Barack Obama will nominate Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court today. She has been targeted since 1997 by conservatives as a "liberal activist" who might one day wind up on the Court, so they've got her dossier ready, and the cable networks are readying their graphics packages as we speak.

Fewer rappers are wearing bling, according to your source for all things hip-hop related, the Wall Street Journal. But it's not because they've suddenly realized that diamond-encrusted necklaces are no longer appropriate given the economic climate. It's because they can no longer afford them and they're now asking jewelers to make medallions with less-precious stones and metals so they can keep up appearances. Whether this is really true is anybody's guess. But if it is, poor Jacob the Jeweler is in for quite a surprise when he gets out of out of prison in about 18 months or so, isn't he? [WSJ]

[Lady Gaga greets a little girl in Sydney, shortly before flipping her over and playing her like a mandolin; image via INF]

The rhetoric is over. The violence has begun! A bomber is on the loose! New York City has been struck by its fourth explosion in as many years, a slow reign of anarchist terror as the yuppies slumber. The message: "Bourgeoisie, repent or die." Or maybe: "We are bored teenagers."

Just two little items today, because it's a short week, so we'll start off... short. We have a TV starlet who seems nice on camera, but in reality is a vain crazy person. And we have a TV lesbian and her surprised costar.

• Hedge fund manager/art collector Adam Sender and his wife Lenore didn't have much luck unloading their three units at 15 Broad Street last November for $10.995 million. But they did better with their apartment in Soho. Last Friday, the couple closed on the sale of their fourth-floor apartment at 109 Greene Street for $3.695 million. [Cityfile]
• The cuts continue at 11 Spring Street, the 12,128-square-foot "townhouse" owned by Caroline Cumming, which originally went on the market for $39.8 million, was reduced to $36.5 million in November, and then reduced again to $29.5 million last month. It's now down to $26 million. [NYO, PDE]
• A second-floor duplex at the Plaza has sold for $11.786 million. The purchaser of the three-bedroom unit with 4,283 square feet is listed in property records as Paradeplatz Ltd. [Real Deal]

Rihanna may be getting over Chris Brown by boning Kanye West, Jesus Luz puts Madonna in the "friend zone," Mike Tyson's 4 year-old daughter is on life support after accidentally hanging herself with an electric cord, and Brooke Shields expresses regret for not slutting around when she was young.

Merrill Lynch's disgraced CEO, John Thain, turns 53 today. Rocker Lenny Kravitz is turning 45. Helena Bonham Carter turns 43. Matt Stone, the co-creator of South Park, is turning 38. Stevie Nicks is 61. Mega-lawyer and Cravath partner Robert D. Joffe is 66. Socialite Annie Churchill is turning 38. Architect Bruce Fowle is 72. Pam Grier (Foxy Brown) turns 60. North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan is turning 56. Comedian "Bobcat" Goldthwait is 47. And Philip Michael Thomas of Miami Vice fame celebrates his 60th birthday today.

• Despite the fact his dad says they're planning a Kabbalah commitment ceremony and he's currently shacking up at her apartment, Jesus Luz tells a Brazilian TV station that Madonna is "just a friend." Also: He really doesn't mind it if you refer to him as her "boy toy." [NYDN]
• Kiefer Sutherland has apologized to Jack McCollough for head-butting him, and charges against the actor are likely to be dropped. Not that he's learned much of a lesson: He was spotted boozing it up on the LES with his daughter in tow last week. [NYP, P6]
• The celebrity crime wave continues: Kevin Bacon had his BlackBerry stolen from him last week. And Monica Bellucci and husband Vincent Cassel had more than a quarter of a million dollars in cash and jewels taken from them while they were attending the Cannes Film Festival. [NYP, DM]
• Mel Gibson has confirmed that he and his Russian musician girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, are expecting. [People, NYDN]
• Mariah Carey spent Memorial Day in Turkey. Why Turkey? Because a hotel paid her $1.5 million to perform, that's why. [P6]

Teenagers! They're out there, genuflecting at the altar of the Jonas Brothers and finger-banging in the backs of buses on the way to field trips and doing whatever else teenagers do these days. But did you know that text messaging is completely destroying all hope for their future?

So in Canada they have this thing called the "Governor General," which is some sort of viceroy or something appointed by the Queen of England, and her name is Michaelle Jean. Yesterday, Jean kicked off a tour of Canada's Arctic region by gutting a seal and eating its heart raw.

Photo by the wonderful Noah Kalina. Check out more of his work, including his famous "Noah K. Everyday" series on his website.

"Jorge Colombo drew this week's cover using Brushes, an application for the iPhone, while standing for an hour outside Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Times Square." [New Yorker]

Are you sick of Twitter yet? Probably! But if not, wait patiently because the spunky little messaging service is teaming with a group of Hollywood geniuses to bring you an "unscripted show" that would "harness Twitter to put players on the trail of celebrities in an interactive, competitive format." Yeah.

Back in January CNN's Soledad O'Brien, serving on the co-op board of her Chelsea building, signed the eviction notice for fellow resident Steven Lyon complaining about the "size, slobbering, shedding, drooling, gassiness and odors" of his Neapolitan Mastiff, Ugo. A Manhattan Housing Court judge has now dismissed the case.

Today news broke that Jay Bennett, a singer/songwriter most famous for his work with the band Wilco, died during his sleep on Sunday. Bennett, who earlier in the month sued Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, recently blogged that he needed hip replacement surgery, but lacked health insurance to cover its costs.

Onetime Britain's Got Talent underdog turned operatic, tearjerking sensation Susan Boyle made her return to the stage tonight on the semi-final episode of the show. Did she come correct?

Oy. Vey. In today's New York Post: Sassy-scholar Marisa Meltzer's article covering the "New Wave Of Great Gatsbys" is a pu-pu (poo-poo?) platter of some of New York's most annoying Webtardolite 2.0 Fameball personae. She awarded titles to them. Our turn! Where to begin?

Gawker: Live, From Vegas! continues unabated through the night (so stick around!). Next on deck, another special guest for this hot, inaugural summer weekend: music writer extraordinaire and Idolator editor Maura Johnston. Maura, kick out the jams, please:

We're bringing back a Gawker tradition of yore: scoring the highfalutin', inferiority-complex inflating Weddings and Celebrations section of the Sunday 'New York Times.' Your host? High-society mole, street anthropologist, and all-around lady: Phyllis Nefler.