[UPDATE BELOW] Cantankerous NY Post columnist Steve "He Who Yells At Cloud" Cuozzo is OBSESSED with the Times Square pedestrian plaza, which he says "gutted" Times Square's "unique energy," and turned it into "a campground for mostly low-spending tourists." Since the plaza debuted in 2009, "Yells At Cloud" has ranted about it with a virulent single-mindedness that makes Ahab look like Silent Bob. It is Cuozzo's white whale: He piles on the plaza's capacious hump "the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it." And you didn't think we'd close out 2011 without one more harpoon for the road? more ›

THEATER: Len Jenkin's Kraken imagines the details of an actual 1856 encounter between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Melville, his Moby-Dick long since met with a critical “meh”, was in the midst of a spiritual journey to Jerusalem – a trip that would, two decades later, yield the back-breaking, 2 Volume, 18,000 line Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land. En route he stopped to visit his old Berkshire homey Hawthorne, now the American consul in Liverpool. In Jenkin’s dramatization, the two literary legends – neither one legendary in their day – spend the evening together confronting their “fears, failures, things of this world and the next”, etc. According to Hawthorne’s diary, ol’ Hermy may have droned on a bit: “Melville, as he always does, began to reason of Providence and futurity, and of everything that lies beyond human ken, and informed me that he had pretty much made up his mind to be annihilated; but still he does not seem to rest in that anticipation; and, I think, will never rest until he gets hold of a definite belief.” Garrett Eisler, who reviewed Kraken for the Voice, writes that the voyage does “dock at a satisfying port.” - John Del Signore more ›

DANCE: A little while ago we told you about Matthew Bourne's adaptation of Tim Burton’s cult classic Edward Scissorhands into a dance performance. Scissors...dancing...sure, why not? The show opens tonight, and from what we've seen on the commercials that have been running - seems to capture the essence of the movie. more ›

Fish is one of those spots that we've walked past a million times over the five years it has been open, but somehow have never made it in. We've even made a mental note -- oooh, local seafood joint... looks good...should stop by soon -- but somehow didn't make it. Until last week, when we finally pulled ourselves together to go in and see what Fish was all about. A few things to know about Fish right off the bat: first, owner Edward Taylor also owns Down East, Fish's exclusive seafood distributor. This gives Fish some of the best and freshest seafood around. Second, Fish is a neighborhood joint. Despite the tourist crowd that may wander in on the weekends due to its Bleecker Street location, during the week the place is quiet, low-key, and heavy on the regulars. In fact, a great deal of the menu was influenced by the customers and neighborhood chefs; on it you'll find Kenny's Bleecker Street Burger (beef from Ottomanelli, across the street), and Scallops Dave's Way (Dave Pasternack of Bistro du Vent and Esca). more ›

When a 39-foot long carcass of a sea creature washed ashore in Chile, people were hoping it would be some rare kind of octopus, like octopus giganteus. But alas, it was just the decayed remains of a sperm whale - when whale bodies rot, the bones fall away and the skin and blubber float, and the mass is very similar in appearance to ocotopus. Gothamist wants to let its readers know in case they are walking along the beach and come across a huge, rotting, smelling mass - don't go assuming it's a huge octopus. [Via Jay - thanks] more ›