LA Times does weddings. Cause anything NY can do, we can do [too].

Everyone who knows me knows I love the NY Times' Weddings &  Celebrations section. Well, the LA Times is now entering my the arena of love and nuptials as well. Because 'Asking is hard. Letting everyone know is easy.'

For a limited time, place a free wedding, engagement or commitment announcement in the new Together section.

Xs & Os: a 70 year romance and, finally, a wedding.

This is an incredibly romantic love story.

This is the kind of love story that kicks 'The Notebook's' ass.

This love story gives people hope that soul mates do exist.

This is the kind of lifelong romance that proves that when timing doesn't work out between sweethearts, sometimes the sweethearts just need to give it some time.

Beth Ashley and Rowland Fellows were childhood pals who spent summers in cottages in Maine and ran around a wharf and lived the authentic, romanticized life us newfangled modern kids tried to mimic in fancy summer camps in the Berkshires. They drifted apart, they married, they remarried, they bore children, they were widowed. And they found each other again 70 years later--both of them now in their 80s.

“Beth and I have been like two bookends, with almost 70 years of empty space between us,” Mr. Fellows said. “There’s a lot to catch up on, but we better do it quickly. We can always relax a little more toward the end.”

And this is why I love the NY Times Weddings section. Because out of every 25 or so stories about the MBA son of a Senator and a Mortgage Broker marrying the MBA daughter of a Professor of Political Science and a Lawyer, there is a story that is about love instead of graduate degrees. And this--this is truly inspiring.

[via the NY Times Weddings & Celebrations]
[Image Credit: NY Times]

In memory of the Unfamous amongst us.

There have been more celebrity deaths than I can recall this summer. And it's sad. It's completely heartbreaking that cancer, drugs and the occasional 'natural cause' are taking our famed citizens this year. But what I've overheard the thoughtful amongst us utter at each new celebrity passing is 'And what about the people who die every day? The ones who didn't make movies or serve in Senates?' What about them indeed.

So, chosen at random from the NY Times paid death notices, I'd like to take a moment to honor a person I've never met and now never will. One whose character and talents I can't speak to, but who seemed to have...a very large family.

Hannah Citron

CITRON--Hannah Bien, of Pembroke Pines, FL expired comfortably of natural causes September 11th. Born December 22, 1915 in Williamsburg, NY, she had resided in Maplewood and South Orange, NJ, and Davie, FL. Hannah's survived by sons Michael and Jonathan, and daughters Laura Gelber and Wendy Binioris, 11 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. She is predeceased by husband, Seymour, and sons, Robert and Kenneth. Hannah was deeply loved and will be greatly missed.

Imagine having lived so long and winding up the matriarch of such a large family. It seems an incredible feat--one as worthy of remembrance as the fantastic dance scene from 'Dirty Dancing.' Which was, undeniably, incredible as well.

Clowns and romance...Good morning Los Angeles.

Clowns. Romance. Acceptance. What better way to begin a Sunday morning.



Well, ok. Maybe sex, diet coke, and the NY Times' Weddings & Celebrations section would be better. But let's take what we can get here, ok people?

[You Tube: Ingrid Michaelson Video of 'The Way I Am', directed by Autumn de Wilde]

Xs & Os: Couple takes kooky to next level.

This couple really takes the cake (no pun intended). Featured in this past Sunday's NY Times' Weddings & Celebrations section, Michelle Rosen and David Zornitsky pronounced their 20 year love before love before family and friends (this is his second and her third nuptials) at Dylan's Candy Bar in Manhattan, where the bride wore a dress of candy wrappers and "their 50 guests dined on peanut butter and jelly tarts and candy sushi."

Ok, I get it. You gave him gummi bears on the first day you met. Love is sweet. Your lips are like sugar. So on and cheesy so forth. But really--couldn't you have left the candy references to cliches and gotten married at Tavern on the Green or somewhere respectable? I mean, some couples have begun their romances on line for lattes. You don't see them getting hitched at Starbucks and forcing a menu of Venti Chais and coffee mints upon their guests.

But hey, love is love and I'm a sucker for a happy ending. So, if this kooky couple has found their happy ending beneath a lollipop canopy, I won't judge. Not too much anyway.

P.S. If you think celebrating life's milestones at a candy store is a neat idea, Dylan's is happy to host your special day too. Check out their Special Events page for more details.

[NY Times: Vows - Michelle Rosen and David Zornitsky]

NYTimes.com sells its soul. Apple buys it.

Did anyone catch the amazingly cool interactive ad that flew across The New York Times online today? With 2 fixed positions in prime position on the homepage, 1 billion apps zoomed from one leaderboard ad unit into another skyscraper to the right (forgive me if my ad unit lingo is off) to promote the iPhone 3G's 1 billion apps.

Notice how the apps even even across the Times logo itself. Now, how much did that cost?


While this is yet another unsettling sign of publishers' shifting standards (heck, my own company practically invented 'innovative' ad units) due to the economy, I must give kudos to Apple on an amazing ad. I, for one, refreshed the page multiple times just to see the ad again. Apple should be charging the Times.

The NY Times. Arrogant and bullyish, but not invincible.

It's not kind to feel joy at the suffering of others. But sometimes, just sometimes, it's ok to smirk a little at the misfortune of others, no?? Especially if they're bullies?

It turns out that the NY Times, who just recently took stabs at the LA Times in a public ad campaign (as reported by LA Observed), is not doing so hot themselves.

From this morning's WWD Memo Pad (yes, a fashion trade is my morning news source--what of it?)...

TIMES RAISES FUNDS: The New York Times Co. has entered into a sale-leaseback transaction with W.P. Carey & Co. LLC for $225 million for part of the space the Times Co. owns in its headquarters building on Eighth Avenue, including 21 floors, or 750,000 rentable square feet. The money will be used to pay long-term debt and a portion will be used to fund a redemption payment of its 4.5 percent notes due in 2010. The company also recently borrowed $250 million from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú and is trying to sell its stake in the Boston Red Sox. The lease term is 15 years, with an option for the company to repurchase the condominium interest for $250 million during the 10th year of the lease. The rental payment will be $24 million, or $32 a square foot, for the first year and increase in the coming years. — A.W.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Stand proud, LA Times. We are not alone!

[WWD Memo Pad: Times Raises Funds]
[LA Observed: NYT hits 'em while they're down]

Microsoft lays off the 5,000 responsible for new product Songsmith.

Microsoft has just introduced its new Songsmith product. Songsmith allows you to sing into your computer, and out it cranks a stale background accompaniment. I suppose this could be useful for vocalists so bad, no band wishes to join the act. Or really, really lonely and untalented children.

Some folks have tested out the product by feeding it legendary songs, like The Beatles' 'Lonely Hearts Club Band,' and seeing what kind of melodic atrocity is born.



Gawker: Awful Product With Awful Ad Makes Awful Music
New York Times: Microsoft Songsmith is Easy (if Painful to Hear)

Xs & Os: Smart people DO get married.

The Vows Video section of the New York Times Weddings & Celebrations section (which you should know by now to be a favorite of mine) often evokes a lackluster response from me. The videotaped stories are generally cute (think: baseball games, blind dates, wet kisses), sometimes even practical (husband loses wife, wife loses husband, widows find each other in last attempt at lifelong companionship). But usually not smart--no, no, not very smart at all.

Today's featured couple, however, has proven both smart (think: ivy leagues, masters degrees) AND clever [well, sardonic, really]. Rachel Natelson and Seth Fogelman--cheers to you; you have my blessing. Because, c'mon now, you know you were waiting on it.

Watch their sort of weird, sort of endearing video here.

Xs & Os: Marriage. If you fail, try, try again.

Every Sunday, I read the NY Times' Weddings and Celebrations 'news' online. It's within the Style section. Apparently love and marriage are stylish. I read the stories of couples--finding each other, falling in love, getting married--because I would like to follow this path myself one day. But the NY Times writers leave out the drama, the fights and the divorces. I generally prefer it this way.

Today, the highlighted Vows story discusses Jane Kallir and Gary Cosimini's wedding. It'a a second marriage, which is not uncommon for the Times to feature these days--tales of second chances are the new American dream after all. But today's featured couple has just married each other for the second time. At reading this, I first thought 'but that's unfair. they've had their turn with each other. leave it alone for someone who's not yet had a go. who's still single godammit.' But their story's actually quite touching--it's one about loving each other too soon, and then finding each other again when the time is right. Well, Jane and Gary--you have my blessing. Which is, I'm sure, what you've been waiting for.

Photo credit: NY Times