A very reliable, double-super- secret, you'll-never-ever- figure-out-who-it-is Spring Street source checked in this morning from Balthazar, where he'd learned these interesting bits of news:
Even if we occasionally tire of their aggressive media omnipresence, you have to hand it to the scrappy soldiers at PETA. Not content to let more than 2 days pass without coverage of their harassment of fur-bedecked Vogue editor Anna Wintour (it was just Monday that they plastered the Four Seasons urinals with Wintour stickers), now PETA is sending holiday cards to the entire Vogue staff.
Page Six reported today that PETA, in posession of stickers bearing Anna Wintour's trademark snarl, would be decorating the urinals at the Vogue editor's favorite locales. We put it to our readers to get outside and document the stickering — and, because the internet moves that fast, we've received proof of PETA's mischief (click to enlarge) at the Four Seasons. Doesn't Anna look completely at home in the urinals? We always suspected she was the type to piss standing up.
• PETA places stickers featuring Anna Wintour's luverly visage on urinals, knowingly located at venues frequented by the Voguester. We're counting on you to catch some images of the campaign (at Da Silvano, La Esquina, and the Four Seasons) before management is forced to remove the handiwork. [Page Six]
• Madonna waltzes into the Mercer Kitchen and seduces hotelier Andre Balazs for a solid 10 minutes. Balazs's girlfriend, actress Uma Thurman, seemed to not notice — or, perhaps, care. Madge ain't much competition these days. [Lowdown]
• As a nice complement to Katie Couric's own retardation, a poet within NBC has penned a holiday-appopriate ode to the Today princess: "'Tis right before seven, On the set of 'Today,' There struts a smug diva, Who wants things her way." [Page Six]
• The New Yorker's Ken Auletta rips Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. a new one in the latest issue of the mag. [R&M]
• How does Jessica Simpson deal with an ugly breakup? Collagen, natch, because your first rebound hook-up goes so much more smoothly when you're sporting a nice set of DSLs. [Scoop (last item)]
• Investor Carl Icahn signs on Bruce Wasserstein's Lazard to join in his crusade against Time Warner management. New York feature on Icahn's clever business strategy TK soon. [NYT]
• NYT Mag bigthinker Michael Ignatieff leaves magazine, Harvard gig, and the country to rescue his native Canada from its political crisis. NYU bigthinker Noah Feldman, recently signed up as Times Mag contributing writer, seems set to replace Ignatieff there. [NYP]
• Steve Capus named president of NBC News. [NYT]
• And Rome Hartman, 60 Minutes vet, named executive producer of the still-anchorless CBS Evening News. [NYT]
• Dear Les Moonves: For the love of God, please don't make Katie Couric the CBS anchor. Please. Love, Jon Friedman. [MW]
• Conde's standard Christmas directions aren't good enough for Anna. [WWD]
• Teen People kills story on Nazi bubblegum popsters after learning that a staffer promised not to use the words "Nazi," "supremacist," or "hate" in discussing the hateful white supremacists, and after Holocaust survivors picket Time Warner HQ. Keith Kelly calls incident a test for new Time Inc. EIC John Huey, but we gotta wonder about what this means for new Teen People m.e. Lori Majewski. [NYP]
• Per the latest Plamegate wrinkle, Mr. Wonkette notes that Bob Woodward isn't "the preeminent investigative reporter of his generation;" he's just a highly placed transcriptionist. [NYO]
• From just after the invasion until last week's withdrawal excitement, U.S. media did a shitty job of covering the Iraq war, [NYO]
• Ruth Reichl will be making miso-rubbed turkey with gravy, persimmon cranberry sauce, and rustic porcini onion stuffing for Thanksgiving. [WWD]
• Did Anna Wintour bring down the Variety spinoff V Life? She certainly thinks so. [Radar]
• Two Bloomberg L.P. employees charge the mayor's media company with disability discrimination. [NYP]
• 2005 was a crummy year, says Jon Friedman. [MW]
This just in from Advertising Age:
Last night's season finale of MTV's pseudo-reality drama Laguna Beach featured one of show's main cast members, Lauren (or, like, LC, as everyone calls her), skipping north towards Los Angeles and a totes awesome internship at Teen Vogue. In the preview scene, our young LC is even introduced to whip-brandishing Vogue EIC Anna Wintour. We can only imagine how Anna reacted to LC's permatan and eyeliner enthusiasm.
• Are Men Necessary? is "a very odd, occasionally entertaining mish-mash of politics and sex, biology and Cosmopolitan-ology, gravity and wit, insight and carelessness." We don't care what it is; we'd just like to stop hearing about it. [NYO]
• And Maureen should go away for a while, too. [MW]
• Republican senators want another investigation of a leak to reporters. You know, because the last one worked out so well for their party. [WP]
• Anna Wintour may or may not be out to kill The Devil Wears Prada film. [Radar]
• Teen People lands racist teenie-boppers Prussian Blue, who apprently think — wrongly — they'll be getting editorial control. Isn't it fun to pull one over on Nazis? [NYP]
• Memogate producer Mary Mapes was right and everyone else was wrong, insists Memogate producer Mary Mapes. [WP]
• Less demand than expected for lunch with Rupert Murdoch. Which is fine news indeed. [Guardian]
• HBO documentary chief likes both highbrow and porn, and, likely, she'll soon snag Ted Koppel. [NYP]
• Apparently, Esquire had cool covers in the sixties. [MB]
• Meet Judy Miller without traveling to Sag Harbor — only $375! [HuffPost]
• As a kid, New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik used to sneak out after bedtime — to read. Which is somehow unsurprising. [S.F. Chronicle]
• 135K paid users have signed up for TimesSelect. As if you can't get more than enough Maureen for free these days. [E&P]
• Anderson Cooper does the self-deprecating shtick well, too. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Prediction: New ABC anchors will be Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff. Peter, however, would have wanted Charlie Gibson. [Newsday]
• Because one is never enough, negotiations continue at the Times continue over another fired reporter. [Media Mob/NYO]
• No one wants to read TV Guide offshoot Inside TV. [WWD]
• Anna Wintour celebrates her 56th year of making you feel fat and unfashionable!
