Heir to the NYT throne and lowly metro reporter A.G. Sulzberger heard someone say: "This is the Cage. You have to seriously be a baller to come here." A.G. Sulzberger is one such baller!

On Sunday Maureen Dowd lifted a passage from a blog post by TPM's Josh Marshall and used it in her Times column without attribution, something she claimed was accidental. Finally, Marshall has addressed the matter.

A lot can happen in six days. Last Wednesday, the New York Times rhapsodized about the strength of the Norwegian economy. Today, the paper reports that Norway is in a recession.

Blogger In Other News caught this somewhat unfortunate screengrab on the New York Times website tonight of Apple's ad stars, John Hodgman and Justin Long, gazing lazily at a soon to be executed Missouri man.

• Monthly mags continue to suffer: Ad pages have dropped by 23 percent on average, although the situation is particularly dire at Condé Nast. [NYP]
• Maureen Dowd landed in a bit of hot water after it was revealed she'd "borrowed" from blogger Josh Marshall for her op-ed column yesterday. She's since offered a (dubious) explanation and apology. [E&P, HP, Politico]
• Television networks start selling ads for the fall season today as part of upfront week, although the economy is putting a damper on things. [NYT]
• Despite few successes and many failures, NBC golden boy Ben Silverman still has a job. For how much longer, though, is anybody's guess. [NYT]
• Angels & Demons was No. 1 at the box office with a $48 million haul. [WSJ]
• If you can't find Newsweek on newsstands, that may be because the magazine has totally redesigned itself. [Newsweek, WaPo, HuffPo]

Maureen Dowd will get off penalty-free for (she says) accidentally plagiarizing a paragraph of Josh Marshall's material. Fine by us! Can the New York Times stop pretending the internet is ripping it off, now?

Yesterday we learned that an entry in Maureen Dowd's Sunday Times column appeared to be lifted straight from a blog post by TPM's Josh Marshall on Thursday. Last night, Dowd admitted to plagiarizing Marshall.

Times TV reporter Bill Carter's profile on NBC co-chairman and Executive Bong Smoker Ben Silverman ran today. To put it lightly: Carter takes Silverman by the collar, beats him, and stuffs him in a locker.

Whoops! It appears Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall a Talking Points Memo follower might've busted Maureen Dowd doing a little bit of plagiarism. At the very least, she's definitely being accused of it. Ruh roh.

People in higher income brackets: they're just like us. For example, they're still going to The Hamptons this summer, but they're going to be toning it down. What, you've heard this story before?

• Frank Bruni explains why he's stepping down as the Times' restaurant critic; a GM details what it's like to constantly obsess about a NYT review. [NYT, Eater]
• Then again, the most coveted job in food comes with its downsides. [TFB]
• Michael White and Chris Cannon's Marea opens tonight. [GS]
• A sneak peek at Locanda Verde, which may open as soon as next week. [GS]
• A former manager at Justin Timberlake's barbecue joint, Southern Hospitality, has filed suit against the restaurant for sexual harassment. [NYDN]
• A look at Entwine, a new wine bar/lounge in the far West Village. [Gothamist]

A New York Times reporter is never really broke until after he's spent all the money he got to write a book about how he went broke. [NYT]

• The New York Times is now thinking of charging consumers for access to its web site, although doing so would be "tricky," says Bill Keller. Indeed. [NYT]
• There are some signs of further trouble at Forbes. [NYP]
• Martha Stewart is going to see if she can charge for online videos. [WWD]
• Advertisers are looking to channel recession-related outrage. [NYT]
• NBC has renewed Last Call with Carson Daly. Unfortunately. [THR]
• Did David Geffen really consider taking a stake in the Times? [NYP]
• Jay Leno's last guest on The Tonight Show: Conan O'Brien. [NYDN]
• Suze Orman is having her "moment," in case you weren't aware. [NYT]
• Is the Jon & Kate drama good news or bad news for TLC? [TDB]
• Brian Williams is still a Jersey boy, or so it would seem. [The Awl]

Judith Warner reveals how the Obamas are making Washington cool—and hot—again! People even have dreams about Barack, apparently. Hope she takes on Michelle Obama's aura of competence—and hotness—next! [NYT]

So far the possible financial saviors of the New York Times are a shady Mexican billionaire, a shady Hollywood billionaire, and a plan to give free t-shirts to anyone who donates. Anyone see a problem?

Atheism! It's running rampant all over the place, destroying our country, ripping it to shreds at its very core. And the New York Times is to blame, so says Sean Hannity, man of God.

• Frank Bruni will soon step down as the Times' chief restaurant critic. Who will replace him? Eater rounds up some of the faves as well as a bunch of unlikely picks, like Katie Lee Joel, who has a 475,000-1 shot of landing the gig. [Eater]
• Bruni's first appearance (second coming out?) after he steps down from the Times will be at the New York City Wine & Food Festival on Oct. 8. [GS]
• The UWS isn't the dining ghetto it once was thanks to the likes of Zak Pelaccio, Michael Huynh, Tom Valenti, Michael Psilakis, and Danny Meyer. [NYP]
• Start saving up: Marea, Michael White and Chris Cannon's temple of seafood, opens in the former San Domenico space on CPS tomorrow. [Eater]

If all you newspaper reporters don't stop Twittering every goddamn thing you see, Bill Keller is seriously going to lose his shit. Can you put down the iPhone so we can have a meeting here?

Give the newspaper bosses this much: In their desperation to fix their dying businesses, they are going after logical targets. Google's rise has exactly nothing to do with their fall — but Google has money.

What happens to the delicate fabric of spacetime when stories in the same Thursday New York Times Style Section flow logically into one another in a perpetual, unceasing circle? We're about to find out: