Surfer Savior Keeps Getting SexierThe mysterious surfer who saved the life of a Brooklynite in the choppy waters off of Coney Island has been identified.
early and often
The ‘Daily News’ Heils HillaryIn a darkly lit, dramatic silhouette of the former First Lady, we think we recognize a certain salute.
James Dolan and Mort Zuckerman Join Murdoch in Scramble for ‘Newsday’Turns out it’s not just Rupert Murdoch who’s interested in buying Newsday; Mort Zuckerman, the real-estate magnate who owns the Daily News, and James Dolan, whose family owns Cablevision, Madison Square Garden, and the Knicks, are making bids as well.
in other news
Ad Hominem Attack on Mariah Carey in the ‘Daily News’Dude, News editorial board, what’s with this 63-word diatribe today?
Cultural note: We see that the warbler Mariah Carey, who has already tied Elvis Presley as the second-place holder of the most No. 1 records, will soon, if her new hit ditty goes to the top of the charts, tie the Beatles as the first-place holder of the most No. 1 records ever.
Man.
That’s — that’s just wrong.
On so many levels.
Why, exactly, is it wrong, you guys? Because you’re a bunch of mostly white old people who don’t understand R&B? If you’ll recall, your parents thought Elvis and the Beatles were trashy, too. We won’t defend Mariah Carey’s cultural relevance in comparison to those musical giants — though we do love her. But from now on, you’re no longer allowed to wonder why young people think your newspaper is irrelevant.
Off the Charts [NYDN]
intel
The Long Hand of the Trumps Slaps Madame Tussauds Right in Her Wax FaceIn the most hilarious press release we’ve received all week, today we learned that Ivanka Trump actually doesn’t send nail polish to Madame Tussauds weekly to spruce up the wax mannequin in her likeness. We can only imagine the nasty personal phone calls that the Donald made to some poor executive at Tussauds in order to cause them to squeak out this apology. They probably involved a lot of scathing sarcasm and scowling head bobs that you could just hear through the phone. Below, the statement:
Madame Tussauds New York would like to set the record straight. On Friday, the Daily News called and was inadvertently given incorrect information by a Tussauds employee. Unfortunately, the employee thought the Daily News was asking about a different figure. Madame Tussauds New York does not in fact have a figure of Ivanka Trump… yet. We apologize for the confusion. Madame Tussauds loves the Trumps and is very proud of its figures of Donald and Ivana Trump, as well as its more than 200 lifelike figures.
OH MY GOD — are they saying Ivana Trump is sending nail polish for her wax likeness at the museum? That’s even better!
in other news
Reacting to Eliot’s Mess
Eliot Spitzer is still holed up in his apartment in New York, where he and his wife, Silda, have been conferring with advisers since last night. He’s weighing his options, and deciding whether to resign. Meanwhile, on the outside, the politicians and the media have descended into exactly the kind of feeding frenzy you would expect:
• The Post reports that State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno held back from reveling in his great rival’s fall: “I feel very badly for the governor’s wife, for his children,” he said. “The important thing for the people of New York State is that people in office do the right thing.”
• According to CNN, Republican state senators and assemblymen (and some Democrats) are aggressively calling for his resignation. So is the Republican Governors Association.
• If Spitzer doesn’t resign before a deadline set by state Republicans, they’ve vowed to begin impeachment proceedings, reports WCBS.
intel
‘Daily News’ to Start New Gossip Column on SundayAfter over a year without a weekend-only gossip column, the Daily News is going to launch “Full Disclosure With Jo Piazza” on Sunday, we hear.* Running a half-page once a week, the column will cover the same kind of dish and celebrity news as the tabloid’s current columns, “Rush & Molloy” and Ben Widdicombe’s “Gatecrasher.” Piazza, whom you may remember as the girl who got hit on by a married Nick Lachey at the Super Bowl in 2005, has been covering celebrities since her days as a legwoman for “Rush & Molloy” three years ago. She also has a Fashion Week blog and column. Previous weekend columnists for the tab, which has tested a handful out to compete with “Page Six“‘s seven-day coverage, have included Widdicombe and Michael Gross. We think this is good news, because it’s okay for you to not read us for your latest news and gossip on the weekends. After all, you need to read about Britney Spears sometime.
