Media Magazine's "The Future of Media" Issue Release party, Ultra, New York
September 9, 2008

Where did this wool brain sweater come from? It has Media magazine's "The Future of Media" Issue Release party sewn into the tag, thank you very much. Last night I covered two parties. One was MediaPost's aforementioned fete with a who's who of young PR, sharp-witted media types, legendary publishers, and a certain fellow who was once immortalized in Guns N'Roses lyrics back in his SPIN days, and the second was a party celebrating the launch of Heidi Klum's virtual Jordache line for Stardoll. One was awesome. One was awful. Let's start with the first, which was awfully awesome.

The night began innocently enough. MediaPost rolled out the red carpet to discover the carpet was more the color of a moldy basement floor than starworthy red. No worries! The kind people at Ultra, who were super-fun themselves, totally professional, and on the ball, emerged with a proper carpet. I played paparazzi with another guy for the first hour of the party, slinging questions at people like a monkey throws his own... bananas. Our paparazzi line was so sad. It was just Ari, a fellow scooting around the country, snapping pics and building a photo essay, and me. We worked it out, though - and really, who doesn't like the star treatment?

Who fell victim to our miniature red carpet madness? Bob Guccione Jr. locked elbows with a tall blonde he introduced as his girlfriend. Joe Ciarallo, Editor of mediabistro's PRNewser, tripped the red fantastic as did Matthew Caldecutt, Account Director at Trylon SMR and as of press time, #5 in the 2008 Silicon Alley 100, Nichelle Stephens, blogger, bookkeeper, and social media strategist rocked a deliciously grapey purple sack, is also on the top 100. Baldy at large and Crayon bullhorn Adam Broitman hammed it up on the carpet, quoting me quoting him quoting himself. Naomi Reiter, Editor, Min's b2b, scurried down the red carpet with Amy Novak, Online Editor, Minonline.com.

Inside Ultra, the open bar was flowing and the miniature grilled cheese sandwiches were... glowing. Strange little balled snacks (I really don't know what they were!), crab cakes, and crazy dumplings weaved through the vociferous crowd. Ultra feels like a sexy rainforest and all these yammering media types were like lemurs in the brush. I don't know if that's what they're going for, but it's what I got. The always fresh and on-point Mallory Dash was in the house with some of her Dukas PR peoples. She's a bright bulb heading for superstardom, no doubt.

In a dark corner I busted a lucrative transaction between Corey Kronengold, Sr Director, Marketing Communications for Tremor Media and Rebecca Fannin, Columnist at the Huffington Post. Shucks, nothing illicit here -- Corey had just nabbed an autographed copy of "Silicon Dragon: How China is Winning The Tech Race," from the author herself.

Matt Biscuiti, SVP at The Lippin Group, lapped the room, mingling in with Ciarallo, who was chatting it up with future party guest (tonight!) Gail Hilton, in one of her final days at Blue Outdoor. She's moving onward and upward to Qwikker, so you'll definitely be hearing more from them soon.

Straight off the plane and into the Future of Media party's arms was Simon Kelly, COO, Story Worldwide, looking dapper as always in dark pinstripes, if not a little jet-lagged. Rounding out the Story Worldwide clan was Jeremy Greenfield, Editor (and blogger over at PostAdvertising.com), with Story Worldwide new hire, Andrea Fjeld, who shyly sipped her cocktail as Jeremy slung her all over the room, introducing her at lightning speed to just about everyone.

In the back of the room, Guccione Jr. was jawing with Bennett Zier, CEO of Air America, who is not associated with a war film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson, but is definitely fearless in his mixing of patterns, and Bonnie Fuller, contributor to this special edition of Media. I've read sominme harsh words about Fuller, but talking to her felt like shooting the dirt with a neighbor at the mailbox (in the digital age, maybe that would be embedded chatting over the inbox?)

In the words of Borat, great success! And in the words of McDonald's, food, folks, and fun!

Keep your eyes on this space for tomorrow's write-up of how I nearly got ejected from the Stardoll party. "Nearly" doesn't make it half as exciting.

Invite kelly@mediapost.com to your party and get exposed!

Get your red carpet fix with the online photo set!

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