Blood flows in the in the streets of New York City today -- Mary's blood. It's the 75th anniversary of the sanguine spirit, and to celebrate, TGIF's Times Square location is selling Bloody Marys at 1933 prices -- a recession-friendly 99 cents. But if you're not game on pushing through crowds to get there, here are some other NYC spots guaranteed to satisfy your thirst for blood.

1. Prune (East Village) - Popular brunch spot with eleven kinds of Bloody Marys, including the "Green Lake" garnished with wasabi and a beef jerky swizzler.
2. Great Jones Café (Greenwich Village) - The Cajun Mary, a spicy ode to the blessed Virgin, will kick your brunch up a notch, Emeril-syle.
3. Madiba (Fort Greene) - With all that 'Yes We Can" hoopla, you may be tempted to order the Obama Mamma at this South African Brooklyn spot, but he already got your vote, and that's enough. Opt for Kiki's Bloody Mary, a mix of vodka, horseradish, hot pepper sauce, lime juice, and the rest.

Christian Siriano’s career has been on a roll as of late. The collection the 23-year-old (celebrating his birthday just last month) Project Runway winner designed for Bluefly sold extremely well, he's doing costumes for Uma Thurman in her upcoming film Eloise in Paris, and not to mention his maternity line is still afloat. Now the New York Post reports Siriano will debut a line of inexpensive accessories -- shoes and handbags included -- at Payless in the fall of 2009.

The Park Hyatt is getting into the holiday spirit and offering 21% off all hotel stays. Starting today through December 12, you can book any of their hotels worldwide (sans the DC, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Toronto locations) at a 21% discount. Head over to Park Hyatt and use the code LTP107 to take advantage of stays in places like Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Milan, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

What's hot in Washington DC now? No, not President-elect Barack Obama's newly minted National Security team. It's the moustache! For years, lawmakers and White House wizards usually preferred clean-cut shaves. Only five US presidents sported full beards, and another four had moustaches, according to one Nicholas Whyte. "These were all during the half century run of the dozen Presidents between Lincoln and Taft, of whom only Andrew Johnson and McKinley were clean-shaven. The Republicans have historically been the hairier party." But as The Reliable Source's Amy Argetsinger points out there's a growing number of hairy men alarming Gillette stockholders with the possibility of a beardly renaissance. After the jump, peruse our moustaches menu and ponder its return.

Of course there was bound to some scandal as our dashing President-Elect assembled his White House dream team. This morning, as Barack Obama named the equally dashing Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, her husband (and our 42nd President) was MIA. But in all fairness, his absence was announced nearly an hour in advance of his wife's nomination, and he already vouched for her well before. Whether he was missing because he had gone through this whole dog-and-pony show before, or because he was out shopping for a marked-down recession-friendly Christmas gift remains to be seen.

Get him a drink, then give him the boot.

1. The Map Room (Bucktown/Wicker Park) - With books and maps reminiscent of a European explorer's study and a second-to-none beer selection, the bar's literally perfect for telling the guy to take a hike.

2. The Vic Theatre Brew & View (Wrigleyville) - When the dilapidated old Vic Theatre isn't hosting concerts (which is most nights), you can watch third-run movies, drink, and yell obscenities at the screen at its Brew & View night. Either way, you can scream, pull at your hair, and spill your guts without making a scene.

3. The Long Room (Lakeview) - Yeah, it's just one long, dark room with a patio seating area to the side, but the place has a certain indiscernible charm. Lure him into the photobooth and document the exact moment his heart breaks.

For so many years, in so many clubs, the music has been geared to please the bottle frat-boy crowd whose musical tastes are as innovative as their shoes. I’ve found myself listening to pretty much the same rock anthems I listened to ten years ago, mixed with some very mainstream hip-hop. Sure, the good ones -- Jus Ske, Cassidy, the Ronsons, and Nick Cohen added their own flair. But everyone knows that as you club-hop, you’re so often greeted with the same track you were listening to when you left the previous club. The DJs are often as much about the social scene as the music. Through it all, the purist music party survived in clubs you didn’t read about on Page Six, and now the silver lining of the bottle-service demise is the return of the importance of music to club formatting. Recently, an eager young operator asked me to rate his joint amongst Life and some of the legendary clubs. I said on a scale of 1-10, with Studio 54 being #1, he'd rank around 150.

According to the New York Daily News, the Giants' Plaxico Burress "was partying at the Latin Quarter nightclub with teammates after midnight Saturday when he fumbled with the gun tucked in his waistband, accidentally firing a single round that ripped through his right thigh." Alarming as it may be to consider that Burress was given a pass on carrying his piece inside because of his celeb status, a source tells us that, quite the contrary, club security made him "check" the gun at the door so he wouldn't start blazing away once he himself got loaded.

BlackBook's Holiday Gift Guide presents two gift picks per day through December 19. One comes from our very own YOOX.com store; the other from the world at large. Suggestions? Let us know.

Not only do Pangea’s eco-friendly Holiday Gift Sets ($30 and up) come with assorted bath goodies, but you can soak the molded fiber box packaging in water, plant it in soil, and voila -- a spruce tree will begin to germinate in a mere two weeks. It’s like a two-for-one deal if you’re into itty bitty Christmas trees.

Britney Spears’ comeback has just gained some serious steam. With a cameo on Madonna’s "Sticky Sweet" tour and the MTV documentary Britney: For the Record under her belt, Spears is garnering increased support across the board. And now she can count one of fashion’s fiercest forces as her biggest fan. At the BAMBI awards this past weekend, the pop star donned a decidedly fashion-forward cage-like bustier with Madge-approved black hot pants and a top hat, then performed her latest hope for a hit, "Womanizer." There, “Britney was awarded the Best International Pop award 2008 in recognition of her comeback ... presented to her by non other than Chanel master Karl Lagerfeld,” says Grazia.