The real estate market still sucks, in case you haven't noticed. According to reports issued by a handful of the city's biggest brokerages today, home sales were off 50 percent during the second quarter compared to same time period last year, and prices took a beating as well, naturally: The average sales price of a Manhattan apartment is now $1.31 million, according to Prudential Douglas Elliman, down 21 percent from a year ago. And today's report on unemployment courtesy of the U.S. Labor Department won't do much to lift your spirits. The jobless rate rose to 9.5 percent in June as the U.S. economy shed another 467,000 jobs. So is there anything good to report to offset all the bad news? We can't think of much, but we'll let you know if we come up with something. [Real Deal, NYT]

Liv Tyler leaving lunch at Sant Ambroeus on West 4th Street ... Liev Schreiber riding his Vespa downtown ... Anne Hathaway walking in SoHo ... Whitney Port shopping in the West Village ... Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan filming scenes for The Resident in Brooklyn ... Kiefer Sutherland walking in the West Village ... Courtney Love walking by herself near Gramercy Park ... Heidi Klum shopping with her mom and kids in the meatpacking district ... Emilie de Ravin walking on the Lower East Side ... Rihanna hanging out at East Side Ink in the East Village ... Renee Zellweger and Bradley Cooper hailing a cab outside Antonucci on East 81st Street.

• It looks like Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick might be moving their growing brood to Park Slope. The couple is rumored to be behind the recent purchase of Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany's Victorian townhouse at 17 Prospect Park West, which was sold to an LLC called Harken Pretty for $8.45 million last December. [NYP]
• Paul Kerz, the former CEO of Health Management Systems, and his wife Corinne, have dropped the price of their five-story, five-bedroom townhouse at 126 East 65th Street, four months after putting it on the market for $12.5 million. It's now listed for $9.95 million. [Cityfile, Sotheby's]
• Sara Levinson, the former president of the women's publishing division of Rodale, and her husband Charles Hairston, have paid $2.625 million for a three-bedroom co-op at 45 East 85th Street. [Cityfile]
• Hockey star Scott Gomez is reportedly putting his three-bedroom pad at the Chelsea Mercantile up for sale now that he's been traded away from the Rangers. Meanwhile, fellow ex-Ranger Darius Kasparaitis has listed his two-bedroom condo at 205 East 59th Street for $2.595 million. [NYP, PDE]

Lindsay Lohan turns 23 today. Larry David is turning 62. Singer Michelle Branch is 26. High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale turns 24. The chairwoman of the New York City Opera, Susan Baker, is turning 59. Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Richard Axel turns 63. Former New Hampshire governor John Sununu is 69. Former model Jerry Hall is 53. Retired baseball player José Canseco turns 45. And Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philippines, celebrates her 80th birthday today.

• First Michael Jackson dies, and now this? It seems it's over for Tinsley Mortimer and her husband, Topper, now that Tinz is in London where she's taken up with a German prince named Casimir Wittgenstein-Sayn. Why the change of heart? For starters, "Cassie" makes more money than Topper and owns a castle in Germany. Even more importantly, marrying him would finally make the Tinz a princess. And opportunities like that don't come along every day, naturally. [P6, DM]
• Bradley Cooper denied rumors the other day that he's been dating Jennifer Aniston. One possible reason for that: It looks like he's involved with Renee Zellweger instead. [P6]
• Kevin Jonas is engaged. He's one of those annoying Jonas Brothers, in case you're not up to speed on your annoying teen pop stars. [People]
• A few years ago, someone walking through the meatpacking district would have complained about the stench of rotting meat. Nowadays? They're whining that Diane von Furstenberg's store is pumping perfume into the air. [P6]

• Today in restaurant reviews: The Times' Frank Bruni gives one star to Bar Artisanal; Restaurant Girl hands out three to Brooklyn's Mesa Coyoacan; and the Post's Steve Cuozzo pays a visit to DBGB. [NYT, NYDN, NYP]
• A few impressions of Charlie Palmer's brand-new Aureole. [TFB, Zagat]
• A total of 27 restaurants closed their doors during the month of June. But 48 new ones opened, so clearly it's not all bad news. [Eater]
• Following a little snafu last night, Gus & Gabriel opens tonight. [GS]
• How do you snag a table at Minetta Tavern? Try passing a fat wad of cash to Keith McNally: "I never take gifts, ever. It's against my principle. I do take cash, however. And as much of it as I can get." (Yes, he's kidding.) [Eater]

Gwyneth Paltrow is well aware that a sizeable percentage dislikes her immensely. So why is she making it worse? Who knows, but she is. In an interview with the AP—one which Gwynnie apparently conducted in "almost perfect Spanish"—she said Spain has become a "second home" to her, adding that Spain is full of history whereas the U.S. is shiny, tacky and new: "Here in the United States an old building is about 17 (years old), and over there it's from 500 B.C., it's incredible." Then she reflected on how much more relaxing things are in Spain. "They seem to enjoy life a little bit more. They aren't running around as much as in New York. They enjoy time with the family. They don't always have their Blackberries on." This is true, no doubt. Life really is more pleasant when you're vacationing in Spain and not forced to, like, go to work every day in the concrete jungle of NYC. And aren't you happy Gwynnie put down her class of Sangria for a few minutes today to give this interview and point that fact out to you? We certainly are. [AP]

• Cablevision is planning to launch an entire cable network devoted to nothing but wedding shows. So now you'll be able to watch Bridezillas 24/7. Yay. [B&C]
• It may not be over for Vibe. Quincy Jones, who founded the magazine in '93, says he's looking into buying it back and keeping it alive as a website. [Ebony]
• Spin reportedly laid off 20 percent of its staff yesterday. [Gawker]
• Gannett Co., the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S. by circulation, is reportedly cutting between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs at the company. [WSJ]
• More bad news for CNN: MSNBC is now in front on weeknights and Campbell Brown's nightly show continues to plunge in the ratings, too. [NYT, TVBTN]
• CNBC's Dennis Kneale doesn't like it when bloggers mock him. Will acting like a nut on TV fix that? No, but it sure makes for amusing TV. [Dealbreaker]

The music industry isn't in the best shape at the moment. How are record labels, performance rights organizations and artists hoping to make up for plunging revenues and non-existent profits? They're taking aim at New York bars and clubs, that's how. Earlier this week, BMI and collection of labels and artists filed suit against Pianos on the Lower East Side for having the nerve to play hits like the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" and Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me" without having the permission to do so. You didn't think the day would come when Bret Michaels would be facing off against a bar on Ludlow Street? That day has arrived!

Real estate developers are having trouble finding new buyers, as you know full well, and the situation is particularly challenging for buildings that happen to be in slightly iffy neighborhoods. Here's one way to entire prospective buyers: Make an offer on a one-bedroom at The Sinclair, located on the edge of Crown Heights, and you'll get a free Prius as part of the package. Now if only they could arrange to have Bob Barker come down to give away these free cars personally, this promotion would be perfect. [Curbed]

The Daily Beast has unearthed a few photos of the Madoff family from back in the day, just in case you've been dying to see pics of Ruth Madoff in a bathing suit and yet, six months after her name entered the public conversation, you've yet to realize your dream. As for the t-shirt Bernie's wearing on the left, it reads "Thank you, PaineWebber." No, thank you, Bernie. You've gone above and beyond. [TDB]

BusinessWeek conducted a little investigation recently and discovered that while a number of prominent CEOs have joined social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn over the past few years, very few had managed to make many friends. What about New York's population of socialites and do-nothing fameseekers? Naturally, they have no trouble making friends when it comes to Facebook. But that isn't the case with business-centric LinkedIn, where many of them lead lonely online existences and—worst of all—they've been forced to actually fill something in under the headers "job title" and "employer." How can you possibly be expected to have either if you spend your days sleeping and your evenings out at parties? A few examples—including Annabel Vartanian and Alex McCord (left)—after the jump.

