Rupert Murdoch isn't the only one interested in taking over China. Playboy's Hugh Hefner has his sights trained there, also, with plans to bring a Playboy Mansion to the country in 2009. Though, to be fair, it's not like Hef is opening up in Shanghai, as he hoped for — but Hong Kong's gambling mecca Macau, where you can pretty much sell 14-year-old brides off the back of a vegetable cart and not get a citation.
Sure, maybe we scored a mention in Playboy, but not everything can be about us — especially when we're merely a footnote. The real meat in "L.A. Confidential 2007" about the new gossip industry (ooh, Web 2.0!) in this month's issue is between the article's scribe, omnipresent byline Deborah Schoeneman, and former friend and current foe, Paula Froelich of Page Six. Or, as ShowNoMan refers to her, "Jane."
That whole friendship-gone-awry really went down the gutter when Deb used Jared Paul Stern's caper with Ron Burkle as means to score soundbites attributing her authority to her new book, 4% Famous. Cue Paula's anger, a flurry of scathing emails, and the resulting pseudonym in Playboy.
Which all could have been avoided …if only Page Six had a blog. Then the column could have had a soundbite in the article. From Jane.
Exclusive:
Two weeks ago, Playboy Enterprises reported a nearly 20% decline in fourth-quarter profits. At the time, CEO (and PEI Chairman) Christie Hefner had to say:
While the year clearly has been challenging for the domestic TV and magazine businesses, growth in our licensing, online, international TV and mobile initiatives support our belief that these businesses will drive the company's performance going forward.
Not so, says our tipster on the inside. According to our source, Playboy bigwigs will be meeting at 3pm (Pacific time) to inform their underlings that the entire department (or very close to it) is being laid off.
Says our snitch:
"The word came down today. Its basically closing down the whole network. Executive Vice President, Sol Weisel, over 25 years at Playboy, gone…Everyone is gone, Dan Smith, Tom Furr, tons of VPs..anyone on staff is being released and freelancers don't know whats going on yet. They will be assembled at 3pm (Pacific time) today and be told details. Playboy TV is dead."
Hear anything else? Be sure to tip us off. Meanwhile, we'll try and gently break the news to our porn-addicted brother, Queerty.
• The creator of AMNY wants Boston residents to have TWO disposable dailies!
• Footage of Anna Nicole Smith failing to respond to CPR sells for $500K. Hey, you know what else is dead? Dignity.
• Top journalist to take the stand in the Scooter Libby trial; a puzzled courtroom artist wonders if there's a way to depict "good writing" in her portraiture.
• Journalists are just a bunch of elitist snobs; except for those totally grounded dudes over at The New Yorker.
• Playboy archives to go digital! Just like the New Yorker archives, only with porn!
• The modern woman is unimpressed by uber-perky morning talk show hosts. Nope, no New Yorker punchline there.
• Jeff Zucker accused of being 'too focused on the Les Moonves rivalry, not focused enough on YouTube kicking television's ass.'
• Air Force sergeant Michelle Manhart evidently missed the clause that forbade her from posing in Playboy, clad only in her official military dog tags.
• Michael Wolf follows in Tom Freston's footsteps and gets unceremoniously booted from MTV.
• NYT Co. eliminates 125 jobs in Boston because, well, the Times is a New York paper.
• A&E "completely shocked" to learn that people are far more interested in Sopranos reruns than new episodes of A&E Biography.
• Roger Ebert to sit on his thumbs during this year's Academy Awards; Richard Roeper described as "nervous" about holding down the fort.
• Fox news continues its love affair with Condi by blasting CBS for airing photos of the TomKitten via objective third-party, Father Jonathan.
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]
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]
• If Elizabeth Hasselbeck gives you a reason to live … well, your life is lookin' pretty sad. [FBNY, EW]
• Lindsay Lohan wants to go to Iraq — American troops beg, "haven't we been through enough?" [People]
• Page Six finally comes around to outing Joe Francis for the psycho fuck he is. While still managing to plug the news reporter Claire Hoffman was able to extract before being slammed up against a car and fondled. [Page Six]
• Here are a few shots of our fave Faux Par Natalie Reid, courtesy of our super paparazzi sleuth Molly. Somehow it feels less creepy than shots of real Paris Hilton. Is that weird? [Mollygood]
• Don't ask us how we missed this moving picture of Britney Spears on crack … but in case you missed it, too, this is freakin' hilarious. We think she says "huhn?" about 47 times. [You Tube]
Remember the fake Paris Hilton (who we lovingly refer to as FauxPar) Natalie Reid? Well, it was decided a while ago that she, unlike Chantelle Houghton, was the real fake Paris. And now, her scheduled appearance in Playboy more or less confirms it.
Reid's nude photos, along with her surely intriguing interview, are set to run in the August 4 issue to Playboy. Here's an excerpt from that titillating article about Natalie spending quality time with real Paris.
"She invited me to her house in West Hollywood, and we hung out. She was totally in shock, like staring at me and taking a lot of pictures."
Hopefully that's something FauxPar enjoys … having her photo taken, and people staring at her.
Playboy To Publish Nude Paris Hilton Lookalike [Fishbowl, NY]
Earlier:Be fake Paris Hilton's Friendster
We have no idea what the punishment for breaking indency laws in Jakarta is … and we would almost prefer not to. But when media meets foreign law meets nudie mags, we can't turn away. Playboy is standing before legal trouble yet again (the first incident being that ripped off Jessica Alba photo) in Jakarta. Officials in the Muslim dominated country claim that by posing in the mag, two models, along with the magazines EIC, are all in violation of the country's indecency laws.
Even though, you know, they had clothes on and were under the impression the weren't in violation of anything. To avoid future problems, Playboy has moved their East Asian office to Bali, where plenty of Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoots (which is what these versions of Playboy most resemble) have been conducted with few complications … except for the sand in Heidi Klum's crotch.
Leave it to Dylan Stableford to find some legit news on porn. (And imagine how difficult it must have been to sort through all the Asian porn news before getting to this.)
Well, we probably would have been on the hunt for Zinio's new site Undercovermags, but we weren't expecting the in your lap nudey mags to unfold until October.
See, now instead of having to click through the websites of Rockstar, Swank, and Penthouse, you can get your complet naked chick fix in one stop.
With Penthouse and Playboy making concerted efforts to legitimize their content beyond the centerfold to gear and gadgets, it's not surprising that part of this push has involved digital offerings. Digital magazine publisher Zinio has quietly launched something called Undercovermags.com, a sort of one-stop shop for such titles as Penthouse, Penthouse Letters, Swank and Celebrity Sleuth, many with subscription options that include video.
Playboy, however, remains on Zino's "legit" mag site … because, that mag (with its amazing interviews) is much more journalism than porn.
Porn Mags Quietly Go Digital
Undercover Mags [Undercovermags.com]
• The first openly lesbian Playboy playmate gets in a police altercation in Chelsea. Just another day for the NYPD. [NYDN]
• Remember that NYU student who set up a fake hedge fund and ended up on the cover of New York magazine? Yeah, he's gonna fry now. [NYT]
• Why on earth do we even let Ann Coulter enter our city? [YouTube]
• Dreams of an enormous downtown apartment get crushed by email keys of one blog reader. [Gawker]
• Summer has officially begun! Shakespear in the Park has launched in all its ridiculously long line and hippie picnic glory. [Gothamist]
In other retarded blonde celebrity news, Anna Nicole Smith has won her court battle over her late husband's fortune. The Supreme Court ruled that the Trimspa baby has the right to pursue a portion of J. Howard Marshall's $1.6 billion estate.
As anyone who has ever watched the E! True Hollywood Story knows, Smith met her senior citizen husband when she was 26 and dancing go-go for Percocet money. After he passed, Marshall's son faught to keep Anna Nicole from getting her hands on any of his dad's cash. Well, besides the millions he already doused her in before he died.
It has been a tough fight, full of President Bush backing Anna Nicole and photographers face planting outside of the courtroom to snap a photo of the recently well-heeled former Playboy model. Honestly, we do hope Anna gets some of the cash, if only so we won't have to continue this drawn out round of court appeals or see her in anymore commercials.
And because we are very pro rights for sex workers in this country.
Supreme Court Backs Ex-Playmate's Effort [Gina Holland, Washington Post]
• Katie Couric should take all the luck she can get. [AP]
• Today in Britney Spears' uterus: Us Weekly says "Yes! She's Pregnant!" We say, aw no … not again. [Us Weekly]
• Ryan Seacrest and Paula Abdul continue to brawl. Too bad they won't just stab each other and call it a day. [People]
• Wait, people are quitting the Economist? But, we thought it was the best publication ever to exist in the history of media! [FBNY]
• Just when you thought you'd heard the last from Cindy Margolis, she lands right smack in the middle of Playboy. [AP]
• The party crew at Reuters really knows how to shake things up with liquor and ivy league humor. Cheney joke: "duck is not just a bird, it's a verb, too." Har, har. [Wonkette]
• It's tough to tell the difference between sound bites from Cookie and Playboy because (most) Playboy models are retarded and new moms have huge boobs. And with all these new hot moms posing for the nudie mag, things only get more complicated. [NYO]
• Nothing says "Happy 10th Anniversary" like shaking down those liberal cable and satellite operators for more money. Right Fox? [WSJ]
• Who knew the Belgians were really at the top of the journalism profession? So shocking that it isn't the Times. [E&P]
• Oh, Simon Dumenco. He sure does love bringing up that masturbating cat. [Ad Age]
• Forbes is bleeding staffers by the gallon. Lloyd Grove, we hope you're keeping your eyes peeled for all these job openings you'd be so perfect for. [Gawker]
Editorial Director
