Photos © John Coffer Noah Kalina, the photographer who made a splash by taking a snapshot of himself every day for years, now has some unusual competition: John Coffer, a master of nineteenth-century tintype photography, is unveiling his series “The Daily Tintype” tonight at Gerald Peters Gallery on East 78th Street. The willfully anachronistic exhibit features 365 tintypes from his daily life, one per day from 2007. Coffer (pictured above) himself is quite a character,......

THEATER: Hemingway’s play The Fifth Column takes its now-familiar name from the Spanish Civil War, when General Emilio Mola, advancing on Madrid with four columns of troops, boasted of a hidden “fifth column” of fascist sympathizers waiting within the city. Hemingway, of course, was there for the action as a newspaper correspondent and dashed off the play while fascists bombarded his hotel. His rarely produced drama tells the “surprisingly funny story of the private......

Proliferating in great number in the wake of the Civil War by freed slaves migrating north, who had little economic resources, "storefront churches" are primarily a black and urban phenomena, where small congregations could worship in smaller numbers. More recently, the ecclesiastic form has been adopted by other ethnic groups such as recent immigrants. The site Fotki has a collection of 100 images of storefront churches located in Brooklyn that makes for some interesting......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a ceiling collapse at Franklin Ave. and Union St. in Brooklyn, a pedestrian was fatally struck on Queens Blvd. in Woodhaven, Queens, and an unusual rescue on the south bound tower of the Throgs Neck Bridge in Queens. An undercover cop forgot to turn off the wire he was wearing while discussing 11 bags of cocaine he seized in a Brooklyn bust that were never turned in. He was......

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the......

Like many, whenever we traverse any streets along Grand Army Plaza, we basically run (or bike) for our lives. So we were relieved when we read the Department of Transportation's announcement that construction has begun on the $400,000 project to remake the oval plaza constructed in 1870 by Olmsted and Vaux. It was originally called Prospect Park Plaza, but it was renamed in 1926 to pay homage to the Union Army, according to the......

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced a project to commemorate abolitionist activity that occurred in Brooklyn in the 1800s. He named a panel made up of community leaders, academics, and historians to aid the city and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership in asking for and reviewing commemoration proposals. The panels of the Commemoration Panel are: the Reverend Lawrence Aker, Senior Pastor, Cornerstone Baptist Church; Richard Greene, Executive Director, Crown Heights Youth Collective; Colvin L. Grannum, President, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration......

This weekend, you could take a trip back to the 1860s with a visit to Governors Island. It's the Civil War Weekend, and the 119th New York Volunteer Historical Association will "recreate garrison life on Governors Island during the Civil War, portraying officers, soldiers and guards in the Regular Army conducting drills, a guard mount and historic weapons demonstrations." Here's a schedule of events for both Saturday and Sunday: 10:00: Witness the morning calls......

The state legislature in Albany is prepared to issue a formal apology for the historic practice of slavery and will be the first northern state in the Union to do so. Several states on the Confederate side of the Civil War have already issued similar apologies. Albany lawmakers are pushing to pass the resolution in time for "Juneteenth", which is an unofficial holiday celebrating the June 19th arrival of federal troops in Texas to......

NY Mag made note of The Strand Bookstore's birthday over the weekend. The shop, which boasts 18 miles of books, turned 80 on June 2nd, proving it's a mainstay even amongst the Barnes and Noble and Borders book stores popping up around town. The store was founded by Ben Bass on what was known as Book Row, which at the time housed 48 bookstores. Today it's run by Fred and Nancy Bass. When asked......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a carjacking on 130th St. and 15th Ave. in Queens, an overturned auto on Spring St. and West Broadway in Manhattan, and a stabbing on Caton Ave. in Brooklyn. Remember when Paris Hilton forgot that she'd left her Tinkerbell with her grandma and papered her neighborhood with Lost Dog flyers? New Yorkers hire private detectives and publicists to get the job done right. A tiny dauchsund is missing. New......

City schoolkids are woeful underperformers when it comes to taking a statewide history exam. Just over a quarter proved capable of passing an 8th grade exam that covered the U.S. Constitution, major wars the U.S. has fought in, and native cultures. The passing average for the rest of the state was 55%, which is hardly impressive, but twice as good as city kids' scores. We sympathize with the 2006 test takers, because we tried......

The simplicity of the name of the site Old Pictures belies the breadth and depth of the historical content it provides. Inside, there is a collection of more than 80,000 images dating from 1850 to 1940. The site's database is searchable, but designed for easy and lengthy browsing. Groups of photographs are also assembled in collections based on themes and defining moments, ranging from photos of the U.S. Civil War (warning: contains graphic photos......

A look at some noteworthy television programs this week: American Experience: The Berlin Airlift (Monday 9:00 p.m., WNET 13) A look at the use of airpower for good when the Allies supplied Berlin with food and other necessities via air to get around a Soviet blockade. The Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman (Monday 10:00 p.m., WNET 13) The life, work and legacy of the Nobel winning economist are looked into.......

