Did we say earlier that tonight is 'Everyone Gets Laid Nite?' God, the way things are going today, it's seeming more like 'No One Will Ever Want To Fuck Again Day.' Seriously, due to the combined efforts of Joel "Plushie" Stein, Dave Zinczenko, the Daddy Ignored Me Twins, Riding The Butts With Larry, Ryan The Manny's ode to lube, this dude's gaycial hair, sex is basically over for us forever.
What with Dan Barry filling the role of terrible overwriter who covers crazy crap from around the country, and Alan Feuer surely soon due back from a very long vacation, Charlie LeDuff's services have seemed more than a bit unnecessary at the Times. Charlie seems to have recognized that himself, because he has—yes, yes, it's true!—left the paper! Romenesko has the memo, which goes for the "book tour" excuse, but either way, it is time for all of us to party down! Like, Andrew WK party. 'Til you puke. Awww, puke: now we're all nostalgic for Charlie's prose. Hey, maybe the Observer should hire him to write the TV column or something!
We've often pondered what goes on inside NYT Styles editor Trip Gabriel's head. Like, when Stephanie Rosenbloom says she has a great trend piece on people holding hands, or some random freelancer pitches something about a hot new "underground" bar, does he just automatically nod, like a little Trip Gabriel bobblehead? We wonder, and we hoped we would find out this week, when he took the hot seat in the Times's ongoing effort at Editor Opacity, the Ask the Editor feature on NYTimes.com. So far, we're not sure if he's been editing the same section we've been reading.
So much of what we do is dependent on the help of you, the reader—the leaked memo here, the rumor there, the appropriately-timed photo anywhere. Still, sometimes our readers can be a tad overzealous, like the one who snapped this photo of Times Executive Editor Bill Keller having lunch at that paper's cafeteria with incoming Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet. Oh, you know what, we're still totally charmed. Plus, it's a very rare sighting of Keller in the cafeteria. We've labeled all the participants we were able to identify to make it easier for you. If anyone can help identify the gentleman in the rear at the far right, with the glasses, we'd love to know. He seems a little devious or something.
In the spirit of the season, the Times and the Journal have gotten together (in the sense of publishing separate articles) to tell you that if you're in love with someone, you're basically nuts. And who better to share that joy than frequent Dave Zinczenko co-expert—on "The Today Show," at least, as we can't speak to her private life—Dr. Helen Fisher!
Last Friday, a "middle-aged woman" carrying a camera infiltrated Princeton University for what she claimed was an article for the New York Times on Princeton's famed eating clubs (like the super-WASPy Ivy, pictured at right), which go through a wonderfully snobby "bicker" process to determine who should be let in. Unfortunately for this "reporter," she was not only kicked off campus, but the Times Education Life editor Jane Karr denied sending anyone there on assignment. Curious! But we're thinking Karr might be, you know, lying.
Just in time for Valentine's Day, good news for the potential future cat-eaten die-alones among us, courtesy of Times public editor Byron Calame:
Usually, the Times Magazine's 'Domains' column makes us feel hopelessly inadequate compared to whoever's pad they're profiling. The typical subject has a platonically-ideal townhouse in which he writes prizewinning novels and sips coffee from a French press while his angelic toddler plays with attractive handcrafted toys. This week's subject was portly Nobu (et al) restaurateur Drew Nieporent, who lives in a split-level ranch in New Jersey and can't drive. There are a thousand (other) reasons we feel no envy.
It was only Wednesday night, just past the half-way point of fashion week, and New York Times fashion writer and new blogger Cathy Horyn hit the blog wall, hard.
A couple of great corrections from the Times this morning. First up, the easy target:
We've yet to see this statement anywhere else, but it gives an interesting perspective into the Times chairman's current plans for the future.
Every so often we find it necessary to check and see what kind of fish are swimming around in Times crotchety grandpop Clyde Haberman's particular barrel, and today, he's in his patented folksy heartwarmin' mode, eulogizing a man who, though he had no apartment, had "a home in the hearts of 21st street. " The column begins:
We apologize for taking so long to bring you this Vows news, but we have to admit, we kind of thought this one was boring. Well, we did like the part about how Frances Wu joined an online dating site because, at almost-30, she was worried about being considered a "Christmas cake." (Now we have a new insult for the Sadshaws in our lives!) But other than that: bleh! Rommel Nobay, Frances Wu's intended, speaks a lot of languages and went to many fancy colleges! Mr. Nobay and Ms. Wu both like NPR and bagels! We just fell asleep! Oh, but wait . . . what's going on in this paragraph?
Every week, it seems, the sage minds who operate the Sunday Styles apparatus do their darndest to find a new way to make our tummies churn. Here is how we imagine it going in their minds: "Well, in recent weeks we have troubled readers with the tale of a lady who semi-raped her lover, and with a bizarre defense of a campus rapist by an ex-girlfriend who went into icky detail about his lack of sexual prowess. Where do we go now? What's ickier than rape?"
