· Tonight on ET and The Insider: Discover the context for the quotes that have been amusingly edited together to make James Brown's widow sound like a lunatic!
· Tonight on Ken Levine's Lost House 24: "6 pm - 7 pm: Kate gets caught in another hanging net. Locke shoots Boone. House correctly diagnoses a gunshot wound... but only after removing Boone's liver. Jack learns that Claire is really his daughter. Ten minutes later she's of course kidnapped."
Chud.com calls out Variety for the paper's uncredited discovery of box office smash Zyzzx Road.
Fishbowl L.A.'s Kate Coe interest in how the LAT underplayed the story of a Halloween hate crime in Long Beach spills over into the L.A. Weekly, and then back onto Fishbowl.
· NBC.com is streaming the first 20 minutes of the new, L.A.-based season of The Apprentice; note that The Donald's infamous combover (the greatest combover in the world!) cannot be stirred even by driving in a convertible with the top down. Impressive.

• Headline News discovers what Fox has known all along: People like evil. [Chicago Tribune]
  

• Here come the layoffs at the Philadelphia Inquirer. [NYT]
  

• Say hello to the new Wall Street Journal. For free! [WSJ]
  

• NYT says "[Redacted], you [redacted] [redacted] of the CIA. Go [redacted] a up your [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] until it [redacted]." Ouch. [NYT]
  

• Ron Burkle and Eli Broad getting more details about Tribune, LAT. [LAT
  

• Dean Baquet wins the coveted Observer Media Mensch of the Year award. This follows hot on the heels of a bunch of other bullshit made-up media awards by organizations you've barely heard of, and comes a day in advance of our naming Chris Mohney's right testicle Gawker's Blog Ball of the Year. [NYO]
  

• Federal government trying to make Times op-ed page less boring. [NYT]
  

• Apparently, what finally got Judith Regan canned was making anti-Semitic comments. When are people going to learn that you cannot fuck with the Jews? Also, if anyone out there knows what she said specifically, get in touch. We'll pay top dollar to either of you Jew lawyers who were on the other end of the phone. [NYT]
  

• Vivendi decides to hold on to its NBC Universal stock in spite of the fact that Jeff Zucker is allegedly a dick. [NYP]
  

Today's LAT reports that DreamWorks mogul and flawed Gay Mafia knight David Geffen has made a $2 billion cash offer for the paper, a bid that's been languishing for a month while its parent Tribune Company waits to see if an individual or corporation richer than even Geffen will step up and buy the entire company:

• Ad Age's Media Mavens: A remarkably diverse group. [copyranter]
  

At last night's panel discussion/entertainment journalist deathmatch featuring the LAT's Jon Horn and Patrick Goldstein and the NY Times' Sharon Waxman and Laura Holson, talk inevitably turned to DreamWorks mogul/Gay Mafia potentate/Malibu beach baron David Geffen's efforts to acquire the west-coasted Times, prompting a debate between the two camps about whether LAT staffers should embrace or fear their potential Hollywood master. LA Observed recaps:

• The Chandler family, former owners of the Los Angeles Times, are unhappy with the way Tribune is selling itself off. [NYT]
  

• David Carr: Times, Washington Post loyalty programs "cheesy." [WWD]
  

• Washington Post: "The best-run newspaper company in America because [Donald Graham] is head and shoulders the best newspaper executive in America." [NYT]
  

• Plucky Canadian feminist Rachel Sklar (happy birthday, kiddo!) confronts Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter about that Chris Hitchens "Bitches Ain't Funny" column. Carter pal Kurt Andersen defends Carter's right to run a whole bunch of crap in his magazine without reading it first. [Observer]
  

PAUL BOUTIN — If you've got evidence of wrongdoing at work, or early warning of a shutdown, you might feel it's right to get the word out through the media. But before you upload spreadsheets to your Gmail account, think hard: The reporter isn't your publicist. You could end up looking as bad as the company.

• Evil, Inc.'s Rupert Murdoch and Liberty Media's John C. Malone kiss and make up. [NYT]
  

We asked, and you answered. (We also got a little help from the the folks at the Observer). Here, in all its glory, is Gawker's Holiday Party Guide. (Click to enlarge). The full list of corresponding events is after the jump (including the location of the top secret Vogue party.) Print and use, and let us know if you get in to anything good.