Video: Cyclist Contemplates the 46 Traffic Lights in Central Park
Bicyling Teen: Surveillance Video Shows Police Brutality
After Hijacking Yacht, Somali Pirates Kill 4 Americans
Mayor Signing Smoking Ban Today, Last Gasp Set for May 23rd
NYPD Busts Bushwick Gallery Patrons For Drinking Indoors
John Huntington at Control Geek has created another snowy day timelapse of our friend Mr. Snow, who took a two-and-half week break from New York City. He notes that it was taken "from about midnight Sunday through yesterday. Be sure to watch in HD to see the icicles forming on the bow of my whitewater kayak!"
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Don't tell the Islanders they are out of the playoff race, their 5-1 victory over the Panthers pulled them within 11 points of the final spot in the East. Yes, it's a huge deficit, but consider where the Isles were a few months ago.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Today's end-of-day links: A Fox affiliate crew was beaten by mourners in a Sacramento IHOP parking lot, someone thinks there are too many strollers in Park Slope, Charlie Sheen's porn star friend talks about her fourth abortion, AT&T's 3G network might be pretty fast and more. And don't forget to follow Gothamist on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Despite receiving some of the most terrible (and entertaining) reviews in Broadway history, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is currently playing to 93.6% capacity and making enough to at least cover its operating costs. So why mess with a good thing? Cast and crew members tell Arts Beat that they now expect the show to postpone its opening night—currently scheduled for March 15th—for a sixth time and "perhaps for a significant period of time." Sources say the delay has to do with the recent hire of veteran musical supervisor Paul Bogaev. You may remember Bogaev from such Broadway sensations as Starlight Express (a.k.a. the Rollerskating Musical). With any luck, the collaboration between Bogaev and Taymor will top Zoo Animals on Wheels!
How much did it cost the State to oust abusive boyfriend and all-around-special-guy Hiram Monserrate from the State Senate? Would you believe $376,464?
As violence continues to escalate in Libya, with protesters revolting against the government and the government allegedly using "aviation assets" to fire on them, the NY Times reports, "Members of Libya’s mission to the United Nations publicly repudiated Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Monday, calling him a genocidal war criminal responsible for mass shootings of demonstrators protesting against his four decades in power. They called upon him to resign."
[Update below] Who's responsible if the newborn baby you adopted turns out to have severe medical problems? If you are one Long Island couple, it is the fault of those rascally lawyers, of course. Meet Lynell and Victor Jeffrey, two parents currently engaged in a lawsuit against adoption attorneys Aaron Britvan and Alyssa Seiden. Ellington, the baby boy the Jeffreys adopted from an Indiana woman in August 2006, turns out to have severe neurological deficits which they weren't told about before they got him.
When Pattern Is Movement drummer Chris Ward noticed Top Chef and restaurateur Tom Colicchio's Twitter follow list was sprinkled with indie bands and influencers, he wondered: does Tom Colicchio know who Arcade Fire is? Tom Colicchio responded, saying, "saw them 4 years ago." Well look at you! Someone's not getting a hipster beatdown anytime soon.
Next month marks the hundredth anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and for the first time since the tragedy that ultimately killed 146 garment workers, all of the victims' names will be read outside the Greenwich Village building where the fire took place on March 25. The names of the last six workers, whose identities remained elusive for a hundred years, were recovered thanks to the hard work of one Michael Hirsch, an amateur genealogist and historian (and co-producer of an upcoming HBO doc on the fire), who combed through archives of at least 32 daily papers from the time, along with a whole slew of public records, and talked with a number of relatives to compile the complete list.
If you are anything like us—and we suspect you are—a good portion of your youth was spent with a game controller in hand staring blankly at your television screen. And whatever you mother may have said at the time, all of those hours were not for nought! Those games that ate up your childhood (and then some) are part of an artform that is finally getting the recognition it deserves! And you can help.
