One-time Details and Men's Journal editor-in-chief Michael Caruso, who left Portfolio earlier this month, seems to have stumbled upon a new career: Shilling for appliances! In particular, the Sub-Zero-subsidiary Wolf rangetop. Perhaps his manic record on the editorial side of the magazine business belied a frustration at his stymied career in advertising—we just didn't expect him to be on that particular side of the camera. We feel your pain, Michael. Hey, how do the commercial model salaries compare to those at Wenner Media or Conde Nast? Also! Are you related to Sub-Zero designer Jerome Caruso?

Magazine guy Michael Caruso (he was once editor in chief of Details) has ankled Conde Nast biz mag Portfolio; we hear that he was not unhappy that he signed up for a short contract to help with the launch. Recent reports from inside are scarce, although basic recon suggests that Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman is still annoying the copy to death. The fourth issue is trickling downtownwards this week—it should have sneaked through to poor-neighborhood newsstands by Friday. [WWD]

• The Village Voice gets its very own hipster-Blair, in the form of young Nick Sylvester, who fabricated parts of his cover story. Upon being caught, he fainted outside of editor Doug Simmons' office, only to find himself suspended upon regaining consciousness. Meanwhile, freelancers bitch about the possibilty of the story being a stolen pitch and Sylvester loses his indie cred by being asked to resign from his haute music-reviewing gig at Pitchfork.
EXHALE! And in other news:

Back to Men's Journal for just a moment. So who did Michael Caruso, according to his wrongful-termination lawsuit, spend six trying to fire because his or her "removal was integral to the success of Men's Journal"? Survey says...

Yesterday we quoted an interesting claim from Michael Caruso's wrongful-termination lawsuit against Wenner Media, that "Wenner denied Caruso the ability for about six months to fire one staff member whose removal was integral to the success of Men's Journal." Never mind how one person's presence or absence could really be integral to a magazine's success; we wanted to identify this magical individual with make-or-break power. That's where the problem started: The emails we received fingered two different people, each with equal certainty and vehemence. So we don't know which one is really the culprit.

Last week we posted an inventory of Michael Caruso's guaranteed perks and bonuses when he was editor-in-chief of Men's Journal — guaranteed biz-class air travel, $10,000 for sticking to his budget, $10,000 for winning a National Magazine Award, and so on. For the rank-and-file, though, life is less pleasant. An MJ freelancer sends along the magazine's expense guidelines for normal folks, from which we learn that air and car-rental upgrades will never be reimbursed, yellow cabs and not car services must be used in New York, magazine and newspaper purchases can't be expensed, and — this is really our favorite part — restaurant tips will only be reimbursed up to 15 percent.

Last week we took a look at axed Men's Journal editor Michael Caruso's wrongful-termination lawsuit against Wenner Media and were distracted by his generous compensation plan. Now that we've processed that though, we can examine his actual case. Caruso charges the Wenner meddled in the management of his magazine — Jann Wenner? Meddling? No way! — and then fired him for no reason. So, what was the nature of Wenner's interference?

We, too, got our grubby hands on ousted Men's Journal EIC Michael Caruso's wrongful-termination lawsuit against Wenner Media, and we must say it's a delightful read. Our favorite part, though, is the inclusion of Caruso's complete employment contract, executed on November 17, 2003, between Caruso and Wenner Media SVP Robert Kent Browridge.

WWD's towering inferno, Jeff Bercovici, gets his hands on Michael Caruso wrongful-termination suit against Wenner Media for today's paper, and he fleshes out the details of what the ousted Men's Journal editor is charging — and what he's demanding.

Remember when former Men's Journal editor Michael Caruso "decided not to renew" his contract? Maybe there was a little more to that story, according to state court filings:

Keith "Don't Call Me Clarkson" Kelly reports on Wenner Media's Black Tuesday, when Men's Journal editor Michael Caruso lost his DeskJet and decided to quit. In the aftermath, the staff looks to management for inspiration:

So Michael Caruso, the EIC of that other Wenner Media title, Men's Journal, packed up his office yesterday and announced that he was off like an old lady's libido. Having spent two years helming the apple in Jann Wenner's eye, Caruso's decided not to renew his contract, which was up in November. According to Mediaweek, the move isn't much of a surprise: Caruso had spent most of the summer complaining about the company's "management style." Gosh, what could Caruso possibly be unhappy about?