Courtenay Semel, for those who are not familiar with her heiress-level fameballing, is not a shy and retiring person. A person does not make out with her attention-craving girlfriend Tila Tequila on red carpets because she mistrusts the media; a person does not scream at a club bouncer to "just fucking Google me, you dumb fuck" because she mistrusts the media; and a person certainly does not "joke" to a magazine reporter that "I'm kind of like the Don Juan of the lesbian world," as Semel did with Curve, because she mistrusts the media.

So it's odd that Semel would tell Curve that the "media kind of ruined that relationship" she had with Lindsay Lohan by saying the pair were dating. Semel added: "I can't even have a best friend because I guess I'm going to be linked with them next." But maybe she also can't have friends because she gives underminey quotes about them, like this one, from the new interview:

I think, you know, everyone scrutinizes, Lindsay for everything she went through, but they should thank her, because it shows you exactly what not to do.

That's a fairly cutting quote considering that Lohan has yet to enter rehab per Semel's urging. Of course, when Semel only went to rehab herself after her dad cut off access to the trust fund, something she left out of her little zinger. Semel, it would seem, grasps the advantages of strategic oversharing as well as the rest of her internet-bred generation; if only daddy Terry had been so savvy, Yahoo might be in a better place today.

[via People]

(Semel with heiress Casey Johnson this past May, top, via INF; Semel-Tequila pic, lower, via x17online.com)

A tipster sent us the oddly e.e. cummings-esque internal email from Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang announcing the departure:

several months ago, terry initiated discussions with the board of directors about stepping down from the chairman role once the board was able to identify a successor. since then, i have worked closely with terry and the board to ensure an orderly transition. today, we announced that terry will leave the board and roy bostock, who has been a member of the board since '03, will assume terry's role as non-executive chairman.

i want to thank terry for his years of service and contributions to yahoo!. he's been a great partner and a true friend. out of appreciation for everything he's done for us, we're naming the entrance to our sunnyvale headquarters "semel drive." stay tuned for more info.

A seasoned TV veteran, Braun initially struggled to find his footing at the Internet company. He clashed with some Yahoo old-timers, and several of his projects never got off the ground.

Braun earned modest praise more recently for resetting his ambitions and implementing some valuable changes. He worked with "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" producer Michael Davies to create online shows, redesigned several Yahoo properties and launched new ones focused on food and technology.

Braun said his resignation was not prompted specifically by the restructuring. "I accomplished most of my goals in coming here," he said. "I'm really ready for another challenge, perhaps one that combines old media and new media."

While Braun's immediate career plans are still unclear, he's not yet ready to give up on his quest to seamlessly mate old and new media. Yahoo may have resisted his bold attempts to develop a cathode-ray-tube and antenna-equipped "streaming" box, which when placed on a desk next to a computer, would allow users to watch network television programming as they surf the internet, but he's confident he'll quickly find some company with the necessary vision to help him realize his crazy dream.

• Yahoo's CEO makes big changes at the top [LAT]

But with news that Google has now hired a former entertainment executive to its board of directors, albeit from the very computer-friendly PIXAR, media watchers are saying the struggle for multimedia control of our lovingly crafted product could get bloody:

Ann Mather, 45, a former executive at Walt Disney and Pixar, becomes the first Google board member to come from the entertainment world. Mather, who was Pixar's chief financial officer from 1999 to 2004, will chair Google's audit committee.

Mather's appointment is a "potential harbinger" of things to come, as the major entertainment and Internet companies warily begin to embrace each other, said UBS Internet analyst Benjamin Schachter.

"Mather's appointment gives Google's board a media perspective that it currently lacks," said Schachter. "This is the first person on the board without a purely technological or academic background."

While the payoff potential is great, one must also consider what of ourselves we may lose in the exchange it could be less than a decade before the fanciful illustration above becomes a daily eyesore reality. And yet, as documented in the LA Times Yahoo! piece, Silicon Valley's laid back culture will most probably prove no match for the "Hollywood Way." We imagine within a few months of the media marriage, the once efficient and accurate search engine will start lazily spitting out "reimagined" results to queries that were popular twenty years ago.

• LIGHTS! CAMERA! GOOGLE? [NY Post]
• Can Yahoo Sign On to Hollywood? [LA Times]