duh

Guess What? The Internet Made Patrick Moberg Famous!

Emily Gould · 11/28/07 01:12PM

NY Press's Matt Elzweig thinks that subway love dreamfinders Patrick Moberg and Camille Hayton's rise to quasi-fame has something to do with Jakob Lodwick and Julia Allison's 'connections to Gawker.' "There's an implication that because of your ongoing relationship with both Gawker and Patrick Moberg, that you may have had something to do with the 11/5 and 11/6 items on Gawker about Moberg," he wrote to Jakob on 11/26, in a chain of emails that, in the spirit of "Hey, I tried," Matt saw fit to include in today's cover article. "Did that connection (between you and Gawker) have anything to do with its reporting on the Moberg story? Did Gawker learn about the video and/or Moberg's website directly from you? (If not, how do you suppose they did learn about it?)" Huh?

Is The "Four Hour Workweek" Guy On To Something?

Emily Gould · 11/12/07 01:00PM

So the cover article in this week's Sunday Styles section was about this guy Timothy Ferriss, who has become a guru to the rich nerds of Silicon Valley by advocating an "information diet"—"his methods include practicing 'selective ignorance'—tuning out pointless communiqués, random Twitters, and even world affairs (Mr. Ferriss says he gets most of his news by asking waiters)." Though he admits to not practicing what he preaches, his disciples say that adhering to these rules makes them feel "peaceful." Could this advice help me do my job better and faster? I had to wonder.

They Tried To Make Amy Winehouse Go To Rehab, She Said 'Oh, Fine.'

Emily Gould · 08/10/07 10:10AM

The British soul singer, whose recent collapse shocked maybe the people who thought that Kate Moss and Pete Doherty's relationship was going to go the distance or that Anna Nicole Smith was going to live to be 100, has checked herself into The Priory clinic in London, according to the ever-reliableish Daily Mirror. (By the way, Doherty is a "successful" graduate of The Priory!) That esteemed publication has also found some quasi-friends and family sources to interview, including Amy's husband Blake Fielder-Civil's dad, who shares this insight: "[Blake] told me he was very worried about her. He admitted they both drank and did drugs but that came as no surprise." It didn't?

Megan McCarthy · 07/13/07 06:10PM

Fortune editor David Kirkpatrick catches a clue, says he won't use the silly iMeme name for next year's conference. [The Sam Whitmore Sampler]

Loser Girls Are Friends With Their Moms

Emily Gould · 06/28/07 09:40AM

Today, Times chronicler of our dumbassest life-minutia Stephanie Rosenbloom tries to figure out what's up with kind of girl who calls her mom four times a day to talk about the weather and what she ate and stuff. So, Stephanie, what gives?

Emily Gould · 06/21/07 08:50AM

"So the national obsession with celebrity culture has come to this. Even at their worst, hot young actresses can move product, and fashion companies that in the past would have shied away from provocateurs are less reticent to embrace them." [NYT]

Was Foxy Lady Fired For Hitting On A Gay?

Emily Gould · 06/20/07 08:40AM

"Which cable chat up-and-comer was fired after her efforts to glom onto the network's marquee name and a gay anchor freaked them both out?" asks Ben Widdicombe today. Oh hmm! We haven't devoted much thought to this before (or have we?) Let's try to puzzle this out, poll-style!

Emily Gould · 06/18/07 09:16AM

McSweeney's publisher Eli Horowitz on their save-our-asses Ebay auction: "I'm sure if we keep this going, we'll get more and more misguided. We're never sure how far to expand into ridiculousness." [NYM]

Authors Are Self-Dramatizing Crybabies

Emily Gould · 06/06/07 09:35AM

Pity the poor souls still laboring under the delusion that book-writing can potentially be a lucrative, fulfilling career. Or, like, don't! Today, we learn of some of the pitfalls and dashed expectations that, yes, even published authors find themselves coming up against. Such as: even a six-figure advance isn't really enough to live on for a year once your agent's 15% comission has been subtracted and you've had to pay for your own permissions. Also, did you know that writing alone in your room all day can be depressing?

Youngsters Shocked By Sex In The Office

Emily Gould · 05/23/07 03:33PM

From the message board of Ed2010, the organization whose young members vow they will be magazine editors by 2010 (three years left, guys!):

'Times' Brings Earthshattering Rich Baby News!

Emily · 03/23/07 12:59PM

Since 2000, according to census figures released last year, the number of children under age 5 living in Manhattan mushroomed by more than 32 percent. And though their ranks have been growing for several years, a new analysis for The New York Times makes clear for the first time who has been driving that growth: wealthy white families.

Williamsburg: "Where Would All The Puerto Ricans Go"?

Emily Gould · 02/21/07 10:50AM

Hey, have you heard about Williamsburg? Apparently, it's this Brooklyn neighborhood that used to be an industrial ghetto, and then it was a secret haven of artists and Orthodox Jews. Now it's a really cool and cutting-edge place to live—except that luxury condos rising on the newly rezoned waterfront are about to displace the last remnants of the old neighborhood. How nefarious! How shocking. Luckily, the Washington Post has come to town!

So What You're Saying Is That Paris Hilton Wasn't A Great SNL Host?

Emily Gould · 11/17/06 03:25PM

In addition to "shedding her Barbie hair" and never asking anyone in the cast a single personal question that didn't have to do with Maya Rudolph's mysterious non-white skintone, Paris Hilton proved herself to be a "piece of shit" host quite literally, Eat the Press reports.

Celebs: 'You Should Vote And Stuff'

Emily Gould · 11/07/06 09:10AM

With races as locked-up as these seem, it can be hard to motivate oneself to wake up even earlier to make it to the polls. We know. Boy, do we ever know. So in case you need some convincing that the adorable 'I voted!' sticker is worth all that extra effort, the Daily News has rounded up some "celebrities" to explain the glory of performing your civic duty. Read, and be inspired.

'Slate' Sets The Record Straight Re: Borat

Emily Gould · 11/06/06 04:25PM

Slate scribe Eric Weiner has a vested interest in clearing up Sascha Baron Cohen's misrepresentations: he just adopted a Kazakh baby. So just in case you missed Kazakhstan's 4-page NYT ad and/or have no sense of humor or ability to discern fact from fiction, guess what: Kazakh women can vote and drive and Kazakh horses can't, "khrum" is not the word for testicles, and Kazakh wine isn't made from fermented horse urine ("It just tastes like it.") Outside the realm of duh, though, the article's best mythbust has to be this one:

TimesSelect Gives Unique Insight You Can't Find Anywhere Else

Jesse · 06/08/06 09:20AM


Who the... what the... how the... huh?! The real test of whether Democrats can take back Congress will come when there are actually elections for Congress, in November?! Christ, really? See, with members-only wisdom like that, no wonder TimesSelect is a success.

'Washington Post' Discovers the Wingman; Circ Keeps Falling

Jesse · 05/31/06 01:40PM


Why is it, newspaper people always wonder, that the younger generation doesn't read our product? Why do kids find us irrelevant, they ask. And why don't the special youth-targeted things we publish help attract them, the bigshots wonder.

Sonic Youth For the Oddly Prescient

Jessica · 12/01/05 08:12AM

From an article in today's Times, we "discover" that teens and their baby-boomer parents are embracing the vintage rocker aesthetic: