Archives: February 2007

Magazine moguls kept things interesting today at 55th and Fifth. Without the usual intriguing mix of celebrities (who were, undoubtedly still recovering from Oscar overload) to observe, we spent the afternoon wondering what the editors and behind-the-scenes execs were plotting over their cobb salads. Our good friend, Men’s Health honcho Dave Zinczenko, told lunchtime chronicler Diane Clehane that he’s “close” to inking a television deal with Al Roker‘s production company. The program would be a showcase for the burgeoning Men’s Health brand and might even feature the always camera-ready Dave who has been refining his telegenic talents on Today‘s couch for some time now.

Here’s the rundown on the rest of the crowd who dined & dished:

1. Nightline’s Cynthia McFadden, Ruth Friendly and an unidentified gentleman. We caught Cynthia’s broadcast the other night where she reported on the on-going Anna Nicole Smith saga. Kudos for striking just the right tone of dispassionate distaste while filling us in (we want to, but we can’t look away) on the latest details of this train wreck that won’t go away.

2. Michael Lewittes and an unidentified blonde gal.

3. Wayne Tabach.

4. Today’s Al Roker and Jim Bell.

5. Gerry Byrne and guest.

6. Liz Finkel, with we hear, her fiancé. Congrats!

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Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

Following a pair of Gawker posts — on the Observer‘s redesign and the undulating Frank Bruni imbroglio — today’s Daily Intel points out Gawker’s failure to disclose that managing editor Choire Sicha worked for the Observer and once dated Frank Bruni.

Daily Intel itself, though, fails to point out that its editor, Jesse Oxfeld, was Gawker’s longtime co-editor.

We’ll disclose that Oxfeld was once mediabistro.com’s editor.

We’ll also disclose that we asked Oxfeld to Lunch at Michael’s recently, but he was too “slammed.”

Today in Seemingly Required But Apparently Not Gawker Disclosures [Daily Intel]

• Inconvenient Power: Gore home using too much electricity? [AP]

• Academy: Threatens YouTube over Oscar clips. [Variety]
• James Cameron: Finds Jesus, controversy for Discovery Channel. [E!]
• Stars, Models: Exposed to hepatitis at Sports Illustrated party. [Reuters via Yahoo]
• AsianWeek Editor: Regrets “Why I Hate Blacks” column. [SFChron]
• AP: Goes cold turkey on Paris Hilton — for one week. [NYO]
• Judith Regan’s Killed Mickey Mantle Book: Finds publisher. [NYT]
  

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia CEO and president Susan Lyne told the crowd at the MPA Digital conference that people are now letting their magazine “brands” live online, when they were once wary of associating their crown jewels with a new and “raw” technology. “We’re doing our first totally blended experiment” with new mag Blueprint, she said.

“The model of launching new magazines is broken,” she continued, with very costly bulk mailings that get maybe three percent of recipients responding. By contrast, two-thirds of people who’ve signed up for Blueprint — a bimonthly that’s been published twice so far with what we’re told is a higher ad rate than flagship Martha Stewart Living — have come in through its Web site.

Lyne, on a panel with Dennis Publishing CEO Stephen Colvin and moderated by Larry Kramer, said the digital staff at MSO has grown from 25 to some 70 people since the start of the year, and Internet is a “big investment” that, like any of their investments, has to pay off relatively quickly.

WEDNESDAY 02.28.07

WHAT: The Entertainment Beat: Keeping It Real
WHO: Chris Bonanos (New York), David Cote (Time Out New York), Dade Hayes (Daily Variety), Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly) and John Donohue (New Yorker)
WHEN: 6:30PM
WHERE: Lang Recital Hall, Hunter College, 69th Street at Lexington
WHY YOU SHOULD GO: Find out how these guys survive the Anna-Bald Britney vortex.

WHAT: “Gingrich vs. Cuomo in Elevated Discourse”
WHO: Newt Gingrich, Mario Cuomo, Tim Russert
WHEN: 6:30PM
WHERE: Cooper Union Great Hall, 7 E 7th St
WHY YOU SHOULD GO: It’s like your own live Meet The Press, circa 1998. Plus, it’s free.

Events Listings [mediabistro.com]

Post Your Own Event

He may be banned from all 29 Jeffrey Chodorow restaurants, but the Penthouse Club welcomes Frank Bruni with open, uh, arms

It’s no secret the New York Times‘ much lambasted food critic Frank Bruni is said to be gay. And he’s rather out about it in today’s piece from the Penthouse Club, in which he and some buddies go to sample the steak while, he says, being less susceptible to other pleasures of the flesh. Still, he does sample a desert known as a “buttery nipple”:

“It involves one of the women straddling your lap, tilting your head back, pouring a combination of Baileys Irish Cream and butterscotch schnapps down your throat, and squirting Reddi-wip into your mouth. It costs $20 in cash. Note to the newspaper’s expense auditors: I don’t have a receipt.”

Meanwhile, in a review of not food but TV, Virginia Heffernan tells us that American Idol‘s Paula Abdul has a “mom I’d like to sleep with” vibe.

We’re blushing.

Jerry Seinfeld, while presenting the Oscar for best documentary feature on Sunday:

In movie theaters now, they’re trying to get you to pick up the garbage around your seat. I’m picking nothing up. I’m the one who threw it down. How many different jobs do I have to do? … You rip us off on overpriced crap.

You didn’t think theater owners would take that lying down, did ya?

Gene Oliver, owner of one RKO Allred5 movie theater in Pryor, Oklahoma, in an e-mail to Deadline Hollywood Daily:

Without popcorn there would be no industry, it is that simple … It would be helpful if ‘stars’ understood that without concessions they would have nowhere to play their films. It is hard enough to withstand the criticism of our customers who have no idea what it takes to keep a theater profitable. … Whether Mr. Seinfeld is on our screens or not, he is speaking in front of the people whose products are exhibited. Personally, I was insulted and irritated … His comments, while funny to him, indicate NO UNDERSTANDING at all of what it takes to keep theaters open. In regards to taking out [the garbage of] popcorn tubs and cups, we work very hard to get our customers in and out of the performances as quickly as possible. Any request for people to help is to better serve the people waiting to get in to the next performance. It is not to save on our labor cost.

EARLIER:

FBNY’s Incomprehensive, Uninformed Guide To The Oscars

Perhaps George Bush will finally be able to “correct” that approval rating

First they wanted their own Daily Show. Now it appears Fox News and its liberal-media-correcting followers are getting their own Wikipedia, too.

From Conservapedia’s mission statement:

Conservapedia is a much-needed alternative to Wikipedia, which is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American. On Wikipedia, many of the dates are provided in the anti-Christian “C.E.” instead of “A.D.”, which Conservapedia uses. Christianity receives no credit for the great advances and discoveries it inspired, such as those of the Renaissance. Read a list of many Examples of Bias in Wikipedia.

The site was launched in November by Andy Schlafly, attorney and son of the prominent conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, and 58 students at a home school in New Jersey. (Seriously.) Only now, thanks to some mentions on science blogs and Wonkette, it seems to be getting some traction.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, by the way, supports Conservapedia: “Free culture knows no bounds … We welcome the reuse of our work to build variants. That’s directly in line with our mission.”

Conservapedia

EARLIER:

Fox News Takes Stab At Daily Show

Seventeen editor Ann Shoket, who we’ve affectionately dubbed Atoosa 2.0, says that Seventeen.com is set to relaunch next week with what the kids love: video.

Speaking at the MPA digital conference, Shoket said that Seventeen‘s online mission is simple: “Is it fast? Is it cheap? Is it fun?”

And she didn’t say anything about a tribe, which is refreshing.

EARLIER:

Seventeen‘s New Atoosa: Ann Shoket

Women’s Mag Editors’ New Quest Called ‘Tribe’

Inside Atoosa’s ‘Tribe’

According to a filing today with the SEC, Martha Stewart Omnimedia CEO Susan Lyne, CFO Howard Hochhauser and “other designated senior officers” can take up to $100,000 of the bonus they’d be entitled to in stock valued at 15 percent more than the cash would have been.

They do have to be continuously employed and wait three years to get it all, according to the filing. The stock conversion is valued at $19 per share, the Feb. 21 price, which means they’d lose a bit, according to today’s quoted close of $18.05.

The idea, of course, is that if they have stock instead of cash, they’ll want to make sure the company performs well for shareholders.

The full, boring filing details:

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