Frequent reader and correspondent Hugh Cook sends along this item from Mediaweek about the plummeting fortunes of my former employer: “Big cuts are in store at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy, which is slashing its rate base a whopping 38 percent as the iconic men’s magazine battles advertising and circulation declines, Mediaweek has learned. Starting with the …
It is perhaps is an indication of how pathetic my life has become, but still. . . in Sunday’s episode of Mad Men, Don Draper is riding to work on the train when he is joined by his paramour, Suzanne Farrell. Don, obviously, is heading south to Manhattan from Ossining, and as he moves right …
A very tough-minded Yankee team won a marathon 13 inning game that began at 7:57 PM and ended sometime after one AM. Played in miserably cold conditions, the game featured excellent pitching by both the Yanks and the Angels. A.J. Burnett pitched seven strong innings in which he gave up only two runs, although he …
On a cold, damp evening, C.C. Sabathia pitched brilliantly, giving up just one run and four hits in eight innings, and completely covering up the fact that the Yankee hitters have not exactly been tearing the cover off the ball. In fact, had the Angels’ infielders not botched a simple pop-up, Game One of the …
Cara passed her driver’s test yesterday. I’m proud of her. She practiced all summer. Did a good job. Maintained the speed limit. Left a lot of distance between her and the car in front of her. Used good judgment. When we got home, predictably enough, she wanted the keys. Needed to go to the supermarket. …
Andy Pettitte, adding to his glowing resume, and Carl Pavano, finally pitching the game he was always meant to pitch, locked last night in a tense pitching duel that was playoff baseball at its best. The Twins broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth, but the lead didn’t last a half inning, …
Yesterday in The New York Times Book Review, Slate‘s Internal Affairs Correspondent Jack Shafer favorably reviewed A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America, by Peter Richardson. “Ramparts stands with a handful of 20th-century American magazines–Playboy, the Harold Hayes-era Esquire, Rolling Stone, Spy and Wired–whose glory days continue …
The walk-off has become the by-word of the 2009 Yankees. Fifteen times the team won in its last at-bat, enjoying implausible theatrics at the hands of Melky Cabrerra (3 times), Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano, and even Francisco Cervelli and Jose Miranda. Last night, in a terrific Game 2 of the ALDS, the heroics …
Writing in The Daily Beast, Rebecca Dana contends that by avoiding the use of euphemisms in his announcement of his sexual affairs, David Letterman “has perfected the art of disclosure.” “When David Letterman confessed last week to having had sex with women who work on his show, the real shock wasn’t the affairs themselves (I …
Even before I liked the Yankees, even when I still cheered my beloved Baltimore Orioles, I knew that for someone who lived in New York, it was important for the Yankees to win. Their success changed the psyche of the city. People here are happy if the Mets, Giants or Jets win, and a certain …