Now that you're just rich instead of super-rich, you're gonna find out if your mistress really loves you. Will she stick around even if you can't keep her in the manner to which she is accustomed? The WSJ cited a new survey [of 191 people worth over $20 mil] in which "more than 80% of multimillionaires who had extra-marital lovers planned to cut back on their gifts and allowances... only 12% of the multimillionaire cheaters said they plan to give up on their lovers altogether for financial reasons." The survey also showed that rich ladies are less likely to cut back or drop their lovers than rich men, even when they're losing money. This is another example of What It Really Means In America As Told To Some Narrow Niche Of Society.
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Gigolos Doing Better than Mistresses During Recession [Sex Wars]
Posted: November 18th, 2008, 12:19pm CST by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
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Olbermann Launches Preemptive Campbell Brown Strike [Cable Wars]
Posted: November 6th, 2008, 1:36pm CST by Pareene
Tags: Cable Wars
Oh no, Keith Olbermann, The Left's Old Favorite Cable Person, is attacking Campbell Brown, The Lady Who Yelled At Tucker Bounds! They share a timeslot on competing networks so it was certain to happen. Clip below.Campbell is a fine interviewer who does admirably call bullshit when she hears it, but her show's self-congratulatory "keeping them honest" segments still invariably boil down to "both sides stretching the truth, as usual, what are you gonna go?" meaninglessness. And hey, she got some history wrong!
In attempting to explain why a single party controlling the legislature and the White House is bad, a terribly annoying bugaboo repeated only by media people and minority parties and not so feared by voters who vote for single party rule, Campbell explained that the last time this happened was in the 1970s, with Jimmy Carter. Hah. That's not true! Nor was it in the 90s, with Bill Clinton. It was, as Keith explains, in the 2000s, with the current President, Mr. Bush.
Keith doesn't explain that Campbell's point about all of those situations being disasters is actually borne out by the evidence, but whatever. Unified Democratic government also brought us Vietnam and Civil Rights, for those keeping score at home. Mixed bag, right?
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Zack and Miri Opening More Kevin Smith Than Judd Apatow [Box Office Wars]
Posted: November 2nd, 2008, 11:15am CST by Alex Carnevale
Tags: box office Wars
The early returns on Zack and Miri Make A Porno aren't what Harvey Weinstein was hoping for. After fighting over how explicit the film's promotional materials and title could be, the Seth Rogen-Elizabeth Banks romantic comedy didn't explode at the box office this weekend. The film netted an underwhelming projected $10.6 million even after a really slow Friday night opening. It looks like all the free publicity and feel-good endings in the world couldn't turn a frog into an Apatovian prince.Apatow's R-rated fare usually does a decent job crossing over to younger audiences, and Smith may have been hoping that pattern would continue with so many recognizable actors from Judd's films in Zack and Miri. Parents may have been especially wary of their teens seeing a film with 'Porno' in the title. Even the dour Changeling might have more legs than Zack and Miri, as Nikki Finke argues. In any case, the film's gross so far is more in line with Smith's past results than Apatow's: even Forgetting Sarah Marshall brought in $17.7 million on its opening weekend. Good word of mouth could help, but the film hasn't been a critical favorite so far either.
Update: That early estimate may be a tad high. From The Hollywood Reporter:
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno" followed with $10.7 million, said closely held distributor Weinstein Co. Other studios, however, said that estimate was at least $1 million too high.
"There's no question that we're being a little bit aggressive," said Weinstein Co. distribution chairman Steve Bunnell, referring to the studio's estimate of Sunday sales. Final data will be issued on Monday.
The larger impact is on the struggling Weinstein Company. Harvey can't be pleased to see this film underperform. Click here for the full results from the weekend.
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Hollywood Conservatives Cry Us A River [Culture Wars]
Posted: October 23rd, 2008, 2:12pm CDT by Pareene
Tags: culture Wars
From Hollywood-residing Drudge-buddy Andrew Breitbart's new HuffPo for Conservatives to this sad Hollywood Reporter story on how conservatives in Tinseltown are an oppressed minority, everyone's talking about Showbiz Republicans! They are terribly mistreated, you know, by evil monster liberals who run that town. Sometimes they are called names at dinner parties! And also they are apparently fired all the time for being Republicans! Then they all get together in secret organizations to drink and talk about how bad they have it.It's just like being gay in rural Wyoming, right? Ha ha, just kidding. It's more like being the one Yankee fan in a Boston bar, and you also felt the need to wear your Jeter jersey. Dude, you went to Boston and put on your Jeter jersey, of course you got shit for it!
Here's prominent famous successful Hollywood Republican Kelsey Grammer talking about how dangerous and hard it is being a Hollywood Republican:
He even said that, earlier in his career, his job was threatened by a prominent sitcom director who demanded he donate money to Barbara Boxer's U.S. Senate campaign. To keep his job, he gave $10,000 to Boxer and the Democrats.
Dear Kelsey Grammer: Barbara Boxer's Senate campaign was in 1992. Cheers had been on the air for years, you'd been on since 1984, and you'd received Emmy nominations for your portrayal of Dr. Frasier Crane. Your spinoff launched the next year! This sitcom director did not threaten your job. You were rich and famous and in no danger of career damage from anything but your drug use.
And basically every charge of terrible oppression faced by conservatives out there is similarly anecdotal. As (liberal) screenwriter John Rogers puts it:
For example, the article somehow moves from a general discussion of the social plight of conservatives in Hollwyood to Andrew Klavan's argument that liberals (apparently all of us) think all conservatives are "evil", persecute them as if they were indeed evil, and then neatly moves on to Klavan's claim of how movies made by "people who sit around at Skybar discussing their pacifist world view" have seeped into culture excessively and been subsequently rejected.
