What is it about Frank Gehry? When The Boston Globe reported this week that the architect (and a construction firm) is being sued by MIT, news organizations from Kansas City to Dublin reported the story. Does Gehry have a building in KC, too? Apparently, not, but he raised controversy there over an arena bid. Sound familiar?! The university filed a negligence and breach of contract suit, alleging design flaws in the $300 million Stata Center......

Mayor Bloomberg has been in Sun Valley, Idaho, for the annual Allen & Company conference (it's where media movers and shakers wheel and deal). And Governor Spitzer snarked, "I hear the congestion in Sun Valley is tougher than the congestion in Manhattan right now," referring to the critical juncture the Mayor's congestion pricing program faces in Albany. Still, Mayor Bloomberg has been going about his media mogul/mayoral duties - he participated in his weekly......

This Memorial Day weekend offers the most 2007 weddings so far in the NY Times' Weddings & Celebrations section: A whopping 43 weddings! But, of all the announcements, our favorite is the one of Thea Spyer and Edith Windsor. Spyer, a 75-year-old psychologist in Manhattan, and Windsor, a 77-year-old retired computer systems analyst for IBM, were married in Toronto earlier this week, but actually met decades ago.Dr. Spyer and Ms. Windsor met in 1965 in......

The NY Times has a glimmering review of Frank Gehry’s first New York structure to actually get built. Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff calls the IAC building, the headquarters for Barry Diller's media empire, “elegant” and “a much-needed touch of lightness” to the city’s skyline. Gehry’s latest, writes Ouroussoff, reflects how developers are paying closer attention to design. Boasting “strangely chiseled forms that reflect the surrounding sky,” the IAC, one of several new towers along......

The NY Times is reporting that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner will cut the size of the project by 6-8%. How? By reducing the amount of market-rate housing. And also from the Times: "[Ratner's company] Forest City is also considering reducing the height of the project’s tallest tower, which is known as Miss Brooklyn, to get it under the height of the borough’s tallest building, the nearby Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower, according to real estate......

Back in 2003 when the plans for Barry Diller's new headquarters on the West Side, designed by the over-exposed Frank Gehry, first appeared we were ambivalent. While we were relieved that it wasn't going to be clad in titanium á la Bilbao we were still a little apprehensive about the way the building would actually look. So many absurd curves just seemed like asking for trouble in an office building. But having walked by......

Even though construction has been quietly progressing for the last month, today was the official groundbreaking for the High Line Park. Just about every local politician was there to make a little speech about the revitalization of the area, including Senators Clinton and Schumer, Mayor Bloomberg, and City Council Speaker Quinn. A requisite smatter of celebrities also showed up-- Barry Diller and his wife Diane Von Furstenberg, Kevin Bacon, and Ed Norton all stood......

- A judge puts an injunction on a possible transit workers strike - not that it'll necessarily stop 'em - Hotel Chatter has a preview of some 2006 hotel openings - 4 of the 6 are downtown - An explosion at a NJ apartment building killed two today - and more are missing - The NYPD hates how the media is gravitating to the acting credits of a suspected cop killer-accomplice - Curbed tracks progress......

Just what the world was waiting for! The NY Times reports that Arianna Huffington is starting a celebrity group blog with people like "Walter Cronkite, David Mamet, Nora Ephron, Warren Beatty, James Fallows, Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Diane Keaton, Norman Mailer and Mortimer B. Zuckerman." Huh. Did Huffington read the Businessweek article about blogs changing business and decide, "It's on"? It'll be called Huffington Post, the NY Times article......

With news that Frank Gehry is among the selected architects to design cultural buildings at Ground Zero, it marks the presence of one of America's foremost architects at one of the most high profile sites, which will make design fiends' mouths water. Gehry did not submit a plan for Ground Zero saying the $40,000 fee wouldn't cover his costs. This made Gothamist think about Gehry's recent post-Bilbao fame, and what that's meant in NYC: His......

- Period duel reenactment in NJ - Fear comes to New York - Fear Factor, that is - The crimes city college kids commit - Barry Diller wants New Yorkers to leave the city during the convention - Cool new Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Nogushi stamps; yes, stamps - Go see O Changgun's Toenail at the Cherry Lane Theatre - Is making a cat fall 50 feet into a pillow cruel? - Times Square anti-war......

You know, even though the fall is our favorite month, Gothamist never looked forward to the end of summer, and thanks to the hell on wheels production of the Republican National Convention, we're hoping that construction on our time-machine keeps progressing. There was yesterday's Daily News report that some extreme/fringe protest groups were devising ways to divert police and bomb-sniffing dogs with "anarchist" tactics, like lacing things with ammonium nitrate and forcing the evacuation......

Deborah Schoeneman, New York Magazine...

Pulling himself away from becoming a referee for NY's Funniest Home Videos, Choire Sicha gives a thorough look at the changing face of the West Chelsea in the Observer, as the High Line, the 1.5 mile elevated track that runs from Gansevoort to 34th Street along 10th Avenue, looks like it will be preserved as a park. The continuing the gentrification of the formerly gritty neighborhood into "A DESTINATION" is bolstered by the future......

Robert DeNiro's future TriBeCa hotel will open in 2005. The six-story luxury hotel, at Greenwich and North Moore, is partially funded by the state's Liberty Bonds, which also funded Barry Diller's West Chelsea headquarters. The design was approved by the Landmarks Commission, but as if there was any doubt - it looks like everything else in that neighborhood. Ten, fifteen years ago, this would have been more exciting, but now it seems to be average......

It turns out that Barry Diller's new $138 million West Chelsea headquarters will be partly funded by the city's Liberty Bonds, which were created to help the city recover from September 11. Diller's InterActiveCorp won approval for $80 million of bonds, aided by promises of job generation. The 30 year-bonds have lower interest rates than banks, saving millions in interest payments and other taxes. This does not surprise us, as, of course, the man behind......

The Times' Herbert Muschamp gives an appraisal of Frank Gehry's design for a new Chelsea building to house various Internet properties owned by Barry Diller. Muschamp's enthusiasm for the building, which he likens to a ship's sails, is apparent: With typical Gehryesque frankness, the design appears to reflect New York's present preoccupation with ornamental building tops. If the top is what counts, why bother with the base and shaft? Just go for the crown!......

So 'Joe Millionaire' Is Fox's Biggest Hit. It always seems so shocking that the Fox Network is able to pull out wins, even almost 20 years of existence. The Married with Children reunion made me realize that I've grown up seeing Fox evolve. It was wild and crazy in the early days, with A Current Affair and Tracey Ullman Show and Married with Children. And it was shocking when Fox decided to pit The Simpsons......