MySpace chief Own Van Natta is a consummate dealmaker; at Facebook he helped sweet talk Microsoft into a critical ad buy. MySpace is a trickier case: insiders at the social network are spreading word it faces "horrendous" user disengagement.

In your finally Friday media column: Haaretz gets poetic, the Boston Globe gets profligate, Tim Russert gets remembered, and the newsy porn magazines get downsized:

[Lil' Dakota Fanning going to a rehearsal for her Joan Jett movie; image via Bauer-Griffin]

• Three more people have come out of the woodwork to express an interest in acquiring the Boston Globe. Let the bidding war begin? [Reuters]
• Analog television meets its maker tonight. Tell your grandma. [NYT, AP]
• Facebook introduces vanity URLs at midnight! Just in case you have absolutely nothing better to do and/or you're not too busy tweeting. [ABC]
• The New York Times is cutting, combining a few of its blogs. [E&P]
• Yahoo's new CFO is known for his ruthless cost-cutting. Good news for the beleaguered Internet company, bad news for beleaguered employees. [PC]
• Jon and Kate have been on the cover of Us for seven straight weeks now. "Unless Britney Spears gets pregnant or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie break up, it appears the troubled couple won't be bumped anytime soon." [WWD]

Both President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and challenger Mirhossein Mousavi won 60% of the vote in today's Iranian elections. Hooray for democracy! Iran does elections just like America does, too: with crazy, confusing ballots.

With so many companies going bust these days—and with so many giant figures bandied about in the media—it's hard maintaining any perspective on what's happening in corporate America, isn't it? Fortunately, the good folks at GOOD magazine created a useful chart using little—or big!—boats in a selection of lovely pastel colors to illustrate it all. [GOOD]

Who can afford to be blasé about making money in this economy? A hot Web 2.0 startup, it turns out.

The Way We Live Now: Telling Mormons we're not fucking interested. Just like before the recession! But now the Mormons are selling security systems, which you need to protect your secret stash of opulent home furnishings. Come back, Mormons!

What would you do if your dad handed you a check for $5 million and told you to give it away to the charities of your choosing? (You'd probably buy a massive apartment and inform your dad that by investing in the New York's real estate market during these difficult economic times, you were actually performing an act of charity, wouldn't you?)

Did you know that on Friday nights in New York City there's a place where you can go to watch male models get punched in the face by local boxers? It's true! It's called Friday Night Throwdown and there's video.

Were you under the impression that our new president had pretty much legalized medical marijuana by telling the feds to stop going after growers and sellers? Not quite!

SHOCK: in yesterday's Fox News Poll, respondents were asked whether or not they believed that Barack Obama was still "sneaking cigarettes at the White House"! Are you outraged? Think Progress commenters are!

It's kind of a sad news day for some. Mostly for actors who never quite took off the way some had hoped. But it's also good news for fans of Amy Poehler and Joy Behar. They're doing just fine.

In April, Queens resident Matt Tratner had a friend totally trash his apartment, to the max, and Matt found himself momentarily famous. His friends raised money to replace his stuff. Now, Matt's going on an expensive Greek vacation. Hmmm...

• Beny Alagem, the Israeli-born founder of Packard Bell Electronics and now the owner of the Beverly Hills Hilton, has put his 15th-floor condo at 15 CPW on the market. The three-bedroom apartment, which Alagem and his wife Adele bought for $15.4 million in April 2008, is listed for $24 million. [Cityfile, BHS]
• Dr. Athanase Lavidas, the chief executive of the Greek pharmaceutical company Lavipharm Group, has re-listed his massive apartment at 2 East 67th Street six months after taking it off the market. The 11-room spread, which features a design by interior designer John Saladino, is back on the market for the same $43 million price it was listed for last November. [Cityfile, BHS]
• Real estate mogul and former WorldCom director Francesco Galesi still hasn't managed to find a buyer for his 16-room River House duplex, more than four years after first listing it for $50 million. The price is now down to $35 million, though, so hopefully he won't have to wait another four. [NYO, BHS]

Matt Lauer is on fire when it comes to booking developmentally delayed Republican ladies. First it was Sarah Palin this morning, followed by Carrie Prejean, who says her "dethroning" as Miss California was a set-up just like Marion Barry.

Heidi Montag has taken the next necessary step in all great American success stories. The Hills star will appear nude (but "tasteful") in the September issue of Playboy. The bearded figure seen lurking in the background will be Spencer. [People]

Canatara Christopher—who runs the small book imprint that published a book of poems by Stephen Gyllenhaal, dad of Jake and Maggie—no longer seems to worship her famous friend. She sent an email around, revealing family secrets.

Remember "Clark Rockefeller," the con man who bounced around social circles in New York and Boston posing as a physicist, financier, art collector, cardiovascular surgeon, government official, and sea captain, among other things? Rockefeller—real name Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter—was convicted today of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter during a custody dispute with his ex-wife, and he now faces more than a decade in prison. Unfortunately, the trial did not fully account for how he managed to convince people he was all those things when, to most normal people, he bears a striking resemblance to a serial killer from a made-for-TV movie on Lifetime. But at least he'll have a non-fake job—license plate maker, perhaps?— to add to his resume in the near future! [AP]

Sarah Palin went on the Today Show this morning to tell everyone to "rise up" against David Letterman, the noted TV rapist and "so-called comedian."