Gawker
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Silly
Crazed, Sad Little American Idol Fan Reminds Who's Watching
With its eighth season—begins in January!—lumbering towards us like old Randy, American Idol remains so big that it's hard to quite figure out the size and shape of it. What makes up the pop corn 'n bubblegum singing competition? And, more importantly, who's watching? Well lots of people are, but we suspect a smaller number are doing the rabid voting, making the signs, and wearing the t-shirts than ever before. It's become clear that the obsessed Idol fan demographic has, over the years, been distilled into two core groups: scary/crazy adults with lots of problems and, you know, little kids who are allowed to be a little nutty because, well, they're kids. As a visual example of a mix of the cute kid and the borderline crazy, we present you, after the jump, with a video of The Worst Idol Day Ever, as witnessed by some of its most devoted fans. We just think it's really funny. In particular the girl in the middle. More » -
Soderbergh epic
Soderbergh Gets Castro's Blessing for Che
Steven Soderbergh's four-hour, two part epic Che will screen at next month's New Latin American Film Festival in Havana, reports the New York Post. Since the festival's president had said that any anti-Castro sentiment in the film would be grounds for exclusion back in July, we can assume the finished film skirts the controversial questions and lionizes Guevara throughout its elongated running time. "Cinematically we're making a demand on the audience that's very similar to the demands Che made on the people around him," says Soderbergh, which begs the question: did Fidel just fall asleep halfway through the screening? More » -
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Rumormonger
AP: 10% Staff Cut In 2009?
We're hearing from a good source that Tom Curley, the head of the Associated Press, just held a town hall meeting to tell employees that the AP "will lose 10% of its staff next year." At a current headcount of over 4,000 employees, that would translate to at least 400 jobs lost, which could theoretically come through either layoffs or voluntary buyouts. Several cash-strapped newspapers—including the entire Tribune Co.—have recently announced plans to drop their AP subscriptions. Still, this would be a massive cut for what has always been one of the steadiest possible realms of journalism. AP employees with more details on this, email us. -
No rest for the dickish
Roger Ailes to Remain Employed
Fox News mastermind, old Nixon image reformer, and all-around American democracy-damaging propagandist Roger Ailes leaked the news to Drudge that Roger Ailes is getting a contract extension at News Corp. Developing! Ailes, the president of Fox News, has been focused on launching and building the Fox Business Network for the last year, which he failed at, miserably, and meanwhile Fox News itself has begun a long-overdue tailspin into delusional irrelevance, with cranky Brit Hume retiring and Shep Smith the channel's sole voice of reason as Hannity and Greta Van Susteren run wild. So hey, Ailes will remain at the wheel through Obama's first term, probably. Maybe he can right the ship and transform it into a coherent (if still nutso) voice of opposition? Or maybe it will continue to be a madhouse of feverish conspiracy and paranoia. Either way, Roger, like his Fox Business Network, will not sweat the recession. -
cubicle culture
Indian man dies in pie-eating contest
FROM VALLEYWAG.COM: Desperate to train employees in the way of their customers on the other end of the world, Indian tech outfits teach them American accents, the names of local football and baseball teams, and slang expressions. More » -
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Advertising
Could Fewer McDonald's Ads Make Kids Eat Less McDonald's?
This past summer, the Evil Food Conglomerates of America agreed to "limit" advertising that "targeted children," though their definition of that is loose enough to keep selling a lot of Pop-Tarts to 13-year-olds. They did this to try to preclude some kind of rule that would outlaw their advertising to children altogether. Unfortunately for the Hamburglar, a new study is out that has people actually talking about banning youth-targeted fast food ads, which would really be an incredible thing. "No fatties," the study proclaims: More » -
the clintons
DC Press Corps Thrilled For Opportunity to Still Hate Clintons
Unreconstructed Liberals have their own reasons for disliking the Clintons, and movement conservatives obviously have even more, but what the hell explains the pathological antipathy the Washington Press Corps still feels for President Bill and Senator Hillary Clinton? The roots of it go back 16 years or so, but what's amazing is to see it still in such pristine condition, as if we haven't had eight terrible years to get over it. Now, as the Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State job offer becomes yet another press-driven telenovela, with the Clintons as, I dunno, the country's presumed dead ex-lover who just turned up on the day of our wedding to Barack Obama, or something, it's instructive to see how the press corps still sees the former first family. More » -
Creative underclass
Freelancers Freaking Out about Their 'Union' Health Plan
We've been getting lots of angry e-mails from various freelancers with coverage in the Freelancers Union, which I mainly ignored until I realized it would negatively affect me, too. The oft-reported insurance provider for the creative underclass is—wtf—starting their own insurance company called the Freelancers Insurance Company. And members have no choice but to join it! The takeaway: if my shrink isn't in the new "Freelancers Insurance Company" network's koverage, no amount of generic Klonopin will be able to kwell my krazy! More » -
recaps
On Stylista, The Fat Girl Is 'The Elephant In The Room'
Fashion, they tell me, is ultimately supposed to be about feeling good about oneself—be your best every day! your clothes are your calling card! All that miserable shit. But really, or at least according to Stylista, the stultifying bungle of a fashion editor competition show, it's about being cruel to yourself and to others until you've been declared the harried, bedraggled victor. It's about people scratching their nails into themselves and others and holding on for dear life, no matter how much blood everyone loses. But most importantly it's about not being fat. Not convinced? Read on for a recap of this, the fifth and worst, episode of muck. More » -
Hard time jobs
Now That You've Been Laid-Off, What Will Your New Job Be?
Everyone's getting laid-off these days, what with the economy and all, and now we want to know what you'll be doing for money while the dust settles. There aren't any media jobs left and desperate times call for desperate measures. Depressing stories have already been trickling in, like the two longtime Jersey Star-Ledger newsroom employees who, after refusing a buyout, were banished to the mailroom! Or the Longmont, CO, Times Call staff who were invited to be valet parking attendants for their (probably soon-to-be ex) boss's fancy Christmas party. And, perhaps worst, a Hachette memo to staff inviting them to participate in the saddest thing of all, a holiday crafts fair. You know, so they can practice a trade before they inevitably get canned! "You will have the opportunity to show or sell your craft such as jewelry, accessories, chocolates, knitting and crocheting," it says. Sigh. Send us your post-axing, new job tales (depressing or not!) and we'll publish some of our favorites in the coming dark days. In the meantime, read the full dismaying Hachette memo after the jump. More » -
Press Release Of The Day
"Would you like to live naked, warm, safe and whole, any time of year?" YES. "Please visit cambiumbene.com to find out more. You can acquire a substantial plot of land for less than the price of a car, where you can build your own eco-friendly lodge in this beautiful protected domain, where the wearing of clothes is not required, all year round." OKAY.
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Bad Ideas
Ashley Dupre, Your MySpace Friends Will Lead You To Ruin
After we went to all the trouble of offering Spitzer hooker Ashley Dupre seven—seven!—different career choices yesterday, what does she do? She goes and tells Diane Sawyer, "I want to go after my music and do what I love. And not lose track of who I am on the way. I'm trying to pursue my music. I'm still living for it. I'm not gonna give up my dream. I'm not going to change. I'm not going to let this change who I am. And what I love." All of those short declarative sentences do not change the fact that your song "All We Want" is just the sort of generic R&B bullshit blathering that has already largely destroyed our nation's airwaves. We say this as a friend! Regrettably, Ashley is listening to her other friends: her MySpace friends. Like Whitney Houston, and "Fin" from Williamsburg: More » -
Spoofs
American Titocracy
FROM JEZEBEL.COM: Over the weekend, moms freaked out over a Motrin web ad about the social pressure to "wear" your baby in a sling. Twitter power got the ad taken down, and Motrin issued an apology. More » -
Top Chef
Padma Gags On Sweet Load
Good morning. My name is Joshua David Stein. Please join me in a discussion of the most important (reality television competitive culinary) show of our time (between 10 and 11 pm on Wednesdays), Bravo's Top Chef Like a bunch of drunken bums we've stumbled into Week Two of Season Five, full of giddy apprehension, eager to feel and having to pee. What would await us? What could possibly surprise us? Why is Padma still single? Has Tom lost weight? Why does Gail Simmons looks like a train wreck? Soon enough, the annoying shhhhhSHHHHHP knife sound signaled that all our questions would be answered. More » -
what we need more of is science
Monkey-Neanderthal Mutants to Destroy Us All
Scientists are talking about how a "living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated for as little as $10 million," reports the NYT. Regenerated? One scientist says it "could work," although it would probs be "tedious and expensive," as regenerating long-extinct animals tends to be. But that is far from the most disturbing piece of reanimation news: there's an ominous "workaround" technique to turn chimps into Neanderthals. Don't say we didn't warn you. More » -
VH1 Layoff Prep?
