inception
"i didn't mean to turn you on." my mind is a spindle of cultural influences and inspirations and it takes me quite some time to simply commit my thoughts to words here despite it all. and i don't know what made me think of it, but in one moment i had nothing to write, and in the next moment i found myself mumbling the robert palmer standard-bearer, "i didn't mean to turn you on," and suddenly, i'm switching off my late summer reality television and putting in the "evening" dvd that always puts me in that joyous melancholy i enjoy and lighting a two year old pier one imports candle and we're here. i'm blue these days despite it all, but in a very good way. i'm giddy because i've committed to buying new furniture tomorrow, two sets of nesting tables i plan to use as both end tables and a coffee table if my idea executes correctly, and maybe even get my clothes out of the cleaners from the flooding incident, but i think not. the problem with my life at the moment, though i go about it with no complaints, remains some of the uncertainty and the under-funded nature of it. in other years, i would've splurged on my ysl loafers when they went half off. my place would have been full furnished from the start. my glasses wouldn't sit at the opticians. i would be going out every weekend without fail. but these days, i have to do more with less and although i'm writing again, i haven't caught my stride as i don't have an outline, but it comes to me the more i write and that's refreshing. two weekends ago, i went on a date with someone who in personality reminded me of my good friend sabrina and who in appearance and manner reminded me of my favorite aunt sandra, but who absolutely did nothing for me whatsoever in the attraction department. seriously, i found myself both gratified at still having a knack for the thing -- that is, the date went seamlessly from a planning and execution standpoint what with the initial meeting at panera bread, the core of the date at cobb cinebistro in hyde park which is the nicest movie theater i've been to in my life, and then a nice little nosh at bella's in hyde park -- but it went completely wrong at every pitstop with my date's late arrival at panera making me look at every single other person there with some level of attraction, with my having to pay for the movie, which i just don't do on a date unless i'm head-over-heels -- a la the stockbroker -- attracted to someone, and then dinner which i didn't want to have because i wanted it to end at the movies. literally, at the end of the date, we shook hands. it seemed appropriate since i had been working to keep my mouth shut and be nice for five straight hours. it was transactional. besides, i thought it was cancelled given the "my grandmother's really sick" text message i got just a couple of days before. now, i went on the date mainly because of the ease of it: i got messaged on plentyoffish.com although i haven't gone onto that site in weeks and wee set up something for that week. easy. done. and on the phone, i got transported back to those great moments i have with my friend sabrina where we can talk about any and everything and just be real. the clincher however was that my date had an "in" to a social group known as "the last supper" that i've been wanting to go to for four years now. now, let me break down why the movie part of the evening fell apart: first, at the ticket office, i had to pay. and i didn't take money out because i don't take money out, but it was like who's going to flinch first and i winced first so that's that. second, who knew i signed up for a date with a non-drinker? this is one of the few "grown folks" theatres that has a quite trendy cocktail lounge in its lobby. yeah, not that we partook. third, the seats were basically a cozy leather loveseat with tables for cocktails and aperitifs, of which we had none. the couple sitting next to us had two rounds of drinks, popcorn (served in large glass bowls), and other treats. not only that, they were wonderful looking in that "we wear each others clothes" sort of way. i wish i could be on their date. seriously. but not this round. at dinner, we sat in a center table so that i could eat my pizza with my mortification. we had nothing to talk about because coversationalist i am except when i don't want to give the wrong impression. so i employed my look-away pat-answer coversation method that everyone who knows me know is very rude, but everyone who doesn't know me thinks is quite nice. when i say, "that's wonderful." or "that's funny." without laughing or "wow." and those are all of the responses i give you. be forewarned. so. that was that and i didn't call all week, but i kind of wanted to not burn the bridge so i texted once. once. and this the same day, i had the most awkward sexual experience i've had with the exsomeone in months. it was the sex that just didn't want to happen. seriously, my emotions and my sexuality will never separate themselves completely. but the film itself was good not because it relates to something to i'm going through or something going on in the world, but because it was such a tidy creative statement. and considering i don't think that a good plurality of people who saw it didn't get it (including the person with whom i saw the movie), i knew i would buy it on dvd. and this is how i know it's really a dud. my work week went as normal and i found a great plot twist during my three nights of work. i talked to my sister and rob and sabrina and jen and the exsomeone. and everyone spoke of love and woes and i found myself more emotionally caught up in what they had to say than anything happening in my own life. on monday, my date sent a text informing me about the grandmother actually dying and i replied in kind. we spoke today and i gave my sentiments and then rambled on about my end tables and my date blurted, "oh, now you're turning me on," and i said, "what? end tables? really?" and the date continued, "oh yeah," and i said, "oh you're being funny," writing it off and horrified because NO. as the song says, "i was only trying to be nice, only trying to be nice....oh" because, on sunday, i went to work overtime and found myself having to work twelve full hours with my work obsession from bulgaria. and in those twelve hours we worked together, i found myself fighting every primal urge from just reaching out with a hug to just pulling my pants down out of pure desperation. seriously, they say that ghb makes one's entire body feel like one big throbbing hard-on, but i didn't need it. it struck me around hour nine that this new obssession of mine really reminded me physically of one of the first crushes i ever had in college who i not so long ago visited in brooklyn. this one's brunette and not blonde however. it struck me even as i had to work three more hours. of course, because this is my life, said obsession is of course engaged and set to return to bulgaria next year, but i got quite a bit of fuel for writing. that and one of the managers there signaled that i may have the promotion i applied for. but yeah, there's no way there's any hope for that sad, sad little date i had when it would take but a side look from my bulgarian to set my soul blue on fire. "i didn't mean to turn you on," indeed
Here is your Daily Single's Horoscope for Wednesday, September 1
If your social calendar is somewhat barren, it's time for you to get busy. People who have got lots going on are just more alluring -- plus it should give you lots of fascinating topics to talk about.
January Jones - Emmys 2010 Red Carpet
January Jones - Emmys 2010 Red Carpet
January Jones shows off an amazing Versace dress on the red carpet at the 2010 Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre on Sunday (August 29) in Los Angeles.
The 32-year-old Mad Men actress, who’s nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama, is also presenting an award with John Krasinski.
January wore diamonds by Cartier - including platinum and diamond stud earrings worth $1.2 million dollars! - and Miu Miu heels.
Read more: http://justjared.buzznet.com/page/6/#ixzz0y6hR8g55
Thu, 19 November 2009 at 9:20 pm
January Jones is GQ Party Pretty
January Jones hits the red carpet in a gorgeous Gucci dress and Dolce shoes at the GQ “Men of the Year” Party at L.A.’s Chateau Marmont on Wednesday (November 18).
At the party, the 31-year-old Mad Men actress was seen hanging out with girlfriends all night. No boys allowed!
