· Blogger Eugene Volokh writes about the Valerie Plame affair in today's Times' Op-Ed. [NYT]
· Former NY Press Mugger-in-Chief Russ Smith loves Jonathan Franzen, David Remnick, Snoopy, and dime bags (the latter, circa 1970). [NY Press]
· William Georgiades continues to burn down bridges over at Mediabistro. This week: Dave Eggers. [Mediabistro]
· Robert Thompson, founder of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Television and Popular Culture, gives good quote, early and often. [Jossip]

The passing of the buck at metrosexual glossy Details has landed squarely in the manly hands of the preppy-hot blonde-boy Brian Farnham, who has been appointed Deputy Editor. We tip our hatfuls of hairgel to Farnham and pray that he survives those mandatory manicures. We also hear that Farnham loves being bent over and flogged by the ghost of recently-defected Deputy Editor Andrew Essex.

Former media (etc.) junkie and author of Hard News Seth Mnookin reminisces on the good ol' days:

Is there a better cause for Rupert Murdoch's mighty and synergistic News Corporation to get behind than resurrecting the "career" (such as it was) of O.J. Simpson trial court jester Brian "Kato" Kaelin?

After yesterday's lengthy and passionate email correspondence with Vanderbilty CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, we were beginning to rethink the state of those shape-shifting CNN transcripts, in which Cooper's pronoun usage regarding The Gays went from "we" to "you" to "they" to "them." Or something like that. As promised, the lovely people at CNN have FedExed a tape of the interview to Gawker HQ and, once and for all, the transcripts are incorrect and, since the debacle, have been corrected. If you want to see for yourself (or just gaze at Andy's salty mane), the video is available online for your altogether disappointing perusal.
CNN Transcript Which Had Anderson Cooper 'Outing' Himself Inaccurate [The Blue Lemur]
Wonkette's Anderson Cooper Pronoun Problem [Wonkette]

Fewer things are funnier than the clash of two cultures. Take the permissive West and Fundamentalist Islam.

Because modern classics like The Biggest Loser and My Big Fat Brazilian Hooker don't really appeal to our highly-cultured sensibilities, we've kinda missed the bus on reality television...but we hear it's really big in Europe! In development, however, is a show that has us quivering in anticipation: reality television for magazine whores! Word from a producer comes our way which commences the hunt for Conde Nasties and assistants from all the other glossy publishing houses (you're so not off the hook, Dennis), and we can already see the episode where the Vogue and Ellebots compete for the immunity cigarette. The orgasmic details after the jump; can someone make sure Linda Wells' gimp gets a good audition time?

Subway commuters are by now familiar with the sad story of the FDNY's Christian Engeldrum's death in Iraq. The Post and The Daily News have been splashing the story across their covers for the last two days, each trying to outdo the other with escalating displays of compassion and patriotism. It's starting to get ugly.

Still no love from our man in Miami:

If we see another story about dead party boy/Moby Dick author Herman Melville, we'll scream! When will publicists stop manufacturing these artificial 'It' Boys?

This reminds us of the Joker's line from Batman: "Those toys! Where does he get those wonderful toys?"

How do you steal attention away from your chief radio rival one month after he announces his move to satellite? If you're Don Imus, you allegedly mistreat your nanny, whose wrongful termination lawsuit helps land you all over the news today.

Jumping on the "No Sex, Please, We're Abstaining" bandwagon (c.f. NY Mag's "Sex/Steria" piece and Details' "The Asexual Revolution," Dec. '04), KeepMedia rounds up the latest in non-sex news.

· Like the late O.D.B., MSNBC's Keith Olbermann sets a good example for the kids by boasting that he does not vote. [OJR]
· Greg Lindsay speculates on the future of paid content in the year 2048. Silly, boy: We'll all be dead by then. [Mediabistro]
· The Times Judith Miller on her possible visit to Camp Cupcake: "I'm still in a state of denial about the possibility of jail.. I know it's there, but I am trying not to think about it because if you think about it, you get less done." [Editor and Publisher]
· Photographic proof that when Vogue Editor Anna Wintour smiles, the whole world smiles with her. Or it gets fired. (Scroll down to Oscar de la Renta pix.) [New York Social Diary]

If there was any justice in this crazy mixed-up media world, there would be an annual award for Most Ubiquitous Freelance Illustrator.

We all know about Kabbalah, but how does the mystical Jewish mathematics work on the ground?

If you're not a crackhead in the celebrity art world, you might not know Peter Tunney, the billionaire-turned-bum-turned-artist. The Observer spends some quality time with man who once lived in Crobar, who reveals the secrets of his success for an upcoming event:

We were concerned to see that The New York Press's website has been down for the last 24 hours or so. With memories of the recently shuttered New York Sports Express fresh in our minds (and fears that The L Magazine's N. Scot Stedman finally destroyed the Press), we emailed editor Jeff Koyen who tapped us this little S.O.S. (with one finger, we presume): "Nothing serious, though. An elevator repairman cut through the fiber optic, knocking the whole building down. The Board of Ed is also housed here, so I can only imagine the chaos that caused."

Drudge looks forward to hardcore group newsgathering.
Drudge Report

Fancy library havin' former president Bill Clinton isn't the only Arkansan whose reputation is being resurrected. The Oxford American, the most respected magazine you've definitely never read, is back from the dead just in time to prove that there are intelligent writers and editors deep in the heart of the Red States. (The OA's back story, which includes a failed bailout attempt by one-man bestseller factory John Grisham, also proves that whatever color the state they oprate in, small literary magazines are always deep in red ink.)