THE BITCH

Though Viacom's bullying tactic initially scared OUTLOUD -- "Believe me, our knees were shaking," said Lefton -- its lawyers eventually responded with a letter requesting proof of rights. The two companies traded legal paperwork for the next two years, and OUTLOUD filed its own lawsuit against Viacom in the summer of 2004 to win back rights to the trademark. But Viacom eventually gave up; in turn, OUTLOUD decided not to pursue its lawsuit.

Viacom vice-president Levite declined to comment, instead referring inquiries on the lawsuit to Viacom media spokeswoman Christi Gorman. Gorman passed the hot potato to a representative at the Sundance Channel, who did not return The Bitch's phone calls.

Lefton said the paper now enjoys a circulation of 25,000, but she has ambitions to build a company totally controlling the minds of young adults across the country. "It was never about just a paper," she says, "but a cross-platform, multimedia concept involving the Internet, radio, video, audio, TV, and print, and anything else anyone can think of." Sort of like Viacom.

Not Zombified, Dead

The Bitch has been waiting, with fading hope, to see if the Miami Herald would correct Daniel Chang's misspelling of Garry Trudeau's first name in his piece this past Tuesday about the death of Hunter S. Thompson. The previous day, Monday, in the Aqua Lady's first story about Thompson's suicide, the Doonesbury cartoonist's first name was also misspelled as "Gary." That story was attributed to Herald Wire Services. Uncle Duke would want to get the facts straight, whatever it took.

Grovers Are Gloating

Seth Gordon has, as he puts it, "bailed" on his position as president of the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce. Citing trouble making it to meetings and, oh yeah, that annoying Home Depot problem (Gordon's public relations firm, Gordon & Reyes, represents the building-supplies and DIY giant in its effort to move to a strip center at U.S. 1 and McDonald Avenue, an idea that has galvanized many in the Grove into anti-HD activism).

"The Chamber would be an appropriate host for a Home Depot presentation to the Grove community," Gordon observed coolly, adding: "It would be best for me to not be heading the chamber when that happens...."