Bedbugs invade New York City

The NY Daily News has finally run a full feature on the Bedbug infestation making its way across the city. Out here in Bushwick, we've been taking precautions for months. An artist loft across the street had a scare this summer leading to some leases being terminated and a number of couches/mattresses being thrown to the curb, marked with the Scarlet Letters "BEDBUGS" in paint.

"The numbers are off the charts: In 2004, New Yorkers placed 537 calls to 311 about bedbugs in their homes; the city slapped 82 landlords with bedbug violations, data show. In the most bedbug-riddled district, Bushwick in Brooklyn, HPD issued 172 violations this year, up from four in 2004; it responded to 476 complaints, up from 47."

The gold in the article comes alongside Museum of Natural History entomologist Louis Sorkin's quote:

"Prolific reproducers and hardy survivors, they can thrive in penthouses, flophouses or any environment where they can locate warm-blooded hosts, said Louis Sorkin, an entomologist at the Museum of Natural History who keeps a colony of 1,000 bedbugs in his office and lets them feed on his arm."

He let's them feed on his arm? Doesn't that just make you appreciate your co-workers just a little bit more?

Miracle on Bedford Avenue

Here's an overly acted, produced, and embedded video by the name of "Miracle on Bedford Avenue". With a soundtrack to suck the spirit of Christmas right out of you, this "Miracle" comes to you live from Gawker. The North 6th/7th and Bedford intersection is hotly becoming the place to catch the next Welebrity! I don't think this one will throw Mr. Emo-pants into Internet Fame, but at least they're featuring the neighborhood.

Save Astoria from Hipsters - A Facebook Group

From the "SAVE ASTORIA" Facebook group's description:

"Its no secret that historically, Greeks have done a lot more beefing with one another than other wise. On the few occasions that we did manage to come together, we became a formidable force ie; Persian Wars, Alexander the Great, World War II etc.

Now the time has come again to save the neighborhood we covet and cherish. Many of us call this place home. Whether or not we live there currently or not, we all feel a sense of community on those numerous blocks. Until recently, Astoria was just another section of the city. It however has become a hotbed of attraction. Guitar playing Hipsters looking to replace the souvlaki guy on the corner must not be allowed. We must band together to prevent flamboyant hipsters from turning our churches, cafes and hang outs into wasteful art exhibits!

Look what has happened to Brooklyn (Williamsburg along with other neighborhoods)-! Its not to late to save Astoria!

Plan of action- it is as simple as frequenting the area (if you don't live there permanently)

This Group is directed towards Greeks being that we make up the majority of Astoria's ethnic population. However Croats and Italians are encouraged to join in as well."

With rent up to 1250 a month, who else is there to blame but the hipsters?!

JOIN THE GROUP

Benazir Bhutto Assasination Photos

The following are links to some very real, very graphic photo gallery's of Benazir Bhutto's assassination earlier today. This is terrible news for Pakistan, the Muslim world, and the World as political stability is now an afterthought in the war-torn Middle East.

Wonkette Photo Gallery: http://wonkette.com/photogallery/bhuttoassassination/

New York Times Gallery: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/12/27/world/asia/1227-ATTACK_index.html

New York Times Obituary:
Benazir Bhutto, 54, Lived in Eye of Pakistani Storm

Dearest Roommate

Here's a gem from the blog Passive Aggresive Notes, from one roommate to another:

PASSIVEAGRESSIVENOTES

National Anthem sung backwards

So cool. So time consuming. So worth it. I wish I did this.

visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbkNxYaULBw
or watch it here:

BOINGBOING

Violent Christmas in NYC

In a night reminiscent of Home Alone 2, New York City saw it's fair share of violence on Christmas night. Nine separate shootings resulted in four deaths, and five people are in not-so-good condition.

"As of Tuesday evening, police have not made any arrests in these shootings. Anyone with information about these crimes can call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS or 888-57-PISTA for Spanish speakers. Callers can remain anonymous."

Looks like Mom was right, swearing that you'll shoot your eye out with that "official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time".

