Musical theater star and lounge singer extraordinaire Robert Goulet died yesterday of pulmonary fibrosis while awaiting a lung transplant in an L.A. hospital; he was 73. In the early 60s Goulet skyrocketed to fame through his performance as Lancelot in the smash Broadway hit Camelot. He soon became a seemingly timeless fixture on both the musical theater touring circuit and the Vegas strip – in 1982 he was proclaimed Vegas Entertainer of the Year –......

The Michelin Guide announced selections today for its third New York Edition, which officially goes on sale Wednesday. The new edition features 565 restaurants (and 54 Manhattan hotels.) Of the eateries, 42 were awarded stars ranging from one to three; a mere 3 restaurants merited the highest 3-star rating (Jean Georges, Le Bernardin and Per Se), while 6 others made the 2-star cut. But star-gazing aside, the guide comes in handy for diners on a......

From the way back machine, NJ.com's Always Amazin' (by way of Deadspin) points us to this classic image from 1986. Classic on so many levels. It's never really been the same for any of the people pictured. The caption of the image from the Daily News: "New York Mets' Dwight Gooden laughs off a right from heavyweight Mike Tyson as referee Darryl Strawberry supervises the event at Shea Stadium." Sadly, it's been downhill for Dwight......

Thank you, thank you, thank you, New York Post, for reporting the memorable words of the Union Square Tree Mangler. They go a long way to explaining David Sasson's motivation for doing $25,000 worth of damage to the trees and shrubbery in the park. The only this we enjoyed more than the quote was the various monikers the editors came up with for the herbicidal maniac: WHACKER Kooky shrub-drubber Shrub schlub ANTI-PLANT RAMPAGER WORM......

- The New York Daily News gives us something to chew on for V-day -- Hotties in the Kitchen. We call Dave Lieberman. - Andrea Strong checks out Tocqueville's new space. We saw it too (and would have shared the pictures if they hadn't come out horribly), but you can go see it yourself later this month. - Slashfood drools over 5 Ninth's Banh Mi, but at $12 we think it's a bit steep. -......

For the love of public broadcasting (the BBC!): The really gross story of the Brooklyn mortician who sold body parts from corpses has taken an even more tabloid spin: It turns out that the famed broadcaster Alistair Cooke's body was handled by the same perps, and could have been harvested for parts, through a Spanish Harlem mortuary. What's more, Cooke was 95 years old - and he was pretty sick when he died of cancer......

Back in October, Mayor Bloomberg said, via a conversation he had with the Daily News (which then, of course, wrote about it), that he wanted Larry Silverstein to give up his role in rebuilding the World Trade Center. Silverstein holds the lease down there, and he's been criticized for delaying the start of construction (whereas the Port Authority has been, relatively speaking, zipping along with building their new PATH station and mall). So, today, Silverstein......

A lucky man survived a car crash and falling from the BQE yesterday. Nicklaus Emmanuel, a UPS loader, was a passenger in an Acura that "spun out of control from the left lane of the BQE just past the Cadman Plaza exit about 1:30PM." The smoky car continued to roll towards the guardrail, and when Emmanuel climbed out, he fell 30 feet to Furman Street, landing feet first. Feet first! The Daily News says he......

Mayor Bloomberg has been very busy since winning reelection last week. He visited a number of places of worship around town to thank voters for their support. He complained about the free-meter parking on Sunday rule that went into effect yesterday. And he wrote an editorial in the Daily News to tell New Yorkers how he wants to change the way judges get elected, saying the current process "bears more of a resemblance to voting......

The Daily News has facts and figures from the NYPD's "war against graffiti". There's been a 93% jump in graffiti busts versus last year; might it be because police coordinators received digital cameras to document new tags? And did you know there's a computer program called "Graffitistat," much like Compstat which records major crimes? There's a quote from City Councilman Peter Vallone, the biggest graffiti hater in City Hall (this side of Mayor Bloomberg),......

