Drea and Gina

Damn you, TV upfront. Variety reported some TV casting news that seems to confirm that Adriana LaCerva will be killed off on the Sopranos. Why? Because Drea De Matteo landed a role on the Friends spin-off, "Joey," as Joey's high-strung sister, Gina! Our alternate hope is that David Chase's shooting schedule simply allows her to go to Hollywood to make a crappy sitcom. While it's safe to say she's the coolest thing to hit network TV in a while, Jesus, Gothamist doesn't know if that's career suicide in a punchline or a great way to make some Hollywood cash. Probably a little of both. At least she'll still have Filth Mart.

But speaking of Drea, her Prey for Rock & Roll co-star
Gina Gershon is going to be on network TV this fall, too. She plays the wild and sexy titular "Hot Mom" with a conservative daughter (imagine that!), and somehow, Nick Lachey will be in the show as well.

Dog Eat Dogma World

Gothamist has been debating whether or not to see Lars von Trier's Dogville (Three hours of von Trier? Blech. Three hours of Lars von Trier torturing Nicole Kidman? Say!) but seeing Dogville won't be as fun as looking at low culture's hilarious look at the blueprint of the town (excerpted above). The film eschews actual sets for chalk outlines (to better focus the audience to the actors), and greg.org has a good post about the film.

Someone writes to the NY Times to bitch Lars von Trier: "Lars von Trier could at least acknowledge that we mere humans, whatever politics we embrace, have bladders. Like Oliver Stone's "Nixon," Mr. von Trier's new film, rather than representing historical or social commentary, is about his inner Dogville. It seems to me that Mr. von Trier would do better to make shorter films, closer to home." Meow! Von Trier is accused of being anti-American, which isn't so strange these days, but he's infamously has never been to the United States (Dancer in the Dark and Dogville, both set in the U.S., were filmed in Euore), and his IMDB entry has the fascinating piece of trivia about his trip to Cannes: "He has so many phobias, he could only make the trip in a specially outfitted trailer." Oh, that's just like John Madden and the Madden-mobile!

City Says Smoking Ban Did Not Effect Bar Biz; Bars Say Ha!

The City releases information that the smoking ban did not affect the restaurant and bar business, but, of course, that's the City's opinion. Increases for liquor licenses, restaurant & bar jobs, and tax payments, make it seem that the ban had no effect. However, other groups point out that information is flawed because it does not separate restaurants and bars. As David Rabin of the New York Nightlife Association says, "There's no separation between Starbucks and McDonald's and the nightclub and bar industry." Plus he points out that some bar wokers might have had to take on second jobs, to make up for lost tips. Health Commissioner Thomas Friedman says that stand-alone bars around the country aren't doing well, so one cannot be sure where the downturn in bar business may stem from. The City will present the data today.

One bar owner complains that pre-smoking ban, a person could drink and smoke at his bar for 6 hours. Now a person will drink for just (JUST) 4, and then smoke for 2 hours. Which might be an interesting twist in the smoking ban: You may be more sober at the end of the night, thus making less rash decisions to drunken dial that idiot who said he was going to call you after your last date but now it's been a week and where the hell is that phone call. You'll still be getting lung cancer, emphysema, and all other smoking-related illnesses, but hey, you only live once and you might as well have your dignity intact by not drunken dialing.

The Daily News looks at how some establishments are getting around the smoking ban: Caffe on the Green in Bayside, Queens, has a tent called the "Butt Hutt"; Luke & Leroy has a fake sidewalk with fireplace (named best smoker's retreat by NY magazine); and davidburke & donatella has a 41-foot Ford Excursion (no, it's not for a bunch of prom-minded Long Islanders!) that is a smoking lounge.

Gothamist on the smoking ban's first anniversary. And today's Gothamist Interview with Tom Vaught, a bartender, has this timely quote: "I don't go to gyms to get drunk and I don't go to bars to get healthy." Read more.

Hanshin Tigers - Japan's Red Sox

With the Yankees in Japan, there is plenty of coverage of how they are doing (Matsui is doing great in his return to Japan), but Jack Curry of The Times brings attention to the Hanshin Tigers. Curry compares the Tigers to the Boston Red Sox, both teams with maniacal fans and a championship dry spell.

At the Tokyo Dome, the Hanshin Tigers played the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in an exhibition game, where the fans turned out and cheered their team enthusiastically. The fans are led by "oendan", or cheerleaders, using drums, horns, whistles, and songs. Of the fans, Alex Rodriguez said, "It's like nothing I have ever seen." Unlike the United States, fans in Japan just cheer for their players, and don't boo opponents. Curry writes, "The polite fans never boo, so they turn from incredibly raucous to incredibly silent when the opponents are batting, as if transferring from a Metallica concert to a library in seconds." The Yankees face Hanshin today in another exhibition game.

Gothamist marvels at the baseball fans in Japan and would love to see this happen in New York. Then again, we know that in New York, fans can turn on you instantaneously. Case in point, Hideki "Fat Toad" Irabu, who is happy to be back home.

Meadow Grows Up

Leave it to the Times' Alessandra Stanley to give Gothamist a reason to even think about watching Call Me: The Heidi Fleiss Story, with Jamie-Lynn "Meadow" DiScala, on USA tonight. Stanley writes

DiScala interprets the role of the 27-year-old brothel owner with coy vacancy, and her flat affect seems part of a broader postmodern approach to the material. "Call Me" is less a made-for-television movie than an extension of the 50's French nouveau roman; Fleiss's immorality tale is told without almost any conventional elements like dramatic plotting, moral precepts or psychological insight. And like the novels of Alain Robbe-Grillet, the movie is more interesting in theory than in practice.

Gothamist loves the 50's French nouveau roman as much as we love coy vacancy!

The Daily News' David Bianculli doesn't even give "Call Me" any stars: "...one of the least sexy films ever made about the world's oldest profession." And the Post's Linda Stasi rips the movie a new one: "Horrible script, horrible acting, horrible direction. Horrible period." Damn it, Gothamist will definitely have to watch tonight. Only if the Law & Orders on TNT are ones we've seen six times before, though.

Check out Jamie-Lynn's official website.

MTA and FDNY Security Concerns

The MTA will spend $91 million on police payroll, training, and equipment, as the agency continues to beef up security. The MTA spent $52 million before September 11, 2001, and has been using the funds to increase the number of officers at bigger commuting hubs and as well as stations in the suburbs in Long Island and Connecticut. And perhaps, if you commute in, you've noticed NY and Connecticut state police officers on your train.

Meanwhile, the Daily News reports that the FDNY is making counter-terrorism training its focus, based on findings from a McKinsey report. Some of the recommendations range from hiring more women and minorities to training ladder companies and medic crews to respond to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks.

Fare Hike For Unlimited Cards?

Looks like the MTA may have to make new subway advertisements about how much money you save by having an unlimited Metrocard: Apparently, the MTA is considering another subway/bus far hike. But this time, the fare hike would affect those with unlimited Metrocards. The monthly unlimited Metrocards, which are now $70, would be $73, and weekly pass fares would increase from $21 to $24. The agency has a $800 million budget gap, and the fare hike would be used to help ease that, by raising $300 million. MTA sources told CBS News that service cuts might be used to make up the remaining $500 million; the M, V, J, Z, G and C trains are the lines with the lowest ridership, while the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, A, D, L and Q were the lines last affected in a service cut back in 1995. The $2 fare is in tact (or promised) through 2007, but the budget issues affect other proposed projects, like the Second Avenue subway and moving the LIRR to Grand Central.

Has anyone heard about this? And while this news is irritating, it's one of those things riders are powerless to do anything about, except grouse. The subway is the only way to get there many times. Gothamist on the fare hike to $2 subway rides.

Verizon Admits 911 Bungle

It seems that it was Verizon technicians working on a bank's phone system that made 911 calls from Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queen, and Staten Island disappear. Verizon said, "We determined that a human error resulted in the accidental rerouting of phone calls during a procedure to upgrade service for a corporate client. We have immediately altered our processes to ensure this type of situation does not reoccur. We have assured the city that we took immediate steps to make sure this doesn't happen again." Verizon will be giving the city a full report in the next few days, while Information Technology and Telecommunications Coommissioner Gino Menchini said, "I am going to be going through it in excruciating detail. This will be a big part of my life for the next couple of months," but emphasized that NYC's 911 system has other safeguards in place. Good luck, Gino - this will be a doozy of a report.

Previously on Gothamist

- Does it matter if Belle de Jour is a fake?
- The smoking ban turns one
- Workout whiner or victim?
- Your pants catch fire on the subway and...
- The LES plague
- West Side development gets a step closer to reality with formal presentations
- Couture, schmouture - this dress from Sex and the City was ugly!
- Eating at Casa Mono on Irving Place
- A-Rod's pretty face gets beaned!
- Do you want to know how many calories were in your Peter Luger's steak dinner?

We visited the Holy Land, a.k.a the set of Law & Order. Check out some of this past week's Gothamist Interviews. Plus the week in full.

Holdout Granny Juror

The wacky juror in the Tyco case, who may (this is Gothamist's poor, unfounded speculation based on nothing) be the the one juror causing the jury dissension, gets the Post treatment today. The Post, who had been calling her, "the holdout granny," reports that 79 year-old Ruth Bennett Jordan is, among other things, listed in the Social Register and described (by a friend) as being "self-centered, 'paranoid' and 'loves to be contrary.'" Yeah, that's pure gold for any trial lawyer, when a juror flashes the "OK" sign to you. Gothamist believes in the American justice system, and if a mistrial is found, because of the squabbling "poisonous" Tyco jury, then that's that. But we think that the muckety mucks that used Tyco funds as their personal saving account are worse than lawyers.

If they make a TV movie about this, Angela Lansbury would play the granny juror, and it would turn out she was right all along or something.

The Return of Godzilla

Godzilla has returned to Japan. No, not the overgrown monster from the South Sea, but Japan's own Hideki Matsui. The Yankees and Matsui arrived after 1 am Tokyo time this morning (or was it yesterday morning, the time difference has Gothamist all messed up). The team was dressed to the nines, wearing suits and ties, not the sweat-suits and slippers they wore on the plane. The line of stars made it off the plane one by one, with photographers and a small group of fans greeting them in the closed Narita Airport.

Matsui and the Yankees are already drawing large crowds during their practices at the Tokyo Dome, with more than 30,000 people turning out. The Japanese fans just love Matsui, with some people comparing his status to The Beatles or to Elvis.

Emergency for 911

Last night, 911's phone lines were down for 2 hours in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, adn Staten Island. 911 operators noticed a drop in calls and alerted other officials, who then scrambled to set up other plans. Police patroled areas, and just as the NYPD finished setting up alternate emergency numbers of their site, the 911 system went back up. Verizon says that they were upgrading their call-switching software, but the city (and all of its residents) is worried because the back-up system failed to work. The City also says that Verizon did not tell them they were upgrading the software. Information Technology and Telecommunications commissioner Gino Menchini said, "This particular change affected not only the incoming calls, but in essence disabled the backup system that Verizon has in place. [The changes] ffected 911 in an extremely problematic way for us." It's too soon to tell if any critical emergencies were not addressed due to the outage.

Is Your Senator Funny?

stereogum points to a fabulous prank by zug where adult John Hargrave posed as a 10 year-old boy, writing to U.S. Senators for their favorite jokes (click letter at right). The Senator Prank shows that Senator Ernest Hollings won't commit to a joke, that having someone write a handwritten response counts, and Senator Ben Nelson will share a sophisticated and unfunny Senator joke. Senator John Kerry sends in a joke too, and Senator Chuck Hagel sends a joke AND glamor shot. Gothamist is proud the say that NJ Senator Jon Corzine crafted (well, his intern or some such lackey) crafted an informative letter about NJ with what Hargrave thinks is the funniest joke.

More political humor: My First Presidentiary

The Lennie Briscoe Question

The big mystery today is not what cry-for-help notes come from the Tyco trial but is Jerry Orbach leaving Law & Order. There was some word of this in September, but today a Reuters report says that Orbach, and his alter-ego, Lennie Briscoe, will leave the 27th Precinct after this season, perhaps to help launch Dick Wolf's next Law & Order spin-off, Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Now, while this is certainly unsettling news to Law & Order fans, Gothamist is determined to look at this from all angles. Jerry Orbach has given us twelve wonderful years of playing Detective Lennie Briscoe, which is about 280 (through the end of this season) episodes of wise cracks, weariness, and wisdom. Of course, we'd love 280 more, but we can't always be greedy. And we agree that it's good to leave on a high note. Besides, Orbach will be 70 next year, and probably wants to enjoy living off the L&O; residuals. Maybe he'll go back to Broadway! Either way, people should settle down and relax - Lennie and Jerry will always be in our hearts. However, Gothamist will freak out if Lennie dies - DON'T DO IT, DICK.

What about the show, you ask. There is speculation that Detective Green will get promoted and will take on the "wise veteran" dynamic of the group. While Gothamist has utmost faith in Dick Wolf and his producers decisions (even though we don't forgive them for giving us Serena Boring Bones Southerlyn), we foresee a rocky start for the newbie to fill Lennie's shoes.

A trip to the set of Law & Order. And thanks for everyone's concerned emails.

Boomerang's Back

Boomerang, the baby tiger cub who had been ill-advisedly purchased by a Post reporter from a sketchy animal dealer, which then caused a mini NY tabloid pissing match as the Daily News revealed the baby tiger got ill under the Post reporter's care (because he was taken from his mother too soon), is back in the spotlight. The Daily News cries, "You lion?" while the Post shouts, "Judge is Lion King," with news that Boomerang should go to the animal activist who was "helping" the Post with their "expose" of the animal trade. The tiger animal trade became big news when Ming the tiger was found in a Harlem apartment. The Post plans to send Boomerang to the animal reserve owned by Tippi Hedren, Shambala. Noah's Lost Ark, an animal reserve in Ohio where Boomerang AND Ming live now, plans to appeal.

