Times Square fixture The Naked Cowboy (Robert Burck) is singing a litigious song these days against Mars Inc., maker of M&M candies. He is claiming that the company is infringing on his trademark, i.e. singing in tighty-whities, cowboy boots and a Stetson, with a six string slung on his shoulder. Burck wants $6 million after the company started broadcasting a film on a billboard screen in Times Square showing anthropomorphic M&Ms re-enacting famous scenes, structures,......

Green M&Ms have held this mythic place in many people's candy-eating consciences, whether due to fables, Van Halen's concert riders or advertising. And now green M&M's will be associated with a very real place in New York - Central Park. Tomorrow, M&M's World Store in Times Square will start selling a special new color, Central Park Green, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Central Park Conservancy. These M&M's have a mottled......

Craig Ferguson, host of CBS's The Late Late Show, is coming to Comix to perform stand up and, while he's in town, will make a Letterman appearance and will promote the paperback edition of his book, Between the Bridge and the River. Gothamist sat down to discuss his Scottish upbringing, his take on comedy, and why bullies seem to ruin everything. How often do you perform stand up outside of the Late Late Show? A......

If you happen to see a huge, green M&M dressed as the Statue of Liberty in the harbor, you are not hungover, it is a Statue of Liberty M&M floating by. Why M&M's has created a 50-foot tall green lady M&M to echo our iconic Frederic Auguste Bartholdi statue? Why, to promote its new PLANET M website, where you can design a M&M avatar, of course. While we missed the 6:45am moment when the "Statue......

Most amusing tip of the week from Gothamist Contribute: "gay ass L train broke down at bedford. probably too many large sunglasses and ugg boots to handle." George Bush has been reading your mail for about a month. Park Slope Moms ain't nothing to fcuk wit'! Related: there ain't no feud like a Park Slope real estate feud, because a Park Slope real estate feud don't stop. Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bus......

Get ready for some helium action! The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons will be blown up tomorrow at 3PM on the Upper West Side. The blow-up is basically all around the American Museum of Natural History - along at 77th and 81st Streets between Central Park West and Columbus. There may be a helium shortage (who knew?), but planners know and have taken that into account. Just be sure to bundle up. The NY......

The new M&M's World store planned for Times Square won't be lacking for future employees. The Mars Retail Group's ad that proclaimed "on the spot hiring" as well as a $10.75 hourly wage (not to mention benefits) attracted thousands of people, causing a huge crowd on Eighth Avenue at 35th Street. The company advertised that 65 full-time and 135 part-time jobs would be available. Police arrived, some on horses, to monitor the group that grew......

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are sorry for the interruption, but our name is Gothamist. We am here to tell you the weather forecast. Not for no basketball team but for Gothamist. Keep us out of trouble, give you the forecast, to make more forecasts for Gothamist. All we have is Starburst, cold, wind, and a slight chance of flurries tonight. We will be out of flurries tomorrow. Wednesday we will have peanut M&Ms......

The other evening Gothamist came stumbling out of West Carroll Garden's premiere Mexican hot spot Alma and walked along Columbia Street by the industrial waterfront, dotted with cranes and the remnants of a live poultry market. Just a block away, urban renewal was taking hold - but not here. This desolate strip was remarkably seedy and sad. But then, lights flickered in the distance. (Okay. It wasn't really that far off, but our contact lenses......

The MTA is looking for cell phone providers to bid on developing a cell phone system in the subways. The NY Times has an extensive article about the RFP; Gothamist's favorite part is "The authority wants a company or a consortium to design, build, operate and maintain the system - at no cost to the authority." Of course the MTA doesn't want to have to deal with building it - the agency has enough problems......

Someone hacked into the MTA's computer system yesterday and changed the LED message at the West Fourth Station to read "PRETTY GIRLS DON'T RIDE THE SUBWAY." Apparently, the new message appeared for several hours until 8PM last night, and the MTA is investigating whether or not it was an "inside job" or someone who has never had a reason to post a subway missed connection on craigslist. Of course, the female straphangers are annoyed. One......

Steven Weiss gives us some more information about the purported NYC Subway edition of M&M's. Apparently, the Subway M&M's were announced as part of the Subway centennial festivities at Grand Central, but, aside from handing out some Subway Centennial M&M's to members of the press, there was no further information on how to get them. Argh. Steven also points out that, based on his photo at left, some trains may have missed the M&M's boat.......

Two tidbits from today's festivities: - Mike from Satan's Laundromat tells us that the gorgeous City Hall Station is open to the public, but only until 4PM today. Gothamist realizes it might be hard for those of you not in downtown Manhattan, but if you do work in the City Hall area, run and check out the station and report back. - Reader Jenny says she heard on WNYC that M&M's was going to offer......

We had a lot of fun with our first official week doling out advice, and hope you did, too. If you're just tuning in, here's what you missed this week: -Brave introductions. -Dating advice: Our first date is on his birthday | My girlfriend is a prolific journaler | The new boyfriend's a vegan | Confessions of a nose job | Long-distance love (if by long distance, you mean from Manhattan to Jersey). -Explanations of......

What's the deal with those kids who sell candy on the street and the subway? They say that they're with the Boys Club, raising money for their basketball team. Are they legit? We've all heard it. A short, barely adolescent boy or girl barges into the car and shouts: "Excuse me ladies and gentlemen. I am selling candy to raise money for my basketball team's uniforms. Candy is a dollar each." And usually they only......

To continue along Gawker's P.R. fiend theme at the Martha Stewart trial, is it really a good idea for Martha's defense team that Rosie O'Donnell is at the trial, trying to bribe prosecutors with M&Ms? She was there yesterday, as Sam Waksal's secretary testified that Martha called Sam to demand what was going on with ImClone. Today, things will get more sensational, Rosie O'Donnell with a big Taboo poster or not: Key witness Douglas Fanueil,......

The Straphangers and Tri-State Transportation Campaign have been collecting collected suggestions for how to celebrate the subway system's 100th anniversary next October. The Daily News has the top ten suggestions: - Have a special edition Subway M&M's. The A train would be honored, for example, with blue candies with the letter A on their shells. - Publish a coffee table book of subway maps and how they have changed since 1904. - Issue a commemorative......

When Gothamist sees this new offering from Hershey's, the chip-shaped "Swoops," we think two things: The first is "messy"; frankly, M&Ms know what they are talking about with their tagline, "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand," 'cause Swoops has melty mess written all over it. Second, we think "Get the Pringles ready so we can make Pringle-and-chocolate sandwiches." The Hershey's website.......

I don't think I am a business road warrior, someone who can jump from plane to plane and make each hotel room his/her own home. Airports make me a little crazy, since I tend to have too many bags to keep track of and going anywhere, bathroom, newsstand, becomes a funny challenge. ("Ha, that girl has a laptop, messenger bag, pull carry-on luggage, winter coat, and bottle of water - and she thinks she's going......

In the spirit of Super Bowl Sunday, I thought I'd bring up the new ad campaign by Coke...the Coca-Cola "Real" spots. Here is what Coke says it's trying to do with the ads, and here's a take from MSNBC. The ad rags, Ad Week and Ad Age, are enthusiastic about them. Me? I like the David Arquette-Courteney Cox one a lot, they seem natural and it's a great insight into the desirability of Coke.......