Opening in theaters today, the movie How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is based on Toby Young's lively memoir about a British journalist's cringingly disastrous stint at Vanity Fair. In a recent look back at the 2001 book, we noticed some passages that were strikingly similar to a June 16, 1996, New York Times story by John Tierney. In the story, called "Masochism Central," Tierney colorfully described the habits of the bitchy females and emasculated males at Condé Nast. Here are some comparisons:

Tierney: "350 Madison ... has been called, among other things, the Palace of Pulchritude; the two men's stores flanking the entrance, Brooks Brothers and Paul Stuart, have been compared to sentinels at the Temple of Aphrodite."
Young: "There were so many beautiful girls at 350 it was sometimes named the 'Palace of Pulchritude.' I'd even heard the two men's clothing shops that flanked the building on either side — Brooks Brothers and Paul Stewart [sic] — referred to as 'sentinels at the Temple of Aphrodite.'"

Name: Lori Levine
Job: Founder and head of Flying Television Productions, a celebrity wrangling and brokering company
Neighborhood: Gramercy Park

Who's your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Diane Von Furstenberg. She is the ultimate female success story.

What's the best meal you've eaten in New York?
ápizz is phenomenal. Just the thought of the meatballs can drag you out of bed in a snowstorm.

According to an e-mail obtained by Radar, Gawker owner Nick Denton has fired nineteen editorial employees today, including Gawker editor Moe Tkacik, right. He has also announced a change in their salary system: Next quarter, most staffers will receive a small raise in exchange for the suspension of their traffic bonuses. The site also confirmed what we and Radar heard earlier this week, that Gabriel Snyder will be the new managing editor of Gawker.com. "The news about the job and bonus cuts will be demoralizing. The golden age of the blog is over, people will say," Denton wrote to his staffers. "Gawker Media is behaving like those big media companies that we mock so easily." We're bummed for our fellow bloggers, but allow us to be the first to not say this marks the end of the "golden age of the blog." [Radar Online]

The Rangers’ regular season doesn’t open until tomorrow — high noon against the Tampa Bay Lightning — but new Daily News beat writer Michael Obernauer already has some catching up to do in the eyes of some fans. He’s been taking a beating in the Daily News’ comments section (and elsewhere on the Internet) for his report on last Tuesday’s exhibition game, which came in at just 69 words. “Why don’t you just hand in a haiku, you lazy son of a b***h?” writes one commenter,” while another chides him for not including any quotes from players or the coach. “We need [John] Dellapina back,” writes a third, referring to the team’s former beat writer, who left for a job with the NHL this summer. There are some mean ones, too.

Over the weekend we learned that art-world mogul Guy Wildenstein had backed out of a marquee apartment in the newly renovated Plaza Hotel. Now we learn that he's purchased one of the most spectacular, storied private residences in New York City. Wildenstein had put down $49.2 million on five separate apartments in the Plaza, which he is now putting back on the market. Now he's plunked down $32.5 million on 7 Sutton Square, paying $7.5 million more than the asking price.

What does he get for all that money? Well, parking spaces on a private cobblestoned Upper East Side street, for one. But also 9,250 square feet of space, roof garden, gym, sauna, five bedrooms, and a spectacular view of the Queensboro Bridge (it looks nice at night, people). He also gets a bit of history: It and the rest of the remaining brownstones on Riverview Terrace were built in 1879, matching a set built down on Sutton Place. The townhouse is actually two homes that the previous owner, William Reilly, combined in 1998. He paid a total of $5.1 million for both properties, plus a couple million in renovations. (Nice flip, dude. That goes on our list!). Cityfile has pictures of the butt-puckering interiors and views.

We know the art bubble is basically the last one that hasn't burst yet, but sometimes reminders like this are just too much to take.

MANSION MAN [NYP]
Earlier: Art-World Heavyweight Guy Wildenstein Backs Out of Plaza, Too
New York's Most Impressive Real-Estate Flips

Last night's debate contained inaccuracies on the part of both vice-presidential candidates, as many media outlets have noted. But one rather spectacular gaffe from Delaware senator Joe Biden has gone unrecognized by the "mainstream media." This morning's News-Journal broke the shocking news, since picked up by the National Review:

During the debate, Joe Biden gave several Delaware shout-outs, including Wilmington's Union Street... Maybe, I heard this wrong, or misunderstood, but I think he mentioned Katie's restaurant... Wilmington used to have a Katie's restaurant — way back in the day — and it was in Little Italy, as is Union Street, but I'm almost positive Katie's wasn't on Union Street. And it hasn't been Katie's in, well, years. Maybe he said Kozy's — as in Kozy Korner?

Every day (or close to it) until November 4, a series of writers and thinkers will discuss the election over instant messenger for nymag.com. Today, The Atlantic's James Fallows and Katie Roiphe, the author, most recently, of Uncommon Arrangements, discuss Sarah Palin's flirtatiousness last night, and which voters she was really winking at.

J.F.: There is no avoiding Topic One this morning. So … what did you think about The Debate?

K.R.: I was terrified last night, looking at Sarah Palin and thinking that she could be president. She can't string a sentence together. She can't talk in a grammatical or coherent way. But then people seem to think that she was fine. It seems like the bar is very low if we think a vice-president who did not hugely embarrass herself would be okay.

After publisher Donald Newhouse last month announced that the Star-Ledger might be "sold, or failing that ... it will close operation on Jan. 5, 2009," the paper and its staff got good news this week. Owners Advance Publications were able to strike a deal with the Newspapers and Mail Deliverers Union, which had been the holdout in a series of deals to reduce costs across the board for the ailing daily. The accord will be ratified by a vote of the union's memberships on Tuesday, and if it succeeds, and as many as 200 staffers do accept buyouts as expected, all will be on track for the paper to continue in existence past January. The Star-Ledger loses an estimated $30 to $40 million a year, but Newhouse is tentatively optimistic about its future. "We're very hopeful that everything will fall into place," he said.

WHEW! [NYP]
Earlier: Publisher: ‘Star-Ledger’ to Be Sold or Shuttered by January