• The latest in the Times' ever-growing stable of blogs is Wall Street and financial blog DealBook, edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin. We imagine that when Gawker alum Elizabeth Spiers gets her similar venture, Dealbreaker, up and running, these two will spend the spring mudwrestling one another. Kinda hot, no? [DealBook]
• Before you get all wet and saucy at the prospect of more pictures of Kate Moss blowing rails, keep in mind that these ones are from 1998 or so. And really, once you've seen her hoover one, you've seen her hoover them all. [Sun UK]
• Win yourself a free meal on 71 Clinton's last night of service. All you have to do is come up with the best answer to how you would spend $250 on food and drinks, in a single night, on the Lower East Side. If you want to win, we suggest refraining from mentioning Welcome to the Johnson's. [Eater]
• WASPdate continues to thrive, lending its support to plaid pants-wearing whiteys everywhere. [AM New York]
• New York mag puts out its Best of New York issue, and yet the "Best Way to Get on a Hipster Photo Website" strikes us as the worst of our fair city. [NYM]
• Frank Bruni gets highly philosophical on the issue of whether or not a restaurant should be re-reviewed. How one man puts so much thought into the star system, we'll never know. But bless him for all that he does. [Diner's Journal]

• Bill Powers says blogs are not, recent hype notwithstanding, dying. But you knew that. [National Journal]
• Old men make good anchors, says Mark Jurkowitz. [Public Eye]
• Because there aren't enough glossy style mags for rich people, the Wall Street Journal Europe is set to launch one targeted at rich men between 30 and 55. Style Journal launches in Europe next month, in the Asian edition in the fall, and could be coming to the United States, too. Thank God. [WWD (last item)}
• Speaking of mags for rich people, Keith Kelly thinks a trademark threat from Absolut vodka helped shutter Absolute mag, even though courts kept siding with the mag's publisher. [NYP]

Most of us have identically "original" ideas. This is why TV networks, for example, will generally require that you sign a release before you pitch them a show. It's not that the TV execs want to steal your idea; it's that they don't want to get sued if they have someone else's version of your idea already in development. That said, let's consider the case of Dolly, the Truth About Cocks and Dolls blogger, who says acting Voice editor Doug Simmons stole her pitch — about New Yorker men and women playing The Game — and instead gave it to hotshot young Nick Sylvester. Simmons, talking to Gawker yesterday afternoon, denied the charge, saying this week's now-retracted cover story was Sylvester's idea, not his, and that he couldn't find any record of Dolly's pitch. As a public service, then, we're pleased to now provide that record.

The spat between Donald Trump and Martha Stewart may be quickly fading from media relevance, but leave it to the Donald to exercise even the smallest platform in order to drown out his naysayers. He's taken the argument to his Trump Blog, where he reiterates his disappointment with Stewart's "ingratitude" regarding her failed version of The Apprentice while reminding readers that his own, wonderfully rated show is now launching into its fifth season. Navel-gazing just like a real blogger — bravo, Donald!

Deep down, we all just want to be loved. Everyone. Even a bigshot New York Times writer with a weekly column and an Academy Awards blog and amusing new video clips and the freedom, it seems, to write about nearly whatever he wants, whenever he wants, from wherever he wants, for the world's leading newspaper — Mr. Run Amok, but in a good way — just wants to be loved.

So we're sitting in a Dunkin Donuts on Second Avenue, having just checked the front window of the Second Avenue Deli ourselves, when we see Eater has beaten us to the punch. The above sign, affixed to the beloved and bygone deli is worrisome, sure. But we also agree with our foodie friends' assessment: It's clearly a hoax.

We don't know about you kids, but we're thoroughly hungover from this blogfuck stuff. Last Monday brought New York mag's cover story on blog hierarchy (a subject relevant to so very few, we'd venture that, come year's end, last week's issue will be the lowest-selling for all of 2006). Thursday had Slate's Daniel Gross telling us that blogs are so over, due in no small part to that silly New York article. Late Friday, Trevor Butterworth at the Financial Times chimed in with his aptly titled thinkpiece, "Time for the Last Post." And Sunday brought good ol' William Safire's "On Language" column for the Times magazine, in which he explored — what freaking else? — funny words in the blogosphere.

• Carl Icahn's quixotic attempt to split up Time Warner starts to "falter." As quixotic bids are wont to do. [NYT]
• Is the blog boggle about to burst? One certainly hopes so. [Slate]
• Sixteen months after the last one left, Details names a new executive editor: Bill van Parys, snagged from sister pub Jane. Insert Details-is-gay joke here.[WWD]
• Yahoo News was all Jerry Garcia's fault. Or something like that. [MW]

The rather curious blog A Dress A Day directs our attention to a snippet from a 1960 magazine article by Gay Talese, "Vogueland":

We don't know what it is about this day in particular, but apparently today, Wednesday the 15th of February, is the preferred day for respectable newspapers to launch blogs. Perhaps it's the hangover from Valentine's Day self-loathing — we've found that depression and emotional darkness tend to lead to blogging. Whatever the case, both the Times and the Observer have launched new blogs today: Frank Bruni's Diner's Journal and the appropriately pink Bridal Blog, respectively.

