Livin' Long Enough for the City

As someone who just became a father a week ago, it was a pleasant surprise to read today that the life expectancy of babies born in NYC beats the national average. Babies born in our fair city can now expect to live an average of 80.6 years while babies born nationwide can expect to live 78.2 years.

That's amazing!

Proof that living in NYC is great for your health. Cheers.

Mr NYC is a Daddy

Just a small note that my current and, probably, future lack of blogging is due to the birth of my Little Miss NYC yesterday.

Yes, as scary as the thought is, there is a wonderful little girl in this world tonight who calls the shlub who writes this blog Dad.

Thank you for all your kinds thoughts.  

Classic Mr NYC

The hit play from a couple years back, "God of Carnage", is now a movie directed by Roman Polanski, simply called "Carnage." 

It was a huge success on Broadway. It'll be interesting to see how popular the movie is.

Yours truly went to see the play back in 2009 and posted a little review of it here. 

Re-Imagine NYC?

NYC is a place that always changes -- including geographically.

Trying to grasp how it has transformed over 400+ years is virtually impossible. The city's geography has evolved in countless ways. And it's not just the bridges and tunnels that have been built over the decades, nailing this city of islands together.  It's not just the buildings that populate our skylines. 

It's the land of NYC itself.

Manhattan was largely filled in by concrete, smoothing out the skinny islands rough edges. Wards and Randalls Islands used to be two separate islands until they were fused together. Same with the islands off the Bronx that were joined to form Orchard Beach. Central Park, Prospect Park, Flushing Meadows Park, etc. -- none of these green oasis existed until human beings created them. Our topography is a work in progress. 

And now comes another idea that is both horrifying and amazing: building a land bridge from Lower Manhattan to Governors Island. You read that right: essentially extending Manhattan island downwards until it meets and then subsumes Governors Island -- as this picture indicates. It's a wild idea. 

I don't know what I think about it. I like Governor's Island the way it is and needless to say the cost and controversy of doing something like this is so huge that I doubt it'll ever happen. But who knows? Maybe it will. 

Recently this was discussed on WNYC and has always been the subject of some articles. Research it for yourself and see what you think. 

Mitt takes Manhattan

Apparently Republican Presidential candidate Mitt "I'll say anything, take any position, be whatever you want me to be, whore myself out to anyone" Romney was in town today. He was showing what a salt of the earth, man of the people he is by spending the entire day raising money from hedge fund billionaires.

It's probably a good thing that he was surrounded by these rich people, since they're probably the only people in NYC who'll vote for him.  

As the great Matt Taibbi once wrote, Romney is an utter tool. He's as phoney a politician as I've ever seen and I really, really, really, really hope he loses. 

Even though I didn't vote for them, I felt sorry for John McCain and Bob Dole when they lost their presidential elections because those two men totally devoted their lives (even their bodies) to serving this country. Not Romney. He's devoted his life to serving Mitt Romney. He was born to wealth, grew up wealthy, spent his life getting wealthier, never served in the military, had trouble getting elected to office and then, when he did, had trouble staying in elected office, and now he thinks he should be president. 

Please. 

Unlike McCain and Dole, if he loses the nomination or the general election, it will fill me with nothing but joy. Go Mitt! (To defeat!)

City Talk: Pete Hamill, author, "Tabloid City" Part 1

City Talk: Pete Hamill, author, "Tabloid City" Part 2

The Halloran Files

A few times over this past year, I've blogged about Dan Halloran, NYC's strangest city council member.

Here's a weird, weird, weird guy. And a fraud. And a crazy zealot.

Recently, the Village Voice did a big article on Halloran which profiles just how odd this man in a position of power is. You should read it and can also check out my previous posts on this lunatic. Hopefully, as colorful as he is, he will no longer be in office after 2013. For now, however, let's enjoy the train wreck while it lasts.

Gotta Love New Yorkers

Girl on the subway, yakking into her cell phone:

"So remember I told you that I applied for a job two weeks ago? It's to be the Assistant to the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary General of the UN ..."

Christmas NYC

I love Christmas in New York City. A beautiful, amazing city becomes a huge holiday exhibit. Walk up and down 5th Avenue and check out all the decorated store fronts. There's the Rockefeller Christmas trees, the Salvation Army santas ringing their bells. In all corners of the city, the holidays make their presence known, with Christmas trees being sold on the corners, and decorative lights straddling the lampposts over the streets.

Not only that, but there's so much to do!

Shows, concerts, choruses, exhibits, ice skating! It's quite the holiday feast here in NYC.

So what's worth doing here in NYC? This little guide gives you some helpful tips of what's worth your time and money if you're spending the holidays here in NYC.  

Make it a good one!