Mayor Mike! What a lovable guy! One minute he's palling around with adorable muppets, the next he's telling a City Hall reporter "you're a disgrace" because the guy asked him a pertinent question about his bullshit rationale for buying a third term.

The downtown Armory played host to the 37th annual Fragrance Foundation FiFi Awards last night. A big bunch of celebs and designerswere on hand as Marc Jacobs was inducted into the foundation's Hall of Fame, including fellow award winners like Diddy and Paris, as well as Queen Latifah, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Dustin Hoffman and Lisa Gottsegen, Hilary Rhoda, Kendu Isaacs and Mary J. Blige, Kathy and Rick Hilton, Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler, Harry and Laura Slatkin, John Demsey, Linda Wells, Doug Reinhardt, Tracy Reece, Nacho and Delfina Figueras, Kate Walsh, Samantha Harris, Tova and Ernest Borgnine, and Jacobs's fiancé, Lorenzo Martone. [PMc, WWD, Vogue UK, VF, NYO, Wireimage]

• Rumor has it Richard Branson may be interested in buying Playboy. [ChiTrib]
• Two Boston Globe unions have agreed to concessions with the NYT Co. [E&P]
• Why did the Times pick Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim to invest in the paper instead of David Geffen? It seems publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. was "worried about Geffen's ambition to take over the company." [AllThingsD]
• Mayor Bloomberg plans to introduce legislation in Albany to extend the city's popular—but broke—film/TV tax credit program. [THR]
• Tom McGeveran has been named interim editor of the New York Observer. He'll take over for Peter Kaplan, whose last day will be this Friday. [NYO]

Because Mike Bloomberg has more money and name recognition, and you, like all New York Democrats, are scared to actually take him on and end your comfortable career?

Rep. Anthony Weiner is officially dropping out of the race for mayor, a move he hinted at a couple of months ago when he announced plans to suspend his campaign. The move leaves Comptroller William Thompson in the unenviable position of having to go head to head with Michael Bloomberg (and his $80 million war chest) this fall. It also means the election will likely turn out to be a lot less entertaining. "Mr. Weiner is among the few political figures in the city who seem to rattle the supremely confident Mr. Bloomberg, and appears almost to relish antagonizing the mayor. His exit, in some ways, is a victory for Bloomberg campaign aides, who sought to knock him out of the race." [City Hall News, NYT]

• Last week Bette Midler was handing out dating tips to Jennifer Aniston. This week she's rolling with 50 Cent. Not only have the two become "unlikely best friends," but Bette says 50 has "really made my life worth living," and has been by her side "through thick and thin." She'd even like to sing backup on one of his new songs, too. Also? She's totally lost it, clearly. [NYDN]
• Speaking of Aniston, she's supposedly taking a little break right now due to "exhaustion." [Sun]
• The woman accused of having an affair with Bruce Springsteen says her ex made the whole thing up so he'd get "big money" from the singer to stay quiet. [People]
• Hilary Rhoda is reportedly dating Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. [P6]
• Amy Winehouse was reportedly hospitalized for the third time in as many months on Tuesday, although she's since been released. [Mirror]

• Kate Moss's latest collection for Topshop hits stores (and the web) tomorrow. [Fashionologie]
• Anna, Oscar, Vera, and Carolina—among others—joined Mayor Bloomberg at City Hall this afternoon to announce Fashion's Night Out, which is scheduled for Sept. 10. [NYM]
• A former assistant to Karl Lagerfeld (and the author of a tell-all about the designer) is making waves once again with his descriptions of life inside the house of the Kaiser. [Fashionologie]
• A chat with French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld. [Guardian]
• Halston's new creative director is Marios Schwab. [Vogue UK]
• Nordstrom be eyeing the Virgin Megastore space in Union Square. [WWD]
• It's Fleet Week! Why not get dressed up for the occasion? [Pipeline]

If Michael Bloomberg was hoping all the cash he's been spending on his reelection campaign might put off other billionaires from jumping into the race, well, it appears to be working: Supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis has called off plans to run for mayor this fall. [NYDN]

Working on Michael Bloomberg's reelection campaign might just be the best job in town. He's got lots of money to spend, of course. (He's already shelled out more than $18 million since Jan. 12 despite little in the way of competition.) And then there are those rides aboard his jet, where expensive wine and sushi is always on the menu. He's paying his campaign staff pretty well, too, as Jason Horowitz discovered. And he's generous about looking beyond what others might consider unfortunate career blemishes. Take Bradley Tusk, the mayor's 35-year-old campaign manager, for example. Tusk once worked for Chuck Schumer's communications office and for Mayor Bloomberg at City Hall. But then he took a job as deputy governor of Illinois under now-disgraced Rod Blagojevich, and then left to join Lehman Brothers as a senior vice president. (We all know how that one turned out.) But Tusk has bounced back nicely. He's now making $27,500 a month to run Bloomberg's campaign. And he's not the only one doing well. A roundup of some of Bloomberg key campaign staffers—and their salaries—below.

