That quote is from John Koblin's piece in today's Observer. It's got more gems: Adam Nagourney couldn't find a seat at his own paper's workspace, then bitched about having to cover the convention with so many other, lesser reporters. Fox's Greta Van Susteren, though, was more than happy to be there.

Greta Van Susteren, the Fox News anchor, spent Aug. 25 blogging—“I like the blogging!” she said—and produced 10 blog posts, including an online poll: “What do you think Michelle Obama thinks about Hillary Clinton?”

But there are hardships!

“I don’t like it,” said the Bloomberg News editor Al Hunt, who is covering his 17th convention. “It’s chilly and you can’t hear anything. Have you been to the porta-potties here? Because don’t go.”

Elsewhere in the Observer, Felix Gillette reports that he thought he knocked over Bill O'Reilley's laptop! But no, it was Karl Rove's laptop.

At HuffPo, media critic Rachel Sklar asks Anderson Cooper about the altitude, and Cooper reveals that he wishes he'd had a Bar Mitzvah. If, somehow, Cooper had added that he also wished to be on Saturday Night Live, in a Broadway musical, and Canadian, Sklar probably would've fainted. (After filing 1,500 words.)

And hey, did you know that there are bloggers at the Democratic National Convention? It's true, according to the Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau. "The political bloggers are here because this week Denver is the center of the Democratic Party's political universe," we're told. Good to know! Even Katie Couric stopped by the blogger area to figure out what bloggers did all day, exactly.

And lovable David Carr, America's Favorite Recovered Crack-Addict-Turned-Times Reporter, hauls his Carpetbagger vlogging suit out of the closet to bug "members of the media" in Denver! Watching this video, we were struck by how these were exactly the same parties that are thrown in DC every week except in Denver. They still look terrible.

FINDINGS:

1. Michelle Obama's hair is newly "swingy" and thus patriotic.
2. Wolf Blitzer is Batman.
3. Michelle Obama's brother "looks like a basketball."
4. Caroline Kennedy's appearance qualifies her a cabinet position if not the vice presidency.
5. The Obama daughters' appearance qualifies them for residency the White House.**
6. The Brady Bunch is for white people.

* Now it is up to someone who is really bored to try and count the number of times they say "like" and "you know" and "totally" because I tried and it was just too fucking exhausting.
**Barring some mostly-not-articulated rumblings of dissent with regards to the dress worn by one of them.

He was skeptical at first, but polite (he said he'll never turn down a friend request because he didn't "want to be a dick"). The person was persistent, and somehow connected him to a woman who was, actually, his sister: Turns out his dad had fathered a number of different children by a number of different women: "My sister, another sister, then another brother...I have a family I never knew anything about." I reached Cenac via Facebook, (where he proved the easy touch promised and added me immediately), and confirmed the numbers: "It's 3 brothers and 1 sister (possibly 2)."

Cenac is probably not looking to milk his new family for profit, and judging from his YouTube channel and Daily Show performances is not wanting for good material. But it's worth noting that "long-lost siblings reunite via MySpace" is one of the few good premises for a sitcom not already driven into the ground. It would also work for a reality show!

[Huffington Post]

The blogger's latest project—for Condé Nast's Men's Style website—is a directory mainly of women who've achieved some modicum of fame or notoriety on the web. The verdict on Gawker alumna Emily Gould—"That she actually isn't much of a writer has, so far, mostly escaped attention"—is rather bold for Sorgatz, himself such a recent arrival to the Manhattan media world.

But Sorgatz is far too modest in leaving himself out of the micro-celebrity rankings. Since arriving less than a year ago in New York, the dorky Fimoculous founder has cut an unlikely swathe through the geek-loving women of the city. (Yes, that's the Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar in the photograph above.)

In a feature for New York magazine on this "new class" of celebrity—only really new in the paucity of fans, if the truth were told—Sorgatz outlined eight steps to microfame. One key move is to associate with other bloggers. "From anonymous blog comments to frothy bar conversations, confidantes are needed to tout your reputation at every opportunity... The posse—or as media theoreticians call it, the network—creates influence that grows exponentially with its size."

That's advice that Sorgatz himself lives by. His latest romance—with the delightful Sklar—is on display on the media writer's Facebook page, where she's posted photographs of a recent weekend at Lockhart Steele's blogger-only shared house in the Hamptons. How did the geeky Sorgatz become such a seducer? "I wish I knew!" says a jealous rival. "I've seen him in action and it amazes me. Maybe they are wowed by his charm, media sound bites and shiny shoes? He's a good talker. I'm sure he plays up his dual outsider/insider angle too." Of course, there's a simpler explanation: he's micro-famous.

But such public exposure has its price as Sorgatz, an authority on internet culture, should know all too well. Leonora Epstein, one of Sklar's predecessors, has written up an account of her hook-ups with a man called Phil—whose fondness for shiny objects, spiky hairdos and the color red suggests she's referring instead to Sorgatz. The liaison ended when Phil, about to leave for a week in the Hamptons without Leonora, left his packing list on the desk. "Tent. Video camera. Condoms." That embarrassing list is now her screen saver.

"The lines between empowerment and self-promotion, between sharing and oversharing, between community and cliques, can be blurry," wrote Sorgatz for New York, presciently. "Nano-celebrity is there for the taking, if you really want it." Yes, but only if you really want it.

Rachel Sklar: Rex at the sea thinking "Oh my God how am I going to last an entire weekend with this girl?" Me thinking "When are we going to eat again?"

• Observers note that Arianna Huffington waited several days to personally blog anything about the death of Tim Russert of Meet The Press, who she often criticized. Then when she did say something, she didn't really praise the man. Not even faint praise! Dammit, Arianna, the public DEMANDS DISINGENUOUS EULOGIES! [R&M]
• Condé Nast is accused of stiffing the widow of advertising rainmaker Steve Florio by not handing over her husband's full severance, insurance and benefits. [P6]
• "Oh, hey, you know what would be romantic, clingy Jennifer Aniston?" "What, manorexic John Mayer?" "A stay at the Mexico vacation home of Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis, who served jail time for filming naked underaged girls! He just asks that we not disturb any evidence!" "Yaaay!" (Sorry, it's a lot better with the puppets.)
• This picture of movie Harry Potter is seriously the most frightening thing I've seen all night. Oh, also, he's buying a butt exerciser for some kind of Broadway role (picture does not involve his butt). [R&M]
• Britney Spears took a topless swim at a tops-optional Las Vegas pool lounge. None of the paparazzi got any shots, except of Spears in a skimpy outfit, and now Spears is said to be hawking her own topless photos from the swim. Or, well, technically her father runs her business affairs now by court order so... Ew.
• Lindsay Lohan has been "amazing" on the set of her movie, which means she's not getting drunk or high or passing out or committing felonies during working hours. Well, sure, but it's summertime. There aren't any nice coats lying around to steal. [People]
• Denise Richards admits to having 10 dogs. Sure they're on a ranch, but... why? "I am not sure why there is so much drama about how many animals I have," she said. Also: after she split with Charlie Sheen, Richards totally stole Heather Locklear's man, while they were friends. But on her reality show, she says they totally weren't friends any more, for three months. [P6]

People stuck on the plane:

Ben Lerer —Thrillist
Justin Rocket Silverman —New York Post
Brian Niemietz —New York Post
Charles Forman —ImInLikeWithYou.com
David Karp —Tumblr
Julia Allison —Star
Justin Fluck —The Onion
Ben Hudson —The Onion
Caroline McCarthy —CNet
Rachel Sklar —The Huffington Post
Verena von Pfetten —The Huffington Post
Streeter Seidell —College Humor
Jack Savage —Fox News
Emily Anderson —CNN
Jessica Steiner —NY1
Glynnis MacNicol —Mediabistro

"To attract reader comments that will be so overwhelmingly negative that they will close after less than 24 hours? The chance for Gould to settle a score and for the NYT to play catch-up to Page Six magazine, which had the 'he-said' version of this story back in February? To shine a light on the strange and mysterious world of blogging? (If so, mission not accomplished: NYO writer (and former Gawker editor himself) Matt Haber notes that the piece is 'light in sociology or cultural grasping,' and New York's Daily Intel notes acidly that 'Some bloggers are able to write about things other than themselves. Seriously.')

"You don't need to have heard of Emily Gould previously to judge her harshly (Wonders NYT commenter Mark Kasen of St. Louis, MO: 'Don't you have important things to do? Don't you have real issues to write about that might affect your generation and the country generally?'), but it helps — it provides the context of having heard the story before, of knowing by the second page that you've hit the sentence that pretty much sums it all up:

'I walked down the hall of my high school passing out copies of a comic-book zine I drew, featuring a mock superhero called SuperEmily, who battled thinly veiled versions of my grade's reigning mean girls. In college, I sent out an all-student e-mail message revealing that an ex-boyfriend shaved his chest hair.'

"But for those unfamiliar with the saga of Emily Gould (which, I should note, was never so much an internet pastime than something that occurred as a result of reading Gawker and starting to notice her posts becoming more and more self-referential, her barbs more careless, herself in a metallic-toned bathing suit (two, if you saw her Facebook page). There was the time she summarily 'executed' a number of Gawker commenters for criticizing her, castigating male commenters for mocking her looks even as she dissed four other women in the process ('Gawker is a safe space for women. Any by 'women,' of course, I mostly mean 'me'). That was around the time she did something similar on her personal blog, striking back at mean commenters by publishing their email addresses.

"What else? The sudden cultivation of friendship with Julia Allison, with whom she seemed all too happy to appear in photographs (though she certainly doesn't treat her like a friend in this piece); the public commentary on Gawker about former beau and current co-worker Josh Stein; the New York magazine cover story last fall in which she expressed angst about her job, yet still managed to reveal more details of her love life; the revelations in Stein's Page Six piece — all combine to provide the backstory to Gould's newly-minted version, which may be one of the reasons it has so far been received with cynicism." [HuffPo]

The Daily Show covered this the other night. Skip to about three minutes in, when the pundits demand blood. "Look, we gotta kill her off—y'know, figuratively."

Sklar says: "To the fellow (male) journo I wrote to about this yesterday, who waved it off as just some colorful film-noir imagery, I say: can you IMAGINE if someone had said that about Obama?" Well we need imagine no more! Lovable old Pat Buchanan does do this in the clip above, when he mentions how often Hillary Clinton has "whipped" Obama. What a colorful image, a white lady repeatedly whipping a black man! But it's Pat Buchanan, no one even notices when he's casually racist anymore. (And obviously most of the grosser comments in the clip are directed at or about Senator Clinton.)

Cable news idiots just love violent imagery, they depend on it to make their miserable analyses sound exciting, and they're being utterly clueless when they use this imagery against Hillary Clinton. Which, once again, reinforcing misogyny. So shame on Olbermann!

Anyway, now you get to have a big comments fight about it!

Wall Street Journalers Greg Ip (The Fed), Ian Johnson (Pulitzer prize-winning Berlin correspondent), and Joanna Slater (World Markets & Currencies)
Chrystia Freeland—North American editor, Financial Times.
Siobhan O'Connor—GOOD features editor.
Morley Safer, CBS
John McKenzie, ABC
Thalia Assuras, CBS
Hilary Brown, ABC
Gary Armstrong—Chief Marketing Officer, Wenner Media
Alex Trebek

Call Lou Dobbs! Canadians Are Walking Amongst You, Undetected [HuffPo]

Mort Zuckerman
Publisher/EIC, New York Daily News. EIC, U.S. News & World Report.
Born: Montreal, Quebec.

Malcolm Gladwell
New Yorker staff writer, pop-nonfic author general media whore.
Born in the UK, raised in Elmira, Ontario. Attended the University of Toronto around the same time as Clive Thompson! And obv BFF w/ fellow frequent New Yorker contributer

Adam Gopnik
Born in Philly, raised in Montreal. Has also perhaps spent time in Paris? Someone look into this.

