Normally we try to keep a fair distance between ourselves and PR types. We like when they invite us to parties with free booze, but not so much when it turns out to be an intimate dinner at a midtown restaurant with 10 people you
ve never heard of and you're allowed only one complimentary drink
but where was I? Oh, PR and our love of necessary evils. There are exceptions and Kelly Cutrone of People
s Revolution is one of them. She
s the straight-talking sweetie of fashion/lifestyle PR and she gives us the goods (an 88 year-old woman in 4 inch heels), the bad manners (Hamish Bowles imposters), and the ugh (show-crashing goons) of Fashion Week.

At the intersection of fashion and race car driving there are no stop signs or lights, just a lone traffic cop wearing a dashiki and green chenille cuff cap. We bet there aren't too many people roaming the halls of 4 Times Square who can appreciate the finer subtleties of off-road racing but we found one — Michele Shapiro, research editor at Glamour and rally enthusiast. She s trained in the art of clawing her way through sample sales and dropping trou in the Moroccan desert. Amazing truths about the fashion magazine industry and fanciful musings on international road trips are revealed after the jump.

There have been rumors circulating about this for months, but it's still hard to believe: there are these cameras that take pictures you can't post on the Internet. They use something called "film," which comes in those little canisters you store your coke in. Phillip Toledano, it turns out, uses that stuff for his eerie, lonely photography. After the jump, he displays a fine ability to dodge an insulting question (#3) and makes one wonder how someone who wore an eye patch as a kid could grow up to be a shutter bug. Also, who needs fashionistas when beat-up LES photogs look this hot?

French minimalist label APC threw a Fashion Week party last night at their Mercer Street location and pulled off some rare Sunday evening hipitude with Jarvis Cocker (formerly of Pulp) as the DJ and members of Interpol, Vincent Gallo, photographer Terry Richardson, Lady Bunny, and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth in attendance as well. We soaked in the scene, noticed that shorts (as in pants, yes, short pants!) are back and can be safely worn post-Labor Day by cool-seeking guys and girls. We sipped Sofia Coppola's sparkling wine in mini-cans through a straw and we regrettably tried to interview two of the aforementioned hipsters — attempts which lasted all of four seconds each. Hence, get whacked like us with a 2X4 after the jump.

Back in the heyday of metal, there was a rumor that Axl Rose had a job where he was paid to smoke cigarettes. Almost as cool, writer Alex Abramovich was recently paid to get drunk with a group of pals. He did, though, have to go on to write something up for Slate about it. (We bet Axl never put up with such indignities.) After the jump, Alex dishes about early-Internet magazine FEED, his penchant for a.m. radio, and the correct songs to, well, get drunk to. Brother has a one-track mind.

Too often someone's yakking on about publishing that "print is dead" or "online is dead" when really we just want to read good writing, regardless of the format. It could be on toilet paper or tree bark for all we care. Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack planted their feet in this trough by starting The Morning News, a daily-published online magazine with a dedicated, yet unpaid, staff. Keep your eye on the ball as they talk about ping-pong, laughing on a treadmill, and taking a taxi in Maine. Is there anything these fools can't do?

Patrick Smith is sure one doggone aviator extraordinaire. In his "Ask the Pilot" column for Salon.com, he dispels common airline myths, explains the beauty of certain flight patterns, and tries to keep terrorist hysteria to a minimum. That's all well and good, but what about the mile-high club and how getting bumped to first-class simply ruins you for flying with the peons in steerage ever again? We asked the pilot these questions and more, and miraculously he answered without demanding security strip search us first.

Former editor in chief of Playgirl and author/performer of a one-woman show, Centerfold, Ronnie Koenig believes that Vinnie Gallo's nude-a-rific "Brown Bunny" will inspire copycats — specifically, look for Brad Pitt to bare his best in 2005 in a sequel to "Fight Club." After the jump, Koenig tolerates the 5X5 inquisition and reminds us how to talk dirty, that gays are like cowboys, and that Alan Alda and Alyssa Milano are equals.

Steve Brodner is no stranger to national political conventions. He has covered seven of them for Esquire, The Progressive, the Village Voice, and others. In the past he's been a regular contributor to Harper's, National Lampoon, Playboy, Spy, the Nation and New Yorker. Seriously, he's appeared in every major publication you can think of so we'll stop listing them. He's one of the premier political illustrators of his time (or ever) and he's got a thing or two to say about the current administration and media coverage of these events. We try to listen but, honestly, we're really tired of this politically-charged week.

Gawker Civics, Part II (or whatever): Some people like to protest by riding bicycles and clogging traffic. Others think getting naked makes a point. In the most extreme cases of progressive radicalism, there are the few who actually run for political office. Sure, like that makes a difference. Oh, we tease. Enter Dan Garodnick, a lawyer living in Peter Cooper Village of Manhattan. He shares a vision of the future of East Side commuting and, like he says, it's all about the 2nd Avenue Subway Line. Now that's worth taking your clothes off for.

Make no mistake, we enjoy taking it from both sides. To show our GOP love we tracked down one Republican among a sea of red, white, and blue (mainly white, though). We present Michael Bates, a REAL LIVE convention delegate! Ooooh, aaaaah. He s come here from Oklahoma, presumably by covered wagon, to attend committee meetings and crowded parties. For those in need of a serious civics lesson (in our case, geography would help too), he explains the inner mechanics of party machine politics and how gay marriage is really like putting a slice of tomato on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. More delicious bites after the jump.

As the saying goes, it s not a convention party until someone breaks a champagne glass (or campaign promise) — and a banner is hung from the façade of an upscale hotel. Evan Thies is media coordinator for the money-shot group Operation Sibyl that orchestrated the Plaza Hotel banner stunt last Thursday. According to this Times article, Thies was arrested and charged with criminal facilitation. Apparently he s also a spokesman for a New York City Councilman. At the tender age of 24, we think he s doing just fine on the path to anarchy.

This week, the Gawker Interview will have a thinly-veiled theme of government do-gooders and cause-celebrators instead of the usual Machiavellian media whores. We start with Henry J. Stern, a New Yorker destined for city history books if local classrooms ever get them updated. He s the former NYC Parks Commissioner and a Crusader-for-Life when it comes to protecting New York s natural beauty. Please pay close attention has he speaks the gospel of Central Park and explains why overnight sleepers, but not protestors, are welcome there.

Adam Perry Lang has been on the foodie circuit for quite some time, with stints at Le Cirque, Daniel, and Chanterelle. Finally having had enough of serving socialities who'd merely pick at their food, Adam opened Daisy May's BBQ. After the jump, Adam tells us about his food, originating in some place called "the South." How very quaint!

We don't claim to know little more 'round here than where to get a cheap drink or a quick lay. That's why we hold people like Michael Musto in such high regard — not only has been around the media scene for, like, 40 years or something, but he's become an indispensible gossip source, knows his ass from his elbow, and rides his bike everywhere. Flamingly awesome, Musto tells fills us in on a few burning issues that we can't quite figure out.

Jardine Libaire is our kind of writer: she delves into the world of pretty, coke-addled hipster sluts! Her new novel Here Kitty Kitty just might make chick-lit cool and, if it doesn't, it still sounds like something we'd read for the naughty factor. After the jump, Jardine considers the modern-day Holly Golightlys and tells us all about the wonderful world of callgirl couture.

The online landscape is littered with the corpses of failed writing ventures and you'd have to be out of your mind to assemble a staff with the goal to put out interesting magazine-quality material everyday. Eric Gillin, Editor-In-Chief of the Black Table, set out to do just that. Now he's raking in free drinks and handing out cigarettes to children. Ah, a man after our own heart.

Sasha Frere-Jones is not your average writer. He holds communion in an unoccupied percentile somewhere off the standardized charts, even beyond NYC or Weston, CT. When he's not dropping science on music for The New Yorker, he can also be found supplying "the mad love and raw justice, the garbage and the free food" on his weblog. Because we made the near-fatal mistake of confusing him with his brother Tobias, Sasha turns 5X5 on its ass and makes it 6X7. Really, there was very little we could do about it.

Ted Leo has been mixing pop and politics since the late 1980s with various outfits ranging from Citizen s Arrest to Chisel. Revered by many is a long-standing indie king, Leo is about to release the 4th full-length album with his current band the Pharmacists. For the uninitiated, comparisons and influences are sometimes pointed at The Clash and Elvis Costello, but we think he s created his own flavor of soulful, tuneful, and thoughtful pop. Dig in as he discusses the new album, busking, file-sharing and why the RIAA can go fuck itself.

We guess we should learn this Google thing all the reporters are using for research, since we were practically schooled by today's interview. Editor deluxe John Morgan sets us straight on agents' proper percentage, how deep the geekdom of comics go, and that there is no exit to the labyrinth that is the publishing houses and their imprints. All this and a sentimental shout-out to his #1 love after the jump.