magazines

Guy On Magazine Cover Is Latest Thing to Discuss

Hamilton Nolan · 06/18/09 10:46AM

Is Ryan Reynolds showing his pubes on the scandalous new Entertainment Weekly cover? Why don't you click through and look at the photo and then talk about it, etc.?

MySpace Cuts, Twitter Protests, Changes at MTV

cityfile · 06/16/09 11:45AM

• It's an ugly day at MySpace. The News Corp.-owned social network is slashing nearly 30 percent of its staff, or 400 people, due to a decline in sales. [BN, PC]
• Protesters in Iran have been using Twitter to keep up with developments on the ground. Now the State Department is stepping in and asking the company to put off a planned upgrade so service isn't disrupted. [Reuters]
• MTV entertainment president Brian Graden is departing the network. [NYP]
• It's official: NBC is dumping Live at Five and replacing it with an hour-long "daily information, lifestyle and entertainment show." [NYO]
Interview dropped editorial director Glenn O'Brien last week. Now the magazine's parent company, Brant Publications, is suing him for allegedly breaking the terms of his confidentiality agreement. [WWD]

El Reciclado de People

cityfile · 06/16/09 08:42AM

It's a good thing we've been closely monitoring the pages of ¡Hola! magazine. Otherwise we might have never realized that the "EXCLUSIVE tour" of Ivana Trump's townhouse on People's website was comprised of the same photos that appeared in the Spanish-language tabloid almost two months ago. But it's a good thing that Ivana's shockingly embarrassing taste in home décor has now been exposed to readers on multiple continents, isn't it? [¡Hola!, People]

Globe Bidders, Facebook Changes & The End of Analog

cityfile · 06/12/09 12:31PM

• Three more people have come out of the woodwork to express an interest in acquiring the Boston Globe. Let the bidding war begin? [Reuters]
• Analog television meets its maker tonight. Tell your grandma. [NYT, AP]
• Facebook introduces vanity URLs at midnight! Just in case you have absolutely nothing better to do and/or you're not too busy tweeting. [ABC]
• The New York Times is cutting, combining a few of its blogs. [E&P]
• Yahoo's new CFO is known for his ruthless cost-cutting. Good news for the beleaguered Internet company, bad news for beleaguered employees. [PC]
• Jon and Kate have been on the cover of Us for seven straight weeks now. "Unless Britney Spears gets pregnant or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie break up, it appears the troubled couple won't be bumped anytime soon." [WWD]

Late Night Comedy, Lou Dobbs & Labradors

cityfile · 06/11/09 12:55PM

• The late night battle rages on: After losing ground to Letterman, Conan bounced back last night, and had a pretty solid first week overall. [THR, NYT]
• Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. confirms that it has been talks with the New York Times Co. to purchase the Boston Globe. [BH]
Stephen Colbert's decision to broadcast from Iraq worked out nicely: Ratings for the Comedy Central show have been up 25 percent this week. [NYT]
Joy Behar is launching a new talk show on HLN. The best part about it: She'll be bumping blowhard Lou Dobbs from his 9pm slot on the network. [NYT]
• TV, print and online ad spending fell 14 percent in the first quarter. [WSJ]
• Hope you're a Marley & Me fan. HarperCollins is cemented a deal to publish 13 children's books about the world's most famous Labrador. Yes, 13. [PW]

Peter Brant Comes Undone

cityfile · 06/10/09 03:30PM

Polo-playing paper tycoon Peter Brant has had plenty of drama on his plate in recent weeks. His divorce from Stephanie Seymour has only been getting messier by the day. (Last week, the ex-supermodel got into a shoving match with one of Brant's bodyguards at the couple's Greenwich estate; over the weekend, she was issued a summons after another run-in with Brant's staff.) But that isn't the only crisis unfolding in the house of Brant. The convicted felon—Brant served 84 days in prison in 1990 after pleading guilty to tax fraud—is now watching Interview, the art/fashion mag founded by Andy Warhol and which Brant has controlled since the late 1980s, crumble to pieces. And it's all happened under the not-very-watchful eye of the man that Brant appointed to oversee his collection of magazines—his equally scandal-plagued son, Ryan Brant.