[Ed. note: We'd like to welcome Robyn Lee, who wrote for Parisist while she was there and who you may also know as The Girl Who Ate Everything. She'll be taking over Camera in the Kitchen for a bit.] more ›

Calling all Idiotarod enthusiasts and people who work in Midtown who might want a lunchtime spectacle. The Carts of Brooklyn Racing Association, aka COBRA, will be holding a press conference at 1PM today outside CBS's headquarters. The group, which is organizing this year's Idiotarod, will be protesting tonight's episode of CSI:NY and its "depiction of shopping cart racing," as the CSI spin-off has been using the Idiotarod name in marketing materials (in the show, it's called the "Idiot Run") without permission. "COBRA's Diabolical Mastermind" Oscar Owens says:

This is yet another example of the lack of respect with which the media treats the 'craft of the speeding trolley.' For years shopping cart racers have faced uninformed and distorted images of themselves. Now they want to paint us as thieves and murderers? It would be one thing if CSI:NY weren't so bad, but this Gary Sinise-led monstrosity is beyond the pale. Do you hear us, Les Moonves? We demand satisfaction."

Sometimes there are fun subway ads, like the Bronx Zoo ads. Sometimes there are bizarre ones that become a part of your brain's fabric, like the Dr. Zizmor ads. And then there are the unbearably lame ones, like the Mitchum Man ads that try to appeal to men's machismo or something, with phrases like, "If you're pretty sure you could kick out the window in the event of an emergency, you're a Mitchum Man." And the NY Times confirms that the ads flout the MTA's own rules. Now, Gothamist believes in some MTA rule flouting, but after seeing some of the other Mitchum ads, like "If menage a trois is the only French you know, you're a Mitchum Man," we're pretty pleased that the MTA is now annoyed that Viacom (which handles their advertising) let the ads through. The Times breaks down that the "if you've ever hurdled to get the subway" ad is problematic because slips and falls are 74% of the accidents reported in the subway (and we're sure the MTA gets lawsuits all the time) and the window kicking ad is "almost certainly be illegal, and taxpayers, who pay about $2 million for each new subway car, may not take kindly to a window-kicker's choice." But this doesn't mean the MTA is exempt from stupid advertising: Check out this photograph on Flickr. And join the NYC Subway Photo pool on Flickr! more ›