The war on underage drinking on the Lower East Side has taken an interesting turn. With bars being shut down for serving minors left and right (and some of them going to court over it) you never can be too careful. And so The Magician, once "Blogger High's Peach Pit," has taken its vigilance to an interesting extreme. more ›

Only 2 weeks after his 89th birthday, Swedish film and theater director Ingmar Bergman passed away at his home on Fårö Island this morning, the Associated Press reports. "Astrid Soderbergh Widding, president of The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, confirmed the death, and Swedish journalist Marie Nyreröd said the director died peacefully during his sleep. Bergman never fully recovered after a hip surgery in October last year, Nyreröd told Swedish broadcaster SVT." more ›

The Forms (Steve Albini-recorded) shimmering rock is our new go-to comfort music after a terrible night finally ends. You know, when you've totalled the rental car but the stereo still works and all you need is something until the tow truck comes? This is that formally febrile, meticulously messy something. more ›

The Observer has an article that, upon reading it, appears to have been written two years ago. "Blog Ghetto" scratches the surface of a scene that's been around for quite a while, and uncovers things such as: bloggers sometimes hang out with each other...and drink...at The Magician (and other "Hell Square" watering holes). The profile on the scene makes it seem very 90210-esque, even calling The Magician "Blogger High's Peach Pit" and picking out a Dylan McKay-esque resident stud (apparently A.J. Daulerio). more ›

Back in April Gawker reported that the 126 Rivington kids (the ones the NY Times wrote about earlier in the year) would indeed be filming a show. A Melrose Place of the Lower East Side, complete with real life "star" and neighbor Piper Perabo. more ›

A couple of weeks back, we talked about how you could use Google SMS to find out all sorts of good NYC information using your mobile phone. Google recently bought Dodgeball, our favorite NYC mososo service, which lets you tell your friends where you are. (And yes, we said "mososo"-- that's what the cool-kids huge nerds call mobile social software.) Yesterday, Dodgeball head honcho Dens emailed to let us know about another cool feature: more ›

Whoa-- the NYC Maps Mashups are flying so fast and furious that we can barely keep up with them! Our favorite one today: NYConTap has added bar lookups to its subway map! So now you'll know which direction to stumble in as you leave The Magician (so last year!) Now if they could just mark the most secluded places to throw up, we'll be all set! [Related: award for earliest mashup definitely goes to this one we found at Brail.org, which tells you the quickest route between two stops on the subway-- it looks like it was programmed in 1994!]
more ›

Our friends at Verbose Coma let us know that Backstage had the following casting ad:

"BLOGGERS," SITCOM PILOT more ›

Zach Klein, Photoblogger more ›

Cocktails. more ›

Or, if you'd prefer your politics more silly (Frankenstein is chasing little Jack Edwards! Augh!) and less well-founded (but still bombastic and passionate) tonight, come meet with the Gothamist crew tonight at The Magician - drinks are on us. More info here. more ›

Expect lots of surprise guests, unprovoked and violent assaults, meglomaniacal posturing, and making out in the bathroom. And it goes without saying that if you want to throw a drink in our faces or karate-chop us in the shoulder blades, please come early - there will be a line forming at the back of the bar. more ›

Tom Vaught, Bartender more ›

Gothamist on pandamonium. more ›