Donatella Versace graced New York City with her royal presence this week. The reason for her visit? She was here to preside at the opening of Art Unites, a program created in conjunction with the Whitney that is giving out art supplies to 1,400 seriously ill children around the world. The kids use the materials to make art work; their pieces then get turned into special edition Versace tote bags, which are sold to the public with the proceeds going back to non-profit. It's a fine cause, of course. But did event organizers really have to subject these sick kids to physical contact with Donatella? Haven't they been through enough as it is? A collection of unfortunate kids subjected to the Donatella's frightening embrace after the jump.

"You're going to drink lots of tea. You're going to eat lots of goat. Get to know the people. That's the reason why we're here." -Brig. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson to officers from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines.

Dealbook has an update in the case of Ivy Supersonic, the "fashion designer, entertainer, publicist, promoter, event planner, and animated character designer" who was busted for bringing a "recording device" to Bernie Madoff's sentencing earlier this week. As suspected, she says she was planning to tape the proceedings for Howard Stern's radio show. (In fact, she tells reporter Zachery Kouwe that the "device" was a Blackberry Pearl that belonged to Robin Quivers.) She also reports that she's talking to her lawyers about whether she has a legal right to get the tape back, since it "could be worth $1 million." Best of luck with that, Ivy. [Dealbook, previously]

You should stop smoking, doctors say. Here, we have medications to help you stop, doctors say. But oh—these medications could make you kill yourself. What the hell is science good for?

Gwyneth Paltrow, while mostly annoying with her faux Britishness and William Joel-ing, has made at least one good and simple point. Especially as we leave work behind and try to enjoy a holiday weekend. The constant BlackBerrying? Getting really annoying.

J.D. Salinger invented blogs, according to a federal judge who granted a temporary injunction yesterday against John David California's planned "parody" of Catcher in the Rye.

Did you know the CC is actually a sports car wrapped in a luxury sedan? It's an anti-anxiety attack. Meet Volkswagen CC. The most talked about VW in years.

Were you aware there are two groups of real estate moguls with the last name Trump running around town and they're not even related? The Real Deal has the story on the "other Trumps"—Eddie Trump and his brother Jules—who not only have "no financial, philosophical or even familial ties to Donald Trump," they actually kind of despise one another, too. "The difference with Eddie and Jules is that they build their own buildings," explains an employee of the lesser-known Trumps who goes on to describe Donald as a "peddler." "They don't take a label and stick it on somebody else's product. Donald Trump isn't that involved in his projects. He comes down, makes three appearances, gets his commission and goes away." Eddie and Donald do seem to both enjoy posing with B-listy celebrities like Hayden Panettiere and CariDee English—and they both appear to be rather fond of lavender clothing—so if you inadvertently figured they were related, well, you're forgiven. [The Real Deal]

There are book deals happening today! Bloggers will publish, governors will not, and a peculiar, and speculative, sci-fi series lands a publisher.

In your Friday-like Thursday media column: Howard Kurtz types many words for no good reason, Rupert Murdoch denies wanting to own the NYT, the WaPo can't stop distancing itself from that sellout email, and journalism is practiced in Honduras.

Today in the Washington Post editorial page: former UN Ambassador and unpleasant mustachioed asshole John Bolton says it is time for Israel to start a war with Iran.

Oh, Mexico. Land of sand and ruins. Place of history and blood. Of vines and mountains. Mexico: where you can get drunk at a laser lightshow nightclub and then spit in your roommate's taco and no one bats an eyelash.

July 2 @ 4:15am At Ray's Pizza. Trademark black boot and scruffy beard with his hood up. He had an older camera hanging around his neck.[Submit your own Gawker Stalker sightings to stalker@gawker.com]

The New York Times conducts its own analysis and concludes that, in New York City at least, more rainy days means fewer homicides. However, given the ongoing depressing Year Without a Summer around these parts, there's no discussion of suicides.

Incisive Michael Wolff commentary on Jenny Sanford: PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEEEEEE!!

• The New York Blade, one of the two big gay and lesbian newspapers in New York City, has suspended publication and laid off most of its staff. [NYT]
• How many books can you possibly read about Bernie Madoff? Who knows, but there at least four books about him scheduled to hit stores this fall. [Crains]
• David Rohde, the New York Times reporter who was kidnapped in Afghanistan with his translator in November and released a couple of weeks ago, returned to the Times newsroom to a standing ovation yesterday. [NYT]
• James Frey's young adult novel has been sold to HarperCollins. [NYT]
• Wonkette editor Ken Layne has sold a book to HarperCollins, too. [NYO]
• The battle between CNBC's Dennis Kneale and bloggers goes on. [Dealbreaker]

The spots did not come from Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Microsoft's edgy ad agency of record. Instead, they were from an agency called Bradley & Montgomery. And they were directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. Who said earlier this month:

Jeff Jarvis tweets: "WaPo access program sounds like a Dan Abrams production."

We've seen Michael Bloomberg display his temper on numerous occasions over the past few months. Today he showed off his softer side when he turned "misty-eyed" at a naturalization ceremony: "After citing immigrants' contributions to American society and their appreciation of American freedom, the mayor concluded by saying, 'Whether you were born, seriously, in Palermo or Pakistan, Korea or Killarney, today you are Americans.' The last words of the sentence seemed to catch in Mr. Bloomberg's throat. His eyes moist, he quickly wrapped up his remarks, saying: 'Nothing anybody else can say. God bless.'"

The Way We Live Now: Playin' hooky. Schoooooool's outttt forrrrrrrr summer! Yea! School's out forever! Really. They can't afford summer school any more. Too bad that happened right when unemployment hit double digits. No job. No school. Nada.