Free Weekly Roundup

So, is Rupert Murdoch changing the WSJ? Readers of the story on Ashley Alexandra Dupre's video mash-up seem to agree. Larry Flynt, however, remains true to form.

The Pellicano trial--something for everyone.

Time to pull out of the Bejing Olympics is now. China's blaming the Dalai Lama and his followers for forcing them to use force. Get your Free Tibet bumpersticker here.

The "church" of L. Ron tried to shut down the rallies organized by Anonymous but had to fall back on videos, instead. Like this one. Think the church paid for those clips?

Yes, Jezebel James is going to suck. Is it going to suck more than John Adams?

NBC yanked Quarterlife after one showing. The internet--the future of entertainment, remember?

Daily News guy Brent Hopkins takes the buyout, but maybe he can keep the blog?

LA Times Book Award finalists announced.

LAObserved dropped us from the blog-roll. Is this a hint?

LA Marathon route means we can watch from our windows.

TimeOut LA? There's no time outs in LA.

(photo by John Humble)

HBO has picked up Academy-Award nominated doc. A Taxi to the Dark Side, after Discovery chickened out.

Barbara Walters will interview Ellen Page, Harrison Ford, Vanessa Williams, and Mylie Cyrus. Pick the two with shows on ABC.

Who will be forgotten in the Montage of Dead Stars this year?

Joel Stein invites George Clooney home for dinner, and alas, merriment does not ensue. Stein claims Clooney is the only movie star "we have now", rather than telling the truth--Clooney's the only star on Stein's sofa. When Liz Smith eventually passes on, Joel Stein will be ready.

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting the AMPTP

The Slackmistress meets the Stripper/Screenwriter's Scary Stalker.

Tom Jones Insures Chest Hair

Randy Quaid Banned From Equity/Evi Quaid Strikes Again

Jay Bakker Apologizes as a Christian

Anna Nicole Smith One Year Later

Several job openings in the George Lucas empire. Jim Ward, the head of LucasArts, has left. And LucasFilm is looking for a PR type.

Ray Richmond comes not to praise Ms. Spears but to B.E.R.I. her.

Wesley Snipes is found guilty and could get three years.

Happy Birthday, Andrew Breitbart.

Goodbye, Alissa Walker.

Eddie Murphy and Tracey Edmonds have a "spiritual marriage" only --she must have taken a gander at his child support payments.

Paramount spent a lot of money to make Cloverfield look like junk.

Starbucks adopts skinny platform, but not Rollerskate Skinny.

Kim Masters is at Sundance, where everything is frosty. Anne Thompson explains why:

Twenty films were bought for $53 million. So far, 14 have been released and grossed $34 million.

Katie Couric is the living embodiment of the "wrong words at the wrong time".

And time moves slowly in the Bay Area, where a Salon blogger just now saw an FBLA post from October (we've heard of slow dial-up, but really). Her response:

I just wanted to say that while I certainly don't mind your disagreeing with my point of view, it would be more effective if you weren't an asshole about it.

Define effective.

(photo by Tomspixels)

Food Woolf and Matt Bites both snap at the heels of the LAT's Leslie Brenner and her Diner's Bill of Rights. Of course, the strike renders all this moot.

Screwed by Axium? Matt Fretz has some advice.

John Ziegler gives another view of KFI-AM.

Sharon Waxman waves bye-bye to the NYT.

Oprah Winfrey, planning ahead, has drawn up her will.

Casey Aldridge says Jamie-Lynn's baby is no child of his.

Sarkozy's sweetie is preggers, and his ex is bitter.

Glenn Close has a dog blog. You were expecting bunnies, maybe?

(photo from IWerks)

SAG members won't cross picket lines for the Golden Globes, no matter how big the goodie bags.

Why don't the Gawker writers join the WGA? Then they can all threaten to go fi-core.

RIP, Ed LaDou. Too bad his obit didn't mention how he got screwed over by California Pizza Kitchen. Pizza Therapy has an interview.

Lower your BMI and fight off zombies in 2008!

2008 trend watch: Sleevefaces

Reality show watch: Why Would Satan Want You?

(photo by Patrick Cates)

Artist/filmmaker Melinda Hunt adds to the Theresa Duncan/Jeremy Blake saga and challenges Frank Morales' version.

Anjelica Huston to play Benazir Bhutto in biopic?

When Manuel Mollinedo ran the LA Zoo, animals managed to escape a number of times. Maybe he's a PETA mole? Or just an incompetent bureaucrat?

Bonnie Fuller picks scandalicious celebs, but her readers like Lana Turner and Liz Taylor better. Maybe Britney can get one of the kids to stab someone.

Sean Penn is available, which means so is Robin, which means fans of The Princess Bride can rekindle their hopes.

Tony Bourdain is Eater of the Year, followed by the cleverly-named Joel Chestnut. Padme Lakshmi, a chesty nut, is third.

Jodie Foster wins the IMDB least screwed-up former child star poll.

AFI needs to stop with the lame-ass lists already.

Ten Things I Hate about Ten Things: Jason Burns goes meta.

(Photo by Eccentric Scholar)

Merry Christmas from the City of Angels.

(Photo from Angelenic.)