Ever since the news broke that Uniqlo was taking over the huge former Brooks Brothers flagship store at 666 Fifth Avenue, the Your It List office has been eagerly anticipating any and all progress. Since we’re less than a quarter block away from the new location, we’re all trying to find ways to finagle a big raise before it opens. Running out for a soup at lunch will now turn in to a soup and a pair of selvedge jeans (and probably a pair of HeatTech long johns, too).

There doesn’t seem to be an official opening date set, but at a reported $20 million a year lease, I’m guessing the Uniqlo folks will want to start moving product out the door before too long.

Until then, we promise to bring you all the latest construction developments as soon as we see them (and we’ll be watching closely). For now, enjoy these glamor shots from the corner of Fifth Ave and 55th Street.

Today is a very special day in the world of ‘90s television — 90210 Day!  Get it? September 2, 2010. 090210!  So let’s revisit the hallowed halls of West Beverly High and the well-worn booths of the Peach Pit with a look back at some of our favorite memories:

Once a Bimbo: When Brenda catches her on-again off-again brooding boytoy Dylan kissing blonde bombshell Kelly, she says: “If you are trying to lose your bimbo image, I honestly don’t think this will help.”

French Faux-Pas: While spending the summer in Paris, Brenda tries to snag hottie Dean Cain by pretending to be French.  When he comes to LA and looks her up, she keeps the charade up until she arrives at the Peach Pit and finally gives it up when she is faced with pr

The Dark Side of Diet Pills: Kelly’s experimentation with over-the-counter diet pills lands her in the hospital. Best pal and occasional nemesis Brenda comes for a visit. Kelly looks up from the hospital bed and says: “I’m gonna live so you can’t have Dylan back.”

Dylan’s Dad: One of the most emotional and gut-wrenching moments of the entire series is when Dylan’s father Jack, a convicted felon just released from prison, is killed by a car bomb. Dylan is standing nearby and witnesses the explosion, which sends him on yet another downward spiral.

Funny Valentine: Bad girl Emily Valentine tries to take upstanding citizen Brendan Walsh down with her at an underground club one night by slipping a hallucinogenic drug in his drink. The police raid the club and Brandon is forced to flee and leave his prized car to get torn apart. The tagline for the episode when it originally aired: “Tonight, Brendan finds out about drugs and Emily… the hard way.”

David Silver Saves the Day:  Oh-so vulnerable Donna is attacked by previously-convicted stalker Garret Slan. Earlier, she and boyfriend David Silver had been arguing, so he came back to the apartment to apologize. Donna tells him to leave but she keeps calling him “Dave” rather than “David.”  This miraculously tips him off that something is amiss and he storms back into the apartment with a baseball bat, saving Donna.

THE UNANONYMOUS #1 MOMENT… Notorious good girl Donna has a few sips of champagne on an empty stomach (trust me, if you saw her in the mid-90s it was very empty). She gets caught and isn’t allowed to graduate with the rest of her class. Her friends and the entire student body gather outside her school board hearing in solidarity. A chant grows among the protesters, softer and first, then louder and louder, until these three words were heard across all of Beverly Hills: DONNA MARTIN GRADUATES!

What are your favorite moments from 90210?

In honor of Mac’s birthday, and all of us born in 1980, here’s a quick rundown of the wealth of talent born the year Reagan was elected and Lennon was killed.

