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this means war
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west village
this means war
Hamptons-Related Transportation Crisis!
Perhaps you needn't skip out of work early—the LIRR Jamaica hub is going up in flames. It's probably just The Warriors v. the Gramercy Riffs. Still, maybe do not take the 1:39 to Montauk, Hamptons brats! And maybe not the 2:35 to Sayville, lazy Fire Island gays!
this means war
The Warriors Of Katonah Take On Martha Stewart
We love how Katonah, New York, is going "back to its roots" now that Martha Stewart is trying to brand it as her own for a product line. Umm, actual Katonah is only like 110 years old, because "Old Katonah" flooded and they had to start over. Anyhoo, this rich history won't be mangled by Martha! Today's Page Six notes that local songwriter Marc Black has taken up folksinging to stop Martha. We think he's gonna get the job done, right?
this means war
When Publicists Attack
At the highest echelons of New York's public relations world, a war over clients and status and staff is being waged. And then there's this war too: a dust-up between 5W president Ronn Torossian and the black sheep of the Rubenstein PR dynasty, Richard Rubenstein. Things we can learn from the following email exchange between the two: Richard Rubenstein has been trying to poach from Ronn. Richard's dad, New York's PR kingpin Howard Rubenstein, apparently once sued Ronn. (We can't find a record of that in a quick search, but would love to see it, if it's true.) Finally, after he destroys them all, Ronn is willing to give Richard and Steven Rubenstein jobs at his company. Aww, isn't that sweet! Also: Very unlikely! Enjoy the saber-rattling! More »
disaster is so decorative
JJ Abrams Is Next To Blow Up New York
Not content to let Roland Emmerich and various crazed fundamentalists do all the destroying of New York, it seems JJ Abrams, creator of "Lost" and "Felicity," has thrown his hat in the ring with a mysterious unnamed film. Previews for the flick are being shown before "Transformers" and it will open in January, 2008. (N.B. "Transformers" is, strictly speaking, the most awesome movie of our generation.) In the pirated cellphone version of the preview, I particularly enjoyed what looks like Roma Torre of NY1 bringing news of the destruction. Because that's how it's going to happen for real. One second, you're trading anal sex for an iPhone—the next, Roma Torre is bringing on the bad news and then one of the spikes from the Statue of Liberty has impaled you and your cat and pinned you both to an Ikea bookshelf so that you might count out your last empty stupid minutes together, both your glazed, soon-dull eyes reflecting only Roma and her sensible, sensible hair.
Mysterious J.J. Abrams Trailer Confounds Audiences Looking For Hard, Michael Bay-Style Answers [Defamer]
Cloverfield [Aint It Cool]
hot angry modernists
Yale Prof Defends Baldwin Temptress, Decency, Ownership
From Yale English professor Bill Deresiewicz, teacher of the students who wrote about their encounters with Alec Baldwin:Okay, I've seen your new post about this. You might have done the classy thing, or at least the adult thing (speaking of adults), and managed to print my statement without having to make snide remarks about me—one that confuses decency with paternalism, another that repeats an old insult levelled by one or two out of the many hundreds of students I've taught, many of whom will tell you that I'm one of the favorite professors they've ever had—but I suppose that if you started doing the classy thing, or even the adult thing, you'd have to take down the entire site. Or even the legal thing, come to think of it: I also notice that you still haven't said anything about how the original post violates the copyright of the two student-authors in question.More »
white house correspondents dinner
Eric Alterman Catfights With Ana Marie Cox
Apparently it wasn't all moist eggs and cherry blossoms (or Julia Allison having sex with Henry Kissinger) at John McLaughlin's post-White House Correspondent's Dinner brunch. There was also a heated discussion between Time.com Political Editor (and, yes, Wonkette editor emeritus) Ana Marie Cox, and Nation columnist Eric Alterman, who is best known for being the living embodiment of the kind of smug liberal condescension that has won the Democratic party a whopping two out of the last seven elections. Cox confronted Alterman about recent comments he had made concerning Time's recent hirings, specifically, the hiring of Cox. More »
glenn greenwald
Glenn Greenwald Is So Right It Hurts
Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald has nearly every quality I like in a man: he's pretty, smarter than me, righteous, and he hates both that Washington Post ass Richard Cohen and Gawker. Glenn's crusade against The Politico—they're in bed with Matt Drudge (Mmm! Tasty!) and their barrier-to-print is too low and therefore error-full—has become a war against the shallow right-wing internets newspaper-destroying conspiracy of which we are a part! More »
balthazar
Frank Bruni Declares War on Balthazar, Us
New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni launched a fierce mortar attack at Keith McNally's mainstay Balthazar today on his Diner's Journal, citing inexcusable risotto, overcooked chicken, chaos (CHAOS!) and discomfort as casus belli. More »
youtube
YouTube Hurts Songwriters, Kittens
A lot of the arguing we're hearing both in the real world and inside our heads about the Viacom-YouTube lawsuit has to do with Viacom's claim of damage to authors, songwriters, and other magical unicorns. You know, the little people! Without getting all up in the merits of the case at all, not being all J.D.-burdened (unlike the folks of the Huffington Post, where law degrees and great racks go hand in hand, or hand in something), this is still where we get stuck on the argument. Really? 90-second clips of funny people on YouTube don't actually help them make more money by making them more famous, and therefore making their products more likely to be consumed? For sure now? So we're hoping that Viacom actually gets to argue that old copyright sawhorse for its billlliooon dollars. More »
viacom
SueTube: Viacom Will See YouTube In Court, Unless It's Just Another Negotiating Ploy, Which It Probably Is
Here we go! Viacom, which has been "negotiating" with YouTube for months in an attempt to protect its valuable clips of foul-mouthed cartoon children and crank-calling pieces of felt, has upped the ante in its battle with the Google property. They're suing the fuck out of them, Kurt Eichenwald style! Full memo after the jump. This one's gonna be good, we can feel it. More »
radar
Dispatch From The Gossip Wars
Weren't we supposed to see a diminishing of hostilities at this point in the conflict? It hasn't turned out that way. After a blistering early morning attack by the establishment forces, Moktada al-Roshan's scrappy band of Radar insurgents have responded with a surprise strike of their own. Ba'ar Koveesee, the tactical genius of the Maerdi army, just launched the following retort, aimed at the heart of the government's Koran al-Steindler. More »
frank bruni
Bounty On Bruni Continues To Grow
In covering the recent Jeffrey Chodorow-Frank Bruni feud, The New Yorker's Lauren Collins reported that "Chodorow said that his next restaurant will have a Pacific Northwest theme, and added that he was offering a trip to Seattle to any employee who blocks Bruni from its premises." Today's Post ups the ante, as Braden Keil quotes the disgruntled restaurateur:"I'm telling my staff that the first person to recognize Bruni at any of my restaurants will be given a free trip for two to the Caribbean." Whether this change of prize is a result of confused reporting or merely bluster on Chodorow's part (calls to all parties involved were unmade as of our post time) we look forward to the inevitable moment when Jeffrey declares that "I will buy a villa in Tuscany for the first person who brings me Frank Bruni's giant midsection on a platter." More »
bill clinton
Clinton and Geffen: What Soured The Greatest Friendship Since Damon and Pythias?
There's been a big falling out between gay gajillionaire David Geffen and lady-loving former president Bill Clinton (and his partner-by-marriage Hillary). Political analyst Mickey Kaus (who proves that you don't have to believe in any single plank of the Democratic platform to still call yourself a Democrat) believes the enmity stems from Bill Clinton's "lying about whether he was going to pardon [jailed Native American activist] Leonard Peltier". Makes sense to us—Hollywood executives are so rarely lied to that when it actually does happen, they're outraged. The Times, on the other hand, has a different theory which, as with seemingly everything else in our world, features Ron Burkle. More »
dining
Jeffrey Chodorow Declares War On Frank Bruni
Two weeks ago Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni reviewed Kobe Club, the newest highly-contrived chowhouse from restaurateur/felon/Rocco DiSpirito co-star Jeffrey Chodorow. The Brunster did not find favor with the place, granting it zero stars and noting that "it presents too many insipid or insulting dishes at prices that draw blood from anyone without a trust fund or an expense account." Today Chodorow strikes back, taking out a full-page ad in the back of the Dining section (click to enlarge) that rambles on in crazy-person tiny type about how Bruni is out to get him and ends with this inevitable warning:In the interest of fairness, I am introducing my personal blog, which will be a compilation of my food-related experiences and musings and a special section entitled Following Frank and After Adam, in which I will make a follow-up visit to the restaurants they write about for the purpose of reviewing their reviews. My blog will appear at www.chinagrillmgt.com/blog/. My friends in the restaurant business have warned me that there will be further retaliation against me for speaking up. So be it.Wow, could this get any more fun? Watch yourself, Frank; Jeffrey's been in the joint. They handle things differently there. More »
keith mcnally
Keith McNally: At War With The Gansevoort Hotel
Hot Meatpacking action! A well-placed source alerts us to the ire of Balthazar, Schiller's and Pastis owner Keith McNally:The Gansevoort put up a fugly billboard that McNally and the some of the meatheat district business owners are not taking kindly to. Haven't seen it for myself, but apparently it's awful, and if you think the Jersey trash is bad there now [We do! -Ed.], wait until you can see that fucker across the Hudson, not to mention the abominations that could go up in its wake. So McNally is having his reservationists say the following when the Gansevoort concierges - all totally sycophantic asshats, by the way - call Pastis: "I'm sorry, but we've been instructed not to take reservations from your hotel in protest against the billboard on Hudson Street."And we've just heard the same from inside Balthazar. Will Gansevoort owner William Achenbaum tear down this billboard before some dipshit gets hurt? More »
