Remember when Women's Health took the arbitrarily-decided 2nd place in Ad Age's Top Ten list last month? As it turns out, just because you run one of the only successful magazines in a spiraling industry doesn't mean that you know what you're doing.
Case in point: David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of both Men and Women's Health fired founding editor Tina Johnson when he took over the reins mid-year, but her name was still listed during the Ad Age awards ceremony. Whoops. Hopefully it won't effect the magazine's someone miraculous ad count.
Now on to brighter things: Fitness editor Denise Brodey may be in line for the open spot at Health.
It took less than two months after taking the reigns of Women's Health for Dave Zinczenko, the Men's Health editor and new editorial director of Rodale's group, to get rid of the lady mag's founding editor Tina Johnson. She helped launch the spin-off and steer it toward its current standing, as a well-read and well-regarded book in its category, and Zinczenko's ousting her this week will surely disturb a few of Johnson's followers. No matter, it's likely going to follow with some other staff shake ups.
Officially, Johnson left the magazine voluntarily. But either way, her departure isn't the only revolution at the mag: CONTINUED »
… of Women's Health at least. The Rodale SVP and Men's Health chief has been named editorial director of the lady mag. Which totes means we're going to see him start working out with fit girls now, yes?
Who's that fella working on his pecs and delts? CONTINUED »
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck begrudgingly admits that things aren't exactly "Rosie" with her former co-host.
• CNN precludes us from making fun of their model-hot (and dumb as a brick!) anchor people by doing something nice for everyone.
• Carl Bernstein's biography of Hillary Clinton is really about…Carl Bernstein.
• Overprotective parents (who have already censored their children from harmful television, internet and video game content) search for new and more inventive ways to ruin their kids' lives.
• Finally! Men's Health shows us how to resist our strongest temptations, like that "tremendous" food on Air Force One.
• Meanwhile, Details EIC Dan Peres to make like Dave Zinczenko. Or, in other words, "to become annoyingly ubiquitous and offer free blow jobs to anyone who will help promote his book."
Did you hear the news? Dave Zinczenko has extended his omnipresence to include the realm of television game shows!
The Men's Health editor in chief appeared on "Jeopardy!" Tuesday night, but not as one of the contestants — he was the "answer" to a Double Jeopardy question in a category on books on nutrition. "David Zinczenko, editor of Men's Health Magazine, wrote a diet book named for these not always washboard muscles," read the clue. Contestant and four-day "Jeopardy!" champion Mehrun Etebari answered the $400 question correctly ("What are abs?"), and took home $37,900 in winnings for the day. "This proves once again that abs are the answer to everything," Zinczenko joked Wednesday.
And lest you somehow think Dave's hardworking publicist had anything to do with this, WWD assures us that Jeopardy! questions are "crafted internally by a staff of nine writers and eight researchers."
However, more surprising than the fact that Zincenko has suddenly become pop trivia was the banal nature of the question.
• Dave Zinczenko makes the CEO of Joseph Abboud look foolish and is forced to choose between Elaine's and the Waverly Inn. (What would Details do??)
• News Corp., NBC challenge YouTube by creating their own video site. Which is kind of like suing YouTube, except much smarter!
• Everyone likes the brand new Time except the editor in chief of In Touch weekly.
• The creator of the "Orwellian" YouTube ad against Hillary Clinton is anticlimactically revealed to be…some random Democrat who works for a digital consulting firm.
• Brian Grazer's personal life gets in the way of his professional ambitions. And for once, we're not resorting to low-brow "pee" humor.
• The EIC of the Russian edition of Forbes was found guilty of defamation yesterday, in news that's probably "much, much more relevant" in Russia.
According to a recent study conducted by the American Council on Science and Health, many of the nation's popular magazine's aren't exactly up to snuff in their nutritional coverage.
The council tested 21 popular magazines (and, um, Men's Fitness) for "accuracy, presentation and recommendations," and here's a sampling of their findings:
At rock bottom was American Media's Men's Fitness, whose articles, said the council, led the panel "to wonder whether this magazine is in the business of publishing fiction." The report cited "inaccurate, exaggerated or undocumented statements" in a March 2005 nutrition article, such as "alcohol plus a steak dinner works like lighter fluid on your metabolism," concluding: "We have rarely seen so many myths, misconceptions and unproven notions in a single article."
