There's nothing Americans love more than talking about themselves on YouTube, except maybe eating mayonnaise and things that taste like mayonnaise, and talking about mayonnaise, and mayonnaise more mayonnaise please. Kraft is capitalizing on our obsession with the fluffy white stuff by sponsoring the Miracle Whip "Not for Every Relationship" Contest, which will give $25,000 to a couple who makes a 60-second YouTube video detailing "how a simple spread can hold your relationship together," or "pull you apart." So it'll either be "it's a perfect toe-sucking topping" or a divorce story that ends with: "She got the dog, I got the Miracle Whip." Okay, where's out check?
Miracle Whip Wants To Shill Your Relationship For $25K
The Cape Promotion Sounds Really Stupid
Just from watching the ads, NBC's new show The Cape looks pretty uninspired. Wronged cop goes undercover as a superhero to take the law into his own hands after learning stunts from circus folk? Too close to Batman with Dick Grayson's backstory. But to promote the show, NBC plans to drape several Brooklyn statues with red capes in order to generate some buzz for the show. Because the show takes place in Brooklyn Palm City. And we can just ignore that The Cape's cape appears to be blue.
Tea Partying Naked Cowboy Announces Run For Presidency
Robert Burck, better known as the Naked Cowboy, has officially announced he'll be running for President in 2012. At a press conference yesterday, the normally scantily clad Burck showed up donning a suit and short hair—at his side was his on-again, off-again lady friend.
Ray Kelly Saves Woman Who Was Struck By Cyclist
While traveling to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral this morning, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly tended to a woman who suffered a fractured skull after being run down by a cyclist. In his second well-publicized rescue this month, the potential 2013 Mayoral candidate hopped out of his unmarked police SUV at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 84th Street and helped 55-year-old Kinuko Hoffman, who was bleeding from the head after being struck by a deliveryman.
Jon Gosselin's Apartment Trashing May Have Been a Stunt
Continuing the hoax trend that has come up today, cops are now agreeing with Hailey Glassman's lawyer and saying the ransacking of Jon Gosselin's apartment looks like a publicity stunt. So, he couldn't have just put one of his kids in a balloon like everyone else?
NYPD Protects NY Times Building From Climbers
After two incidents of X-treme attention whoring Thursday afternoon, cops were stationed around the perimeter of the New York Times building on 41st St. Friday, successfully preventing anyone else from taking a shot at scaling the side of the new skyscraper. Famous urban climber Alain Robert drew quite a crowd as he climbed up the side of the building around noon and then unfurled a banner decrying the human toll of global warming. The spectacle drew quite a police response and large crowds of spectators. Robert was released on bail shortly after being removed from the side of the building.
Foxy Brown Set Free This Friday
Last we heard, rapper Foxy Brown, who has been on Rikers for about 8 months now, was trying to get an early release because of her "hearing problems". Deaf or not, something worked, and this week she'll be a free woman once again.
Video of the Day: Supermodels Demand an Auto-Free NYC
Continuing their misguided and terribly executed orange bike campaign, DKNY has infiltrated YouTube with a 1 minute 53 second clip of a model speaking out in support of the company's great..."humanitarian cause"? The video starts off showing two models mowing each other down with fake miniature cars as an orange bike lies on the ground...probably not the best way to negate the whole ghost bike thing.
DKNY Guerilla Marketing Goes from Poor Taste to Trash
Curious about the fate of all those orange bikes with the DKNY website that were locked up around town? The ones the police didn’t cart away (some were illegally chained to trees) are being picked clean for spare parts. The tone deaf Fashion Week publicity stunt was presented by DKNY as an effort to promote cycling in New York, and the company did help raise awareness by, uh, distributing bicycle maps in their stores. Oh, and their website for the campaign has a photo of models riding a bike, though they’re too cool for helmets, of course.
At Jets Game, No Ds or Double Ds at Gate D
Perhaps it was the near-freezing temperatures at yesterday's Jets-Browns game that kept breasts covered, but that weather didn't stop crowds from flocking to Gate D at Giants Stadium for a halftime ritual - men yelling at women to expose their breasts and throwing bottles or spitting at them if they don't. Despite an attempt to shut down rowdy fan behavior at Gate D, things didn't seem to change that much at all since new procedures...
Oprah Calls Obama "The One"
Oprah Winfrey introduced one of her favorite things people at what the NY Times called "the largest spectacle of the campaign cycle" - the Oprah for Barack Obama rally in Des Moines, Iowa. Winfrey said, "For the very first time in my life, I feel compelled to stand up and to speak out for the man who I believe has a new vision for America," and told the audience of 15,000 said, "I am...
Gawker Editorial Staff Jumping Ship
Resumes are being accepted to fill a sudden vacuum in the self-proclaimed “drug ring” that is Gawker. On Friday afternoon, at the end of a long Gawker post about palling around with the n + 1 crowd – who happen to be publishing a long think-piece on Gawker in their new issue – editor and cewebrity Emily Gould abruptly announced that managing editor Choire Sicha was to resign. And she would be joining him....
Stuntman Evel Knievel Dies at 69
Today we have illusionists like David Blaine performing "stunts" in the city, but back in the day there was the real deal stuntman, Evel Knievel. Just after making news by making nice with Kanye West (after suing him over this video), he died yesterday in Clearwater, Florida at the age of 69. The NY Times reports he had "failing health for years with diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung condition. In 1999, he...
From Dept. of Health to Dept. of Corrections
The New York Sun is reporting that the operator of the midtown Japanese restaurant Naniwa has been arrested for trying to bribe a city health inspector in order to avoid a summons. Kazuo Mitsuya allegedly tried to slip the inspector $200 to make the restaurant’s violations just go away. Presumably offended by the low sum offered, the inspector got on the horn with the Department of Investigations, who sent in an undercover officer posing as...
Glutton for Charity
We hope the following doesn't put anyone off their appetite before they've even had a chance to tuck into their Thanksgiving feast, but we have to describe what champion eater Tim Janus managed to consume in a publicity feast for charity. In the course of 15 minutes, Janus gobbled down the following:A 10-pound turkey Four pounds of mashed potatoes Three pounds of cranberry sauce Two and a half pounds of green beans This was accomplished...
Gothamist's Week in Rock: Volume 46
Jay-Z Around Town With a new, critically acclaimed album out and a refocused approach to his craft, Jay-Z took the stage twice this week in the Big Apple. For the relatively intimate events at Hammerstein and The Apollo, there was no shortage of friends and guests out to show support for Hov's return to form. Diddy, Nas, Lil Wayne and...Lebron James (?!?) all made appearances between the two shows. Lebron skipped a game to attend...
Tidbits
The New Oxford American Dictionary has selected "locavore" as its 2007 word of the year. According to the OUP blog, "The “locavore” movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation." Locavore beat out...
At Allen and Houston: AA, Now with Pooch
Could American Apparel have a better location for their advertising than the corner of Allen and Houston? Their ads in the location has made some members of the community upset and may have caused The Splasher to return from hibernation. And they have the echo-chamber that is the NY blog community talking about their "racy" ads all the time. Indeed, any publicity is good publicity.
Neo-Nazis to Rock Midtown
Marko Perkovic (known as Thompson on stage, portrayed by Kitler at right) is coming to town, and the protesters are awaiting -- with good reason. The Croatian rock star is known for nostalgically warbling for the Ustaša regime and glorifying the Nazis in his songs, and we can't imagine his anti-Semitism sing-a-longs are going to be very popular here in New York. The musician isn't all about the controversial topics (though it does get him lots of publicity), he also croons tunes about God and family. Can these lighter topics balance out his glorification of war and his nation's Nazi past? No...but he'll be bringing his full set for two shows to the Croatian Center in Midtown next month anyway.
In past concerts, he has performed an anthem of the country's Nazi-backed military regime — the Ustaša — that references extermination camps where tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs, and Gypsies were killed during World War II. He greets adoring crowds with a famous Ustaša slogan — and many respond with the Nazi salute.more ›
Gothamist Visits Fox & Friends
We recently visited Fox News Channel’s morning show Fox & Friends. Unlike most of the other morning shows it is a freewheeling kind of crazy romp that definitely has “Fox attitude”.
Bloomberg Helped Create "Culture of Discrimination"?
Mayor Bloomberg was named in a bias lawsuit filed by three former Bloomberg LP employees. This now accompanies a lawsuit, which charges that female employees were discriminated against, that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed against the billionaire's media company earlier this week. The lawsuit says, "Upon information and belief, Michael Bloomberg is responsible for the creation of the systemic, top-down culture of discrimination which exists within Bloomberg."
Jay Parkinson, Doctor
Recently Williamsburg doc Jay Parkinson unleashed his revolutionary idea onto Brooklyn -- a doctor for the uninsured, medical advice through emails, and the return of the housecall. The word spread fast and now much of the world is looking his way to see if he can change the way healthcare is provided.
O'Reilly Talks Sylvia's Incident With Sharpton
Bill O'Reilly continued to claim that he wasn't being racist when expressing his surprise that a dinner at Harlem soul food restaurant Sylvia's was extremely pleasant. Media watchdog group Media Matters distributed text and clips of O'Reilly's radio show where the conservative talking head explained, "I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship."
What Should Marc Ecko Do with #756?
Isn't the Internet wonderful? It lets baseball fans vote in an All-Star game player and now it lets people around the world decide what to do with a historic ball. After purchasing the ball that Barry Bonds hit to break baseball's all-time home run record, fashion designer Marc Ecko has decided to give the public a vote on what to do with the ball. On the website Vote756.com, Ecko gives voters three choices, "Bestow it. Brand it. Banish it." That's bestow it to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame, brand it with an asterisk and then send it to Cooperstown, and banish it to space via rocket.
Manilow Refuses to be Hassled by Hasselbeck
Barry Manilow, who is out promoting his Greatest Songs of the Seventies, has refused to share a stage with Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who was barely walking in the 70s. The crooner left a little message on his website yesterday for his fans letting them know he wouldn't be on The View today, saying "I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy, Barbara or Whoopi, but not Elisabeth Hasselback. Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request so I bowed out. It’s really too bad because I've always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs."
Extra, Extra
- Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a DOA/Fall Victim at 1 Hogan Place in Manhattan (that's the Manhattan DA's office), a double stabbing on East 171st St. in the Bronx, and an overturned ambulance at Broadway and Delafield Ave. on Staten Island.
- Opening day sales for tickets to The Metropolitan Opera set a record this Sunday after increasing 25% year over year, to $2.08 million. Online sales to performances were 50% higher than 2006's opening.
- New York apple growers are concerned despite what is shaping up to be an excellent harvest this year. Recent moves to crack down on illegal immigration means that orchard owners may not be able to fill the demand for seasonal agricultural workers to pick all of the apples.
- Cops arrested the surgical scrubs-wearing bank robber who darted into a hospital where he blended with facility personnel to evade capture. 50-year-old Robert Britt actually works at the VA hospital near the bank he robbed and already served seven years in prison during the 1980s for another bank robbery.
- An unauthorized biography of Katie Couric paints an unflattering portrait of the CBS News anchor, including allegations that the only reason she didn't file for divorce from her cancer-stricken husband was a fear of bad publicity.
- Bobby's Happy House, a Harlem music store opened in 1946, is being asked to leave its present location by new building owners, and 90-year-old owner Bobby Robinson is unsure if he will be able to find a new space to open.
- Curbed looks at the mysterious "Pine Tree Building" on 2nd Place between Hoyt and Boyd Sts. in Carroll Gardens.
- A class action suit has been filed on behalf of the approximately 100 men and women who hand out copies of AMNewYork newspapers in front of subway stations. The suit against the Tribune Co. alleges that the $20 a day workers are paid to distribute the papers is below New York's minimum wage when one takes into account how long employees work.
Elsewhere in the ist-a-verse
While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a picture displaying the woes of cruising in a tacky limo on the streets of San Francisco.
Pencil This In
HEADS UP: Last year we had Daniel Kitson join our Laughable Hype comedy show, and we've been eagerly awaiting his return to the states since then. Good news...he's back! We strongly urge you to buy tickets right now so you can catch the special performance on Monday at Mo Pitkins. These will go fast Sold out! But this just in...Kitson will also be performing at Union Hall this Sunday at 9pm (first come first served).
Bad Student's Dad Disses Flunky Mom
The Post updates the story about the kid whose mom wants him held back a year! Anthony Hassell's father Victor Raimo called Post reporter Chuck Bennett to complain about his estranged wife's tactics discussing their son's 60.53 seventh grade average.

