Rap artist RZA, who is a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, has an interesting sideline occupation: recreational chess champion. RZA (pronounced RIZ-a) sat down with New York Times chess man Dylan McClain to talk about his love of the game. At the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the duo played a game and discussed how RZA became involved with chess and what it means to him. One can see a virtual representation of the game that RZA......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on 160th St. and Archer Ave. in Queens, a shooting on East 119th St. in Manhattan, and a construction accident on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, Before anyone accuses A-Rod of greediness for spurning an offer of $30 million a year, let it be known that would make the top-performing athlete a pathetic piker among NYC earners. Maggie Gyllenhaal acclimates to Brooklyn: She isn't comfortable with her......

Clifford Smith, aka Method Man, was arrested Thursday evening after a police officer at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel noted his Lincoln Navigator's expired inspection sticker, pulled him over, and was met with a cloud of marijuana smoke when the Wu Tang Clan rapper rolled down his window. Note to Method Man: investigate EZ-Pass. Cops found him with a pair of blunts, a quantity of pot, and under the influence. When rapper Method Man rolled down......

NY Mag's Best of New York is out. Want to know what's good in your hood? Here's a handy little chart that will direct you to just that. Here's a glance at some of the more fun categories: Best impromptu dance party: No Malice Palace, 197 East 3rd Street (take that cabaret laws!). Best zoo animal: Sasha the Siberian tiger, Bronx Zoo. Cheap men's haircut: Frank's Chop Shop, 19 Essex Street. (Wu-Tang Clan and actor......

As you may or may not know, we love the show How I Met Your Mother (one character even has a blog - not an entirely new idea, but we like it). Last week two of the characters on the show went to a lazer tag park and declared that the game was totally making a comeback within 2 months. So we wanted to get prepared, because we actually think lazer tag could be fun!......

Gothamist is feeling a bit under the weather today, literally and figuratively, so we'll just get straight to it, if you don't mind: Monday it's singer-songwriter night at Bowery Ballroom, with Vic Chesnutt, David Bazan (of Pedro The Lion), Mark Eitzel, and Will Johnson (of Centro-Matic) all playing each other's songs together, as the Undertow Orchestra. That's a lot of emoting on one stage, folks. For the ultimate in lameness, check out INXS at Avery......

Family, friends, and fan turned out for Ol' Dirty Bastard's wake in Hamilton Heights yesterday. The wake was open casket, with ODB in a white suit and red shirt, and mourners remembered his generosity and times when he was not crazy, like the day before his death, when he ate clams and red sauce in Coney Island with a friend. And the NY Times has gotten into the spirit of printing "Ol' Dirty Bastard" (unlike......

Earlier today, Russell Tyrone Jones, aka Ol' Dirty Bastard (as well as Osirus, Joe Bannanas, Dirt McGirt, Dirt Dog, Unique Ason, and Big Baby Jesus) collapsed in a Manhattan studio and died at the age of 35. O.D.B and his cousins the RZA and the Genius were founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan as well as a successful solo artist. Besides his successful career, O.D.B. will also be known for getting in trouble with the......

According to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, "Rap group Wu-Tang Clan to tour Israel in May; one member says they `want to show solidarity` with people of Israel." This may not be as strange as it sounds. According to the Bitch Master's Web site, (a Jewish fanclub for the Wu-Tang Clan), "Israel and Judaism are topics that are not unknown to The Wu-Tang Clan. Sunz Of Man have Hebrew on the cover of their album, a......