Results tagged “agothamist”

A Gothamist tipster emailed us this photo of a prohibitively tall bench on the median of East Houston Street near Suffolk. Is this guerrilla art or city-sanctioned furniture? The new cool “Bench Club” for East Village scenesters? A lawsuit in-waiting from the city’s more vertically challenged residents? A prototype anti-homeless bench? A photoshop hoax?

A crane at One Bryant Park, aka the Bank of America tower on Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, reportedly lost some materials it was carrying. Curbed is reporting that the materials/debris/ garbage bin fell at least 35 floors - and it looks like a cab was hit. A Gothamist reader who works near the building writes:

Our windows look out at the construction site and it looks like some beams were dropped right onto Sixth avenue. No cars were crushed, but I couldn't tell if anyone was hurt or not (there were ambulances at the scene). Sixth ave is closed off north of 42nd and half of 42nd St is now closed, too. We've been told by our building management to stay away from the windows on the Sixth avenue side and the entrance to the building is closed - we're using a service entrance now.

at 9 pm.

Dunh dunh DUNH! It's the most insane shopping day of the year, thanks to most people being off and feeling that the day after Thanksgiving is an acceptable beginning to the Christmas shopping season. However, some stores were actually open yesterday, giving turkey and football some competition. Some stores opened at 5AM today, others at 6AM. In fact, some people have been flying in from overseas, perhaps to take advantage of the exchange rate!

- A Gothamist tipper says that there are state troopers turning people away from the Comic-Con. Anybody know anything more?

With the Golden Globes happening this past weekend, everybody catching up on big winners were that Kate Beckinsale looks awesome in leather, and somehow this guy convinced her to marry him.

Ah January. That lovely first month of the year which big Hollywood uses as its annual dumping ground. The Awards eligibility period is over, and now is the time to catch-up on all those films being talked about that came out at the same time over the past few weeks. Still, New Yorkers are lucky as we retain many filmgoing options. Sure you can check-out the latest video game adaptation from hackmeister Uwe Boll, but if you heard about last year's which we're sure somebody will find funny.

No don't worry. Gothamist doesn't plan to subject you to yet another film Top 10 list. If you want a good ... uhm ... "overview" of this year's Top 10 lists, you might want to check-out The Reeler's Top 10 Top 10 lists. (Nos. 10-6 appeared yesterday. The top five went up this morning.) If you're looking for something more traditional, you should probably look at 's Take 7 film critics poll.

There's only one major wide release this weekend, and although it stars an Oscar winner, we can pretty much guarantee Paramount isn't expecting any year-end kudos for . In fact, it looks like the studio is hoping to slyly score a big opening weekend on the draws of Charlize Theron in skintight rubber and fans of the old MTV animated series because they aren't letting critics anywhere near it -- apparently no press screenings have been or will be held.

The holiday movie season is officially upon us. In fact, it started yesterday. We already spent more than enough time mentioning some little musical that will likely see its box office hopes dashed by the continuing dominance of screenwriter Stephen Gaghan. We caught it Monday and were incredibly disappointed (not to mention bored and annoyed) mostly due to the constant proselytizing and exposition which lacks any nuance. A phenomenal cast performs more than admirably even if few of them are given much in the way of actual definitive character in order to fulfill their small role in this overly-complex story.

The holidays are upon us. Tomorrow sees the release of two of the more eagerly awaited films of the season, and we haven't even hit Thanksgiving yet! We've been hearing fantastic things about the Johnny Cash biopic ; Phoenix sings all the songs himself. We're not really sure whether that's a plus or not, though, no matter how well he sings.

A Gothamist reader tipped us off and Florence Fabricant confirmed that Black Pearl, the New England style clam and lobster shack in the back of the East Village bar, Julep has closed. We will mourn quietly and head back to Pearl Oyster Bar.

Another week, another slew of new releases available for our viewing pressure. If you've been watching TV regularly, you might think that .

Celeste's Pasta alle Vongole

As the country mourned the 2,000 soldiers who have died in Iraq since 2003, Cindy Sheehan, the mother who has turned her grief over her soldier son's death into a public anti-war crusade, is telling people not to support Senator Hillary Clinton. Sheehan told the AP, "I believe that any candidate who supports the war should not receive our support. It doesn't matter if they're Senator Clinton or whoever." Essentially, Sheehan feels that Clinton has made decisions that will be politically tenable, versus of moral conviction, as the junior Senator considers higher office. The NY Times points out that at the same time as Sheehan's comments, Clinton proposed that oil companies should develop alternative fuels, a "politically potent issue." It should be interesting to see which candidates Sheehan does support, especially with midterms coming up next year.

-- new releases in local theaters this weekend, seven of them from major Hollywood studios. Some of these big releases are obvious attempts to grab some big box office before the heavy-hitter holiday blockbusters; others are simple efforts to give films with big name talent that may not have lived up to expectations a chance to grab an audience; and the remainder mark the real beginning of Awards seasons, films with slim Oscar hopes that aspire to get a jump on what promises to be a very crowded December.

Beloved memoirist Augusten Burroughs will be giving a reading next Tuesday of his latest book, Magical Thinking, at Coliseum Books. And he's going to dish about the new film adaptation of Running with Scissors (Annette Bening will play his mom, Gabrielle Union his mother's girlfriend; Brian Cox is his mom's shrink and Gwyneth Paltrow, Kristin Chenoweth, and Evan Rachel Wood seem to be play his daughters). His last event, at Cooper Union, was totally packed in the steamy summer weather - so if you go, you might want to get there before 6:

(to which you can still enter to win some free tix and swag in our contest until 6 PM today) -- and revival and repertory programs, most of which happen to focus on French and Asian cinema.

Another week, another slew of choices for New York film lovers. We reach the half-way point of the 43rd New York Film Festival this weekend. We've already presented some coverage from the fest, and there will be more to come tomorrow, and through the very busy weekend and next week at Alice Tully Hall, the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual celebration of the best of world cinema will continue to dominate the attention of local cinephiles, but there's actually plenty of other stuff going on around the city that's worth your time.

Once again, movie lovers have plenty to rejoice about over the next week. Three international heavyweights have new releases and we're not including Jodie Foster going crazy on an airplane in that equation. One of New York's most important production companies gets saluted at MoMA plus there's this little thing starting at Lincoln Center tomorrow night which should dominate much of the city's film landscape for the coming fortnight just as it does this week's .

With 50% chance of rain and air so thick we actually hope it will, we'd be perfectly happy spending the coming days inside a nice, cool movie theater. Of course, Gothamist doesn't need choking humidity to head to the movies, especially when there is a collection of new releases and old programming around town like we have this week. From RESFEST to CMJ Filmfest, and so much more, this is a great week for NYC film lovers.

seem enticing. But as is often the case, the city's alternative houses really steal the show this week.

It's Labor Day which means the "official" (if not the technically scientific) summer is coming to and end. No more summer Fridays and no more outdoor Summer film series. After this year's (dare-we-say unwarranted) freak-out about box office grosses, Hollywood studios are likely happy to close the book on the season. Labor Day weekend is notoriously weak for the box office, therefore, we're not generally treated to anything good. In fact, the major studios think of this holiday weekend (and much of September) as a bit of a dumping ground. However, there's still plenty to see in and around New York, and although most people are probably trying to find their way out of town, that should just make it easier for you to score a seat in your favorite air-conditioned movie theatre.

What's the nerdiest place you've met someone? Or have you been approached at the Apple Store? Gothamist tends to get lost wondering about the engineering involved to have a floating glass floor, so we're sort of oblivious to the whole scene. And for our non-NYC readers, is this the case at other Apple Stores?

This week's NYT Dining section dove into one of Gothamist's favorite subjects: street food. The Times highlights the "Arepa Lady," who is very well known to visitors to the Chowhound message boards; Alpha hound Jim Leff has attempted to explain her magic:

was barely a twinkle in the eye of the Hollywood pitchmen, those Japanese B-movie geniuses at the Toho Studio had concocted an even better match up: King Kong versus Godzilla (1962). Film Forum will be screening this Toho gem, also directed by the original Godzilla helmer Ishiro Honda, today and Saturday as a part of their continuing series, "They Came From Toho: Godzilla and the Kaiju Eiga."

We successfully moved to a new server last weekend, thanks for Jake, so we hope that loading Gothamist has been faster and easier than ever. There may still be a few bugs, so please let us know if there's anything you think we need to address.

It looks like now that the New York State Legislature has overridden Govenor Pataki's veto of the budget and New York City aid, they have found some teeth on other issues. The Daily News reports today that two Brooklyn legislators have introduced bills to counteract the State's impending draconian smoking ban.

A Gothamist friend sends the following story for the Stupid Criminals file. Robin Loftin, 18 was sentenced to two days in jail for dropping a joint in a courtroom.