So, the GQ story where Glenn "Style Guy" O'Brien accused Mayor Bloomberg of "dumbing down" his style in order to be Mayor for Joe and Jane New York has hit City Hall, thanks to probing press corps reporters. The Daily News reports:[A] reporter mentioned the GQ column and asked Hizzoner, "Do you feel, as mayor of one of the fashion capitals of the world, you should bring more style and maybe jazz up your wardrobe?"......

- Marc Ecko (right) wins his suit against the city - a judge rules the city violated the First Amendment in revoking the graf party permit! Whodathunkit? But the city is going to appeal, so who knows what'll happen on Wednesday. - The New Yorker looks at how the ghost of Sex and the City lingers on in the West Village... might Jimmy Choo or Manolo Blahnik consider opening up a Bleecker Street store? [via......

Gothamist can only suspect that the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards were so stultifyingly boring is because somehow, Miami and the huge US Air Arena sucked the energy out of everyone. We think the overly manufactured entertainment industry is digging its own grave (A&R guy: "Hey, we need another 'rock' group...it's be a bunch of guys with spiky hair and punkish clothing...let's give 'em a wacky one-word name, too!"), because watching commentary-less CSPAN coverage of......

The movie studios are adding blogging to their marketing repertoire: Fox Searchlight Pictures has started it's own blog, foxsearchlight.blogspot.com, to "join this online phenomena" plus innundate people with information about screenings, box office data, interviews, articles in which their releases are mentioned, etc., etc. Part of what's helpful in driving traffic to the blog is the fact that the releases Fox Searchlight has out there right now are actually good, like 28 Days Later and......

Gothamist's favorite New York Times film critic reviews Pirates of the Caribbean. Here's what Elvis Mitchell managed to put in the review: - Pop culture references: Bart Simpson, Mike Myers, Adam Ant, Keith Richards, Destiny's Child, 12-inch single - Nicole Kidman slam - Sigh - Food reference: ham - Either pithy or poopy pun as last line Elvis likes Mark Romanek.......

First thoughts on the Matrix Reloaded
Gothamist thought that this was a great movie- but understands why you hate it. It's more challenging, and probably worse than the first one, but it's about as good as Kung Fu philosophy gets....

Don't get me wrong- it's not like Gothamist isn't into leather, but these Madonna pictures from the Steven Klein show at Deitch Projects are just silly. At this point, avant garde would be taking pictures of Madonna wearing a business suit- or just having lunch at the Taco Bell. Gothamist's favorite Madonna video is Rain, which was directed by Mark Romanek.......

It's official, Mark Romanek is my favorite video director. His video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Can't Stop," is fantastic: It's very stripped down for a RHCP video, with the bandmembers interacting with pieces that are "inspired by" the "One-minute Sculptures" of Erwin Wurm, an Austrian artist. What probably helps is that the RHCP peppers song is simpler and less busy than other ones (which is why the video is a great match). It's......

Today was all wet...worries aboutfloods are alarming, but don't really affect apartment-dwellers. In the mood of the day, here are some entertainment options: Madonna has a song, Rain. Watch the video, which was directed by Mark Romanek, who directed current favorite, Hurt as sung by Johnny Cash as well. Also, there's Missy Elliott's song, The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly). But there's nothing like watching Singin' in the Rain, as close as anything that can make......

Johnny Cash 'Hurt' Video
...It is the most beautiful and riveting video I've seen in a long time, because of how the images and music work together and how Johnny Cash, icon, haunts the video......