[German Thomas Dold won the men's division of the Empire State Building Run-Up today by scaling 86 flights of stairs in just over 10 minutes. Sorry, but King Kong did it faster. Image via AP]

So it looks like we have a couple of "workers" to thank for the sooty, soaring plumes rising from last weekend's Universal Studios fire, which apparently began when said Universal employees got a little careless while "using a blowtorch to heat asphalt roofing shingles" in the wee hours of Sunday morning:

We must admit, we have yet to see King Kong. It's playing by our house at the Vista theater, but every time we consider that 3-hour running time, we suddenly think of a couple errands we need to run first. Apparently, we aren't the only ones with those concerns, but one intrepid audience member has thought of a…

· The 50-50 split ownership of failed cable news experiment MSNBC is no longer, as Microsoft sells its controlling stake back to NBC Universal. Bill Gates remains cautiously optimistic until the happy day he sees the letters NBC lopped off his company's name forever. [Variety]
· Studios hold their breaths as seven…

· More heads in Santa hats are rolling just in time for the holidays, as Paramount Classics gets ready to turn on the high-pressure hoses and wash away the bloody remains of the old regime. The good news, of course, is that new PC head John Lesher will soften the beheadings with a sincere hug. [THR]
· Babyfaced Fox…

· King Kong takes in a "respectable" $63.4 million at the international box office over the weekend, while the fourth Harry Potter seemingly mocks the ape by becoming the 20th film to cross the $700 million mark. [Variety]
· West Wing writers face a daunting task after John Spencer's sudden death, not helped by the…

King Kong, the box office's presumptive simian savior, opened yesterday to just $9.8 million (soon-to-be universally known trivia: this was just the 21st best Wednesday bow on record), and if you're anything like us, you completely forgot that the movie's already been released until you read a story about the…

Universal chairperson Stacey Snider sat down with the THR to wash that DreamWorks nastiness right out of her hair, and in between raving about next year's Miami Vice ("It's got everything: Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, rap music, boats, trains, cars, babes.") and discussing the upcoming Munich, gives some insight into…

Towleroad gives us a firsthand account of last night's King Kong premiere in New York City (and, for the spoiler-indifferent, a full review of the film. Good news: Kong awesome. Bad news: No one else is.):

The just-appointed Defamer Special Correspondent for Comic Book Conventions files this report from this weekend's Comic-Con geek-orgy, in which Oscar-winning stars like Adrien Brody and Jamie Foxx are forced to face Q & A panel humiliation while Jack Black is worshipped as a god: