Photo of weekend subway service chances courtesy Triborough. An international survey of metropolitan residents around the world has found that less than 10% of New Yorkers are happy with the city’s services – a far lower number than in cities abroad like Singapore, where 61% insist they’re satisfied. Also more satisfied is Madrid, with a 37% thumbs up rate, while 29% approve of Paris services and 22% of Londoners are satisfied. But does this......

Arnaud Desplechin in Focus Museum of the Moving Image When Gothamist saw cinematographer-turned-director Arnaud Desplechin's film Kings and Queen two years ago, we knew we were watching something unique. His movie about a French woman and the three important men in her life—her adorable son, her crazy ex-husband and her dying father—unfolds so organically you get completely caught up in the complex characters, utterly forgetting that Desplechin is expertly telling his story in a very......

Mayor Bloomberg loves the arts and supports many arts and cultural institutions as a (billionaire) philanthropist. And yesterday, he made sure that NYC public school students get a chance to love the arts as well, by introducing ArtsCount, a way to make sure schools and their principals are offering arts programs "through accountability and quality improvement initiatives." Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said, "We demand results in math and English and now we are demanding the......

It must be the warmer weather: there’s been a lot posted on Gothamist this week about drinks, from limey gin fizzes to detox smoothies; from aguas frescas to wine made in Queens. Today, as part of our continuing summer beverage coverage, we present some strange and fancy sodas. Airforce Nutrisodas come in eight different fruit flavored varieties, each styled with a wellness-themed end result, wishful thinking a la Vitamin Water: “Radiant” is pomegranate and......

Saturday afternoon, a woman driving a Ford Focus swerved to avoid a bicyclist at Boston Road and 169th Street in the Bronx. But she ended up hitting a Con Ed worker who had been working on an underground feeder cable. Forty year old Yuen Mun was pinned against a building (the picture of the crashed car is pretty grisly) and later died from his injuries. The police classified the incident as an accident, but his......

New York Magazine reports that Jim Carrey is renting an apartment near Lincoln Center for the smokin' figure of $45,000 a month. The apartment is for sale - if you have $11,800,000 to spare - and has a 2,000 square foot living room! We saw Carrey on a Barbara Walters special, and he was talking about being all Zen and we think took her to his meditation retreat for the weepy part of the interview;......

One of our tipsters sent in this exclusive-- a recent mugshot of Darryl Littlejohn, the suspect in the tragic death of Imette St. Guillen: "this one was taken on 7/23/03 and they are typically taken from time to time by the docs when an inmate is moved to a new facility or if it has been a long time since they have had one taken or if they change their look (there are any......

When we woke up this morning, Gothamist hoped last night's Oscars were only a dream. Because the idea that Crash won still hurts our head so much that we haven't been able to really read all the nitty-gritty (because we know our eyes will start bleeding) - we can't believe we frigging liveblogged that shondah! Forget conspiracy theories about Jack Palance being wacked out and mistakenly reading Marisa Tomei's name as Best Supporting Actress in......

Gothamist was a bit underwhelmed by this year's Golden Globe nominees, and we were thinking of not liveblogging. But, gosh darn it as we watched the E! preshow and saw the starlets sparkle their way down the red carpet, we realize it was hopeless, so here we are. Let it be known that: - Keira Knightley looks gorgeous in her white Valentino - and there's something surprisingly youthful about the dress, even though there's that......

Here we go: it's a huge weekend for year-end Oscar-bait and questions abound. Will audiences flock to see the "forbidden" love of Brokeback Mountain? (And was anybody else as disturbed at Focus Features' obvious attempts to downplay the male love story as much as possible and feature the relationships with the respective wives in every trailer?) Will fans who made worshipped the bestselling novel approve of Chicago director Rob Marshall's retelling of Memoirs of a......

The holidays are upon us. Tomorrow sees the release of two of the more eagerly awaited films of the season, and we haven't even hit Thanksgiving yet! We've been hearing fantastic things about the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. It wowed audiences at the Toronto Film Festival in September, and now critics are talking about Joaquin Phoenix's performance as they did last year about Jamie Foxx. One huge difference: Foxx lip-synced everything in Ray;......

This is it. The last weekend of the 43rd New York Film Festival, and in our humble opinion, this year's program has, for the most part, lived up to its grand expectations. From big name films like Good Night, and Good Luck (which opens citywide today) to promising indie fare like The Squid and the Whale (also opening this week) to lesser-known foreign gems like Who's Camus Anyway? and The President's Last Bang (to name......

The USDA, in its latest attempt to fight obesity, has introduced a new food pyramid to guide us towards healthier eating habits. "My Pyramid" is designed to provide a personalized guide to selecting a healthy balance of foods, proper portion sizes, and one major new component: exercise, illustrated by the figure climbing up the stairs on the side. As the New York Times explains: This time, the pyramid is a series of vertical color bands......

Leave it to a conservative family group to claim that Spongebob Squarepants is an evil force that is supporting the homosexual cause. Focus on Family and the American Family Association claim that a video that includes everyone's favorite pineapple-dwelling porifera specifically asks kids to pledge tolerance of sexual identity. Uber-producer Niles Rodgers who created the video says the video actually promotes multi-culturalism and that the two groups are confused, because the foundation he works with,......

From Revolution Studios, the studio producing Rent, the studio behind classics like Tomcats, the Master of Disguise, and and the upcoming Christmas with the Kranks whose previews make our teeth hurt, a letter to Gothamist about the movie version of Rent being filmed in San Francisco's manmade island:We saw your recent story on the Gothamist website about the film version of Rent, and we wanted to take the opportunity to clarify a few points that......

The suits at NBC are realizing that when they deal with The Donald, they are dealing with this all-consuming organism (not unlike Kang, just with a combover): The Donald is looking at a scripted series set at Trump Tower. We can hear the pitch now: "It'll be like Melrose Place, but just in a shiny apartment building in midtown Manhattan. Think Peyton Place meets The Apprentice, just with actors acting crazy." Anyway, this is a......

If you missed the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, and BBQ NYC and Blues, BBQ & Fireworks, you can still eat your fill this weekend at the Brooklyn Brewery this Sunday from 1 to 5 pm. For a $45 donation, which supports cancer diagnostics through Patient Focus, you can enjoy unlimited beer, award-winning barbecue from Big Island BBQ, authentic key lime pies, and music. For more information, visit their website, or call Big Island BBQ's......

The pairing of Indian director Mira Nair with up in coming American starlet Reese Witherspoon for an adaptation of a 19th century novel sounds like a bizarre cinematic combination. However, the strength of the contributors and material in Vanity Fair has Gothamist intrigued. Witherspoon plays Becky Sharp, a young woman of good education who has the distinct misfortune of being born without high rank. But she's not about to let that stop her from living......

In the fifth week of people testing the Gothamist Interview waters, we have our first team - Aaron Dobbs and Lily Oei: Aaron Dobbs and Lily Oei have known each other for eight years while toiling at the same entertainment conglomerate. Raised on opposite coasts, they realized there was common ground in their Jewish Asian backgrounds, primarily on Christmas Day. Aaron whiles away the hours neglecting his day job by posting to Out of Focus.......

In the biggest youth election news since Rock the Vote, P. Diddy is getting into the voter-enfranchisement business by starting a non-profit to get young people to vote. Called Citizen Change, Diddy wants to emphasize that voting is important. At first blush, it seems like a really great idea: Focus on issues like education, health care and jobs and target black and Latino communities that might not be as active otherwise. Who knows how well......

For all you kiddies going to see Bill Murray's talk at BAM tonight, Gothamist wants to let you know this isn't the first time that Bill Murray has chatted with Times film critic Elvis Mitchell. If anyone watched Mitchell's old IFC program, Independent Focus, where he would interview directors and actors (watch David Lynch smoke like a chimney...see John Sayles make Elvis Mitchell cringe!), you might remember an episode with Jim Jarmusch and Bill Murray,......

- Aaron at Out of Focus reminds us that there's going to be a Spalding Gray Tribute on WNYC today at noon. Leonard Lopate will include an interview with Gray from 1990. You can listen to WNYC via the website. - We're enjoying Central Valley Large Animal Clinic, which covers various NY art goings-on, like the Armory Show, which started yesterday, and upcoming film programs. No mention of large animals, though. Yet. - whatisee has......

The New York Film Critics' Circle has announced its picks for the year in film, with many smaller films getting kudos, but studio epic Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was called best picture. Lost in Translation was recognized with Sofia Coppola as best director and Billy Murray as best actor (from indie major Focus Features), and indie Secret Lives of Dentists emerging with best actress Hope Davis (earning the award for......

The trailer for Val Kilmer's new film, Wonderland, is up at the Movie Box, and watching it reminded Gothamist of Boogie Nights and Auto Focus. Of course, Boogie Nights is not surprising, as BN was based loosely around the legend of John Holmes, while Wonderland is about porn star John Holmes and his involvement with the Wonderland Gang and their murders. At any rate, the gritty, seamy side of Los Angeles vibe looks intriguing (Val......

I don't think I am a business road warrior, someone who can jump from plane to plane and make each hotel room his/her own home. Airports make me a little crazy, since I tend to have too many bags to keep track of and going anywhere, bathroom, newsstand, becomes a funny challenge. ("Ha, that girl has a laptop, messenger bag, pull carry-on luggage, winter coat, and bottle of water - and she thinks she's going......

Adrien Brody's and Focus Features' publicists are working overtime to make sure Adrien Brody is a contender in the Oscar race. An article in the Post yesterday, going to his alma mater, Fiorella H. LaGuardia High School last week to inspire the kids. The Post article mentionsis rather famous mother, photographer Sylvia Plachy, who photographed not only her son while in Summer of Sam gear for a recent book but Jake's aunt as well.......

Seems like March is all Frances McDormand all the time. Profile by Joan Acocella in the New Yorker, profiles in the ">New York Times and L.A. Times this weekend, all doing these things: 1) Confirming Frances McDormand is very cool 2) Confirming F McD is a tough cookie 3) Talking about how she embraces middle age 4) Focus on her unconventional beauty 5) Acknowledging her upcoming him, Laurel Canyon Not that I mind, because......