January took time, though, to pose for pics with GQ editor-in-chief Jim Nelson and Russell Brand, who made some hilarious faces on the red carpet.
10+ pictures inside of January Jones at the GQ “Men of the Year” Party…
Read more: http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/11/19/january-jones-is-gq-party-pretty/#ixzz0y6hgVkgr
http://www.rangercentral.com/mmpr-rg-billy.htm
Full Name: Unrevealed
Ranger Designation: Blue Power Ranger, Blue Ninja Ranger
Weapons: Power Lance, Blade Blaster
Gear: Wrist Communicator, Power Morpher with Power Coin, Metallic Armor, Blue Shark Cycle
Zords: Triceratops Dinozord, Unicorn Thunderzord, Wolf Ninja Zord, Blue Shogun Zord
Billy is one of the original five teenagers chosen by Zordon to defend the planet from the forces of Rita Repulsa. As the Blue Ranger, Billy fought well against Putties and Tengas, and saved the Power Rangers on numerous occasions with devices that he created. Billy is the smartest of the Rangers, with a super genius IQ level. Once awkward and shy, Billy has evolved over time into the confident and capable person he is today. During the Rangers' time of crisis when time was reversed by Master Vile, Billy assumed command and proved himself to be a capable leader. After the Rangers obtained their Zeo powers, he stayed on the team as an advisor, communicating with them from the Power Chamber, and creating weapons and Zords for them. To Billy went the Triceratops Power Coin, giving him the power of the Triceratops, and control of the Triceratops Dinozord. When Billy lost his powers after Rito Revolto's attack on Angel Grove, he gained new powers with the Wolf Power Coin given to him by Ninjor on the Rangers' journey to the Temple of Power. The Wolf Power Coin was later destroyed by Zedd and Rita when Master Vile reversed time and reverted the Rangers to children. Blue Ranger's power weapon is the Power Lance, which can separate into two halves. His weapon combined with the others to form the Power Blaster. As Blue Ranger, Billy gained enhanced strength, speed, and durability as well as limited energy projection.
When Rita Repulsa's brother, Rito Revolto, came to Earth, he succeeded in destroying the Thunderzords and the Rangers' powers. The six teens had to travel to the Temple of Power, where the legendary warrior Ninjor gave them all the power of Ninja. Using this power, they could all transform into the Ninja Rangers, then morph into Power Rangers and take command of the Ninja Zords. The Blue Ninja Ranger has heightened strength, speed, and durability. He also has the powers of ground swimming, line of sight teleportation, phasing, multiplication, energy projection, hypnotic persuasion, and many other "ninja magic" powers. Presumably, all Ninja Rangers have the same powers, although not each one has demonstrated all of them.
Master Vile once used the Orb of Doom to revert the Rangers into powerless children. To restore their ages, and obtain new powers, the children had to each retrieve a Zeo crystal.
Billy, however, restored his age before the others with a device he created. He then sent the kids on their Zeo quests.
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Thu, 26 August 2010 at 10:20 am
Blue Power Ranger David Yost: I'm Gay
David Yost, who played the Blue Ranger on the hugely successful kids series Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, recently admitted that he was discriminated against over his sexuality.
The actor, now 41, says he quit the show because he was harassed. “I was called ‘faggot’ one too many times [by the show’s] creators, producers, writers, directors,” he shared.
David added, “I know that my costars were called in a couple of times to different producers’ offices and questioned about my sexuality, which is kind of a humiliating experience to find that out.”
Read more: http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/08/26/blue-ranger-gay-david-yost/#more-577515#ixzz0xoqepoWG
|| News ||
Posted on Advocate.com August 26, 2010 05:30:42 PM
Power Ranger David Yost: I'm Gay
Former Power Ranger David Yost talks to The Advocate about the taunting he endured on the show, and the years of ups and downs that have finally made him able to say, “I’m gay.”
By Advocate.com Editors
In an interview with The Advocate running online next week, David Yost, who from 1993 to 1996 starred as the blue Power Ranger in more than 200 episodes of the children’s television phenomenon, talks about the taunting and teasing he endured on the set of the show, and the years of ups and downs that have finally made him able to say the words, “I’m gay.”
“A week before I left the TV show I made a commitment to myself saying, “If I get called faggot one more time, I’m walking because I can’t handle it any more,” Yost says. Within a week it happened, and it happened from a higher-level person on the show.”
Yost says he spent the next few years doing everything he could to “pray the gay away.”
“There were times when I would call prayer hotlines like Joyce Meyers prayer hotline or Pat Robinson’s 700 Club prayer hotline and instead was condemned over the phone.”
Instead of helping, all the prayer ultimately led to a mental breakdown and a five week stay in the hospital - and because his parents didn’t know he was gay at this point, they assumed it was the pressure of having not worked in a while.
Yost says he’s coming out now because he’s “tired of hearing stories about teenagers still taking their lives and committing suicide because of who they are and not understanding that there are resources for them to get help.”
Check back to Advocate.com next week for our full interview with David Yost.
Advocate.com © 2010 Here Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Mayor Bloomberg cites Daniel Pearl in downtown mosque push, but reporter's dad differs
BY Michael J. Feeney and Samuel Goldsmith
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, August 26th 2010, 4:00 AM
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/26/2010-08-26_mike_cites_pearl_in_mosque_push__reporters_dad_differs.html#ixzz0xp0X2dgl
Mayor Bloomberg invoked the name of Daniel Pearl to drum up support for a mosque near Ground Zero - but the slain reporter's father says the project doesn't belong there.
Judea Pearl said the mayor should be using his influence and energy to convince the developer of the Park51 community center to find a more remote site.
"Public reaction tells us that it is not the right time, and that it will create further animosity and division in this country," he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency America yesterday.
"If I were Mayor Bloomberg, I would reassert their right to build the mosque, but I would expend the same energy trying to convince them to put it somewhere else."
Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.
At a Ramadan dinner Tuesday in which he said the mosque should not be moved, Bloomberg quoted from a 2003 eulogy for Pearl given by Park51 Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf .
In his speech, Bloomberg singled out several Muslim guests, including Talat Hamdani, mother of an NYPD cadet killed on 9/11. "It's important for this cultural center to be built to show tolerance," Hamdani, 58, said at a press conference by a new coalition of religious and community groups. "Salman was a hero .... He gave his life for this country."
Bloomberg also mentioned Queens couple Sakibeh and Asaad Mustafa, whose two children served in the U.S. Army and Coast Guard.
"I agree with the mayor 100%. The purpose of the mosque is to bring people together," said Sakibeh Mustafa.
Park51 developer Sharif el-Gamal has said he's not interested in finding a new site. The Associated Press revealed yesterday that Gamal is also involved in a second mosque project in Harlem.
