A tipster tells us that "for security reasons," Brin and his wife, who's the cofounder of genetics-testing startup 23andMe, have given their son the official name of Benji Wojin (a combination of "Wojcicki" and "Brin").

And sure enough, someone has privately registered the domain name benjiwojin.com. Of course, the legendarily bizarre Brin, who posted pictures of himself in drag, got married in a Speedo, and had guests show up in diapers to a baby shower.

Papa Brin is already putting his son to work as a test subject for mom's business, according to the New York Times, which reports that he plans to have Benji tested for Parkinson's disease:

Mr. Brin and Ms. Wojcicki said they would check whether their son, who was born in November, also has the mutation, though he will not be able to donate his DNA in the usual way - putting saliva in small tubes, as 23andMe has promoted at celebrity-studded "spit parties."
"Babies can't spit into a tube," Mr. Brin said.

The disease is genetic, and runs in Brin's family. His mother, Eugenia, already has developed it, and Brin announced last September that he runs a high risk of developing it himself.

So Brin announced on his blog that he is funding a study that will subsidize the cost of having people with Parkinson's get their DNA tested through 23andMe; they will pay $25 instead of $399, with Brin's grant, one presumes, making up the difference.

This is at once a noble contribution to science — and an outrageous case of nepotism that raises questions of tax evasion.

23andMe is backed financially by Google, which became an investor as it repaid a personal loan Brin made to the company. (Anne Wojcicki's sister, Susan, is also an executive at Google — a position she got after she served as the company's first landlord.)

Previously, Brin had contributed money to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, a prominent charity backed by the actor, who also suffers from Parkinson's. The Fox Foundation then went on to fund a Parkinson's study at 23andMe.

23andMe officially announced the study today — and confirmed that Brin himself provided the funding:

The initiative is made possible through funding by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Mr. Brin's commitment comes from his personal interest in Parkinson's disease. Brin's mother has Parkinson's and he discovered through 23andMe that he has a genetic predisposition to the disease as well. He explained, "We can make significant progress in understanding Parkinson's disease if individuals join together and contribute their personal experiences to scientific research. Individually, our genes and experiences are lost in a sea of statistical noise. But, taken together they become a high power lens on our inner workings."

Mr. Brin's personal donation substantially underwrites the cost of genotyping the participants, who will pay only $25 compared with the usual commercial price of $399. Individuals who join through the PI and MJFF partnership will have the exact same data, information, tools, and access as individuals who have paid full price for the 23andMe Personal Genome Service.

Let's get this straight:

• Brin is making a charitable donation, presumably tax-free, to the Fox Foundation.
• The Fox Foundation is turning around and giving that money to 23andMe, a for-profit startup cofounded by Brin's wife and financially backed by Brin's company.
• 23andMe will get to count the tests paid for by the charity as revenues, thereby pumping up its financial results, directly benefitting Google and Wojcicki.

We can all applaud Brin's contributions to science. But did he really need to go through what looks like a money-laundering scheme to make them?

(Photo via Edge.org)

Begrizzled homo-loving son of a gun Sean Penn will be starring in a film about drugs. It's a Brian Grazer-produced film called Cartel and is a sorta revengey, child protect-y kinda movie. [Variety] David Ayer, who's previously dazzled us with such fare like the baroque LA crime flick Harsh Times and the broke-ass LA crime Keanu Reeves movie Street Kings, has received a seven figure deal from Regency to write and direct a film called Last Man, about American soldiers in space dukin' it out with frakking aliens. [Variety]

Fox has picked up the screen rights to the book Mr. Popper's Penguins. They plan to turn the 1938 publication into a thriller about what happens when the air conditioning is on too high at the Abbey. [Variety]

Begrizzled immigrant-loving wielder of a gun Melissa Leo, of Frozen River Oscar nodding, has signed on to a new HBO pilot. She'll be playing a lawyer in Treme, David Simon's New Orleans-set followup to The Wire. [Variety] Meanwhile at a project of completely equal prestige, former Ugly Betty transsexual Rebecca Romijn has signed on to play the lead in the Witches of Eastwick pilot for ABC. [Variety]