• Big fun at Wenner Media: Because if you want something done properly, you do it yourself, Jann crowns himself EIC of Men's Journal while simultaneously killing off an upcoming celebrity title. But? At least the man gives his slaves flu shots.
• You may think avian flu is frightening, but the possibility of an inter-media flu is absolutely devastating. At least Wenner's safe.
• Comedian David Cross addresses the matter of his nasty doppelganger while also giving you handy tips for discerning the Real David from the Fake David.
• Page Six plans a weekly insert mag, full of Top 10 lists and other magazine-y type intellectualism.
• Gawker Media's attempt at sporty masculinity, Deadspin, breaks some real news, and perhaps ESPN's heart.
• CNN reshapes its lineup and puts Anderson Cooper at the top of the heap (right where he belongs). Sadly, lead anchor Aaron Brown is now collecting unemployment.
• We really just don't know what the hell is going on with Judy Miller. If she goes, there will be trouble, but if she stays? It will be double. Meanwhile, Andrew Hearst reminds us that, no matter how bad Judy may seem, a sense of humor and some finesse with Quark goes a long way.
Spotted parked in front of Times Square yesterday evening:
Just in case you're so pathetic as to not be on top of these things, we'd like to quickly remind you that today is Vogue EIC Anna Wintour's 56th birthday. We're sure her minions are preparing an exquisitely awkward gathering in her office later this afternoon, complete with 56 candles shoved in a slab of undercooked filet. Time to celebrate!
When we first saw a Cool Hunter item headlined "The Anna Wintour Mug," we got terribly excited, expecting one of those ceramic Royal Doulton souvenir things, a vessel shaped like a caricature of some famous person's head, from which you may then glibly drink the beverage of your choice.
A cameraphone-armed spy in front of the Conde Nast Building earlier this afternoon reports:
We're going to go out on a limb here and just admit that, at this point, we're a little tired of PETA's militant antics. Yes, baby animals are cuddly and precious, and no, we don't think you should kill a kitten in order to have a new collar for your coat. But PETA's relentlessly self-promoting activism is striking us as a little tacky. We only mention our discontent because this morning, like so many others, brings their latest press release:
GAWKER EXCLUSIVE!!! For your viewing pleasure, we're proud to present the first publicity stills from the set of Vogue editor Anna Wintour's cinematic gang-bang debut, The Wintour 500.
Hey, SAG-card holding starfuckers, we've got some great news for you! The film adaptation of Lauren Weisberg's inside-Vogue roman clef, The Devil Wears Prada, is casting:
• The world's mysteries explained: Wintour spawn Bee Schaffer was toting a 46-lb. copy of The Iliad around Fashion Week because Columbia University MADE HER. Fashion and education are an ugly combination, indeed. [The Daily]
• Yankee Alex Rodriguez treats his mistresses right, takes wife to swingers parties. [Deadspin]
• We believe that President Bush is hitting the bottle. We don't believe it was because of the devastation in New Orleans. He didn't seem bothered enough by that whole mess to fall off the wagon. [National Enquirer]
• The MTA orders a cease-and-desist for the maker of those beloved iPod subway maps. [ISM]
• Never pay retail for your TimesSelect. [John Tabin]
• Pam Anderson deprives Veuve Clicquot drinkers of their God-given right to live penguin entertainment. [Mr. Mickey]
Things just keep getting worse for (former?) supermodel Kate Moss. After her coke-sniffing mug was featured on the cover of the UK's Daily Mirror last week, mega-retailer H&M has dropped Moss from their upcoming campaign and it seems that Chanel is following suit, refusing to renew Moss' contract in October. Moss still has a deal with cosmetics company Rimmel but, at this rate, we doubt that'll last much longer.
• Ornery actor Russell Crowe looks into starting a job-training program for Australian prisons similar to that on Rikers Island. If Crowe is tried and sentenced for an "incident" in which assaulted a Mercer Hotel employee with a phone, we're sure this sort of activism will keep him safe from forced ass-fucking. [Page Six]
• The residences at 740 Park Avenue are so gilded, not even Barbra Streisand scored approval from the co-op board. [R&M]
• In Eddie Hayes' memoir, the litigator notes that the infamous Vogue editor is "physically incompetent." Great news for assistants who bruise easily. [Page Six]
• Meanwhile, Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley notes on Oprah that "Miss Anna don't like fat people." Big secret there. [Lowdown]
• Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones refuses a Fashion Week jeweler's gift — $50,000 ring — presumably because it didn't match her noticeably larger breasts. [Gatecrasher]
