TV chef and cookbook author Julia Child was secretly more awesome than you already thought, because she was part of a very exciting World War II-era U.S. spy ring, government files revealed this morning. It was already known that Child had worked in an administrative capacity for the Office of Strategic Services, the less evil precursor to the CIA. And anyone who knew her biography had to wonder about her long career at various U.S. stations abroad. And about that recipe for "poached secrets."

Page Six correctly identifies ABC News correspondent and former World News Tonight anchor Bob Woodruff once today before reporting on his tour of the Bethesda Naval Hospital, visiting soldiers "who've suffered traumatic brain injuries like Woodward's," in their words (and our emphasis). Well, Watergate journo Bob Woodward may have dropped off a bit in recent years, but that "traumatic brain injury" accusation seems a bit harsh, even for Page Six. And where is Woodward catching shrapnel exactly? Embedded with the contractors replacing the cabinets in his Georgetown kitchen?

Bob Woodward says he should have been less credulous in the run up to the Iraq war but, you know, how else was he going to get all that White House access without being a patsy? [E&P]

• Maer Roshan, the "battle-scarred veteran" of the "buzz-intensive media hothouses" that are New York and L.A. is back, and this time "the buzz seems to be moving back in his favor." That picture can't hurt. [WSJ]
  

• David Carr: Times, Washington Post loyalty programs "cheesy." [WWD]
  

• Intrigue! (Bob Woodward makes a rare appearance in New York.) Scandal! (Secret goverment documents are unveiled.) Success! (State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III is now No. 1 on the Times Best Seller list.) Religion! (Simon & Schuster executives pray Jared Paul Stern has the same fate.) [92nd St Y]
  

• Felix Dennis will never see a broad as costly as a tree. Also, it takes a lot of dosh to get people drunk enough to listen to your doggerel. [Radar]
• On the other hand, anyone who calls Greg Gutfeld "Darth Vader," must have his finger on some kind of pulse. And, look forward to The Week on the web. [Independent UK]
• Judy McGrath is going to be just fine, thank you very much. Buying MySpace is not the be all and end all of running a media empire. Unless, uh, you're Tom Freston. [NYT]
• ABC News reports news that ABC Newsman considers Matt Drudge the Walter Cronkite of our era, excepting for that fact that Walter Cronkite never falsely accused a presidential aide of wife-beating. [ABC News]
• Bob Woodward saves the good stuff for himself and other newspapers who are willing to buy his book in advance of their sell-dates. [NYT]
• Yahoo! not sexy enough for investors, apparently. [NYP]
• Something is happening to press freedom in Canada. We'd be all up in arms if it weren't, you know, Canada. [NYT]

• Bob Woodward, Judy Miller, Mitch Albom, and Newsweek had the worst media years this year, says Jon Friedman. We can't help but think that's not quite fair to Newsweek. Or, really, to Albom. Or even, ultimately, to Woodward. But Judy? Yeah, her year sucked. [MW]
• Time's Viveca Novak tells her Plame tale. Are we the only ones a little amazed at how long she kept her bosses in the dark? Weird. [Time]
• Hollywood gives the press a bad name, says David Carr. We'd argue the press doesn't help, either. [NYT]

• This year's Conde Christmas lunch welcomed Fairchild and Golf Digest editors and publishers, too. "It's gotten too big," one vet sniffed to Keith Kelly, reminding us all why we love to hate the Nasties. [NYP]
• Did Martha Stewart's gang steal the idea for Blueprint from Time Inc. Well, no. It just seems like they did. [WWD]
• Rightwing loons from WSJ editorial page move their TV show from PBS to the far more hospitable Fox News. [LAT]
• Tina Brown believes Bob Woodward. And she would know, being something of an expert at becoming intoxicated by proximity to powerful sources. [WP]
• Oh good. It looks like there might be buyers for Knight Ridder newspapers, which is being forced to sell itself by the soulless private-equity group that owns a big chunk of the company. The likely new buyers? Private-equity groups! [WSJ]
• How do you know the Bushies have really gone too far in their payola gimmicks? When Richard Edelman — as in Edelman PR — blasts them for giving the flackery business a bad name. [Edelman.com]

• It's the mother of all conspiracy theories: did Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck sign a secret deal with Starbucks to be constantly photographed by paparazzi while holding their venti white mochas? It's so evil, we're inclined to believe it. Lord knows the Olsens signed that contract ages ago. [Lowdown]
• Nick Lachey may have found out that his split from Jessica Simpson was about to be made public courtesy of Simpson's rep Rob Shuter, but he may still come out on top: The couple didn't sign a prenup. Kevin Federline would be proud. [Page Six]
• The world continues to turn on star journo Bob Woodward; now John Belushi's widow, who encouraged friends to aid Woodward in writing her husband's biography, says she regrets the choice and is assembling a book full of anti-Woodward sentiments. [R&M]
• Judith Regan's PR director, Paul Crichton, quit and has all but disappeared after being questioned about unauthorized spending. We also hear he's changed his cell phone number, but we don't suppose that'll deter Regan from the scent of his blood. [Page Six]
• Michael Jackson may not be the biological father of his two children. See? It's NOT incest. [Scoop]

• Simon Dumenco doesn't buy the revisionist history that Jann Wenner pushed out Kent Brownridge, but he knows the often-incompetent mag business will miss the man Dumenco dubbed Dr. Evil. [AdAge]
• New Plamegate wrinkle: Now the prosecutor wants to talk to Time's Viveca Novak, who's so far cooperating with the investigation. It's nice to officially know that at least one Novak is, even if the wrong one. [NYT]
• Bad news for our favorite gray-haired boytoy: Anderson Cooper's rating are down 19 percent relative to Aaron Brown's last week as anchor. [Mediaweek]
• It's hard being Bob Woodward these days. [WP]
• For its 1,000th issue, Rolling Stone to go 3-D on its cover. Because flashy sales gimmicks are always a sign of a strong, vibrant product. [NYT]
• Another reason you can never leave the city: Newly hired report at Manchester, N.H., newspaper is fired for having "a New York attitude." [Boston Phoenix]
• Hearst's new Quick & Simple simply ain't selling very quickly, suggesting the women's-mag market is cooling — or even cooled off. Also: Maxim learns to appreciate older women. [WWD (second and third items)]
• Four years later, the de-anthraxing of American Media's former HQ in Florida is nearly complete. They're still working on how to de-Bonnie. [Jossip]
• Kazakhstan takes four-page ad in New York Times to refute allegations made by Ali G's Borat. Next week, USPS will take four-page ad to refute allegations made by Seinfeld's Newman. [E&P]
• Good editors protect their staffers. Except, you know, when they don't. [MB]
• Forthcoming New York mag article on Hasidic sect ruffles feathers even before its published. [Canonist]

• Teen People kills story on Nazi bubblegum popsters after learning that a staffer promised not to use the words "Nazi," "supremacist," or "hate" in discussing the hateful white supremacists, and after Holocaust survivors picket Time Warner HQ. Keith Kelly calls incident a test for new Time Inc. EIC John Huey, but we gotta wonder about what this means for new Teen People m.e. Lori Majewski. [NYP]
• Per the latest Plamegate wrinkle, Mr. Wonkette notes that Bob Woodward isn't "the preeminent investigative reporter of his generation;" he's just a highly placed transcriptionist. [NYO]
• From just after the invasion until last week's withdrawal excitement, U.S. media did a shitty job of covering the Iraq war, [NYO]
• Ruth Reichl will be making miso-rubbed turkey with gravy, persimmon cranberry sauce, and rustic porcini onion stuffing for Thanksgiving. [WWD]
• Did Anna Wintour bring down the Variety spinoff V Life? She certainly thinks so. [Radar]
• Two Bloomberg L.P. employees charge the mayor's media company with disability discrimination. [NYP]
• 2005 was a crummy year, says Jon Friedman. [MW]

