In what could be the greatest British export to the Middle Kingdom since opium, the state-backed Qatari investment firm is considering an audacious plan to build a replica of the Knightsbridge institution in China’s second city. Experts see the location as ideal: positioned to attract increasingly affluent Chinese and Asian consumers who love all things Anglo, in particular the name Harrods; and far enough from Europe or north America to avoid cannibalising sales from the London store.

Since founder Charles Henry Harrod moved his eponymous Stepney grocer to Knightsbridge in 1849, Harrods has been synonymous with the ritzy west London lifestyle. However, branches of the store away from Brompton Road aren’t unheard of: there’s a small store in Heathrow Terminal 1, and the only foreign Harrods opened in central Buenos Aires in 1914; it survived until financial problems crippled it in the mid-1990s. The faded visage is still prominent in the shopping district, and it occasionally plays host to tango dances.

Photo / daveograve

Photograph of memorial outside Heath Ledger’s NYC apartment

• Gothamist learned that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment, cause of death unknown so far (but apparently the masseuse who found him called Mary-Kate Olsen before 911).
• Bostonist considered sending a link about the Super Bowl, but damn! The New Kids are reuniting!
• Although Sylvester Stallone is a native of New York City, his Rocky character lets many Philadelphians consider him a native son – so Phillyist just had to attend a preview screening of Rambo.
• Shanghaiist swoons over Shanghai’s coolest tattoo artist.
• LAist has a dirty little secret and it comes in the form of an addictive sour frozen yogurt chain — Pinkberry.
• Torontoist discovered a pro-life billboard downtown that begs its watchers to think of the children(‘s toys).
• SFist found itself green with envy over the advent of the automatic weed machine.
• Houstonist brought it after witnessing Taucha Hogue make it to the championship round for College Cheerleader of the Year.
• DCist saw a “snotty-nosed little brat” get read to filth by a school administrator’s wife over a snow day, or lack thereof.
• Londonist received a Bloggie nomination for Best European Weblog.
• Seattlest threw down the gauntlet after calling Denver “overrated” when compared to their own mountain ranges.
• Austinist took a ride with Clean Air Limo, Austin’s first green private car service.

]]>

Photograph of memorial outside Heath Ledger’s NYC apartment

• Gothamist learned that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment, cause of death unknown so far (but apparently the masseuse who found him called Mary-Kate Olsen before 911).
• Bostonist considered sending a link about the Super Bowl, but damn! The New Kids are reuniting!
• Although Sylvester Stallone is a native of New York City, his Rocky character lets many Philadelphians consider him a native son – so Phillyist just had to attend a preview screening of Rambo.
• Shanghaiist swoons over Shanghai’s coolest tattoo artist.
• LAist has a dirty little secret and it comes in the form of an addictive sour frozen yogurt chain — Pinkberry.
• Torontoist discovered a pro-life billboard downtown that begs its watchers to think of the children(‘s toys).
• SFist found itself green with envy over the advent of the automatic weed machine.
• Houstonist brought it after witnessing Taucha Hogue make it to the championship round for College Cheerleader of the Year.
• DCist saw a “snotty-nosed little brat” get read to filth by a school administrator’s wife over a snow day, or lack thereof.
• Londonist received a Bloggie nomination for Best European Weblog.
• Seattlest threw down the gauntlet after calling Denver “overrated” when compared to their own mountain ranges.
• Austinist took a ride with Clean Air Limo, Austin’s first green private car service.

]]> http://londonist.com/2008/01/week_around_the_23.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2007/09/elsewhere_in_th_32.php http://londonist.com/2007/09/elsewhere_in_th_32.php#comments Sun, 02 Sep 2007 10:48:56 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=6815 Happy first weekend of September – and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let’s take a look at what’s been happening around the Ist-a-verse.

The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston’s firefighters bent over backwards all week long – first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else – like Tom Brady’s indecisiveness, the Sox’s stumbles, the return of the college hordes, chaos on the Common, and hormone-filled rich kids – seem trivial.

As LAist melts away in their heat wave and weird weather, they beg Hollywood to make a bio-pic of the posthumous tap dancer extraordinaries, the Nichols Brothers (you must see this), but for them not to film the movie, or anything for that matter, on their hard-to-find street without proper notification. In one of LA’s more trendy neighborhoods, they caught up with a famous homeless person, the Silver Lake Five Dollar Guy, and found the Elliott Smith tribute wall (where he once posed for an album cover) to be defaced by graffiti.

This week was surprisingly busy for the end of August for DCist, what with two major White House resignations and the national obsession over what’s really going on in public restrooms. But they still made time to put together a glossary of wine terms and a list of jokes about some local firefighters who are suspected of running a prostitution ring. They never knew “firehose” was actually spelled differently, for example.

Despite their need this week to do some good old-fashioned hating, Phillyist was in good spirits this week, with the Philadelphia Live Arts and Philly Fringe festivals kicking off, cheap lobster, and a few helpful readers helping to solve a mystery. They also got some awesome eclipse shots, spread some local TV gossip, and got a few chuckles.

This week, Torontoist found one of the cutest signs ever, reinvented its city’s transit survey, investigated how “real” its city’s violence is. They were plenty curious to end the summer, too: they tried to uncover a history mystery, tried to pin down its city’s fascination with facades, and tried to figure out what was so bad about carpooling.

The UK doesn’t have Monday as a Labor Day, but Londonist don’t mind. They did their partying last week at the world’s second largest carnival. The good vibes continued as they witnessed the unveiling of a statue to Nelson Mandela. They also said happy birthday to Londoner Winnie Langley, who just turned 100 despite having smoked five cigarettes a day since she was a child. They resisted buying her a £25,000 hearing aid, and a very, very expensive skull.

SFist found out that revelers/navel gazers at Burning Man suffered two setbacks (one minor and one fatal) early on in the festivities. Also, Safeway stores seem a bit shady when to comes donation demands and its staff, SF Chronicle editor-in-chief Phil Bronstein gets some Mediabistro love, and the comment thread lit up when the topic switched to increasing property tax payments. In a refreshing twist, an innocuous car accident ended up cooling off Mission district-dwelling San Franciscans if only for a few, glorious moments.

Labor Day generally signals the end of summer at Chicagoist, so it was natural that they and their readers took a long look at a proposed ordinance allowing dogs to eat with their owners at outdoor cafés. Readers also had definite opinions on a report that showed that one in four Illinoisans are obese. School is also back in session, and some are being given the right to choose what school holidays they honor, which means that students could have more time in class to hone their math skills before deciding to take city college courses as casino workers. Meanwhile, funding was approved for the region’s public transportation system, which Bears linebacker Lance Briggs should use more often since he apparently can’t handle the power of a Lamborghini.

Austinist continued its ACL Music Festival previews by chatting with Peter, Bjorn, and John, Bloc Party, Ghostland Observatory, and The Broken West, and debated whether folks should try to see Wilco or My Morning Jacket. Meanwhile, a more indie-centric winter music festival is shaping up to be a serious contender to Pitchfork’s summer event in Chicago . Austinist got riled up by the new Iraq war documentary, No End in Sight, but mellowed out after hearing that Texas was relaxing its marijuana laws. Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Flugtag had 80,000 attendees cheering for ridiculous flying contraptions (none of which did much flying), while a smaller number of die-hard hipsters celebrated the arrival of NYC scenesters-extraordinaire, The MisShapes.

The final week of August was anything but slow for Gothamist. A reader sent us a gross image (NSFW) of a subway flashing that made us question the cleanliness of subway seats. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a new program to give tips to tourists – just in time for the influx of new naive college students. We spoke to two ASCAP officials to better understand the world of music licensing and it turned out that a 7-alarm fire at a September 11-scarred building that left two firefighters dead was caused by smoking. And founder of punk music (and more) club CBGB’s – end of an era indeed.

Curious about what’s going on across the rest of the Ist-A-Verse? Check out this week’s reader favorites in Houstonist, Seattle, and Shanghai!

From top: Photograph of Boston’s Tea Party Museum fire courtesy of Kendra Hoyt for Bostonist; photograph of a faith-filled sign by Miles Storey/Torontoist; photograph of San Francisco geyser by evansent; and photograph outside the former CBGB’s by ~Raymond on Flickr

]]> Happy first weekend of September – and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let’s take a look at what’s been happening around the Ist-a-verse.

The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston’s firefighters bent over backwards all week long – first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else – like Tom Brady’s indecisiveness, the Sox’s stumbles, the return of the college hordes, chaos on the Common, and hormone-filled rich kids – seem trivial.

As LAist melts away in their heat wave and weird weather, they beg Hollywood to make a bio-pic of the posthumous tap dancer extraordinaries, the Nichols Brothers (you must see this), but for them not to film the movie, or anything for that matter, on their hard-to-find street without proper notification. In one of LA’s more trendy neighborhoods, they caught up with a famous homeless person, the Silver Lake Five Dollar Guy, and found the Elliott Smith tribute wall (where he once posed for an album cover) to be defaced by graffiti.

This week was surprisingly busy for the end of August for DCist, what with two major White House resignations and the national obsession over what’s really going on in public restrooms. But they still made time to put together a glossary of wine terms and a list of jokes about some local firefighters who are suspected of running a prostitution ring. They never knew “firehose” was actually spelled differently, for example.

Despite their need this week to do some good old-fashioned hating, Phillyist was in good spirits this week, with the Philadelphia Live Arts and Philly Fringe festivals kicking off, cheap lobster, and a few helpful readers helping to solve a mystery. They also got some awesome eclipse shots, spread some local TV gossip, and got a few chuckles.

This week, Torontoist found one of the cutest signs ever, reinvented its city’s transit survey, investigated how “real” its city’s violence is. They were plenty curious to end the summer, too: they tried to uncover a history mystery, tried to pin down its city’s fascination with facades, and tried to figure out what was so bad about carpooling.

The UK doesn’t have Monday as a Labor Day, but Londonist don’t mind. They did their partying last week at the world’s second largest carnival. The good vibes continued as they witnessed the unveiling of a statue to Nelson Mandela. They also said happy birthday to Londoner Winnie Langley, who just turned 100 despite having smoked five cigarettes a day since she was a child. They resisted buying her a £25,000 hearing aid, and a very, very expensive skull.

SFist found out that revelers/navel gazers at Burning Man suffered two setbacks (one minor and one fatal) early on in the festivities. Also, Safeway stores seem a bit shady when to comes donation demands and its staff, SF Chronicle editor-in-chief Phil Bronstein gets some Mediabistro love, and the comment thread lit up when the topic switched to increasing property tax payments. In a refreshing twist, an innocuous car accident ended up cooling off Mission district-dwelling San Franciscans if only for a few, glorious moments.

Labor Day generally signals the end of summer at Chicagoist, so it was natural that they and their readers took a long look at a proposed ordinance allowing dogs to eat with their owners at outdoor cafés. Readers also had definite opinions on a report that showed that one in four Illinoisans are obese. School is also back in session, and some are being given the right to choose what school holidays they honor, which means that students could have more time in class to hone their math skills before deciding to take city college courses as casino workers. Meanwhile, funding was approved for the region’s public transportation system, which Bears linebacker Lance Briggs should use more often since he apparently can’t handle the power of a Lamborghini.

Austinist continued its ACL Music Festival previews by chatting with Peter, Bjorn, and John, Bloc Party, Ghostland Observatory, and The Broken West, and debated whether folks should try to see Wilco or My Morning Jacket. Meanwhile, a more indie-centric winter music festival is shaping up to be a serious contender to Pitchfork’s summer event in Chicago . Austinist got riled up by the new Iraq war documentary, No End in Sight, but mellowed out after hearing that Texas was relaxing its marijuana laws. Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Flugtag had 80,000 attendees cheering for ridiculous flying contraptions (none of which did much flying), while a smaller number of die-hard hipsters celebrated the arrival of NYC scenesters-extraordinaire, The MisShapes.

The final week of August was anything but slow for Gothamist. A reader sent us a gross image (NSFW) of a subway flashing that made us question the cleanliness of subway seats. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a new program to give tips to tourists – just in time for the influx of new naive college students. We spoke to two ASCAP officials to better understand the world of music licensing and it turned out that a 7-alarm fire at a September 11-scarred building that left two firefighters dead was caused by smoking. And founder of punk music (and more) club CBGB’s – end of an era indeed.

Curious about what’s going on across the rest of the Ist-A-Verse? Check out this week’s reader favorites in Houstonist, Seattle, and Shanghai!

From top: Photograph of Boston’s Tea Party Museum fire courtesy of Kendra Hoyt for Bostonist; photograph of a faith-filled sign by Miles Storey/Torontoist; photograph of San Francisco geyser by evansent; and photograph outside the former CBGB’s by ~Raymond on Flickr

]]> http://londonist.com/2007/09/elsewhere_in_th_32.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2007/07/elsewhere_in_th_28.php http://londonist.com/2007/07/elsewhere_in_th_28.php#comments Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:56:59 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=6546 This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it’s important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too – two of them in -Ist cities.

Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the city’s Congonhas airport in wet weather, then raced over a very heavily-trafficked avenue during rush hour, before crashing into a gas station.

For Gothamist, New York City’s aging infrastructure caused a huge steam pipe explosion in Midtown Manhattan that killed one, left two seriously injured and injured at least forty others. But in lighter news, Whole Foods’ release of the “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” caused fights amongst eco-trend-seekers. Speaking of eco-trends, congestion pricing was kind of approved to move forward in the Big Apple. NY State finally sued Exxon-Mobil for the mid-century Brooklyn oil spill that was about twice the size of the Exxon Valdez spill. And Gothamist has videos of their conversations with the manager and residents of the famous Hotel Chelsea.

SFist woke up to a minor jolt Friday morning, care of a 4.2 earthquake along the nervously-monitored Hayward fault, but what’s really shaking the city is theorange-laced anticipation of Barry Bonds inching closer to more record-breaking behavior. Other behavior includes VVM publication SF Weekly‘s dismissal of their web editor, Matt Stroud – SFist has the post that booted him out of said position. And speaking of controversial posts, the Propaganda III art exhibit had many arguing about freedom of speech, racism, anti-Semitism, and other precious topics of debate. Also, local SF Supes Chris Daly and Bevan Dufty almost throw down, one automobile owner’s desperate plea for a crime-free life, and SFist alum Derrick (“Obsession With Food” scribe) moves on to glory via his cover story in the Chronicle’s wine section. SFist couldn’t be more proud. Sob.

Londonist celebrated their Britishness this week. Their inner toffs were liberated at the Chap Olympiad, at which the upper classes compete for “golden bowler hats” in events such as umbrella hockey and “slap the bounder.” What-ho. They also attended a discussion evening in a ladies restroom – or “toilet,” to use the local lingo. Meanwhile, with the Transformers movie on the way to the UK, London’s cab drivers have been converting their motors into giant pink rabbits. And a new graffiti artist was in town, decorating London’s walls with 22 stencils of Lennon, Jagger and other musical icons. Londonist has got it all mapped.

