Results tagged “westwing”

MOVIE: MoMA is currently running a retrospective on Joan Blondell, titled The Bombshell from Ninety-first Street. Trace the metamorphosis of the Manhattan-born actress from a young blonde bombshell to...a blonde bombshell in more mature roles! Tonight you can catch her in Blondie Johnson (1933) and Nightmare Alley (1947).

In advance of an official press conference at The Palace Theater today, The Times and The Post have reported that Spike Lee will be make his Broadway debut next spring with the 1951 play Stalag 17; a dramedy about camaraderie and betrayal between American airmen stuck in a German P.O.W camp (later made into a film by Billy Wilder.) Sources say that Clive Owen will once again be Spike’s inside man on the project. (Though Mark Wahlberg is also in the running.)

A lot is being made of Mayor Bloomberg leaving the Republican Party - Could it be a prelude for a run for the White House? Officially, Bloomberg is saying that he won't be running for President and that he is serving out his term as mayor. Our reader poll yesterday was pretty divided, one question that needs to be asked is how Bloomberg would measure up in height if he ran for, and became President.

Wayne Coyne recently told EW that the Flaming Lips 2002 album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" will be hitting Broadway in the future. Not too unusual given the bands often colorful and outrageous stage shows. Not only will we see the album come to life, but Aaron Sorkin will be teaming up with band to make it a reality.

EVENT: Tonight is the "Taxi 07: Transforming and Icon" event, marking the 100th anniversary of the New York taxi. The Design Trust for Public Space have gathered together members of the city’s design community and tonight they discuss ideas for the redesign the yellow cab. The idea of a redesign was announced back in 2005.

Mayor Bloomberg keeps saying he isn't running for President, but his actions seems to indicate he does have the West Wing on the mind. The odd thing is that in the midst of the Mayor's denials, his deputy mayor Kevin Sheekey keeps talking about wanting the Mayor to run for President. Today, in an interview with the Daily News, Sheekey says he hopes Bloomberg "changes his mind", and says:

If you have a country which continues to be divided the way it is, if you find that increasingly you have gridlock in Washington and that the country needs a chance to start over, then, I think, they'll look to a person like Mike Bloomberg.
Which is not to say that Mayor Bloomberg is running for President - it's just that one of his closest and most trusted advisers thinks he should run and the adviser is telling one of the city's biggest papers as much. We'd think Mayor Bloomberg cleared Sheekey to speak to the Daily News, so something must be afoot, right?

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute.

- The "Trouble with Vito" series in the Daily News continues! Now it's a suspect photo of Congressman Vito Fossella with Sesame Street's Elmo and Rosito that has appeared in both re-election media and a "taxpayer-financed constituent mailing." Fossella's people say that muppet picture and other were "indvertently" used on a reelection website. Inadvertently or advertently so the Daily News could plaster it on the front page?

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow.

Tonight is a BIG night, TV-wise, so much so that we can't stand to DVR anything - we need to see it actual time. (Well, we are DVRing it so we can watch it over and over again, but you get the idea and urgency.) There's the Gilmore Girls finale, the Veronica Mars finale, and then a Kathy Griffin special on Bravo! (Okay, the Kathy Griffin special will probably repeat 10 times before the weekend, but we'll probably watch all 10 times because a Dakota Fanning-has-a-drug-problem joke is classic.) The Gilmore Girls finale will also feature Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and Joe Pernice - thanks to music-lovin' creator Amy Sherman-Palladino (we will miss you next season) - which makes it aces in our book, but overall, it's been a very uneven season for the double G. But we're most excited for Veronica Mars to be on Tuesday at 9PM after all this time - too bad the season must end. And we think she might be visiting NYU in order to get that other witness to confirm Steve Guttenberg's Woody Goodman's bad man tendencies. Of course, many of you will probably be watching American Idol and House - it's okay to disagree, but for all of you who have been missing out of Veronica Mars because of House or Lost, we strongly advise you to pick up DVDs of Season 1 and 2 (when it's out).

The Washington Post had an article about Miers earlier this summer: "low-key but high-precision style." And in other Supreme Court news, Justice Antonin Scalia will lead next Monday's Columbus Day Parade here in NYC; Scalia was born in Queens.

acknowledges the fact that it’s unlikely that anyone in the West Wing actually spoke in rhyming couplets but it’s what is at the core of the story that matters.

Gothamist doesn't know why we bothered with the 2005 Emmy Nominations because they were boring, except that we're ruthless TV watchers and awards show fiends, so we're painted into the corner. The actors, actresses, and programs nominated were all fine and very talented, but it's the same crew every year! James Gandolfini...Allison Janney...The West Wing...Will & Grace - which wasn't even as good as the subpar non-nominated Friends this past season...four writing nominations for the Sopranos...blah blah blah. David Chase has a death grip on the Academy, even with Cousin Tony! This is almost as bad as when Helen Hunt and Candice Bergen would...keep...winning...even after their characters and shows lost steam seasons ago. There was even a posthumous nomination for John Ritter! Yes, he's a great comic talent, but come on. There needs to be a way for newer shows to get their feet in the door, like Nip/Tuck, The Gilmore Girls, The O.C., and Scrubs. But here are some nominations we were happy about:

Possibly, if you were trying not to watch the Nets-Pistons game last night, for fear of the 'fro, you might have channel surfed over to CNBC, which rebroadcasts Meet the Press on Sunday nights, where you might have seen that insane part of the Colin Powell interview, where Powell's press aide Emily Miller seemingly off Powell. Powell and Miller argued about the move, Powell saying that the interview wasn't done and Miller saying something about "they're editing it," with host Tim Russert waiting and saying, " I'm right here, Mr. Secretary. I would hope they would put you back on camera. I don't know who did that...I think that was one of your staff, Mr. Secretary. I don't think that's appropriate." White House communications people claim that Meet the Press had run over its allotted time, but come on, the American people are stupid, but we're not naive about our TVs. Meet the Press is the highest rated network political program. It's an influencer. Silly Bush administration, your strong-armed media tactics ain't gonna fly. Especially not when at least part of the U.S. has watched The West Wing at some point.

Tonight is one of the final episodes of Angel, the much beloved Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff. These days, when not getting sucked into some other demon hole or something, Angel has been beat up by The O.C. or The West Wing in the ratings. Variety TV editor Michael Schneider has been getting lots of "Save Angel" mail from the dedicated Angels fans (photo, above):

They came from all over the globe: Oklahoma, Ireland, Australia, Denmark, England... even several postcards from soldiers in Iraq. And they all want to save "Angel."I suppose it would be too easy at this point to lament the fact that all of that energy could be better harnessed to feed the hungry or shelter the homeless. But hey, there's a TV show to be saved here!
This reminds of the first "Save this show!" letter Gothamist ever wrote: It was to Bob Iger, to save Twin Peaks. Everyday we wonder if TP would still be on, had the power of the Internet been harnessed carefully, but we're still unsure. Anyway, Gothamist would like to take a moment and salute Angel, a show that can turn its leading actor into a puppet for a time and still scare the dickens out of us.

What would Lynne Truss say?

stacey_small.jpg
Stacey Herron, AOL Music

The Post kicks off Radiohead's two nights at Madison Square Garden by talking to people who hate Radiohead but have been afraid to admit it because Radiohead are critically beloved and "cool." An entertainment editor says, "Hating Radiohead is the hipster's dirty little secret," and Spin writer Chuck Klosterman, though a fan, can understand the hate as well. "There's definitely now a symbolic value to saying you hate Radiohead - even Kid Rock makes a big deal about hating Radiohead. He even has a video where he's literally using toilet paper with the word 'Radiohead' embossed on it." Kid Rock? Using Kid Rock in an argument about hating Radiohead is like knowing Brett Ratner hates David Lynch - it doesn't matter at all.

Previous Gothamist post on Bernie Mac

Martin SheenSlate's Rob Walker weighs in on the ostensibly pro- and anti-war ads by Tom Ridge and Martin Sheen. Martin Sheenhas had a history of activism, but certainly his role on The West Wing gives him more of a platform. Before September 11, 2001, there was much buzz about people preferring a president more like The West Wing's Jed Bartlet: A comparison of the Josiah Bartlet and George W. Bush presidencies.

Political writer and occasional cartoonist Jake Tapper has a look at one of the many 2004 Democratic presidential hopefuls, Howard Dean on Salon.com. Howard Dean is an interesting character, former governor of Vermont, medical doctor (is being a medical doctor the new fad for politcians? Yes, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D.,Gothamist is talking about you), wife is a physician (just like Abby Bartlet on the West Wing!), with specific interest in universal healthcare, obviously. Learn more about his stances on women's reproductive rights, national security, and the rest.


See the new Coke commercials.

1

Tips

Get your daily dose of New York first thing in the morning from our weekday newsletter, now in beta.

About Gothamist

Gothamist is a website about New York. More

Editor: Jen Chung
Publisher: Jake Dobkin

Newsmap

newsmap.jpg

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Gothamist.

All Our RSS