MYFOXNYC

Tiger Attack

A tiger broke free from it's cage at the San Fransisco Zoo Christmas evening, and killed a person! Somehow the Tiger got out just before the Zoo's 5pm closing time, and attacked a 23 year old guy eating at the Terrace Cafe, a little cafe just around the corner. This is sad! Below is a picture of the culprit, Tatiana, who was shot dead by the authorities as soon as they arrived on scene. And of course, oh noble zoo-keepers, this is the same Tiger that attacked it's trainer last year. Who smells a lawsuit?

Look how crazy she looks! They are just some crazy cats, i'll tell ya.

I feel like usually people would be all up in arms about not holding these animals in captivity and all that, but this isn't your average Siegfried (I before E? E before I?...I don't feel like Googling at the moment) and Roy tiger attack. This thing escaped from its freaking cage at a zoo. The kind of zoo we've all probably been too at some point in our lives. It's wild how trusting we are of these things, while families are snapping away pictures all day with babies and kids and old people and those huge turkey legs they sell at zoos.

This does get me all up in arms. I hate those Turkey legs. The meat is usually bone-dry and full of tendons, so you feel like you're using Turkey Floss the whole time. Then you've got to deal with being that idiot who bought the Turkey leg. Everybody pointing, laughing, taking pictures. Look how crazy you are, buying the Turkey legs at a zoo.

In closing, don't go to zoo's no' mo'. The last thing we need is a Gorilla attack on five year old.

AP STORY

Michael Cera gets fired from Knocked Up

I love Super Deluxe. This lil' video is awesome. As you probably imagined, this isn't real, just a brilliant piece of viral marketing for the film. When asked if people still thought it was real in a MoviesOnline interview promoting Juno, Michael Cera admitted "I don’t know. Probably. I can’t believe that people think that those things are real. It’s crazy. I don’t get it. It’s just crazy."

Long Live The You-Queen!

Queen Elizabeth II is planning on giving her annual Christmas address via YouTube. Her team (as I think it's safe to assume it's not her) is setting up a YouTube channel where they'll host the video. They're also planning on sharing her first address from fifty years ago. I wonder if the Queen has interns. This seems like their idea. I couldn't imagine a better way to do this though. Royal watchers extend well beyond the UK, so this will give them a chance to connect with the Queen and of course, somehow find a way to debate racism, hollywood, and abortion in the comments section, b/c that's what happens everything single time a video makes it to the homepage with some kind of message other than a closeup of someone sticking their finger into the elbow crack between their forearm and bicep. Expect that closeup coming from the Queen early next year, and expect the finger to be replaced with a Royal bananna.

Borat is dead

Sacha Baron Cohen has finally and openly declared the deaths of both Borat and Ali G., citing over-exposure for both characters. In a rare "as himself" interview, Sacha admitted that he can no longer hide behind the characters who made him famous, so for him, it's time to move on. The good news, some might say great news, is that the 3rd character in the trifecta is about to get his stage time. From the UK's Telegraph:

"He is finishing work on his next project, which features Bruno, the gay, Austrian fashion reporter who also made his first appearance with Ali G, although Baron Cohen is unwilling to discuss it."

TELEGRAPH

So we know...

25

Looking for x ray tech schools?

Am I Wasted

This is number one, rated 7.69 after 954 votes, in the Top Ten at "Am I Wasted", the new ad-heavy photo rating site that's making some rage. It's full of naked people, covered in vomit, all of whom are no doubt feeling deep regret now that the internets have discovered this little gem. The Bottom Ten is pretty funny too, one dude just took a picture of his smirking ugly face, thinking this is some kind of online dating site. Maybe it is, though. Hook these dudes up with the ladies from "30 reasons girls should call it a night", and we might be making some babies!

BUZZFEED

New York Times = Gutless

Over the past couple days, John McCain has been waging an overly aggressive battle with New York Times editor Bill Keller, trying to stop him from publishing a potentially ruinous story involving a female lobbyist drafting up some key legislation for the Telecom industry.

Said lobbyist has retained counsel and has reportedly vehemently denied the accusations. Journalists Jim Rutenberg and David Kirkpatrick have been working on the story for the past 6 weeks, and now are being silenced because of Bill Keller's fear of ruining McCain's chance at the White House so close to the Iowa primaries.