• As the news business reels — layoffs, papers for sale, Google Base, Judy Miller — j-students become even more characteristically naive and optimistic. [USAT]
• Jon Friedman thinks Adam Moss's New York can be one of the legendarily great magazines, like Gurley Brown's Cosmo, Ross and Shawn's New Yorkers, or Felker's New York. Moss's staffers, meantime, are all afraid they're going to be fired. [MW]
• This just in: Howie Kurtz has conflicting roles, covering media for both WP and CNN. As he has for years. [NYT]
• Times public editor Barney Calame's latest earth-shattering announcement: "Anonymous sourcing can be both a blessing and a curse for journalism." [NYT]
• Miller got axed and Woodward won't because Woodward's one of the cool kids and Miller isn't. Or something like that. [BG]
• On CNN, Maureen Dowd — did you know she wrote a book? — calls for more female columnists. [E&P]

• Emap considers sale of FHM to Hearst. More interesting — unless Keith Kelly is kidding, which is doesn't seem like he is — there will be a secret ceremony Nov. 28 at which outgoing Time Inc. EIC Norm Pearlstine will pass a Vatican-like miter to successor John Huey. Time Warner brass and Time Inc. top editors will be in attendance, alongside, we assume, a goodly contingent of Freemasons. [NYP]
• Bob Woodward's no ordinary reporter, says Jon Friedman [MW]
• But he's also no Judy, says Jack Shafer. [Slate]
• Wall Street agrees that newspapers are dying. Which could very well become self-fulfilling. [IHT]
• Amusingly baronial former newspaper publisher Conrad Black indicted on eight counts of fraud. [CS-T]
• Ziff Davis shutters Sync. [Jossip]
• Heretofore-believed-to-be-mild-mannered Jim Romenesko is, in fact, the scourge of college journalists everywhere. [Slate]

• Bob Woodward's in truh-ble. [NYT]
• WP's Walter Pincus set to go the way of Judith Miller in the Wen Ho Lee case. Except without the everyone-hates-him-at-the-end part. [WP]
• Need your dose of softcore porn more frequently than once a month? It's looking like Keith Blanchard's prototype for a weekly lad book might see life at Bauer. And thank God for that. [WWD]
• William T. Vollman, Joan Didion win National Book Awards. [USAT]
• Hotshot founders of Penguin's Riverhead imprint bolt for Random's Doubleday Broadway group and a new, yet-to-be-named imprint. [NYP]
• The lucky winner of that fundraising lunch with Rupert Murdoch? Learning Annex chief Bill Zanker. Be you're even happier now that you overpaid for that mediocre lecture. [Guardian]
• HBO still confident it owns Sunday night, Lisa Kudrow's dreadful Comeback notwithstanding. [NYT]
• Speaking at the University of Texas, Maureen Dowd — who, apparently, has a new book out — speculates that Judy Miller will end up with a Fox News talkshow. [Daily Texan]
• Bad things often happen to Time Persons of the Year. [The Media Mob/NYO]

• Come on, Pinch, you're breaking poor Tom Scocca's heart. [NYO]
• Was Bob Woodward the first reporter to learn of Valerie Plame's identity? And why didn't he mention that to anyone till now? [WP]
• Ah, but at least Ben Bradlee says it's OK Woodward didn't tell his nominal bosses. [E&P]
• Turns out Bush-crony public-broadcasting chief Kenneth Tomlinson — you know, the guy determined to get more conservatives on PBS — broke all sorts of laws and regulations. [NYT]
• Who's to blame for Arrested Development's (latest) demise. America, obviously. [NYO]
• Rupert: This internet thing is gonna be huge! [Hollywood Reporter]
• What reference in a headline will conclusively show that boomer media dominance is over? [Slate]
• MSNBC's Chris Matthews name-drops, and Jon Friedman loves him anyway. [MW]