A Little of the Old In and Out

(image via philips.blogs)

In: Jann Wenner. Is Rolling Stone relevant again? We're not so sure, but Jann Wenner's magazine has certainly been showing hints of that old countercultural fire of late. (The Corsair pours himself a sophisticated Merlot) First, their Tom Cruise-versus-South Park controversy, (won, last night, by Trey and Matt) Rolling Stone was more than relevant, it was the most comprehensive smackdown of the religion ever published to a wide audience. It was risky.

And then when a bitter Tom Cruise fired back by reneging on appearing on Men's Health (big loss), it made Jann Wenner look --and we never thought we'd say this -- cool; balsy even.

Then, the Pete Doherty story in the latest issue. It's brimming with the good stuff, people. Doherty, who may or may not be seeing a rejeuvinated Kate Moss, did "e," smack, and crack in front of the reporter. The story perfectly anticipated his guilty plea -- today, mind you -- for possession of smack, crack and weed. It's uncanny how Fortune (and Fertility) is smiling on Jann Wenner.

Finally, the collabo with MTV which will, if anything, be the talk of all the Chattering Classes because it involves The Profession and concerns a sexy demographic.

Can Jann Wenner make it cool to be a journalist by bringing it to MTV? Who knows, but he's doing a pretty good job in the time being.



(image via lvrj)

Out: Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney is sort of a rock star, we suppose, among the Neocons (It is said Midge Dector flung her granny panties in his general vicinity once with great force). The Vice President, as befits a man of his station, has a rather peculiar demand in his "Downtime Memo," or, as we prefer to call it, The Veep Tour Rider (tm). If Fitty Cent can have "cold (sic) slaw (Averted Gaze)," Mariah had "bendy straws," and the White Stripes had their a small children's piano, then how odd, by comparison, can the Veep's request actually be?

Kind of weird, actually. Apparently, one of Dick Cheney's demands is this, from TVNewser (via thesmokinggun):

"When Vice President Dick Cheney has 'downtime' at a hotel, his requests are pretty modest. A queen or king size bed. A desk with chair. The temperature set to 68 degrees. Oh, and 'all televisions turned to Fox News.'

" The Smoking Gun obtained the VP's downtime requirements from a hotel. It includes the Fox News request, along with this note: 'please let the Advance Office know if it is satellite or cable television.'

"Here's the document..."

Not even a pause, like, for "Charlie Rose" or "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer"? That's some ignorant shit, yo.



In: Princess Eugenie. Happy birthday, Princess Eugenie. According to Hello!Magazine:

"Princess Eugenie began her 16th birthday celebrations a day early by accompanying her mother, Sarah Ferguson, to a high-profile fashion bash at avant-garde London store Selfridges on Wednesday.

"Wearing classic stilettos under black trousers and a tightly-belted peasant smock, Prince Andrew's younger daughter was well up to the high fashion mark set by other attendees such as model Helena Christensen, actress Kristin Scott Thomas, and a raft of younger fashionistas including Camilla Al-Fayed. The Duchess of York, who readily admits that she spends a large part of her time in the air travelling from one engagement to another, was obviously thrilled to be with her daughter for the landmark birthday."

More here.



Out: Censorship. The FCC is simply going to drive television programming onto the web, beyond the reach of any governmental body. According to FishbowlLA:

"After the FCC edict last week to let stand the largest-ever fine against broadcast TV stations, the New York Times offers a chilling profile of that decision's progeny: The soon-to-be subsumed WB TV network has censored Tom Fontana's new pilot, 'The Bedford Diaries.'
Among the cuts: a scene 'that depicted two girls in a bar kissing on a dare and another of a girl unbuttoning her jeans.'"

It's so wrong to censor that. So wrong.



(image via crispwireless)

In: Online Sports. Larry Kramer's expert handling of March Madness has brought online sports to the center stage. Every media outlet now wants a piece of online sporting to bask in some of that Larry Kramer afterglow. We, quite frankly, would also back in Larry Kramer's afterglow if the CBS Digital restraining order weren't so goddamned inconvenient. Kramer explained the phenomenon to iMediaconnection:

"This is the moment that a major sporting event, a large audience and major advertisers came together on the web. The timing was perfect as broadband acceptance has shot up this year, and the advertising world has embraced web video ... March Madness represents the perfect event for the web because it supports and supplements broadcast coverage. And it adds value by matching audiences spread out around the country to events spread out across the country."

Other organizations are appear to be listening. According to Paidcontent:

"The Shanghai-based online video content provider Smgbb.cn has been authorized by FIFA to be the online broadband media in China...it will work with sports provider NuSports.cn to offer collections of video and image files as well as analysis of the (World Cup)."

And, also from Rafat Ali at Paidcontent:

"Now if only someone could snatch away the Olympics broadcasting rights from the sucky NBC, which it has till 2012...but that's not going to happen here. Anyway, the European Commission has approved an English Premier League deal to divide soccer TV rights between at least two broadcasters...BSkyB has long held exclusive rights, but under the EU deal one of six packages of games will have to go to another broadcaster. Irish broadcaster Setanta and UK cable company NTL have already signalled their interest, and the BBC, ITV and Channel 5 have also been mentioned as potential bidders. The commitments made under the deal involve television, mobile and Internet rights, which are to be sold in an open and competitive bidding process."