After a turbulent couple of months at Gawker, the New York Times Style section is checking the media website’s pulse and wondering, with equal parts hope and desperation, if Gawker has finally jumped the “snark”. The Times’s uptick in Gawker stalking mirrors their aggressive game of catch-up with “teh internets” by increasingly emphasizing blogs on their website, and the article finds the Gray Lady digging a nice, cozy grave for Gawker owner and editor Nick......

It’s said that when Dick Cheney was tasked with vetting potential Veeps for the Bush campaign, he carefully considered all the applicants before recommending the best man for the job: himself. Perhaps tearing a page from Vader’s playbook, Dark Lord Balthazar – AKA Gawker Media Czar Nick Denton – has found the ideal replacement to helm his flagship website in the wake of managing editor Choire Sicha’s resignation: an eager young go-getter from sector 7G......

- Famous Fat Dave is the only guy who could turn a car accident into a beef jerky occasion. - Gotham Gal puts street fairs "under the category of city pests like rats, pigeons and cockroaches." - Brownstoner commenters report from Crown Heights: "Crack everywhere between Atlantic and Eastern and east of Grand Avenue till the horizon." - Ambush! Tom Suozzi got up in Eliot Spitzer's grille over the weekend. - Still no sign......

Andrew Krucoff, beloved former-Gothamist interviewer, media maven and dark-horse candidate for the Media Bistro editor's job, was just fired from his research job at Conde Nast. His crime? Conde's servers went down last week, and Kru leaked the tech email to Gawker. They report: Andrew Krucoff, the well-known blogger whom we often jokingly — lovingly, even, we’d say — refer to as Gawker’s mascot, has worked as a freelance research analyst at Conde Nast for......

If you were like Gothamist Saturday night and stayed out too late at some bar on Ave C then you also missed the Austin City Limits that aired with Wilco and Bright Eyes. You also forgot to TiVo it. Luckily, it's airing again at midnight this Friday. So stop reading and go set your DVR's now. Wilco last played on ACL in 2000, then described as Alt country kingpins, playing: "I Got You," "Misunderstood," "Can't......

Andrew Krucoff, Rhythm Guitar...

Lockhart Steele's Curbed points me to the Douglas Elliman page for Meryl Streep's townhouse. Lockhart says that the building is on 12th between 5th and 6th -- if pushed, I guess I'd call that Greenwich Village. Elliman, on the other hand, calls it a "sought after Gold Coast location". Huh? Can Gothamist explain what probably the most landlocked part of Manhattan is doing being described as "Gold Coast"? I always thought the Gold Coast was......

With the farewell of Below 14th, Lockhart Steele gives Manhattanites (and even some Brooklynites) something tastier to chew on: Curbed, which is "based on the idea that everything in New York City comes back to real estate, rent and the neighborhoods we live in." In other words, it's not just the Lower East Side. It's beautifully designed by Khoi Uong with technology by Eliot Shephard, and Gothamist looks forward to contributors moblogging crowded open houses.......

Anil Dash has left the building. His building in New York City, that is. According to his weblog, he's "moving to San Francisco", which in our experience is an expression that can mean many things - sex change, nervous breakdown, or gold rush. In his case, Anil claims to be moving there to be closer to the rest of the Six Apart team. As the public edition of MovableType 3.0 is soon to be released,......

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the NY Bloggers Talk last night at the Apple Store. It was a fabulous turnout, and, speaking on behalf of the speakers and moderators, we appreciated your support and great questions. And Gothamist is planning another talk, so let us know if you have any suggestions for topics. Gothamist also would like to thank: Jason Calacanis, Nick Denton, and Jeff Jarvis for a spirited (though less punchy than wished......

Various personalities of the blogging world will collide at the NY Bloggers talk at the SoHo Apple Store this Monday, May 3. See Buzzmachine's Jeff Jarvis moderate/referee a discussion with web publishers Nick Denton and Jason Calacanis. ftrain's Paul Ford chats with Meg Hourihan, Anil Dash, and Jason Kottke about technology. And Felix Salmon will find out what kinds of medication Choire Sicha, Lockhart Steele, and Jen Chung must be on during the editors......

The big expose in the Post today is not some Page Six gossip bit but rather that the creator of Yankee Hater gear is from New Jersey. Curt Schilling made waves when he wore a Yankee Hater hat (red hat with Yankees' insignia) at a hockey game, which was the fruit of Mike Moorby's idea to send some hats to the Red Sox. Moorby told the Boston Herald, "I just thought there were a lot......

Manhattan User's Guide asked eight New York bloggers what their 10 favorites things are in the city, and the lists give nice notice to what makes the city their beloved home: • The Morning News' Andrew Womack picks St. Helen Cafe in Williamsburg, "Recommended if you like: elk in your artwork. And I do." • Remy Stern of New Yorkish likes "All the fantastic coffee outlets not affiliated with multi-national corporations bent on world dominance"......

Peter Rojas...

Gothamist headed down the Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Chinese-inspired restaurant, 66. The sleek Richard Meier-designed space was full of Wall Street types, beautiful people, and some people from L.A. The main dining area is separated from the kitchen by a beautiful aquarium (right), but there's a communal table that seems to have space at any time for walk-ins, which is what we were. The menu is split up into appetizers, dim sum, entrees, and noodles/rice -......

Earlier this week, Gothamist caught 18 minutes of Gubernatorious, a documentary in progress about the Califonia recall made by our good friend, Jayson Haedrich, partners Nick Regalbuto and Robbie Stauder, and executive producer Nigel Noble. Jayson, Nick, and Robbie shot over 300 hours of footage following candidates running for Governor of California last summer and fall and are in the process of weaving together a number of candidates' campaign trail stories, but shared what......

While it's all well and good that some chefs are willing to teach New Yorkers how to cook in their kitchens, there is an unfortunate reality: The tiny kitchen. Or even the big kitchen but with one foot of counter space and gross appliances your landlord won't replace. So for those of you with tiny kitchens, with refrigerators that only hold varieties of alcohol, tonic water, and leftovers, we give you the Gothamist list of......

Today we'd like to introduce a new feature: the Gothamist Interview, written by Andrew Krucoff. The inaugural interview is with none other than Lockhart Steele, Lower East Side icon and famous dilettante. Other interviews on tap for this week: Chuck Klosterman of Spin, Danielle Romano of Daily Candy, and a surprise guest who may go by the name of Choire Sicha (girls, get your engines ready!). Andrew has an amusing interview style that is part......

Jake visits Kossars for bagels and bialys on Grand Street, and the ladies behind the counter, mesmerized by his new Digital Rebel camera or dreams of being featured on Bluejake, let him check out their premises. Photographs at Bluejake and the Times' Ed Levine makes himself an easy target for carb lvoing NYers when he attempts to figure out which bagels (and bialys) in the city are best. For some more Lower East Side......

And by "average," Gothamist means the pretty girl chose the pretty boy. Not the sweet, stepping–over–his–words New Yawk–New Joisey boy Adam. When Melana said to pretty boy Jason, "I see a future with you," with a jet ready to whisk them away for a "vacation" to get to know each, it was clear it was more a future in the sack. Which does count for a future. Disappointing for the optimists, no matter how shallow......

With the World Series over, baseball teams shuffle their operations, starting with management and coaches. The Red Sox decided to let Grady Little go and now it looks like Don Zimmer, bull to Pedro Martinez's matador, may be leaving the Yankees organization. Why? He really hates George Steinbrenner. Zimmer told reporters, "When I say I won't be back, I won't be back. They could have a day for me. The answer would be no, and......

The eagerly anticipated collaboration between Joshua Albertson, Lockhart Steele, and Jonathan Van Gieson, Book of Ages 30, is out in bookstores (free same-day delivery in Manhattan from Barnes and Noble with purchases over $25), on the shelves of Amazon (and other online retailers), and perhaps even at a library near you. And naturally, the website goes live with a blog about all things 30. You can also explore more about the book which promises to......

Sure, you've clocked in your at various restaurants and bars on the Lower East Side, but do you know anything about it? Talking Street offers free walking tour audios via your own cell phone, and the first one is of the Lower East Side: Birthplace of Dreams. Everyone's favorite booming TV father, Jerry Stiller, narrates. Check out the route and listen to a sample. [Via JP Reardon and Textually] Meanwhile, Lockhart Steele is either busy......

Gothamist guesses we need to report this bit of Lower East Side news, as Lockhart Steele is on vacation. As part of MTV's week of celebrating the MTV Video Music Awards, there's a $8.28 dinner entree promotion through tomorrow night at Lower East Side restaurants, including Essex, Punch & Judy, and AKA Cafe, are participating. See the full list here. Check out other VMA related events, like the Iggy Pop and the Stooges benefit......

Even though crime was essentially below normal during the blackout, last week's lootings on the Lower East Side, at cool stores like Alife Rivington Club, sound terrible to Gothamist when we read the Times article this morning: "one of the women got 17 staples in a wound at the back of her head" and "his employee paced back and forth with a spider web of blood on his neck and face." Lockhart Steele has first-hand......

If you've got at least $1.26 million lying around and you're looking for a sweet townhouse in Brooklyn, Gothamist says you should bid for the former Department of Education's chancellor's residence at 80 State Street in Brooklyn Heights. As the city sheds various properties, The city is auctioning off the house and the Post describes the property five-story, 5,000-square-foot house: "The one-family home on State Street boasts 11 rooms with 11-foot ceilings - including seven......

Aaron mentioned this way back, but since the event is tomorrow and Sunday, we'll mention it again: The 1st Annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, presented by Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, Blue Smoke, and The Jazz Standard. It's all happening on East 27th Street, between Park Avenue South and Lexington Avenue. And as Gothamist loves to eat, we'll be there. With digital cameras, even though Lockhart Steele is afraid of our pictures. The......

The New York Times finally catches up to Lockhart Steele's Surface Hotel obsession, with a piece about the new development, playing it up as an incongruous but perhaps inevitable addition to the Lower East Side. Paul Stallings, the developer of the project, says, "We celebrate the tenement context; we want to look out on fire escapes." Yes, celebrating the tenement context in the $2,500 duplex penthouse. In Gothamist's book, that's called slumming.......

Rice to Riches Reviewed
For those of you in Basra, or Carroll Gardens, Rice to Riches is the new rice pudding place that opened on Spring Street across from that little park right off Mulberry....

Tonight, I'm seeing Raising Victor Vargas, the opening night selection of the New Directors/New Films Festival. I'm excited for a couple reasons: It's from a director my age, Peter Sollett (in fact, my friends graduated from NYU Tisch with him; I'm obviously growing up because I'm not so jealous as I am impressed); it's a great introduction to new films; and it's at Lincoln Center, so close to home. Elvis Mitchell's review of Raising......