The One Where Someone Makes A Montage Video Of An Old Sitcom! Yep, someone has made a supercut from old episodes of Friends, which they call "a veracious montage" that "sheds new light on homophobic attitudes in contemporary TV culture." But was Friends really homophobic? There was a lesbian character (Ross's ex-wife) and a cross-dressing father (played by Kathleen Turner)! more ›

Is the 225-year-old Manhattan private school Friends Seminary getting ready to end its relationship with the Quakers? Very possibly! The NY Times today looks at the issues facing the relationship between the $32,870-a-year school and the city's few remaining Quakers and finds reasons for and against a split. more ›

Facebook friend additions must be navigated very carefully, and once you've gotten past who you do and don't want spying on your online life, you then have to worry about not annoying those people... because: you will! A new study has arrived, tackling how women really feel about their Facebook friends, and of the 400 women surveyed, 83% are simply annoyed. On top of that: more ›

Daily Intel caught up with a 24-year-old who moved from Queens to the Upper West Side, via the 7 train then the 1 train—via a transfer at Times Square—and thanks to his friends from his language school. Well, now they're his former friends after hauling Young Min's "air conditioner, collapsible double-rod closet, dishes (including serving platters and utensils), laptop, linen, quilts, books, clothes, and assorted framed pictures, a soup cauldron, Korean medicine, condiments, and a 40-pound bag of rice... (Mid-trip, the air conditioner broke through the trunk holding it.)" more ›

You don't have to browse the Craigslist "Rooms for Rent" section very long before realizing that there are many tenants out there looking for "not just a roommate, but a FRIEND." This weekend's Times Real Estate section follows the journey of one 3BR LES apartment trying to figure out the right balance between being friendly roommies, but not BFFs. One tells them of a horrific summer she had where a roommate was seldom home, “and I got really lonely,” more ›

In what Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes describes as "really a beaut of a scam," four friends from the NYU finance school are accused of ripping off Brooklyn banks for $422,000. Exploiting a regulation that requires banks to repay customers who claimed their ATM cards were lost or stolen within 10 days, the four allegedly made large withdraws from their accounts repeatedly over five years, then claimed that their cards had been stolen. "The scheme was as simple as it was brazen," Hynes told reporters today. The defendants were allegedly captured by video cameras when taking the money out, but they almost always wore motorcycle helmets or other covering to hide their identities. The accused are lawyer Eric Manganelli, 36; financial consultant Lam Dang, 37; bank employee John Tluczek, 37; and his wife, Marzena Tluczek, 35. They face multiple counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records and other charges, and each faces 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison for the top counts. The scheme was finally discovered after one bank investigator called another bank and they began comparing notes. more ›

Just as Sex and the City fades to black on the silver screen, another New York-based show steps in to fill the void. MailOnline reports that a Friends movie has gotten the greenlight, and word is that all former Friends are on board (the oldest of which, Lisa Kudrow, is now 45 years old). Sources say that within the next 18 months Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer will return to their sitcom roles; allegedly Aniston had been the apprehensive one of the bunch, until now.

The box office success of Sex And The City has really got their wheels spinning about how a Friends film could be just as big, if done right. Timing and the script are really important, but now that Courteney and Jen both have production companies, they can potentially get very involved in those decisions.

One of the ten suspects arrested in the Q train beating of a Jewish man during Hanukkah is saying that hate crime charges are completely uncalled for because he himself is Jewish. Joseph Jirovec Jr. was arrested two weeks ago after a group of Hanukkah revelers was beaten while on a the Q train after wishing happy holidays to other riders. Members of a crowd on the train took objection to the Jewish greetings and a beatdown ensued. In an encouraging twist, it was a young Muslim man who came to Walter Adler's aid. Hassan Askari was recently honored for his interfaith Good Samaritanism. more ›

After friends and family became worried that 25-year-old Yolande Beckford and her 6-year-old daughter Monique did not arrive at work or school, the police went to their home and found their bodies yesterday morning. The two were stabbed to death, and there were no signs of forced entry. This morning, WNBC reports that the police have arrested Beckford's boyfriend for the murder, while Newsday reports that a relative confessed to the crime. more ›

Given how cold it is, this story is amazing: A teen who had been skateboarding with friends in Elmhurst last night heard some crying and found a a newborn baby girl wrapped in a blanket, inside a brown paper bag, at the top of a dumpster. The temperature was below freezing. more ›

We love Momofuku, especially now that the Noodle Bar has moved to a larger location where we can actually bring our friends and chat with them at a table over dinner instead of just hoping to find one or two spaces at the bar. The food is amazing, and being the devoted carnivores that we are, we enjoy chef David Chang's devotion to adding meat to every dish on the menu (with one exception). more ›

A poignant week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part photo essay, one, two). That wasn't the only photo essay either: Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy friends and Star Trek actors all joined in at the Writers Strike and KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas brought two nights of amazing bands that included Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park (Part I), Modest Mouse, Muse, Spoon and The Killers (Part II). Not only is L.A. a great music town, it has just been named the best city for bookish types. For those who are looking for something a little more active, American Gladiators are back (yes!) and if that's not enough, how about a Christmas gift of action and adventure? more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian was struck on Wythe and Metropolitan Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned police car on Gun Hill Rd. in the Bronx, and a bank robbery on Austin Rd. in Queens.
• Joseph Jirovec, one of the teenagers accused of the Hannukah Q train hate crime, says that he and his friends were the victims. He said the fight began only after a racial slur was directed at one of his party and a knife was brandished towards them.
• A commission established by Gov. Spitzer is recommending that the SUNY system of public universities in New York be allowed to vary tuition from school to school and raise tuitions without authorization from the state legislature.
• A commercial laundry worker found a discarded fetus among bed sheets collected from a Brooklyn hospital.
• The father of a teenager testified that he didn't mean to shoot another young man when he pulled a gun on him at his home, but that he was attempting to protect his son and the gun went off when the other man tried to grab it from him.
• A 59-year-old Queens woman got her hair cut for the first time in 45 years.
• The MTA is increasing the frequency of service on the L train over the weekends starting tomorrow. Expanded weekday service on the 7 train is scheduled to begin Monday.
• Why don't pregnant women tip over? The Times reports.

SHOP: Still looking for that perfect gift? The Brooklyn Historical Society is holding the 4th Annual NY Creates Craft Fair, and they may have just what you're looking for. Check it out today and tomorrow, and it will be back the 22nd and 23rd for the real last-minute shoppers. more ›

An opening for the new 2nd Avenue Deli is in sight! This week, they've been putting the final touches on the new Murray Hill location, but today Gothamist stopped by for a quick preview of the legendary deli. During the friends and family only preview, they don't have a their full 5-page menu ready yet, but they did have the classic items including matzah ball soup, pastrami and tuna sandwiches. One new item is the "chocolate shot" that will be served to diners at the end of the meal. The original 2nd Avenue Deli closed in March, 2006. more ›

A good December night: four friends hosting twenty-five dinner guests in one capacious Williamsburg loft for a multi-course dinner with unlimited cocktails and wine pairings. This Friday -- if you act fast -- the Whisk and Ladle Supper Club invites Gothamist readers to a dinner party -- revamped, with a seasonal menu featuring Black Bear. The cost? $40 – 50 dollars a head, depending on the cost of ingredients. Friday’s Whisk & Ladle Menu:... more ›

The story around the possible hate crime attack on a Q train the other night seems to be made for the season. Not only does it come while subway violence is a big topic, it also involves a group of Jewish subway riders being called "dirty Jews" and "Jew bitches" and attacked by people who cried, "Happy Hanukkah, that's when the Jews killed Jesus." And here's the kicker: The only person who stepped in... more ›

Good news for old-school New Yorkers: the new 2nd Ave Delicatessen is expected to open sometime next week in its new Murray Hill Location on 33rd Street, near Third Avenue. Lovers of the deli’s famous matzo ball soup and pastrami sandwiches were devastated last year when, after a half-century in business, the 2nd Ave and 10th Street legend was snuffed out. The closure came in the wake of a bitter rent dispute between deli owner Jack Lebewohl and the landlord over rent increases; the soul was promptly siphoned from the site and turned into a Chase bank (though the Yiddish theater “Walk of Fame” on the sidewalk remains). more ›

Writer/director Robert Tinnell has sifted through his fond childhood memories of big Italian Christmas gatherings and emerged with a unique fusion of comic book and cookbook called The Feast of the Seven Fishes. Originally a popular internet comic, the humorously fictional book is inspired by the Italian Christmas Eve tradition involving big seafood dinners and lots of red wine. (The book's boisterous familial storyline will also be adapted into a feature length film of the... more ›

Caution: Half the bathrooms at the Tribeca venue currently hosting Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s No Dice are designed for children; the tiny toilets and sinks hover inches above the floor and may give adult users a disorienting sense of vertigo. The actors’ dressing room, which opens directly onto the performance space, is marked with a laminated sign that declares: “No Adults Are Allowed in the Bouncy Castle!” The company inherited these elements from this... more ›

We take this to be definitive proof that the video of a group of teen girls beating a man on an A train was not staged: The victim has emerged. Rafael Cruz, a 27-year-old Brooklyn resident who is a manager at a Midtown H&M, told the Post, "I'm trying to get over it. It happened a month ago." Cruz isn't sure if he will press charges, noting, "Teenagers are allowed to make mistakes, but... more ›

David Lemus, who was convicted in the 1990 killing of Palladium bouncer Marcus Peterson in 1992, was found not guilty yesterday at the conclusion of his retrial. His mother screamed when the verdict was read and Lemus' lawyers reportedly appeared stunned. The jury took only two days to deliberate and the foreman of the jury from the 1992 trial was present during much of the retrial. Before his original conviction for the 14th St. club killing was overturned in 2005, Lemus spent almost 14 years in prison. more ›

Naked Guy at Ted Leo Concert It's a tad early for year end awards, but this story is making a strong, late push for the greatest live moment of 2007. At the Ted Leo show at The Music Hall of Williamsburg Wednesday night, some dude from Jersey took off his shirt and threw it on the stage. Not satisfied with merely being topless in a crowd on that snowy night, he eventually followed the shirt... more ›

The NY Post has another story in the ongoing ogling at Theresa Duncan's death. The East Village artist apparently "fell into suicidal depression after telling friends that oddball rocker Beck backed out of her movie project." So now we have yet another baffling peek into the paranoid mindset Duncan and her long time boyfriend Jeremy Blake were in when they committed suicide, just one week apart from each other. In the January issue of Vanity... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Franklin Ave. and 169th St. in the Bronx, a missing child on West 54th St. in Manhattan, and a stabbing on Fulton St. and Red Hook Lane in Brooklyn.
• Walter O'Malley was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame recently. The former owner of the Dodgers, he infamously moved the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles because the city wouldn't build him a new stadium.
• Times Square subway station music store Record Mart is back in business.
• The director of personnel at the NYC Board of Elections wants to travel to Iraq and Afghanistan to help soldiers vote in the next election.
• David Lemus, who spent 13 years in prison for the 1990 murder of a bouncer at the Palladium, was declared not guilty in a retrial after the real killer confessed.
• Childhood flashback: a piece of geometric animation scored to music by Phillip Glass that appeared on Sesame Street.
• The ACLU filed a suit against the NYPD seeking to get them to cease stopping and questioning photographers they see taking pictures of city landmarks.
• A Queens mother was arrested after her 3-year-old son brought 14 bags of pot to daycare with him to show his friends. The incident went unnoticed until the kid screamed "Give me my stuff back!"

SHOP: Tonight head to Dumbo for an “Evening of Cheer,” where three neighborhood events coordinated by the Dumbo Improvement District will be taking place. "The night’s events combine Dumbo’s monthly cultural event, First Thursdays, with extended shopping hours and promotions by local retailers and the illumination of the Empire Stores in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park by famed lighting designer Brendon Boyd." 6pm // Various location details here EVENT: Tonight some experts gather around to celebrate... more ›

The entrée is so over, the top chefs tell us. Yesterday Times reporter Kim Severson sunk her teeth into the long decline of the entrée and the increasing dominance of side dishes and tapas at many fine restaurants. As former Gramercy Tavern chef Tom Colicchio tells her, “Eating an entrée is too many bites of one thing, and it’s boring.” Amid all the evidence of diminishing entrée options at restaurants nationwide (at Gemma, entrées are... more ›

We always thought that Visine poisoning was an urban legend, but a crazy story from Long Island seems to suggest otherwise. Twenty-four year-old Kristine Anzalone has pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and third-degree criminal mischief after being arrested for allegedly spiking her roommate's drink with Visine and then agitating his dogs to get into a fight. According to Newsday, Anzalone and her husband Christopher lived with a male roommate in a North Bellmore home... more ›