Most people go with cake and champers, but in honor of her 40th birthday, Chastity Bono gave herself the gift of... man.  Shortly after her over-the-hill celebration, the daughter of Sonny and Cher began undergoing the preliminary stages of gender-reassignment, MSNBC reports.  Her rep confirms that Bono is in transgender transition and says he'll go by Chaz.  The full statement:

He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by his loved ones. It is Chaz’s hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his ‘coming out’ did nearly 20 years ago. We ask that the media respect Chaz’s privacy during this long process as he will not be doing any interviews at this time.

It goes without saying that this is the No. 1 thing on Twitter right now.

It's the rap-world equivalent of a bugle sounding taps: When a once-cool hip-hop technique is being used to shill watery milkshakes, you can consider it officially FUBAR.

Jay-Z told a Chicago radio station on Tuesday that the inspiration behind his new track "D.O.A." (for "Death of Auto-Tune") came from a Wendy's commercial that used the pitch-fragmenting sound processor.  Wendy's "Frosty Posse" jingle (above) was the official moment, the rapper said, when a former way to make "great music" went from "trend" to "gimmick." Since the technique gained popularity within rap specifically and then music generally, it's seeped onto Saturday Night Live and into YouTube spoofs of Katie Couric.  We're going to call the lyrics downright snarky:

This is anti-autotune, death of the ringtone/

This ain’t for iTunes, this ain’t for sing-along/

This is Sinatra at the opera—bring a blonde

There's no question who wins this spat. Flip turns of phrase like I might send this to the Mixtape Weezy, set against cool instrumentation (is that a xylophone?!), decidedly trump Do you wanna get Frosty wit meeee?

To hear "D.O.A.", click below.

Not The New York Times, but you're getting warm—the answer is the flagging paper's balance sheets. So says Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones, anyway, in segment of the show that tours the Times' newsroom and profiles "aged news," in part via a very uncomfortable sit-down interview with Bill Keller himself. See the segment on Hulu right now.

The paper responded earlier today to the uneasily funny treatment with a blog post, in which Times reporter Dave Itzkoff both interviews Jones and jokes that he just might take the comedian's words out of context—"to show him how it feels." (Itzkoff doesn't, because, "unlike some media outlets, we [the Times] would never do that." Zing!)

Both the segment and the Times' responding Q+A are pretty darn funny—but, given the paper's $74.5 million loss last quarter, laughing makes us feel more than a little guilty. Isn't this like shooting a fish in a barrel? 

What do you think?

So now we know what crosses the line.  If you eviscerate Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, and compare her speechifying to beauty-pageant stumping, you can expect her to take it in stride. But call her a "slutty flight attendant" while making untoward remarks about her brood, and expect her full wrath.

The background:

After David Letterman made some crude jokes about Bristol Palin in Monday's Late Show monologue—specifically, joking that the 18-year-old abstinence crusader had been knocked up by Yankees third baseman (and Kate Hudson squeeze) Alex Rodriguez—Sarah Palin fired back with this -- check out our Gaggle post on it, as well:

Laughter incited by sexually perverted comments made by 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us that some Hollywood/NY entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands.

 We were, as we often do, making jokes about people in the news and we made some jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughter, the 18-year-old girl, who is—her name is Bristol, that’s right, and so, then, now they’re upset with me. These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl. I mean, look at my record. It has never happened. I don’t think it’s funny. I would never think it was funny. I wouldn’t put it in a joke… Gov. Palin, if you’re watching, I would like you to consider coming to New York City—even Todd—as my guests, or leave Todd at home. I’d love to have you on the show. It’d be exciting. All right, so there, I hope I’ve cleared part of this up. Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was okay for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No.

And as of this morning, Palin issued an "exclusive" statement via her rep to FoxNews, along the lines of Letterman-can-shove it:

The Palins have no intention of providing a rating's boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show. Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman.

What do you think? Is Letterman out of line?  Or is Palin, who keeps erroneously stating that Letterman's jokes targeted Willow, rather than Bristol, just being cranky?

• DMB Still Sells Through. Dave Matthews Band snagged the third-best album debut of 2009 this week, rising to the top of the Billboard pop charts with Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King, which has sold 424,000 copies. DMB bumps Eminem's comeback album, Relapse, which was No. 1 for the two weeks prior. [The New York Times]

• Armstrong Project Coasts With Ross Addition. The producing team behind the Lance Armstrong biopic has hired veteran Gary Ross to write the script -- the same guy who penned the Oscar-nominated sports movie Seabiscuit from its original book. Ross will be working primarily to adapt story elements from Armstrong's 2000 memoir, It's Not About the Bike, which was co-authored with Washington Post sportswriter Sally Jenkins. [The Hollywood Reporter]

• Swine Flu in Mexico Leaves Empty Theaters. How has swine flu in Mexico affected movie attendance, which, as we all know, requires you to sit for two-plus hours in very close quarters with 250 other people? Reports Variety: For a short period of time, some Mexico City theaters required every customer coming through the door to sanitize his hands, creating long, winding lines. Initially, the government said movie patrons everywhere would have to sit seven feet apart from one another, but when exhibitors complained, the rule became a recommendation only. As a result, the trade reports, the major studios are curtailing their expectations significanly for summer's tentpoles. [Variety]