Lehman Brothers gave $39 million to charity last year; Merrill Lynch handed out $43.7 million in 2007. So it's not surprising that charities in the city are now wondering how they're going to make ends meet. [Forbes]

Just a friendly reminder to polish up the ol' résumé this weekend: "The unemployment rates for New York City and State shot up in August as the rapidly spiraling economic downturn left more people without jobs, the state's Department of Labor said on Thursday... The city's unemployment rate rose to 5.8 percent from 5 percent in July—the largest monthly increase in more than 30 years." [NYT]

We've made a couple of improvements to the site over the past few days. The "Most Viewed" section on the right-hand side of this page now reflects two weeks' worth of data, so you can see which profiles have generated the most pageviews over the past 14 days. We've also added a "Popularity" section to each profile (left), which tells you how popular a person is in relation to the 2,127 other people in the database. Oh, if you haven't registered for a user account, you can do so here. It'll allow you to rate people and post your comments and photos. And if you have any comments, questions, and suggestions, feel free to email us at tips@cityfile.com.

♦ Model Coco Rocha has been filming a series for Style.com called the "Insider's Guide to Backstage." Her invaluable tips include how to steal shoes from runway shows and how to dodge cameras. [Fashionologie]
♦ Could Marc Jacobs be opening a store in the East Village? That's the rumor. [Fashionista]
♦ Norwegian designer Peter Dundas is taking over from Matthew Williamson as the artistic director for Pucci. [WWD]
♦ Vivienne Westwood's show was the event of London Fashion Week, with Dita Von Teese, Pamela Anderson, Emma Watson, Kate Moss, Mischa Barton, and Tilda Swinton front row. [Daily Mail]
♦ By the end of the night, however, Moss was snapped looking completely wrecked as she emerged from a nightclub with Allegra Versace, who isn't keeping the best company for a recovering anorexic. [Mirror]

♦ Ten places to feed your midnight cravings, including the usual suspects like Blue Ribbon and the Spotted Pig . [NYO]
♦ Jean-Georges isn't the only restaurateur who landed in hot water for skimming tips: A roundup of the dozen or so big-name venues that have faced similar legal trouble over the past year. [Reuters]
♦ The Food Network is looking for a "young, irreverent chef" with a "Yoga-like ability" to host a new show. [Eater]
♦ Frank Bruni offers up his take on Williamsburg's Marlow & Sons. [NYT]
♦ Sweet & Vicious is back in business. [Eater]
♦ Lucky Cheng's might be leaving the East Village for a new spot in Times Square. [GNML via DBTH]
♦ A peek at the new menu at Grayz. [GS]

♦ The Emmy Awards will take place on Sunday evening; AMC's Mad Men is the "overwhelming favorite" to win for best drama series. [Reuters]
♦ What's happening with the New York Sun, which said it will shut down on September 29th without additional funding? It's a "very fluid situation," according to Ira Stoll. [Portfolio]
♦ Tina Fey's SNL imitation of Sarah Palin earned NBC its most-watched web clip in history. [THR]
♦ According to a new research study, Survivor is the most addictive show on TV. [NYP]
♦ MSNBC is expanding to India and Indonesia, among other places. [THR]
♦ The founders of Dreamworks have sealed their pact India's Reliance, a deal that will provide them with $1.2 billion to set up a new film company. [WSJ]

What's more important than anything in these uncertain times? Making sure that your kids are given the ruling class advantages of a private school education, even if it means starting up a school yourself! Aimee Bell, who works at Vanity Fair, and Sara Goodman, the great-granddaughter of Bergdorf, are West Village neighbors who, unsatisfied with the choice of high schools available to their daughters, decided—why not?—to start their own with a little help from their friends.

"'Vodka and scotch sales are up, there's no question about that,' said Chris Adams, executive vice president of Sherry-Lehmann Wines & Spirits... Traffic in his store has increased this month by 23 percent." [Crain's]

Who's making money in this lousy economy? Mega-lawyer Rodge Cohen of Sullivan & Cromwell sure is! He handled both Lehman's bankruptcy and the AIG bailout this week. [AmLaw via ATL]

If you're looking for a bargain in Greenwich, here's your chance. Next week the IRS will be auctioning off disgraced hedge funder Michael Lauer's mansion at 7 Dwight Lane, with the bidding starting at just $2.5 million. Lauer, who founded Lancer Management, which once had $1 billion in assets, was indicted earlier this year for allegedly bilking investors out of more than $200 million between 1999 and 2003. Now the IRS will hand over the keys to Lauer's former home at a public auction next Friday. But if you're thinking about bidding, you might want to make sure you have a good contractor (or demolition crew) on speed dial. Here's why:

When money's tight, what makes women spend thousands on clothes? No one knows, but that's certainly no impediment to authoritative-sounding speculation when there are column inches to be filled. So, even though fashion designers plan fabrics and colors many months in advance of their shows, everyone has been eagerly interpreting new collections in light of the economy, mostly claiming that the bright, cheerful designs seen on the runway—like Betsey Johnson's—reflect a desire to detract from the gloom of dire financial prospects.

