Chace Crawford Is Awesome at Being SinglePlus, a Puerto Rican party for Carlos Beltran’s birthday and who the gayest man in the world is in our daily gossip roundup.
George Soros: You Ain’t Seen Nothing YetPublishing musical chairs, bad news on the economy front, and gripes about law-school rankings — all in our daily roundup.
company town
In the End, Shouldn’t Palazzo Chupi’s Units Go to People Who Really Appreciate Them?Schnabel raises the price on his pink palace, a New York ‘Times’ journalist is jailed in ZImbabwe, and a Starbucks worker fights for her rights. And regrets? Citigroup has a few in today’s roundup of news from the fields of real estate, media, law, and finance.
early and often
Media Panel Stretches Blog Metaphors, Blows Kisses at ObamaAt a NYU Media Talk last night focusing on “Publishing and the Election,” Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter called Thomas Payne “the original blogger.” We bet he didn’t have to deal with unending pajama jokes!
gossipmonger
America’s Real-Estate Conflicts, As Enacted by the Hearst GalsVeronica Hearst is using her Fifth Avenue apartment and a property in upstate New York as collateral in case the auction for her 52-room mansion in Palm Beach doesn’t hit $40 million. Meanwhile, her step-granddaughter Lydia Hearst just bought a $1.49 million apartment in the Sheffield 57 on West 57th. Damon Dash got freaked out by the lunar eclipse. CNBC’s Money Honey, Maria Bartiromo, has joined the board at her alma mater, NYU. Cindy Adams thinks Ellen Page is, uh, “a young, white, female Obama.”
company town
Just in Time for ‘Times’ McCain Scuffle, ‘Time’ Editor Says Papers Shouldn’t Endorse CandidatesMEDIA
• What is the New York Police Department’s policy for awarding press credentials? Journalists wonder the same thing. [NYT]
• Time managing editor Rick Stengel ponders why newspapers endorse political candidates at a time when news consumers doubt the objectivity of the media. [Time]
• Details of the deal that Newsweek struck with George W. Bush’s former brain have emerged: It’s a two-year, sixteen-column contract. [NYO]
intel
John King Wary of ‘Superdelegates,’ Anderson Cooper’s GunsEarlier this afternoon we cornered CNN anchor John King, who’d just finished with a CNN/Time live-panel discussion in the Time Warner Center, and discussed the irony of the Democratic-nomination system, in which delegates in each state primary and caucus are awarded proportionally, instead of a winner-take-all system. “Look, it’s a political party; they have the right to write their own rules,” said King, who used to sit in on DNC meetings as an AP reporter back in the day. “But one of the interesting things about it, if it keeps going on like it is, you could have a group of roughly 800 people — superdelegates — who decide who the nominee is, which you could argue is going [back] to the old smoke-filled back rooms, which is the least democratic way to do it.” This idea confused and saddened us, so we changed the subject to Anderson Cooper’s ostentatious biceps. “I give Anderson an enormous amount of credit, knowing what this business does to you, especially in a crazy year like this,” King said, possibly relieved someone had given him the chance to speak on the subject. “I’m giving myself a C-plus, at best, in getting to the gym and being more healthy, and the fact that Anderson can get an A throughout all this is a tribute to dedication and time-schedule discipline,” he said — quickly adding, “and I curse him for it.” —Dan Amira
company town
Morgy Says, ‘I’m Too Old to Retire!’LAW
• Robert Morgenthau called a press conference in response to a “Page Six” item about him stepping down after 33 years: “I’m too old to retire.” The man is 88! [NYT]
• Big-time Mayer Brown partner Joseph Collins, who maintains offices in both New York and Chicago, has been indicted for fraud in the Refco case. [Above the Law]
• Which court is the worst “judicial hellhole” in the country? [Law Blog/WSJ]
company town
Who’s the Real Heir to Sandy Weill?FINANCE
• Citigroup’s Chuck Prince and Chase’s Jamie Dimon are battling it out to see who’s the real heir to Sandy Weill. With Citi crashing and Chase eking out a gain despite the credit crunch, it looks like Dimon, long prodigal, may be the true son. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned that we may see as many as one million home foreclosures before the end of the year. [NYT]
• Want to be a hedger and a do-gooder, work a trading floor and enjoy the peace of mind of a nonprofit? Join the World Bank like former Goldman exec Robert Zoellick, and you can manage $55 billion in assets. [NYT]
in other news
‘Time’: Billy Graham Thinks Hillary Is Hot and HolyBilly Graham thinks Hillary Clinton is “spiritual” and “warm,” according to a new book by two Time reporters excerpted in the new issue. Warm? We know Graham is famous for his faith — but that’s a leap we’re not sure we’re ready to make. In “The Preacher and the Presidents,” Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy quote Graham as saying, “I think a lot of Hillary She is different from the Hillary you see in the media.” Clinton, in turn, says that she came to Graham when she was struggling with forgiving her husband after the Monica Lewinksy affair. The support of a man who’s counseled every president since Truman is an interesting development for our hometown senator, who needs some religious-voter cred. But we couldn’t help notice (well, at least after FishbowlNY pointed it out to us), that Time managed to put horns on the good reverend’s head. Silly magazine, he isn’t Jewish!
The Pastor In Chief [Time]
‘Warm’ Clinton’s Got a Friend in Billy [NYDN]
Time Gives Billy Graham Devil’s Horns [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
the morning line
Thrice-Married Catholic Not Considered So Religious
• Only 13 percent of responders think Rudy Giuliani is “of strong religious faith,” according to a Time poll — and that’s lower than Hillary’s number (15 percent). But he once wanted to close down an art exhibit for blasphemy! [NYP]
• “The very character of the Northeast is at stake” if greenhouse gases aren’t reduced, a new study warns. Poised to vanish: Long Island lobsters and New York apples. What will thrive: smog, pollen, and floods. And, clearly, Claritin sales. [NYT]
• An L.A.-to-London flight was diverted to JFK this morning because of a “suspicious passenger.” Michael Chertoff’s gut told him it was a harmless misunderstanding. [WNBC]
• Shelly Silver still won’t agree to bring the Assembly to the table for congestion-pricing talks — even as the desperate Mayor Bloomberg says he’ll fly to Albany tomorrow. By now, we’re just looking forward to Monday, when this mess will be over. [NYDN]
• And, starting today, the MTA adds a “Mets express” to its 7 line: a one-stop service from midtown to Shea. It’s just for an hour on game days, but funny thing: If they did it year-round, Willets Point might actually be habitable. [amNY]
in other news
‘Time’ Mag: Murdoch Promises to Break His Promises
So it’s been, what, two or three weeks now of tense negotiations over the future of Dow Jones. Of hand-wringing over what News Corp. might do to the company. Of Bancroftian efforts to retain some control of their company, even if they sell it. Of concerns that any promises Murdoch makes about editorial independence will be totally abrogated. Of Murdoch’s assurances that really, honestly, genuinely he’ll be respectful of the paper, just like he’s been of the Times in London. And then the new Time magazine comes out, with ol’ Rupe on the cover and this opening paragraph:
“They’re taking five billion dollars out of me and want to keep control,” Rupert Murdoch was saying into the phone, “in an industry in crisis! They can’t sell their company and still control it — that’s not how it works. I’m sorry!”
You have to respect the old Aussie, really. How many people have the balls to admit they’ll break their promises before the promise is even agreed to?
Exclusive: Rupert Murdoch Speaks [Time]
company town
Surprise! Big Money Causes Big ProblemsFINANCE
• Hedge-fund divorces are drawn-out, acrimonious, multi-million-dollar affairs. Turns out money causes problems! [Financial Times via LAT via DealBreaker]
• CNBC commentator Ron Insana has at least thirteen managers seeding his new fund-of-funds. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• Insider trading: It’s not just for greedy Americans anymore. [NYT]
in other news
‘Time’ Magazine, and Al Gore’s Relaxed RearThe new Time Magazine — now out on Fridays! — has a cover hagio-profile of Al Gore. It’s full of good detail on what Gore’s up to these days, just how popular he seems to have become, and whether he’ll maybe maybe maybe run for president. But the key quote has got to be this one:
Al and Tipper Gore’s home, a 1915 antebellum-style mansion in the wealthy Belle Meade section of Nashville, is laid out a bit like Gore himself: a gracious and formal Southern façade; slightly stuffy rooms when you walk in the door; and startlingly modern, relaxed, informal living spaces to the rear.
We think it’s also saying he’s got a fat ass.
The Last Temptation of Al Gore [Time.com]
intel
By Dogsled or HMS Beagle, Celebs Prepare for ‘Time’ 100The Time 100 dinner, to be held tomorrow night at Jazz at Lincoln Center in celebration of the magazine’s annual “Most Influential People in the World” issue, is a hot ticket, an exclusive and glittering black-tie affair. And it seems the influential people will go to great lengths not to miss it. Virgin mogul Richard Branson, on the list this year, is currently on a 325-mile dogsled journey across Canada’s Arctic province of Nunavut to see the effects of global warming. He’s rushing to reach his endpoint — the delightfully named Igloolik — by Tuesday morning so he can be whisked to New York to make the dinner that night. “Will get the husky dogs to work a little bit harder!” he e-mailed.
gossipmonger
Oh, J-Vanka!Jared Kushner was caught making out with Ivanka Trump while bowling. While hanging with some ex-CIA spies, Robert De Niro hit the sauna with KGB colonels and fired guns with Taliban warriors. An aide in the Israeli U.N. mission quit after being outed as a DL gay-porn star. NBC paid $2.5 million for the rights to air a Princess Di tribute concert in July, which may have been the reason they also scored an interview with the princes. Surprising Time “100 Most Influential People” includee John Mayer will also perform at the party. Paris Hilton appears in court today for her DUI charges. Jon Stewart and Tom Brokaw helped raise $72 million from hedge-fund bigwigs at a Robin Hood Foundation charity event.
in other news
Time Is Running OutToday is your last chance to help decide who makes Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people on Earth; polls close at midnight. The newsmagazine, as we know, thinks quite highly of You, and so it has set up a Website on which you can vote for Your favorite candidates. Who’s leading? Well, we’ll grant that Time perhaps set itself up for trouble by putting David Beckham’s picture first on the voting page, and we’ll also acknowledge that this is, of course, the Internet, but, still: wow. Currently, the leaders are Rain (a Korean singer), Stephen Colbert, hockey star Sidney Crosby, video-game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, and Dane Cook. (To be fair, the highly substantive science writer Richard Dawkins is ranking sixth — though he’s seeming vulnerable to a late-breaking challenge from Kiefer Sutherland.) Noted statesmen as Sanjaya, John Mayer, and Salma Hayek are comfortably in the top 100, while it appears that John McCain, the Pope, and Osama bin Laden won’t be making the voters’ cut. Oh, You. (Time editors, by the way, will announce their own, presumably less-top-40-focused choices in Friday’s magazine.) —Ben Mathis-Lilley
The Time 100 — Are They Worthy? [Time.com]
gossipmonger
De Niro and Bowie, Kushner and Trump, Wenner and Nye Make NiceRobert De Niro and David Bowie were cordial at Vanity Fair’s party for the Tribeca Film Festival, despite reports that De Niro is mad that Bowie’s High Line Festival comes right after Tribeca. Also at the party: “Friends” Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump (as we told you yesterday). And Jann Wenner, with cuckolded boyfriend Matt Nye. Amy Sacco will open a hotel in the financial district. CBS’s Bob Schieffer and Lesley Stahl may have been behind a hit piece on Katie Couric in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Speaking of Couric, her cell phone ringtone is the Pussycat Dolls’s “Don’t Cha.” Bill Clinton is going to a party at Gabriel Byrne’s house to fundraise for Hillary. Les Moonves went to go see his son’s rock band play at the Plumm.
in other news
A ‘Time’ to Laugh, a ‘Time’ to WeepSo the new Time magazine is out. We must say that we find it much like the old Time magazine, except that it is, well, a little prettier. (The Time logo on the cover is smaller, the cover teasers are now in boxes like, perhaps, a banner across a Web page? and the inside pages have a lighter, airier feel, with big, bold headlines.) It looks lovely which we’re sure we’d say if it hadn’t been designed by our admired pal Luke Hayman, who was New York’s creative director until he was lured away to work on Time’s makeover. Surprisingly, though, a controversy has arisen over this first new Time cover.
it just happened
La Plus ‘Time’ Changes…Has today been feeling a little different for you, with some extra electricity in the air? Are you thanking God even more than usual that it’s Friday? Of course! And why? Because today is the first Friday in 50 years on which readers could leaf through a brand-new Time magazine. Oh, that’s right, boys and girls: After months of fevered anticipation, the stalwart newsweekly has shifted its production schedule to deliver new issues to newsstands on Fridays instead of Mondays. We were naturally excited, then, to find the new issue sitting on our office desk today. We dug in, eager to see all that has changed. And after some serious consideration, we can now pronounce that the new Friday Time magazine is, well, very much like the old Monday Time magazine. Excitement!
January 15, 2007 Issue [Time.com]
in other news
Selling This Book Will Be MurderOne of the few courtesies the press can accord the deceased — other than not parking satellite trucks on their families’ yards, which is of course out of the question — is to keep coverage of the departed respectfully free of playful rhetorical flourishes. You’d think this applies even a decade later, but, then, you don’t work at Time magazine. The stalwart newsweekly has reported that rights to If I Did It will revert to O.J. within twelve months, which means it’s likely we’ll see the book in stores — overseas, at least — by next Christmas. We’re glad for the info — but less glad for some of those flourishes:
But the title itself, like a bad penny, may resurface, perhaps before the end of 2007.
Murdoch’s high-profile rejection has only made the book more attractive. (Imagine the cover blurb: “The book that Rupert Murdoch doesn’t want you to read!”)
And so, alas, we will have to expect new chapters in the history of the crime of the last century.
Of course, it could have been worse. Herewith, some phrases we presume were included in the first draft but left on the cutting-room floor at the Time & Life Building:
But the title itself, like someone jumping out to murder you when you least expect it, may emerge from the hedge before the end of 2007.