Graydon Carter
Editor, Vanity Fair
Born: Toronto, Ontario.

Dale Hrabi
Former editorial creative director at Maxim and elsewhere. Radar Editor at Large.
Worked at Canadian fashion mag Flare, just like:

Bonnie Fuller
Tabloid queen. Editorial director, American Media. Terror. Britney leaver-alone.
Born: Toronto.

Not pictured: Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sklar. Probably others! If you know of media-running Canadians we left out, drop us a line.

As we got off the 6 train, we saw not-a-she Style section writer Alex Williams whose piece on the humiliation of living in Brooklyn in a post-Heath world we gently exfoliated earlier this week. "Yeah," he said, "that piece made me kind of a persona non grata in my own neighborhood." Well. "Telling truth to power," we told him, "has consequences."

In the bar itself, a place not as good as its name, a number of flatscreen TVs were playing footage of Jacobs roaming around in a robe and with a massive beard. Truth be told, he looked pretty awesome. He could have easily been in Grizzly Bear or Beirut or Greenpoint. "This is too much," Jacobs said. "It borders on idolatry." But his biblical experiment had ended a year ago and Jacobs was clean shaven. "My wife hated the beard," he said, "but, in general, it wasn't so bad."

Was his book more or less maritally taxing than fellow stunt booker Colin Beavan's No Impact Man? "Less, I think. Of course, there were conflicts between a Biblical wife and a secular wife." Who won out? "Who do you think?" he said. (Um, we think her?) Someone brought over a tray of lamb kebabs.

We fell into conversation with a Jewy looking guy (we were looking for them amongst the sea of white men). "Sup dude?" we asked. "Do you follow the Bible?"

"Well," he said, "I follow many tenets which aren't in the Bible." It turned out this man was John Podhoretz, ben-Norman and a New York Post columnist. We wondered if he was talking about George Tenet, but he said, "You know, like keeping kosher which is in the שולחן ערוך but not necessarily in the Torah." Someone brought over a tray of bruschetta but John didn't take any. "I'm actually looking for some adulterers to stone right now," he said.

Huffpo's Rachel Sklar was there chatting with Daniel Radosh and Galleycat's Ron Hogan. They were chatting with Ryan D'Agostino the Esquire writer. We asked him to name the Ten Commandments. "Do not kill, do not covet they neighbors wife..." he said. Yeah. "But I can name the Supreme Court justices. He named eight before blanking on Alito. Sklar brought over a tray of dates and apples.

We searched for the chrome dome of David Granger, Esquire's editor in chief, but to no avail. He had been there, Jacobs said, but "there's another Esquire party on Central Park North. I think he headed up there." Jacobs headed to the bar, reminding us, "It's okay to drink in moderation, just not in excess. Remember the story of Noah and the Curse of Ham. You don't want your son to see you naked." Well, unless you're some sort of daddyblogger, in which case, it's just fodder for another blog post. But the Good Book will keep the rest of us from doing that.

In the Sheraton's ballroom, the Napoleonic head of CNN, Jonathan Klein, was wearing a tux and chatting with some other old white dude. Bob Schieffer of CBS chatted with Ted Koppel, who was to receive a lifetime achievement award. An unusually and quite frankly scarily tan Mike Wallace spryly circulated from small circle to small circle. We looked for Wolf Blitzer and Brian Williams—they were both "working."

We were sitting at the press table. Because the press talk so much, we heard that it was probably someone from the Business desk that started yesterday's Times fire: "The fire was on the second floor. That's where business is. And Science and Escapes and Sports!"

Matea Gold from the LA Times was there in a smart pearl necklace. She sported a slim ivory shiny digital recorder and didn't eat dessert (chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup). Across the table, looking like a fairy godmother (because she is), was TV Week's Michelle Greppi. Onstage, Tim Russert was giving this "Lock arms, brothers and sisters" speech. He then introduced Dan Rather as "soon to be the star of his own reality TV show on Court TV with Les Moonves." So true!

Dan Rather's most notable quotable: "News matters."

