Some of the personal details exposed by Cityfile's detectives are merely embarrassing, such as my own middle name, Guido. The detail on people's homes, including actual addresses and the purchase price of condos, will be controversial: there has been an unspoken pact between celebrities and reporters that even publicly available information is fudged to confuse stalkers, who will now know to wait outside 285 Lafayette Street for David Bowie and Janice Min, for instance. But most importantly, Cityfile's profiles on media and other personalities will help provide the backstory for otherwise shallow online media converage.

New York figures such as Anna Wintour (who just celebrated the 20th anniversary of her ascension to the helm of Vogue) so predate the twentysomethings that cover the city that their messy and illuminating histories are ignored. For today's short-attention-span media, without the benefit of grizzled colleagues, this new site may represent something of an institutional memory.

Accordingly, Cityfile will be providing background information capsules on people in the news for Gawker. As a taste, here's one little item on Roger Ailes, head of Fox News, who's in the news again today after David Carr's exposé on his press tactics. Ailes, notes Cityfile, is the only News Corporation executive apart from Rupert Murdoch entitled to company-paid "security services." He needs all the protection that the media conglomerate can buy.

[Slate]

As she wrote in the opinion pages of the L.A. Times in March:

"As with everything, the women's movement is partly to blame because back in the 1990s, when the Third Wave was going strong, we advocated sexual freedom, lipstick glamour, a joyous embrace of femininity, an affectionate embrace of men. It was the era of do-me feminism. I appeared topless on the cover of one of my books, a decision I stand by still. I am proud that Naomi Wolf published a book called "Promiscuities" and that Katie Roiphe wrote a book called "The Morning After." I am really proud that Susan Faludi came out with the brilliant "Backlash." But I don't think the idea that you could own your own orgasm was ever intended to teach college coeds that it is a good idea to spend spring break in a shower with your roommate in a motel room in Daytona Beach having a lesbian encounter for the cameras of "Girls Gone Wild." That's not feminism!"

New Math:

The Perfect Woman:

Bo's new EP, "Bo Fo' Sho'," comes out on iTunes on the 17th.

[Flickr via Environmental Graffiti]

On May 29th, Richard and his wife Jazmin Zepeda welcomed into the world, Riley Maddox Blais. She weighed 7.9 pounds and was 21" long (long? how do you describe things that can't stand up?) These photographs were taken by Whitney and Jesse. It should be noted that on the same day Blais became a father, Lisa probably cut in front of an old woman at a supermarket, opened the Emergency Exit gate in the subway setting off a horrendously annoying alarm though she could have just as easily have gone through the turnstile, stole moleskin from a Mom & Pop drugstore, slashed the tires of an ambulance, hacked her way into an ex-girlfriend's email, and tapped aggressively on the glass window of a pet store, scaring the adorable puppies therein to the point of catatonia.

Not To Go Anywhere:

The Pope:

Happy Birthday:

Junk Mail:

Desk:

Memorial Day:

Surprise Party:

Some later episodes lack conflict, but that doesn't stop them from being cute, and this short form can support a couple episodes of light joking. The same spirit of casual and mature portrayal of sex as a normal part of a relationship, even a backdrop for conversation, keeps the story fresh.

Season 3, which is a co-production of IFC and Nerve, premiered Tuesday; a new episode goes up for the next ten days. Watch the whole series here.

SO I'M ON THE BUS FOR SOME GODDAMNED REASON AND I AM LISTENING CAREFULLY TO THE CONVERSATION IN FRONT OF ME, HELD BETWEEN THIS BLOWSY SULKY GIRL WHO IS CLEARLY DOMINATING THE SITUATION AND HER 'BOYFRIEND', A SCRAWNY LOOKING MESS NEAR TEARS. THE FOLLOWING IS ALMOST VERBATIM.

SCRAWNY MESS: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'VE CHEATED ON ME?!

BLOWSY GIRL: I CHEATED ON YOU.

SCRAWNY MESS: (SNIFFLING MISERABLY) BUT.. BUT.. YOU CHEATED ON ME?

BLOWSY GIRL: (ALMOST INDIGNANTLY) YES.

SCRAWNY MESS: (TEARS FORMING) FOR HOW LONG?

BLOWSY GIRL: (WITH A HINT OF SATISFACTION) ABOUT A YEAR.

SCRAWNY MESS: (TEARS WELLING UP) OHHHHH NOOOO.

SCRAWNY MESS PAUSES TO REFLECT. THE BOY IS A VERITABLE DISTILLERY AT THIS POINT AND YOU CAN JUST TELL SOME SORT OF ULTIMATUM IS COMING. HE MASTERS HIS EMOTIONS AND BECOMES VERY STILL. I AM EXPECTING HIM TO GET ALL KUNG FU ON THIS GIRL. INSTEAD HE TURNS TO HER, WIPES THE TEARS FROM HIS EYES AND SAYS "STRIKE ONE, NANCY... STRIKE ONE."

As someone in this thread says, "the caps make me feel like i'm running really fast with dave and he is yelling to me because you have to yell when you run and when you do it always sounds super important."

Kanye West, "Jesus Walks":

Ben Folds, "Gone":

Destiny's Child, "Survivor":

Say Anything, "Woe":

The Beatles, "Her Majesty":

Weezer, "Keep Fishing":

Julia Nunes, "Regrets":

Julia Nunes, "Into The Sunshine":

Honorable mention: The blog Culturegraph does the same thing; my favorite is Middle Earth Ring Distrubution Analysis.

[Funny Or Die]

1. MythBusters
"What's the myth?" "We don't need a myth, it's Christmas."
Tools: Model train, Mentos and Coke, nutcracker, oven
Highlight: The flight of the cooked turkey

2. Pythagora Switch
In these clips from a Japanese TV show, a marble follows a route until it reveals the show title at the end. Then a chorus of kids sing "Pitagora Suitchi," or "Pythagora Switch."
Tools: Household objects
Highlight: The soundtrack

3. Voting Machine
A big political voting machine from the 2004 election. Its vote was later overturned by the courts.
Tools: Erector sets, mousetraps
Highlight: "Yeeargh!"

4. Japanese Contest
A televised competition with giant machines that use bowling balls, bedsheets, and an aquarium.
Tools: Toys
Highlight: Pouring hot water on ramen; chain of fire

5. Nintendo
A game-themed animated machine.
Tools: NES games
Highlight: Duck Hunt

6. Half-Life 2
A custom level of the video game that exploits its advanced physics engine. (An honorable mention uses a Rube Goldberg machine to kick a character in the ass).
Tools: Barrels, ramps, buckets and a watermelon
Highlight: A soldier shoots a standing character on sight; the victim becomes a domino in the machine.

7. Creme That Egg!
A household machine built to squish a Cadbury chocolate egg.
Tools: Paper towel rolls, sliding candle, mallet
Highlight: Tiny toy band with Klezmer music

8. Cog
Honda's famous ad for the Accord, using car parts to lower a ramp for the car.
Tools: Tools from the car; Garrison Keillor's voice (for better sound, view here)
Highlight: The water-sensitive windshield and crawling wipers — or the window mobile

9. Cog Parody
Same as above, with two dudes subbing for most of the machine. Advertised a British phone service.
Tools: Crazy exercisers
Highlight: Dance party

10. World's Most Amazing Trick Pool Shot
One shot drives dozens of billiard balls into holes.
Tools: Dominos, billiard balls
Highlight: French commentators

11. Tim Fort's Kinetic Art
A beautiful domino run with some surprises, built in an empty studio.
Tools: Dominos, matchsticks
Highlight: The unravelling paper roll

12. Chemical Reactions
An excerpt from a half-hour chain reaction, this clip uses loads of tricky geek science and wins "most preparation by someone who's not selling cars."
Tools: Lab equipment including sparklers, flames, oil and a folding ladder
Highlight: Flying ball of flame

13. Sticks And Stones
A natural Rube Goldberg machine built in the forest. I think at 0:47 I saw an Ewok.
Tools: Branches, ropes, stones and bell
Highlight: Spinning leaf whirligig

• Things You Can't Do Coked Up—Guessing there's no book deal forthcoming. Prove me wrong, publishers!
  
• Final Jeopardy—God Bless Red Lasso. [Via Kottke]