We were finally comfortable with the idea of living in a six-borough'd city. But now we learn that new sixth borough has up and seceded: Philadelphia, according to a report on CNN.com today, has been named "America's Next Great City."

First, we had no idea kugel was changing. Second, we had no idea Brooklyn is the kugel capital of the United States. (Why has Marty Markowitz not told us this?) And, third, we really had no idea there were 1,200 words to be written on the topic.

From the frighteningly real Williamsboard, a precious new message board for the slack-jawed denizens of Williamsburg, our favorite subject threads:

Man it must be nice to be a rich-as-all-hell, politically connected, developer dude in this city.

We don't understand why people keep writing about this:

On the bright side, the homeless of Dean Street slept warmly that night.
In our continuing, cutting-edge, unrelentingly tough coverage of New York's descent back to Warriors-style 1970's anarchy, we present you with the Prospect Heights Car Bomb, destined to arrive in a newly gentrified neighborhood near you. Located directly outside the Newswalk condominiums, the Car Bomb gives you that urban edge you've always wanted, without the sacrifice of of your coveted piece of trendy property. Order now, and receive a free stainless steel Molotov Cocktail kit!

It was just a matter of time, we all realized, but now it's nearly official: Bruce Ratner is gonna get the MTA's Atlantic Rail Yards, which means Brooklyn is gonna get his tall buildings and the Nets. Reports the Daily News:

We've been so distracted with the national disaster coverage as of late, we completely forgot to keep vigilant regarding the issues in our own fair city. Worry not, however, for we've got more fuel for the NYC IS EDGY fire!

We were misinformed. The couple who couldn't wait to get home to commence their canoodling and instead availed themselves of an old mattress conveniently left on the sidewalk did not, it turns out, brazenly boff in Prospect Heights, as we reported, but rather did so in Park Slope. (We'd assumed this sort of behavior stayed on the wrong side of Flatbush.) This news comes from the photographer himself, who wrote in with more information:

This morning we commented that we love New York. But then this email was forwarded to us, and now we love it even more. This is, to the best of our knowledge, for real, and it happened earlier this week in Prospect Heights.

Hate Bruce Ratner's plan for Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards? Don't like its size, don't like its displacements, don't like its eminent-domaining? Oh, man, has Gary Barnett got a rival plan for you. Bids for the railyard were due to the MTA by 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, and a surprise, last-minute, stadiumless, Gehryless counteroffer arrived from developer Barnett. Highlights of his plan, as reported in the Times:

So after the City section's discovery of a few weeks ago — the neverending discovery, with article upon article examining every yuppie virtue of the borough from every conceivable angle, in as many paragraphs as possible — this weekend the Times Magazine got in on the game, too, with a back-page lives column by a woman who has lived in Iran, Argentina, Miami, Australia, Manhattan, Ireland, and Brooklyn, and, natch, loves Brooklyn best of all. ("It's starting to get embarrassing," confessed a dedicated Park Sloper friend of ours over July Third hamburgers.)

Apparently, somebody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate. More news from that scrappy Brooklyn borough: You can now rent yourself a puppet. Some strange group of dudes — and you know there aren't any women around — called The Puppeteers Cooperative set up shop every Saturday in Prospect Park and let families take a puppet home for a while. Like a temporary dog, only with more crapping on the carpet.

The Times is all a-twitter about the Brooklyn's Steiner Studios, which, even though it's not actually built yet, is already housing films like The Producers and the upcoming Fur (which stars Robert Downey Jr., meaning Steiner better start preparing now. Clean up in Aisle Three!). The story details why New York — Brooklyn counts, people — is suddenly one of the top destinations for film crews. Mainly, it's money, money and some sort of green paper with markings ... oh, that's money. From a pre-mourning Mel Brooks:

Nothing gets our Satan-worshipping hearts beating faster than a long, bizarre, and heated email exchange between a Brooklyn writer and a Norwegian black metal group. Hunh? Norwegian Black Metal? A Brooklyn freelance writer? Fuck! It's the Apocalypse!

We recently mentioned a dorkariffic iPod game: safe, no contact, play with your friends. Pretty fucking stupid, right? Unsurprisingly, regulars on the L Train have been engaging in this kind jackassery for months. Trace Crutchfield recounts his humiliation:

So the city approved that controversial plan to redevelop the East River waterfront in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, and the Times reports thatwho knew?there are actually a few residents in favor of the project. We're sure they're thrilled to learn this around Bloomie HQ. Now if they could just get anyone to like the West Side stadium. Or the Olympics. Or the smoking law. JO

We're Manhattanites, natch, but recently, and ashamedly, we've started thinking maybe it's time we joined all our friends on the other side of the East River. (We confess: Nice weather turns our thoughts to the Gowanus.) Thank God for Jonathan Van Meter, to slap us back to rationality in this week's New York mag.

Since its founding by Andrew Krucoff over a year ago, the Gothamist Interview (n e the Young Manhattanite interview) has talked to New Yorkers of all ages, professions, and religious orientations about their lives in the big city. In all that time, I'm not sure I've ever enjoyed one more than Josh Abraham's chat today with 24-year-old Kew Gardens flight attendant Kelly O'Shaughnessy:

We have it on good authority that the man in this picture, taken at downtown nightspot Capitale, is indeed the "Rod Stewart" spotted all around Brooklyn. (According to about 567452 of you, he also works in midtown, has two kids, no British accent, etc., etc.) Let's make sure we all understand: This is not Rod Stewart. This is merely a random man who intentionally tries to look like Rod Stewart whilst bouncing about the boroughs and scaring small children. Keep your eyes open and your camera phones ready; we're still waiting for a picture of PseudoRod in his natural habitat.
UPDATE: Several readers write in to clarify. One says, "That picture is not 'the' Rod Stewart doppelganger I see regularly on the F Train and at the NYSC in the Crowne Plaza and going to work somewhere in or near the Times building. So maybe there's a triple-ganger somewhere." Developing!
[Photo credit: Jeff Thomas via ImageCapture]
Earlier: Breaking: Rod Stewart Doppelganger Must Be Caught
Related: The Rod Stewart Tagger [Bluejake]