By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 4/30 7:33pm

Vagina Monologues

mandy

Gross Encounters of the Mandy Stadtmiller Kind

The first time The Observer met Mandy Stadtmiller at her Chelsea studio, the contents of her trash were strewn all over the floor. While Ms. Stadtmiller had been at a friend’s art opening, Samsung, her rescued pit bull, had thwarted his owner’s quickie attempt to clean up. Before we could examine the contents of the mess, Ms. Stadtmiller ushered us into the hallway to wait while she located a trash bag in a cabinet next to a pair of high heels and picked up the refuse.

Inside, her crystal collection sat on a shelf above a bin of bras. A couple of stuffed animals, inspirational sayings and books with titles like Use Your Body to Heal Your Mind decorated the room. A file cabinet served as a combination bedside and dining room table next to a double bed with a plush green velvet headboard. Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 4/11 4:31pm

tabloid wars

photo-1

Shooting Blanks: Daily News Gun Control Cover Can’t Beat Punny Post

This morning, The New York Post gave the news that Anthony Weiner is contemplating a political comeback a pun-filled cover treatment.

Meanwhile, the Daily News devoted its front page to their ongoing coverage (some may call advocacy) of the gun control debate.

On a day when every tabloids’ favorite congressman is back in the spotlight, the Daily News‘s front page seems an odd choice. In a two-tabloid town, how, we wondered, has this impacted sales of the News?

In a highly unscientific survey, we canvassed 15 newsstands in the vicinity of the Observer‘s midtown office. Of the vendors we talked to, eight said that The Post outsells the News, two said that News sells better and the remaining five said that they were neck-and-neck. Read More

By Kat Stoeffel 7/11/12 10:00am

off the record

R.I.P. Newscore: News Corp.’s Weird News Wire Goes Dark, Sheds Staff

As News Corp. shores up its print and television properties leading up to the company’s highly publicized split, its scrappy and beloved internal newswire Newscore has quietly gone dark, with at least 20 positions eliminated—and possibly more than twice that if cuts hit bureaus in London and Sydney.

Launched in 2009, Newscore collected and redistributed the news stories from News Corp.’s reporters in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, while racing rivals AP and Reuters on breaking news. Newscore CEO John Moody, a former Fox News executive, was reportedly inspired by a moment of synergy between Fox News and The Australian in covering Heath Ledger’s death. Read More

By Kat Stoeffel 7/10/12 7:15pm

off the record

tpe_straight

New York Times Public Editor’s Public Editor Is an Accidental Impostor

It’s safe to say that Matthew Callan, a 34-year-old book production editor, was no one’s go-to source for commentary when CNN anchor Anderson Cooper came out July 2. But in the Twitter tizzy to cover the breaking (if not surprising) news, at least two news outlets published a quip by Mr. Callan—only they attributed it to New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane.

Mr. Callan is the tweeter behind @TimesPublicEdit, a parody of Mr. Brisbane, whose handle is @thepubliceditor. Mr. Callan began the account in January, shortly after The Times published Mr. Brisbane now-infamous column, “Should the Times Be a Truth Vigilante?” asking if newspapers ought to fact-check all remarks made by newsmakers. Read More

By The Editors 2/14/12 7:37pm

Opening Shot

Wintour at Vera Wang.

Fashion Week Linsanity

If we had the foresight to pick a week to fall into a nice, 168-hour hibernation, we might have chosen the one leading up to Valentine’s Day. Think of all the tragedy we might have missed: the passing of Whitney Houston, Chris Brown winning a Grammy, the exhaustion of Fashion Week. And on top of all that? We completely forgot to buy something for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s birthday yesterday. But what do you buy the man who has already bought everything? (Another term is a bit out of our price range.)
Do you think he has a #17 jersey from the New York Knicks yet? We don’t know a lot about this Jeremy Lin fellow—apparently he sleeps on a couch and survives off a diet of tweeted compliments from Chris Hayes—but we do know that the DSM-V is considering adding “Linsanity” in its updated edition. It refers to a pandemic wherein a nation collectively falls into a fugue state after Tebow-ing too hard, only to be woken up compelled to discuss the cultural importance of Asian-Americans and/or Harvard grads in the NBA at every social function. Read More

By Drew Grant 1/04/12 8:45am

Profiles

Mr. Arora with one of his creations

Selling the Sizzle: New York ‘Spice King’ Dhiraj Arora Lets It All Hang Out

Shortly after meeting The Observer in the lobby of the Ace Hotel last Wednesday, Dhiraj Arora—who is the owner of the spice company Arora Creations Inc., but is perhaps better known for losing his temper and a good portion of his clothing one wild night at the Four Seasons Hotel—offered up a sly word of warning.

“The last woman who tried to profile me was an editor at Trace magazine,” Mr. Arora said. The editor had overseen a 2007 article in the magazine called “Delhi Rising,” which profiled several successful South Asian Americans. A cover story on Mr. Arora was considered, he said, “but she was eventually like, ‘Yo, D., I can’t keep up with you!’” The two ended up dating, a whirlwind romance that saw the duo jetting around the globe. That was the last time Mr. Arora truly felt he was in love.

We were a little unclear about just what this disclosure had to do with us, until the handsome 36-year-old asked if we were currently seeing anyone. We were. Did our significant other treat us right? Did he take us all over the world? Well, as a matter of a fact, he did.

“That’s really great,” Mr. Arora replied effusively. Read More

By Drew Grant 11/10/11 12:26pm

Scandals

Mr. Arora, Spice King

Spice King Runs Naked Through Four Seasons

Dhiraj Arora is a pretty big deal, though outside the food industry you might not know his name. He’s a bootstrap success story: turning $10 spice packet mixes made in his mother’s house in New Jersey into Arora Creations Inc., the only USDA-certified Organic Indian Grocery product line (according to its website). He was named one of Crain’s Top Entrepreneur in 2007.

He also allegedly likes to run around the Four Seasons Midtown gym naked, screaming at people “suck my million-dollar cock,” or “suck my $57 million dollar dick,” depending on who you ask.

Read More