Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unstable building on 41st Ave. in Queens, a pedestrian struck on 33rd St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, and a double stabbing on East 188th St. and Webster Ave. in the Bronx. The New York Post flew a Jessica Simpson lookalike to Dallas and got her seats behind the Cowboys' bench in an effort to distract Dallas quarterback Tony Romo. Has anyone lost a camera in a cab......

The degree of difficulty is going up this weekend, way up. Dallas finished with the best record in the NFC at 13-3 and dominated the Giants in two games already this season. Only New England had more points than Dallas’ 455 and with Terrell Owens practicing, the Cowboys should be able to score a lot this weekend. And that will be the challenge facing the Giants on Sunday. It sounds like Sam Madison will be......

It's been a while (or maybe for some, not long enough) since John Mayer got up on the comedy stage. Well, he's back. This past Saturday he took the stage at the Comedy Cellar, and in a series of "I'm single now" jokes, he touched on Fresh Direct, commenting on the services delivery times: "You know what I could go for, Wednesday between the hours of 2 and 6pm...you know what's gonna eventually be really......

Sure, there are probably a few jokes about John Mayer, but last year John Mayer himself decided to hit the comedy circuit, and now it looks like he's kicking off 2007 with a little bit of funny as well. Varsity Basketweaving caught his set at the Comedy Cellar on January 5th. Here are some of the "10 things John Mayer did during his Jan. 5 stand-up set at the Comedy Cellar" after crashing the 11:30pm......

A look at some noteworthy (and mainly regifted) programs this week: Yule Log (WPIX 11, Monday, 9:00 a.m.) The classic Yule log returns another year on WPIX. This being the 40th Anniversary of the log, channel 11 offers up a one hour special on history at noon, right after this year's showing. If you don't want to wait, they even offer a portable Yule Log for your iPod and The Yule Log.com fan site has......

Comedian Dane Cook has a massive following, from his huge record sales to his zillions of MySpace friends. This weekend we'll see if he can extend the brand loyalty to the cineplex, as his first starring role in Employee of the Month hits theaters. Cook plays the slacker box boy Zach who's the Parker Lewis of the bulk bargain store, SuperMart. However, Zach decides to buckle down and shape up when he discovers the new......

Name, age, occupation, where are you from and where do you live now. Jessica Lynn Johnson, Actress/Playwright, From St. Louis Missouri, lived in Astoria NY for a little over a year now. You're in "Oblivious To Everyone," a play at the upcoming Fringe Festival - can you tell us a little about the project? How did you come up with the idea? As a teenager, I was definitely a self-proclaimed smut-a-holic, tuning in to every......

Ah, spring... time to clean out the closets, put away the winter duvet and, yes, time to stow away that black bag and bring on the color. This spring, it is all about color and pattern. And size definitely matters. While those teeny tiny clutches can be cute, Gothamist needs the cavernous capabilities of a serious tote. Okay, with all the bag snatching going on, you may be better off with a clutch. For many......

For some reason when things are "one night only" it makes us feel like they're more special. Sort of the opposite of a "one night stand". Either way, teen heart throb of our day, Jordan Knight, teams up with teen heart throb of those younger than us, Jeff Timmons, for a concert sure to make your inner teenager screech with delight. We think Timmons was in that band with Mr. Jessica Simpson, and we KNOW......

Ashlee Simpson...

First and foremost I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I offended the commenter in yesterday's post. I can't make any guarantees one way or another, but what do you think? Should this post be daily or weekly? Feel free to use the comment section. That said. here's what's happening Wednesday through Sunday. Last night I watched Stars headline the Darfur benefit show at Northsix in Williamsburg. It goes without saying that Stars (who are from Montreal,......

Holy majoly. Today, the world - well, really everyone who believed in celebrity fairy tale endings - reeled with news that very blond and pretty Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have officially separated. In fact, this news was so big, E! had a newscrawl at the bottom of their screen. Brad and Jen issued a statement through People magazine: We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate.......

Last night, the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center was lit, signaling the beginning of the mid-town holiday madhouse. The 71 foot (8 whole feet less than 2003) Norway spruce comes in at a hefty 9 tons and finds its way to New York City from Suffern, NY. The tree is topped by a star with 25,000 crystals, decorated with 30,000 lights, and tangled in five miles of wire. To watch the lighting, people at had......

Man, it had been so long since America had a good lip-syncing controversy to talk about, so thanks Lorne Michaels, Marci Klein and Joe Simpson! Everyone is buzzing about Ashlee Simpson, the "punkier" (but only in that pre-fab, third generation Avril Lavigne, Urban Outfitters way) sister of Jessica Simpson. Ashlee was either punk'd or revealed on Saturday Night Live when, during her second song, someone played the wrong vocal track (what played was Pieces......

These days, reading a Hollywood trade is like seeing a TV Guide grid from the 80s - it's all about making movies from 80s TV shows. Today, Universal announced they are remaking Miami Vice, ideally with Colin Farrell and Jamie Fox as Crockett and Tubbs. Earlier this week, Stephen J. Cannell said he's going to go forward with the long-awaited A-Team movie! And Robert Luketic, best known as the director those canonical films, Legally......

Gothamist can only suspect that the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards were so stultifyingly boring is because somehow, Miami and the huge US Air Arena sucked the energy out of everyone. We think the overly manufactured entertainment industry is digging its own grave (A&R; guy: "Hey, we need another 'rock' group...it's be a bunch of guys with spiky hair and punkish clothing...let's give 'em a wacky one-word name, too!"), because watching commentary-less CSPAN coverage of......

Gothamist was wandering around the Mayor's website when we found this Republican National Convention FAQ. It lets you know things like what pedestrian traffic will be affected and whether there will be protests...which makes this is a site for people half-living under a rock. But we appreciate it anyway, because you know that we'll be calling 311 to complain about delegates being too noisy or protestors needing some deodorant. Some more of today's stories about......

Laurie Woolever, Cook/Food Writer...

After fourteen weeks, America can now rest assured in knowing that Bill Rancic is The Apprentice. Even though he'll have a salary of $250,000 running the construction of the Trump International Hotel & Tower, Gothamist was hoping that The Apprentice would be a lot like the Sorcerer's Apprentice, mopping the marble floors of Trump Tower. Did "The Donald" make the right choice? His advisors, George and Carolyn disagreed on who to pick. George, who seemed......

HR was so busy yesterday! Howard Stern was fired from Clear Channel radio stations and then it was the boardroom massacre on The Apprentice. There was nothing better than seeing callow Nick and annoying Amy get canned (at least Nick said thank you - Amy just freaked out and left) - except for feeling validated in thinking Omarosa is an idiot. If anyone could lose a rock star (and, honey, Jessica Simpson ain't a......

Variety breaks its review of the Paris Hilton-Nicole Richie reality show, The Simple Life, which has been getting positive critical buzz: It also helps enormously that Hilton and Richie (the "notorious" daughter, per the intro, of Lionel Richie) provide their own hilarious dialogue, saying things like "What does 'generic' mean?" and pondering what happens at Wal-Mart. In the don't-know-much-about dept., the pair give fellow reality pinatas Jessica Simpson and Anna Nicole Smith a run for......

After accepting Chicken of the Sea's offer for a little Tuna 101, Jessica Simpson may get a gig out of it: Chicken of the Sea spokeswoman. Though Chicken of the Sea claims not to have approached her, we're sure brand managers are dreaming of Jessica in the mermaid costume, singing the jingle [WAV file]... Next, as Jessica tries to make more money licensing her name, her face, her ditziness, we imagine Jessica with a buffalo,......

The fine folks at E! Online have a Wisdom of Jessica Simpson reference guide. The guide helps everyone understand their new favorite reality show heroine/victim a little better. An example: Choice Jessica soundbite: "I think I need to go, um...drop some kids in the pool." The Situation: Jessica has just devoured a meal of fast food delights and now feels a strong urge to defecate but doesn't wish to offend others with such bold talk.......

The latest TV guilty pleasure is Newlyweds, MTV's glimpse into the marriage of pop singers, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, which Gothamist covered a while back. The Post looked at the show, which is the new darling of MTV, outpacing The Osbournes these days (but not The Real World Paris, which boggles our mind, because RW Paris sucks), mainly because this marriage made in publicity and artist management heaven seems based on all the wrong......

Okay, let's get it out of the way: Madonna kissed Britney. Madonna kissed Christina. Fine. Of course Madonna did something outre and not very Gappy by kissing Britney and Christina, but when Gothamist started to think about it, it was totally predictable and not that hot or exciting. It was calculated and a little boring. It's hot only in the way that the media will be able to say "girl-on-girl" action, but big deal.......

Newlyweds, the MTV reality show about Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's new marriage, did not strike Gothamist as what we should be watching, but Virginia Heffernan's review in Slate tells us we are clearly missing out. Apparently Jessica Simpson doesn't know if tuna is chicken or fish (damn the marketing of "Chicken of the Sea") and Nick Lachey bitches about her to his stylist (a celebrity's best friend, it seems). Oh, and Simpson's idea of......