If you have any questions about NY for tony to report on just drop me a line.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Any ?? for tonylimo...
If you have any questions about NY for tony to report on just drop me a line.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
The NEW MET STADIUM
ON the left is the cranes on the new construction in Flushing, NY..click on pic for better view.
A man name Carey
This is a bus Driver i met from the south, he had a group of people at the theatre on last Thursday. HIs last name was Carey.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Willie Mays in New York today
Willie in town ??.....maybe went to the game last night to see A-Rod hit his 500......
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Megu in Tribeca
62 Thomas St. .....is where the big bucks go....bring plenty for lunch and dinner. Stll a hot spot to go....
LOVE ME DO
YANKEES FANS KEY TO A-ROD’S DECISION
JOE Torre was asked yesterday if he thinks Alex Rodriguez has won over Yankee fans.
“I think so,” Torre said at his Safe At Home Foundation Golf Classic. “Yankee fans like to see explosiveness. They’re used to having big boppers.” Now he imagined A-Rod bopping until the age of 40, probably past Barry Bonds, and said: “God only knows where he’s gonna wind up.”
Torre may as well have been referring to A-Rod’s future home. Because the $30 Million Question hanging high over The Bronx is this one:
Have Yankee fans won over Alex Rodriguez?
After three years of crying and moaning about his October failings, after boobirds mocking him at every opportunity because he is not Derek Jeter, Yankee Stadium gets its chance to show A-Rod the love.
Maybe it’s too late now. Maybe A-Rod has made up his mind to opt out of Pinstripes.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Taxi Drivers' Group Upset Over New Technology
NEW YORK -- A major New York City taxi drivers' group says it might strike over new technology that's being required in all the city's cabs.
The executive director of the Taxi Workers Alliance says the group may call for a strike in September -- if city leaders don't address drivers' concerns about their privacy and income. The group has more than 7,000 members.
The city Taxi and Limousine Commission is requiring all 13,000 city cabs to install touch-screen monitor and mapping systems. Taxis must have the systems when they come up for routine inspections, beginning October 1.
The technology allows riders to pay by credit card, check on news, map out where a cab is going and find information about eateries and entertainment.
Many drivers say the systems are expensive and would let officials check up on them. Taxi officials say the new technology could boost ridership by eliminating the need for cash, while giving drivers information about traffic and lost items.
The commission originally called for the technology while approving a 26-percent fare increase in 2004.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
OFFICER LOSES GALLANT FIGHT
DIES FIVE DAYS AFTER BEING HIT IN WILD SHOOTOUT
July 15, 2007 -- Officer Russel Timoshenko, who was shot in the face Monday while confronting a trio of vicious thugs in Brooklyn, ended his brave battle for life yesterday afternoon.
"Officer Timoshenko made the ultimate sacrifice with unflinching bravery and dedication to duty," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said outside Kings County Hospital last night.
His doctor, Robert Kurtz, struggled to hold back tears as he told reporters that the NYPD lawman died while on life support at 4:14 p.m.
In the dramatic final moment of Timoshenko's life, a line of nearly 150 fellow officers filed past him to pay their respects. His devastated family huddled near by.
Friends outside the hospital room could hear his heartbroken mother muttering "god help, god help" between her gut-wrenching sobs.
"People were kissing his hands and his feet," said George Kallaur, an archpriest at the Russian Orthodox Church of the New Martyrs and the Confessors of Russia in Bensonhurst.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Nothing slowing A-Rod's historic march
Yankees slugger still in prime as he nears 500 career homers Life with Alex Rodriguez is loud. It has to be.
From deafening roars after 450-foot home runs to ever-present tabloid turmoil that follows the slugger's every movement, noise is a constant of A-Rod's existence. It's anticipated and expected, with the only sure bet that there will be plenty of it.
Perhaps that's why a man who strides to home plate behind Mims' "This Is Why I'm Hot," a modern rap anthem, spends so much time blocking the world with rubbery plastic earphones, sending his iPod back to a simpler decade with the musical styling of Pat Benatar, John Cougar Mellencamp and Hall & Oates.
Friday, July 13, 2007
iPhone Buyer have no regrets today..at least in NYC !!!
Early iphone owner are very very happy with their devices, which is what i surveyed out in NY TODAY. PLUS APPLE and AT&T are luring customers way, or are they?
lets us know...
Google Lets Users Overlay Data on Personalized Maps
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc. will introduce on Wednesday a new feature that lets users create personalized maps which plot the locations of everything from cheap gas locally to the latest earthquakes worldwide.
MyMaps, as the new feature is known, allows consumers to select from more than one hundred mini-applications created by independent software developers. These allow users to overlay data on top of Google's popular online map service.
Visitors to http://maps.google.com after Wednesday at 6 a.m. PDT (1300 GMT) will find a new tab that contains links to dozens of the mini-applications, which Google calls Maplets.
One map application allows users to watch YouTube videos based on the locations where they are uploaded. One could switch from the video confessions of a teenager in Ohio to tourist videos shot in the Andes mountains of South America.
MyMaps, as the new feature is known, allows consumers to select from more than one hundred mini-applications created by independent software developers. These allow users to overlay data on top of Google's popular online map service.
Visitors to http://maps.google.com after Wednesday at 6 a.m. PDT (1300 GMT) will find a new tab that contains links to dozens of the mini-applications, which Google calls Maplets.
One map application allows users to watch YouTube videos based on the locations where they are uploaded. One could switch from the video confessions of a teenager in Ohio to tourist videos shot in the Andes mountains of South America.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Alex Rodriguez looking for 30million per year..
After the NY Yankee said that they would break tradition and negotiate during the season with Arod on a contract extension, his agent Scott Boras wants 30 million per year
Are they crAZY.....THE market can't demand that much money now.
what do you think ?
email tonylimo@gmail.com
Monday, July 09, 2007
Analyst claims iPhone nano on track for fourth quarter
A researcher from JP Morgan believes that Apple is already on the verge of releasing a second, lower-cost iPhone model based on its most popular iPod.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Friday, July 06, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Jersey Beauty Queen Pushes Back after Blackmail Attempt
- Miss New Jersey says someone is threatening to make some personal photographs of her public if she does not give up her crown.
But Amy Polumbo is not just Miss New Jersey, she's also a Jersey girl, and says she has no intention of giving in.
"It would certainly be easier for me to simply succumb to these unlawful and immoral threats, and quietly disappear,'' Polumbo said Thursday at a news conference she called in Asbury Park.
Polumbo, a 22-year-old Howell resident and a senior at Wagner College on Staten Island, won the Miss New Jersey competition last month, giving her the right to compete in the next Miss America competition -- wherever and whenever it may be held. Her platform: Protecting children from online predators.
Polumbo's lawyer, Anthony Caruso, said that starting last week, Polumbo, her family and officials in the Miss New Jersey Education Foundation received packages with pictures of her and the demand that she resign by Friday.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
iPhone’s Multi-Touch Technology On MacBooks in October?
"According to CrunchGear's 'trusted source' that the upcoming MacBooks which are expected to be released around October will support the iPhone's multi-touch technology built into their touchpads. The feature will be built into the touchpads, allowing you to navigate through your notebook's files, applications, etc. the same way you can on the iPhone. (Yes, I know you can already scroll with them, that's nothing new. I'm talking about all the other finger gestures that can be done on the iPhone's screen) On June 20th, CrunchGear reported, "The upcoming MacBooks will be about half the thickness of current models (which would be quite the feat) and they'll be made from new plastics/materials"
iPhone sales add luster to Apple stock
Apple's stock soared to a record high Tuesday amid analyst reports that sales of highly profitable iPhones easily rocketed past 300,000 after its US launch.
Apple shares were up nearly five percent, going for 127.17 dollars a piece when the New York Stock Exchange closed. The price slipped a fraction to 126.82 in after-hours trading.
Investors were evidently reacting to reports from analysts that from 310,000 to 700,000 iPhones have been snapped up since the devices began selling on Friday and that the profit margin on the devices is estimated at 55 percent.
Apple and US telecom giant AT&T, the exclusive iPhone service provider, did not disclose sales figures "for competition reasons."
"In its first weekend we sold more iPhones than in the first month of any other wireless phone AT&T ever offered," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel told AFP. "That's how good it's been. We are simply not releasing figures."
Nearly all of AT&T's 1,800 stores were sold out of iPhones by Monday and new stocks were en route, according to Siegel.
The rush of people activating their iPhones online during the weekend flooded AT&T computers, causing delays in a small fraction of cases, according to Siegel.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Gave Up Sleep, but at Least I Have an iPhone
Apple wanted a spectacle when the iPhone went on sale, and it got just that.
Dozens of photographers hovered outside Apple’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue near East 59th Street, waiting to snap pictures of the elated, often sunburned faces of the first iPhone owners. Some Apple faithful had waited in line for days.
At 6 p.m., their patience paid off.
“I guess I didn’t need to get in line because they have thousands of them in there,” said Norbert Pauli, 52, who had waited since Wednesday morning outside the Fifth Avenue store. The sweaty tangle of people who lined up there included a customer service representative for a trucking company who took a vacation day to make her first Apple purchase; a jazz musician who declared, “I don’t stand in line for anything”; and a tourist from Argentina who said he wasn’t even sure the phone would work once he got it home.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Manhattan iPhone Watch: T minus 1.5 days and counting
On Wednesday, as predicted, the rain came. I must say I don't think I've sported this much Gore-Tex outside of hiking trips. Thunderstorms had been on the horizon for New York, and despite rampant rumors that Steve Jobs can control the weather, they still came. Around the 5th Avenue Apple Store, drainage isn't too good, so parts of the stone courtyard outside the Early Show studios were half an inch deep in water. (Note to self: don't wear flip-flops next time!)
But that didn't do anything to break up the line of enthusiasts waiting for the iPhone launch at 6 PM on Friday.
I hadn't dropped by the Apple Store this afternoon because I was busy talking into a box (there's my shameless self-promotion for the day). So when I showed up again after dark in the rain, the line that had been six people long 24 hours ago had now lengthened to 14. The male-female ratio is about 4:1, and just about everyone is somewhere in their 20s. Everyone was huddled under umbrellas, and thankfully, it looks as though there was plenty of rain gear around.
I'm also hearing that one guy in line knows how to get access to a shower in an apartment nearby, so things haven't been quite as, uh, pungent as they could be
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Apple Announces IPHONE Service Plans...
Apple has released details of the service plans that will be available for the iPhone. Three special monthly plans are available:
59.99 for 450 voice minutes
- $79.99 for 900 voice minutes
- $99.99 for 1,350 voice minutes
All three plans include unlimited data (email & web), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll over minutes and unlimited mobile to mobile calling. Plans have a $36 one-time activation fee and are two year contracts. Family plans will also be available, but were not disclosed at this time. In addition, any standard AT&T service plan may be chosen.
Apple also clarified that activation of the iPhone and account setup will be done completely through iTunes.
59.99 for 450 voice minutes
- $79.99 for 900 voice minutes
- $99.99 for 1,350 voice minutes
All three plans include unlimited data (email & web), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll over minutes and unlimited mobile to mobile calling. Plans have a $36 one-time activation fee and are two year contracts. Family plans will also be available, but were not disclosed at this time. In addition, any standard AT&T service plan may be chosen.
Apple also clarified that activation of the iPhone and account setup will be done completely through iTunes.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
iphone coming soon
sign at the Soho Apple store in NYC, taken today on June 24...there getting ready.
..photo by tonylimo
Gay Parade in NY TODAY....
What a scene today in NY on 5 th ave. The annual parade , they where all out in Drag, for more pics of event log on to Tonylimo on flickr
Gay Marriage Bill is New Reason to Celebrate Gay Pride
Religious groups led the city's gay pride parade on Sunday, lending gravity to an often outrageous event that also featured a jumble of drag queens in feather boas, marching bands, motorcycle-riding lesbians, rugby players and samba dancers.
"We stand for a progressive religious voice," said Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of New York City's Congregation Beth Simchat Torah. "Those who use religion to advocate an anti-gay agenda, I believe, are blaspheming God's name."
The annual parade, one of dozens around the world, commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots in which patrons at a Greenwich Village gay bar fought back against a police raid.
At San Francisco's festival, the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards marked the occasion by splitting with her husband over support for legalized gay marriage.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
JOE IMPS DAY IN NYC June 9
JOE Imps day in Long Isalnd City, Queens happened on June 9 on a bright beautiful day. A street was named after him at the intersection of 47 ave and Vernon Blvd. All gathered here , community leaders, city councilman leaders and local residents all joined his wife Marie Imparado as they dedicated the block that he was born on and grew up in to be named after him.
Joe a life long resident had a restaurant named " JOE IMPS" that was on Jackson Ave a few blocks away. Joe served the community for all of his life, helping residents and the local church ( St. Mary) when in need.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
'GOTTA-SELL' GOTTI UNLOADING PAD
June 17, 2007 -- Make "Junior" Gotti an offer he can't refuse - he could use the cash.
John Gotti, the scion of the Gambino crime family, is so strapped, he's looking to unload his lavish Gold Coast property and head south for the simpler - and cheaper - life.
After burning through more than $1 million in legal fees and another $150,000 in tax-lien payments, the one-time wiseguy told The Post in an interview last week that his leafy, 1.96-acre estate in Oyster Bay Cove, L.I., will be on the market in two weeks.
"We're finishing fixing it up," Gotti said, as he peered around his manicured, lush yard while his wife and kids gathered inside for family dinner.
The gangster who cried poverty during a series of racketeering trials said he hopes to save a few bucks by downsizing.
"I can't afford the upkeep," he confessed about his suburban spread, which costs $16,233 just in annual school and town taxes.
HOW 'SOPRANOS' LOST RAO'S
June 17, 2007 -- PRIVATE eye Bo Dietl badgered the producers of "The Sopranos" so incessantly for a part that they not only stopped taking his calls, but also wrote his friend, Frank Pellegrino, out of the HBO show, a source says. Pellegrino - owner of Rao's, the clubby East Harlem restaurant where Dietl is a regular - played a high-ranking FBI agent on the series. But he disappeared from the show a couple of years ago, and wasn't on stage at Radio City with the rest of the cast for the launch of the final season. Dietl, the former police detective lionized in the book/movie "One Tough Cop," admitted to us, "Anybody would have liked to be in it. I told ['Sopranos' creator David] Chase I'd play anything." But Dietl denied he was responsible for Pellegrino being dropped: "Frankie was sick and he was opening Rao's in Vegas." We tried reaching Pellegrino at Rao's, but the recording says the eatery is fully booked for 2007 and no one would be responding to messages.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
James Gandolfini looks beyond Tony Soprano
There was no decisive moment, no seismic shift, no ceremony when James Gandolfini put “The Sopranos” behind him. But he has. Comfortably.
“I was told that it would be a transition,” he says and shakes his head. “Not much. It’s very calming to move on.”
Gandolfini, of course, had played gangster-in-therapy Tony Soprano — earning raves, clout and unsought celebrity — since the HBO drama premiered in January 1999.
“The character has been with me for so long,” he says, “it’s a relief to let him go.”
No wonder. For 86 episodes, Gandolfini submerged himself in that fiendish, tormented character. He channeled the dark world of “Sopranos” creator David Chase. He was regularly summoned to his own psychic danger zone. All in all, the experience was “wearing,” he says.
There also was a physical toll. “The Sopranos” revolves around Tony, which meant Gandolfini had an exhausting workload.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
WHAT A GREAT END FOR TONY SOPRANO !!
I HAVE TO ADMIT I WANTED MORE MUCH MORE OF TONY SOPRANO, I THOUGHT I HIT THE REMOTE BY ACCIDENT,MY MOUTH WAS WIDE OPEN, " THATS IT " I SAID. NO MUSIC TO THE ENDING, JUST A BLANK SCREEN.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Car Crashes Through Sunrise Mall on L.I.
A car reportedly plowed into a large shopping mall in Massapequa on purpose.
Cops say around 7 p.m. Thursday night, a man in his 30s rushed his car through an entrance to Sunrise Mall near a JC Penney store and exited the mall near a McDonalds.
One person suffered minor injuries due to glass shattering everywhere.
Nassau County police have the driver in custody and they are investigating the incident as intentional. No word yet on the driver's motive.
Therapists scratch heads over latest 'Sopranos' move
NEW YORK -- Therapists, we've long known, are among the biggest fans of "The Sopranos."
So pleased were they with the credible therapy scenes between Tony Soprano, pop culture's most famous mobster/patient, and the appealing Dr. Jennifer Melfi, played by Lorraine Bracco, that the American Psychoanalytical Association once gave the show and Bracco an award.
But professionally speaking, they could only scratch their heads at the latest developments on HBO's hit drama, which aired its penultimate episode last weekend.
Just as Tony Soprano's life seemed to be imploding with dangerous speed -- in short, just when he needed some really good therapy -- Melfi and her own therapist made some highly questionable moves.
Not only therapists were distressed. Some patients were actually furious when they showed up for appointments this week, said one New York psychoanalyst.
"You wouldn't believe the outrage I am hearing," said Dr. Arnold Richards, who'd missed the episode, but was filled in by his patients. He was talking Mind-boggling," pronounced Richards. "I do not recall ever being told the name of a patient in treatment."
Colleagues agreed. "That dinner party was just very upsetting to me," said Dr. Joseph Annibali, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in McLean, Va. "What he did was outrageous. He's never had control of himself, and this just fits in with that."
Why did Kupferberg commit such a sin? He didn't think Melfi should be treating Tony, whom he considered a manipulative psychopath. Be that as it may, his disclosure was "a very egregious ethical violation," said Dr. Jan Van Schaik, chair of the Ethics Committee at the Wisconsin Psychoanalytic Institute.
"A patient needs to know that what gets said in the doctor's office stays there," said Van Schaik, who's never witnessed such a violation. "I've been at gatherings where people talk about patients in a more disguised form. Even that can be inappropriate. A good therapist should do the best they can to protect the anonymity of patients."
It's a shame, Van Schaik added, because "prior to Sunday's episode, 'The Sopranos' was the best portrayal in the popular media of a therapist-patient relationship." Annibali agreed: "We're so used to seeing therapists presented as incompetent hacks. Or as people who are more disturbed than their patients!"
What's been nice about Melfi, the Virginia therapist explained, is that she's a complex and caring figure -- she's not ideal, but she tries to help Tony even as she struggles with the idea of treating him.about a serious ethical lapse by Elliot Kupferberg, played by Peter Bogdanovich, at a dinner party full of therapists. Across the crowded table, the character callously revealed -- over Melfi's protests -- the identity of her star patient.
So pleased were they with the credible therapy scenes between Tony Soprano, pop culture's most famous mobster/patient, and the appealing Dr. Jennifer Melfi, played by Lorraine Bracco, that the American Psychoanalytical Association once gave the show and Bracco an award.
But professionally speaking, they could only scratch their heads at the latest developments on HBO's hit drama, which aired its penultimate episode last weekend.
Just as Tony Soprano's life seemed to be imploding with dangerous speed -- in short, just when he needed some really good therapy -- Melfi and her own therapist made some highly questionable moves.
Not only therapists were distressed. Some patients were actually furious when they showed up for appointments this week, said one New York psychoanalyst.
"You wouldn't believe the outrage I am hearing," said Dr. Arnold Richards, who'd missed the episode, but was filled in by his patients. He was talking Mind-boggling," pronounced Richards. "I do not recall ever being told the name of a patient in treatment."
Colleagues agreed. "That dinner party was just very upsetting to me," said Dr. Joseph Annibali, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in McLean, Va. "What he did was outrageous. He's never had control of himself, and this just fits in with that."
Why did Kupferberg commit such a sin? He didn't think Melfi should be treating Tony, whom he considered a manipulative psychopath. Be that as it may, his disclosure was "a very egregious ethical violation," said Dr. Jan Van Schaik, chair of the Ethics Committee at the Wisconsin Psychoanalytic Institute.
"A patient needs to know that what gets said in the doctor's office stays there," said Van Schaik, who's never witnessed such a violation. "I've been at gatherings where people talk about patients in a more disguised form. Even that can be inappropriate. A good therapist should do the best they can to protect the anonymity of patients."
It's a shame, Van Schaik added, because "prior to Sunday's episode, 'The Sopranos' was the best portrayal in the popular media of a therapist-patient relationship." Annibali agreed: "We're so used to seeing therapists presented as incompetent hacks. Or as people who are more disturbed than their patients!"
What's been nice about Melfi, the Virginia therapist explained, is that she's a complex and caring figure -- she's not ideal, but she tries to help Tony even as she struggles with the idea of treating him.about a serious ethical lapse by Elliot Kupferberg, played by Peter Bogdanovich, at a dinner party full of therapists. Across the crowded table, the character callously revealed -- over Melfi's protests -- the identity of her star patient.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
The Pen-Freaking-Ultimate Episode
Before I make a few little points about last night's tense, mind-blowing, excellent episode of "The Sopranos," I have to warn readers that there are SPOILERS in this entry, and they are SPOILERS you will definitely want to avoid until after you've watched.
My whole body was on edge during the show, which built quickly to full-on gang warfare after years of moving in that direction. "Ready for the rapture?" was the FBI agent's comment to Tony, and to us. As soon as I realized it was Phil and his evil-looking goons against the likes of Tony, Sil, Bobby, and Paulie, I knew the New Jersey guys were doomed. I loved the little bit of "Raging Bull" between Tony and Sil while they strategized in the restaurant; another nice passing homage to Martin Scorsese.
Tony is now without his best ally, the comatose Silvio, who'd earlier in the episode made a malapropism about his wife being "terminally" ill. There was a brief moment during the shooting when Silvio was crawling in the car that reminded me of the way Adriana crawled before he shot her (an important reminder, since I tend to romanticize Sil's loyalty). And Bobby was nixed in a great shooting scene that built slowly and eerily at the train store, the center of Bobby's innocence. I loved it that kids were screaming; they were delivering the sounds Bobby, the eternal child, couldn't.
TV REVIEW: The end is near for 'The Sopranos'
Not Sil.
That's all I could think during the white-knuckled final minutes of last Sunday's episode of "The Sopranos."
For a long time, I've thought it would make sense for Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) to die as the series closed (and that's just a guess, I have no inside information).
But I never really pondered the thought that there could be a lot of carnage around Tony as the series' end approached.
Are you, like me, wondering if this episode might be better than next Sunday's series finale? Ever notice that many programs (and so many prior seasons of "The Sopranos") have a second-to-last episode that is much better than the actual finale? I wonder if that'll be the case here.
Regardless, Sunday's second-to-last episode was a classic. As long as you ignore most of the A.J. (Robert Iler) stuff. (Yeah, yeah, the sins of the father are visited on the son. I get it. Enough already.)
But back to Silvio Dante. The dapper, understated linchpin of Tony's crew. Always the one with the perfectly timed shrug. The brow wrinkled just enough for Tony to sigh, "What's wrong?" Silvio wasn't a shouter or a tough guy or a bundle of rage (in other words, he's not Paulie Walnuts).
He was everything Tony needed in a confidante. Wise, trustworthy and loyal. And, as played by the talented Steven Van Zandt, dryly witty when circumstances allowed.
I don't want Sil to be dead. As Sunday's episode closed, doctors didn't think he'd regain consciousness. His near-death is bringing it home to me, finally - "The Sopranos" is ending. For real. Who allowed this to happen?
OK, truth be told, I have long thought that the sixth season (which includes the most recent batch of episodes and the group of episodes before that) has had too many sluggish moments, but hey, it's still "The Sopranos." I can't not watch. And the last few episodes have been really good.
Since the shocking death of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), a lot of momentum has built up in Tony's world. A world in which all due respect must be paid, but also a world in which no sins are forgotten. The Russian in the forest from so many episodes ago? He's forgotten. But all of Tony's sins have come home to roost now.
Hence Tony finishing out last night's episode sleeping with his gun, just as John Wayne might have in some heroic Western.
On the chalkboard in A.J.'s classroom in a recent episode, a quote from Wordsworth: "Getting and spending, we lay waste to our powers."
Somehow that doesn't strike me as a harbinger of good things to come for anyone in the "Sopranos" family.
And I'll certainly miss the absorbing give and take between Tony and his psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), which, as of Sunday's episode, also appears to be over.
How many silent reaction shots has Bracco filmed over the last eight years? It has to be more than a hundred. But she never made them less than fascinating. But that's nothing compared with scenes in which her character sparred with Gandolfini's - that's some serious, world-class acting there.
Some other things I'll miss:
-The way Paulie Walnuts says, "Eow!," the all-purpose interjection on "The Sopranos," which can be used in any number of sentences: "Eow! There he is!" to "Eow! Did you just disrespect the Bing?"
-The show's opening credit sequence, one of the all-time greats.
-Gandolfini as Tony and Edie Falco as Carmela. Honestly, have two actors playing a married couple ever done more absorbing work or been more perfectly cast?
That's all I could think during the white-knuckled final minutes of last Sunday's episode of "The Sopranos."
For a long time, I've thought it would make sense for Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) to die as the series closed (and that's just a guess, I have no inside information).
But I never really pondered the thought that there could be a lot of carnage around Tony as the series' end approached.
Are you, like me, wondering if this episode might be better than next Sunday's series finale? Ever notice that many programs (and so many prior seasons of "The Sopranos") have a second-to-last episode that is much better than the actual finale? I wonder if that'll be the case here.
Regardless, Sunday's second-to-last episode was a classic. As long as you ignore most of the A.J. (Robert Iler) stuff. (Yeah, yeah, the sins of the father are visited on the son. I get it. Enough already.)
But back to Silvio Dante. The dapper, understated linchpin of Tony's crew. Always the one with the perfectly timed shrug. The brow wrinkled just enough for Tony to sigh, "What's wrong?" Silvio wasn't a shouter or a tough guy or a bundle of rage (in other words, he's not Paulie Walnuts).
He was everything Tony needed in a confidante. Wise, trustworthy and loyal. And, as played by the talented Steven Van Zandt, dryly witty when circumstances allowed.
I don't want Sil to be dead. As Sunday's episode closed, doctors didn't think he'd regain consciousness. His near-death is bringing it home to me, finally - "The Sopranos" is ending. For real. Who allowed this to happen?
OK, truth be told, I have long thought that the sixth season (which includes the most recent batch of episodes and the group of episodes before that) has had too many sluggish moments, but hey, it's still "The Sopranos." I can't not watch. And the last few episodes have been really good.
Since the shocking death of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), a lot of momentum has built up in Tony's world. A world in which all due respect must be paid, but also a world in which no sins are forgotten. The Russian in the forest from so many episodes ago? He's forgotten. But all of Tony's sins have come home to roost now.
Hence Tony finishing out last night's episode sleeping with his gun, just as John Wayne might have in some heroic Western.
On the chalkboard in A.J.'s classroom in a recent episode, a quote from Wordsworth: "Getting and spending, we lay waste to our powers."
Somehow that doesn't strike me as a harbinger of good things to come for anyone in the "Sopranos" family.
And I'll certainly miss the absorbing give and take between Tony and his psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), which, as of Sunday's episode, also appears to be over.
How many silent reaction shots has Bracco filmed over the last eight years? It has to be more than a hundred. But she never made them less than fascinating. But that's nothing compared with scenes in which her character sparred with Gandolfini's - that's some serious, world-class acting there.
Some other things I'll miss:
-The way Paulie Walnuts says, "Eow!," the all-purpose interjection on "The Sopranos," which can be used in any number of sentences: "Eow! There he is!" to "Eow! Did you just disrespect the Bing?"
-The show's opening credit sequence, one of the all-time greats.
-Gandolfini as Tony and Edie Falco as Carmela. Honestly, have two actors playing a married couple ever done more absorbing work or been more perfectly cast?
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Some Ticket Scalping Rules Are Changing
NEW YORK -- For decades, ticket scalping was a thing done in the shadows, but those days of ducking into alleyways and dodging police are fading fast.
New York is poised this week to become the latest in a string of states to ease or eliminate decades-old restrictions on the resale of tickets to sporting events, concerts and shows.
Under the proposed rules, the state would discard its long practice of capping prices for tickets sold on the secondary market.
Some old regulations would stay in place. Scalpers would still be banned from selling tickets within 1,500 feet of large arenas like Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium. Smaller venues would get a similar 500-foot buffer zone. Brokers who sell large numbers of tickets would still need to get a license.
But the change would, for the first time, make it entirely legal for average fans to scalp their seats on the Internet.
For better or worse, it would also allow anyone holding a hot ticket to a Mets playoff game or Broadway musical to sell them off for whatever buyers were willing to pay.
"If you have something to sell, you should be able to sell it for what it is truly worth,'' said Sean Pate, spokesman for the online ticket broker StubHub Inc., which lobbied hard for the change.
The state assembly voted for the bill Tuesday. The Senate is expected to follow suit, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer could sign the measure by Friday, when the state's old anti-scalping law expires.
New York is far from alone in its redrafting of scalping rules.
Minnesota tossed out its old anti-scalping laws this spring. The state previously allowed tickets to be resold only at face value.
A bill that would ease Missouri's ban on selling tickets to sporting events at more than face value passed the legislature and is now being considered by the governor.
New York is poised this week to become the latest in a string of states to ease or eliminate decades-old restrictions on the resale of tickets to sporting events, concerts and shows.
Under the proposed rules, the state would discard its long practice of capping prices for tickets sold on the secondary market.
Some old regulations would stay in place. Scalpers would still be banned from selling tickets within 1,500 feet of large arenas like Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium. Smaller venues would get a similar 500-foot buffer zone. Brokers who sell large numbers of tickets would still need to get a license.
But the change would, for the first time, make it entirely legal for average fans to scalp their seats on the Internet.
For better or worse, it would also allow anyone holding a hot ticket to a Mets playoff game or Broadway musical to sell them off for whatever buyers were willing to pay.
"If you have something to sell, you should be able to sell it for what it is truly worth,'' said Sean Pate, spokesman for the online ticket broker StubHub Inc., which lobbied hard for the change.
The state assembly voted for the bill Tuesday. The Senate is expected to follow suit, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer could sign the measure by Friday, when the state's old anti-scalping law expires.
New York is far from alone in its redrafting of scalping rules.
Minnesota tossed out its old anti-scalping laws this spring. The state previously allowed tickets to be resold only at face value.
A bill that would ease Missouri's ban on selling tickets to sporting events at more than face value passed the legislature and is now being considered by the governor.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Saks Fifth Avenue Shoe Department Gets Own ZIP Code: 10022-SHOE
- Saks Fifth Avenue says its new shoe department is so big and fancy it's getting its own ZIP code.
The quintessential Manhattan store is revamping its shoe department, and when it moves from the fourth floor to the eighth floor in August customers will be able to send mail to 10022-SHOE.
"We believe it's such a big move for us it deserves its own ZIP code,'' Saks spokeswoman Lesley Langsam Kennedy said Thursday. "We wanted to make it a destination.''
The retailer worked with the U.S. Postal Service on the new ZIP code -- but only the last four characters, which aren't necessary when you're mailing something, are specialized. The rest of the midtown neighborhood, which includes St. Patrick's Cathedral, shares 10022.
The new 8,500-square-foot Saks showroom at the flagship Fifth Avenue store will have more shoes, more service and more stock room capability, Langsam Kennedy said. It also will feature a VIP room for private shopping, spacious seating, refreshments and shoe repair on hand, she said.
Saks operates 54 stores in 25 states and two stores in the Middle East.
The quintessential Manhattan store is revamping its shoe department, and when it moves from the fourth floor to the eighth floor in August customers will be able to send mail to 10022-SHOE.
"We believe it's such a big move for us it deserves its own ZIP code,'' Saks spokeswoman Lesley Langsam Kennedy said Thursday. "We wanted to make it a destination.''
The retailer worked with the U.S. Postal Service on the new ZIP code -- but only the last four characters, which aren't necessary when you're mailing something, are specialized. The rest of the midtown neighborhood, which includes St. Patrick's Cathedral, shares 10022.
The new 8,500-square-foot Saks showroom at the flagship Fifth Avenue store will have more shoes, more service and more stock room capability, Langsam Kennedy said. It also will feature a VIP room for private shopping, spacious seating, refreshments and shoe repair on hand, she said.
Saks operates 54 stores in 25 states and two stores in the Middle East.
American Idol has spoken !!!!
Jordin Sparks, a teenager with a big voice and big dreams, was crowned Wednesday as the newest and youngest "American Idol.''
Sparks, 17, of Glendale, Ariz., prevailed over beatboxer Blake Lewis, 25, of Bothell, Wash., after a triumphant performance Tuesday that wowed the show's judges and the viewers who gave her the majority of the record 74 million votes cast.
"Mom, Dad, I love you,'' Sparks, the daughter of retired NFL player Phillippi Sparks, said after hugging Lewis.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Subway Hero' Blows Chance at Million
Megan Manni Reporting
NEW YORK -- Wesley Autrey, famed for jumping on the tracks of an oncoming 1 train in January to save a man who had had a seizure and fallen off the platform, fell just short of $1 million Monday.
Autrey was a guest contestant on the NBC game show "Deal or No Deal" with Howie Mandel. "Deal" features 26 cases, each with a labeled monetary value inside. The contestant chooses a case for his or her own to be opened at the end of the show.
In the meantime, the contestant must choose cases to open one by one, and whatever value is shown inside is not the value the contestant's case holds.
Autrey chose case number 7, and the game began.
At first some of the highest values were knocked out - $400,000, $300,000, $500,000. But the middle values remained, until Autrey was left with the extreme ends of the spectrum - values like $.01, $10, $25, $5,000, $10,000 and the million-dollar case.
Every few cases or so, a "banker" calls Mandel, the host, to offer the contestant a guaranteed sum to leave the show and give up the chance to win more money.
Choosing cases that turned out to hold the lower amounts would make the bank offer skyrocket, but winding up having chosen the higher amounts would reduce the bank's risk of payout, thereby reducing their monetary offer to the contestant.
The man dubbed "the subway hero" was offered $65,000, then $96,000, then $148,000, then $209,000 as he got closer to the end of the game without uncovering the million dollar marker. At each and every turn, Autrey said, "no deal.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Woman Falls Through Sidewalk Grate in Midtown
A pedestrian was injured when she fell at least 10 feet through a sidewalk transformer vault Thursday in midtown Manhattan, authorities said.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Plaza Hotel Owners Develop Vegas Complex
Plaza Hotel Owners Elad Group to Develop $5 Billion Complex on Vegas Strip Using Plaza Brand
Commercial real estate development firm Elad Group, which owns New York's Plaza Hotel, said Wednesday it is developing a $5 billion multi-use complex on the Las Vegas Strip under The Plaza brand.
Commercial real estate development firm Elad Group, which owns New York's Plaza Hotel, said Wednesday it is developing a $5 billion multi-use complex on the Las Vegas Strip under The Plaza brand.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Cleaning Chemical Found in Tap Water in Queens
A tiny amount of a common dry cleaning chemical contaminated tap water in part of Queens but posed no known health risk to the roughly 64,000 people affected, the city Department of Environmental Protection said.
Officials said the chemical was found in water in sections of St. Albans, Cambria Heights and Hollis.
Still, the agency suggested residents use bottled water and take shorter showers if they were concerned.
Some, such as Jenny Delgado, were.
"I'm not going to use the water. I don't feel safe yet,'' she said. "I'm going to wait a couple of days and get a little more information before I give my kids the water.''
Levels slightly above the standard for the chemical -- tetrachloroethylene, or PERC -- were first found in a sample collected during routine testing May 1 in the Hollis area, the DEP said. The chemical is used mostly in dry cleaning and auto body repair, the agency said.
Exposure to large amounts of PERC can affect the nervous system, and very long-term exposure can increase cancer risks, but the ``minute amounts'' found in the water were not expected to cause health problems, the DEP said.
The highest PERC concentrations detected in the water have been 13 parts per billion, compared to a standard of 5 parts per billion, the agency said.
"In these levels, for this amount of time, there are no known ill health effects,'' said spokeswoman Ann Canty.
The problem was limited to an area bounded by Linden and Farmer's boulevards, Hempstead and Jamaica avenues, and the Cross Island Parkway, the DEP said.
Officials said the chemical was found in water in sections of St. Albans, Cambria Heights and Hollis.
Still, the agency suggested residents use bottled water and take shorter showers if they were concerned.
Some, such as Jenny Delgado, were.
"I'm not going to use the water. I don't feel safe yet,'' she said. "I'm going to wait a couple of days and get a little more information before I give my kids the water.''
Levels slightly above the standard for the chemical -- tetrachloroethylene, or PERC -- were first found in a sample collected during routine testing May 1 in the Hollis area, the DEP said. The chemical is used mostly in dry cleaning and auto body repair, the agency said.
Exposure to large amounts of PERC can affect the nervous system, and very long-term exposure can increase cancer risks, but the ``minute amounts'' found in the water were not expected to cause health problems, the DEP said.
The highest PERC concentrations detected in the water have been 13 parts per billion, compared to a standard of 5 parts per billion, the agency said.
"In these levels, for this amount of time, there are no known ill health effects,'' said spokeswoman Ann Canty.
The problem was limited to an area bounded by Linden and Farmer's boulevards, Hempstead and Jamaica avenues, and the Cross Island Parkway, the DEP said.
Monday, May 07, 2007
N.Y. Mets Fan Whose Back Was Broken at Ballpark Files Lawsuit
The New York Mets fan whose back was broken by an apparently drunken 300-pound man who fell on her at Shea Stadium during the team's home opener has filed a lawsuit because of her injuries.
Ellen Massey, 58, says in court papers that on April 9 she was in the second row of the right field upper deck near a "visibly intoxicated'' man who was "acting in a rowdy, boisterous and dangerous manner for a long period of time.''
Around 3:30 p.m., court papers say, the man, who has not been found or identified, "in an intoxicated condition fell upon plaintiff causing her to sustain severe personal injuries.''
Massey's lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, said Monday that the fall by the drunk, who was described as a blond 300-pounder, cracked several of the woman's vertebrae.
"He got up and left,'' apparently uninjured, Kaufman said. "We have information that one of the security people might have spoken to him and let him leave.''
Two emergency medical technicians sitting directly in front of Massey gave her first aid and comforted her until an ambulance arrived, Kaufman said.
Massey underwent surgery for spinal injuries at Jacobi Medical Center and was hospitalized there for about two weeks, Kaufman said. Doctors put rods and screws in her back and will have to operate on her again, he said.
Massey was at the game with two adult nephews when the incident occurred between the sixth and seventh innings, with the Mets behind 5-3. The home team went on the beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-5.
Massey, a Manhattan lawyer, named Sterling Mets L.P., owner of the baseball team; Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., the beer vendor; the Service Employees International Union Local 177, whose members are security guards at Shea Stadium, and "John Doe,'' the unidentified man who fell on her, as defendants.
Massey's court papers say that Sterling Mets had a duty to provide reasonable safety for stadium patrons, that Aramark should not have sold alcohol to spectators who appeared to be already drunk and that the union employees should have prevented unruly behavior.
Ellen Massey, 58, says in court papers that on April 9 she was in the second row of the right field upper deck near a "visibly intoxicated'' man who was "acting in a rowdy, boisterous and dangerous manner for a long period of time.''
Around 3:30 p.m., court papers say, the man, who has not been found or identified, "in an intoxicated condition fell upon plaintiff causing her to sustain severe personal injuries.''
Massey's lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, said Monday that the fall by the drunk, who was described as a blond 300-pounder, cracked several of the woman's vertebrae.
"He got up and left,'' apparently uninjured, Kaufman said. "We have information that one of the security people might have spoken to him and let him leave.''
Two emergency medical technicians sitting directly in front of Massey gave her first aid and comforted her until an ambulance arrived, Kaufman said.
Massey underwent surgery for spinal injuries at Jacobi Medical Center and was hospitalized there for about two weeks, Kaufman said. Doctors put rods and screws in her back and will have to operate on her again, he said.
Massey was at the game with two adult nephews when the incident occurred between the sixth and seventh innings, with the Mets behind 5-3. The home team went on the beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-5.
Massey, a Manhattan lawyer, named Sterling Mets L.P., owner of the baseball team; Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., the beer vendor; the Service Employees International Union Local 177, whose members are security guards at Shea Stadium, and "John Doe,'' the unidentified man who fell on her, as defendants.
Massey's court papers say that Sterling Mets had a duty to provide reasonable safety for stadium patrons, that Aramark should not have sold alcohol to spectators who appeared to be already drunk and that the union employees should have prevented unruly behavior.
Times Square Generates More $ Than Economies of Panama, Bolivia
Times Square, the area of midtown Manhattan that's evolved over the past century from a bustling theater district to a symbol of crime and decay and now to a sanitized entertainment mecca, pumps about $55 billion a year directly into the city's economy, more than the combined economies of Bolivia and Panama, according to a new study.
Times Square's financial contribution to the city exceeds the city's budgets for public libraries and for the Departments of Parks & Recreation, Youth and Community Development, Cultural Affairs, Small Business Services and for the Aging, said the study commissioned by Times Square Alliance, a privately funded non-profit dedicated to improving the area.
In the past 15 years, the area has become a financial and media hub and a tourist destination and has positioned itself as the city's "economic engine,'' said Tim Tompkins, the alliance's president. Another $35 billion is generated indirectly, such as when a company in Times Square buys services from another business elsewhere in the city, the study said.
"This report affirms and provides evidence of what we have long suspected,'' Tompkins said. "Times Square is not just one of New York City's most popular destinations; it in essence represents its own distinct and powerful economy within the city, pumping tens of billions of dollars into the local economy. In this way, Times Square is a vital organ to New York City, a critical element in the city's financial landscape.''
The study, the first of its kind of Times Square since its most recent transformation, analyzed the economic impact of jobs, entertainment and other spending at the Crossroads of the World.
Eight of every 10 of the millions of annual city tourists visit Times Square, the study said. They and others spend billions of dollars on hotels (one of every four Manhattan hotel rooms is in Times Square), restaurants and retail stores, on Broadway shows and at other entertainment venues, the study said.
Apple Store NY Construction
The 3rd Apple Store in New York City is to be located at 401 W. 14th Street in the Meatpacking District. The new store is said to provide 32,000 square feet of floor space, significantly more than their existing Apple Store SoHo (21,577 sq feet) and Fifth Avenue (25,000 sq feet) locations.
Roger Clemens to NY
Roger Clemens returned to the New York Yankees, making a dramatic announcement to fans from the owner's box during Sunday's game against the Seattle Mariners. At the end of the seventh-inning stretch, Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard told fans to turn their attention to the box, where Clemens was standing with a microphone. As the video scoreboard in right-center showed Clemens, who made the announcement himself.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
It's not getting any easier to breathe in New York City.
The American Lung Association has a new report showing that air quality has deteriorated across all five boroughs in the past year. The eighth annual air pollution report said that ozone pollution or smog is highest on Staten Island, and particle pollution, otherwise known as soot, has substantially worsened on Staten Island, as well as in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
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