Murdoch’s high-profile rejection has only made the book more attractive. (Imagine the cover blurb: “Okay, Rupert: The gloves are off!”)
And so, alas, unlike Ron and Nicole, this project just won’t die.
It’s fun for everyone! Well, except for the dead people.
O.J.’s Book, Back By Next Christmas [Time]
in other news
Here’s Looking at YouLast year, Time Inc. laid off hundreds and hundreds of workers from all different departments and publications. This year, the mag giant has been trying to sell off a whole division. And now comes news that 27 consumer-marketing employees were laid off yesterday. It almost makes you wonder who’s left to keep the place running.
And then suddenly Time’s whole “You Control the Information Age” Person of the Year thing makes sense. Head’s up, You: You start Monday.
Holiday Hatchet Handiwork at Time Inc. [NYP]
Earlier: You’re the ‘Time’ Person of the Year, and Joel Stein Has Penis Envy
in other news
You’re the ‘Time’ Person of the Year, and Joel Stein Has Penis Envy
Oh, happy day. After weeks — nay, months — of buildup, Time’s Person of the Year issue is here. And if that’s not exciting enough on its own, it gets so much better: We’re the Person of the Year! (And so are you! And you! And even you, little Timmy!) Yep, that’s right: This year’s Person of the year is “You” — which is to say, the blogger, Flickr’r, YouTube uploader, Wiki contributor, and hive-minderer who the flagship title of a massive media company has now decided actually holds the keys to the Information Age. Naturally, then, Joel Stein takes a spin through multiplayer virtual world Second Life to find out what the hell You’re up to — which, this being Joel Stein reporting, is sex:
I spent the next 4 1/2 hours with Cristal as she took me to a waterfall, a snowy Christmas scene, a shipwreck and a sex club. At some point, she offered me a free penis. Much as I didn’t want to take it, it’s damned hard to tell even a fake woman that you don’t want the free penis she’s giving you.
The Freudian reading of this is unavoidable, that castrated Old Media is strapping one on just to stay in the nubile Web 2.0 game. It’s also terrifying. Because if print media’s wandering off to have sex online while leaving bloggers to handle the real reporting, we foresee much less coverage of Baghdad and much more of the Lower East Side.
My So-Called Second Life [Time]
gossipmonger
It’s Not Easy Being a PatakiBreaking: Tinsley Mortimer shops for her own groceries! Kevin Federline is broke, steals food and booze from a restaurant. Emily Pataki failed the bar exam. How Kennedyesque. Former Tom Cruise sparring partner Brooke Shields is going to his wedding, perhaps as a publicity stunt. Nicole Kidman probably isn’t pregnant, Ivanka Trump maybe had a boob job, but Tom DeLay definitely nominated about-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Time’s Person of the Year. Dave Chappelle bowed out of a gig for HBO, and HBO isn’t happy. Axl Rose brought some strippers to Soho House. Borat’s cultural learnings may soon be available in a Barnes & Noble near you. (Meantime, he’d do well to avoid getting into a fight with fellow Kazakh Wladimir Klitschko.) Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance at a London concert; the crowd liked him. George Gershwin and Ed Bradley were honored at Lincoln Center, where it is discovered that Mr. Gershwin used to be quite the ladies’ man. Liza Minnelli played a $1 million bat mitzvah pro bono. A former America’s Next Top Model winner ditched Tyra Banks as her manager, changed her last name. Angelina Jolie was going to adopt an Indian kid, but Madonna scared her off.
gossipmonger
Bloomberg Gets Frisky, or NotMayor Bloomberg and Diana Taylor got naked in the back of a car. (And it wasn’t as exciting as you’d think.) A special-effects guy lost a hand while filming Leo DiCaprio’s Blood Diamond. Kelly Ripa says Katie Couric avoids her. Someone took pictures of Jennifer Aniston; Aniston’s bodyguard gave chase. A 16-year-old girl posted vaguely illicit photos of herself with Vincent Gallo on her blog; the world got creeped out. Molly Sims and her boyfriend are on the rocks. Barbra Streisand’s contract requires bomb-sniffing dogs, “neatly dressed” security guards. Bono buys overpriced jeans because David Beckham does. CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante’s adult son made a weird bomb threat on Martha’s Vineyard. Ron Perelman had dinner; so did Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson. Liz Smith thinks Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be Time’s “People of the Year.” People hate Ann Coulter, unless they love her. Everyone hates Heather Mills. “Page Six” refutes reports that Emily White is Giacchetto’s ghostwriter, which was reported on “Page Six.” The residents of 25 Tudor City Place have an overzealous super and will have a nasty co-op meeting. It’s good to be the “Let’s get ready to rumble” guy.