Attached are pictures of a van that tailed a vehicle shooting pictures for Google Street View. Looks like a stereotypical child rapist van, right? That's the thing: It apparently pulled out from beside the home of rapist-kidnapper Phillip Garrido.

The Web was supposed to disintermediate business, replacing corruptible middlemen with accurate information fed directly to consumers. But judging from the restaurant industry's experience, it may have just made corruption more widespread and louche. Just look at this receipt:

• Some luxury fashion companies think (or are hoping, at least) that the recession has "bottomed out," and the tide is "slowly turning." Let's hope so! [WWD]
• Related: Saks is hoping to now "wean wealthy customers from discounts" and "re-educate" them to pay full-price again. Good luck! [NYP]
• How are fashion mags hoping to remain relevant during the turbulent times? By hitching their titles to TV shows, naturally. Not that the strategy always pays off as editors might have hoped, as Elle (Stylista) and Marie Claire (Running in Heels) have discovered. [AdWeek]
• Homelessness is now "having a fashion moment." Make a note of it. [Cut]

In news that has rocked fake-Hollywood, Audrina Patridge announced today she is leaving MTV's quasi-reality show The Hills sending industry analysts into coma-like stupors attempting to figure out what this means, or if it means anything.

Whatever government agency is in charge of monitoring rioting by hysterical teenage girls went onto high alert today with the release of information about nudity (full and sorta) from two stars of the Twilight series.

It's Saturday night in New York. You want to put on a cute outfit, fierce shoes, and maybe some glitter and go out for a night of dancing and carousing. The crowd's ready but it's got no place to go.

OK! magazine has landed a Vanity Fair-caliber contributor.

John Batelle couldn't promote his Web summit, for want of a working website; a Wall Street Journal reporter ogled her own book and Bonnie Fuller undermined Angelina Jolie's body image. The Twitterati took self promotion to new places.

[Rapper M.I.A. rocks the animal print at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco yesterday. Photo via Getty]

Well, probably hacked. Either hacked or Fox decided to break the news themselves that "Sean Hannity Blows his mom." Update:

We will need probably a zillion dollars or so to book her, but Sarah Palin is at least finally accepting speaking engagements! Just like Tom Friedman and other people who are very expensive and always wrong. First up: Hong Kong!

Are you a newspaper reporter under the age of 35? No, because if you were, you would be fired immediately.

• After more than 30 years in business, Café des Artistes is no more. The landmark restaurant closed on August 9 for a monthlong vacation. Now the owners, George and Jenifer Lang, say they've decided against reopening it in September following "steady losses and a union lawsuit." [NYT]
• Another notable closing: Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield's John Dory, which unexpectedly closed its doors on Saturday after just nine months in business. The duo say they're hoping to find a new location for it. [Eater, NYT]
• One place that is not closing, contrary to a rumor that made the rounds late last week: the meatpacking club Griffin, which reports all is well. [P6]
• A Voce should open in the Time Warner Center next week. [GS, Eater]
• A roundup of other spots slated to open over the next week or two. [TONY]
• A roundup of places scheduled to debut over the next few months. [Zagat]
• Kurt Gutenbrunner (Wallse, Blaue Gans, Cafe Sabarsky) has signed on to oversee the menu at the new beer garden at the Standard Hotel. [Eater]
• If Dean Poll wants to keep the Tavern on the Green name when he takes over the venue, he may have to pay as much as $19 million for the rights. [NYP]

CBS correspondent Cami McCormick survived and is coming home soon after being bombed in Afghanistan.

David Paterson unveiled a new look today. Gone is the salt-and-pepper beard which has long been the governor's trademark; it's been replaced by a much trendier mustache. Could the change have had anything to do with the 'stache that Brad Pitt insisted on keeping for Inglourious Basterds, which the Times suggested has helped to revive interest in the look? If so, the governor isn't saying. "When asked Monday why he shaved the beard he's had for as long as anyone remembers around Albany, he joked it came down to "more cutbacks." [NYP]

Mike Rogers—who outed Larry Craig and Mark Foley some time before they outed themselves—has now outed South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer. Hah.

While the box office savants are impressed with the better-than-expected grosses of this weekend's horror flicks — Final Destination 3-D and Halloween Rebooted 2 — the question on many lips is why did this slasher showdown have to happen?

A New York Times columnist last week wrote that Facebook was almost dead after a user "exodus." Just six months earlier, though, she wrote that Facebook showcased a "perfect" cultural vitality. And she cited the same source.

Haha: Those shockingly expensive Sigg water bottles beloved by yuppies and hippies for being free of some specific deadly chemical did in fact contain that deadly chemical. Do we spy the hand of The Creator?

219West has struck again. It's always been bizarre how someone so prominent would be so public on his Manhunt profile. Now he's indiscreetly responding to Craigslist m4m ads at 5am looking for "ski" partners. (Psst, that's code for "snort coke.")