With News Wire Services
sgoldsmith@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/26/2010-08-26_mike_cites_pearl_in_mosque_push__reporters_dad_differs.html#ixzz0xp0OmC7M
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What ESB/Vornado and 'Ground Zero Mosque' Fights Have in Common
http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/do-non-new-yorkers-matter-empire-state-building-debate
By Eliot Brown
August 24, 2010 | 2:22 p.m
The owners of the Empire State Building today released a poll that queried people around the country about the place of the skyscraper in New York City's skyline.
The point of the poll was to show that indeed this building has an iconic place in Americans' vision of New York, and that changing the skyline would be bad for the city. Sixty-six percent of New York City visitors, according to the poll's sponsors, feel the tower "would degrade the character of the New York City skyline."
Of course, this was just the latest round in the ongoing-and rapidly culminating-spat between Empire State Building owners Tony and Peter Malkin and Vornado Realty Trust, the developers planning a 1,200-foot tower two blocks away.
The poll-and the Malkins' rhetoric in the fight-taps into a larger question on land-use policy, one that can also be seen to a certain extent three miles south, in the hysterical fight (if people yelling about an as-of-right building can really be termed a fight) over the mosque planned two blocks from ground zero: What role should those outside New York play in development decisions?
Tony Malkin, who is leading the charge against the Vornado tower, is scrambling to protect the postcard vision of New York City's skyline, where the Empire State Building sits front and center. And while he is appealing to New Yorkers to rally behind him, it is the international view of the New York skyline that he is trying to protect.
Here's a sampling of his rhetoric from a fact sheet he sent out earlier this week:
"The Empire State Building is the internationally recognized icon on the skyline of New York City. We are its custodians, and must protect its place. Would a tower be allowed next to The Eiffel Tower or Big Ben's clock tower?"
Translation: If the rest of the world had a vote, it would probably vote against this tower.
This is a rare appeal in the world of New York land use, where approvals are structured around a system of very local politics: what does the immediate community and the local Council member think about a project? And on this level, other considerations matter, such as the economic effects on the city (it's a big investment); what a new tower might do to the neighborhood (make it less gritty, presumably); and what it might do to employment (people have to build the Vornado tower, after all).
In the end, things seem to be swinging toward approval. Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other members of the Council have voiced few concerns about the height, and at a hearing yesterday, many of the questions from key Council members-Leroy Comrie, for one-suggested they were not yet swayed by Mr. Malkin.
Still, Mr. Malkin was nothing if not tenacious, and yesterday at the City Council, he did not hold back any contempt about the tower's design.
Sitting in a cramped committee room at 250 Broadway, he looked up at the Council members on the zoning subcommittee and gave testimony and answered follow-up questions with a long list of complaints about the tower.
David Greenbaum, the wiry president of Vornado's New York office division, who is leading the charge for the tower, was sitting just 10 feet away listening to every criticism.
Within a stream of other vituperation, Mr. Malkin called the tower a "1,200-foot high, brand-new monstrosity."
At that point, Mr. Greenbaum turned to his left where his architect, Rafael Pelli, was sitting. He smiled, and let out a little laugh, and went back to listening.
ebrown@observer.com
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Bloomberg comes out in support of rival skyscraper near Empire State Building
BY Adam Lisberg
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Wednesday, August 25th 2010, 4:00 AM
Mayor Bloomberg came out in strong support Tuesday of a massive new skyscraper slated to be built just two blocks from the iconic Empire State Building.
"I think it'd be great for the city," Bloomberg said of the 1,216-foot tower proposed for the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania, across the street from Penn Station.
"It would be a great addition to our skyline. It would be easy for people to get to, and I think it would be a phenomenally popular building."
Vornado Realty Trust has been assembling land and air rights for years to build a state-of-the-art office building just to the west of the national landmark.
The City Council is expected to approve the controversial skyscraper Tuesday.
Anthony Malkin, whose family company owns the Empire State Building, believes the tower will block views of his family's iconic skyscraper, and asked a City Council committee this week to reduce its height.
"I don't understand that," Bloomberg said. "I think this is something that's great for the city, and you know, competition's a wonderful thing.
"One guy owns a building. He'd like to have it be the only tall building. I'm sorry, that's not the real world. Nor should it be."
Malkin said his family respects Bloomberg's opinion, but believes the height and design of the new tower are too much for its location near the Empire State Building.
"We are pro-development and think this area represents a great opportunity for development," Malkin said.
"The City Council has . . . gone out of \[its\] way to understand the situation. In the end, the elected representatives of the city of New York have to decide."
lisberg@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/25/2010-08-25_bloomberg_comes_out_in_support_of_rival_skyscraper_near_empire_state_building.html#ixzz0xorw3ExU
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August 24, 2010
New York’s Iconic Skyline
In the drowsy month of August no less, New York’s City Council is poised to make one of the most important decisions in years about Manhattan’s skyline. Council members will decide today whether to allow developers to build a skyscraper almost as tall as the Empire State Building - 900 feet west on the site of the current Hotel Pennsylvania, on Seventh Avenue. For many people looking from the western part of Manhattan and New Jersey, the iconic tower would no longer be visible.
This is no ordinary development issue. The Empire State is central to this city’s image. Any decision to alter the skyline so radically deserves more time and more public consideration.
Owners of the Empire State Building, Anthony and Peter Malkin, contend that they realized only recently that Vornado Realty Trust had plans for a building as tall as their 1931 landmark. They want Vornado to lower the tower considerably, and they want the city to provide a 17-block “no go” zone around their building for future skyscrapers as high as theirs. That would be too much.
Change, including change in the city skyline, is inevitable and part of what makes New York City so alive. There will be more such decisions to come in this central stretch of Manhattan, especially if plans to replace today’s grim Pennsylvania Station with the new Moynihan Station move ahead and remake the area. The giant towers replacing the World Trade Center will someday change the entire scope of Manhattan’s skyline.
The real issue for the city is this: Whatever skyscrapers come next, they should be future icons.
Right now, we know too little about what the Vornado building would really look like. The present design by Pelli Clarke Pelli - which seems so thick and bulky beside the elegant Empire State - might not be final. Vornado does not have a main tenant, and without that anchor, it cannot afford to build immediately. With a tenant could come new adjustments to the design.
Like the local Community Board, which opposed this development, we are also concerned about moving forward without seeing the city’s larger development plan for the entire area. Such important issues demand more than a late-summer review by the City Council.
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August 25, 2010
Unwelcome Neighbor for Empire State Building
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
New York City approved plans on Wednesday for a skyscraper near Pennsylvania Station that will rise to within 34 feet in height of the nearby Empire State Building, inserting a glassy challenger almost next door to what has been a defining element of the city’s skyline.
The 47-to-1 City Council vote came after a fierce weeklong public relations and lobbying campaign by the owners of the Empire State Building to stop the rival tower, contending that its bulky profile would scar the skyline and diminish the Empire State Building’s iconic status.