We had kicked back to watch TV the other evening - live, not TiVo'd - when we started to see an "I ♥ NY" logo on screen. Awesome, we though, as the logo got bigger. But then the NY was replaced by...a freaking Honda Accord! Honda paid NY State $45,000 to use the logo in their ad which is appearing in the NY-area, and to us, that's getting peanuts. No wonder NY State has so......

Mayor Bloomberg wasn't kidding about wanting a bigger role in the redevelopment of Ground Zero: He made sure the Daily News could tell World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein that Bloomberg wanted him to "Butt out, Larry". Gotta love the tabs and how they cut to the chase. Bloomberg told the Daily News Editorial Board, "It would be in the city's interest to get Silverstein out, [but] nobody can figure out how to do it......

Not that Gothamist was expecting Mayor Bloomberg's reelection juggernaut (money=jugger) to really falter, but this week has really crapped out on his rival, Fernando Ferrer. The NY Times wonders if Ferrer can avoid death by a thousand cuts, and the Politicker ends its thoughts that Ferrer can win with a sad report of Ferrer's visit to Chelsea: "And He's passing out these blue photocopied half-pieces of paper, no real lit, and to top it off,......

With his mug plastered on the Daily News, there's speculation that the caught-on-cameraphone pervert is a raw-food restaurant owner. The joke nearly writes itself. The Daily News says that many people have contacted them and the NYPD to say they think it could be Dan Hoyt, the co-owner of Quintessence. Hoyt has been contacted for questioning, but his ex-wife and Quintessnce co-owner says nothing's been proven yet and "There should be a support center to......

Excellent! Apparently it's normal to be in a foul mood over this descpicably humid weather! The NY Times calls it the "Grumpy Factor" - New Yorkers have been acting like wittle babies because it's so hot and sticky. A doctor tells the Daily News it's a "thermo inversion": "With little breeze, the polluted air sits stagnant, irritating eyes and making air passages more sensitive to pollen." Hmm, is that enough of a reason to call......

A Brooklyn judge found that there wasn't enough evidence to convict a woman who killed her abusive husband. Judy Castillo-Thomas had apparently been in a two-year long abusive relationship with Jason Thomas, and after three weeks of marriage. The Daily News reports that he beat her in May of 2003 as he taunted her "that she was 'too skinny' and her buttocks were 'too skinny.'" If this were a Law & Order episode, Lennie Briscoe......

A young lawyer who regularly rode her bike was killed when she was crushed by one of two trucks she was trying to pass in Park Slope. The Daily News says, Elizabeth Padilla, who lived on Berkeley Place, "attempted to pass a 10-wheel Edy's Ice Cream truck," when the driver of a parked P.C. Richards truck in Park Slope "opened his door"; "Padilla swerved to avoid the door but hit the side of the moving......

Mayor Bloomberg lambasted the state's PACB decision to reject a plan to finance the West Side Stadium, telling New Yorkers, "We have let down America." Yes, Mayor Bloomberg was swimming in hyperbole, saying:"We've lost a little bit of our spirit to go ahead and our can-do attitude. If you adopt this kind of policy, we never would have built Carnegie Hall, we never would have built Radio City Music Hall, we never would have built......

The two NY Daily News sponsored NYC spelling bee contestants didn't advance in yesterday's fourth round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Alexander Martin, a Dwight School eighth-grader, misspelled "dissilient" (it means "springing apart, specifically bursting open"; Martin spelled it "desilient") and seventh grader Rajdeep Chahal at MS 137 was stumped with "feuilleton" ("the part of a European newspaper devoted to light fiction, reviews, and articles of general entertainment"; Chahal spelled it "fuolyurtone"). Even though......

