The Columbia University students' hunger strike to protest Columbia's non-inclusive attitudes about redevelopment and curriculum continues with one less striker. Just after midnight on Sunday, a post went on up on the Columbia Hunger Strike website saying, "This evening, one hunger striker was admitted to St. Luke's hospital. She will not continue the strike for personal medical reasons." The student, Aretha Choi, who attends Barnard, later wrote:...my disappointment increases as I remember the bitter......

Debbie Harry's internationally known as the smart, cool and sexy front woman for pop/punk sensation Blondie, but when it comes to her solo career she prefers to be thought of as Deborah. The slight but significant name change might imply a conservative shift in tone, but her latest album - the first in fourteen years - finds her as vibrant and upbeat as ever. (Website, myspace) There's something inspiring about seeing Harry, whose storied career......

Tod Seelie’s stunning photographs chronicle the wild lives and raw vistas of the international DIY counterculture. On his must-read weblog Sucka Pants, he adds cryptic comments about his travels and other observations about life as a starving-artist Brooklyn cycling photog. Seelie has been spending the first part of his summer with the Miss Rockaway Armada, a collective of artists, dreamers and misfits who, for the second year running, build and sail a group of......

Peter Marinello works for NARC (National Advertising Review Council). His job is to watch infomercials and review the accuracy of their claims. So if anyone knows if Beano works or if Xantax is for real, it's him. How did you get involved with NARC? I graduated as a Radio/TV major at NYU back in 1985 and worked at NBC Sports as a research analyst before going to St. John's Law School. So the plan was......

That thud you heard this afternoon? The jaws of Jeanine Pirro's campaign staffers. It turns out that Republican candidate for NY State Attorney General Pirro is under state and federal criminal investigation. WNBC's Jonathan Dienst had the scoop: State and federal agencies were looking into whether Pirro eavesdropped on her husband, who she suspected might be cheating on her. (Well, he did father a love child a couple years into their marriage.) So she......

Back in April, Cloud Cult played our Movable Hype show, apparently this happened on the same trip: Although I was practically naked and the place was full of people, I was feeling pretty comfortable. That is, until I looked across the laundromat to my dryer on the opposite side of the building and noticed hundreds of dollars of cash blowing around inside. The image of a few hundred-dollar bills, mostly in singles, blowing around in......

No ordinary days exist for a Paulo Coelho character - the battle between Good and Evil is a daily and commonplace occurrence. So commonplace, in fact, that the Brazilian writer has dedicated ten books to the pursuit of it. The Devil and Miss Prym, his latest U.S. release, is the third book in a loosely-linked trilogy, preceded by By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, and Veronika Decides To Die. All three novels......

David Lehrer, Producer of The Lieutenant of Inishmore...

When I started writing here for Gothamist, a good friend immediately plucked Patrick McGrath’s Ghost Town off her shelf and handed it to me. I was a little skeptical. Although I love Bloomsbury’s Writer in the City series, of which McGrath’s book is the latest installment, I was really in the mood to read some good, juicy fiction. I wasn’t in the mood for nonfiction travel writing, no matter how compelling it may be (and......

David Pogue, NY Times Technology Writer, Author...

Francesco Marciuliano, Writer and Artist...

The Daily News reports that the NYPD has apprehended one of the teenagers who attacked a runner in Central Park Thursday night. The fourteen year old was part of a group of teens, about six to ten in total. In fact, Kim commented about the attack yesterday in our comments section and explained that he didn't believe the iPod was the main reason why he was attacked: it sucked (I'm the victim in the story......

Murtaza Vali, Graduate Student...

John Flansburgh, Songwriter/Performer...

I don’t diet.  I try to eat “healthy” but these days even I’m not sure what I mean by that.  If one does not subscribe to a low-carb lifestyle, is it considered “healthier” to eat a steak instead of a bowl of pasta?  I guess what I’m asking is, does eating fewer carbs only “work” if you ALWAYS eat fewer carbs? Although I like to eat healthy, when I get a starchy-carby-salty craving to go......

Deborah Schoeneman, New York Magazine...

Juliana Nash, Co-owner of Pete's Candy Store...

PowerPoint, the bane of many an office wonk's existence ("I can animate this slide with builds and sound effects - just give me an hour") gets reinterpreted by David Byrne in his new book and DVD, David Byrne: E.E.E.I. (Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information). Unlike office wonks, David Byrne gets to look at PP with new eyes and use it in funny, "artistic" ways, like using an outline of Dan Rather's head (unless you work......