It's Advertising Week in New York this week — which strikes us as a touch redundant — and it kicked off this morning with a "Procession of the Great Icons," in which all your favorite legendary advertising characters marched from Times Square to, natch, Madison Avenue. Adweek's AdFreak was there, and the 'Freaks provide some excellent coverage of the event — including photos of the Burger King, the Energizer Bunny, Tony the Tiger, Charlie the Tuna, the Keebler Elves, and even Juan Valdez.

An AP lede, moved last night:

It's that time of the year, apparently, when random companies conduct polls to gauge American opinion on a variety of inconsequential matters. The latest asks our countrymen where they'd most like to live:

The L magazine is out with its oddly punctuated "Best! (and Worst) of NYC" double issue. The results come from a reader poll, and we disagree with almost all of it, from their sexiest newscaster (Matt Lauer? Please. Hasn't Pat Kiernan ever read the L folks the paper?) to their best tree-lined block (a host of cute West Village blocks kick Jane's puny ass, beginning with Bank and Commerce) to their best burger (um, guys, if you like Jane Street so much, can we point you to a bistro on its corner?). And let's not even get started on their taste in NYC blogs.

Lower Manhattan on Microsoft's Virtual Earth, which is "the best way to find what you're searching for."

• 7-Eleven, which theoretically never closes, has closed on Park Avenue South. Till at least Thursday. [Manhattan Offender via Curbed]
• Sure, Hell's Kitchen is gentrifying. If you don't count the public shitters. [ToTC]
• Never mind Jesus. What would Anna Wintour do? [Ambigutrex]
• The new BBC show from The Office creator Ricky Gervais is out, and Andrew Hearst both likes it and shows you where and how to torrent it. [Panopticist]
• Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley has no idea what she's talking about. [Radosh.net]

A two-story building collapsed at the corner of Broadway and 100th Street this morning.

In this big, crazy world, there are few things as near and dear to NYC's collective bowels than Times Square. Amidst the lights, the glitz, and the cheap digicams, the Naked Cowboy, our patron saint of parasitic glory, stands tall. His tight panties welcome you to our fair city; his guitar-driven country anthems lift your soul; his chiseled, David Barton-esque physique leaves not a single loin unstirred.

• Quote of the day: Park Commissioner Adrian Benepe says of city park University Woods, "Just because something is in our inventory doesn't mean it's worth taking care of." [NYT]
• Kudos to Lucky editor Kim France, who chose her letter in this month's magazine to announce her divorce. Classy!
• Michael Showalter ruminates on his new film, The Baxter, and v-neck sweaters. [BoomSalon]
• An anonymous $20 million donation recently made to the Carnegie Corporation has been traced back to Mayor Bloomberg. Well, looky there — we can't find anything snide to say. Cheers, Mike. [NY Sun]

In the afterglow of our national celebration, one is often prompted to look at the current state of affairs and, much like our nation's forefathers, fight for change. Nowhere is this more evident than when dealing with the pressing issue of public restrooms and the egregious line a lady must deal with just to drain herself. Some women, be them sassy or smart, have taken to abandoning the ladies' room altogether in favor of the much quicker men's room. But when a woman dares to prevent men from entering their designated potty, we are faced with a threat to our freedom:

The Japanese dude scarfed only 49 dogs yesterday at the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island. That's well down from the 53.5 he ate last year, setting the world record. It seemed the perfect opportunity for some homegrown talent to step up, to take advantage of the opening and reclaim the Coveted Mustard Yellow International Belt. It was a chance for American eaters to stand strong, be resolute, stay the course, and engage in various other boosterish aphorisms. It seemed, after all, that the 150-pound Japanese guy was in his last throes.

Those crafty Israelis who now own the Plaza announced specifc plans for the landmark hotel yesterday, according to a report in the Times:

It's maybe, possibly, potentially, finally settled. Pataki, Bloomberg, developer Larry Silverstein, Silverstein architect David Childs, and poor, sad, forsaken, erstwhile WTC master planner Daniel Libeskind will announce today a new design for Freedom Tower, the dramatic, off-center, 1,776-foot tall tower that was the centerpiece of Libeskind's rebuilding plan but is now neither dramatic, off-center, nor resembling Libeskind's design. But it gives Silverstein all the office space he wants — not that he's been able to rent anything in 7 WTC, next door — it makes the NYPD happy, and it looks an awful lot the buildings that fell four years ago.

Clyde Haberman gets some prime Page One real estate in today's Times to consider a weighty question heretofore unexamined amid New York's recent stadiapalooza: Whither the name "Shea"?

It seems we did a handful of posts on this two and a half years ago, but someone has a long memory:

· It could be nothing more than an ugly rumor, but word from the War of the Worlds European press tour is that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were engaged in Rome last night. If this is actually true, stock up on water and batteries, 'cause nuclear holocaust can't be far behind. [Defamer]
· New York is America's 2nd dirtiest city after Chicago? We should be ashamed of ourselves! Get out there and pee on the sidewalk now, you lazy clean freaks. [Gothamist]
· Online rock snob paradise Pitchfork isn't completely heartless. They've actually given out a whopping 30 perfect reviews. [Whatevs]
· Big Brother is watching you. In 368 places in the Meatpacking District and Chelsea alone, to be exact. [Curbed]
· Yahoo! bucks the system and launches its subscription search feed, thus giving information-addicted paupers of the world access to info on sites with fees, such as the Wall Street Journal. And just like that, the Times Select feature loses its erection. [Yahoo]
· We're hearing about this new blog, which might just belong to a Star employee, which would be a nice compliment to this Star employee's blog. Is Bonnie not keeping you guys busy or something?

Time Out New York is just shy of its tenth birthday. But the London mothership has been around for at least 35 years, and it's been putting out the Time Out guidebooks for a good chunk of that time. Our West Coast correspondent recently (and inexplicably) happened across a copy of Time Out's New York Guide from 1990. Some hi-larious highlights, from the section on neighborhoods:

We feel like we read this story over and over again: Yesterday, the High Line park project got the OK from some group or another, which will allow it to move forward, at least until it needs approval from some other group at some other point. So: Woo-hoo, for now.

A Times front-pager today, pegged to Queens as Bloomberg's second-tier choice for an Olympics HQ, draws a disturbing picture of the borough as, essentially, an abused wife. Consider just the front-page photo captions:

Closed on Sunday, dead by Monday.
Lower East Side favorite Luna Lounge closed its doors on Saturday night and, by Sunday morning, the music venue was but a hungover memory. A quick stop by yesterday evening reveals that they're not wasting any time tearing the place down — good thing, too, 'cause Ludlow Street needs those fabulous new condos, like, stat.