Michael J. Fox is returning to television, in a reality show called Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, in which he travels the world spreading good cheer. You just shut yer damn trap right now, Limbaugh. [Variety] Meanwhile a TV star of today makes Bambi steps toward movie stardom. Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl will star in the totally-mid-90's-ish thriller The Roommate, about a college student whose roommate becomes obsessed with her, Single White Female style. In that movie, Jennifer Jason Leigh was Bridget Fonda's, um, roommate. [THR]

Oh awesome. The wonderful Missy Pyle, Chris Parnell, and Deanne Dunagan are set to star in a CBS comedy pilot. Parnell and Pyle have been doing funny work in TV and film for years now, but Chicago actress Dunagan is probably best known for her ferocious, every-award-possible-winning turn in the play August: Osage County. She'll play a Southern mother making things difficult for an East Coast-transplant couple. [THR]

That's the outrageous statement that 23andMe cofounder Linda Avey made to Forbes in explaining the wonders of her genetic-testing startup, which she started with Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Brin, the Google gajillionaire. Here's what Avey said:

Sergey is going out and helping so many people. Michael J. Fox has done a lot with his foundation, but he did that after he was diagnosed. If you can find out early, you can do so much more.

Brin discovered through, yes, a genetic test that he is at risk of developing Parkinson's, as is the extremely wealthy child the pregnant Wojcicki is expected to bear at any moment. He's made significant donations to Parkinson's research — including a rather questionable one through the Michael J. Fox Foundation which was then directed to 23andMe.

What, exactly, does Avey think Fox should have done? Pursued a career in biotech instead of acting, so he might have developed a test for Parkinson's? And then what? Taken up smoking, a nasty habit which can nonetheless delay the onset of Parkinson's? Fox has raised millions of dollars for a Parkinson's cure — some of which went more or less directly into Avey's pocket. I'd like to know when 23andMe will detect a genetic propensity for ingratitude.

• Madonna did not show up to her alleged lover/disciple Alex Rodriguez's All-Star party, nor did his bitter teammates, so he hung out alone in the club with his mom and two "kabbalah buddies," including a woman spotted leaving his house the next day.
• Page Six detailed all the lies noted liar (and animal-hating monster) Paris Hilton has told them, although you never with the Post, really. One of the more bizarre ones is that Hilton smoked marijuana in front of Page Six staff and then promised to take a drug test, but never did. [P6]
• CNN's Washington, DC assignment editor is on the cover of Muscular Development, a magazine featuring guys with obscenely large muscles, and with a website hawking all kinds of, uh, "supplements." Fox News Channel's buddies at the Post think this makes him a "CABLE BULLY." [P6]
• A cat named Anderson Pooper was just named "Best In Show" on Daily Paws. And he's silver! [OMG]
• Lauren Conrad fails to bring dog to bitchfest, ends up crying and somehow flaking. [Emily Brill]
• It's not so much that Jesse Jackson thinks Barack Obama is "talking down to black people" when the presidential candidate tells black men to take responsibility for their children. It's that he thinks Obama is talking down to him, says the mother of Jackson's love child. [Enquirer]
• Cityfile, which profiles Gotham's rich and famous, is trying to take pictures of wealthy people coming in and out of their fancy apartment towers, and is getting harassed by goons and hangers-on. Genius. [P6]
• NBC Universal is eyeing new offices at 7 World Trade Center and 11 Times Square, a total of roughly 500,000 square feet. [Observer]
• Tatum O'Neal's crack dealer feels abandoned. And that's a bad thing? [Enquirer]
• Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were maybe going to name their baby boy Rex Leon? But didn't? And an embroidered play matt somehow proves that? Something like that. [R&M]
• Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson probably just bought a Tribeca duplex fo $17 million. [Observer]
• OK! magazine is finally showing those Jessica Alba pictures it paid so much for! Actually, $1.5 million is a bargain these days. [Sun]
• Michael J. Fox will return to TV for four episodes of Rescue Me. [Us]

5. Back To The Future: What to do when you're on a DeLorean-powered trip back in the 50s and you need a master plan to make sure your teenage parents fall magically in love so you can, you know, exist and stuff? Why, plan an Enchantment Under The Sea dance of course! Technically not a prom per se, but Marty McFly's artfully designed gymnasium paired with Lea Thompson's updo sure made it look like one. Our favorite moment is above, after the Biff-as-recurring-obstacle-laden plan finally works, and Michael J. Fox rocks out like a regular Danny Zuko to "Johnny B. Goode" because the crowd calls for something that "really cooks."