In other words, if people in Show Biz are largely liberal then yes, being openly conservative will be unusual. You may be mocked and called names! Just like if you were openly liberal in a traditionally conservative field! Or much like how everyone in Hollywood is constantly demonized and attacked by conservatives across the country for being godless and amoral and evil! It is called "how the world works" and also it's called "don't be a pussy."
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Hey, Mr. Mom: Your Wife Wants To Bang Don Draper [Sex Wars]
Posted: October 15th, 2008, 10:58am CDT by Hamilton Nolan
Tags: Sex Wars
Hey, fey Park Slope stay-at-home dad who's taking care of the kids and cooking dinner because you've been freed from the yoke of oppressive gender roles: your wife wants to fuck a real man! A swarthy, hard-drinking, two-timing, emotionally distant sex hound who's not going to stop in the middle of things and think about whether he packed the kids' lunches properly. Sorry, Park Slope dad; your wife thinks you're a pussy.And you know who else thinks you're a pussy? The New York Observer. (Wow, that's bad!). They got in touch directly with your womenfolk, and they're all fantasizing about Don Draper, the heroic asshole star of Mad Men:
Don Draper is a bastard, most of these women will concede. He cheats on his pre-Friedan-ized wife, Betty, going through mistresses like packs of Lucky Strike cigarettes. He is stoic, handsome, emotionally stunted. “Obviously, he’s physically attractive, but his lack of conscience is upsetting,” said Megan Donis, 34, a television producer who lives in Fort Greene.
Your significant other thinks that all your progressive talk makes you and your role models a bunch of little ho bags!
“If you just compare him, to, say, Patrick Dempsey on Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. McDreamy comes off as a whiny little sensitive bitch,” said Lindsay Robertson, 31, a co-editor of Videogum.com, resident of Carroll Gardens and a self-described member of the “Draper estrogen brigade.”
You thought you could wear a fannie pack and button-up sweaters and still be manly enough to satisfy a hot-blooded woman such as yours?
In suburbia-inflected Park Slope, scores of such Stepford Husbands can be found roughhousing with their toddlers at the playground, hoisting strollers up brownstone steps or putting together a nice little risotto for dinner.
“In New York, in the age of the metrosexual and all that, especially in neighborhoods like Park Slope or Prospect Heights, it’s not that unusual. In fact, it’s pretty accepted,” said Timothy Spence, 39, who lives in Prospect Heights and stays home with a 2-year-old daughter while his wife works in Manhattan as a graphic designer. “There just aren’t those issues of masculinity.”
You fucking fool. Go run some errands while your wife pleasures herself to thoughts of a strong-jawed cad.
But even as men proclaim themselves happy homemakers, some of their wives, or “partners” to use the popular parlance of the day, express ambivalence. “You appreciate a stay-at-home dad—as feminists, this is what we wanted!—but marriage now is all about equal partnership,” said the anonymous Brooklyn mom. “It works as a social system, but it’s not terribly erotic.”
While you shop at the co-op for what you think is your wife's favorite food, she's dreaming about her real favorite food: Don Draper's cock!
She recalled a recent conversation between her husband and a SAHD of their acquaintance (the men had cooked, of course). “They were talking very intently about something that went on in preschool,” she said. “And I just completely glazed over, went a million miles away in my head. I thought, ‘Jesus, fellas, get a life!’”
By contrast: “Don Draper is a hero. He’s a dreamer.”
Overall, this has been one of the most satisfying articles I've read in some time. [by Irina Aleksander, who clearly thinks you are a pussy.]
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Plastic Surgery Is Not Only OK, It's On Our To-Do List [Sex Wars]
Posted: October 13th, 2008, 12:53pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Sharon Obsourne said on Chelsea Lately that she's tired of celebrities that lie about their plastic surgery, from face-lifts to filler injections to Botox to straight-up implants. The professional reality-show subject ingeniously likened Nicole Kidman's unresponsive forehead to a "fucking flatscreen TV." But there's much more openness now about cosmetic enhancement than ever been before.Maybe it's the boomers: they're all getting older, and a 2006 study found that their generation was actually less embarrassed about admitting to plastic surgery than the youngs. Perhaps the youth are still under the sway of the bullshit fed to us via interviews with surgery-denying stars: if you just eat leafy greens, refrain your entire life from drinking and smoking, and guzzle plenty of water, you will simply not age! Like Nicole Kidman.
We may have mocked Mary Rambin of Nonsociety for getting Restylane at age 26—broadcasted on a blog—but let's be honest: when the injectable filler's PR rep contacted us afterwards and suggested that a treatment could be arranged if we were interested, we took a long, hard look at our marionette lines in the mirror.
Listen: aging—especially for women—is terrifying. A woman's major social currency—especially in a vain, youth-obsessed city like New York—is her looks. This is unfair and sexist. It's also true, regardless of professional accomplishment.
Women are also getting married later, and crow's feet only makes them feel more vulnerable than they already do. It's a jungle out there, and we're all fucking cavemen who primally prefer youth. Plastic surgery (done with a light touch, and not prematurely) isn't even vanity under these conditions—it's shrewdness.
In the words of Ozzy Osbourne's wife: "If something bothers you, it doesn't make you happy, then change it."
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BREAKING [Sex Wars]
Posted: October 10th, 2008, 4:15pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Dow down, cheating husbands up! ""Since early spring, maybe late winter, there's just been an increase, and I believe it might have something to do with the economy." You don't say. [Daily News; related]
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"Just Got Laid Off, Now Looking to Get Laid": 5 Types of Recession Sex [Sex Wars]
Posted: October 7th, 2008, 9:45am CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Depression sex! No, not because you're depressed—because the economy is! As in, "the world is falling apart around us, let's cling together because we could all die and/or lose our jobs tomorrow." Remember the spate of hookups and reunited lovers post-9/11? This is a little like that. When the going gets desperate... the desperate turn to the Craigslist casual encounters.1.) Standard layoffs. Finance and Wall Street types, bored and sad in their apartments.
2.) Hustling.
This is what Craigslist is all about, recession or not. Tough times just give it an extra sense of urgency.
Oct 5 - YOUNG DUDES FEELING THE RECESSION? - m4m - 25 - (rockland/all over)
Oct 6 - ANY FEMALES NEED EXTRA CASH IN THIS RECESSION - w4w - (BRONX)
3.) Desperate threats disguised as personals!These have nothing to do with the recession, by the way. Dudes are just using a news hook to instill fear—much like the ads recruiting hustlers.
The economy is worsening and this isnt the time to be single with no clue on how to survive the recession. I have a myspace page you have to read if you want to take that first step to changing your life for the better.
4.) Sugar baby needed: The economy's bad! You need someone to take care of you.
Laid off from Wall Street? - Have lunch ($$) on me - m4w - 30 (midtown)
I just heard Playboy is looking for Women of Wall Street, trying to find hotties who have been laid off from the investment banks. I'm also in finance, but still have a job thankfully. How about this offer - if you've been laid off, perhaps we can have a lunch date in my bed, along with a $1000 donation for you.Serious replies please. Only professional women (I'll ask to see your ID card).
(If being paid doesn't make you feel like a whore, showing your ID card beforehand definitely will.)
5.) Sugar daddy needed. The economy's bad! I need a man to take care of me.
"OH WHAT THE HELL - EVERYONE IS DOING IT ANYWYAY - w4m - 32"
Here goes: looking for a benefactor relationship with one generous man - no drama/stds or CL addicts.Reason for looking for such relationship: Was laid off like so many other people. So why not the new trend of benefactor relationship where the arrangement is clear from the beginning and no drama while I sort my job situation out as the economy rebounds. (If you have never been laid off and frustrated you may not understand this and please don't email me with a lecture - men who have been down and out will understand this more than men who have never been through such times.)
Finally, here's a thoughtful young man we won't get along with:
"I'm looking for someone possessed of a sharp intellect that I can converse with. a brooding sense of humor is a plus, as long as it isn't composed solely of snarky pointed remarks at the expense of others. gallows humor is what I'm talking about here. this is a 'depression,' after all, isn't it?"
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Soit le Derrière, Soit le Visage [Sex Wars]
Posted: October 1st, 2008, 9:42am CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Not to steal credit from Lauren Bacall, but the quote cited in Page Six today—"When you get older, you have to be ready to trade your ass for your face"—is from French actress Catherine Deneuve. It's also been attributed to Kathleen Turner, Mae West, and Zsa Zsa Gabor. It's like the urban legend of aging actress quotes! As a woman at the bar at Elaine's asked the other night, "How do you know about the 'ass or face' debate at such a young age?" Oh, I know, sweetie. We all know. Some examples of which aging celebs have chosen what follows. Ass or face? There will be a test at the end.Madonna has chosen her ass, which is why her face looks sucked dry of any possible joy. (Oh, and you know who's veering dangerously close to the wrong side of the face choice? Jeeeeennifer Aaaaaniston.)
Liz Taylor? She chose carbs. Her face looks great.
Now you try it! Test question: Cindy McCain.
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Who Cares About Yale Law Boys, or Why Not to Be Status-Obsessed [Sex Wars]
Posted: September 30th, 2008, 1:18pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Does New York's Intel make this "Sex Diaries" stuff up? Or just wildly over-exaggerate? If not, then civilization and happiness—at least in New York—is doomed, judging by the sexual choices and habits of the city's over/undersexed oversharers. (They've got the last laugh, though, 'cause it's shameless blogbait that works!) This week, a 20-year-old East Villager is head-over-whatever for a young Yale Law student. He's "intelligent, Jewish, tall, cute, and working as a summer associate at a serious law firm where he's guaranteed a job when he graduates." That narrows it down.Excerpted from here for sanity:
7:30 p.m.: Best friend gets a call from an acquaintance inviting us to a party at her older brother's apartment. He goes to Yale Law School — we'll be there.*
12:32 p.m.: ..No one's perfect, but he comes pretty close: intelligent, Jewish, tall, cute, and working as a summer associate at a serious law firm where he's guaranteed a job when he graduates. I've hooked up with some pretty good catches in the past, but this guy seems to have the whole package.
11:59 p.m.: Promise to quit dating site tomorrow because I have succeeded in getting a real, live date all on my own — and a Jewish Yale law student at that!
5:30 p.m.: ...Love midtown — so many young, professional men wearing Oxford shirts tucked into khakis. Guys in work attire really turn me on. I think it's the feeling that they could take care of me. That's all I really want … and some raunchy lunch-hour sex.OK, so the guy—did you catch that he goes to Yale Law?—calls late from the office, says he's wrapped up with work, and later asks her to come to his apartment instead of going on their first date. Anyway, she goes over there and they sort of hook up or whatever.
The beautifully appropriate coup de grace for a rich-lawyer-chasing girl?
12:10 a.m.: He puts me in a cab but doesn't offer to pay.
Which should end your upwardly-mobile dating obsession right there.
*The exact opposite of my approach; as my father once said, "The only straight doctor in the room, and you walk in the other direction." Yeah, it's 'cause I'm trying to avoid situations like the above. Also, Moe, I will never copy your footnotes again.
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Woody Allen: Nowadays, Yale Kids and 'Churchgoing Barbarians' Enjoy The Same Dumb Movies [Culture Wars]
Posted: September 29th, 2008, 1:20pm CDT by Richard
Tags: culture Wars
Woody Allen doesn't get the kids today. Or, rather, he gets them, he just doesn't see that much value in their taste level. The prolific filmmaker sat down with New York magazine recently, for their 40th Anniversary issue, to discuss the changing city—and, you know, how it relates to the changing world, etc, etc, navel-gaze, navel-gaze. Basically he thinks culture has "coarsened," as evidenced by good smart kids, from schools like Yale and Columbia, who don't understand Fellini:NY: Do you have a theory about why the culture keeps getting coarser?
