David Frum, you big ol' softy: NRO stalwart and former Bush speechwriter David Frum gets positively ferklempt today in the New York Sun in reviewing newbie series "My Name Is Earl" on NBC, which "somehow engineered an emotional response in me so rare, and so fulfilling, that I barely believed it possible that a by-the-numbers programmer like NBC Universal Television's president, Jeff Zucker, actually approved it" (that's not fair, I regularly tear up during "Joey"). For Frum, the show's message of making amends and pay-it-forward karma really resonates, and he thinks every family in America should gather 'round and watch it. He also uses the verb-that's-an-adjective "rocks." Weird imposter person, what have you done with David Frum??? UPDATE: My confusion, explained: it's David BLUM, not Frum. I am, in a word, a tool. Sorry David Blum! Er, nice work on that Earl thing! [NYSun]

Sometimes things must be reprinted in their entirety because they're hilarious: This is one of them: in yesterday's "Media Guy" column, Simon Dumenco laments the sudden upflux (A word? It should be) in meta-media watching blogs like CBS's "The Public Eye" which aims to report on CBS reporters as they report. Dumenco imagines a simiarly contrite blog at his local deli: "Yes, the sliced turkey earlier this week was not so fresh. We lapsed in failing to adhere to our high standards of sandwich-making. Also, Akbar, our kitchen-prep guy, is fighting a really bad cold, and perhaps hasn't been washing his hands as scrupulously as he should have been ..." Number one, that's some funny stuff. Number two, it made me strangely hungry. p.s. For the record, here are my predicted Men's Vogue cover boys: Andre 3000, Brad Pitt, (Jude Law (despite the lessons of Vanity Fair), perennial man crush Johnny Depp (oh, just admit it), Jamie Foxx, Sean Connery, and if he'll do it, Tom Brokaw. [AdAge]

Damn! I feel like a woman: Apparently Esquire wants to channel a little Shania Twain and get into the mind of the fairer sex by featuring copy from women's magazines. According to WWD's Jeff Bercovici, the idea came up in conversation between EIC David Granger and senior editor David Katz. We can think of a feature in Seventeen that might be a good start; I'm sure that a few of your readers could do with a review. [WWD]