And great news for Gawker fans.
UPDATE: One thing I meant to mention earlier but was running off to make spaghetti and meatballs for a brood of teenagers … but how classy was Alex Balk in this whole thing? He must be disappointed, even a bit pissed off, but his post about Moe’s change of heart is pure class and elegance. Proof that not everyone on the Internet has to behave like a petty, childish arsehole when disappointed/vexed. Love him, and I will forever miss My Cock, possibly the funniest Gawker feature ever.
July 23, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I got banned for tellin’ the truth! DAMMIT
July 23, 2008 at 5:54 pm
This was the most exciting final rose ceremony ever.
Can’t wait till next season. Who will the lucky Jezelorette be?!?!?!?
July 23, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Money isn’t everything and the change of company would have been good for her.
July 23, 2008 at 6:01 pm
@es-ki-mo: Muahahahahahahahahaha
July 23, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I don’t understand. More creative freedom? Fewer onerous tasks?
July 23, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I really need to spend some time considering why Moe makes me so mad. Is it because of everything I’ve said before about her immaturity and her penchant for talking down to people? Or, is it fueled by something more insidious like professional jealousy?
I just don’t know.
I do think that she could have gained a lot from moving to a more controlled/edited venue with less reader interaction…so we’ll just have to see how the mostly-sharply-snarky crowd over at Gawker takes to her and her newfound freedom of expression.
July 23, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Oh, mo, she shall ascend the faux-marble staircase, surveying her beaux with cinematic tears in her eyes and then slowly remove one Marxist-issue shoe and slap Julia Allison upside the head with it. The Us Weekly cover shot of her and Keith Gessen will, however, be quite tasteful and romantical.
July 23, 2008 at 6:14 pm
TMFG, I think it’s the WordPress avatar that brings out the rage.
July 23, 2008 at 6:16 pm
It very well may be, andBegorrah…it very well may be.
As for JA, though, she called Moe “a friend” on her blog a few months back. I seriously doubt that there will be any marxist shoe-slapping, nor hot girl-on-girl jello fights.
*sigh*
July 23, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Yeah, mine makes me feel all cartoon-hillbilly-goofy; but I’ll still presume JA has never yet met a New Yorker in the media whom (who? fuck me) she doesn’t consider a “friend.” And I stand by my shoe-slapping if only because it’ll make for awesome imaginary reality television, which is really all I want.
July 23, 2008 at 6:28 pm
It seems to me over at Gawker the writers are more slaves to Denton’s whims than anywhere else. Soon we’ll be seeing her unenthusiastic words tell us all about how Julia Allison’s TV show sucks while Julia Allison tells us how much they love hanging out.
July 23, 2008 at 6:46 pm
@bowlingfordollars: So what the hell happened? I’ve been wondering.
July 23, 2008 at 6:55 pm
M thinks she was angling for more bread, such as.
I am too lazy to think anything of it at all.
July 23, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I feel like she’s that wack miss who just took a dump in Flavor of Love’s house.
July 23, 2008 at 6:59 pm
more creative freedom? like vomiting on a napkin and taking a picture of it with a cellphone and submitting that online instead of an article? sounds less onerous to me!
July 23, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Good, maybe I’ll start going back there more often.
July 23, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I dunno. I made a snarky comment on Gawker, and it didn’t sit well with the powers that be.
July 23, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Bowling: Consider it a badge of honor! Besides, that give you more time for BCP… :)
July 23, 2008 at 7:21 pm
@B4D: YAY!
July 23, 2008 at 7:31 pm
@AGreenEye: That is true.
@Pickles: Thanks for walking me thru the avatar change. That was stressful.
July 23, 2008 at 7:43 pm
M: Your avatar sort of looks like you. Elegant square jaw, a jaunty insouciance and the kind of cool shades I’d imagine you’d wear. How odd is that??
July 23, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Ooh share this avatar change journey.
July 23, 2008 at 7:46 pm
LBW: I think you have to set up a WordPress account, even if you have no intention of ever using it to start up a blog or something. And when you do that, I believe it talks you through the whole avatar thing. I can’t wait to see what you look like in real life … errr … wait a minute. Sort of in real life?
July 23, 2008 at 7:49 pm
I want my old avatar, but in order to change it, I have to give up my dashes and be plain old eskimo. I’ve been struggling with this decision for days now. I’d feel so vulnerable without my dashes.
July 23, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Trix: Totally just found that out..I thought I was registered all this time. It gives you an option for blog account or just a username and then you get your own little dashboard to track your comments and edit your profile. I was going to just use my Jan Brady but for today I could go with an actual picture. Maybe I’ll start a trend..real faces!
July 23, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Jan Brady??? I LOVED Jan Brady!!!!
By far my favourite Brady sister.
July 23, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Es-ki-mo: As someone who has a hyphenated name in real life … errrr, Trixie-Jean, let’s say … I feel your pain.
July 23, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Any white girl insane enough to wear an afro in high school and make up a bf during her time is a hero.
July 23, 2008 at 8:02 pm
The best Brady Bunch episode EVER!
All the Jan ones were the best. So neurotic, and then, in the end, she ended up being WAY WAY hotter than Marcia.
Poor Cindy, however.
July 23, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Look! There you are!! Is that you?? Hottie von Hottie!
July 23, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Yeah that’s me : ) Everyone else expose themselves!
The Jan episodes were so funny because whenever she had some neurotic problem the ENTIRE family would overdo it with the support..like they all knew that she might just go postal one day. And Cindy. Wasn’t she the one with all the porn career rumors? And then that recent radio interview. Intervention: A Very Special Brady Edition.
July 23, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Well, I have exposed myself. Other people know me as Patsy.
July 23, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Remember when Cindy froze up on the TV show? What a tool. When Cousin Oliver arrived, that was it for me. Shark jumped.
July 23, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Dammit. I never got banned. And I tried!
Now, let’s all go to HLOL, I see the Princess is here.
July 23, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Puberty in the 70’s was a horrible period and I think the Bradys wanted to distract us. Oliver was a weird in-betweeny..like a not cute version of Gary Coleman.
July 23, 2008 at 8:36 pm
@Bang Fingers: and you’re still the #5 connectednessnest person.
July 23, 2008 at 8:42 pm
@Trixie: I’m one of those people who can only see you as Patsy because of your icon, just like I can only picture Ian Spiegelman as Bill Murray, though I don’t hear a British accent when I read what you write.
As for Moe changing her mind, all I can say is that I await her next lulzy moment; may it top her most lulziest moment when she said, “YOU’LL NEVER HATE ME AS MUCH AS I HATE MYSELF!”
Now that I typed it out of its original context, however, it actually seems pretty sad. Damn.
July 24, 2008 at 8:25 am
Yes, Alex Balk was amazingly gracious, if he gushed a bit too much about Moe’s enormous “talent” or whatnot.
@es-ki-mo: don’t do it!
July 24, 2008 at 8:55 am
All I have to say is, no matter what, I’m sure all she’s doing is what any of us would do in a job-jumping situation: trying to do what’s best for her, for her own reasons. Except, if it were me, I can’t say I’d pass up an opportunity to work with Balk and Choire, especially now that Balk has been so gracious with about the whole thing. Beats the hell out of what happens when you cross GM, eh, Emily?
July 24, 2008 at 9:13 am
Uh, but the troof? The troofy-troof? I’m actually relieved. As much as I’d like to keep reading Moe’s stuff, and I’m banned from accessing GM sites at work (damn fascists), it would have been nice to see her write for a site I can read every day. But… I’m kind of relieved b/c I’ve been reading Radar for a long time now and the comments are brief, sometimes funny, and usually pleasant. I would have hated that Moe’s coming to Radar may inadvertantly bring along some of the commenter element that made it hard for me to keep reading Jez. There, I said it. I feel bad about thinking this way, but after so many months in the fray at Jez, it’s nice to be able to read a site that isn’t overrun with vapid, fight-picking commenters. Sorry.
July 24, 2008 at 9:42 am
He was super-gracious, but I did feel like you could read between the lines to get at what he was really thinking as he was writing it.
Though having said that, unless the new job was way better for the resume I’d probably follow the dollars too.
July 24, 2008 at 1:29 pm
@theDomina: Oh, totally, but even so, there’s no reason to be outwardly nasty about it, even if he was amping up the sarcasm like “whoa.” It’s like Kathy Griffin says, “Say it to your face? Why would I want to do that? I’d rather say it behind your back, because you know what? I was raised right!”
July 24, 2008 at 2:46 pm
@BDJ: I totally agree with you! I’m always irrationally pleased when I read something like that where it’s all “I’m being nice b/c I have manners” but you know underneath you’d want to go have a beer with them.
July 24, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I wonder if she’s burned any bridges with Balk in this? I agree that his praise was a bit too effusive to be 100% real…
You know, though…If Moe can’t take the commenters (and their criticism) over on Jezebel, she’s in for quite the ride over on Gawker. Money isn’t always the answer.
July 24, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Uuhhg. Here we fucking go again. Why doesn’t she just leave already!?
http://jezebel.com/5028835/sex-without-condoms-is-actually-better-than-diamonds-people
July 24, 2008 at 4:15 pm
@Sweetness: I just sent that link to this site! That’s too funny! That’s the last straw. I’m done with Jezebel. She’s obviously just being facetious and knows exactly what she’s doing. What turns me off about it is that Anna and the rest are letting her.
July 24, 2008 at 4:56 pm
“Jezebel’s Moe” is working my last nerve. Even if she IS being facetious or ironic or whatever bullshit she thinks she trades in, that is some reprehensible shit to write on a women’s site. Jezebel is dead to me; long live BCP! (Though I hope Jez’s crap commenters don’t find their way over here….)
July 24, 2008 at 5:32 pm
That post about sex without condoms is the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.
She is a fucking lunatic.
Athertonmerriweather: I am really surprised with that too. I thought Anna would run a better website.
Guess not.
July 24, 2008 at 5:58 pm
You know, I’d ponder a separate post on that, but I don’t want us just to become the Jez attack blog, you know? Tee off in the comments all you like, angels, but I think Jez itself seems to be deliberately driving people away. I’m not sure why. I find it so sad when I think about the golden months of last summer, when that site was truly something special. I still hold out hope that it will return to those days.
July 24, 2008 at 6:05 pm
trixie: I agree that a separate post is unnecessary. It’s a train wreck over there, so why bring it here?
July 24, 2008 at 6:16 pm
If I had any doubts about the authenticity and genuine nature of either Moe or SM, they are utterly gone now. Makes sense for Moe to go to Gawker - she and Denton share a love of the ‘controversial’ page views. Tracie can keep up the ruse at Jezebel.
I haven’t read Jezebel with any regularity in many, many moons, but if that post is any indication of what it has turned into, well, that must be professionally mortifying for the other editors and contributors.
It is completely disappointing that it is only the female editors who act like cartoon characters for attention. I realize the obvious Balk’s Cock rebuttal, but that was humor, not shock jock, and still better written than the cartoon characters. You don’t see the male writers writing “pro date rape” type posts or “God, just get on the fucking pill so we can bang” posts.
I never understood their appeal and now I realize that they aren’t genuine writers, either. Just female minstrels.
July 24, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Trixie, you may want to rethink your stance.
http://jezebel.com/5028915/
July 24, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Oh dear.
July 24, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I’m glad I stopped telling friends about Jezebel. I can only imagine what they would think if today was the first day they clicked on that site.
Also, is it just me or is someone trying really hard to get herself a book deal?
July 24, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Yeah she changed her mind but she hasn’t changed her tune.
July 24, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Did anyone else notice that Moe’s new post has changed since it was originally posted? Did she drop the “shut up” from the end?
July 24, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I saw the “shut up.” Is it gone now?
July 24, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Pilgrim, your “oh dear” made me howl in that thread. It was sort of like an: “Oooooohhhhh boy, this one’s gonna cost ya.”
July 24, 2008 at 6:47 pm
The end of the post is now more conciliatory which I find strange because the editors have made a big point of saying that they don’t change posts once they’ve been published.
July 24, 2008 at 6:50 pm
And blogger etiquette commands you usually do it with strike-throughs.
Are they masochists? Seriously, does Anna enjoy these sorts of shitstorms? I didn’t get the impression that she did but now I am starting to wonder. Unless Denton engineered the whole thing and it was beyond Anna’s control.
July 24, 2008 at 7:07 pm
My “Oh dear” was sort of “apres moi le deluge,” really.
July 24, 2008 at 7:21 pm
late to the party here ladies, but I have to echo the sentiment about the downfall. Jez’s shark-jumping has really hit me hard because I’d never before been part of such a smart sassy community of writers AND readers. T&D was depressing, but the latest is just insulting.
July 24, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Welcome TBWYSAT!
July 24, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I was hoping y’all would discuss the condom thing. There were too many comments on Jez for me to wade through them. I don’t really have anything to add that hasn’t already been sad. My reaction is basically, DAY-UM. And, Moe sounds like she has issues. Like, she really wants to die, but is hoping that taking stupid risks will kill her so she doesn’t have to.
July 24, 2008 at 7:27 pm
@TakeBackWhatYouSaidAboutThor: You have the best screen name EVER.
July 24, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Thx dictator & hi Trix! As soon as i figure out the avatar biz, I’ll put up Thor’s awesome helmet. :)
July 24, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Radar’s loss is Radar’s gain.
July 24, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I’m about to cut a bitch over on Jez. I keep wondering if I’m going to be banned by the end of the evening or not…
July 24, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I have never encountered someone who so completely personified the phrase “just doesn’t get it.”
Though Tracie’s got the same thing. Open mouth and closed ears, always and forever.
Depressing shit, and you know the know-it-alls at Consumerist or Gawker or wherever are laughing at the stupid girls arguing again.
July 24, 2008 at 10:23 pm
I decided to wade through the comments after all, as I am a champion procrastinator and don’t want to do what I should be doing. For those of you who have also read the comments: do you think anonymiss is actually Moe?
July 24, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Some think Anonymiss is SM. Just a rumour, of course. Who knows?
July 24, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Whoever anonymiss is, they are taking things waaaay to personally not to actually be personally involved.
July 25, 2008 at 1:31 am
I’m 100% sure Anonymiss = someone with GawkerMedia… some more hacking with unearth exactly who…
July 25, 2008 at 5:50 am
Coming in late in the game but those two Jezebel posts smack of something very icky and self-destructive. Gives heebie-jeebies.
July 25, 2008 at 7:21 am
Sarah: It’s awfully strange. They had a good, funny website. People loved it. It changed and lost its sense of fun as it got more popular. Former loyal lovers of website complained. And they became the enemy, the people to taunt, insult and bait.
That doesn’t strike me as the smartest business model. Gawker loves its commenters. So does Defamer. I don’t get it.
July 25, 2008 at 8:07 am
CeeJee: Looks like she only predominately comments on the posts in which SM or Moe are under attack. That’s all I can tell.
July 25, 2008 at 8:17 am
I’m just happy Gawker Media is banned at my work. I’m really happy that I don’t have the option to even look at that garbage (ie- the manufactured shitstorms, not the regular ole Dodai, Megan and Jessica posts, those are still quite nice) anymore. Not like it’s even tempting to be somebody’s dancing monkey, being jerked around for pageviews while these peeps sit back and laugh and collect a paycheck off of our outrage. Whatever. They know exactly what they’re doing over there, and I think the “minstrel show” label is spot-on. It’s all too sad for words.
July 25, 2008 at 8:41 am
@trixiefromtoronto: I’ve wondered if maybe it’s more of a quality vs. quantity issue. Even though a lot of readers have said that they read Jezebel as much for the other commenters as the editors, the editors may feel that the number of commenters who read Jezebel to escape the inanity and pettiness of other websites is less than the percentage of posters who get a kick out of picking fights with each other. Maybe they’re more interested in boosting the page views and increasing advertising revenue than maintaining the quality that put them on the map in the first place. It’s sad because I think they could’ve easily upheld the standards they started with and proven to advertisers their audience was increasing because the counter shows the number of page views right next to the number of comments and it’s exponentially larger anyway.
July 25, 2008 at 8:44 am
Trixie: I agree, and the self-destructive vibe I get as much from Jezebel as an entity as well as Moe personally. Did she get scared off at the thought that she would have to clean up her act at Radar (Balk’s a dear and a good editor, but he also suffers no fools)?
I was almost thinking about writing to the New York State Board of Health and complaining that a media business registered in their jurisdiction is disseminating innacurate and dangerous health information.
I mean, Jee-zus, what other web site/print mag actually pushes unsafe sex? The gay community has outed and shamed barebackers. Maybe we should do our part.
July 25, 2008 at 8:58 am
@SarahHeartburn: You know, the problem with alerting a larger media outlet or authority is that once word gets back around to the people at Jez or Gawker, they’ll just churn out another “OMG, they just don’t GET IT, look at these people being EARNEST, ugh!” post. And they’ll reap the benefits of traffic and pageviews from it. There’s no getting through to these people, because it’s all just some hilarious game of condescending to the readers, sending out mixed messages, claiming sarcasm where none is really clearly implied, and generally insulting people’s intelligence. All in the name of big laughs, feeling superior, and courting one of the more despicable brands of pseudo-fame. I’ll pass, thx.