By Drew Grant 1/10 4:27pm

Longreads

Lindsay Lohan and James Deen in The Canyons (Facebook)

Alternate Titles for NYT Mag’s ‘Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie’

If there ever was a week for longreads, this would be it. After Elizabeth Wurtzel’s 5,500-word essay published in New York about crazy landlords/Not Compromising on Life, The New York Times Magazine proved that it hadn’t cornered the market on histrionics. Thus, an 11-page exposé about Lindsay Lohan and The Canyons, the Kickstarter-funded film written by Bret Easton Ellis and directed by Paul Schrader, co-starring porn heartthrob James Deen.

As you can imagine, the piece chronicles what a nice time everyone had on the short shoot—which took place over three weeks last July–with a lot of fond, funny anecdotes. Like the time Ms. Lohan took too many sleeping pills, locked herself in a closet, and refused to come out until Paul Schrader took off all his clothes? That one is great. The pitch-perfect tone was immediately reflected in its  blog-snark title, “Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie.”

A fine choice, but a little unsubtle. We offer these 10 other titles that would have equally reflected the appeal of such a long, labor-intensive piece of journalism. Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 1/02 11:42am

off the record

Randy Cohen

Ethicist Unchained: Randy Cohen Is Back

As Off the Record pondered the ethics of regifting last week, we came across help in an unlikely place: a web ad for Detroit-based Ally Bank, which features original New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen dispensing advice about financial etiquette.

We called Mr. Cohen to find out how he went from being “The Ethicist”—a post he held for a dozen years—to the etiquette adviser at Ally Bank. Apparently, the advertising folks at iCrossing, fans of Mr. Cohen’s, got in touch about using him in a campaign for their client. But what about using the “Author, original NY Times Ethicist” chyron in the videos? Is the Gray Lady cool with that? Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 9/25/12 12:19pm

Times Talks

Photo via NYU

Times Magazine Editor Hugo Lindgren Goes to School

When Hugo Lindgren took over as editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine in 2010, publisher Arthur Sulzberger asked whether he was going to keep the magazine’s signature “On Language” column.

“I hope I’m not talking out of school here,” Mr. Lindgren said, recollecting the incident. But in fact, he was talking in a school. He was addressing the magazine program at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Read More

By Kat Stoeffel 6/07/12 1:50pm

Appointments

ethicist

Chuck Klosterman Is Probably the Times Mag’s New ‘Ethicist’

Hugo Lindgren set Twitter speculating about who would be The New York Times Magazine‘s new Ethicist today when he teased, “It’s a little scary when The Ethicist starts following you.” But only briefly.

A new Ethicist Twitter account (@nytethicist) has been formed, Longform founder Max Linsky quickly pointed out, and it follows two people: the Times mag and Mr. Lindgren. Its bio is quite revealing: “I write the Ethicist column for @NYTmag and also tweet as ‏@CKlosterman.” Read More