Imus Sucker Punches BrokawMEDIA
• Don Imus on Tom Brokaw: “He is not the most courageous person I’ve ever met in my life. He’s not the guy I’d want to be in a foxhole with.” You see, Brokaw didn’t defend Imus when he was down-and-out because of the whole “nappy-headed-hos” incident. Resentment, now that takes courage! [NYP]
• Shocker: CNBC is actually scared shitless of Fox Business News. They’re now asking guests to choose sides, threatening to drop them if they dare to appear on Murdoch’s new down-home network. [Silicon Alley Insider]
• Veteran literary agent Lynn Nesbit wants a new publishing madman: “Even [former Simon & Schuster CEO] Dick Synder is a lot more colorful than [newly departed Simon & Schuster CEO] Jack Romanos, who is now gone. I mean, they had passion, they cared about literature. Even Dick, who’s not an intellectual. He cared. He was a madman … . Who is a madman now in publishing? … It was just different then.” Hi, Lynn, allow us to introduce you to our favorite publishing madwoman, Judith Regan. [Media Mob/NYO]
company town
‘Times’ Laughs in Morgan Stanley’s Face (Well, Back)MEDIA
• Marcus Brauchli remains top editor at the Journal, but there’s a growing sense of inevitability that Robert Thomson, Sunday Times of London editor and Murdoch “old boy,” will challenge him for the position. (Related question: Does Murdoch have any “boys” who are not “old”?) [NYO]
• The Times’ third-quarter earnings almost doubled analysts’ expectations, giving the paper a chance to gloat about the big hit Morgan Stanley took a week ago by selling its stake in the company. [NYT, DealBook/NYT]
• Rick Reilly, previously the highest-paid writer in the history of Time Inc., will get $2 million a year for five years at ESPN. Who knew wussifying sports would pay so well? [NYP]
show & tell
As the Tents Turn: Isaac’s Back, Marc by Marc’s Gone, Look Out for Agyness Dean
With the collections hitting Bryant Park for the last time (please, Mayor Bloomberg, don’t make us hoof it to the Javits Center), we’re armed and ready for the season’s big changes.
London calling: One of Fashion Week’s hottest invites will be missing this season. Marc by Marc Jacobs is now showing across the pond, coinciding with the opening of the designer’s new flagship store.
Model down! Runway favorite Gemma Ward is skipping the season to shoot The Black Balloon with Toni Collette. We’re not saying Ward was typecast or anything, but she is playing a pretty young thing. Couldn’t she work in a coal mine?
Target hawker Isaac Mizrahi makes his grand comeback with a new collection and show on Monday, February 5, at 475 Tenth Avenue, near 36th Street.
Jeremy Scott is moving his often ridiculous, always outrageous show back to Paris, where he debuted in ‘97. We’ll miss the strip-club after-party.
After first canceling his show (his “goods” didn’t arrive on time), Stephen Burrows is now hosting a fall press preview. Tara Subkoff and Trovata shows, however, aren’t rising from the dead. Trovata split earlier this year citing “creative differences.”
cultural capital
Malcolm Gladwell, 4-Year-Old Sheriff
So we happened past New Yorker scribe Malcolm Gladwell’s blog today — don’t ask; we have no good excuse — and we were struck by what we found there. It seems Gladwell is in a big ol’ blog fight with professional conservative Steve Sailer, and the argument has driven the extravagantly coiffed author — heretofore known for his incisive journalism, his best-sellers, and, well, his exuberant coif — to adopt another claim to fame. Perhaps, from now on, he will be known as the Internet sheriff who saddled up on his blog and roped one errant hive-mind contributor like a straggling baby calf:
Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that Steve Sailer doesn’t allow readers to comment on his posts. Can you believe that? Here we have the aggrieved Steve Sailer, donning the cloak of victim as he decries my attempt at censorship. Here we have the allies of Steve Sailer, speaking out on behalf of the virutes [sic] of the free exchange of ideas, the importance of confronting one’s critics, the necessity of fighting the good fight in arena of free speech. And all the while their leader is cowering behind the gates of a comment-free blog.
Oh my. Is it possible that in addition to everything else, Steve Sailer is also a chicken?
See? That’s what’s so revolutionary about the Internet: It can turn a dude with a camera phone into a photojournalist, some dorky grad students into billionaires, and, it now seems, Malcolm Gladwell into a 4-year-old.
Imagine My Surprise … [Gladwell.com]
ask a retailer
What Barneys Is Buying IIThroughout the week, buyers from Barneys, Intermix, and Kirna Zabête told us which runway looks they planned to stock for spring. Julie Gilhart, senior vice-president and fashion director of Barneys New York, files her final picks.