Before going for the gold, French actress and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard made some remarks in a 2007 interview regarding 9/11, and some aren't as charmed by her words as they were by her Oscar speech. Nonetheless, Cotillard sides with the conspiracy theorists when it comes to 9/11...and the moon landing! BBC News has a partial transcript:"We see other towers of the same kind being hit by planes, are they burned?" she asks. "There was......

For the past few years, the French game and humor site called Uzinagaz.com has been featuring an online video game which challenges players to prevent jetliners from flying into the Twin Towers. As the game progresses, the planes arrive with increasing frequency and eventually each tower collapses in a plume of digital dust. The tagline for the game, called New York Defender, says "Go beyond your powerlessness and use your mouse to fight back."......

That medical condition Paris Hilton had that led the LA County Sheriff to release her from jail? The Daily News reports that the socialite was worried guards would take a photograph of her using her jail cell bathroom and then put it on the Internet. From a Hilton insider who spoke to the News:"She didn't eat or drink a single thing for three days because she didn't want to use the toilet. She was in......

Law enforcement officials held a press conference Saturday to outline the details of the thwarted terror plot directed against JFK airport. The group of four men, three of whom were arrested yesterday, were planning on exploding the pipeline that carries aviation fuel to JFK. Their hope was that it would set off a chain reaction along the length of the pipeline, which is 40 miles long and runs through several residential neighborhoods, in a......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a power outage on Beach Channel Drive in Queens, a shooting on Hale Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting at East 157th St. and Cortland Ave. in the Bronx. The Gowanus Lounge has a post on the giant inflatable water slide that Thor Equities intends to erect at Coney Island. The slide manufacturer's web site advertises that when it comes to entertaining children "size does matter," so good luck......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an attempted abduction at Balcolm and Barkley Aves. in the Bronx, loose horses on Tremont Ave. in the Bronx, and a school bus fire at the toll booth plaza of the Throgsneck Bridge in the Bronx. Not showing a lot of confidence in the Ivy Leaguers he was cheating money from, Columbia's student-aid head wrote emails to the loan company he held stock in outlining that he needed an......

Jeremy Olshan created this map, the Twin Towers Diaspora, which gives an interesting overview of where former tenants of the World Trade Center have moved after September 11, 2001. Some have stayed in Manhattan, but others have moved to the outer-boroughs and out of the state. You can click on the markers to see the company name and where the company was originally located in the WTC. Tenant Wise has a list (as of......

Set your DVRs, because tomorrow night's 20/20 should be a doozy. The Barbara Walters interview with Rudy and Judith Giuliani will air, and they talk about marriages (and divorces), their first meeting ("instant" attraction), and how Rudy would be fine if Judi sat in on policy meetings at the White House. Oh, yes. According to ABC News' preview, Giuliani says, "If [the meetings] were relevant to something that she was interested in. I mean that......

We noticed a short NY Times review of documentary film that instantly intrigued us. The Cats of Mirikitani is about Jimmy Mirkitani, an elderly homeless Japanese-American man, who filmmaker Linda Hattendorf meets when he is drawing cats under the awning of a SoHo grocery. The two become friends and Hattendorf started shooting the documentary about him in 2001. Mirkitani was born in Sacramento in 1920, was raised in Hiroshima, and returned to the U.S.,......

Today in the Gothamist newsmap: a fatal subway accident near Wall Street, several stabbings, and two bank robberies. Curbed has some more insane renderings from the New York Aquarium design competition. If this ever gets built, we're going to have some very confused fish on our hands. If Al Qaeda ever invades New York City via the Staten Island ferry, we're totally safe. Apparently Hevesi isn't alone in cheating on chauffeur privileges-- the Post......

This morning, workers will take down the iron cross at Ground Zero and prepare to move it to St. Peter's Church this afternoon. There will be a small ceremony for the cross's transfer, and St. Peter's will be its home until the World Trade Center Memorial Museum is open. If you're near the site, you may see a flatbed truck bringing the cross to St. Peter's around 2PM. WABC 7 explains the cross's history: "The......

We thought it was odd that the NY Post had a prominent Monopoly scratch-n-win promotion on their September 11 front cover, whereas the Daily News had a subdued cover that just listed the times the Twin Towers were struck five years ago. Sure, the Post is tacky, but it also rushes to take advantage of people's sympathies. We suppose that Post had some contractual obligations with the promotion, but lately, the Monopoly Man has......

EVENT: Rev Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir have been unleashing their rowdy anti-corporate exorcisms at the Spiegeltent, “a wondrous 1920’s venue of billowing velvet, stained glass, teak, and a thousand mirrors.” But righteous consumers beware: The Spiegeltent is part of the South Street Seaport Mall, which is made unclean by wicked corporations like Victoria’s Secret – all the better for the Rev’s antics. He chastises the company for clear-cutting Canadian boreal forests to......

Today at 2PM until dusk, artist Fynn Sloyan will be at the Fulton Ferry Landing handing out transparencies of pre-September 11 skyline so people can see where the World Trade Center's Twin Towers once were. He also has a PDF that you can print out to make your own transparency at the WTC Outline Project. You can see a city skyline circa 1985 from Joe Holmes. And Fynn will also be at the ferry......

Some readers have been asking about events related to the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Aside from the official city plans, which include moments of silence, reading of victims' names and time for the families to lay flowers at Ground Zero, as well as the lighting of Tribute in Light, a number of organizations and groups have events all weekend and on Monday. For instance, the September......

Ah, there's nothing like politicians sinking their teeth into a national tragedy for their own gain. Someone on Gothamist Contribute pointed out something happening in the Ohio Senate race between Republican incumbent Mike DeWine and challenger, Representative Sherrod Brown. DeWine's campaign used a doctored photograph of the World Trade Center burning in a television ad that touted his national security platform. According to CNN, "The senator was notified Wednesday by a reporter at U.S. News......

The National Trust for Historical Preservation released its annual list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places, and one of them is the World Trade Center's Vesey Street Staircase. Before the September 11 attacks, the Vesey Street Staircase was seen and used by the public on a daily basis. Located near the intersection of Vesey and Church streets, it consisted of two granite-clad outdoor flights of stairs and an escalator that led from the World......

Sara Schwittek has a powerful set of WTC and 9-11 pictures up at Four Eyes. Many were taken looking into the city from DUMBO on the day of the attacks. She also has a few pages of pictures taken during the days that followed. Our personal favorites, however, are the pictures she took before September 2001, like the one shown above. [Related: our two previous posts about pictures of the Twin Towers.]......

Fashionistas and music snobs descend upon the city over the next week with both CMJ and Fashion Week starting. We'll most likely only be attending the former. Before it begins though, we'll ease into the hectic schedule with a few of the following events...even if we should be resting up for the week ahead. PARADE: Some downtown blocks will play host to The Art Parade this weekend, with artists parading toward Soho on foot and......

Yesterday's groundbreaking ceremony of the World Trade Center transit hub saw a number of politicians and designer Santiago Calatrava to the mark the first construction activity at Ground Zero. Calatrava and his daughter Sofia released doves/white pigeons into the air from Falcon Environmental Services with Governors Pataki (NY) and Codey (NJ), Senator Clinton, Mayor Bloomberg, and Tranportation Secretary Minetta looking on. The $2.2 billion transporation center will bring an estimated 10,000 construction jobs downtown, but......

NY1 reports that the WTC Memorial, Reflecting Absence, has been tested by a fountain consultant. The consultant constructed a "full-scale mock-up of some fountain configurations" to look for "potential problems with freezing and winter conditions"; the design has two pools in the footprints of the old World Trade Center Towers, with waterfalls around them. Outgoing Lower Manhattan Development Corportation President Kevin Rampe says that memorial groundbreaking is still "on track" for 2006, even in spite......

Yesterday, 7 World Trade Center was "topped out," after the final beam for its frame was secured. Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Pataki, LMDC chairman John Whitehead and developer Larry Silverstein were present for the ceremony that celebrated the future of the new 52 story building. Newsday reported that it will cost $700 million and have 1.7 million square feet, with the first ten floor holding a Con Ed substation. Silverstein also said 7WTC would be the......

The Village Voice's Jeff Byles writes essay about Daniel Libeskind's new memoir, Breaking Ground, which includes Libeskind's reaction to the sour reaction to his Freedom Tower design. While Byles wishes that Libeskind could be allow to "be Libeskind" (full of imagination, not corn), Gothamist was mesmerized by Libeskind's fascination with the film, The Shining. Here's what was excerpted from the memoir:Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall up in that giant, fading resort in the Rockies. People......

Before twentysomething Glaswegian art rock quartets were bestowed all the credit for generating the highest level of audience excitement and participation since the mosh pit craze of the early nineties, Ted Leo taught the indie kids how to dance. Churning out high energy punk-pop, the ever-enthusiastic and hardworking Leo tours relentlessly (even during massive blackouts and severe thunderstorms), and has been described as the Chevy trucks of indie rock. He lives and breathes rock......

Tomorrow will mark the third anniversary of the attacks on September 11th. The city announced their plans to commemorate the day last month, with the day beginning at 8:46AM (when the first plane struck the North Tower) with a moment of silence. Names will be read by parents and grandparents, and others will be able to lay flowers at the lowest level of the WTC site. Other moments of silence will follow at 9:03AM (when......

Hasidic Jews! Hipsters! Luxury condos! All the Williamsburg drama you can bear in the Times story today about the Hasidic-hipster tensions in the neighborhood. There's hipster Mikey Weiss telling the Times, "These two Hasidic guys, dressed as Hasidically as you could possibly dress, came in and asked me what kind of people live in this neighborhood..." And then there's the flier "with drawing of the World Trade Center collapsing, and read, in Yiddish: 'How long......

A children's book about tight rope artist Philippe Petit's 1974 walk between the towers of the World Trade Center won the Caldecott Medal. The Caldecott, if you remember from when you had trips to the school library (now media center; what gives?), is the award for the best American picture book. Mordicai Gerstein wrote and illustrated, The Man Who Walked Between The Towers, right after September 11, 2001 according to a Times article. More illustrations......

The evening is over, while Gothamist will be following up with extensive commentary about the actual Oscar telecast, here are the winners and some post-game analysis: Best Picture: Chicago - Marty Richards Not a huge surprise given the momentum Chicago's had since the Golden Globes, but there was an outside chance of a Pianist upset with The Pianist's acting, directing, and screenplay awards. But in the end, Harvey got his best picture. Best Actor in......