In winter, sometimes it snows. Also, there are blogs.

• As if Valentine's Day weren't depressing enough, Nicole Richie will drag her lifeless limbs all over New York, distributing free samples of Dr. Pepper. Apparently, she's "fallen in love with the taste," but we're doubting she's actually tasted anything with caloric content since, say, last July. [AdFreak]
• Barbie gets back together with Ken. How'd he win her over? By donning a leather jacket, styling his hair like Orlando Bloom, and learning about Buddhism. Yes, we're still talking about the freaking dolls. [NYT]
• Seeing this picture confirms that we're about 2 days away from Tom Ford backlash. How about you? [Towleroad]
• The blogosphere continues to gobble up everything in its path, including the New York Times. Or so says Google. [Kottke]
• Lindsay Lohan and Ryan Adams. First vomit, then discuss. [IMDb]

We'd like to take a moment to wish the happiest of third birthdays to our delightfully unjaded crosstown friends at Gothamist. The actual anniversary isn't till next week, the Gisters report, but last night's Moveable Hype concert apparently served as a celebration. We congratulate them on their longevity, but mostly we envy them their readers, who, apparently, take it upon themselves to whip up Gothamist-themed birthday cakes. (No one ever makes us baked goods. Sigh.) And while we could not have designed a more perfect Gothamist cake than one featuring both Jerry Orbach and a panda — well, OK, we might have put some weather in the background, too — we also admit we're a little confused: We don't quite understand why Jerry would be going undercover in a panda suit, and we don't quite understand why Jerry looks so much like a vampire. But, then, we're always OK with not quite understanding Gothamist, and we're pretty sure they're OK with it, too. Have a happy, if mildly confusing, birthday, guys.

[Click to enlarge.]

This is neither the time nor the place to get into our very conflicted feelings about Park Slope, but suffice it to say we think The Muk Report's proposed t-shirt designs are hilariously funny:

• Maxim, Sports Illustrated, and Playboy to spend up to $1 million each to host dueling pre-Super Bowl parties. Maybe some of those recently laid off from Time Inc. and Dennis Publishing will be invited. [NYP]
• Brandon Holley digs 20-something smart chicks. [NYT]
• Daily News TV guy Richard Huff still doesn't like Jon Stewart. [NYDN]
• The Observer redesigns its blogs, which now look thoroughly swell (if, sadly, less pink). [The Real Estate/NYO]
• Missed In Style: Celebrity Weddings on ABC Monday night? Then you missed your chance to see highlights from Details editor Dan Peres' wedding. We're sure you're as sad as we are. [WWD]

As part of Gawker Media's ongoing quest to keep people of every persuasion from doing any real work, we proudly announce the newest member of our family: Valleywag, a tech gossip site focused on the trials and tribulations of Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Valleywag is penned by a "hungry little monster" by the name of Nick Douglas (formerly of Blogebrity), who we've saved from his silly undergraduate education so that he might rest safely in Nick Denton's bloggy womb. Covering the money, excess and private jets that the mainstream press ignores, Valleywag hopes to inhibit Google's productivity by at least 2%.

• Human-animal hybrids
• Gas-electric hybrids
• Aniston vs. Jolie
• NYC skyline photos
• Brokeback Mountain
• Cocaine
• Arctic Monkeys
• James Frey: does he use any product on those curls?
• Cats (the pets)
• MacBook Pro
• Cats (the musical)
• Anderson Cooper

• Ooooh, Anderson Cooper is hiring a Production Assistant. Can you handle it when those icy blue eyes demand a latte? Are you ready to make the appointments for his silver mane to be trimmed at Robert Kree? [BrassRing]
• We'll take our drugs however we can get them, but using an innocent puppy as a mule is absolutely unacceptable. So much so, in fact, that it makes us consider climbing on the wagon. [TSG]
• It's not rape if you're too sleepy to say no. [Overheard in NY]
• Blogger Stephanie Klein, who has a lucrative deal with Reagan Books to write about her "sexy" single life, is pregnant. And engaged. Which means Judith Reagan is going to claw her fucking eyes out for ruining the marketing angle. [Greek Tragedy] Our condolences, really.
• You know what would've made Fake Writer James Frey a little less fake? Jesus. [CBN]
• Why are celebrity children allowed to access the internet? We're looking at you, Bobbi Kristina Brown! [Gilded Moose]
• The Village Voice announces its Pazz and Jop awards. [VV]
• Today in sporty brother site Deadspin's Superbowl coverage, we learn that publicists are total assholes who cling to any semblance of exclusivity — even in Detroit. [Deadspin]

We know many people — OK, at least a few — who spend each week trying to determine the perfect mot juste for The New Yorker's cartoon contest. But little do they know — as one blogger does, and, remarkably, it's not Emily Gordon — there's a single correct answer, good on each week's drawing: