Well, not really. But our boy Tommy did buy $11 million worth of dirt in Brentwood, according to TMZ. There's been speculation that he made the real estate deal in order to be closer to his dreamboat son, but maybe Gisele just wants better beach access. TMZ commenters say Gisele is into architecture, so maybe she'll play a role in designing the home. But can she play housewife as well as Bridget? We can't wait......

--Heating oil, which is already insanely expensive, costs less if you pay cash. Not that it will make you feel any better. [The Big Guy] --A Google map of foreclosures in Boston. [Boston Real Estate Blog] --Remembering what happened five years ago during the horrible fire at the Station nightclub in Rhode Island. [Platinum Elite] --Where to eat if you are living or working in Longwood. [Menu Pages] --Mega Man sighting! [Sushiesque] --Did you say......

--Are you freaking out over the fact that the St. Patrick's Day parade falls on the same day as Palm Sunday, March 16? 'Cause the press sure seems to be making a fuss. [Boston Herald, Boston Globe] --The local papers are bombarding us with Foreclosure Doom. Foreclosures in Massachusetts are up 128% in January. Bus tours of foreclosed homes might reflect a corresponding increase. [Boston Globe] --A Globe blog post headlined "Suburbs, the future......

--Hendry Street isn't the only place suffering from the home-foreclosure crisis. In fact, so many areas are suffering that real estate agents are taking possible buyers on bus tours of other people's property. As if someone losing a home doesn't have enough misery, now they have to have complete strangers tramping about on the front yard. [Boston Globe] --A group of mayors, including Mayor Menino, are banding together with labor union reps in support of......

The House of Blues has bought the Lansdowne Street clubs, including Avalon and Axis. How is this going to affect the renovations of Avalon and Axis, which has had a negative impact on performers and fans since the venues shut down? The Globe reports: "The only thing that has changed is in place of a sign that says Lansdowne Music Hall, it will say House of Blues," Lyons said yesterday. He will continue to own......

Photograph of the Trump Soho by Riccardo Sinti Gothamist went to the scene of the Trump Soho construction collapse, which left one construction worker dead and others injured (an indirect culprit - Manhattan's hot real estate market, causing rushed construction jobs).Shanghaiist is confused by media reports as to whether Playboy will be available in China during the year of the Olympics.LAist got fugged in an interview with the Go Fug Yourself girls.Torontoist set hearts......

So much for losing $350 million in a hedge fund. Harvard's still plenty loaded. The university announced that its endowment stands at $34.9 billion, and returns for the fiscal year grew 23 percent from $29.2 billion. The fiscal year for them ended on June 30, so they may have taken a hit in the recent Market Madness, but for them it's probably just a drop in the bucket. If they did take a hit, they're......

When you're a kid, one of the fringe benefits to playing Little League or soccer is that you often got to stop at McDonald's on the way home. Win or lose. We're not sure if Major League teams have a similar policy, but if the Red Sox team bus stopped at a Mickey's outside of Detroit, no one on the team would be allowed to supersize today, after a miserable weekend getting swept by the......

We can't get the image of the neon red lights invading Kramer's apartment in the episode of Seinfeld when Kenny Rogers Roasters opened up a joint right outside his bedroom window. The affliction for Northeastern University residents in the proposed building wouldn't be the sleepless nights, apartment trading, and addiction to rotisserie chicken, rather perverse Village People nightmares as the YMCA sign flashes into the evening. If approved, the GrandMarc, a proposed 34 story......

Google is looking at property in the Boston area for a new hub in the Hub. The Herald reported earlier this week that Google was looking for 100,000 to 200,000 square feet of office space in either Boston or Cambridge to launch a new operations center on the East Coast. The rumors of the Google invasion have come to Bostonist via emails and our tipline – while we can't substantiate any of them the job......

Howls of despair erupted when Filene's Basement announced it would close for two years for renovations. People would miss the Bridal Dress Catfight Spectacular, and the closing would damage Downtown Crossing's economic prospects. To top it all off, the signs at Filene's Basement said, "Filene's is closing, but the basement stays." So much for that sentiment. The Globe went straight to the mayor. Downtown Crossing has been a pet project for the mayor's office. At......

It comes up every now and again. The idea that somehow Boston and Bostonians want to be New York or New Yorkers invades us from the South. Sure, the big apple has it's charm but we've got our reasons for living here in Boston and we don't need it to replicate New York. The New York Times recently featured an article on Tony Goldman, a man credited with inventing SoHo, and his efforts to redevelop......

Maureen Feeney (Dorchester) has been elected the first female Boston City Council president in 30 years. She gained more support from other councilors than incumbent and longtime president Michael Flaherty (at large) and John Tobin (JP, West Roxbury). Aside from the great news that a woman is in charge after way too long, the other news is the fallout from Flaherty's defeat. The Globe repeats that he's still aiming for the mayor's office. Joe......

This morning Bob Oakes started reading copy on wbur's Morning Edition reporting on Menino's idea to sell City Hall and City Hall Plaza. The plan was outlined at a breakfast meeting today (and missed the print dailies deadlines) with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. It would be excellent to see the brick and concrete wasteland that is City Hall and the Plaza disappear – but what then would Boston residents have to complain about?......

Trolley service recently returned to the Lechmere station, replacing the bus service that had been the temporary replacement beyond North Station. Somervillionaires are debating the stops and length of an anticipated northern expansion of the Green Line. Today, in the latest Green Line development, ground was broken on North Point NorthPoint (hip one-word version, just like Charlie.) The construction project is a fairly intuitive idea – build housing where there's already transportation. It's easier, given......

Since it was introduced in 1935, Parker Brothers' Monopoly has delighted all those broke folks out there hoping that one day they could own Park Place (with hotels even). For those of us in 2006, we still dream of someday being able to afford any sort of real estate in the Boston area, so we turn to board games to make our fantasies a reality. In honor of Monopoly's 70th birthday, Parker Brothers is launching......

Breaking the law, breaking the law We -ist folks love us some crime, and no misdemeanor is too petty for a post on any of our sites. This week, join us for a rogues' gallery of miscreants major, minor, and alleged. Gothamist gets us started with "Law & Order", muppet style. Oh, you know what isn't a crime? Taking pictures on the MTA. So, why are cops stopping photographers? In other Gotham crime, a......

Hey, have y'all been using our new "Recommend this" feature at the bottom of each post? This week we're bringing you the "Most Recommended" posts from across the -ist world, as well as recommending some of our own. Phillyist thinks that readers recommended this post the most because "most of our quieter readers (probably) agree with us that rude commenting sucks." Know what else sucks? Philly's not getting the Olympics, but they are getting thinner.......

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for us to claim that all shows should be played outside over the summer. Lucky for us no one listens to our suggestions on venue – so we're heading back inside where the temperature with the AC on is only about five degrees cooler than it is outside. A welcome five degrees, with a tiny bit lower humidity. This week's list hits a variety of shows, something......

San Francisco is proud host of a new reality show called "How to Get the Guy" that's unfortunately not a descendant of Will and Grace, Queer Eye, The L Word, American Idol etc. Also a biodefence lab is coming to the East Bay and SFist teaches wine pairing. Getting on the wrong train sucks. Getting on the wrong train and becoming the victim of what will later be described as a "stabbing spree" really sucks.......

There is something intriguing about snooping around your neighborhood to see what is going in the vacated spots that once housed a locally owned business. In February, many were surprised when arriving at Zathmary’s in Coolidge Corner for some matzah ball soup and the doors were locked, bread in front of the door, with no sign of life inside. The place was gone forever without a last chance to hit up the great salad bar.......

When we were a little Bostonist and would come to the city with our folks, we'd always beg them to let us stop in Tower Records on the corner of Newbury and Mass. Ave. We'd spend our sweet time among the cassettes before selecting something really good (most likely a classic album by the New Kids on the Block). Tower Records stayed strong and remained at that location until we came back from college in......

The weekly Ist wrap-up is written by Seattlest editor Dan Gonsiorowski. Gothamist posts on the capture of a NYC perv thanks to Little Brother and a camera phone. They also scour the city for vodka martinis and Shamrock shakes and spot the friend from the Wonder Years at a city law firm. New York police think that Littlejohn is their man. Houstonist is no stranger to megachurches or stripmalls or mega-strip-churchmalls. The children of Houston......

When Bostonist met a friend for lunch last week in Coolidge Corner, we automatically began walking to our favorite place, Zathmary’s. When we got there, however, we found locked doors and two bewildered little old ladies standing outside. “They’re closed for good!” one of the ladies said, and it was one of those moments that Bostonist thought only happened in movies where everyone gasps in unison. We glanced in the windows and sure enough, all......

As we all know, Filene’s Department store has been bought by Federated Department Stores this past year, which means that it’s currently on its way out of town. While there are weekly rumors that a Target or Wal-Mart will be plopped into this Downtown Crossing real estate, Filene’s is currently closing up shop with a good ol’ clearance sale. Being the savvy shopper that we are, Bostonist just had to go and check it out......

We've been sitting on our hands wondering how we were going to approach Menino's call for a new downtown skyscraper last week without making all sorts of inadequacy jokes, you know, how this skyscraper might just be Menino's viagra. Damn, we blew our load already. To be just as blunt the basic story told is that Menino has called for a 1,000 foot skyscraper (that's roughly 80 stories, John Hancock is 62). And all Bostonist......

Governor Romney announced a plan yesterday to hype the business and research assets of Massachusetts to the world, an effort meant to draw more companies, jobs, etc. to our fair Commonwealth. Bostonist can't argue with this, but we think a crucial element is missing: a slogan for Massachusetts. Sure, we have our tourist slogan - "The spirit of Massachusetts is the spirit of America" - but that doesn't really speak to our high-tech nerd cachet,......

Bostonist first caught wind of the alleged groping incident at Brookline High School on the evening TV news teasers. It appeared in the local newsprint yesterday. We actually were surprises the story didn't get some real estate on the Herald's front page. (Instead Simon Cowell shared top billing with the search for Neil Entwistle, whose wife and daughter were found dead over the weekend.) We learned from both local papers that Jonathon Alsop, the now......

Boston, a random Saturday... The metrosexuals are heading to Louis Boston for designer denim, bi-weekly manis/pedis, and indiscreet eyebrow waxes, but where are the "guys' guys" supposed to go when the significant others are out shopping at some frilly retail location that rugged, outdoorsy sorts of males wouldn't even be caught dead waiting outside of in their pickup trucks? Luckily, the Kraft family (who, coincidentally, also owns the Patriots) is planning on giving "real......

...literally. The real estate market may be cooling down, but Bostonist would advise against buying that "steal" of a condo on Marginal Street in Chelsea before investigating one of the area's hidden...amenities(?): the overwhelming stench of rotting animal hides from Boston Hide and Fur's building. Residents of the area appealed to the Health Department this week to try and force the company to clean up the stacks of hides held for trimming and shipping......