January 17 – Zooey Deschanel, American actress

January 18 – Jason Segel, American actor

January 22 – Christopher Masterson, American actor

January 28 – Nick Carter, American pop singer

February 11 – Matthew Lawrence, American actor

February 12 – Christina Ricci, American actress

February 15 – Conor Oberst, American singer/songwriter

February 27 – Chelsea Clinton, First daughter

April 1 – Bijou Phillips, American actress and socialite

June 17 – Venus Williams, American tennis player

June 26 – Jason Schwartzman, American actor

July 10 – Jessica Simpson, American singer

July 20 – Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian supermodel

August 26 – Macaulay Culkin, American actor

September 9 – Michelle Williams, American actress

September 25 – T.I., American rapper

November 12 – Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor

December 18 – Christina Aguilera, American singer

December 19 – Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor

After sending the video to a few friends, it didn’t really cross my mind again until I opened the newest issue of Wired magazine. There, in substantial detail, was the story of Jimmy Lai–the tabloid king of China–and his newest venture: Next Media. The studio’s mission is to give us the thrill of video re-enactment when no live tape exists. Apparently I missed one of the studio’s first international hits, an unpolished rendering of the Tiger Woods car-crash incident. Since that rudimentary effort, however, Next Media has refined their skills, and the more recent offerings are quite sleek considering their less-than-24-hour turnaround time.

Here’s the video that launched Next Media onto the world stage: Tiger’s trials and tribulations:

Visit their official YouTube page for the full collection. May I recommend the hilarious Snookie vid, featuring a fantasy sequence of our favorite Jersey Shore cast member assaulting the the President over the tanning tax?

There’s still time to reverse the trend this summer. Check out these alternatives to the modern American monstrosities:

These Apolis Classic swim trunks ($99) are a good gateway for guys who aren’t ready to jump straight from those roomy board shorts into the world of the banana hammock. They have a slim, above-the-knee cut, but you’ll still feel fully-covered enough to play a vigorous game of paddle ball.

Once you’ve gotten accustomed to the slimmer look of your new Apolis, these retro trunks from LA-based Lightning Bolt are a logical next step. Their designs are still surf-inspired, but the 1970s cut is more Hawai’i Five-O than Jersey shore-style bro-trunks:

When you’re ready to take the plunge into full-on Daniel Craig territory, this square cut trunk from Tulio will send a message that you’re confident in your manhood, without landing you in Borat-territory.

Mary Karr at her book signing.

“I don’t like writing, I don’t like not writing, so what is it that I’m shooting for?” asked Mary Karr, author of New York Times Bestseller Lit, to a packed bookstore in Chelsea.  For her, she explained it’s the act of having written, often for whole days on end – cancelling plans, not getting the mail or answering the phone, not getting on the internet.  She quoted Hemingway, who said, “Apply your ass to the chair. Love your work.”  We are very lucky she did just that.  Lit is a darkly humorous memoir, which she describes as “my journey from blackbelt sinner and lifelong agnostic to unlikely Catholic.”

She opened by reading a section of Lit in which she and her mother, who was high on marijuana, attended an elaborate dinner with her blue blood husband and his family.  “I’m telling you,” she read, “this wasp [her husband] ignores reality better than a heroin addict…plus the added benefit of the fact that he won’t try and steal your television.” 

After reading for 10 minutes or so, she opened up the discussion to questions, many of which were about her writing process.  Mary worked on the book for seven years, threw away some 2,000 pages, and broke her “delete” key.  She mused poetically on the act of writing, which she compared to walking into a cathedral; even the worst of writers, she said, is in a conversation with every other writer, dead or alive.  She said that books saved her life; she would read a book or a poem and feel “a little less lonely.” 

The conversation turned to her interesting conversion to Catholicism, despite their “sodomy problem, and their P.R. problem,” she noted, laughing.  Interestingly enough, she did not have a religious background – her mother had a broad, new-age approach to spirituality, while her father thought that Jesus was a trick they pulled on poor people.  But Mary’s gained a lot from her faith: “It’s a big win for Jesus when I don’t want to kill everyone on the subway,” she said.  Religion has helped come to terms for her past, as the “drunk mom who went to a mental institution.”  She found forgiveness in religion and catharsis in writing, although, she notes, the true catharsis had to happen in therapy. 

She had funny stories on the darkest of topics.  While her mother was on her deathbed, she awoke to put lipstick on for the attractive Italian cardiologist.  As he examined her, he pointed out her scar from having her appendix removed.  “But I still got my titties!” she declared.  “That is a funny bitch,” Mary noted. 

Her candid humor and modesty charmed the crowd.  Quoting Winston Churchill, she claimed to be a “modest woman with much to be modest about.”  Her book is available at http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Lit-Mary-Karr/?isbn=9780060596996.

But to find out the real meaning behind the hit show you’ll need to read Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through 1960s America by Natasha Vargas-Cooper, the woman behind the highly popular blog The Footnotes of Mad Men.

In the book, Vargas-Cooper turns her eye to everything from Lucky Strike to Madienform, gray flannel suits to Burt Cooper’s Japonism, Grace Kelly to John Cheever — and examines iconic morsels from the show and the error. Very Short List agrees, Mad Men Unbuttoned is like a little time machine that takes us, as Mr. Draper so elegantly put it, ‘to a place where we ache to go again.’”

Still need more Mad Men in your life and on your computer screen? You can download two Mad Men wallpaper designs for your computer: What’s in Don Draper’s Desk and What’s in Joan Holloway’s Purse.

Buy the book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders or Books-a-Million.

Visit the Shit My Dad Says at SomeEcards.com store and let the truth be heard. Some choice examples:

Oh, and don’t forget to buy the # 1 New York Times bestseller Sh*t My Dad Says book.

NYT CREDIT: Jonathan Corbin

In today’s New York Times dining section, Oliver Strand writes about an emerging trend in bachelor/bachelorette parties: a focus on food over fondling. Men and women out to celebrate their impending nuptials are leaning towards a night of satisfying their appetite for good food rather than their libidinous cravings (like the Spotted Pig feast pictured above), with elaborate tasting menus, exotic locations, and even impeccably orchestrated do-it-yourself meals.

As a 30 year old in the heart of prime bachelor party-attending years, I’m familiar with this trend as well. For my friend Matt’s recent stag party, the only instructions we were given were to arrive at an appointed spot in the late afternoon with a pocketful of cash and an empty stomach. While I entertained thoughts of an evening of being hand-fed by buxom handmaidens in the champagne room at Scores, the reality was even more fun. Instead we boarded a party bus, well-appointed with a pony keg and a mixologist, and embarked on a 4-borough chowhounding adventure. Lead by our knowledgeable host for the evening, Famous Fat Dave, we feasted on everything from a roast beef and gravy hero at Brooklyn’s legendary Defonte’s Sandwich Shop to a Murder Burger from a bodega in Harlem.

That's Famous Fat Dave, ya'll

For my bachelor party a few months later, my best man stopped at nothing to create an unforgettable barbecue. Twenty carnivores congregated in a Williamsburg loft to take down pounds of grilled and smoked meats (procured at the nearby Marlow & Daughters butcher shop) like bourbon-smoked pork butt, sausage wheels, 3-inch thick pork chops and some other stuff I don’t remember (read on). Word to the wise: a gluttonous evening of pure protein followed by unlimited Irish Car Bombs does not make for a pleasant morning after. For God’s sake, remember the carbs.

While this new wave of stag and hen parties likely won’t overtake the traditional route (hey, you’re still allowed to eat bacon after you take your vows, so there’s less of a forbidden feel), a well-planned night of gustatory excess is a solid option. Just don’t tip your waitress in singles.

We publishing folk may be known to carry books around with us, but Kate Spade is taking the idea to a whole new (and fashionable!) level!

Coming out this August will be an adorablenew line of ”Book of the Month” clutches. The bags will feature completely original “cover art” based on classic novels, including: The Great Gatsby, Emma, The Importance of Being Earnest, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities. 

Retailing for $325, one new “book” will debut every month as a kind of fashion “book-of-the-month” club.

Of her inspiration for the bags, creative director Deborah Lloyd said: “We wanted to pretend we had our own publishing house.” She hopes that women will not only wear the bags, but display them around their homes as if they were actual books.

Definitely puts a new spin on the phrase, “required reading”.