mysteries

Batali And Gyllenhaal Meet At Balthazar

Joshua Stein · 06/13/07 12:03PM

A citizen journalist noted this duo in action: "Jake Gyllenhall and Mario Batali having breakfast together at Balthazar, one much cuter than the other! " Now what Batali is doing at a rival's restaurant, out in the open, is a mystery. And what he's doing with Jake Gyllenhaal, the Jean Paul Belmondo of our generation, is equally mind-fuzzying. Maybe he heard Jake's sister likes to pose topless or maybe we have a Jake + Mario restaurant in the offing. Brokeback Poutine anyone?

'Times' Mystified By Definition of Best-Seller

Emily · 05/14/07 12:16PM

"Although The Devil's Teeth sold just 36,000 copies in hardcover, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of book sales, it was a New York Times nonfiction hardcover best seller," Times book reporter Motoko Rich wrote last week in a weird article that had book editors around town scratching their heads. "Although"? "Just"? Many Times bestsellers have similar and, sometimes, lower Bookscan numbers. Is it possible that the Times, arbiter of the most influential bestseller list in the country, doesn't really have a set or sensical definition of what constitutes a "best seller"? An article in yesterday's Business section reveals: yes, that is possible. Likely, even!