They went so far as to propose a one-third-mile zone around the Empire State Building, at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, where developers would not be allowed to erect a comparable skyscraper.
But the Council gave those arguments scant attention on Wednesday as it approved the planned tower, known as 15 Penn Plaza, on Seventh Avenue, opposite Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. Some Council members found the prospect of a new building and the developer’s agreement to spend more than $100 million on improvements to subway entrances and tunnels at Penn Station far more compelling, especially during a citywide slowdown in construction.
Christine C. Quinn, the Council speaker, said the project was about jobs and signaled that “New York City is moving forward and moving out of this recession.”
“This project and this zoning vote today are going to help make sure New York City has a new and important 21st-century office tower in Midtown Manhattan,” she said.
The project also had the backing of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, whose administration has long favored high-density development near major transit points like Penn Station, the busiest commuter hub in North America, with more than 450,000 passengers passing through its portals daily.
In part because of the proximity to transit, the developer of 15 Penn Plaza, the Vornado Realty Trust, earned zoning bonuses that will let it construct a building 56 percent larger than what would ordinarily be allowed.
“People don’t come to New York to visit caves,” said Mitchell L. Moss, a New York University urban policy professor and an informal adviser to the mayor. “They want the views, the height, the experience of tall buildings. Skyscrapers allow us to make the best use of a limited amount of land.”
Bud Perrone, a spokesman for Vornado, said the company was pleased with the outcome and believed its 68-story, 1,216-foot-tall building would be “an outstanding addition to New York’s iconic skyline.”
Anthony E. Malkin, an owner of the Empire State Building, said he favored development in the surrounding area but felt that the proposed tower should be shrunk so as not to obscure the view of his building, which has stood alone since it opened 79 years ago. “We thought that 15 Penn Plaza was too close to the 1,250-foot-tall Empire State Building for its height and design,” Mr. Malkin said.
The Empire State Building, which reaches 1,454 feet when its lightning rod is included, was the tallest in the world for more than 30 years and remained the tallest in the city until construction of the first World Trade Center. After Sept. 11, 2001, it regained that status, but will fall back to second place behind the new 1 World Trade Center, which will top out at 1,776 feet.
Beyond bragging rights and skyline positioning, the new tower will be an unmissable presence for sightseers looking toward the west from the Empire State Building’s famous 86th-floor observation deck.
Despite the vote Wednesday, construction of the new tower is unlikely to start for at least several years. Vornado has said it will not go forward with the $3 billion tower without a major corporate tenant. The project also requires demolishing another landmark of sorts that currently occupies the site: the Hotel Pennsylvania. The fraying 25-story hotel, built in 1919, still has the phone number memorialized in a 1940 hit song by Glenn Miller, PEnnsylvania 6-5000.
Mr. Malkin said that the Vornado project would economically enhance, rather than compete, with the Empire State Building, if only because rents in his building would be substantially lower than at 15 Penn Plaza and more attractive to tenants.
Even so, he began a furious public relations campaign leading up to the vote, including advertisements and a poll he commissioned that, he said, showed New Yorkers disapproved of the new building. He also corralled support from local figures like George Kaufman, another real estate owner, who submitted a letter calling 15 Penn Plaza “an assault on the Empire State Building and the New York City skyline,” and Henry Stern, the former parks commissioner, who testified at a hearing this week that the proposed tower “could do irreparable harm” to the city.
At that hearing, Mr. Malkin said that building a tall tower so close to the Empire State Building was akin to allowing an oil rig next to the Statue of Liberty or a skyscraper next to the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben. One Council member, Leroy G. Comrie of Queens, pointed out that none of those buildings were commercial properties like the Empire State.
Some Council members expressed misgivings about the size and the challenge to the Empire State Building; the lone dissenter, the Brooklyn Council member Charles Barron, believed that the developer’s commitment to hire at least 15 percent female or minority contractors was too small.
Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer of Manhattan, citing concerns that the new building would obstruct views, said, “I am persuaded that views are important and history is important, but this is a building worth supporting.”
The Council also gave customary deference to the member whose district includes the property. That is the speaker, Ms. Quinn, who has received at least $15,000 in campaign donations in recent years from Vornado and its employees, as well as roughly $3,500 from the Malkins. “It wasn’t a particularly significant amount,” Ms. Quinn said about the Vornado donations at a news conference. “It has no impact whatsoever.”
At least one Council member, Peter F. Vallone Jr. of Queens, seemed to take a small joy in voting for 15 Penn Plaza. He criticized the Empire State Building for refusing to turn on blue and white lights on Thursday night in honor of what would have been Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday, and said he would think of the Vornado building as “Mother Teresa Tower.”
“I’m going to be voting on this matter solely on the merits,” he said. “I just happen to be particularly happy that the merits are not on the side of the Empire State Building.”
Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.
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City Council Approves Anthony Malkin's Nightmare
http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/vornado-tower-empire-state-building-rival-approved-council
By Eliot Brown
August 25, 2010 | 5:13 p.m
The full City Council has approved a 1,200-foot office tower planned by Vornado Realty Trust to rise atop the Hotel Pennsylvania, two blocks from the Empire State Building.
The vote came this afternoon, less than two weeks after Empire State Building owner Anthony Malkin launched a public push to block the skyscraper, warning it would detract from his tower's iconic place amongst the skyline.
The Council, apparently, was unmoved by his criticism. In committee votes today, the bulk of the concerns centered around Vornado's commitments to hiring minority- and women-owned businesses, a top issue for many on the Council.
Much of their ire arose after David Greenbaum, Vornado's New York office chief, responded to a question by a Council member on the topic by telling an anecdote meant to illustrate that there are many women who work at Vornado: "I had a party at my house Saturday night, and there were certainly a distinctly large number of women," he said Monday at a committee hearing. His wife, he said, "saw the number of women there, and she couldn't figure out if they were the spouse or they were the employees-so, many of them were the employees."
This appearance of ignorance on the importance of the topic infuriated multiple Council members, and Vornado had to come back with a hiring pledge meant to soothe tempers over the issue.
The lone "no" vote in the 47-1 vote came from Councilman Charles Barron, who echoed the concerns of others on the minority hiring issues, although many of his colleagues ended up voting for the plan. (Two abstained in the committee vote.)
In all, Vornado essentially got what it wanted without having to give up much in return, a rare feat in the development world, particularly given that Vornado was asking for a major upzoning to allow a 2.8 million-square-foot building.
In a statement, a spokesman for Vornado said the building would be an "outstanding addition to New York's iconic skyline," thanking the Council for the vote.
After the vote, Mr. Malkin issued a statement that seemed to acknowledge he was going to accept the Council's vote without any further action (often opponents launch lawsuits).
