It’s time to drum!

Like we’ve said before, we’re huge fans of Andrew WK, even if our coverage of him has usually been skeptical. But, he loves to party, we love to party, our interests pretty much fall in line. And his newest stunt, sitting outside in Times Square and drumming for a full 24 hours starting tomorrow, is something we can definitely get behind. (more…)

Don’t be scared

Have you been staring forlornly at your copy of Infinite Jest, and thinking that maybe it will better serve you as a door weight or as a weapon in the event of a home invasion? Well apparently you’re not alone, because starting in two weeks, a group of committed Jesters are going to gather at Madison Square Park to support each other as they read through the entire tome together. They’ll be easy to spot, look for the people in tennis gear who are obviously on speed. (more…)

Look how happy it makes her. via Facebook

Excited about bike share but don’t have a helmet. Well, you should probably get one, because you never know what’s going to happen to you out there. But helmets cost money, and if you don’t regularly bike, you might not be into going out to buy one. But tomorrow, the city is willing to just give you one, for free. You should probably get one then. (more…)

The Brooklyn Bridge in 1888

On this day 130 years ago, 150,000 people took the first steps across the then-longest suspension bridge in the world: the Brooklyn Bridge. Our borough’s iconic span opened May 24th, 1883 and has been operating ever since.

Leave it to a German to decide to start one of the most ambitious bridge projects in history. Immigrant John Roebling starting dreaming of building a span across the East River in 1857. Only until after the Civil War did plans get underway. Unfortunately for Roebling, he crushed his foot between a boat and a pier on a surveying trip (were there only a bridge!) and died soon after of a tetanus infection. His son Washington Roebling took over the project at the age of 32. (more…)

Two satisfied customers.

As part of the final countdown for the release of the 4th season of Arrested Development, Netflix has been pulling out all the stops for publicity. Character posters, weird Blue Man Group easter eggs and now this: the actual Bluth’s Frozen Banana stand stopping in across from Radio City Music Hall. You don’t want to miss this, you’d be making a huge mistake. (more…)

Clutter up your kitchen with deals from Broadway Panhandler this month, among others. via Facebook

Did you know that May is sample sale season? We didn’t either, but that’s probably because to us, even a sample sale means looking at all the Jeffrey Campbell shoes in a store window, going home and crying to ourselves over our bank statement. But if you haven’t already maxed out your credit card through 2014, you’re in luck: there are a whole bunch of sample sales hitting town over the next few weeks, and they are calling to you with a bevy of discounts and deals. Racked compiled a whole slew of sales, here are some of our favorites: (more…)

Useful to Brooklynites? Only if your soul belongs to Midtown

If you’re one of the schlubs like me who has to take the train into Midtown for work, then you have probably seen these janky blue cardboard signs pasted onto various subway entrances advertising free wifi at the station. No, this isn’t some kind of crude underground (har har) art experiment. There really is free wifi at these stations, thanks to Governor Cuomo and something called HT CONE. Can’t keep track of where all the stations are? There’s a handy map now. (more…)

Carlos Arredondo: first responder, hero, knows CPR

It’d been a nice twelve year break, but Monday was a reminder that the world we live in is one in which some sociopath with a Twitter account can decide to leave a bomb next to you. Short of boxing ourselves into some creepy, Minority Report-esque world where psychics predict crimes, there isn’t much you can do to be truly prepared for all hell breaking loose around you. But you can do something: take a CPR class so that you can provide immediate assistance to people in the wake of a crisis. And lucky for you, the Red Cross offers exactly that. (more…)

Did you every think an email address would get you this?

What do you usually get for signing up for an email list? Another thing to click “Mark as read” on? The regretful feeling that comes with failing to get the cute girl’s number who asked you to sign up for the list? A really awesome guide to living here (the signup for our email list is to your right, and it’s a great weekly email)? Do you ever get food? Because now, for merely signing up for New York magazine’s daily deals email alert, you can get a free cupcake. And everyone loves free cupcakes, right? If not, you can just give them to us. (more…)

Yes, even you can start a nifty little website like this. YOU CAN. (via flickr user ateliertally)

This news will likely be most handy to you if you’re an NYU student, those chosen few who seem to get all the best damn jobs and internships in the city while the rest of us contemplate selling our old IKEA furniture we lugged from our college apartments in Baltimore or Chicago wherever to buy dinner tomorrow night, but NYU’s annual Startup Week kicks off tonight, and there will be lots of tech-ey entrepeneurs around who will maybe give you a job. Maybe. If you ask real nice. (more…)