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In March, a judge in Toledo, Ohio, dismissed a case against the management of Toledo's Franklin Park Mall, saying managers had the right to cover an obscene message on the T-shirt of a mall shopper. Ironically, the shopper had bought the shirt at the mall's Spencer Gifts store a year earlier. ... The Malaysian man who in February began an attempt to live for 35 days in a cage with 250 poisonous snakes at a Kuala Lumpur mall, outlived 40 snakes and the world record he sought. ... Time, the magazine that told millions of readers to "Kiss their mall good-bye" last summer, has since all but acknowledged its reports of the mall's death have been greatly exaggerated. In a March article on the closing of Sherman Oaks Galleria, Steve Lopez wrote, "[M]all business in general is grand [and] Internet shopping won't make a significant dent in it for at least five years." In the meantime, Time's parent company, Time Warner, went ahead and launched a mall magazine. ... The economic crisis in Russia has prompted Dunkin' Donuts to close its two Moscow shops. One franchisee reportedly was peddling meat pies and liquor in addition to doughnuts and coffee. ... French fries aren't French -- they're Belgian, says the owner of B. Frites, a Belgian-style french fry cafe that recently opened in Manhattan. Upscale french fry cafes are in vogue in Manhattan, where several shops have recently opened. ... Hollywood Video is helping preserve the icon it owes its logo to. The video chain donated $100,000 to a group that maintains the famous Hollywood sign, which has been beset by vandalism. The donation will help pay for security and fund a Website about the sign. ... This coming New Year's Eve should be a wild night for bars and restaurants, but not at JD Wetherspoon, a 310-unit chain of pubs in Great Britain. Wetherspoon has succeeded in attracting a "quiet, mature" crowd at its locations -- banning televisions at its pubs was a major success, reports said. ... Worth repeating: Jan Deckard, owner of a kitchen accessories store that recently closed in Florida's Regency Square Mall after 15 years: "Fifteen years ago, there wasn't a Target across the street and no one had ever heard of the Internet." ... The makers of the PBS children's show "Teletubbies" say Wal-Mart is ripping off its characters with "Chubby Wubblies" dolls, a charge Wal-Mart denies. Look out, this one could get ubbly. ... Residents of Davis, Calif., who have been trying to get apparel retailers to locate in their town for some time, have begun a novel rallying cry that states their position, if not their condition, on the subject: "We need underwear!" -- Jon Springer