Matt Roff & Co. decided not to name their new venue Natural Selection after all...so as Galapagos moves to DUMBO, the space is going to need a moniker that'll stick. And now the naming duties have been handed down to you with their Name Our Space contest. If you win, you'll get to christen the place with a $1000 bar tab (that's like 160 drinks), and you'll get free admission, along with a guest, for......

The Bronx houseboat, measuring in at only 250-square-feet, really should have cleaned up ship and entered this contest. Apartment Therapy's Smallest, Coolest Apartment Contest is underway for a fourth year, and below are some of the New York City entries, all under 850-square-feet. Design solutions for cramped living quarters never cease to amaze, and apparently a key factor to maximizing your minimal space is to add a sheepskin throw -- as just about every entrant......

Now that an appeals court has ruled that the city can start requiring chain restaurants to prominently display their calorie information, Nathan’s has begun tossing up their stats just in time for summer at Coney Island. Kinetic Carnival notes that the Nathan’s basic hot dog has just half the calories packed into a Big Mac from McDonald’s. Consumed one or two at a sitting, the “Original Frankfurter” won’t do much damage to one’s waistline.......

Open wide for the forthcoming Nintendo Wii game Major League Eating, which lets players compete as some of the most famous speed eaters in the world, like Takeru Kobayashi, six-time winner of Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest. If the game turns out to be half as fun as this promotional trailer, there’s going to be a lot of virtual binging going down this summer. How about that “Belch Off,” eh? Good times. Even better is......

A study revealed that a lack of secure bike parking was the biggest reason why people don’t cycle to work. So the Department of Transportation is cooperating with Cooper-Hewitt, Google and Transportation Alternatives to organize an international design competition for the next generation of city bike racks. More than $50,000 in honoraria to develop prototype bike racks and $15,000 in prizes will be awarded to the top designs. Contestants are asked to submit designs for......

brooklyn bridge traffic, by Idle Type at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: a crime scene/hanging at East 13th St. and Shore Parkway in Brooklyn, a child mauled by a dog in the area of 91-43 Gold Rd. in Queens, and a possible escaped prisoner on Wards Island across from Manhattan. Asbestos removal at the Carroll St. F and G line station appears to be a non-issue. Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn received a note......

In a Friday review of the 1933 original production of King Kong, The New York Sun's film critic Bruce Bennett wonders why the low-tech original continues to hold up so well after 75 years, especially in comparison to higher-tech remakes. "How, then, does a puppet made from rabbit fur, a rubber ball, and some socket joints, painstakingly animated frame-by-frame during the depths of the Great Depression, ably kick the motion-capture behemoth of Mr. Jackson's modern......

MOVIE: After Marion Cotillard took home the gold for best actress in La Vie en Rose last Sunday, French cinema is sure to be all the rage. Today the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2008 series kicks off with a screening of Roman de gare (pictured). Buy tickets and get the schedule here. Friday// 6:30 and 9pm // Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts [70 Lincoln Center Plaza] // $12 (stand......

Last month, Whole Foods Market New York City and Gothamist announced the Pantry Revolution Contest, where four lucky readers could win a fully stocked pantry (worth $350) by entering a 50-word-or-less essay explaining what your resolution is what how a fully-stocked pantry from Whole Foods Market can help you keep healthy this year. After the jump, here are our winners!......

The New Yorker has finally announced the winning entries in their Eustace Tilley contest. The winning dandies will appear in the February 11th-18th issue of the magazine, their 83rd anniversary issue. The magazine’s art editor, Françoise Mouly, talked with Matt Dellinger about the nearly three hundred submissions they received, as well as the history of Tilley -- listen here. Since Eustace first appeared on the February 1925 cover of the magazine, he's been reinterpreted in......

Photos via The New Yorker's Eustace Tilly Contest Flickr Pool. Put your pencils down, The New Yorker's Eustace Tilley contest is over! The magazine will be announcing the winner on February 4th, but their Flickr Pool is currently stocked with all of the entries. Check out the iconic dandy reinterpreted here, a few of our favorites are above and below.......

Have you made a resolution for 2008 to eat better and healthier this year? If you have, Whole Foods Market New York City and Gothamist want to help you keep it by offering a fully stocked pantry (worth $350) to four lucky readers. And it's easy - just tell us in 50 words or less what your resolution is and how a fully stocked pantry from Whole Foods Market can help you start your......

• Londonist pondered who might be the next sponsors of the London Eye and whether or not readers would be willing to donate £1,000 each for a Londonist Eye.
• Shanghaiist was shocked to find a cameltoe in the city's only English-language paper.
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Continue Reading "Week Around the -Ists"

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7:00 p.m., WCBS 2) Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is interviewed by Katie Couric in the wake of the baseball steroids scandal. Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., HBO) The Ricky Gervais series concludes its run with an 80 minute special episode. Duel (Monday-Friday, 8:00 p.m., WABC 7) No, it isn’t Steven Spielberg’s 1971 feature length film debut made for......

Native New Yorker Melissa Murphy is the mellifluous force behind Sweet Melissa Patisserie, a beloved Brooklyn house of tempting treats that opened in Cobble Hill in 1998. A graduate of New York’s French Culinary Institute, Murphy has spent the past decade building a budding dessert empire, bolstered by a profile-raising appearance on the Food Network and a baking book to be published by Viking in March. Last year Murphy added a second Sweet Melissa location......

Just because the 2009 elections are over 22 months away doesn't mean some interesting moves can't happen. Adolfo Carrion Jr. (pictured, on left), the Bronx Borough President, has decided to run for City Comptroller in 2009, making it a tough field and shedding light on the mayoral contest. Carrion, born in Lower Manhattan and a former city planner, Community Board district manager, and City Council member (here's his bio), was seen as a likely candidate......

Food bloggers from around the world are offering delicious prizes as part of Menu for Hope 4. Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising event hosted by Chez Pim. Last year, Menu for Hope raised an incredible $62,925 to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry. Want more details? Well, here’s the FAQ. From December 10-21, you can buy raffle tickets to bid on any on the food-related prizes being offered. Tickets cost......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Gothamist. Dewars Repeal Day, celebrating our freedom to drink as we please. Go Eight, bringing us a blowout Hannukah Party on Saturday Night. The Whitney Museum, host of Kara Walker's amazing "My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love" show. Rubin Museum of Art, the best spot for Himalayan art. Sony Card, perfect for funding your holiday purchases. Love is a Mix......

Carolina 4 Rangers 0: Things got ugly early and the Rangers never recovered. Carolina got two goals in the first, the second off of Ranger’s skate to jump out to an early lead and New York could not muster any offense against Cam Ward. Ward dominated New York getting big saves when they were needed and the Rangers could not muster an offensive attack in the game. The Hurricanes added two goals in the third......

MOVIE: BAM pays homage to the late Barbara Stanwyck tonight with a screening of Forbidden. The 1932 Frank Capra-directed film (which tells the tale of a librarian who has fallen for an unobtainable/married man) was supposedly influenced by his real-life affair with the leading lady. Critic and historian Elliott Stein will discuss the film after the 6:50 screening. 4:30, 6:50 and 915pm // BAM Rose Cinemas [30 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene] // $11 Meanwhile, the......

Time to dress up and play "I have my own food television show!" If you've ever thought you had it in you, now's the time. Epicurious.com is hosting a contest for the best video on holiday food and entertaining. Submit your entry by January 2, 2008 and have a chance to win prizes including Michael Chiarello cookware and Epicurious.com editors' favorite cookbooks. And if you're quick about it, the first 25 people to submit videos......

We hope the following doesn't put anyone off their appetite before they've even had a chance to tuck into their Thanksgiving feast, but we have to describe what champion eater Tim Janus managed to consume in a publicity feast for charity. In the course of 15 minutes, Janus gobbled down the following:A 10-pound turkey Four pounds of mashed potatoes Three pounds of cranberry sauce Two and a half pounds of green beans This was accomplished......

Rangers 2 Philadelphia 0: These teams really do not like each other and it was evident early on Monday night. The gloves came off just 54 seconds into the game and another fight broke out seven minutes in. That ended the boxing portion of the evening, but both teams continued to hit hard and often in a physical contest at MSG. The Rangers dominated the first period, but would have had nothing to show......

FAIR: Attention vinyl junkies! WFMU is hosting their Record Fair starting this eve and running throughout the weekend. "Hundreds of dealers specializing in the out sounds that WFMU is adored for delivering year round will gather for three days of merciless hawking o' the wax, and thousands of area music geeks are already trembling with nervous anticipation!" There will also be live performances this year, check out more details here. Friday, 7pm to 10pm and......

READING: We originally thought this was going down yesterday, but you still have a chance to see it! Not in a million years would we have thought we'd be listing a reading by former Guns n' Roses guitarist, Slash. But it turns out old rockers love to dish on their sordid lives, and this mysterious musician is no different. Tonight he'll read from his book, called Slash, which apparently "redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n'......

Sean L. McCarthy has got it made. Blogger of comedy for The NY Daily News, New York's Funniest Reporter , and he spends his nights hanging out with some of the funniest people in the world. A truly enviable position! What's his secret? How did he get to where he is? Gothamist wanted to know and found out! You recently won the Funniest Reporter competition. How'd you prepare? The New York Underground Comedy Festival......

The Critical Mass Halloween Ride is tonight! If you go, get some good pictures! THEATER: Sam Marks’s new play The Joke peels back the thin gauze separating comedy from an open wound. Set in the last throws of the Catskills comedy circuit circa 1965, the story concerns the disintegrating comedy duo of Steady Eddie and Doug the Mug. Doug has let his envy of Eddie get the better of him and begins adding more of......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A "large dispute" at JFK Airport; a school bus accident at Broadway and 37th Street in Manhattan; and a car-into-a-house on Murdock Ave in Queens. Rudy Giuliani says people giving him a hard time about rooting for the Red Sox "should give [him] a break." People to Giuliani, "No way, not when you make it so easy!" Awesome Halloween decoration in Greenpoint. A different kind of customized candy to......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a double shooting/possible homicide on Greene St. in Brooklyn, a shooting at Wyckoff Ave. and Starr St. in Brooklyn, and another shooting at East 51st St. and Church Ave. in Brooklyn. An appreciation of Jewish Delis in New York City. To avoid the widespread use of pesticides on its acres of grounds, real estate firm Tishman Speyer released 720,000 ladybugs around Stuy-Town and Peter Cooper Village. The ladybugs will......

In time for next week’s Columbus Day festivities, the Post’s Steve Cuozzo lets his Ital flag fly with two gushing columns on Italian cuisine. He points out that Italian restaurants outnumber all other kinds of restaurants in New York by a big margin (and that’s not because of the ever-metastasizing Olive Gardens.) He cites seven “marvelous” eateries – Del Posto, A Voce, Abbocatto, Insieme, Fiamma, L'Impero and Alto – that “establish Italian as the cuisine......