Ellies Observed

Disney execs Anne Sweeney and Rich Ross give Miley Cyrus a smooch for the pages of Portfolio magazine long before the Variety pictures come out.


Liveblogged coverage of the Ellies, the National Magazine Awards, at Fishbowl and Folio.

Few quick observations from way in the back of the orchestra:

Prompter-vision. Three actors from “30 Rock,” who presented the award for Leisure Interests, opted not to read the joke on the teleprompter taking off on the Miley Cyrus photo imbroglio, instead ad-libbing on about Tom Cruise. “She’s only 15,” one of them said to me later, conjecturing that Cruise was better because Cruise would be on Oprah on Friday. Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi went off her prompter script to talk about “fire in the loins,” likening it to magazine editing. Lenny Dykstra, former Met and Philly, reads slowly from the prompter and gets big laughs. (Good coverage of lawsuit involving Dykstra and Doubledown, publisher of his new magazine for pro athletes, from Jeff Bercovici.)

Engage me: American Society of Magazine Editors Executive Director talked about how magazines have “endured in their ability to engage” audiences for many years. It’s all about engagement, advertisers, hear that. Outgoing ASME president Cindi Leive says magazines gave us the “first developed form of journalism three centuries ago.” Second person in a row to talk about magazines and centuries.

Other than that, the usual bejeweled, be-gowned and be-tuxed crowd, nibbling everything from lobster tail cocktails in a martini glass to pretzels and pineapples drenched in chocolate from flowing chocolate fountains.