Being a startup is way more fun than being a business. Which is why we see Twitter and Facebook in seeming economic denial this morning. Who wants to confront financial reality, like Google?

• How are things going at the Cannes Film Festival? It depends on who you talk to. The Journal says it's been "conspicuously less frenzied" and business has been "slow." The Hollywood Reporter says it's beating expectations and "doomsayers" have been "proven wrong." Take your pick. [WSJ, THR]
• NBC is dropping Medium and My Name Is Earl for the fall, but bringing back Chuck. It's also renewed Law & Order for a 20th season. [NYT, AP, NYT]
• What can you expect on ABC this fall? More Dancing With the Stars. [THR]
• CBS is ditching Without A Trace, but has renewed Numb3rs. [EW]
• Time Warner Cable is dropping HDNet and HDNet Movies as May 31. [MC]

Yes, Quizno's Submarine Sandwich Shoppe is run by oven-lusting sex pervs, but guess what, Quizno's: you have crossed the line by allowing 2 Girls, 1 Cup to be associated with your sandwiches. Think, you fools.

If there's anyone who'd want to take Steve Rattner—the media-savvy financier-cum-auto-czar who is embroiled in a pay-to-play pension scandal—down a notch, it would be fearless Wall Street bulldog Eliot Spitzer, right? Wrong.

The big topic of discussion at the Brooke Astor trial today: dog poop. Was there really feces on the floor of Astor's apartment? Was her son, Anthony Marshall, somehow responsible? Or was one of Astor's many housekeepers to blame? And will the jury get to hear this vital piece of info? Apparently not. "It would seem to me the transient conditions of the apartment—I would include in that dog feces—would be a problem of the staff," the judge said today. [NYDN]

Graduation is kind of the most anticlimactic day of high school. There it is just sorta... there. You don't feel different, you just feel bored and pandered to. At least I did last night.

The Way We Live Now: Free! The rich are selling off their possessions and "going minimalist." We've stopped building any new houses. Everyone take to the land! Nude!

Former Lehman chief Dick Fuld may have been willing to hand over his luxe Florida home to his wife for $100, but he's looking for a little bit more from the sale of his Park Avenue apartment. Fuld purchased the 6,200-square-foot co-op at 640 Park in 2006 for $21 million. Now rumor has it he's looking to exit the building and has tapped Kathryn Steinberg of Edward Lee Cave to handle the sale. And he'd like to make a eight-figure profit on the deal, too.

Is 'in the midst of crushing economic insecurity' really the time to start fucking with smokers and their access to cigarettes? Because that's what the governmentalsciencecleanair-complex has apparently decided to do, and it's not smart:

A lot can happen in six days. Last Wednesday, the New York Times rhapsodized about the strength of the Norwegian economy. Today, the paper reports that Norway is in a recession.

Clearly, you should probably take this fun-filled survey and better your chances. It's a win-win! All you need to do to enter is email the last question to surveys@gawker.com. We'll award one lucky person with a $150 AmEx GiftCard. Standard Rules Apply

May 19 @ 9:45am Bright and early, Method Man leaving his curtained Maybach at the Hot 97 studios at 395 Hudson. Looks like homie still got cash![Submit your own Gawker Stalker sightings to stalker@gawker.com]

Gawker and a sponsor, Starz original comedies Party Down and Head Case (Fridays, starting at 10pm), are throwing a party on our roof. And if you're a starred commenter, we'd like you to join us.

A story went around a while back that Paramount flubbed the catering at its Star Trek premiere , sending out for Whole Foods hummus instead. Not true, the studio says. Who can afford Whole Foods anymore?

Ezra Merkin, the money manager who plowed more than $2.4 billion of his clients' cash into Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, will now need to find a new occupation to keep him busy. He's agreed to turn over his three hedge funds to a liquidator at the "request" of Andrew Cuomo. As you may recall, the attorney general filed suit against the disgraced financier last month; Merkin is also contending with suits by about half a dozen of his investors, including Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, who lost $15 million, and NYU, which lost $24 million in Merkin's Ariel hedge fund. On a more positive note, Merkin remains the frontrunner to take over as president of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue when the board convenes tomorrow! And if he decides to leave finance and go into journalism, he has a fantastic connection to help him get a foot in the door. Plus the Post has a new photo of him wearing a super-cool hat, so he's got that going for him, too, which is nice. [NYT]

How bad is it out there? So bad that innocent citizens are being assaulted in fawncy downtown NYC much more than they were last year! Panic! How bad is it really? It's not that bad:

Anne Hathaway walking downtown with boyfriend Adam Shulman ... Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel holding hands on the street ... Christian Bale getting out of an SUV in Midtown ... Rihanna leaving a recording studio in Chelsea ... Michelle Williams walking in Brooklyn with mom Carla and daughter Matilda ... Josh Hartnett picking something out of his teeth on a Soho sidewalk ... Eliza Dushku walking in Midtown ... Rick Fox leaving his hotel ... Naomi Watts walking to the set of Fair Game in the meatpacking district ... Simon Baker talking on his cell phone ... Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt sitting in a limo outside their hotel ... and Kiefer Sutherland waving to photographers.

Walter Noel, the hedge fund manager who basically funneled his clients' money straight to Bernie Madoff, is on the hook for $3.2 billion in funny money his firm withdrew from Madoff before the fraud unraveled.

After 47 million years, scientists unearthed a fossil which may be the long-awaited missing link between primates and mankind. They immediately turned the fossil into a huge media whore that we're already sick of.

These are difficult times for the LeRoy clan, the family that controls Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The 20-year lease on the fabled restaurant expires at the end of the year and Jennifer Oz LeRoy, the daughter of the late restaurant impresario Warner LeRoy, has been fighting to hold on to the venue. (More than 100 other parties have expressed interest in taking over the lease, although several of the biggest names—such as Danny Meyer—have since dropped out.) Now the LeRoy family has another headache to contend with.