Torontoist joyously recapped Conrad Black’s case, enjoyed a literally-interpreted billboard, gleefully discovered their readers’ comments on the scaffolding of Sassafraz, the city’s biggest celeb magnet, celebrated buildings with balls (not literally – that’d be weird), and launched Panoramaist, a new feature of VR panoramas that are really, really sweet. As usual, the good came not without a heavy dose of bad, as impending cuts to the city’s transit system had them grumbly the entire week.

The folks at Houstonist spent their week pondering life’s little questions – you know, like why Americans seem to need acres of public storage, why their city is a total sausage fest, and what, exactly, scared them about the ’80s. Speaking of conundrums, how about the old problem of maintaining your figure while getting hammered? Save that tip – you’ll need it when you hear about the Tammy Faye Bakker musical. No, seriously.

LAist hunted down Optimus Prime’s Sister at Nakatomi Plaza (setting of the original Die Hard movie). Even though Downtown LA was destroyed in Transformers, they are prepared, thanks to losing weight and getting fit in the most hardcore way: CrossFit. Not only can they now kick butt, but for light exercise in a town where supposedly nobody walks, they found out how walkable Los Angeles really is, which allows them to continue on their journey of photographing all 170+ neighborhoods in their city. However, walking doesn’t always allow for Suicide Girls and Catholic School Girl parties, but Hollywood movie parties do!

The dark mood that has somehow descended upon the Harry Potter franchise seems to have affected Bostonist‘s beloved Red Sox this week. On the bright side, Massachusetts residents might experience the joys of the Geico gecko, former governor Mitt Romney feels pretty, and Bostonist had the opportunity to enjoy the “best worst movie” ever.

Phillyist wondered why nobody says hello anymore and half-mourned/half-celebrated their baseball franchise’s most recent dubious achievement. They also fell in love this week – with an FM radio station, a Scottish rock band, and a movie remake. Local rockstar Jon Bon Jovi isn’t happy, but one Phillyist staffer, relying upon the kindness of strangers, is. And emo kids might finally clean up their acts. Yeah, right.

DCist was feeling a little silly this week, what with the talk of the town being the planned statue of former Mayor Marion Barry, to be included a “Scandal Room” in the soon-to-open D.C. Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, alongside Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. They also noticed a hilarious, unintentionally filthy-sounding headline at the Washington Post and pondered the merits of putting strip clubs underground. In between their laughter, they also took time out to note Mayor Adrian Fenty’s plan to appeal the recent verdict of the city’s handgun ban to the Supreme Court, and calm everyone’s fears by finding out that a historic movie theater isn’t really closing after all.

Curious about what’s going on across the rest of the Ist-A-Verse? Check out this week’s reader favorites in Chicago, Seattle, and Shanghai!

Sao Paulo photo via Flickr user Nana-Chan. NYC photo via Flickr user ~Raymond. Chap Olympiad photo via Londonist. Harry Potter fan pic by SFist Jer.

]]> This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it’s important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too – two of them in -Ist cities.

Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the city’s Congonhas airport in wet weather, then raced over a very heavily-trafficked avenue during rush hour, before crashing into a gas station.

For Gothamist, New York City’s aging infrastructure caused a huge steam pipe explosion in Midtown Manhattan that killed one, left two seriously injured and injured at least forty others. But in lighter news, Whole Foods’ release of the “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” caused fights amongst eco-trend-seekers. Speaking of eco-trends, congestion pricing was kind of approved to move forward in the Big Apple. NY State finally sued Exxon-Mobil for the mid-century Brooklyn oil spill that was about twice the size of the Exxon Valdez spill. And Gothamist has videos of their conversations with the manager and residents of the famous Hotel Chelsea.

SFist woke up to a minor jolt Friday morning, care of a 4.2 earthquake along the nervously-monitored Hayward fault, but what’s really shaking the city is theorange-laced anticipation of Barry Bonds inching closer to more record-breaking behavior. Other behavior includes VVM publication SF Weekly‘s dismissal of their web editor, Matt Stroud – SFist has the post that booted him out of said position. And speaking of controversial posts, the Propaganda III art exhibit had many arguing about freedom of speech, racism, anti-Semitism, and other precious topics of debate. Also, local SF Supes Chris Daly and Bevan Dufty almost throw down, one automobile owner’s desperate plea for a crime-free life, and SFist alum Derrick (“Obsession With Food” scribe) moves on to glory via his cover story in the Chronicle’s wine section. SFist couldn’t be more proud. Sob.

Londonist celebrated their Britishness this week. Their inner toffs were liberated at the Chap Olympiad, at which the upper classes compete for “golden bowler hats” in events such as umbrella hockey and “slap the bounder.” What-ho. They also attended a discussion evening in a ladies restroom – or “toilet,” to use the local lingo. Meanwhile, with the Transformers movie on the way to the UK, London’s cab drivers have been converting their motors into giant pink rabbits. And a new graffiti artist was in town, decorating London’s walls with 22 stencils of Lennon, Jagger and other musical icons. Londonist has got it all mapped.

Torontoist joyously recapped Conrad Black’s case, enjoyed a literally-interpreted billboard, gleefully discovered their readers’ comments on the scaffolding of Sassafraz, the city’s biggest celeb magnet, celebrated buildings with balls (not literally – that’d be weird), and launched Panoramaist, a new feature of VR panoramas that are really, really sweet. As usual, the good came not without a heavy dose of bad, as impending cuts to the city’s transit system had them grumbly the entire week.

The folks at Houstonist spent their week pondering life’s little questions – you know, like why Americans seem to need acres of public storage, why their city is a total sausage fest, and what, exactly, scared them about the ’80s. Speaking of conundrums, how about the old problem of maintaining your figure while getting hammered? Save that tip – you’ll need it when you hear about the Tammy Faye Bakker musical. No, seriously.

LAist hunted down Optimus Prime’s Sister at Nakatomi Plaza (setting of the original Die Hard movie). Even though Downtown LA was destroyed in Transformers, they are prepared, thanks to losing weight and getting fit in the most hardcore way: CrossFit. Not only can they now kick butt, but for light exercise in a town where supposedly nobody walks, they found out how walkable Los Angeles really is, which allows them to continue on their journey of photographing all 170+ neighborhoods in their city. However, walking doesn’t always allow for Suicide Girls and Catholic School Girl parties, but Hollywood movie parties do!

The dark mood that has somehow descended upon the Harry Potter franchise seems to have affected Bostonist‘s beloved Red Sox this week. On the bright side, Massachusetts residents might experience the joys of the Geico gecko, former governor Mitt Romney feels pretty, and Bostonist had the opportunity to enjoy the “best worst movie” ever.

Phillyist wondered why nobody says hello anymore and half-mourned/half-celebrated their baseball franchise’s most recent dubious achievement. They also fell in love this week – with an FM radio station, a Scottish rock band, and a movie remake. Local rockstar Jon Bon Jovi isn’t happy, but one Phillyist staffer, relying upon the kindness of strangers, is. And emo kids might finally clean up their acts. Yeah, right.

DCist was feeling a little silly this week, what with the talk of the town being the planned statue of former Mayor Marion Barry, to be included a “Scandal Room” in the soon-to-open D.C. Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, alongside Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. They also noticed a hilarious, unintentionally filthy-sounding headline at the Washington Post and pondered the merits of putting strip clubs underground. In between their laughter, they also took time out to note Mayor Adrian Fenty’s plan to appeal the recent verdict of the city’s handgun ban to the Supreme Court, and calm everyone’s fears by finding out that a historic movie theater isn’t really closing after all.

Curious about what’s going on across the rest of the Ist-A-Verse? Check out this week’s reader favorites in Chicago, Seattle, and Shanghai!

Sao Paulo photo via Flickr user Nana-Chan. NYC photo via Flickr user ~Raymond. Chap Olympiad photo via Londonist. Harry Potter fan pic by SFist Jer.

]]> http://londonist.com/2007/07/elsewhere_in_th_28.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2007/07/elsewhere_in_th_26.php http://londonist.com/2007/07/elsewhere_in_th_26.php#comments Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:34:54 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=6449

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor’s Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank.

Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their First Amendment rights by writing a food column about sex, revealing a musical coverup, reminding barbecue goers to eat pigs, but not act like them, and hating on Transformers, all the while trying not to get run over. In other First Amendment news, a local anchorman offended the whole city with a racial epithet – just because you can say it doesn’t mean you should. Meanwhile, Phillyist readers were embracing their freedom of expression by celebrating—and photographing—the city’s Fourth of July Festivities.

Torontoist asked their readers an honest well-meaning question: is Toronto ugly? They said goodbye to Zanta, Toronto’s answer to the naked cowboy, who is leaving for a suburb, and to a famous truck. They mused about the problem of towers and debated whether native protests are justified. Oh, and they were the first media organization to have anything on a free White Stripes concert happening in a downtown YMCA as it was happening, so that was pretty awesome.

Londonist are living through interesting times. With terror alerts becoming part of the daily routine, they marked the two year anniversary since the Tube blasts that killed 52 people. All while coping with some biblical weather. Meanwhile, no slowdown on the cultural events. The biggest race in the world came to London this weekend, when the Tour de France pedaled off from London. And the O2 Dome – the largest roofed building anywhere, ever – finally reopened. So with all this excitement, perhaps not the best week to ban smoking.

Over on SFist, a bus driver revealed his top 10 list of things that annoy the crap out of him. Another 10-item list: activist Josh Wolf’s action plan for SF; he’s running for Mayor almost a year after being jailed for refusing to turn over videotapes. On the fine arts side, SFist interviewed the symphony’s young, talented associate conductor. Folks were bummed and outraged at a stupid 4th of July injury to a teen drummer. Good thing Jesse Jackson’s on the way to save the city.

Seattlest sits down for a talk with the Name Inspector this week. What kind of name is Seattlest? “It’s an OK name… guess it’s pretty good.” A record store puts an entire neighborhood on it’s shoulders, a local film critic attacks the Seattle International Film Festival and new highway signs instruct traffic to “Chimpeach.” Also, Bill Gates saves gay publishing.

This week DCist was feeling a little down after learning that the National Zoo’s panda, Mei Xiang, wasn’t pregnant after all, so they tried to cheer themselves up with a trip to the temporarily Simpsons-themed Kwik-E-Mart in Bladensburg, Md. Later they got back to more serious issues, like whether DIY fireworks are safe, whether single alcohol sales should be banned, and whether Mayor Adrian Fenty’s staffers should have been able to cut in line to buy iPhones.

The most vicious debate Gothamist has seen lately has been between the the various factions that rule Central Park’s loop (PS – people really hate cyclists!). We liveblogged Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog eating contest and then enjoyed some spectacular fireworks. Mrs. Alex Rodriguez shocked Yankees fans with a dirty tank top, a possibly crazy man killed a wild peacock and there’s a strange, multi-layered story about a mascot that tried to buy an iPhone, a news crew, and the police.

And check out the best of what’s happening in other -ist cities: Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Sao Paolo, and Shanghai.

Photographs, from top: Matching Los Angeleno dog owner and dog by LAist’s Malingering, “the death of venus” by Okaypro on Flickr (via Phyllist), a Freeway Blogger sign in Seattle and NYC fireworks over Brooklyn by TomVu on Flickr

]]>

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor’s Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank.

Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their First Amendment rights by writing a food column about sex, revealing a musical coverup, reminding barbecue goers to eat pigs, but not act like them, and hating on Transformers, all the while trying not to get run over. In other First Amendment news, a local anchorman offended the whole city with a racial epithet – just because you can say it doesn’t mean you should. Meanwhile, Phillyist readers were embracing their freedom of expression by celebrating—and photographing—the city’s Fourth of July Festivities.

Torontoist asked their readers an honest well-meaning question: is Toronto ugly? They said goodbye to Zanta, Toronto’s answer to the naked cowboy, who is leaving for a suburb, and to a famous truck. They mused about the problem of towers and debated whether native protests are justified. Oh, and they were the first media organization to have anything on a free White Stripes concert happening in a downtown YMCA as it was happening, so that was pretty awesome.

Londonist are living through interesting times. With terror alerts becoming part of the daily routine, they marked the two year anniversary since the Tube blasts that killed 52 people. All while coping with some biblical weather. Meanwhile, no slowdown on the cultural events. The biggest race in the world came to London this weekend, when the Tour de France pedaled off from London. And the O2 Dome – the largest roofed building anywhere, ever – finally reopened. So with all this excitement, perhaps not the best week to ban smoking.

Over on SFist, a bus driver revealed his top 10 list of things that annoy the crap out of him. Another 10-item list: activist Josh Wolf’s action plan for SF; he’s running for Mayor almost a year after being jailed for refusing to turn over videotapes. On the fine arts side, SFist interviewed the symphony’s young, talented associate conductor. Folks were bummed and outraged at a stupid 4th of July injury to a teen drummer. Good thing Jesse Jackson’s on the way to save the city.

Seattlest sits down for a talk with the Name Inspector this week. What kind of name is Seattlest? “It’s an OK name… guess it’s pretty good.” A record store puts an entire neighborhood on it’s shoulders, a local film critic attacks the Seattle International Film Festival and new highway signs instruct traffic to “Chimpeach.” Also, Bill Gates saves gay publishing.

This week DCist was feeling a little down after learning that the National Zoo’s panda, Mei Xiang, wasn’t pregnant after all, so they tried to cheer themselves up with a trip to the temporarily Simpsons-themed Kwik-E-Mart in Bladensburg, Md. Later they got back to more serious issues, like whether DIY fireworks are safe, whether single alcohol sales should be banned, and whether Mayor Adrian Fenty’s staffers should have been able to cut in line to buy iPhones.

The most vicious debate Gothamist has seen lately has been between the the various factions that rule Central Park’s loop (PS – people really hate cyclists!). We liveblogged Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog eating contest and then enjoyed some spectacular fireworks. Mrs. Alex Rodriguez shocked Yankees fans with a dirty tank top, a possibly crazy man killed a wild peacock and there’s a strange, multi-layered story about a mascot that tried to buy an iPhone, a news crew, and the police.

And check out the best of what’s happening in other -ist cities: Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Sao Paolo, and Shanghai.

Photographs, from top: Matching Los Angeleno dog owner and dog by LAist’s Malingering, “the death of venus” by Okaypro on Flickr (via Phyllist), a Freeway Blogger sign in Seattle and NYC fireworks over Brooklyn by TomVu on Flickr

]]> http://londonist.com/2007/07/elsewhere_in_th_26.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2007/04/news_from_aroun_13.php http://londonist.com/2007/04/news_from_aroun_13.php#comments Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:40:09 +0000 sizemore http://londonist.com/?p=5726 We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we’re sensational, but it’s very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we’ve decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week.

Torontoist Special Report: Rosie to Trump: “Fire 300 Bicyclists for Fraud!”

On DCist: Students Go Wild for Slogans, Secrets and Sexual Harassment

The action was thick and heavy at SFist: Mayor Discovers Public Transportation Not Very Good! War on Paper Bags and Food Critics Who Attack Food Bloggers! Town Hall Meeting With Mayor Turns Raucous When Chickens Attack!

Seattlest mentions McCain’s momentous MySpace same-sex marriage announcement, mumbles that their monstrosity of a library might be a Monet, and muses on the possibility of a drunken pitcher on the mound of last year’s All-Star matchup. Meanwhile, members of their lit group meet the author, a local musician questions the merits of the Pitchfork Effect and a man makes moves to get a MacBook Pro in the mitts of local radio.

Scandal galore on Houstonist this week: Killer Barbecues Ex-Girlfriend’s Remains! Senator Offers Women Cash for Their Babies! Man Fakes Kidnapping To Slip Ball and Chain! Antique sofa miraculously preserved! Hard-Working City Bloggers Get Screaming Drunk!

This just in from Londonist: Rutting Royal VS. Rocking Racer: Ready to Rumble!!!

Overheard outside the trash bin Chicagoist collects its news from: Obama’s Gay Gaffe Slightly Less Upsetting Than “The Man” Saturating a Hipster ‘Hood and Staining Their Lily White Belts. Breaking! Spire to the Sky or Fusilli Jerry? And, Marvel at the Transit System That Doesn’t Actually Transit!

Shanghaiist exclaims: Kenny G! Ziggy Marley! Sonic Youth! Giant Chinese Dragon! Crazy Sex Scandal Involving Shanghai Toys and Chairman Mao condoms! Yowza!

Breaking news on Phillyist! Flyers and Phillies Flock to Decorated Dormitories: Decency Dies, Defecates

Austinist crushes over cool “kustoms” while a crazy chick (who couldn’t kick the chronic) creeps away in a cop’s car. Meanwhile, the city reached a copasetic conclusion to a college controversy just as the climate turned calamitous.

Bostonist (who helped inspire the guidelines for this post) features: Out-Of-This-World Athletes and Angels, While Governor Derides Droopy Drawers

Next up on LAist: Man(cia) Bites (Veggie) (Dodger) Dog; Echo Film at 11, Music by Datarock

Extra, extra, hey look at Gothamist‘s headlines: Brooklyn Artist Cocoas Christ! Supermarket’s Super Opening Party! Wal-Mart’s CEO to NYC: Drop Dead! Neighbors want San Gennaro fest To Sleep With the Fishes! Splasher Tired, but Brusher Is Wired! Pachyderms Back in Big Apple!

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

Collage by Londonist Editor Mike Atherton.

]]> We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we’re sensational, but it’s very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we’ve decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week.

Torontoist Special Report: Rosie to Trump: “Fire 300 Bicyclists for Fraud!”

On DCist: Students Go Wild for Slogans, Secrets and Sexual Harassment

The action was thick and heavy at SFist: Mayor Discovers Public Transportation Not Very Good! War on Paper Bags and Food Critics Who Attack Food Bloggers! Town Hall Meeting With Mayor Turns Raucous When Chickens Attack!

Seattlest mentions McCain’s momentous MySpace same-sex marriage announcement, mumbles that their monstrosity of a library might be a Monet, and muses on the possibility of a drunken pitcher on the mound of last year’s All-Star matchup. Meanwhile, members of their lit group meet the author, a local musician questions the merits of the Pitchfork Effect and a man makes moves to get a MacBook Pro in the mitts of local radio.

Scandal galore on Houstonist this week: Killer Barbecues Ex-Girlfriend’s Remains! Senator Offers Women Cash for Their Babies! Man Fakes Kidnapping To Slip Ball and Chain! Antique sofa miraculously preserved! Hard-Working City Bloggers Get Screaming Drunk!

This just in from Londonist: Rutting Royal VS. Rocking Racer: Ready to Rumble!!!

Overheard outside the trash bin Chicagoist collects its news from: Obama’s Gay Gaffe Slightly Less Upsetting Than “The Man” Saturating a Hipster ‘Hood and Staining Their Lily White Belts. Breaking! Spire to the Sky or Fusilli Jerry? And, Marvel at the Transit System That Doesn’t Actually Transit!

Shanghaiist exclaims: Kenny G! Ziggy Marley! Sonic Youth! Giant Chinese Dragon! Crazy Sex Scandal Involving Shanghai Toys and Chairman Mao condoms! Yowza!

Breaking news on Phillyist! Flyers and Phillies Flock to Decorated Dormitories: Decency Dies, Defecates

Austinist crushes over cool “kustoms” while a crazy chick (who couldn’t kick the chronic) creeps away in a cop’s car. Meanwhile, the city reached a copasetic conclusion to a college controversy just as the climate turned calamitous.

Bostonist (who helped inspire the guidelines for this post) features: Out-Of-This-World Athletes and Angels, While Governor Derides Droopy Drawers

Next up on LAist: Man(cia) Bites (Veggie) (Dodger) Dog; Echo Film at 11, Music by Datarock

Extra, extra, hey look at Gothamist‘s headlines: Brooklyn Artist Cocoas Christ! Supermarket’s Super Opening Party! Wal-Mart’s CEO to NYC: Drop Dead! Neighbors want San Gennaro fest To Sleep With the Fishes! Splasher Tired, but Brusher Is Wired! Pachyderms Back in Big Apple!

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

Collage by Londonist Editor Mike Atherton.

]]> http://londonist.com/2007/04/news_from_aroun_13.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2007/03/elsewhere_in_th_11.php http://londonist.com/2007/03/elsewhere_in_th_11.php#comments Sun, 04 Mar 2007 16:49:44 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=5552 Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we’re all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn’t officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we’re up to…

Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it’s sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal place to avoid the heat. Museums featuring controversial displays of the unclaimed bodies of deceased Chinese? Even better. (WARNING: Don’t click that link if you don’t know what you’re in for.)

Phillyist knows that nothing says spring like pigeon stool (not that kind) and puppy love. And spring means feeling comfortable enough to walk around outside and appreciate gorgeous views. Unfortunately, spring also means fewer layers to cover up bad cologne, but no worries: fabulous performers (of the camp and public variety) will take your mind off your offended nose. Your offended sense of grammar, though, perhaps not.

SFist knows that springtime is for lovers, and what’s more romantic than a latex-gloved stalker? The answer to that question, natch, is racism. Spring storms may have caused this San Francisco landslide, but one thing’s for certain: pizza is glorious, no matter the time of year.

Of course, while love is in the air every spring, the folks at Torontoist wish to remind you that there’s a difference between love and date rape. The greatest love of all, though, is the love of oneself, as a former Torontonian songwriter discovered when she became a he. Torontoist also shared their love of film, or perhaps just awards shows and Broken Social Scene, but their disdain for disappointing concert performances and serious factual errors.

LAist also knows that spring means Oscar (even if the awards were earlier this year), and covered the ceremony’s set-up, as well as one of those fabulous gifting parties that we’ve heard so much about. You don’t usually think of the Chinese New Year having much to do with the springtime, but with LA’s weather lately, you probably should. But what about those chilly nights in California? Well, we’d imagine that the shiny metal facade of this new BP station in Beverly Hills retains enough heat from daytime sun exposure to keep you warm, if you forget your coat.

Speaking of California (albeit not of spring), Houstonist confirmed that yes, the Golden State is still more expensive than Houston. And with Lent in full swing, why shouldn’t the Blessed Virgin Mary visit a school cafeteria? Of course, for any of those asking “WWJD?” (and who isn’t, with Easter coming up?), we’re guessing the answer isn’t make English the official language of your town. (Aramaic, perhaps…) And hey, any day but Friday, why not take your significant other to Ikea for some tasty meatballs?

Londonist, being those brilliant bloggers that they are, know that spring is the season that comes immediately before summer, and that five summers from this one, London is hosting the Olympics. Because nobody wants an embarrassed home team, the UK is trying to recruit tall people. That makes sense. About as much sense as looking for Mexican food in London. Spring is also when St. Patrick’s Day happens, and since everyone knows (in the world of stereotypes) that the Irish love potatoes, it’s time for an annual potato portrait competition. And while it’s still chilly enough for people to want to take public transit over walking, it’s nice for Londonist to know that London’s Tube is the best in the world.

Shanghaiist also knows the order the seasons come in, and so is painfully aware that summer will follow spring, and with it, quite possibly the worst mosquito year to date. But never fear: there are killer fish to take care of that problem! But before the mosquitoes descend on Shanghai, spring will also see a Sonic Youth Chinese tour, and, hopefully, an upswing in the currently very-low Chinese Stock Market. Maybe Hollywood’s recent interest in Chinese film will help. Meanwhile, Shanghaiist is feeling a little confused by Virgin’s recent subway rankings, and disappointed in disappearing WiFi spots.

Spring in Austin means it’s (almost) time for SXSW, and Austinist readers are celebrating by kinda pissing off one of the creators. Meanwhile, the lovely spring weather is making it easier for a pretty extraordinary feat, concrete harvesting, and the possible construction of McMansions. Of course, spring can also bring rain—not that that kept away any of Barak Obama’s Texas fans.

Springtime in New York is the perfect time for walking around. Gothamist is especially jazzed to have the opportunity to walk through the newly-restored, and absolutely gorgeous, Bethesda Terrace Arcade in Central Park. Not all the outdoor art in NYC is so mainstream, but one street artist is getting mainstream attention. Some in Manhattan may find that it’s still too chilly to make the trip downtown to Trader Joe’s, but no worries: Gothamist has some creative alternatives to grocery shopping. If, however, you do need to go to the store, Gothamist suggests you don’t drive, but instead take New York’s highly-regarded subway. And all times of year are equally awesome for making fun of hipsters.

Nothing, and we mean nothing, says spring to us like baseball, and Bostonist is covering aptly-titled Spring Training—they even have an endorsement idea for the Sox. Good thing they’re focusing on the baseball, too: its announcers aren’t usually this sexist. Meanwhile, if you’re going to a spring wedding in Boston, there’s the legal possibility that it will be a same-sex union. And a Massachusetts judge has ruled that, no matter how hard they try, parents can’t keep their kids from reading “gay” books.

And speaking of sports and prejudice, Seattlest writes that the Sonics were sold to bigots (who at least may be trying to cover up, if not entirely rescind, some of the prejudice). While Seattle tries to sort through that mess, Phoenix tries to make sense of a Seattle alt-weekly. Maybe everyone would do better if they just took a break and had a nice dessert.

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

All images from Ist cities listed on the oft-cited Top 11 Underground Transit Systems Throughout the World by Virgin Vacations, as credited below:

Modern L Train. Photo taken by Brian Weinberg.

]]> Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we’re all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn’t officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we’re up to…

Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it’s sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal place to avoid the heat. Museums featuring controversial displays of the unclaimed bodies of deceased Chinese? Even better. (WARNING: Don’t click that link if you don’t know what you’re in for.)

Phillyist knows that nothing says spring like pigeon stool (not that kind) and puppy love. And spring means feeling comfortable enough to walk around outside and appreciate gorgeous views. Unfortunately, spring also means fewer layers to cover up bad cologne, but no worries: fabulous performers (of the camp and public variety) will take your mind off your offended nose. Your offended sense of grammar, though, perhaps not.

SFist knows that springtime is for lovers, and what’s more romantic than a latex-gloved stalker? The answer to that question, natch, is racism. Spring storms may have caused this San Francisco landslide, but one thing’s for certain: pizza is glorious, no matter the time of year.

Of course, while love is in the air every spring, the folks at Torontoist wish to remind you that there’s a difference between love and date rape. The greatest love of all, though, is the love of oneself, as a former Torontonian songwriter discovered when she became a he. Torontoist also shared their love of film, or perhaps just awards shows and Broken Social Scene, but their disdain for disappointing concert performances and serious factual errors.

LAist also knows that spring means Oscar (even if the awards were earlier this year), and covered the ceremony’s set-up, as well as one of those fabulous gifting parties that we’ve heard so much about. You don’t usually think of the Chinese New Year having much to do with the springtime, but with LA’s weather lately, you probably should. But what about those chilly nights in California? Well, we’d imagine that the shiny metal facade of this new BP station in Beverly Hills retains enough heat from daytime sun exposure to keep you warm, if you forget your coat.

Speaking of California (albeit not of spring), Houstonist confirmed that yes, the Golden State is still more expensive than Houston. And with Lent in full swing, why shouldn’t the Blessed Virgin Mary visit a school cafeteria? Of course, for any of those asking “WWJD?” (and who isn’t, with Easter coming up?), we’re guessing the answer isn’t make English the official language of your town. (Aramaic, perhaps…) And hey, any day but Friday, why not take your significant other to Ikea for some tasty meatballs?

Londonist, being those brilliant bloggers that they are, know that spring is the season that comes immediately before summer, and that five summers from this one, London is hosting the Olympics. Because nobody wants an embarrassed home team, the UK is trying to recruit tall people. That makes sense. About as much sense as looking for Mexican food in London. Spring is also when St. Patrick’s Day happens, and since everyone knows (in the world of stereotypes) that the Irish love potatoes, it’s time for an annual potato portrait competition. And while it’s still chilly enough for people to want to take public transit over walking, it’s nice for Londonist to know that London’s Tube is the best in the world.

Shanghaiist also knows the order the seasons come in, and so is painfully aware that summer will follow spring, and with it, quite possibly the worst mosquito year to date. But never fear: there are killer fish to take care of that problem! But before the mosquitoes descend on Shanghai, spring will also see a Sonic Youth Chinese tour, and, hopefully, an upswing in the currently very-low Chinese Stock Market. Maybe Hollywood’s recent interest in Chinese film will help. Meanwhile, Shanghaiist is feeling a little confused by Virgin’s recent subway rankings, and disappointed in disappearing WiFi spots.

Spring in Austin means it’s (almost) time for SXSW, and Austinist readers are celebrating by kinda pissing off one of the creators. Meanwhile, the lovely spring weather is making it easier for a pretty extraordinary feat, concrete harvesting, and the possible construction of McMansions. Of course, spring can also bring rain—not that that kept away any of Barak Obama’s Texas fans.

Springtime in New York is the perfect time for walking around. Gothamist is especially jazzed to have the opportunity to walk through the newly-restored, and absolutely gorgeous, Bethesda Terrace Arcade in Central Park. Not all the outdoor art in NYC is so mainstream, but one street artist is getting mainstream attention. Some in Manhattan may find that it’s still too chilly to make the trip downtown to Trader Joe’s, but no worries: Gothamist has some creative alternatives to grocery shopping. If, however, you do need to go to the store, Gothamist suggests you don’t drive, but instead take New York’s highly-regarded subway. And all times of year are equally awesome for making fun of hipsters.

Nothing, and we mean nothing, says spring to us like baseball, and Bostonist is covering aptly-titled Spring Training—they even have an endorsement idea for the Sox. Good thing they’re focusing on the baseball, too: its announcers aren’t usually this sexist. Meanwhile, if you’re going to a spring wedding in Boston, there’s the legal possibility that it will be a same-sex union. And a Massachusetts judge has ruled that, no matter how hard they try, parents can’t keep their kids from reading “gay” books.

And speaking of sports and prejudice, Seattlest writes that the Sonics were sold to bigots (who at least may be trying to cover up, if not entirely rescind, some of the prejudice). While Seattle tries to sort through that mess, Phoenix tries to make sense of a Seattle alt-weekly. Maybe everyone would do better if they just took a break and had a nice dessert.

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

All images from Ist cities listed on the oft-cited Top 11 Underground Transit Systems Throughout the World by Virgin Vacations, as credited below:

Modern L Train. Photo taken by Brian Weinberg.

]]> http://londonist.com/2007/03/elsewhere_in_th_11.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2007/02/elsewhere_in_th_10.php http://londonist.com/2007/02/elsewhere_in_th_10.php#comments Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:10:37 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=5441

We’d like to start this week’s run-down by wishing a very happy birthday to parent blog Gothamist, which turned four on Friday. If it wasn’t for them, the rest of us wouldn’t be here. They celebrated their birthday by nabbing an interview with Entourage star Adrian Grenier, who misses NYC public transportation when he’s working in LA. They also reported on NYU students protesting a band whose name is also known as a slur, the new graffiti king in town, Bill Cosby’s adorable dog, and the disturbing tale of a yoga instructor who was found guilty of killing his girlfriend, a dancer from Ohio who stripped to make ends meet.

Bostonist is grateful that the Celtics broke their losing streak on Valentine’s Day—perhaps the players girlfriends were withholding the slam dunk until they won! They were also all about Valentine’s Day: they made sausage, taught breaking up 2.0, and shopped for Barbie Dolls that were suspiciously like the ones in San Francisco.

Torontoist wasn’t sure how they felt about four Greenpeace activists chaining themselves together in the offices of Kleenex’s manufacturer. They hunted down the remains of Microsoft’s Windows Vista Ice House, and wondered about the future of their men’s magazines after the death of one.

Phillyist got pretty in to local politics this week, what with their wacky local mayoral race and being Facebooked by city council candidates. They also stumbled across some sweet vintage concert footage and, in honor of Valentine’s Day, listed ten things to love about Philly.

SFist presents to you: East Bay Barbie (it’s funny even if you’ve never been to Northern California) and debates recent measures on restaurants like health care, minimum wage, and paid sick leave, and their effect on restaurants. Their cartoonist tells you how to break up with your girlfriend in sixty-four steps, and that laugh is probably much-needed, what with all the shootings last weekend. And in case you’ve been stuck in the same situation, here are some ideas for how to get a table at a coffee shop when everyone else is on a laptop.

DCist threw their fifth Unbuckled concert with Pela and These United States, which looks like it was way fun. Meanwhile, D.C. residents and their mayor went down to Capitol Hill to lobby for a vote on the voting rights bill, and DCist wondered why D.C. residents have such a hard time shoveling snow and offered their best ideas for cooking a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner.

Over at Sampaist, there’s not that much to report, what with all the Carnaval cleavage to distract the staff.

Houstonist is proud that they’ve slimmed down in the eyes of Men’s Fitness Magazine, but they’ve got a pretty definite way to regain all that lost weight. On the arts and entertainment front, Houstonist was able to track down a pair of enormous Beatles, and Leo’s gonna make him an Enron movie.

Shanghaiist is thrilled that Al Gore has announced Shanghai will be hosting one of the Live Earth concerts. And hey, few things make them happier than subtitled American TV. Also in Shanghai, a mountain was painted green after a man was told that the bare mountain was bad feng shui and detrimental to his business, and a Chinese soccer stadium, where the Chinese national team qualified for its only World Cup finals appearance, was destroyed in 6.6 seconds. And hey, Valentine’s Day was this week!

LAist has an interview with the owner of the video game store where kids and celebs would go to get illegal X Boxes, and a game review, podcast, and photo essay of the LA Derby Dolls’ latest match. Joe Rogan has joined the ranks of comedians banned from Hollywood nightclubs, and an area mayor was told during a council meeting that his campaign manager is a two-bagger.

Seattlest reports that the Mariners are out of pens. Pencils, we assume, they’ve still got in spades. Seattle is getting ready for NASCAR on the Waterfront Highway (which seems like such a waste, given Seattlest’s catastrophic car troubles and NSA-approved dolphins. And their weeklies are having a lovers’ quarrel.

Chicagoist‘s senator, Barak Obama, has made his presidential run official. Chicagoist interviewed the founder of locally-owned and coming-to-LA, Intelligentsia Coffee and weighed in on their favorite places in the Andersonville neighborhood. Former NBA star and Chicago native Tim Hardaway is a big homophobe, and iPods might become illegal in Chicago intersections.

And last but not least, Londonist posted about some rather ambitious architects want to build mile-high towers in London and took forty of their readers on a spooky walk along the Thames. You know those red-coated, big-hatted soldiers we have in London? Here is one going completely la-la—maybe because he wants a a new hat?

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

Break-up 2.0 graphic by Christi Gorelli, via Bostonist.

]]>

We’d like to start this week’s run-down by wishing a very happy birthday to parent blog Gothamist, which turned four on Friday. If it wasn’t for them, the rest of us wouldn’t be here. They celebrated their birthday by nabbing an interview with Entourage star Adrian Grenier, who misses NYC public transportation when he’s working in LA. They also reported on NYU students protesting a band whose name is also known as a slur, the new graffiti king in town, Bill Cosby’s adorable dog, and the disturbing tale of a yoga instructor who was found guilty of killing his girlfriend, a dancer from Ohio who stripped to make ends meet.

Bostonist is grateful that the Celtics broke their losing streak on Valentine’s Day—perhaps the players girlfriends were withholding the slam dunk until they won! They were also all about Valentine’s Day: they made sausage, taught breaking up 2.0, and shopped for Barbie Dolls that were suspiciously like the ones in San Francisco.

Torontoist wasn’t sure how they felt about four Greenpeace activists chaining themselves together in the offices of Kleenex’s manufacturer. They hunted down the remains of Microsoft’s Windows Vista Ice House, and wondered about the future of their men’s magazines after the death of one.

Phillyist got pretty in to local politics this week, what with their wacky local mayoral race and being Facebooked by city council candidates. They also stumbled across some sweet vintage concert footage and, in honor of Valentine’s Day, listed ten things to love about Philly.

SFist presents to you: East Bay Barbie (it’s funny even if you’ve never been to Northern California) and debates recent measures on restaurants like health care, minimum wage, and paid sick leave, and their effect on restaurants. Their cartoonist tells you how to break up with your girlfriend in sixty-four steps, and that laugh is probably much-needed, what with all the shootings last weekend. And in case you’ve been stuck in the same situation, here are some ideas for how to get a table at a coffee shop when everyone else is on a laptop.

DCist threw their fifth Unbuckled concert with Pela and These United States, which looks like it was way fun. Meanwhile, D.C. residents and their mayor went down to Capitol Hill to lobby for a vote on the voting rights bill, and DCist wondered why D.C. residents have such a hard time shoveling snow and offered their best ideas for cooking a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner.

Over at Sampaist, there’s not that much to report, what with all the Carnaval cleavage to distract the staff.

Houstonist is proud that they’ve slimmed down in the eyes of Men’s Fitness Magazine, but they’ve got a pretty definite way to regain all that lost weight. On the arts and entertainment front, Houstonist was able to track down a pair of enormous Beatles, and Leo’s gonna make him an Enron movie.

Shanghaiist is thrilled that Al Gore has announced Shanghai will be hosting one of the Live Earth concerts. And hey, few things make them happier than subtitled American TV. Also in Shanghai, a mountain was painted green after a man was told that the bare mountain was bad feng shui and detrimental to his business, and a Chinese soccer stadium, where the Chinese national team qualified for its only World Cup finals appearance, was destroyed in 6.6 seconds. And hey, Valentine’s Day was this week!

LAist has an interview with the owner of the video game store where kids and celebs would go to get illegal X Boxes, and a game review, podcast, and photo essay of the LA Derby Dolls’ latest match. Joe Rogan has joined the ranks of comedians banned from Hollywood nightclubs, and an area mayor was told during a council meeting that his campaign manager is a two-bagger.

Seattlest reports that the Mariners are out of pens. Pencils, we assume, they’ve still got in spades. Seattle is getting ready for NASCAR on the Waterfront Highway (which seems like such a waste, given Seattlest’s catastrophic car troubles and NSA-approved dolphins. And their weeklies are having a lovers’ quarrel.

Chicagoist‘s senator, Barak Obama, has made his presidential run official. Chicagoist interviewed the founder of locally-owned and coming-to-LA, Intelligentsia Coffee and weighed in on their favorite places in the Andersonville neighborhood. Former NBA star and Chicago native Tim Hardaway is a big homophobe, and iPods might become illegal in Chicago intersections.

And last but not least, Londonist posted about some rather ambitious architects want to build mile-high towers in London and took forty of their readers on a spooky walk along the Thames. You know those red-coated, big-hatted soldiers we have in London? Here is one going completely la-la—maybe because he wants a a new hat?

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

Break-up 2.0 graphic by Christi Gorelli, via Bostonist.

]]> http://londonist.com/2007/02/elsewhere_in_th_10.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2007/02/china_in_london.php http://londonist.com/2007/02/china_in_london.php#comments Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:40:28 +0000 Hazel http://londonist.com/?p=5435

China has been in London for a long time, and it’s not just been in the series of streets, shops and restaurants that constitute Chinatown. As well as a marvellous amount of fun things to see and do around Chinatown this weekend for Chinese New Year, it seems the whole of London wants to get involved.

The Victoria & Albert museum, National Film Theatre, City Hall and the Trocadero are all hosting events and exhibitions to celebrate Chinese culture in Ken Livingstone’s second China in London festival. It was so successful last year, he’s doing it again, and we’re pleased because there’s a great pile of stuff to enjoy over a longer period than just the Chinese New Year weekend.

There is a photography exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery: Cherish: Chinese Families in Britain at the National Portrait Gallery is a collection of photos that look at the contemporary Chinese community in Britain and is a rare insight into a sometimes quite closed part of British society.

For film, the National Film Theatre is hosting Shanghai Animation on Screen, nine days of diverse and delightful animation that ranges from hand-drawn traditional features to stop-motion and digital work. Other film events in the season will be held in Canary Wharf, the National Portrait Gallery and various libraries and community centres for the presentation of the fascinating oral history project.

And in case you can’t wait until Sunday for the big events in Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square, the Victoria & Albert museum are having a whole weekend of arts, crafts and performances to see in the Year of the Pig. The events here are probably a bit better for those with very small kids or elderly friends and family as everything is indoors and there’s less walking around.

China in London, 15 February until March 2007. For the full China in London programme, go to the website here.

We’re still number one when it comes to really big wheels. Shanghaiist report that we can relax after plans for a Shanghai-eye bit the dust:

They will remain, for the foreseeable future, the city with the biggest ferris wheel. Pop open the champagne, guys! They have Shanghai to thank. Our idiot city planners have decided to scrap plans to build a “spinning giant”

The Shanghai Star would have stood perhaps as much as a whopping 100 meters higher than our own effort. Just as happens so many times in London though mediocrity has won out over dazzle and the land is now to be used for a… wait for it… office block.

Commiserations to the people of Shanghai, but as our friends point out

plans to build the largest versions of everything else in the world other than ferris wheels are going ahead on schedule.

Shanghai Star is also the name of a weekly English-language newspaper published in the city. Thank the Gods no one thought to name any of our new buildings after The Standard.

Photo credit: pod peeps by Jimbus.org

This was not a very happy week for the -ist network as one of our own, Phillyist co-editor Star C. Foster, passed away early in the week. Her wit, intelligence, and good nature shone through the site, making Phillyist an immensely fun read. She was loved by many and will be missed by all.

Phillyist paid tribute to her this week with a heartfelt letter to her and an obituary.

And now, the awkward transition to the highlights of the week…

Phillyist carried on with an interview with Patrick Halloran of Ceann, their top-ten albums of the year, and their typical excellent photography.

Bostonist had some runaway reindeer while their Mayor wanted to sell city hall (literally) and MBTA workers made sexy time during work hours. Meanwhile, a bookstore misplaced some rare books.

Torontoist was ready to rock as the Queen musical is about to hit town but not so ready to rock about a fire at a popular restaurant (check out the great photos). They also played explorer and explored the pedestrian tunnels underneath their downtown core.

Austinist was also ready to rock as Pete Townshend and Iggy Pop were announced as acts at SXSW 07. A new Wal-Mart brought the controversy, as are plans allowing blind people to hunt and a George W. Bush presidential library. Insert joke here.

LAist dropped some Top 10 album lists and got Colin Meloy of the Decemberists and the one and only Brooke Hogan to give theirs. They also prepped for rain and helped out a U.N. food program. Oh, and UCLA co-eds ran around in their underwear.

Gothamist was all over the Rosie O’Donnell controversy. They also checked out a cool art installation and got ready for the holiday season with hangover remedies. The future was also on their minds as they contemplated New York city in 2030.

Houstonist took on over-protective schools, the teen crime rate and kleenex (kleenex?). In lighter news, it looks like happy days are here again for plastic surgeons.

Londonist, perhaps because of all the Christmas drinks, found itself making repeat visits to the toilet. But they also engaged in other seasonal activities such as checking out a Frost Fair, and sniffing the Mayor – sorry – myrrh.

Seattlest got dragged into the “War on Christmas” and a strip-club raid. In other news, they covered Rachel Ray signing books, took some pretty pictures and managed to slip in a “Welcome Back Kotter” reference.

Shanghaiist wondered why all the hating on dogs. They also interviewed the band Maximo Park and reviewed them. Finally, Shanghai Perfume?

Chicagoist also had dog-related issues (warning, super-cute photo alert) and issues with skunky beer. SantaCon came and went but what Chicagoist really wanted was “The real World” to go. Amen to that.

Parisist went gallery hopping (in French) and enjoyed photography from a museum. In tech news, free WiFi was being discussed and a blog conference got political.

And finally, while SFist’s endlessly photogenic Mayor was caught macking on his girlfriend, they took a poll on who should run against him (sadly, the Giant’s mascot came in second). But what they really want to know is if he’s going to answer a few questions. Also, is Islamo-facism really about to take over a suburb?

By SFist Jon Shurkin

]]>

This was not a very happy week for the -ist network as one of our own, Phillyist co-editor Star C. Foster, passed away early in the week. Her wit, intelligence, and good nature shone through the site, making Phillyist an immensely fun read. She was loved by many and will be missed by all.

Phillyist paid tribute to her this week with a heartfelt letter to her and an obituary.

And now, the awkward transition to the highlights of the week…

Phillyist carried on with an interview with Patrick Halloran of Ceann, their top-ten albums of the year, and their typical excellent photography.

Bostonist had some runaway reindeer while their Mayor wanted to sell city hall (literally) and MBTA workers made sexy time during work hours. Meanwhile, a bookstore misplaced some rare books.

Torontoist was ready to rock as the Queen musical is about to hit town but not so ready to rock about a fire at a popular restaurant (check out the great photos). They also played explorer and explored the pedestrian tunnels underneath their downtown core.

Austinist was also ready to rock as Pete Townshend and Iggy Pop were announced as acts at SXSW 07. A new Wal-Mart brought the controversy, as are plans allowing blind people to hunt and a George W. Bush presidential library. Insert joke here.

LAist dropped some Top 10 album lists and got Colin Meloy of the Decemberists and the one and only Brooke Hogan to give theirs. They also prepped for rain and helped out a U.N. food program. Oh, and UCLA co-eds ran around in their underwear.

Gothamist was all over the Rosie O’Donnell controversy. They also checked out a cool art installation and got ready for the holiday season with hangover remedies. The future was also on their minds as they contemplated New York city in 2030.

Houstonist took on over-protective schools, the teen crime rate and kleenex (kleenex?). In lighter news, it looks like happy days are here again for plastic surgeons.

Londonist, perhaps because of all the Christmas drinks, found itself making repeat visits to the toilet. But they also engaged in other seasonal activities such as checking out a Frost Fair, and sniffing the Mayor – sorry – myrrh.

Seattlest got dragged into the “War on Christmas” and a strip-club raid. In other news, they covered Rachel Ray signing books, took some pretty pictures and managed to slip in a “Welcome Back Kotter” reference.

Shanghaiist wondered why all the hating on dogs. They also interviewed the band Maximo Park and reviewed them. Finally, Shanghai Perfume?

Chicagoist also had dog-related issues (warning, super-cute photo alert) and issues with skunky beer. SantaCon came and went but what Chicagoist really wanted was “The real World” to go. Amen to that.

Parisist went gallery hopping (in French) and enjoyed photography from a museum. In tech news, free WiFi was being discussed and a blog conference got political.

And finally, while SFist’s endlessly photogenic Mayor was caught macking on his girlfriend, they took a poll on who should run against him (sadly, the Giant’s mascot came in second). But what they really want to know is if he’s going to answer a few questions. Also, is Islamo-facism really about to take over a suburb?

By SFist Jon Shurkin

]]> http://londonist.com/2006/12/this_week_in_is.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2006/12/london_reloaded.php http://londonist.com/2006/12/london_reloaded.php#comments Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:59:45 +0000 sizemore http://londonist.com/?p=4992

Already today we’ve had the return of This Isn’t London (something we are all very excited about), a bit of New York that will be forever England and an appeal for tourists to get out of Central London.

So here’s something that wraps up a cock-eyed view of the Capital, relocates it somewhere else and ensures that tourists will have to go way past Zone Six to sample its charms: Thames Town, Songjiang, Shanghai.

We mentioned it last month in an Extra Extra, but that was before the website was up.

Now you can read up on details like how the Authentic British-style town has already been awarded a prestigious “Four Merits”. That’s about five more than we have. But if that’s too stuffy for our younger readers check out the night life:

Rock music is the favorite of youngster, so is the beer. The rock music night will entertain the visitors with hot rock music as well as superior beer. The participation of Miss Globes will add aesthetic elements into this event.

Miss Globes? There’s no way we can compete with that. No fucking way.

The place also has close ties to Government Officers like Han Zheng, acting secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the mayor of Shanghai and Gong Xueping. If Ken ever gets ousted he could retire here.

The website is PACKED with information so careful you don’t get sucked in. Treat it like an advent calendar and dip into it each day.

Fom now on we’re going to keep in constant touch with Shanghaist for all the latest Thames Town news. Now we just have to come up with a scheme to get over there and see it first hand.

Londonist wants you to know where to avoid radiation poisoning if you’re traveling to London. They also sat down with an aspiring space cadet, featured a woman who was very lucky to have a camera phone, let their readers know what sloppy drunks they really are and wonder what’s better: a real Christina Aguilera, or a fake one?

Chicagoist says there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch if you’re not reviewing a restaurant, but would gladly accept a free drink—if it was a hot toddy or made with flavored vodka, that is. Chicagoists also love local bands and the CTA’s holiday bus, even if plenty of people seem to disagree.

Parisist welcomed the Wii to Europe, as did about twice as many people as there were Wiis for. Also on the technology front, Parisists love to party with graphic designers, and, cheese.

Gothamist is in pre-mourning for French fries, but pleased to announce that happy, healthy dogs have been approved in New York City. Gothamists are now going to start frequenting stoop sales that might contain hidden treasures, and making fun of NYU students, even more than they have in the past. Unfortunately, it’s not all fun and games in New York. There was a teenage riot (of the non-musical, and therefore, negative sort) in the Union Square Greenmarket, and a drunk driver killed an NYC teaching fellow and unfortunately, the punishment probably won’t fir the crime.

SFist respectfully mourns James Kim, but doesn’t let their tears interfere too much with their increasing obsession with San Francisco mayor Gavin Newson or their disdain for Barry Bonds. And they missed out on the chocolate bus.

Torontoist was robbed, they say—robbed! They totally heart their gorgeous skyline, their ballet, and Dirty Dancing Especially Dirty Dancing.

Houstonist is finding the city surprisingly cold, but Houstonists are warming themselves up quite nicely. And in the world of things that make Texans look bad, they bring you Enron, xenophobia, and Evangelicals.

LAist got to interview George McFly (don’t tell him we called him that), and wants to make sure you know the perfect gift for everyone on your holiday shopping list. Area college soccer fans have started acting like real soccer fas, and hey, who in Southern California doesn’t love cars?

Shanghaiist thinks that prostitutes might need a little more [non-sexual] love and respect, and misses their favorite cigarettes. Good thing that it’s pretty easy to cheer up at Toys’R'Us, also a choice location to get video games, like this one set in Shanghai. But there is nothing cheery about this controversial BenQ ad, which uses an image of the WTC ruins to sell an mp3 player.

Seattlest wants to help you find the perfect gift for your racist friends and family, and they’re feeling a little baffled after the local football-and-hooters mortgage company went under. The Sonics aren’t helping, either. Seattlest also lent very thorough coverage to the Kim family‘s disappearance and reacts to its tragic end.

Bostonist now knows who to pray through when the going gets rough, and who to talk to when they really need to get high. And the MBTAis ready to join the twenty-first century.

Phillyist loves chocolate. office Christmas parties and tourists. Things aren’t looking so good for America’s finest, either. But they have a great, and literal, pick-me-up.

DCist likes pizza and booze. (Hmm… sounds like college…) They’re also big fans of stuffed animals, and not afraid to stand up for what they believe in, even if it doesn’t make their commenters happy.

And last but not least, Austinist goes political (twice!), but make up for it by supporting the arts. Of course, art can’t always make up for gentrification.

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

James Kim photo via Seattlest. Toronto skyline via Torontoist reader Gareth.

]]> Before we begin, we’d like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It’s the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we’re trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Londonist wants you to know where to avoid radiation poisoning if you’re traveling to London. They also sat down with an aspiring space cadet, featured a woman who was very lucky to have a camera phone, let their readers know what sloppy drunks they really are and wonder what’s better: a real Christina Aguilera, or a fake one?

Chicagoist says there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch if you’re not reviewing a restaurant, but would gladly accept a free drink—if it was a hot toddy or made with flavored vodka, that is. Chicagoists also love local bands and the CTA’s holiday bus, even if plenty of people seem to disagree.

Parisist welcomed the Wii to Europe, as did about twice as many people as there were Wiis for. Also on the technology front, Parisists love to party with graphic designers, and, cheese.

Gothamist is in pre-mourning for French fries, but pleased to announce that happy, healthy dogs have been approved in New York City. Gothamists are now going to start frequenting stoop sales that might contain hidden treasures, and making fun of NYU students, even more than they have in the past. Unfortunately, it’s not all fun and games in New York. There was a teenage riot (of the non-musical, and therefore, negative sort) in the Union Square Greenmarket, and a drunk driver killed an NYC teaching fellow and unfortunately, the punishment probably won’t fir the crime.

SFist respectfully mourns James Kim, but doesn’t let their tears interfere too much with their increasing obsession with San Francisco mayor Gavin Newson or their disdain for Barry Bonds. And they missed out on the chocolate bus.

Torontoist was robbed, they say—robbed! They totally heart their gorgeous skyline, their ballet, and Dirty Dancing Especially Dirty Dancing.

Houstonist is finding the city surprisingly cold, but Houstonists are warming themselves up quite nicely. And in the world of things that make Texans look bad, they bring you Enron, xenophobia, and Evangelicals.

LAist got to interview George McFly (don’t tell him we called him that), and wants to make sure you know the perfect gift for everyone on your holiday shopping list. Area college soccer fans have started acting like real soccer fas, and hey, who in Southern California doesn’t love cars?

Shanghaiist thinks that prostitutes might need a little more [non-sexual] love and respect, and misses their favorite cigarettes. Good thing that it’s pretty easy to cheer up at Toys’R'Us, also a choice location to get video games, like this one set in Shanghai. But there is nothing cheery about this controversial BenQ ad, which uses an image of the WTC ruins to sell an mp3 player.

Seattlest wants to help you find the perfect gift for your racist friends and family, and they’re feeling a little baffled after the local football-and-hooters mortgage company went under. The Sonics aren’t helping, either. Seattlest also lent very thorough coverage to the Kim family‘s disappearance and reacts to its tragic end.

Bostonist now knows who to pray through when the going gets rough, and who to talk to when they really need to get high. And the MBTAis ready to join the twenty-first century.

Phillyist loves chocolate. office Christmas parties and tourists. Things aren’t looking so good for America’s finest, either. But they have a great, and literal, pick-me-up.

DCist likes pizza and booze. (Hmm… sounds like college…) They’re also big fans of stuffed animals, and not afraid to stand up for what they believe in, even if it doesn’t make their commenters happy.

And last but not least, Austinist goes political (twice!), but make up for it by supporting the arts. Of course, art can’t always make up for gentrification.

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

James Kim photo via Seattlest. Toronto skyline via Torontoist reader Gareth.

]]> http://londonist.com/2006/12/news_from_aroun_7.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2006/11/news_from_aroun_6.php http://londonist.com/2006/11/news_from_aroun_6.php#comments Mon, 27 Nov 2006 01:32:59 +0000 Rob http://londonist.com/?p=4809

If you’re hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients – although we imagine IMs “so are you nakie” to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor parking decision (picture above).

Torontoist has some awesome, cutting edge news: A movie is being made about a gay hockey player – filmmakers even got approval from the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs! Also awesome: Toronto’s “Do the Sneeze Sleeve Campaign”. And most awesome is this dreamy photograph of Toronto’s skyline in fog.

Phillyist prepares for Thanksgiving. Which is more fun that being demanded to accompany a stranger to lunch. And here’s a little street randomness to keep you amused.

Sampaist has fun with new attractions for skaters, X-treme Motorsports and talking to Los Pirata. Not so fun: Fare increase for trains and subways.

In London, it’s a crime for a pet store to sell pets… without a license. Tube-enthusiasts, rejoice, as stations are named and renamed! And Gordon Ramsay wants to buy a few pubs?

For some reason, Newsweek calls San Francisco “loony” and SFist tries to understand why. But how can you call a city “loony” when the big Macy’s puts ASPCA kittens in the window and has awesome chocolate factory tours?

Austinist wants its readers to make sure its fair city doesn’t slip any further in the Top Arts Destination in America rankings. Already a winner: The Victory Grill, which was deemed official historic landmark and will be turned into a café for everyone’s entertainment. But if Austin were being ranked for Best City to Find a 7 Year-Old Making 50 Prank Calls to 911 Just Because He Had a Cell Phone, it would win hands-down!

LAist is in a “to the videotape” kind of mood. A USC fan gets kicked out of a game for being in UCLA territory; U.S. soldiers behave badly; and what happens when your neighbors are burly and like to shoot guns.

In the Beltway, DCist looks at the finalized plans for the convention center. In other development news, the Metro will be going above ground, not under, over at Tysons. And if you have a sweet tooth, head over to Baltimore for the Berger Cookie.

Parisist finds City of Lights bloggers to be randy. And who wouldn’t be, when macaroons like these are around? And don’t worry – Parisian craigslist is totally nuts, too.

In Shanghai, it turns out the Chinese, just like cheeseheads in Wisconsin, are into chocolate-covered cheese. But nowhere else can claim a building development that claims the world’s highest observatory (naturally!), which will be at the Shanghai Hills. But even having the world’s highest observatory is no condolence for the cancellation of the Shanghai Animal Olympics.

Chicagoist embarks on that favorite political pundit past time – pondering Barack Obama in 2008. But that past time will never overtake the past time of thinking Chicago winters suck! But the Windy City can warm up with Thanksgiving recipes and this interview with the head of the Marshall Field’s McDonald’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, who says about the helium shortage, “Last year, we had Miss Piggy as one of our balloons, and as you can imagine, she was an enormous balloon.”

New York Yankee Derek Jeter didn’t get the American League MVP award and New Yorkers freak out. Also great for contemplation or freaking out: Representative Charles Rangel saying he wants to re-introduce the draft. Great for freaking out: The insane climate changes that will come to New York (and the rest of the world) in the next 10 years. Most awkward freak-out apology: Michael Richards apologizing on David Letterman for his racist rant.

Let’s get ready for the holiday season with Houstonist’s regifting guide. Of course, one Katy, Texas man, in jail for trying to kill his wife, tried to send her a birthday gift (a serious no-no, it seems!), so we’re not sure what he’s going to do for Christmas. But it’s not clear that the giving spirit is in the heart of Congresswoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, as she said that her inherited staffers (Sekula-Gibbs was elected to serve out former Representative Tom DeLay’s term till January) just didn’t want to work hard. And, also, happy first birthday, Houstonist!

]]>

If you’re hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients – although we imagine IMs “so are you nakie” to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor parking decision (picture above).

Torontoist has some awesome, cutting edge news: A movie is being made about a gay hockey player – filmmakers even got approval from the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs! Also awesome: Toronto’s “Do the Sneeze Sleeve Campaign”. And most awesome is this dreamy photograph of Toronto’s skyline in fog.

Phillyist prepares for Thanksgiving. Which is more fun that being demanded to accompany a stranger to lunch. And here’s a little street randomness to keep you amused.

Sampaist has fun with new attractions for skaters, X-treme Motorsports and talking to Los Pirata. Not so fun: Fare increase for trains and subways.

In London, it’s a crime for a pet store to sell pets… without a license. Tube-enthusiasts, rejoice, as stations are named and renamed! And Gordon Ramsay wants to buy a few pubs?

For some reason, Newsweek calls San Francisco “loony” and SFist tries to understand why. But how can you call a city “loony” when the big Macy’s puts ASPCA kittens in the window and has awesome chocolate factory tours?

Austinist wants its readers to make sure its fair city doesn’t slip any further in the Top Arts Destination in America rankings. Already a winner: The Victory Grill, which was deemed official historic landmark and will be turned into a café for everyone’s entertainment. But if Austin were being ranked for Best City to Find a 7 Year-Old Making 50 Prank Calls to 911 Just Because He Had a Cell Phone, it would win hands-down!

LAist is in a “to the videotape” kind of mood. A USC fan gets kicked out of a game for being in UCLA territory; U.S. soldiers behave badly; and what happens when your neighbors are burly and like to shoot guns.

In the Beltway, DCist looks at the finalized plans for the convention center. In other development news, the Metro will be going above ground, not under, over at Tysons. And if you have a sweet tooth, head over to Baltimore for the Berger Cookie.

Parisist finds City of Lights bloggers to be randy. And who wouldn’t be, when macaroons like these are around? And don’t worry – Parisian craigslist is totally nuts, too.

In Shanghai, it turns out the Chinese, just like cheeseheads in Wisconsin, are into chocolate-covered cheese. But nowhere else can claim a building development that claims the world’s highest observatory (naturally!), which will be at the Shanghai Hills. But even having the world’s highest observatory is no condolence for the cancellation of the Shanghai Animal Olympics.

Chicagoist embarks on that favorite political pundit past time – pondering Barack Obama in 2008. But that past time will never overtake the past time of thinking Chicago winters suck! But the Windy City can warm up with Thanksgiving recipes and this interview with the head of the Marshall Field’s McDonald’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, who says about the helium shortage, “Last year, we had Miss Piggy as one of our balloons, and as you can imagine, she was an enormous balloon.”

New York Yankee Derek Jeter didn’t get the American League MVP award and New Yorkers freak out. Also great for contemplation or freaking out: Representative Charles Rangel saying he wants to re-introduce the draft. Great for freaking out: The insane climate changes that will come to New York (and the rest of the world) in the next 10 years. Most awkward freak-out apology: Michael Richards apologizing on David Letterman for his racist rant.

Let’s get ready for the holiday season with Houstonist’s regifting guide. Of course, one Katy, Texas man, in jail for trying to kill his wife, tried to send her a birthday gift (a serious no-no, it seems!), so we’re not sure what he’s going to do for Christmas. But it’s not clear that the giving spirit is in the heart of Congresswoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, as she said that her inherited staffers (Sekula-Gibbs was elected to serve out former Representative Tom DeLay’s term till January) just didn’t want to work hard. And, also, happy first birthday, Houstonist!

]]> http://londonist.com/2006/11/news_from_aroun_6.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2006/11/news_from_aroun_5.php http://londonist.com/2006/11/news_from_aroun_5.php#comments Sun, 19 Nov 2006 19:04:54 +0000 Rob http://londonist.com/?p=4759

Jagshemash!

Borat is a hit. It’s getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we’ve seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he’d made his way around the world on the -ist tour.

In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings of Penis Photos for Make Benefit Glorious Flat World of Handmade Toy Bicycles.

Our European -ists, Borat would get Big, Hairy Learnings of Gherkins for Make Geeky Reflection of Glorious Whores and Michael Jackson, along with Thai Food Learnings of Sewer Tours for Make Benefit Glorious Music Films of Ségolène Royal or Beaujolais Nouveau.

Moving across the Atlantic to North America, Torontoist would make sure that Borat got Etiquette Learnings of Torontoist Election Liveblogging for Make Playstation 3 Monster of Democracy.

In Austin, Borat would get Varied Musings of Sad Irishmen for Make Glorious Resolve of Smokers. A few hours away in Houston, Borat would bear witness to Cat-killing Learnings of Washed-Up Singer For Tattle Glorious Holiday Cocktail of Crazy Congresswoman.

DCist would ensure Borat got his Food Cart-ural Gripings for Make Benefit Alcoholic Stadiums of Punk.

Seattlest would see that Borat suffered Mutinous Cubans of Craigslist for Make Benefit Glorious Zune of Surviver Parties—we’d love to see who sues Borat for those!

Borat’s already been to New York City and Los Angeles, but if he visited the Gothamist and LAist editors, he’d get Cellephonic Learnings of Field for Baseball Game of Big Apple Town for Make Musicalness Benefit Gobble Nation of Premier Wanna Be Gooliani, and Artistic Learnings of Frosting for Make Anti-Taser Photo Essay for Glorious Republic of Iggy Pop Rider and Stimpy Peppers, respectively.

In Philadelphia, Borat would see Musical Cuteness of Automobiles for Make Search Glorious Sidewalks of Crazies, and in Chicago, he’d get Italian Learnings of Fighting for Make Olympics Glorious Venus of Mustaches. And last but not least, in San Francisco, Borat would pick up Sexy Guys Wrapping Sweaters Around Their Shoulders for Make Glorious Sports Teams Go Bye Bye and Clutural Learnings of Gun Show for Make Guns Owners Shy of Camera.

Images above generated on BoratSays.

]]>

Jagshemash!

Borat is a hit. It’s getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we’ve seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he’d made his way around the world on the -ist tour.

In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings of Penis Photos for Make Benefit Glorious Flat World of Handmade Toy Bicycles.

Our European -ists, Borat would get Big, Hairy Learnings of Gherkins for Make Geeky Reflection of Glorious Whores and Michael Jackson, along with Thai Food Learnings of Sewer Tours for Make Benefit Glorious Music Films of Ségolène Royal or Beaujolais Nouveau.

Moving across the Atlantic to North America, Torontoist would make sure that Borat got Etiquette Learnings of Torontoist Election Liveblogging for Make Playstation 3 Monster of Democracy.

In Austin, Borat would get Varied Musings of Sad Irishmen for Make Glorious Resolve of Smokers. A few hours away in Houston, Borat would bear witness to Cat-killing Learnings of Washed-Up Singer For Tattle Glorious Holiday Cocktail of Crazy Congresswoman.

DCist would ensure Borat got his Food Cart-ural Gripings for Make Benefit Alcoholic Stadiums of Punk.

Seattlest would see that Borat suffered Mutinous Cubans of Craigslist for Make Benefit Glorious Zune of Surviver Parties—we’d love to see who sues Borat for those!

Borat’s already been to New York City and Los Angeles, but if he visited the Gothamist and LAist editors, he’d get Cellephonic Learnings of Field for Baseball Game of Big Apple Town for Make Musicalness Benefit Gobble Nation of Premier Wanna Be Gooliani, and Artistic Learnings of Frosting for Make Anti-Taser Photo Essay for Glorious Republic of Iggy Pop Rider and Stimpy Peppers, respectively.

In Philadelphia, Borat would see Musical Cuteness of Automobiles for Make Search Glorious Sidewalks of Crazies, and in Chicago, he’d get Italian Learnings of Fighting for Make Olympics Glorious Venus of Mustaches. And last but not least, in San Francisco, Borat would pick up Sexy Guys Wrapping Sweaters Around Their Shoulders for Make Glorious Sports Teams Go Bye Bye and Clutural Learnings of Gun Show for Make Guns Owners Shy of Camera.

Images above generated on BoratSays.

]]> http://londonist.com/2006/11/news_from_aroun_5.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2006/09/news_from_the_i_1.php http://londonist.com/2006/09/news_from_the_i_1.php#comments Sun, 03 Sep 2006 17:28:07 +0000 Rob http://londonist.com/?p=4222

Celebrate Ben Franklin’s 300th birthday with the Bikini Bandits and Phillyist! (NSFW). Speaking of Mr. Franklin, send in a picture of Ben (or Ed Rendell) with a red tongue and win a free t-shirt. And they might have the next YearlyKos in Philly.

You know who’s going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater.

LAist‘s sex advice column on keeping your threeways safe. Also, some lovely photos of the Summer Junction street fair, and why reporter Daniel Hernandez left the LA Times for the LA Weekly.

Bostonist picks songs for Patriots touchdowns, plans for the next terror drill, and drinks the most out of all the -Ists! Love that dirty water!

Austinist might be getting a new MTV reality show — about their local water park. Meet local artist Michelle O’Marah, and celebrate 20 years of the Don’t Mess With Texas slogan.

Chicagoist checks out new alt-grocery store Sunflower (pictured at right), discusses Starbucks’s plans to open 250 new stores in the area, and sympathizes with a guy thrown off a commuter train in Indiana 150 miles from home, just for bringing on a bike.

Speaking of Starbucks in Chicago, Seattlest notes that one is unionizing. In other Starbucks news, if you saw that notice about coupons not being honored after “email abuse” while getting your venti latte the other day too, here’s the lowdown. In non-caffeine news, Seattle is proud to have punked the media with a fake EBay sale of a Britney Spears corndog.

SFist spent most of the week freaked out about the guy running over pedestrians in his SUV. In happier news, they did also go check out the penguin parade at the zoo.

Gothamist goes through the Columbia tunnels, wonders whether you’d pay $5 billion for 10 East Village city blocks, and checks in on everyone’s favorite Whole Foods employee, Bill. Also — has anyone seen Dinosaur Jr.’s stage gear? (We’d blame Lou Barlow, except his stuff was stolen too.)

Shanghaiist reports on this crazy, possibly fake Sex and Shanghai blog, which has gotten a number of Chinese men worked up about insults to their national character. And hey, Jay Z might be coming to town.

Torontoist reports on their own version of that guy on the Upper East Side who blew up his house so his wife couldn’t get it, in Mississauga. Cool orange signs in Koreatown, and Absolut graffitis up the Toronto sidewalks.

and DCist finds the DC Punk Rock Tour! DC also wants another Trader Joe’s. Finally, we always find the Overhead in DCs entertaining.

Your -ist compiler: SFist Rita. Pics (from top to bottom) by: Caroline Clough, Tony Pierce, SFist Emily, the BBC

]]>

Celebrate Ben Franklin’s 300th birthday with the Bikini Bandits and Phillyist! (NSFW). Speaking of Mr. Franklin, send in a picture of Ben (or Ed Rendell) with a red tongue and win a free t-shirt. And they might have the next YearlyKos in Philly.

You know who’s going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater.

LAist‘s sex advice column on keeping your threeways safe. Also, some lovely photos of the Summer Junction street fair, and why reporter Daniel Hernandez left the LA Times for the LA Weekly.

Bostonist picks songs for Patriots touchdowns, plans for the next terror drill, and drinks the most out of all the -Ists! Love that dirty water!

Austinist might be getting a new MTV reality show — about their local water park. Meet local artist Michelle O’Marah, and celebrate 20 years of the Don’t Mess With Texas slogan.

Chicagoist checks out new alt-grocery store Sunflower (pictured at right), discusses Starbucks’s plans to open 250 new stores in the area, and sympathizes with a guy thrown off a commuter train in Indiana 150 miles from home, just for bringing on a bike.

Speaking of Starbucks in Chicago, Seattlest notes that one is unionizing. In other Starbucks news, if you saw that notice about coupons not being honored after “email abuse” while getting your venti latte the other day too, here’s the lowdown. In non-caffeine news, Seattle is proud to have punked the media with a fake EBay sale of a Britney Spears corndog.

SFist spent most of the week freaked out about the guy running over pedestrians in his SUV. In happier news, they did also go check out the penguin parade at the zoo.

Gothamist goes through the Columbia tunnels, wonders whether you’d pay $5 billion for 10 East Village city blocks, and checks in on everyone’s favorite Whole Foods employee, Bill. Also — has anyone seen Dinosaur Jr.’s stage gear? (We’d blame Lou Barlow, except his stuff was stolen too.)

Shanghaiist reports on this crazy, possibly fake Sex and Shanghai blog, which has gotten a number of Chinese men worked up about insults to their national character. And hey, Jay Z might be coming to town.

Torontoist reports on their own version of that guy on the Upper East Side who blew up his house so his wife couldn’t get it, in Mississauga. Cool orange signs in Koreatown, and Absolut graffitis up the Toronto sidewalks.

and DCist finds the DC Punk Rock Tour! DC also wants another Trader Joe’s. Finally, we always find the Overhead in DCs entertaining.

Your -ist compiler: SFist Rita. Pics (from top to bottom) by: Caroline Clough, Tony Pierce, SFist Emily, the BBC

]]> http://londonist.com/2006/09/news_from_the_i_1.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2006/08/eyes_of_the_wor.php http://londonist.com/2006/08/eyes_of_the_wor.php#comments Fri, 04 Aug 2006 13:49:07 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=4027

The London Eye is still undoubtedly the most famous observation wheel in the world, but for how much longer? Plans have just been announced for a wheel in Berlin that would trump ours by a whopping 40 m.

Since London got its Eye, a rash of wheels have been proposed and built all over the world. And ours is no longer the tallest – that accolade now belongs to Nanchang in China, at least unofficially. In just five years, the London Eye might only be the sixth tallest in the world. Time we jacked it up a little.

Las Vegas (proposed): 183 m

Berlin (proposed): 175 m

Shanghai (proposed): 170 m

Singapore (under construction): 165 m

Nanchang: 160 m

London: 135 m

Melbourne: 120 m

Birmingham: 60 m

York: 54 m

Austinist starts us off right by filling the famous person quota by interviewing Lewis Black, covers the social cause with a non-profit car sharing company, and gives us more wacky local facts than we can handle with Austin by the Numbers. So far, so good!

Torontoist‘s famous person is a strangely dykey Wayne Gretzky, their cause is hate (they’re against it), and their fact: their National Film Board makes some wackily great animation.

Will Seattlest keep up the theme? Guess that depends on whether or not you think the Seattle Supersonics still count as famous if they’re decamping to Oklahoma. The social issue they take on is the trouble at Seattle’s LiveJournal community (check out the comments!), and they got the wackiest ever local facts off Google.

Bostonist brings us a picture of their arguably famous Governor doing something vulgar looking (we love that his name is “Mitt”!) , they recommend a wacky local-fact filled webcast, and the social cause for one interviewee is MassPirg canvassers (he’s against them!).

SFist sinks especially low by considering an Amazing Race winner famous enough to mention. Of all the social causes in San Francisco, the one that garners the most comments this week is sidewalk cafes, and their local fact is that they, themselves, are a wacky two years old!

Phillyist‘s famous folks are themselves, as they celebrate a birthday of their own! Their social cause is scary cars, and they have wacky local facts galore in the comments to these posts.

LAist‘s Little Loca isn’t that famous yet, but she’s a big star to us. Their cause is rejected CitySearch reviews (if you click on one link today, click on that one, it’s really godamn funny). Their local fact: In Hollywood, “There’s more than enough schadenfreude to go around.”

Shanghaiist is all over the undeniably famous Black Eyed Peas. In the not always gay friendly atmosphere of Shanghai, Shanghai Fag Hag bravely advances the social cause of their gay/lesbian community, Hooray! And they serve up a bunch of local music facts (watch that video for the wacky part).

Houstonist Alexandra tops their list of famous — or, at least, most popularly named folks. They mock a local TV station’s report on a “new” social cause, but, hey, maybe that’s what causing the seriously wacky local fact that Houston has somehow become the third-slimmest city in the country.

Londonist corners the market on bad ass famous people with this piece on an Iron Maiden member’s humanitarian efforts. Their social cause is (no we’re not kidding) wanking, and their wacky local facts center around their Great Eastern Walk.

Gothamist takes on the sartorial foibles of their famous mayor. Who isn’t concerned about the social cause of bad plastic surgery (they’re against it!)? Oh, and here are some wacky local facts you won’t find in the guidebooks — their drinking water is dirty and their subway’s full of poo.

Miamist gets double famous person points for their piece on a notorious criminal whose life will be made into a film. But will they shoot that movie in Miami, given the social issue of hurricanes endangering shoots in the area? And this seems like a wacky local fact to us — Soho house is building a club in Miami? But what about those hurricanes?

Chicagoist‘s most famous local, Oprah, is not gay. Speaking of powerful women, Chicagoist Rachelle lends herself to the women in blogging cause. If you can’t make it to BlogHer, how about learing some of those wacky local facts at Chicagoist’s private El tour?

DCist‘s extensive coverage of the Capital Fringe Festival contains more famous people than we can list here. They take on the social issue of transportation funding. And (in our final and absolute favorite link of the week) here’s a wacky local fact for you: someone doesn’t want DCist to write about Baltimore any more.

Images by Bostonist Josh Michtom

Links compiled by SFist Eve “My Favorite Famous Person Is Jen Chung” Batey

]]> We -ists are an eclectic bunch, but there’s a couple of things we all love: famous people, social causes, and wacky local facts. Join us as we starf**k, get virtuous, and learn across the -ist network!

Austinist starts us off right by filling the famous person quota by interviewing Lewis Black, covers the social cause with a non-profit car sharing company, and gives us more wacky local facts than we can handle with Austin by the Numbers. So far, so good!

Torontoist‘s famous person is a strangely dykey Wayne Gretzky, their cause is hate (they’re against it), and their fact: their National Film Board makes some wackily great animation.

Will Seattlest keep up the theme? Guess that depends on whether or not you think the Seattle Supersonics still count as famous if they’re decamping to Oklahoma. The social issue they take on is the trouble at Seattle’s LiveJournal community (check out the comments!), and they got the wackiest ever local facts off Google.

Bostonist brings us a picture of their arguably famous Governor doing something vulgar looking (we love that his name is “Mitt”!) , they recommend a wacky local-fact filled webcast, and the social cause for one interviewee is MassPirg canvassers (he’s against them!).

SFist sinks especially low by considering an Amazing Race winner famous enough to mention. Of all the social causes in San Francisco, the one that garners the most comments this week is sidewalk cafes, and their local fact is that they, themselves, are a wacky two years old!

Phillyist‘s famous folks are themselves, as they celebrate a birthday of their own! Their social cause is scary cars, and they have wacky local facts galore in the comments to these posts.

LAist‘s Little Loca isn’t that famous yet, but she’s a big star to us. Their cause is rejected CitySearch reviews (if you click on one link today, click on that one, it’s really godamn funny). Their local fact: In Hollywood, “There’s more than enough schadenfreude to go around.”

Shanghaiist is all over the undeniably famous Black Eyed Peas. In the not always gay friendly atmosphere of Shanghai, Shanghai Fag Hag bravely advances the social cause of their gay/lesbian community, Hooray! And they serve up a bunch of local music facts (watch that video for the wacky part).

Houstonist Alexandra tops their list of famous — or, at least, most popularly named folks. They mock a local TV station’s report on a “new” social cause, but, hey, maybe that’s what causing the seriously wacky local fact that Houston has somehow become the third-slimmest city in the country.

Londonist corners the market on bad ass famous people with this piece on an Iron Maiden member’s humanitarian efforts. Their social cause is (no we’re not kidding) wanking, and their wacky local facts center around their Great Eastern Walk.

Gothamist takes on the sartorial foibles of their famous mayor. Who isn’t concerned about the social cause of bad plastic surgery (they’re against it!)? Oh, and here are some wacky local facts you won’t find in the guidebooks — their drinking water is dirty and their subway’s full of poo.

Miamist gets double famous person points for their piece on a notorious criminal whose life will be made into a film. But will they shoot that movie in Miami, given the social issue of hurricanes endangering shoots in the area? And this seems like a wacky local fact to us — Soho house is building a club in Miami? But what about those hurricanes?

Chicagoist‘s most famous local, Oprah, is not gay. Speaking of powerful women, Chicagoist Rachelle lends herself to the women in blogging cause. If you can’t make it to BlogHer, how about learing some of those wacky local facts at Chicagoist’s private El tour?

DCist‘s extensive coverage of the Capital Fringe Festival contains more famous people than we can list here. They take on the social issue of transportation funding. And (in our final and absolute favorite link of the week) here’s a wacky local fact for you: someone doesn’t want DCist to write about Baltimore any more.

Images by Bostonist Josh Michtom

Links compiled by SFist Eve “My Favorite Famous Person Is Jen Chung” Batey

]]> http://londonist.com/2006/07/across_the_ista.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2006/04/thats_football.php http://londonist.com/2006/04/thats_football.php#comments Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:34:37 +0000 London_Duncan http://londonist.com/?p=3243

Named only at the weekend as an official ambassador for London by mayor Ken Livingstone, Chelsea football club have wasted no time in offering assistance to China’s Olympic football team in the run up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Chelsea’s official site reports that Chief Executive Peter Kenyon is with a mayoral delegation in China as it tries to promote co-operation between London and Beijing, the hosts of the next two summer Olympiads. Major commercial centre Shanghai is also involved. Earlier this year Kenyon met with Asian Football’s governing body regarding their grass roots development programme. This latest move could see Chelsea’s new training facilities at Cobham play host to a training camp for China’s national side.

Another team waiting to visit plush new surroundings is Hillingdon Borough who are now on their way to play Nantwich Town in the FA Vase final at Birmingham City’s St Andrews ground on Saturday 6th May at 3pm. They were taken to extra time by Bury Town on Sunday, but as the visitors wilted from the relentless effort of pursuing their 87th minute equaliser to Hillingdon’s first half opener, left back Nick Rundell’s corner evaded everybody and crept into the net for the decisive goal. Hillingdon manager Steve Ringrose revealed to the FA’s website that Dennis Wise had been helping Borough with their set pieces. Wisey must have been pleased to see the lads making up their own routines.

Dennis is still turning out for Coventry aged 39 and so he gets a vote in the Professional Footballers’ Association end of season awards in which three Chelsea stars plus Thierry Henry have been nominated. London clubs also provide four of the Young Player candidates in Darren Bent (Charlton), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Anton Ferdinand (West Ham) and Aaron Lennon (Tottenham).

Meanwhile, we all hope to hear shortly who’s won the FA’s England Manager For The Next Few Years award. Charlton’s Alan Curbishley may finally be persuaded to leave The Valley if the golden envelope contains his name after watching his current charges lose Wednesday night’s FA Cup quarter final to Middlesbrough, leaving themselves free once again to end their season in the now traditional safe, but unexciting, way. He’s as highly thought of at Charlton as a manager could be, a club forward thinking enough to provide more than 5,000 of its fans heavily subsidised or free travel for Operation Riverside in hopes of inspiring the team, rewarding their fans and also, by the admission of board member and BBC chairman Michael Grade in The Guardian, avoiding an embarrassingly empty stadium for the television cameras. Nevertheless this latest frustrating end to a season might make him finally look for a new challenge elsewhere. Chief Executive Peter Varney has revealed the club have started to browse around for a replacement. Just in case, like.

Picture of a Chinese Barcelona fan club via goodoldroger’s Flickr stream.

Houstonist is no stranger to megachurches or stripmalls or mega-strip-churchmalls. The children of Houston are under assault by unknown forces as this week a playground was incinerated by a giant mirror, glass shards found their way into baby food and the friendship of a 16-year-old local girl was pulled off of ebay.

Seattlest posts on their city’s incarnation of the Idiotarod and looks for an anthem to call their own. Neko Case doesn’t like “alt-country”, Ichiro’s pissed and Rick Steves is high.

LAist has an interview with the founder of the incredible Fallen Fruit Project, but finds no avocados in Christ’s image. Manicottis, though, are a different story. Michael Douglass is offered free “shut the hell up” classes.

Miamist turns real estate baron and holds an open house for Al Capone’s old digs. A nudist would have been better off naked when his shorts caught on fire and Miami cats would be better off as dogs.

Torontoist posts about their city standing in for an American city on film, again. This time Toronto will be playing Dallas in the film version of…Dallas. Toronto is building a park in the the shape of a heart and Torontoist notes that a recent abductee was released when he was able to produce a Canadian passport.

Chicagoist sees their city’s river in the limelight for one day and the taxis get a make better. Three suspicious guys get busted for taking suspicious photographs of the suspiciously tall Sear’s Tower and Chicagoist sits down with Pitchfork’s Ryan Schreiber.

Shanghaist spends some time trapped on the dark side of the Great Firewall, but manages to get enough Google love to figure out their Google Center. Shanghai transportation infrastructure updates leave pedestrians out in the cold and Shanghai hotdog infrastructure updates leave copyright holders out in the cold.

DCist gets its own little xmas this week in the form of a new stadium, new city anthem and new TV show featuring the Washingtonienne. Also, the hottest art review ever appears.

SFist has an interview with Tyrone Davies, that filmmaker who puked on the news chick’s desk and continue their never-ending mission to name their mayor’s insta-relationship with Sofia Milos. They also chronicle the eternal story of two men punching each other into submission and wave good-bye to the Raiders QB. Plus, it snowed and freedom of speech got a W

]]> Gothamist posts on the capture of a NYC perv thanks to Little Brother and a camera phone. They also scour the city for vodka martinis and Shamrock shakes and spot the friend from the Wonder Years at a city law firm. New York police think that Littlejohn is their man.

Houstonist is no stranger to megachurches or stripmalls or mega-strip-churchmalls. The children of Houston are under assault by unknown forces as this week a playground was incinerated by a giant mirror, glass shards found their way into baby food and the friendship of a 16-year-old local girl was pulled off of ebay.

Seattlest posts on their city’s incarnation of the Idiotarod and looks for an anthem to call their own. Neko Case doesn’t like “alt-country”, Ichiro’s pissed and Rick Steves is high.

LAist has an interview with the founder of the incredible Fallen Fruit Project, but finds no avocados in Christ’s image. Manicottis, though, are a different story. Michael Douglass is offered free “shut the hell up” classes.

Miamist turns real estate baron and holds an open house for Al Capone’s old digs. A nudist would have been better off naked when his shorts caught on fire and Miami cats would be better off as dogs.

Torontoist posts about their city standing in for an American city on film, again. This time Toronto will be playing Dallas in the film version of…Dallas. Toronto is building a park in the the shape of a heart and Torontoist notes that a recent abductee was released when he was able to produce a Canadian passport.

Chicagoist sees their city’s river in the limelight for one day and the taxis get a make better. Three suspicious guys get busted for taking suspicious photographs of the suspiciously tall Sear’s Tower and Chicagoist sits down with Pitchfork’s Ryan Schreiber.

Shanghaist spends some time trapped on the dark side of the Great Firewall, but manages to get enough Google love to figure out their Google Center. Shanghai transportation infrastructure updates leave pedestrians out in the cold and Shanghai hotdog infrastructure updates leave copyright holders out in the cold.

DCist gets its own little xmas this week in the form of a new stadium, new city anthem and new TV show featuring the Washingtonienne. Also, the hottest art review ever appears.

SFist has an interview with Tyrone Davies, that filmmaker who puked on the news chick’s desk and continue their never-ending mission to name their mayor’s insta-relationship with Sofia Milos. They also chronicle the eternal story of two men punching each other into submission and wave good-bye to the Raiders QB. Plus, it snowed and freedom of speech got a W

]]> http://londonist.com/2006/03/elsewhere_in_th_2.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2006/03/elsewhere_in_th_1.php http://londonist.com/2006/03/elsewhere_in_th_1.php#comments Mon, 06 Mar 2006 11:15:25 +0000 Londonist http://londonist.com/?p=2915

DCist helps us make more sense of the world this week. Posts like this concert review are the reason for Scott Stapp. DCist also enumerates the reasons for playing ultimate frisbee, Condi’s tight buns, their love of a local convenience store, and their jealousy of a person in Seattle calling the city.

LAist documented graf artist Banksy’s most recent visit to LA in one two three posts. They also found the best possible use for the Louis Vuitton pattern and figured out that they weren’t seeing the grown-up version of Dancing with the Stars.

Chicagoist advises smokers not to light themselves on fire, but would probably be pretty ok with it if their ex-DH did it. They also drop a few critical remarks on various alt-country folk and the comments flare up. The Crayola cannon is ransacked for a new El line name, Hilary’s Urban Eatery is accused of something, the Uptown Snack Shop is eulogized and the hunt is on for Shamrock shakes.

Phillyist draws the line at pajama pants in the streets of Philidelphia and so they aren’t going to kick you out of bed in morning. They also watch a local environmental group butt heads with the AAA and interview the director of the new Paper Route video.

Miamist sees the state attorney’s kid go down in flames yet again and a politically-motivated kidnapping gets checked. Is Miami commutable by bicycle? And a pricey horse changes hands despite a $16M price tag.

SFist survived a pair of earthquakes this week – One provided by Mother Nature and the other man-made. They also report that half the people riding Muni are turnstile Olympians and put out a call to anyone who thinks they can out J.T. LeRoy J.T. LeRoy. They peep on the mayor’s new relationship and then attempt to name it.

Houstonist wrestles with the stereotypes reporting on the rodeo and Houston socialites before dirtying the hands once again at the Enron trial. They also follow Ms. Smith, Anna Nicole to Washington (x2) and wondered about their wacked out street names.

Gothamist sees NYC’s title of “safest big city” slip a little bit when the psycho murder of a city grad student scares the crap out of everyone. A VV writer makes up a cover story that sounds too good to be true (but will soon be true, now), the Knicks hit rock bottom, Mario Batali’s new place gets the treatment. There’s also a panda envy case study.

Shanghaiist laughs at the news of corruption and fraud in China, but the detention of protestors isn’t funny. Vocab lessons for the week include “chinked-out,” “drunken shrimp,” and “day rooms.” The Rolling Stones and Mission Impossible 3 come to Shanghai and Starbucks ripoffs are everywhere.

Seattlest drives the virtual streets in the virtual version of their home city via a Microsoft beta, but the whining in the city is all too non-virtual. They also explore everything podcastable in the city and hail a local guy on the fiction pages of the New Yorker.

]]>

DCist helps us make more sense of the world this week. Posts like this concert review are the reason for Scott Stapp. DCist also enumerates the reasons for playing ultimate frisbee, Condi’s tight buns, their love of a local convenience store, and their jealousy of a person in Seattle calling the city.

LAist documented graf artist Banksy’s most recent visit to LA in one two three posts. They also found the best possible use for the Louis Vuitton pattern and figured out that they weren’t seeing the grown-up version of Dancing with the Stars.

Chicagoist advises smokers not to light themselves on fire, but would probably be pretty ok with it if their ex-DH did it. They also drop a few critical remarks on various alt-country folk and the comments flare up. The Crayola cannon is ransacked for a new El line name, Hilary’s Urban Eatery is accused of something, the Uptown Snack Shop is eulogized and the hunt is on for Shamrock shakes.

Phillyist draws the line at pajama pants in the streets of Philidelphia and so they aren’t going to kick you out of bed in morning. They also watch a local environmental group butt heads with the AAA and interview the director of the new Paper Route video.

Miamist sees the state attorney’s kid go down in flames yet again and a politically-motivated kidnapping gets checked. Is Miami commutable by bicycle? And a pricey horse changes hands despite a $16M price tag.

SFist survived a pair of earthquakes this week – One provided by Mother Nature and the other man-made. They also report that half the people riding Muni are turnstile Olympians and put out a call to anyone who thinks they can out J.T. LeRoy J.T. LeRoy. They peep on the mayor’s new relationship and then attempt to name it.

Houstonist wrestles with the stereotypes reporting on the rodeo and Houston socialites before dirtying the hands once again at the Enron trial. They also follow Ms. Smith, Anna Nicole to Washington (x2) and wondered about their wacked out street names.

Gothamist sees NYC’s title of “safest big city” slip a little bit when the psycho murder of a city grad student scares the crap out of everyone. A VV writer makes up a cover story that sounds too good to be true (but will soon be true, now), the Knicks hit rock bottom, Mario Batali’s new place gets the treatment. There’s also a panda envy case study.

Shanghaiist laughs at the news of corruption and fraud in China, but the detention of protestors isn’t funny. Vocab lessons for the week include “chinked-out,” “drunken shrimp,” and “day rooms.” The Rolling Stones and Mission Impossible 3 come to Shanghai and Starbucks ripoffs are everywhere.

Seattlest drives the virtual streets in the virtual version of their home city via a Microsoft beta, but the whining in the city is all too non-virtual. They also explore everything podcastable in the city and hail a local guy on the fiction pages of the New Yorker.

]]> http://londonist.com/2006/03/elsewhere_in_th_1.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2006/02/snacks_in_the_c.php http://londonist.com/2006/02/snacks_in_the_c.php#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:36:09 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=2791

(Mustn’t make ‘taking the biscuit’ pun. Mustn’t make ‘taking the biscuit’ pun.)

A new piece of concept art in Selfridge’s basement is really taking the biscuit.

Arse.

Fans of Sim City will be delighted to hear that the game has at last seemingly been released in the eagerly anticipated biscuit format. A team of artists led by Song Dong is creating the 12 m ‘city’ out of assorted digestives, custard creams and, yes, even a jammy dodger or two.

The work, entitled ‘Eat the City’ is Mr Dong’s chosen method of highlighting the identikit development of Chinese cities. Following similar projects in Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai and Paris, the model contains little houses, towers and stadia hewn from biscuit.

Some might call the idea crackers. Others would point out that crackers are an altogether crunchier, brittler snack.

Members of the public are invited to hobnob with the artists as they piece together their confectionary erections from 72,000 individual biscuits. The only exclusions are people wearing hoodies, and anyone answering to the name Hansel or Gretel.

The fun really starts on Wednesday afternoon, when the sugar-coated city is scheduled to be eaten. Yes, eaten. By anyone who happens to be in the building. It’s not clear yet who will supply the 100,000 cups of tea that the Great British Public will require for dunking purposes.

[Londonist wishes to apologise for the higher-than-usual quotient of weak gags and obvious puns in the preceding article. Londonist does not condone such denigration of the English language and the writer has since been snacked, erm, sacked.]

Image from Download-free-pictures.com

It’s all gone a bit Suzy Wong in London lately; it seems the city has gone mental for the Oriental this February and London Underground has not been immune. As part of the China in London season, and as part of its 20th birthday celebrations, Poems on the Underground will feature six Chinese poems on London Underground trains that span 2,000 years of civilisation. Don’t worry if you can’t read Chinese – poems will be displayed in their original language as well as in translations by writers such as Vikram Seth and Ezra Pound.

As part of the cultural exchange, the Shanghai Metro will simultaneously being featuring poems by William Wordsworth, William Blake, Percy Shelley and Kathleen Jamie (who?) which will give commuters in London and in Shanghai simultaneous glimpses into another culture while sharing the same experience of rush hour, platform rage and complaining about the annual increase in fare prices.

According to Tamsin Dillon, Head of Platform for Art at LU, which supports Poems on the Underground, “This initiative is planned as the first of a series of cultural collaborations between the Shanghai Metro and London Underground.” If this poetry exchange can shed light on how to make the Northern line run smoothly as well as enliven our spirits with a few well chosen words, we’d be more than happy to see this cultural swapshop run and run.

Keep an eye out for these Chinese poems that promise to give a glimpse into a different and more Eastern way of thinking and feeling. If you think you’ll miss them or want more, the Chinese Poems on the Underground will be launched at 6.30pm on Monday 6th February at the British Library. Included in the programme will be readings of Chinese and English poetry: Benjamin Britten’s Songs from the Chinese, with tenor Richard Edgar-Wilson and guitarist Xuefei Yang; Tan Dun’s music for Crouching Tiger, with cellist David Chernaik; and a lecture by Qu Lei Lei about the art of calligraphy.

Chinese Poems on the Underground will be featured on London Underground trains and at Charing Cross station throughout February. For more information about the launch event on Monday 6th February, please go to the British Library website to book tickets and for more information.

Everyone knows about Chinese New Year – when the novelty of Christmas and the western New Year wears off, along comes the feasting and lion dances and lucky red envelopes as well as a surge of interest in Chinese horoscopes. But there is far more in the Chinese lunar calendar to make a song and dance about – hey, who wants to party only once a year?

The Chinese Autumn Moon Festival is celebrated when the Autumn Moon is at its fullest and brightest and this year, four organisations have joined together to host an evening of food, drink, talks and general jollity. Mother’s Bridge of Love, China Chopsticks, The Chopsticks Club and Dimsum will be welcoming guests to Shanghai Blues in Holborn on Tuesday 18th October, where there will be opportunity to learn more about the festival and Chinese culture in general as well as sample food, drink and the chance to win great prizes in the raffle.

Three speakers will talk about their views on Chinese culture: Emily Buchanan – World Affairs Correspondent for BBC World and presenter of Head to Head, author of From China With Love, Deh-Ta Hsiung – author of several best-selling Chinese Cookery books and a food and wine consultant for Chinese restaurants and Xinran – author of Good Women of China & Sky Burial, columnist of G2 and founder of Mother’s Bridge of Love.

The Moon Festival Celebration will be held at Shanghai Blues, Holborn, on Tuesday 18th October from 6.45pm. Tickets are priced at £15 for adults, including a raffle ticket, and £5 for students and can be purchased on the door, on the night.Please go here for more details on the event.

We love a good bit of technology here at Londonist even when we don’t quite know exactly how it works… iPods for example. How do you get so many tracks into such a small white box and then get so many small white boxes attached to so many idiots? It’s beyond us.

Maglev trains then. They float. No engine. 300+ mph. Give us a break. We live in London. We find the idea of a regular train simply showing up on time to be science fiction…

And yet the Asia Times is reporting that we may be getting our own version of Shanghai’s magnetic levitation system. The idea is that having a train that can do the equivalent of a one hour car journey in eight minutes will put paid to these silly and environmentally damaging flights from one British city to another. We’re sorry but if you want to get to Manchester by noon just get up early. If some people could fly to the nearest Sainsbury’s to pick up some milk they would.

Blair and Brown are looking into the idea. A proposed 800km route would cost us £16 billion without land purchase costs. That’ll mean tightening the belts all round so maybe invading less countries over the next couple of years would be a good idea.

Another good idea would be to make at least one section of track a huge loop the loop. Just to go one better than Shanghai after they nicked our wheel idea.

We tried to get the technical stuff on Maglev (wasn’t he a bad guy in X Men issue 246?) from the mighty Wikipedia, but the damn thing is having its nerd juice drained or something. Off with you then to How Stuff Works for the low down on magnetic propulsion.

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We love a good bit of technology here at Londonist even when we don’t quite know exactly how it works… iPods for example. How do you get so many tracks into such a small white box and then get so many small white boxes attached to so many idiots? It’s beyond us.

Maglev trains then. They float. No engine. 300+ mph. Give us a break. We live in London. We find the idea of a regular train simply showing up on time to be science fiction…

And yet the Asia Times is reporting that we may be getting our own version of Shanghai’s magnetic levitation system. The idea is that having a train that can do the equivalent of a one hour car journey in eight minutes will put paid to these silly and environmentally damaging flights from one British city to another. We’re sorry but if you want to get to Manchester by noon just get up early. If some people could fly to the nearest Sainsbury’s to pick up some milk they would.

Blair and Brown are looking into the idea. A proposed 800km route would cost us £16 billion without land purchase costs. That’ll mean tightening the belts all round so maybe invading less countries over the next couple of years would be a good idea.

Another good idea would be to make at least one section of track a huge loop the loop. Just to go one better than Shanghai after they nicked our wheel idea.

We tried to get the technical stuff on Maglev (wasn’t he a bad guy in X Men issue 246?) from the mighty Wikipedia, but the damn thing is having its nerd juice drained or something. Off with you then to How Stuff Works for the low down on magnetic propulsion.

]]> http://londonist.com/2005/06/the_1045_floate.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2005/05/our_wheels_bigg.php http://londonist.com/2005/05/our_wheels_bigg.php#comments Thu, 12 May 2005 16:41:21 +0000 Rob http://londonist.com/?p=1011

Olympic games…giant ferris wheel…it must be a story about London right?

Well, you might want to shift your focus slightly to the east, as this story is actually about Shanghai’s plans to build their own giant wheel in time for the Beijing Olympics.

According to Reuters, “The Shanghai Star Ferris is due to start spinning by 2008 and will stand at 200 to 230 meters, stripping the world’s tallest title from the 135-meter London Eye.”

How cheeky is that? Couldn’t they have picked another type of fairground ride to wow their tourists with? Maybe a 60-storey high helter skleter, or even a really, really big coconut shy?

Londonist fully expects the ‘powers that be’ to come up with something spectacular by 2008 to really put London back on the giant ferris wheel map. All suggestions are welcome, so feel free to leave us your ideas.

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Olympic games…giant ferris wheel…it must be a story about London right?

Well, you might want to shift your focus slightly to the east, as this story is actually about Shanghai’s plans to build their own giant wheel in time for the Beijing Olympics.

According to Reuters, “The Shanghai Star Ferris is due to start spinning by 2008 and will stand at 200 to 230 meters, stripping the world’s tallest title from the 135-meter London Eye.”

How cheeky is that? Couldn’t they have picked another type of fairground ride to wow their tourists with? Maybe a 60-storey high helter skleter, or even a really, really big coconut shy?

Londonist fully expects the ‘powers that be’ to come up with something spectacular by 2008 to really put London back on the giant ferris wheel map. All suggestions are welcome, so feel free to leave us your ideas.

]]> http://londonist.com/2005/05/our_wheels_bigg.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2005/02/china_in_our_ha.php http://londonist.com/2005/02/china_in_our_ha.php#comments Tue, 08 Feb 2005 13:33:52 +0000 london_will http://londonist.com/?p=498

Is there no limit to Ken Livingstone’s ambitions? Not content with simply running one of the largest and most important cities on Earth, he’s now conducting foreign policy as well.

In an announcement timed to coincide with the Chinese New Year, Ken has announced that he is opening two embassies for London in the People’s Republic. These far-flung outposts of the Livingstonian Empire – one in Beijing, the other in Shanghai – will promote investment by Chinese companies in the capital and urge them to set up European headquarters here.

“Traditionally Chinese companies have been going to Germany but there are signs that London is gaining favour over Germany and more companies are choosing London as their port of call or to set up a European headquarters,” the Financial Times’ UK business correspondent, Jonathan Moules, told BBC News.

Full secession from the UK can’t be far behind. At this rate, London will have its own currency and space programme by next week.

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Is there no limit to Ken Livingstone’s ambitions? Not content with simply running one of the largest and most important cities on Earth, he’s now conducting foreign policy as well.

In an announcement timed to coincide with the Chinese New Year, Ken has announced that he is opening two embassies for London in the People’s Republic. These far-flung outposts of the Livingstonian Empire – one in Beijing, the other in Shanghai – will promote investment by Chinese companies in the capital and urge them to set up European headquarters here.

“Traditionally Chinese companies have been going to Germany but there are signs that London is gaining favour over Germany and more companies are choosing London as their port of call or to set up a European headquarters,” the Financial Times’ UK business correspondent, Jonathan Moules, told BBC News.

Full secession from the UK can’t be far behind. At this rate, London will have its own currency and space programme by next week.

]]> http://londonist.com/2005/02/china_in_our_ha.php/feed 0