The Times' Thursday Styles is like a bloodhound of fluff journalism, sniffing out the stories before they even break. Case in point: today brings us an exploration of the disproportionate number of successful gay males in the fashion industry to their straight, female counterparts. While Miuccia Prada and Donna Karan have built empires, notes the Gray Lady, the glittery buzz of being an "it" designer seems reserved for young gay men. Uh, no shit.

• Will Michael Cooke's NYDN departure cause problems for Bravo reality show about the paper? Even worse: What about Hud Morgan's departure? [NYP]
• Jon Friedman thinks ABC fucked up its anchor decision. [MW]
• Even so, ABC's changes give a glimpse at CBS's future. [NYO]
• How did Us get the Nick-and-Jessica scoop? Through Dan Klores, the publicist the mag and the couple share, according to Access Hollywood. [MIN]
• Maureen may be everywhere these days, but the books she's flogging is "a glib, d j vu compendium of every Newsweek-style pop-science zeitgeist piece of the last 15 years." [VV]
• NYT Co. announces ad hikes, a $40M cost for layoffs. And says it won't give any earnings guidance for 2006, which can't be a good sign. [NYT]
• The Source is evicted from its offices. Which can't be a good sign. [NYP]

It's hard being a single woman of a certain age. A certain redhead we know would seem to have it all: A great job, plenty of influence, lots of money. But she doesn't have anyone to share it with, and, as she has maybe mentioned to a few people lately, she's a little sad about that. So it sort of went without saying that when an ex of hers recently publicized a new photo of himself, one that took off years and accentuates his ladykilling blue eyes, she'd soon have to point out that she, too, is still looking good. Even without him.

Times trendmonger Jennifer 8. Lee has sold her first book, the Observer reports today:

Around the Gawker water cooler a month or two ago — about the time Judy Miller was getting out of jail and barely, grudgingly talking to her Times colleagues about what got her there — we were discussing how David Carr, who we'd previously believed to be a media writer for the Times, an impression we gathered from little things like his weekly column called "Media," now seemed to write about anything he wanted for the paper. Michael Flatley's return? OK. Chris Noth's feelings about his Law & Order return? Sure. Indie rock in Atlanta? Go for it. And so, around that cooler, a nickname was bestowed: Mr. Run Amok, the equally uncontainable yin to Miller's sadly unfortunate yang. We had a brief chuckle, and then we forgot about it.

Forgive our tardiness in bringing this to your attention — for some reason, T, The New York Times Style Magazine, is not at the top of our Sunday Times reading list — but there is some pressing news in last weekend's installment we must highlight. We refer, of course, to "The Talk," a T column devoted to teaching us the newest, hippest language for discussing fashion and other T-ish matters. Here's the new batch of insight:

As the Times series on India continues to douse the brown folk with love, Gawker's subcontinental intern Neel Shah — who just happens to be languishing about the homeland as we speak — writes us in response to Sunday's first article on India's highways. As we're sure you recall, the moving piece was a brooding, brobdingnagian exploration of the national highway system, one of the country's most glorious achievements. Neel reports:

You know what must be a really fun part of being The New York Times? When you've launched a new service, for which you've been somewhat mocked, and which you're really trying to boost, it's really easy — and probably really cheap — for you to take out a big special advertising section in the Times.

We're only at part two today of the Times's four-part series on "India Accelerating," and we admit we're finding it a bit tough to continue fighting our way through. (Untold thousands of words on highways in the metro area would be tough enough; untold thousands of words on highways we'll likely never drive on becomes a much larger problem.)

• John Huey is finally initiated as the successor to Norm Pearlstine's editorship at Time Inc. The ceremony involved branding, hazing, and some tasty swag.
• Daily News EIC Michael Cooke barely lasts 10 months before scampering back to the Windy City. At least he'll be taking a nice, new pair of shoes home with him.
• The Upper East Side's finest brats open their own under-18 Chelsea nightclub, where they won't be drinking or blowing rails.
• Fabulist Jayson Blair returns to the Times building, but naturally lies about the incident.
• Actor Chris Klein attends the Condé Nast holiday luncheon!
• We haven't sold out to the New York Times Company, but can you imagine if we did?
• Body-armor magnate David H. Brooks breaks all records for nauseating indulgence by throwing his daughter, Elizabeth, a $10 million bat mitzvah at the Rainbow Room, complete with A-list entertainment and princess costumes.
• Woody Allen graces Lincoln Center, prompting us to recall when his films were consistently good.

