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Brand X
The name game
Welcome to the vicious world of corporate name-creation, where $75,000 buys you a suffix and competing shops slur each other over the virtues of Agilent and Avilant.
By Ruth Shalit
[11/30/99]

Alt
Attack of the holiday gift guides!
Annual shopping-spree extravaganzas turn otherwise respectable journalists into shills for Santa Mammon.
By Jenn Shreve
[11/19/99]

Media
Life's a scream
Advertising legend Jay Chiat talks about his new company, making ads work on the Web and the best commercials he's seen lately.
By Susan Lehman
[11/17/99]

Media
Don't cry for me, Gray Lady
After 55 years, Abe Rosenthal exits the New York Times, unquietly.
By Sean Elder
[11/12/99]

Alt
Gang land
Can the same entertainment media that have popularized gang culture be used to combat gang-related violence? Plus: Men who collect penis bones; capital punishments throughout human history.
By Jenn Shreve
[11/12/99]

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That was ludicrous. The Observer piece was ludicrous. The Leonardo DiCaprio thing was a done situation before Harvey got into it by offering Leo a part.

Harvey is a major mogul who has offered a whole lot of people parts. It's not going to get in my way. I don't get in his way. Ultimately it's a really trivial issue. It's what I would call a New York Observer scandal issue. To me the only shock is that it would pass into the pages of the New York Times.

The thing that was preposterous about that chart the Times did was that they talked about Julianne Moore as a Miramax actress. Sure she's made Miramax movies but, hey, at the time I published the piece about her, she was appearing in "The End of the Affair," which was not a Miramax movie. She's going to go on to do other movies. Julianne Moore and Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow have done a whole bunch of Miramax movies; they are making movies all over town. I can't stay away from that talent pool and I'm not going to. I refuse to.

I'm certainly not going to be inhibited about what I do. I'm not going to be in a position, ever, where I've just been to see a great movie and it was Miramax, and I'm going to say, "You know what? I'm not going to do the hot thing. I'd rather do the cold movie." That's ridiculous.

People have beaten up [Time Magazine Managing Editor] Walter Isaacson for putting Pokémon on the cover of Time Magazine. He did the right thing. Pokémon is really hot. I have an 8-year-old and I have Pokémon coming out of my ears. It's the big thing. If Walter Isaacson didn't do it, he would just be handing Newsweek the issue of the day, in terms of parents and pop culture.

My point is that [The New York Times] seems to have these actresses and actors down as being owned by Miramax when they aren't. The Times mentioned "My Favorite Martian." I was quoted as saying I didn't know about that movie. I thought the Times reporter meant a new martian movie because that one was out a year and a bit ago. How could I be plugging a movie that's not even out? That's just gone?

It's a kind of feverish, kind of little trivial, sort of -- it's very, very trivial, is all I can say. It isn't a real issue in any way.

You said you don't want to be inhibited by Miramax's involvement in the magazine. There's been talk -- as I'm sure you know -- about Talk's planned piece about Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. It's been said last-minute editorial changes were influenced by the fact that Kaczynski's brother has a movie deal with Disney.

That is just a fabrication. It is utterly and totally untrue. The [Disney movie] had zero to do with anything. My problem with that story was that I felt it was a puff piece about the Unabomber and I thought it needed some balance. That's all. I'd be very surprised if the author felt in any way that [Disney's movie] was a factor because it wasn't.

How do you do that and have time for the 8-year-old at home? When do you spend time with your two children?

I think every woman has that juggle. It's very, very difficult. It's the endless agony and push-me pull-you of every working woman. I feel very, very tortured about it. I do live by certain rules. I always go home by 6 o'clock. That's very hard to achieve. But I do. I must be there to have dinner with my kids and be with them for those two or three hours. I often come back, later, to the office. I always work late at home.

I never go out on weekends. I haven't been out on a Saturday night in 10 years. I always stay with my children.

So much is made of your social life.

Truth to tell, I only go out once a week. Any week it has to be twice is a hugely difficult thing for me. It can't be more than twice because then everything goes nuts. I do entertain myself a bit, about once a month, I'd say.

What prompted your party for Al Gore?

Actually, Ms. Gore asked if I'd throw something together for him. I responded and brought people together to meet him. It was a terrific evening.

Are you a Gore supporter?

I think he's terrific. I like him very much. He's great. I've never found him wooden.

I like Al Gore for all the reasons other people don't. I don't think there's anything wrong with being a little self-disciplined and self-contained if you're the future president. I rather like it as a matter of fact.

I don't mind the fact he's more comfortable in a suit than in his jeans. He's running for president, he's not trying to be a country and western star.

Who, in the large cultural landscape, are the women you particularly admire?

There are a lot of wonderful women around. I'm a big fan of Joan Didion -- her writing has always broken molds. As has Janet Malcolm's, another woman I admire. Anna Deavere Smith, I think, is very adventurous and interesting.

Martha Stewart. I admire Martha. Try looking at her clips. Talk about trashed. She has been trashed for years. Years and years. She has always surged ahead and been a visionary -- about what she's done. She's original, she's amazing, she's full of stamina. And she hasn't let it get her down. Look how she's wound up. I think in that sense she's rather inspiring ... I don't think I'll ever end up as rich as Martha. But I think she's pretty heroic.

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