People taking cars that don’t belong to them. (NY Daily News)

People taking children that don’t belong to them. (Yahoo! News)

Strange people doing strange things. (Gothamist)

“Jobs and industries of tomorrow taking root beyond our borders.” (NYT)

Colors you’ve never heard of before. (Jezebel)

Reality stars who just won’t go away. (Entertainment Weekly)

Columbia on TV. (C-SPAN)

Matt Kalish, SEAS ’12, sends in this photo of a shuttered Pinnacle Deli:

The phones happily rang when we tried to call Pinnacle but no one answered. The Department of Health is closed on Sunday and the most recent inspection is not online yet, so use your imagination! Because, as you know, Pinnacle was always spotless.

Update: 1/6 10:30 AM: The most recent inspection details are online now. Save this for after lunch.

One more photo after the jump.

Read more…

You’ve been camping in Butler and watching YouTube videos for three days studying hard! You deserve a break!

Friday

Gerhard Richter – considered one of the saviors of contemporary painting, this German artist’s paintings are on show until January 8th.

10am – 6pm, Marian Goodman Gallery, 24 W57th St

FREE

Blip Festival – celebrating chip music and its related disciplines, events include live performances, documentary screenings and workshops

The Bell House, 149 7th St

$15 for single night pass Read more…

Mama Mexico appears to have had some trouble with the authorities, as Lecture Hop Editor Emeritus Sara Jane Panfil notes that its 102nd Street location has been seized by “The Man” for non-payment of taxes.

The website does seem to indicate the other two locations are still going strong.

The abandoned stone structure on 119th and Amsterdam sort of looks like a medieval castle – a very, very small one. It isn’t quite the stuff of architecture classes, but the little building stands out – you’ve probably wondered what it is or was as you passed the forgotten, weedy lot. It’s not like there’s a dearth of old buildings around here, but everyone knows the deal on St. John the Divine, the old St.Luke’s hospital buildings, and you know, Columbia. Bwog unveils this final mystery – a riveting tale of the forgotten, the clandestine, the underground… literally.

The trail of the underground aqueduct in Manhattan

It turns out that the 119th street gatehouse, as it is called, is part of a now defunct and closed off aqueduct system that runs from the Croton River upstate, through the Bronx and under Amsterdam. The gatehouses give access to the New Croton Aqueduct and pumping mechanisms underground. The original Croton Aqueduct began construction in 1837 after a really big fire made it clear that a growing city needed a real water source and a real distribution system. Two reservoirs were constructed to hold water for the city brought in from Croton – one where the New York Public Library now stands and one on what would become the site of the Great Lawn in Central Park.

Read more…

Mark Hay may not be a native New Yorker, but he’s taking steps in the right direction.

Bloomberg wins New York. Sometimes it is hard to understand the city we live in. But certainly the last week, the introspection brought about by Bloomberg’s hegemony and victory, has given me the time to realize that, torn and confused as we are by this city, we cannot help but love it. So this week I honor New York City, despite mayor Bloomberg, with a love-letter to Woody Allen. I recognize that many movies could, and probably should, be put on a list of Allen, but I’ve specifically chosen his greatest love songs to New York City, our beautiful home.

Manhattan (1979)

The ultimate ode to New York, Manhattan backs almost all of its dialogue and human interaction with absolutely breathtaking, towering, and now iconic shots of the city. Without the cinematography of Gordon Willis – who, despite his focus on the urban over the human, does not drown out humanity, but rather melds it into the streets and bricks with perfect balance and accent – the film, for all the talents of Allen as a director, would be another notch of nothing on Allen’s bedpost. But likewise, without Allen’s characters and his knack (so strong during the late 1970s and 1980s) for a great story of snaking and seedy (but ultimately sympathetic) love, all of Willis’s work would amount to nothing more than a nice slideshow.

Read more…

Your Election Day weekend will probably be stuck in Halloween mode until tonight, but how to fill the next three days? Bwog Weekend Warrior Sarah Camiscoli has five ways you can make a day (or three) of your travels. 

Also, a subway service advisory: through Monday, the downtown 1 is skipping 137th – 103rd Street stops (i.e. go to 96th and come back up), while the uptown 1/2/3 is skipping 50th-86th Streets. More details and other subway adjustments can be found on the MTA’s website.

Reconnect with the Uptown Over-Soul – After a hefty two months spent in Butler Reading Room, don’t you feel like it’s time to get yourself reacquainted with your roots? Well, getting a fresh breath of bonsai is quite simple with a day trip to see “Kiku” in the Japanese Autumn Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, located next to Fordham’s Rose Hill Campus in the Bronx.  But if a two-dollar suggested donation (in addition to Metro) is just too much to spare, Fort Tryon Park is quite splendid, free, and your picnic foods can be purchased on Flex, before taking the one train straight uptown to the 191st stop.  And if well-manicured Mother Nature just doesn’t end up being enough, The Cloisters are conveniently located right inside the park and only suggest a $5.00 donation for their artistic display of the dark ages.

