Category: Just Here To Help Dept.

Yes, Dorian, the other editors at Jane know. No, Si doesn't. And he doesn't care, either.

On the days I'm not sleeping in airports (yes, it's a small fetish of mine) I'm well fed by publicists who just happen to have clients in tow. This happened again Tuesday morning, and the clients this time were Alexandra Kennedy and Glenn Rosenbloom, the editorial director and group publishing director, respectively, of Disney Publishing Worldwide.

The obvious bit of news is that Disney even has a magazine division, and that it's based in neither New York nor Burbank, but in Northampton, Mass. That happens to be the homebase of Kennedy and her staff, who produce Disney Adventures, FamilyFun—the most anonymous two million-circ magazine you've probably never seen—and their latest creation, Wondertime. I won't get into any great detail about the magazine except to say that it's running in the pack of new BoBo parenting titles like Condé's Cookie and the more eclectic Violet, but two things are especially worth mentioning.

The first is that Disney is truly a massive, synergistic media machine that just happens to target moppets. Coverage of Disney's $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar has either focused on Steve Jobs or on the covergent future of Disney, but just flipping through Wondertime's marketing and distribution plan — seeding the magazine in Disneyworld hotel rooms, movie tie-ins, Disney books, even Winnie-the-Pooh—is a reminder that Disney can squeeze synergy from one of the lowest-tech media of all.

The other thing was something Alexandra Kennedy mentioned during a riff on suburban alienation (paging BHL!) and its impact on child-rearing. One of FamilyFun's most popular features was a column in which readers could write in to share what they had learned. "It was about moms sharing things with other moms," Kennedy said. "In our magazine, you could find people using us to find other people—Oprah's magazine has tapped into this as well."

Well, sure, and so did Friendster. It struck me that Kennedy was really describing a rudimentary, print-based form of social networking, and maybe what mothers really need—and what Disney could do with the Wondertime website—is their own version of MySpace. Call it MomSpace.

Mark your PDAs—the 2006 Society of Professional Journalists Region 1 conference is skedded for March 31 to April 2 in lovely Newark, New Jersey.

According to the good folks at SPJ, practicing and aspiring journalists can go to the Rutgers University campus for the weekend and drop in on discussions, awards, panels, and a job fair:

Scheduled panelists include Walt Kane, anchor of News 12 New Jersey's I-team, Suzanne Smalley and Donovan Slack of the Boston Globe, Jeff Mays of the Newark Star-Ledger; Mary Anne Giordano of the New York Times, Iraq War veteran Lynn Washington, U.S. Supreme Court expert Dru Riley Evarts of Ohio University, Sara Wood of Market Intelligence, Marion Burns of Private Equity Insider, Ken Serrano of the Central New Jersey Home News Tribune, Karen Bosley, dismissed faculty adviser to Ocean County College's Viking News student newspaper, Elizabeth Llorente, the Record of Hackensack.

SPJ

Is it just me, or is Kimora Lee Simmons' new book really just Paula Froelich's book with more gold lamé?

Fabulosity or It? You decide:

1. "Admit it. You have at least once in your life fantasized about being that intriguing, charismatic person with that ineffable star quality who walks into a room and all heads turn."

2. "How do you uncover and develop your own special talents? ______ shares her step-by-step guide to achieving your wildest dreams, including her 16 laws of success, which cover everything you need to become the woman you want to be."

3. "Stars are made and not born...if you are bold enough to take your career or business to the next level, you can be successful beyond your wildest dreams. In fact, you can attain any level of success in any field by following the lessons I lay out in this book."

4. "Whether you're college-educated or street smart, just starting out or at the top of your game, ______ has something to say to you. Learn how to cultivate Power, Independence, Confidence, and Positivity in everything you do."

5. "[T]his book will be your instruction manual to empowering yourself, turning your individual talents into permanent success, and unleashing your inner fabulosity/'it'."

6. Bonus Question: Which quality is best associated with possession of marijuana and multiple vehicular infractions?

Answers: (1) it! (2) Fabulosity (3) Fabulosity (4)it! (5) Fabulosity (6) Fabulosity

And that's that: the strike has been resolved (basically), agreements have been reached (loosely) and service will be resumed tomorrow morning (mostly). Just in time to get ALL your Christmas shopping done! Whoops, Bill O'Reilly, sorry 'bout that: holiday shopping. Whee, we're evil like the New Yorker!

Buses first, then subways; don't put away your walking shoes just yet. But yes, the strike is over. Mostly. Zollman, I hope you're satisfied.

Transit Union Ends Strike After 3 Days; Most Service in City to Resume by Morning [NYT]
A Message from Bill: Media Operations that Traffic in Defamation [Bill O'Reilly.com]

We read and enjoyed Gawker's alterna-reasons to love New York, including numbers 12, 15, 12, 19, 12, 95, 12, 80 12, 100 and 12, but couldn't help but notice the following, though:

71. Because everybody knows the 1-800-Mattress song.

Of course we immediately burst into song ("One-Eight-Hundred-M-A-T-T-R-E-S...") and realized: silly Gawker, they forgot to leave off the last "s" for savings! Not that we'd know that any way other than listening to the commercial; we bought our mattress off Craigslist (#11, natch).

Apparently the WSJ's James Taranto thinks he has a monopoly on all the fun words in the English language, because he claimed to be "gobsmacked" to learn that Anderson Cooper had used the word "kafuffle" on his show last week. Said Anderson, per the CNN transcript:

Cooper: Did you have any idea this was going to cause such a kafuffle?

Meyers: No. I knew it was going to be a controversial article. My supervisor also told me that it was--it could cause some problems, but we weren't expecting it to go this far. . . .

Cooper: And yes, I did use the work "kafuffle." I think it's not used enough these days.

1. CNN, it's spelled "kerfuffle." That goes double for you, Taranto - you don't seem too sure: "We didn't see the show, but a reader tells us that Cooper in fact said 'kerfuffle.'"
   
2. Apropos of nothing, the WSJ has a "kerfuffle" t-shirt. WSJ logo on the front, the word "kerfuffle" on the back. I repeat, apropos of nothing.
   
3. Both of you should be reading more of Fishbowl, the Kerfuffle Capital of the Internet™: we've mentioned it no less than six times, for no less than six separate kerfuffles. No shortage of kerfufflage here. There is, however, a shortage of Anderson Cooper photos around. Anyone know where we can find a decent shot of him?

   p.s. For those who doubt, the final arbiter, Merriam-Webster:

   

When Fishtern Maureen Miller suggested running a hodge-podge on Rog Hodge, we were thrilled, and eagerly awaited what we were sure would be the type of work that transcends the run-of-the-mill video artist masturbating in his studio. (Masturbating in one's studio is so 2004.) We were not disappointed; our Maureen got the goods on Hodge and his Onanistic, genital-celebrating proclivities, which delighted her almost as much as his manly chin and strong cowboy arms made for balin' hay. This, dear reader, is her breathless story.

When I heard that Roger Hodge, aka "Rog Hodge" had been named editor of Harper's, my reaction was strangely akin to Gawker's: A prettier Wes Anderson, with better-fitting blazers -- the boy was fiiine!

But beyond that, I quickly saw that this was, in fact, a story of the West. More accurately, Hodge is exactly what the New York media is missing, its very own cowboy poet, a real-life Eli Cash (Hodge is even writing a profile of "Western epics" poet Cormac McCarthy. Coincidence? I think not.)

Which made Maureen think: What poetry is the fruit those tenuously clasped hands, that sober expression? Unfortunately, LexisNexis did not provide the good word, and we lack McCarthy's facility with parataxis and hypermasculine prose forms to translate Hodge's print output into poetry ourselves. But Factiva had the articles.

Here at Fishbowl we shall call these excerpts, ever so creatively, "The Hodge Podge" (full name: "The Hodge Podge of Rog Hodge: You Can't Take The Boy Outta Dodge"). Deep thoughts on genitals and our sacred seed after the jump.

continued...

Today is "Black Friday," the cheerfully-monikered kickoff to the holiday shopping seasons and, retailers hope, the biggest shopping day of the year. Or not. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the day whether you're bargain-hunting or boycotting!

Also, in unrelated news pertaining to blog synchronicity, "The Golden Girls" DVD set is featured in the linked Daily News article, apropos of nothing actually in the article. A sign - Bea Arthur really is all-powerful!

Big bargains for shoppers [NYDN]
"Buy Nothing" Day [Wired]

...though it will go for a good cause. The NYDN's magnanimous Lowdown columnist has put his personally inscribed copy of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's "The Apprentice" up for auction on eBay, with the proceeds to benefit the American Cancer Society.

The gift, bequeathed to Grove back in 2003, is inscribed "For Lloyd, I hope it amuses you - Lewis Libby," which would probably be a safe bet for those who enjoy tales of snowy sexual awakening and rockin' the Casbah with a deer (Fishbowl is too much of a lady to actually spell out that particular violation. Bear sex is cool though).

Lloyd claims he "never got past the second page" but we can't help but notice that the book is listed as being "in good condition" -- not "new" or "like new" or "virtually untouched." We've purchased books on eBay that have been in "good condition," and we know that usually means it's gotten a thorough thumb-through. We're just sayin'. Secret predilection for animal-o-riffic prose or not, we think it's great that Lloyd is doing his part to help out a worthy charity, even though it will probably mean that Bill O'Reilly will think twice before sending over his next saucy work of fiction.*

Bidding starts at $50 and will presumably skyrocket before the auction closes on Nov. 19th at 02:00:00 PST sharp.

Taking a page from Scooter - for a good cause [NYDN]
Personally inscribed copy of Scooter Libby's novel [eBay]

*We can't help it, we love the line "Okay, Shannon Michaels, off with those pants." Props to the New Yorker's Lauren Collins for keeping the legend alive.