"Rutenberg had hoped to break the story before the Christmas holiday, sources reveal, but editor Keller expressed serious reservations about journalism ethics and issuing a damaging story so close to an election."

Stay tuned to Drudge for this story developing...but goddamn... pull up your pants and let them break the story, Bill!

Feel like he should break it too? EMAIL HIM!

DRUDGE

M.I.A. - original paper planes video

M.I.A. was super pissed yesterday over the censorship of her new video for the single 'Paper Planes' off of Kala. Both MTV and the David Letterman Show took out the sound of the gun firing, and apparantly dubbed over the sound making it sound all shitty. On her own blog, reposted on Perez yesterday, she said things like:

"WHEN LETTERMAN CENSORD ME IT WAS WAC OF COURSE!!!!!!"

and

"THEY TRIED TO SHUT ME DOWN AGAIN."

and

"WHO THE THE FUCK IS DOING THIS TO ME?????"

So, in honor of her awesomeness, here's the video as she intended, followed by a video from her label XL chronicling her UK tour...the first of many, apparently.





PITCHFORK

Sonic the Hedgehog for iPod

It's time to lube up the spin wheel and trim your nails because the original Sonic the Hedgehog is now available for your iPod...for the one-time payment of $4.99!

From Adam Frucci @ Gizmodo:

"Just in case you haven't had a chance to play the original Sonic the Hedgehog on your Wii or Xbox 360 lately, now there's yet another platform that's offering the classic platformer for sale: the iPod. Yep, for $4.99 you can now download the classic Sonic the "I remember this being better" Hedgehog for all of your awkward, click-wheel-controlled gaming needs. Huzzah!"

I4U ORIG. POST

A Country Song for Mexico

In the past year and a half, over thirteen Mexican country stars have turned up dead or gone missing - victims of a wild drug war with no morals and even less rules. The majority of the victims were killed exectution-style, some even abducted as they left their sold-out concerts. One of these victims, identified by the New York Times as:

"Sergio Gómez, the founder and lead singer of K-Paz de la Sierra, who was seized as he left a concert in his home state of Michoacán early on the morning of Dec. 2. His body was found the next day dumped on a roadside outside this city, the state capital. He had been beaten, tortured with a cigarette lighter, then strangled with a plastic cord, officials said. He was 34 and had just been nominated for a Grammy Award."

Some of these musicians have penned songs criticizing the Mexican underworld, others, just riding with the wrong crew. The murders have been rather brutal, with Sergio Gomez burned and strangled with a cord, and others being found with bags over their heads and beaten to death. One female country singer was even shot and killed in the hospital while recovering from an earlier attempt at her life. Whoever's doing this is definately leaving the bodies as a message to the others...and the authorities (if you can call Mexican cops authorities) have no idea who to blaim.

For the singers, it's time to go back to making love in the back of a Chevy and steer clear of the drug trade. Nothing really rhymes with Cocaine anyway.

"Something is dreadfully wrong for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side.
Though I am trying
To stay in the saddle,
I'm getting weary,
Unable to ride."
El Paso, Marty Robbins

Here's a video dedicated to Sergio, found on Youtube:


NYT

Space Fight!

A bigger galaxy has resorted to beating up another galaxy in space today, in an apparent act of space-ground bullying. Technically, a black hole has sprouted out jet x-rays and gamma rays and bad breath into a neighboring galaxy. While it isn't uncommon in the wider scope of the universe, the fact that its happening between two young neighbors is quite rare. Their previous relationship didn't go past the occasional back yard Beer-B-Q and collecting each other's mail when one is on vacation.

"...pity the poor stepchild galaxy in the 3C321 system, which features two galaxies orbiting each other at relatively close distances.

In a virtuoso feat of cross-telescope observation, researchers using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Spitzer Space Telescope, along with a others, have observed that each galaxy in the system has a massive black hole at its center – but the larger has a huge jet shooting from its center, and splashing into the smaller."

One of Wired Science's readers wrote in and called dibs on this oddity, noting that he actually wrote a paper about interstellar gang-war two years ago, and it can be read here.


