Uma Thurman is reportedly engaged to financier Arpad Busson. [NY Daily News]

Those awkward photos of Sean Avery standing shirtless in a fashion closet at Men's Vogue mysteriously disappeared from the magazine's Web site. [Radar]

Graydon Carter, Jann Wenner, Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Buffet, Gay Talese and others gathered at the Waverly Inn on Wednesday to celebrate Gonzo, a Carter-produced documentary about the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson. [WWD]

Raffaello Follieri's friends reportedly want Anne Hathaway to come get the chocolate lab the couple bought together.  read more »

When Oprah Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama, she probably didn't expect him to snag her personal chef once he went off to the White House.

Gael Greene is reporting on her Insatiable Critic blog that the Chicago-based chef Art Smith, employed by Oprah as her personal chef for a decade, may become Sen. Obama's personal chef if he gets elected.  read more »

Robert McCrum, literary editor of the UK Sunday paper The Observer, stepped down this month after a decade on the job. Yesterday he deployed a parting shot both wistful and sober-minded. "When I joined The Observer in 1996, the world of books was in limbo between hot metal and cool word processing, " he writes, with a nostalgia that comes off not a little anachronistic, considering we're talking about 1996 here and not 1958. "Everything smelled of the lamp. It was a world of ink and paper; of cigarettes, coffee and strong drink. Our distinguished critic George Steiner used to submit his copy in annotated typescript."

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The Associated Press reports that The Justice Department has approved Sirius Satellite Radio's plan to buy its rival, XM Satellite Radio, for $5 billion.

Sirius, which is home to Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Judith Regan, The Rolling Stones, and others, will incorporate XM's programming which includes Oprah Winfrey, E!, and Fox News.  read more »

In January, the Post reported that Oprah Winfrey's best friend, Gayle King, had bought a penthouse at the Place 57 condo on East 57th Street for "approximately $7.4 million."

The deed for the deal just surfaced in city records, and it turns out that the three-bedroom, two-fireplace apartment was bought in the name of SOPHIE'S PENTHOUSE LLC, which seems to refer to Oprah's famous cocker spaniel Sophie.  read more »

Kirstie Alley is trading Jenny for Oprah. Ms. Alley has inked a TV development deal with Oprah's Harpo Productions, with a daily talk show under consideration, according to Variety. The deal comes after a series of high-profile appearances on Oprah's show (remember when she wore a bikini after reaching her goal weight with Jenny Craig?). Ms. Alley told Variety that she's hoping to come up with "something totally fresh" with Harpo. "I'm very open with what I've been through in my own personal life, and nothing -- I mean nothing -- is off-limits for me to talk about," she said. "Nothing shocks me."

LOS ANGELES—This could be big.

Maria Shriver, the first lady of California (wife of Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) just endorsed Barack Obama on a stage here at an event at UCLA with Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and her cousin Caroline Kennedy.

Shriver, the daughter of Eunice Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's sister, said that above her computer in her office she keeps a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt that said “Do one thing every day that scares you."  read more »

While Oprah was "breaking new ground" with her "boldest" Book Club choice yet: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle, American sculptor Daniel Edwards was revealing a new King-Tut like Bronze statue of the media queen. Mr. Edwards is that guy who made that weirdo sculpture of Britney giving birth a couple years ago (remember that?). "Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston" was considered Pro-Life's first monument to the "act of giving birth" and was placed in a Williamsburg gallery. He also made "Presidential Bust of Hillary Rodham Clinton," "Suri's Bronzed Baby Poop" and "Paris Hilton's Autopsy," among others. Mr. Edwards' latest work "The Oprah Sarcophagus" pays homage to the closest thing America has to a living deity, according to the artist. But we thought Oprah didn't want to be a mummy!

Oprah Winfrey continues her quest to take over the world! The media queen is partnering with Discovery Channel to start "OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network." Ms. Winfrey is already running her own TV show, production company, magazine and Web site, and will be the chairman of OWN, set to start airing programming in 2009.  read more »

False rumors that Tommy Hilfiger voiced regret over his clothing’s popularity in the African-American community dogged him for years. It took nothing short of a blessing from Oprah Winfrey to make them go away. Except, it seems, they didn’t go away at all.

Clothing label Frank Fuller Classic, apparently a sort of wannabe prep outfitter with a CK Bradley style sense, took out an advertisement recently in a magazine that reads: “Frank Fuller Clothing CO Is Not Racist Like Tommy Hilfiger.”

Attorneys for the 56-year-old Americana macher responded immediately, sending the magazine and the clothing company cease and desist letters. Mr. Hilfiger’s rep also offered TMZ.com a statement, saying: “This is nothing more than a hoax concocted months after Oprah and Tommy put to rest the tired, baseless yet intolerable rumor, declaring it a ‘big, fat lie.’”