The Health Department is so worried that the Asian bird flu will hit New York that officials meet every two weeks to figure out a strategy on how to save the city. Basically, the fear is that the avian flu is "one crucial mutation away from turning into a monster malady," hyperbole courtesy the Daily News, and the dilemma is whether or not to stockpile the city with Tamiflu, the "only known treatment against bird......

After almost a year of bloggers (photo and non) worrying and snickering, plus at least two protests, the MTA and NYPD have finally decided that a subway photo ban is unneccessary! Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne says, "We are not pressing for a ban. Our officers will continue to investigate, and intercede if necessary, if the activity - photo-related or not - is suspicious," he said. The Daily News had a nice summary of......

Commerce Banks may have those awesome penny arcade machines for your change, but it seems that they are especially prone to being robbed. Twenty-one Commerce banks have been robbed this year, with one "robber with a bad eye" robbing the Third Avenue and East 64th location four times, in a bankrobbing spree that totals six since the start of the year. The NYPD says that he has a damaged left eye, but even though tellers......

An organizations representing taxi drivers is asking the Taxi and Limousine Commission to create a Manhattan-JFK $45 flat rate. Much like the JFK-to-Manhattan flat rate, cabbies are looking to make sure they get airport business, with the main concern being that livery drivers tend to rip off tourists at big hotels. Plus, the group argues that many people heading to JFK are confused, as they think there is an existing $45 rate already. Currently, if......

It's that time of year again: Landlords are tryin to increase the rents for stabilized apartments, of which there are about 1 million in the city. Tonight, the Rent Guidelines Board is set to hear the landlords' arguments, who claim that oil costs necessitate increases of 6.5% for one-year leases and 10.5% for two-year leases; to put that in perspective, last year the hikes were 3.5% and 6.5% for one- and two-year leases respectively. Gothamist......

Wow. If Natasha Lyonne were to write a book, it would have to include how to become a B-list starlet (maybe B+-list in the indie world) and a regular in the gossip pages (easy when you date Eddie Furlong and get into fights with others), rent an apartment from Michael Rapaport, trash it, get thrown in jail, and have your landlord write an article about you in Jane magazine. The Daily News has details on......

Ooohh... In 1905, when the original Police Headquarters was being built at 240 Centre Street, the NYPD may have buried a time capsule under a cornerstone, in hopes of it being opened on May 6, 2005. However, the posh co-op which now occupies 240 Centre Street is against, well, busting through some granite for what could be a wild goose chase. The president of the co-op board, Arthur Emil, says, "My answer is, 'No.' There......

This might be a cautionary tale for all shutterbugs: A man taking pictures at a Brooklyn bar was shot in the face. Sheldon Goodridge had been taking photographs of a blues band and the crowd at the Cornerstone bar when, according to the Daily News, his camera's flashes set off a former friend. It's unclear why the friend is a "former friend," but witnesses say that the suspect, "Frankie," hugged Goodridge before leaving. Other bar......

A 19 year-old was arrested for causing almost $1 million in damages this past week. The police allege that Paul Bruno would tag parts of Staten Island, Brooklyn, and New Jersey, with his tag "Done," even hitting a Staten Island church. The NYPD calls him a "notorious interstate and citywide vandal," but his father points out that his son has "never been caught" and is "not on any surveillance tapes." The part of the story......

It seems like there are too many stories of hit-and-run incidents lately. Yesterday, a 10 year-old girl was in a coma after a driver hit her father's car in Queens and a cancer surgeon was killed after being hit by an ambulette on her way to work in Manhattan. Last week, a woman was found dead on the Upper East Side, after a hit-and-run. Not to mention countless others. The little girl in the coma......

It seems that the Webby Awards will be held in NYC this year on June 6. Gothamist can hear the paparazzi making sure they have a premiere or model's birthday to cover that night. The Daily News notes that during the dot com boom, NYC tried to land the awards, and now, finally after a few years of dot com bust-imposed online-only awards ceremonying, the Webbies are live again:"The Webby hasn't gone away," said [Tiffany]......