WIRED SCIENCE

Over The Hillary

From Drudge, titled "Toll Of A Campaign":

The Dark Knight - leaked 6 minute trailer

Somebody finally posted the first six minutes of the highly anticipated 'The Dark Knight', as screened before the "I Am Legend" in IMAX this past weekend!!! So here, in all it's glory, is the leaked 6 minute trailer, shot from a cam in the theater. Watch it before the studios take it down!



MOVIEWEB

Wii 4 College

Today on Craigslist, somebody in the East Village is selling their Nintendo Wii for a 4 year college education, or approximately $26,336.

Nintendo Wii - $26366 (East Village)

Original Dark Knight Trailer and Domestic / International Posters

I'm getting a lot of people searching for a leaked version of the 6-minute trailer for the Dark Knight over the past couple days. I don't even know if such a leak exists, as I'm sure the execs over at Warner Bros have kept that tape super-secure with guards bought by Blackwater and decommissioned Army sargeants. That being said, here's the trailer you have probably already seen:



Cinema Blend dug up these domestic & international Joker posters that they suspect Warner Bros have drawn up for us. Who knows if these'll be the finalized versions...but, cool nonetheless. If any of you stumblers see the trailer tonight before 'I Am Legend', please, do share the story. Email me at bkries-at-gmail-dot-com!

Confessions of a Drunkorexic

Drunkorexia - The process of restricting food calories so one can drink more and not gain weight from alcohol consumption.

I'm half drunkorexic, half binge eater while drunk, which leaves me in a very troubled place somewhere between drunk, fat, and lazy. You see, last night I got fairly inebriated on rum & cokes at the Deep Focus holiday party, then while rummaging around my pockets for keys to the apartment, I managed to buy out the Life Cafe delivery guy waiting outside. My score: For $20 I got six chicken fingers with mustardish dipping sauce, a handful of Jalapeño poppers, an awesomely hot dish of Mac & Cheese, and some plastic forks, napkins, and spoons. So, I binged. Then drank another rather large $1 tall-boy of Hi-Life.

I am $Ries, and I am a Drunkorexic.

For more info on this newly coined term, visit Buzzfeed.

SantaCon

Last Saturday saw the coming and going of Santacon - NYC, and it's something that i'm pissed I missed! The Flickr albums are priceless; just head over there and search for "SantaCon", and the majority of your hits will be NYC's march. If you choose to do it next year, remember the three "fucks", as listed on their website:

"Santa doesn't get arrested. Please remember the FOUR FUCKS:

1. Don't fuck with kids.
2. Don't fuck with cops.
3. Don't fuck with security.
4. Don't fuck with Santa. (yeah, it's okay to fuck Santa)"

Geez SantaCon, awful naughty, aren't we?

Crashstat - Bicylists & Pedestrian Deaths in NYC

Here's an interesting use of Google Maps' API - a site which tracks pedestrian and bicyclist deaths & injuries around NYC over the past ten years. Option boxes allow you to select what kind of data you want to see, such as injuries & deaths by borough and community, as well as any hospitals or schools that are nearby.

A pop-art looking picture of a pedestrian or a bicycle mark a death, while a blue or red dot mark an injury. The site is put together by community organization Transportation Alternatives, a "5500-member NYC-area non-profit citizens group working for better bicycling, walking and public transit, and fewer cars. We work for safer, calmer streets and car-free parks." Visit Crashstat to see how your neighborhood ranks up.

W00T Gets Word Of The Year

w00t (that's two zeros) has beaten out "facebook" for word of the year, as voted by visitors to Mirriam-Webster's website. Other front runners included words such as blamestorm, sardoodledum, and apathetic. One might find these voters clever for voting in the last word, perhaps as a nod to Mirriam Webster that nobody freaking cares about words no-mo'. We'll just keep making 'em up and adding them to Wikipedia: N00b, W00t, and of course, Pwned!

"This year's winning word first became popular in competitive online gaming forums as part of what is known as l33t ("leet," or "elite") speak—an esoteric computer hacker language in which numbers and symbols are put together to look like letters. Although the double "o" in the word is usually represented by double zeroes, the exclamation is also known to be an acronym for "we owned the other team"—again stemming from the gaming community."

