Some writers accept free products, services or trips and then write "reviews" of said items. When magazines and newspapers did this it was fine, but now that bloggers have joined in, it may well become a federal offense.

In your maudlin Monday media column: Magazines fail at drug-smuggling, sad layoffs at Videogum and Boston Magazine, newspaper reporters in Canada may strike(!), the NYT pokes the WaPo, and an update on the Milwaukee journalist-cop affair scandal.

The 10th annual Love Heals charity event, which benefits the Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education, took place on Saturday night. Originally scheduled for Luna Farm in Sagaponack, the event had to be moved to Polish Hall in Southampton due to the never-ending rain. But the downpour didn't stop fearless reporter Douglas Marshall from catching up with Donny Deutsch about both the gloomy weather and gloomy economy:

[Jennifer Aniston filming her movie "The Bounty" in Atlantic City today; image via Splash]

Anthony Marshall, Brooke Astor's 85-year-old son who is currently on trial for looting his mother's estate—and who requires the use of a cane to get to and from the courtroom—had to leave court to see a doctor today after falling off his treadmill last night and hitting his head. That's not the only health issue he's dealing with: Marshall's wife, Charlene, confessed today that the reason he missed court a couple of weeks ago was because he suffered a small stroke. [NYDN]

Look At This Fucking Hipster, a blog about looking at hipsters, and then making fun of them, has scored a book deal. Plus the formerly anonymous, self-loathing author has been revealed!

Today we ponder a trailer for the next HBO prestige-o-palooza, The Pacific. Should we call it the The Thin Band of Brothers? Saving Private Red Line? Who knows.

"Craigslist killer" Philip Markoff was arraigned on grand-jury charges that include first-degree murder, robbery and two counts of armed kidnapping. As if Craigslist users needed another reason to feel jumpy.

Larry Sabato, the omnipresent pundit and prognosticator who was revealed last week to call races in favor of congressman who send earmarks to his Institute for Politics, says he will work harder at disclosing his relationships with political benefactors.

Death Row Records sold; new Tupac album on the way! Seriously.

The Way We Live Now: For the children. Well, for the kids. Well, for the college kids. They're kids, really. They need protection from this cruel, dirty world. And when the colleges go broke? Where will the kids go?

• New York Times reporter David Rohde, who was held hostage in Afghanistan for seven months, managed to escape on Friday night. The Taliban had reportedly been seeking $25-30 million in ransom; the newspaper, meanwhile, is rumored to have offered $5 million for his safe release. [NYT, AP, ABC, CQ]
• The negotiations in Boston continue: The Boston Globe and its largest union are close to an agreement on wage and benefit cuts. Or so they say. [BG]
• Ratings for The Fashion Show haven't been great (and Project Runway is fast approaching), but Bravo execs say they're pleased with the results. [NYT]
• Disney's The Proposal topped the box office this weekend, pulling in $34.1 million and knocking The Hangover into second place. [THR]

Shep Smith, who's been doing his "awesomest bro on Fox" thing for years now, is finally getting some attention from the elite liberal media! The Times reports that he is not crazy, and therefore hated by his audience. Really?

Sandy Bullock is back in the game, folks! At a lean, mean 45 the actress has pulled off a huge opening. Some credit should go, we suppose, to costars Ryan Reynolds and Betty White. But mostly, yeah, this is Sandy's.

Hillary Clinton broke her elbow last Wednesday at the State Department and underwent surgery on Friday. Today she canceled plans to travel to Italy and Greece for a series of meetings on Iran and the Middle East since she's still recovering from surgery. Clinton's injury, however, didn't stop her from putting on a brave face and appearing at the White House today for meetings with President Obama. Nor, it seems, did it stop the president's official photographer from snapping photos of the injured secretary of state and uploading them to Flickr either. [White House@Flickr, Washington Post]

Boys, meet Yigal Azrouel. He will be seducing your wife now. The Israeli-born fashion designer has been linked to Katie Lee Joel—is this why she's divorcing hubby William?—and also, apparently, editors at W and the New York Times.

So here's how Perez Hilton's weekend ended: The gossip blogger ended up punched in the face and bleeding outside a Toronto club around 3 a.m., after calling singer Will.I.Am a "gay... fag." So much for a new, nicer Hilton.

What is today, America? Lo, it's the day when Jon and Kate Gosselin make their big announcement on the reality show they have, with their kids, on the TV. This could save gossip magazines! We rank the possibilities, below.

A couple of weeks ago, we pointed out that Robert Jaffe, the car-collecting clotheshorse who raised hundreds of millions for Bernie Madoff, had returned to a life of leisure and was back hitting balls at the Palm Beach Country Club. He probably isn't golfing this afternoon—and that's not because there are reports of scattered thunderstorms in Palm Beach today. The SEC just filed civil fraud charges against Jaffe and two other executives affiliated with Cohmad Securities for marketing Madoff investments while "knowingly or recklessly disregarding facts indicating that Madoff was operating a fraud." The SEC also filed charges against Stanley Chais, who helped raise as much as $1 billion for Madoff from the Hollywood crowd, but has since left LA to move to NYC. [NYT/Dealbook, WSJ]

Hilarious Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was already in a spot of trouble for sleeping with an 18-year-old model. And now he is promising to "hang tough," despite new "sleeping with prostitutes" allegations. Way to go Italy!