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Yesterday for three barren hours we sat in the back of a dining room at Tavern on the Green and watched media people accept essentially pointless awards from Min magazine. Portfolio won hottest launch. Atoosa Rubenstein shared nuggets of wisdom. Laurel Touby, one of the web's most "intriguing" people (if a poorly spelled sign is to be believed) embarrassed herself. Photographer Laurel Ptak really outdid herself in creating a photo essay of the luncheon. It's like 'Kids,' just more magazine-y!

Quick bullet observations:

  • Joanne Lipman, Portfolio Editor in Chief, said, "I like my job. Si Newhouse loves the magazine. We're always expanding but I can't give you names." She also, surprisingly, didn't punch us.
  • We sat at a table with the staff of Hip Hop Weekly. So very nice!
  • Tavern on the Green is a horrendous aesthetic desecration. The waiters' outfits, though, are top notch.
  • All of Time magazine left immediately after Rick Stengel accepted their award for Best Reinvention. That category, like everything else, doesn't actually mean anything.
  • Esquire EIC Dave Granger quoted Zsa Zsa Gabor: "Honey, I haven't learned anything."
  • The MCs were Jeremy Greenfield (7/23/82) and Courtney Barnes (9/25/84). He's the editor of min's b2b. She's the editor of PR news. Neither was funny, though both tried in a nice way.
  • Our chicken was not moist.
  • Is Portfolio so desperate for accolades that both Lipmann AND David Carey could take the whole morning off to sit through crap speeches and bad breakfast? Apparently, yes!