myopenbar.com (Chicago link) is a dandy little site that lets you know where to score free and/or cheap eats and/or drinks on any given night in your area (assuming 'your area' = NYC, SF, LA, Honolulu, Miami, or the aforementioned Chi-town). The places are rated, and visited personally by the website's bloggers, but who cares? It's free booze.
posted on Jul 15, 2008 - View this thread

"No one told me there would be unremitting noise every Saturday for the rest of my life.” Historic Harlem drumming circle drives young white professionals drum crazy. Who will prevail?
posted on Jul 9, 2008 - View this thread

Mexican and Latin Immmigrants as Superheroes [ via guanabee ]
posted on Jul 3, 2008 - View this thread

The Boys and the Subway A father's artistic account of his sons' love of the NYC subway system.
posted on Jul 2, 2008 - View this thread

The New York Moon is an internet-based publication adhered to the lunar phases. It is a collection of experimental, reflective, and imaginative projects produced with every other month’s full moon. In the current issue visit the 6th Borough interactive map to discover imaginary precincts, find ephemeral street sculptures on The Trash Map, browse sketches of the moments in between Waiting, or redesign your neighborhood in Blueprints.
posted on Jun 29, 2008 - View this thread

New York City in (mostly) black and white. A huge collection of photos starting in the 1880s—some beautiful, all fascinating. Previously.
posted on Jun 19, 2008 - View this thread

NYC Waterfalls -- On June 26th, four waterfalls will go up around New York City. Designed by Olafur Eliasson and paid for, in part, by the Public Art Fund. Rendering of what they will look like here.
posted on Jun 16, 2008 - View this thread

The Great NYC Commuter Race! A short by Streetfilms about Transportation Alternatives' annual event that pits a cyclist against a car and a straphanger in a race to Union Square from Fort Greene. Guess who wins?
posted on Jun 3, 2008 - View this thread

It all started with a NYC writer wearing a tutu, getting splashed by a passing bus...
"It's really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes—that's why you sometimes need really special shoes." a 7-parter on the shoes that made the show...
posted on May 31, 2008 - View this thread

The Cool Nerds. It's hip to be square, or something.
posted on May 21, 2008 - View this thread

Why do New Yorkers seem rude? A quirky and interesting article about the culture of New Yorkers.
posted on May 20, 2008 - View this thread

Koyaanisqatsi
posted on May 10, 2008 - View this thread

Influenced by the Modernist documentarian André Kertész, with references to the hard-edged, black-and-white works of Weegee and Diane Arbus, this self-taught photographer captured raw and intimate images, and transformed urban scenes into theatrical dramas. More photos at jillfreedman.com.
posted on Apr 28, 2008 - View this thread

The most challenging scenario(video) of communion distribution in the upper deck of Yankee Stadium. See the Pope on 5th Avenue or vote for your favorite papal skateboard design. Other activities. Itinerary. Security. Via.
posted on Apr 12, 2008 - View this thread

IDE the Shanty One is the front man for the Creative Juices crew out of NYC. He raps and produces. His 2007 production Force Fed is a great listen for fans of hard, New York rap artists like F.T. and Wu-Tang Clan. IDE is interviewed about how the crew formed. Listen to any of 148 solo tracks from him or 55 from Creative Juices. Already a fan? He just announced his new album Snapped.
posted on Apr 7, 2008 - View this thread

Spock (nsfw) -- titled "Planet New Hampshire," part of Superhero Lonely, a 2005 exhibition of paintings by John Jacobsmeyer.
posted on Mar 31, 2008 - View this thread

Ever have a job working for a record label on a street crew. And yer puttin up publicity posters on lightpoles for an artist like Rocko and some asshole won't stop takin yer picture. Whadda you do then? Break his friggin camera.
posted on Mar 24, 2008 - View this thread

New York's Governor Eliot Spitzer (Wiki) has been linked to a high-class prostitution ring.
posted on Mar 10, 2008 - View this thread

Jeffrey Lewis brings you The Complete History of Punk Rock and Its Development on the Lower East Side (1950-1975) in eight and a half minutes.
posted on Feb 27, 2008 - View this thread

Was your invite to Fashion Week lost in the mail? Have no fear- you can watch video of some of your favorite designers and models at the official Mercedes Benz Fashion Week website. If you're more into schadenfreude than Sean John, check out the Zac Posen show to see Karen Elson take a tumble .
posted on Feb 8, 2008 - View this thread

The Upside of the Downside "I never imagined I’d find myself in the curious position of having so much more than my parents ever had, of having more, frankly, than I ever thought I would have—and yet simultaneously feeling like I’m falling behind, that I need to earn more, save more, invest more, acquire more. When did I begin to feel this anxiety of acquisition? How did I become such a jackass?"
posted on Feb 5, 2008 - View this thread

Erika Gunderson got into a taxicab in New York City this past New Year's Eve and found a digital camera on the back seat. The cab driver had no information or interest in which previous passenger might be the rightful owner. Bringing the camera home, Gunderson's fiancé, Brian Ascher, took on the task of trying to find the owner. Using clues from 350 photos and two videos stored on the camera he was able to track down the owner, Irishman Alan Murphy in Sydney, Australia and return the camera to him.
posted on Jan 27, 2008 - View this thread

When is the 7th Annual No Pants! Subway Ride? This Saturday, January 12th, New York City. They seem to have done it in 2006 as well. Village Voice article on 2006's shenanigans.
posted on Jan 9, 2008 - View this thread

Hugh Ferriss: Delineator of Gotham. Through his charcoal renderings of dramatic, imaginary skyscrapers in early 1900s New York City, Ferriss influenced the aesthetics of numerous architects with his bold compositions.
posted on Jan 6, 2008 - View this thread

If you like HDR pictures, you might like these of New York City.
posted on Jan 4, 2008 - View this thread

Working Class Cats documents the lives of gainfully employed felines in NYC. There is, of course, some controversy. [via]
posted on Dec 22, 2007 - View this thread

Brooklyn Storefront Houses Of Worship. Amateur photos of 100 storefront houses of worship in Brooklyn, NY.
posted on Dec 19, 2007 - View this thread

Louis Stettner: Atmospheric black and white photos of Paris and New York by Brooklyn-born photographer who now lives in France. Some are sexy, some amusing, some poignant. A series on Penn station in the 1950s is especially nice, and a big contrast to the candy colored Mad Men palette. Beware mispelled main url. via.
posted on Dec 7, 2007 - View this thread

New York artist Ashley Hope's Ripeness is All exhibit at the Tilton Gallery recreates crime scene photographs of murdered women from the 1910s through the 1990s as oil paintings on huge 4' x 6' canvasses. [some nsfw art]
posted on Nov 30, 2007 - View this thread

Why is the new NYC taxi logo so ugly? The bumpy design process probably had a lot to do with it. The Times invited eight designers to try improving on it. Perhaps you can do better? (Ob. soundtrack)
posted on Oct 22, 2007 - View this thread

Find He-man! SEPTEMBER 14 - SARAH saw He-Man slicking his hair back, using the fountain water at Madison Square Park. The once dull, dirty, water is now a sparkling lush blue, and is filled with rare tropical fish.
posted on Oct 21, 2007 - View this thread

"New York City 1968-1972" Some very compelling black and white street photography by Paul McDonough. via
posted on Oct 18, 2007 - View this thread

Anatomy of an Authentic Skateboarder
1. Upturned sun visor.
2. scruffy, gnashing teeth, beedy-eyed mug that only Aphex Twin could love.
3. Lots and lots of chest hair.

Meet the Amazing Strangers of Union Square, photographed and commented on by Normal Bob Smith. [previously]
posted on Oct 17, 2007 - View this thread

The Wedding of Amy and Jewels
posted on Oct 11, 2007 - View this thread

The Cruise, director Bennett Miller's timeless portrait of New York City, free thinking and the 1990s as lived by Timothy "Speed" Levitch. In eleven beats on youtube: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
posted on Oct 2, 2007 - View this thread

Live Loud Acts: archives and playlists for The Pat Duncan Show on WFMU. Hour upon hour of expertly curated punk rock radio. Pat's Myspace page has more info.
posted on Sep 26, 2007 - View this thread

