Results tagged “southpark”

The NY Times has an entertaining profile of William Donohue, the head of the Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights. Locally, you may remember him from his support of putting nativity scenes back in public schools, condemning the Jerry Springer opera and getting Opie & Anthony fired, but he's a fixture on TV talk shows blasting movie adaptations of Dan Brown books—in Angels & Demons, "They even have a scene where rats eat a bunch of cardinals. Can you imagine any other religion where this would not be viewed as rank religious bias?"—and slamming Notre Dame's president for inviting President Obama to receive an honorary degree—"Here is a Catholic priest, bestowing an honor on someone who supports selective infanticide." The divorced father of two wants to end anti-Catholic bias, but he's not above embracing South Park's withering parody of Donohue by way of The Da Vinci Code, The Easter Bunny, and The Matrix—Donohue has a still from the episode and seemingly brags to the Times, "In the episode, they have me overthrow the pope because the pope is a wimp, and then I take over the church and give it some guts."

After twelve years, 5,124 performances and a haul of $280 million, Rent's Broadway run has come to an end. The musical closed yesterday after a final sold-out performance packed with diehard fans (the "Rentheads") and a smattering of celebrities (a couple Gossip Girl cast members). Just before the curtain came down for the final time, members of the show's original company joined the current cast on stage to "Seasons of Love," one of the show's most famous songs, the Associated Press reports.

RENT, the surprise smash hit musical that premiered in 1996 and went on to become the seventh-longest-running Broadway show in history, will close June 1st, producers have announced. Over the years the show cultivated a fanatical army of young repeat viewers (“Rentheads”) whose ardor has translated into profits of $280 million on Broadway, four Tony awards and a Pulitzer. Productions have been mounted on six continents, while an ill-conceived movie version of the show, filmed in San Francisco, opened in 2005 to widespread derision. And the musical was also famously parodied by the South Park creators in their film Team America, which depicts the faux-hip cast of the Broadway show LEASE belting the show’s climactic chorus, “Everyone has AIDS!”

Today is a citywide "Day Out Against Hate." City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the Reverend Al Sharpton have spearheaded the event, which was prompted by a number of disturbing hate crime incidents, from swastikas in Brooklyn Heights to a noose found at the Columbia University campus. The Politicker was at one of the events this morning, where Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz "suggested, rather strongly, that city public school students be required to make...

- Walter Pertyk, the teen who dressed as Hitler (for Halloween) at his Brooklyn public high school, walked in the march that protested his actions. He tells the Post, "They called it a walk of tolerance and respect, so I figured I would go and show my tolerance and respect for other people's views of my costume." It's suddenly sounding like the Death Camp of Tolerance episode of South Park.

Let's take a look back at a week that raised this Zen koan: if Kevin Federline got into a wrestling ring with a wrestler, who would you root for?

READING: Tonight at 192 Books, Marisha Pessl reads from Special Topics in Calamity Physics, her buzzy and well-received first novel. Seating is usually limited at 192 Books so call (212) 255-4022 to reserve a spot. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute.

- Maybe everything Pat Buchanan has said about Jews

Malcolm Gladwell profiles Cesar Millan, the "Dog Whisperer," in the New Yorker this week (the article is not online, but this Q&A Gladwell did with Ben Greenman about Millan is), and Gothamist cannot wait to get our issue from the mailbox. If you don't know who Cesar Millan is (like, you watched the South Park episode and thought he was made up), he's a total phenomenon. He communes with dogs, is able to walk huge packs of them, and even has a the Dog Psychology Center to study dogs who seem violent are really aren't (it's the humans' fault, Millan says). Everyone wants to know how to manage their dogs, so Millan is the go to man because of the way he speaks to them.

Uh-oh! Corynne from Jossip emailed to say something is afoot in Park Slope: "Please help! There are these little styrofoam balls (i know how it sounds) seemingly falling from the sky all over "south park slope" otherwise known as greenwood heights. Are they from a factory or something? Maybe the building that burned down? we just cant figure it out, and they are everywhere. I can take a picture if you want ... they are literally covering our sidewalk."

- Chef has quit South Park! No more big salty chocolate balls?

There's nothing better than a Larry David NY Times opinion piece about Brokeback Mountain to make Gothamist snap out of our hangover. In true Larry David fashion, David writes about why he refuses to see the critically acclaimed film:

If two cowboys, male icons who are 100 percent all-man, can succumb, what chance to do I have, half- to a quarter of a man, depending on whom I'm with at the time? I'm a very susceptible person, easily influenced, a natural-born follower with no sales-resistance. When I walk into a store, clerks wrestle one another trying to get to me first. My wife won't let me watch infomercials because of all the junk I've ordered that's now piled up in the garage. My medicine cabinet is filled with vitamins and bald cures.

- The new plaza at 55 Water Street will host 12 public events a year

If not the Freedom Tower, or the WTC Memorial, there always seems to be something wrong with Ground Zero rebuliding, and the latest part of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's plan at the World Trade Center to be mired in controversy is the International Freedom Center. The IFC was originally supposed to be a place where people would learn about tolerance and diversity (though steering clear of September 11 events, because that would be displayed elsewhere), but then various parties got upset when it was revealed that the IFC would have exhibits on "man's inhumanity to man". Lately, Senator Hillary Clinton has spoken out against the center, which might mark the first time the Post and the junior Senator have something they can agree about. What's most dispriting is the haphazard way organizations or planned spaces at the WTC have occured, generating such vitriol and confusion on the part of the public.

The primary is next Tuesday, and it seems like some registered Democrats still don't know who they will vote for in various races. Luckily, Gotham Gazette has some great resources for New Yorkers, including an excellent Guide for the Last Minute Voter. GG has a handy grid of where the candidates stand on the issues, as well as a grid of which endorsements they have received. And you can see what other races, such as for Manhattan Borough President, Public Advocate, and City Council, are being run in their Campaign 2005 section - you can find your Council district there, too!

What kind of show are you in the mood for this week? New York is probably the only city in the country where you have more options for different kinds of live theatrical productions than for movies. Whatever you’re feeling, there’s probably a show for you, something that’ll either keep you energized or give you a pleasantly confused buzz or shake you out of your pity party. When you’re deciding what to see, consider some of these options…and if your mood isn't covered here, well, Gothamist thinks you'll like them anyway. So...