The Fix

First Word

Sheen to narrate "Loose Change"?: The 9/11 conspiracy documentary "Loose Change" may be given a second life by Mark Cuban's Magnolia Pictures. Cuban says he's in talks to distribute the film (though it's unclear if it would go to theaters or only to DVD), with narration by Charlie Sheen: "We are having discussions about distributing the existing video with Charlie's involvement as a narrator, not in making a new feature. We are also looking for productions with an opposing viewpoint. We like controversial subjects, but we are agnostic to which side the controversy comes from." (Page Six)

Knut update: Berlin Zoo officials say that there's no chance they'll be putting Knut, the zoo's mother-abandoned 3-month-old polar bear cub, to sleep after activists called for his death earlier this week (see Wednesday's Fix for more). "That was complete nonsense," said zoo vet Andreas Ochs. "We would never do that." (Der Spiegel)

Clinton ad-maker unveiled: The identity of ParkRidge47, the YouTube user who created that anti-Hillary Clinton/Apple mash-up ad that got so much buzz this week, has been revealed, and it turns out he works for the company handling Barack Obama's Web site. Phil de Vellis, announcing his identity on the Huffington Post, wrote: "Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it." Until last night, de Vellis was an employee at Blue State Digital (Blue State says de Vellis was fired; he claims he resigned). Both the company and the Obama campaign say they had no idea he was behind the video -- de Vellis also says they didn't know -- and that he never did any direct work on Obama's site. (ABC News, Huffington Post)

Talker

Puck's animal kindness: Don't go into Spago anymore and expect to order the foie gras. As the Los Angeles Times reports, chef/restaurateur Wolfgang Puck has announced plans to ban the delicacy from his restaurants as part of a larger plan to increase awareness of animal cruelty. Puck says he's teaming up with the Humane Society to implement a new "humane farm animal treatment program" -- the press release calls it "a comprehensive program that formalizes Puck's healthful culinary philosophy, 'Wolfgang's Eating, Loving and Living' (WELL®)" -- at all of his restaurants, which, besides the foie gras ban, includes using only free-range veal in his signature Wiener schnitzels. "I want to be a leader on the issue of how we treat the animals we eat," says the chef. (Los Angeles Times, PR Newswire)

The impact of no impact: The Beavan-Conlin family -- Colin, Michelle and daughter Isabella, 2 -- live in an apartment on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, but for a year, they are attempting to live a lifestyle they are calling No Impact. That means "eating only food (organically) grown within a 250-mile radius of Manhattan; (mostly) no shopping for anything except said food; producing no trash (except compost, see above); using no paper; and, most intriguingly, using no carbon-fueled transportation." To get to work, Michelle takes her scooter; the family no longer uses the elevator at all; there is no toilet paper in the house and they don't use the dishwasher. Colin Beavan is also writing a book about the experiment, and you can read more about it on his blog. ("The Year Without Toilet Paper," New York Times)

White noise ... Vivica Fox was stopped by police after doing approximately 80 mph on the 101 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley on Tuesday night; after failing a field sobriety test, she was arrested on DUI charges. (TMZ) ... Paul McCartney announced yesterday he'll release his next record through Starbucks' new record label, making him the first artist to sign with the coffee behemoth. (Associated Press) ... Tom Cruise has signed on to play the lead in a movie about an assassination attempt on Hitler, to be directed by Brian Singer. (Reuters) ... Calvert DeForest, the character actor best know for his long-running Larry "Bud" Melman character on "Late Night With David Letterman," died on Monday in New York. He was 85. Letterman said in a statement released yesterday: "To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him." (Los Angeles Times) ... In other obituary news, authorities announced that Charles Harrelson, Woody Harrelson's dad, died of a heart attack earlier this month at a Supermax prison in Colorado, where he was serving two life sentences for murdering a federal judge. (Guardian)

Judgment

"American" television: As you are doubtless aware from the ads blanketing the Internet this week, Ira Glass' TV version of his radio show "This American Life" debuts tonight on Showtime (see Turn On, below). Salon TV critic Heather Havrilesky writes that the show has navigated that tricky translation between mediums beautifully: The TV program "features the same rich, rambling storytelling that makes the radio show so hypnotic, but it's enhanced by cinematography that's lovely and artful without distracting from the story lines or the tone of the show." Most critics agree -- the Boston Globe says "This American Life" is "a welcome addition to nonfiction television and a loyal friend to the radio show," while the Los Angeles Times thinks "it makes Showtime look good." N.Y. Times critic Virginia Heffernan finds the show "beautifully done, an opulent and moving documentary of the highest order. If 'This American Life' is all like this one segment, it will be an immaculate and historic documentary series." She does, though, have a bit of a problem with Glass' role as the narrator and the way he takes "the wheel of stories when it's clear that the everyman he's recruited isn't saying exactly what the producers want him to."

Buzz Index

• Most e-mailed story from the New York Times: "It Boils Down to This: Cheap Wine Works Fine"
• Most viewed story on Yahoo! News: "John Edwards to Discuss Wife's Health," Associated Press
• Most popular song on Hype Machine: "Watch the Tapes," LCD Soundsystem
• Most popular news story on Technorati: "Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior," New York Times

Numbers

Billboard album charts:
1. "Luvanmusiq," Musiq Soulchild (149,000 copies)
2. "Street Love," Lloyd (144,000 copies)
3. "Rich Boy," Rich Boy (112,000 copies)
4. "Daughtry," Daughtry (80,000 copies)
5. "Konvicted," Akon (71,000)
(Billboard)

Turn On

On Thursday, "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" (Showtime, 10 p.m. EDT) returns for a fifth season, followed by the long-awaited premiere of Ira Glass' "This American Life" (Showtime, 10:30 p.m. EDT), and the Food Network airs in "Chefography: Mario Batali" (9 p.m. EDT).

Talk

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

Fix logo by Rhonda Rubinstein