Today is "Blue Monday," which was invented back in 2005 as part of a marketing campaign for a travel company, by psychologist Cliff Arnall. At the time, he declared the third Monday in January to be the most depressing day of the entire year. Why? Well there's the freezing cold temperatures, your failed New Year's resolutions, your post-holiday debt, and basically everything is just terrible. He's explained in the past that the "low" is also caused by a drop in your motivation and "the hibernation effect"—in other words, we're eating and sleeping more, and basically just feeling lethargic. more ›

When we interviewed Goodbye Blue Monday's Steve Trimboli in 2006, it was already over a decade since his Scrap Bar closed down. He had just opened GBM in 2005, but the coffeehouse/venue/"stuff orphanage" was years in the making. Nearly everything in the unique, cluttered joint is for sale, it's sort of like being inside of eBay. In the interview, Trimboli reminds us of an old t-shirt that read "Whoever has the most stuff when he dies, wins." It's not true, he says. more ›

MUSIC: If you aren't at your local hometown bar this Thanksgiving-eve, drinking with old high school buddies -- we suggest a sonic alternative. Tonight The Hold Steady and Art Brut do their best at making Terminal 5 feel a little bit cozier this holiday season. Buy tickets here. 7:30pm // Terminal 5 [610 W 56th St] // $30 MUSIC MOVIES: If you're sick and tired of the bands playing around town, go check out two... more ›

MOVIES: With another version of Hairspray hitting the big screen this summer, it seems to be a season of decades past and, of course, hair! Movies With a View brings back the musical tale of Central Park hippies, small town boys headed to Vietnam and the '60s as they show the film Hair tonight. more ›

MOVIE: Last week Bryant Park was packed as Annie Hall played on the big screen. This week grab someone who's hand you'll be able to squeeze tight as the classic horror flick, The Thing, plays in the park. The timeless flick watches the sci-fi terror unfold as "scientists at an Arctic research station discover a spacecraft buried in the ice. Upon closer examination, they discover the frozen pilot. All hell breaks loose when they take him back to their station and he is accidentally thawed out!" more ›

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. more ›

It's freezing, it's Monday...and today is the most depressing day of the year. Happy Blue Monday, everyone! more ›

Along a dark and lonely strip in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, underneath the El train - at 1087 Broadway, to be exact - sits a shop. What kind of shop it is is hard to say. There might be a guy at a table drinking a can of beer and reading a yellowed paperback. Another table could have a cat stretched across it. There's a small counter on your left, with a couple of people drinking coffee and hunched over computers. And in the back, there might be a local rock or jazz band playing. But the main thing you'll notice when you walk in is the stuff. Lots of it. Books and board games and records and figurines and toys and lamps and maybe a motorcycle. More than you could hope to go through in an afternoon. And it's all for sale. more ›