Results tagged “ami”

At this point, it's hard to tell whether Ed Begley, Jr. is more famous for his decades of acting or his decades of environmentalism. Sure, he's logged over 200 appearances on stage, film and television, including his Emmy-winning breakout role on St. Elsewhere and his priceless turn on Arrested Development. But his funniest performance is arguably his self-effacing cameo as a hardcore green activist in the classic 1999 Simpsons episode "Homer to the Max", in which he's shown driving a nonpolluting go-cart powered by his "own sense of self-satisfaction." Off screen, he's embraced this role of ardent environmentalist with an infectious positivity and seemingly tireless commitment to reducing his own impact on an increasingly injured ecosystem. The many green improvements to his largely solar powered, energy efficient home have been documented in the amusing and informative reality show Living With Ed, and now a newly published book offers a wide range of changes readers can implement to make their lifestyles more sustainable. Called Living Like Ed, it's as inspiring as it is handy, and Begley will be at the Strand bookstore at 7pm tonight for a reading and book signing organized by Environmental Defense.

For some reason, Norwegian comedians thought that City Councilman James Oddo would be a perfect target for their program, "Rikets Rost." Oddo, a Republican and the minority leader in the Council (he's recently supported legislation such as banning aluminum bats and giving the Department of Transportation the authority to name streets), apparently consented to the interview because the request was to discuss presidential politics.

There was a sickening coincidence yesterday: A report was released that faulted the city's Administration for Children's Services for contributing to the deaths of 10 children in families it was supposedly monitoring, just as a 20-month toddler was brutally beaten by her mother - who was under investigation by the ACS - and her mother's boyfriend.

As we mentioned, City Councilman Charles Barron held his press conference yesterday to announce his candidacy for the 2009 Brooklyn Borough Presidency. He told the crowds that his platform included affordable housing, health care accessibility, more jobs, standing up to developers who use eminent domain, ending mayor control of schools and more would help everyone. "Am I going to be a borough president for all the people? Absolutely. But I'm letting y'all know now, I'm taking care of black folk. Unapologetically."

The story about Wesley Autrey jumping into the subway tracks yesterday afternoon to save a fellow straphanger at the 137th Street downtown 1 platform gets more amazing. It turns out that Autrey and two other women had helped 20 year old Cameron Hollopeter right before the fall - Hollopeter had a seizure and Autrey used a pen to keep his mouth open. They called for a station agent's help, but Hollopeter got up and stumbled into the tracks before help came.

According to the woman at the Attorney General's office, no, you are not entitled to that information. It is logical that you would want that before a potential tenant moved into your apartment, in order to check their credit history and financial status. However, if they are already in the apartment, then you have to just settle with a cell phone number AND an alternate phone number. (Cell phone numbers have this funny way of getting cut off). This alternate number can just be their home number.

Wolfmother

Here's a perfect clip for all of our brother and sister nerds out there: Tron clips remixed to They Might Be Giants' amazing techno-inflected song "Am I Awake." It's just like living in the future!

While finding a movie "beautiful" is not the same thing as finding it "hot," it can't be denied that it helps if the leads are of the sex one prefers, and if the setting is something more inspirational than, say, the Chambers Street subway station. Straight men (or anyone, for that matter) seeking to ban "Brokeback Mountain" may be accused of homophobia; the men who roll their eyes when their girlfriends or wives suggest the film are perfectly justified, their reputation as tolerant individuals intact. Am I heterophobic to prefer "Yossi and Jagger" to "Yossi and some really hot Israeli actress"? Perhaps, but you can't help what you like.

There are so many holiday theatre offerings right now, many of them closing when Christmas is still a week or more away, so we are going to be ornery and focus on non-seasonal stuff, of which there is plenty, as usual. One show that just caught our eye is Under a Montana Moon, performed by the mime Bill Bowers. We get a lot of puppetry on stages here, but miming, not so much, and Bowers is a top guy in the field, so this solo piece is very much worth catching. It’s comprised of various stories set in the West, where Bowers grew up, and aims to “use the Art of Silence to investigate the Idea of Silence.” This weekend he’s also performing his other main solo piece, It Goes Without Saying, to benefit the Rattlestick Theatre, so there’s more than enough opportunities to fit seeing this unique artist into your schedule.

