly how many women have there been in Gene Simmons' life?" That's the teaser in an ad for the old KISS frontman's reality show, Family Jewels. The new season of the show debuts March 11 on A&E, and the promo campaign for it is in full effect. Which has some people asking: Was that sex tape all a big publicity…
Okay, Which Second Life Employee Is Sleeping With The Entire NYT Tech Section?
Jesus, it feels like every week the New York Times finds a new "trend" involving Second Life, the virtual world that lets people interact with avatars to blah blah blah ugh. In the 65th Times story about SL, it's virtual job interviews, which even the Times knows are nearly non-existent, admitting that Second Life…
Not Another Missing Blonde Baby Movie
The parents of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann reportedly met in December with IMG Media to discuss making a film about their daughter's May disappearance. Um, okay, did something suspicious happen to their famous team of image-conscious publicists too? [Times UK]
Pretend Prostitutes vs. Rent Inflation
Way off our geographical radar, but this has such obvious local application. Tel Aviv "creative co-op" VeeCee has launched a campaign to bring down inflated rents by infesting overpriced neighborhoods with cardboard prostitutes. "More whores in your neighborhood = lower rent prices." Flickr set here, "making of"…
'Blender' Editor Lost His Damn Mind
In an ill-advised publicity stunt and/or world record attempt, Blender editor Russ Heller spent last Friday imprisoned in a Plexiglas cell at the NoHo Best Buy, listening to Starship's "We Built This City" on repeat for 24 hours. Blender had picked the track as the worst song of all time, which apparently led to some…
My Friend Died, Please Buy My Book
Every time a celebrity dies, a publicist gets her wings. A case in point comes from Ben Smith of the Daily News, who received a note about the late Ann Richards, former Texas governor and one of the last truly original figures we're likely to see in American politics. We've reproduced the e-mail below as part of our…
How Your News Gets Made
From the New York Post, today:
Sandwich Pitchman Joins Ranks of Rousseau, Didion, Other Classic Memoirists
We got an e-mail from a publicist the other day asking if we'd be interested in spending some time with Jared Fogle, better known as "the Subway guy," in advance of his Rockefeller Center promotion for his new book. (You'd be surprised at what kind of crap publicists think we're interested in; surprised and…
Join Us in Quashing the Latest "Richard Nouveau" Stunt
OK, we're putting a stop to this viral ad campaign right here, right now. Here's how it breaks down:
