Wait, wait, wait. Famous rockers may have a thing for drinking and beautiful women? You don't say! That shocking (but still potentially embarrassing) revelation is the latest bit of news to come out of the ongoing Spider-Man: This Is The Song That Never Ends Turn Off The Dark legal mess. And if the teases in a a 46-page filing submitted Friday on behalf of Spidey's original director Julie Taymor are any indication, the show's producers (and U2's Bono and The Edge) probably don't want this case to go to trial next January. more ›

Going to Jersey for the long weekend? Watch out for wild baboons! In the past day more than a dozen calls have come in to the police regarding a baboon wandering the highways and backyards of the Garden State, authorities say. The animal may have escaped from the wildlife preserve at the Six Flags Great Adventure park, but the park isn't sure if it is one of the 150 baboons in their charge. more ›

Hot on the heels of winning the award that is closest to the Nobel Peace Prize, U2's Bono and The Edge are scheduled to perform on American Idol's Wednesday finale with the cast of everyone's favorite Broadway musical, Spider- Man: Please Make The Pain Stop Turn Off the Dark. more ›

In order to get big tax breaks and permission to build bigger residential towers, two big condos on the Williamsburg waterfront agreed to throw the rabble a bone by building "affordable" rental units for low-income residents. Those who won the lottery for the units built by Northside Piers and The Edge pay as little as $398 a month, while the condo owners bought their apartments for anywhere between $385,000 to $2.9 million. And with that price tag comes amenities that the low-income renters don't have access to. Now some of the renters are becoming bitter! more ›

The blood-drenched publicity machine for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark continues! Last night not only did T.V. Carpio have her first official performance playing the role of Arachne (though she'd been filling in off-and-on since the orignal villainess, Natalie Mendoza, was injured in December), but she also had a very special guest in the audience. Bono, the guy who wrote the music and lyrics to the show with The Edge, was there to see the carnage in all its gory glory for the very first time. more ›

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the beleaguered Julie Taymor/Bono/Edge musical about everyone's favorite webslinger, actually looks like it is going to make it to opening night—still set for January 11. So assuming nothing else goes wrong and the $65 million musical opens—how long does it have to run before it makes back its initial investment? The Times crunches the numbers and the rough answer is, oh, about four years. To be fair, that's not including the possibly incredibly lucrative merch (as they call it on their website). But worth noting? The second-most expensive musical of all time, Shrek, cost half as much and only managed to make it a year... more ›

This is the way the world ends, This is the way the world ends, This is the way the world ends: Not with a bang but a whimper. Turns out Williamsburg will now be known for its abundance of drugstores! Where pill poppers and those in need of Cover Girl charcoal eyeliner used to only have the quaint King's Pharmacy to go to, now there are some big, shiny corporate options moving into the 'hood. more ›

The massive project is falling further behind schedule, it's millions of dollars in the hole, and will need a miracle to meet a looming make-or-break deadline. All we need now are a string of eminent-domain lawsuits, and Julie Taymor's wildly ambitious Broadway adaptation of Spider-Man might as well change its name to Atlantic Yards: The Musical. (Starring Harvey Fierstein as embattled developer Bruce Ratner!) Today Taymor is meeting with producers to decide whether to proceed or postpone the technically insane project, which is hemorrhaging money like Mr. Orange gushing blood in the back seat of Mr. White's car. Is it gonna be okaaay? more ›

The real Sarah Palin may be appearing on Saturday Night Live to give Tina Fey a run for her money; she recently joked that she's "just trying to keep Tina Fey in business ... Job security for SNL characters." But whereas the audience laughs with Feylin, it's very likely they will be laughing at Palin. The Chicago Sun Times reports that the McCain campaign is pondering how to respond to the recent SNL skits, adding that Palin wants an on-air response and "may be working on a spoof of Fey's American Express commercials." Ha? The next live SNL episode airs on October 18th, but Thursday NBC will air their first ''Weekend Update'' special in prime time. In the meantime, The Edge suggests Palin move in to their new condo complex so she can keep a watchful eye on Wall Street. more ›

Forget The Dark Knight – the hype is already giving way to disappointment. It’s time to start getting really, really excited about Spider-Man the Musical, which will feature a score by U2’s Bono and the Edge and direction from Julie Taymor of Lion King fame. In May, Marvel Executive Peter Cuneo announced that the show could open as soon as next year, with Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood – Taymor’s stars in Across the Universe – playing Peter Parker and Mary Jane. more ›

Last month rumors of an Apple Store in Brooklyn started to spread, and now there's some news on where the store may land. more ›

MOVIE: It's certainly not the kind of night for an outdoor movie, so we suggest sitting in the cool a/c and watching the 1978 classic Dawn of the Dead. "Gone is the possibility of mankind’s dominance in this sequel to Night of the Living Dead; the zombies are in control now, with a group of AWOL soldiers and TV producers on the run from the staggering hordes. A deserted shopping mall offers a safe hideout, as well as the setup for Romero’s savage satire on consumer culture." The early screening will be introduced by producer Richard Rubenstein, more info here. more ›

