• Forget Al Sharpton, it's the blogs that brought Imus down. That and, you know, the massive exit of advertisers. (David Carr's theory: was new nonstop news cycle.) [WSJ]
  

• Sam Zell is the probable winner in the battle for Tribune. News of the end of this fucking story could come as early as this morning. [LAT]
  

• Conrad Black trial driving Canadian reporters crazy. [Toronto Star]
  

• Everything you need to know about Conrad Black, whose fraud trial starts this week. [Maclean's]
  

We knew this day had to come, but that doesn't make it any less painful to take: David Carr has hung up his Oscars-season Carpetbagger costume for another year. Now when you see David wandering around Times Square (or Soho House!) with a videocamera and acting crazy, it will be in a purely private capacity. We'll miss ya, buddy! See ya next fall.

• 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 (whom I employed six years ago at Inside.com) is a quirky, entertaining, singular writer. I was pleasantly surprised when the paper of record hired and then promoted him to media columnist. But I was flabbergasted when they gave him a movie-awards blog (the Carpetbagger) and—the Times!—let him invent a weekly Web-video spot as a goofy man-on-the-street and celebrity-on-the-red-carpet interviewer. He's produced three dozen so far. There's nothing else like them in mainstream media. He is preternaturally perfect for the Web—a friendly, wisecracking 50-year-old character with a Minnesota rasp, the very opposite of self-serious.

• Sports Illustrated and Dasani water team up for world's biggest blowjob billboard. [NYP]
  

• Comedy Central and TVLand head downtown to Hudson Street, although that may just be a plot by Viacom to make mass layoffs easier to handle. [NYP]
  

It just goes to show, there are no sure things. Well, except that we will continue to have these Adventures.

• Time layoffs: Here's who's already gone. [Mediaweek]
  

• Say hello to the new Wall Street Journal. For free! [WSJ]
  

By our count, David Carr has written around 5,000 words on his Carpetbagger Oscar blog since the Golden Globe nominations were announced yesterday morning, with no signs of slowing down. In addition to this preposterous loquaciousness, he also refers to himself in the third person as "the Bagger" (windbagger, perhaps?). Most of it's rather enjoyable, if insidery, analysis of movies and movie stars (done in conjunction with Styles writer Paula Schwartz, who is referred to as—wince—the Baguette), but every so often he throws in a gem:

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

• How long will Sumner Redstone hold on to Midway games? Hopefully, long enough to give us a few more Photoshopped pieces like the one above. [NYT]
  

• David Carr discovers TMZ.com, "the limitless appeal of the famous performing the mundane ." [NYT]
  

Anyone who's watched video on the New York Times' website knows that they range from the unintentionally hilarious (the Vows column, David Carr) to the unintentionally really fucking lame (the Vows column). Fortuntately, NYT video editor Lawrie Mifflin is here to explain it all to us. One reader asks:

Monday's NYT Media section brings news of two recent events in the industry: First, David Carr tackles those John Mellencamp "This is our country" car commercials that ran approximately five times for each Tiger pitching error during the World Series. You may have heard about it elsewhere on the Internet, but it's worth reading for Carr's chiding ("you can wave the flag or you can drape one over a coffin. You can't do both.") and his masterful display of what's obviously a deep familiarity with Mellencamp's back catalog. Also, Richard Siklos covers the recent roast of deposed Viacom head Tom Freston, noting the "small clutch of writers who specialize in the genre of media-mogul laughs," of whom Mark Katz, the "reigning king," is cited. Katz was also cited last week by both Radar and B&C, but this story mentions his "[initial reticence] about being interviewed because he does not want to appear to be diminishing the comedic chops of his clients." Guy won't give it up for Jeff Bercovici, but will happily talk to the Times: this is why we still need print media.

• David Carr likes Rachael Ray, man-hands and all. [NYT]
• Kurt Andersen can handle Gawker's spitballs. It's Thelma & Louise metaphors that give him trouble. [NYM]
• AdAge names Vogue Editor Anna Wintour Magazine Editor of the Year. It describes Wintour (Editor of Vogue) as "more Horace Greeley than Coco Chanel." We can't wait for the Vogue Editor's presidential run. If you can't get enough Anna Wintour, there's also video and photos of the Vogue Editor. [AdAge]
• If you like Wallpaper you'll love Monocle, the new title from Tyler Br l . We could actually care less about either, we just like typing Tyler Br l . It's a pretty perfect name. Try it yourself: Tyler Br l , Tyler Br l , Tyler Br l . Fun, right?[WWD]
• Hearst almost as cheap as New York. [Radar]
• If you go on Charlie Rose's show, he will totally take you out to dinner. [NYT]
• "We're looking for soulless people with a passion for writing and a willingness to report on the latest celebrity muckity muck." We swear to God, we did not place this ad. [Craigslist]

• You'll find a lot of information in this David Carr piece on how journalists are forced to act like C.I.A. agents, "encoding files, shredding notes and switching cellphones." What you won't find is any mention of the Observer, which reported essentially the same story two Wednesdays ago. [NYT]
• Nancy Grace, desperate to wrest the title of World's Most Vile Human Being from Ann Coutler, adds plagiarism to her list of sins. Ann Coulter is 45. [NYDN]
• Chris Wallace was stunned that a non-confrontational question suggesting that Bill Clinton was responsible for the deaths of 3,000 American citizens might have been taken the wrong way. [FishbowlDC]
• James Truman, footloose and fancy free, is learning to live without Conde cash. Culture and Travel launches Friday. [NYT]
• Jon Friedman wonders why H-P never tapped his phone. Maybe it's because when you write columns like "The media world is in convulsions" you're pretty much identifying yourself as someone who has no new information. [Marketwatch]