• Arianna Huffington is adding original political reporting to her online outpost. Even better: Staffers will be paid!
• It comes as a shock that it's Reader's Digest who requires you to be hot to lead the company.
• Sundance readies 122 feature films for this year's festival. Attendees will stick to just one digital short and 16 parties.
• CBS let 3 Lbs get all the way to the 3-episode mark before canceling it.
• With Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams, and Katie Couric all currently reporting from Jordan, it looks like the news lass is landing the biggest gets.
• Former AIG chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg showed what it takes to move the NYT's stock upward: false rumors of a takeover bid.
• Fox News has at least one staunch defender — who sometimes makes sense.
• It's no guest editing French Vogue, but if you win Stuff's contest to be an editor for a day, promise to email us?
• Google engaged in secret advertising practices? Psshaw!
• Keith Olbermann's online provocateur KarmaBites1 claims she'll unload another 100 or so emails between her and the MSNBC host, all because he won't publicly acknowledge he's like any other guy: quite complacent with a one night stand. [P6]
• Culture + Travel owner Louise MacBain visits the New York offices of LTB Media. For the first time. [NYP]
• Dan Bova pogos from exec editor to EIC at Stuff, replacing Maxim jumper Jimmy Jellinek — and, perhaps, some of his staffers? [FBNY]
• Victoria Hearst is fingered as the nut who left the creepy religious message at the Hearst Tower dedication. How do you know she's crazy? She's anti-Cosmo. [WWD]
• Time Warner stock moves .. upward. Jon Friedman wets self. [Marketwatch]
• Tom Freston and Peter Chernin are smart men. Smart enough to let someone else write their jokes. [Radar]
• Believing a Harvard Crimson columnist would lift an item from Slate would requires two sets of beliefs: 1) Harvard enlists fucktards; 2) Slate publishes worthwhile material. Okay, not such a hard conclusion. [Boston Globe]
Unlike Jessica Joffe, who uses her knack for vernacular to help launch her modeling career, Ivanka Trump is taking the exact opposite route. Whereas Joffe penned a cover story for Glamour and then signed on as their resident blogger in order to land as a star in the November issue's fashion spread (along side none other than Ivanka Trump) Trump first appeared on a cover of Stuff and is now signing on as their resident financial advisor.
…the column will offer "practical advice" for Stuff's mostly 20-something male audience: (investing, buying your first home, etc.) but we wonder whether Ivanka will get more "personal." As she is said to have a larger role in her dad's The Apprentice series (returns to NBC later this fall), she will be adept at telling readers what to do after they are fired.
We hope somebody tells the Columbia journalism students that you don't just have to be hot to be on TV anymore. If you want to work in mags, stop eating, rob a bank, and start walking with books on your head because all the socialite models want to be writers now, too.
The masthead slashing party continues, with today's edition brought to you by the letter D. For Dennis Publishing. Or dickhead.
Just put through the chopping block was Andy Ryan, Blender's solo full-time designer. The 30-something received the news of his axing at a most appropriate time: while on the way to the airport to catch a London flight to be with his dying father. It was his boss, Dennis group creative director Andy Turnbull, who delivered the news — a sad fact when you consider the two Andys were quite friendly. Ryan, in fact, was well liked among the entire staff.
Meanwhile, instinctive chatter suggests Dennis brass felt it would be easier for Andy to deal with two catastrophes at once, instead of one after the one. That's Dennis, for ya: the publisher who cares.
Let's play our favorite game. It's called "Who's More Desperate?" Today's contestants are a 1) Aging rich daddy's girl socialite Ivanka Trump and 2) Struggling lad mag which snags cover subjects when they hit a low point in their careers, Stuff.
Actually, we think we're going to go with Stuff. Because Ivanka was spawned from the biggest press whores we've ever encountered, we speculate she might actually believe this Stuff cover is a good thing for her. Whereas, if Stuff is forced to sink this low for a cover subject, they've gotta' be struggling. What, was Tori Spelling too busy extorting her family or something?
Ivanka Struts Her Stuff [TMZ]
What the hell people? It's Friday … relax. The news that Dennis publishing is pulling former Stuff EIC Jimmy Jellinek to replace the recently "resigned not pushed out" editor in chief of Maxim is not that super surprising. From Nat Ives' column to our inbox:
Maxim magazine today named Jimmy Jellinek to be its next editor in chief, succeeding Ed Needham, who is parting ways with the laddie title May 31 to return to Britain with his family. Mr. Jellinek is currently editor in chief at Stuff, which like Maxim is owned by Dennis Publishing, and was previously editor in chief at Complex.
Ok, everyone. Take a few minutes to crack a beer, stare at some girls in bikinis, and let's get on with our weekend. We are very happy for Jellinek, but it's not like they're selling the magazine to Robert Redford or something totally crazy like that.
'Stuff' Editor Jimmy Jellinek Moves to 'Maxim [Nat Ives, Ad Age]
Maxim Announces New Editor-in-Chief [Jeff Bercovici, WWD]
Stuff mag employees say goodbye to editorial director Andy Clerkson in style.
After 15 years at Dennis Publishing, Clerkson is moving back to the UK, and at his send-off bash at the Chelsea Hotel, staffers created some mock-up covers of Maxim, Stuff and Blender with him on the cover.
The Stuff cover featured a florid-faced Clerkson bent over a pint glass, amid a profusion of cheeky cover lines, such as "Drunk and Sweaty! Andy Clerkson Can't Cool Down!" and "Justify Your Title! 427 Ways to Micromanage Anything!"
Even though this is the general editor send-off at all magazines, this cover particularly moves us. Not only because we love to see "micromanage" in bold, but because had this cover actually hit the stands, we bet 90 percent of Stuff's readers would be like "yo, I know that guy. I was totally at that same frat party."
GET STUFFED, JOE [Jeff Bercovici, WWD]
Who would you rather be locked in a tent with, Saddam Hussein or Tom Cruise? If chose US enemy number one, you're not alone. Stuff readers agree: one night with Hussein beats one-on-one tent time with Cruiseazy.
In a recent poll, more people said they’d rather spend the night with Saddam Hussein than the “Top Gun†star. Stuff magazine asked its readers who they would least like to share a camping tent with, and 41 percent chose the couch-jumping star.
Homophobes are so funny.
The couch jumping continues [Jeannette Walls, MSNBC]
All of our humble attempts to do our job sober just went completely out the window. Not only is Heineken Light going to replace our Frangelico laced mochas, but we are now going to be lured by the beer at every web corner we turn.
To reach the intended audience of drinkers — mostly men ages 25 to 29 — Heineken USA will unleash a barrage of advertising on Web sites like espn.com, foxsports.com, maximcom, msn.com, stuffmagazine.com and yahoo.com.
Oh, wait. We don't ever look at any of those sites ever. (Ok, sometimes we glance Yahoo, but only under the guise of news.) The only way we would ever look at Stuff's site, actually, is if they decided to form some secret hidden message advertisement, and started giving away free beer.
Betting on the Web to Sell a New Light Beer [Stuart Elliott, NYT]