Mayor-for-life Mike "Bitches Ain't Shit" Bloomberg has all the money in the world, and he is going to spend it to beat his mayoral opponent, The Great Gazoo, a Martian Democrat only Bloomberg can see.

• Mayor Bloomberg will be joined at City Hall tomorrow by Anna Wintour, Vera Wang, and Macy's chief Terry Lundgren to announce an event called Fashion's Night Out. As part of the Sept. 10 extravaganza, stores across town will stay open until midnight and host parties that will—gasp!—be open to the public. [NYT]
• Anna has a busy day tomorrow. In addition to the City Hall thing, she'll also be at Columbia to attend Bee Shaffer's graduation. [Fashionologie]
• The fashion, parties, and sheer stupidity you're missing at the Cannes Film Festival at the moment. [NYT, WWD]
• Michelle wore an Alaïa dress and Thakoon jacket to last night's ABT gala. [AP]
• You may want to try haggling the next time you're at Lord & Taylor. [NYM]
• Burberry backed away from its signature plaid a few years ago over concerns it was way too overexposed. But now they're bringing it back. [WSJ]
• Victoria Beckham is a big fan of the Birkin bag. She has 100 of them. [P6]

Mayor Bloomberg introduced new health commissioner today to replace Dr. Thomas Frieden, who was picked by President Obama last week to head up the Centers for Disease Control. He's Dr. Thomas Farley, a pediatrician and epidemiologist affiliated with Tulane. Why did Bloomberg pick Farley? He's an expert on HIV and "early-intervention strategies for children with special needs." As an added bonus, city will save hundreds of dollars by not having to order new memo pads embossed with the initials "TF," which is good to hear. [NYDN]

Mayor Bloomberg has already spent $18.7 million on his re-election campaign, substantially more than he'd spent at this point during his 2005 run. Why so much? Because he just wants to talk. "Every campaign is about engaging voters in a dialogue," said Howard Wolfson, the mayor's spokesperson for his reelection campaign. "This campaign has begun a conversation with New Yorkers about the economy and the mayor's plan to create or save 400,000 jobs." For that kind of money, he could have probably just hired 400,000 people to work at City Hall, but that's another matter. [NYT]

Hey remember swine flu, that horrible, HORRIBLE scourge on humanity that killed tens worldwide a couple of weeks ago. Well, it's back, so says the media anxious to fan the flames of frenzied delirium again.

It's one of many casually accepted, unchecked assumptions in Silicon Valley: Peter Thiel, the cofounder of PayPal and Facebook investor, is a billionaire, right? Leaked documents from his hedge fund, Clarium Capital, show he's not.

Lucy Liu leaving the Kabbalah Center in Midtown ... Jessica Biel shopping with Justin Timberlake's mom in Soho ... Michael Bloomberg watching daughter Georgina Bloomberg competing in an equestrian event in North Salem ... Jim Jarmusch walking and smoking in the Village ... Joan Rivers leaving ABC studios ... Naomi Watts sitting by herself in the park ... Penn Badgley grabbing coffee in the West Village ... Keanu Reeves walking in Soho ... Dennis Rodman leaving his hotel ... Famke Janssen riding a bike downtown ... Pete Wentz walking into his hotel ... Matthew Broderick riding on a scooter with son James ... Rihanna leaving her hotel ... and LuAnn de Lesseps posing for pictures outside the Waverly Inn.

Michael Bloomberg isn't just a highly gifted musician. He knows how to cook, too! Okay, not really, but he did turn up on the set of Martha Stewart's show yesterday to show off his recipe for "Gracie Mansion" oatmeal cookies. (The episode airs on May 13 if you'd like to go ahead and set your DVR now.) The recipe is free of trans fats, as you probably expected, and you'll find the full recipe below, just in case you're feeling particularly brave this afternoon.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg: The Music Man [WNBC]

Joe Biden warned the public to avoid "confined spaces" like the subway when he appeared on the Today show this morning. So what did our fearless leader, Michael Rubens Bloomberg, do? He took the subway and went as far as to ask reporters to film him arriving at City Hall by train. Message communicated! But to make his arrival even more special, he also made sure he had a crisp copy of El Diario tucked under his arm, so not only did he reassure us all that we'll be fine amid the swine flu epidemic, he also demonstrated that he's still working on his Spanish. Multitasking in action, clearly.

Who will pay for scaring all of Manhattan last Monday? Obama promises action! Bloomberg promises... forgiveness! We promise finger-pointing.