4. Carrie: Oh dear. Nightmares much? After only one viewing of the DePalma classic at what was probably a far too early age, we still feel the instinctive need to run far, far away from whatever photo or television suddenly shows Sissy Spacek.

3. Pretty In Pink: Confession time. However ridiculously unrealistic it is when the uppity Andrew McCarthy boldly tells poufy-shouldered Molly Ringwald that he loves her, and as much pity we feel for the Right One that is adorable Duckie, we still sorta kinda need a tissue (just one!) whenever we watch this scene. Sappiness aside, any movie featuring James Spader in his trademark 80s sad snob role is a classic in our book.

2. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Both Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry haven't exactly seen their career trajectories blow up since this 1992 gem, but at their height looks-wise, watching them battle vampires using things like wooden stakes, stiletto heels and motorcycles is always a fun ride. And who can resist Paul Reubens in what might be the best proof of Pee Wee's comedic abilities?

1. Jawbreaker: Simply. The. Best. The tiara that could double as a weapon. The slow-motion ascent to the stage. Rebecca Gayheart mouthing "Eat Shit." Rose McGowan's gradual death via flower massacre. An epic journey from queen bee to exiled Heathers-like outcast, all set to the Donnas' "Rock & Roll Machine" and Frank Sinatra. Genius

• NY TIMES TAKES MIRAMAX TO 'PROM' [Var]

So in this week's column, when McInerney runs into the big-faced Tom Hanks, we learn Hanks supposedly auditioned for the movie, or tried to, but didn't make the cut. (Hanks later that year filmed the Oscar-nominated Big).

Back on June 12th, McInerney runs into his old friend Michael J. Fox at Del Posto. Fox played Jamie Conway in the movie but the two hadn't seen each other in years. Perhaps, McInerney writes, "the movie probably hadn't been everything we hoped it would be."

Why all the mentions? As far as we can figger, the 20th anniversary of McInerney's celluloid masterpiece rolls around next year—and perhaps the hobbled boy-prince is trying to drum up support for a re-release? That way, it can be viewed by more than the 19 people who saw it back in '88. After-party to be held at the Waverly, clearly.

Another Night at the Waverly [HG]

We're going to go with a big fat who fucking cares, because Alex P. Keaton was a character on a TV show and didn't have actual opinions about anything because he wasn't fucking real?

Anyways, stem cells didn't even, like, exist in the '80s.

It's a bigger dick move than Rush's, if only because he's being a total vagina about it.

"A lot of people" can mean pretty much anything -hell, if five people were in my apartment at once, that would be "a lot". But it's a rhetorical cuteness that lets him avoid saying "I thought Michael J. was faking it too" and looking like a dick himself. And the whole "He says things we're all afraid to say" thing is as stupid as when it was applied to Howard Stern and South Park.

In fairness, we can kinda understand how Matt can be a little pissy, what with being Katie Couric's bitchboy for almost a decade, getting assigned to do that Britney Spears bawlfest, and now having to co-host with a woman who doesn't know her twat from her asshole.

Lauer on Limbaugh's Michael J. Fox attacks: "Didn't Rush Limbaugh just say what a lot of people were privately thinking?" [MMFA]
Micheal J. Fox & Rush Limbaugh on The Today Show [YouTube]

• 
  
• Comedy Central rats out YouTube, clips pulled. [NYT]
  
• Time Inc. to invest heavily in the Internet components of its top-tier titles. Not in the top tier: Time. Guess The Ana Log doesn't draw as many eyeballs as People's coverage of Vince and Jen. Also, more job cuts to come. [WSJ]
  
• You can't sell a book by its cover. Unless, you know, Vince and Jen are on it. [WWD]
  
• Just because Katie Couric's dad has Parkinson's and she's donated to Michael J. Fox's foundation doesn't mean she can't deliver a completely impartial interview with Fox. [CBS]
  
• Porn baron Richard Desmond to decimate Express staff. [Guardian]
  
• Scott "Stereogum" Lapatine now owned by joint consortium of Bob Pittman, Jason Hirschorn. [NYP]
  

"The irony is that I was too medicated. I was dyskinesic," Fox told Couric. "Because the thing about ... being symptomatic is that it's not comfortable. No one wants to be symptomatic; it's like being hit with a hammer." [...]

Fox told Couric, "At this point now, if I didn't take medication I wouldn't be able to speak." [...]

"My mother was visiting that day, was in the back room and she was saying throughout the filming of (the ad) — and she was talking to my friends back there — and she was saying, 'he's trying so hard to be still.' And so she was the one actually when the comments were made, she was the only who was really angry, and she said 'I can't even see straight.' I said, 'Mom, just relax, it's OK, don't worry about it.' But it's just not that simple. That's why we're doing this."

We doubt Fox's evocation of his angry, hurt mother will be enough to eke any more sympathy from Limbaugh than he has provided already in the weakly worded retraction on his website. To muster that kind of mea culpa from the recalcitrant radio host would require the kind of heartwrenching performance that only Fox's iconic TV mom, Meredith Baxter, is capable of, having mastered the craft of playing women who display heroic grace under nearly insurmountable pressures from countless, moving turns in Lifetime movies of the week.

• Fox: I Was Over-Medicated In Stem Cell Ad [CBSNews.com]

We love Alessandra Stanley for comparing the ad to an Iraqi hostage video - not sure who should be more offended, the hostages or people with the Pk's. But the biggest WTF comes from the response ad from opponents of funding for stem cell research, featuring Patricia Heaton, three formerly and currently Missouri-based white athletes, and Jim Caviezel. Movie Jesus opens the ad speaking in Aramaic, but apparently forgot to bring the crown of thorns and the cross.

Do you think Caviezel goes up to girls in bars and rattle off a couple of lines in Aramaic? How else is anyone supposed to recognize him?

Michael J. Fox Campaign Ad Hits Home (And Republicans) [Eat The Press]
Making Stem Cell Issue Personal, and Political [NYT]
Response Ad to Michael J. Fox [YouTube]

Noting that Fox is "moving all around and shaking" in the ad, Limbaugh declared: "And it's purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has." Limbaugh added that "this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting, one of the two."

Later in the broadcast, Limbaugh stated that "I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act, especially since people are telling me they have seen him this way on other interviews and in other television appearances."

Even for this hugely reviled mudslinger, it's an outrageous statement to have suggested Fox purposely failed to take his required medication in a manipulative ploy to elicit sympathy. Then again, it's no worse an accusation than the Viagra smuggler has himself weathered countless times before, mainly from a string of suspicious call-girls disappointed to find Limbaugh was incapable of quickly completing the deed, and were instead being retained for a long night of no-holds-barred hotel room snuggling with the ED-suffering radio host.

• Limbaugh on Michael J. Fox ad for MO Dem: "Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting" [MediaMatter.org via Gawker]
• Michael J. Fox [YouTube]

"This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has," said Limbaugh, "this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting, one of the two." Well shit, Rush totally missed his last season on Spin City.

He was gracious enough to add, "I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act, especially since people are telling me they have seen him this way on other interviews and in other television appearances."

But seriously, we're still kinda disoriented from watching that ad. Exaggerated or not, that's one hell of a guilt trip.

Limbaugh on Michael J. Fox ad for MO Dem: "Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting" [MMFA]
Michael J. Fox [Claire McCaskill]

Update: Alex P. Keaton should be bigly, hugely expecting a fruit basket from Rush. As TNR's The Plank points out, all that shaking is a side effect of the medication and Parkinson's patients don't move at all when they're off the meds. Is it just us or is Rush starting to look like a jerk? Maybe a bit?