Tuesday, April 14, 2009

April 15, 2009 News



Brand X goes live online as of now and in print every Wednesday. Take the link to read the intro letter from Editors Dean Kuipers and Deborah Vankin. An excerpt:

Look for upcoming features on green-collar jobs, DIY mixology, steampunk in video games and so much more. What iPhone app measures your car’s global footprint? Who is L.A.’s new, breakout, eco-conscious fashion designer? What’s the next online meeting space post-Twitter? Because it’s produced by the Los Angeles Times, Brand X will always feature the best info on must-see area concerts, exhibitions and events. It packs all the listings power L.A. needs but has expanded to address strategies for living as global citizens. Global citizens who like to have fun.

Variety layoffs yesterday include Executive Editor Michael Speier. The Wrap has the full story, including this excerpt from RBI CEO Tad Smith's gloomy memo:

We recently completed our quarterly forecast for the full year and the revenue outlook continues to concern us. On January 26th I wrote to you that we might reduce further our staffing levels if the economic circumstances became worse than our already conservative expectations for 2009. We are in that unfortunate situation today.

If you work with Atlanta clients, you'll want to check out this list of 74 journalists laid off at the Journal/Constitution, including four arts critics.


I enjoyed (and recommend) this lovely and funny story by LA Times arts writer Diane Haithman about her dog Heidi's (and her) brush with show biz fame.



Couldn't resist posting this adorable photo from last Sunday:


CREDIT: White House Photo, 4/13/09, Lawrence Jackson


FYI TO BLOG READERS ON MY EMAIL LIST I'm sending email alerts from my laura.stegman address AND also now from a newer one, laura_stegman (in both cases from hotmail.com), in case you want to "white list" that second one.