The crackdown in the foreign press in Iran has intensified significantly today. This morning, foreign reporters were barred from covering protests. Now ABC News' Jim Sciutto says via Twitter that he's not allowed to leave his hotel.

Daily Intel has some exciting news this afternoon about Marisa Noel Brown. (You remember Marisa, don't you? She's the daughter of Walter Noel, the hedge fund manager who lost about $7 billion of his investors' money to Bernie Madoff.) It seems Marisa started a jewelry line last fall—a couple of months before the Noel name was disgraced forever—and Marisa happily reports that for the next week, her line will be featured in window of Henri Bendel on Fifth Avenue. Yay! She also says her company now has a website; do note that she seems to have dropped the "Noel" and is going by "Marisa Brown" these days. Do also give serious consideration to purchasing one of her $50-85 creations. "There's always the chance that Irving Picard will sue them and redistribute their profits to the old people and charities that lost all their money to Bernie Madoff." [NYM/Daily Intel]

We support the idea that kids should eat healthy food. Theoretically. But when it involves a crazy mom ranting against birthday cupcakes and battling Girl Scout cookies, we must demur. Meet MeMe Roth, publicist and food Nazi mother:

Yesterday, Twitter announced it would be going offline for about an hour for scheduled maintenance. Users protested, noting the microblogging service's importance to Iranian activists, but Twitter said its hands were tied. It finally relented — under federal pressure.

Bloomberg retains a reputation as the most brutal and authoritarian of the news wires, so it's no wonder the company's internal memos could pass for North Korean propaganda. Scoop production increased threefold, the glorious regime just reported!

GQ assigned photographer Jill Greenberg to shoot Glenn Beck for an interview, in a cheeky homage to Greenberg's notorious series of crying children. Funny! Hey, didn't Beck accuse Greenberg of "terrorizing" children for those photos? Of course he did.

Keith Olbermann already lives at the Trump Palace on East 69th Street: He paid $4.2 million for a 2,100-square foot, three-bedroom apartment on the building's 40th floor in 2007. But that's clearly not enough space for the MSNBC host: Two weeks ago, Olbermann paid $810,000 for a 7th floor apartment in the same building. Guest quarters for out-of-town visitors? An abode for his cleaning lady?

[Russell Crowe and friends on the set of "Robin Hood," a movie we are excited for; image via INF]

Now this is some sort of karma: a report says that the state of California is going after RadarOnline for exploiting Octomom's kids, with their relentless Octomom videos. [UPDATED below]

In your variegated Wednesday media column: Television's death foretold, the magazine industry's resurgence predicted, the Boston Globe's hope springs eternal, and something for tattoo enthusiasts to read.

Blog wars aren't just for the prickly coastals anymore. No, people in the cheese-filled, clotted heart of this nation are turning to the internet to yell at their neighbors too. Like this crazy book-burning lady and her angry liberal enemy.

Two months after taking over as CEO, Owen Van Natta is laying off 30 percent of MySpace employees. His outlook remains bleak; when was the last time you heard a CEO call his company "bloated" in a press release?

A British court has ruled that the Times of London is free to unmask an anonymous British blogger, just ten days after the National Review caused and uproar by outing a left-wing blogger named Publius. This is a good thing.

The Way We Live Now: Not the way you think. It's not a pay cut; it's the new work-sharing. It's not stealing; it's the new honesty. It's not homelessness; it's the new camping.

Is being rich in NYC the same as being rich in SoCal? And is there a way for a New Yorker to answer this question with a "hell no," without automatically making him sound like he doth protest too much? Based on the evidence in the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy story about NYC Prep, Bravo's forthcoming reality show about private school kids in the city (though, as critics have pointed out, one of the subjects goes to Styuvesant and the other attends private school on Long Island), not so much.

How is shopping newsletter Very Short List doing on the second day under the New York Observer's ownership? Poorly enough to motivate mogul wannabe Jared Kushner to hire some dedicated staff, perhaps.

Terrorists maybe tried to assassinate Jimmy Carter in Gaza today. Whatever happened, he's fine now.

Nothing good ever happens when you're in Canada. Take the case of a white-collar pauper who traveled North only to have his wife back home cheat with a lawyer. Enraged and hurt, the pioneer started emailing everyone he knows.

• It's an ugly day at MySpace. The News Corp.-owned social network is slashing nearly 30 percent of its staff, or 400 people, due to a decline in sales. [BN, PC]
• Protesters in Iran have been using Twitter to keep up with developments on the ground. Now the State Department is stepping in and asking the company to put off a planned upgrade so service isn't disrupted. [Reuters]
• MTV entertainment president Brian Graden is departing the network. [NYP]
• It's official: NBC is dumping Live at Five and replacing it with an hour-long "daily information, lifestyle and entertainment show." [NYO]
• Interview dropped editorial director Glenn O'Brien last week. Now the magazine's parent company, Brant Publications, is suing him for allegedly breaking the terms of his confidentiality agreement. [WWD]