"The City Council is the decision maker on this subject," he said in a statement. "They have gone out of their way to listen to our position. In the end, they are the elected representatives of the City of New York, and it was up to them to decide."
ebrown@observer.com
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Why Is Everyone So Obsessed With ‘Inception’?
A theory.
* David Thomson
* July 21, 2010 | 12:00 am
There are plenty of moments in its 150 minutes when Inception is flying in mid-air, uncertain whether there is a safety net or a parachute of coherent plot to explain its entire exhilarating enterprise. Don’t ask to have its theory of dreaming spelled out in foolproof detail, just know that the age-old love affair between dreaming and the movies has been reasserted. Above all, treasure the film’s serene lack of exhausting violence or ingenious cruelty. Yes, there is action aplenty, with car-chases and gun-battles, all edited with insolent speed, as if to admit that we all know a chase and a shoot-out are just familiar riffs, shaggy dog stories, the tunes of nostalgia, like Edith Piaf. And shiver a little that Piaf has been used in a movie where Marion Cotillard is the raw-eyed emblem of hurt feelings.
This absence of “R”-heavy violence isn’t just a way of letting the teenage audience into the theatres without subterfuge. It’s part of the airy sense of play that oxygenizes the picture. Indeed, the thing I like best about Christopher Nolan’s film is that with all the attendant prospects of a Big-Time Metaphor (film equals dreaming), and the chance of major World-Ending Political Intrigue, the mission impossible here is as silly and evanescent as why people play golf, chess, or postman’s knock. It’s just that the game is pretty and passes time in an elegant, harmless way.
So, projected enemies are shot down, like the phantom figures in a videogame, but all the characters survive-because we are asked to like them, and to admire the spirit with which they play the game. It’s true that Leonardo DiCaprio’s Mr. Cobb has a wound and a loss, plus a destiny we want to see fulfilled, but they are borne lightly, as if to say, well, an actor needs a character and a situation, so let it be this-it’s like choosing the top hat, the dog, or the boot in Monopoly. You get attached enough to the plucky stance of the dog for a couple of hours, but you could as easily have admired the splendor of the pocket battleship. Of course, this detachability in feelings and needs is very fair to the relaxed and rootless air of dreaming-that aspect of experience (so like the movies) where we learn that the show is everything, so long as it doesn’t matter so much that you start taking it seriously and believing it’s Life. The deepest link between film and dream is that we are safe in our dark, no matter that the bright hurtling locomotive (the screen) comes so close.
If you want a measure of the film’s wit, of its tongue- in-cheek delicacy, just notice how the intrigue is all achieved in the first-class cabin of a long-distance air flight. No matter the dream’s turmoil, these people are cushioned and placed in the most artful bed-seat, gently mulling over the flight’s choices-the game hen in cilantro aspic, or the chilled lobster DeMille. There may not be such a dish, except in dream, but I name it to hark back to the impassioned vulgarity, the urge to see new things, that inspired that pioneer filmmaker.
So don’t be put off by the way millions are flocking to Inception-just study the ease with which these audiences are floating over the bits of plot they can’t follow, carried along by the witty good nature of the film. And that’s the crucial novelty.
Christopher Nolan has tended to be a little gloomy in the past and that sometimes left him looking solemn. What really works in Inception-and means so much to the future of movies-is its grace, its ease, its happiness in being an entertainment and a game.
As I go back to it, and we all will, I think this truth will emerge, that amid its stunning visions of Paris folding up like a clever box and cliffs crumbling like abandoned tenements, it has the panache of a comedy. Leonardo and his gang do a great job with their inane task, but it could have been Laurel and Hardy getting a piano up those steps.
David Thomson is the author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film and The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder.
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Source URL: http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/76461/why-everyone-so-obsessed-inception
ROBERT PALMER
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/palmer_robert/bio.jhtml
The career of blue-eyed soul singer Robert Palmer was a study in style versus substance. While the performer's earliest work won praise for its skillful assimilation of
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rock, R&B, and reggae sounds, his records typically sold poorly, and he achieved his greatest notoriety as an impeccably dressed lounge lizard. By the mid-'80s, however, Palmer became a star, although his popularity owed less to the strength of his material than to his infamous music videos: taking their cue from the singer's suave presence, Palmer's clips established him as a dapper, suit-and-tie lady's man who performed his songs backed by a band comprised of leggy models, much to the delight of viewers who made him one of MTV's biggest success stories.
Born Alan Palmer on January 19, 1949, in Batley, England, he spent much of his childhood living on the island of Malta before permanently returning to Britain at the age of 19 to sing with the Alan Bown Set. A year later he joined Dada, a 12-piece, Stax-influenced soul group which soon changed its name to Vinegar Joe; after three LPs with the band -- a self-titled effort and Rock'n'Roll Gypsies, both issued in 1972, and 1973's Six Star General -- Palmer exited to mount a solo career, and debuted in 1974 with Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley, recorded with members of Little Feat and the Meters.
With 1975's Pressure Drop, he tackled reggae, a trend furthered following a move to Nassau prior to 1978's Double Fun, which featured Palmer's first hit, "Every Kinda People." With 1979's self-produced Secrets, his music moved into more rock-oriented territory, as typified by the single "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)." Palmer's stylistic experimentation continued with 1980's Clues, a foray into synth-pop aided by Gary Numan and Talking Heads' Chris Frantz which yielded the club hit "Looking for Clues."
After 1983's Pride, Palmer teamed with the Duran Duran side project Power Station, scoring hits with the singles "Some Like It Hot" and "Get It On" (a T. Rex cover), which returned the singer to overt rock territory.
After exiting the band prior to a planned tour, Palmer recorded the 1985 solo album Riptide, a sleek collection of guitar rock which scored a number one hit with "Addicted to Love," the first in a string of videos which offered him in front of a bevy of beautiful women.
The follow-up, "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On," continued to play with the sex symbol image and hit number two, as did "Simply Irresistible," the first single from 1988's Heavy Nova. By 1990's Don't Explain, Palmer returned to the eclecticism of his earliest material; without any attendant soft-core videos, sales plummeted, but he stuck to his guns for 1992's Ridin' High, a collection of Tin Pan Alley and cabaret chestnuts. Two years later, Palmer's wide array of worldbeat influences cropped up again on Honey, which also featured guitar work from Extreme axeman Nino Bettencourt. Woke Up Laughing followed in 1998, it was an adventurous, if somewhat odd, collection of non-hit album tracks remixed and in some cases re-recorded.Rhythm & Blues, a slick set of adult contemporary pop, came out in 1999 to lukewarm sales and reviews. After a live album in 2001, Palmer bounced back with the future blues of 2003's Drive. However, Palmer had little time to enjoy it's release. On September 26, 2003 he died suddenly after suffering a heart attack. He was 54. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
I Didnt Mean To Turn You On Lyrics
Artist: Robert Palmer (Buy Robert Palmer CDs)
When I took you out
I knew what you were all about
But when I did
I didn't mean to turn you on
Now I bring you home
You told me goodnight's not enough for you
I'm sorry baby
I didn't mean to turn you on
No, I didn't mean to turn you on
You read me wrong
I wasn't trying to lead you on
Not like you think
I didn't mean to turn you on
I know you
Were expecting a one night stand
When I refused
I knew you wouldn't understand
I told you twice
I was only trying to be nice
Only trying to be nice
Ooh, I didn't mean to turn you on
Babe now why should I
Feel guilty 'cause I won't give
Guilty 'cause I won't give in
I didn't mean to turn you on
Ooh, I didn't mean to turn you on
When I took you out
Iknew what you were all about
But when I did
I didn't mean to turn you on
No, I didn't mean to turn you on
I didn't mean to turn you on....