*We hear this because Jo has totally been besties with Daily Intel editor Chris since the day Jo body-slammed her way past a doorman at Bungalow 8 to get into Chris’s birthday party in 2004, earning his respect forever.
the sports section
Happy Giant Monday
Last night, only moments after the Patriots stuttered out their last plays in Super Bowl XLII, the shouts began. From our window facing East 14th Street, we started to hear chants of “Eli! Eli! Eli!” A communal roar echoed out of bars like the Blarney Cove, Otto’s Shrunken Head, and Mona’s. A few minutes later crowds poured out of Stuyvesant Town and Alphabet City, walking down the street towards the First Avenue L stop. They whooped, they chanted — we even saw one guy dive tackle a friend into the (hard-looking) sidewalk, screaming “PLAXICO!”
This morning, when we woke up, we picked up the Daily News. Not being from New York originally, we’ve never really understood the rationale behind the “commemorative covers” that the tabloids put out sometimes. Do people in the city really have walls covered with Daily News and Post covers? But when we unfolded the paper to check out the giant photo of Eli Manning clutching the trophy, with a yell of triumph on his face, we thought to ourselves: “Huh. We’d better save this one.”
Anyway, if tomorrow is Super Tuesday, today has definitely got to be Giant Monday. Leave us some comments! We want to hear where you were last night when Plaxico Burress caught the touchdown pass with 35 seconds to go, and what you did when Manning escaped from the Patriots’ clutches to make that longshot pass to David Tyree. Oh, and which Super Bowl ad was your favorite, because ours was totally that Coke one with the Macy’s parade balloons
Related: Underdog: The Rise of Eli Manning
early and often
City Rallies Behind Rudy for First Time Since 9/11When Rudy Giuliani lost Florida the other day, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley [R] suggested that his personality was responsible. “It seemed like the more people got acquainted with him, the less they liked him,” he said. This was not a groundbreaking statement — in fact, the Times used pretty much the exact same words the following day. But Grassley used two more words, words that would prove to be his undoing: It was not just Giuliani’s personality that was off-putting, he said, but his “New York personality.” Immediately, the Daily News was up in arms about the “hick senator”: “I’ve seen Grassley before,” the News quoted Curtis Sliwa as saying. “He wears polyester, waffle-weave, flame-retardant pants that look like they survived the high waters.” Jimmy Breslin called Grassley a “moron” and a “low-IQ loudmouth,” and Michael Musto told the News: “This just cements the idea that New York City should secede from the union.” In the comments, readers got in on the action. “I wouldn’t worry about Grassley’s comments,” wrote one. “After all, Iowa stands for ‘idiots out walking around.’” Some were more forgiving: “Rather than dis Senator Grassley, I sentence him to life in Iowa.” Right? How dare he suggest that New Yorkers are as arrogant and unlikable and provincial as Giuliani when obviously we’re really fucking loving warm people? Maybe if he didn’t live in stupid Hicksville, Iowa, he would know that.
Daily News Readers Blast Iowa Senator, Hick Iowa senator says N.Y. attitude cost Rudy Giuliani; Apple strikes back [NYDN]
early and often
Bloomberg Meets With Perot’s Ballot Expert, Also Lance ArmstrongNow, we don’t know Elizabeth Benjamin from the Daily News’ Daily Politics blog, and we have never met Azi Paybarah from the Observer’s Politicker. But sometimes we want to give them a standing ovation. On days when Mayor Bloomberg’s maddening presidential flirtations make us want to pull our hair out, rip at our fingernails, and start talking really loudly on the subway to nobody in particular, they maintain a cool composure. Every hint, tease, and come-on that the mayor makes toward entering the 2008 presidential race they report with grace and ease. Like, today, for example, when Bloomberg sat down with Texas ballot-access expert Clay Mulford, the guy who put Ross Perot’s name in voting booths in 1992 and 1996. This is yet another strong signal that the mayor is setting up plans to make an independent run, but he once again made an exasperated denial of any such plans to reporters today. “Read into that what you will,” Benjamin reported coolly. “Another sign that he’s running for President or another well-placed tip that keeps the buzz alive.” Paybarah doesn’t even offer up an analysis, other than explaining the ballot logistics. We don’t know how you do it, people. We literally don’t have eyebrows anymore.
Bloomberg Meets With Ballot Expert [AP]
ink-stained wretches
No New British Editor Yet for New York’s Hometown NewspaperAfter the Post’s to-do today about Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman’s search for a new editor, Portfolio scribe Jeff Bercovici spoke with current editor Martin Dunn about the whole thing (something Kelly, despite a source inside the News, did not manage to do). Bercovici wondered whether the search for a new editor meant anything was going to change for Dunn himself.
“I signed a new contract last year,” [Dunn] says. “We were working on it from last September. There wasn’t a great deal of rush because I wasn’t going anywhere, anyway. So I’m definitely tied in for the next couple of years, at least, and probably longer.”
Dunn also explained that he will remain editor-in-chief of the tabloid, which means that any high-profile British editor (like Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace, who Kelly reports has talked to the News and turned them down thus far) will have to fill a different role. “We’ve got some big announcements coming up in the first part of this year,” Dunn said. “Major announcements, which are going to cause huge amounts of extra work.” Ooh! Like what? Surely not another ill-fated weekly celebrity magazine. Perhaps a new Web presence to compete with PageSix.com? A full-fledged national edition? Ooh, ooh! We know! A Website with live streaming video: AllCopFuneralsAllTheTime.com!
Daily News EIC: Actually, I Have a New Contract [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
MIRROR ON THE WALL [NYP]
in other news
Jared Paul Stern Still ExistsEvery once in a while, when we see someone wearing clothes that have a skull-and-crossbones symbol on them (okay, so every day), we wonder whatever happened to Jared Paul Stern. He was the “Page Six” reporter who allegedly tried to extort Ron Burkle, and then got busted when Burkle turned tapes of their meetings over to authorities. JPS, who created the clothing line Skull and Bones (only to be outdone by everyone from Mark Ecko to Ralph Lauren), was fired from “Page Six,” and then wrote a book about the experience. Sadly, the book was never picked up, and we haven’t heard from him since. But today, WWD lets us know what he’s been up to. Since November, he’s been blogging for Kempt, a men’s fashion Website. He covers liquor, luxury, and famous dudes. Kind of like what he did at “Page Six,” except with even more freedom to glorify men and objectify women. Stern says that the lawsuit he filed against Burkle, which also included the Daily News and Bill and Hillary Clinton, is still pending. “It’s on autopilot,” he told WWD. “These things take a while to go through the courts system.” We can only assume the suit is hopelessly outdated. Silly Jared, don’t you know Burkle and the Clintons broke up?
Stern Surfaces [WWD]
Related: Jared Paul Stern’s Lawyer Loves Suing the Clintons
Clinton to Burkle: It’s Not You, It’s Me
office-party patrol
Sneaking Into Steve Brill’s House, and Doing Shots With the ‘Daily News’Believe it or not, companies are still having holiday parties, even though you’re like, so totally over the festive season. Luckily, you have us to attend them for you, so you don’t even have to get up off your bedroom floor, where you’ve been sitting and weeping for the last three days trying to wrap presents and figure out what to re-gift from last year. Last night saw some big parties: The Hearst gala occupied the bottom floors of their massive Eighth Avenue Tower, and Elle and Elle Décor took over both floors of Socialista. We skipped those and opted for a nice blend of holiday high and low. After the jump, read our reviews of the down and dirty Daily News party at Columbus 72, and the cozy and cultured Clear party at Steve Brill’s Upper East Side apartment.
in other news
‘News’ I Team Says ‘Eff U’ to MTAWe love the Daily News’s I Team. It’s the print version of the local news TV van that zooms around the city on special assignment and finds out when somebody is overcharging for your plumbing. You can just hear them as they type away furiously, singing to themselves, “shame Shame SHAME!” And today the News team has come up with a story you can really use — something to get angry about. From the people who brought you “SUBWAY STRIKERS ARE OVERPAID AND LAZY” comes “MTA BRASS ON RUNAWAY CASH TRAIN.” Through their investigation, they found out a bundle of different ways that the MTA is wasting money, even as they ask for a fare hike:
• Resource Duplication: “The MTA has seven agencies under its umbrella — each with its own president as well as legal, human resources, payroll and other departments: NYC Transit, Metro-North, Bridges and Tunnels, Long Island Rail Road, MTA Capital Construction, MTA Bus Company, MTA Long Island Bus.”
• Overhiring for Capital Projects: “Division was formed in 2003 to handle big construction projects, like the Second Ave. line and the expansion of the 7 line. It employs 68 — by next year that number is expected to rise to 150. There are 640-plus employees already working on capital projects at other agencies who pocket $38 million in salaries.”
in other news
The ‘Times’ Gets All Pouty About Mitt RomneyYesterday’s speech by Mitt Romney on religion was big news. Forced, like JFK was decades ago, to explain his religion to voters in order to dispel any alienation they might feel, the Mormon candidate made a heartfelt speech mimicking the one made by his Catholic predecessor in 1960. In Texas, he delivered “Faith in America,” a sermon he says he wrote himself. Naturally, when we opened today’s papers, we were interested to see New York’s take on a speech that was so plainly not directed at voters here. The reviews were nearly unanimously positive. “Romney created the most presidential 20 minutes of his campaign,” reported Tom DeFrank in the Daily News. “He demonstrated the courage of controversial convictions by refusing to equivocate about his beliefs. Simultaneously, he struck a Kennedy-esque chord.”
company town
Howard Stern Thinks Imus Will Make You HurlMEDIA
• Carson Daly is going scab! Good thing he doesn’t have any viewers, and unlike Ellen isn’t actually a member of the Writers Guild. [NYT]
• Howard Stern gets all collegiate about Don Imus’s return: “At this point, I don’t think he’s very relevant. People will tune out within a week. I defy you to listen. See how long you can keep listening. Time it. You’ll throw up. You’ll get sick. You’ll die.” [AP via Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• Knicks reporters — even bigger whiners than regular reporters. Daily News vet Frank Isola: “It used to be fun here. Now, there are some nights when you’re trying to talk your boss out of sending you here and maybe lie and tell him you’re sick or something.” [NYO]
in other news
Preppy Ladies, Robbing Out of Sisterly LoveYesterday we called out the Daily News for labeling the preppy ladies who robbed open houses “THELMA & LOUISE.” Surely, we argued, that was a slight exaggeration — nobody in the theft case, for example, was shot, or committed suicide while running from the law. But today the News star columnist Michael Daly responded to our complaint:
[Jessica] Joyner and [Jennifer] Jones had been armed with nothing more deadly than wigs to disguise themselves as they posed as luxury-home buyers. So it initially seemed a touch extreme to be dubbing them “Thelma and Louise” as the detectives brought them cringing into the courthouse. But the movie was not really about gunplay. It was about sisterhood, the bond between women in a man’s world.
Daly, in his typically calm, heart-wrenching fashion, describes how other female defendants came to court for unrelated cases and were drawn to Joyner and Jones because they looked so scared. The group eventually sat together, comforting one another before being called before the judges. “The four had gone beyond Thelma and Louise to Jessica and Jennifer and Silva and Lettitia,” writes Daly. “They seemed proof of an important truth: No matter how mean women might be to each other, however competitive they are, in their heart of hearts, they are sisters.” Wait a minute. What’s that feeling? Are we being touched? Dammit Michael Daly! You had us at “Lettitia”!
‘Thelma and Louise’ duo had a bond born of a sisterhood in crime [NYDN]
Earlier: Preppy Ladies Gone Wild
ink-stained wretches
‘News’ Back Ahead of ‘Post’ In Circulation Numbers AgainWell, well, well. After the much-hyped circulation surge of the New York Post last year, which propelled the scrappy tabloid over the head of the Daily News, the News has clawed its way back to supremacy. The Audit Bureau of Circulation reports that the more liberal tabloid is once again the fifth largest newspaper in the country (Also, the Times circ took a hit, but that’s not fun, just depressing). The annoying 25-cent tabloid switcheroo earlier this year may have had something to do with the reversed numbers, or the fact that the News has really been ramping up its celebrity coverage (Full disclosure, Daily Intel editor Chris Rovzar was formerly employed by the News). Obviously, that paper will have some tepidly triumphant cover page tomorrow, but what we really can’t wait to see is how the genius headline writers at the Post will handle it. Will they go with, PRIDE COMES BEFORE THE FALL? Or, DAILY SNOOZE SLEEPWALKS TO SUCCESS? When they surged ahead last year, they ran the banner hed: THANK YOU NEW YORK. Maybe this time they’lll go with: FUCK YOU NEW YORK. Probably they’ll choose something optimistic, like POST CIRCULATION STILL GROWING. But what we’d really like to see is a good old, HEY ‘NEWS’: SUCK IT.
Many Top Papers Take Big Hits [Editor & Publisher]
in other news
Even the Tabloids Don’t Think the ‘Box Rapist’ Is Very PunnyWe have to hand it to the Post and the Daily News. They’ve treated the story of the serial rapist who preys outside of the trendy Box nightclub with relative sincerity. Not even a “BEHIND THE VELVET RAPES” headline. It’s probably because this is the intersection of the two kinds of stories the tabloids do best: serious, grim-faced crime reporting, and salacious celebrity fixation. It turns out that a man posing as a livery driver abducted and sexually assaulted two women (one in September and one on Friday) from in front of the club at 3 a.m., while partygoers stumbled in and out. The club is popular with celebrities, who perform on its tiny stage and line its cozy banquettes nearly every night. In both cases the stalker stole money using the women’s ATM cards, raped them, and then dumped them in an outer borough. Luckily, both women gave descriptions of the man and there were witnesses who saw the cars he was driving, so police have several leads.*
Hunt on for Lower E. Side Club Rapist [NYDN]
Fiend Rapes 2 Club Gals [NYP]
*If the tabs aren’t going to crack a joke, we aren’t touching it with a ten-foot pole.
the sports section
A-Rod: What World Series?Did you hear that the Red Sox won the World Series last night? No? Was it because everybody was talking about how A-Rod went free agent, as was announced during the game? After Rodriguez’s shameless agent, Scott Boras, upstaged game four by releasing the news during the early innings, it was all anyone could yammer about. Sure, the Series had been a little boring, and yeah, A-Rod has no reason to love the Sox, but couldn’t they have at least thrown the Rockies a bone? A young team with a thrilling (if disappointing) moment in the spotlight, having their last moments in the sun robbed by a man who is just hoping to make more money next year. Kinda sucks, huh? Anyway, if you didn’t hear about the Red Sox last night on TV or radio, surely you saw the news in this morning’s paper. Oh, you didn’t? You must read the Daily News or the Post, where the Series news was relegated to tiny text ribbons on the front and back pages, dwarfed by coverage of the Yankees. Well, just FYI: The Red Sox won the World Series. Not that you wanted to know. You’re a New Yorker, after all.
A-Rod Putting Himself Above the Game [ESPN]
in other news
‘Preppy Killer’ Arrest: A Time to MeditateToday’s coverage of Robert “the Preppy Killer” Chambers’s drug bust came with several moral lessons — courtesy of the cops and neighbors who helped bring Chambers down. For your edification, some pearls of wisdom:
• With enough cocaine, one can “levitate to Central Park.” —A police source
• Drug dealers “are like vampires. They only come out at night.” —An anonymous neighbor
• With crack, women take a harder whack. “He’s still a handsome guy. You know, tall, blue eyes. But [also accused girlfriend Shawn Kovell] is a different thing. She was beautiful once, but now she looks about 89 and weighs about 45 pounds.” —Another anonymous neighbor
• People never learn. “The guy had a second chance and he blew it. He’s like OJ.” —An anonymous building employee
• “Three strikes, you’re out.” —Ellen Levin, mother of Jennifer Levin, the girl Chambers killed in 1986
Tabloid sources. The Zen masters of our time.
