Should the Occupy Wall Street protesters get ready for their Hollywood close ups? The Dark Knight Rises cast and crew may soon be filming amidst the protest, according to the LA Times. The production has been filming under the name Magnus Rex all over the world, and is now moving to Gotham for 14 days (starting on October 29th). more ›

Can New York City be made better through a little fiction? Complex has listed off the top 50 coolest fictional cities, and unsurprisingly NYC-based cities pop up a few times in it. So which fake New York do you like best? more ›

Apparently "66% of Twitter users won't give an actual city as their location," so instead they use city nicknames, and according to majority rules, New York City is officially known as "Gotham" in the Twitterverse. There has always been some debate over whether Batman's Gotham City is actually New York City, with Chicago often trying to claim it for their own. Back in 2008 there was talk of New York City officially adopting Gotham City as its nickname, with Hiram Monserrate saying, “I see that as a marketing tool, ‘Come visit the real Gotham City." more ›

Batman is clearly trying to throw everyone off. First his signal shows up in suburban Illinois, and now it's been spotted over in Japan. According to Stars and Stripes, the larger-than-life Batman symbol has been on the roof of a U.S. Air Force Base over there since the 1980s. They report there's been no sign of the caped crusader, however, and only F-15s have been spotted, no Batmobiles. Alright, there's got to be a hidden Bat Signal somewhere in the five boroughs—this is the real Gotham City, after all. [via NY Post] more ›

Not too long ago New York City was talking about officially adopting the Gotham City nickname—and while there are plenty of things tying Gotham to NYC, Chicago has also tried to stake claim on the name (director Christopher Nolan even said he used Chicago as inspiration for his Gotham). Well, now an Illinois couple is trying to bring Wayne Manor to the 'burbs... or at least they were 20 years ago when they painted this Batman logo in their pool for their Gotham-obsessed son. more ›

A brand new full-length trailer for The Dark Knight hit the web today; the last one circulated in December -- just one month before one of the film's stars, Heath Ledger, was found dead. This trailer was originally screened at NYC's Comic-Con late last month, and gave viewers the first glimpse of Aaron Eckhart's Two-Face character. Watch the larger version here. more ›

Even though New York City has around 98 monikers, did you know that there is no official city nickname? more ›

Geez, the weather this winter has been uneventful. There's no letup of dull weather in sight, at least in New York. We took a gander at LAist this morning only to see that Los Angeles has more snow than Gotham City. The massive west coast storm has dropped up to eighteen inches of snow at higher elevations in Los Angeles County. more ›

The latest in the Batman canon, The Dark Knight, is poised to be next summer's blockbuster hit, and ex-Brooklynite/current Manhattanite Heath Ledger seems to be stealing the show. A trailer recently came out with plenty of focus on Ledger's Joker character, and you can watch it below (MTV also has a shot-by-shot analysis). Does he outshine Jack Nicholson's 1989 Joker? We're excited to see this new take on the crime clown. more ›

Time Out New York is telling secrets and talking about all the little things that make up this city (for instance, did you know a baby was baptized in the lobby fountain at the Guggenheim?). Some of our favorite items dished include: more ›

Reader Ben sent us this picture of a cab on fire at West 42nd Street and 8th Avenue. This is odd, but made odder by the fact there was a taxi fire outside Rockefeller Center on West 50th on Tuesday. What's going on with the Crown Victorias? more ›

At the end of this month, your friendly neighborhood Spider Man will be all over New York for...Spider Man week! A five-borough-wide celebration (marketing ploy) featuring a ton of live events, screenings, parties and exhibits. The city has been central to the Marvel Comics legend since Spidey's beginning in 1962, so it only makes sense to launch the latest movie here. more ›

Among the many reasons why we love the stuff that pops up on Gothamist Contribute is that you all are constantly dropping photos in that seem to capture New York moments to a T. Sure, sometimes folks are a bit heavy handed with the Photoshop (*cough**cough*), but we live. For instance, look at this photo and not smile at the ecstatic absurdity of our manmade canyons. more ›

If all has gone as planned, the Alamo cube should have returned to Astor Place at precisely 8am today. Has anyone been by to see it in person? more ›

On Sundays, Gothamist publishes essays about topics relevant to life in New York. The one below is by our favorite poet historian, Matt Levy-- master of the extended metaphor: more ›

While perusing flickr's Canon 20D Group earlier today, Gothamist stumbled upon a short that was taken entirely with a Canon 20D. The short, entitled "Between You and Me" is by Patryk Rebisz and won Best Cinematography at the Gotham City Short Film Festival award this year. The result is a movie made of images that reminds us of stop motion animation. more ›

Rachel Sklar, co-editor and writer of FishbowlNY more ›

the Post headlines, as deliciously punny and rhymey as they are, set to music? Is Matt Drudge a baritone? more ›

Teresa Fabik, Swedish Filmmaker Seeking Gotham Inspiration more ›

Leslie Hawke, Outstanding U.S. Citizen more ›

Trying to figure out what to do this Halloween weekend? We've got some ideas that are just slightly better than *bobbing for PBR... more ›

Plus the week in full.
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Because of yesterday's strange and ultimately hilarious for us - since we're not a recognized government or royal figure in Britain - stunt that involved a man dressed as Batman staging a protest at Buckingham Palace, Gothamist thought it a great opportunity to look at the meaning of Gotham City. Wikipedia's definiton:

Gotham City is a fictional city appearing in DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. At one point, DC placed Gotham City in the state of New Jersey, though its features and location have been altered at times due to the capricious nature of the writers, editors and storyline. Gotham is known to be architecturally modeled after New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but with more exaggerated vices. It has been said that, metaphoricaly, Metropolis (home to Superman) is New York during the day, and Gotham is New York at night. This comparison is helped by the fact that Metropolis is more often seen during the day, and Gotham more at night. Longtime Batman writer and editor Dennis O'Neil has also said figuratively that Metropolis is New York above 14th St., and that Gotham City is New York below 14th St.