Lesbian journalist Carol Anne Burger committed suicide last Thursday minutes before police were set to question her about the gruesome murder of her wife, businesswoman Jessica Kalish, who's pictured on the right.

The women, who wed in 2005, separated last year, but stayed living in the home they shared since 2000. Though admittedly depressed over the break-up, Burger, who worked for Huffington Post, seemed to be pulling through, her friends say, but something went horribly awry last week.

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We pay a lot of lip service here to the idea that magazines and newspapers are a dying breed these days. But how can you not?

It's no longer just a conceptual exercise, like "Oh, when the Internet really takes off and everyone buys a Kindle there will be no more need for paper journalism."

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Focus Features is none-too-please with the Hollywood Reporter, which yesterday ran a story about how the production company had eschewed marketing for its latest lavender story, Milk, about slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.

The story claimed Focus didn't want to scare off potential audiences by playing up the gay factor and were waiting until after the election to see which direction would lead them to the most Oscars - an argument that made very little sense.

Anyway, Focus president James Schamus has had his team send a response far and wide. Here's but a sample:

As the CEO of Focus Features, I read with interest your October 28 front page article "Politics? Focus won't 'Milk' it," about our marketing of director Gus Van Sant's film about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to major public office in America. The author's thesis is simple: because the film was not, like “Brokeback Mountain,” screened at festivals, Focus is somehow hiding the film and is thus avoiding openly presenting its political content. That's a pretty serious charge, especially made by a reporter who did not call us to get his facts, so to speak, straight.
…
But if a journalist is to write about our marketing campaign, might he consider actually talking about…our marketing campaign? The trailer for “Milk,” for example is, not just in my opinion, probably the most inspiring piece of movie marketing about genuine (as well as out) politics ever created. It has been the most explosively received and appreciated trailer in the history of our company, posted on hundreds of sites, and played and playing in theaters nationwide in front of more than a dozen movies.

Oh, Snap!

Read what else Schamus had to say for himself, after the jump…

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Barack Obama is making a repeat appearance on The Daily Show this Wednesday!

The interview, combined with the highly anticipated(?) 30 minute infomercials Obama bought time for on NBC, Fox, and CBS tomorrow, means that ABC is the only major network (besides the CW, which only counts if you are voting Chuck Bass for prez) not featuring anything Obama related in their prime-time lineup.

So what possible reason is there for ABC not airing a Barack-tastic Wednesday?

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We knew it was coming and now it's hear: childbearing trans man Thomas Beatie finally published his memoir, the appropriately entitled Labor of Love: The Story of One Man’s Extraordinary Pregnancy. Here's a snippet of the description:

Labor of Love chronicles Thomas Beatie’s unique life experiences: his less-than-idyllic childhood in Hawaii; his transition from female to male; his marriage to his wife, Nancy; his legal battles to live as a man; his fight to conceive a child; and the birth of their daughter, Susan, in late June. Labor of Love is a groundbreaking book because it tackles social, political, and legal questions about gender, marriage, and family. Thomas and Nancy’s uphill battle to have a baby is both fascinating and touching. They are a normal couple who wanted a family, and yet the circumstances surrounding their desire to get pregnant and their journey to get there are truly extraordinary.

And astoundingly marketable!

Chip Kidd is the amazing graphic designer/book cover artist/writer who's managed to turn his triple threat talents into two amazing books, The Cheese Monkeys and it's sequel, The Learners. Both books are about graphic design advertising in the 60's: a precursor to Mad Men, if the whole story was told by Salvatore Romano. And yes, closeted homosexuality runs rampant in the books as well.

But now Kidd has a new book out, on the portrayal of Bruce Wayne overseas. Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan looks amazing and everyone should check it out, post-haste. In case you needed any more urging, here is an interview with Chip, describing his love of all things bat-related.

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You're the world's biggest pop star, in the middle of a global tour, and all you want to do is avoid the press so you can spoon with your new Major League Baseball playing boyfriend. Such is the thicket of Madonna's life.

Except standing in the way of these grand plans is the obnoxious press, filled with their anonymously sourced items painting you as the self-absorbed persona you practically branded yourself from the beginning.

So just who is leaking all your personal details to the media?

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We all love Anderson Cooper. (It would be UnAmerican not to!)

And no one wants to make America's silver fox out to be some sort of hypocrite or anything - he's certainly a good, down to earth journalist, but can we just pause and call bullshit for a second?

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The rotund gent you see at right is being indicted in the city of New York for snatching a McCain campaign sign from the hands of a middle-aged woman, snapping it in half and then punching the GOP supporter, who's been described as "small" and "quiet," in the face.

Witnesses to the assault said the man gave no indication as to why he was attacking the lady, to whom he said only, "You people are ridiculous!"

What a crazy man. But what's even crazier is this…

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Ooooh, they've gone and done it. After shafting them last week by releasing news of the divorce after the tabloids hit newsstands, Madonna and Guy Ritchie are being paid back by the celeb weeklies with less than favorable reports.

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