The Fix

First Word

We can't look away: The Anna Nicole Smith circus continues -- the latest news is that she was being sent methadone under a fake name up until two weeks before she gave birth. TMZ reports that a doctor friend was writing prescriptions for "Michelle Chase," apparently one of Smith's aliases, and they were then being sent to Vickie Marshall (Smith's legal name) in the Bahamas. Also Wednesday, a judge in Florida ruled that he will not release Smith's body until he has determined her next of kin. (TMZ)

Hardaway's hate: Former NBA star point guard Tim Hardaway -- a five-time All-Star player -- was interviewed Wednesday on a Miami radio station about another retired player, John Amaechi, who came out as gay last week. At first Hardaway danced around the topic, using the familiar locker room concerns: "First of all I wouldn't want him on my team. Second of all, if he was on my team I would really distance myself from him because I don't think that's right and I don't think he should be in the locker room when we're in the locker room." But when pressed by the interviewer, Hardaway gave up the pretense and made it clear why Amaechi felt it was impossible to come out while he still played: "Well, you know, I hate gay people. I let it be known I don't like gay people. I don't like to be around gay people. I'm homophobic. It shouldn't be in the world, in the United States, I don't like it." (CBS via Drudge)

"Total Request" dead: As part of the massive layoffs happening at MTV this week, the show that came to define the channel, "Total Request Live," is reportedly being shut down. Gatecrasher recently reported that the show's viewership had declined to 393,000 -- down from nearly 600,000 in 2001, according to Nielsen. No word yet on what Nick Lachey's girlfriend, veejay Vanessa Minnillo, plans to do next. (Jossip)

White noise ... Star magazine has an awesomely sensationalistic spread this week about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's house in New Orleans, crowing, "Their house is on the street ... Is that really safe?" and "Their neighbor was murdered!" (Star via Popbytes) ... He may have sung at George W. Bush's inauguration, but during a concert this week in Puerto Rico, Ricky Martin (right) raised his middle finger to the crowd when singing a line that mentions the president. (Latin Gossip) ... At the Brit Awards Wednesday night in London the Arctic Monkeys won for best British album and best British group, while the Killers picked up the prizes for best international group and album. (BBC News) ... Howard Stern announced yesterday that he has finally gotten engaged to longtime girlfriend Beth Ostrosky for real -- he said the same thing last month, only to say later it was a prank. (People)

Talkers

Vapid response: George Gurley's piece in the New York Observer about talking to fashionistas at New York celeb hot spot Bungalow 8 about the war in Iraq is so short and so jaw-dropping you should just follow the link and read the whole thing now. A smattering of the quotes he collected: "The people who are there fighting -- it's their journey. This is our journey"; "What really upsets me, honestly, is the propensity of the media to focus on Lindsay Lohan going in and out of rehab"; "I think we are overanalyzing the situation. I mean, here we are at Bungalow 8!"; "A rack? You mean titties? Like a really big rack?" ("Bungalowing Iraq," New York Observer)

Buzz Index

• Top news item on Tailrank: Video: President Rush Limbaugh, Vice President Ann Coulter (from Fox)
• Top entertainment story on Digg: "Joe Rogan vs Carlos Mencia," JoeRogan.net
• Most e-mailed story from the Los Angeles Times: "Movies Shoot for Change"
• Most e-mailed story from the New York Times: "He Cooks. She Stews. It's Love."

; )

"John Amaechi Comes Out as Former NBA Player" (The Onion)

Judgment

The church of indie rock: The hottest ticket in New York right now, at least on the music scene, is to one of the five shows that Canadian rockers Arcade Fire are playing at Judson Church this week. At the first show on Tuesday night, Jon Pareles writes in his New York Times review, a concertgoer yelled out, "Why a church?" While there is an obvious answer -- the band's forthcoming album is called "Neon Bible," and its songs are "about impending apocalypse, fear and faith" -- Pareles answers with another question: "Why the Judson Church?" It's "an elegant space with a long artistic history and awful acoustics for a 10-piece, full-tilt rock band. In the bass-heavy room, the drums just about steamrolled the voices and upper-register instruments. For a band as careful about its textures as Arcade Fire is, choosing the church was a mistake." ("Testing Faith in a Church," New York Times)

Numbers

Fall Out Boy's "Infinity on High" is the No. 1 album on Billboard this week, selling 259,674 copies in its first week -- the group also had the No. 1 album, No. 1 song and No. 1 video on iTunes. (Rolling Stone)

Turn On

On Thursday night, it's the second to last episode of "The O.C." (Fox, 9 p.m. EST), Lucy Liu guest-stars on "Ugly Betty" (ABC, 8 p.m. EST), and IFC airs a documentary on actor and director Melvin Van Peebles called "How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)" (9 p.m. EST).

Talk

Fix contributors: Heather Havrilesky, Scott Lamb, Kerry Lauerman, David Marchese, Laura Miller, Andrew O'Hehir, Amy Reiter, Stephanie Zacharek

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