As the L.A. media otherwise disappers, Jay Penske is in empire-building mode. His hitherto low-profile Mail.com Media Corporation acquired Nikki Finke's showbiz blog and he backed Movieline in April. From what we've gleaned, the guy's a true Tinseltown dreamer.

The Smoking Gun has tracked down the court files from Real "Cokewhore" of New Jersey Danielle Staub's 1986 federal prosecution for extortion and cocaine possession. She was arrested with six kilos of coke and $16,000 cash in plain view.

As it lurches toward us, metal gears clanking and whirring like Larry King at a mixer, early reviews of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen come trickling in. The word? Basically it's loud and garish and, worst of all, not fun.

Nikke Finke has sold her web site, Deadline Hollywood Daily, to Jay Penske's Mail.com, and will be hiring a reporter in New York to expand the site's coverage. So get those résumés ready, kids.

There's a gay Perfect Storm afoot that oughta be a rabble rouser. Also in news: the Friends kids keep on truckin', a live-action sorta Clone High is kicking into gear, and Jessica Simpson has terrible news.

Mail.com, which launched Movieline.com with the ex-Defamer crew, has purchased Nikki Finke's Deadlinehollywooddaily.com. [AllThingsD]

Sad news about the death of Ed McMahon today, a TV icon who represented a disappearing breed—of ubiquitous, up-for-anything TV personality, of a colloquial ease with the camera that transcended any silly show he found himself on.

Today we have an attractive young fellow who is, to the sadness of many, a terrible kisser, an actor involved in the porn film HIV outbreak, and an athlete with some gambling-related money problems.

Well, not really. We already know they filed divorce papers in a Pennsylvania court on Monday, but that doesn't mean America doesn't want to have it confirmed by Jon and Kate in their own words, so here you go.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation isn't buying Perez Hilton's line that he called Will.I.Am a gay slur to taunt the singer with his own intolerance. The organization wants an apology. And Hilton pretty much has to give one.

In advance of the big Jon and Kate "major announcement" special, People is reporting tonight that Jon and Kate Gosselin have filed for divorce. Shocking, right?!

[Cameron Diaz receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; image via Getty]

Chris Brown has reached a plea deal with prosecutors for beating up Rihanna. It's not what you would call a stiff sentence, considering:

No one cares that Jon & Kate (Gosselin, from the we-have-8-kids reality show) might divorce. But also, everyone cares. News people, specifically, are paid to care, which can be a hard job. Here's a compilation of those noble folks trying.

The peculiar story of literary lady Cantara Christopher and her relationship to famous father (and aspiring poet) Stephen Gyllenhaal continues. Last we left it, Christopher planned to tell all about her experience with Jake and Maggie's dad. She followed through!

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TMZ is running some barely-watchable video of Perez Hilton's fight with Will.I.Am and the singer's entourage. Verdict: Total slapfight.

Today we ponder a trailer for the next HBO prestige-o-palooza, The Pacific. Should we call it the The Thin Band of Brothers? Saving Private Red Line? Who knows.

Sandy Bullock is back in the game, folks! At a lean, mean 45 the actress has pulled off a huge opening. Some credit should go, we suppose, to costars Ryan Reynolds and Betty White. But mostly, yeah, this is Sandy's.

So here's how Perez Hilton's weekend ended: The gossip blogger ended up punched in the face and bleeding outside a Toronto club around 3 a.m., after calling singer Will.I.Am a "gay... fag." So much for a new, nicer Hilton.