Last night's episode of Mad Men didn't have any major historical news moments overshadowing it, or even serving as a backdrop, as the past few have. This time there were references serving as time markers, from the popularity of Howard Johnson's at the time, to the Cornel Wilde movie The Naked Prey... stop reading now if you don't want to have any close encounters with the basics of the episode. more ›

A Brooklyn man has started a 24-hour UFO hotline, empowering NYers to testify to their close encounters with freaky creatures who don't live off the L. "How is anybody going to report this stuff if everyone is discouraging them? I'm looking at witnesses as a resource rather than someone to slam around," founder Joe Capp told the Post. We're relieved, since for too long, NYers have had nowhere to go with their dramatic tales and footage of unidentified objects...except for all the dallies, countless UFO websites and message boards, etc. more ›

Buzzkill Aldrin! Aliens don't exist... or do they? While the lamestream media is reporting that NASA's arsenic-loving bacteria do exist, they're not space aliens... or new to Earth... and were, in fact, deliberately manipulated in a lab by scientists. The outcome is still interesting though, as Boing Boing notes, the "bacteria can not only eat arsenic, they can use it in their DNA—completely replacing phosphate, which is one of those chemicals we thought was necessary for life to happen." more ›

We just received a message from the NASA Solar System Ambassador for New York City, in preparation of NASA's big announcement tomorrow regarding an "astrobiology finding." And as anyone with Google knows, that pretty much means THE ALIENS ARE HERE. (Perhaps that is why the sky looked so creepy and foreboding this afternoon.) Really though, they are here... in fact, you are probably friends with aliens on Facebook! more ›

You've got to hand it to the Men in Black; within 48 hours after an alien spacecraft's confirmed broad-daylight contact with New York City, the lamestream media has swiftly regurgitated the government's cover-up story, and the local tabloids are pushing an official explanation that the wondrous spaceship was merely a cluster of balloons. Yesterday we were told that the ship was actually balloons released from a publicity event in Times Square; now we're supposed to believe that it was a bunch of balloons from an engagement party in Mount Vernon. And they've even gotten an entire elementary school to play along! more ›

Beautiful sunset last night as a cool and dry air mass displaced the clouds. That same air mass will give us clear blue skies and a high near 65 this afternoon. Speaking of high, at least one person thinks there's a chance of alien encounters today. In the unlikely event of that occurring we predict panic and widespread soiling of undergarments. If you take any pictures of spaceships hovering over New York today, be sure to to upload them to Flickr and tag them 'gothamist'! more ›

Did you know that the United Nations has a specific office dedicated to the "peaceful use" of outer space? Not only is the Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) real—they're set to appoint the first Earth ambassador to aliens. And she shall be our Jodie Foster! more ›

Stephen Hawking, the British theoretical physicist, does believe in aliens—and he's worried. For his Discovery show, he says, "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach." He thinks contacting alien races is "a little too risky... If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans." The episode airs tonight—see a clip. more ›

Free Williamsburg found this YouTube video taken by a UFO enthusiast, supposedly from his back yard in Williamsburg. Does it show an alien ship with pretty changing colors, or is this how a star looks when a stoned scenester messes with the auto-focus? It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether the alien star people will kill the hipsters or merely enslave them, but one thing is certain: there is no stopping them. And we here at Gothamist would like to welcome our new alien overlords, and remind them that we can be helpful in rounding up others to work in their underground ironic T-shirt factories. more ›

Are aliens checking out Manhattan? One man says he filmed a "red craft" UFO for four nights straight this month, and has some footage to back up his claim. He says he filmed from The Great Hill in Central Park, saying, "When I started filming, it hovers about then suddenly I descends near the Reservoir. Slowly and vanishes. After about 30 min, when I got home, It popped up again for about 40 more minutes and morphed into a Plane... I know its sounds crazy... Its been out for about 4 nights so far... For some reason it knows I'm filming it." more ›

There was a lot of chatter about strange lights in the sky last night, from the Bowery to Queens, with one tipster saying, "My boyfriend and I were eating dinner on our roof across from the New Museum and saw a strong point of light that slowly emitted a wash of light that grew then receded until it totally faded away. It was definitely NOT a chopper plane or anything we've ever seen." This took place around 8 p.m., prime time for an alien invasion. more ›

Yes, even the extra terrestrials can't try to make something of themselves in the East Village without being told to GTFO. Cooper Union is closing in on completion of the new building for its School of Engineering, located on Third Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets and designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis. But one tagger had other ideas for the future plans of the spot Curbed recently called CU's "new mindfuck of a building." more ›

Some NJ residents spotted an odd formation of flashing red lights on Monday night (perhaps New Yorkers were smelling maple syrup) and wondered if we are not alone. Here's an excerpt of a MUFON report (via a YouTube video):

As an amateur astronomer of nearly 20 years experience, this is the second time I have seen something in the sky that is difficult to explain. I was on my apartment stoop smoking a cigarette when my neighbor, who was just coming home after parking his car in our complexs lot, called my attention to something around the corner of the building. more ›