The Mayor’s Speech: Looks like that Marion Barry biopic will come to fruition after all. It’ll be a Spike Lee joint—and Tom Sherwood and Harry Jaffe’s definitive history of Barry and the District, Dream City, will be the source material. Of course, this news led to a flurry of speculation about who should play the former mayor-for-life. While Eddie Murphy is already attached, Washingtonian proffered 10 names, including: Forest Whitaker, Ving Rhames, and Diddy. +2

Double-Dipsticks: Dozens of not-retired MPD officers have been improperly receiving both full pension and full salary, as Loose Lips reported in the dead-tree edition of City Paper this week—-and it seems there’s not much the District can do to get that money back: “‘While I would have preferred to seek repayment, our counsel informed us that our legal case was not strong,’ Mayor Vince Gray told LL in a statement. Indeed, Charles Tucker, general counsel for the D.C. Department of Human Resources, says he’s not seeking reimbursements from the overpaid employees because he doesn’t know what they were told when they were rehired.” -5

Zipcar <3s Gay People: WUSA takes note of a new ad campaign from Zipcar, which reads: “Some of our best cars are gay.” A tipster told the site, “Every person, in the LGBT community, that I’ve asked is slightly or highly offended by this banner, including myself. No one is sure of the message that they are trying to say.” We have an idea what they’re trying to say, but the execution is just as clumsy as that misguided Katy Perry song. -1

Good Luck, Gansie!: As she leaves us to head up Northern Virginia magazine’s dining section, Stephanie Gans tastes one of the best veggie burgers in D.C. It’s from Columbia Heights’ The Getaway and there’s no fake meat involved; making it a popular option for vegetarians and meat-eaters: “In the month of November, for instance, the black bean and quinoa patty accounted for around 35 percent of all burger sales, with the remaining burgers splitting the difference…” Not bad for The Getaway, and not bad for Gans, either. +2

Yesterday’s Needle rating: 52 Today’s score: -2 Today’s Needle rating: 50