This year instead of making us work, Jossip grand poobah David Hauslaib asked us to write "at least one holiday-related post." Well David, readers, this is it.-raronauer
I should be working today. It’s Christmas Eve, and I have no tree to trim, no last minutes presents to buy and no epiphanies about the greater importance of my actions in the Universe to have.
I’m Jewish, and to me Christmas means nothing. The entire holiday is a bit like I Am Legend. I’m aware something’s happening, that other people are excited, but the production isn’t really marketed at me and I have no interest in participating. CONTINUED »
Rupert Murdoch (a.k.a. "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas Cheer/Corporate Sponsored Drink-Ups") has evidently elected to wait until the shareholders officially approve News Corp.'s acquisition of Dow Jones before including WSJers in the annual office holiday fete. Left out of Friday's semi-mandatory corporation outing, finance-y scribes evidently threw themselves a smaller party, involving pizza, cheap booze and a location extremely close to home: their insufferable work cubicles.
"I thought we were the crown jewel," moaned one [WSJ] staffer, who sent [NYMag's Intelligencer] this haiku summing up the festivities:
Make merry, they said. / Cake. Cookies. Juice. Soda cans. / But we ate at our desks.
That extra syllable in the last line? It stands for extra despair.
Just Trimming The Fat Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia gave a half dozen employees their New Year’s resolution for 2008: find a new job. The company let go about six people on Friday, and more layoffs could come today. There’s talk of boycotting the holiday party in TriBeCa as a stand against seasonal decadence in the face of job cuts. Um, clearly now is not the time to say no to free drinks. [WWD]
Did John Mayer hook up with Ricki Lake at the Sunshine and Sachs holiday party? Probably not! But that's what Page Six insinuates in today's bizarre/gossipy item entitled "RICKI, DON'T LOSE THAT NUMBER.' Writes Richard Johnson (and, to a lesser degree, Paula Froelich) and co:
John Mayer…made a beeline for Ricki Lake at the Sunshine Sachs p.r. company’s Christmas party. The two talked about Lake’s new documentary, “The Business of Being Born,” before Mayer confessed, “I’ve had a crush on you for two years.” Helpful publicists then herded the two to a back table, where they exchanged numbers. Lake soon left and went to the Rose Bar, where Mayer texted her throughout the night.
A few minor points to consider.
At last night's Sunshine & Sachs holiday party (held at One Little West Twelfth) attendees shed their Winter layers and skipped their respective Hanukkah parties for the chance to mingle with socially awkward media/publicist types! Invited guests sipped Truffletinis (and chowed down hors d'oeuvres like mini-cheese/basil pizzas and tuna tartar) while alternately watching Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby spontaneously dance on a banquette, ignoring Isiah Washington and mocking John Mayer's reliance on not one but TWO burly bouncers despite a conspicuous absence of screaming teenage girls/fans.
You can't judge a book by its cover, but you just might be able to glean a few inconvenient truths about the editors-in-chiefs based on the locations of their respective magazines' holiday shindigs.
Take, for instance, Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman, who "will host her magazine's first official holiday party on Dec. 11 at Runway of all places, a fashion-inspired lounge that shares its name with the magazine in The Devil Wears Prada."
Coincidence? Or just a matter of time before the next disgruntled (former) staffer drafts the sequel?
Editorial Director