More details have emerged about why the police raided the Hells Angels Headquarters on East 3rd Street yesterday. It turns out that 52 year old Roberta Shalaby was beaten into a coma when, as the Daily News puts it, she "tried to push her way into the Hells Angels clubhouse" Sunday night. Shalaby had gotten into an argument with a female Hells Angel biker at The Edge, and then followed them to their headquarters. Witnesses say she yelled, "You motherf----r! Let me in!" as well as "Come down here and say it like a man!" when someone from the club told her to shut up. Then someone came out and beat her up, according to police. more ›

In order to make sure everyone knows how wacky New York is, the press descended upon Improv Everywhere's No Pants 2k6 ride yesterday afternoon. The NY Post, Daily News and Newsday - as well as the AP - all filed reports about pranksters trying to make people crack a smile on a subway during an otherwise routine Sunday afternoon. The press was probably disappointed there wasn't another transit strike, so this was a good second option ("Human interest angle - should people really wear pants if they don't want to? Or are your legs too winter-white?"). However, the police got involved, "detaining" some of the pantless (but not naked) and saying it was because "People couldn't get on and off the train and [the stunt] created a hazardous condition." Gothamist finds that NYPD claim to be BS, because if that really were the case, the NYPD should be arresting people at 59th Street Columbus Circle and tourists at Times Square on a very regular basis - they do not understand the unspoken subway contract of letting people GET OFF the subway car first before piling in. more ›

- Nicolette Sheridan does not look over-Botoxed with fish lips! more ›

Wow, Apple puts U2 on an iPod and all of a sudden, U.S. politicans want a piece of the Irishmen! The New York Times says that the globally conscious band is "distancing" itself from campaign fundraising, as Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Rick Santorum are both planning fundraising events tied to U2 concerts. According to the article, in response to a report from NewsMax about Bono "teaming up" with Santorum, Bono's Debt AIDS Trade Africa group issued a statement saying U2 wasn't connected to any political fundraising events. Even if the fundraiser's husband is a fellow ubersexual? (For the record, Gothamist hates the term "ubersexual" - we're sticking with "a man's man.") While Gothamist understands that U2 would be attractive to politicians because Bono has become an eloquent spokesperson on behalf of many issues, but we wonder why there aren't any American bands that good enough? Surely, there must be an indie rock band with the right kind of convictions that the senators could try to associate themselves with! more ›

Gothamist will have a more extensive wrap-up of U2's "so secret, it's a record label's wet dream with all the buzz" Brooklyn concert from Janelle, but we loved this photo by Steven Tom of The Edge in front of a Holland Tunnel sign [U2 spent a good part of the day on a flat bed truck, filming their upcoming video]. And reader Jill sent us this Bono photo from midtown. Thousands flocked from office buildings, even skipping work, to enjoy the spur of the moment concert. Naturally, the NY Post takes pride in pointing out that Bono yelled that he'd like a coffee and a NY Post. Did you skip work to head to Brooklyn and chase U2 around town? Or did you sit back in your cubicle, looking at the photos on other people's blogs in envy? more ›

And did you see U2 on Saturday Night Live? They did three songs, and finished with "I Will Follow" finishing over the closing credits. Bono and The Edge went into the audience, who went wild. The cast was going crazy as well, and it seemed like U2 performed another song after that one. more ›

The movie version of the sequel to hits theaters today — will this be a further boost to Renée Zellweger's career or just another nail in the coffin of the romantic comedy? She's fat, she's thin, now she's fat again! Gothamist is sick of hearing about it, but it's difficult not to watch. Plus, this time around she's an Oscar winning actress, rather than an ingenue with something to prove. Will this change her performance significantly? more ›

Read Pride and Prejudice online. And Bridget Jones sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, will be released this fall.
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whatevs.org agrees Renee looks better like this. Hopefully, at some point, everyone will stop obsessing about her weight and looks and focus on her acting, but till then, here's the skinny vs. healthy Renee comparison by iBlog/Jingle Blog. more ›

Renee Zellweger has agreed to play Bridget Jones once again for the sequel, and she will indeed pack on the pounds: The Age reports that on top of her $15 million salary, Renee will get another $225,000 per kilo she adds to her weight. Gothamist has mixed opinions about this. We feel that her performance in Bridget Jones was brilliant, but since she's gone totally anorexic post-Bridget Jones, we're concerned that she'll starve herself so much after making the sequel that her kidneys will fall and she'll be walking around with an IV drip; we seriously think her body image has turned cuckoo after making BJD - her skinny is scary. We hope her new boyfriend, Jack White, will be a mensch and (a) stick with her while she gains the weight and (b) convince her that she doesn't need to lose all of it. It seemed that even Mya could have snapped Renee in two in Chicago. more ›