Steven Rattner's shameless gladhanding has finally paid off: The New York Times-reporter-turned-financier will advise the Obama administration on the auto bailout. His Quadrangle Group's record should give Detroit pause.

At least one blogger has condemned Tumblr for deleting her "reblogger" critics, writing "don't those cunts have the same freedom of blog rights that the rest of us?" But Julia Allison is "proud."

First New York bloggers were incensed by Rex Sorartz's caddish self-promotion in the New York Observer; now fellow Midwesterners are raising questions about the life story he floated in the paper.

Rex Sorgatz knew an account of his bed-hopping among New York bloggers would ignite controversy; he's the internet infamy expert. But why did he play along with protocelebrity now so worthless?

One of the biggest brand-called-you practitioners is calling the whole notion into question. Tech pundit Sarah Lacy publishes in four or five media and wonders what the point is.

Conservative Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz looked like an up-and-coming mogul in the midst of the Bush administration, but now the funder of anti-gay groups is losing his partners.

Wow: Condoleezza Rice got $316,000 in bejeweled gifts from the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia last year, three times more than the president. She must be doing an amazing job!

Neal Boulton is reportedly orgasmic. The editor of a magazine for gays and a website for bis signed a book deal (with an agent) and claims to be drowning in reality show offers following a profile in Page Six Magazine. Everyone wants to screw and/or sign the sexual libtertine, supposedly, because of his oh-so-exciting and freewheeling life. But all indications are that his most famous antics were manufactured in the press. Take his alleged macking with Rolling Stone Jann Wenner, for example, Boulton's claim to "pansexual" fame.

"At Obama’s Chicago headquarters RIGHT NOW." [Julia Allison, Video]

Face it, Sarah Palin is now a fixture among the East Coast elite whether she wins or loses Nov. 4. The Republican vice presidential nominee has lodged herself like some kind of tumor in the media psyche. Saturday Night Live is quite lucratively obsessed with her, as are newspapers, magazines, websites, the list goes on basically forever. And now, says the Hollywood Reporter, "producers and agents across the entertainment world" want her to star in a daytime talk show, news program or reality TV series, at least in between her attempts to rule the free world.

Neal Boulton, the motorcyle ridin', guitar-playin' editor of gay magazine Genre, is expanding his unique... brand, with a website that's the " first and only pansexual sex & relationships site for ALL men." It's called BastardLife. "I can't believe how you guys make [Boulton] out to be some kind of American hero," a jilted lady-love of his once e-mailed us. Yeah, but how can we not? The dude once wrote us a letter asking us to please, please explain to girls everywhere that he's not hitting on them—just friendly! Anyway, the website launched over the weekend, and it asks the hard questions: "Who feels David Beckham would be a great lay?!"The site has ten posts so far—all uploaded by Boulton himself. "Not as good at this as you yet—but what the fuck. I have two generous investors thank god. Like John Lennon said, "I can't be what I am not," and THIS is what I am," he told us. THIS = the following subjects: strap-on sex (for straights!), erection tips n' tricks, hottie pinups (male and female), and advice on female orgasms from a lesbian. Thanks for that last one, Neal.

Professional lifestreamers Julia Allison, Meghan Asha and Mary Rambin launched a three-minute Web show, TMI Weekly . The serial is modeled after The View, according to the LA Times, although consumer goods seem to have been substituted for actual, you know, issues. Your Correspondent is about as far from the show's target demographic as one can be without collecting social security benefits or calling Barack Obama by his middle name, but he does feel comfortable making two observations: The program is supposed to be about "Sex. Tech. Style," but the only discussion of sex is a recurring joke about how Asha never has any. Change the tagline or live up to it. Also, the dog-fart chats really need to go. After the jump, a sample episode in which Allison reads from 37 hate-filled text messages from one of her dates.

Hey, has somebody confused Neal Boulton's e-mail address with mine? 'Cause we get a lot of messages for and about the admittedly charming, bisexual editor of Genre mag. Whether it's bitter screeds from angry ex-lovers, or girls who saw him at the bar last night and felt it in their hearts to send us a message (encouraged by whom, I wonder?) telling us that he's cute, we have seen no shortage of Neal drama up in here. Item! Boulton's been seen leaving 1633 Broadway—home of MTV—several times. Is he developing a pilot with MTV? He'd like us to know that he might be. "What's up darlin," the e-mail begins.(Neal, I am only swayed by cash and alcohol, dollface!)

