When Julius Genachowski takes over as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, he’s got a lot on his plate.

Celebrities are pouring into Washington at a record rate, arriving to goody bags in high-end hotels (The Ritz in Georgetown is offering a red-white-and-blue package of Michelle Obama’s shortbread cookies) and occasional autograph-seekers in hotel lobbies. The biggest challenge for many is which of the 80 inaugural events to go to – from the Green Inaugural Ball hosted by former Vice President Al Gore at the Mellon Auditorium to the 2.0 Lincoln Ball at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where Abraham Lincoln celebrated his inauguration in 1865.

Move over Barney. That cute Barney Cam of you and Miss Beazley running all over the Bush White House is so declasse. Even that footage of you, with your terrier temper, biting a reporter, has fallen from favor. Change is in the air, and there’s a new animal cam making the rounds in Washington.

Amid gloomy forecasts about the industry’s future – and speculation about whether it is doomed to the same fate as one-seemed-to-fall-everyday newspapers – comes good news from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The NEA recently reported a survey that found American adults are reading more literature than before. “At a time of immense cultural pessimism, the NEA is pleased to announce some important news,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. “Literary reading has risen in the U.S. for the first time in a quarter century.”

Is it really true that Hollywood is in the tank for Barack Obama?    Apparently.   Figures released by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics show that California led the nation in contributions to the president’s inaugural celebration.   Halle Berry. Steven Spielberg. Sharon Stone.

The New York Times reported last week that Barack Obama’s inauguration set new records for online video viewing. CNN alone, said the paper, provided more than 21.3 million streams – far ahead of the 5.3 million provided on Election Day. Broadcasters, eager not to be forgotten, responded today.

Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced today that he was removing his hold on the nomination of Eric Holder Jr. to be attorney general.

For those who think that Dick Cheney might not really be gone -- suspecting that somehow the Darth Vader of American politics might be hiding in some closet in an undisclosed location ready to infect the bureaucracy with poisonous legal memos -- now comes proof that we really have moved on.

Starbucks. Target. Best Buy. IBM. Boeing.    As premier brand-name American corporations continue slashing jobs across the sectors, President Obama met this morning with some of the nation's top CEOs to discuss the ailing U.S. economy. And, as befits a tech-savvy commander in chief, quite a few of the chiefs invited to the White House have ties to the world of technology.     "They make things, they hire people," Obama said of the 13 CEOs he joined in the Roosevelt Room.

For weeks now, word was that President Obama plans to nominate Julius Genachowski, a Harvard chum and a major player in the tech world, to chair the morale-challenged Federal Communication Commission.