The latest New York mag has a quick-n-dirty feature on Sean McDonald, the Riverhead editor who "championed" Fake Writer James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. McDonald has (wisely) stayed mostly silent during Oprah's post-Book Club ragefest, but he actually got on the phone (chaperoned by a publicist, of course) with New York's Dave Itzkoff. Curiously, Itzkoff even got some quotage from Frey himself, "just days" before the Smoking Gun published their report.

The Times gives us a little summary as to what Fake Writer James Frey's has added to forthcoming editions of A Million Little Pieces in his new author's note: a little "I lied," a dash of "I'm sorry," and not a pinch of Oprah. Exactly what you expected, really.

• Ooooh, Anderson Cooper is hiring a Production Assistant. Can you handle it when those icy blue eyes demand a latte? Are you ready to make the appointments for his silver mane to be trimmed at Robert Kree? [BrassRing]
• We'll take our drugs however we can get them, but using an innocent puppy as a mule is absolutely unacceptable. So much so, in fact, that it makes us consider climbing on the wagon. [TSG]
• It's not rape if you're too sleepy to say no. [Overheard in NY]
• Blogger Stephanie Klein, who has a lucrative deal with Reagan Books to write about her "sexy" single life, is pregnant. And engaged. Which means Judith Reagan is going to claw her fucking eyes out for ruining the marketing angle. [Greek Tragedy] Our condolences, really.
• You know what would've made Fake Writer James Frey a little less fake? Jesus. [CBN]
• Why are celebrity children allowed to access the internet? We're looking at you, Bobbi Kristina Brown! [Gilded Moose]
• The Village Voice announces its Pazz and Jop awards. [VV]
• Today in sporty brother site Deadspin's Superbowl coverage, we learn that publicists are total assholes who cling to any semblance of exclusivity — even in Detroit. [Deadspin]

• Publisher Nan Talese says she was tricked into going on Oprah. She had agreed to go on an episode discussing truth in America and how it led to the Frey situation, only to be bombarded by the fiery rage of Harpy McHarpo. Sandbagged or not, at least Talese got her teeth capped before the appearance. [NYO]
• Frey's literary and film agent Kassie Evashevski drops him, leaving him cold, lonely, and representation-less. She ends their relationship on an ominous note: "I suspect we haven't heard the last of James Frey." Well, no kidding — obviously this whole kerfuffle is fodder for his next book. [PW]
• Now everyone's coming clean: "My friend Karl and I did not overdose on a combination of cocaine, heroin, and ecstasy. We shared a bottle of Shiraz and fell asleep watching The Suite Life with Zack and Cody." [Banterist]

Our brains are incredibly freyed (fuck, we were trying not to do that) from all the James Frey coverage, even if it is partially our own fault. Nevertheless, our attention has been drawn to a posting on Oprah's message boards. It's a few days old, but still worth noting:

The literary credibility scandal continues:

Bad news, Texans: The Dallas leg of Fake Writer James Frey's Motivational Fake Writer Tour, originally scheduled for the Dallas Hyatt Regency this Friday, has been cancelled. The event was being sponsored by a residential treatment center for "indigent mentally ill and chemically addicted adults."

• 3 years later, a resolution to the legendary fake Puma blowjob ads: They were specs from a European off-shoot of Saatchi & Saatchi. And while they weren't supposed to hit the internet, they did wonders for online store sales. [MemeFirst]
• Just in time for Valentine's Day, FreshDirect appeals to singles by suggesting they avoid suicide by gorging on Ben & Jerry's. [Gothamist]
• The queen Scissor Sister goes shopping for sex toys. Big whoop, right? Actually, the big whoop is that someone's taking camera phone pictures in the sex shop. Creepy much? [Two Martini Lunch]
• Saturday's Idiotarod — in which teams race shopping carts from Brooklyn to Manhattan's East River Park — only received minimal NYPD interference (cops just asked the teams to "slow down"). Are we supposed to believe that having shopping cart barrelling at you is much less a public concern than, say, riding the subway pantsless? [NYDN]
• You can question James Frey's honesty, his writing, his story — but don't you dare question his break-dancing skills. [H-P]

After the author known as JT Leroy was more or less revealed to be the concoction of Laura Alpert and played, in public, by her stepdaughter Samantha Knoop, we find it beyond comprehension that Knoop (we assume) would have the audacity to go to Sundance and flit about in that fucking wig and glasses. But that's exactly what happened, courtesy of the video above, sent to us by a reader. The footage is a bit messy and it ends with an entertainingly unpleasant confrontation (keep that volume on, kids), but you can still catch JT Knoop or whomever skanking about, oozing that truck-stop hooker vibe.

• If you just can't relieve yourself of the pain of learning your favorite writer James Frey is merely a Fake Writer, try posting on James Frey Owes Me Money. He's more likely to hear you there than, say, when you're screaming at him on your DVR'd episode of Oprah. [JamesFreyOwesMeMoney]
• So once you've been publically shamed and spanked by Oprah, what do you do next? Why, you go and speak at the Dallas Hyatt Regency! The event is being sponsored by a home for the mentally ill and chemically addicted, which touches on a level of irony previously unknown to man. [HotelChatter]
• In case you thought Frey's appearance on Oprah was about his mistake, take note: Oprah said "I" 119 times during the infamous episode. [TMZ]
• The Jews weigh in — oy. [Aish]
• The Brooklyn Public Library reclassifies A Million Little Pieces as fiction. Prospect Park, so progressive. [Galleycat]
• "James, I am your father." [Corporate-Casual]
• Lying to Oprah is easier than you think. [Andy's Blog]

If we seem a little groggy this morning, forgive us — we didn't sleep much at all last night, kept awake by the questions running through our head: Did Oprah go too far yesterday with her hard-ass questioning and truth-and-redemption shtick? Is Frey a pathological liar, or just some dude who fucked up? How much is the publishing industry to blame? If it hadn t been a Book Club book, would this be such a big deal? Can a book s worth exist independent of the author s intent? And how did they get all those little sprinkles to stick on that guy s hand?

As you likely expected, James Frey vs. Oprah post-game analysis dominated most of last night's news, with our darling Anderson Cooper devoting an entire hour to the matter with his dapper guest, Smoking Gun editor William Bastone. Much of the time was spent replaying Oprah footage, especially the part where a shocked Oprah and her studio audience are visibly hurt to learn that Frey fabricated details about his love, Lilly, and her suicide.

The Oprah is not pleased.
So we've carefully watched James Frey's appearance on Oprah — this morning's live-blog was a paraphrased summary, obviously — and we are, of course, completely in awe of the whole thing. Best. Television. Ever. After the jump, our photographic recap.

Oprah Winfrey's awesome power truly knows no bounds. After refusing for the last two-and-a-half weeks to take any responsibility for James Frey's faux-nonfiction, Doubleday & Anchor Books, the Random House division that published A Million Little Pieces finally issued an apology today — timestamped 4:51 p.m., before Oprah was even off the air.

• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie want to get married. They also have no desire to get married. Star magazine will report both as fact. [R&M]
• Worried that they too might get bitch-slapped, St. Martin's Press is adding a big fat warning sticker on memoirist Augusten Burrough's just-released galleys. The Smoking Gun boys call this the "James Frey Effect," but we consider it Angry Oprah Prevention. [Page Six]
• Ashley Judd likes to hoard her swag in private, as if we won't know she's a freebie whore. [Lowdown]
• Nicole Kidman is named UN Goodwill Ambassador. She and Angelina Jolie are totally going to be BFF now. [IOL]
• Entourage star Adrien Grenier will tie you up and touch you only with a "couples vibrating ring." Sounds hot. [Page Six]

So James Frey is appearing on Oprah this afternoon, but we're lucky to have an honest-to-God sneak preview for you (the show is taping live, right now, in Chicago). We'll keep updating this post as the show progresses.

• Set your DVRs: Fake Writer James Frey and his very real publisher are going on Oprah tomorrow (OPRAH! OHMAGAH! YOU ARE SUUUUCH AN INSPIRATION!) to discuss the controversy surrounding A Million Little Pieces. Over/under on the likelihood that Dr. Phil comes out to talk to Frey about his honesty issues: 40 percent. [Oprah]
• GarbageScout uses Google Maps and cell phone technology to, uh, help you find good garbage. For the brave, this is great for scavenging furniture. For the pervy, it's an excellent tool for finding dirty underwear. [GarbageScout]
• We were in a green room with Bernard Henri-Levy once. He sat screamed en francais on his cell phone the entire time while we tried to enjoy the cheese plate. That being said, we don't intend to read his new book. [Boston Globe]
• The AP keeps some 1,000 pre-written obits on hand. What we wouldn't give to read Paris Hilton's... [E&P]
• Speaking of the Little Skankbot That Could, how can Paris Hilton's lawyers honestly ask for an assessment of Zeta Graff's mental condition? Did they not see how their own client performed on the stand? [CourtTV]
• To be clear, we are NOT making fun of this young girl's Bat Mitzvah or her excitement over reading the Torah. We're happy for her, because she's got her own URL and, even if you weren't cool enough to get invited to her party, you can still download her Bat Mitzvah desktop wallpaper. And the music video. [Jessie's Bat Mitzvah]

How does the New York Times Book Review justify taunting "We told ya so" on the matter of Fake Writer James Frey's memoir like, oh, two freaking weeks after the story was big? They don't really — but as Intern Alexis learns, they make up for it by readily employing the word "twaddle," which is so faux-naughty that it totally makes up for any annoyingly late-breaking Frey thoughts. After the jump, Alexis twaddles her way through this week's Review.

BREAKING:

Earlier today we posted the Times Book Review's bestseller list for next weekend, as currently available at NYTimes.com. It lists A Million Little Pieces as the top-selling nonfiction paperback: