We get our motley crew of bloggers together but once a year, so you won't want to miss this.

Come sink a drink with us — sparkling conversation welcome, as in our next day's hangover-addled state, we'll be looking for low-hanging fruit as far as posting fodder's concerned...

We jest! We'll actually be here, and so should you... keep an eye on this space as well as the main site and all our blogs next Tuesday and Wednesday for the inside line on mediabistro Circus speakers, and exclusive reports from the front row/ring.

N.B. This marks the second time we've used a hair band to illustrate a mediabistro Circus post. You're welcome!

Each year, the approximately 15 students enrolled in the magazine department at Columbia Journalism School put out New York Review of Magazines. This past Wednesday, the recent grads celebrated the 2008 launch at the west Chelsea pub Half King Bar and Restaurant.

Victor Navasky, [shown above at left, with Gizmodo feature editor and former student Wilson Rothman, and 2008 graduate David Riedel] the former Nation editor and publisher, and faculty advisor to the Review considers his students' contributions reflective of the magazine industry. "They get what's happening in the magazine business indirectly through all of these direct stories. A big thing — that mediabistro.com knows better than anyone else — is the relationship of the Web with the parent, hard-copy magazine, so there are a couple of stories here that deal directly with that."

continued...

Because the world needs another festival, former ABC News producer Tracy Day and her author/physicist hubby Brian Greene have founded the World Science Festival, hitting the streets of New York from May 29th through June 1st.

Oliver Sachs, Richard Leakey and Doug Liman provide the star power, while a bunch for really smart dudes and dudettes supply the brains. Alan Alda will also make an appearance. We're not sure what category he falls under.

Despite our attitude, we have to admit that some of the events (Science of Disney Imagineering and Seeds, Survival, Stalin) actually sound interesting. At the very least, it's better than watching a craptastic movie.

More deets after the jump.

continued...

And a benefit breaks out. On May 8, the trio will host the kickoff gala for the fourth annual Design on Dimes charity event, which is presented by van Ogtrop's Real Simple. Thirty interior designers, including Sills Huniford, Thom Filica, Charlotte Moss and Jamie Drake (we're oh-for-four in the name recognition game), will display room vignettes created specifically for the event. Merchandise of some sort will be sold for 60 to 80 percent off retail price through May 10. All proceeds benefit Housing Works.

There will be a silent auction for photographs, although sadly not one for a date with Gyllenhal, who's happily engaged to that lucky bastard Peter Sarsgaard. We'll settle for a nice drape set.

UPDATE: We've obtained an exclusive list of the designers participating. Now we're oh-for-thirty.

continued...

Time Inc. EVP John Squires shows off his new hairdo

Earlier today in the Luce Room of the Time Life Building, we caught the Time Inc. Digital Showcase, detailing the Web successes of InStyle, Sports Illustrated and CNNMoney.com. All three brands have enjoyed record traffic but the talk of the day was InStyle.com's Hollywood Hair tool, which allows users to see themselves in the hairstyle of their favorite celeb. In the past five months, 1.69 million women have uploaded their photos, totaling 40 million individual try-ons. Even EVP John Spiers got into the act (see picture).

During the Sports Illustrated segment of the presentation, SI.com managing editor Paul Fichtenbaum discussed the runaway success of the SI Vault. He anticipated getting 500,000 unique visitors in the first month (3/20-4/20), but the site received 1.7 million. It's been four years in the making, so we're glad the portal's a hit.

During the Q&A, Spiers revealed that SI gets 15 percent of its revenue for digital and this number should increase to 20-30 percent. He thinks that soon all of Time Inc.'s brands will follow this same model.

(If you're interested, TVNewser has more on the CNNMoney.com front.)

Among other worthy tidbits:

When we think Kentucky Derby, we think stupid hats, Mint Juleps and Southern hospitality. Then Playboy shows up and shoots our whole Lonesome Dove image to hell.

