Stop Us If You Think You've Heard This One Before. It seems every year there's a rumor that Morrissey and Johnny Marr are setting aside their differences for a once-in-a-lifetime The Smiths reunion at Coachella. And every time, we run directly to our bed, jump up and down on it and sing "Panic" at the top of our lungs. (Then Morrissey usually comes out with a denial statement, and we sit on the edge of our bed and cry and sing "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now.") Well, guess what! The rumor's back again! The Sun is reporting that the band is “closer than ever” to reforming for a "ludicrous amount of money." We don't care what it costs! Pay it! (As long as ticket prices don't go up.) [The Sun]

The highest paid member of the McCain/Palin campaign during the first two weeks of October? That would be Amy Strozzi, Sarah Palin's make-up artist who was nominated for an Emmy for her work on So You Think You Can Dance. [The Caucus]

As rumored, AMI has bought the website RadarOnline.com, just as the print version of Radar folds. That, incongruously, puts the site under the same corporate umbrella as the celebrity mags Star and the National Enquirer, which may now become off-limits for mockery. The site will be "relaunched" in 2009. Judging from the tone of the press release alone, the site may well be repositioned to be far more credulous in its celebrity coverage, and consequently less funny. The effect on the RadarOnline staff is not clear yet; we'll fill in details as they come. Full press release from AMI below: American Media Inc. and Integrity Multimedia Company form joint venture to launch a new and enhanced RadarOnline web site

Publicity-seeking artist Geoffrey Raymond is downtown today with his painting of former Fed chief Alan Greenspan, in case you happen to have nothing to do and you'd like to add your commentary to his portrait of the "Fallen Prince." [Dealbreaker, previously]

We figured the growing on-air hostility between Republican whistle-siren Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the more moderate panelists on The View would eventually erupt into something appropriately spectacular—and it did, with multiple accounts sent to us of a Joy Behar/Elisabeth Hasselbeck backstage Catfight of the Century. Word of the smackdown, full of detonated F-bombs and wishes of co-host conflagration, quickly made the media rounds, such as the clip above from last night's ExtraIn it, quadruple threat host Mario Lopez—he acts, dances, crunches, and reads showbiz news copy!—capably sums up not just our report, but The View's ensuing damage control campaign. Not only did Whoopi hit the Regis high-chair, but she also reassured GMA's Diane Sawyer that no one's life is in immediate danger—in fact, they all love each other! Yes, yes, we're sure that's all true, ladies, but can we suggest bringing back that effective split-screen technique that hastened Rosie O'Donnell's departure? You're really losing half the fun if the camera misses Joy silently mouthing, "IwillburnyoudownIwillburnyoudown" while Elisabeth defends her theories that a 19-year-old Barack Obama was the one who gave John Hinckley, Jr. his Reagan-shooting marching orders. [Extra] Previously:

No one gets fired by surprise. Your boss always gives away the plan, even if he or she never says a word. The game in tech boardrooms right now is: Fire the deadwood. Cull failed products and projects. Reprogram the spreadsheets to say you've got a year of cash and a revenue plan. Then, type up a phony layoff memo: Tough times, tough decisions. It's exhilarating, if you're the CEO told to make it happen. For the rest of us, here's the best checklist I've seen yet of verbal cues to watch for.

There's a new party plane at Moffett Field. Not another boring Boeing — this one's a Dornier Alpha Jet, a German/French built fighter plane that seats two. The New York Times is updating its report faster than I can retype, so I'll skip NASA's phony backstory and cut to the facts: "It is not clear who exactly owns or flies the fighter jet. Mr. Schmidt is an avid pilot." I'd love to replace this Wikipedia stock photo with shots of the real thing. Pics or it didn't happen, right?

Facebook Connect, a product that ties a user’s Facebook account to other sites on the Internet, was first announced on May 9, more than five months ago. Digg was announced as a launch partner.

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As of writing this post, stock markets from around the world have plummeted. Here in the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average dropped by more than 480 points after opening bell. Reports had it that there lingering fear that governments, central banks, and finance ministers globally are powerless in stopping a global recession.

With the election for the President of the United States coming to a head on November 4th, people are more anxious than ever to get an of idea of how the race will turn out. Polls are being run daily and being reported via various news outlets, but wouldn’t it be nice to get an overall view of how the results may break down come election night? Here are 12 presidential poll and electoral projection resources that can help you get a better idea.

Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Will the Kindle Get an Oprah Bump? — Oprah Winfrey doesn't really strike me as a gadget girl. Of course, I've never even watched her show, so maybe she is. One way or another, when I saw the Financial Times reporting that the cultural icon looked ready to endorse the Amazon Kindle today, I made a point of setting my DVR.

Doubt to Open AFI Fest: The Oscar-bait shuffle that is AFI Fest's opening night settled down late Thursday when organizers announced Doubt as its Oct. 30 replacement for The Soloist. It will be the Meryl Streep/Philip Seymour Hoffman drama's world premiere following a quiet test screening this summer and a private screening last night for its original Broadway cast and select press. Among them evidently was Tom O'Neil, to whom Scott Rudin expressed nervousness about sharing Doubt on the AFI stage still relatively early in Oscar season (the film opens small Dec. 12). And really, with one horse already down and only one other left in the race after this, can you blame him? OK, fine — so can we. Zip it, Rudin. [Gold Derby]

A plan to construct the first casino in New York City—4,500 slot machines at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens—is one step closer to becoming a reality. Now whatever money you still have left amid the recession you'll now be able to lose here at home, without traveling all the way to Atlantic City or Foxwoods! [GamingToday]

"Bob Fredrick, a clinical social worker and therapist in Atlanta, is not a member of Alcoholics Anonymous." HI, BOB! [Regret the Error]

BREAKING: We hear that Radar, the smart-shallow magazine and website, is laying off "EVERYONE." Repeat: "EVERYONE." Including some beloved former Gawker editors. This will be everyone's last day at the office, apparently. The New York Observer says that "there might a business arrangement to keep the web site afloat and that it will be sold to AMI," although we've heard no confirmation of that [UPDATE: It's true]. It appears that Radar chief Maer Roshan has, indeed, killed trees until all the money is gone.

John McCain's brother Joe got in a bit of trouble earlier this month for inventing the McCain campaign's new justification for losing in red states like Virginia: the part of Virginia they are losing in is not real Virginia, it is "communist country." Joe McCain, 65, is a former reporter who has largely stayed out of the spotlight this year because he's worried he might say something damaging to his brother's campaign. Something like, you know, calling half of Virginia "communist country" or maybe calling 911 to complain about traffic, cursing at the 911 operator in disgust, and then calling back to complain further. It would really be a shame, a hilarious shame, if the recordings of those two 911 calls were released to the local media, and then posted on this blog. Did we mention that he calls back after cursing and hanging up? Click and enjoy! [ABC7]

Welcome back to Defamer Attractions, your fail-safe weekly guide to everything new, noteworthy and/or potentially doomed at the movies. Today brings us another oversaturated batch of fall releases offering more variety than prestige (or quality for that matter), but we'll help you sort through the mess with a glimpse at the week's (and maybe the year's) best film, Ed Norton's latest loser and a sampling of what's new on DVD. As always, our opinions are our own, but franchise opportunities are available. Inquire inside!WHAT'S NEW: Excepting battles for second place, we haven't had a good duel at the box office for a while now. We don't really have one this week either, but we're keeping an eye on High School Musical 3: Senior Year and Saw V for symbolic value alone: Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and the rest of their East High cohorts may be the first force to vanquish the splatter series on opening day since it launched in 2004. We talked a bit yesterday about HSM3's unprecedented market, and we stand by our $38 million call. Saw V will catch the older kids forced to drive their blubbering siblings to the mall; that and the fanboy cult should treat the film to a $29.7 million opening. As if HSM3 and Beverly Hills Chihuahua weren't enough of a full-time cultural assault, Disney has Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D as well to court the Halloween crowd; that should pick up at least $5.3 million on 284 screens. Angelina Jolie and Clint Eastwood's missing-child melodrama Changeling also opens small today before platforming wide Oct. 31; we'll get into it a little more at that time. Also opening: The Anne Hathaway/Patrick Wilson ESP thriller Passengers (we hadn't heard of it either); the middling Disney/Bollywood animated effort Roadside Romeo; Kristin Scott-Thomas's Oscar bait I've Loved You So Long; and probably the best Swedish vampire coming-of-age film ever made, Let the Right One In. THE BIG LOSER: The week's other wide release, the shouty cop-family drama Pride and Glory, finally gets its furlough from the New Line tombs after a nearly two-year delay. But buzz is low, reviews are upside-down, and Ed Norton and Colin Farrell can't open a window these days let alone a big Warner Bros. offering. It'll be left with about $7 million worth of Max Payne's week-two scraps before being reassigned to a nice, quiet desk back at the precinct.

“'Brooklyn girls know where they are going and how to get there — we have drive, ability, creativity and a toughness that is ultimately true inner strength rather than false bravado,' said Monica Byrne, co-owner of Tini wine bar and Home/made Bklyn, both in Red Hook." That's according to the Brooklyn Paper—whenever we want to know about trends, there's nobody we trust more than the owner of a gentrifo-winebar and a store selling "unique antique, artisan crafted and new contemporary items to adorn your home and your body." Meanwhile, elsewhere in Brooklyn, some girls are late to their pants-optional "home offices" because maybe half a bottle of beer was spilled on the keyboard the night before and quite possibly they spent the morning prying out the keys with a flathead screwdriver.