We're on Day 2 of FreyGate (alternately referred to as the Freydom Fight or Born Frey), which brings ruminations from angry fans, day-late mainstream media recaps of the Smoking Gun's revealing report, breaking Wikipedia updates and, of course, lessons from haggypants Michelle Malkin:

• On Fake Writer Day, it's not just about the fake writers. Blogger Claire Zulkey, who has interviewed both JT Leroy and James Frey for her blog, crumbles to the floor and realizes her blogging ethics have suffered at the hands of these evil, literary minstrels. [Zulkey]
• We've no idea what sort of club would call itself V.I.P. room and then use Tara Reid as its spokeswhore, but her malformed side-boob defeats any notions of the venue's V or I. [Hollywood Tuna]
• Lindsay Lohan and Leonardo DiCaprio are 88% compatible. You have a 6% chance, however, of giving a shit. [Jossip]
• Star Jones would appreciate it if you didn't post on her blogs in all caps. It gives hubby Al a headache, you know. [Just Jared]
• We've no complaints regarding the calculated pimping of Anderson Cooper, other than that we'd like to see more jackets in the ads. Why not a bomber jacket? Perhaps a khaki trench? The puffy coat, while warm, just isn't flattering. [B&C] • As for this morning's Blind Item Guessing Game, you all were more silent than a scared altar boy. We're not sure how to punish you for playing poorly, but it'll likely involve force-feeding you complex carbohydrates.

Earlier today, it was revealed that ambiguous literary wunderkind JT Leroy, who claims to be an AIDS-stricken truck-stop hooker turned literary star, was really a fabrication of Laura Albert and Geoffrey Knoop and played, in public, by Knoop's half-sister Savannah. In an email sent to Galleycat, JT Leroy's book agent, Ira Silverberg, comments on being completely duped into believing his client:

Back from a court-ordered break from media, Intern Alexis returns to her old stomping grounds at the Times Book Review. In this week's edition, Alexis finds that Christopher Buckley enjoys life between Wonkette's bookish thighs, Billy Collins is best trashed in his own medium, and Liesl Schillinger likes to show off her high-school French skills. After the jump, your weekly guide to sounding well-read.

Because today is Fake Writer Day, best-selling author James Frey is, alas, not all he claims to be. While we have no doubt that, as chronicled in his Oprah-approved rehab memoir A Million Little Pieces, he was chugging 5 O'Clock, smoking rock, snorting half of Colombia and popping pills of shit we've never heard of, the Smoking Gun reports that Frey was never quite the bad-ass Criminal he claims to have been.

In case you missed the Janet Maslin review last Tuesday, or the David Carr profile Thursday, or the op-ed that also ran Thursday, the Times considerately ran yet another review of erstwhile Wonkette Ana Marie Cox's new novel, Dog Days, in the Book Review yesterday. (And people thought "flooding the zone" went the way of Howell Raines.)

There are many reasons why Hyperion's publisher should have remembered to turn off "track changes" before emailing out a press release.

• Timesman James Risen, who broke the domestic-spying story, is humble, modest, and likes to eat at Subway. Also, he ain't looking to move to the L.A. Times. [MW]
• How will Jann Wenner celebrate his 60th birthday? By having 142 of his best pals for dinner at Le Bernardin, where they'll be entertained by Bruce Springsteen. They best part, though: The party is being hosted by his wife, Jane Wenner, and his boyfriend, Matt Nye. [WWD]
• Prof thinks pundits' accuracy should be tracked. Perhaps in a handy-dandy "Pundit Scorecard." Why hasn't anyone thought of that before? [WSJ]
• There's a new literary superagency on the block: Folio. We sort of hope superagents dress in capes and codpieces, because that would be fun. [GalleyCat]