We were right next to a huge television screen that flashed clips of Frontline documentaries (the series was honored) and other news reports—lots of footage of dead and dying people. How is one supposed to enjoy an already rubbery steak while having to watch Marines dying or starving Darfurians?

That said, PBS programs , which swept the awards, are totes replacing "The OC" seasons 1-4 on my Netflix queue.

Then Mike Wallace won an Emmy for his interview with Iran's President Ahmadinejad and took to the stage. He put the Emmy on the ground and rambled on for about 15 minutes, speaking almost exclusively in haiku. "Me. You. This Room/Ahmadinejad./We didn't know."

Huh? What now? Soon enough he was replaced by Soledad O'Brien. She looks and speaks like a Sarah Silverman caricature of herself, drawing out the ends of words like a rabbi.

It was surely time for more white wine. But when I asked for another, the old waiter asked whether I'd like to open a tab.

Tonight is Kol Nidre; tomorrow, the Jews of the world apologize to anyone who will listen about all their conniving heeb behavior during the previous lunar year. On Saturday, city and state machers (and anyone who shelled out $150 for the honor of dovening next to Gov. Spitzer) can be found self-flagellating at Temple Emanu-El. Observant lesbians will be found beating their hoary bosoms at the prestigious Park Slope Jewish Center. Hipster Jews in pink tights will like pray or whatever at The Shul of New York, the Mr. Black of synagogues. So in the spirit of atonement and definitely wanting to end up in the Book of Life , here's a list of individuals to whom I'd like to apologize.

Now, we love us some Huffington Post: Arianna's comically-accented fearlessness, Laurie David's hypocritical stridency, and Rachel Sklar's rack have provided us with countless hours of entertainment. But this thing is almost as sad and tragic as genocide, without genocide's saving grace of at least being a well-defined plan with a clear goal. We'd smack our monitor and yell, "BE MORE FUNNY," but that would give the site credit for being funny in the first place, and with headlines like "Britney Spears Appears on the Cover of Allure: Re-Touch Me Baby One More Time," that is not a credit which we are willing to extend. We'd actually rather read Nora Ephron babbling about her sagging throat skin. DO SOMETHING, Barry Diller, this is appalling!

23/6 [HuffPo]

Julia Allison: i watched the new Obama Girl video
Julia Allison: i found it totally inappropriate, demeaning to women, and reinforcing of sexual stereotypes
Rachel Sklar: oy. go ahead, gloria steinem
Julia Allison: I cannot believe you didn't have a problem with it!
Rachel Sklar: how exactly is that different from your little photoshoot?????
Rachel Sklar: no problem at all whatsoever. i thought it was hilarious
Julia Allison: because I don't profess to be about politics

