It's not as badass as John McClane driving a car into a helicopter in Live Free or Die Hard, but we'll take it. This morning a man allegedly fleeing the scene of an accident ended up crashing his van into a boat in Howard Beach. "He was being chased and came down this block going 80 miles per hour,” Phillip Lynch, commodore of the Howard Beach Motor Boat Club, tells the Queens Chronicle. "He ripped through the entire fence and wound up on the boat." And then the boat sank and crashed into a submarine! (Kidding.) more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a home invasion robbery on Lincoln Ave. in Brooklyn, a hostage situation on Duane Ct. on Staten Island, and a sexual assault on West 153rd St. and Macombs Pl. in Manhattan.
• "Live Free or Die Hard" director Len Wiseman is slated to direct a remake of "Escape From New York," with Gerard Butler ("300") assuming the role of Snake Plissken, who was originally played by Kurt Russell.
• The Bronx GI who hired someone to shoot him in the leg so he wouldn't have to return to serve with his unit in Iraq was spared indictment on felony charges by a grand jury.
• The original home of The New York Times, at 113 Nassau St. between Ann and Beekman Sts., is being demolished.
• Former New York Met Jose Offerman, who was a Major League All-Star while playing with the Dodgers in 1996 and Boston in 1999, has been suspended indefinitely from the minor league Long Island Ducks after striking the opposing pitcher and catcher with his bat after he was hit by a pitch.
• An NYPD captain is on trial for dragging a subordinate officer by her hair to the backseat of a car where he allegedly punched her. An NYU security guard testified yesterday that he witnessed the attack on the female officer by the ranking officer she was having an affair with.
• New York magazine searches out the best lemonades in the city.
• The New York Times reports on the biology of sweating.

MOVIE: This week's Bryant Park movie is All the Kings Men.... The movie follows the rise of politician Willie Stark from the rural country to the big city spotlight. "Along the way, he loses his initial innocence, and becomes just as corrupt as those who he assaulted before for this characteristic." Romance, women, intrigue, power...it's all there. more ›

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. more ›

With the mid-week Fourth of July holiday, an abbreviated work week practically demands an afternoon at the movies complete with giant tub o' fatty snacks and subzero air conditioning. New York is a real haven for movie theater aficionados, and we all have our favorites. Here's a brief breakdown of what to see, and where, this holiday. In the comments feel free to weigh in on the best and/or worst places to see giant alien vehicles attack earth or betrothed couples acting goofy. more ›

(directed by Brad Bird) more ›

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As a cabbie, I hear a lot of things. I hear people confess their deepest, darkest secrets. I occasionally overhear people talking about insider stock trading. And when there is an event that catches the public’s imagination or enters the city’s collective consciousness, I hear about it. more ›

Ilana Rosengarten, Art Director more ›

Gawker dissects the shell game that would be the business of publishing bloggers. But, getting to brass tacks, what's next, blogger reality tour buses ("That's where Felix Salmon lives!" "That's where Peter Rojas gets tea!") of the Lower East Side, "Blogger Eye for the Unwired Guy?," high concept movies about bloggers ("Imagine Die Hard without Euro terrorists or guns: Just kids with computers whose loss of Wi-Fi and DSL make them go John McClane on ISP providers...so, it'll be like The Net, without Dennis Miller sullying it up, and while it may only do $40 million domestic, ancillary should be good."), blogger tips to journalists on how to be snarky and unsubstaniated? more ›

Men's Journal has a list of the 50 "Best Movies For Guys," and they have the top ten online. Executive editor Mark Horowitz tells the Post, "True guy movies don't like to hit you over the head with their message. They just like to hit you over the head." more ›