1. His Name is No, Dr. No - Some hippie was once so enthralled by his resistance to the word "yes" that s/he sent him a giant "NO" in gratitude. He loves it so.

Master criminals take their cues from Vogue, Tyra Banks and Harry Connick Jr-serenading Australians.

At 42% poor ol' Joe is worse off than Al Gore, a man who bored people so much, they voted for George W. Bush instead. In fact, he can't even measure up to his predecessor Dick Cheney, a man who took polls very seriously indeed.

According to a recent study by researchers at Purdue, people who watch television crime dramas have a distorted view of the criminal justice system. Hopefully the view that tonight's episode of CSI provides is as distorted as these researchers claim.

According to the Times, a new CDC study says between 1.8 million and 5.7 million people were infected with swine flu this past spring. Quick: We must travel back in time and warn the past that they weren't panicking enough.

Rachel Maddow: Her heart is in the right place. It just turns out that place is extremely unfunny. Consider tonight's comedy (?) bit on Sarah Palin's mysterious business, "Pie Spy". Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: It is terrible.

For months, the entertainment press has with its relentless hype all but guaranteed us that This Is It, the Michael Jackson rehearsal documentary would become if not the highest grossing film of all time, certainly one of the top three.

We hear layoffs loom at People as part of Time Inc.'s cutbacks. More here.

A Brit commented happily on American girls; an actual mayor commented pessimistically on foursquare and Jeremy Piven commented critically on Halloween. The Twitterati were flexing their credentials.

Happy pre-Halloween Thursday, live bloggers! As a bunch of witty folks interested in designing outfits (or at least watching others do it on TV), I'll bet you guys have some cool costumes planned for this weekend, huh?

At the end of one of his frequent guest appearances on the O'Reilly Factor tonight, Glenn Beck made an exciting announcement.

One thing we learned from the case of the Philadelphia woman accused of trying to trade sex for Phillies tickets is that the underground ticket game is hard. This veteran ticket scalper we talked to certainly reinforced this lesson!

It's nearly Halloween again; time for Time Inc. to terrify everyone with a gigantic bloodletting. Last year that meant the firing of 600 staff; this year it means the firing of however many workers $100 million buys. (Updated)

[Behind the bar at McSorley's Old Ale House, one of the oldest bars in New York, circa 1976. Image via Ed Findley's Flickr]

We might not have gotten their wedding photos (yet?), but we have the next best thing from this week's Kushner-Trump nuptial celebrations: the Craigslist M4M missed connections post. Someone at the reception yesterday got a little flirty with the bartender!

Other cities may have their fair share of criminal mayors (we're looking at you Detroit!) but the Bay Area is quickly making its case as the home of the most comically criminal municipal leaders. Let's take a tour.

• The hotel bar is experiencing a resurgence, as you've probably noticed. [VF]
• Indochine is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new book. [GoaG]
• Does Danny Meyer have a new restaurant in store for the church on 21st Street and Park Avenue South? That's the rumor anyway. [Eater]
• A Q&A with Locanda Verde's Andrew Carmellini. [Blackbook]
• The annual Chocolate Show goes down this weekend. [ChocolateShow]
• A few suggestions on where to carbo-load if you're planning to run the marathon this Sunday. Or where to just pig out if you're not. [SE]

[Bill Clinton has some sound advice for a young Italian man outside of his hotel in Milan today. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

It's hard to believe that there is actually an inventor of product placement; like swine flu, it always seemed just nature's dark side. But someone thinks he did in fact invent it and is willing to sue to prove it.

As we mentioned earlier his name is Benjamin Maisani and he is the co-owner of gay bar Eastern Bloc. The 36 year old is smart, he's sweet, and he loves to work out. Sounds like a big gay catch.