Preppy Killer Chambers Busted [NYP]
Preppy Killer in Coke Bust [NYDN]
in other news
‘Post’ and ‘Daily News’ to Face Off Over Tenth Avenue?
The Observer reports today that News Corp. has thrown its name into the hat to compete for the right to build over the Hudson Yards. That pits them against Condé Nast, which is also fighting for the use of the space to build an office tower. As Gawker notes, that will be a battle royale. But we think it will be nothing compared to the endless skirmishes that will go on if News Corp. (and developer Related) move in there and all Post workers are faced with commuting to work with all of the Daily News employees who work right next door. Mort Zuckerman’s Boston Properties owns the only private building that already straddles the Hudson Yards, on Tenth Avenue between 31st and 33rd. It houses the News, the Associated Press, and Channel 13. If News Corp. develops the rest of the Hudson Yards, they’ll sit right across Tenth Avenue. Since Murdoch is fond of putting up hilariously competitive billboards (this month’s giant “Six Appeal” advertisement shills for the tab’s Page Six Magazine) in that terrain for News employees to enjoy on their walk to work, we can only imagine how things will escalate. Though Zuckerman employees can look forward to one thing that’s guaranteed, at least: The neighborhood would finally get a decent bar!
Murdoch and Newhouse Battle for West Side [NYO]
photo op
Looking Forward, Looking BackScanning through the 9/11 coverage today, we found it hard not to notice a dominant trend: We’re moving on. The Times puts up a story about Mayor Bloomberg
in other news
‘Post’ Wins in Brit-Bash BattleWe’re not sure why other newspapers in this city even try. Scanning this morning’s articles about Britney Spear’s zombie-like performance at the MTV Video Music Awards last night, we saw that New York’s ink-stained wretches made an effort to be mean. “Spears looked bleary and unprepared,” quoth Newsday. “She looked embarrassingly out of shape.” The Times was a little more explicit, saying, “she was awful. Visibly nervous, she tottered around the stage, dancing tentatively and doing nothing that sounded or looked like real live singing.” And the Daily News took a couple of swings: “Glassy-eyed and out of step, Britney seemed lost in a sea of pole-dancers and overmuscled male models who groped her so much she wasn’t even mouthing the words.” Nice try guys. But this story belongs to the Post. In the print edition of the tab, critic Dan Aquilante says that the “ditzy disaster” was “stuffed into a spangled bra and hotpants” and “danced like she had a pantload.” Sensing that perhaps this wasn’t enough, editors added this online headline early in the morning: “PORKY POP–TARD BORES AND JIGGLES LIKE JELL-O.” See guys? That’s how it’s done.
For MTV, the Best May Have Been Off-Camera [NYT]
VMAs bounce back after Britney bombs [Newsday]
Brit Gives ‘Em Less [NYDN]
Britney a Bust [NYP]
in other news
‘Observer’ Jumps on Martin Dunn Pig PileToday’s Observer takes a page from the Post playbook and puts out a hit on Daily News editor-in-chief Martin Dunn. Media writer Michael Calderone tracked down Dean Chang and Mark Mooney, two former news editors who were fired from the tabloid this summer. “I think the Daily News is having a personality crisis,” griped Mooney. “The News’ biggest fault was not embracing what it has been and always should be — a paper for the working class,” agreed Chang. The pink paper also trotted out the usual litany of complaints against features editor Orla Healy, who is a usual target of Post attacks ever since she defected from there to join the News last year. Nearly all sources that were quoted blame the paper’s longterm circulation decline on very recent staff shakeups — which is a little bit like giving Bush credit for the good economy at the beginning of his first term (you know, backward logic). Shouldn’t a slump actually encourage some big changes? We’ll admit to a bias on this one — at least one of us used to work at the News — but when the Observer starts taking its cues from the Post, we get a bit worried. We already lost Weeds to the forces of tawdriness — we can’t handle another blow.
Rocking Deck at ‘Daily News’ [NYO]