Results tagged “bart”

Via SFist (which calls it "deliciously big brother-y"), the Bay Area's mass transit system, BART, has created a Facebook page to help shame rude riders. BART, a government agency, says the Rude Rider Hall of Shame will feature "Rider-contributed photos of people blocking doorways, eating on trains, bringing their dogs on board, breaking all the rules and generally displaying rude behavior." So far, there are only two photos (one of a pole hugger and another of a man-sitter with bicycle), but we can imagine the madness if the MTA has a Facebook page like that.

Some L.A. Lakers fan (we assume) came up with a brilliant plan to psych out Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa last week. Barbosa fell victim to a hoax where his hotel gave him a message saying that Suns GM Steve Kerr wanted to meet him to discuss a trade to the New York Knicks. Jeez, that's maybe the meanest prank call we've ever heard!

Members of the Writers Guild of America have been striking in Los Angeles and New York this past week over details of a basic contract between writers and producers - one of the biggest sticking points is the amount of residuals writers get from DVD and new media distribution. The NY Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd asked Seth Meyers (who we spoke to on Tuesday) to give her a weekend update about the strike:...

Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks’s latest big-budget musical theater beast – rumored to cost over $16 million – has finally slouched toward Broadway to be born. It opened last night at the Hilton Theater; this morning the Times’s Ben Brantley shuffled out of the delivery room to tell us all about the freak of nature Brooks delivered. Proud ticket buyers who shelled out the record-setting $450 for “premier seats” are probably going to want to put...

Bad news is staggering down from Young Frankenstein’s extravagant Broadway castle: When critics begin gathering with pitchforks and torches next weekend, the show’s star, Roger Bart (he plays the titular role Gene Wilder made famous in the film), may be benched with a herniated disc. A monstrous problem indeed, as the part demands extensive dancing, and according to Michael Riedel, Mel Brooks is panicking. (Isn’t Larry David available?) A little birdy tells Riedel: "One scenario has his doctor pumping him with cortisone so he can play the critics' performances and opening night, then take time off to heal. But that, as any dancer will tell you, is extremely risky."

EVENT: "Home Buying for Hipsters" would like to help out all of you "creative non-traditional wage earners" during your quest to own a home. Buying property is an art, after all, so creatives may even have a head start! They "aim to specifically address your concerns and break down the process into steps you can understand." Their classes are free and open to everyone ("hipsters, non-hipsters, art stars, rock stars, designers, freelancers, sculptors, poets, part-time geniuses, business moguls, cheapskates, high rollers, nerds, players, winners, losers=whoever is ready to own a home!") More info at their MySpace page, of course.

The Department of Education officials are smiling and parents are seething: Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Lewis Bart Stone ruled that the DOE could continue to ban cell phones.

Coffee Shop was closed for a few days when the Department of Health tallied up 102 points of violations - 28 or more requires a closure - at the restaurant, finding "Cooked or prepared food is cross-contaminated" and issues with plumbing among the concerns. The Union Square eatery posted a snippy sign explaining the closing, and owner Charles Milite went to the NY Times and said Coffee Shop was "caught in the cross hairs of this unfortunate Taco Bell Situation," since Coffee Shop had operated for 17 years without incident. And he promised the restaurant would reopen yesterday.

The -ists this week had politics on the brain. And what goes better with politics? Partying-- that's two great tastes in one. Oh, and Kevin Federline...can't forget about Kevin Federline. That's three great tastes in one.

Whether you're celebrating Christmas or compiling Best of 2005 lists for your blog this weekend, if you're sticking around the city there will be plenty to do. And of course the subways are now back to take you where you need to go...it's a Chrismukkah miracle!

- Luckily no one was seriously hurt when a school bus toppled over on the Major Deegan Expressway; authorties say that the kids' seatbelts might have saved them - check out this picture from Newsday

Besides fumbling with the newspaper, the subway game Gothamist plays is "Do we really need to hold onto the bar/pole to remain steady?" Sometimes, we're able to lean against the doors (yes, the MTA doesn't advise this, but we're skilled at it). Or sometimes we'll work on our balance and just plant our legs firmly on the ground and will ourselves not to topple into others. But most of the time, Gothamist grabs onto the bar or pole and whip out the Purell as soon as we're out of there.

City Council member Peter Vallone Jr. is looking to have wireless providers ask for the city's permission to put cell phone antennas on rooftops. By having a wireless provider go before a community board or the City Council, he hopes to prevent the rampant antenna-ization, saying, "Right now New York has the most lax regulation in the entire country. They put their antennas across from our schools, our playgrounds, and our bedroom windows." This totally reminded Gothamist of the Simpsons episode, Make Room for Lisa, where Lisa's room houses an Omni-Touch cellphone tower, and when she moves in with Bart, she goes crazy.

Her parents made the trip to Thailand to search for their daughter in December. One worry of theirs was that Hannah, if dead, might be buried in a mass grave with the thousands of Thai victims because of her ethnicity. A memorial for Hannah will be at St. Bart's Church on Saturday.

For some reason, this reminds us about The Simpsons episode, The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson (4F22), where Bart yells from the Statue of Liberty to a boat full of immigrants that the country is full. New York City is obviously not full, and Gothamist welcomes the newcomers with open arms. Now give us some of that money.

When The Fresh isn't playing some hip venue in the Silver Lake region (that's LA's answer to Williamsburg), we're betting he's locked up in an artificially dark room somewhere just south of Hollywood Blvd surrounded by keyboards and guitars. A virtual mad scientist of musical standards, the Fresh isn't a musician, he's a performer. An award winning one at that, just ask the Malibu Film Festival. To learn more about the Fresh check out his website, where you can download most of his songs. His debut east coast performance is Tuesday at the Gothamist show, so be sure to get there for his 8pm set (more details after the interview).

- Concierge Service (assistance with story development, scouting assistance, budget analysis, and discounts on participating vendors)More details from the city. Mel Brooks yukked it up with Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki, saying, "It was breaking my heart to think that we had to go to Bucharest or Toronto or Vancouver to somehow mimic this incredible city," he said. "Without the tax benefits, the truth is, the horrible truth is that this movie would probably be made in Kabul, wherever the cheapest place in the world to shoot is." Newsday covered the event, and the Mayor's and Mel's salty attitudes were on display:

When Bloomberg suggested he be cast as Max Bialystock, the swindler who seduces old ladies to finance his Broadway schemes, Brooks quipped, "We wanted somebody a little taller."
But Bloomberg -- slightly taller than Brooks but shorter on comedic stature -- got the biggest laugh of the day.
When Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver suggested Brooks get a second Bar Mitzvah during filming, Bloomberg shot back, "Or a second bris."

More Borscht Belt humor from the press conference from the Daily News, which reports that Brooks used to sneak into the Brooklyn Navy Yard to watch warships being built. Yes, he's that old. And so far, the cast of The Producers is starry: Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprising their Broadway roles, with Nicole Kidman as Ulla and Will Ferrel as Franz Liebkind, and could it be, Roger Bart and Gary Beach be signing on as well?

Laser beam pointers

Tina Brown, Editor/Writer/TV Host

Of all of the reports about the stalled contract negotiations between Fox and the vocal talent of The Simpsons and current work stoppage, you have to hand it to Variety. Their article ended on this pearl of wisdon:

Homer Simpson, in 1995 episode "The PTA Disbands," gave Lisa this piece of advice on work stoppages: "If you don't like your job, you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American Way."

The voices behind the characters - Dan Castellaneta (Homer, Barney, Krusty the Klown), Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu, Comic Book Guy, Cletus, Professor Fink), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Julie Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart, Nelson, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders) - are looking for $360,000 per episode/$8 million per season. They currently make $125,000/$2.75 million. Variety also points out that while Ray Romano gets around $1.5-2 million per episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, the Simpsons actors don't need to work long days on set (an sitcom episode usually needs around a week to shoot) - simply 6-7 hours to voice an episode - but, then again, The Simpsons is a $1 billion business. During the last contract negotiations in 1998, when most of the cast was looking to bump their salaries from $30,000 per episode, Fox went ahead and found voiceover replacements for them just in case. That's Rupert Murdoch style hardball!

When [Cold Mountain producer Albert] Berger referred to Paramount's distribution of ELECTION, which Berger and six others produced (or exec produced), Bart said ELECTION was one of the worst marketed films ever. "But Paramount did produce it," Berger said, to which Bart replied, "Accidents happen."

Gothamist's favorite New York Times film critic reviews Pirates of the Caribbean. Here's what Elvis Mitchell managed to put in the review:

Two weeks ago, the Times examined the cottage industry that is Law & Order's character casting. Essentially, Dick Wolf's crime franchise is supporting New York's struggling actors, as well as acting as a stepping stone to bigger and better things in the biz. Gothamist loves how Dick Wolf, when reading Playbill at the theater, thinks an actor is either bad or new in town if he/she doesn't have a Law & Order credit, because Gothamist has played "How many actors in this play have been on Law & Order?" whenever we go to the theater. It's especially great to see an actor play a witness one time, and then be upgraded to the actual killer. Or bumped up to a recurring role as a defense lawyer.

These days, it seems like the big thing is to kiss and tell, and there's no bigger audience than when it's made all the more public. The grungier, sorta B-list version of Britney and Fred, Kelly Osbourne's ex-boyfriend, Bert McCracken, lead singer of The Used, according to The Sun, says they had sex in a limo. And he says he dumped her on Valentine's Day. Bet Kelly wishes Sharon did a better job of shaking him down.

Just 3 days till Bart & Co. turn 300. It doesn't seem the the official The Simpsons site is doing anything special, but you can get ready by having friends over and playing a Simpsons drinking game. Here's another. Or just research all the ones that come up on Google. But Chris Sullentrop wonders where the magic has gone?

Word - Charles Taylor writes about how Variety editor in chief Peter Bart is seriously blinkered in claiming critics focus too much on so-called obscure films. Peter Bart's was pandering to the studio heads, basically a way of ensuring more advertising dollars for the rag, by denouncing the so-called tastemakers that ruin the studios. Jesus, if critics really had that much power, would "Just Married" have made $18 million this past weekend?