There are several perks to being Arianna Huffington: For one, she’ll never have to search her couch cushions for enough change to buy a two piece and a biscuit. (Not that we’ve ever!) Plus, she also gets to have some pretty famous friends, like Nora Ephron, who do some pretty snazzy things, like host dinner parties in her honor.

Nora was at Barnes & Noble to pimp her new book, “I Remember Nothing.” She got up to the podium and said the thing most everyone wishes a writer would say: “I’m not going to read from my book tonight. Instead, I’m going to tell you about two of my most defining moments as a writer.” Yes, Nora. YES.

“WENT to a mah-velous party!” as Noel Coward once opined. Well, in this day and age, such a party is a far cry from the long-ago ’20s when there were mah-velous parties everywhere. Nowadays any get-together is a solid hit if it boasts big names, has good cocktail food and the centerpiece (host/hostess) is someone of distinction for whom you don’t mind coming out on a rainy night.

The 2010 Oscar nominations are being announced as we speak. We’ll update this post as we go. Full list is here and Jonathan Fuhrman’s smart reactions here. Best Picture:

Air America has folded — again, but, it seems, permanently. Two dominant reactions seem to have emerged: Disappointment that a liberal, progressive radio empire couldn’t make it, and an utter lack of surprise. The LAT’s James Rainey blamed Air America’s failure on “Bad radio. Boring radio. Preachy radio”; as the NYT’s Brian Stelter noted, Daily [...]

Nora Ephron is what’s known in the business as a quadruple threat: writer, director, blogger and chef. Somehow she manages to pull all of those together in her latest film, Julie & Julia —which she directed and for which she wrote the screenplay, about a cook, a blogger, and blogging about cooking. Okay that’s putting [...]

Oh Maureen. Did you run out of things to say about the “beer summit”? Or Obama’s fly-swatting skillz? Last I checked, the world is still blowing up — or maybe there’s a temporary lull. But Maureen Dowd thinks the soon-to-be-forgotten souffle of the moment, Julie & Julia, by deadly director Nora Ephron, is occasion for us to be treated to Ms. Ephron’s deep thoughts about food. Priorities!

Glenn Greenwald is reporting that HuffPo has hired recently fired Washington Post blogger Dan Froomkin. What’s equally interesting is that Froomkin said yes. Is HuffPo merely trying to establish further legitimacy in DC circles? Or take on Politico?