Our favorite trivia night in the city is Noah Tarnow's Big Quiz Thing which happens every other Monday at the Slipper Room and once a month at Happy Ending Lounge. The next Big Quiz Thing is scheduled for February 7th at the aforementioned Slipper Room.

Can you explain what my rights are as a taxi passenger regarding EZ-Pass? I travel weekly, and when returning to the city, I want to avoid potential cash lines at the tolls. Therefore, when I enter a cab at the airport, if I don't see an EZ-Pass attached to the windshield (which is often) I ask the driver if they have EZ-Pass. I get a lot of grumbling, some lies, and last night a cabbie at LGA went ballistic and started screaming at me for asking! I promptly exited the cab and went to another, but was unnerved by the situation. On a couple of other occasions, cabbies have told me they had EZ-Pass at the airport and then paid cash for the toll. Am I supposed to pay the EZ-pass toll amount or the cash amount? The TLC website drivers rules explicitly state that the driver must have an EZ-Pass and the EZ-Pass discounts are to be passed on to passengers. If you can shed light on any of these areas I would really appreciate it. My experiences have been so varied that I think I may need to carry my own EZ-Pass with me!

Geoff Wolinetz, Freelance Satirist

Jessica Delfino, Dirty Folk Singer/Stand-Up Comic

I admit it--I'm a matchmaker at heart. Whenever I meet someone who's single, I'm immediately thinking about other people I know who are single and whether they could be a match. It's just fun! I only set up individuals who agree to it first and I always do my best in trying to match the people I know. The problem: my past two set-ups have gone awry and now these acquaintances are irked at ME for having linked them up with someone who isn't for them. In one case, the guy with whom I sent my friend on a date was arrogant and rude to her throughout, she says, and she is insulted that I'd set her up with him. In another case, my guy friend wasn't fond of my match for him but now the girl won't stop calling him and he's peeved at me. Am I wrong to continue wanting to help?

I have a sexually-active relationship with a woman who I have been seeing about once a week for almost a year now. We have other partners and are pretty cool about our open relationship. Just this past Friday we had a

I am madly in love with this wonderful woman and am happy to the point that I can't imagine anything better in life. I want desperately to hold onto the relationship as best I can. While this is my goal, though, this woman is a real independent - she's someone who requires a lot of "space," as she is always telling me, and sometimes I feel that she's pushing me away although she seems really happy, too, and says that she's in love with me. Am I trying too hard? How does one hold on to "true love" in this time when it seems like everyone around us is breaking up because of irreconcilable differences/needs?

Help me settle an argument. My friend claims there are no statues of women in Central Park. I swear I've seen a couple. Am I wrong? She could list a bunch of statues of men like Alexander Hamilton and Hans Christian Andersen, but I was having trouble coming up with even one female statue.

Kathleen Cholewka, Translove Airways

Todd Levin/Bob Powers

See Fred on SNL this weekend, with host Christina Aguilera (expect a lot of singing, possible Britney and Kelly Osbourne spoofs) and musical guests Maroon 5, whose lead singer sounds like Jay Kay from Jamiroquai.

In previous Gothamist Oscar coverage, Stephen Daldry's half-gay status was noted. Page Six has this quote from the Advocate where Stephen Daldry, Oscar-nominated director of The Hours clear things up...a little: "I REFUSED to be boxed into the idea that, 'Oh, no, I can't have kids 'cause I'm gay.' I can have kids if I'm gay. And I can also get married and have a fantastic life. To all questions with my marriage, the answer to everything is yes. Do I have sex with my wife? Yes. Is it a real marriage? Yes. Am I gay? Yes"

Am I the first person to wonder if there might be beef coming between the Metafilters of the world and managed weblog style magazines like Gawker, a weblog magazine for New York? That is, Metafilter is sort of a democratic free-for-all where anyone can post a story, a situation that has a lot of pros and cons. A pro is that you see a lot of weird and interesting stories and links. A con is that there is often no focus, and no editing to filter out all the crap. I wonder if magazine style formats like Gawker will allow a typical reader like me to screen out a lot of the noise on sites like Metafilter and find more relevant content. One way or another, I think the advent of Gawker is probably a good thing.