WA: The country has, over the years, moved to the right. And it’s possible that accompanying that move to the right, you also get a lessening of taste. But I don’t know if what I’m saying is true, because I have shown some very good films—Bergman, Fellini—to kids from good schools like Yale. Bright kids. And they were not impressed. You know, it wasn’t as though I picked out some kid from the Midwest who’s a churchgoing barbarian. Those same kids that you see in the movie house doubled over with laughter over fraternity toilet jokes are very often kids from Columbia and Yale. We might also still be feeling the fallout from the sexual revolution, when everybody just ran amok talking dirty and doing things that were forbidden and it became the mark of drama and comedy to be simply outrageous. Not necessarily dramatically interesting or particularly comic, but just outrageous.
I'm not saying I agree—because that would be pretentious—but... sigh.
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Mini-Fameball Charles Forman is Looking for a Girlfriend! [Sex Wars]
Posted: September 26th, 2008, 10:33am CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Let's just admit that we've all placed a personal ad on Craigslist at one time or the other. Only the last thing you want to do in that situation is post your photo in the ad, because what if someone you know saw it and recognized you? OMG that would be so embarrassing... hey, Charles Forman! The Iminlikewithyou web boy (and Julia Allison ex, although we'd bet good money that their relationship was never "consummated") is looking for love... on Craigslist! We'll help him out by posting his ad for a wider audience.He describes himself as a "creative entrepreneur" who lives in "Midtown." He "run[s] an internet company-which is a lot of fun. When I find time on the side, I'm a media artist... I work out a lot so I'm in good physical shape." Hey-o!
So, ladies, we'll vouch for Charles. He's funny and can probably afford to buy you dinner. We met him once and he smelled nice. He's been in an Esquire fashion shoot. (Oh, and despite many photos that would hint otherwise, he is not Tumblr founder David Karp's gay lover.) Act now! (Caveat: as a commenter just pointed out—if you break up with him, he might humiliate you in public.)
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Paul Janka Extends His Reach [Sex Wars]
Posted: September 24th, 2008, 4:09pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
CNBC covered the "Sugar Mamas & Boy Toys" speed-dating event, and we noticed a picture of a young gentleman who... AHHHH no! It's sexually over-aggressive date-a-holic Paul Janka! He's infiltrated yet again. Let's do a body-language analysis:First, examine the photograph's composition. The large, half-melted white candle in the foreground is clearly a phallic symbol. The martini glass containing a pink liquid beside represents fertility and is frankly vaginal.
Janka is leaning forward—an aggressive posture—with his elbows on his knees. That studied casualness indicates ambivalence, as does the dismissive way in which he's touching his face. He's interested, but not that interested. It is important, however, for him to maintain a dominant posture for the other cougars in the room. He is not making eye contact, however. Until he does, nobody will be getting laid.
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Face It, Ladies Don't Know How to Name Websites [Sex Wars]
Posted: September 23rd, 2008, 11:28am CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
There are some things men are just better at. Like... weightlifting, lying, driving, and naming websites! Hate to sell out my gender, but they leave me no choice. WowOwow? It stands for Women on the Web. Yeah. Jezebel? Too tarty and conflicted. Arianna Huffington did a decent job with the Huffington Post, but all she did was use her own name. And now, the name of Gwyneth Paltrow's new lifestyle website?Goop.com. I know, sounds gross, right? Which bodily fluid does it remind you of? (Tagline: "Nourish the inner aspect.")
"While still minimal, the website includes a newsletter signup and a first person essay from Paltrow, a married mother of two, about what matters to her. It also features yet-to-be-filled sections called "Make," "Go," "Get," "Do," "Be," and "See."
[HuffPo]
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Many Happy Returns [Sex Wars]
Posted: September 17th, 2008, 1:45pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Remember "Tron," the male masseuse who got intimate with female clients in Tango's article about happy-ending massages for women? Apparently these types of staffers are a big problem (or a great solution!) at hotels, as well. [Reuters]
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Writers! Stop Dating Each Other Now [Sex Wars]
Posted: September 4th, 2008, 11:19am CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Today, a blog post on Glamour's Smitten talked about how it feels when an ex of yours gets married. Which makes it the second essay writer Joanna Goddard has written about Page Six Mag's Joshua Stein. Add this to the New York Times Magazine article by former Gawker Emily Gould that mentioned her relationship with Stein, which followed his own Page Six Magazine essay about the dangers of blogger love, and you have... well, you have an entertaining media clusterfuck. Why does it seem like he's the most written-about ex in New York? Hey, that's just what happens when writers date. Now that everyone's a writer—armed with their blogs and Tumblogs and lifestreams and the like—the scribes among us should just stop dating each other now. Think of it this way:Post-breakup, a writer's first instinct it to write or blog it out. This is their nature. It's totally fine if kept confined to a Word doc or a friends-only LiveJournal blog or whatever.
But still, you must work, work—as Chekhov said. Maybe you're freelancing, and you're miserable, and all you can think about is this fucking ex of yours who keeps popping up in the damndest of places—whether it's their byline in a magazine or at the corner deli or at a media party. And hey, why not mine your life for stories? That's what your writing teacher at that night class at the New School told you!
You might even earn some sweet freelance cash from a personal essay—or if you're really good, a Modern Love in the Sunday Times, which is the pinnacle of the breakup essay. You can then use the $500 to buy an awesome dress, which is sort of like an investment in a future relationship. (It's easier to catch flies at media parties with honey!)
And so you write. Whether what you write is good or bad, the fact is that it's published, and it's out there. The written-about ex might form a rebuttal. They might not. They might get a six-figure book deal which allows them to feature you in any damned essay they want, like Ms. Gould! That essay might get leaked and it might contain certain bits about your sex life or your musculature.
Of course, there have been other, more luminary, writer couplings. Sartre and de Beauvoir, Plath and Hughes, the Bloomsbury Group. Do not pay attention to them. They had no high-speed Internet.
And so the vicious cycle continues. But enough about work. You doing anything Saturday night?
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We Are All Whores, So Save Your Outraged Blogging for the War or Whatever [Sex Wars]
Posted: August 28th, 2008, 2:34pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
You know what's boring? Feminist outrage. But it's so easy to be strident, especially in the blogosphere. Especially when a gal writes an article like Jessica Pilot's now-infamous profile on Manhattan's so-called "Hipster Hookers" in Radar. In the piece, she profiled high-end working girls, and even met with a madam herself—although she chickened out on actually going through with a call. Fine, whatever! The members of the blogosphere—you know, when they were not busy watching porn and having casual sex—had a field day with Pilot. She's been reduced to defending herself on her Facebook page: "I AM NOT A HIPSTER WHORE."In short: Pilot wrote an article about a topic that interested her, which was obviously just a huge mistake, due to the nature of the blogosphere. She was attacked in various on-line arenas—I mean, we're all desperate for content these days. We all need to chime in with an opinion, and then commenters can have their opinion, and thus—the status quo is upheld. (The status quo—"whore!"; "Feminism: Is It Being Set Back 30 Years?"—is just so incredibly boring.) Plus, there's a bit of bitchy media-jealousy thrown in—"she only did this article to make a name for herself, etc." Yeah, so?
From Pilot's Facebook page:
"After I wrote a first-person exploratory expose, an independent report I spent a year on profiling high-end call girls, and posing as one myself, for the love of the "gonzo" form. The reactions, once published were beyond my expectations. Though there were plenty of readers and editors who support me, those who chose to question my journalistic intent did so, quite viciously....
Here's an excerpt from one well-known blogger, who met me on a Sunday, and interviewed me for over an hour about my experience, reporting on call-girls, and to discuss my thoughts on the mixed reactions from readers who read my piece:
Blogger Babe 1: "How important to you is it to have this interview published? Honestly i dont think it's going to do much in the blogosphere, and i'm not sure it's right for my blog — although of course i respect you and think you discuss your topics and work intelligently but, i've been doing this for a while, and I'm pretty sure the only way this material would attract attention— if it does — would be in a negative way. if they find something to make fun of again, or just use it as a platform to go on the same old rants. I dont think we're going to change anyone's opinion I'm tired and don't have time (sorry — it's the truth!) 2. it's not quite the right content for us 3. if it was really critical to you, i'd do it, but i dont think it is."
The other blogger acknowledged that I am not in fact, a "desperate, young aspiring journalist", who wrote a story about the oldest, still most taboo profession, just to make a name for herself", but all told—-said she couldn't publicly acknowledge this."
Honestly, I don't know who the blog editors she's referring to are, but if her re-telling is accurate, you all sound like a bunch of little old ladies. Also: doesn't anyone here ever want to read about worlds they have no access to and know little to nothing of? That's basically what the piece was about.
Oh, you know who wrote a really great investigative book about prostitution—from low-end street girls to the highest levels of prostitution and pimping? (At the highest levels, it was explained, very little money changes hands.) Gail Sheehy—wife of the late New York magazine founder Clay Felker and successful writer in her own right. I'm pretty sure she did not have to deal with this bullshit when her investigation about the landlords of the prostitution hotels in Hell's Kitchen was published—but only because blogs weren't invented yet in the 1975.
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Transsexual Girl Way More Successful at Being a Girl Than Regular Girls [Sex Wars]
Posted: August 27th, 2008, 9:26am CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Spencer Morgan profiles transsexual makeup artist Jamie Clayton in the Observer this week—she's dubbed the "second most beautiful girl in New York." As we read, we realized that she's actually way better at being a girl than, um, many of us who were born as women! For example:"She says she can even have vaginal orgasms"—which actually puts her ahead of quite a few biological women. She also "gets hit on or asked out about five times a week," which also puts her waaaay ahead of most of the anecdotal evidence I've collected amongst female friends. Damn, girl! Keep on doing whatever it is you're doing, extra baggage or no baggage.
[Photo: James Hamilton for the Observer]
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Fox To Making Sense: Drop Dead [Tabloid Wars]
Posted: August 25th, 2008, 11:44am CDT by Pareene
Tags: Tabloid Wars
Hah. So CNN rearranged its national bureaus, leaving fewer reporters in their main bureaus and shipping staffers off to smaller cities to, ostensibly, provide more coverage of more cities at a lower cost. Many former Chicago reporters now find themselves reporting full-time from terrible places like Columbus and Minneapolis. So, according to Fox News, that means CNN HATES CHICAGO. They took out a totally fair and balanced full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune about this! News Corp properties are always so IN YOUR FACE about their competitors, right? How far are we from the Wall Street Journal hiring someone to climb the Times building and unfurl a banner that says, like, "Pinch Sulzberger's a Pussy"? [TVNewser]
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"What it is like to date Tucker Max" [Sex Wars]
Posted: August 7th, 2008, 10:18am CDT by Hamilton Nolan
Tags: Sex Wars
You, the public, recently got to preview portions of the horrific (currently in production!) movie script for I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, written by "Dude, I did 12 shots of Jamesons and totally puked on that chick's tits" bro-blogger Tucker Max. The primary question that arose afterwards was, "What kind of girl would go out with this asshole?" Well, ladies and gentlemen, we (purportedly) have an answer—with all of the "whores," bad sex, emotional manipulation, fried chicken, drunk driving, and, uh, other bad things that you would have imagined:A tipster forwarded us the following text, which they say is an entry that was deleted from Tucker Max's ex-girlfriend's blog. We don't follow the man's love life closely enough to know whether this is true, but the blog does have Tucker Max listed as its contact person. Portions of this post have been floating around the internet for some time now. That's our disclaimer. Now here's the alleged Tucker Max love experience:
Humiliating
Last night Tucker blew me off. Again.I went insane. I cut off all my hair with kitchen scissors like Frida Khalo.
Today I examined the fallout (actually quite cute and flippy. I am good at
everything). I also thought, "Bunny... there is something terribly awry. Why
are you so angry? Why have you become a bitter and horrible person since you
met Tucker?"Today, while I'm working, Tucker is hovering over me asking me the same
question.I have decided to make an itemized list of reasons why I might want to cut
off all my hair like a rape victim.[Note: This is truly humiliating. If anyone were to make a medicine to cure
low self-esteem, I'd take it in spades; I'd do the 10k walk for closet
self-loathers, and wear the empty wine bottle lapel pin. I wish to God these
FACTS were fabricated or embellished, but the awful truth is that they are
not. I only hope this helps the other girls who don't like themselves].What it is like to date Tucker Max.
-You will get fried chicken for your birthday. Later that night when you
both go to a bar, you will want a diet coke, but won't get one because that
is one less beer that he can drink.-He will hang up on your favorite aunt, and be stunned when you get upset
that he referred to your mother as "that fucking bitch" because she called
you at a late hour.-He will scream at you because you don't like the instant coffee he bought
you.-He will never kiss you, and barely fuck you, even if you beg him to for
months. You are now the Virgin Mary. He will still try to coerce crazy
whores into coming to Chicago to fuck him. He will kiss them because they
are whores, and don't you know that you're only supposed to give good
passionate sex to women that you don't know or give a shit about? I didn't
know that either.-You will beg him to take a shower, which he will not do. But he will shave
his face to have long make-out sessions with any random girl.-You will read every piece of writing he has ever done and be supportive of
all his creative outlets. When you then ask him to read your own novel he
will drop it after chapter one because it's a waste of his time. He's not
good at editing.-You will give him the greatest head of his life on a regular basis. He will
still suck in bed.-He will make sure you know that you aren't very hot, only sort of cute, and
that your head is too big for the rest of your body. You also have
unattractive dark circles under your eyes and your tits are too small. He
will never compliment you.-You will be bi-sexual and okay with him sleeping with other women, but this
will not be enough. He needs freedom.-If he is an insensitive asshole to you, it is only because you are selfish.
You should understand that his parents sucked and now you have to pay for
this. How this is logical, I'm not really sure.-When he has major surgery you will not leave his side. You will spend day
night waiting on him hand and foot, making sure he is comfortable and well
cared for. You will even wipe his ass when he takes a shit. Later he will
tell you that it was all unnecessary. He didn't need or want you to be
there.-When he is supposed to pick you up and take you to a party, he will get
black-out drunk and fuck some girl instead of showing up.-He will tell you he loves you and wants to have children with you. When you
then get pregnant, he will say that he has about two to four more years of
drinking and whoring left to do, so a baby isn't in the cards. He will
coerce you into an abortion by threatening to give away your dog if you try
to have the child. Then he will be evasive so that you will be forced to
dump him and he can get off scot-free.-When you get upset about this, he will tell you that you are
over-emotional. When you try to explain how this hurts, he will ignore you
till you find yourself screaming and breaking things. He will explain these
outbursts to his drinking buddies as so: "Yeah she's fucking crazy. She
flips out on me like every third day."-When you go to stay with your parents (read: bawl day and night) for two
weeks, he will fuck other women in your bed. The night you return he will
try to go out with a whore he's just met and wonder why you're upset about
that. He needs his freedom.-When you are at your parents, he won't take your calls. Instead he will
spend his time e-mailing some whore. Later, he will not stop e-mailing this
same whore, because all whores come before your feelings even if the whores
are half as attractive and barely capable of forming cogent sentences.-When his ex-girlfriend dies and then comes back to life, you will nurse him
through the depression. You will even be fine with her coming to stay at
your own fucking apartment so that he can decide which of you he wants. This
is so that you can be fair to both of them because you are a good person.
unlike them.-Later on you will catch him telling this covert bitch who pretended to be
nice to you that he is only keeping you around because you are willing to
support him financially. They will laugh at you behind your back for being
"over-emotional." Oh how silly you are!-When Tucker bounces back from his depression you will not be needed
anymore. You will just hand over the keys to his car and not say a word when
he drives it all over Chicagoland while black-out drunk.-When girls come to the apartment, he will become "Cooooool Tucker Max." He
will dress and act differently. He will be an asshole to you. Why are you
upset? Don't you know "this is the Tucker Max show?" This pathetic statement
is his actual quote.-And finally (though I could write pages and pages of this horrible shit):
When you've been stood up by the very first date you've planned in a year,
you will call Tucker and ask to hang out with him. He will not come pick you
up in YOUR OWN FUCKING CAR, because HE lost your license the night before
and you won't be able to get into the club he's going to. When you ask if it
's possible to go anywhere else he will refuse because there are free drinks
and whores in said club. Whores are very special. Much more special than the
woman that did all the above things out of unconditional love FOR A FUCKING
YEAR!posted by The Bunny at 4:22 PM
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License to Screw [Sex Wars]
Posted: July 29th, 2008, 11:04am CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Thrillist tells us that the Brooklyn-based company STF has come with a wallet-sized "Safe Sex License" that can help prove to your partner that you're clean. Right? Right? Here's how it works:"Sign up online, download the clinic verification form, and get tested; mail the results to STF, and they'll send a card w/ your unique member ID and photo (remember: nothing says "trust me" like Blue Steel). Then simply hand the card to whomever, reveal your secret password and ID, and tell her to dial the card's 1-800 number; she'll then be privy to the dates and results of your last two HIV/AIDS tests, irrefutable proof that you were disease-free on at least two specific occasions in the past."
Yeah. And if ANYONE is in the mood to have sex after that, please let us know.
(But wait! Boinkology says it's not such a silly thing after all.)
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The Perils of Summer Camp [Sex Wars]
Posted: July 25th, 2008, 9:57am CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
It seems like going to an all-boys day camp has completely de-civilized Slate writer's 8-year-old boy! He's turned into an animal, singing songs with saucy lyrics and acting like, well, an 8-year-old boy:A friend of a friend reports that since camp began, her son—a sweet child; he has two sisters—has taken to saying with gruff-voiced swagger, "I'm gonna take a leak." Eli and Simon have started yelling, "Give me five!" and then dropping to the floor for pushups, or some facsimile of them. They have learned many perfectly presentable songs at camp, but the latest one is "I don't want to be a chicken/ I don't want to be a duck/ so kiss my butt." Actually, the real lyrics seem to substitute "shake" for "kiss,"—here's one kid's rendition—but that's not what Simon thinks, and, in any case, this crossed a certain line for me. As in: You may not sing this song outside the house.
[Slate]
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L.A.: Give Brooklyn Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Weary... [Culture Wars]
Posted: July 24th, 2008, 3:22pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: culture Wars
Jay Babcock, former Los Angeles scenester and founder of the music/art mag Arthur, up and moved to Brooklyn recently. Why? "Culture in L.A. is in a race to the bottom, and all the smart and creative people there are [involved in] new ways to do social networking or figure out what YouTube video is going to get the most views. That isn’t culture, it’s pure pandering," he tells the L.A. Times today. Also: nobody in L.A. even noticed that he had moved:What prompted the move to Brooklyn?
New York is just a more hospitable environment than L.A. ever has been or will be. L.A. is devolving quickly, and I think I got out in the nick of time. The L.A. Times is imploding, our public radio is terrible, the [L.A.] Weekly’s been devolving for years. Local media’s being run into the ground and I don’t think anybody cares. The public’s dumbed down and poorly educated. L.A. is a psychic death hole to me, and I don’t want a part of that. There are so many impending crises — the political structure, the traffic, the educational system. L.A. is failing worse than ever, and I felt that if I can get out, I should. I found a way out. For a long time now I’ve been going back and forth between L.A. and New York, and every time I got off the plane in L.A. I felt dumber.
...I’ve been [in Brooklyn] for weeks, and nobody noticed. I don’t mean to sound petulant, but I realized that a lot of people actually didn’t know I’d left, so I let Kevin Roderick [of L.A. Observed] know."
We're not really smarter or more cultured here, though—we just think we are! In two weeks, Jay, you will find yourself at some rich person's party on the Upper West Side, where you don't know the host—but some friends said you should come. Someone might pass you the cocaine and although you said you wouldn't, or shouldn't, do that ever/anymore, you'll try it—what the hell—and will spend the next hour staring as people's heads turn into insects as they conversate—or more accurately, wait for others to stop talking so they can chime in. You'll spill red wine on your shirt, accidentally hit on the host's daughter, and watch the day break as you head home in a cab, wondering if this is perhaps an inauspicious start to your new life in New York. Cab fare to Brooklyn: $30. Note to self: sign up for Internet dating account.
But seriously, welcome to Brooklyn.
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Dear Abby Deals with Literary Jealousy [Sex Wars]
Posted: July 15th, 2008, 4:11pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
What if you're a couple, you're both struggling writers, and one person publishes a novel while the other doesn't? Awkward! (He hasn't even read it.) [Dear Abby]
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Let's Find a Way to Disrupt Paul Janka's Dating Seminar! [Sex Wars]
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 9:17am CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
A while back, I signed up for creepy sexual compulsive/sexually aggressive dateaholic Paul Janka's e-mail list, which sends newsletters with tips on how to pick up hot chicks—or, more accurately, confused and lonely women. Now he's planning a dating seminar! It's called "Rock Solid Game" (heh), and it'll be at the Hotel Gansevoort on August 30th and 31st! Click for the e-mail—we have plenty of time to think up ways to make this event unpleasant for Paul. (Ladies, we don't want a group of guys being educated by the likes of him.)Since my book came out, I've been flooded with
emails from guys requesting one on one coaching.So I've decided to host a once in a lifetime
seminar and really get into the nitty gritty of
charisma, communication and day game.The seminar is called "Rock Solid Game," and
it's all about becoming a fearless, unshakable,
and confident man that women find IRRESISTIBLE.While we're going to get into the specifics as
they relate to meeting women, the goal of the
seminar is to provide the tools necessary to
become the kind of guy that is action-oriented,
proactive, and gets exactly what he wants out of
life.The seminar is going to be held at the posh
Gansevoort Hotel in New York City. With the
greatest city in the world as our playground, I
KNOW it will be a GREAT time.I've already had a TON of emails from guys who
want to attend the event, but I'm not letting
anyone register early, since that wouldn't be fair.So if you want to take your game to the next
level, and become absolutely UNSTOPPABLE with
women, then make sure you're in front of your
computer on Thursday at 12:00pm EST.Why do you need to know the time?
Well, we can only fit 50 people into the seminar
room, so we're only going to be accepting 50
registrations.And since demand has been EXTREMELY high, I'm
anticipating that seats will sell out VERY quickly.If you miss out on the registration, it's
unlikely that I will ever be doing a seminar like
this again.I don't mean to be so "high pressure" about it,
but I just don't want anyone to miss out who
really wants to attend the event. The fact is
that invitations to this seminar will be sent out
to thousands of people, and only 50 lucky guys
will be able to attend.If you have any questions, just shoot me an
email and I'll do my best to get back to you.Again, watch you inbox on Thursday around
12:00pm EST for an invitation to my upcoming
"Rock Solid Game" seminar that's scheduled for
August 30th and 31st.To The Good Life,
Paul Janka
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A Newscaster's Freudian "Sexism" Slip [Sex Wars]
Posted: June 24th, 2008, 4:54pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
newVideoPlayer("/sexyism.flv", 506, 423,"");
All sorts of powerful women have dealt with sexism! Some people even make incorrect assumptions about your job title because of it. Next up: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (well, that's what the newscaster meant to call her), will discuss sexism!
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Olbermann and O'Reilly Drag General Electric and Rupert Murdoch Into Their Dick-Measuring Contest [Tabloid Wars]
Posted: June 20th, 2008, 3:42pm CDT by Pareene
Tags: Tabloid Wars
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp owns Fox News and the New York Post's Page Six, so there's often a bit of corporate synergy in the targets those two outlets decide to attack. Like NBC, for example. MSNBC competes directly with Fox News and NBC with the Fox network, so it's only good business to undermine them at every turn. But it's become an all-out a war, lately, waged both in print and on television. Let's go back to the beginning!May 2003. This, according to Jack Shafer, is when Keith Olbermann instigated the NBC/Fox War. In a throwaway wisecrack at the close of his show, Olbermann compared Fox Blowhard Mascot Bill O'Reilly to Joe McCarthy. By 2006, the two hosts were fighting with each other almost nightly.
January 2006 Bill devotes his nightly comment to attacking NBC itself—and not Olbermann by name. "But 'Talking Points' is troubled by the behavior of NBC, which cheap shots FOX News on a regular basis and has been doing so for some time." He then takes it to the next level by going over Keith's head and pinning the blame on NBC President Robert Wright! (Keith responded by declaring O'Reilly his Worst Person in the World.)
October 2006 Fox's NBC war was expanding beyond Olbermann and O'Reilly. Fox gossip Roger Friedman turned a benefit report into an odd swipe at NBC's ratings, blaming Wright for the failure of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
January 2007 The O'Reilly Factor presented a fair and balanced report on The Decline of NBC News. "As we reported NBC News has taken a sharp turn to the left under executive Jeff Zucker and Robert Wright with elements at NBC News now actually using propaganda from far left web sites as primary source material. Unbelievable." He went on to gleefully report on the supposed misdoings of Maria Bartiromo, bringing in a financial analyst willing to publicly trash CNBC.
April 2007 As the odious Michelle Malkin hosted his program, O'Reilly appeared via satellite to blame the Don Imus affair on Jeff Zucker. Meanwhile, Fox business correspondent Terry Keenan gleefully reported that NBC's parent company GE wanted to unload the network.
January 2008 The war heats up! O'Reilly does one of his patented ambushes of General Electric head Jeffrey Immelt! Supposedly because of some deal with Iran, but mainly because GE owns NBC and NBC employs Keith Olbermann and Keith Olbermann makes fun of Bill O'Reilly.
And so the feud widened. From Bill versus Keith to Fox versus NBC to News Corp versus General Electric. It went as high as Immelt and Rupert Murdoch! Fox News head Roger Ailes called NBC head Jeff Zucker personally to complain about Olbermann and threaten to take the battle to the New York Post. Murdoch called Zucker to ask that the network not play a video of a blogger harassing O'Reilly.
Page Six, the Post's gossip arm, constantly runs embarrassing stories about Olbermann. Which often leads to Olbermann naming some News Corp or Post-related figure his Worst Person in the World. And then the cycle begins anew! Over and over again!
Post columnist Andrea Peyser overhears Keith bitching about Connie Chung, Keith calls Peyser the worst person in the world, a few months later, Page Six reports that Olbermann is bad in bed! Then column editor Richard Johnson gets the first of his Worst Person in the World awards. (The second would come when he threatened to rape Vanessa Grigoriadis.) It's fun!
But the involvement of Murdoch? The harassment of Immelt? As GE decides whether it wants to keep its toes in the broadcasting business, this ego-driven bullshit might help convince them it's not worth it. Bill might win this one, sort of!
As in most things Murdochian, Rupert doesn't dirty his hands. While it's fun to pretend to see his fingerprints on each Olbermann smear in Page Six, the truth is Johnson and Post head Col Allen do indeed call the shots. They just know which shots they're supposed to call. Just like Roger Ailes at Fox, all the way down to Bill.
Would that GE and NBC/Universal had a message machine so in tune? They've got the cable blowhards warring with the broadcast newsmen and it all ends up publicized by one News Corp outlet or another.
The real winners, as always: us!
Celebrity-Gossip.net
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Kate Hudson: Ready For Lance Time?
Posted: June 6th, 2008, 8:59pm CDT
Tags: Kate Hudson bride Wars
Recently finished with the filming of Bride Wars, Kate Hudson was spotted out on Thursday taking a leisurely stroll in New York City.
The Fool’s Gold babe, who looked cute in a spaghetti-strapped striped dress, grabbed up her daily cup of coffee before moving along and continuing to enjoy her first day away from the set.
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Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway: Still at War
Posted: May 29th, 2008, 7:41pm CDT
Tags: Kate Hudson bride Wars Anne
When you get two hotties like Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway together on camera, on-screen magic is bound to ensue.
And yesterday, the “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” babe and her “Princess Diaries” buddy were spotted hard at work on their current project “Bride Wars.”
Gawker
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Um, no [Trendbusting]
Posted: May 19th, 2008, 4:03pm CDT by Sheila
Tags: Sex Wars
Purity balls! Lotta problems with this one. Fathers-daughter purity ball dances, with young girls dressing up in gowns with their fathers as dates... seems uncomfortable. As for the "pledge" that said fathers publicly make, to "to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity"? Not their decision to make! That's all. [NYT]
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I'm Just A Girl/ But I'd Rather Not Be []