Mob Hits for April 14, 2008

Is This Thing On? Time's James Poniewozik put out a call to his readers for their reactions to VH1's Rock of Love. "I'm not really qualified to hold forth on VH1's Rock of Love II, having joined the series for, oh, about the last half-hour of the finale (I won't spoil, don't worry). But it seems like the sort of show that inspires, um, passions, so I'll throw this thread open to your opinions on Bret's choice between Daisy and Ambre," he writes. As of now, only one person's responded and that's to praise the amazing talent of ... Paul Giamatti?

Inside Baseball: Also in Time, Michael Kinsley exposes the long-simmering feud between writers and editors and offers "an apology to any writers I may have treated callously over my years as an editor. If I didn't answer your e-mail, I'm sorry. If the check was late or the amount less than agreed on, please forgive me." He also asserts that "On the Internet, they don't have editors," which is more or less what Ken Auletta fretted about twelve years ago in a New Yorker profile of Mr. Kinsley called "The Re-Education of Michael Kinsley" in which he wrote, "If [Esther] Dyson's guess—and it can be only that—is correct, then Kinsley the editor is destined to become another middleman, another roadkill in the abyss of cyberspace." (Remember 'cyberspace'?)

Breakfast with George: Nick Paumgarten sits down for breakfast with legendary ad man and Esquire cover guru George Lois in this week's New Yorker. Over sherbet with berries, and "a thin omelette, prosciutto, homemade Greek bread, and a scoop of caviar," Lois holds forth. "Magazine editors regularly call Lois to tell him that they have produced Lois covers of their own—worthy homages, at least—and his response tends to be 'I don’t think so.' In general, he disdains the wan, cluttered magazine covers of today. 'They go out and test: Do you like this person? Do you like this blurb? Do you like this blurb better than this blurb? It’s unbelievable. I’d do a cover that would knock your eyeballs out ...'"

Too Cool for School: The Guardian's Jack Schofield crowns music site Pitchfork a 'taste-setter' (only about two years too late), deeming it "more polished, more professional and more responsible than it used to be, and deservedly more popular. It is even making money."