Last Octoober, the Daily News ran two articles (1, 2) about how Boomerang cub was doing - all while damning the Post's stupidity. The Daily News also made a big deal of raising $30,000 for the animal reserve, but the reserve's lawyer says, "I'm not aware of any money they've raised. Do you believe everything you read in the Daily News." Of course, that quote was in the Post. And while Gothamist just wants to know Boomerang is okay, we love seeing pictures of him!

How To Fire a Sign: Be Owned By Donald Trump

Ha ha ha. The Donald's crazy 13'-by-25' foot banner on Trump Tower has been fired by city officials, who say it's illegal. And just a day after the New York Times wrote about how tourists LOVE it! The Donald's comment: "The fact that 'The Apprentice' is the hottest show on TV, they should be happy we're doing it in New York. The big complaint about the city is that it's an unfriendly place to do business," he said. "They should wise up." Yeah, but if a competitor put up a huge, ugly sign on their building, The Donald would be the first in line to bitch to the city. And dude, your sign has been up for weeks - you got good value out of it. But The Donald loves the signs: Trump hung a sign from the Trump International across from the Time-Warner Center, saying his building had the real Central Park views.

Make your own vinyl banner sign. And, boy, is Amy stupid.

Those "Coddled" Yankees

The Yankees departed for Japan yesterday, and it seems like they might be the most pampered players in the game. As if getting instructed on every detail for the flight wasn't enough, the players will also get rubdowns from three massage therapists. Players will also have many things with them for entertainment, from dominos, to gospel music, to books. While there, players will get a $25,000-$30,000 stipend. Jim Caple's got it right when he says, "it's just a little jetlag!" Perhaps they should contact Bobby Valentine who seems to be having fun in Japan.

Gothamist doesn't remember rubdowns on our flights to the "Far East", but then again, we thought the far east was Montauk. Besides, if they really wanted to travel in comfort, shouldn't they have gone with Hooters Air?

West Side Story

NYC and NY State finally formally announced the $2.8 billion plan to build Jets stadium, expand the Javits Center, and revitalize the West Side yesterday. And of course, there's a lot of disagreement and protest about the plan: How can the city funnel hundreds of millions of dollars when the school system needs money badly? Some assemblymen support expanding the convention center but not building the stadium. The immediate neighborhood doesn't want the project. The Mayor says he's going to use Battery Park City funds for part of the project, which raises other eyebrows.

Of course, with the prospect of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of projected revenue, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki are on the offensive, calling the plan a way to "catapult NY" to the fore of the convention industry as well as a way to "bring the NFL back to NY."

The cost breakdown:
NY City & State: $1.3 billion
Jets: $800 million
Hotel occupancy tax ($1.50/night additional charge for all hotel rooms in NYC): $500 million
Private developer (TBD) for convention center hotel: $200 million

The Times gets the West Side project reaction from many New Yorkers; Gothamist's favorite: "'Who are the Jets?' asked a 42-year-old film producer as she sat on a bench on Broadway munching an artichoke pizza."

City Hall's press release of the project; bio of Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, who headed up the plan.

The Other Man We Wish Would Go Away

It looks like model-"actor" Michael Bergin has taken the tried-and-true route to attempt to go from out-of-work himbo back to top-of-mind himbo by shilling his relationship with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy - one that continued while she was still married to JFK Jr. The Post article about Bergin's new book, The Other Man: JFK Jr., Carolyn Bessette & Me and A&E; special, The Other Man, is actually kind of nutty, detailing how Carolyn was always crying and insistent they continue their affair and how he loved her, because the age-old question of "If you loved her so much, why can't you leave her memory alone?" comes to mind. The Post's last sentences speak volumes:

Weeping before the A&E; cameras, Bergin recalled how he lovingly paid one final tribute to his lover. Taking his cue from an ancient Hawaiian custom, Bergin said, he borrowed a friend's surfboard and paddled out into the ocean at sunset to drop the fragrant petals of a lei in the dark waters.

Is it wrong to laugh when it's in the context of a death? There's something just unspeakably icky about Michael Bergin.

It's Ross!

In an effort to thwart the still-in-development gay cable channel, Bravo continues to make stridest to be the gayest network on TV. No, not by airing America's Top Model or Sex and the City or Melrose Place in syndication - by signing Ross Matthews, Tonight Show intern, to his own show, "The Ross Show!," silly! Gothamist loves how Ross says "THE ROSS SHOW! is going to be the most fun ever. Are you ready? I am!" and lets you write into him to see if he can make your dreams come true. The show will made up of bits like his Tonight Show work (which is hysterical - see him call Scarlett Johansson a bitch) and out-of-the-ordinary situations. He's like a nicer Cojo, who is just male Joan Rivers. Expect to see Ross on the Today show stat.

But where is Triumph's own show?