There's something to be said for pausing in the fast-paced environment of New York to truly capture the essence of our city. On the other hand, speeding things up can really give one some perspective on the dynamics of New York. Below is a time-lapse video taken between September 1, 2006 and August 31, 2007. It's of Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan looking east to west, and the video features 4,385 individual photographs taken from......

Mike Bloomberg may end his tenure as the Mayor of Pothole Repair. Under Bloomberg's watch, the city has filled 1.25 million potholes since 2002. While anybody that hits potholes with their bike or their car surely thinks the city missed a few, Mayor Bloomberg assures us that they are doing what it can to fix them. In his first public appearance since returning from Asia, Bloomberg said, "Now, potholes are as much a part......

The City Council's Committee on Government Operations met this week to talk about possible changes to how much money council members make. Questions were raised about how raises were determined, leadership bonuses, and whether outside work should remain permitted. After a 25% increase in base pay in 2006, council members earn $112,500 annually. They can earn an additional $10,000 a year on average if a member holds a leadership position. In addition, members can hold......

FAIR: Attention vinyl junkies! WFMU is hosting their Record Fair starting this eve and running throughout the weekend. "Hundreds of dealers specializing in the out sounds that WFMU is adored for delivering year round will gather for three days of merciless hawking o' the wax, and thousands of area music geeks are already trembling with nervous anticipation!" There will also be live performances this year, check out more details here. Friday, 7pm to 10pm and......

Neil Hamburger has been touring the country 365 days out of the year every week for over fifteen years. During that time he's released seven albums, two DVDs, and made countless fans. He's been in Amway, made his own brand of fruit cocktail, and performed in Malaysia in front of an audience of non-English speakers. He'd be a household name if it weren't for his money-sucking ex-wife. How are you? We've had a few setbacks,......

And the march towards a "revitalized" Coney Island continues! Forty years after it was shut down, Coney Island's famed Parachute Jump got a new lease on life last night. Thanks to pressure from Brooklyn's elected mascot Marty Markowitz the 277-foot Jump will now light up the Brooklyn sky 365 days a year. Artist Leni Schwendinger designed the new light display of which there are six configurations which will switch, like the Empire State Building,......

Ever since bringing down seven clubs at the start of this month, the police have been cracking down on clubs, and clubowners are feeling unfairly targeted - not just from the police looking for drug dealers, but also from neighborhood residents. Clubowners say that the police are actually hurting the city's economy making them feel unwelcome while the police say the raids were prompted by community complaints. Ah, the double edged sword of gentrification -......

There's a sad article about the elephants at the Bronx Zoo today. The NY Times reports that the zoo will close the elephant exhibit if one or two of the three elephants - Patty, Maxine and Happy - die. Why? Because only two elephants alone might be uneasy (three's is company) and only one elephant in the exhibit is "inhumane." The article goes onto to detail other American zoos that have ended its elephants exhibits......

With the twilight of the year upon us, the natural response is to reflect on all the happenings of the past 365 days, mull them over and glean life lessons from them. Either that or get drunk. The UCB [307 W. 26th St.] offers a combination of solemn reflection and celebratory inebriation tonight at the 2005 It Sucked! Awards. Join hosts Katie Dippold, Anthony King and Chris Kula and a cast of thousands of UCB......

The Top of the Rock, Rockefeller Center's observations decks, opens today after being closed for 19 years, and it will soon become something anyone visiting New York for the first time or someone who has lived here for ages will want to do. We've been excited about this since reading the NY Times article in March, and Gothamist was able to head up there before today's opening and we weren't disappointed. It truly is......

Gothamist loved The March of the Penguins (the drama! the weather! the adorable baby penguins!) so much that we decided we had to see some penguins, since this town may never give us the pandas we deserve. And the NY Post had the same idea, dispatching a reporter to visit the penguins of Coney Island. Reporter Michael Kane had a Costeau-y narration ("In an isolated and untamed Atlantic outpost separated from civilization by a......

Gothamist was directed to a great weblog by an eGullet article. The blog, The Julie/Julia Project, is the diary of a woman trying to cook everything in Julia Child's classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. "365 days. 536 recipes. One girl and a crappy outer borough kitchen." Unfortunately, if she's sticking to the one-year format, she's near the end of her run. But the quality of her writing and the vivid descriptions of the......

The 100th Toy Fair is wrapping up at the Jacob K. Javits Center this week. Apparently, it's the last big toy blowout before the show splits into smaller ones. It's an exciting time in the city, with the prototype toys not yet released displayed at the Times Square Toys R Us and reports about the cool toys on the Today Show - Corey Greenberg says that "Hokey Pokey Elmo" is on his way. I wonder......