State of the Union time! There will be special commenting, and drinking, from your favorite bloggers, as long as your favorite bloggers are me! But what should we expect, and when should we drink?

• The critics: Sam Sifton of the Times shows no love for Le Caprice, giving the Brit import a zero-star review; New York's Adam Platt reports on the Breslin and gives it two stars; Time Out's Jay Cheshes gives Danny Meyer's Maialino four stars out of five; and GQ's Alan Richman weighs in on Casa Lever.
• Scott Conant has a name for his new restaurant at the Cooper Square Hotel: It's called Faustina and it will open for friends and family on Friday. [NYT]
• Expansion plans: Five Napkin Burger is opening its second location on the UWS; and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is planning locations in Brooklyn and Queens.
• The Post's Steve Cuozzo has a few choice words for Alain Ducasse. [NYP]
• Ted's Montana Grill, owned by Ted Turner, has been closed by the DoH. [P6]
• Famed Spanish chef Ferran Adrià is closing El Bulli for two years. [AP, WSJ]
• Growlers are the "beer accessory of the moment," apparently. [NYT]
• Who's benefiting from long lines at airports? Airport eateries, obvs. [NYDN]
• Silliest trend of the week: yoga studios for foodies. [NYT]
• Whole Foods rewards its skinny employees, punishes its fat ones. [NYDN]

Charles Phillips was just humiliated in billboards across the country for two-timing a wife and eight-year girlfriend. His marriage is ending. But the Oracle co-president had a big merger to close today, so cue the horribly awkward humor.

The White House has just released excerpts from tonight's State of the Union. It turns out that "despite our hardships, our union is strong." Phew. Stay tuned for Pareene's live-blog of the State of the Union at 8pm. Free beer!

Mainstream media joined frenzied anticipation about the iPad today. What is it? What will it do? Will it change the way we live our lives forever? Turns out they were just as disappointed as we were.

[A photo of people taking pictures of the printing of the federal budget is so meta that Uncle Sam just showed up and kicked me in the brain. Image via Getty]

In your entirely non-iPad #tips page submissions (thank you!), today brought stories of rich heirs, maybe-not-so-rich heirs, and news that Chelsea Lately doesn't hate us. Over on always-open forum #crosstalk, a sincere plea for advice on starting out in AA.

Tonight we're watching American Idol, Psych and the State of the Union. What are you watching tonight? Let us know in the comments.

Howard Zinn, historian and author of A People's History of the United States, has died of a heart attack. He was 87.

In this special iPad edition of Twitterati, the media elites obsessed grumpily over Steve Jobs' jeans, Steve Jobs' chair, Steve Jobs' pricing strategy and the technical ignorance of Steve Jobs' staff. The Twitterati knew that every tablet must get stoned.

ABC finally euthanize Ugly Betty. It used to be one of the best shows on TV, but the network system's intractable greed and antiquated system ruined it. Can't we have term limits for TV series?

Who can forget Breitbart Hero Kenneth Gladney, the uninsured conservative activist who threatened to sue SEIU for injuries sustained when he was briefly knocked over. I Am Kenneth Gladney, he declared. (He has mostly forgotten about this person, now. Which is for the best, as his story never made sense and it was flatly contradicted by the video evidence they produced to "prove" it.)

Scandal: Media reporter had media source.

Someone has dumped thousands of crazy anti-Obama fliers all over 68th and Broadway on the Upper West Side of New York. They are very, very crazy fliers, and there are a lot of them.

[1/23/10. Photo via Flickr]

Simon Monjack, the mysterious husband of dead actress Brittany Murphy, is planning to sue Warner Bros., claiming that when the studio fired Murphy from a movie, it caused her heart attack two weeks later. The Daily Beast landed an unpleasant interview.

Here is noted Bat-man Val Kilmer, looking absolutely ridiculous, hanging out at the New Mexico House of Representatives today, for unknown reasons. [NewMexicoIndependent]

There are so many good things on the internet— here's our favorite links, news stories, and webjunk that we came across today.

• The iPad may be cool and all. But don't expect it to revolutionize newspapers. Or magazines. Or even book publishing. [AdAge, NYT, Reuters, NYT]
• The WSJ is getting ready to take on the Times. Three dozen staffers (and $15 mil.) will go into creating its new NYC edition, which debuts in April. [NYO]
• NBC and Conan O'Brien are back in business (sort of): The network is picking up a pilot from Conaco, O'Brien's production company. In less surprising news, Jay Leno says he hasn't spoken to Conan since the late-night drama unfolded; and Comcast's chief says he's behind NBC CEO Jeff Zucker (officially-speaking).
• ABC has decided to bring Ugly Betty to an end after this season. [LAT]
• MSNBC wasn't planning to air last Friday's Haiti telethon. But then Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow got involved and things changed. [NYO]
• Harvey and Bob Weinstein are looking to buy back the Miramax name. [DH]
• Louis Auchincloss, chronicler of WASP culture, is dead at 92. [NYT]

Every day in New York City, celebrities are sweating on the treadmill next to you at the gym and taking up tables at restaurants. Lately in #stalker sightings: Richard Gere, Alan Cumming, Lady Gaga, and Mischa Barton.