(REPEAT TO FADE)
Here is your Daily Single's Horoscope for Wednesday, September 1
If your social calendar is somewhat barren, it's time for you to get busy. People who have got lots going on are just more alluring -- plus it should give you lots of fascinating topics to talk about.
January Jones - Emmys 2010 Red Carpet
January Jones - Emmys 2010 Red Carpet
January Jones shows off an amazing Versace dress on the red carpet at the 2010 Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre on Sunday (August 29) in Los Angeles.
The 32-year-old Mad Men actress, who’s nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama, is also presenting an award with John Krasinski.
January wore diamonds by Cartier - including platinum and diamond stud earrings worth $1.2 million dollars! - and Miu Miu heels.
Read more: http://justjared.buzznet.com/page/6/#ixzz0y6hR8g55
Thu, 19 November 2009 at 9:20 pm
January Jones is GQ Party Pretty
January Jones hits the red carpet in a gorgeous Gucci dress and Dolce shoes at the GQ “Men of the Year” Party at L.A.’s Chateau Marmont on Wednesday (November 18).
At the party, the 31-year-old Mad Men actress was seen hanging out with girlfriends all night. No boys allowed!
January took time, though, to pose for pics with GQ editor-in-chief Jim Nelson and Russell Brand, who made some hilarious faces on the red carpet.
10+ pictures inside of January Jones at the GQ “Men of the Year” Party…
Read more: http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/11/19/january-jones-is-gq-party-pretty/#ixzz0y6hgVkgr
http://www.rangercentral.com/mmpr-rg-billy.htm
Full Name: Unrevealed
Ranger Designation: Blue Power Ranger, Blue Ninja Ranger
Weapons: Power Lance, Blade Blaster
Gear: Wrist Communicator, Power Morpher with Power Coin, Metallic Armor, Blue Shark Cycle
Zords: Triceratops Dinozord, Unicorn Thunderzord, Wolf Ninja Zord, Blue Shogun Zord
Billy is one of the original five teenagers chosen by Zordon to defend the planet from the forces of Rita Repulsa. As the Blue Ranger, Billy fought well against Putties and Tengas, and saved the Power Rangers on numerous occasions with devices that he created. Billy is the smartest of the Rangers, with a super genius IQ level. Once awkward and shy, Billy has evolved over time into the confident and capable person he is today. During the Rangers' time of crisis when time was reversed by Master Vile, Billy assumed command and proved himself to be a capable leader. After the Rangers obtained their Zeo powers, he stayed on the team as an advisor, communicating with them from the Power Chamber, and creating weapons and Zords for them. To Billy went the Triceratops Power Coin, giving him the power of the Triceratops, and control of the Triceratops Dinozord. When Billy lost his powers after Rito Revolto's attack on Angel Grove, he gained new powers with the Wolf Power Coin given to him by Ninjor on the Rangers' journey to the Temple of Power. The Wolf Power Coin was later destroyed by Zedd and Rita when Master Vile reversed time and reverted the Rangers to children. Blue Ranger's power weapon is the Power Lance, which can separate into two halves. His weapon combined with the others to form the Power Blaster. As Blue Ranger, Billy gained enhanced strength, speed, and durability as well as limited energy projection.
When Rita Repulsa's brother, Rito Revolto, came to Earth, he succeeded in destroying the Thunderzords and the Rangers' powers. The six teens had to travel to the Temple of Power, where the legendary warrior Ninjor gave them all the power of Ninja. Using this power, they could all transform into the Ninja Rangers, then morph into Power Rangers and take command of the Ninja Zords. The Blue Ninja Ranger has heightened strength, speed, and durability. He also has the powers of ground swimming, line of sight teleportation, phasing, multiplication, energy projection, hypnotic persuasion, and many other "ninja magic" powers. Presumably, all Ninja Rangers have the same powers, although not each one has demonstrated all of them.
Master Vile once used the Orb of Doom to revert the Rangers into powerless children. To restore their ages, and obtain new powers, the children had to each retrieve a Zeo crystal.
Billy, however, restored his age before the others with a device he created. He then sent the kids on their Zeo quests.
###
Thu, 26 August 2010 at 10:20 am
Blue Power Ranger David Yost: I'm Gay
David Yost, who played the Blue Ranger on the hugely successful kids series Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, recently admitted that he was discriminated against over his sexuality.
The actor, now 41, says he quit the show because he was harassed. “I was called ‘faggot’ one too many times [by the show’s] creators, producers, writers, directors,” he shared.
David added, “I know that my costars were called in a couple of times to different producers’ offices and questioned about my sexuality, which is kind of a humiliating experience to find that out.”
Read more: http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/08/26/blue-ranger-gay-david-yost/#more-577515#ixzz0xoqepoWG
Click to view|| News ||
Posted on Advocate.com August 26, 2010 05:30:42 PM
Power Ranger David Yost: I'm Gay
Former Power Ranger David Yost talks to The Advocate about the taunting he endured on the show, and the years of ups and downs that have finally made him able to say, “I’m gay.”
By Advocate.com Editors
In an interview with The Advocate running online next week, David Yost, who from 1993 to 1996 starred as the blue Power Ranger in more than 200 episodes of the children’s television phenomenon, talks about the taunting and teasing he endured on the set of the show, and the years of ups and downs that have finally made him able to say the words, “I’m gay.”
“A week before I left the TV show I made a commitment to myself saying, “If I get called faggot one more time, I’m walking because I can’t handle it any more,” Yost says. Within a week it happened, and it happened from a higher-level person on the show.”
Yost says he spent the next few years doing everything he could to “pray the gay away.”
“There were times when I would call prayer hotlines like Joyce Meyers prayer hotline or Pat Robinson’s 700 Club prayer hotline and instead was condemned over the phone.”
Instead of helping, all the prayer ultimately led to a mental breakdown and a five week stay in the hospital - and because his parents didn’t know he was gay at this point, they assumed it was the pressure of having not worked in a while.
