Times Earnings Way Below Expectations [New York Times]

"The New York Times Company reported a $335,000 first-quarter loss on Thursday in a performance that fell far short of both analysts’ expectations and its $23.9 million profit in the quarter a year earlier. The loss was a fraction of a penny per share, compared with the average analyst forecast of earnings of 14 cents and the 17 cents earned in the first quarter of 2007." [Times]

Marc Jacobs' Special Friend Explains What "Boy Toy" Means [Austin A]

Marc Jacobs' pole-vault-loving companion Austin A has issued a very unnecessary clarification: He and fashion designer Jacobs are not an exclusive couple. "I wouldn't say we're dating," Austin told GaySocialites.com, where by dating he meant only screwing each other. Yes, I think the description "boy toy" sort of implies a less-than-exclsive relationship, especially where libertine Jacobs is concerned. But you should root for Austin A because he's the boy toy with a heart of gold:

I recently had a very candid conversation with Austin A, the guy being tagged as Marc Jacob's new "boy toy." Much to my surprise, I discovered what seems to be an everyday gay just looking for fun and life-long happiness...

Austin says the media has really blown the whole thing out of proportion.

Marc, of course, is abroad working with Louis Vuitton; and Austin is currently in L.A. Austin says he spoke with Jacobs a few days ago but admits that they haven't been together since the infamous Los Angeles trip.

"The timing of that trip," Austin says, "was horrible." He says he and Marc met each other in New York but weren't ever spotted in public together. It wasn't until they went to L.A. that their relationship went public.

[GaySocialites]

China Blocking CNN.com? [Shouting Heads]

Shanghaiist is reporting that CNN.com seems to be unreachable in China, or at least in Shanghai. "Nobody we've asked seems to be able to access CNN.com right now," the blog reports. The Chinese government is still criticizing comments by CNN's Jack Cafferty that ended with Cafferty saying, in response to a question about China's communist regime, "I think our relationship with China has certainly changed. I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years." Chinese officials argue that Cafferty was talking about the people of China, not just the government. In that case, it's easy to see how they'd feel insulted. Blocking the internet like some kind of goon is not something your average Chinese person engages in. That sort of work is a privilege. You earn it. Video of Cafferty's remarks after the jump. UPDATE: The problem also affects Hong Kong and may be the result of attacks by "nationalistic Chinese hackers" rather than the Great Firewall.

[Shanghaiist]

Time Hates Freedom, God [Dead Trees]

An outraged Iwo Jima veteran said that whoever designed Time's April 21 global warming cover (pictured) is "going to hell... to stick a tree in place of a flag on the Iwo Jima picture is just sacrilegious." His veteran buddies are also upset: "[W]e’ll stick a dadgum tree up somebody’s rear if they want that and think that’s going to cure something." Wait, so people actually say "dadgum" outside of King Of The Hill? [Business And Media]

Ryan Adams Liveblogs His Hair-Bleaching Disaster [Celebrity Science]

Ryan Adams tends to overshare on the internet, but his blogging of an apparently botched dye job tonight is, indisputably, an appropriate use of the Web. In fact, it seems like exactly the sort of thing Tumblr was invented for in the first place. The topic is a little intimate, because it's about his feelings on an important part of his body, but not too intimate or oversharey because, duh, it's just hair. Plus it's just the sort of thing that will deeply impact the lives of Adams' obsessed fans. Disclaimer: I'm assuming it was a "disaster" because of the quote above and another photo captioned "melting," but sometimes these things turn out for the best. Or so I've heard. Here's the evolution of Adams' hair, and the musician's feelings toward it, as told by Adams himself:

Jason Beghe's Anti-Scientology Video Cancelled In YouTube's Area [Scientology]

The Church of Scientology scored another victory on Google's YouTube, where administrators suspended the account of the church critic who recently posted a video interview with actor and former Scientologist Jason Beghe. The effect of the suspension is to break embedded copies of the video on sites like Gawker and to help muffle Beghe's criticism of the cult as financially and emotionally exploitive. At the moment, one other copy of the interview exists on YouTube, uploaded yesterday, but it's unclear how long that copy will live. After the jump, Gawker's own copy of the Beghe video, a video posted to YouTube about the account suspension, and comments from a tipster who thinks the suspension will be as temporary as YouTube's January yanking of Tom Cruise's Scientology indoctrination video.

Scientology critic and Xenu TV founder Mark Bunker's "xenutv1" account is no longer accessible on YouTube, and that's because it was suspended by the video-sharing service, according to an email tipster and to this slightly creepy video posted to YouTube under the account "xenutruth9:"

The email tipster wrote:

I suspect this suspension won't last long. Ex-OSA Scientologist and current supporter of Anonymous Tory Christman's account (torymagoo44) was suspended (without explanation) earlier this week as well, but has since been reinstated—also without explanation. It is curious what terms of use either of these accounts actually "violated", and how YouTube is not revealing (at least to Christman) its motives.

Beghe is believed to be the first celebrity Scientologist to go public with criticism of the church. The three-minute video that's been made public was part of a longer interview shot by Scientology critics Andreas Heldal-Lund and Bunker, according to the Village Voice. "Scientology is destructive and a ripoff and... is very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental [and] emotional health and evolution," Beghe said at the start of the video. "I think it stunts your evolution."

In his subsequent interview with the Voice, Beghe went on to say he is trying to educate other people about Scientology. Beghe estimated he spent close to $1 million on Scientology, including $1,000 per hour on "auditing" sessions that lasted for weeks and were needed to move up the church hierarchy, where the actor eventually reached "OT V."

Beghe also detailed the role of celebrities like Cruise in the church. He said Scientologists can clear their record of negative marks by recruiting a celebrity and that he came to believe many celebrities were in the church mainly for the perks. At the same time, many Scientologists gossip about celebrities using information from supposedly confidential auditing sessions, which Beghe said were secretly videotaped.

In the video below — the one yanked from YouTube — Beghe says that "the further up the [church hierarchy] you go, the worse you get," losing your inner self and developing a false sense of elation. This description, and subsequent imitation, of upper-level Scientologists bears more than passing resemblance to Cruise, alleged to be the church's defacto second-in-command.