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Wonderful interview of Milton Glaser by Chip Kidd from a couple of years ago. Touches on his iconic I [heart] NY logo, the updated version (which the NY Commerce Dept. tried to sue him for), and the economics of design. (via df)
NYC’s Bryant Park is getting an ice skating rink this winter. Admission is free. I can’t imagine how long that line is going to be to get in.
Freakonomists Dubner and Levitt propose a solution for people who don’t clean up after their dogs in NYC: a mandatory doggie DNA database against which sidewalk dookies are compared and fines mailed out for offenders.
New York City, redemption, and the 2005 New York Yankees. “Jason [Giambi] was redeemed, and his legend is assured now as the star who wanted more, who lost everything to greed and arrogance, and who recovered his glory, which is now vastly more appealing for the fact that it’s tarnished. It’s a real New York kind of story.”
An intrepid New York magazine reporter waits for meals at various NYC restaurants and reports back as to whether they were worth the wait or not. Shake Shack? Worth the wait. (via meg)
Charlie Trotter bails out of his planned restaurant in the Time Warner Center and it seems that Vongerichten’s steakhouse might not be far behind. As I can attest from a fantastic birthday gift dinner, Per Se is doing quite well.
An ode to the NYC subway’s 7 train. “What is remarkable is the sense of transference that occurs. Manhattan is an international place but it brings all the world into its orbit. Queens reverses that.”
“Floating Island” is a mini version of Central Park being towed around Manhattan by a tugboat (photos here)…it’s a conceptual art piece by Robert Smithson. This weekend, a group of folks in a motorboat tried to board the floating park and install a miniature version of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates. When the captain of the boat towing the island “looked out across the East River Thursday afternoon and saw another piece of conceptual art gaining on him, he did not view the development kindly”.
Cool Google Maps photo of the taxi lot at JFK. (via new york hack)
As discussed previously, there’s a whole lot a restauranting going on in Chelsea on 10th Ave these days. If two is a trend, what do you call all of this?
Coming soon to the MoMa: Safe: Design Takes on Risk “presents more than 300 contemporary products and prototypes designed to protect body and mind from dangerous or stressful circumstances, respond to emergencies, ensure clarity of information, and provide a sense of comfort and security”.
Update: Business Week has a preview of the exhibition as well as a slideshow of some of the objects in the exhibit.
Going all city is graffiti slang for putting your graffiti on trains in all five boroughs of NYC.
Rafael Esquer just showed some of his most recent work here at the Student Conference. I like his Made in NY logo that he did for NYC. Here’s a short interview with Esquer.
A look at Jefferson Burdick’s baseball card collection which he donated the Met Museum in NYC. One downside to the collection: most of the cards are pasted into albums and so are in poor condition.
Heading out to CMJ this week in NYC? Coolfer has some thoughts on which groups might make a big splash among the glut of live music that CMJ brings to the already-oversupplied city.
Paragraph looks like a neat idea. It’s a writer’s workspace located near Union Square here in NYC. It’s like a gym, except for writers. You pay a membership fee and then you can show up and use the facilities (desks, kitchen, your own locker for your stuff, wifi, etc.). More on Paragraph at designer Khoi Vinh’s site.
Sigur Ros played New York’s Beacon Theatre last night, and it was one of the oddest rock and roll shows I’ve been to. Not that I’ve been to a lot of shows, but still. It was like going to the symphony…everyone sat quietly in their seats, clapped politely at the conclusion of songs, and since the music was so quiet at times, people were shushed for talking too loudly (after awhile, most of the audience got clued in that you couldn’t just yak during the whole thing like at normal concerts). And then there was the 30 seconds of complete silence when the band paused in the middle of a song — not a peep from the audience — and then kept right on playing. Great show though…the visuals for the last two songs (final song + encore) were especially impressive. Makes me remember how much I like Sigur Ros. Even though I’ve heard their older albums a thousand times, I don’t get sick of them. I’m looking forward to listening to the new album on the train ride to Boston today.
Here’s some Flickr photos of the show…probably a mixture of stuff from last night’s show and the previous night’s.
Someday we’ll all tell our children about the epic cupcake battles of the early 00s. This one time, I got frosting all over my shirt. It was brutal. (via meg)
The MoMA has acquired The Plum Blossoms by Henri Matisse (picture), the whereabouts of which have been unknown for 30 years.
And as long as we’re on the subject (you didn’t think we were even on a subject, did you?), I’m a fan of how Maciej is displaying his oil paintings. For each of his newer paintings (like this one of a West Village scene), he’s documenting the progress of the work as it goes along so you can see how the painting becomes a painting.
Update: Eric writes that he uses this technique for displaying how his art progresses as well (sample).
Both the NY Times and New York magazine have fall restaurant previews. The southwestern part of Chelsea (+ the Meatpacking) seems to be really jumping these days…lots of stuff happening on 10th Ave (i.e. my walk to Eyebeam most days): Batali, Morimoto, Cookshop, Colicchio, etc. Maybe with all the action over there, maybe the High Line park will work…
According to this chart, the price of a gallon of gasoline in NYC rose about 70 cents in the 5 days after Katrina…that’s one of the steepest increases I could find.
Lance Arthur examines living in San Francisco versus living in NYC and concludes in a highly dubious and hilarious outcome, that San Francisco is by far the better choice.
Pan of the newish MoMA building in NYC. I like the new building, but I agree that there are too many people sometimes; they’re certainly not having a problem with that $20 admission price. (via cdl)
Update: a rebuttal by Greg Allen.
Photo slideshow of where Manhattanites find the beach amongst the skyscrapers and bustling streets of the city.
Short roundup of NYC hot dogs. My favorite is still Nathan’s, although you can’t beat Crif Dogs for ambiance (cocktail Ms. Pac-Man) and *wrapping a hot dog in bacon*. (via afb)
Wanna go work for Thomas Keller? Per Se is using Craigslist to fill some server openings in the front of the house.
Evolution shocker! The discovery of a dinosaur footprint on the wall of a contemporary Brooklyn school proves that the earth is less than 6000 years old (and, perhaps, that dinosaurs could walk vertically). No word on the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s involvement.
The Vendy Awards are being given out to the top street vendors in NYC. They’re currently accepting nominations on the site.
According to a cocktail waitress, how tipping works in NYC bars is a little different than in restaurants. Tourists, particularly foreign ones, tip poorly, if at all, causing some wait staff to pad bar bills to get their tip that way. Another data point in the “is tipping good/bad?” debate, but I could have done without the sense of entitlement on the part of the author. (via tmn)
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