Results tagged “twitter”

On Sunday, the snobby, pedantic atmosphere that often dominates wine tastings will get rocked by the smug, over-sharing culture that always permeates Twitter! This City Winery event (which merits mention if only because of its name) is called "Spit & Twit." Who can resist? On Sunday afternoon, tweeting oenophiles will have the chance to try over 100 wines from 35 wineries around the world. But here's where it gets interesting or annoying, depending on your feelings about Twitter and those who hold forth on "tasting notes."

On Monday, the Allegheny County District Attorney dropped all charges against two Jackson Heights-based anarchists accused of listening to police scanners and sharing riot cops' movements with demonstrators on Twitter during the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. Elliot Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger were arrested on September 24th in a Pittsburgh hotel room, where they were found sitting in front of personal computers listening to both police and EMS scanners. On Monday, lawyers for the men were poised to argue for the unsealing of a secret 18-page affidavit authorizing the raid, but then the prosecution unexpectedly withdrew all charges. A spokesman for the district attorney offered this explanation:

After an extensive review of the facts and circumstances underlying those two arrests... there appears to be sufficient evidence to suggest that certain acts that occurred during the G-20 summit were not isolated incidents confined to Allegheny County but instead may have been related to more expansive activities that went beyond the Pittsburgh G-20 in both time and substance. That being the case, a determination was made that until further investigative activities by law enforcement agencies can be completed, it would be more prudent to have the current charges withdrawn rather than prosecuted at this time.

Doesn't anyone have HBO anymore? Writer Jonathan Ames has penned a new series for the network, called Bored to Death, and even he can't watch it! The show is set in Brooklyn, where Ames resides... and last night the author took to Twitter to find a tube to watch it on. Some kind strangers took him in, and aside from a few grammatical errors while Tweeting that Ames called himself out for, he seemed to enjoy the experience. Maybe next Sunday he'll bring you a bottle of vino and his wisdom on how to perfectly illuminate your living room to view his show. [via Animal]

Today NY1 anchor John Schiumo stole the Twitter spotlight from Pat Kiernan with a harrowing tale of taxi cab body odor. The good news is he lived to Tweet the tale, which is complete with burning eyes and a stinky receipt. As Seinfeld once said, "There should be a B.O. squad that patrols the city like a 'Smell Gestapo.' To sniff 'em out, strip 'em down, and wash them with a big, soapy brush..." [via Animal]

After a campaign to get 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan to join Twitter, he has finally joined—"His rep confirmed to Gossip Cop that he signed up this morning." His Twitter handle: RealTracyMorgan. First Tweet: "Welcome To Tracy Morgans World..." Aw, yeah—maybe now he can Twitter about his fish tanks (like imagine the Tweets he would have sent when they caught fire!) and whatever else pops into his mind.

Recent Manhattanite Frances Bean broke the 140-character rule on Twitter (like mother, like daughter) and penned an open letter to Lindsay's lil' sis on Long Island, Ali Lohan. Add your own [sic]s:

That's right, a Twitter crackdown. A lawyer for Jackson Heights social worker Elliot Madison, 41, says that the feds searched his client's house for 16 hours on Thursday after Madison was arrested on September 24th at a Pittsburgh hotel room with another man. What were they up to? Sitting at laptops sending Twitter messages advising G20 demonstrators about riot police activity in the streets. And yet real Twitter threats like Lindsay Lohan and Courtney Love remain at large.

If you grew up watching Inside Stuff, you wouldn't have guessed that the NBA was anti-technology; but Wednesday's league-wide ban on its players using Twitter during games suggests otherwise. Does the league not realize that the candor we get from an @THE_REAL_SHAQ gem of prose can never be matched by a Cheryl Miller interview? The NBA sent a memo to teams, saying the policy begins 45 minutes before a game and includes halftime. As for the master of Twitter himself, Shaq has not yet responded, instead just pondering, "what shud i be for halloween?"

Another Twitter oops, this time in the world of professional sports: Jets receiver David Clowney was benched during the team's victory over Tennessee because he Tweet-complained about his playing time in the previous win over the Patriots: "1 play in the 1st Half, 4 plays in the 2nd half ... A bit disappointed about my playing time but very happy and satisfied about the win."

Our new lieutenant governor does not know what Twitter is and has a playful sense of swearing. Richard Ravitch wasted no time in spinning out the "I don't give a shit" charm that makes him so appealing to many New Yorkers, telling reporters, "I know that my golf game is going to go to hell in a basket."

He also lost 50 pounds this year and twitters constantly.

Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran isn't getting an Obama scoop any time soon! Yesterday, he prematurely Tweeted, "Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a 'jackass' for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT'S presidential." Prematurely because it turns out the President's remarks were off-the-record and Moran deleted the Tweet (but it's still here). ABC News then told Politico: "In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview. This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again." On the upside, Kanye probably thinks he was a jackass, too.

A day after the Knicks' pugsy point guard Nate Robinson was bashed for his flip tweets while being pulled over and arrested in The Bronx, sources tell the Post that his attitude wasn't limited to his 24,000+ followers. The paper says that when Robinson got pulled over, he "cranked up a rap song when the cop walked off to check his license, and then sang along when the officer returned." Maybe Nate was singing along that he wished he had a girl who looked good so he could call her. When the cop came back, the flashy dunker then apparently mouthed off at the officer, "Well, I'm Nate Robinson from the Knicks," to which the cop replied, "OK, Nate Robinson from the Knicks, you're under arrest." While there's been much speculation that the incident won't help Robinson gain any leverage in contract negotiations with the Knicks, his agent said, "Whether he remains a Knick will not be effected by a traffic incident...He didn't murder anyone, didn't rape anyone.'' Nate's tweeting life is back to normal after the hub-bub, updating recently, "Just seen a girl run n wit an ipod and she fell on her face lol am I wrong for laugh n at her? Smh."

Nate Robinson hasn't been able to get signed in New York since becoming a free agent this off-season, but Tuesday he was able to get booked up in The Bronx, charged with driving with a suspended license. Cops say they pulled Robinson over for not having his seat belt on while driving down the Grand Concourse in Bedford Park, but the Knicks' two-time dunk contest champion tweeted, "Cops pulled me over cuz my windows were 2 dark (but my windows were down) lol how funny is that." Doesn't an NBA star get tinted windows specifically 95 degree days driving down the Grand Concourse? In any case, cops discovered that Robinson's license had been suspended in June for the fifth time after a series of infractions around the area including traffic violations, speeding, driving without his seat belt on and for driving while talking on a cell phone.

Yesterday we got a press release announcing the imminent arrival of TGI Friday's in Union Square and thought, ho-hum, so it goes. Others were less complacent, and have vowed to thwart the militantly upbeat chain's plan to push Jalapeño Poppers by the historic old potter's field. These dissidents are fighting by any means necessary, including Twitter. The group Save Union Square says "follow us and help send a loud and clear message to The Riese Organization that we don't want their TGI Friday's. SAVE THE SQUARE!" Because if a corporate chain opens across the street from Union Square, it will be ruined—just like it is every morning when Babies R Us, Staples, Starbucks, Petco, DSW, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble fling open their doors. But if the Twitter account proves unable stop this suburban abomination, the Friday's will open in the space formerly occupied by Zen Palate, at a time of their choosing. And just to piss off everyone even more, the Riese Organization will also include a Tim Hortons in the same building, so opponents can wash down their rage with some weak Canadian coffee. But hey, at least TGI Friday got its start in NYC.

Mayor Bloomberg had announced late last week that he would be personally Twittering on his mikebloomberg account (which mainly serves as a re-election tool) on Sunday, but those plans were postponed because of Saturday's tragic collision between a small plane and a helicopter over the Hudson River. Now he's jumped onto the Tweeting bandwagon, starting the day off with: "Good morning! Trying this out during my spanish lesson. Como se dice "first tweet"?"

Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce completed his testimony before a grand jury yesterday, concluding two days recounting his involvement in the Plaxico Burress shooting mess last year. Pierce's lawyer sounded confident that the star's defense was as strong on the stand as it is on the field, recounting his testimony that he was helping "save the life of his teammate" by concealing the gun Burress shot himself with and returning it to the receiver's home after getting him to a hospital. His attorney seemed unconcerned with DA Robert Morgenthau's allusions that charges may be coming for Pierce as well, saying, "It was really clear once all the testimony came out that no one could have acted any differently." While the linebacker didn't talk to reporters, he's been all over Twitter discussing the case, saying he would "Draw a line in the Stand and see what side PEOPLE are on." Immediately after testifying, Pierce asked for directions to Giants training camp with bravado, tweeting, "Which way to ALBANY? someone just told me." Naturally the Post's Andrea Peyser was disgusted, thinking about the trip up I-87 bumping K-Ci and Jojo.

The NY State Department of Transportation has 511, which gives updates about traffic and transit (plus has a trip planner and ride share info)—and which makes it a natural to put the information on Twitter. You can choose from a number of regions besides NY State— from the Adirondacks to Albany/Saratoga, from Long Island to Catskills/Hudson valley area—and for NYC, you can follow subways: 123, 456, 7, ACE, BDFV, G, JMZ, L/S, and NRGW.

Doug Quint is part bassoonist, part ice cream man. And not just any old ice cream man at that. Just last month he and boyfriend Bryan Petroff launched the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, a venture that's blown up beyond what they ever imagined. With the help of Twitter (they have over a thousand followers to whom they tweet toppings of the day, truck location and solicit suggestions), the truck has become a bit of a summer hotspot to those seeking both a good cone and some good humor.

Worse bank trip ever: A woman headed to her HSBC at 5 Penn Plaza and found herself in the middle of a bank robbery. So she tweeted it: "my bank was just held up- with me in it. HSBC 34 and 8. also my whole trackball is GONE!!! im locked in the bank still." She continued with updates: "they want to question us. i didnt even notice this gappenning while i was standing there," "cant figure out how to call work without a trackball... police just arrived. maybe theyll let me go now," and "they wont let us leave the bank." Her most recent Tweet: "Thanks Tmobile for providing help with my shitty phone while im stick in a bank hold up. thats sarcasm." Well, the upside is she's safe. The downside is that TV shows and Hollywood will have to incorporate Twittering hostages when depicting bank robberies. Update: Hopefully the witnesses can all leave now—Tweeting witness says "they totally got the guy. cop said he was lazy. walked right into several Penn station security cams."

Mr. Met already has enough to worry about when his team is in town, what with fans disgracing his wholesome image, drunkenly attacking him to the point that he's ready to snap. Now the poor guy's going to pick up the papers today and be as green as the team's commemorative St. Paddy's jerseys when he finds out that his Amazins have been canoodling with a whole throng of other mascots while on their road trip down in Pittsburgh.

Yesterday Al Roker was called out for Twittering too much during his jury duty duties, even posting photos of potential jurors for the case, which common sense will tell you isn't a good idea. Today the NY Post reports that Roker acknowledged making "a mistake" but said it was "inadvertent." Fellow weatherman Sam Champion showed his support on Twitter, and he wasn't the only one. David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, seems to be happy that Al became a poster boy for civic duty, albeit only for one day (Roker wasn't picked for the panel). Bookstaver told the paper, "What's more important is this shows Al came to do his civic duty, and we're happy about that. It's a good example that nobody's exempt." The Daily News points out that he also claimed that Roker's actions weren't illegal, "despite a sign which says in no uncertain terms that taking photographs 'anywhere in the courthouse is strictly prohibited.'" Looks like some people are exempt from that one, eh Bookstaver?

If you watched The Today Show this morning, you heard that weatherman and punmaster Al Roker had to take off early to serve jury duty today. Roker obviously detected the immediate sense of loss from his adoring fans and made sure to keep them up to date with his moment-to-moment whereabouts on Twitter...from inside the courthouse.

If it's the football off-season, it means it's contract negotiation time. But these days, some agents are airing their clients' details via Twitter. Take for instance Leon Washington, the Jets' running back—his agent Alvin Keels has been Tweeting "contract for my client Leon Washington. Let's get it!!!" and "I want to get my client Leon Washington back into the off-season program. Its a business however and that's what we will need 2 address." New Jets coach Rex Ryan is disappointed that Washington isn't attending the off-season voluntary workouts and said, "It's a voluntary camp. Things like this come up every year on every team. Leon is a great guy, and who knows where he's getting advice from?" And while Ryan wouldn't directly refer to Keels, he did add, "I don't know who's telling who anything... Would I like him to be here? Absolutely, no question... But he chose not to be here and that is unfortunate." Keels Tweeted on Wednesday, "Positive talk with the Jets today. Jets fans everything will be fine."

Word came in over the police wires starting at around 11 p.m. last night that a car dove into the Gowanus Canal near the corner of Bond and Degraw Streets. Twitter was lighting up late last night with Park Slope residents reporting that helicopters were flying overhead. At least one person (the driver—who apparently was intoxicated) was pulled from the water by police divers. There were unconfirmed reports that the driver claimed that there were two other people in the car, but this doesn't appear to be supported by any of the wires that were coming through until just before 2 a.m., when the incident was deemed under control.

In case you can't get enough swine flu information, be sure to follow the Centers for Disease Control's Twitter accounts. CNET has the scoop: "@CDCemergency... is posting new recommendations, bulletins on confirmed cases, and information on antiviral drugs and other ways to deal with or prevent the disease" and "@CDC-eHealth, is updated less often but has some good advice including this link to a CDC site where you can send family and friends a 'handwashing eCard.'" And, naturally, outside of the CDC, there's the all-purpose #swineflu—example, "My grandpa says he did his part to combat #swineflu by having a pork sandwich today."

Questions, comments, complaints? Just create a high-tech cyber worm! One 17-year-old Brooklynite has copped to creating two "worms" in order to draw attention to some holes over at Twitter. NBC reports that over the weekend Michael "Mikeyy" Mooney created the worms "because he was bored and wanted to draw attention to the Twitter flaw." The worms posted messages via different user accounts about a similar site, StalkDaily, as well as other unwanted messages like "Twitter please fix this, regards Mikeyy." He told CNET he would like to get a job as a security analyst at the site, but also added, "I'm done with Twitter. I've been getting too much attention lately."

Trinity Church is making the most of Twitter: The Wall Street parish is Tweeting the Passion Play today—Twitter.com/twspassionplay's bio reads, "Twittering the story of Christ's final hours from 12 pm to 3 pm on Good Friday 2009." And there are already 582 followers! According to the AP, Trinity is "offering a Web version of the Stations of the Cross," but there's also an actual Stations of the Cross procession starting at 3 p.m. In other religion and tech news, we may need to wait next year for a Twitter Haggadah, but the Facebook Haggadah is pretty good.

Of course the hipster-carting L train is the first line to get its own blog. Metro reports that the MTA is getting the L online sometime next month, and NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges assured us it would be up and running by May 1st. Start picking out your avatars, he also told us, "we plan to have a comment section and we expect and will encourage our riders to post comments and questions." A decision they may regret! As for their scribes, it looks like L line manager Greg Lombardi and MTA marketing and public affairs staff will all be generating content. And about their foray into Twitter, they tell us, "we’re going to have an online voice of NYC Transit, to promote our various programs—like MetroCard Deals, MetroCard Trips, our Email & Text Alert program" and so on. They also note they'll be using existing personnel to write the 140-character updates. Fleuranges adds, "They are trying to get me to ‘tweet’ but so far I’ve held out."

Did Jimmy Fallon get into a real altercation at a local pizza place this weekend or is he simply playing internet games? After the still head shaking realization that The Roots are now a talk show house band, the second-most unique aspect to Jimmy Fallon's reign of Late Night thus far might be his incorporation of Twitter. He's let viewers send in questions to Cameron Diaz, updated on-air simultaneously with the Diggnation guys and gotten over 30,000 of his viewers to follow a random audience member on the social networking site. A series of updates on his Twitter that he was kicked out of Posto Saturday because they mistakenly thought he had bad mouthed them are being used to report the story around the web. Gawker even claims that their tipsters say there was a fistfight involved—difficult to imagine for the incredibly affable Fallon. Late Night is on vacation this week, so no first-hand account is coming tonight. Did something actually go down or are we all sucked into some sort of manufactured Twitter-drama?