It was Top iTunes Downloads night on Idol! That means modern, hip, fresh songs, right? Songs like "Play that Funk Music White Boy" and "Surrender". Wait, what? Where's the Leona Lewis?

You may not know Peter Arnell, but you know his work. The crazy Pepsi-is-the-center-of-the-universe logo design! The awful failure of the new Tropicana design! But what's the man himself like? Massively insecure, of course:

• All those layoffs at Forbes yesterday? They continue today, sadly. [NYP]
• Times executive editor Bill Keller has a few words for Marc Bowden, who wrote the Vanity Fair piece about Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Also? He thinks VF should really beef up its factchecking department. [Romenesko]
• The biggest media company in America? That would be Disney. [BN]
• Nine of the top 10 cable news programs belong to Fox News. [HP]
• The winners of the 2008 Peabody Awards were announced today. [AP]
• Wanda Sykes is getting her own talk show. [B&C]
• Video from Bill O'Reilly's chat with David Letterman last night. [MM]
• Guiding Light is done. The final episode airs Sept. 18. [THR]

Kate Moss, in town for the Topshop debut, stepping out of a car in Soho ... Chloe Sevigny hailing a cab in the East Village ... Mario Batali carrying his kids' backpacks in the West Village ... Sean Connery apparently doing a little shopping at Wireless Warehouse on Third Avenue ... Claire Danes walking with a cup of coffee in Soho ... Anthony Bourdain and his wife Ottavia Busia eating lunch at Da Silvano ... Willem Dafoe and Giada Colagrande carrying grocery bags in the West Village ... Hilary Duff walking around with a shopping bag from Barneys ... Ed Westwick checking his phone on the set of Gossip Girl in Foley Square ... and Whitney Port leaving La Esquina.

Oh Housewives. You always fight on vacation. Except last night you weren't on vacation. You were just here in old Stinktown City, stinking up the place. Why do you do this to us?

Ashley Dupre has something to get off her chest! Or, rather, Russell Simmons wanted another publicity boost for his website and told Ashley that she had to come up with something ASAP if she expected another personal yoga session this week. In any event, Ash has lots of questions today, but she's still struggling to come up with answers:

Senator McCain has his inconsistent and deeply personal conceptions of "honor" and "justice," which means that occasionally he fights for completely symbolic things that we nonetheless approve of wholeheartedly, like this. Free Jack Johnson! McCain is a huge boxing fan, of course, and he's teaming up with Peter King and Ken Burns today to urge President Obama to pardon Johnson for his 1913 violation of the Mann Act.

Topshop hosted a private dinner at Balthazar last night to celebrate the opening of its new store in Soho. Attendees included Karolina Kurkova and Georgina Chapman (left), Harvey Weinstein, Jay-Z, Jimmy Fallon and Nancy Juvonen, Zach Braff, Amy Sacco, Mark Ronson, Ann Dexter-Jones, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Andrew Saffir, Theodora Richards, Steve Stoute, Cathy Horyn, Stefano Tonchi, Sally Singer, Amy Astley, Eva Amurri, Greg K., Leigh Lezark, Jessica Joffe, Michelle Trachtenberg, Taylor Momsen, Le Call, Jonathan Saunders, Sue Stemp, Steven Kolb, Christopher Kane, Brent Bolthouse, Emily Mortimer, Emma Roberts, Cecilia Dean, Meredith Melling Burke, Nikolai Fraiture, Santigold, Steve Aoki, Benny Shabtai, Michelle Monaghan, and Topshop's very own Sir Philip Green, along with his wife Tina and daughter Chloe. [PMc, Wireimage, Getty, Paper]

Spencer Morgan's weekly Observer profile of an annoying and wealthy young man today is about "Greek shipping heir–slash–journalist Taki Theodoracopulos," about whom we learn the following things:

Right-wing blowhard Rush Limbaugh set off a minor controversy this week when he announced that he planned to sell his apartment in NYC now that Gov. David Paterson is backing a plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers. Describing it as a "stupid, punitive, massive tax," Limbaugh said "a bunch of corrupt politicians" were "punishing the achievers," and so he's "going to get out of there totally, 'cause this is just absurd." We'd take the threat/promise a bit more seriously if this were the first time he'd said it. It isn't, of course. He said the same thing on Election Day, announcing that if Obama were elected, it would "become stupid to own any property there." Perhaps someone out there can help him make the leap once and for all by putting an offer on the table? Limbaugh hasn't listed the apartment yet. But send your best offer to the various email addresses he uses—rhl@eibnet.com, rprivate@eibnet.com, rush@eibnet.com, and elrushbo@eibnet.com—and let's all hope he bites.

Angry Londoners are having pitched fruit-throwing battles with bankers in the street. The French are making billionaires call riot police to escort their taxis. And us? We're too busy abandoning our pleasure craft.

You guys are all psyched for the 2012 elections, right? Let's check in with the prospective candidates: the unlikable has-been adulterer and the idiot pathological liar from up north.

Last year, book-publicist-turned-essayist Sloane Crosley left no promotional stone unturned to sell her book I Was Told There'd Be Cake, including constructing dioramas based on each essay. Now you can own one.

I paid $10.50 for a pack of cigarettes this morning. Where's my bailout?

Movie deals for funny men, a TV deal for a funny woman, AMC branches out, SAG and AFTRA become friends again, and The Simpsons make the mail.

So President Obama and all the European leaders are getting together to solve global terrorism, reverse the economic disaster, and "foster world unity." Not that we don't have the utmost faith that a bunch of men in suits can perform those miracles, but it's a relief to see that the international media has its priorities straight and is focusing on the real issues. Namely: How will the various First Ladies compare in the fashion stakes, is Michelle going to bare her famous arms, and how does one behave in front of the Queen of England?

Monday we heard that WNBC's Chuck Scarborough and KNBC's Paul Moyer, the Kent Brockman and Ron Burgundy of New York, were both potential buyout targets. And now loooooooongtime WNBC sports guy Len Berman—the guy who shows the bloopers!—is getting bought out:

So Ted Stevens, the corrupt old bastard who invented Alaska and ruled it with an iron open palm for 100 years, is no longer a convicted felon. It is a proud day for America.

And you thought you'd be stuck with your diamond and gold grills (grillz?) forever! Fortunately, there's a new website that will take them off your hands (or out of your mouth) if you're currently facing financial problems, since "selling your gold teeth and crowns is an excellent way to bring in a little extra money for you and your family in these troubled financial times." Lil Jon, please make a note of this. [Luxist]

All the world government big shots are meeting in London tomorrow for the G20. Really, they're much more worried about the hardtothemuthafuckincore protesters than the economy thing. Are UK protesters putting American protesters to shame?