Pittsburgh is the most "liveable" city in the United States—besting even Honolulu—according to a survey based on a combination of stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. Eat your heart out, Milwaukee! Vancouver ranked #1 worldwide, while NYC finished 56th, the same as last year. But the fact that Pittsburgh beat out a tropical island where you can live for free in a wealthy novelist's mansion and drive his Ferrari probably tells you everything you need to know about the survey's validity. Of course, don't let that stop you from paying The Economist $500 to read the full report. [Reuters]
Looks like Lady Gaga's really come out of her shell (heh), and entered the crucial No Pants level of her publicity campaign. Today she was back on the Lower East Side wearing practically nothing, and allegedly filming some B-roll footage for her HBO special (of her MSG concert tonight) which will air in May. More photos of the pantless wonder at Bowery Boogie and Popdust. [via EV Grieve]
It's been some time since we checked in on how the Gulf Coast is recovering from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but HBO aired If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don't Rise this weekend so we're good and angry (actually, angrier). And just in time, because according to marine scientist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia BP is (surprise!) lying about the residual oil. BP claims overseer Ken Feinberg said that the Gulf should be hunky-dory by 2012, but Joye says, "I've been to the bottom. I've seen what it looks like with my own eyes. It's not going to be fine by 2012." And she's got the pictures to prove it.
Australian-born and New York-based illustrator James Gulliver Hancock is attempting to draw every building in New York City (just as Jason Polan is attempting to draw very person). His ambitious project is called Through All the Buildings in New York, and maybe if we stop building for a while he can catch up! Below check out the artist discussing this (and other) project(s). Want your building now, it'll only cost you $200, and for that you get "hand painted acrylic and ink on wood of the New York building of your choice."
At what point is an anti-smoking commercial too much? We're still of the opinion that New York's 2009 "kid crying because his parents died from smoking" Public Service Announcement takes the cake for pushing-it-PSAs, but for sheer bluntness and idiocy of argument it is hard to look past a new European PSA that Copyranter brings to our attention. Yes, smoking is not a healthy habit—but is it the equivalent of pulling a Tyler Durden?
We know it might be hard to wrench you away from the chip and dip you had planned for Oscar night on Sunday, but heckling celebrities' fashion choices is best as a group activity, and often comes with cheap drinks. So click through for our guide to the city's best Oscar parties, ranging from glamorous dinners to silly contests and trivia. And we're pretty sure swooning over James Franco (or Anne Hathaway, however you roll) will be happening no matter where you go.
Ten years ago we had to explain to the olds what a blog is, and this headline in the Times implies that in another twenty years we'll have to explain to the kids what a blog was. A NIGHTMARE. In an article titled, "Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter," the Times points to a Pew study from December about Milliennials' Internet use, and concludes that blogging is so over, because it's all about Facebook and Twitter. Then the article goes on to contradict the headline's premise that blogs are on the wane. Some things never change, like editors' determination to match the facts to a trendy title.
If you've got a valid college ID (or if you're like us and just using your old one until you really don't look like the picture anymore) head out to Chipp Pizza tomorrow, because they're giving away free pies to all the academics in honor of their grand opening. Chipp has reportedly been soft open for a few months; it was started by former The Apprentice contestant Lenny Veltman, who once said of the joint, “We wanted to create a modern lounge much like a Chipotle or Panera Bread store, not another take out pizza joint. Somewhere you’d go on a date." Nothing more romantic than Chipotle!
A federal discrimination complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that the NYPD's School Safety Division is a hotbed of sex and sexual harassment. The Post reports that the federal complaint paints a portrait of a "raunchy, sexually charged environment where some female agents regularly engage in down-and-dirty noontime affairs with bosses inside department vehicles -- and then boast about their sleazy shenanigans to co-workers." And what's more, the complaint alleges that women who would have sex with their bosses got perks like "chauffeured drives to and from their homes, overtime, promotions -- and even cash gifts"—and women who didn't want to put out were fired.
In December, Anne Hathaway visited the kids at Staten Island's PS 22 to officially invite them to perform at the Oscars (which also means they will get to meet James Franco!). Prior to their departure, the Daily News gauged their nerves. 10-year-old Jonathan boldly declared, "I'm not nervous. I'm used to this." Other members of the chorus told them, "I have a chance to shine in the light. It's my biggest experience yet! We're going to the Oscars, baby! We are going to rip the walls from the Kodak Theater off!" A few are nervous to be away from their parents for so long, which... awww.
