Our brains are incredibly freyed (fuck, we were trying not to do that) from all the James Frey coverage, even if it is partially our own fault. Nevertheless, our attention has been drawn to a posting on Oprah's message boards. It's a few days old, but still worth noting:
The literary credibility scandal continues:
Bad news, Texans: The Dallas leg of Fake Writer James Frey's Motivational Fake Writer Tour, originally scheduled for the Dallas Hyatt Regency this Friday, has been cancelled. The event was being sponsored by a residential treatment center for "indigent mentally ill and chemically addicted adults."
While Bernard-Henri L vy was working the talk-show circuit, espousing heavily-accented nuggets of pseudo-wisdom about the United States, Garrison Keillor and the Times book review were busy concocting yesterday's very, very funny spanking of his book, which has Intern Alexis waving her "Freedom Fries Forever!" flag. Meanwhile, Ariel Levy has fallen victim to the Mastercard style guide and Dwight Garner loses touch with reality. After the jump, your weekly guide to sounding literate.
• If you just can't relieve yourself of the pain of learning your favorite writer James Frey is merely a Fake Writer, try posting on James Frey Owes Me Money. He's more likely to hear you there than, say, when you're screaming at him on your DVR'd episode of Oprah. [JamesFreyOwesMeMoney]
• So once you've been publically shamed and spanked by Oprah, what do you do next? Why, you go and speak at the Dallas Hyatt Regency! The event is being sponsored by a home for the mentally ill and chemically addicted, which touches on a level of irony previously unknown to man. [HotelChatter]
• In case you thought Frey's appearance on Oprah was about his mistake, take note: Oprah said "I" 119 times during the infamous episode. [TMZ]
• The Jews weigh in — oy. [Aish]
• The Brooklyn Public Library reclassifies A Million Little Pieces as fiction. Prospect Park, so progressive. [Galleycat]
• "James, I am your father." [Corporate-Casual]
• Lying to Oprah is easier than you think. [Andy's Blog]
If we seem a little groggy this morning, forgive us — we didn't sleep much at all last night, kept awake by the questions running through our head: Did Oprah go too far yesterday with her hard-ass questioning and truth-and-redemption shtick? Is Frey a pathological liar, or just some dude who fucked up? How much is the publishing industry to blame? If it hadn t been a Book Club book, would this be such a big deal? Can a book s worth exist independent of the author s intent? And how did they get all those little sprinkles to stick on that guy s hand?
As you likely expected, James Frey vs. Oprah post-game analysis dominated most of last night's news, with our darling Anderson Cooper devoting an entire hour to the matter with his dapper guest, Smoking Gun editor William Bastone. Much of the time was spent replaying Oprah footage, especially the part where a shocked Oprah and her studio audience are visibly hurt to learn that Frey fabricated details about his love, Lilly, and her suicide.
Oprah Winfrey's awesome power truly knows no bounds. After refusing for the last two-and-a-half weeks to take any responsibility for James Frey's faux-nonfiction, Doubleday & Anchor Books, the Random House division that published A Million Little Pieces finally issued an apology today — timestamped 4:51 p.m., before Oprah was even off the air.
We've still got about an hour before Oprah Winfrey's televised caning of Million Little Pieces embellisher James Frey airs on the West Coast. Winfrey, you may remember, recently threw herself between Frey and CNN's Larry King, defending her disgraced book club author from further brutalization at the hands of the skeletal softballer. Since then, the Big O's had a change of heart, and on today's show she finally gives Frey the what-for:
So James Frey is appearing on Oprah this afternoon, but we're lucky to have an honest-to-God sneak preview for you (the show is taping live, right now, in Chicago). We'll keep updating this post as the show progresses.
How does the New York Times Book Review justify taunting "We told ya so" on the matter of Fake Writer James Frey's memoir like, oh, two freaking weeks after the story was big? They don't really — but as Intern Alexis learns, they make up for it by readily employing the word "twaddle," which is so faux-naughty that it totally makes up for any annoyingly late-breaking Frey thoughts. After the jump, Alexis twaddles her way through this week's Review.
• A sex scene involving Katie Holmes and Aaron Eckhart has been mysteriously removed from the film Thank You For Smoking, currently showing at Sundance. Never underestimate the editing powers of OT-VIIs. [Page Six]
• As Howard Stern's replacement, David Lee Roth has had a hard time winning over listeners — but not as hard of a time as he has getting his staff to tolerate him. [Lowdown]
• Shar Jones enacts revenge on Britney Spears, who stole her baby-daddy Kevin Federline, by sleeping with Spears' first husband, 48-hour Vegas mistake Jason Alexander. And that, children, is the story of syphilis. [Page Six]
• Billionaire Ron Perelman divorces his fourth wife — actress Ellen Barkin — and is rumored to be rekindling with his second wife, Claudia Cohen. Wives #1 and 3 wait patiently in the wings. [R&M]
• Cokey supermodel Kate Moss signs a $1.8 million deal for the rights to her autobiography. Sayeth the Braunstein: "It is a symbol of a true victim when you get the book rights."
Hey, so long as Oprah is buying that "essential truth" crap, ain't no way Tanenhaus is disagreeing.
• The indie folks of Williamsburg — united by their shared love of cowboy boots, cotton leggings, and tourmaline hair-straighteners — fear the corporatization of their trust-fund-supported lifestyle. [Newsday]
• Credit Suisse shits all over the Met-Life building and, in turn, Madison Square Park. [Manhattan Offender]
• Harper Collins and Daddy Murbucks can't afford their own domain name for promotional blogging purposes? [Eyeball Hatred]
• After you go through the secret door and get the secret number to secure your secret reservation at La Esquina, they'll secretly dick you over and cancel your secret table. [Miss Kate]
• Jennifer Solow is a self-described famous author. If you have to say it, you aren't. [Jennifer Solow]
On Fake Writer James Frey's website, an update announces that the BigJimIndustries.com is currently down not because of detractors, but because traffic was affecting access to other sites that share the same network. "We basically forced James to take the site down," it reads.
It's an exciting time for former Neverland Ranch VIP Macaulay Culkin. There are rumors he may be getting ready to marry for the second time, and that he is considering taking a spot on the next season of UK's Celebrity Big Brother. But it's his debut novel Junior, due this March, that is getting the most buzz. Its first critique, from Kirkus Reviews, came out today. Some highlights:
The cast of Love Monkey: Just like you and your friends, except for that black guy.
As promised, today's Observer features Melissa Lafsky, the lawyer behind witty anonyblog Opinionistas, complete with a lovely portrait (OK, sweetie, time to replace that Friendster pic) and details as to how Lafsky prepared for this week's reveal by "fluffing the pillows for her landing." We also learn that Lafsky was not, in fact, quite the ginormous legal hot-shot she may have seemed. But that's all in the past now — law firm who? Lafsky has more important things afoot:
