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Ed stuffed himself this weekend…too many holiday parties!
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Mark your calendars, LA Ed book club members!
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A.J. Jacobs, an Esquire editor, read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from cover-to-cover. L.A. Ed may have his quirks, but he’s not THAT weird. What he will do, however, is read Jacobs’ memoir, “The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World.” He’ll also discuss all the weirdness of the book with his book club peeps at Literati Caf? (12081 Wishire Blvd. ). He’ll meet you there at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 17. Questions? E-mail Ed’s helper Sree at sree.roy@bobit.com.

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News
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1. WWD
Is Her Own Channel Next?
By Irin Carmon
12/18/06
http://www.wwd.com/issue/article/111463

Anna Wintour clearly is loving television at the moment. After her appearance on "20/20" with Barbara Walters because she was named one of the "10 most fascinating people of 2006," the Vogue editor in chief now has agreed to open the doors to a documentary about the putting together of the magazine's telephone-book-sized September issue. But the deal immediately raised questions about how much access the film crew would get to the famously private Wintour. Asked whether Wintour or the magazine would have any veto power over the footage, a spokesman for Vogue said, "We're not concerned that something we're going to be embarrassed about will occur."

In 2000, the British Broadcasting Corp. produced a segment on Wintour, with her cooperation, for its "Boss Women" documentary series. ("You can't be too thin to survive Nuclear Wintour," was the headline in the London Independent.) The show was mainly memorable for Wintour's few appearances; primarily the program had Plum Sykes talking (naturally) about how great her boss was and what "Anna" thought about things. The A&E documentary will be directed by R.J. Cutler, who could not be reached for comment, and produced by A&E IndieFilms. Camera crews will start filming at Vogue's offices at 4 Times Square next month.

2. WWD
‘Toos’ Moves
By Stephanie D. Smith
12/18/06
http://www.wwd.com/issue/article/111463

Only weeks after Atoosa Rubenstein vacated the halls of the Hearst Tower, the out-there former editor in chief of Seventeen is laying the groundwork for her second act. Rubenstein has incorporated her brand, Big Momma Productions Inc., the catchall for her soon-to-launch businesses, including a consultancy to help companies from airlines to financial services better serve young adults. She also signed up for an American Express corporate card for the Big Momma enterprise. So the name and expense account are set, but what about employees? "Since Big Momma's open for business, any tech- and digital-savvy Little Mommas who want to help girlkind should look me up on MySpace.com," responded Rubenstein in her usual restrained manner. "In other words, yes, I'll be hiring in the new year." Rubenstein will also start working on writing her book, a memoir-slash-instructive tome, after the holidays.

3. WWD
Vultures Circling
By Stephanie D. Smith
12/18/06
http://www.wwd.com/issue/article/111463?page=1

FHM's closure leaves a gap in the men's market, and nature abhors a vacuum. So who's swooshing in to fill it? Among its 700 or so ad pages this year, FHM carried a fair share of liquor, tobacco, consumer electronics and men's grooming companies, but most of the brands it carried were more mass market than luxury. So while GQ, Details and Men's Vogue most likely won't scoop up the ads for Skoal left on the table, Stuff and Maxim could grab some of FHM's consumer electronics or liquor business.

But the remaining men's titles already carried most brands FHM had — for example, Maxim and Stuff carried grooming products in FHM such as Axe and Gillette. According to Stuff publisher John Lumpkin, both books could benefit by increasing their paging from those brands to do bigger customized ad packages. As for liquor, according to Maxim group publisher Rob Gregory, "everybody in the broadest definition in the men's category would love to carry a few more pages of liquor advertising." But, he warns, "it won't last for very long."

Though the first half of 2006 was dire for some men's titles as automotive advertising declined and marketers took their time finalizing ad budgets, the landscape looks calmer for the first few months of 2007. Gregory said Maxim's pages will be up around 10 percent compared with last year, while Stuff will be slightly up through March since January was soft; February and March will post small gains. Men's Health's pages for January/February are up 34 percent to 73 pages, and its March issue, which is still closing, is on track to carry 10 percent more advertising than last year. At GQ, ad pages for January and February are holding at similar levels to last year's. Meanwhile, Men's Vogue carried 39 ad pages in its January issue, on newsstands Dec. 26, its first on an eight-issue schedule for 2007. Esquire and Best Life did not return calls by press time.

4. New York Post
Page Six: Maxim-um Nuisance For VF
By Richard Johnson Fisher
12/18/06
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12182006/gossip/pagesix/pagesix_u.htm

WATCH your back, Graydon Carter! Maxim has been quietly dipping into Vanity Fair's talent stable. Maxim has an essay in its January issue titled "A Life of Living Dangerously" by Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens, who recently ignited the blogosphere with his VF screed about how men are naturally funnier than women. Hitchens' Maxim piece, a wide-ranging diatribe against "Zero Tolerance," comes with two pages of Ralph Steadman drawings. Wacky Steadman, 70, is best known for illustrating Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and poses for Maxim's contributors page wearing pancake makeup, a puffy pirate shirt, and a woman's corset. Elsewhere in the issue, New York Observer star and sometime VF writer George Gurley interviews Val Kilmer. We also hear VF bloodhound John Connolly, who's hard at work on a story about massage-loving billionaire Jeffrey Epstein for Carter, penned an oral history about debauched Hollywood producer Don Simpson for Maxim's February issue.

5. New York Post
Weighty Issues
By Staff
12/18/06
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12182006/business/weighty_issues_business_.htm?page=0

If there's anything that the women's service magazines can be counted on for, it's tempting spreads on food coupled with advice on how to shed the pounds you'll gain from eating it. Just in time to plan your New Year's resolutions, Good Housekeeping splashes a beaming Dr. Phil on its cover, who it promises will reveal four secrets to help you change - for good. For example, want to lose weight? The secret, says the Oprah-annointed therapist, "Be realistic: You are not going to lose 30 pounds in time for that reunion next month." Dr. Phil also has advice on how not to forget all about your resolutions by mid-February. As usual, the magazine is packed with other wise counsel, including 15 foods to curb your appetite and stop cravings and ways to get richer without risk.

The wild-eyed Scientologist Kirstie Alley graces the cover of this month's Ladies' Home Journal, which is chock-full of tidbits on how to lose weight, look good and be happier. The actress tells us how she keeps the pounds off after a tour of her California mansion, which is littered with exercise equipment and huge stuffed animals. The photos of Alley aren't that flattering, either. The 55-year-old former "Cheers" star is shown stretched out on a white bearskin rug dressed in a glitzy gold getup. We enjoyed the story about a couple who have been married for nine years but are drifting apart. She can take him being mean to her, but she has a real problem with his attitude toward their two golden retrievers. "I didn't know he could be so heartless," she says.

Family Circle likes to say it has "tons of great ideas." One in this month's issue is how to lose weight by walking outside after a heavy snowstorm. With the aid of some poles and high-end snowshoes, you can burn off 350 calories in 40 minutes. Don't feel like going outside? You can wait for the obesity drug that the mag says is likely to be approved for over-the-counter sale next year. We also found the recipes and tips for slow cookers to be helpful and most likely tasty. (We didn't make them, of course.)

6. Washington Post
Time's Man of the Hour
By Howard Kurtz
12/18/06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/17/AR2006121701005.html

When Rick Stengel was named Time's managing editor in May, he talked about hiring more "star writers" who would help push the magazine toward "a stronger point of view." Stengel also had to make do with less, since Time Inc. executives were already cutting 550 jobs and now are warning that more reductions are on the way.

Now Stengel is signing several big-name journalists who will bring some glitter to a newsweekly that didn't even use bylines until 1980. Michael Kinsley, the former editor of Slate and the New Republic, will write a biweekly column. Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol will be a part-time columnist, and former Time managing editor Walter Isaacson will contribute essays on foreign affairs. David Von Drehle, a longtime Washington Post reporter and editor, will be a political correspondent.

Stengel is abandoning the old Henry Luce approach -- a small army of faceless reporters and researchers feeding tidbits into a Cuisinart in New York -- in part because that may no longer be economically viable. In the age of blogging, it isn't easy to keep a weekly magazine fresh. "We're going from a 19th-century factory model to a 21st-century Internet model," Stengel says. "Some of the things we were doing were anachronistic," he says, and often produced a "monolithic" tone.

MORE ONLINE

7. Time
Person of the Year: You
By Lev Grossman
12/18/06
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

The "Great Man" theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that "the history of the world is but the biography of great men." He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year.

To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006. The conflict in Iraq only got bloodier and more entrenched. A vicious skirmish erupted between Israel and Lebanon. A war dragged on in Sudan. A tin-pot dictator in North Korea got the Bomb, and the President of Iran wants to go nuclear too. Meanwhile nobody fixed global warming, and Sony didn't make enough PlayStation3s.

But look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

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Whisper Jobs
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Ed hears ...

...that Shecky’s is looking for a full-time, freelance, in-house editorial assistant to work with current editors covering fashion, beauty, and nightlife sites. The position pays $500 a week, hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and it could lead to a staff position. Responsibilities include writing and editing for daily content online and for printed items, fact checking, uploading content, corresponding with freelancers for assignments and maintaining a database. Please review our website to understand content requirements. In lieu of cover letter, write up something from our Straight Up section or a venue review from one of our channels (Beauty, Fashion, or Nightlife). Please send that clip and resume to Michele Zipp, michele@sheckys.com. (OK to mention Ed)

...that Food magazine is looking for contributors with kitchen design industry contacts. Products/ideas will range from low- to high-end. This is a monthly column. Market editor experience preferred, but not necessary. Please send cover letter and resume to contributors08@yahoo.com.

...that Fast Company is looking for two paid full-time interns. Individuals should have some journalism experience, a solid understanding of and interest in business. The person should be detail-oriented, deadline-oriented, be able to multi-task and enjoy working with people. Interns will report and write their own stories, help staff writers with research and fact-checking and assist with administrative and research tasks on bigger projects. Please send a resume and any clips to Keith Hammonds at khammonds@fastcompany.com.

...that Maxim is looking for an experienced full-time freelance fact-checker. "Experienced" means that you have checked facts in a magazine editorial department before, know your way around a highlighter and a pile of backup and can hit the ground running with very minimal training time. If you're smart, social and fit the requirements above, please send your cover letter and resume to the research chief at claypoole@maxim.com ASAP. (OK to mention Ed)

Whisper jobs or internships to share? Send 'em to whispers@ed2010.com. Ed'll keep it anonymous for you.

Blogalicious! Catch up with Ed's Guy on the Hunt at http://ed2010.blogspot.com.

Ed has message boards, yo.
Ed on Campus @ www.ed2010.com/eocboard.html
Ed2010 @ http://www.ed2010.com/boards.html

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