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Your up-to-the-minute guide to New York City events, restaurants, bars, nightlife, ticket alerts, NSFW ephemera and cat photos.
Smells fishy
Tue Jul 10
Slate made a big splash in the food blogs this week with author Sarah Dickerman's ingenious idea to get sushi scribes Sasha Issenberg (The Sushi Economy) and Trevor Corson (Zen of Fish) to discuss the finer points of the Japanese raw fish meal. We loved the idea so much that we executed it here in the Eat Out section...more than a month before Slate did. Bon apptit.
Game over?
Mon Jul 9
Manhattan, circa 1609, juxtaposed with Manhattan, circa 2006 *
Have you ever wondered what would happen if humans simply disappeared from the planet? Well, if you haven't, don't stress, because science writer and author Alan Weisman has, and he's mapped out exactly how he imagines thing would be in his new book The World Without Us. TONY features Weisman in this week's "3 questions" in the Out There section. To hear more about his controversial theories and what specifically would occur in Gotham, read on:
So how do you suppose we'd all disappear?
Well, if you read the introduction to my book, you know I list them very quickly. A Homo sapiens specific virus, space aliens or Jesus raptures us away, something like that. But then once we get beyond that, you know, if we theoretically wipe human begins off the planet, suddenly all of our stuff is not in the way, at least all of our activity, all the noise that we make. And for the first time you'd be able to hear the planet. I've...
Today: Monday, July 9
Mon Jul 9
Perhaps tomorrow I'll tell you about the time I made my coworkers take a tap dancing class with me!
How's it hanging, my sweet kadota figs? Enjoying the heat? I'm not, but then that's because I'm a human being, not an iguana, camel, dromedary, lizard or anteater (the previous is the result of my turning to my coworkers and asking, "What's an animal that likes the heat?" Michael misheard me though and thought I said, "What's an animal that likes to eat," hence anteater) and so I do better in temperate climes than in this inferno wrapped in a fire doused in a blaze sitting on a hellmouth that I call Tenth Avenue. You know? Also, I tend to get beads of sweat on my upper lip, which is unattractive no matter how you slice it, or wipe it away as the case may be. And let's say you've been reading the newspaper or something so you have some newsprint on your hands and then you go to wipe your upper lip then you're putting a smudge there so instead of a sweat 'stache you're pretty...
Overcoming fighter's block
Mon Jul 9
To promote his fisticuffs-friendly debut novel, The Fighter, Craig Davidson has sought to enter the ring with Wake Up, Sir! scribe Jonathan Ames, who tried his hand at boxing with performance artist David Leslie in 1999. Not only did Ames accept the challenge (bringing to mind a bout between P.G. Wodehouse and Chuck Palahniuk), but the proposed match was looking downright official—it was going to be part of Rumble on the River, a USA Boxing-sanctioned event for serious amateur punchers. But we have bad news for everyone who planned to attend RotR for this historic fight: It has been canceled. Rules dictate that the age difference between contestants cannot exceed ten years, and Ames, 43, has a decade-plus on the 31-year-old Davidson. But modern-day Mailers, keep your chin up: The two authors will still fight—on July 24, at 8pm. They're simply moving to Gleason's Gym (83 Front St, Dumbo, Brooklyn), where there are apparently no ageist rules against older novelists who want to get...
Hit the road, Jack...
Mon Jul 9
First K-Rock, now this: At 1:01pm on July 12, after just two years as Jack FM, WCBS-FM 101.1 will return to its old format of classic rock and oldies. The switch is hardly a surprise: When the format changed in 2005, longtime listeners were outraged—even Mayor Bloomberg protested it. Additionally, since the switch, the station's ratings have plummeted, losing over half of its listeners and about 30 percent of its ad revenues. Clearly, the Jack format (no on-air personalities; more contemporary tunes) did not sit well with New Yorkers.
The programming will be tweaked ever so slightly: instead of focusing on music from the '50s through the '70s, the playlists will include music up to and through the '80s (expect to hear a lot of Billy Joel). And while some of the old DJs, including Bob Shannon, are back, the return of other fan favorites (like Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, who can currently be heard on Sirius Satellite Radio) is uncertain.
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