• The New York Times Co. says it will shut down the Boston Globe within a month unless the paper's unions agree to $20 million in concessions. [BN]
• Fox News gossip columnist Roger Friedman got axed after he reviewed a pirated version of Fox's new X-Men movie, Wolverine. [DHD, NYT]
• Vanity Fair is scrapping its annual "green issue." [Independent]
• Michelle Obama may be beloved by the media world, but she isn't a sure thing when it comes to selling magazines on newsstands, apparently. [AdAge]
• Playboy's former fashion director is suing the mag for discrimination. [NYP]
• Hearst's Country Living is launching a line of products. [MW]
• Michael Crichton died last November, but two more novels by the best-selling author will be published over the next year and a half. [NYT]
• Eliot Spitzer was on the Today show this morn, in case you missed it. [Jossip]
• Fast & Furious was No. 1 at the box office this past weekend. [THR]

While writing Next, his last published novel, author Michael Crichton simultaneously (and unexpectedly) wrote Pirate Latitudes, about "a pirate named Hunter and the governor of Jamaica, and their plan to raid a Spanish treasure galleon."

Nobody should have to die to stop a bad idea from becoming a reality in Hollywood. Nevertheless, it happens, as producer Frank Marshall alluded Sunday during the junket for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, where a long-gestating sequel-of-a-sequel-of-a-sequel rumor was extinguished for good.

The author of The Andromeda Strain and Prey, best known recently as creator of the TV series ER, died of cancer Tuesday. I remember Crichton for his article in Wired's fourth issue, "Mediasaurus." Crichton forecast in 1993 that "The mass media will be gone within ten years. Vanished, without a trace." He was more right than wrong. If you're looking for Crichton info today, his Mahalo page is a good complement to what's on Wikipedia. (Photo by Harvard University Gazette/Jon Chase)

This comes as a sad shock: Megaselling author and blockbuster machine Michael Crichton has died at age 66 from what a spokesperson is calling "courageous and private battle against cancer." He's best known for his science-based cautionary thrillers like The Andromeda Strain, Sphere, and Jurassic Park, many of which he had a hand in adapting for the big screen. He also directed a few movies, including Yul Brynner animatronics-run-amuck classic Westworld and The Great Train Robbery, and created ER based on his own experiences as a resident. A statement from his representatives follows after the jump:

After a long battle with cancer, science fiction's biggest crossover novelist Michael Crichton died today. Though the lanky Harvard graduate was most well known for his 1990 novel Jurassic Park, he leaves behind a sometimes controversial legacy of investigation into the most prominent scientific issues of our time. We review the highlights of his storied career:The Chicago-born author made his stunning debut under his own name with The Andromeda Strain, which would inspire the first film taken from his oeuvre. Books like Disclosure and Rising Sun veered from his science fiction interests into cultural criticism and formed the template for his NBC series, ER. In his 2004 novel State of Fear he aroused indignation from the scientific community. Crichton's right-wing politics didn't usually endear him to other writers, resulting in memorable clashes with Susan Faludi, Al Gore and Michael Crowley, who he memorably portrayed as a child molestor in his novel Next. Crichton's public notoriety was balanced by his closeness with his family during his illness. "He did this with a wry sense of humor that those who were privileged to know him personally will never forget," his daughter said today. At his best, Crichton was able to anticipate emerging cultural and technological trends, and surround them with a compelling narrative that never failed to address issues of the moment in a non-contrived fashion like no other. He'll be missed.

♦ ABC appears to generated the highest ratings as the election results rolled in last night. NBC came in second and CNN ranked third. [TV Decoder]
♦ Time is rushing to produce a commemorative issue of the mag by the end of the week. [HuffPo]
♦ Both People and Us Weekly will feature Obama on the covers of the next issue. [NYP]
♦ Can The Daily Show survive an Obama presidency? and how will other media outlets deal with the post-election dropoff? [Politico, AdAge]
♦ An explanation of that holography thingie on CNN last night. [YouTube]

Maniacal cable news host Nancy Grace turns 49 today. Also celebrating: Oscar-winning director Ang Lee turns 54. Memoirist Augusten Burroughs is 43. Novelist Michael Crichton turns 66. ABC News correspondent Brian Ross is 60. Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is turning 49. Retired soccer legend Pelé is 68. And "Weird Al" Yankovic is 49.

As long as we're wanging it up today, we may as well mention the recent cockfight between The New Republic's Michael Crowley and famous author Michael Crichton, the novelist who writes all those shockingly believable stories about scary dinosaurs, scary Japanese people, and scary women who will sexually harass you. It seems that back in March, Crowley wrote a cover story about Crichton that irked the Flintstones scenarist; his revenge took the form of a character in his new novel named "Mick Crowley," an underendowed child rapist. Crowley (the real one, not the fictional baby-raper) quotes the following passage from the book, which we're putting after the jump because, well, it's a little disturbing, and not just for being badly written.