Since I already gave my cheesy good-bye announcement a couple weeks ago, I'll make this short-ish. This is my last day as the editor of Jossip, and more or less my last post as blogger (if I'm not crawling back to Hauslaib in six months begging to intern for him because I forgot to change out of my pajamas before going to work). So I guess I should say something.

It really is hard to say goobye. (I've been writing this for like an hour now.) Mostly because writing for Jossip was a dream — granted a dream I never planned for, but a pretty kick ass job all the same. As fab as it's been, though, I was finally lured away by the big guns and their fancy health benefits. Plus, this 3,000 words a day gig is really starting to drain me. And you really deserve someone who can make you laugh and spell things correctly and look good in pictures.

I have no idea who's replacing me (probably a duck) but I hope he or she has as much fun as I did. Oh, and I swear I won't sell out too much — if you ever see me sipping japtinis with Jessica Joffe at Cipriani, you have written permission to punch me in the face.

If you need for something that doesn't involve punching me in the face, however, you know where to find me. Hitting on media nerds at Von.

We rarely, rarely print reader emails. Mostly because we don't really take pleasure in embarrassing you, our dear readers ... and because most emails we get are so full of expletives that the main point of the letter (usually "you are the devil") gets lost.

But today, because news is slow, and this made us laugh, we will share. A reader writes today:

I am so sorry to bother you. I hope you are having a really great day. Oh my gosh! I just love your site! You are doing a really great job! Great job. Can you please get back to me whenever you may get this? I am trying to get in touch with an editor at your site. It is about adding an article to your site on a hot new celebrity. He is just PERFECT for your site! Please. i mean perfect. He is the #1 searched celebrity in the world this week and is being profiled as one of the male superstars and also being profiled in Hello Magazine. There are article on him from Australia through Europe from the BBC to the observer to so fourth. He is already listed as one of the sexiest celebrities and biggest stars. I can help you with anything you may need. But you have to add an article on him or add him to your site.. Please get back to me whenever you may get this - on who to write. Whatever you want to do would be perfect. Please get back whenever you may get this. Thank you so much and I hope you are having a great day.

Omigod, omigod! Who do you guys think this is? Jake Gyllenhaal? Wentworth Miller? We just don't know! And we are sort of scared to write this person back to find out ...

But we hate to think there is somebody so fabulous out there which we aren't covering. So if you want to send your guesses (via email or comment) we can decide if someone we give a shit about pops up, and we'll write something about him.

We can't promise a whole article, but maybe we'll just dig up some photos and keep our eyes open for good gossip about him.

A note from Jossip's editor Corynne Steindler:

As you may have heard by now (and we have faith that our oh-so-media-savvy readers have) I will be leaving my blogger life behind to join the daily gossip grind over at the New York Post's Page Six on October 16.

For the past ten months (and for another two weeks), I have spent my days doing something I love and am incredibly passionate about — bitching about media and slinging insults at those who hold the power in this ever-influential industry. While it is going to be difficult to leave my futon and laptop behind (though my roommates are surely going to celebrate the lack of my constant presence) I am looking forward to the challenges of a new position — and leaving my room to interact with society again.

I have nothing but the utmost respect for Jossip's chief David Hauslaib, who gave me an enormous opportunity when he hired me – especially when nobody else in the entire media industry would – and I am going to miss working, writing, and party hopping with him tremendously. Mostly I am going to miss the Jossip readers — you are all the first to call me out on my mistakes, clue me in to inside dish, and, at times, throw some of those biting insults right back. (I'll miss you most of all, Ryan Adams!)

There is no doubt in my mind you will all continue to follow Jossip, and that whoever comes after me will have the sass and scope to keep you brilliant folks engaged and laughing. Feel free (just this once) to leave nice, flattering comments about me below.

Love,

Corynne

Last night in our "how to be a blogger" class, we learned that the purpose of having a blog is the access to immediacy. We post something first, ask questions later, and if it's wrong or whatever, well, we go back and fix it.

Among other technical issues, the capability to go back and fix shit is currently restricted. And that paralyzes us with a fear greater than that which Sean Preston Spears has every time his mama says "let's get in the car." We do hope to return shortly with more mindless chatter for you to waste your boss' dime reading. Until then, you have our sincere apologies.

