Say hello to new columnist Ol' Scratch, who is posting on all things retro in Boston. Here's how he describes "Retroville" to us: "Amongst Boston's many underground scenes and small, quirky social groups, a segment who are passionate about the 'classic' lifestyle has arisen. Whether it's the greasers who love rockabilly, the classy cabaret kids, the swing dancers, or the bodacious burlesquers, they've all got one thing in common: They all live in Retroville." With......

From Red Sox Monster, Bostonist hears that New York Giants fans have descended to pathetic levels in an attempt to boost their team's self-confidence. A radio station is distributing masks of Brady's ex and babymomma, Bridget Moynahan, in the hopes of distracting the quarterback to the Super Bowl. Obviously, the station cooked up this idea before word got out that Brady was walking around with a cast on his foot. And, besides, if they wanted......

One of the most famous sights in Cambridge--MIT's Stata Center, designed by Frank Gehry--is leaking. MIT is now suing Gehry for negligence. The Stata Center may look amazing on the outside, and it got a shout-out in Doonesbury, but Shelley Murphy at the Globe reports that the inside is a mess of cracks, drainage backups, and mold. MIT paid $1.5 million to fix problems in the Stata Center's amphitheater--which is a rotten icing on top......

Jordan's Furniture ran an ad right after the Red Sox won the game. President and Chief Executive Eliot Tatelman emerges in swim goggles, congratulates everyone on their free furniture, and gets a good champagne spraying. Anyone who bought a mattress, dining table, sofa, or bed at Jordan's in the spring will be reimbursed. All they need to do is fill out a rebate form and go over the FAQ to make sure you dot all......

PodCamp Boston 2 Friday, October 26 through Sunday, October 28 Boston Convention & Expo Center Free, but registration required Official Site PodCamp Boston 2 promises to teach you more than how to bedazzle an iPod, as witnessed on the reality-show I Love New York 2. The days are packed with practical seminars on creating your own web-media empire. Seminar titles include "Web 2.0 Tools That Are Actually Useful" and "Intellectual Property Law for the Creative......

A post appeared on Universal Hub earlier today saying that Editor Michael Brodeur was out at the Weekly Dig. A Phoenix post backs that up, and Dig founder and president Jeff Lawrence sent out a press release. Here's the text of the release: Boston's Weekly Dig announced today that the editor, Michael Brodeur, is no longer with the company as part of an editorial restructuring, “Michael has been a huge part of the Dig for......

Boston’s major public university made history yesterday by appointing the first black chancellor to a UMass campus. J. Keith Motley was appointed by UMass President Jack Wilson to the post, as part of a flurry of announcements yesterday that sent the current chancellor, Michael Collins, to the UMass Medical School in Worcester, where he will direct health-sciences initiatives for the university. Well known as an inspirational and charismatic leader, the exiting Chancellor’s new appointment likely......

Deval's hours old administration has stepped up and already thrown the switch quick putting the updated website live. It has only been a matter of hours since the Patrick administration has officially been the "Patrick administration" and the mass.gov website is dripping with the new governor and lieutenant governor's names. The top news story on mass.gov is an announcement of the inauguration providing a link to the new page devoted to Patrick/Murray, no longer Romney/Healey.......

The Brattle will be screening four of the Marx Brothers classics all day New Year's Day. A Marx Brothers marathon isn't the same as a fistful of painkillers, an ice pack, or a Bloody Mary, but some laughs might make for the best hangover cure of all. (Then again, a Thin Man marathon might be more appropriate.) The Marx Brothers Marathon will appeal to your inner post-party beast by screening Animal Crackers, Duck Soup, Horse......

The cease and desist letter is an amazing beast. We've only gotten a handful of them since we've been making ourselves known on the internets – but never one from Harvard. That's one thing that sets us apart from the Hahvahd Tour. The student run two-hour tour of the historic campus was hit with the letter earlier this summer just after they had launched their summer entrepreneurial venture. But now, just a short while......

A free concert put on every Thusday Night in the summer by the Springfield Business Imporovement District starts at 7:30 pm, and runs till late. The event first happened in 1999 and has been a huge success since, drawing 4,000 to 6,000 people for each Thursday night, and has become a big draw for bikers and music lovers from NY, Conn., Eastern Mass., Rhode Island, and Vermont, in addition to Western Mass. locals. With......

Even though Boston somehow failed to make the Top 50 world's most expensive cities to live in list (although this survey is of arguable accuracy.) God knows it's nice to find a deal in our "in-what-world-is-Boston -cheaper-than-Chicago-which -ranked-38-on-the-list" little city. One thing we can always count on in Boston is Filene's Basement, a little chunk of discounted-retail heaven on earth. The Basement is stocked right now…If you're a medium or above. Smaller sizes are still......

Sunday the Red Sox saw the turnstiles click past 1 million so far this season. The pace is record setting for crowds at Fenway. This year capacity rests slightly above last years number, allowing for the fastest millionth fan to visit Fenway in years past. It was their 28th home bout, just after a walk-off Ortiz home-run to end their 27th. By some sketchy math attendance looks to be about 36,250 per game. Recently......

Bostonist likes movies and we like when people from our neck of the woods make movies, and we really like when those movies get screened in Boston and we get tickets. So we're excited, because Georgia Lee, a Harvard grad who dropped out of Harvard Business School to apprentice with Martin Scorcese in making "Gangs of New York," has made a movie of her own and we have five pairs of tickets for lucky Bostonist......

Business podcasts are different from podcasts put out by your everyday person. Companies put time and effort in to podcasting to attract attention and bring more business to the table. Blogging has been doing the same thing for businesses for three or four years now. Just as blogging taught business that you need to bring interesting content to reader podcast listeners demand the same level of quality. Boston Realty News is a blog that just......

We learn from today's Globe that a pact among New England states to reduce the industrial emissions that cause global warming is hitting the skids because our dear governor has reservations (even though he initially said he supported it). Not surprisingly, these reservations have to do with limiting any cost increases for the business sector. What's curious, though, is that this particular plan to reduce pollution is just the kind of arrangement that free-market guys......

Bostonist hates to beat an uninsured horse, but big news is big news: The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed Speaker Sal DiMasi's proposal to provide healthcare to practically everyone, mostly by taxing businesses. Business groups had initially complained that the proposal imposed an unfair double-tax on certain companies with highly paid employees. Not surprisingly, the correction of this problem didn't change their minds. Bostonist will be interested to see how the Governor, who has......

While Bostonist and, we imagine, most of the rest of the Commonwealth's population, are thinking about Theo Epstein's departure, our legislature is considering a matter that may well affect us more (and Theo not at all): expanding healthcare coverage. You may recall that back in July, the Governor proposed a healthcare plan that would make purchasing health insurance mandatory for everyone. This idea was roundly panned by commentators, but yesterday, Speaker of the House Sal......

Bostonist bets that some restaurant and bar owners, who complained about the state-wide smoking ban last year, are feeling a bit sheepish today. A Boston Globe article focuses on a Harvard School of Public Health study released today; according to the results of the study, the ban on smoking that took effect on July 5, 2004 for all Massachusetts restaurants and bars, has not hurt business, but it actually grew a little bit (9 percent......

Last month we found out security was breached at ChoicePoint through some creative social-engineering and heads roll. Yeasterday, Bostonist heard that 119 applicants to the Harvard Business School are being denied admission after prematurely looking at the status of their application. An internet persona going by the name of "brookbond" posted intstructions on how to gain access to the ApplyYourself online admissions site to view the admission decision letters. A posting to a public forum......