Our own Joseph Helfgot, founder of Variety sister company MarketCast, died earlier this month from complications of a heart transplant. However, as The Wrap reports, he will live on:

In a Hollywood-style ending to a colorful life, Joseph Helfgot, the movie market researcher who passed away last week at age 60, became the second facial transplant donor in the United States, the family revealed on Tuesday.

Helfgot, whose insights in movie marketing were one of Hollywood's best kept secrets, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday April 5 as a result of a stroke during heart transplant surgery.

In a surprise twist ending to his life, not only did his family re-donate the heart that had been transplanted into Helfgot and donate his liver, but also donated his face.

"To the end, he was a trailblazer, leaving a legacy that we are proud to say included the ultimate gift, namely, a new face, a re-transplanted heart and liver, allowing three individuals to survive, a final testament to Joseph's legacy as the son of Auschwitz survivors," his family said in a statement.

Doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital said on Tuesday that the recipient of Helfgot's face -- the victim of an industrial accident -- was doing well, and that they were "cautiously optimistic" for his recovery. They spoke on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Noted: The Helfgot photo, like the story, came from The Wrap; the photographer was Wrap EIC Sharon Waxman. HAL regrets the omission.

• "Shawshank Redemption," "The Godfather" in IMDB's top 25 most-searched movies for 2008 [ScreenRant]
• Kirk Douglas, 92, has a MySpace page [Reuters]
• Peter Falk may have Alzheimer's [Reuters]

• Hey, there's good money in libel! Josh Hartnett gets $30K from the Daily Mirror over allegations that he engaged in "steamy shenanigans" with a woman at the Soho Hotel. Wait, that's libel? [Times]
• You just can't trust that darn internet: Big Stage Entertainment has teamed with Splash News to allow people "to insert their 3-D faces into photos featuring some of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities." Wait, that's not libel? [BusinessWire]
• More good money: web design firm Illuminati Karate made $35K by grabbing the URL Georgewbushlibrary.com, then selling it back to the library, when Bush's web contractor accidentally let it expire. Heh. [TechCrunch]
• Roman Polanski wants to use Marina Zenovich's documentary "Wanted and Desired" as exhibit A in getting those pesky pedophilia charges dismissed; a representative for the Los Angeles DA's office says, "We're looking forward to seeing Mr. Polanski in Los Angeles to litigate it." I smell sequel. [Times]

• Leiber/Stoller pursue $2.7 million judgment attached to Elvis Presley songs such as "Hound Dog." Go, boys! [CNS]
• Former NBC Universal treasury manager gets 21 months for embezzlement, the old-fashioned kind: He stole it from a safe [CNS]
• Vegas cabbies know all: Their passengers love Cher at Caesar's, hate "Criss Angel Believe" [Las Vegas Review Journal]

• The RIAA needs to chill: Latest target is a 19 y.o. transplant patient [p2pnet]
• Responses to last night's "Gran Torino" media screening? Oof. [Hollywood-Elsewhere]
• Homeless New Orleans families move into the Brad Pitt houses [AP]

• Hollywood moguls take out full-page LA Times ad begging SAG not to strike [TBS]
• Possibility of free, porn-free wireless internet [WSJ]
• We've been in a recession since last year [WSJ]
• Luke Skywalker's lightsaber: yours for $150,000 [Radar]

• "Arrested Development" emerging from development at Fox Searchlight [THR]
• "Most of you have never heard of him. But if producer Mark Canton has his way, you will." Oh, wait; they're talking about Hopalong Cassidy [Radar]
• In China, "As Good As It Gets" translates as "Mr. Cat Poop" [Den of Geek]
• Pitt/Jolie have a deal w/ People for positive coverge (Wait, this is news?) [NYT]
• From stag to sag: DVD sales now seem to be moving toward actual decline [NYT]

• LACMA seeks speed-metal guitarist, "must be able to sound insane" [Digital Daily]
• Tucker Max says his movie will be just like "Twilight," only bigger [Tucker Max via Fark]
• Monty Python creates YouTube channel
• God help me, but I'm looking forward to "Britney: For The Record" 
• Ow, the deja vu! Strike could threaten award ceremonies [MSNBC]

• See, the recession isn't so bad: Huge jets, now half price! [Clusterstock]
• Jerry Yang, the $2 billion man (and not in a good way) [SAI]
• The killer app: 12 gadgets killed by the cellphone [Wired]
• Man sues Simon & Schuster, insisting he is not a douchebag [CNS]
• Boing Boing and Federated Media launch gaming blog Offworld [BusinessWire]

London's Groucho Club sounds like the Factory, Little Nell's and the Copacabana rolled into one. And yet the UK film business largely sucks; meanwhile, Hollywood rolls merrily along while making do with, what, Villa? If it's a cosmic joke, the punchline is "Soho Society," a new book written by Bernie Katz (that's him, as painted by Triana de Lamo Terry). Imagine Amy Sacco dishing for 140 pages during the heyday of Bungalow 8 and you get the idea. Although that's hard to imagine, since the chapters have names like "Seduction Of The Straight Man," "Interview With A Rent Boy" and "No 1 Door Whore."

Variety editor Steven Gaydos, who spent five years in London, brought the book to my attention, writing: "It's all the more impressive an accomplishment as Katz is no literary poseur but rather a self-described low-life, as evidenced by his intro to the book in which he recounts the fateful day in his youth when his father's "life ended somewhat abruptly with a bullet in his head... never one to miss an opportunity, I sashayed over to his wardrobe and navigated my way across the sea of footwear to his black Pierre Cardin alligator-skin shoes, which I'd secretly always had my eye on." Yeesh. Gaydos adds: "The health freaks here can't condone the kind of alcohol consumption that goes on there." I'll bet. And: "I miss it more than words can say." Yeah, I can see that, too.

The book's illustrated with original artworks by Damien Hirst, Peter Blake, Tracey Emin, John Maybury and Sam Taylor-Wood, all of which will be on exhibit November 26-December 2 at London's Lazarides Gallery, with an auction hosted by Stephen Fry to follow.

All of which sounds fabulous and only serves to remind me that none of this info does me any damn good. Anyway, if you're similarly masochistic, here's the book.

• DiCaprio on Winslet: "She will let me strangle her until she literally passes out." [Guardian]
• "Lost" Beatles track, 14-minute "Carnival of Light," could be released [CNN]
• Asperger's Syndrome forces The Vines to curtail its tour [Reuters]
• Domino's Pizza added to TiVo menu [Valleywag]

• "Arrested Development" movie still in... development [Coming Soon]
• Casting agents, take note: John Cleese had a hair transplant [Independent]
• Bet they don't have one of these: Make your own Muppet [FAO Schwartz]
• Ricky Gervais to guest star on "Sesame Street" [BBC]
• Well played: Lars Ulrich sells his Basquiat for $13.5 million [NYT]

But what the hell. Click through for larger resolution. [Screen Junkies]

• Gong Li accused of treason after becoming a Singapore citizen [Independent]
• Judge confirms $2.1 million judgment against Uwe Boll [THR]
• You elected Barack Obama, now buy the soundtrack [Listening Post]
• Don't rub it in: Hulu CEO says business is "vastly exceeding our expectations" [SEI]

• Enough with the Digital Rights Management, it ain't never gonna work [SAI]
• That all-you-can-eat music service, Datz? Kind of sucks [MediaMemo]
• Why Google's in decline: No one wants to pay for ad links because no one clicks on them [Barron's]
• And Facebook's ads don't look like such a great idea, either [WSJ]

• Viacom uses Brazilian government incentives to fund local version of "VH1 Storytellers" [Variety]
• "Dallas" fans denied access to the Ewing family [AP]
• You have been warned: "Twilight" mania is here [Slashfilm]
• There's a city called Batman and it's suing Christopher Nolan [Sky News]
• WSJ's 50 Women to Watch includes MGM chairman Mary Parent, Sony counsel Nicole Seligman

• Why the "Stranger Than Paradise" one-sheet is brilliant [Guardian]
• Fighting to save New York's Tin Pan Alley, where iconic American songs were born [CNN]
• The newest player in gaming is... Lifetime Networks? [Paid Content]
• It's Holly Golightly's 50th birthday [Observer]
• After 10 years, Nic Harcourt's leaving "Morning Becomes Eclectic" [The Set List]
• Journey power ballad "Don't Stop Believin'" best-selling digital song ever [The Daily Swarm]

• Makes a great stocking stuffer: Leonardo DiCaprio's fingerpaintings [Variety, HAL]
• Blu-ray player prices plummet, just in time for the holidays [BWEN]
• Also in the spirit: Disney Club Penguin tchotckes as far as the eye can see [Silicon Alley Insider]
• But if you're a struggling actor, buy now: California's unemployment fund is "nearly insolvent" [TBS]

• In his first act as "Iron Man's" sidekick, Don Cheadle says no "Ocean's 14" [OK!]
• "Iron Man" makes Marvel earnings chipper [BusinessWire]
• Viacom to employees: Earnings down/Xmas party off/enjoy the extra two vacation days [Gawker] 

• Four years after he was sacked from the London production of "The Producers," Richard Dreyfuss is returning to the London stag to star in "Complicit," directed by Kevin Spacey. Said Dreyfuss, "I'm very excited to have a chance of not being fired before the opening." [BBC News]
• Def Jam Recordings head Shakir Stewart, who signed Beyonce and Young Jeezy, commited suicide Saturday. [Variety]
• Ricky Gervais, whose next film is "The Office"-ish comedy "The Man From the Pru," says he wants it to be a TV series. "We're doing it the M*A*S*H way round," Gervais said. "It was originally just going to be a TV series -- in fact, it predates 'Extras.' " [Rotten Tomatoes]
• Boo, hiss: Johnny Carson's lawyer is peddling a tell-all book. [Radar]
• Ouch: Denise Richards is consider saner, safer bet than Lindsay Lohan [Now]

• Sir Howard Stringer sends email warning of Sony cutbacks "most severe" [WaxWord]
• Is Tivo in a death spiral? [Epicenter]
• Sharon Waxman would like credit for SAG's "lost residuals" program [Waxword]
• Barack Obama's infomercial probably not eligible for an Emmy [The Live Feed]

• Sony and Paramount in talks to cofinance "Tintin" [NYT]
• Recession shelves plans for Ireland's tallest building, U2 Tower [AP]
• Prof. Xavier and Magneto as Vladimir and Estragon [BBC]
• I knew Prop. 8 would come to this: Man wants to marry a comic-book character [news.com.au]
• MTV plans to announce layoffs Election Day, hopes no one will notice [DHD]

Iggy Pop, 1972. Bid estimate: $1,500-$2,000

Christie's punk auction includes Sex Pistols' fliers, photos of Iggy Pop, Lou Reed [AP]

"Bosses should embrace Facebook," study says [BBC News]

MySpace most-cited internet source of movie information, says Nielsen [BusinessWire]

Joaquin Phoenix: "I'm not doing films anymore." [Extra, via CHUD]

Maryland man camcords and pirates movies, gets 21 months [Threat Level]

Judge to RIAA: You can sue people, but you can't bankrupt them [Slashdot]

Posited: Porn stars can change the mainstream. Discuss. [Film School Rejects]

Justice: Budweiser can't do a thing about that "Wassup?" Obama ad [Brand New Day]
Pointless: Led Zeppelin to record, tour w/out Robert Plant [BBC]
Tragic: Sean Connery says, "Am I retired? Oh, yes." [MTV News]
Inevitable?: "Lara Croft" developer opens door to Time Warner acquisition [FT]

Wanna see how EMI lost $1.17 billion in 12 months? [MediaMemo]
Retailers slash Blu-ray prices in hopes that consumers take the hint [WSJ]
MTV goes old school, launches MTVmusic.com [Silicon Alley Insider]
Why did Lionsgate stock plunge 9% today? [The Business Sheet]
Scott Lambert, agent to Keifer Sutherland, Scarlett Johansson, leaving WMA, agency biz [DHD]

Struggles in digital: No one can figure out how to turn on "Che" subtitles [Thompson on Hollywood]

Struggles w/ reality, p. 1: No honorary doctorate for Phil Spector; he can't understand why [The Set List]

Struggles w/ reality, p. 2: "Confessions of a Shopaholic" looks unfunnier all the time [AdAge]

"Little House on the Prairie" prod'n co. sues the "Little House on the Prairie" museum [NPR]

Jeeziz, people! Clint Eastwood already touted as best actor for "Gran Torino"? [In Contention]

Internet flocked with rumors of George Clooney starring in "The Birds" remake [Bloody-Disgusting]

Radar magazine closes, again; website will rise once more as AMI's answer to TMZ [NYO]

Bono to start writing for the New York Times' editorial page in 2009 [Radar]

"CSI" extra sues CBS, says network slashed hours in retailiation for sexual-harassment testimony [CNS]

John Ridley: Hollywood makes better movies during recessions [NPR]

Cartoon Network has cooler deaths, funnier bloodshed, more narrative justification than "Saw" [MSNBC]

"Mad Men" sings! Cast performs for Recording Academy benefit [Cynthia Littleton]

"Watchmen" captured! Watch Spike TV's "world premiere" trailer [MovieBox.net]

Sumner divorces! Yes, there was a prenup [AP]

Disney pissed! Wants to know what Lehman did with their $92 million [Reuters]

Full disclosure: This posting is mostly for my own amusement. Peter Sciretta found a HAL refrigerator magnet for sale on eBay's UK site for about $10, including shipping. Sciretta reminds us that HAL stands for a Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer which, of course, has nothing to do with Hollywood's Aggregated Links. But I'm buying one anyway. [Slashfilm]

>> Maria Shriver says that Sarah Palin, as a grown-ass woman, needs to get over the whole press-as-persecution-complex thing. "I think Sarah Palin presents the image she wants to present. She is in charge of her choices. She is a grown woman, so she can decide, ‘Do I want to do a press conference or not? And if not, why not?’ That affects how you get covered in the media." Speak it, sister. [Wilshire & Washington]

>> OK, imagine Donald Trump was having an affair with Britney Spears. [Note: HE'S NOT.] And when he found out that Britney wanted to break up with him, Trump hired a member of his security detail to kill her. That's pretty much the scenario in Egypt, where billionaire real estate tycoon Hisham Talaat Moustafa is on trial for ordering a hit on his mistress, Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim, who was found stabbed to death in her Dubai apartment in July. [AP]

>> Kim Cattrall's new movie, "Miss January," may have her starring as 50-year-old former porn star. [Cinematical]

>> Top UK literary agent Pat Kavanaugh, who led last year's walkout from Peters, Fraser & Dunlop to form United Artists, has died from a brain tumor. [AP]

I'm traveling. Will return to normal posting tomorrow.

-- dh

>> Why the yappy dog won: "Movie star fatigue" [The Big Picture]

>> Don Cheadle in for Terence Howard in "Iron Man" [THR]

>> "Twilight" sequel already in the works? [DHD]

>> UK theme park working with Lionsgate on developing "Saw - The Ride" [The Register]

10 movies that shouldn't have come out on Blu-Ray [Wired]

Antonio Banderas raising money to direct pro-Arab film [Independent]

Airlines to filter in-flight wi-fi for "inappropriate content" (translation: porn) [Autopia]

Dennis Hopper named a commander in the French Legion of Honor [AP]

Arson ends Travolta movie's attempt to bolster a troubled Paris suburb [Independent]

South Korea links web slander to suicides [Reuters]

iPhone app features calculating tools for script supervisors, space needed for drive storage [Cinema Tech]

Antonio Banderas visits Dubai as "special guest" of Hydra Properties, pitches its success as "blockbuster movie" [Business Wire]

Walt Disney gives $1.5 million to Tree People [Business Wire] 

Who says there's no good news this week? If you're in Los Angeles, you have the chance to see Paul Armisen and Maya Rudolph perform a play written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, with music by Jon Brion ("Magnolia" and a lot of other greatness). The show is 8:30 pm tomorrow (Saturday) night at Largo; tickets are $25 and can be ordered by calling (310) 855-0350 and pressing 0. Unless, of course, it's already sold out -- which it wasn't when I wrote this, but surely will be soon. [Slashfilm]

Imagine you were selling the El Capitan theater, which is now on the block for $31 million. Among the adjectives that might come to mind are "majestic," perhaps "breathtaking;" "historic" is a little bland, but would do. However, in a profile outlining the six-story structure's features (1,000 seats, state-of-the-art digital projection and sound, refurbished 1928 Wurlitzer pipe organ) and history (world premiere of "Citizen Kane," et. al.), Jamie Merrill quotes realtor Tom Bowers describing the opportunity as "a stable occupancy history and an opportunity for an investor to capitalize on long-term rent and absorption of Hollywood." He forgot easy access to public transportation. [The Guardian]

[Props to Erik Davis, Cinematical]

Or, What HAL Gets For Cranking Out Just One More Post Before The End Of The Day:

Date: Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Subject: [redacted] Even more genius than the fake UTA list?
To: undisclosed-recipients

The fact that Variety's HAL blog thinks it's real:

http://weblogs.variety.com/hal/

Oops!!

[redacted]

*****************

HAL is black and white and red-faced. Gnash teeth, rend garments; curse gods, self.

In what is probably just punishment, posting will be slow today as I'm in a SIX-HOUR meeting. HAL is nothing if not self sufficient.

Harvey Weinstein may have more money problems after apparently losing a bet with Page Six. He swore on a $1 million charity donation that an email from Scott Rudin was a fake, one that said Weinstein "ghoulishly badgered cancer-stricken Oscar-winner Sydney Pollack and the widow of another co-producer, Anthony Minghella" in the rush to finish "The Reader." However, after Nikki Finke posted the email, Rudin confirmed that he did send it. A Weinstein rep says that once he's verified the email's authenticity, he will donate $1 million to the Robin Hood Foundation. [Page Six]

Barack Obama needs "Vibe" readers to vote for him. At least that's what he told the mag in a letter to be published in the November issue: "I am running for president to take this country in a new direction. But I can't do it alone. I need you," Obama declares. "Whether it's for the first time, or the first time in a long time, I need you to register and vote on November 4." [AP]

At this point, Leo the Lion must feel like he's being chased by Chicken Little.The MGM building was evacuated again this morning due to a bomb threat, much as it was last week and last month. Writes Mark Graham, "And for those of you keeping score at home, the storied Constellation Blvd. office building has also suffered anthrax threats and an unprovoked attack of killer bees in the last two months." [Defamer]

>> The cheapest ways to watch USA Today's top 15 finance-themed films [The Business Sheet]
>> Bands that perform full albums in concert sell tickets [Christian Science Monitor]
>> Russell Crowe as the Sheriff and Robin Hood in "Nottingham"? [CHUD, MTV]
>> Comedian sues "Family Guy" for $2 million over "stolen routine" [Courthouse News]
>> "Our Gang" member and founder of drug treatment programs dies at 85 [Los Angeles Times]