Injecting anti-semitism into a traffic stop didn't work too well for Mel Gibson, and one Queens lawyer who pulled a "reverse Gibson" on a New Jersey state trooper has been suspended from practicing law. Elliot Dear, an orthodox Jew, was pulled over for driving 84 mph in a 55 zone in 2007. The Post reports that several days later, Dear sent the traffic court a letter claiming that the trooper called him a "Jew kike," and said "this prejudice obviously was the cause for the ticket." But Dear didn't expect the conversation to be recorded. more ›

Okay, fine. We know this is a gimmicky marketing stunt, but just look at the effort the publicist put into this pictogram! Jumping deftly aboard the Mel Gibson train wreck express, The Oak Room is now selling a cocktail named after the unhinged actor, who's currently starring in a series of increasingly disturbing phone calls recorded by his ex-girlfriend/mother of his baby daughter. The Mel Gibson is described as a "bi-polar cocktail" made with Van Gogh Vodka, Dutch Gin, vermouth, club soda, and pickled cocktail onion juice. more ›

A man posing as Heath Ledger's father managed to get free hotel rooms and talk to Tom Cruise and John Travolta after the actor's death last week. The Post reports the "twisted impostor" got Tom Cruise to console him on the phone and almost "got John Travolta to buy him a plane ticket to the United States." Why does this sound like a radio shock jock prank? more ›

(directed by Clint Eastwood) more ›

) plays an unnamed taxidermist, a meticulous city dweller who spends all of his spare moments fantasizing about the ultimate robbery. Unfortunately, his debilitating epilepsy, which the taxidermist knows is coming on when he's engulfed by "an aura," has kept him frustratingly mild-mannered. While on a hunting trip with a colleague in the mountains, the taxidermist finds himself using his self-taught skills for trickery as he's caught up in a plot by some locals to rob a casino that's about to close. more ›

In the Seinfeld episode "The Fire", Jerry is furious at a woman Kramer brings to a performance, who heckles him incessantly during his act. Her words succinctly describe the ethos of the heckler: "Well, that's the way I express myself. How are you gonna make it in this business if you can't take it?" more ›

The NY Times has a good article about the second trial of Steven Johnson, who unleashed his anger by shooting people and taking others hostage in an East Village bar almost five years ago. Johnson, who has AIDS, was unemployed at the time and was allegedly looking for "happy people" to "avenge the oppression of black people like himself," according the Times. more ›

27. The story goes something like this: I was working as a standup comedian. I started doing standup when I was twenty-two and was fairly clean living. Some drinking, but no drugs to speak of. I started performing in the Bay Area at clubs around San Francisco, working with some of the comics up there who smoked almost after every show. I started doing it with them. For the first few years that I smoked pot, I was kind of a pot mooch. I just smoked basically when I was working with other comedians who smoked pot and then eventually I realized that I had to strike out, buy some on my own, and now I'm a card carrying medical marijuana patient. more ›

Two quite controversial and buzzed about movies hit New York theaters this weekend. So far the critical opinion of raving lunatic Mel Gibson's new foreign language feature, . Now we finally get to see the film they thought was going to be such a public relations nightmare. Leo plays a South African diamond smuggler who teams up with a Sierra Leone farmer (the always excellent Djimon Hounsou) to outwit a syndicate of businessmen. From the trailers it looks pretty heartpounding, and not just because the lovely Jennifer Connelly is also in it. more ›

Oy. As the debate about Michael Richards, aka Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld, and his racist rant at comedy club hecklers continues, it now turns out that he may have had a run-in with comedy club patrons - and went off in an anti-Semitic rant at that time! TMZ.com spoke to a couple who says Richards went berserk while, yes,being heckled at LA's The Improv. Carol Oschin said, "Michael Richards said, 'You're a f---ing Jew.' Your people are the cause of Jesus dying." more ›

In anticipation of tomorrow night's Law & Order episode about a the meltdown of a Mel Gibson-esque celebrity (Chevy Chase says sugartits!), we present you the video of chirpy Elisabeth Hasselback's complaint about a Law & Order SVU episode, via Best Week Ever. In the episode, a character named Elizabeth Hassenback was raped twice and murdered. So Elisabeth took time to call the executive producer of L&O SVU Neal Baer and relayed the conversation on The View. We liked this exchange:

Joy: Could it have been a coincidence? more ›

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute. more ›

Breaking the law, breaking the law We -ist folks love us some crime, and no misdemeanor is too petty for a post on any of our sites. This week, join us for a rogues' gallery of miscreants major, minor, and alleged. more ›

- Maybe everything Pat Buchanan has said about Jews more ›

Oh, yes, we did it! New York City broke another peak electricity demand record, with 13,141 megawatts served yesterday, breaking Monday's record. Still, a bunch of areas in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and upper Manhattan experienced blackouts - and there have been many manhole fires as well. It was around 112 on the heat index in some parts, yet it was still not hot enough to fry an egg on a Brooklyn manhole. This experiment was organized by Maggie Portis, and the photo sent to us by reader Jenny - all inspired by Joe's weather post yesterday. We love you, dear, dear readers! more ›

MUSIC: The Upper Crust are playing a proletarian downtown venue tonight! These four young nobleman will Rocque and Roll you with a polished AC/DC-esque sound. Do check them out, seriously. That is them to the right. We don't think we really need say anymore. more ›

JC: ALL RIGHT! I just took extra Vitamin C - I'm waiting for some food delivery. more ›

For the last five years or so, we've been passing by this sushi place on Thompson Street north of Bleecker and admiring their set of Mel Gibson portraits taped in the window. We love that they haven't bothered to repair the pictures as they've slowly faded to a wonderful shade of blue-- and we love the expression on Mel Gibson's face. It's like "hey, I'm just trying to eat some sushi, don't make me go all Braveheart on your ass." There are actually three pictures taped in the window, and you sort of see Mel's expression go from nice, to sort of annoyed, to "damn, this is just like what those Jews did to Christ." We hope the sushi place never takes them down-- in a couple of years they'll probably be completely unreadable, but we love them-- in our eyes, these pictures are priceless. more ›

Here we go: it's a huge weekend for year-end Oscar-bait and questions abound. Will audiences flock to see the "forbidden" love of ? (No.) Is it any good? (It's OK.) Will people be turned off by the heavy (and occasionally heavy-handed) allusions to Christian imagery? (Possibly, but we were moved more by Aslan's humiliation and sacrifice than Jesus' in Mel Gibson's biblical slasher film) more ›

While we know you’re probably anxiously waiting for Mel Gibson’s Pope: The Movie or for your Mr. Skin’s Skinclylopedia to arrive, you might want to check out some great new and revived movies this weekend: more ›

Eugene Hernandez, Editor-in-Chief, indieWIRE more ›

The BBC reports that Warburtons graciously asked 2,000 filmgoers what the cheesiest movie lines were, and their answers are this: more ›

Grimes goes into Nicolai Ouroussoff's and Ben Brantley's territories with a quasi review of the Dodger Stages, a new off-Broadway venue with three stages, on West 50th. You know the Dodger Stages, it's at Worldwide Plaza between 8th and 9th Avenues, where there was a $2 movie theater that showed fairly recent releases; they later charged $2.50, then $3, to stay in business (Gothamist knew the movie theater had problems when we saw a man masturbating to a Mel Gibson movie). Anyway, Grimes seems to have a pretty good time at the "theaterplex" and gives the Dodger Stages bathrooms the thumbs-up. And he revealed himself in January after he stepped down. Gothamist on Grimes's announcement he was leaving the restaurant beat and his interview with Newsweek. more ›

The Passion of the Christ has been out for a while now and most of the people I know have seen it. I've been reluctant to see what I feel will be a virulently anti-Semitic film and have no interest in giving Mel Gibson my money. For the sake of discussing it with my , but in the interest of keeping my money from a man I think is an anti-Semite, can I sneak into a screening of "The Passion"? more ›

In NY, the network airs on WLIB 1190AM (LA: KBLA 180AM; Chicago: WNTD 950AM). The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz looked at Air America a few weeks ago. Jeff Jarvis has been listening and says, "." Well, the station probably doesn't want to be confused with Air America, the airplane pilot "comedy" with Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. more ›

Jenny Oh, Documentary Filmmaker more ›

The Post comes up with a few ideas for Oscar drinking games during the ceremony: more ›

Rotten Tomatoes on The Passion of the Christ: So far, rotten. But Roger Ebert gives it 4 stars, calling it "the most violent film I have ever seen." Hey, Newmarket Films, there's your blurb to get the teenage boys in the doors! more ›

Plus the week in full more ›