Here’s something that will surely get you fired: Every issue of New York magazine, from 1968 through 2005, is available at your fingertips. This is all thanks to Cover Browser, a site dedicated to cataloging comic books, magazines and DVD covers.

We suggest passing the rest of the day by reading articles by Gloria Steinem or laughing at cover features on cross-country skiing (“cross-country skiing is great for not-so-great skiers!”) and 1992′s “new bohemia,” Williamsburg.

Just don’t tell your boss we said anything. We don’t need (more) angry emails.

(h/t Twitter)

Tis’ the season for award news. Here’s another one: The Matrix Awards, which honor extraordinary women in the media world, have announced their 2012 honorees. Past winners have included Gloria Steinem, Arianna Huffington and Alice Walker, to name a few. The 2012 honorees are Tyra Banks, Gayle Butler, Glenn Close, Maria Cuomo Cole, Ann Curry, Laura Desmond, Zenia Mucha and Peggy Noonan.

The award ceremony — presented by New York Women Communications — will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria on April 23.

“We are pleased to recognize these eight extraordinary women for their remarkable achievements in communications,” said Catherine Mathis, President of New York Women in Communications. “These individuals, from top executives of worldwide corporations to award-winning journalists and global humanitarians, truly embody the Matrix Awards’ theme and we look forward to honoring them in April.”

— DIANE CLEHANE

On the menu at Michael’s today: a tasty stew of media mavens and moguls with a heaping helping of famous faces on the side. We could barely keep up with the goings-on in the dining room, since every other minute there was some boldface name heading to the Garden Room for CNN’s lunch to celebrate Christiane Amanpour‘s new show. We spied Gayle King, Cynthia McFadden, Joni Evans, Gloria Steinem, and Harry Evans among the scribes invited to cover the soiree. (Nice to see you, Steve Krakauer!) Our own TVNewser Kevin Allocca editor was there, too.

I was lunching today with Carrie Kania, senior vice president and publisher of It Books and Harper Perennial. It Books, HarperCollins’ hip new imprint, is tapping into the zeitgeist with a fall list brimming with of-the-moment tomes including Twitter Wit (Who knew so many people could write such witty Tweets?) and the just released I Love Your Style by the uber stylish Amanda Brooks. “I love the book because it shows how fashion evolves,” Carrie told me. I Love Your Style is full of fabulous images of timeless style icons like Jackie Kennedy, Ali McGraw and Charlotte Rampling as well as today’s trendsetters like Natalie Portman. It’s also got plenty of great ideas and tips on how to identify and develop a style that’s truly one’s own. Carrie is just as passionate about the classics on Harper Perennial’s backlist. “So many 13 and 14 year-old girls have not read The Bell Jar; I want to help them find it.” Seems like Carrie is on a mission to get everyone she can excited about publishing: she’s also teaching the New York University graduate course ‘Introduction to Publishing.’ Says Carrie of her gig that spends eights weeks focused on books and another eight on magazines: “I take the students through every step from acquisition to marketing. The mentoring I got early on was invaluable to me, and I want to help people like that. There is no better business to be in.”

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. My good friend, public relations maven Lisa Linden (Happy Belated Birthday!) and her partner, Steven Alschuler — their firm, Linden, Alschuler & Kaplan works with plenty of Gotham’s movers and shakers in real estate, government and philanthropy, in case you didn’t know — with former senator Nick Spano and his colleague from Empire Strategic Planning, Perry Ochacher.

2. Most of the ‘Imber Gang’: Dr. Gerald Imber, Jerry Della Femina and Andy Bergman. Where were Jeff Greenfield and Michael Kramer?

3. Diane Sokolow and a formidable-looking fellow we didn’t recognize

4. Producer Bill Haber and television legend Norman Lear

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Last night marked the first annual Women’s Media Center Media Awards at the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation in midtown. Catered and cozy, the event took place in a small, packed room brimming with well-established female media types and bright-eyed J-school students, with a mic stand in the corner for awardees like Salon.com‘s Rebecca Traister, as well as hosts Gloria Steinem and WMC President Carol Jenkins. 



The evening was divided into two parts: the first honored six women in the media industry who have done outstanding work in bringing women’s issues to the forefront of media coverage; the second part cued a wag of the finger at organizations and events that shed a particularly negative light upon women in the past year. “It’s very important that we criticize when [women's coverage] is incomplete, but praise when it’s complete,” Steinem said, explaining the reason for organizing the awards this way.

In her opening remarks, Steinem also associated the media with a modern-day campfire, a place where people gather to tell stories and express themselves. “It is crucial that everyone’s stories be told…the media is our campfire,” she said. “And if we cannot tell our stories or have people listen to our stories, we feel alone.”

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Last night the New York magazine world literati turned out for a memorial celebration for Clay Felker, the legendary editor of New York who passed away over the summer. A red-socked Sir David Frost hosted the event, which was held at the New York Ethical Society and featured such Felker disciples as Tom Wolfe, Gloria Steinem, Leslie Stahl, and Richard Reeves. All the featured guests spoke to Felker’s genius, excitement, and curiosity, and both Steinem and Stahl specifically mentioned what a novelty it was to encounter a male editor who would listen: “That had never happened before!” (We have video after the jump).

It’s a well known fact that Felker had a widespread and lasting influence on New York magazine publishing &#151 as was evidenced when a list was read of all the people who had worked with him and gone on to become editors and design director — however it was hard not to note (especially from our seat in the balcony) that the audience was primarily a gray-haired one, causing us to wonder is there a modern-day Felker? Would we have to go online to find one? And if they did exist, and say, sent one of their writers to secretly infiltrate a Leonard Bernstein-hosted Black Panther party on the Upper East side (or its modern day equivalent), would Bill O’Reilly be calling for their arrest?

After the jump we have video of Tom Wolfe talking about the modern-day fate of the “Masters of the Universe” and what Felker would have said about the current financial crisis, Gloria Steinem discussing how she made sex dull, and Judy Collins closing out the evening with Amazing Grace.

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We’re not sure how many FBNY readers have been keeping up with the whole Jezebel kerfuffle — between the July 4 holiday and going Canadian we mostly missed it. However, since it continues to pop up in conversations and online we thought it was worth a mention.

Short version: Jezebel’s Moe Tkacik and Tracie “Slut Machine” Egan appeared on Lizz Winstead‘s “Shoot the Messenger: Thinking and Drinking” show a few weeks ago and proceeded to drink (to some excess). Over the course of what was supposed to be a fun(ny) hour, talk turned to rape at which point the host turned suddenly serious (earlier talk of abortion somehow did not merit a finger-waving response). At this point the crowd began to express its displeasure(?) over the fact the ladies were drunk and seemingly making light of serious subjects and/or not as articulate as their writing has lead people to believe they should be. For her part the host appeared displeased that the ladies weren’t kissing either her or Gloria Steinem‘s ass (one wonders, does she read Jezebel?). In the words of Karina Longworth “cross-generational feminist chaos” ensued. (Longworth has a great write-up here).

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