JOSSIP REPORTS — More info developing on the Wendi Murdoch front: Another source confirms Wendi's coworkers know all about the closeness of she and MySpace's CEO Chris DeWolfe, since Murdoch's wife left little to discretion when it came to her friendship with the social network's co-founder. Two years ago, Wendi was "ecstatic" to be visiting her male friend in California and then jet-setting to China with him to complete the setup of MySpace China, say our spy. CONTINUED »
From left to right: Wendi Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch, Tom Anderson, Chris DeWolfe
JOSSIP REPORTS — First there was David Wolf, the gent who Wendi Deng Murdoch reportedly sexed when he was just a PR guy and she was still married to Jake Cheng.
Now we've been directed to a rumored liaison between Wendi and Chris DeWolfe, the MySpace chief who Wendi's husband and News Corp. made a very rich man when they snapped up his social network and appointed him leader. Wendi's been working heavily with the Chinese operations and expansion of MySpace, so her routine with DeWolfe makes for an excellent cover should their rumored relations hold true.
And as the story goes, Wendi and Chris are spending their time managing more than friend requests. CONTINUED »
It's inevitable: in the future, all story leads are going to come from Facebook. So how best to prepare for the upcoming social networkalypse, when all sources will need to be wooed with a promise of a hatching egg and several pokes? By having reputable(?) news networks set up their own stake in the virtual friend zone.
Welcome to Fox News' Facebook, you guys!
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Remember that smear piece on Cindy McCain that the Times put up a couple weeks ago, back when that shit mattered? The reporter, Jodi Kantor, got some of her sources from trolling through MySpace and Facebook, asking 16 and 17-year olds of her future sources if she could talk to their parents.
Sort of like the 21st century version of the cold call. But not really. And now Kantor has opened up a whole ethical can of worms over what is and is not acceptable etiquette when dealing with minors or social networking sites when you are a reporter.
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It was a busy weekend in the life of Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson. The inseparable duo gallivanted around Paris, taking in the sights, enjoying the nightlife and being pelted by PETA-approved flour bombs. As you do.
Evidently some crazed French animal rights activist got all up in arms over a fur stole that Lindsay was sporting at a Paris nightclub, so she threw a bag of flour at the "actress" before running off down the sidewalk, Napoleon Dynamite-style. (You can watch the video here.)
Not to worry, though: Sam retaliated in the most effective way possible, by blogging about the incident on MySpace. Full rant after the jump.
Raven Symone, a Cosby Show alum and former Disney star (before Miley Cyrus came along), is evidently a paparazzi target. Why any publications would want to run pictures of Raven is beyond us — this girl typically keeps to herself and doesn't do anything scandalous or exciting. Until now.
See, Raven has some sort of issue with her eyebrows. They don't look like typical eyebrows, so she normally has to fill them in. One day she got lazy and didn't take the time to do that (understandable), and the paparazzi snapped away, which led to people making fun of her eyebrows and weight issues. Up until this point we're on Raven's side — but then she had to take to her MySpace, of all places, and give us a Kanye-esque caps lock tirade of epic proportions. There's lots of exclamation points and typos, just to keep it real.
Rupert Murdoch-owned MySpace began a music service yesterday which allows users access to thousands of songs from four major labels. In an effort to compete with sites such as 8tracks and the soon to be relaunched Muxtape, MySpace is offering free plays of the songs, with an option to download from Amazon. This was how Muxtape worked before it was shut down, but one assumes Murdoch actually went through the appropriate channels to develop the deal.
Smaller, independant labels with a presence on MySpace are throwing a ginormous hissy fit that they weren't invited to MySpace music, despite the fact that the site has done more to cultivate an original, user-generated music scene online than any other website. Say what you will about the vapid nature of MySpace, but it's become an industry tool in pushing out DIY content of its users for a worldwide audience.
Of course, it's not the bands, per say, that are upset about MySpace Music:
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Ah, the Australian Scrooge McDuck. Do you ever wonder about what you would say to 77-year-old Rupert Murdoch if you were ever in the same room as him? Well, now Esquire graciously provides you with a list of insightful soundbites from the man himself without the nagging context of "questions" from the reporter, meaning you can just insert your liberal hippie rant into one of the spaces in the margins and then choose whichever sad, callow response best suits the topic at hand:
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It's not that we frown on celebrities getting involved in the political process. Watching Ben Affleck and Susan Sarandon anoint themselves Hollywood's liaisons to Barack Obama is a comforting spectator sport, because it means we don't have to busy ourselves with making movies, getting famous, and securing access to the celebrity politician. Then there's Chuck Norris, who probably just wanted to show John McCain how to use the Total Gym and got roped into backing the Republican party. But when starlets who've done little more than turn high-profile DUIs and high-profile box office bombs into a career, well, it makes us long for the days of … unregistered voter Paris Hilton encouraging us to vote. CONTINUED »
We've come to the conclusions that the Lohan family can't survive without being involved in some sort of public feud. The latest was with America's hero, Anderson Cooper, but this time they're keeping it inside the family and battling father Michael Lohan. Oh boy.
Upon news that Lindsay's girlfriend Samantha Ronson plans to write a tell-all, Michael went into a tirade accusing Sam of using LiLo for fame. Mike's not so self-aware, is he? In response, Lindsay pulled her dad aside and had a mature talk about how his actions hurt her. Just kidding, she went to Access Hollywood to announce that her father is "out of control."
So now it's Samantha's turn, and she unleashed her anger via MySpace, Brooke Hogan-style.