Rachel Sklar: so unapologetic, a total spoof. neither does that video
Julia Allison: yeah, the first one i liked
Rachel Sklar: those videos are political HUMOR. big diff
Rachel Sklar: and by the way, you SO DO
Julia Allison: to you I do, but not to millions of teenage girls
Julia Allison: like "this is all women can contribute to politics"
Rachel Sklar: sure you do - anyone watching fox
Rachel Sklar: nah. disagree totally
Rachel Sklar: seriously
Julia Allison: teenage girls do not watch fox, and I don't go on fox in a bikini
Rachel Sklar: o-kay!
Rachel Sklar: go smoke a cigar in a black bra and undies with an old dude!
Rachel Sklar: or, go hop a flight to Milan courtesy of your latest paramour!
Rachel Sklar: if you're not going to stand on ceremony on that stuff, I can't see how you would stand on ceremony on this stuff
Rachel Sklar: just sayin'
Rachel Sklar: it's too bad, you woulda been great in the video
Julia Allison: but seriously, I think the second video really is demeaning
Julia Allison: it's so fucking in your face
Julia Allison: the point is they have these women PRANCING ABOUT LIKE SEX OBJECTS
Rachel Sklar: oh, my god
Julia Allison: as if that's ALL WOMEN CAN CONTRIBUTE TO POLITICS
Rachel Sklar: julia, you are a total fucking hypocrite
Rachel Sklar: sorry, but that is RIDICULOUS
Julia Allison: no i'm not!!! I'm saying there are TIMES TO BE A SEX OBJECT and there are TIMES NOT TO BE A SEX OBJECT
Rachel Sklar: "the point is they have these women PRANCING ABOUT LIKE SEX OBJECTS"
Rachel Sklar: you are hardly an authority on when those times are
Rachel Sklar: it is not for you to arbitrarily set
Julia Allison: just because I like being a sex object occasionally - does that mean that I have to support women being seen as sex objects 100% of the time, otherwise I'm a hypocrite??
Rachel Sklar: why do you get to decide when another hot girl can be in something glancingly political?
Rachel Sklar: ridic
Rachel Sklar: OCCASIONALLY
Rachel Sklar: haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Rachel Sklar: no
Julia Allison: because you know, it's two male candidates
Rachel Sklar: in this case, the spoof elements are so obvious that it's clearly not saying women are incapable of contributing in any other way
Rachel Sklar: it's spoofing the fact that that stuff sells
Rachel Sklar: and also
Rachel Sklar: pairing it with some pretty funny lyrics
Rachel Sklar: and imagery
Rachel Sklar: sorry dude i'm not with you here, in the least
Julia Allison: and it's these ridiculously hot women supporting them - it should have HOT MEN in it as well.
Julia Allison: OR they should have been supporting Hillary
Rachel Sklar: even if you didn't have your, uh, illustrious resume
Rachel Sklar: i would still say that I don't think those videos are sexist
Rachel Sklar: i honestly don't
Rachel Sklar: you are unreal
Julia Allison: That would have made it more fair!
Julia Allison: less offensive
Rachel Sklar: so the Hott4Hill vid is good in your books then?
Julia Allison: Yes.
Rachel Sklar: totally derivative, empty confection?
Rachel Sklar: dude that is ridiculous
Julia Allison: I'll tell you why. Because then it's not the TYPICAL "I'm a sexy woman cheerleading my big man political candidate"
Rachel Sklar: it is SO MUCH MORE SEXIST to say that a woman should support hillary because she's a woman
Julia Allison: No, I didn't say that.
Rachel Sklar: like women aren't capable of making those choices without your imposing them
Rachel Sklar: oh, well, as long as it's typical it's okay
Julia Allison: I just said that I have a problem with "sexy young women" supporting two male candidates
Rachel Sklar: dude, it is OBVIOUSLY A SPOOF
Rachel Sklar: it is OBVIOUSLY A JOKE
Rachel Sklar: and btw you LOOOOOVED the first video
Julia Allison: Yeah, and why did I like the first one, and felt really uncomfortable with the second?
Julia Allison: it must have GONE TOO FAR
Rachel Sklar: oh that's it! you are the unerring barometer!
Rachel Sklar: it was an escalation of the themes of the first
Rachel Sklar: think about it: Obama Girl loves Obama. What does that mean she will do when threatened?
Rachel Sklar: Stick up for her man.
Julia Allison: Why can we not draw a line and say "this is harmful to our girls"
Julia Allison: no, she doesn't!
Julia Allison: she didn't even know who he was!
Rachel Sklar: We can, if it's harmful
Rachel Sklar: i happen not to agree
Julia Allison: SHE'S AN ACTRESS/MODEL
Rachel Sklar: who cares?
Julia Allison: I DO
Rachel Sklar: you were a dating columnist talking about politics
Julia Allison: BEFORE I WAS EVER A DATING COLUMNIST I WORKED ON POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS, I WORKED ON THE HILL!
Rachel Sklar: you prance around in a fucking cheerleading outfit, just because
Rachel Sklar: dude
Rachel Sklar: who cares? sorry.
Julia Allison: BEFORE!
Rachel Sklar: okay then
Rachel Sklar: how often does that come up in ANYTHING YOU DO NOW?
Rachel Sklar: in any bio you have?
Rachel Sklar: I bet Star was totally all over that for your current job, which is talking about the stories other people write and report!
Rachel Sklar: becuase you're pretty and good on TV!
Rachel Sklar: like, come ON here Jules.
Rachel Sklar: do NOT get up on this high horse, it won't support you.
Rachel Sklar: this is not to say that you don't have PLENTY to offer
Rachel Sklar: as it happens, Amber does too - she's a fucking pro, first of all
Rachel Sklar: so obvious in those vids
Rachel Sklar: and she's super nice and sweet
Julia Allison: So wait - just because I have on occasion been a sex object and enjoyed it, I forever forfeit my right to have a problem when other women do things that I believe may be inappropriate?
Rachel Sklar: not at all - but that does mean you may be called out for hypocrisy
Rachel Sklar: Keep it about the work. And what that work is. Don't blast someone for not bringing X to the table when they were hired for Y.
Rachel Sklar: I have WAY less of a problem with Amber than I do with FoxNews, which has no qualms about slapping you with the title "political expert"
Rachel Sklar: Amber's not holding herself out as an expert
Rachel Sklar: She's holding herself out as what she is - the actress/model who plays Obama girl
Julia Allison: My point isn't that. My point is that I think three hot chicks in small outfits going against three other hot chicks in small outfits, over TWO MALE CANDIDATES sends the wrong message.
Rachel Sklar: added bonus: she's nice and has a sense of humor and is good on TV
Julia Allison: it says women can only be involved in politics if they're sex objects supporting men
Rachel Sklar: oooh, sends the wrong message!
Julia Allison: Yes!!
Rachel Sklar: better watch out, america - you'll be FOOLED!
Rachel Sklar: it does NOT say that
Julia Allison: TO THE YOUNG GIRLS!!
Rachel Sklar: oy
Julia Allison: IT SAYS THAT WOMEN CAN ONLY CONTRIBUTE INSOFAR AS THEY ARE OBJECTS FOR A FUCKING PARODY!
Rachel Sklar: dude, if you want to be a fucking role model to the young girls then password-protect your blog so it's available only to people 18 or over
Rachel Sklar: "Dana Vachon is the kind of guy you wanna fuck!"
Julia Allison: I'm half of a good role model
Rachel Sklar: "Off to Milan!"
Julia Allison: WHAT IS WRONG WITH GOING TO MILAN?
Rachel Sklar: well, I'm calling out your other half for hypocrisy
Rachel Sklar: absolutely nothing
Rachel Sklar: to me
Julia Allison: huh? it was with a guy I was seeing!!! I don't think there's anything wrong with that
Julia Allison: and this is a public video here
Rachel Sklar: but there is NO QUESTION that there are a lot of people who would sniff disapprovingly about you letting a guy pay your way to Milan
Rachel Sklar: one of many guys you were seeing
Rachel Sklar: dude, we are now talking about the sliding scale of social mores
Rachel Sklar: you can't seriously be this deluded
Julia Allison: I'm not deluded at all!
Julia Allison: I just think there are lines to be drawn, and I'm drawing them.
Rachel Sklar: as to not see what might be looked askance at with your various trips with various men to various places on various planes
Julia Allison: I actually don't see the problem with trips at all
Rachel Sklar: draw away
Rachel Sklar: i am drawing 'em different
Rachel Sklar: and then scribbling "hypocrite!!!" all over your picture
Rachel Sklar: one of them cleavy ones from feb. 14, 2007
Rachel Sklar: i think the one in the bra when you're looking in the mirror?
Rachel Sklar: so you can see your ass in the panties too? how 'bout that one?
Rachel Sklar: CHAMPION FOR WOMEN!
Julia Allison: but I wasn't endorsing a political candidate
Rachel Sklar: POWER TO THE SISTAHOOD!
Julia Allison: I never said women couldn't be sexy
Julia Allison: you're making a huge logical fallacy here
Rachel Sklar: okay so I'll wait to smack you down when you do
Rachel Sklar: SHE'S ENDORSING CLINTON! THAT SLUT!
Julia Allison: I wasn't wearing "OBAMA" butt underwear
Julia Allison: seriously, make a distinction
Rachel Sklar: HOW DARE SHE ENDORSE A CANDIDATE AFTER POSING IN HER BRA!
Rachel Sklar: You would wear Obama butt underwear in a HEARTBEAT
Rachel Sklar: and feminism does not stop at campaigning
Julia Allison: I think you're missing the crucial difference. I'm NOT saying that women can't be sexy or pose in sexy ways
Rachel Sklar: heaven forfend!
Rachel Sklar: btw
Rachel Sklar: i'm going to bring the discussion back up top
Julia Allison: I AM saying that having six sexy women fight over two male political candidates strikes me as a blow to feminism
Julia Allison: why don't we have HOT MEN fighting for Hillary???
Rachel Sklar: why should we?
Julia Allison: where's THAT video?!?!?!
Rachel Sklar: but anyway, if you want that, go make that video
Julia Allison: maybe I will.
Rachel Sklar: go crazy
Rachel Sklar: i will review it on my blog!

