French-based designer and illustrator Stéphane Massa-Bidal has created a series of vintage book covers inspired by some of your favorite websites (present company excluded). While we’re not sure the taglines translate exactly (For example, LinkedIn: “A friend is one who has the same enemies you have.”), the visuals are absolutely dreamy. In fact, we wish that they were real, because we want to buy them all — even MySpace. When’s the last time you even thought about them? Excellent rebranding!

Check out his Flickr photostream for more images and peep eight of our favorite “books” after the jump.

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1. New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz on defending the New Museum: “At a certain point, the hatred seems unrelated to the offense. It is just people reveling in nay-saying and name-calling without examining the motivations for their behavior — and believe me, I know whereof I speak.” [via Vulture]
2. Imeem is in the process of being purchased by MySpace; that leaves LaLa. [via MediaMemo]
3. Bjork has written a song for Moomins and the Comet Chase, a freaky Finnish kid’s movie about hippo-like animals. [via Pitchfork]
4. David Letterman mocks the New York Times for their “douche” cover story. [via HuffPo]
5. In what Gawker is calling a photo disaster, there will be no full-frontal Levi Johnston in his upcoming spread for Playgirl. [via Gawker]

Ashamed you only have 200 Facebook friends? Worried the MySpace community won’t pay attention to your aging synth pop band? Can’t get @iamdiddy to reply to your tweets? While bots may be able to boost your friend count with other bots, Australia-based viral marketing company uSocial knows you’re looking for something a little more, you know, “real.” Read More »

Today’s headlines that shouldn’t be funny – but are.

1. “Journalist Questions Obama about Smoking” [via PCO]
NOT Funny: “I don’t do it in front of my kids. I don’t do it in front of my family.”
Funny: This is probably the closest he will ever get to saying, “I did not have sex with that woman…”

2. “MySpace to shed 300 jobs worldwide” [via Times]
NOT Funny: 300 jobs = 2/3 of MySpace’s work force.
Funny: VeryFewPeoplesSpace.com

3. “Taxpayer Money to Promote Tap Water” [MYTC]
NOT Funny: Minneapolis is spending $200,000 to promote tap water.
Funny: The economy is going down the drain! Oh snap!

Lunch is long gone; it’s 4 p.m., Norman Bates is, like, really real,  Iran is  still insane, MySpace is on the out, Sean Penn is taking a break, Lindsay Lohan is sort of, kind of slutty, the Ventures’ Bob Bogle has embraced the great beyond, and work just won’t end. There’s only one way to make it out of this day alive: THE CAT POWER HAPPY HOUR, a daily pick-me-up from your friends at Flavorpill. After the jump, a picture so cute it’ll turn your cubicle into a den of pure cuddle. (Check back tomorrow, same time, same place for more unhinged adorability.)

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Today at Flavorpill, we read the reactions to the New Moon trailer’s debut and scoffed over the idea of a Where’s Waldo? movie. We found it funny that a German publisher made Paul Auster a children’s book author without him even knowing it. We thought it was awkward that Morrissey decided to denounce Twitter on his MySpace blog. We weren’t sure if the New York Times ads are sexist, but we’ve always been convinced that they are completely annoying. We pondered the question, “Is Bruno good for gays?” We wanted some Will Ferrell sunscreen. We loved the newly-released Marilyn Monroe pics (She was only 24! Huzzah!). And finally, we felt more confused than ever about the upcoming Danny McBride/David Gordon Green movie now that Natalie Portman has signed on. Weird, no?

1. James Frey and Oprah are totally not fighting — in fact, Oprah even called to bury the hatchet. [via Vanity Fair]

2. Star Trek breaks IMAX records, and our wallets in the process [via Slash Film] (Also: Don’t get fooled like Aziz.)

3. Tao Lin has sold his MySpace page on EBay for $8,100 to an investment banker. [via MOBYLIVES]

4. “Anthony Zuiker, creator of the hit TV series CSI and its two spinoffs, says his new multimedia ‘digi-novel’ will launch a ‘revolution in publishing for the YouTube generation.’” [via USA Today]

5. NPR takes down Outrage review because it names public figures outted in the film [via indieWIRE]

Here’s a remix of last summer’s track from Texas’ Young Problemz. We’re hoping they’re working on a Twitter rant. Or at least something that goes after Facebook…

Tech Crunch got their hands on a draft of Julia Angwin’s forthcoming MySpace tell-all, and they’ve excitedly spilled a few juicy beans.

“Tom Anderson’s real age and youthful hacker activities are well documented in the book. Anguin talks about an obsession Anderson had with ‘an attractive Asian-American in the finance department’ that led to a request that Anderson work from home for months. She also says Anderson was involved in an Asian-focused porn site even after MySpace was acquired by News Corp., a potential PR nightmare, but that Rupert Murdoch (CEO) and Peter Chernin (COO) brushed aside concerns and swept the incident under the rug.”

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