(If it's any consolation, at least we didn't tell you to pour bleach all over yourself.)

As you may have guessed, we're experiencing some disillusioning technical difficulties (and but "disillusioning," we mean we had to call someone to figure shit out). We hope to be back at ya shortly. But if the geek types can't figure out our problem tout de suite, we'll catch you next week.

Legal threats aren't foreign to us around Jossip HQ. Colin Farrell! Jennifer Aniston! Conde Nast! And just this week: Hearst! and the Church of Scientology!

As you read in Rush & Molloy this morning, Hearst's Harper's Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey is a mighty bit upset that exclusive photos of their August covergirl – a naked and pregnant Britney Spears – leaked across these here Internets. (The issue hits newsstands July 25.) Having shared small thumbnails of the images with our readers, we spent yesterday afternoon on the phone with Hearst attorney Debra Weaver, who demanded the images be taken down. Fair enough; they're entitled to argue their side of things.

But the most amusing part was Weaver's demand to know where the photos came from. "Did you get them from someone inside the magazine?" she wanted to know. Weaver explained Harper's was very concerned they had a leak inside the magazine. (Uh, you fucking think?) Since we're never in the business of revealing our sources, we didn't have much to say to Weaver and sent her on her merry way — thought we'd still like to take Weaver to lunch .. if Hearst is paying.

Meanwhile, we also heard from the Church of Scientology yesterday, who were none too pleased about our posting their orientation video that lacks any sort of interesting plotline or production budget (or, for that matter, any Tom Cruise cameos). We're standing by our claim of the video's newsworthiness (legal counsel can be so clever with their nouns), though our webhost has caved to their DCMA Infringement notice. So you won't be able to find that video on Jossip; but you can find it here.

Sure, you may have already mapped our your evening this fair Wednesday, and we bet it includes the premiere of The Hills. But that's not till 10pm, which means you'll have plenty of time to attend Jossip editor and publisher David Hauslaib's ramblings at The Learning Annex.

Somehow he agreed to teach a course on the business of blogging and, we're told, more than six people dropped the $44.99 to attend. (In fact, many more than six signed up, which makes us nervous. Not in the stage fright way, but in the "Who the hell has damn near 50 bucks to drop to hear some recent college grad with no MBA wax technologic?")

So if you ever wondered what it takes to make the cogs turn at Jossip HQ (Hint: It's got more than a little to do with the free labor of interns) and how you might get in on this creative filth called blogging, why not stop on by to hear Hauslaib's harangue? It's tonight from 6:45-9:30pm — and we promise you'll be let out in time to catch your MTV. Visit the link below for all the deets.

(Note: There will be no gift bags. At least none that compare to MTV's.)

The Founder of Jossip.com Reveals All… [Learning Annex]

Normally, we don't really give a crap when journalists and writers read little memoir-esque life stories out loud at downtown post-hipster hangouts. But we decided to include you on this little announcement for a few reasons.

1) We like Mo' Pitkins. 2) Jeff Bercovici will be reading something (Atoosa Rubenstein, that's your cue!) 3) We think former but possibly still current Star staffers Anna Holmes and Maggie Kim will be reading some things and playing other things.

Oh, if only we could scrounge up the 10 bucks to send our interns to take photos of Jeff with his hall monitor sash on!

Some of you have been coming to Jossip for the last two and a half years looking a regular dose of celebrity and media industry gossip. It's a fantastic distraction at work, and we would know: your perpetual interest writes our paychecks. But we know you long for more. More Lindsay. More Jessica. More goddamn Britney Spears. We get it already. And we've listened.

So say hello to MollyGood, the third and latest blog title from Jossip (our second being our gay overly-touchy uncle Queerty). Written by former Jossip Intern Molly (who we're now contractually obligated to refer to as Editor Molly), MollyGood's regular spewing of paparazzi pictures, video clips, and celebrity gossip will give you even more reason to forget to return phone calls, skip editorial meetings, delete your clients' BlackBerry emails, and, perhaps, get to the office early.

You can still count on Jossip to wax poetic on Mort Zuckerman and Leslie Sloane Zelnick. But for all the shots of Lindsay Lohan stumbling into the Chateau Marmont, MollyGood has got you covered.

MollyGood

Perhaps you've noticed things are looking a little different around here? Nah, you're not looking through a fun house mirror or Anna Nicole's corneas. Things have changed. We're just hoping it's for the better.

What you're seeing is a new layout that emphasizes a "top story" — a post we've placed on a social pedestal above all the other items because, for reasons we decide at will, it is more important than all the other bastard posts.

We've also created a cutesy auto-refreshing pop-up window called Jossip mini., which we will insist you spell with lowercase letters and add a period at the end. Because we're dicks like that. And we got three weeks into a course on branding and don't know how to stop ourselves.

Meanwhile, we decided to take our once-daily Media Blitz round-up and create a whole bullet-pointed list of constantly updated media headlines. It's a cheap attempt to get you to keep coming to the site throughout the day. Is it working yet?

And let's not forget about comments. You've been waiting two and a half years for them, and now we're going to let you poke fun at us as much as we poke fun at – depending on what magazine you work at – you. So use 'em. Just limit the assholeness to CollegeHumor.com levels rather than, say, Fox News. (Though we'll welcome the latter with open arms, natch.)

Let us know what you think. Do you love us more? Or is all this pink making you start to prefer a chaffed vagina? You can email us your thoughts. Or, you know, leave a comment.

We just found out that April 24-29, 2006 is the fourth annual Ethics in Journalism Week — otherwise known as "field day every day" for media bloggers.

In honor of this truly blessed event, we have some celebratory suggestions for y'all.

1) Wear a fedora and threaten millionaires by saying you're in the mafia.

2) Pitch various publications of questionable sexual orientation a story on how popular your boyfriend is.

3) Read a book, copy it word for word, and get an agent from Little, Brown.

4) Report stories without ever doing a Lexis-Nexis search.

5) Use your friends as sources to make up a story for a weekly alterna newspaper.

6) Blog under a pseudonym and piss off your bosses.

7) Fire all your freelancers because everything is obviously their fault.

8) "Accidentally" send one of your columnists an e-mail to your EIC about how much their page blows.

Oh, this week is guaranteed to be even better than the week Lindsay Lohan brought a pregnancy test to the hospital. Don't worry, we'll be here, patiently waiting for you all to fuck up.

Ethics in Journalism Week [Society of Professional Journalists]

Normally, Women's Wear Daily isn't big on blind item type gossip. But today, Jeff Bercovici dangled this one in front of us like a Roosevelt Island bound tram. Ok, more like something we actually want ... let's go with a cold margarita.

In the midst of "Lesley Jane Seymour is leaving, blah, blah we already knew that" gossip, popped up this juicy bit of news:

Will she be the last Hearst editor to relinquish her throne this year? Despite official denials, speculation continues to percolate that the company is pondering changes in command at other titles.

Have an @hearst.com email address? Have a friend with an @hearst.com email address? Know anything about heads of titles looking for a new place to reign? Send your tips to tattle@jossip.com.

Since bloggers can't make any money, we have to live on love of gossip alone. Your anonymous donations are appreciated.

Claire The Decks [Jeff Bercovici, WWD]

Congratulations to our gay sister in sin, Queerty, which just picked up the 2006 Bloggie for Best GLBT Weblog — announced today at the South By Southwest interactive festival in Austin. Kudos to Bradford Shellhammer, Steve Pep, and Scott Rose for their award-winning writing on Jossip's gay title, which only launched in September.

A heartfelt nod to our fellow nominees, Towleroad, Good As You, Joe My God, and Little Yellow Different.

If you happen to be at SXSW, say hello to Dan Renzi (yes, from Real World fame), Queerty's new editor, whose coming contributions will hopefully land us on the nominees list next year. And most of all, thanks to you for reading Queerty — oh, and Jossip too.

Queerty
2006 Bloggies [Weblog Awards]

Our ongoing efforts include more than service journalism and embarassing the public relations industry. They also include collecting information about your person to dump into a vast databank that will help us gleen more money from advertisers. What's in it for you? Another excuse to exercise your reason for visiting Jossip: an enormous time suck.

So help us pad our coffers by answering some questions posed by Blogads – one of our handy advertising firms – customized precisely for you, the gossip maven. Just visit SurveyMonkey's questionnaire, click a few radio buttons, and presto — more on-the-clock time down the crapper.

Blogads Survey [SurveyMonkey]

(And you thought blogging in your pajamas was just a myth.)

After more than two years at the helm of Jossip, we thought it'd be about time to throw in the proverbial towel for a life filled with more than inboxes stuffed with legal papers, publicists' unreturned calls and a Klonopin prescription written explicity for our Jason Binn coverage.

But nooo, our contrived plan to avoid holding down a real job just out of college means instead of letting this website fall apart like Wikipedia's reputation, we're bringing on new help. So please join us in welcoming Jossip's new editor, Corynne Steindler, who comes to us from (among others) Star magazine and the pages of Lloyd Grove's gossip column.

Having endured the authoritarian ship that Bonnie Fuller sails, she just about asked to pay us to write for Jossip. Our accountant and legal counsel, while noting that would be a smart financial move, were a little concerned about accusations of indentured servitude that Blogebrity might throw at us.

Starting today, Corynne will be handling most of Jossip's day-to-day, while current editor David Hauslaib will be spending the next few weeks wiping the names of Jessica Simpson, Judith Miller and Jon Friedman from his mind. Actually, since Jon-Jon publishes a column like, every single day, David's not going anywhere. He can't. There's just too much Friedman to fry.

So he'll still be here in some form, chugging along as his celebrity and media gossip train plows through David Carr's comments.

Now go ahead and give Corynne your luke warmest hello: her email is corynne@jossip.com. Oh, and give her some time to fall in line as well. We can't all be expert conformists right out of the womb.

Yesterday we kicked off our promotion with Bid 2 Beat AIDS's charity auction with tickets to the premieres of both Brokeback Mountain and The Producers.

And today being World AIDS Day and the official start of the eBay bidding, we're not about to stop plugging items worthwhile of your Centurion card, goes toward support LIFEBeat.

Today we're pointing you to Lil' Kim's diamond watch from her own line. And with Kim in prison, you know this has some collector's value to it.

Lil' Kim donated this beautiful diamond watch from her Royalty by Lil' Kim line. It comes in a pink leather presentation box with an additional white band not normally offered with this watch. Both the watch face and the interior and exterior of the box are emblazoned with Kim's Queen Bee logo. Lil' Kim signed the box. Without the additional band (and not considering the value of the autograph), this watch retails for $1200.

Help kick off the bidding with a low $600 offer and you'll sleep easier, knowing you've done your mitzvah for the day.

Bid 2 Beat AIDS LIL' KIM DIAMOND WATCH [eBay]
Bid 2 Beat IDS
Full Bid 2 Beat AIDS Auction Listing [eBay]

Granted, we may not be the most giving of websites out there, but sometimes we do find a heart and a soul at the same sample sale. Today is one of those days.

Jossip (and our big drag queen cuz Queerty) has teamed up with co-sponsors MTV, Yahoo!, Sirius and Borders to support Bid 2 Beat AIDS, an auction that (officially) kicks off tomorrow on World AIDS Day and benefits – you guessed it! – AIDS-related causes and charities.

But this isn't just any old auction where the best you can hope for is an old stereo speaker in need of repair. The Bid 2 Beat AIDS auction is stuffed with celebrity schwag, from MTV Movie Awards podiums to a mega-signatured Vespa and all the Lindsay Lohan memorabilia a tween could want.

So we're not asking you to do something egregiously outside yourself like volunteer you time. Nope, we just want your credit card number and a desire to help those in need. Starting tomorrow, when the auction kicks off, and everyday through the bidding we'll feature an item that you must do your damndest to win, ya hear?

Actually, we're going to start right now with two big ticket items: Premiere tickets to both Brokeback Mountain and The Producers. Be the first among your friends to watch Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger get their freak on together, or rub Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane's on-screen team up in the faces of your coworkers.

Just bid, you celeb-obssessed fools, and raise some cash for T-cells.

Bid 2 Beat AIDS
Full Bid 2 Beat AIDS Auction Listing [eBay]
Auction Item Photo Gallery [Flickr]

As you probably already noticed, we had some outrageous technical difficulties for most of the day — which was doubly unfortunate, because not only are the advertisers pissy, but we had spent last night convincing ourselves to wake up early and do our job rather than skimp out just because of the holiday.

But we've never been very good at making choices. And if all goes accordingly, tomorrow won't be any different: We won't quit until we down an entire pumpkin pie alone.

We'll see you Monday, tired and fat.