"First we kill the architects..." Photographer Danny Lyon [1, 2, 3, 4] offers ten suggestions for New York City. Suggestion #6: "Leave the World Trade Center excavation exactly as it is and use the space as a freshwater pond planted with pink, white, and yellow lilies..." His essay is only one of many from names you'll recognize in a book called Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York. An associated exhibition opened yesterday [museum, NYT review]. Is New York City moving in the right direction? Is your city? [via]
posted on Sep 26, 2007 - View this thread

Randall's Lost New York City Collection "documents the destruction of many of New York City's 19th century tenement and other buildings, so that we can mourn the lost [and] appreciate the endangered." Gallery 1, 2.
posted on Sep 20, 2007 - View this thread

Hilly Kristal has died at age 75. First the club, now the man.
posted on Aug 29, 2007 - View this thread

Why New Yorkers Last Longer. Interestingly, urban theorists believe it is not just the tightly packed nature of the city but also its social and economic density that has life-giving properties. When you’re jammed, sardinelike, up against your neighbors, it’s not hard to find a community of people who support you—friends or ethnic peers—and this strongly correlates with better health and a longer life. [New York Magazine article]
posted on Aug 15, 2007 - View this thread

Elizabeth Murray, a New York painter who reshaped Modernist abstraction into a high-spirited, cartoon-based, language of form whose subjects included domestic life, relationships and the nature of painting itself, died yesterday at her home in upstate New York. (Images)
posted on Aug 12, 2007 - View this thread

Picnicmob would like to invite you to a picnic and seat you precisely with those most like you.
posted on Jul 25, 2007 - View this thread

I'm tired of looking at attractive, fashionable people.. Behold: Ugly Outfits New York.
posted on Jul 23, 2007 - View this thread

On a summer afternoon in 2006, New York photographer Gerard Maynard captured his neighborhood from a rooftop at 7th Avenue and 110th Street. The resulting 2,045 photographs, stitched together, comprise a 13-gigapixel panorama of Harlem's skyline. Best viewed with HDView option (MS Internet Explorer only).
posted on Jul 18, 2007 - View this thread

The Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe has nearly 450 local, national and international artists and curators (pdf) participating. Individuals place bids on the works of art in increments of $10. Online art auction to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation of NYC.
posted on Jul 14, 2007 - View this thread

The Splasher: Caught? (bugmenot) The Splasher(s?) has defaced graffiti in NYC for the last seven months, focussing on graffiti artists who have found commercial success often posting pieces of a growing Manifesto. The Manifesto calls for a new radicalism in graffiti and art in general, apparently inspired by Jeanette Winterson, Guy Debord, and Sixties anarchists. Is Cooper the Splasher? Now that he's caught, is this the end, or is there more yet to come?
posted on Jun 29, 2007 - View this thread

Busted! In one of the biggest counterfeit busts in years, a 19-month investigation reached its climax on Tuesday as federal officials conducted early-morning raids throughout the NY metropolitan area, arresting 29 people, seizing more than $230 million in merchandise and ultimately dismantling three operations believed to have imported more than $700 million in fake products over the last 24 months.
posted on Jun 27, 2007 - View this thread

Peter B. Kaplan is a New York Photographer who made his name by climbing to high locations and taking amazing super-wide angle shots since the 70's -- most notably, the Statue of Liberty restoration project. He recently had to stop after 40 years because he started suffering from vertigo. After laying off ginkgo biloba, Kaplan’s vertigo and fear of heights has apparently disappeared.
posted on Jun 25, 2007 - View this thread

"The business is definitely an art, the men are craftsmen..."(YT) NYC's rooftop water tanks are a unique and often overlooked part of the city. Watch as one goes up (its worth the 10 minutes for the money shot at the end): "New York, is water tanks, yes."(YT) "New York, which has thousands of cylindrical wooden rooftop water tanks with conical roofs, couldn't exist without them." Its the only city with its own section under Wiki's water tower page.
posted on Jun 22, 2007 - View this thread

The sounds of the old New York Times, (By David Dunlap), now that the paper is moving into a new building
posted on Jun 13, 2007 - View this thread