--Mayor Menino has a hotline, but there's no system to track the complaints. [Boston Globe] --Then again, do we really need to track messages such as one from February 4, 2008: "Would like the Mayor to know that he is "LOVING LIFE" this morning as he is a "DIE HARD GIANTS FAN"!!!!" [Boston Globe] --The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is scheduled to expand. [Boston Herald] --Local bloggers react to a New York Times trend......

The New York Times ran a story on college chastity clubs, with a focus on Janie Fredell of Harvard's True Love Revolution. As a counterpoint, the author interviewed Lena Chen, the Harvard student who wrote about her romantic escapades on Sex and the Ivy. In between when they interviewed her (November) and today's publication date, some jerk she used to date released nude photos of her, and she started cutting back on her blog. On......

We feel an illogical sense of pride when our local politicians are covered in the national media. It validates our process somehow. Not to get carried away, but maybe one of these years a Massachusetts leader will even run for President! Perchance to dream. Governor Deval Patrick is the subject of a story in today's New York Times, which contrasts Patrick's growing mainstream profile as a Barack Obama friend, surrogate and rhetorical inspiration with......

Tears and sorrow fill the offices of mainstream publisher Riverhead books as another memoir delivered from the school of hard knocks turns out to be a complete fabrication. Love and Consequences, a memoir released last week by Margaret Seltzer (published under the silly pseudonym Margaret B Jones), which chronicles the author's difficult life story of foster families, drug running, and all around thuggin' on the mean streets of L.A., turns out to be a complete......

Ivy League schools aren't supposed to have good basketball teams, are they? They have teams for fun, so they can relax their weary minds with sports, but no one expects them to be a powerhouse. They're supposed to suck. A good Ivy League team might rip the fabric of the universe. Tommy Amaker, coach of Harvard's men's basketball team, might not have gotten that memo. The New York Times reported that Amaker has been considering......

--Terry Francona will stay with the Red Sox through 2011. [Boston Globe Extra Bases] --The New York Times glad-games the Greenway, asking if it was worth the trouble given the issues of the Big Dig. [New York Times] --A student at Bentley College is being treated for bacterial meningitis. Last year, a Bentley freshman died from bacterial meningitis. [WCVB] --If you feel the need for speed, squelch it if you are passing through Marshfield,......

--Wo ist Whitey? The Feds are going on the German equivalent of "America's Most Wanted" to ask for help looking for Whitey Bulger. If you are an old white guy planning a leisurely European tour or happen to know an old white guy considering such a trip, watch out for overeager foreign policemen, even if you wear a Yankees cap. [Boston Globe] --Read this before you go to the grocery store. Three words: "Rodent-gnawed......

A recent article in the New York Times pondered that constant buzzing question, are Americans willfully stupid? Though it may seem asking this question is a favorite pastime of the popular rag, a recent profile on a bevy of books on the subject argues Americans are less willfully stupid than they are openly hostile towards the smarty-pantses of the nation. Author Susan Jacoby, whose book The Age of Unreason came out last week, says she......

We meant it as a joke when we said that former Romney aide Jay Garrity was the only one on the team having a good week. But it might be true. WBZ is reporting that Romney is "suspending" his campaign. Leave it to Romney to use the euphemism "suspend" instead of "drop out." WBZ explains that he can keep his delegates "if something happened to front-runner John McCain's campaign." The language makes the situation sound......

Today is truly a day to end all days: Super Tuesday and Fat Tuesday unite as one, to reveal America for what it truly is: the Nation of the SuperFat (and the grammatically illicit double-colon sentence as well!). Bostonist encourages all of its readers to vote prior to partying (a couple of drinks might make you think Michael Cera is a great write-in vote--actually, he totally would be), and to party like it's 2009 and......

With Rudy Giuliani out of the way, the remaining Republicans were free to catfight at the Reagan Library last night. Much of the debate involved front-runners John McCain and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney trying to out-Reagan one another. No matter what they said, each moment felt like this: Romney: "I'm more like Ronald Reagan than you are!" McCain: "No, you're not, you helmet-headed bitch!" Romney: "Nancy just checked me out, so that proves......

The New York Times did a flyover article about Boston now that Boston is a sports powerhouse. Why they choose to recognize this fact now is beyond us, but the author reveals a change in New York's attitude toward Boston. Instead of a blazing contempt (displayed in the past by Radar and Gawker), the New York Times is feeling some ambivalence now that Boston is winning games left and right. Here's a paragraph: All this......

The Globe reported that the Metro was shrinking, and Joe Keohane at Boston Daily noted that the Globe got details wrong. Then the Metro trumped that little blunder by reporting that the Globe was planning "hundreds" of layoffs and would raise the price of the paper to 75 cents. The Globe told the Herald that's not so. Meanwhile, the Herald stands by, endlessly amused, not the least because the Globe and the Metro are......

Yesterday, Bostonist spread the word that the daily paper the Metro is going through a tough time, a fairly standard story as far as journalism is concerned. While comparing the Globe and the Herald's takes on the Metro shakeup, which included staff dismissals and the publisher's resignation, Bostonist noticed a change in tone between the articles. Boston Daily's Joe Keohane worked his sources at the Metro and found that the Globe may have gotten parts......

Guess the Metro really is in trouble. Without a buyout from the Examiner, they are cutting staff positions, including a sports editor, and the publisher has resigned. People make fun of the Metro, but it's a part of any commuters' daily life. Most people get their news first from the Metro and some even become buddies with their morning vendors. The New York Times Company, which owns the Globe, has a 49 percent stake in......

--Alexander Pring Wilson, who was convicted of manslaughter for the 2003 stabbing of Michael Colono in Cambridge and then tried again, has pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He will serve two years and one day. [Boston Globe] --The three men behind Massachusetts Care International, which was accused of using its money to fund writings that supported Islamic militant groups, were found guilty yesterday of conspiracy to defraud the United States. [Boston Globe] --A woman......

Celebrity sightings in New Hampshire were common. For example, the ubiquitous Chuck Norris was with Mike Huckabee, and Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins were with John Edwards. And we all know about "Cooter." However, the New York Times was privy to a few wacky rumors: One man telling his friend that Curt Schilling, the Boston Red Sox pitcher, had been in the state campaigning for Senator John McCain. The friend then said he had also......

So a few movies shoot in Boston, and all of a sudden the city is Hollywood East. Well, a lot of movies stopped by here, and Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters premiered at Harvard. The New York Times called Boston the "new Toronto" as long as movies are concerned. Today, the Track Girls became excited at the prospect of Canada being jealous of Boston. But who cares about that? All we care about is--what in......

The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) is fighting off accusations that its practice of skin-shocking children with serious psychological issues is barbaric. Yet those accusations seem justified after several JRC staff members at a home in Stoughton listened to a prank caller and shocked one of its residents 77 times, sending that student to the hospital for first-degree burns. Why would a parent submit a child—no matter how disturbed the child may be—to that kind of......

--The Office of Health and Human Services has allowed the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center to use skin-shock treatments for another year, even after the incident in which a prank caller caused staff members to shock two of the center's residents. [WBZ] --Yankee Swap turns Yankee Scrooge when two ex-friends fight over a lotto ticket. [Boston Herald] --The Paradise might be sold to the same guy who owns Lir and Live Nation. [Boston Globe] --Speaking......

--Former Massachusetts Speaker of the House and radio host Tom Finneran cries. Conveniently, a camera is there. [Boston Herald] --Equally conveniently, the Herald finds someone to analyze the supposedly hot new trend of men crying. How come we never get asked to discuss this stuff? They ask if guys can cry, too. Uh, they have tear ducts, right? [Boston Herald] --Another winter day, another snow collapse, this time for a gas station canopy in Worcester.......

Everybody's making "best of" lists at this time of year, but who's in charge of making a list of these best of lists? Well, nobody really, so we've put ourselves in charge and assembled a list of the "best books" lists of 2007. Nobody really needs another list, but a compilation of lists--and determining what's best according to all lists--is something helpful that nobody else really does. Bostonist has checked out several "best of" book......

Ann Romney, wife of former Massachusetts governor and current Republican presidential aspirant Mitt Romney, is considered the expert on happy homemaking. She raised the five brothers, she's active in causes, and she wins over voters with her charm, beauty, grace, and recipes. She's kept her handsome husband hopelessly devoted to her for decades. What's her secret? Horses. She loves dressage. In fact, she might love it a little too much: Last Christmas, Josh Romney presented......

Many women get close to their hairdressers, whether they're forking over too much for a haircut or going to SuperCuts. But have you been worried that your hairdresser might hate you? Kayleen Schaefer at the New York Times did a trend piece on how the most successful hairstylists don't gossip with or barely even talk to their customers. The first hairstylist profiled was Mario Russo of Boston: “I’m not in a position to give you......

Ann Marie McNally died when her car and a BPD cruiser hit each other in South Boston in November. Yet she lives on because hackers, for some strange reason, are using her name as a way to draw people to their own sites. Louise Story at the New York Times spoke with McNally's friends and family because several of them thought they found a video for her memorial service on the web. The memorials were......

Pollock Matters Through December 9 McMullen Museum of Art Boston College 140 Commonwealth, Devlin Hall 108, Chestnut Hill (T: Boston College. Directions by car.) Boston College is running an art exhibit addressing the relationship between painter Jackson Pollock and his friend Herbert Matter. The exhibit is national news because the paintings, which were discovered by Matter's son Alex, may or may not be original Pollocks. Numerous experts have evaluated these paintings to discover the truth,......

Authorial Intent is Bostonist's wrap-up of local readings. All events are free unless otherwise noted. Wednesday, November 28 Helen Vendler, Our Secret Discipline: Yeats and the Lyric Form, Sacker Museum (via Harvard Book Store), 6:00 pm. More info. Vendler, the closest reader of all close readers, so says the New York Times, shines her spotlight on William Butler Yeats. Thursday, November 29 David Hosp, Innocence, 7:30 pm, Charlestown Branch Library Hosp will be reading from......

The last word that should be used to describe Boston is "cheap," but housing prices compared to New York City's are a steal. The cellist for the Magnetic Fields, Sam Davol, has moved his family up to a new pad in Boston's Chinatown above Jumbo Seafood Restaurant. Of course, "cheap" is relative. The New York Times did a piece on how Davol and his spouse decided a move to Boston would allow them to quit......

Roz Chast and Maira Kalman Wednesday, November 14, 6:30 pm ICA Boston, $25 More info. Roz Chast and Maira Kalman's talk at the ICA has a loooong title: "A Shaky Yet Curiously Enlightening Evening with Roz Chast and Maira Kalman Who Will Show Work and Then Answer with Chipper Doubt Any Questions You Might Have About This, That, or the Other." It's surprising that the two offer such a long title when they are best......

It's safe to say both the anti-gay presidential aspirant and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and readers of gay.com got quite a shock when they saw a Mitt Romney for President ad on the website. Was Romney letting his rainbow flag fly? Jim Rutenberg at the New York Times reports that it is no joke: "Over the course of at least two days in August, [readers of gay.com] may well also have seen banner advertisements......