cityrag

night light
hot lights on a cold night in the lower east side, ny

why film production companies SUCK
using today's filming of Love Monkey in the LES as an example…

1) craft service tables out in the open on NYC streets ARE DISGUSTING. put them in a trailer. having seen many people vomit in the street in front of Arlene’s (in this the exact spot), watching bacon and eggs being fried there this morning really fucked with us. and it’s sad watching the neighborhood homeless people walk by them.

2) yo film crews - GET OVER YOURSELVES. people walking by are looking to see ACTORS, not your self important, clip board carrying, free crap food munching, asses.

3) stop fucking with what little parking we have! the no-parking signs gave Wed’s date 3/30, but said THURSDAY (which is actually 3/31), and on top of that the filming is really today, Friday 4/1 – April fools everyone! (car towing started last night, if you know anyone in the LES who had their car towed in the last 24 hours tell them to email us.) and the production companies take over tons of streets/blocks, many more than they’ll use to be sure they have plenty of parking. we’ve often moved our car to see the block remain empty.

4) they may bring money to the city, but they don’t bring it into our neighborhoods. over the years we’ve had many shop owning friends complain that film crews block access to their stores and take up all the parking – killing sales while they’re around (and they bring everything with them so they do absolutely NO shopping in the area, not even a bottle of water.)

Footnotes:
- photos above were shot walking Buddy this morning through the filming of Love Monkey, but the comments are true for just about every filming we've walked through on the streets of NY (dozens over the years)
- does anyone know the name of the actress above that we snapped this morning? is Judy Greer. thanks Nick for solving that!! (she was very nice when we snapped the shot and smiled at Buddy)
- none of the comment's above apply to our friends who work in film

nailed
a little round up of some of our favorite gossip of the week, nailed shut by some of the web's best bloggerz...

Avril writes "Japan is the Best" on her arm for a Hong Kong concert!

brilliant Chasing Farrah review: "Watch Farrah chastise the tabloids then snap into business mode as she proudly reports that the cover announcing her and Ryan's split was the second-highest-selling issue ever. Watch the psychologically abused makeup artist on her hands and knees scrubbing the beige carpet. Yes, watch closely and you will see how damaging celebrity can be."

Angry Cameron Diaz Trippin’ On Her Big Head

the answer to those scary crop circles that have formed on Arnold's flabby belly

"how does Russell live with her?" Kimora Lee Simmons is INSANE and quite a low life

Mad Fug - garunteed to make even the worst dresser feel superior

Justin Timberlake's hose

Barf Personified (for hard core Idol fans - so funny!)

nothing like a good bathroom stall drug story, especially when Paris is in it

Madonna is a selfish, heartless, BITCH (the very sad outcome of 3 chihuahuas she abandoned via aSociaitesLife)

cry baby
it happens (and even then, he's still so cute)

mmmm burgers
as we count down the hours until the Shake Shack reopens this coming Monday, it seems like a good time to follow-up on Epstein's Bar, the burger joint/bar that opened on the corner of Allen and Stanton a couple months ago. and we're happy to report Epstein's serves a dam good burger!...

the meat is very flavorful and has that juicy, melt in your mouth quality. comes with nice pile of lettuce, tomato and onion (and fries.) AND they toast/brown the bun on the grill! (one of the secrets to an outstanding burger! a very important touch also done by Shack Shake.) the fries aren’t anything special and service there can be so-so (we usually order ahead and then pick em up to take out, while we walk Buddy) but the burgers are always great!

to the good life
cityrag loves stories of rescued animals in happy new homes...

here's a little of Bessie's great story from her wonderful owner Erika...
"I too have a formerly orphaned dog. Her name is Bessie and she is some kind of a corgi mix as well. She is such an amazing and strange dog. I found her when I was visiting a friend in Puerto Rico. She would have been euthanized there since she had contracted heartworm disease. Now she is cured, living with me in Brooklyn and being the nuttiest dog ever."

healthy insanity
more from the cool site rock on lock (that Tiger Lilly introduced us to.) this is freakin' fabulous!... some dam funny stuff that's had us laughing all morning. here's a couple of our favorites from 19 ways to maintain a healthy level of insanity...
- At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
- Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
- Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch To Espresso.
- Sing Along At The Opera.
- Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.
- When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

and don't miss this!

