It's hard to decide what's most comment-worthy in the front-page Metro section piece today on Long Island cruising spots, which we're sure breaks countless gay men's hearts and does little for anyone else.
It didn't come our way till after we were done for the day, but we'd be remiss in not posting Bill Keller's memo to his Timesian troops from yesterday afternoon, responding to the earlier memo on company-wide staffing cuts and proving yet again that he is not Howell Raines.
• Many of you know CBS Early Show anchor Julie Chen as the wife of CBS showboat Les Moonves. But she has another talent: The ability to pull an insipid catchphrase out of her ass. [TVgasm]
• If you're desperate for freelance, check out the opportunities at the forthcoming men's mag, Cotton Tales. It's guaranteed to give Details and Men's Vogue a run for their big, gay money. [Craigslist]
• Trying to curb curse words in media? Good fucking luck. Asking us to stop swearing is like asking Graydon Carter to start wearing a patch. [NYT]
• Is getting an Extreme Makeover from the ABC reality show worth dying for? In the case of these remarkably fragile women, the show's rejection might lead to suicide. And by might, we mean has. [Defamer]
• Does Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni know the muffin man? And, if so, does he have a thing for him? [Bruni Digest]
The New York Times Co. just announced it will be cutting roughly 500 jobs, including 250 at the Times, 160 at The Boston Globe, and the remainder at the company's other, small papers, its broadcast outlets, and on its corporate staff.
While we remain unable to get TimesSelect to recognize us as home subscribers — a kindly Times tech dude emailed some tips for fixing things, but they didn't work — we're thrilled to see that the Gray Lady, flummoxed though it might be by this ten-year old medium, has at least finally mastered a half-century-old one.
• Iraqi reporter working for NYT murdered in Iraq. Apparently not everyone got the things-are-getting-better memo. [NYT]
• Emmy gets its biggest audience in years. Oscar is jealous, not that he'd ever admit it. [USAT]
• Paul Carlucci named NYP publisher, replacing Rupert Murdoch, who seems to think he has other, more important responsibilities. [NYT]
• What makes a news office a bureau? This is clearly a question for CBS's Public Eye — mostly because we can't imagine anyone else would care. [Phil. Enquirer]
• Oprah finally talks about the Hermes incident — and you thought there was nothing left to say about it, silly — and recommends that we all wear Birkin bags. Perhaps if she buys us one. [WWD]
A 12-step program for coming to terms with TimesSelect.
• How much of an idiot do you have to be to not tell the difference between a Target ad and the New Yorker's editorial content? This much of an idiot. In his defense, though, the New Yorker staff was drunk in Prospect Park when they came up with the idea. [Miami Herald]
• TimesSelect = anal sex, somehow. Paying for content is painful, we know, but the Times just wants us to know if we love it as much as we say we do. [CopyRanter]
• Everyone's been all nice to the press lately for suddenly noticing that there are poor people. We think it may be almost time to roll some of that praise back a little. Here to help is MSNBC's Lisa Daniels, demonstrating an impressive grasp of race relations and an inspiring willingness to ignore her own network's coverage. [MMFA]
• Super-advanced audience behavior research (involving "the internets") says we may be stuck with Jason Lee's crankstache and that god-awful President Thelma show for the rest of the year. Sorry. [NYT]
"Plans are in the works for some Op-Ed columnists to produce weblogs."
-New York Times press release, September 19, 2005
New York Times Euphemism Watch (emphasis ours, squeamishness theirs):
It may not be as fun as "meeting Joyce Purnick," but cheap liberals can get still their Krugman fix without giving up their hard-earned, welfare-cheating, government-entitlement program dollars — the bootleg copies of TimesSelect material have already appeared. Even better news: once you read today's Krugman column, about race and Katrina, you won't even need to bother paying for the next five Herbert, Rich, and Dowd columns!
Good morning, world! Today marks the birth of the Times new premium service, TimesSelect, which will keep the riffraff away from "valuable" content by charging $49.95/year (that's under $50!) for access to the regional features, sports coverage, and the OpEd orgy. And what might today's TimesSelect include? Why, the Meet Paul Krugman VIDEO, of course. If you can pony up the cash, it just gets better: Tomorrow's video is cult classic Meet Maureen Dowd's Biological Clock.
The Times Magazine's new "Funny Pages" debuts Sunday, and E&P has a preview of this tripartite humor section. It apparently starts on page 41, right after Safire, who we're sure can't be thrilled with the development. (After all these years, etymological humor won't seem nearly as funny anymore.) It contains:
In a Sept. 5 analysis of Katrina coverage, Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley wrote:
At TS-4 days (that is, four days till TimesSelect), Editor & Publisher technoguru Steve Outing talks to some Timesmen and weighs in on the premium program. First, based on his conversation with Martin Nisenholtz, who runs digital operations for the Times Co., Outing scares the shit out of us:
We've done you guys a real favor today. Just because we're feeling particularly charitable, we've gone through today's Times and found the 33 best words in the entire paper. It's all you need to read, really, to understand the day's news:
• Martha Stewart to launch fashion mag. Oh, the endless opportunities for orange-jumpsuit jokes. [NYP]
• New Orleanian Doug Brinkley, who made his pundit name on his pal JFK Jr.'s death, unsurprisingly signs first Katrina book deal. [MSNBC]
• Hearst and Hachette — gasp! — work together on an ad deal. [NYT]
• What's new about the new Paris Review? Um, what isn't? [NYO]
• Michael Kinsley leaves LAT editorial page after a little more than a year; no one was considerate enough to leave news of his firing in a Xerox machine so he could learn about it in advance. [NYT]
• Wenner Media redecorates, and Jann isn't happy with the paint colors. [NYO, second item]
• NYT, WP give each other sneak peaks of their front pages. Sputters E&P's scoopy Joe Strupp: "Are you aware of what a serious breach of security that would be? They'll see everything, they'll — they'll see the Big Board!" [E&P]
• ASME barely slaps The New Yorker on the wrist for Target single-advertiser issue, and crazy columnist in Chicago bursts a blood vessel. [CS-T]
• The lowest blow: In wake of Katrina, public dislikes Bush more than it dislikes press. [E&P]
R.W. Apple Jr.'s here's-what-I-ate-for-a-week Dining In/Dining Out datelines from the summer of 2005:
