Welcome to The 12 Days of Thatz Not Okay, a special holiday edition of a regular column in which I school inquiring readers on what is and is not okay. Check back tomorrow for our next seasonal installment. As always, please send your questions (max: 200 words) to caity.weaver@gawker.com with the subject "Thatz Not Okay."
Goldman's Christmas celebration rules have a funny condition: they can't hang out in groups of twelve or more.
Goldman Sachs decided against holding a holiday party this year. Condé Nast revealed yesterday that it plans to proceed with its annual fête, albeit at a slightly less expensive restaurant. Now JPMorgan has weighed in. The party is on this year, which is certainly nice to hear. Not as nice: It will take place in the company cafeteria. [Dealbreaker]
Condé Nast has shut down six magazines and laid off hundreds of staffers in recent months. But the company's annual Christmas party will return once again this year. Okay, so it's at Aureole next door (a "corporate cafeteria with a soundtrack of smooth jazz in the George Benson style," per the Times), and not at the Four Seasons as in years past. But it's better settling for stir-fry at Condé's own cafeteria or, even worse, nothing at all, right? [NYO]
Next Monday, Rupert Murdoch is planning a big bash for wife Wendi Deng Murdoch's 40th birthday on the Gramercy Park Hotel roof that has a six-figure budget and folks like Nicole Kidman and Barry Diller on the guest list. It's such a big deal that Murdoch made Michael Wolff (hey, did you hear he has a book coming out?) move his party for The Man Who Owns the News to Tuesday, according to Jeff Bercovici. They both sound like fabulous affairs. Especially compared to the staff Christmas party that the New York Post announced yesterday. News Corp. canceled its regular company-wide holiday bash last month. So, instead next Friday the staff are heading to their regular Midtown watering hole, Langan's. With a cash bar. Aside from the promised "sexy elves" and "special theme rooms," it'd be tough to tell this from any other Friday night at Langan's. Full invite after the jump.
The real reason behind this week's "slight" chemical explosion at News Corp's midtown office building? Karma is rip-roaring bitch. The theme at the company's overfull holiday shindig at the Hilton last Friday was climate change GOP-style—signs were posted reading "No Coal Mining In or Around These Premises," and "Oil Spills Are Strictly Forbidden in This Location." Tongue in cheek? Not? Who knows! Green is in! What was the first thing partygoers got on their way in? A good wanding and Champagne test tubes. Distributed by whom, you ask? An entire team of people in fake hazmat suits.
Last night, the fire alarm went off at the Harper's Bazaar holiday party! But the resulting video was incredibly boring. (I mean, it was like, a fire alarm. And some queen going, "Ooh there's a fire." There wasn't.) But, thanks to the magic of a tragic and lurid dance remix of the native sounds from the video (so glad I spent that $500 on Logic Pro 8!), now it looks and sounds almost sort of exciting and flashy! (Also the picture of the car helps somehow, no?) OMG THE DRAMA. THE CHIC, CHIC DRAMA! (Also, they were totes playing Grace Jones, so kudos.)
The hedge-funders at Advent Capital Management are wrapping up their holiday party lunch right now! It is totally catered by Harlem Wing and Waffle! Here is a picture of the actual waffles! I am totally hungry! They have two waffle stations and one chicken station with jerk and teriyaki both! They are so winning the holiday party contest.
Last night, video guy Richard Blakeley and I headed down to the Hammerstein Ballroom to ask Viacom freelancers how they were, you know, feeling about getting Scrooged just in time for the holidays. Are they all revved up for the planned strike on Monday? "What strike?" said one guy. We're also thinking about adopting the kid who told us that he's currently unattached but if "he or she were, he would be at home." Oh honey, it really is probably time to give up the ghost on that "she" pronoun. Adorable. Inside, a huge glass snow globe was set up on stage; hired actors had a protracted "snowball" fight in it all night. Excessively pricey street theater is an oxymoron, we think. (Particularly indoors!) Very few senior managers were in attendance, though CEO Judy McGrath showed up briefly. Brave. Bonus! More party pix after the jump.
The House of Murdoch celebrated Baby Jew Jesus' Birthday at the Angel Orensanz Center last night. A spy says: "The girls at the door were in waaaaaaaay over their heads, and were rudely denying people (who were supposed to be on the list) left and right! I witnessed them make people wait outside in the cold, while they frantically called their Fox Interactive contacts to get them in the door.... I heard the party was pretty fun from co-workers though. Samantha Ronson was DJing, but her ladyfriend L. Lohan wasn't there. The coat check was a clusterfuck, as people waited for ever to leave and the dirt-bags at Fox were waving money around in the coat-checkers faces trying to get ahead in line. Half my co-workers are still drunk!" IS THIS TRUE, FOX WORKERS?
"MTVN Freelance, Temp and Animation employees hired on or before October 12th that are paid through in-house payroll and have received a direct deposit receipt or paycheck on all four of the following consecutive dates: October 18, October 25, November 1 and November 8." And there's more! Full memo after the jump.
Note to big boss guys: If you're going to hook up with underlings at the company Christmas party, try to avoid leaving photographic evidence.
That goes for you Russel "It's-Better-With-Butter" Simmons, Yelp's co-founder, chief technology officer, and hottie in charge.
