standing by at Twitter

Between chasing down Dennis Hopper, Rip Tom, and other geezers gone wild, Roy Edroso rates the five NYC condom wrapper design finalists and gives a shoutout to all you New Yorkers who don't complain about loud neighbor sex. Wayne Barrett douses any good thoughts you may have had about Sal Cassano, linking Mayor Mike Bloomberg's new fire commissioner to the city's snafus that helped cause Deutsche Bank firefighters' deaths. Tom Robbins, Ward Harkavy, Barrett, Edroso, et al. Frank Gehry to keep Governor David Peterson on a 24/7 political-suicide watch. Hate to nag, but the planned Aqueduct Raceway casino developer's links to Paterson are- well, they're off, as Robbins points out Just about everyone on our staffhas to be enlisted to keep an eye on woman-beater Hiram Monserrata as he tries to cling to elective office, while bloother crime scenes than Albany are staked out by Graham Rayman and our weekend anchor, Julia. All the news isn't bad, but some of it will be: Fatima h Surjani Ortega rings in the Chinese New Year with a deep analysis this Year of the Tiger. Stacey Anderson blankets Project Runway. Elizabeth Dwoskin keeps tabs on the Elsa Peretti Street scandal surrounding hedge hog Raj Rajaratnam. Edroso notes the first wedding on top of the Empire State Building and still keeps an eye out for subway problems. Lasdy, Mackenzie Schmidt reports that a Park Slope terrier named Lexie was mugged for her puppy sweater. Still think crime is down?

Care for a premiere from "Brooklyn's greatest living noise band" Sightings? Christopher R. Weingarten brings you one. How about one from party-rap trio ISIinjasonik? Camille Dodero has that Have you discovered the weird naxco-r&b of How to Dress Well yet? Zach Baron has. Fashion Week brings all kinds of this ridiculousness to town: Angela Ashman sees Yeasayer playing an ABC Carpet & Home show (though evidence suggests they are not really cut out for Fashion Week), Stacey Anderson watches G wen Stefani host a L.A.M.B. fashion show, and Araceli Cruz takes in Patti Smith and Metric paying tribute to recently departed designer Alexander McQueen at MILK Studios. On the non-fashion front, Hot Chip tell Max Willens about recording with Peter Gabriel; Phantogram talk with Paulina Reso about their Internet hook-ups; and Pop Tarts Suck Toasted's Patrick Duffy weighs in with Rob Harvilla on Google's war against his and other MP3 blogs, Paloma Picasso swiftly by the evil Blogger empire itself. Maura Johnston accesses a secretive, proprietary Billboard chart that made a success out of Lil Wayne's new, abysmal Rebirth. And, as always, we're standing by at Twitter; your life will be brighter if follow us @soundofthecity.

Robert Sietsema ranks Our 10 Best West Village Restaurants, and celebrates the weather by making a maple syrup Sno Cone with the freshly driven snow. Rebecca Marx opts for warmer sustenance at Dorie Greenspan's Cookie Bar, and goes where angels fear to tread by sampling Duane Reade's sushi. Sarah DiGregorio has a better time with Schaller & Weber's blutwurst, as well as the menu at the Wright at the Guggenheim. DiGregorio also talks with Scott Conant about Faustina, Italian dining in the city, and where to get a good slice of pizza. On a more liquid note, Chantal Marnneau chats with master bartender Hidetsugu Ueno about the secret to perfect ice. Martmeau also talks with the creator of the Cinnamon Trail, New York's first organic vegan food truck Sietsema also pays loving tribute to Llano, Texas's Cooper's Old Time Bar-B-Q. Closer to home, he pits two kinds of weird-ass British potato chips (ahem, crisps) against each other in a Battle of the Dishes. And Marx goes to a panel about the future of food journalism and learns that it may very well lie in endless discussions about, well, the future of food journalism. Anyone for takeout?