Results tagged “nyc”

We recently shared our excitement over the prospect of getting to NYC on the cheap and comfortable: the semi-new bus routes set up to rival that bastion of Mid-Atlantic inexpensive travel, the Chinatown bus. We are deeply saddened to share with you the experience of QuizMasterChris, who had quite a surreal time whilst attempting to get to aforementioned Big Apple on Megabus, one of those “book early, get cheaper tickets” outfits. That didn’t quite work out for Chris and his girlfriend, who were silly enough to think that "reservation" meant that they had, well, a reservation to board and ride the bus that was supposed to take them from 30th Street Station to New York.

We've been contemplating a jaunt to the old NYC all summer (mainly to see this geekalicious exhibit and have some chocolate), and back before the humidity fried all neural pathways we looked into how, exactly, we would get there. We're not fried too much to remember we’re on a tighter than usual budget, and when did a train ticket get that exorbitant? We resigned ourselves to bussing it, and were delighted, if a bit hesitant, to check out the challengers to the standard Chinatown Bus, which promised (reliable) A/C and Wi-Fi among other amenities, including hard-to-believe $1 fares. Luckily Sulina Gabale over at City Paper took the plunge for us, subjecting herself to four roundtrips to see if the newcomers lived up to her usual chariot, the 2000 New Century Travel Chinatown Bus. The take-away: the newbies deliver, and strange food odors are absent to boot. Excuse us, we're grabbing the laptop so's we can blog our way to the Met.

He was called the “naughty boy of dance” by none other than the grand dame of modern dance herself, Martha Graham. The Paul Taylor Dance Company comes to Philly with five works, the latest,Changes (2008), a Philadelphia premiere. The naughty boy is tricky though: there are two programs, A and B, so you’ll need to head over to the Annenberg twice to catch it all. A includes Changes, Esplanade (1975), and Lines of Loss (2007); B has Philadelphia premiere De Suenos (2007), Changes, and Promethean Fire (2002). Taylor’s dances run the gamut of overwhelming to trivial, so every heavy moment is likely to be counterbalanced with, if not whimsy, at least a little less heavy.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Finally! The Day of Days, only hours away from the Hour of Hours, when the bright and beautiful dawn of the Weekend shall arise above our spellbound eyes, pushing the darkness and decrepitude of the week deep into the recesses of distant memory! Huzzah! Huzzah!

Despite their name, NYC four-piece Vampire Weekend (MySpace) is not a shoe-gazing, emo goth band. In fact, their self-titled debut LP, just released at the end of last month, is perhaps best described as "sunny" - the very antithesis of a vampire's idea of a good weekend. This band, beloved of many blogs (including us), performs bouncy, funny, clever, retro indie/punk/pop/New Wave songs about love. Their music is so fun it feels like there has to be something wrong with it, but nothing is. It's been a while since we listened to an album the first time through, and loved every song on it instantly. (Although of course we did love some more than others; the head-bopping "A-Punk," which they performed live on Letterman just the other night, is the best, and "One (Blake's Got a New Face)" is the worst.) If you haven't got your copy of the album yet, hit the R5 Productions website to download some free MP3s.

Normally we could start this post with some quip about chasing off the winter doldrums with some laughter. But seeing as how the mercury is riding high today, and should be for a while, we got nothing. That’s why we’re not comedians. Luckily, there are some very talented folks who are, and they are presenting a 5-day smorgasbord of improv and sketch comedy goodness for your gluttonous consumption.

Continue reading "Week Around the -Ists"

• SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others.
• Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list.
• Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island.

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said, "Wouldn't a kinder, gentler Gawker be hideously unreadable? No, we never talked about that. It would be hysterical but we haven't."

Keep in mind that despite the "top ten" designation, these are in no particular order. Also, most of these bands have been around for a few years, but I only discovered them this year. And just a quick warning: I use some NSFW language in this post. So sue me.

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Phillyist.

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Phillyist.

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Phillyist.

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Phillyist.

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Phillyist.

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just in time for Halloween, the Chocolate Jesus is back.

What's new and/or interesting in theaters this weekend.

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse.

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take her medicine and offered their own suggestions to how the city should capitalize on the local music scene. And everyone thinks that a suggested tax on bottled water is a great idea.

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a picture displaying the woes of cruising in a tacky limo on the streets of San Francisco.

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too – two of them in -Ist cities.

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank.