So Vice magazine, which last we heard from, was bitching about how no one sends them real letters anymore, is offering a "Blank Issue" for their next Viacom-enacted marketing scheme: where you the reader get to design, write, and layout your own Vice copy! And then you send it back into them, so they can ostensibly use your work for free and call it "winning."
First prize in the contest nets you either $1,000 or an internship at Vice, which, last we checked, weren't all that difficult to get without having to spend half a semester throwing together a raunchy list of vaguely clever Do's and Don'ts.
Vice is going in a new direction: they cut off their Letters section because no one was writing them nice letters anymore, founder Gavin McInnes was cut loose for "pushing too many buttons", and now the former gross-out hipster mag is all about the war in Iraq? Or something? Who knows, does anyone read Vice anymore?
But in an effort to become more McSweeneys-esque, Vice is cleaning up it's act with a New York food guide. And it's a bunch of pig-tripe (which they suggest you try):
Vice Magazine is throwing a little bit of a hissy over in their mail section, over the fact that no one sends them nice letters (and gifts) anymore:
We mainly get emails now, and people don’t think when they write emails…..And we used to get great letters. They would arrive in decorated envelopes along with goofy little tokens, tchotchkes, gizmos, and gifts inside — even cheap stuff like newspaper clippings or a photo or a drawing was nice.
So now readers are being "punished" by the suspension of the letters column for one month. Let's see if you can't shape up and behave yourselves when dealing you're dealing with a recently-grown-up magazine like Vice.
Perfect for blowing rails or propping up your corner table, the usually free hipster bible Vice is now asking subscribes to pony up a subscription fee: $30/yr. Your skinny jeans still won't make you look cool, though. [Folio]
• TV anchors don't really want to cover Mardi Gras in New Orleans. [TVNewser]
• Russel Crowe and Nicole Kidman are hooking up again — chill guys, it's just for a movie. [People]
• After leaving her shoeless and alone on Valentine's Day, Ron Perlman throws some cash at Ellen Barkin, hoping he won't look like such an ass. [NYDN]
• Vice found Osama Bin Laden and nobody even noticed. Damn fake Anthrax. [Fishbowl, NY]
• Lee Tamahori, the cross-dressing hooker/director, pleads no contest to prostitution charges. His punishment? He has to go and learn about how prostitutes and trannies get AIDS. [TMZ]
• A whopping 42 songs have been short-listed as nominees for Best Song at the 2006 Academy Award. "You're Going To Die Soon" from Sarah' Silverman's movie, Jesus is Magic better win, or we're blaming the Jews. [Oscars.org]
• Indie poster boy of yesteryear, Conor Oberst, was denied admission to the Vice Holiday Party at Fat Baby. Now we don't feel so lame for being totally carded on the LES this weekend. [Village Voice]
• Why a masher with a name like Party Ben is a threat to Green Day we'll never know. We would, however, understand if this sparks a nationwide 'who's gayer' debate. [MTV]
• Pink Floyd fans would be psyched, for David Gilmour's solo tour if all those acid trips didn't erase him from their memories. [Press Democrat]
• 50 Cent rags on those our northern neighbors for not letting his thug posse into the country. Come on, really — why would a bunch of Canadians be scared of a huge black man with a face full of bullets? [TMZ]
• Great genes and great PR are so often indistinguishable. [Page Six]
• Kanye West's latest enemy isn't the Bush administration but Shirley Bassey, who's fuming (with lawsuit in hand) that the rapper sampled her "Diamonds Are Forever" without permission.
• Mayor Bloomberg wants the NYPD to assume control of the Port Authority and MTA during any future terror attack, effectively making New Jersey law enforcement our bitch
• Now that they're shunned from Manhattan's West Side, the Giants have teamed with the Jets to build an $800 million stadium in, ahem, New Jersey. It's the first time two NFL teams went in on a joint stadium. It's also the first time we can avoid two sports teams simultaneously.
• Anderson Cooper is said to be shopping around a book documenting his experiences during Hurricane Katrina. It's only a matter of time before Geraldo Rivera sells a tome based on his experiences with the New York Times.
• Vice magazine doesn't need to be Vanity Fair to stay successful. It just needs to keep making "your mama so fat" jokes.
