We at Jossip are always shooting our mouth off to our gay little brother, Queerty. And one of our ideas about blogging made into his interview with Avram Finklestein, the guy who created the logo above. To be honest, the rest of the interview is more interesting than our little Web 2.0 theory. [Queerty]
As Google Docs told me this morning, it's Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day isn't a big deal, but it is a reminder that when I go to sleep at 9:30pm on a Saturday night–which only happened once, after a long day at a Russian bathhouse–no one really notices.
Last time I visited my grandmother in Florida, she asked me what my type was. Rich and tall is trite, right? I kid, I kid. I don't even have a type. So I decided to be proactive and look through men's magazines to figure out what I'm looking for. What I learned? Men are idiots. After the jump, my brief flings with Details, Maxim, Men's Vogue, GQ and Esquire.
Anyway, happy Valentine's Day!- raronauer
So a bunch of studies came out on internet personas, which seems like it would be really interesting. Unfortunately, if you've ever dated anyone from Match.com, you know more than the scientists do. And even more unfortunately, the Times reporter covering these studies has already done our job by being snarky about the results:
The scholars found it common for online daters to fudge their age or weight, or to post photographs that were five years old. Also, the world is round and the chemical symbol for water is H2O.
Har, har. You should consider a career online.
Still, the internet is interesting. And so is social networking and lying. So we decided to examine our own Facebook profile to separate the web fact from the web fiction. CONTINUED »
If you’ve ever woken up on a Saturday morning and thought, “thinking isn’t for me today” and spent the day watching MTV, you know that Stephen and Lauren of Laguna Beach hooking up again is a big deal.
We’ve had that experience; our colleague Cord of Mollygood has not. And yet he has used all our witty rejoinders about the recent re-pairing on his website. Our resolution for 2008 is to get our revenge.
[Photo Credit: WireImage]
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 »
Okay, so supposedly this article is about how wunderkind elitist mag 02138, and how they unearthed this giant university-wide plagiarism scandal and revealed that Harvard's most prominent professors are "secretly" outsourcing menial research tasks to annoying student overachievers.
But since that's not particularly interesting or surprising, we've decided to switch to a new topic: 02138. Does anyone else find it sort-of annoying that this magazine (featuring articles like "How Not To Be Poor") is succeeding? [Note: Saying "Yes" might preclude you entry to various secret societies, highbrow social institutions and eclusive millionaire's clubs that you couldn't possibly afford, anyway, because let's face it, you went to Columbia.]
Nevertheless, we've decided to risk social pariahdom by voicing our dissatisfaction the only way we know how: through inarticulate instant messages. After the jump, a revealing IM debate between dueling Jossip editors Debbie Newman and Rebecca Aronauer. (Both Columbia grads).
Sometimes I just have to say, “what the fuck?” and the royal we doesn’t work as well. These are my thoughts—raronauer
Last year, the Aronauers got a new dog. Clint, a lab mix, is the one thing my family can talk about non-stop.
Pet owners and new parents share a heightened sense of what’s noteworthy. Deep down, I know Clint’s predilection for cat food and hiking is not fascinating, but to me, it's more interesting than the latest issue of the New Yorker.
But with Cyberfamilias “breaking” the story on Dogster, an animal networking site founded in 2004, I have an excuse to talk about him and what should be the limits of my obsession.
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A long time ago, in a kingdom not so far away, a young Jossip editrix named Corynne decided it might be fun to interview her gossip, media and PR peers in a semi-regular (and uncharacteristically earnest) feature she creatively entitled “Jossiping.” In honor of our predecessor, we’ve decided to bring back the tradition, one informal sit-down at a time.
This week: raronauer catches up the guy behind Down By The Hipster.
To the green New Yorker, “open bar” may sound like the two sweetest words in the English language. But with experience and an extensive rolodex comes cynicism. After all, not all open bars are created equal. The people behind Down By The Hipster, a hospitality and nightlife blog, know a few things about free drinks.
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Sometimes I just have to say, “what the fuck?” "awesome" and the royal we doesn’t work as well. These are my thoughts—raronauer
I find a lot objectionable about the business of America media today. There’s no money for serious journalism, and there’s no interest in it either. While reporting from the Middle East continues to be flawed and inaccurate, sports journalism is still taking itself seriously. And ESPN is leading the way. CONTINUED »
Today, we here at Jossip Headquarters have decided to commemorate our nation's triumph over the American Indians and propensity for over-eating by taking a moment to reflect on our wonderful lives and come up with a list of things for which we are thankful. Next: raronauer.
Around this time every year, my father proclaims his greatest wish is to collect the tolls on Throgs Neck Bridge for just one Thanksgiving. But Thanksgiving is not the time for bizarre dreams of winning some sort of municipal lottery. It’s a time to give thanks to the simple pleasures things, like the four day weekend ahead of us. CONTINUED »
The Post reports today that Ron Galotti, the inspiration for Mr. Big, is in talks with McGraw-Hill, for a book deal. I had to wonder, how would Carrie Bradshaw react to the news? -raronauer
In a city like New York, opportunity is always around the corner. One minute, you’re walking through SoHo, unable to find a cab or Starbucks for your life, and by a stroke of luck, you uncover the best sample sale of your life. CONTINUED »
Every week a bunch of cultural stuff happens. Here are some thoughts related to that.-raronauer
Well, it’s that time of year again: early November, when people first start complaining that Christmas coming earlier every year.
It might be true this year. My favorite media meanie came into the office yesterday with a seasonal Starbucks coffee cup. It’s not even Thanksgiving and I’m already tired of Starbucks' holiday cheer.
As a Jew in the media, the only thing that Christmas means to me is year-end round-ups, which came early this year, too. Time magazine’s Person of the Year hype machine started yesterday. With any luck, Whoopi Goldberg won’t succeed in making a color the Person of the Year. CONTINUED »
Every week a bunch of cultural stuff happens. Here are some thoughts related to that.-raronauer
Britney Spears's new album, Blackout, will debut at number one on the Billboard music charts this week.
From the VMA disaster to the every public appearance she has made, the fact this album is doing well is shocking. And that it's actually good—and not just to 17 year-old girls—is the biggest surprise of all.
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Our night at the Beauty Confidential book party started out with us falling flat on our face.
After spotting our co-editor's boyfriend in front of the building, we went over to say hello, but before we could a doorstop came in our way. We smacked the ground hard, and our hand was still stinging when we shook his hand.
The rest of the night did not improve from there.
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Sometimes I just have to say, “what the fuck?” and the royal we doesn’t work as well. These are my thoughts—raronauer
Earlier today, my former coworker and current Brijit managing editor Bryan Keefer defended his site, claiming that it’s not for the pretentious and lazy.
Instead, he argued, the site is for the curious but overworked. It’s for people who do want to read lengthy Atlantic articles, but don’t have time to waste on the bad ones.
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Editorial Director
