Spencer Dreier Strikes Back

cityfile · 06/01/09 11:28AM

Marc Dreier didn't contest the charges against him: Last month, the disgraced lawyer pleaded guilty to swindling hundreds of millions from investors and he'll be sentenced for his crimes on July 13. His son, however, appears to be keeping up the fight. Spencer Dreier filed suit against his former Union College roommate last week. The reason? Spencer claims that his former pal, Ben Clorite (right), defamed him by posting negative comments about his dad on the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog and also assaulted him.

We Need Bigger Fig Leaves to Hide Our Shame

Hamilton Nolan · 06/01/09 11:04AM

The Way We Live Now: Naked. Because stores are no longer selling "Plus Sized" clothes. All that fabric is expensive! So nude Americans sit at home, causing all the baguette stores to go broke, forcing small business owners to sell their dinosaur skeletons just to stay afloat.

Dear Jesse Watters

John Cook · 06/01/09 10:40AM

Hi Jesse: It's John Cook from Gawker again. I thought I'd check in and renew my interview request in light of the murder of Dr. George Tiller yesterday because he was, in your boss' words, a "Nazi" and "baby killer" who ran a "death mill" and must be stopped.

Who Killed GM?

Pareene · 06/01/09 10:29AM

General Motors is bankrupt. Whoops. It was probably going to happen no matter what, but lots of people hoped that bankruptcy would remain a threat that would encourage everyone to band together to save the company. Who is to blame for the death of the American auto industry?

The Best of Conan O'Brien's Late Night

Mike Byhoff · 06/01/09 10:12AM

Conan O'Brien is set to debut as the new host of the Tonight Show this evening, which is exciting. Though we do worry that because he's now on an hour earlier, our favorite kinds of Late Night bits might be deemed too weird or risky. Favorites likes these hallowed treasures:

The Obamas Boost Broadway

cityfile · 06/01/09 09:59AM

The show that Barack and Michelle Obama attended on Saturday evening is benefiting nicely from presidential publicity. The number of advance tickets sold yesterday for Joe Turner's Come and Gone was triple that of the previous Sunday. Now the Obamas just need to attend a new show every week and Broadway will be back in business in no time. [NYP]

Stupid Americans Eat Grape Nuts

Hamilton Nolan · 06/01/09 09:43AM

Here's what Grape Nuts is, really: wheat, barley, yeast, water. Here's what Grape Nuts is not: everything they told you it was.

Cindy Adams Takes a Stand

cityfile · 06/01/09 09:13AM

A couple of weeks ago, state officials issued a report indicating New York City may need a new area code in the near future. It seems phone numbers for the 718 and 347 area codes—which are in use in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx—will run out by late 2011. Cindy Adams doesn't live in any of those boroughs (her apartment is a Park Avenue penthouse, thank you very much), but she's still outraged by the prospect: "Making someone get another area code is like making them move to the back of the bus. It's discrimination."

Si Newhouse and the Droopy Conde Nast

Hamilton Nolan · 06/01/09 09:01AM

Conde Nast has always been able to afford the luxury of publishing money-losing magazines, thanks the other half of their parent company—the Newhouse newspaper chain—subsidizing them with cash. Those days are gone. Now, a cable company is all that keeps Conde afloat. And the Newhouse family's getting antsy:

Swine Flu at Vogue?

cityfile · 06/01/09 08:40AM

Condé Nast just sent out a memo warning staffers that an employee who works on the 12th floor of 4 Times Square—the floor occupied by Vogue—has swine flu. [NYM/Daily Intel]