Crown Royal and Playboy will team up for the third year in a row to throw the most exclusive party in town during Kentucky Derby weekend. On Friday, May 2, Louisville's Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center will once again be transformed into the Crown Royal Lounge. Twelve Playboy Playmates will host this sexy soiree while celebrities, athletes and VIPs enjoy cocktails and dancing to music by Kid Capri. Party guests can also get ready to look sharp at the races with a haircut from celebrity barber Darrel Thomas.

A celebrity barber? Incredible. Guests at last year's event included Brittany Murphy, Bobby Flay and Bode Miller. We can only assume a similar caliber of "talent" will show this year. They might even get some attendees whose first name doesn't start with "B."

Glynnis, you can have the Time 100 party; we're heading to the Derby.

Cardinal William Levada gets grilled by Time ME Richard "Rick" Stengel

Time managing editor Richard Stengel hosted Cardinal William Levada, the highest-ranking American in the Catholic Church, and a cadre of media types at a lunch this afternoon in the 2nd floor conference room of the Time Life Building.

Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (or, as one of our colleagues put it, "a pretty bad ass Catholic") answered questions from Stengel, Time writers Jeff Israeli and David Van Biema, who co-wrote the recent cover story on Pope Benedict XVI, and Nancy Gibbs, who's penned more cover stories for the magazine than anyone else. They focused on Benedict's speech at the United Nations, which Stengel called "muted," the Pope's head-on discussion of abuse within the Church and the relationship between Catholicism and Islam. Levada, who said at the outset that he wasn't "an interpreter" for the Pope's thoughts and speeches, answered thoughtfully and conscientiously throughout.

One highlight came when His Eminence discussed meeting President Bush at the White House with the Pope. Benedict XVI introduced Levada as "my successor," and the Cardinal said the President gave a quizzical look. The Pope, of course, meant Levada succeeded him at the Doctrine of Faith.

Stengel attempted to get Levada to speak about the possibility of him succeeding Benedict XVI as the Pope. "You do it very well," the editor said when Levada told the audience that Benedict XVI had to be taught to master the skill of raise-his-arms-in-the-air-like-a-Pope. "You're hinting at something," Levada said. "Something I don't even allow myself to think about."

As with all good media events these days, the entire interview will be on Time.com soon.

continued...

Over at our upcoming Mediabistro Circus' blog, news emerged this week that Eisner-endorsed Brooklyn pop outfit the All-For-Nots would be all up in our tent come May 20-21. As mb's own Carmen Scheidel put it:

continued...

Cardinal Levada to be exact. Seriously. Time's hosting an exclusive discussion between the Cardinal and the mag's ME Richard Stengel. We promise this isn't some bad "New York media, we're all Jewish joke." (Besides, we're only half Jewish.)

Anyone have a suggestion about what to wear? We have no idea.

At last night's "Night With WNYC" event celebrating the new public radio show The Takeaway with John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji, Kurt Andersen sounded off on the future of print magazines. "They will be beautiful luxuries, like sailboats in the 19th and 20th centuries," the Spy founder told the crowd. He later called Time under founder Henry Luce "a rabidly Republican magazine, even the Fox News of its day."

The Takeaway, helmed by Peabody Award winners Hockenberry and Udoji, will "convene the American conversation," Laura Walker, WNYC president and CEO, said in her opening remarks. Andersen was more to the point: "It's the bastard child of Bill O'Reilly and, I don't know, Brian Lehrer. (Lehrer, who moderated a discussion between Andersen, Hockenberry, Udoji and On the Media host Brooke Gladstone, played along after he was introduced, saying "Don't tell anyone... Bill O'Reilly was great.")

The Takeaway, debuting as a one-hour show on April 28 and eventually increasing to three or four hours, will harness the power of wikis and interactivity to engage listeners. "It's not a new morning show per se," Hockenberry explained. "It's a new platform for discourse itself."

But how is radio like Rasputin and Hillary Clinton?

continued...