Kurt Andersen has been entrenched in the New York media biz long enough to know everyone in town, which is why it's not surprising that most of his 687 Facebook friends either work at the Times, New York, Vanity Fair, or New Yorker, or used to at one point in time. But then there are a few oddballs, like Penn Gillette of Penn & Teller. (They worked on a documentary together.) Some of the names you might recognize: David Carr, Barry Diller, Sarah Bernard, Kevin Sheekey, Rick Stengel, Jacob Bernstein, Jacob Weisberg, Gerry Laybourne, Andy Borowitz, Dany Levy, Jason Calacanis, Eddie Hayes, Steve Case, John Sloss, John Cassidy, Jerry Colonna, Fred Wilson, Matt Cooper, Jim Cramer, Nick Denton, Esther Dyson...

New York's third-richest resident, Carl Icahn, is weighing in on the events of the past few days on his blog. He's not in a very good mood, not surprisingly, but he's particularly peeved about the sweet payouts that CEOs of failed financial institutions are set to receive, despite the fact that shareholders will get royally screwed. Some of the folks who have benefited (or will benefit) from "egregious golden parachutes" and should not expect a Christmas card from Carl this year (or an invite to join him on his yacht): Bob Willumstad, the CEO of AIG; Stan O'Neal, the ex-CEO of Merrill Lynch; Chuck Prince, Citi's former chief; and Daniel Mudd, the outgoing CEO of Fannie Mae.

♦ David Tolley, a senior managing director at Steve Schwarzman's Blackstone Group, paid $8.94 million for two units at The Majestic. Located on the building's 31st and 32nd floors, Tolley's new neighbors will include Conan O'Brien and Abby Joseph Cohen. [Cityfile]
♦ Jurgen Friedrich, founder of Esprit's European operations, has put his fifth-floor Plaza apartment on the market for $55 million, $30 million more than what he paid for it just last year. [WSJ]
♦ Former UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke has sold his home in New Milford, CT, for $1.125 million, 25 percent less than he originally listed it for in the spring of 2007. [WSJ]

Tragic news for all those who live in trailer parks and think a night out on the town involves a $9.99 all-you-can-eat buffet: A number of casinos are now planning to ban smoking, which means it will no longer be able to tug on a slot machine handle with one hand while holding a Newport in the other. [WSJ]

Who would have predicted that Carrie Bradshaw would possess the resilience of a cockroach in a nuclear war? Nearly five years after the final episode of SATC, her teenage years are being dreamed up by Candace Bushnell, and last night Michael Patrick King announced there'd be a sequel to the movie. But as for Bushnell's new book One Fifth Avenue, now that the economy's collapsed, does its focus on wealthy uppercrusters and consumerism mean that people won't want to read it? Bushnell has thought of various ingenious reasons that they will!

Remember Andrei Vavilov, the Russian hedge fund manager who sued the owners of the Plaza for "unobstructed floor to ceiling windows," "lower-than-represented ceiling heights," and "unappealing drainage grates," and asked for his $10 million deposit back plus another $30 million in damages? Well, now El-Ad, the company that controls the luxe condo building, is countersuing, accusing Vavilov of filing a "sham lawsuit" and for defamation. [Curbed, NYP]

Poor Diddy stepping in dog poop while his bodyguard glares at the paparazzi photographers capturing the embarrassing moment ... Blake Lively and Chace Crawford filming a scene on the set of Gossip Girl ... Terri and Bindi Irwin getting out of an SUV in front of their hotel ... John and Cindy McCain on the set of Rachael Ray's show ... James Taylor carrying a shopping bag in Midtown ... Celine Dion signing autographs for fans outside her hotel ... Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa shooting a segment outside ... Katie Holmes on stage for the opening night of her play and then leaving dinner with Tom Cruise afterward ... and David Blaine and Donald Trump announcing Blaine's next stunt inside Trump Tower.

That hugely embarrassing mistake at the New York Times we told you about yesterday? The staff of the New York Post certainly seems quite pleased. [NYP]

You may just be excited to have a job right now. But some people have it really good: The Daily News has a rundown of New Yorkers who get sweet, free apartments as part of their jobs. Included on the list is UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (five-story townhouse on Sutton Place), Columbia President Lee Bollinger (his Morningside Heights house is worth an estimated $19.8 million), Michael Bloomberg (Gracie Mansion comes with the job although he doesn't actually live there), and a bunch of pageant girls (Miss USA, Teen USA, etc.) Also included: Cardinal Edward Egan (left) lives in a 48,550-square-foot Madison Avenue mansion right behind St. Patrick's. (Yes, you read that number right.) Of course, he's also had to devote his life to God and abstain from sex all these years in order to qualify for the sweet housing arrangement, a trade-off that not too many people would be willing to make.