• The latest magland roman a clef is by Jane Pratt's former assistant. But this time this boss is the heroine — and her boss is the bad guy. What an interesting twist. [NYP]
• Maureen Dowd says the Times is over the Judy Miller fiasco and now "everything's fantastic." She also says the Iraq insurgency is in its last throes, and that U.S. forces have turned the corner there. [Texas Monthly]
• It's not just Maxim; Housewife Nicollette Sheridan will appear on any magazine that'll have her. [Folio: (second item)]
• Blogger book deals continue apace: Dan Radosh's Rapture Ready! TK in 2008. (Yeah, we know he does a lot more than only blog, but why let facts get in the way of a good generalization?) [Radosh.net]

Yes yes yes. We also saw the Times article today about how people get grumpy when they're hungry (who knew!), and we also saw the article's third paragraph:

From yesterday's Times:

• Irate supermodel Naomi Campbell, having had more than her fair share of niceties on Tyra Banks's show, turns her wrath on Nicole Richie, who "disobeyed" Campbell by hanging out with Nicky Hilton. Wait — Nicole is still friends with Nicky? Does Paris know? And how do they acheive such a dangerous balance? [Lowdown (2nd item)]
• As it turns out, Long Island's body armor king David H. Brooks — he who just gave his daughter a $10 million Bat Mitzvah with 50 Cent and Aerosmith at the Rainbow Room — is under investigation by the SEC. But at least his little princess is happy! [Fox411 via Page Six]
• Rapper Jay-Z spends two years writing his memoir with writer Dream Hampton, only to freak and refuse its publication. We appreciate being thus spared. [R&M]
• Jayson Blair overheard at a hotel bar in Columbus, Ohio: "I kept rooting for Judy [Miller] to fuck up the paper more than I did, but not even she managed that." At least someone's rooting for Judy. [Page Six]
• Houseboy Kevin Federline refuses to see a therapist with wife Britney Spears, opting instead for a far more traditional session with a psychic. [Scoop]

Feeling stressed? Is all that holiday cheer just bringing you down? Has the weight of a crumbling institution done quite a number on your back? Yeah, that's what we thought — but thankfully, the Gray Lady is looking out for you:

It's almost enough to make you finally pack up and move to Brooklyn:

From an article in today's Times, we "discover" that teens and their baby-boomer parents are embracing the vintage rocker aesthetic:

• Investor Carl Icahn signs on Bruce Wasserstein's Lazard to join in his crusade against Time Warner management. New York feature on Icahn's clever business strategy TK soon. [NYT]
• NYT Mag bigthinker Michael Ignatieff leaves magazine, Harvard gig, and the country to rescue his native Canada from its political crisis. NYU bigthinker Noah Feldman, recently signed up as Times Mag contributing writer, seems set to replace Ignatieff there. [NYP]
• Steve Capus named president of NBC News. [NYT]
• And Rome Hartman, 60 Minutes vet, named executive producer of the still-anchorless CBS Evening News. [NYT]
• Dear Les Moonves: For the love of God, please don't make Katie Couric the CBS anchor. Please. Love, Jon Friedman. [MW]
• Conde's standard Christmas directions aren't good enough for Anna. [WWD]

The freakishly brilliant (and clearly way underoccupied) Andrew Hearst suggests that Russ Smith's Times Co.-buys-Gawker thesis is far less ridiculous than we thought:

• Prepare your feeble gullets and blue-collar livers for the triumphant glory of Trump: The Booze: The Poster! [Defamer]
• Times Boldfacer Campbell Robertson does his best to grapple with the disintegration of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's marriage, especially since Simpson told Boldface in September that her marriage was solid. Don't take it personally, but, yes, honey, she lied to you. She lied to all of us. [NYT]
• Actor Ralph Fiennes considers suing the Post after a Page Six item claimed he was "canoodling" with Gina Gershon at a recent rock show. Since we got that same press release from the venue and "canoodling" was nowhere in the original item, we'd have to venture that some Posties may be guilty as charged. [LA.com]
• Perplexed over the appropriate holiday gift for someone you've just started dating? Don't be — everyone loves Christmas anal. [NY Sun]
• Finally, a Thrillist suggestion we can get behind: feed the fratboys poisonous fish. [Thrillist]