The guy who spent $369.14 in a quixotic attempt to patronize each of Manhattan’s 171 Starbucks in a single day is back in the news, and this time it’s the corporate giant that’s helping him out. Comic Mark Malkoff will be living at the Paramus, NJ IKEA for the next week while his apartment is fumigated. And of course, he’ll be documenting every waking moment. Here’s the first installment: more ›

By 2011, our New York Public Library will have a new face. The building, which looms over Bryant Park and 5th Avenue, has been subject to urban pollution and a whole lot more in the past 96 years. From the press release:

The Library announced that it is undertaking a three-year restoration of the facade of the historic building now formally known as the Humanities and Social Sciences Library. The project will include a complete cleaning of the building's Vermont marble, repair of almost 3,000 cracks, protection and preservation of the many sculptural elements, and repair of the building's roof, stairs, and plazas.

MUSIC: There's not a whole lot going on musically tonight, but the show at Cake Shop seems pretty...sweet. By The End of Tonight and Multitudes will be taking the stage -- the former is described as "the perfect marriage between the math-rockiness of Hella with the glistening, soaring guitars of Explosions in the Sky." more ›

Showing how divided its philosophies are, Supreme Court justices ruled, 5-4, to limit the power cities have integrating schools and placing students by race. Schools in Louisville, Kentucky and Seattle, Washington had been trying to maintain diversity by, as the NY Times explains, "limiting transfers on the basis of race or using race as a 'tiebreaker' for admission to particular schools." However, the majority found those programs to be unconstitutional and Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

Gordon Parks, the photographer turned writer- filmmaker- poet- activist- musician, died in New York City yesterday at age 93. The NY Times obituary is comprehensive and chronicles his feats: The first African-American photographer for Life magazine, the first black Hollywood producer-director, one of the founders of Essence.

An iconoclast, Mr. Parks fashioned a career that resisted categorization. No matter what medium he chose for his self-expression, he sought to challenge stereotypes while still communicating to a large audience. In finding early acclaim as a photographer despite a lack of professional training, he became convinced that he could accomplish whatever he set his mind to. To an astonishing extent, he proved himself right. more ›

All Weekend // The Metropolitan Museum [1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd St] more ›

The Library of Congress on Columbus Day, another website about Columbus's journey and one we like better about the food he ate. more ›