• James Risen's State of War — the impending publication of which forced the Times to finally publish the domestic-spying story — also makes Judy Miller's WMD excuses fall apart. [NYO]
• Still, the domestic-spying articles were better than the book is, says Jack Shafer. [Slate]
• Lunatic talking head Bill O'Reilly promises to "get into the lives" of Bill Keller and Frank Rich if (perhaps imagined) Times attacks on him continue. We really hope he does, because Keller would be so much sexier if he were a little less earnest. [Media Matters]
• Yesterday was CBS's first day as its own company. Well, except for all those all days as its own company. [WP]
• New Oxygen show features middle-aged women partying with college guys. We're pretty sure we saw that same show on Cinemax once. [NYT]
• Not-quite-victorious — but still really good — GMA staffers get cheesy commemorative trinkets. [NYO]
• Jon Friedman is clearly smoking crack, as proved by (among other things) his prediction that MSNBC will beat CNN and Fox News in 2006. [MW]
• Latest Q-ratings study shows Katie Couric isn't as popular as she used to be. Clearly not in the polling sample: Les Moonves. [WWD]

"You know that charming little cafe on New York's Lower East Side that just closed after a mere six months in business where coffee was served on silver trays with a glass of water and a little chocolate cookie?" No, but I guess it doesn't matter now. [Slate]
Because Brits have been following our lead since 1783, it should come as no surprise that London Underground workers are set to strike on New Year's Eve. Tell me again why we should be pro-union? [BBC]
If you need a J. Lo 2005 retrospective, direct your attention away from us and go here. [OAN]
The Corsair details every little thing that happened in 2005. This is just Part One. [The Corsair]
If I had a hammer, I would say shut the fuck up with it in the morning. Be glad you're not one of these philosobloggers. [Fake Barn Country]
Will your book sell? Statistically speaking, who knows. Realistically, no. [Maud Newton]

MediaCitizen, Timothy Karr, dissects the secret to marketing female pundits to the masses:

Today's Times has a piece about Amazon Connect, which allows authors to blog on their Amazon.com retail pages. Meg Wolitzer is prominently featured as an author utilizing her Amazon blog — she serves as the story's lede and primary example, plus there's a nice photograph.

The Publishers Lunch weekly deal report comes early this week. It's slim, but at least one novel caught our eye:

Holiday e-cards are, without question, this season's most disgusting trend (you know who you are, lazy-ass). But while many an inbox greeting has provoked the rolling of our jaded eyes, only one has caused actual retching:

Bonnie Fuller's advice tome, (deep breath) The Joys of Much Too Much: Go for the Big Life — The Great Career, The Perfect Guy, and Everything Else You've Ever Wanted (Even If You're Afraid You Don't Have What It Takes), is headed to a bookstore near you this spring, and in today's WWD Jeff Bercovici takes a first look.

From this week's Publisher's Lunch deal roundup:

After several weeks of intolerable, gut-wrenchingly long and/or boring editions of the Times Book Review, yesterday saw the Gray Lady finally put out something that made Intern Alexis's nipples perk up: a big fat work of hotness from big bad Barney the Purple Public Editor, addressing conflicts of interest when it comes to reviewers and their subjects (holla, MoDo!). As if that didn't bring enough joy, the Review even toyed with such evils at Hitler and bloggers. After the jump, Alexis's guide to sounding like you're halfway literate.

Recently, our mailbox has been slightly cluttered with mailings from St. Martin's press about Galt Niederhoffer's forthcoming novel, A Taxonomy of Barnacles. To be released next Tuesday, it seems this book is some sort of precocious second coming. Entertainment Weekly describes it as "droll and sophisticated;" Booklist thinks it's "charming and sly;" Sam Lipsyte declares it "wise and witty." On the back of the book, however, rests the the icing on this hype-flavored cake:

The new year is rapidly approaching, and oh, what wondrous things it will bring! Like Star Jones's new book, Shine: A Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love. Just thinking about it makes us need to change our underwear. From the publisher's description:

We know it's December, we're between food-filled holidays and everyone, ourselves included, is feeling a little sluggish — but really, you'd think the Gray Lady just passed out working on this week's Review and died in her sleep. Perhaps she hadn't any energy left after the 80-page debacle that was last week's Times Book Review, but Intern Alexis doesn't see much point in blowing one's wad all at once, leaving nothing but nasty dribble during the following weeks. After the jump, Alexis braves the boredom and tells you what you luckily missed.