Disturbing news for people who go through life with excruciating pain and rely on painkillers to get them through the day: A federal advisory panel voted yesterday to recommend a ban on Percocet and Vicodin, due to the drugs' potentially harmful effects on the liver. The recommendation doesn't mean it will become the law of the land; the FDA still has to vote on it. And the ban wouldn't have an impact on other popular painkillers like OxyContin, so Rush Limbaugh won't have to worry about taking up another cause. For the moment, at least. [NYT]

• Investor Gerhard Andlinger has sold his penthouse at the Time Warner Center for $37.5 million, making it the biggest residential deal the city has seen in nearly a year. Not that this should necessarily be interpreted as a sign the real estate market is back. The 8,300-square-foot apartment, which was sold to an anonymous buyer, had been listed for $65 million when it first hit the market last year. [NYO]
• Keiko Ibi, the Tokyo-born filmmaker who won an Oscar her 1999 documentary The Personals, has put her condo at 15 Central Park West back on the market less than two years after purchasing it for $1.8 million. The one-bedroom is now listed for $3.75 million. [Cityfile, BHS]
• German-born billionaire Juergen Friedrich has taken $10.5 million off the price of his 18,000-square-foot Southampton manse. The Grosvenor Atterbury-designed home, which went on the market for $67 million last year, is now priced at $49.5 million. [Curbed Hamptons, Corcoran]

Ruth Madoff can breathe a little bit easier today. According to the Post, Bernie Madoff's wife will not be prosecuted for having any role in her husband's Ponzi scheme, since federal prosecutors "lack evidence that she was either aware of or involved in Bernard Madoff's scam." And here we were thinking that the $15.5 million she withdrew from her brokerage accounts in the weeks before Madoff's arrest was a little bit suspicious!

Liv Tyler turns 32 today. Indie singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens is 34. Debbie Harry is turning 64. Fred Schneider of the B-52s is turning 58. Dan Aykroyd is 57. Pamela Anderson is 42. Renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp turns 68. Actress Claire Forlani is turning 37. Missy Elliott is 38. Former MTV VJ Hilarie Burton turns 27. Retired Olympian Carl Lewis is turning 48. And Corporal Max Klinger (Jamie Farr) celebrates his 75th birthday today.

• Lindsay Lohan will officially celebrate her birthday tomorrow. But it looks like she'll have some extra spending money in her pocket if she decides to buy herself a present. Lohan collected $70,000 to appear at an all-day birthday party in her honor at the MGM Grand last Saturday. [P6]
• A semi-private funeral was held yesterday for Farrah Fawcett. The public wasn't permitted to attend, but a gaggle of photographers was more than welcome. [Us]
• Day 6 of the Michael Jackson mess: No one seems to know who really gave birth to Jackson's kids, no one is totally sure about the final funeral arrangements, and it still isn't clear what drugs he was taking exactly, or who gave them to him. And so on it goes. [Mirror, Sun, TMZ, Us, TMZ]
• On a more positive note, David Gest says Jackson was just another "manly man" who loved women, chowing down at McDonalds, and pursuing his "passion for classic literature." That's nice to hear, isn't it? [Sun]

• Betsey Johnson reports that she's thinking about retiring this fall. She plans to hand over the reigns to Eric Sartori. At least assuming he manages to "Betsey-fy himself," that is. [Cut]
• Kanye West's line of sneakers for Louis Vuitton has been delayed, but photos of the $700 kicks can now be viewed online. [Racked]
• Lauren Conrad, Mandy Moore, Jennifer Lopez: These are not very good times for celebrities-turned-designers, as you may have heard. Not that the bad news is stopping J.Lo from launching yet another fragrance, of course. [ABC News, People]

• Michael Psilakis's Gus & Gabriel was scheduled to open this evening. But then the air-conditioning stopped working so it didn't. Oh, well. [TFB, TFB]
• Ama in Soho has closed its doors after four years. [Eater]
• Le Pere Pinard on Ludlow Street has been shuttered. [Eater]
• Zen Palate in the financial district is no more. [EVGrieve]
• One more bit of bad news, in case all those closings weren't quite enough: the Dean & Deluca on University Place and 11th Street is gone. [Eater]

Robert Pattinson riding a bike around Central Park on the set of Remember Me, and later standing with co-star Emilie de Ravin ... Shaquille O'Neal leaving his hotel in Midtown ... Mariah Carey filming the music video for her latest single, "Obsessed," including one scene with her dressed up dressed up as Eminem ... Leighton Meester, Chace Crawford, and Ed Westwick on the set of Gossip Girl ... and Rihanna walking into lunch yesterday at Philippe, and then turning up at the Gramercy Park Hotel last night for Allegra Versace's 23rd birthday party.