• Competitive eating champ Takeru Kobayashi has an arthritic jaw, and thus might be out of commission for the annual July 4th hot dog eating contest as he "can't open [his] jaws more than just a little bit." When reached for comment, Kobayashi's girlfriend replied, "An arthritic jaw. Hmm, I'll have to remember that one."

• You know what's the best way to convince people you didn't crazily carve your husband's name into your chest using a shard of broken glass? By showing everyone the "love scar," and then laughing about it! Oh, wait…

• Has anyone else noticed that LA Weekly hasn't talked about Iraq, politics or, well, anything even remotely controversial lately?

• Having already spent the bulk of his book advance on heroin, Pete Doherty has been moonlighting as a chimney sweep in order to make some extra cash. To buy more heroin.

• Ice-T and his Stripperella wife, Coco are hitting the reality tv trainwreck sector. Meanwhile, Flavor Flav responded by saying, "Aw man, I thought I had the washed up hip hop reality genre locked up."

• Depending on who you ask, the Tribune Co.'s holdings are valued in the $8.2-8.4 billion range. David Geffen's LAT offer, meanwhile, tops out at $2b. [HWT]

• An English language version of Al-Jazeera is, supposedly, set to launch Nov. 15. Not that you'll be able to tune in. [PI]

• New MTV global digital media chief Mika Salmi's first duty: To get the brand's 100 properties in alignment. Cost cutting and job cuts, for sure, will go hand in hand. [NYP]

• Facebook would really appreciate it if the traffic scoring companies would stop telling potential buyers that its readership is declining. [BW]

• Blogger backlash: Andrew Sullivan turns on his own. [E&P]

• Big shakeups at LA Weekly. Calm down, Nikki Finke ain't going anywhere. [LAO]

• Michael Arrington is the power blogger that will make or break your little garage start-up. He could also get you the attention of Rupert Murdoch. [WSJ]