Five Questions: Elisa Lipsky-Karasz, New York Post
Recently, we looked around the mags and papers, and we realized what was missing: clearly, not enough people were being interviewed. To rectify the situation, we've employed our resident statistician Andrew Krucoff to conduct a daily interview with someone we love, hate, or don't know well enough yet but will love or hate very shortly.
In our first edition, junior gossip columnist Elisa Lipsky-Karasz skirts the questions like a skilled politician. We salute her.
Elisa Lipsky-Karasz, New York Post.
Age: 25. Lives: Brooklyn Heights. Occupation: Gossip Columnist for Sunday New York Post.
1. You were legging gossip at the Daily News and now you have a Sunday Page Six-style column at the Post. How's it going so far and how much better are you than Lloyd Grove?
I'm having a great time! I love the Post—the paper really has its finger on the pulse of New York City. [Ed Note: We like to think of it as the Paper that has its finger in the rectum of the City. But that's just us!] And I wouldn't have been able to get such a fun job if Lloyd hadn't allowed me to prove myself working for him.
2. Ben Widdicombe, your coeval Sunday gossip columnist at the Daily News, recently described the rivalry between you two as a "Christie's/Sotheby's thing happening" which, no offense, seems a bit generous. I would call it simply a "Widdicombe/Lipsky-Karasz thing happening." What do you think?
Ben was like my big brother at the Daily News—he teased me incessantly! I miss working with him, but luckily I still get to see him all the time.
3. Summer work days drag on and while this weather gets everybody all hot and bothered, the gossip biz seems to head south for the shitter. How do you explain the seasonal cycle of gossip?
Well, everyone needs a vacation...everyone except Paris Hilton it seems! And thank god for that. The best gossip summer ever though was probably the year Posh & Becks got married. The Brit magazine "OK!" was launching, and since they spent around 1 million pounds buying the rights, they milked it for about 5 issues. Posh's choice of a Robin Hood theme for the reception still haunts me.
4. Let's be vain: what's the most expensive thing in your wardrobe and did you pay for it?
I have one priceless thing—a jacket my little sister made for me from silk our grandmother bought 50 years ago. And no, I didn't pay for it!! My sister still gives me the clothes that she makes. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to afford her stuff if I wanted to buy it.
5. Holy crap! Please explain this.
It's actually a copy of a Van Gogh drawing that I did in high school. It freaks out all of my friends when they Google me! Dalton (where I went) had a great arts program and I took lots of classes —mainly life drawing. In a weird way, that's what got me into this nasty business since my first internship was at Artforum. So I blame them!
Elisa Lipsky-Karasz's Top Five:
Manhattan
Anna Karenina
Entourage
Emily Post's Etiquette
The Cevennes Mountains
