Yesterday evening at the Four Seasons, scores of well-dressed Manhattan women gathered to chat and mingle at the fifth annual Dinner & Dis(course) cocktail and dinner party. The event, organized by MediaBistro.com, drew together an array of female leaders in the magazine industry, along with one visibly uncomfortable male, Media Bistro associate editor Noah Davis. "At least I have good odds," he quipped.

Laurel Touby, the evening's hostess and the founder of MediaBistro.com, donned a chic Pucci dress, a white feather boa (apparently its been her signature party piece for years) and those quirky-cute glasses. "I just thought we needed to get the girls together to bitch and brag and brawl in the face of ever-increasing stupidity in the marketplace!" she explained. "But really, I know how lonely it can be for people in the industry, how isolating it can be, and I just thought it would be a great chance for us all to get together and mingle with one another,"  read more »

Laurel Touby has sold her media gossip/bulletin board/media YMCA superstructre for a lot of money.

Drumroll: $23 million.

Here's the Times lead, which Ms. Touby posted to her own Web site just as the only people likely to be interested were trying to figure out whether Rupert Murdoch was going to get away with buying Dow Jones Inc. for $5 billion (Laurel never could share a room):  read more »