Embrace your home borough - Calling all students who make daily choices between Morton Williams vegan turkey salad and Pinnacle calzones: there’s plenty more right nearby. Hike down to Graffiti Hall of Fame, located on 106th and Park Avenue, to stand in awe in front of a remarkable display of graffiti in Spanish Harlem. Luckily, once you’ve made it that far from Low Steps, only two blocks further south is the New York City Museo del Barrio at 104th and 5th Avenue. The $4 donation is a steal as this museum is a bombshell of cultural history. Read more…

Mike Bloomberg has broken his own campaign spending record, already blowing through $85.2 million with 11 days still to go. (AP)

When you’re Hugh Hefner, you’re “old enough to be the great-grandfather of some of his girlfriends.” Oh, and old enough to receive front-webpage articles that describe your cultural contributions as “almost quaint.” (NYT)

The new Yankee Stadium now has cracks in the ramps. (NYT)

In this case, the NYPD paid for shotguns that malfunction. (NYPost)

CNN gets a makeover, now looks hideous. (CNN)

Oh, and Gothamist actually makes a rat look sympathetic…for free. (Gothamist)

Update, 11:50 AM: Oh, and that whole swine flu thing?  Turns out that it’s for real. (NY Times)

- Photo: Teamperks/Flickr

Comptroller William Thompson learns it may be even more difficult to defeat Mayor Mike Bloomberg. (Times)

You might find the subway moving more slowly today. (NY1)

Mob killer: No one told me prison life would be hard! (Daily News)

Packed schedule keeping you from watching TV? Try the Internet! It’s eight minutes shorter! (Spectator)

Second suspect arrested in attack on a gay man in Queens. (1010 WINS)

Photo: marsdd/Flickr

The weather’s getting a little colder, but music and knits will keep you warm. Perhaps some hot apple cider from the Union Square Green Market (Friday and Saturday 8 – 6) would also do nicely.

Friday

Celebrate Thelonius Monk’s 92nd birthday featuring star pianists Randy Weston, Armen Donelian, Geri Allen, and many others.

5 – 9 at World Financial Center Winter Garden, 200 Vesey St.

FREE

One Step Beyond – party in the Planetarium in association with Fader magazine, see rapper Amanda Blank and DJs Devlin and Darko.

9 p.m. – 1 a.m. at the Museum of Natural History, 79th St. and Central Park West entrance

Tickets $25 Read more…

Monopoly players looking for a more serious game have been meeting three times a week at Cosi, on Broadway at 78th Street, for three years running. Claire Sabel, Bwog’s intrepid Advanced Board Games Correspondent, and a friend RSVP’d to their online invitation and joined the ongoing tournament earlier this week.

We arrived at seven, and were greeted by Wayne, the group’s founder and bookkeeper–like any serious Monopoly group, they record the statistics of every game. Many of the players draw their Monopoly skills from real-life experience: Wayne refined his money-counting prowess during his years working in a liquor store, while another regular has invested in multiple real estate properties in the city. “I play real-life monopoly, too,” he says.

Now retired, Wayne hosts his regular game in the back of the café. We came on a slow night and met most of the roster of regulars, but Wayne mentioned that interested passers-by drop in for a game or two on busier evenings. Another veteran, Mark, recalled one semi-professional ringer who joined in and left with $19,000 (in pink and green Monopoly money, we assume). “We’re pretty competitive,” he recalled, “but this guy was in another league.” But before we could start, Wayne, sporting an intimidating sweatband, had to take us aside and explain Monopoly Mega. Read more…

Guide to the Weekend returns, in the one post where you’ll ever find both burlesque and food trucks together.

Friday – Sunday

New York Film Festival

Alice Tully Hall

1941 Broadway

$7 for students

“In the past, the festival has showcased the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar and Martin Scorsese. Adventurous cineastes will especially want to check out the Views from the Avant-Garde series.” 

D.U.M.B.O Art Under the Bridge Festival

Various neighborhood locations

Free

Artists turn the area around DUMBO into a series of temporary projects, using a variety of mediums. Read more…

Good morning, and welcome back, readers! We start the year with a revamped and expanded morning news roundup, but we need your help naming it. Suggest your best title ideas in the comments, and please don’t force us to choose “Bweakfast with Bwog.”

Image via Amazon.com

Even the most rent-stabilized Manhattanites can’t stand against the MTA (NYT).

The most famous CU alum’s favorite haunts get their own walking tour – for $25 (NYPost).

In local tennis, a 17-year-old from Georgia (the state) is steamrolling all those girls who advertise things on TV (HuffPo).

A good chunk of Morningside will now accept your parents’ money instead of your own (Spec).

New York State accuses Columbia’s Manhattanville PR firm of ethics violations (Spec).

And, last but not least, the University’s still forking it over to save us from Swine Mexican H1N1 Flu (Spec).

Just because activities have calmed down here on campus in observance of approaching finals, it doesn’t mean that New York City isn’t still popping!

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

The Con Film Festival

Film Forum, 209 W Houston St (212.727.8110)

This series of cinematic odes to the bad guy will feature classic takes on criminals and their sexy dangerous lives. Escape from Alcatraz and Riot in Cell Block 11 will be notable features.

Price: $11

Read more…

Image via the Boston Massacre Historical Society

The New School is (or was) at it again!  We told you last December of their first attempt at a building takeover and in February of their threats to shut down the entire university, largely over a desire to see current president (and former Nebraska senator) Bob Kerrey resign. Yesterday, dissent (and, apparently, violence) again reared its head at the University. 

In the morning, New School students stormed a 5th Avenue university building and chained themselves inside.  In response, at least 20 NYPD officers appeared in riot gear.  City Room has videos of police behaving in ways that may make you quite uncomfortable.  Those cans they’re shaking?  Yeah, that’s pepper spray, even though police spokesman Paul Browne had earlier claimed that it was “untrue that pepper spray or mace was used in effectuating the arrests.” 

These questionably-rigorous arrests sparked a protest-con-march-on-Kerrey’s-house later last night, which, according to the Times, also met with police opposition.  The NYPD and the New School administration have denied any misconduct, but the New York Civil Liberties Union is, naturally, up in arms.  NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman is quoted in the Times calling the police’s behavior “a violation of civil rights plain and simple.”