Rene, our in-office doer of stuff (that’s her official title), is pretty much more of a badass than anyone in this place. On the strength of her recommendation, i am posting this YouTube clip WITHOUT EVEN SEEING IT FIRST. Could be a waterfall, could be porn. I JUST DON’T KNOW! It probably has somethign to do with this.

New York has the highest cigarette tax in the nation and it is continuing to grow. They are calling it a success because the number of calls to the state’s Smoker’s Quitline quadrupled when the $2.75-a-pack tax took effect, damn. They are trying to give New York smokers multiple reasons to stop and these ridiculously high prices would do it for me.

On June 3, the cig tax jumped from $1.25 to $2.75 a pack! Cigarettes in the state range anywhere from $6 to $8 per pack depending on brand and particular store. New York City even has its own tax and prices are as high as $10 a pack. New Jersey is the highest at the moment with a $2.58 tax. The quitline upped it kits to quit smoking from 1,722 to 7,900 in just a year due to the tax. I guess options for New Yorkers would be to buy out of state or online… or just quit altogether cause I could never justify $10 for 20 cigs. That’s steep.

A bunch of folks are saying that Jay-Z and Beyonce tied the knot. The ceremony supposedly took place in Jay-Z’s Tribecca apartment. Guests to the purported event included Kelly Rowand and Michelle Williams of Beyonce’s old band Destiny’s Child and even Gwenyth Paltrow. The hip-hop power couple reportedly filed for a marriage license in Scarsdale, NY. There was no time for a honeymoon, though, as Jay-Z immediately returned to the road on his tour with Mary J. Blige. No official word from Hova or Beyonce camp as of now.

Celebrity interviewer/scene reporter/vlogger Davidjr.com is posting daily updates on the Gen Art Film Festival over the course of this week. The festival runs from April 2nd to April 8th in New York City and features seven feature-length and short films by emerging young filmmakers in seven days.

This is the video for day one of the festival and it features Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda (promoting their film Diminished Capacity), Julianna Margulies and many others.

New York City Mayor, and self proclaimed “not a candidate” for President came out swinging against the recently passed economic stimulus legislation today, saying that the $600-$12oo rebate checks to be paid to American taxpayers as part of the stimulus is “like giving a drink to an alcoholic”

“Nobody wants to sit there and say, ‘Well there’s no easy solution,”‘ Bloomberg said. “They want to send out a check to everybody to stimulate the economy. I suppose it won’t hurt the economy but it’s in many senses like giving a drink to an alcoholic.”

He also noted that the US “has a balance sheet that’s starting to look more and more like a third-world country” but added that his comments were just part of an “experiment” in trying to shape the debate for this year’s election. Experiment eh?

No details are available yet, but here’s an article from the New York Times:

The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment building at 421 Broome Street in SoHo, according to the New York City police. Mr. Ledger was 28.

At 3:31 p.m., a masseuse arrived at Apartment 5A in the building for an appointment with Mr. Ledger, the police said. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of Mr. Ledger’s bedroom. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger unconscious. They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities. The police said they did not suspect foul play and said they found pills near body.

Mr. Ledger, a native of Perth, Australia, won acclaim for his role as a co-star in “Brokeback Mountain”, a 2005 film. The film, based on a short story by Annie Proulx about two cowboys who fall in love, won critical acclaim. Reviewing the film in The New York Times, the critic Stephen Holden wrote, “Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn.”

Calls by The New York Times to Mara Buxbaum, a publicist for Mr. Ledger, and Steve Alexander, the actor’s agent, were not immediately returned this afternoon.

UPDATE: As could be ascertained by the “found pills” statement in the original NY Times story, most signs are pointing to suicide. with Ledger’s friend telling US Magazine that “we saw it coming”:

“Heath has gone though a rough road of trying to get sober,” the source tells Us.

“Things were very dark,” the source says. “His one joy was Matilda.” Matilda is his 2-year-old daughter with ex-wife Michelle Williams. They split in September.

“Everything else was misery for him,” adds the source. “Unfortunately he was too late in getting help.”