Geez, you'd have think they'd have singled out Penthouse, Maxim or even Fast Food Weekly, but nope, apparently Men's Fitness takes the cake for Most Fictionalized Health Reporting. Which would be a whole lot funnier if it didn't mean Men's Health editor in chief, Dave Zinczenko, will be walking around all day with a big shit-eating grin bigger shit-eating grin than usual.
**Okay. Fine. That one's not an "actual" magazine. But if it was, we'd totally subscribe!
Because every blog post is an opportunity to plug one of his books, Men's Health editor Dave Zinczenko rips another chapter from Men, Love & Sex for his latest stab at generating comments on his Yahoo blog. This time around: male vanity. "Are Men More Vain Than Women?," Dave asks, hoping to eschew any notion that his perfectly pressed button downs, haircuts every 8 days, and stock of eight different shaving creams somehow makes him fit in with his American male bretheren.
It's doubtful that you'll hear many men ask anybody how they look in their jeans, or if their back hair is getting too Konglike, or if that flabby jiggle hanging over the belts is something they should be concerned about. While it may be common for women to articulate their bodily insecurities (in hopes that men will dismiss them, perhaps), men rarely say anything about theirs. That's because they're afraid that women will label them as too vain, too weak, too metro, too feminine, too devoid of the confidence they want and expect in a man.
Or, they may label him Dan Peres. Zing!
• BlackBook to go monthly. Steve Garbarino to cut cheques for unpaid writers. Quality over quantity. Clearly, this isn't the BlackBook we know and love. [Radar]
• It's probably not the first time Men's Health honcho Dave Zinczenko freaked out when he found a dead blonde on the floor. [P6]
• The Brad Pitt v. Vanity Fair saga is much ado about nothing. Except Brad Pitt's inability to control who puts his washboard abs on their magazine. [WWD]
• While more suitors have lined up for Time Inc.'s 18 title fire sale, the price tag may have dropped by a hundred mil. [Media Ink]
• Conde Nast shutters W Jewelry. Patek Philippe sings a sorrow song. [WWD]
This latest job opportunity just in from the good folks over at Mediabistro:
Priority is given to those freelancers who are willing to write about the experience of sleeping with David Zinczenko.
Racy Men's Mag Seeks Writers for 'Relationship' [Mediabistro]
• Anna Nicole Smith makes a fortune off her dead son. Props on this snag goes to the always classy tabloid In Touch.
• We imagine what it would be like to get it on with David Zinczenko. And then we stop, because we may have to do a TV spot with him someday.
• Michael Cooke gets his Chicago Sun-Times back. Keeps extremely obnoxious nick-name Cookie Monster.
• With Ken Baker around, the scandals just never stop.
• Head of Coutorture, Julie Fredrickson tells her fashion blogger peons to fuck off. But, at least she didn't stalk them all.
• An X17 paparazzo almost ran over Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake. But, unfortunately, he missed.
• Megu gets kinky in the kitchen — sexual harassment never tasted so good.
We wouldn't put it past David Zinczenko to end up on television with a lady he once "had relations" with. Still, the fact that this actually happened (well, at least according to Radar*) is beyond hilarious.
In 2003, LA-based writer Anna David did a little experiment with New York sex writer Amy Sohn. By writing a Playboy article, they wrote off their sexual adventures in each other's cities. Anna (we're not using her last name, David, because it could get confusing) came to NYC and Sohn went to LA. And who do you think Anna ran into in our brightly lit big city? That's right. Z-Man himself.
Needless to say, the two got it on, he showed her his moves from a sex article he was working on (best excuse ever!) …. a few weeks later, Anna wrote her Playboy article on Zinczenko's knack for going down.
Despite finding him "cheesy and too into himself" on first inspection, the writer soon succumbed to Magazine Guy's pickup moves, which included massaging her back in a taxi, showing off a gift from designer Tom Ford, and telling her about a story he was editing on cunnilingus.
While Anna originally kept Zinczenko's identity secret, the Daily News outed him the "magazine guy" on the heels of the article. Well, all is water under the London Bridge, right? Nope. The two appeared side-by-side on a Fox News segment yesterday! Radar reports Z seemed somewhat uncomfortable — possibly because after his night of passion, he never called Anna again. (Uh, does anyone really expect a guy like him to call her?)
Just goes to show, the media world is a tiny, tiny bubble. One day you have a girl's twat in your face, and a few years later, you're discussing sex on national television. Yeah, we would give that a rating of "awkward" as well.
Men's Health-er Eats, Shoots and Leaves [Jeff Bercovici, Radar]
Not content with simply using step-by-step workout photos to demonstrate how to "go from flab to fab" (oh wait, isn't that a Glamour coverline?), Men's Health is taking its core mission – to turn every fatty into a guy worth sleeping with – one step further. This fall, David Zinczenko & Co. are bringing you Urbanathlon, an actual event stamped with MH's logo that will give readers a chance to get to know each other outside their regulary monthly exchange of love notes in the Letters To The Editor section.
Billed as a "city-based, multi-disciplinary race that will have men and women running, scrambling through urban obstacles, climbing and more," the Urbanathlon will ruin an autum Sunday of anyone looking to hang out in Central Park or Riverside Park, Chelsea Piers, the Intrepid Museum, and even the World Trade Center. And with an approximate total distance of 10 miles for the race, that's a lot of sweaty New Yorkers this side of the East River.
Most important to us, however, is not lowering your cholesterol or eliminating cellulite. It's tracking down which Men's Health (and, by extension, Rodale) staffers will be partaking. And, as it turns out, the top dogs will be: We're told MH's vice president and publisher Jack Essig will be racing, as will ad director Ronan Gardiner and – wait for it, wait for it – EIC David Zinczenko! (And some other lowly MHers, likely coerced into racing by the promise of free tees.)
A Men's Health rep tells us 210 people already signed up within the first 24 hours of registration — not a bad number considering we only need one of them to report back to us on how Zinczenko's calves look in action.
So, we've sort of gotten used to David Zinczenko talking about G-Spots and blow jobs at 9 a.m. on the Today show. But this morning, he and some some screechy voice lady (if it wasn't Friday we might have caught her name) really shed some light on the birds and the bees. Apparently, there is a difference between men and women when it comes to how often they get busy. Sort of. It's really complicated.
Zinczenko explains that men and women both wanna' do it equally as often — about 3-4 times a week. So, what's the problem? Let Z-Man tell you how it is.
CONTINUED »
Last night we hit up Pravda for an hour or so of white wine chatter hosted by Best Life EIC Stephen Perrine. It never takes more than three sips of pinot to forget what party you're at and why you're celebrating, so we were sure to write it down ahead of time: we were mingling among a sea of PR types to honor Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?, the new tome by Mark Leyner and BIll Goldberg. Sure, they weren't giving the the book gratis to any partygoers – you had to buy it! for $14! and it was only in paperback! – but who cares? Men's Health's David Zinczenko was there letting his pecs burst through a white button down, which is about all we need to hear to RSVP.
There was Zinczenko's comparing Men's Health to Cosmopolitan – they're both "horny" magazines, which is why he and Kate White are BFFs – New York's press denizen Serena Torrey showering the bar with glitter (or perhaps it just looked that way; her beauty is blinding), Best Life publisher Mary Murcko ensuring your hand was never without a cocktail (and, should have you two hands free .. well, you get the idea), and authors Mark Leyner and Bill Goldberg hanging on each other's well-sculpted shoulders. Though it was Arianna Huffington's arrival – on the arm of Eat The Press chaperone Rachel Sklar – that caused a stir. (Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Arianna's dressing like a 24-year-old? And pulling it off?)
Though we expected a room brimming with male model types (or at least industry vets who could pass as former abdominal display cases), we weren't entirely let down: Pravda's strawberry martini proved worth the trek into a below-ground lair of air conditioning heaven. Even if we never even caught a glance at the book's cover.
• Now you can rent Chris Pirillo's chest. No, not for actually running your fingers down … for ad space. Duh. [Blogebrity]
• What? Men's Health employees aren't enjoying their celeb editor? Maybe all those Today show appearances got to "Z Man's" already-puffed-up head. [Gawker]
• Tom Cruise finally owns himself. Or, well, at least he owns his domain name … the Scientolgoists still technically own him. [Socialite's Life]
• How we missed yesterday's news that a Statey was pulled over after hitting a cab, and the New York Post has a video of a bunch of half naked injured girls running away from the vehicle, carrying a paper bag mind you, is beyond us. But we did, and here it is. [NYP]
• Finally, Nerve launches their Video Lounge. Ufortch, it is not the moving softcore porn we all hoped it would be. [Nerve Film Lounge]
• This new "who's your celeb twin?" site is so good that white guys look like Chris Tucker and Glenda Bailey looks like Angelina Jolie. [AP]
Did you know that Men's Health editor David Zinczenko has a really really great life? Well, at least according to the senior citizen media columnist James Brady. (Personally, if we had to go on the Today show three times a week, we would hate our lives … then again if we lunched at the Four Seasons in Milan and had a Hampton's crash pad, we might deal with it.)
So, what makes "the Z man's" life so freaking fab? Well, he shares a non-fratty getaway in South Hampton with his buddy Dan Abrams, is getting ready for his second book release, travels the world, and loves his job.
Oh, and also, he seems to have played some role in the death of longtime GQ editor Art Cooper.
"I was telling him about Best Life, and I said, 'Is there anything you could do to help us?' There was no non-compete clause with Conde Nast, and Art said we ought to talk more. But he felt ill and went to the bar to lie down. Next thing, Julian (the co-owner) was calling an ambulance. It was a massive stroke."
Maybe it's time for Dan Abrams to start scoping out real estate on Fire Island?
Living The Good Life [James Brady, Forbes]
Sports Illustrated is fishing for subscribers for their new lad mag, Sports Illustrated Edge. The mag is currently in the early stages, but Time Inc. gave an official green light on the test mailing. All this comes on the heels of American Media Inc., who recently shuttered a majority of their fitness mags. It seems SI could fill a gap with much less competition on the newsstand.
Obviously this new competitive market equals an all-out "feud" between SI Edge's Terry McDonell and Men's Health editor David Zinczenko. McDonell and Zinczencko take jabs each other via name calling … and since they both eat at Elaine's, the least hip media hangout on Earth, it's bound to equal a food fight at some point.
For media watchers, the pending launch also seems to be the beginning of a feud between Terry McDonell, the managing editor of Sports Illustrated, and David Zinczenko, the editor-in-chief of Rodale flagship Men's Health.
And since both of them hang out at Elaine's, the upper East Side watering hole favored by media swells, things could get very interesting if SI Edge, as it is officially called, moves beyond a test.
Interesting? A cat fight on the Today show would be "interesting." Sitting on opposite ends at the diner? Even Star Jones is more interesting than that.
SI FLASHES EDGE-Y SIDE [Keith Kelly, New York Post]
If you are a frequent reader of the Memo Pad column in Women's Wear Daily, read Jeff Bercovici's column very closely today. Because we just about lost it when we thought his story was about a bunch of big wig editors getting food poisoning at Michael's.
A bad batch of Cobb salad could have wiped out a good portion of the magazine industry's top talent Wednesday afternoon as Elle's Roberta Myers, Teen Vogue's Amy Astley, Men's Health's David Zinczenko, Blender's Craig Marks, O's Amy Gross, ESPN The Magazine's Gary Hoenig and Essence's Angela Burt-Murray convened at table one in Michael's restaurant.
As in, we thought the bad batch of Cobb salad really existed and the "could have" referred to the wipe-out. But, no. The article is just about some boring meetings Cindi Leive will be holding in honor of her fancy new ASME president title.
Which is so so much less exciting than a massive Michael's induced food poisoning.
Power Table [Jeff Bercovici, WWD]
Editorial Director
