While most bloggers cobble together a year-end a Best and Worst list or a 10 Best List, I decided to do a Decade Review, in the least amount of words as possible.

I edited the list about 9 times until I got to the one you’ll read below. Have fun reading and remembering. Or remembering and shuddering. I look forward to your own decade review. In the mean time have a healthy, prosperous, safe and creative New Year!

Decade Review ☞

• 2000: Dot-com Bubble Burst
• 2001: September 11 Attacks
• 2002: Adrien Brody wins Oscar for “The Pianist” and plants presenter Halle Berry with a full lip lock
• 2003: Iraq War
• 2004: Mars Rover
• 2005: Hurricane Katrina
• 2006: “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp” wins the Oscar for Best Original Song by the group Three 6 Mafia
• 2007: Collapse of the Housing Market in the USA
• 2008: Barack Obama
• 2009: Michael Jackson Dies…

Actor, Hotel Owner, Tribeca Film Festival Director - Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro has angered New York City officials after refusing to reconstruct his upscale Manhattan hotel to meet city standards.

Bosses at the Landmark Preservation Commission (Lpc) ordered the actor to modify his Greenwich Hotel in June 2008 after he built the structure without the commission’s approval.

Officials argue the building’s architectural style does not fit in with the industrial Tribeca neighborhood and have asked De Niro to modify the sprawling penthouse, which executives claim is 1,100 square feet bigger than the design approved in 2004.

The actor has yet to correct the building, blaming the non-compliance on “mistakes”.

De Niro’s business partners and team of architects were set to appear before the commission on Friday to explain the delay in bringing the structure up to standard.

An LPC spokesperson would not confirm the meeting, citing “the ongoing application process”.

The commission has yet to set a date for De Niro to reconstruct the hotel. According to the New York Post, he could be ordered to tear the structure down, costing an estimated $1.5 million.

In the meantime, last moth is was reported that New Yorkers longing for a pre-”Rent,” pre-luxury condo filled Lower East Side might not have to wait much longer…on television, anyway.

Robert De Niro and Spike Lee are developing the series “Alphaville” for Showtime, which will be set in the Alphabet City of the 1980s. Lee is set to direct the pilot episode, his first TV pilot since 2006’s “Shark” for CBS. Though the series seems poised to capture a grittier, pre-gentrification Tompkins Square Park, we can only imagine what adding another production regularly shooting on location will mean for the real Tompkins Square Park.

Mary Travers of the famed 1960s folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary,  passed away Wednesday at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut after suffering from leukemia for several years. She was 72.

After successful recovery from leukemia through a bone marrow/stem cell transplant, Mary succumbed to the side effects of one of the chemotherapy treatments.

Known for their melodic harmonies as well as their social conscience, Travers, like remaining trio members Paul Stookey and Peter Yarrow, saw folk music both as an art and as an instrument for change. They sang a number of socio-political songs, which Travers later defended.

“I’m not sure I want to be singing ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane‘ when I’m 75,” Travers said in one interview. “But I know I’ll still be singing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind.’ ”

To learn more about Mary, please click here to the Peter, Paul and Mary website.

NB In lieu of sending flowers, for those who would like to contribute to a particular charity in memory of Mary, that information will be posted tomorrow after the family has an opportunity to make a decision.

For all inquiries,  please contact

Jason Elzy
Warner Bros

Heather Lylis
Sunshine, Sachs & Associates

Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy, the last son of Camelot and a political dynasty is dead at age 77 after a battle with brain cancer since his seizure in May 2008.

He will be buried about 75 feet from his brother John F. Kennedy in Arlington cemetery, where both his assassinated brothers are buried, including Robert F. Kennedy who was shot on June 5, 1968.

In 2008, Kennedy endorsed Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America.

Kennedy’s endorsement gave his relatively unknown Senate colleague enormous credibility. In this new candidate’s vision, Kennedy saw a hope that goals he had long fought for might finally be achieved. Yet, even as he passed the torch, Kennedy suddenly faced his own mortality when diagnosed with cancer.

After recovering from surgery, Kennedy returned to the Senate and was greeted with a standing ovation by colleagues who’d worked with him – and against him – for almost 50 years.

“I don’t know if, what, Ted Kennedy’s legacy will be, but in the quarter-century I’ve been here, there’s not been anyone quite like him,” said R-Ariz, Senator John McCain.

According to now President Barack Obama, Ted Kennedy was “A Defender of a Dream“.

As much as Ted Kennedy’s life’s work belonged to the Senate, his heart belonged at the family compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., where he grew up by the sea. We’ll leave you with this quote from Senator Kennedy:

“There’s a lot to be learned from the sea. I think in many respects, it’s sort of a metaphor for life – the storms that come out there that aren’t predicted, and then the beautiful warm and lovely days. The good times.”

If you would like to add your thoughts or condolences to a public memorial for Senator Ted Kennedy, please click here.

Stephen Colbert

Ever wonder what celebs and politicos studied before they became famous?

Stephen Colbert perfected his “Method” eyebrow raise as a theater major at Northwestern (’86). The Comedy Central anchor once described his college self as a “real poet-slash-jerk…I had a beard, and I wore black, and I was really willing to share my grief with you.”

Jodie Foster went to Yale. Natalie Portman enrolled in Harvard, where she pursued a psychology degree and worked as a research assistant for renowned law professor Alan Dershowitz.

Actor James Franco for the past few years was an English student at UCLA. He carried Gertrude Stein to film sets, took 62 units in one quarter, and finished his degree in English with a creative writing concentration last June.

For politicos, I most wondered about Rahm Emanuel whose brother is Hollywood hot-shot agent Ari Emanuel and Jon Favreau. Not Jonathan ”Jon” Kolia Favreau the terrific (and oddly hot) actor, writer director, but the super hot, young Jon Favreau President Obama’s specch writer. Well you’re going to find out. Rahm Emanuel’s major may surprise you…

To read more about celebs and their college pursuits, please watch the slideshow here.

Ben Affleck, Russell Crow in "State of Play"

Ben Affleck plays  a congressman in State of Play and sounds like one, too. In his interview with Pat O’Brien,  Affleck speaks out about the crisis in Africa, violence against women, and whether he’ll actually run for office.

State of Play also stars, Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn, Rachel McAdams, and Jeff Daniels and is actually a film adaptation of the critically acclaimed British TV series, State of Play, which first aired on BBC One in 2003 and ran for 6 episodes.

To read the full article by Pat O’Brien, please click here.