City Council member and probable 2009 mayoral candidate, Tony Avella, is the latest politician to ask for America's withdrawl from the Beijing Olympics if China will not grant Tibet independence. Under China's rule for over 50 years, Tibet has made no headway, even with the support of human rights groups, activists...and Richard Gere. When we interviewed Robert Thurman, co-founder of the Tibet House, earlier this year he touched on the Olympics, saying:The thinking is that......

It’s never to early to start planning for the future One World Government, and one great way to fill the odd hours is by building websites about it, as one group of visionaries have done with their Reservoir Project. The pseudo-serious website is dedicated to securing New York City as the capital of the “Earth Government” and converting the Central Park Reservoir into “the Biggest, the Tallest, the most Elegant and Innovative Structure in the......

Mayor Bloomberg continued his whirlwind tour through Asia yesterday with a stop in Bali, Indonesia to talk to United Nations officials about the global effects of climate change. This is after a foray to China, that brought to mind Ed Koch's Beijing inspiration for bike paths in NYC to The New York Times' Clyde Haberman. Like NYC, Bali was the victim of a devastating terrorist attack that killed and injured hundreds of people. True......

Mayor Bloomberg will be speaking at a United Nations conference in Indonesia, but he made a stop in Beijing first. He said to the audience at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "Some people believe that by mid-century, as [much] as 75 percent of China's population may be city dwellers. Even an occasional visitor to China, like me, is struck by this rapid urbanization. It is one of the largest internal migrations by people in......

Years ago before the nearby Flushing Mall opened, Prince Street near 38 Ave. was well known for the "octopus guy", a friendly gent who grilled up skewers of baby octopus, among other things. When he vanished, we barely frequented that block. The other restaurants just never held much appeal; instead we stuck to Little Pepper, a nearby bastion of fiery Sichuan flavor. Largely because of the crowds and the huge posters of its specials......

Just a day before the running of the NYC Marathon, the U.S. Olympic trials for the men's marathon were marred by an untimely death today. 28-year-old Ryan Shay died while competing in the Olympic trials in Central Park, just a few miles into the 26.2 mile race. Shay collapsed at the 5.5 mile mark of the race and was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital where he was declared dead. The cause of death has yet......

Photograph the 2006 New York City Marathon finish line by CraigsPage on flickr Marathon fans, your time is here because this weekend, there are two 26.2 mile races in the city. In addition to the New York City Marathon on Sunday, Saturday is the USA Olympic Trials for the 2008 Olympic Men's Marathon. Saturday's Olympic Trials will feature the country's best long distance runners as they contend for the first spots on the 2008......

Aha! We were right when we suggested that August 8, 2008 might be another coveted wedding date to consider, now that July 7, 2007 has passed. The date 08/08/08 is considered very auspicious by Asian cultures (in fact, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will start on that day), and some weddings planners who specialized in Chinese weddings are seeing a big rush. One told LJWorld, "We like to do three weddings max a day, but......

The eight Democratic presidential candidates debated in New Hampshire last night, covering immigration, health care, and, of course, Iraq. Former Senator John Edwards, who is a distant third in the polls, went after Senators Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's voting on the Iraq spending bill, saying, "They went quietly to the floor of the Senate. They were among the last people to vote. They cast the right vote, and I applaud them for that.......

Virgin Vacations created a list of the 11 Top Underground Transit Systems in the World, complete with photographs and YouTube videos to give readers a sense of what mass transit might be like on their trip. The number 1 underground transit system is the oldest - the London Underground. After that, it's the Paris Metro. Then the Moscow Metro. Then Madrid, Tokyo, and Seoul, until you finally see New York City's subway coming in......

Towards the end of the year, it becomes sport to wonder who Time's Person of the Year will be. It's sort of like wondering who will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated or who People's Sexiest Man Alive is (both are also Time Inc. publications, as it were). Time tried to get its readers excited, asking them to vote online for who they thought should be the Person of the Year, with choices being......

Today, a drunken man visiting the Beijing Zoo climbed into the panda habitat - and there was also "hugging" and biting. Reports say that 35 year old Zhang Xinyan had drunk "four draught beers" before heading to the zoo, where he was suddenly overcome with a desire to touch Gu Gu, a 6 year old male panda. Gu Gu freaked out and bit Zhang's, so then Zhang bit back. Zookeepers managed to get Gu......

Chinatown has moved on up to East 14th Street. Well, at least a little piece of it has, at Vanessa’s Dumplings. The proprietor, Vanessa Weng, opened this outpost a few months ago between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, after starting a smaller dumpling shop years before on Eldridge Street. At first, the new Vanessa’s looks like yet another storefront serving Americanized Chinese glop, but there is some fairly authentic Beijing-style street food here. The namesake dish......

I have a soft spot in my heart for novels that are deceptively simple or straight-forward, and for plots that take their sweet time unraveling their secrets. I appreciate the nuance, the seduction, of well-shaped characters and quiet implications. In certain keys, Nell Freudenberger’s new novel – the chaser to her 2003 short story collection, Lucky Girls – was a well-suited match. The Dissident certainly takes its time. Opening simultaneously in Los Angeles and Beijing,......

World Trade Center developer Larry Siilverstein might be starting a global war of the words as he now claims a deal company Beijing Vantone to rent the top 7 floors of 7 World Trade Center has collapsed. Silverstein says the Chinese real estate company failed to meet a deadline for a security deposit (for the fourth time), but Vantone's spokesperson says lease negotiations only ended 10 days ago. The NY Times suggests that Silverstein may......

Mayor Bloomberg was not very successful with the Summer Olympics, but his daughter Georgina hopes that she can ride her way into the games. Georgina, the younger of Mayor Bloomberg's two daughters, has her sights set on making the Olympic equestrian team for the 2008 Beijing Games. Riding since she was 4 (Gothamist was riding our little wooden horsey), Georgina was in her first competition at the age of 6 (we competed against our reflection......

After two weeks of winter sports competition, the 2006 Torino Games have officially come to a close. Winning the medal tally was Germany with 29 medals (11 gold, 12 silver, 6 bronze). Second was the United States, which had 25 (9, 9, 7), and Canada was third with 24 (7, 10, 7). The US total was its higest outside of the United States, where it had 34 in the 2002 Salt Lake City games.......

In the chaos of Tuesday's first day of the transit strike, the offical opening of the elegant and surprisingly affordable Philippe went nearly unnoticed. But with that over, the reasons to try it outweigh the reasons to order in greasy noodles from around the corner another night (No OLLIES!) . In the former RM space on 60th Street, in the part of East Midtown with no good nickname, the space is minimalist and pretty in......

In this heartily American week some of the most appealing things to see are foreign, at least in part. For a more delicate food-related experience than Thanksgiving usually turns turn out to be, consider Lao She’s Teahouse, set in a Beijing establishment over the course of some fifty years that encompass three important moments in modern Chinese history, beginning in 1898. Sixty-plus characters that embody the vast changes in China come to life via the......

Tonight through October 31, Solange Fabiao's video of Shanghai and Nanjing will be projected onto a screen at the corner of Canal and Centre Streets. The footage, part of Fabiao's Transitio series, is from the perspective of a car passenger going through various neighborhoods. At 40 minutes long, it loops from 6:30PM until 11PM each of the twelve nights. Fabiao's video of New York City was projected in Beirut last year, and projections in eight......

They lagged a few hours behind the cold front but the dew points are finally dropping this morning. The browns in this satellite image show dry air. The intense haze and humidity we've recently enjoyed should be gone for a few days. The catch? Drier air heats up faster than humid air so it's going to be plenty warm, highs in the 90s, until the next cold front passes on Friday night. Nonetheless, it should......

The International Olympics Committee eliminated New York as a possible site for the 2012 Olympics in the second (of four) round of voting. Gothamist thought that watching the city selection process (starting at 6AM) was incredibly bizarre: The IOC Chairman comes out, tells how many votes were given, how many people voted, what the majority is, and then matter-of-factly says something like, "New York will not proceed to the next round of voting." When Moscow......

The Mayor gave the full court press for the Olympics Stadium in Queens plan, making him the only mayor of an Olympic bid city to officiate at his daughter's wedding AND come up with a backup plan for the Olympics proposal. And some people, expecting the Olympics to not come here, think the plan could be reworked for a 2016 bid, which actually sounds about right, since Beijing missed out on an earlier Olympics,......

Tonight, 30 dogs from China will be arriving at JFK Airport, to be put up for adoption at the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington. Newsday reports that these dogs were in a crowded Beijing animal shelter (crowded and Beijing seem synonymous to us) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare decided to step in, saying that the Beijing shelter had "more dogs in the shelter than they can adopt out." Certain breeds of......

Paul Theodore Gelinas, Designer/ Restaurant Owner...

Like Gothamist, you're so into Hero right now, aren't you? You've taken to wearing monochromatic colored ensembles on different days of the week. (Tuesday felt like sea-foam green, didn't it?) You've been doodling "Flying Snow Hearts Broken Sword 4-Ever" on random scraps pieces of paper. You're obsessed. It's cool. We know how it goes. Now you're wondering, where did Chinese director Zhang Yimou's operatic tendencies so stirringly evident in Hero come from? Perhaps a look......

...with a stop in Torino. The Games of Athens came to a close last night after two weeks. The next Summer Games will take place in Beijing, China and the Winter Games will take place in Torino, Italy in 2006. With the final medal counts for Athens, it looks like China is a threat to win the most gold medals in 2008, and with the home court advantages, possibly a threat to win the most......

Think the competition in the Olympics isn�t tough? Just ask Michael Phelps. Phelps swam the 200-meter freestyle yesterday, setting a new personal and American record and still finished third to winner Ian Thorpe (who set a new Olympic record with his 1:44.71 time) and runner up Pieter van den Hoogenband. Amazingly, Phelps third place finish would have been good enough to win the Gold in this event in any previous Olympics. Van den Hoogenband......

While Michael Phelps won the first gold medal for the United States, Li Du of China won the first gold of the 2004 Olympics. Her victory came in the 10 meter air rifle competition. According to the Olympics site, shooting is very popular, "Shooting is considered one of the most popular sports internationally. It requires good physical and psychological condition, as well as technical perfection. It is open to men, women and children of all......

Today's NY Times looks at baseball in China, which has four teams and is hardly a national pasttime. The Times reports that China has a rich history of baseball, which dates to the early 1900's, but was wiped out by the Cultural Revolution in the 1960's (silly revolutions). The man behind the Chinese Baseball League is Boston-native, Thomas McCarthy, which gives Gothamist doubts about the whole thing. What is McCarthy going to teach them, the......