FADE IN: A 50-yr-old beatnick heads west from New York City, hobo stick slung over shoulder, humming Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane" while the lyrics run through his head. "Well, I don't know, but I've been told, You never slow down, you never grow old. I'm tired of screwin' up, tired of going down, Tired of myself, tired of this town." It's looking bleak. Enter: Pittsburgh! more ›

Gothamist is interested in adding more long-form non-fiction features to our websites. Last month, we premiered the results of our first call for features, "Confessions of a 'Rape Cop' Juror", on our New York site. We are happy with the results: Sales have been good, the feature and writer were covered on numerous blogs and newspapers (even on TV), and we learned a lot about how to publish e-books. more ›

The city of New York has announced that a new Taxi TV star is in the making! But does the city of New York know that everyone turns off the televisions immediately upon getting in to one of its yellow chariots? That said, if you want to "be the New Yorker that welcomes everyone inside a New York City taxi cab," or at the least the voice that makes them reach for the off button, then you just have to submit a 30 second audition video. more ›

The new season of Bored to Death is in full swing and we're taking that opportunity to launch our new event series, TV Dinner Party. You can win tickets for you and a guest to attend the screening of Monday's episode at Nitehawk Cinema and participate in a Q&A with Bored to Death's Jonathan Ames, and (just added!) John Hodgman. Also, Nitehawk will be providing "TV dinners" to nosh on while watching the show, Brooklyn Oenology will be providing white wine, and the band Radical Dads will be performing in the lobby after the Q&A! more ›

Gothamist is interested in adding more long-form non-fiction features to our websites. Last month, we premiered the results of our first call for features, "Confessions of a 'Rape Cop' Juror", on our New York site. We are happy with the results: Sales have been good, the feature and writer were covered on numerous blogs and newspapers (even on TV), and we learned a lot about how to publish e-books. more ›

Gothamist is interested in adding more long-form non-fiction features to our websites. Last month, we premiered the results of our first call for features, "Confessions of a 'Rape Cop' Juror", on our New York site. We are happy with the results: Sales have been good, the feature and writer were covered on numerous blogs and newspapers (even on TV), and we learned a lot about how to publish e-books. more ›

The New Yorker cartoon of the day features what appears to be a leftist protester-type wearing a I Heart NY Except For You Foreigners With Too Much Dough t-shirt (...we don't think it's that funny either). They then decided to tempt fate and tweeted, "What is the one thing about NYC you could live without? #ilovenyexcept." What they don't realize is that they've set in motion the kind of community-splitting argument that may eventually lead to alternate side parking being suspended indefinitely. But in the meantime, what are your exceptions? more ›

Move over ShamWow, yesterday the next big Infomercial thing was found, right here in Manhattah. Z100 hosted their Next Great Infomercial Inventor contest in TriBeCa, where a Hoboken duo took home the top prize for their fancy bra straps. Jan Lori and Chuck Strube won $50,000 for their Hott Straps, which replace your boring old bra straps with rhinestones. (A thing that already exists... in more than one place.) Anyway, it seems like something we'll be seeing a lot of on upcoming seasons of The Real Housewives! more ›

Fairway Market posed this question, "HOW MANY OF MITCHEL’S MOTHER’S PANCAKES CAN YOU EAT IN 10 MINUTES?" And after this morning's Blueberry Pancake Eating Contest at the Fairway on the Upper West Side, the answer came: 57. more ›

If eating meat by-products mixed with fat mixed with sodium nitrite just isn't your thing, that doesn't mean you have to miss out on the great July 4th tradition of the hot dog eating contest. Cowgirl's Baking is offering up something for the vegan set, and are inviting people to come sign up for their very own vegan hot dog eating contest this weekend. They say it's taking place "any time" from July 2nd to the 5th, and ask "How many vegan hot dogs can you eat?" We've reached out to the East Village spot for more details, and will update if we hear back... they do, however, promise prizes. more ›

Yesterday Pat Kiernan gave you five ways to celebrate Canada Day (that's today!) right here in New York, including a nod to the midtown's Windfall Bar, which heartily embraces Canadian ex-pats. We'll be headed over there one night this month with Pat, and we're inviting some of you to come along. Pat will be giving away two spots via his Twitter ("tune in" at 11:30 a.m. for a chance to win), and we're giving away two spots right now. more ›

For the past couple of years we've been celebrating Canada Day with NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan (who you also know from PatsPapers.com), and this year is no different. With Canada Day happening tomorrow, Pat gave us some fresh tips (below) on how to celebrate his native land right here in New York City. You'll even have a chance to celebrate with Pat himself! more ›

Lonely Planet is at it again—this time pitting NYC against LA in what would be a laughable battle if we weren't so cold right now, and craving decent Mexican food. The creators of the poll say they are here to put "this historic banter to a test." They do seem to know what they're talking about, in it they include their pick for best city tour: "the elevated purple No 7 subway line across Queens is actually deemed a national historic trail, akin to Lewis & Clark. Going on/off it is one of NYC's classic one-day explorations many miss." You can place your vote here (and seriously, vote—because we totally lost to San Francisco recently and that is not okay). more ›

This Sunday is National Pickle Day (not to be confused with International Pickle Day, celebrated in October), and as New Yorkers, we're kind of obligated to recognize its importance. Why? Well did ya know that by 1659, "Dutch farmers in New York grew cucumbers all over the area that's now known as Brooklyn" and those cucumbers became pickles that were sold in barrels on Washington, Canal and Fulton Streets? This is according to the New York Food Museum, which has an entire pickle timeline. So basically, brine is in our blood. more ›

If you follow Gothamist on Twitter, you can win a chance to win a decadent Roman Feast for two at Danny Meyer's Italian restaurant, Maialino at the Gramercy Park Hotel. The meal, which includes two dinner and wine tastings, is on October 7, 2010 at 8 p.m.—just follow Gothamist on Twitter and retweet this message to win! Act fast, the contest ends tomorrow at 3 p.m. Courtesy of the new Lexus IS, Wield Precision. more ›

Hopefully all of you penis artists out there saw our announcement earlier this month about the big penis painting competition, because if you didn't, this is going to burn a little. more ›

This photo was taken at a Yankees game, do you know what year? Added bonus: Thanks to Outbrain, we're giving away tickets to Thursday's Yankees game via the Gothamist Twitter account! The winner will get two field level tickets to the afternoon matchup (they're playing Detroit, with a start time of 1 p.m.)—and they're pretty good field level seats! To enter, you'll need to retweet the contest entry Tweet— we'll pick a winner by 6 p.m. more ›

Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi is fresh out of jail after being charged with obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, trespassing and disorderly conduct at this year's Nathan's Famous July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest. While he usually finds himself behind a stack of hot dogs at the annual event, this year he refused to bend to Major League Eating's contract and wasn't allowed to compete. Instead, the "Tsunami" showed up and stormed the stage. more ›

Earlier this week we learned that this year's Nathan's Famous July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest would be lacking in both vuvuzelas and Takeru Kobayashi, meaning Joey Chestnut is a shoe-in for winning the competitive eating contest (this would be his fourth consecutive title). But why no Kobayashi? Early rumors mentioned a problem in contract negotiations, and now the Daily News reports on the finer details. more ›

Happy Canada Day! Hopefully you're washing down a St-Viateur bagel with a Tim Hortons coffee right about now in celebration. Now, let's get down to business... earlier this week when Pat Kiernan gave us tips on how to properly pay homage to his homeland, we mentioned we'd be running a little contest. Consider this your heads up! more ›

Last year NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan (who also posts his favorite stories each day at PatsPapers.com) gave us tips on how to celebrate Canada Day—following that, he took some of our readers out to indulge in the beloved French-Canadian dish poutine. And here we go again! more ›

The 4th of July is canceled, everyone! Not really, but it might as well be. According to a press release Major League Eating president Richard Shea just sent out: “Takeru Kobayashi is currently not scheduled to compete in the 2010 Nathan's Famous July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest. In recent weeks, Major League Eating has sought to arrive at an agreement with Kobayashi, but contract negotiations have reached an impasse. MLE remains hopeful that Kobayashi, who won the contest from 2001-2006, will decide to compete this July 4th in Coney Island, when Joey Chestnut will seek his fourth consecutive title.” Also: competitive eating is a very serious sport with very serious contract negotiations? more ›

We'll be hosting a little invite-only party for Amanda Palmer this Saturday night, following her fifth and final Evelyn/Evelyn show at NYC's Lucille Lortel Theatre, and we want you there! There will be wine... and that's about all we can say for now. If you want to be a part of the intimate gathering (which will take place around 11 p.m. on Saturday night), we will be inviting a couple of readers, you'll just have to sign up for our indispensable daily newsletter! We'll be putting all the contest details in there, to be delivered directly to your inbox sometime overnight. more ›

Professional competitive eaters are having a hard time stomaching a Bay Ridge baker's decision to restrict her cupcake eating contest to amateurs only. "Sadly, we will not learn anything about humanity's ability to consume cupcakes, because it's not a sanctioned event," griped Major League Eating chairman George Shea to the Daily News. "This is like watching your Uncle Stan play football: It's amusing, but it has no bearing on the world of sports." Our Uncle Stan? Sports? Amusing? So many questions. more ›

While PETA's "Sexiest Vegetarian" contest focuses on non-carnivorous celebs (currently Milo Ventimiglia and Kellie Pickler hold the king and queen title), the organization is now giving the common people a chance to sexpress their veggie ways, with a "Sexiest Vegetarians Next Door" contest. more ›

The judges have wrapped up their search for a new NYC condom wrapper design, and now it's time to vote for your favorite rubber package out of five finalists! The Health Department received nearly 600 entries since December, when it invited New Yorkers to design a wrapper that would “capture the city’s distinctive culture while promoting safer sex.” But it wasn't just locals who got in on the action; designs flooded in from as far away as Perm, Russia. (There's a Yakov Smirnoff joke in here somewhere, but damned if we can find it.) more ›

For the third year in a row, The New Yorker's celebrated its anniversary by asking readers to submit illustrated riffs on the magazine's iconic cover, created in 1925 by Rea Irvin, the magazine’s first art editor, who also designed the distinctive New Yorker headline type. The original features a fictional dandy, Eustace Tilley, inspecting a butterfly. As Louis Menand explained, the character "seems to be saying something about the magazine itself, and the question is: What? Is the man with the monocle being offered as an image of the New Yorker reader, a cultivated observer of life’s small beauties, or is he being ridiculed as a foppish anachronism? Is it a picture of bemused sophistication or of starchy superciliousness?" (If you're a subscriber, you can peruse the first issue, online here.) The first three images in this gallery are taken from the official "winners" this year; our favorites follow in the last four images. more ›