Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Worst Billboard Ever? | Could this be the most annoying/dangerous billboard in the city? It sure looks that way, but do decide for yourself. [NYC the Blog]

Calvin Klein Strikes Again | Remember that "controversial" Calvin Klein ad that went up this summer and then had to be taken down after a bunch of residents complained? The publicity stunt garnered tons of press, so now the company is back for more. An underwear ad featuring a "sweaty, glistening" Eva Mendes "tugging at the boxer briefs of a studly man" has gone up in its place and already outraged locals are speaking out against the "pornography" that's taking over the neighborhood. If all goes according to plan, you can expect Calvin Klein to cave in and take the ad down in about three weeks. And you can expect the next titillating billboard to go up again in three months. [AnimalNY]

• The Wall Street Journal has the Times in its sights. The paper is hiring a dozen reporters to cover local news and will launch a NYC edition next year. [NYT]
• As expected, a big round of layoffs at Time Inc. is underway. [Gawker, NYT]
• Harvey and Bob Weinstein may be looking to buy back the Miramax name from Disney now that it's being disbanded. That's the rumor anyway. [Wrap]
• Bloomberg plans to make BusinessWeek "bigger, glossier, and more international." Oh, and it may start charging for access to the BW site. [MW]
• The Oscars will have two hosts: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. [LAT]More

Vegas Returns to Its Roots | You may once again consider Las Vegas the place to go to make all your midget stripper dreams come true. After experimenting with a series of new (rather uninspired) new slogans ("Vegas right now!"), the recession-ravaged city has decided to return to the tried-and-true tagline of "What happens here, stays here." [LV Sun via Daily Finance]

• Today's awkward cable moments: CNN reported this morning that the Coast Guard opened fire on a boat on the Potomoc. (Not true.) And the geniuses at MSNBC thought it would be a really neat idea to once again commemorate 9/11 by re-airing its coverage from the fateful morning. Thanks, guys.
• Fran Drescher is in discussions to host a Fox News show. No joke. [USN]
• President Obama sits down with Steve Kroft on Sunday's 60 Minutes. [CBS]
• A long list of media figures turned out for Dominick Dunne's memorial service yesterday at Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer on the UES. [NYT, WWD]
• Anna Wintour is "bigger than ever," at least according to Tina Brown. [TDB]
• Obits: Larry Gelbart, the man who developed the TV series MASH and co-wrote Tootsie, is dead at 81. And Frank Batten Sr., the man responsible for bringing the Weather Channel into the world, is dead at 82.
• As if Twitter wasn't inundated with enough self-promotion as it is, the company now says it plans to start accepting advertising. [Reuters]

• Who's going to replace Diane Sawyer now that she's leaving GMA? No one knows, really, but expect the changes to the show to be significant. [NYT]
• Time is shutting down its fashion-centric spin-off, Time Style & Design. Editor Kate Betts will remain with Time; six other staffers have been let go. [WWD]
• Magazine publishers are bending over backwards and offering to design ads themselves in order to keep their advertisers from fleeing. [NYT]
• A frontrunner may have emerged to acquire the Boston Globe. [NYP]
• ABC and CBS have agreed to air President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday. Fox, however, probably will not. [THR]
• Hollywood writers just aren't earning the cash they used to, it seems. [NYT]
• Simon Fuller, the man who brought you American Idol, now has his sights set on fashion: He's one of the people behind a new site called Fashionair. [VF]
• One more reason to hope Jay Leno's new nightly show on NBC fails: If it succeeds, you can expect every other network to dump pricey one-hour dramas and replace them with crappy live events and even crappier reality TV. [Time]

• NBC plans to deliver its programming to gas stations. So if you don't tune into Jay Leno voluntarily, you may be forced to do so while you pump gas. [MC]
• Mad Men has been renewed for a fourth season, not surprisingly. [NYT]
• Freedom Communications, the company that publishes the Orange County Register, among other newspapers, has filed for bankruptcy protection [E&P]
• Magazines are having trouble selling copies on newsstands, so now they're going to focus on getting you to sign up for subscriptions. [NYT]
• Don't be surprised when you see Tony Bourdain whip out his Chase Visa card to pay for meals on his Travel Channel show. It's now part of his job. [AdAge]
• The show goes on for Plum TV, the "resort and luxury lifestyle TV network." The company just raised another $5 million from investors. [PC]
• Rachel Maddow says she had swine flu! But she went to the doctor, got "the special swine flu drugs," and is all better now, thankfully. [HP] More

Melrose Place Makes It To Manhattan | No, some inventive real estate developer didn't acquire rights to the name "Melrose Place" to use for his new apartment building. (Although, come to think of it, that may not be such a bad idea.) The ads taped to lampposts—which feature tear-off strips stamped with the address MelrosePlaceApts.com—are just part of a guerrilla marketing campaign by producers of the TV show. But it is refreshing to see a "broker" touting the "hottest property on the market" holding a glass of champagne, isn't it? It's like 2006 all over again. [Public Ad Campaign] 

The 'Annoyings' Have It | According to a poll by Quinnipiac University, 78 percent of registered voters report having seen one of the gazillion or so TV ads for Michael Bloomberg that have flooded the airwaves in recent weeks. And they're really like him to stop: "Of those who've seen the spots this year, 47 percent say they're annoying; 41 percent say they're informative." [NYP]

• Harvey and Bob Weinstein are breathing a sigh of relief today. Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds did better than expected at the box office this weekend, raking in $37.6 million in sales. Not that one good weekend will be enough to lift the studio out of the financial mess it is in. [NYT, THR, WSJ]
• Related: In what may be a first for a movie opening, Inglourious Basterds seems to have benefited by a "crest of tweeting goodwill." [THR]
• Some 48 years after it was first published, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is now No. 1 on the New York Times' best-seller list. [NYT]
• Has the Glenn Beck brouhaha made advertisers skittish about buying commercial time during political shows in general? [AdAge, Politico]
• Jared Kushner's New York Observer is launching a new paper called The Commercial Observer. It's about commercial real estate, naturally. [NYT]
• Magazine newsstand sales continue to suffer, not surprisingly. [AdAge]More

Padma Lakshmi Glistens Like Gold | Padma Lakshmi announced in January that she was branching out with a "food-inspired" jewelry line. The items went on sale at stores like Bergdorf this past spring, and they've been selling briskly, according to WWD. So now it's time to expand, apparently. An ad campaign for the collection kicks off this fall, one that, per usual, plays to Padma's passion for not wearing clothes unless it's absolutely necessary: "The photos show a glistening, nude Lakshmi draped in her delicate gold and gemstone spices, which take inspiration from foods such as lentils and cardamom pods." [WWD]

Shop at Duane Reade, Help Sarah Palin Get Elected in 2012 | Duane Reade is hoping to change your opinion of the crappiest drugstore chain in NYC. For the first time in a long time, the company is about to launch a big brand-advertising campaign as part of an effort to "make New Yorkers think of Duane Reade as the hometown favorite." One little non-hometown detail that probably won't be referenced in the cheeky new campaign: the fact the chain is owned by Oak Hill Capital, which is controlled by Robert M. Bass, a Texas billionaire and one of George Bush's staunchest supporters during his two terms in office. [NYT]

• Advertisers are asking (demanding) that TV broadcasters cut prices by as much as 15 percent. The networks? They're not so happy about it. [LAT]
• Jared Kushner's Observer is launching a supplement for "stroller-wheeling New York City moms." The glossy is set to debut in September and "will address family-friendly topics for the society set and celebrity parents." [WWD]
• Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has sold off The Weekly Standard magazine to Denver-based media mogul (and fellow conservative) Phil Anschutz. [AP]
• ABC is changing up its executive management structure. [THR]
• Conan O'Brien was victorious in his second week up against Letterman. [NYT]
• Speaking of Letterman, Olive Garden—the "Italian" chain restaurant that you should never eat at even if you're dying of starvation—is canceling all of its spots on Letterman's show in solidarity with Sarah Palin. [Politico]

Let the (Imaginary) Backlash Begin | Back in May, Calvin Klein Jeans erected an billboard on Houston Street featuring four teenagers making out. The campaign was designed to stir up controversy: When it was first announced, the company gleefully revealed that a companion TV spot had been banned by American television networks before it even aired. Well, it's been more than month now, but the Daily News has finally managed to find some people outraged by the sexually-charged billboard. People like Rev. Don Wildmon, who runs the American Family Association and who says the billboard "shows a lack of respect for our society." Of course, Wildmon may have to squint pretty hard to see the billboard from his vantage point: He lives in Tupelo, Mississippi. [NYDN]

Lydia Hearst Denied | Have you seen those bus posters featuring a scantily clad Lydia Hearst? The ads are promoting an indie movie called The Last International Playboy and while the stick-thin socialite only has a minor role in the movie—she strips and gets hot and heavy with a guy and a girl in the opening scene—she's front and center in the press campaign, not surprisingly. Tragically, though, the oft-nude publishing heiress reports she's been the victim of censorship! Although the ads appear on NYC buses, they've been banned in Seattle, Chicago and Dallas, she says. Guess we have a different tolerance level when it comes to these things! [NYO]