The latest rumor is that MTV is planning a round of layoffs for early December. Now a tipster tells us that fellow Viacom property VH1 is holding a big HR meeting for department heads tomorrow. To sharpen the hatchet? Email us details. UPDATE: MTV layoffs are tentatively set for December 3 or 4, according to another tipster.
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show biz
Moving Personal Story to Become Oscar-Bait
Remember Eugene Allen, the White House butler? The Washington Post put his story on the front page the Friday after Election Day. Allen, a black man, worked at the White House for 34 years, starting during the days of segregation and retiring during the Reagan years. He cast his vote for Barack Obama the day after his wife of 65 years died. It was a wonderful little piece of journalism that made everyone in the country cry. We're choking up just thinking about it again. So now it will become a mawkish, sentimental movie, probably starring Morgan Freeman. More » -
Tabloids
The Evil Genius of the New York Post
Credit where it's due, people: the Post's cover this morning (click to enlarge) is simply a work of tabloid art. Sure, it's easy to sell papers when there's big news. But on a slow day, can you pull off a cover that combines revulsion, a perverse obsession with strange diseases, and a mythical monster? That's the news business at its finest. It's a heartwarming narrative: freaky baby born with freaky condition, doctors stumped, he begs for salvation, and it's finally delivered! Something we can all get behind. The Post is actually far more subtle than its tabloid ancestors: More » -
open caption
New 'Moon Stilettos' All The Rage At Madonna's House
["Body of Evidence" actress Madonna in New York last night; image via INF] -
Memos
Times Employees To Starve On Thanksgiving
Cold-hearted bastards. The New York Times sent out a memo to employees this morning telling them that the 14th, 15th, and 16th floors are going to be closed over Thanksgiving weekend so that workers can finally put finishing on the wood floors—a vital job for which the paper has plenty of money. Do you know what this means? The cafeteria will be closed on Thanksgiving. Take your snack from the coffee cart and be happy, peons! Wait, that's closed too: More » -
blind item roundup
Which Gold Digger Wants A Divorce Now That The Money Is Gone?
Yesterday you guys figured out that the world famous band that's on the verge of a breakup was none other than that British hodgepodge of soaring balladeers known as Coldplay. What will wannabe artsy studio pictures use for their trailers?? Today we have a singer whose boyfriend pressures her into abortions, and a gold digging celebrity wife. More » -
Crime
Mark Cuban's Defense: I Never Said I Wouldn't
Mark "The Maverick, when it comes to blogs and also finance" Cuban is proclaiming his innocence, in detail! Cuban, the mouthy tech billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was charged with the world's least sophisticated insider trading scheme by the SEC earlier this week. He issued a rote statement the same day denying the charges, and lamented that he wished he could say more. Well now he's saying more! More » -
Gossip Roundup
Rosie O'Donnell On View Cold War
- Rosie O'Donnell, contradicting Barbara Walters' rosy description of relations on The View: "I’m not saying they loathe each other, but the fact of the matter is, there was not a lot of camaraderie off camera.” [LAT]