If our global warming trend continues and dog days of January (yesterday’s high: 72) become the norm, one unanticipated side effect may be the prospect of a year-round stuffy theater season. Those who frequent off-Broadway theater have learned to accept their sticky fate in the summer, but the notion of theatrical sweat lodges through January is sure to separate the men from the boys. Such were my gloomy thoughts as I took my seat in......

Only a few more days until the end of the year (and the cut off for the 2006 Oscar season), so of course the movie theaters are glutted with choice new releases. If you have your copy of Bridget Jones' Diary always near the DVD player for easy access, might we suggest checking out Renée Zellweger in Miss Potter. Sort of like a Sex in the City but set during the Victorian era, Zellwegs plays......

After The Real Deal reported that skeletal remains were found on the Trump Soho site Monday night, the Department of Buildings issued a stop work order on the building. Naturally the developers were surprised. The Post spoke to Julius Schwarz from developer Bayrock Group, who said, "Despite the fact that our counsel has advised us that there is no authority to issue this order, we are fully cooperating with the Department of Buildings and......

WCBS brands police shooting “50 Shots” then sanity prevails For some reason, WCBS has decided this past weekend’s police shooting in Queens needed a catchy name and logo on Monday. After calling the story “Deadly Police Shooting” for most of the weekend, they switched to the catchy “50 Shots” name (stolen from the Post's Sunday headline) complete with a logo. Not even bottom feeder Fox 5 stooped that low. By Tuesday evening, they changed to......

In a move that was inevitable, NBC has now started to call the civil war in Iraq a civil war. On NBC News’ ”The Daily Nightly” Brian Williams writes, “We will also reference our decision today (after much consultation over the weekend with our colleagues, fellow journalists, historians, analysts and members of the military, both present and former) to describe the fighting in Iraq as a Civil War. We believe it is a more accurate......

The New York Film Festival winds down this weekend, and what a wonderful, strange trip its been. We've been to late '90s Britain, modern day Korea and the rural area outside Madrid, but still have yet to wing our way to pre-revolutionary France and fascist Spain. Thrilling, n'est pas? Here's a few thoughts on some of the films from the 44th annual that we've sampled. Marie Antoinette Sofia Coppola likes to tell stories about young......

Mayor Bloomberg dedicated a monument to New York's "Fighting 69th" yesterday in Ballymote, Ireland. But much of the attention was on whether or not he will run for President in 2008 (it seems no, since he said he'd serve his second term) and discussed immigration reform, saying, "we need to inject some common sense into our immigration laws, and I'm doing my best to make that case in Washington." And amidst protesters, he emphasized......

Ah, the global community! Mayor Bloomberg, who put off a trip to Ireland last month because of a little ol' Queens blackout situation, is finally headed to Eire tomorrow. However, two groups who oppose U.S. policy in Iraq and Lebanon will be on hand when the Mayor will take part in a dedication ceremony for a Fighting 69th monument. The NY Times notes that the Mayor's support of noted Iraq war supporter Senator Joseph Lieberman......

PARTY: ABC No Rio is the 26 year old LES center for art and activism that has JUST received the title to their building. "Envisioned for the site is a multi-use community arts center with darkroom, silk-screen printing facility, small press resource center, computer center, expanded space for art, music, performance, educational and community activities, and meeting and office space." Come cheers to their big win tonight as they celebrate with cheap drinks, free snacks,......

Ah, there's nothing like coming on a Saturday night and to be treated to a CNN Breaking News alert that Angelina Jolie had given birth to her child with Brad Pitt. (We'll wonder why no one called or text messaged us later.) Baby daughter Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt was born in Namibia, and already, there's speculation about what Shiloh means ("personal appellation for Christ", "his gift" or "he who was sent", the Civil War town). Whatever......

At least, that's what everyone at the New York City Beard and Moustache Championships told us last night at the Knitting Factory. The place was wall-to-wall beards-- it was like a ZZ Top fanclub convention. It was like a reenactment of the Civil War. It was like a restaging of Hair. Etc. We had to bust out before the winners were announced, but Tien is still there partying with all the hirsute heros. Presumably......

Jeez-- just what the Village needs-- another Duane Reade! Kim's Video used to live in the basement of this building on the corner of Bleecker and Laguardia-- it was a dank, fetid, dark little hole, but it was the only place within ten blocks where you could rent a video or DVD, and the clerks knew what they were talking about. The facade of the building was decorated with strange plexiglass sculptures-- it's too......

We really love it when people get down and dirty with massive amounts of numbers. A good round of number crunching, rather than a lazy one, can turn up interesting trends that might have otherwise been overlooked. Take for example this article in today's Times. Even though the population of Gotham and its suburbs has been on the rise lately, that growth has apparently not come from our black population. On the contrary, New York......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. History has undeniably powerful draws – there’s the power of nostalgia, for one, and the longing for another era that seems like it was so much better; but there’s also history as undertow, with forces both good and bad from the past acting on us today......

We hear about a lot of events each week and we can't write one post about each of them, because then you'd be here all day. So we're going to sift through and pick out some gems for the weekdays, here are some of the highlights for this week... FILM SCREENINGS: IFC Films will hold two free screenings this week for CSA: The Confederate States of America. The new mockumentary that asks: What would have......

Aaron Lubarsky,
co-director/editor,
Seoul Train...