By now, the entire internet knows about that vodka-soaked tampon insertion thing that teenage girls (and, uh, guys) are supposedly doing to get drunk without actually drinking. Even Stephen Colbert is warning parents about it! And while the internet has never cared about "proof" before, suddenly, one Huffington Post blogger (who is not a teenager) has decided, for reasons entirely unknown, that the world deserves to know what really happens when you shove a vodka-soaked tampon into the darkest abyss of the female anatomy. Talk about inserting yourself into the story! Or... vice versa. Spoiler alert: it burns. more ›

It's been a rough few weeks out there for poor, poor corporate fashion giants: first Urban Outfitters is accused of ripping off an independent jewelry designer, and now "ditsy floral bubble hem romper"-shilling behemoth Forever 21 is suing the blogger behind www.WTForever21.com, a rather amusing website that pokes fun at some of 21's more egregious fashion errors. more ›

Ten years ago we had to explain to the olds what a blog is, and this headline in the Times implies that in another twenty years we'll have to explain to the kids what a blog was. A NIGHTMARE. In an article titled, "Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter," the Times points to a Pew study from December about Milliennials' Internet use, and concludes that blogging is so over, because it's all about Facebook and Twitter. Then the article goes on to contradict the headline's premise that blogs are on the wane. Some things never change, like editors' determination to match the facts to a trendy title. more ›

After Gawker was forced to remove excerpts of Sarah Palin's new book (in stores tomorrow), legal bloggers are looking at the blog's argument that posting over a dozen scanned pages of the books was fair use. The former vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor complained about the leak (questioning the legality), and publisher Harpers Collins sued Gawker, eventually getting a judge to order the site to take them down. Politico's Ben Smith rounded up a few legal bloggers' thoughts...and they seem to back Palin:

Writes Eric Johnson: "[M]y initial, very strong, reaction is no, it’s not fair use. There is actually a U.S. Supreme Court opinion remarkably close on the facts. In Harper & Row Publishers v. Nation Enterprises, 471 U.S. 539 (1985), the high court held that Nation magazine’s unauthorized advance publication of excerpts of Gerald Ford’s soon-to-be-released A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford, did not qualify as fair use." more ›

Celebrity chef Mario Batali has a bit part in the new indie film Bitter Feast, about a snarky, influential food blogger who gets kidnapped by a chef who gets fired after a scathing review described his food as "vomitious." (Batali plays the restaurant owner who cans the chef, informing him that he's being replaced with a sous chef from Marlow & Sons.) So the chef, played by James Le Gros (AKA Mr. Sensitive Ponytail Man in Singles), flips out and locks the blogger in his basement, forcing him to perform "a series of deceptively simple food challenges—from preparing a perfect egg over easy, to grilling a steak precisely medium rare—punishing him sadistically for anything less than total perfection." more ›

On May 17th, disgraced NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik will be off to prison to serve a four-year term for tax fraud and lying to the White House while under consideration for Homeland Security chief back in 2004. But for now he's still under house arrest in New Jersey, where he's been keeping in touch with the world through the Facebook and the Twitter and, most recently, a blog. Kerik tells TPMmuckraker, "It's all national security and terrorism stuff related to some of the threats we face, things that I think we should be looking at." Yes, look at that stuff, and not Kerik's corruption and utter lack of credibility! more ›

In a trial that will most likely sully the good name of bloggers everywhere, three judges testified against right-wing blogger Harold "Hal" C. Turner for threatening to kill them for upholding a handgun ban in Chicago. Turner wrote in June that Judges Richard A. Posner, William J. Bauer and Frank H. Easterbrook "deserve to be killed" and “If they are allowed to get away with this by surviving, other judges will act the same way." The first trial last December ended with a deadlocked jury, claiming they didn't have enough evidence against Turner. However, the judges didn't testify at that trial. more ›

Update: Although the Gowanus Lounge URL has changed hands, all of Guskind's work from the site has been archived at BobGuskind.com. Miss Heather has more info about it here. more ›

A ultra-right-wing blogger and radio talk show host will go on trial in Federal District Court in Brooklyn tomorrow, accused of making death threats against three federal judges who refused to overturn handgun bans in Chicago. But defendant Hal Turner claims that since 2003, he has been working undercover for the FBI, which paid him thousands of dollars to inform on neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups. Turner says the FBI even coached him to make racist, anti-Semitic and other threatening statements. more ›

Earlier this week, a judge ordered Google to reveal the e-mail and IP address of the person behind the Skanks in NYC blog, which was dedicated to trashing former model Liskula Cohen. Cohen appeared on TV Wednesday, explaining that she knew the blogger socially while declining to reveal her name. But yesterday, after Cohen filed a $3 million defamation lawsuit against her nemesis, court papers at last revealed the blogger's identity: one Rosemary Port, an unemployed nightclub hostess, "promoter," and telemarketer. more ›

Google has complied with a court order to identify, to the best of the company's ability, a blogger who created a website Skanks in NYC devoted to insulting a former cover girl. The model, Liskula Cohen, obtained the IP address and the email address of her accuser yesterday and was able to deduce her enemy's identity. Appearing on Good Morning America today, Cohen said the blogger is a vague acquaintance: "Thank God it was her… she's an irrelevant person in my life. She's just somebody that, whenever I would go out to a restaurant, to a party in New York City… She was just that girl that was always there." Perhaps the pot has been calling the kettle skank all along? more ›

A former Australian Vogue cover model, whose modeling career ended last year after a doorman disfigured her face with a broken bottle, has obtained a court order to learn the identity of an anonymous blogger who created a site called "Skanks in NYC" to insult her. The site, which was hosted by Google subsidiary Blogger.com, featured photos of Liskula Cohen with captions using the words "skank," "ho" and "whoring." (It's no longer active, but Blogger says "the name skanksnyc is available to register!") A Manhattan judge ruled yesterday that Cohen is entitled to file a defamation lawsuit, and Google must reveal the blogger's identity in order for her to do so. Speaking to the Post, Cohen's lawyer said something that might give some website commenter trolls pause: "The rules for defamation on the Web—for actual reality as well as virtual reality—are the same. The Internet is not a free-for-all." But a lawyer for the Skanks in NYC blogger insists, "You can be really, really mean to people—you just can't lie about a set of facts that are provable as lies." As for Cohen, she tells the Post, "I really hope it's not somebody I know." more ›

Yesterday, NJ blogger surrendered to Connecticut authorities, who claimed his blog post incited injury to state lawmakers and a state employee (he promised to include their addresses) by urging readers to "take up arms and put down this tyranny by force" against them. According to the AP, Harold Turner was upset "over legislation that would have given lay members of Roman Catholic churches in Connecticut more control over their parish's finances." The bill was withdrawn in March, but Turner wrote on June 2, "It is our intent to forment direct action against these individuals personally. These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die." Turner's Blogspot blog was removed by Blogrer; Courant's Capitol Watch adds, "Turner, who has been identified as a white supremacist and anti-Semite by several anti-racism groups, hosts an Internet radio program with an associated blog." Turner's lawyer said the defense will focus on the First Amendment. more ›

Everyone's an expert! 50-year-old newscaster Brian Williams is getting into the music blogging game with a "new music reporting project" called BriTunes (pronounced like iTunes). Let's just say the original BriTunes is less than thrilled about this, however Mr. Williams says, "I didn't name this thing, but I did come up with the idea." The idea of music blogging? So ahead of his time. He continues, saying, "I have always loved identifying good music and good groups—discovering them early (bar bands are best) and following them through their journey. While we'll interview some established musicians, mostly I'd like this to be a place where people can sample some of the great music being created every day." He starts with the band Deer Tick, who have been around since 2004 and are currently on a major national tour, which included plenty of dates with Jenny Lewis earlier this year. more ›

Liskula Cohen, a former Australian Vogue cover model who saw her modeling career end last year when a doorman disfigured her face with a broken bottle, is now taking Google to court to find out who is trashing her on the blog Skanks in NYC. The website, part of Google's Blogger subsidiary, is solely dedicated to maligning the Canadian model with photos and insults about her "horsey face" and the "desperation seeping from her soul, if she even has one" and how she's "a psychotic, lying, whoring, still going to clubs at her age, skank." more ›

Meet Richard Ivory: New Yorker, blogger, black man, and John McCain supporter. He also works as a counselor to mentally ill patients, but he himself is not mentally ill—he just doesn't want another tax-and-spend Democrat to undo the proud achievements of George Bush, even if said Democrat would, you know, be America's first black president. Today the Times takes a look at what it's like to be a black Republican for John McCain living in liberal elitist New York City. Ivory (not pictured here) says he's gotten used being called "Uncle Tom, sellout, self-hater," and isn't even upset about that time a white man confronted him and a black friend at the 2004 Republican Convention to warn them that "protesters were not welcome." He tells the Times, "I always say my heart is with Obama but my brain is with McCain." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a homicide on Boyland St. in Brooklyn, a person under a train at 116th St. and Douglass Blvd. in Manhattan, and a body found on West 91st St. in Manhattan.
• Martha Stewart is still mad over the public spat she had with Donald Trump in 2005 over her The Apprentice spin-off series. We bet she prepares a wonderful cold revenge dish.
• Police are searching for a man who attacked a 17-year-old woman in Jamaica, Queens, forcing her at knife point to a secluded area where he sexually assaulted her. The attacker may be the same man responsible for four other similar assaults recently.

Sean L. McCarthy has got it made. Blogger of comedy for The NY Daily News, New York's Funniest Reporter , and he spends his nights hanging out with some of the funniest people in the world. A truly enviable position! What's his secret? How did he get to where he is? Gothamist wanted to know and found out! more ›

Bro, the Lower East Side has finally arrived! Know how we know? There’s totally a bangin’ new rodeo themed bar/restaurant with a mechanical bull!!! We’re going to be getting so much sweet action once the hotties see us taming that bad boy. Plus there’s like 16 killer beers on tap, chicken fried stake and pork chops! So untuck that striped shirt and ramble on down here, cowbro! Oh, and since the place still hasn’t settled on a name, try to come up with one on the way – we’re thinking maybe The Slouching Beast or Brodeo. 133 Essex St, near Rivington. more ›

While even Google can't help out with the subway perv problem, Subway Blogger reports that they are "getting geared up to start mapping New York City Transit systems. Ultimately, you’ll be able to map a transit or subway route just like Google Maps." more ›

While poking around on YouTube recently we stumbled onto this awesome clip from 1989 of David Letterman appearing on Live at Five and Live at Five simultaneously appearing on Late Night With David Letterman. In it, we see Letterman, whose studio 6A is just across the hall from WNBC's Live at Five's studio 6B, being interviewed by Jack Cafferty (and vice versa) on the occasion of a prime time anniversary show. Late Night taped its show every afternoon as Live at Five broadcast live, and Letterman on occasion popped in on Live at Five and was noted for complaining that WNBC's newscast got better guests then he did. more ›

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In advance of an official press conference at The Palace Theater today, The Times and The Post have reported that Spike Lee will be make his Broadway debut next spring with the 1951 play Stalag 17; a dramedy about camaraderie and betrayal between American airmen stuck in a German P.O.W camp (later made into a film by Billy Wilder.) Sources say that Clive Owen will once again be Spike’s inside man on the project. (Though Mark Wahlberg is also in the running.) more ›

Michael Riedel has double-the-entendre fun with his rumor-laced news that the London revival of Equus – yes, that Equus starring the Harry Potter kid naked as a jaybird – is going to Broadway! According to Riedel’s sources, “one problem, though, is the length.” Wait for it... Wait for it... “Of the play, people, the play!” But producers seem cocksure, despite a couple small problems regarding young Daniel Radcliffe: “Where he comes up short (at least in one instance) is in the sex-appeal department… he's bulked up. But he's surprisingly asexual, my spies say.” more ›

New Yorkers wishing to buy a home, there's a sort of depressing NY Times about how January housing sales show a hot real estate market in the city in 2007. There are bidding wars, busy open houses, and Wall Street bonuses to contend with. And while there's "cautious exuberance" about a better real estate market for sellers and brokers in 2007, the Times reports "for January, at least, both prices and the number of signed contracts rose in double-digit percentages compared with the same month in 2006." more ›

A manager at Chelsea nightclub BED, who was involved in an incident where a club patron fatally fell down an elevator shaft, was released on bail yesterday. Granville Adams (left) had been charged with criminally negligent homicide, when he pushed Orlando Valle against closed elevator doors during a fight (the doors opened and Valle fell four stories), and his lawyers say that Adams was pushed so their client pushed back in self-defense. more ›

Wednesday night, WNBC invited a bunch of bloggers to its first NYC Blogger Summit. Why? As Anil Dash put it, to "engage bloggers and encourage them to provide information and resources to the station's news-gathering efforts, in exchange for credit and exposure." more ›

The Observer has an article that, upon reading it, appears to have been written two years ago. "Blog Ghetto" scratches the surface of a scene that's been around for quite a while, and uncovers things such as: bloggers sometimes hang out with each other...and drink...at The Magician (and other "Hell Square" watering holes). The profile on the scene makes it seem very 90210-esque, even calling The Magician "Blogger High's Peach Pit" and picking out a Dylan McKay-esque resident stud (apparently A.J. Daulerio). more ›