I can always count on my fellow citizens of New York City to demand chicken consumption equality for all. Oprah's Free Chicken Leads to Long Lines, Sit-In KFC Stores Mobbed by Coupon Holders Looking for Free Meal, Anger at NYC Shop
Once ‘Very Good Rent Payers’ Now Facing Eviction By MANNY FERNANDEZ Published: May 4, 2009 More of the city’s middle-class tenants, their jobs gone, are falling behind on rent, straining legal and financial services once used mostly by lower-income New Yorkers. Read More
"It’s kind of dehumanizing. They see you as a certain kind of person. We’ve never been that certain kind of person." KEVIN BREWSTER-STREEKS, who, with his partner, was forced to leave his Bronx apartment after owing $7,000 in back rent.
NYTimes.com Quotation of the Day: "First thing is, I’m annoyed — furious is a better word — that I wasn’t told." - MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG, after a plane normally used as Air Force One and two fighter jets flew over Lower Manhattan.
I heard about this the next day from someone in Georgia, but I'm sure I would have been concerned, too, if I had seen a low-flying Boeing 747 speeding in the shadows of skyscrapers and trailed by two fighter jets. Read More Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.
A few months ago, I took a picture of Joe Ades on my camera phone and forgot to blog about the entertaining potato peel sales demonstration that Terrence and I watched one Saturday afternoon at the Farmer's Market in Union Square. You rarely witness people, who truly love what they do, in the middle of what they're doing.
jkrums: Leaving the city, had a great day. Trying to beat the traffic. Wish me luck! about 1 hour ago from Twittelator
jkrums: http://twitpic.com/135xa - There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy. about 1 hour ago from TwitPic
And coincidentally, JKrum's Twitter update, which I followed on Twitter, prompted an interview on MSNBC and a post on another reputable news source: Gawker.com.
I wonder if he helped haul Monique's boss out of U.S. Airways Flight #1549 bound for Charlotte, which experienced a crash landing in the Hudson River just off the shore from my apartment in Hell's Kitchen.
Sometimes the world becomes so small when you're just trying to beat rush hour traffic. And kudos to the pilot for skillfully avoiding my 42nd Street office building and my West 50's abode on his descent.
Thurs, 5:12pm EST Update: And a Facebook friend just uploaded the same photo in his profile. Instant globalization through technology at its best. I bet JKrum had no idea that he would be on MSNBC this afternoon thanks to a TwitPic or that his name would be googled more than "Kim Kardashian's ass" by the end of the workday. Actually I know that for a fact because his updates on Twitter don't indicate that he wondered about either of these things this morning. But I suppose the bigger picture here (no pun intended) is that I bet none of those passengers thought they'd be standing on the wing of a sinking plane in the middle of the Hudson River. And I'll bet my 401(k) and employee stock that they had no idea they'd crash land within a hop, skip and a few breast strokes from my* Midtown apartment.
Thurs, 5:38pm EST Update: The media has labeled the cause of the crash a bird strike. Is this a final attempt by the Bush Administration to embed war-on-terror propaganda in news headlines?
Thurs, 5:54pm EST Update: One of my coworkers just forwarded me an email that was sent by her cousin with JKrum's TwitPic attached and the following note: Coworker is on the ferry on the Hudson right now… took a camera phone pic.
If JKrum had been an anonymous blogger (or twitter-er), I'd now know where he works ... but based on his Twitter updates, Facebook link and his willingness to accept interviews, he's not worried about remaining anonymous or encouraging virtual stalkers. And he's lucky I'm not crazy cause his profile pic is h-o-t. Maybe Janis Krum will become my next news-breaking celebrity crush. Move over, Chris Cuomo. But I'll suppress the urge to add him on Facebook.
Fri, 9:30am EST Update: I overheard another coworker mention that one of her close friends was on the flight bound for Charlotte.
Sat, 11am EST Update: Reporters have been contacting my parents in North Carolina regarding the whereabouts of their neighbor, who was one of the flight attendants on Flight 1549.
Mon, 10:30am EST Update: Monique sent an article written about her boss, who mentions having held the front cabin door open for a flight attendant named Sheila (my parents' next door neighbor in NC) as she worked to assist passengers escape from the sinking airline.
*BNY, author of "Becoming A New Yorker", a blog whose personal explorations and astonding revelations of daily NYC transplant-life receive an astounding 14 page views per day (information courtesy of SiteMeter)
A Year Ago Today: No post Two Years Ago Today: No post
Those are two words I never thought I'd put together.
I've been getting the inside scoop from a friend who works at Lehman Brothers regarding the financial meltdown on Wall Street. You can likely find him and his coworkers drinking away their sorrows in $1 beer spots around the city. To quote his email, "The media is outside now taking pictures of our sad, little faces."
And walking home from work tonight, there they were, camped out for front row seats of the annihilation.
This break from "Becoming a New Yorker" and "live" coverage of the Olympic games (never mind that I would otherwise miss the best events broadcast live anyway because of my need for sleep or to earn money to pay my outrageous Manhattan rent) sponsored by ... [email nycblogger@yahoo.com to purchase this advertising sponsorship].
Dear Under-Informed Opinion Former,
I am a little tired of the slander aimed at China regarding the "faked fireworks" in the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Many in the United States - viewing the ceremonies 12 hours later on NBC - heard telecasters, Bob Costas, Matt Lauer, and Joshua Cooper Ramo say: "You are looking at a cinematic device employed by Zhang Yimou here. This is actually, almost animation. A footstep a second, 29 in all, to signify the 29 Olympiads ... you said earlier that aspects of this opening ceremony are almost like cinema in real time. This is quite literally cinematic."
For those of you who did not get it, let me break it down for you in layman's terms: The 29 footsteps of history from the old center of Beijing to the Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium did actually occur as a part of the opening ceremony. In case you do not realize it, those were probably the easiest of their extremely intricate firework production to set off. However, because of safety concerns in operating a helicopter in close proximity to exploding displays and artistic concerns regarding visibility from above due to smog, this aerial portion of the televised program was filmed in advance and the fireworks that would be set off during the ceremony were digitally incorporated into the clip as they would actually appear.
Someone's home footage of the 29 footsteps shot from the ground is submitted below for your review.
The fact that you didn't get what the NBC telecasters were saying isn't what agitates me. Nor is the fact that you read a few comments on YouTube and assumed you had a full grasp of the issue. So why does this bother me so much? Because it poses the same question regarding the generally shallow concerns of a great majority of the world. Why is China's digitized aerial footage of the 29 footsteps getting more international attention and causing a larger Web uproar than their occupation of Tibet? What China did is not too different from when UK men's magazine GQ digitally altered Kate Winslet's legs on their cover to make them look slimmer. Look out, London.
Back to you, Olympic athletes.
A Year Ago Today: No post Two Years Ago Today: No post
Randy Pausch’s Last Words The New York Times, July 30, 2008
Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch is best known for the words of wisdom and wit he delivered during a now famous “Last Lecture” and subsequent best-selling book.
And so it probably comes as no surprise that the final words uttered by Dr. Pausch before his death last Friday from pancreatic cancer reflected the same humor and good nature that made him an Internet celebrity. Read more
Randy Pausch died on July 25, 2008, but he left a profound mark. An enormous accomplishment.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard for men living in New York City: "Ignore the urge to talk to the gorgeous blonde passing you on the street; there are 30 more right behind her."
Sometimes a little old-fashion romance, with the optional combination of modern-day digital technology, buds in the cynical streets of New York City, but it doesn't always bloom.
By Belinda Goldsmith Tue Jul 29, 7:21 AM ET
CANBERRA (Reuters) - A modern-day love story of a man spotting the girl of his dreams across a New York subway train and tracking her down over the Internet has failed to have a fairytale ending with the relationship over.
For Web designer Patrick Moberg, then 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when he spotted a woman on a Manhattan train last November. But he lost her in the crowd so he set up a website with a sketch to find her -- www.nygirlofmydreams.com.
Unbelievably in a city of 8 million people, it only took Moberg 48 hours to track down the woman, with his phone ringing non-stop and email box overflowing as usually cynical New Yorkers took sympathy on the subway Romeo and joined his hunt. Read more
Some folks are stripping down to escape the scorching summer temperatures - but others aren't waiting 'til they hit the area's clothing-optional beaches.
The au naturel look is catching on at city restaurants, a Midtown yoga club and even a stand-up comedy joint. Read more
Happening two blocks away from my office right now. I'm too busy to go check it out in person (and if I weren't so busy, I really wouldn't care), but the news is breaking in real time on the web and it's getting a hardy chuckle in the office:
"It’s very clear that a significant portion of the increase in transit use is directly caused by people who are looking for alternatives to paying $3.50 a gallon for gas." WILLIAM MILLAR, president of the American Public Transportation Association.
"The price of Manhattan real estate is kind of like teflon." - Joya Dass, ABC 7 EyeWitness News
Dass went on to report that a hedge fund manager paid over $800,000 for a storage room in the basement of The Dakota on West 72nd Street and Central Park West: "The room's buyer, hedge fund manager John Angelo, said the price was reasonable, considering what he's getting: 800 square feet with 20-foot-high ceilings and two windows, bigger than many apartments in cramped Manhattan, where a studio can be as small as 300 square feet and the median price for an apartment is more than $850,000." Read more
P.S. David B. Caruso (Associated Press Writer), Manhattan studios can be smaller than 300 square feet.
Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.
As the sexual history of politicians has shown, there is indeed more than one way to get ahead.
I wish I had my camera phone while I was running on the treadmill before this morning. On the row of stationary bikes in front of me, almost every newspaper was turned to this double-page spread in the New York Post: The Gal Who Laid Gov Low
The headlines across New York newspapers have been hilarious today.
On my way to the gym before work, Times Square was blocked to all pedestrian traffic.
And while running on the treadmill, I learned that Times Square had been opened to vehicular traffic only a few hours earlier following a 3:45 a.m. bombing.