While MySpace lays the groundwork to become the next Friendster — read: over — all the kiddies are running to Facebook. Perhaps this explains why Fox News, the right-wing television channel from the media company News Corp., has decided to latch on to Facebook, rather than MySpace, which News Corp. paid more than a half billion dollars to buy. This is good news for College Republicans, bad news for Tila Tequila.
We've come to the conclusion that Dane Cook is a genius, because one simple MySpace (yes, we're still trolling that site this afternoon) rant has gotten more people talking about his upcoming movie than should be allowed.
Apparently Dane has an issue with the movie's poster and has decided to point out every little thing that's wrong with it ("My left side looks like Brittany Spears' vagina"), much like a teenage girl who feels the urge to criticize every acceptable picture of herself in a quest for gratification.
Oh noers, MySpace is teaming up with MSNBC to hold a "citizen journalist" contest, with the prize being a trip to either the DNC or RNC (depending on which party your Top Eight friends are voting for) and continuing exposure on MSNBC. The submission deadline was mid-July, so unfortunately you missed out on this once-in-a-blogtime opportunity. Again, most bloggers/people on the internet do not have the credentials to do objective reporting, but hey, it's MSNBC so luckily that's not a requirement. But cranky Keith Olbermann won't agree to having xxxSEXYJESSY82xxx or whomever on his program. Is this because MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch, the older and grouchier media kingpin? Olbermann's reps have said that the conditions of the contest only extend to the winner appearing on Morning Joe, but Keith has heard of the phenomena of MySpace-face and doesn't want to be upstaged by a sixteen year old with better hair.
Koobface is not the latest thingamajig in the arsenal of objects you can throw at other Facebook users. Instead, Koobface is a set of two new computer worms (like viruses, but more interested in spawning than infecting) that are spreading themselves all around Facebook and its lesser predecessor MySpace through the sites' comments sections. Users are tricked into involuntary computer infections when they click on links titled "Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street," which might've been a headline on TMZ but is actually a nefarious attempt to get people to download a video player "patch." And if you upgraded to the "new" Facebook, you probably deserve it. [D'Technology]
When television networks are treated to the ratings bonanza (read: 60 million viewers) known as this fall's four presidential debates, viewers will see PBS anchors Jim Lehrer and Gwein Ifill each moderate a debate, along with NBC's special something Tom Brokaw and CBS News' former anchor and current chief Washington correspondent Bob Scheiffer. That means no involvement from ABC News or, for that matter, a one Katie Couric. But you know who was selected to participate by the Commission on Presidential Debates? MySpace. News Corp.'s social network will power MyDebates.org, which will live stream the debates and poll users in real time on the issues being discussed. Granted, this is not the same thing as letting MySpace users frame the questions, like the CNN-YouTube primary debates did. But at least they were asked to the table. Sorry Couric. Sorry Gibson.
Vanity Fair isn't the only brand that should be above the fluff of social networks but is instead begging to plant a footprint there. Luxury retailer Cartier, whose watches are so feverishly produced in various knockoff varieties, is joining the fray with a MySpace page. This is apparently newsworthy because upscale brands like Cartier are supposedly reluctant to give up complete control of their brand, so the Richemont brand's embracing of Web 2.0 represents some sort of sea change. Except not really.
The Cartier page on MySpace looks like any other souped-up profile: custom background, streaming music, list of friends (3,800 total, some of them celebrities). The only thing that's really different is that Cartier, like many other brands hoping to connect to MySpace's young audience, must pay a fee to the social network to have an official page. And what do they get in return? A promise from MySpace's censors that anything appearing on the page "respects the brand’s objectives," which means if you're shown performing a keg stand in your profile picture, your friend request will likely be declined — which is a telling sign that it's MySpace, and not Cartier, who's dictating what the watch and jewelry company's profile page looks like. It's the sweet smell of outsourced luxury.
MySpace is said to be shopping around its public relations account to tech-focused agencies. Mainly, the social networking site would like to stop being referred to as "over." [PR Week]
Actress Jessica Biel, who is often photographed by the paparazzi looking very unhappy next to professional jerk Justin Timberlake, blogged her first bloggy blog item on The MySpace yesterday! She's down in South Carolina filming the movie Nailed with Jake Gyllenhaal and Tracy Morgan, and she's only got a few minutes of rest while sitting in her trailer, probably drinking SmartWater, because that's what celebrities like her do, so she's punching out her very first item where she reports she is "thrilled to join the tech revolution!" And we are thrilled to welcome her! But for being such a novice blogger, Ms. Biel has already learned rule No. 1 of blogging: self-promotion. This medium is barely worth the effort if you aren't going to rush from the gate and start plug-plug-plugging away at your own projects. CONTINUED »
Paris Hilton, the most dangerous thing to happen to reality television and the animal kingdom, is P.O.'d over a story that surfaced last week that she tried to buy a new puppy from The Puppy Store in Los Angeles for use in a photo shoot she was en route to, but was refused by a store clerk who was probably wise to her illegal dog owning ways. Page Six reported the professional red carpet walker "went 'ballistic' … She started screaming, 'I love my puppies! I want my baby!'" But it's all untrue, says Ms. Hilton! CONTINUED »
Like Eliot Spitzer once did, your "words have touched me," wrote Ashley Alexandra Dupre on her MySpace blog on Saturday, in what's her first public statement since her the ex-gov's call girl scandal broke. (Well, the day it all went down, she did post: "Yeah, I did it.")
To her supporters (fans?), she writes, "Thank you all so much for taking the time to send me a bit of strength and inspiration via e-mail or comment. … Your words have touched me, and I thank you for that … with all my heart, I love you guys!!! :)" And to the haters? "I love you too, because it makes me push myself and want it even more."
Also, she's sorry if your friend request got deleted! ZOMG, the MySpace is haaard!
Editorial Director