With Julia Allison on its cover this past July, Wired confirmed longstanding rumors the internet fameball had a deal with Bravo for a reality show called IT Girls, based on her antics with handbag designer Mary Rambin and self-professed geek Meghan Asha. The development deal was to begin with just a pilot show, and it sounds like it might not go any further. In a roundup of some of Bravo's reality TV experiments this morning, Page Six said "one show starring three New York wannabes who start a Web site 'probably won't make the cut,' said a source." Embarrassing: Allison and her sidekicks recently leased a photogenic apartment because "we anticipate significant filming." Also, look who they may have lost out to:

The financial system is having one of its occasional bouts of uncertainty and depression but, hey, cheer up American economy, because fameball Julia Allison is too! In her on-again, off-again, oh-God-just-make-up-your-mind-already relationship with her own self promotion, Allison seems to be swinging toward another period of doubt and introspection. Perhaps you don't care because you're worried about starving in the street or whatever. But there's an honest-to-God company built on Allison's whims now, and according to her business partner Megan Asha there's now a "mini-meltdown" going on over whether the venture launched too soon. Imagine the horrifying revaluations that could ripple through the subprime protocelebrity markets as a result!

Uh-oh. Here's a letter we received from a college student: "I just wanted to let you all know that I am learning about [Collegehumor founder/webtard/Julia Allison ex] Jakob Lodwick in an actual university course, the Sociology of Deviance and Social Control. No joke... Lodwick is in the Emily Nussbaum New York mag article 'Say Anything Kids,' which is about putting one's private life on the internet, and how the young people clearly are too optimistic to see what the pitfalls are. She says that Lodwick's Vimeo is a 'hipster Youtube,' and we had a discussion about the people in the article and how they were clearly extremes of what we 'normal' college students are doing." This class sounds awesome! Let's check out the syllabus:"While the discussion was pretty interesting," our student spy continued, "it was pretty crazy/meta to be talking about someone whose private life I clearly have been following on a website devoted to this new kind of 'surveillance.'" I'll say. From the partial reading list below, it looks like we've come full circle: from Foucault to Lodwick. The kids are so screwed.

It stands to reason that a show about frazzled females in New York media might include a cameo by Emily Gould, the former Gawker editor now working on her six-figure "book of autobiographical stories" about being a frazzled female in new New York media. Via certain Observer staff Gould is just a degree or two of separation away from Lipstick Jungle creator Candace Bushnell. But after an email tip and way too much (20 minutes!) research, we've determined that those tattoos on the Lipstick extra's arms (above) just don't match up with Gould's own body art. So you (and we) should probably move on to thinking about more important things, like the implosion of Western capitalism. Or, you know, scrutinize this Gould-aping extra some more in the clip after the jump.

Asking if you've seen the "Christian the Lion" YouTube hit is like asking if you've ever been to the Internet. By now, everyone has seen the story of a lion, purchased in a London department store and raised by humans, who greets them after a year in the wild by jumping on them with enthusiastic hugs. Just like he's a person! (8 million views.) Now negotiations for it to be turned into a movie are underway, says Reuters. (In case you haven't seen the video, it's after the jump for a little slice of love.)

"Phelps will host the sketch comedy series when it premieres Sept. 13, along with musical guest Lil Wayne." A trainwreck worth watching! [Live Feed]

Julia Allison posted an email conversation with the editor of Wired, the magazine that, in case you missed it, put her on the cover this month and thus made her famous for being famous for nothing. Ever the crafty self-promoter, Allison asked if her cover was as good for Wired as it was for her: "I hope - that as time goes on, you'll be proud you took the leap," the Time Out New York dating columnist wrote. Remember aspiring fameballs: follow up is key. Wired editor Chris Anderson replied, "I feel great about this one." So sweet. In another moment protocelebrities should study, Allison makes a thinly-veiled pitch for some kind of Wired writing gig by pretending she's tired of all the self-promotion (for real this time!) and wants to get back to her "roots" (what??) as a writer: