• Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart claim to be "taking it slow," as in, not getting married yet, denying recent reports that Pattinson proposed to Stewart. However, we can probably project, for all of you stalkerish teenage Pattinson fans who have come to the site via search results, and would like to kill Kristen Stewart in cold blood, or at the very least, see her be cast out of the Twilight universe, that (A) she's not going anywhere and (B) unlike the characters of Stephanie Meyer's ridiculous vampire chastity universe, well: they're probably fucking. Have a nice Sunday, kids! [Showbiz Spy]
  
  
• Jude Law opened the first preview of Hamlet on Broadway last night, and he wasn't that bad. Not surprising! But then again, there wasn't an opportunity for him to pull his dick out and violate your (sister/girlfriend/nanny/presumably of-age daughter), so: good to know. [NYDN]
  
  
• John Travolta, wife Kelly Preston, and daughter Ella made their first public appearance at the premiere of Road Dogs since the death of their son, Jett. In all honesty, it looks like they're trying to smile, and would rather be somewhere else. I sincerely feel bad for them, crazy Scientology business or not. Look: [US]
  
  
• Some Malibu shopping center is advertising itself as a Paparazzi-Free Zone. Which is ridiculous. Because nothing in Malibu is Paparazzi-Free. [Page Six]
  
  
• Britney Spears used a music video audition to try to pick up on a model and take him home. This never works for me. Somehow, she didn't anticipate the model knowing that she's got two kids and is absolutely crazy. [NYDN]
  
  
• Tyson Beckford wasn't allowed in the VIP area at Mansion (or, ridiculously, "M2") so he started yelling at a bouncer, and then realized the bouncer was letting him in. I don't get it. Male models and they problems confuse me. [Page Six]
  
  
• Jets fans! You have so much to look forward to. Your hottie rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez listens to James Taylor before games to get pumped up. Hopefully he won't turn his offensive line on to Enya, lest he get knocked into submission after four snaps. [NYDN]
  
  
• More sports: Mets dynasty player Lenny Dykstra snuck his way into today's Gossip Roundup. He has to sell his 1986 World Series ring, because he's now only worth $50K. The world is sad, no? [NYDN]
  
  
• Nikki Beach—an island resort on Turks and Caicos—went bankrupt after the mega-celebrities who used to vacation there drying up. The place had personal butlers and a pillow menu, and you know what? Some extravagances are stupid, but a pillow menu, I wouldn't mind. I mean, that's stupid too, but I'd just love to say to someone: just bring me your fluffiest goose down in complete sincerity. [NYDN]
  
  
• VH1's going to be toning down the format of their reality shows after people started getting killed post-appearance. Because, you know, that's insane. Hey, though: remember Pop-Up Video, VH1? Nobody got killed by Pop-Up Video. Or Rock and Roll Jeopardy, though we did have to watch Mark McGrath school us all is pop culture knowledge. The guy has a MENSA-like aptitude for rock trivia, seriously. Who'd a thought? [Page Six]

Earnest NYT columnist Nick Kristof is refreshingly honest about his job! He admits that his columns often have no impact; that he is "easily bored"; that he makes mistakes sometimes when he writes about things he doesn't know all that much about; and that his ignorance is widespread. He tells the truth, and he writes about things that are actually important! Nick Kristof, we want so bad to love you! If only you made a few more dick jokes or something, you could be perfect.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The New York Times has published an editor's note confirming that Edgar Martins' photos of abandoned construction project were in fact digitally altered: "A reader, however, discovered on close examination that one of the pictures was digitally altered, apparently for aesthetic reasons. Editors later confronted the photographer and determined that most of the images did not wholly reflect the reality they purported to show." Shame, because the flicks would have been fine without it.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.One part of the art of journalism space-filling is to be able to run stories that actually reveal themselves to be totally pointless. USA Today accomplishes this today, with a story (with obvious scandalous undertones) about how federal aid dollars are going "overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year's presidential election." Oh, and in the last paragraph they mention: "From 2005 through 2007, the counties that later voted for Obama collected about 50% more government aid than those that supported McCain, according to spending reports from the U.S. Census Bureau." But by then you already read the story, and they successfully filled that space, so everyone wins!

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Ballplayer-turned-stock-picker-turned-mini-magazine-mogul Lenny Dykstra has reached the final stage of his career evolution: filing for bankruptcy.

Facing a string of lawsuits, unpaid bills and a long list of people he's accused of stiffing, the 46-year-old former outfielder said in his court papers in Los Angeles that he owes as much as $50 million but has only about $50,000 in assets.

Time for a comeback, Lenny. The Mets can always use extra pinch-hitting.

Rumors have been swirling since Variety first reported last week that Soderbergh's vision for the film differed dramatically from the vision studio executives had for the film, but up to this point no one associated with the project has been willing to speak on the record about it.

But yesterday Sony's Amy Pascal, the studio executive in charge of the film, spoke to the LA Times' Patrick Goldstein. According to Pascal, what it all boiled down to was essentially simple—The studio loved screenwriter Steven Zaillian's original adaptation of Lewis' book, while Soderbergh felt the script lacked authenticity and rewrote it himself, making radical changes that Pascal and the studio weren't willing to gamble on, fearful that Soderbergh would turn it into an "artsy" film like Solaris or Schizopolis, especially when baseball movies traditionally don't do well at the box office outside of the United States. Soderbergh was insistent that everything in the movie had to have happened in real life.

Reports Goldstein:

Some changes to Zaillian's script were subtle, others were dramatic. At one point, Beane signs Scott Hatteberg, a journeyman catcher with a bad arm whom Bean can get for peanuts and turn into a first baseman. Beane loves Hatteberg's ability to get on base, but his staff is appalled — he just can't turn anyone into a slick-fielding first baseman overnight. In Zaillian's script, one of the coaches watches Hatteberg taking ground balls at a Little League field, his wife armed with a plastic laundry basket full of baseballs. She hits the balls to her husband off a tee, with their 4-year-old daughter backing him up down the line. One ball takes a bad hop and goes between Hatteberg's legs. When his daughter scoops it up, the coach quips: "Maybe we should sign her."

Soderbergh cut out the joke because it was the screenwriter's invention — the coach had never actually said it. He also cut out a scene where Beane gives a tongue-lashing to Jason Giambi, one of his departing free agents, again because it didn't actually happen. Zaillian's script was anchored by on-screen monologues by Bill James, the oddball guru of modern-day baseball statistics (who today works in the Boston Red Sox front office). James functioned as a Greek chorus for the film, offering wry, Yoda-like explanations about the complexity of the game.

Zaillian's deft renditions of James' maxims were funny and always to the point, allowing the audience the opportunity to see inside the game. In one monologue, James says: "If you score three runs and the other team scores four, you can be inspired as all hell but you still lost. The numbers represent the ineluctable sum of victories and defeats, and that cannot be made one iota larger or smaller than it is by PR campaigns, personal animosities or any of the greater and lesser forms of B.S." But in Soderbergh's draft, the James material had all vanished, presumably to be replaced by interviews with Beane's real-life associates.

At a "summit" held after Soderbergh turned in his draft of the script, he reportedly pleaded "trust me" to the Sony executives, who were obviously unwilling to do so. Besides Pitt, the film was also set to star comedian Demetri Martin as well as former ballplayers Darryl Strawberry, Mookie Wilson, David Justice and Lenny Dykstra, but Soderbergh's unrelenting zeal for authenticity proved to be the project's demise.

Bob Costas would be proud.

As for Michael Lewis, he seems unfazed by the developments with the film version of his book, telling MSNBC recently, "I don't understand why they bought it for a movie in the first place."

Sony's Amy Pascal Speaks Out About Moneyball [LA Times]
Image via Vulture

Get excited, because tonight are the National Magazine Awards, the most glorious event in all of magazinedom! Thanks to the recession, "no chocolate fondue will bubble." What a ripoff. You can read a preview here if you care about the winners, or, if you're a media reporter from an outlet that will never win one of these awards, just hang out in the back row and talk shit, per usual.


The Newspaper Association of America is laying off half of its staff and ending print publication of its magazine Presstime. Plenty of remarks about irony could follow that statement, if one were so inclined, but the way things stand today, that would make one a callous jerk.

Ballplayer turned magazine publisher turned failed magazine publisher Lenny Dykstra has now been canned as a columnist for TheStreet.com. But he reportedly made "close to $1 million a year" selling his stock picks for them, so don't cry for Lenny. If you do, he'll slide into you spikes-first and spit a big stream of tobacco juice on your nuts.


Yusuf Bey, the owner of Oakland's Your Black Muslim Bakery, has been indicted on charges he ordered the killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey, because he feared what Bailey would report about his shady bakery's finances.

Advertising execs are encouraging cable news stations to keep the news crawl at the bottom of the screen going even during the ads, as a way to keep people from changing channels. Instead, how about put an "ad crawl" at the bottom of the screen at all times?

Duff McKagan, of GnR and Velvet Revolver, got off drugs in the 90s. And picked up a finance habit, hey! Now he's Playboy's new financial columnist, which, well, yea.

McKagan admits, however, he doesn't understand all the technical ins and outs of high finance, but says TV's talking heads don't, either.

"Those boneheads on TV just want to make themselves come off as smart . . . I hope to shed some no-nonsense light on day-to-day money issues," he wrote, closing his salty commentary with a promise: "I will do my best to expose frauds and criminals, one at a time."

Seems like a good dude, but do not take financial advice from a magazine, especially from Playboy magazine, especially from a celebrity columnist in Playboy magazine, especially from a celebrity columnist in Playboy magazine who's a rock star who does not understand finance. Although he can probably lose you money just as well as the pros. [NYP, a bit late on the story. But no biggie!]

"Frequently, sources said, [Dykstra] got staff to use their own credit cards to pay for expenses related to the magazine, and took months to reimburse the employees.

Although the magazine is less than a year old, it has already had four different printers and three different editors. Several vendors have also stopped doing business with the magazine."

Just like real media outlets! Also the editor who just quit says he's owed money, and Dykstra comically turned the tables by saying, no, that guy owes me money, for some reason. Still smooth as a can of Skoal. [NYP; pic via]