We finally know how much aspiring Hollywood mogul Jay Penske has agreed to pay industry blogger Nikki Finke: according to the NYT's David Carr: $400,000 a year for the next eight years. Pretty good money, but not $14 million.

In your early Friday media column: Laurel Touby is officially chillin like a villain, the Boston Globe gets another contract vote, Nikki Finke is mysterious, and CNN's creative accounting of what it means to be "number one."

Bernie Madoff is going to be serving his til-death sentence at Butner Federal Prison in North Carolina. Why there? Nobody knows, really! But it won't be so bad for Bernie—he'll have landscaping, environmentalism, and a hospital bed.

Right now Bernie Madoff is heading to the prison where he'll spend the rest of his life. Just which prison he's headed to, though, is still a mystery. Late this afternoon, an unidentified source told the Post that Madoff was headed to Otisville, the facility that he'd requested since it's within driving distance of NYC (not to mention renowned for its tasty kosher meals). CNBC, however, has been reporting that its source is telling them that Madoff is going to the medium security federal prison in Butner, North Carolina. CNN is following the Post's lead and going with Otisville. The Post's sister paper, the Wall Street Journal, is backing up CNBC and reporting that "a person familiar with the situation" has indicated Madoff is North Carolina-bound. Presumably we'll find out his destination for certain in a few hours when he shows up and makes his grand entrance. Or maybe this is all part of Bernie's plan to deliberately confuse prison officials and he's behind the wheel of a stolen car and speeding for the Mexican border? Developing!

Who is the rich Google employee who bought a Park Slope mansion from movie stars Jennifer Connelly and husband Paul Bettany? The New York Times wouldn't say. But it wasn't hard to figure out.

Ah, Modern Love: the New York Times' intellectualizing of chemicals that float between us. Many are awful, some are wonderful, and most are uncomfortable. Today's no different, as they answer an..age-old..question: are old people fucking?

Many people have criticized The Huffington Post for not paying its writers. But Ken Lerer, who co-founded the site with Arianna Huffington and remains the company's chairman, sure has one heck of a generous streak. Last week, we noticed that Joey Bartolomeo, a senior writer at People and frequent TV talking head, had purchased an apartment on the Upper East Side. What was strange was that Bartolomeo didn't buy the $1.025 million co-op on her own. Lerer's name appeared on the property documents as well. And it turns out that Joey isn't the first member of the Bartolomeo family to have benefited from Lerer's largesse. Bartolomeo's older sister, Stephanie Bartolomeo, picked up a $1.25 million co-op on the Upper West Side back in March. And once again, Lerer co-signed for the apartment.

Sarah Palin's resigning from office. What the hell? And she's now supposedly telling people that she's done with politics forever. The entire thing is sketchy. The announcement, reasoning, speculation, and more Friday news-dumping after the jump.

US Marshals came to evict Ruth Madoff from her fancy apartment today but guess what, she has moved to an undisclosed location. She's gone Cheney! If she's following our advice she's already in Botswana, shoveling poop. [NYP. Pic: Getty]

The New York Times' David Rohde, who spent seven months as a hostage to a Taliban warlord in Afghanistan, has just returned to the paper's newsroom.

As reader Ivan points out, those clouds above SoHo are mammatocumuli – as in of or having to do with breasts! Here's another cool pic.

Police have ruled out foul play in Michael Jackson's death, and the Associated Press is reporting the singer suffered a heart attack (not just cardiac arrest). All eyes are on Jackson's cardiologist, Conrad Robert Murray, who police have yet to interview.

These unusual cloud formations above downtown New York were as fitting an end as any to a truly bizarre week. Our minds wander to corn-on-the-cob, like you'd find at a summer barbecue. Another (and meteorologist) after the jump.

Here we were thinking all along that Mark Sanford's just been getting raped by mountain people as he hiked the Appalachian trail naked, but authorities have found his SUV abandoned at an airport where Sanford was seen boarding a plane.

Did the New York Times want to keep reporter David Rohde's kidnapping in Afghanistan quiet because they feared for his safety, or because they didn't want to drive up his ransom price? Rohde himself has suggested the latter.

It looks as though Apple did a good job angering the New York Times with the news that Steve Jobs recently underwent a liver transplant. The paper's Tuesday edition dedicates two pieces to Apple's renowned penchant for shadiness.

Sean Penn has pulled out of two films, Variety reports today. While he's saying he needs the time to work on his (continually) troubled marriage to Robin Wright, a blind item last week is fueling speculation that it's drug-related.

In April, Queens resident Matt Tratner had a friend totally trash his apartment, to the max, and Matt found himself momentarily famous. His friends raised money to replace his stuff. Now, Matt's going on an expensive Greek vacation. Hmmm...

Warren St. John, the dreamy NYT reporter and author of incongruous 'Bama football book Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, has a heartwarming new book about refugee soccer players that is a smash hit. Why won't his own paper review it?

Upcoming autopsy results will say that Kung Fu actor David Carradine did in fact die from autoerotic asphyxiation, the New York Post reports. Not surprising, given his proclivities. But this judgment does not necessarily rule out death by ninja.