Ok, so we understand the knocks on Gossip Girl. It's an awful, vapid, shallow show...which would be all fine and good if it wasn't for the poor writing, empty characters and boring, predictable plotlines. YET, what trumps all is that it is filmed on location in New York City. The shows shortcomings aside, it is a genuine local show with some great city scenes. So we trudge on... Four weeks in and we're getting ever......

THEATER: We like our comedy like we like our women: black and absurd. So it’s promising that the press release for a new play by Kevin Mandel uses those two irresistible words to describe A New Television Arrives, Finally. The strange story concerns “an American couple visited by a charismatic man presenting himself as a television set. Is the handsome stranger a charlatan or a guru?” Emmy award-winning actor Tom Pelphrey [Guiding Light] leads the......

People are still airing their thoughts on The Sopranos finale - NYMag is personally feeling a bit betrayed by David Chase, and The Observer is left needing therapy, not closure. We're more interested in what's left of the show...in other words: The Sopranos are having a yard sale (thanks for the tip, Logo)! The sale is listed on Craiglist (it doesn't specify it's for The Sopranos, but it is), and states there will be "plenty......

There were a number of people injured or killed during vehicle crashes over the weekend. Yesterday afternoon, a livery cab went out of control at Flatbush and Glenwood in Brooklyn. The cab jumped a curb, after, per WABC, taking down a traffic light and street sign, and hit three pedestrians before crashing into a nail salon. A 51-year-old man and 16-year-old are in critical condition; a 15-year-old boy is in stable condition with a head......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a double shooting with an officer injured in East Flatbush, a big fire in Bushwick, a tripple stabbing in Bay Ridge, and a pedestrian struck by auto on Houston and Avenue B. The U.S. Navy is being called in to pull the Intrepid out of the Hudson River mud. Check out the renderings for Chelsea Cove, a new addition to Hudson River Park. The futuristic-looking Rector Street Bridge will......

For the next four months, the 145th Street Bridge will be closed to traffic and pedestrians as the Department of Transportation reconstructs the bridge. And it is a total reconstruction - new bridge arrived on barge and is parked nearby. From the NY Sun:Once the old bridge is disassembled and disposed of by the contractor, Kiewit/Pully, the new trusses will be floated in at high tide. Over the next four months, deconstruction will occur in......

Last night was an unfortunate one for drivers. Not that there aren't a lot of accidents all the time sadly, but the early hours had some particularly upsetting stories: - Around 11:20 p.m. a drunk driver mowed down a pedestrian, a light pole, a mailbox and just missed another couple of pedestrians on Fifth Avenue near 30th. The pedestrian was in critical condition as of this morning. - Around 3:30 a.m., a young man......

If you needed a reason to look to the skies, now you have one. The folks over at New Era, Major League Baseball's official cap supplier, are donning two Manhattan watertowers with inflatable baseball caps in time for Opening Day. A Mets cap will be fitted on a watertower near the 59th Street Bridge this week, while the Yankee cap won't be up in midtown until next week. New Era says there will be......

- Be careful outside - there are 50-60 MPH winds out there! (And bundle up - it's getting colder.) - Uh oh: A four year old dies after choking on a "large" herbal pill that his mother told him to take - It turns out off-duty police officer Eric Hernandez died from gunshot wounds (from another cop who didn't know Hernandez was also a cop), not the beating from a group of men at a......

A bunch of people have written in to ask if the Roosevelt Island Tram is running. The answer is yes-- it is not operated by the MTA (it's run by JWP and overseen by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.) Some tram info: Each cabin accommodates a capacity of 125 people, makes approximately 115 trips per day, and about 100 on weekends. It glides at approximately 16 miles per hour and travels 3,100 feet. At......

Oh, yes, it's on. After 3AM this morning, the Transport Workers Union announced they would strike a couple hours after rejecting the MTA's latest offer. Thousands of subway and bus workers walked off the job, leaving millions of New Yorkers to find new ways to go to work (sneakers, meet 60 blocks of walking). Now, New York City is in a state of emergency, in its special "contingency plan," with restrictions on vehicles (only......

One of the best views of the Marathon was from the Medical Tent at mile 15. Along with a motley crew of other physicians and health professionals, Gothamist cheered on the runners while playing doctor on the Queens side of the 59th Street Bridge. While most of the racers that came through were just looking for a band-aid for a new blister, some Vaseline for their chafed nether-regions, or some Icy Hot for a......

Registration for the Southpoint Arts Center competition, sponsored by the Center for Architecture in New York City, closes on November 18th (final designs are due in January). Southpoint is a massive area-- basically everything on Roosevelt Island south of the 59th Street Bridge, and this arts center will act as the anchor for a rejuvenation of the entire area. So if you are an architect, design student, Roosevelt Island history buff, or just enjoy......

For about a day, Gothamist was worried that the Port Authority was seriously thinking renaming properties like the George Washington Bridge or John F. Kennedy Airport if sponsors would fork over enough money, but it turns out it was over eager speculation. The Port Authority is looking at possible shortfalls in the next few years and would consider renaming the Port Authority bus terminal; Gothamist liked Port Authority Commissioner Bruce A. Blakeman's quote: "We would......