The scandal around the memoir-turned- fake-recalled- from-bookstores memoir Love and Consequences continues to embarrass the book publishing industry. Writer Margaret Jones, who told her publisher she was a half-white, half-Native American raised by a black foster family in South Central L.A. and former Bloods gang member, was exposed as Margaret Seltzer, white private school graduate from Sherman Oaks, California. Her real (white) sister called the publisher Riverhead Books after reading a lengthy NY Times feature......

Last year WNBC got up close and personal with the Civic Fame statue atop the Municipal Building, and this week The NY Times looks at the woman who modeled for that statue, and many others -- Audrey Munson, "a long-forgotten New York celebrity whose face and figure continue to grace the contours of statues all around Manhattan."It was Ms. Munson’s eyes that stared stoically from the marble forms of the Firemen’s Memorial on Riverside Drive,......

Entertainment Weekly’s #1 “smartest” Hollywood player, Judd Apatow, says “it doesn’t look good” for an end to the writers’ strike any time soon. The well-connected catalyst behind hits like Knocked Up has told the Toronto Star that the studios and producers are prepared to dig in and crush the union’s demand for payment for Internet downloads and movie streaming, “which are expected to become a big part of the industry in the coming years.”It would......

Early yesterday morning in Hell's Kitchen, soap opera actor Nathaniel Martson allegedly attacked three people. The Daily News reports that Marston, who plays Dr. Michael McBain on One Life to Live, swung a metal crate at his victims, which broke one of the men's legs. One of the victims, Salvatore Cabibo who didn't even know the actor, said Marston had been arguing with a cab driver and then charged at him, shouting, "I'm going to......

MUSIC: Last week Craig Finn made a solo appearance amongst the books at Barnes & Noble, tonight he's with his rock band, The Hold Steady, playing another free show. Joining them are the Old 97’s, and newer band, Illinois. A triple-threat lineup with a can't-be-beat pricetag. 5:30pm // 7 World Trade Center [250 Greenwich St] // Free READING: Possibly known more for her role on Project Runway than her fashion direction with ELLE magazine, Nina......

The Invasion (directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel) Stylish, political, visually arresting and darn right freaky, The Invasion is a horror movie that taps into what really horrifies us today—namely that the people in our lives could turn into personality-less automatons influenced by some evil alien virus. It may sound like a totally fantastical premise, but in the context of the movie it really works. Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig star in this remake of Invasion of......

The Simpsons Movie (directed by David Silverman) This weekend marks the move of America's favorite dysfunctional family the Simpsons from the suburbs of television to the urban center of the big screen. After all of the viral marketing of Simpson-ified magazine editors, real life Kwik-E-Marts and ticket giveaways, is it too much to hope that there's still fresh material to be mined from the long-running animated sitcom? According to the critics, the movie is just......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at Richmond Terrace and Federal Place on Staten Island, a water rescue at Chambers St. and River Terrace off Manhattan, and a homicide at Bruner and Barnes Aves. in the Bronx. A Connecticut doctor lost his family yesterday after two men broke into his home and held them hostage, while one family member was taken to a nearby bank to withdraw money. After killing the man's......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Here’s the breakdown: Fox has Episode 6 of Hell's Kitchen on Monday at 9pm. Read the latest Entertainment Weekly episode wrapup here as well as a (slightly depressing) update on the previous two winners in the Post here. The Surreal Gourmet, Bob Blumer, returns to TV with a new show on the Food Network. Called Glutton for Punishment, it premieres this Tuesday at 9:30pm. Blumer participates in......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Here’s the breakdown: Fox has Episode 5 of Hell's Kitchen on Monday at 9pm. Read the Entertainment Weekly episode wrapup here. And see Anthony Bourdain’s less-than-flattering assessment of the season here. There’s no new episode of Top Chef this Wednesday, due to the holiday, but Bravo reruns frequently if you want to catch up. See the schedule here. And EW's episode summary is always amusing. Rounding out......

What’s worth seeing on food-related TV this week? Gothamist has got the breakdown: Fox has Episode 4 of Hell’s Kitchen on Monday at 9pm. We love watching Ramsay curse people out. And Entertainment Weekly’s got a blow-by-blow blog, if you want to rehash the gory details. Martha Stewart’s got Matt Lewis from Baked bakery making an almond meringue tart on Monday, and other non-food-related celebrities the rest of the week. On Top Chef, Episode 3......

Thanks to a vigorous anti-smoking campaign, the number of New Yorkers lighting up since 2002 has plummeted 20%. This amounts to 240,000 fewer smokers City puffers than there were five years ago. There are currently fewer smokers than ever in NYC history with about 18% of citizens doing the deed. In fact, there are only five states in the country with a lower smoking rate (CA, WA, ID, UT, and CT). This is all according......

It's inevitable in a summer season of blockbuster highs and lows that we'd have a weekend filled with new releases none of which look good enough to recommend. Glancing ahead to the rest of the month there's stuff like Ratatouille, Sicko, Evening, A Mighty Heart and Evan Almighty to look forward to seeing. But this week? Nada. Don't believe that could possibly be the case? Check out what other early reviews of this week's releases......

Recipe for a Cuban Molotov cocktail: Michael Moore, Harvey Weinstein, a documentary about U.S. healthcare and a federal investigation. No need to mix, because it'll stir into a frenzy on its own. Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore and his distributor, Harvey Weinstein, appeared at a press conference yesterday to question why the government is investigating Moore's trip to Cuba for his upcoming film, Sicko. The film, which premiered at Cannes and is scheduled to open......

Tonight at 9PM, The Sopranos will air its final episode on HBO. It marks six seasons over eight years where viewers got to know NJ mob boss Tony Soprano, his blood family and his mob family. Creator David Chase filled each episode with enough angst, passion, violence, and intensity to make pretty much anything else on TV seem half-hearted. As we approach the final hours before we say good bye to Tony, Carm, Paulie......

Trading Places & Coming to America (directed by John Landis) Norbit (directed by Brian Robbins) After Eddie Murphy's Oscar nomination for his supporting role in Dreamgirls last year, there was a long (and seemingly unauthorized) profile on Murphy's career in Entertainment Weekly. Looking at the whole span from the highs of his days on SNL to his mega-fame from 48 HRS and Beverly Hills Cop to the lows of Vampire in Brooklyn and that ill-conceived......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

Former US Weekly editor Timothy McDarrah was sentenced to six years in prison this week following his December conviction for attempting to have sex with a 13-year-old girl. Using the email address ps41alum@aol.com (now inactive, so don't bother sending hate mail), McDarrah responded to a Craigslist post planted by the FBI and offered $200 to have sex with a barely teen-aged girl. The FBI says McDarrah asked "What it'll cost for the cutest white 14-year-old......

Children of Men (directed by Alfonso Cuarón): Seeing movies in the theater is a wonderful viewing experience—big image, big audio, big popcorn—but there's no rewind button. To really enjoy a film like Alfonso Cuarón's futuristic drama Children of Men, the ability to rewind the really masterful sequences for an immediate second or third viewing almost seems necessary. As you watch Clive Owen's Theo makes his way through the chaotic English countryside in 2027 trying to......

We know that sometimes the volume of posts at Gothamist can be a bit much to keep up with. For that reason, we developed our Favorites page, which shows you the top ranked stories over the last day, week, month, or year. We've recently added an "all time" option-- did you know that the most commented story in the history of Gothamist.com is "First Thoughts on the Matrix Reloaded" from May 2003? Today we're announcing......

Apparently, sexy Hollywood beefcake is what Columbia College is trying to promote at its Class Day this year! Last year, father-of-fellow-Columbia College-student Senator John McCain spoke, to wide protest. This year, Columbia College has selected Matthew Fox, star of Lost, to be the main speaker. Naturally, students are very divided about the news. One tells the Columbia Spectator, "I've never heard of this guy. The years before got a Pulitzer Prize-winner and a potential presidential......

Although the extremely gross clip of Glenn Beck propositioning an US Weekly writer on CNN was amazing, it's too awkward for us to enjoy. So our vote for the best line on TV yesterday is from 30 Rock. One of the plotlines was "Jack (Alec Baldwin) forces Tracy (Tracy Morgan) to attend The Source Awards." Oh, the sitcom wackiness! Naturally, Tracy refuses to go to the Source Awards, because of its history of controversy, and......

EVENT: An evening with David LaChapelle is sure to be a fabulous one. He'll be signing his new coffee table art book, Heaven to Hell, tonight. Wear your Sunday best. 6 to 8pm // Taschen [107 Greene St] // Free THEATER: Coinciding with Black History Month, The Dance – which is not a dance piece – delves into the history of American minstrelsy from the perspective of two African-American performers in blackface makeup. Performed as......

You would have thought Delilah shaved Samson's head again after the breathless reports of Britney Spears shaved her head Friday night. Apparently the pop singer-mother-train wreck did the deed before going to a Sherman Oaks tattoo parlor and giving the tabloids something to pun about. A witness told reporters Britney "said she was tired of people touching her head." That makes total sense. Plus, her hair was getting really gross after all the dye......

EVENT: Nerd Alert! Come on by for Nerd Night tonight at Orchid Lounge where there are two geeked out presentations awaiting you. Presentation #1: "Genesis Rules! Wait, I Meant To Say Neurogenesis". Something about Adult Neurogenesis and Phil Collins, or something. Presentation #2: "TETROMINOWLEDGE: How Four Blocks, Arranged In Different Patterns, Have Changed the World, Kind Of". This one is mostly about Tetris. So put the Wii down and get out of the house. 7pm......

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association voting pool for the Golden Globes only consists of 83 members, but every year their mainstream tastes become one of the potential early prognosticators for the Emmys and the Oscars. Over in Beverly Hills today, the stylists are putting the finishing touches on the stars' couture, that long red carpet is being laid and some assistant is double checking the seals on the envelopes. Here in New York of course,......

Okay, so it's been 2007 for the last four days but since everyone's doing it from the critics circles to the awards nominating pools, it seemed worth it to weigh in on last year's movies. However, constructing end of the year top ten lists can be both painful and thrilling. Looking at a long list of the year's movie releases reminds you how many films passed you by in the theaters and playing favorites amongst......

Today, the NY Times Thursday Styles section looks at two popular accessories: The tiny, teacup dog and the huge, monstrous hobo totes. Many women love little dogs, especially since their little dogs can be dressed in little designer outfits. And many women love their big purses because they can carry everything, even if they are suffering back and shoulder pain as a result. We are surprised that the area of intersection for these two topics......

May the television gods hear our and others' pleas! Last month, the Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan broke the news that Tim Gunn was not signed for a fourth season of Project Runway:Will he be back? Ever the modest one, he would only say he "makes no assumptions," but he would come back "in a heartbeat" if asked. There's no official word, by the way, that there will be a fourth season, but it seems more......