In your soggy Thursday media column: a rumored bid for Variety, Penthouse's owner has a cheap IPO, Erin Burnett's going to CNN, Slate's editor likes Slate, and a Reader's Digest recipe kerfuffle.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's team is shopping around yet another Terminator sequel, in which the former governor would reprise his iconic role as a herniated, lactose-intolerant killing-machine on an unstoppable mission to find a chiropractor who accepts his health insurance. [Hollywood Reporter]

Quentin Tarantino is suing his neighbor, fellow Oscar winning writer Alan Ball over Ball's pet macaws, which "emit blood-curdling screams." Fair enough! But Tarantino's lawsuit is ridiculously worded, and starts off by quoting Goethe: "He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home." Good grief. Here's more of the lawsuit:

Recently retired Sen. Chris Dodd, who said last year that he wouldn't take a lobbying job after leaving Congress, has taken a massive lobbying job: Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America. Congratulations, Chris Dodd!

Know why Hollywood shouldn't take money from the son of a repressive North African dictator, no matter how nice he seems? His dad might one day go even more batshit crazy and order the mass murder of his own people when they start demanding freedom. Then you're going to look like shitheads.

Here's a cool five-minute documentary about a Hollywood Foley artist. Foley artists use a bunch of random objects to make those crazy sounds you hear in movies. The best part is when he has to simulate the sound of a car flying off the ramp of a cargo plane. Someone give this guy an Oscar for best weird noises! [via Kottke]

The Daily has published its photograph of the elusive Nikki Finke, dramatically driving a Toyota and looking kind of angry! Is it her?

For years, a current photo of the reclusive and bilious blog empress Nikki Finke has been the holy grail of people who care about Nikki Finke. It now appears that such a photo exists, and may be published soon. But Nikki says it's not her.

We all know that actors, directors, and producers make a lot of money, but Vanity Fair crunched the numbers and tried to figure out just how much cash everyone brought in last year. Their grosses are a little gross.

Hollywood doesn't care about art—just money—so it's no surprise that many people are interested in knowing how much an Oscar nomination for Best Picture is worth in dollars. Finally, they have an answer.

In your finally Friday media column: Freakonomics is taking its bazillion readers away from the NYT, layoffs loom at the NY Daily News, Hollywood media wars aren't catty enough for Vanity Fair, and PBS must have news on the weekend.

[January Jones in Hollywood with her dog. Photo via Bauer-Griffin]

If a normal person finds a normal person's dead body on the side of the road in Los Angeles, that's a blurb in the police blotter. But if Peter Fonda finds a dead body, that's a TMZ post.

Ramin Setoodeh, the Newsweek writer who wrote an article about how gay actors can't convincingly play straight last spring and got in huge trouble with all the gay folks, is back poking at that third rail again, defending himself anew.

Leonardo DiCaprio made the film industry $1.1 billion dollars this year with his movies, Inception and Shutter Island. According to a list compiled by Forbes, he made Hollywood more money than anyone, but you'll be surprised who came in second.

Police thought they had a break last week in the mysterious murder of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen, when a suspect in the case shot and killed himself. Actually, no. That would be too easy.

As police went to serve a warrant on a man described as a suspect in the case of murdered Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen, he shot himself dead. Meanwhile, a retired investigator says she was killed by an "expert marksman."

An early leaked version of the coroner's report on the mysterious shooting death of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen revealed that she was shot with at least one hollow point bullet. That's only one of today's conspiracy theory-inducing new crumbs.

As soon as news broke last week that veteran Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen had been gunned down in her car in Beverly Hills for no apparent reason, the conspiracy theories began. Finally, Page Six has said hell, let's print some.

The Montauk Monster himself broke into acting years ago; now, his not-quite-right cousin Merle has landed himself a starring role in this new flick by District 9 director Neill Blomkamp. Good for Merle, he really needed the work.