From Mirriam-Webster's word of the year article.

Machine Girl - the next cult film?

A number of sites are raving about the new "Machine Girl" movie trailer, some even claiming it's going to be the cult film of the year for 2008. It is the story of an ordinary, Japanese school girl whose family is killed and her arm is straight-up chopped off. She replaces the limb with a machine gun and goes on a blood-soaked, reign of terror to avenge her families deaths. Twitch was the first to provide the trailer, and bloggers are stoked. Including me. I'm excited, because we all know America needs a good dose of Japanese school girls with machine-gun arms.

Slashfilm's Peter Sciretta summed it up a bit for us:

"The film features yakuza ninjas, flying guillotines, a drill bra, a Japanese teenage schoolgirl, and probably more blood than I’ve seen on screen this year in all the films combined."

And yes, I realize that the player is too big. We have Brightcove and Blogger to thank for that. But hey - check. out. that. quality!



Twitch

Pajama City

Thanks to a Mr. Ras Obasi, my world was turned upside town today when he opened my eyes to an internet wonderland properly named "Pajama City". They are the one-stop-shop for adult footed pajamas, shipping their product out all over the world from their own little North Pole in Annapolis, Maryland. In case you didn't know how to use Footie Pajamas, Gay and Andrew, the duo behind the site, offer a nice little How-To footie yo'self:

"About an hour before you go to bed, wind down by crawling into one of these snuggly body-hugging beauties, fix yourself a nice cup of tea and curl up with a book or the TV (or your significant other). By the time bedtime rolls around you'll be ready, body and soul, for a good night's sleep.

Imagine how peaceful the world would be if everybody on the planet spent an hour a day dressed up like a big fuzzy caterpillar! The footed jammie is also perfect for the first outfit of the day. Why put on your business wear for breakfast? Wouldn't a nice hot meal in a snuggle bunny outfit be much better for preparing you to meet the world? These are called lots of things: footy pyjamas, onsies, union suits (the original trap door pajamas!), foot pajamas, and lots of other silly names. How 'bout trying a whole weekend wrapped in one-piece fleece pjs? It'd be like a vacation. Something about these; you simply do not feel like doing yard work when you put one on! A great cure for the workaholic in the family.

Speaking of vacations; they never give you enough blankets in hotels, do they? That's why we travel with a pair of our Flannel Footed Pajamas - they fit nicely in the suitcase and we always get a good night's sleep under the hotel's "thinner than a saltine" blanket. These are also great marriage savers... he turns the airconditioning up; you don your footies. The perfect combination!"

They offer people sizes from 4 foot 6 all the way up to Yao Ming's elbow at 6 foot 2. You can order a Single Fleece Footie, Blanket Fleece, Sweatshirt, Flannel, Velvet (oooh!), and of course, the dump-on-the-spot Drop Seat.

PAJAMACITY

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a blog

I'm not kidding. Insane Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a blog. Lucky ol' him managed to get his domain name before the link spammers and porn amateurs of Iran scooped it up - at ahmadinejad.ir. He starts every post with, "In the Name of Almighty God-the All-Knowing, the Most Lovingly Compassionate", then launches into a continuing thread about the inept policies of the American government not representing us good ol' American citizens.

While he's known as a stone-faced dictator and a stomper of human rights, his blog comes off in a similar vein as any other amateur blogger; he thanks his readers & commenters and he'll openly talk about not having enough time to blog (due to his busy schedule of proving that the holocaust never happened and denying the existence of gays in Iran). His commenters come from all over the world, and are marked by a little flag representing their home country. Their opinions range from fanatical to racist to critical, and are worth a good read.

From the Washington Post article breaking this story:

"There is a political irony to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s blogging, since other Iranian bloggers, including reporters who worked for news Web sites, came under more pressure after his election. Hundreds of Web sites and blogs that were critical of the government have been blocked. Censorship has been so wide that the president’s blog was once blocked mistakenly along with Google for a day. In fact, blogging has become common among former officials, especially reformist politicians who do not have a platform to express their ideas."

Read his blog for yourself, and check out the accompanying W.Post article.

LOL Vogue

First there were lolcats, then a lolrus, then lolmetal and all sorts of spin-offs. The next natural step is, of course, lol vogue. Find your favorite magazine & make those models look stupid.

BUZZFEED

Fold a shirt in 2 seconds

Something tells me this'll make our lives much easier. Now we just need a video on how to fold a hoodie. I think that's physically impossible. Mine usually end up in a tangled-mess, half-hanging out of my Ikea dresser's box, which totally goes against the clean image Ikea has paid for. Maybe they'll sue me, giving me the chance to live-blog from the court room for some free publicity. Bring it, Ikea.



Fold A Shirt In 2 Seconds - video powered by Metacafe

LIFEHACKER

The Dark Knight - 6 minute spoiler

Holy crap. (review of the 6 minute spoiler screened before I Am Legend)

and here's the shorter leaked trailer seen in theatres:

Squirrel Armor

The Pitbull Armory is a site, well, a dude living in his parents garage, who makes armor for pit bulls, people, and of course, squirrels. While the pit bull armor is certainly pretty darn cool, the real treasure of the site is the squirrel armor.

Note that the image is called "War_Squirrel_elite"! Awesome!

I Am Legend review

I Am Legend got a pretty solid review from a "miserable old coot with no life". Merrick over at 'Ain't It Cool' posted Mild Manner Reporter's review of I Am Legend...and it's pretty damn good! He's praising the way the movie was shot, he loves the chase scenes, and he even loves Will Smith's rocking performance! This is such good news for Sci-Fi movie lovers who get upset when their stories get big budget treatments.

"But then the movie proper started - and man, it's a BLAST! I don't care what everybody else says, but this bitch ROCKS. Not just because they actually manage to build a plausible backstory (even for the "vampires"), and give the scenario an atmosphere of dread and isolation. No, "I am legend" works because despite all the action sequences and FX fireworks, it's still very much the story of a lonely man incapable of accepting fate. The finer details of the script are too numerous to list here, but if you look for it, everything in the movie has a subtext, a mirror opposite, or some deeper connection. Mankind brings the plague upon itself, and every time things take a turn for the worse, someone has caused it. Even Robert Neville is responsible for everything karma throws at him, and when his carefully balanced world starts to unravel, it's strictly because he made mistakes, ignored facts, slipped up."

Read Merrick's post here, view the trailer here, and go see I Am Legend this weekend.

A blog within a blog

Somebody named "Indian Slipper" has hijacked a Gawker post and started their own blog within a blog. Go, visit the fun here.

Declare Independence

Bjork's crazy new video, Declare Independence, has made it's way on the web. It's directed by Michel Gondry, who has directed a whole lot of awesome videos.

Watch it here.

Blame Canada

Ok, it's no secret that Canada's really f--king cold! So, riddle me this. Would it be wise to come to a city like New York, where in the past few days it's residents have been freezing their butts off, and install a giant snow-globe with real people in it? I don't think so. This might make more sense if Mexico came on up here with portable Sauna's, offering free 30-minute bakeout sessions complete with Pacifico's and a Donkey Show coupon...

"The "world's largest snow globe" will take up residence at Bryant Park from December 14 through 18 as part of a campaign to get people to visit Canada."

NEWYORKOLOGY

Sparkster Shooters

The Sparkster Shooter, a drink combining Sparks, raw Oysters, hot sauce, and lime juice, is apparently the new craze among the anti-hipster hipsters living in and around Bushwick. This video has scenes shot on Metropolitan Ave., in the Grand Ave./River St. park by the East River, at Eagle Market on Bushwick and McKibbin, and in one of the McKibbin lofts! That's like, totally where we live! Did you know you could fish for oysters out of the East River? Neither did we! But we do know this: Sparkster Shooter's are now the ONLY way to start out your Friday night when hopping around Williamsburg. Enjoy.

Here comes another bubble

What, you thought I wouldn't get to this?

Happy Repeal Day!

If you happen to visit Gawker, Gothamist, Nerve, or Salon today you'll notice that Dewar's is launching a full-fledged eyeball attack to spread the word of the brand-spanking new holiday that is Repeal Day. Many, many years ago, the 21st Amendment was passed on December 5th, effectively overturning Prohibition. Speakeasy's turned to bars, groceries to bodegas, and our great ancestors became alcoholics almost overnight. So what's not to celebrate? Enjoy this fine promotional piece from Dewar's, honoring the day that celebrates all that is unholy yet sacred in this fine city of New York...and remember for all the years to come - Get Wet on December 5th!



Visit the REPEAL DAY website for more fun and celebrations.

UPDATE: Best Week Ever just did a longggg post, toasting repeal day here.

Beat-down on the A train in Bklyn

The Smoking Gun managed to capture a video of a gang beat-down on the A Train in Brooklyn, which was posted on YouTube last week and since deleted. The video shows a group of kids harrassing an older, 30-something male on the subway. After a couple minutes, and as the fight escalates, a few more males come into the scene and take up spots kinda surrounding the victim as one of the girls continues yelling at him. The video ends with about 5 of the kids kicking and punching the 30 year old to the ground.

"As members of the group inched closer--and threatened to strike him--the man remained calm, asking the girls, "Why are you arguing? Please stop, stop." As the train pulled into Broadway Junction, a girl off-camera could be heard predicting, "They gonna hit him, I know it." Within moments, the man, who had stood up, was shoved down and pummeled by members of the gang. As the tape ends, the victim--who was also struck in the face with a plastic soda bottle during the assault--is continuing to be struck by two of the girls."

The filmmaker, high-school student Kadejra Holmes denies taking part in the fight, but has since deleted both the video and her account from YouTube. She had originally named the video, "jump up to get down", a reference to the single/video by Brand Nubian which features the rap group beating the crap out of a couple of unfortunate souls on the subway.

Visit The Smoking Gun for the video.

Juno

Juno (2007) | Rating: $4.25 / $5.00

Earlier this night I caught a screening of 'Juno', the new cutesy-comedy directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking). It comes with an awesome soundtrack littered with songs by Belle & Sebastian, Sonic Youth, and Kimya Dawson.

People are saying it's this year's "Little Miss Sunshine", whatever that means, and it totally has a Wes Anderson feel. The film's also got that priceless darling buzz that surrounds films made by independent artists with little known actors, which eventually to be box office killers.

The story was a cute exploration of life and love, bookmarked by hilarity, and driven by characters surrounding the protagonist, Juno. In it, a 16 year old girl gets knocked up, breaks the news to her friends and family, then deals with the ups and downs of a high school pregnancy in a snarky yet hilarious way.

What's left is something that you'll be recommending to everybody.

Because it was a screening (the film releases this Wednesday, Dec. 5), Fox Searchlight was handing out free T-shirts and pens designed as positive pregnancy tests. When the movie ended, people rushed out of the theatre to get their free shit. If you tripped, you were guarenteed to be trampled, dead, and probably shirtless within a matter of minutes.

We came home and my girlfriend got our roommate Amanda pretty good with the pen, pretending her preg. test was a big ol' plus sign and asking how the hell she was going to tell me. Amanda's response: "Oh. my. fucking. God!".

Anyways, here's a link to /Film's soundtrack list (it comes out Dec. 15), and enjoy the trailer below.

New Apple Store = Free Shit!

There's a new Apple store coming to NYC on West 14th Street, and they'll be having an opening ceremony this Friday, December 7th at 6:00pm. Aside from having more Mac Genius' to help New Yorkers with their Apple problems, this is an opportunity for everybody to get free Apple swag! I got this in my inbox today:

"Make tracks to West 14th Street and 9th Avenue for the grand opening of NYC's newest and largest Apple Retail Store. Do your holiday shopping in style with three floors of all things Apple, including an entire floor dedicated to personal training, free workshops, hands-on technical support, and more. Be sure to get here early for commemorative T-shirts and other special surprises while they last."

Last time I went to a big Apple event, a friend of mine got a free software coupon, and we saw a clueless bald man win a brand new MacBook. This time, that bald man could be you! Head on over to Apple's page for more details.

High Res Banksy

In honor of his first NYC gallery opening today, enjoy some free high-res Banksy.