HarperCollins paid about $1 million for the U.S. rights to Jonathan Littell's novel, but really what it bought was controversy in a box. That product is working as advertised.

[Bloomberg, Bono, The Edge, and the gang watch as a section of West 53rd St. in Manhattan is temporarily renamed U2 Way; image via Getty]

We hear Bauer Publishing just summoned its entire staff to the office in a frantic effort to get ahead of the coming New York snowstorm. Bad weather + Media depression = panic!

Oh thank the blue heavens. Socialite-philosopher Tinsley Mortimer, who designs fashions and talks like a bird, was spotted with her estranged husband, Topper, at a fancy uptown party last night.

After a Dublin blogger highlighted flaws on the RyanAir website, airline staff slammed the "pathetic life" of the "idiot and... liar" in the comments. Headquarters staff intervened — to sharpen the cruelty.

Mardi Gras is over in New Orleans, but that doesn't mean we can't keep partying on the streets of cyberspace. Is everyone ready for our season-ending live blog blowout? Laissez le blog en direct rouler!*

President Obama provided hope to the lovelorn by sharing the cell phone number of his hottie speechwriter Jon Favreau. We called it, or course. Would you like to hear his voice? It's like we aready know him.

In his not-really-but-actually State of the Union address, President Barack Obama did his best to inspire a nation scared out of its wits. After the jump, the speech text, as distributed while he delivered it.

The departure of director Stephen Chow from Seth Rogen's The Green Hornet suggested the project might be postponed indefinitely. Thanks to Michel Gondry, however, the Hornet flies (stings? What does the Hornet do, anyway?) again.

The saintly hero-pilot of Flight 1549 has at last looked to cash in on his heroism! Thank goodness. Waiting for Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger to drop this shoe was killing us.

Conspicuous consumption may be out, but art stays tucked away in your mansion. Which helps explain why global elites spent $264 million in one night on the collection of Yves Saint Laurent.

Don't get us wrong: We despise the arrogant and overpaid financiers responsible for this economic mess. They, not taxpayers, should pay for their incompetence. But banker hatred is starting to get worrisomely extreme.

[A police car drives through a gate during Rose Monday celebrations, Catholic Germany's version of Mardi Gras, in Cologne today; image via Getty]

Yes the Oscars were pretty darn gay this year. With the singing and dancing and Milking. But why? Is the awards show finally retreating to the realm of niche programming? Or are gays mainstream now?

While you sat on the couch bleary-eyed and stunned that you lost your Oscar pool, the rich and famous schmoozed and drank til dawn. To share the experience, we have a gallery for you.

Evening! The celebrities are stumbling down the red carpet into the Kodak Theater for the Academy Awards right now. Keep checking here for updates on all the fashionz. Also, someone please smack Ben Lyons.

Shameless flirt that he is, Morley Safer wasn't above flashing a little leg Friday to soften up Anna Wintour before 60 Minutes' cameras started rolling. Blake Lively maybe got a little jealous:

Despite editor Graydon Carter's earlier claims of a smaller Vanity Fair Oscar party on Sunday night, the event permit filed with the CIty of West Hollywood, which CityFile dug up, says they're expecting a thousand people.

A trustee overseeing the dissolution of Bernie Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme says the former Wall Street statesman, a pioneer of computerized trading, apparently hadn't purchased securities for customers in 13 years.

[Host Heidi Klum at the "Project Runway" Fashion Week show today (pictures of the clothes coming later, hopefully); image via Getty]