at last night's launch party for Anna Sui's Gossip Girl-inspired line for Target, to New York's Daily Intel.

responding to a New York Times reporter asking about the hooker-loving former governor's first class at the City College of New York, overheard by a New York Daily News reporter also trying to gather quotes.

to Time magazine, on why the former Republican House Majority Leader chose Dancing with the Stars as his first major public appearance since he was run out of office in 2006 following an indictment on campaign corruption charges.

"To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. 'Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?'" — Humorist David Sedaris on…

The best description of John McCain's simmering demeanour during last night's debate with Barack Obama, from a Republican contact of New York magazine's John Heilemann: "He’s Bob Dole morphed into Howard Beale from Network... I don’t see how he gets on a commercial airline and passes security.”

“Jackson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton were born to ordinary families, but they spent their lives doing extraordinary things, demonstrating an interest in, and a curiosity about, the world around them. This is much less evident in Palin’s case.” — Newsweek via Caroline…

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…

Does America prefer its First Ladies to be weird uptight robots incapable of saying anything rational for fear of eclipsing or contradicting their husbands? Well yeah, obviously. Still. Parse this: "Cindy McCain says voters don't have to look past her husband's support of the troops to realize that he is 'pro-woman.'"…

"The higher the number of page views, the more accelerated the rate at which, say, the hydrochloric acid will be dispensed. (I believe this is analogous to how Gawker Media currently pays its writers.)" [From the AV Club's belated review of web snuff movie Untraceable.]

The guys out there know what the New York Times is talking about, right? Old ladies just don't know when to quit! Sheesh.

It would be too obvious as well as unreasonable to suggest that Aron Pilhofer, the New York Times's editor for interactive news, drag himself into the 21st century. Here's a more modest objective: understanding the mindset of his own colleagues. At this week's dire Mediabistro conference, Pilhofer scorned the…

That's Vanessa Hudgens, star of Disney's High School Musical, explaining to GQ how the entertainment industry works. Another truth: 19-year-old starlets sell copies of magazines for middle-aged men, particularly when packaged with these photographs and the headline High School Lolita. Incidentally, these photos will…

The dreadful Bancrofts, while enjoying the diversification of their wealth out of Dow Jones stock, have already started complaining about the company's new owner, Rupert Murdoch. "Words mean nothing to him, unless they're his," the doyenne of the family, Jane Cox MacElree, tells Portfolio. A futile complaint from an…

Vladimir Putin has finally responded to internet and press rumors that the Russian president is leaving his wife for a 24-year-old rhythmic gymnast: "I have always reacted negatively to those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others' lives." That's a relatively mild rebuke by Putin's…

Kurt Andersen, co-founder of Spy and former editor of New York, sees a future for print magazines. At last night's WNYC event, he said: "They will be beautiful luxuries, like sailboats in the 19th and 20th centuries."

"Broadcasters of this great nation... You have the power to turn this country away from cynicism. You have the power to turn this nation away from the hatred and the divisive dialog that has rendered such a corrosive effect on our body politic. You can lift us up into a more enlightened age."—actor Tim Robbins, in…

Yeah, yeah, magazine features are shorter than they were. This Old House may be shut down. The lead times for printing and distribution are increasingly absurd in an age of instant online publishing. But do magazine writers have to be quite so depressed and depressing?

One expects flouncy Barry Diller, when he testifies in this week's court battle for control of IAC, will provide the colorful language which has kept journalists sweet for him for so many decades. But John Malone, the soulless corporate raider who is trying to seize the internet conglomerate from Diller, didn't do so…