It’s never to early to start planning for the future One World Government, and one great way to fill the odd hours is by building websites about it, as one group of visionaries have done with their Reservoir Project. The pseudo-serious website is dedicated to securing New York City as the capital of the “Earth Government” and converting the Central Park Reservoir into “the Biggest, the Tallest, the most Elegant and Innovative Structure in the history of our civilization. The CENTRAL, a.k.a. CTRL.” more ›

Today the alternative weekly New York Press announced the resignation of their new sex columnist, Claudia Lonow, after her debut column – and the cover story, no less – was found to have used some questions from old Dan Savage advice columns. The answers were her own, but, as Jezebel discovered, not questions like the one seeking advice about [paraphrasing] ‘what to do when you walk in on your girlfriend canoodling with her noticeably erect brother?’ more ›

Now we know why there are still people heading to The Garden. There aren't any Knicks’ fans left, they are all paid actors. At least that’s the conclusion one could draw from a story in the New York Press. It turns out that the people in the "fan ads" (like the one pictured above), are mostly paid actors and their stories are made up for the commercials. The surprising thing is that apparently the Knicks didn’t know this. more ›

The New York Press is getting their Gawker Stalker on with their latest cover story about stalking Claire Danes...and how you, yes you, can also follow her home! All you need is the internet, a lot of free time and an obsession in which to fuel your fanboy/girl fire. The payoff? Well, for the author of the article, Becca Tucker, it was a cover story complete with creepy photo, headline and font. Just close your... more ›

FILM: BAM features the work of Al Santana tonight. The Brooklyn filmmaker "has been a fixture on the independent film and video scene for years and his work ranges from documentaries about the transatlantic slave trade to coping with 9/11." Santana will be on hand for a Q&A tonight as well. more ›

BEER: This one is pretty simple...there will be lots (58!) of New York beers, and a few bands to soundtrack your drinking them, at the Seaport tonight. Go, imbibe, enjoy! more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a missing child on 42nd St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan, someone robbed the Commerce Bank on Fresh Pond Rd. in Queens, and a severed limb on West 183rd St. in Manhattan.
• Someone in Richmond, Indiana won the Powerball lottery with a prize of $314 million and change. Mega-Millions is up to $250 million, however, so if you feel you're in want of a quarter-billion dollars or perhaps just $1 too rich, go for it.
• New York Press reported that bidding for the hacked iPhone allowing a different carrier than AT&T was up to $15,600.
• The Times has a piece on the Reggae Carifest, which was being protested against for the inclusion of performers whose songs are anti-gay. The paper characterizes the show as a disappointing bust.
• An inspector with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found a guard at a security gate at the Indian Point nuclear facility asleep on the job. The NRC downgraded Indian Point's safety rating earlier this year after a number of unscheduled automatic shutdowns.
• A 60-acre park in Ridgway, CO was recently dedicated to actor Dennis Weaver, who died last year. In the 1970s series "McCloud," Weaver played Sam McCloud, a New Mexico deputy who brought his Western crime-fighting skills to the streets of NYC.
• 30,000 respirator masks distributed to members of the NYPD (they can normally be seen in a pouch strapped to cops' legs) have been recalled by the manufacturer as possibly defective.
• Someone with an IP address associated with the American Enterprise Institute entered the Wikipedia fray last September, when they altered an entry on Mayor Bloomberg to read "F--k this turd."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a possible abduction at 39th St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, falling debris from 820 Columbus Ave. in Manhattan, and a stabbing on East 214th St. in the Bronx.
• Queens Councilman James Gennaro was fined $2,000 after admitting to the Conflict of Interest Board that he asked a staffer to volunteer on his campaign, although he says he has no recollection of the 2003 incident
• MTA CEO Elliot Sander has instructed his division heads to only cut costs by 1.5% next year, after concluding that there is no more fat to trim or inefficiencies to reduce at the agency.
• Madonna spent two hours at Bill Clinton's Harlem offices yesterday, possibly discussing an endorsement of his wife's run for President. She has yet to visit Hillary Clinton's offices.
• A GoogleMaps mashup illustrating the geography of Seinfeld.
• Free alt-weekly New York Press changes ownership hands again. It was sold by Avalon Equity Partners to Manhattan Media for an undisclosed sum.
• Whoopi Goldberg was chosen as Rosie O'Donnell's replacement on the female chat-show The View.
• The New York Times looks at bad behavior at four star restaurants, when well-heeled diners can't wait until they get home to vomit, get naked, or have sex.

Switcharoo at CBS 2 more ›

Two bridges spanning the Hudson River just north of the city will be getting suicide prevention phones instead of physical barriers following three fatal leaps in close succession earlier this year. The phones to be installed on the Tappan Zee and Bear Mountain Bridges will be connected to a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline. Plans for installing physical barriers were turned down as being too expensive to install and maintain. more ›

This week, Bruni visits Rosanjin in Tribeca for kaseiki, finds it "strange and sometimes wonderful" and awards the restaurant two stars. The meal of many small courses is supposed to provide spiritual uplift in its ceremony. For Bruni, "the glory is in the details," like the uni wrapped in a shiso leaf, then battered and fried. The later courses were letdowns, however, and sometimes the small courses left him hungry two hours later. more ›

We used to think it was pretty sweet that disabled people got themselves a handsome little discount when riding subways and buses. But we always felt that there was probably some downside that we didn't see. In fact, it turns out that only a little over 10% of the subway stations in NYC are actually even accessible to the disabled. And apparently even a $300 million renovation of the Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn wasn't enough to ensure that elevators at the stop would be ready in time for actual traffic. We were pretty excited when the terminal reopened two years ago, with its solar panels and all. But its elevators, that were supposed to be up and running in May, weren't ready until last month and even then experienced frequent service outages. Sadly, since the stop was listed as an all-access type, many disabled people who rode out there found no way out of the station and had to turn around and go find another way out. more ›

New York Press makes it's annual attempt at relevancy this week with it's list of the 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers. Sigh. more ›

Judy McGuire, Advice Columnist more ›

The NY Press's editorial staff quit over the paper's decision not to publish the controversial Mohammed cartoon from the conservative Danish paper/tinderbox. The Politicker broke the news and printed editor-in-chief Harry Siegel's memo; here's part of it:

New York Press, like so many other publications, has suborned its own professed principles. For all the talk of freedom of speech, only the New York Sun locally and two other papers nationally have mustered the minimal courage needed to print simple and not especially offensive editorial cartoons that have been used as a pretext for great and greatly menacing violence directed against journalists, cartoonists, humanitarian aid workers, diplomats and others who represent the basic values and obligations of Western civilization. Having been ordered at the 11th hour to pull the now-infamous Danish cartoons from an issue dedicated to them, the editorial group—consisting of myself, managing editor Tim Marchman, arts editorJonathan Leaf and one-man city hall bureau Azi Paybarah, chose instead to resign our positions... more ›

We were really knocked out by Mazarin at Pianos last week. Very fun band. One can only hope that this week holds such surprise awesomeness. Some potential candidates: more ›

Aileen Gallagher, Associate Editor, Mediabistro more ›

Perennial outsider political candidate Christopher X. Brodeur has been arrested (for the 20th time). Here at Gothamist we're treated to a few of Chris' amusing emails every week. We've always enjoyed reading them, because he hates politicians from both political parties (this picture is from last year's 9/11 Commission hearings, right before he was dragged and thrown out), as well as most journalists (especially those at the New York Press, where he seems to work), and he uses a lot of exclamation points and CAPITAL LETTERS. Sure, they often rant a little bit, but if you love New York politics, they are always a fun read. Jessica Delfino, CXB's campaign manager, sent this morning's missive, because CXB was already in handcuffs (we're not sure, but we think the charge is related to the harassment charges that the Bloomberg administration brought against Brodeur a few months back.) But let's let Christopher speak for himself: more ›

The Village Voice has a very timely retrospective of its first fifty years-- including a great gallery of front page images. When we were growing up in the city, the Voice was the end-all-and-be-all of alternative news weeklies-- it had far left politics, alterno-culture, racy features, salacious ads at the back-- the whole deal. Over the last few years the Voice has been trending downhill-- sort of becoming a slightly classier New York Press-- and this week it was announced that the New Times conglomerate purchased the paper. It seems unlikely the Voice will ever return to its own glory-- which is too bad-- they've done some amazing stuff in the past.
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We've heard that things are going badly over at the New York Press, but that's no excuse for what we saw over on their site today. Remember the tragic story of Dennis Kim, the 22 year old poet who drowned in the Hudson two weeks ago trying to retrieve a book of his poems? The Press's JR Taylor follows up on the story, and goes sort of nuts insulting the dead-- first accusing him of being a pedophile, and then calling him "lame" and a "dead creep"-- all this for possibly having slept with a girl five years younger than himself: more ›

, which recently lost its editor, Jeff Koyen, after a cover story entitled "The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope" unsurprisingly pissed a lot of people off, has come out with its annual hatefest issue: The 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers. Making the list this year were the usual targets (politicians, editors, celebrities, etc..), with Mayor Mike taking top honors as most loathsome for "bringing the Republican National Convention to town and the mini-police state inspired by it" (among other offenses). Mayoral hopefuls Gifford Miller and Anthony Weiner also made the cut. more ›

reports that committee members will be taken up to Central Park for a look at members of the Road Runners club racing through "The Gates," will dine at the Bloomberg mansion, and will ride in horse-drawn carriages to a performance of Jazz at Lincoln Center (now at the Time Warner building). Some of the members will even be driven down 5th Avenue just as a fencing match takes place on the steps of the Public Library. Of course, committee members will also have to endure all of the requisite power points from the mayor's office and will race around the city to all of the facilities (existing and yet-to-be-built) where it all could possibly take place. more ›

Sure, nobody wants a porn store in their backyard on their block, but where will they turn for their dirty needs? The New York Press thinks they might move across the river to New Jersey, taking precious sales revenue with them. They recommend regulation and taxation on the businesses. more ›

Ned Vizzini, Be More Chill author more ›

In an effort to class itself up, the International Herald Tribune will be refusing to run any more ads for escort services. Damn damn damn. Now Gothamist will only have the Village Voice and New York Press for more downmarket escort resources.
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