And that's where the conversation ended. We don't know about you, but it left us sweaty and wanting more. We're gonna go smoke a cigarette, calm ourselves down for a minute.

Allison personifies the media 'triple threat': Someone who can write, looks good for the camera, and can think quickly on her feet. The reach of TV is staggering, and the power of the five-second beam into thousands, or millions, of living rooms (at least) tops print in sheer efficiency, and arguably, sheer, blunt, brand-promulgating power (a mega-spokesperson for a Maga-Brand, as TV ready Men's Health EIC/brand-personifier/Julia-pal David Zinczenko might say). So those who are surprised by Allison's rise should not be; in this brave new multi-platform world of ours, it pays to be a utility player.

Media Musical Chairs: The Moves And What They Mean [ETP]

Self-made force of nature Arianna Huffington was in Toronto on Monday night... publicizing her latest book, On Becoming Fearless. She is best known for her online news and opinion site, the Huffington Post. Co-hosts of the fest were Dominion Institute's Rudyard Griffiths; National Post gossip extraordinaire Shinan Govani; Rachel Sklar, a Huffington Post editor and friend of Ms. Huffington's... The Greek-born, Cambridge-educated, power-vibing Ms. Huffington gave a little speech in which she lamented the fact she was not carrying a handbag and had received so many business cards from people that she had been forced to stuff them into her bra. Noting her friend Ms. Sklar is a D-cup, Ms. Huffington then expressed the hope that the business cards had turned her into a D-cup from a B. Not your usual speech at a soirée, but clearly fearless.

Fear not a factor for Arianna [Globe & Mail]

"Taking me somewhere fancy and knowing how to order wine used to blow my mind," says Rachel, 34, a lawyer. "But alas, I'm now spoiled."

So instead we had to write heds about attendees such as Andre Balasz, Coralie Charriol and HuffPo dominatrix Rachel Sklar. We did catch sight of protobloggers Jason Kottke and his wife Meg Hourihan. Megnut, as she is better known, also had a beatific glow and belly bump that are the telltale signs of being preggers. Mazel tov! We'll welcome the first of the new generation of super blogger babies.

John Johnson and his cuz Jaime were in attendance. John, who looks like a dapper D. H. Lawrence, took to the stage to talk about freedom or whatever. And Arianna literally videophoned in a performance. But as the night wore on, and as the absence of food and, more importantly, alcohol eroded our wit and work ethic, we started just posting pictures of kittens from Cuteoverload with captions like "Arianna Huffington Slaughtered My Family". Which is true. Meanwhile, our very own new media artist Richard Blakeley was free to roam around the space asking the type of hard-hitting questions that are so often missing in new media. CITIZEN JOURNALISM. TAKE THAT. —Josh

Perhaps no one was more eager to leave the dinner than David Geffen and Arianna Huffington: Geffen and Huffington bolted super early and were already in his jet before the dinner had ended. One person who approached Arianna to chat as she was leaving the dinner got the cold shoulder. "Darling, I would love to talk, but I'm getting a ride back with David on his plane." (Oh, and Huffington's efforts to hide her black right eye with bangs didn't fool everyone. She earned the bruise recently when she passed out and hit her head on a desk.)

Yeas and Nays [Washington Examiner]