Defamer is busy trying to figure out who this YouTube nitwit is. In the meantime, please enjoy one of the worst celebrity interviews we’ve ever seen.

We’re guessing that in newsrooms across the country, resumes with “USC Annenberg School for Communication” on them just got shifted to the bottom of the pile.

Tabloid Baby: Journalist of the Year: Harvey Levin

Patterico: LA Times Dog Trainer Year in Review.

Digg: Most Popular Stories

Ken Levine: Favorite Quotes of the Year

GalleyCat: Month by Month

Unbeige: Looks Back

Dear Prudence: Worst Advice of 2007

Salon: Best Stories of the Year

Rock photographer Deborah Chesher photographed musicians when “the music business was about the music”, self-published a new book of her work, blogged about the process, and told us all about the journey. Her book, Everyone I Shot is Dead, is required reading for everyone who loves music, rock stars or wanted to be a rock star.

FBLA: How did you decide to do the book?

DC: One day the thought “everybody I shot is dead” crossed my mind. After mulling it over for a while, I decided to pay tribute to the wonderful musicians I had the privilege to photograph who had since passed away. I originally thought it might be a small book of 20 but it turned out there were 48, plus a few more whose photos I seem to have lost.

How did you round up all your negatives (this is film, not digital, for the most part, right?)

DC: They’re all film. Except in the front of the book there’s a small picture of my empty slide boxes with musician’s names on them that I shot digitally.

All the photos had been stored away in boxes since the early 80s. I had no idea what I would find or even if the photographs were any good. It turned into a real treasure hunt. Finding negatives without contact sheets and putting them in the scanner and having them materialize on my computer screen.. It was an amazing experience.

You set up your own publishing company to do the book?

DC: Yes. I also published my first book, Starart, in late ’79. It is a coffee table book exhibiting the artwork of musicians Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, Ron Wood, Commander Cody, Klaus Voormann and Cat Stevens. I had many many offers on that book from the big NY pub houses but when they couldn’t guarantee the quality of the production I had promised the artists I turned them down. Fortunately, publishing Starart myself turned out to be a good thing–the book has become a collector’s item. I’ve seen used copies of the trade hardcover sell for $500.

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The NY Times might have some fancy writers, editors and such but the LA Times has a secret weapon: Edward Padgett, pressman, blogger, and relentless teller of truth. And the truth comes out, when he answers those “so random they must be profound” questions of ours.

1. What’s the first thing(s) you read in the morning? LAObserved, LA Biz Observed, Fishbowl LA, Media Bistro, Los Angeles Times, San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

2. What’s your favorite guilty pleasure website? Fling.com

3. What job do you fantasize about having? Tour guide on the Island of Cozumel for non Spanish speaking tourist.

4. Last movie you saw? I-robot with Will Smith

5. Last book you read? On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross M.D.

6. Best show legendary biz/movie star encounter. Met Debra Wilson from MAD TV at Naja’s in Redondo Beach, we danced, drank, and laughed. Just met Danny Bonaduce at the 2007 Love Ride, and found him to be much calmer than portrayed by the media.

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Do You Need More Ad Revenue? A jaw-droppingly loud ad for Honda — that reads “Do You Need A New Car?” in big flashing letters — greets latimes.com readers as soon as they click on the home page. If this is a ploy to get more people to buy the print version, it just might work.

Do You need A Point? If you understand Robert Lloyd’s obtuse and meaningless piece about Jamie Lynn Spears please let us know. Because we don’t.

Do You Need Copy? If you’d like to read the LAT’s business columnists New Year’s resolutions, we’re not going to stop you. We’re not going to join you, but we’re not going to stop you.

The story of Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake’s tragic deaths really should become an opera, not a sad little documentary, not a poorly-lit cinema-stylo indie movie. Everyone involved is so dramatic.

Famed writer Nancy Jo Sales, author with the solo byline on Vanity Fair piece, takes issue with Melinda Hunt’s version of events at St. Marks in the Bowery that night in July and on her own relationship with Father Frank Morales.

Morales is begging for a nickname, ala the NY Post–the frisky friar? The popular padre. The ecstatic ecclesiastical, the vivacious vicar, the randy rector, the liturgical Lothario, the cuddling canon, the sexy sacristan.

Let’s hope Father Frank got lots of Christmas gifts, so he can give up wearing Jeremy Blake’s old wardrobe.

(Photo: Jeff Mermelstein/For New York Magazine)

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)

We get weird story pitches in our in-box all the time. Most of the time, we just trash them, but here’s one we couldn’t pass up: Healthy Eating Tips for the Hollywood Writers!

From the press release:

With the Writers’ Strike entering its seventh week, many out of work writers are finding it difficult to fill the time. With the heavy holiday eating and lack of a steady schedule, it is hard for some to keep off unwanted pounds and avoid the temptation of becoming a coach potato. So why not let this extra time off be a chance to slim down and get into great shape!

I’d love to book our renowned dietician and weight loss expert (who has helped over 500,000 people lose weight throughout his career) on your show to share some healthy eating tips and delicious nutritional snacks with your audience and the writers at home that will whip them into shape and keep them fit for their return to the writing board!

Sounds great. Of course, we suspect that if this strike goes on any longer, writers will come up with a weight loss plan of their own: Not eating.

Lifetime wants viewers to look at How to Look Good Naked, a new reality show for women hosted by Carson Kressley. (Idle thought: does Carson look at naked women? Has Carson ever seen a naked woman?)

Sign in here and watch a super special sneak preview.

Or watch Carson Kressley prance around naked here.

Lil’ Meat Pie In The Oven: Reporter Mark Salisbury is a lot less grossed-out than we are that Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter conceived their newborn daughter while filming Sweeney Todd, a movie in which she plays a baker who stuffs meat pies with human flesh.

Oprah-In-Chief: Columnist Tina Daunt has been busy this campaign season with her Cause Celebre column, which reports about the intersection between Hollywood and politics. Today’s was particularly fun. In it, we learned that people openly acknowledge Oprah’s “power and influence on the American culture” and feel free to take her to task when she appears to “abuse” it. Daunt ends her column with a suggestion (made by Brad Pitt) that George Clooney should run for president — but apparently Oprah is already a lock.

Peer Pressure: So which pretty young thing hasn’t been arrested this year on DUI charges? Suri Cruise, we’re waiting.