"The New York edition of Time Out is on the auction block with a cover price of up to $40 million (£26.8 million) after backers of the weekly magazine pressed for a sale in an attempt to generate profit on their 13-year investment...

Also for sale is Time Out New York's share of the Chicago title, meaning that any buyer would take control of the brand in the United States."

TONY founder Tony Elliott gives a borderline angry quote saying he doesn't want to sell, this all driven by the investors. After 13 years they're ready to make a profit, surprisingly. If they do, we'll be even more surprised. [Times UK]

To: All TONY Staff
Fr: Alison Tocci

Statement from Time Out New York President Alison Tocci:

As Time Out reaches its 40th anniversary in London, and Time Out New York passes the 13-year mark, there is much to celebrate. Sadly, some of our achievement has been clouded by an anonymous, typo-riddled post on Gossip, I mean, Gawker.com, which alludes to our imminent demise.

I can assure you that rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Time Out, like all print media, has felt both the specific downturn in print ad sales as advertisers and readers migrate online, and the general economic downturn complicated by rising paper and printing costs. In addition, we have made significant investment into our own costly transition online.

The result is a tight cash flow situation that has led unfortunately to very slow payment to our vendors and freelancers.

Happily, our New York investors, who understand the value of the brand you have all built and have been entirely supportive over the past 14 years, remain fully committed to us. They have stepped up to the plate in a significant way and I can assure you that our valued vendors, freelancers and all service providers who make what we do possible, will be brought up to date over the next 90 days.

And unlike our anonymous and gossipy friend, you can sign my name to that.

Alison Tocci
President
Time Out New York

[Alison, please send future typo corrections and memos here.]

TONY is light on content and heavy on listings. That's probably not going to change significantly. So consider what they're up against:

• Craigslist: The entire classified ad business has largely been destroyed by Craigslist. Especially in New York, where Craigslist is widely read. Because Craigslist is, you know, free.
• Yelp.com: A site with remarkably extensive listings and reviews of restaurant, bars, nightlife, bars, and shopping. And the reviews are customer-generated, rather than one magazine's opinion. Also free. (See also: Citysearch, Menupages, etc.)
• Blogs: Crazy micro-specialization means that there are probably a dozen good blogs covering any area of interest you might have in New York. Again, free.
• Other competitors: The Village Voice, NY Press, and L Magazine all do extensive reviews and event listings. All free. New York magazine could be considered a higher-end competitor, but its content is a million times better.

Suffice it to say that TONY can't depend on increasing sales of its print version to stay afloat. That leaves its website. Which they certainly understand—the mag tried to invest and make its website the leader in its category last year. Unfortunately that didn't pan out. And it's hard to see how they could surpass all the aforementioned online competitors now, even with a big infusion of money.

So if TONY's business model doesn't deliver them a solid profit right where they are today, the outlook is grim.

[Anybody out there with more info on TONY's financial situation (good or bad), email us please.]

Q I was dating a guy for a long time and we both kept blogs. I used my blog to talk about the things that I did or that I was feeling, and although I talked about our relationship, I never talked about our sex life. I was just trying to be emotionally naked and self-revealing and let the world learn a little bit about me. My boyfriend talked mostly about the Bears and his work, but then he crossed the line and alluded to the difficulties of giving me an orgasm in a few of his posts. Even though it is mostly just our friends who read the site, some of their friends read it, too. Now they know that I have a hard time having an orgasm. That is my personal issue and I did not want it broadcast to our friends. We had other problems, too, and as a result of everything we broke up. I am hurt that he did this to me and even more hurt now that he is seeing someone else and has posted pictures of her and posts about dates that they have gone on. I feel like he is using his blog against me, which only makes me use my blog against him. I am frustrated by this whole thing and that other guys may not want to date me now because they can find out from the blog that it was "so much work" to try and make me come.

A STOP IT SHUT UP JESUS CHRIST.

Update: Ms. Allison asserts, convincingly, that this is "retarded," and adds, "if I wanted to talk about my issues, I would put my name on them. THAT, at least, is more than clear." So this is probably Lodwick's doing.

In & Out [TO Chicago]

The phone number is not actually Ms. Allison's, but goes to some sort of hotline set up for members of the public to call and attempt to insert themselves into the tumblrd farce of her heavily-mediated take on Modern Romance. Or just harass her, we suppose, but she really probably gets enough of that.

Good on new Time Out EIC Michael Friedson for taking a chance on a relative unknown like Ms. Allison, especially after that New York profile didn't pan out. (Adam Moss declared our heroine to be a bit "too overexposed.") Please go buy like 10 copies! And marvel at how lucky it is for Ms. Allison that Mr. Friedson decided on The Singles Issue and not The Doomed Co-Dependent Relationship With Two Insufferable Media Whores Issue. That would've been embarrassing. Especially after three solid weeks now of Julia's "dating" column consisting of thinly-veiled bitching about her ex, noted prick Jakob Lodwick. That's that fun Sex and the City lifestyle so many validation-desperate little girls across our great nation dream of.

juliaallison.tumblr.com

Well, it's sad but it's true. At least one freelancer we know hasn't been paid by Time Out New York for pieces appearing since June; others haven't been paid since August at the weekly listings mag.

But!

Editor-in-chief Brian Farnham, who is extremely good-looking and very kind and also just wow, really good-looking, sent around a memo to the unpaid freelancers just a couple weeks ago!

From: Brian Farnham
Date: Sep 21, 2007
Subject: late payments

Greetings cherished freelancer!

If you're getting this you're one of a handful of writers waiting on a check — please let me apologize for the delay and assure you it IS coming. It's been a summer of accounting snafus here at TONY but
they're fixed now and the machine is just catching up with the backlog.

Having once freelanced myself I know how aggravating it is to do hard work and then not get paid promptly for it, so believe me when i say I appreciate your patience. Hopefully you enjoy writing for TONY as much as I love your writing, and I would hate for this to come between us.

Hang in there, and apologies again.

Best,

B

By temperament and trade, we're more inclined to weigh heavily the critics' choices so we'll start there.

Critic's Awards
Best jack-of-all-trades Iacopo Falai

Best modern-day soda fountain Stand

Best changing of the guard Daniel Humm at Eleven Madison Park

Sixth Annual Award for Best-Tasting Dare Pork margarita at Porchetta [Subquestion: Do they have them in prison?]

Best place to stalk the chef Degustation

Most hypeworthy Momofuku Ss m Bar

Best small fry Petite Crevette

First Annual Blatant-Sucking-Up-So-We-Can-Score-a-Table Award The Waverly Inn [Let us know if it works!]

Reader's Awards
Best splurge Per Se
Other nominees: Daniel, Kobe Club, Le Cirque, Masa

New chef of the year Michael Anthony, Gramercy Tavern
Other nominees: David Chang (Momofuku Ss m Bar), Daniel Humm (Eleven Madison Park), Seamus Mullen (Boqueria), Jason Neroni (Porchetta)

New bar of the year ReBar
Other nominees: Beatrice Inn, Death & Co., Marshall Stack, Union Hall

Best new alt coffeeshop Joe, the Art of Coffee
Other nominees: Aroma, Mudtruck, Ninth Street Espresso, Think Coffee

Best new steakhouse Craftsteak
Other nominees: Harry's, Porterhouse NY, Quality Meats, STK

Best restaurant you can't get into: Babbo
Other nominees: The Little Owl, Nobu, Rao's, The Waverly Inn

New restaurant of the year A Voce
Other nominees: Goblin Market, Gordon Ramsay at the London, L'Atelier de Jo l Robuchon, The Waverly Inn

TONY Critic's Picks
TONY Reader's Picks

Beirut time capsule: Last magazine cover before war [Boing Boing]
Time Out in Beirut and Tel Aviv [On the Face]

A bar needs certain critical assets to host a birthday-bash. A separate space for to comfortably gather. An ambience that's festive, but quiet enough to converse. A jukebox stocked with the guest of honor's nostalgic favorites. Magician has all of these, which is why on a Saturday there you're likel to encounter revelers surrounded by wrapping paper. Better yet, go during happy hour (5-8pm), when you might have the place almost to yourselves and when most concoctions are in the $4 range.

Funny; not two weeks ago, the Village Voice annointed The Magician the "Best Overused, Overcrowded, and Overrated Bar for Hipster Birthday Parties." So now we're confused: Do we trust the Voice's boring list (Best Use of Lettuce, need we remind you?), or Time Out's equally boring round-up? The controversy is mind-numbing!

Time Out NY (article not online)
Earlier: Peach Pit Turning Rotten