Okay, here's what happened: one of the three night editors at Gawker, Ravi Somaiya, went live around 7am with a post of a leaked, uh, memo from Meatpacking District restaurant owner Vadim Ponorovsky, to Paradou's staff, berating them for not collecting guests' email addresses for the Paradou's online mailer. Sample sentence: "You sit there bitching about how you make no money, remember its because youre fucking lazy motherfuckers. YOU SHOULD ALL BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY!!!!! ALL OF YOU, INCLUDING THE HOSTS!!!!" The post broke 10,000 hits, the rage of the masses ensued. Ponorovsky maybe tried to sneak into Gawker's comments to defend his actions. We contacted Ponorovsky for quote. So did Daniel at Grub Street, and Amanda at Eater. Both posts are worth reading. And here's what he told me.

Here's the great thing about Vampire Weekend's new video for "Cousins," a track off of their forthcoming album, Contra: it makes the song better. The fact that bands are even making music videos -- and good ones, as opposed to this bullshit -- makes me happy. It's a dying art (no thanks to MTV of all people, who gave it to us in the first place). So any effort put forth on this front, I can appreciate. But I'm still a little saddened by it. That doesn't mean it's not good! I've heard the album, I've got my reasons. Lemme explain. Contra spoilers, after the jump.

Last week, there was sister-of-Beyoncé, Solange Knowles, covering the Dirty Projectors' "Stillness is the Move," which is already a song with an entirely R&B-built foundation, on a record with entirely R&B considered notions. And now we've got an indie act -- Florence + The Machine -- covering a Beyoncé song. And it's not that bullshit Twee nonsense either. This is The Real McCoy.

Passion Pit: we gotta have a talk. Sit down. Let's discuss this "Little Secrets" video for a moment. Your album, which I think I once read described as akin to "diving head-first into a ball-pit filled with MDMA-stocked grapes," still sounds fresh after months of good listening. You're not a band that needs music videos; instead, you're a band who -- and I'm a huge fan -- needs to work on making live performances more substantial, and a band that needs to put money where mouths (and high-pitched voices that will wreak hell on vocal chords) are. Instead, what time, effort, and cash have you spent on music videos? Put it somewhere else. And if you've got to spend it on videos, this one? "Little Secrets" is my favorite track on the album. This treatment's just lazy.

My new favorite music website that I will be checking on the very, very regular has arrived. It satisfies my embarrassing word-nerd impulses and my most shameless whiteboy tendencies, while helping to fill my void of ignorance when listening to rap and not picking up on certain things -- not because I can't, but because I've never taken the time to understand. And, let's face it, rap songs really are that much better when you're in on all the references that've otherwise passed you by. Rap Exegesis is that site. It's nothing short of awesome.

I was not supposed to meet Jared Leto.

I wasn't supposed to be in that picture. I wasn't supposed to be charmed by him or his band, who I'd never listened to before this. I definitely hadn't intended on spending a day with the three of them in downtown New York, followed by paparazzi, rabid teenage fans, and a procession of managers, publicists, and stylists, for a feature to go in our November issue. And I definitely didn't set out to think -- or write -- any of the following things about Jared Leto, the actor, the rock star, the heartthrob, the celebrity. In my life, Jared Leto had existed in exactly the context I needed him to, and for whatever it's worth, I think it's safe to assume (or will be after this), vice versa. I was fine with it, and it didn't need to change.

But it did.

And it started, like so many stories, with a problem. And the problem was that my editors fucked me out of a day-trip to Philly.

Two covers are gaining huge traction today in the mp3/YouTube buzz-bins of the music blogeratti. The first has sister of Beyoncé, Solange Knowles, shooting high with an epic cover of the Dirty Projectors' "Stillness Is the Move." The other sees Arcade Fire soundalikes Fanfarlo going after the 90s alt classic by Neutral Milk Hotel, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." How are they?

Actor-musician Jared Leto and his certified-platinum band 30 Seconds to Mars have been keeping busy, readying their third album, This is War, for release on December 8th. But not so busy they can’t play with Manhattan’s punks and paparazzi. It’s all in a day’s work for the hardcore heartthrob. (Also check out our behind-the-scenes report.)

You know that expression, "there's a little truth in every joke," right? It has to be, in some regard, applicable to advertising. In this case, professional gossipcreature Perez Hilton is now (1) statistically "influential" and (2) helping the end of the world advertise. Of course.