hey K-Smokes - step away from the pregnant lady
while the world tries to figure out if Britney Spears is pregnant (and it's looking like a yes)... we'll jump ahead to the next question: is Kevin Federline going to make a good Dad?... and we gotta say, all signs point to NO...

picked this idea up from LilLaaady of the JJB board, here's her sweet note: "I hope she's not pregnant if he's just going to smoke in front of her. Second hand smoke could be just as damaging for a baby."

check out PinksTheNewBlog for some great pics and commentary about Kev's recent trip to Vegas and what might be going on in this photo and the rest of the series (let's just say lots of apologizing.)

and via Gawker: Brit opens a can of whoop-ass on "false tabloids"

production companies love messin' with the locals

seems like every week there's a new movie being filmed in our neighborhood. last week Lindsay Lohan's Just My Luck had many blocks well covered. caught a crazy rain scene being filmed while out walking Buddy. it can be kinda fun, but sometimes it sucks. like, we own a car and they take up all the parking! we try to take it all in stride but this pissed us off... flyers for the film Love Monkey, that are all over the LES today, say they're filming Thursday, 3/30. Um, today is 3/30 and it's Wed!! dam you production companies. it's bad enough you come in and take over the place, at least tell us the right fucking day! (and for anyone that wants to stalk the filming - we called and it's filming tomorrow 3/31)

demise of the LES: Pomeranc's Allen St. Fuckover begins
the Lower East Side has put up with a lot of crappy gentrification, but this seriously scares us. work has begun on a new hotel Jason Pomeranc is building on Allen St. (between Houston and Stanton)...

we read Curbed religiously to keep an eye on what's being developed in the LES, but had been turning a blind eye to this story. today it smacked us upside the head so we dug in, and what we found is very ugly. the articles below speaks for themselves, but the bottomline is: Jason Pomeranc is determined to change the landscape of our hood. if you care about or live in the LES or EV, these are must reads...

Good News for People Who Love Luxury Boutique Hotels

just when one may have feared the boutique hotel craze had peaked, comes word from Deborah Schoeneman that 60 Thompson owner Jason Pomeranc plans to open two new hotels next year, one at 6 Columbus Circle, and one on the Lower East Side. Of the LES hotel, which will feature 32 luxury condos, plus a spa, swimming pool, and all the other requisite trappings of hell, Pomeranc notes, "Allen Street is an overlooked and neglected frontier."

Pomeranc's Allen Street Hotel: Domination!

Perhaps nothing, though, will change the face of Allen like the proposed new hotel, still unnamed, which will tower over the street and certainly raise objections from those who frequently oppose out-of-scale projects... The hotel is also supposed to have bars, restaurants and an outdoor pool and will have two entrances, one on Orchard Street and the other on Allen, which Michael Pomeranc, the developer, calls a ''boulevard in the raw.''...

Hotels are replacing hipsters on changing Lower East Side

Jason Pomeranc was quoted last July as saying of the Thompson group’s 18-story plus project, “We were presented with the opportunity to not only impact the skyline but to begin creating it.” Whether or not other developers will follow suit in “creating” the Lower East Side skyline remains unknown, but depending on zoning restrictions, the look of the neighborhood could change drastically in the near future

Know Your Hoteliers, Part 4: Jason Pomeranc

The Hotness of Jason Pomeranc

it also looks to us like this building may be the real culprit that moved Kush and several other store fronts on Orchard St. a Curbed reader speculated that it was due to an apartment development, but the Allen St hotel demolition looks like it's breaking right through the block. and when we walked around to Orchard, the area that formerly housed Kush is EXACTLY behind the Allen St construction and has been recently boarded up (see Destruction on the LES: Where Will the Hipsters Play? )

cool cat
Mister Gato is one of the coolest cats on the web. just look at that face, those love eyes, that nose, and the attitude. he's simply purrrr-fect! check out his Pop's site for some great candid shots and captions, and get to know this handsome little guy. he's got more personality than most people we know...

(photo credit: enrevanche)

a little of this and that
from around blogland...

- NewYorkology has info on the rise in iPod thefts in NYC

- we're psyched to rent this! Linsayism on Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle... "I am shocked and devastated that I have the kind of friends who would see that movie and not tell me that it's the best comedy in the past five years and possibly ever."

- Buddy loved this story from the Gothamist on dog treat dispensers

- Forgotten-NY's fascinating photo-walk that captures 53rd St. end to end

- Test of Will has some very colorful truck graffiti

- lots of good NYC food reviews and photos at a Year in Food

- this looks kinda fun - building catilevered structures with pennies

- the Brazilian Muse blog turns one!

- mmmmm, summer cocktailzzz

gonna party like it's yer birthday
happy birthday to Laura, the love of our life. let the party begin baby!

(photo credit: Yahoo/REUTERS)

evil twins
A Socialites Life found this great photo of the Olsen twins, and made a clever comparison with the image of the evil twins in The Shining! The Shining Twins always reminded us the twins photo by Diane Arbus...

we like the Olsens, and Evil Twins are one of those reoccurring images that we fucking love, so this made us very happy. America's little sweethearts are getting twisted.

The Oh NO, Oh No No No, Fashion Show
here's an old idea of ours for a reality tv fashion show... a couple drag queens (or catty bitches, like us) ride around in a taxi cab and spot people making hideous fashion mistakes, and then make jokes about them and talk about what they're doing wrong. it's called the "Oh NO, Oh No No No, Fashion Show". today we saw this hilarious photo and caption on Tiger Lilly's site (that she found on Rock On Lock) and thought "now that's what we're talking about here!"...

"Oh no. Why would you even try this??? They look like talons or something. She could gut a fish with those things."

hemp pod
they look cool, but just try explaining your hemp pod’s “aroma smell” to the subway cops...

Claw hits Cali
New York graffiti artist Claw hit South Central L.A. this past week and sent us this fresh photo...

this weekend we stashed all of CityRag's graf photos into one section - check out the new NY Graffiti and Street Art category!

asian bloggers on tsumani watch
friend and reader Stef alerted us early this morning to this ongoing story: "another earthquake in Indonesia. Recommended course of action for Indian ocean coastal countries: evacuate." no Tsunami has developed as of yet but millions of people are waiting to see what happens.

watching the news on this story we became aware of the tremendous number of blogs and websites that have developed since December's tragedy. it's truly amazing, there are tons of bloggers (located in Asia) staying up into the night researching and posting info on the recent earthquake, evacuations and the area's status.

This is Not a Test has an excellent round up of links today that show the breadth and depth of blogs, websites, message boards, and communities devoted to providing up to the minute earthquake, weather and tsunami info. a truly impressive example of the way blogs are advancing the distribution and accessibility of important information around the world.

the subliminal subduction of Michael Jackson's armbands
we’re fascinated with the staple armband that Michael Jackson has worn every day to court since his trial began, and his never-ending supply of a new armband fashions. but after a couple weeks of watching this obvious symbolic statement, one has to ask… what the fuck is going on here? what message is he trying to send the jurors?...

a peak at basic armband symbolism yields some interesting answers:
1) most online dictionaries define an armband as: A band worn around the upper arm, often as identification or as a symbol of mourning or protest. a subset of this symbolism is often an element of memorializing innocent victims.

2) armbands are recognized around the world as a sign of safety and help. they’re commonly worn by medical personnel in the field, the most well known being the Red Cross armband. The Red Cross notes: “The familiar arm band symbol and Red Cross name tag signify someone you can trust, someone you can turn to.”

3) the 3rd most common use of the armband is to show prominence, leadership, achievement or honor – from Nazi and military/militia usages throughout history, to parade marshals, to the armbands worn by Thai boxers

Michael Jackson doesn’t wear armbands because he’s having fun with fashion. he’s wears this specific item of clothing every day of his trail because it carries strong psychological and cultural associations, and he's trying to subliminally convey to the jurors a message: protest of his victimization, and that he is a prominent person of honor that can be trusted.

(footnote: it feels good getting that out. it was starting to feel like we were part of some mass hypnosis that no one would say anything about those crazy armbands.)

UPDATE: in the news today: "Claiming an unnamed conspiracy against him, Michael Jackson said he is 'completely innocent'". also, a friend just phoned us that the free paper NY Metro also reflected today on MJ's armband wearing.

(photo credit: Yahoo Photos/AP/Reuters)

boys room
this graphic put together by our boy NO from odd snaps around his room has a cool NY-life vibe. it's on his site NYCguys. if you like photo's of hot naked NY boyz, click through (or if you've wondered what fucking a cake would look like.)