By Foster Kamer 7/27/12 3:18pm

TIMES OF THE TIMES

CARR SCOTT GUILTY PLEASURES

Andrew Ross Sorkin Loves Him Some Bethenny Frankel, and Other ‘Guilty Pleasures’ of the New York Times

New York Times mediacreature David Carr and Toby Turtle doppelganger A.O. Scott recently taped another video in a series not titled “Old Timesmen Telling Jokes,” which is not set to premiere off-Broadway this fall. Previously, these two geriatric culture anthropologists discovered Brooklyn, The Brand, the phenomenon of dead pop stars, and pissed off celebrities on Twitter. Now, they delve into the “guilty pleasures” of the New York Times. Read More

By Drew Grant 7/12/12 12:10pm

Viral Marketing

cbs upfronts 3 170512

The Gotham Observer: Batman’s City Gets the Newspaper It Deserves

When picking publications to model your fictitious newspaper on, we obviously have a bias. Still, it’s nice to see that the Warner Bros.’ viral marketing team agreed with us, as their late-June campaign for The Dark Knight Rises included clues to unlock the Gotham Observer, a newspaper that bears resemblance to our own organization in title only.

(We would never lead with a cover story on a ‘Festivity Day’…even if it was in honor of a fallen district attorney. Or if we did, we’d make the led much snappier.)

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By Foster Kamer 6/25/12 1:13pm

The Newsroom

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Calls To The Bullpen: Our Newsroom on ‘The Newsroom’

Aaron Sorkin’s back with another shot at television with the premiere of HBO’s latest, The Newsroom, last night. Like his ‘Sports Night‘ and ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip‘ before it, the show takes place in TV. Unlike those shows, they can say “fuck” on this one. Starring Jeff Daniels as the Olbermann-esque Will McEvoy, ‘The Newsroom‘ opens up by indicting America, and specifically, American media, and dares to answer the question: What would greatness in news look like in 2012?

Last night, he gave us an hour’s worth of answers. This morning, some editors of the Observer gathered to talk about how he managed the task. Read More

By Drew Grant 6/22/12 9:00am

Media

Bring your baby to work day (The Atlantic)

The Real Reason Women ‘Can’t Have It All’

The Atlantic, your home for ladies complaining about how hard it is being ladies (We kid! Sort of!) had a polarizing essay this week by Anne-Marie Slaughter, entitled “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” Only seven months after Kate Bolick taught all us females that we didn’t have to settle for second best in the marriage department, we’re now getting the flip side of the coin: apparently it doesn’t matter how great our significant others are, because if you try to have a career and a kid in this economy, you’ll find yourself miserably torn between the two. And then you’ll chose your kids. Obviously.

Originally, we thought the simple solution would be to wait until your career goals are met until procreating, but as that New York cover story taught us, this  is probably an unhealthy excuse for desperate old people. (It also makes for way grosser images than a hot MILF breastfeeding her overgrown son.) Read More

By Ben Weitzenkorn 5/30/12 5:00pm

Etan Patz

Etan Patz as taken by his father, Stanley Patz in 1979. This photograph was taken from Wikipedia where it is listed under a Creative Commons attribution license.

Etan Patz’s Father Pulls Etan’s Photos

More than 30 years after his son Etan became one of the first missing children to appear on a milk carton, Stanley Patz has withdrawn distribution rights for his photographs from the Associated Press.

In a statement, the AP said it had removed four photos of Etan from their database and instructed its member newspapers do the same. The request came shortly after the April excavation of a Soho basement failed to uncover Etan’s remains and before Pedro Hernandez’s confession thrust the grieving family back into the media spotlight.

When 6-year-old Etan disappeared on the streets of Soho in 1979, the Patzs believed circulating the collection of personal photos (Mr. Patz is a professional photographer) would aid in their son’s speedy return. Instead, they helped make it one of the most sensational and heartbreaking media stories of the decade. Read More

By Aaron Gell 5/16/12 12:29pm

PUBLIC HEALTH

(Courtesy: AndreaPeyser.com)

A Treasury of Andrea Peyser’s Very Best Prison Rape Fantasies

The New York Post’s tender-hearted angel of mercy, Andrea Peyser, is best known for the deeply humanistic perspective with which she handles the sensitive criminal proceedings of our legal system. Less well appreciated is her concern for the good physical hygiene of those society has cast aside.

“My advice to Pedro: Don’t pick up the soap.”—on Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., May 15, 2012

“Enjoy the communal showers, Sen. Piggy.”—on Sen. Espada, Jr.,  April 27, 2012 Read More

By Drew Grant 5/16/12 10:48am

books

audiobook conception with headphones and books

New York Not Make List Of Cities That Read Good

A scientific survey done by the crack researchers at Amazon.com revealed yesterday that the city that reads the most (i.e. buys the most books from Amazon.com) happens to be Alexandria, V.A. Though it should be noted that quality counts a little over quantity: the majority of books bought–er–read by the D.C. suburbanites happen to be Fifty Shades of Grey-style romance novels. Not exactly The Art of Fielding, if you catch our drift.

But who are we to judge? Out of the top cities listed for voracious reading Amazon.com accounts, New York didn’t even break the Top 20. Read More