It appears that pop culture just can’t get enough of Queens.

The once oft-maligned borough that has served as the backdrop for a number of television shows, books and movies can now add one more accolade to its growing resume.

Production on a new film entitled "How to Go Out on a Date in Queens" is nearing completion and will soon be released.

Director Michelle Danner described the film, starring the former "Seinfeld" mainstay Jason Alexander, as a romantic comedy about middle-aged people searching for true love in Queens.

Richard Vetere

Though Danner herself isn’t from the borough, the completely homegrown Richard Vetere, who still lives in Queens and teaches a screenwriting class at Queens College, wrote the story.

Of course this isn’t Vetere’s first crack at making a story out of the borough. He’s also the author of the novel turned 1999 film "The Third Miracle," which detailed the trials of a Flushing priest sent out to investigate a miracle that happened…where else…in Maspeth.

Ed Harris and Anne Heche starred in the movie.

Since reaching the majors, Mets all-star catcher Mike Piazza has made many a pitcher’s life miserable with his incredible offensive mastery over them. And who can forget Roger Clemens flinging a broken wedge of bat at Piazza in last year’s Subway Series? Surely, there are those out of frustration and a bloated e.r.a. that has told Piazza to "Go to Hell!"

Well, you might be seeing those words on a theater marquee in the future. QConfidential heard from a Hollywood insider that a script that had been floating from studio to studio, with the working title "Go to Hell, Mike Piazza!" was sold to Universal Pictures for a million dollars. Our source said, "it’s about a hot dog vendor who blames all the bad things in his life on his childhood friend, the famous Met catcher.

"The time comes when he can finally seek his revenge against his imagined nemesis when he wins the chance to strike out Piazza in a high-profile charity event." The script is co-written by David Rothman and Ryan Oxford. Piazza, seen last week by Confidential walking down Third Avenue wearing a very trendy Burberry and carrying a Louis Vuitton bag, had the movie star image already down pat. Has anyone ever heard of Spring Training?

New York State Law prohibits public money from being given to private businesses.

Yet Interstate Brands Corporation (IBC) is getting $1 million from the state.

How is this possible? Well, the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation (GJDC), a not-for-profit group, is eligible to receive public funds. So GJDC is going to take title of IBC, receive the money and hand it over to IBC with its title.

This is not some under-the-table activity. It is totally in the open. QConfidential was told about it by the players themselves. No digging was necessary.

Apparently, this game is standard practice if the money will result in the public good.

It is definitely an arguable point that private biz should get public money if it will serve the public good. So, why not put an exception in the law to avoid all the zigzagging?

Then, would it still be government if it did not work in a long, winding, bureaucratic way?

Chuck Schumer’s denouncement of Bill Clinton’s questionable presidential pardons was "a calculated move to distance himself from the shadows and troubles of both of the Clintons," according to a high-ranking Washington official.

QConfidential’s source added, "Schumer had been planning to make the break for some time. The latest Clinton mess helped him speed up the process. Like so many in Washington, Schumer grumbled privately in green rooms everywhere about the shame that the Clintons brought to the party, but he would go on TV, defend them and perpetrate this charade."

His good soldier act won over the Democratic hierarchy. The leadership knows that it’s important to have a strong voice coming out of New York. All along, Daschle (Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle) wanted it to be Chuck. With Hillary handing them the rope, you know how it goes."

A local party official said: "Don’t look for any life preservers from Schumer. Don’t look for him to take on Bush, either. He’s got all good intentions, but he is playing a power game, and he’s winning. He’s a savvy politician, and he’s looking for the power that Hillary was never going to get, and the power that Moynihan (former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan) never had. He genuinely wants to do more for New York than any of them. Don’t underestimate him."

We'll see.

He covers the Bronx, so we don't know him. He's been on the air since 1997 for NY1 News, but he wasn't talking Queens, so we weren't paying attention.

However, his name – Dean Mayo-Meminger – caught our attention. We remembered a Dean "The Dream" Meminger – first round draft pick for the NY Knicks in '71.

Basketball fans will remember one of the Knicks all-time great teams led by Captain Willis Reed, Bill Bradley (same guy who ran for Prez), Dave Dubusshre, Walt "Clyde" Frazier and Earl "The Pearl"Monroe. Coming off the bench was a guy named Phil Jackson (the same one that coached Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to all their championships) and Dean "The Dream" Memeinger.

Sure enough according to their website at www.ny1.com, Bronx raised, on-air Dean Meminger is indeed the son of former NY Knicks "The Dream."

Looking shabby, but somewhat cheery, real estate tycoon and zany millionaire was led to Queens Supreme Court in handcuffs. He was being accused of misappropriating $2 million from a Queens co-op. Not too far off was his wife, Zapora. When asked how Abe was doing she joked, "He’s fine. He better be. If not, I’m going to give him a spanking."

The infamous developer, ex-mayoral and senate candidate and of late Rikers Island inmate Abe Hirschfield is never at a loss for words. His trouble is finding someone who’ll listen and what’s more, someone who’ll take him seriously. He’s not too particular about who listens to him, even if his audience is a convicted felon.

The controversial Hirschfield was convicted last June of hiring a hit man to murder his long time business associate Stanley Stahl. In a Daily News jailhouse interview Hirschfield boasted that he could withstand the hardship of doing time and that he even preferred being where he was.

If Hirschfield had known about who was in the same room while he was schmoozing, he might have thought quite differently. QConfidential has learned that sitting adjacent to Hirschfield during the interview was Craig Godineaux, one of the accused in the "Wendy’s Massacre" that took place in Flushing last summer. The reporter told the oblivious Hirschfield who his fellow inmate was and the crime that he had committed that landed him in the slammer. Hirschfield replied that he knew neither the nearby inmate nor about the events that led him to being incarcerated.

First year New School Prez Bob Kerry made an off-colored remark while having a guys' night out in Greenwich Village at Babbo restaurant with fellow New Yorker Bill Clinton and others. Kerry’s remarks were attributed to John Kerry, causing the Mass. Senator needless embarrassment.

QConfidential has learned after being confused with his former Senate colleague from the New School, John Kerry (still Senator) now refers to himself as "the Kerry that doesn’t make lesbian jokes."

At the launch party for GOTHAM magazine (l. to r.) Liv Tyler, Gotham's first cover girl; Mira Sorvino; Heidi Klum; Monica Lewinsky.