We already told you how the Vogue creative director stole the movie from Anna, but now it appears the editor-in-chief is not only letting her have the win, but promoting her as well...with Vogue!...on the internet!

• The average person consumed 32.2 hours of TV each week this summer. It's a new record. And it's all thanks to the quality programming that cable channels have been putting on the air the last few months, obviously. [NYP]
• The bad news for newspapers is getting worse: Ad sales dropped by 29% during the second quarter, which means newspapers have $2.8 billion less in their (already empty) pockets than they had at this time last year. [AP]
• Related: Please take the time this weekend to read the massive story about Hurricane Katrina in the New York Times Sunday magazine. It cost the paper and ProPublica a record-setting $400,000 to produce. [CJR]
• Because Nightline feels left out of the war between Conan and Letterman, the show is launching a campaign to remind you that it still exists. [AdAge]

This is "Seed Art" and it is awesome. [Pic: MollyP. Art: Mark Dahlager.]

In your finally Friday media column: Army profiles of journalists are a huge waste of money, a special journalists asks for a special job, the New Yorker hires someone expressly to make you jealous, and newspapers lose billions again.

Say what you will about Google's propensity for funneling money to a tight, back-scratching coterie of friends; but co-founder Sergey Brin does right by his mother-in-law, which is more than many husbands can say. Witness his new half-million-dollar donation.

A woman who claims her life was ruined after she stopped off at Bliss for a Brazilian wax is going to have her day in court. Somer Graham filed a lawsuit against the chain after a waxing session in 2006 left with "serious injuries to her genitalia," which, she says, has since left her with unending pain, made it impossible to go to work, and ruined her sex life. This week, an attempt by Bliss' lawyers to settle the case and avoid a trial was denied by a judge. Presumably that's good news for Graham, who is seeking a large settlement from Bliss for her misery. But it also means she's going to have to spend a couple of weeks sitting in a courtroom as opposing medical experts debate whether this is simply a case of a little "vulvar irritation" or a more serious incidence of "labia trauma." Awkward, no? The ruling is below.

Project Runway is about vision and delusion. The vision to make pretty clothes for pregnant ladies. The delusion that they will wear just any old thing. The vision to create clothes out of concepts, the delusion that it will work.

Sometime next month, new iPhone software is supposed to ease the way for "augmented reality" apps, which digitally superimpose data on the world, as seen through the phone's camera. Very cool idea and, so far, very boring execution. Think, people!

Way to just stand around chuckling and taking digital photos, pedestrians below. Even before you knew it was a stunt! Jeez Suge Knight could probably take over the entire nation of New Zealand in like four days. [via Adfreak]

Mad Men, the famous and brilliant television show about how it was weird and bad but also secretly really fucking awesome when dudes smoked and drank at work while treating women like shit (and everyone dressed better but there were no black people), was incessantly hyped by every wing of the East Coast Liberal Media Elite for weeks before its new season started, and the premiere drew 2.8 million viewers.

The Way We Live Now: With politics superseded by reality. Ideology's fine when everyone has jobs and homes and enough cash for Crispy Chik'n Wraps, but those days are gone. Tear down the border fence! And sell it for scrap!

Duane Reade has given a number of its stores a makeover in recent weeks, turning its legendarily "cramped, dim" locations" into the sort of "lighter, airier spaces" you might find in a California strip mall. It's part of an effort to compete with all the Walgreens and CVS outlets popping up around town, and to highlight the changes underway, the company launched its first-ever brand advertising campaign last month. But maybe some people just preferred the drug store the way it was? The sign posted to the window of the LES location underwent an edit this week. You can take a look at his/her handiwork here. [Spiers]

Aug. 28 @ 11:10am [Submit Gawker Stalker sightings to stalker@gawker.com] Ed ordered a burger at Shake Shack. Nobody recognized him at the counter. The girl taking his order asked for his name, and he responded with a very British "Ed."

The summer season will be over shortly. Beach communities will empty out, bathing suits will be stored away in the back of the closet, and bulky sweaters will reemerge. Depressing, huh? Donald Trump is going to cheer you up! As you can see here, just because summer is "officially" coming to a close doesn't mean you can't pretend otherwise. [TMZ]

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi is suing a left-wing newspaper in Italy, along with papers in France and Spain, and he's looking into a couple in Britain. Why? Because they keep asking him slanderous questions about his ridiculous private life!

We were disappointed yesterday when the cowardly Wall Street Journal failed to fire faux-trendspotting flack Mark Penn for using his newspaper column to troll for PR clients. But—hearteningly—both Penn and the paper appear increasingly pathetic!

You sorta feel sorry for Leon Panetta. He has no intelligence experience, he's taking control of a dispirited and publicly shamed CIA, and Justice and Obama apparently blindsided him with this investigation business. But on the other hand...

Things appear to be looking up for the art market. After five months of consecutive falls, prices are finally beginning to rise again as buyers become more confident and auction houses get a bit more realistic about prices. The renewed confidence appears to be having a positive effect on the auction houses themselves: Shares of Sotheby's have nearly tripled over the last five months. And galleries seem to be more bullish, too. Earlier this week, it was reported that Larry Gagosian is planning to add to his chain of eight galleries with a location in Athens. But not every segment of the market is bouncing back. Experts say that areas that became over-inflated in recent years due to "speculative bidding" are still losing value. Steve Cohen isn't out of the woods just yet, in other words. [Wealth Bulletin]

[Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie go to a foreign country and scoop up some baby gerbils while in France last week. Photo via Bauer-Griffin]

Rev. Gregory Malia, the hero party priest defrocked by the church for being too awesome, is being investigated by Pennsylvania state regulators for insurance fraud at his hemophiliac health care business. Dom P does too thin the blood! [Morning Call]