Television producer Matthew Weiner recently shared his holiday gift horror stories with the Times, relating a sad/funny discovery made by his brother while exchanging a Day-Glo orange sweater given to him by their parents; it turned out they spent $1.00 on the item. Which still doesn’t sound as bad as the gift Weiner got: “a crimson suede Nascar jacket covered with sewn-on patches with emblems of Skoal chewing tobacco and Drakkar Noir cologne. On the......

No more naming streets like Joey Ramone Place, Peter Jennings Way, Bob Marley Boulevard, or Jerry Orbach Way. If one City Council member gets his way, the commemorative naming of streets would stop because it's too much of a time waster for the council. James Oddo, the council's minority leader from Staten Island, wants to give the Department of Transportation the authority to approve new street names. Currently, the City Council has to approve the......

The trial of Peter Braunstein reached another pinnacle of weirdness as some new revelations were made. First, the defense team of the journalist, accused of the sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary and more of a former co-worker at Women's Wear Daily, argued that certain passages from Braunstein's diary - or "personal manifesto," as he called it - shouldn't be read to the jury. The prosecutors, though, wanted to get all the mentions of "serial killer......

MUSIC: Love is All takes over the Knitting Factory tonight with not one, but two shows. The early show is with Cause Co-Motion! and Devastations, the later one with Cause Co-Motion! and Tyvek. Choose wisely. Or you could always watch Jared Leo bring his emo wrath upon bloggers, his band plays Roseland tonight. Friday // The Knitting Factory [74 Leonard St] // $13 MORE MUSIC: The Battering Room is putting on a show at the......

Remember the loony Saturday Night Live commercial parody about male infantile baldness, and the new market for baby toupees? Well, now there is a company selling celebrity wigs for the non-walking set. Yes, your baby can have hair like Donald Trump or Samuel L. Jackson - or L'il Kim or Bob Marley. Hey, what about "The Rachel" - Jennifer Aniston's hair circa 1995-1996? Clearly this is perfect for Halloween, or really wanting to spook......

- In case you missed the awesome tip: New Jersey is closed. - An 18-year-old parking attendent in Chelsea died after crashing a bike he was parking yesterday. - Oh, to be a helicopter cop. - First Manhattan got Joey Ramone Place and now Brooklkyn has Bob Marley Boulevard. - The Times has a great story on how Manhattan's grid almost didn't happen. - Four town houses on 56th may go the way of......

Yesterday saw the unveiling of Peter Jennings Way on West 66th Street (outside the ABC News headquarters). Jennings became an American citizen two years before his death, lived on the Upper West Side, and love the city dearly. Even WNBC 4 mentioned the street naming last night! And in other street-naming news, Community Board 17 in Brooklyn is approved a motion to remain Church Avenue in Brooklyn "Bob Marley Avenue." Other community boards need to......

Andrew Bird and M. Ward not only released two of our favorite albums this year, they both put on a perfect live show. Keren Ann is another one of our favorite people to see live. Over the past past few months we've paid to see Keren Ann, M. Ward, and Andrew Bird headline shows in NYC. For that reason we couldn't be more excited that Andrew & Keren are teaming up for a double......

Gothamist didn't know if it was some sort of subtle threat to voters' ears or just some way to show how the Internet! seriously! rocks!, but we have to admit that we got a kick of the NY Times' story about how City Council Speaker and wannabe mayor Gifford Miller love love loves to sing. The NY Times also has a slideshow with audio that has Giffy belting out some tunes, and while he's not......