Yost says he’s coming out now because he’s “tired of hearing stories about teenagers still taking their lives and committing suicide because of who they are and not understanding that there are resources for them to get help.”
Check back to Advocate.com next week for our full interview with David Yost.
Advocate.com © 2010 Here Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
###
Mayor Bloomberg cites Daniel Pearl in downtown mosque push, but reporter's dad differs
BY Michael J. Feeney and Samuel Goldsmith
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, August 26th 2010, 4:00 AM
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/26/2010-08-26_mike_cites_pearl_in_mosque_push__reporters_dad_differs.html#ixzz0xp0X2dgl
Mayor Bloomberg invoked the name of Daniel Pearl to drum up support for a mosque near Ground Zero - but the slain reporter's father says the project doesn't belong there.
Judea Pearl said the mayor should be using his influence and energy to convince the developer of the Park51 community center to find a more remote site.
"Public reaction tells us that it is not the right time, and that it will create further animosity and division in this country," he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency America yesterday.
"If I were Mayor Bloomberg, I would reassert their right to build the mosque, but I would expend the same energy trying to convince them to put it somewhere else."
Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.
At a Ramadan dinner Tuesday in which he said the mosque should not be moved, Bloomberg quoted from a 2003 eulogy for Pearl given by Park51 Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf .
In his speech, Bloomberg singled out several Muslim guests, including Talat Hamdani, mother of an NYPD cadet killed on 9/11. "It's important for this cultural center to be built to show tolerance," Hamdani, 58, said at a press conference by a new coalition of religious and community groups. "Salman was a hero .... He gave his life for this country."
Bloomberg also mentioned Queens couple Sakibeh and Asaad Mustafa, whose two children served in the U.S. Army and Coast Guard.
"I agree with the mayor 100%. The purpose of the mosque is to bring people together," said Sakibeh Mustafa.
Park51 developer Sharif el-Gamal has said he's not interested in finding a new site. The Associated Press revealed yesterday that Gamal is also involved in a second mosque project in Harlem.
With News Wire Services
sgoldsmith@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/26/2010-08-26_mike_cites_pearl_in_mosque_push__reporters_dad_differs.html#ixzz0xp0OmC7M
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What ESB/Vornado and 'Ground Zero Mosque' Fights Have in Common
http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/do-non-new-yorkers-matter-empire-state-building-debate
By Eliot Brown
August 24, 2010 | 2:22 p.m
The owners of the Empire State Building today released a poll that queried people around the country about the place of the skyscraper in New York City's skyline.
The point of the poll was to show that indeed this building has an iconic place in Americans' vision of New York, and that changing the skyline would be bad for the city. Sixty-six percent of New York City visitors, according to the poll's sponsors, feel the tower "would degrade the character of the New York City skyline."
Of course, this was just the latest round in the ongoing-and rapidly culminating-spat between Empire State Building owners Tony and Peter Malkin and Vornado Realty Trust, the developers planning a 1,200-foot tower two blocks away.
The poll-and the Malkins' rhetoric in the fight-taps into a larger question on land-use policy, one that can also be seen to a certain extent three miles south, in the hysterical fight (if people yelling about an as-of-right building can really be termed a fight) over the mosque planned two blocks from ground zero: What role should those outside New York play in development decisions?
Tony Malkin, who is leading the charge against the Vornado tower, is scrambling to protect the postcard vision of New York City's skyline, where the Empire State Building sits front and center. And while he is appealing to New Yorkers to rally behind him, it is the international view of the New York skyline that he is trying to protect.
Here's a sampling of his rhetoric from a fact sheet he sent out earlier this week:
"The Empire State Building is the internationally recognized icon on the skyline of New York City. We are its custodians, and must protect its place. Would a tower be allowed next to The Eiffel Tower or Big Ben's clock tower?"
Translation: If the rest of the world had a vote, it would probably vote against this tower.
This is a rare appeal in the world of New York land use, where approvals are structured around a system of very local politics: what does the immediate community and the local Council member think about a project? And on this level, other considerations matter, such as the economic effects on the city (it's a big investment); what a new tower might do to the neighborhood (make it less gritty, presumably); and what it might do to employment (people have to build the Vornado tower, after all).
In the end, things seem to be swinging toward approval. Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other members of the Council have voiced few concerns about the height, and at a hearing yesterday, many of the questions from key Council members-Leroy Comrie, for one-suggested they were not yet swayed by Mr. Malkin.
Still, Mr. Malkin was nothing if not tenacious, and yesterday at the City Council, he did not hold back any contempt about the tower's design.
Sitting in a cramped committee room at 250 Broadway, he looked up at the Council members on the zoning subcommittee and gave testimony and answered follow-up questions with a long list of complaints about the tower.
David Greenbaum, the wiry president of Vornado's New York office division, who is leading the charge for the tower, was sitting just 10 feet away listening to every criticism.
Within a stream of other vituperation, Mr. Malkin called the tower a "1,200-foot high, brand-new monstrosity."
At that point, Mr. Greenbaum turned to his left where his architect, Rafael Pelli, was sitting. He smiled, and let out a little laugh, and went back to listening.
ebrown@observer.com
###
Bloomberg comes out in support of rival skyscraper near Empire State Building
BY Adam Lisberg
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Wednesday, August 25th 2010, 4:00 AM
Mayor Bloomberg came out in strong support Tuesday of a massive new skyscraper slated to be built just two blocks from the iconic Empire State Building.
"I think it'd be great for the city," Bloomberg said of the 1,216-foot tower proposed for the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania, across the street from Penn Station.
"It would be a great addition to our skyline. It would be easy for people to get to, and I think it would be a phenomenally popular building."
Vornado Realty Trust has been assembling land and air rights for years to build a state-of-the-art office building just to the west of the national landmark.
The City Council is expected to approve the controversial skyscraper Tuesday.
Anthony Malkin, whose family company owns the Empire State Building, believes the tower will block views of his family's iconic skyscraper, and asked a City Council committee this week to reduce its height.
"I don't understand that," Bloomberg said. "I think this is something that's great for the city, and you know, competition's a wonderful thing.
"One guy owns a building. He'd like to have it be the only tall building. I'm sorry, that's not the real world. Nor should it be."
Malkin said his family respects Bloomberg's opinion, but believes the height and design of the new tower are too much for its location near the Empire State Building.
"We are pro-development and think this area represents a great opportunity for development," Malkin said.
"The City Council has . . . gone out of \[its\] way to understand the situation. In the end, the elected representatives of the city of New York have to decide."
lisberg@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/25/2010-08-25_bloomberg_comes_out_in_support_of_rival_skyscraper_near_empire_state_building.html#ixzz0xorw3ExU
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August 24, 2010
New York’s Iconic Skyline
In the drowsy month of August no less, New York’s City Council is poised to make one of the most important decisions in years about Manhattan’s skyline. Council members will decide today whether to allow developers to build a skyscraper almost as tall as the Empire State Building - 900 feet west on the site of the current Hotel Pennsylvania, on Seventh Avenue. For many people looking from the western part of Manhattan and New Jersey, the iconic tower would no longer be visible.
This is no ordinary development issue. The Empire State is central to this city’s image. Any decision to alter the skyline so radically deserves more time and more public consideration.
Owners of the Empire State Building, Anthony and Peter Malkin, contend that they realized only recently that Vornado Realty Trust had plans for a building as tall as their 1931 landmark. They want Vornado to lower the tower considerably, and they want the city to provide a 17-block “no go” zone around their building for future skyscrapers as high as theirs. That would be too much.
Change, including change in the city skyline, is inevitable and part of what makes New York City so alive. There will be more such decisions to come in this central stretch of Manhattan, especially if plans to replace today’s grim Pennsylvania Station with the new Moynihan Station move ahead and remake the area. The giant towers replacing the World Trade Center will someday change the entire scope of Manhattan’s skyline.
The real issue for the city is this: Whatever skyscrapers come next, they should be future icons.
Right now, we know too little about what the Vornado building would really look like. The present design by Pelli Clarke Pelli - which seems so thick and bulky beside the elegant Empire State - might not be final. Vornado does not have a main tenant, and without that anchor, it cannot afford to build immediately. With a tenant could come new adjustments to the design.
Like the local Community Board, which opposed this development, we are also concerned about moving forward without seeing the city’s larger development plan for the entire area. Such important issues demand more than a late-summer review by the City Council.
###
August 25, 2010
Unwelcome Neighbor for Empire State Building
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
New York City approved plans on Wednesday for a skyscraper near Pennsylvania Station that will rise to within 34 feet in height of the nearby Empire State Building, inserting a glassy challenger almost next door to what has been a defining element of the city’s skyline.
The 47-to-1 City Council vote came after a fierce weeklong public relations and lobbying campaign by the owners of the Empire State Building to stop the rival tower, contending that its bulky profile would scar the skyline and diminish the Empire State Building’s iconic status.
They went so far as to propose a one-third-mile zone around the Empire State Building, at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, where developers would not be allowed to erect a comparable skyscraper.
But the Council gave those arguments scant attention on Wednesday as it approved the planned tower, known as 15 Penn Plaza, on Seventh Avenue, opposite Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. Some Council members found the prospect of a new building and the developer’s agreement to spend more than $100 million on improvements to subway entrances and tunnels at Penn Station far more compelling, especially during a citywide slowdown in construction.
Christine C. Quinn, the Council speaker, said the project was about jobs and signaled that “New York City is moving forward and moving out of this recession.”
“This project and this zoning vote today are going to help make sure New York City has a new and important 21st-century office tower in Midtown Manhattan,” she said.
The project also had the backing of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, whose administration has long favored high-density development near major transit points like Penn Station, the busiest commuter hub in North America, with more than 450,000 passengers passing through its portals daily.
In part because of the proximity to transit, the developer of 15 Penn Plaza, the Vornado Realty Trust, earned zoning bonuses that will let it construct a building 56 percent larger than what would ordinarily be allowed.
“People don’t come to New York to visit caves,” said Mitchell L. Moss, a New York University urban policy professor and an informal adviser to the mayor. “They want the views, the height, the experience of tall buildings. Skyscrapers allow us to make the best use of a limited amount of land.”
Bud Perrone, a spokesman for Vornado, said the company was pleased with the outcome and believed its 68-story, 1,216-foot-tall building would be “an outstanding addition to New York’s iconic skyline.”
Anthony E. Malkin, an owner of the Empire State Building, said he favored development in the surrounding area but felt that the proposed tower should be shrunk so as not to obscure the view of his building, which has stood alone since it opened 79 years ago. “We thought that 15 Penn Plaza was too close to the 1,250-foot-tall Empire State Building for its height and design,” Mr. Malkin said.
The Empire State Building, which reaches 1,454 feet when its lightning rod is included, was the tallest in the world for more than 30 years and remained the tallest in the city until construction of the first World Trade Center. After Sept. 11, 2001, it regained that status, but will fall back to second place behind the new 1 World Trade Center, which will top out at 1,776 feet.
Beyond bragging rights and skyline positioning, the new tower will be an unmissable presence for sightseers looking toward the west from the Empire State Building’s famous 86th-floor observation deck.
Despite the vote Wednesday, construction of the new tower is unlikely to start for at least several years. Vornado has said it will not go forward with the $3 billion tower without a major corporate tenant. The project also requires demolishing another landmark of sorts that currently occupies the site: the Hotel Pennsylvania. The fraying 25-story hotel, built in 1919, still has the phone number memorialized in a 1940 hit song by Glenn Miller, PEnnsylvania 6-5000.
Mr. Malkin said that the Vornado project would economically enhance, rather than compete, with the Empire State Building, if only because rents in his building would be substantially lower than at 15 Penn Plaza and more attractive to tenants.
Even so, he began a furious public relations campaign leading up to the vote, including advertisements and a poll he commissioned that, he said, showed New Yorkers disapproved of the new building. He also corralled support from local figures like George Kaufman, another real estate owner, who submitted a letter calling 15 Penn Plaza “an assault on the Empire State Building and the New York City skyline,” and Henry Stern, the former parks commissioner, who testified at a hearing this week that the proposed tower “could do irreparable harm” to the city.
At that hearing, Mr. Malkin said that building a tall tower so close to the Empire State Building was akin to allowing an oil rig next to the Statue of Liberty or a skyscraper next to the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben. One Council member, Leroy G. Comrie of Queens, pointed out that none of those buildings were commercial properties like the Empire State.
Some Council members expressed misgivings about the size and the challenge to the Empire State Building; the lone dissenter, the Brooklyn Council member Charles Barron, believed that the developer’s commitment to hire at least 15 percent female or minority contractors was too small.
Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer of Manhattan, citing concerns that the new building would obstruct views, said, “I am persuaded that views are important and history is important, but this is a building worth supporting.”
The Council also gave customary deference to the member whose district includes the property. That is the speaker, Ms. Quinn, who has received at least $15,000 in campaign donations in recent years from Vornado and its employees, as well as roughly $3,500 from the Malkins. “It wasn’t a particularly significant amount,” Ms. Quinn said about the Vornado donations at a news conference. “It has no impact whatsoever.”
At least one Council member, Peter F. Vallone Jr. of Queens, seemed to take a small joy in voting for 15 Penn Plaza. He criticized the Empire State Building for refusing to turn on blue and white lights on Thursday night in honor of what would have been Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday, and said he would think of the Vornado building as “Mother Teresa Tower.”
“I’m going to be voting on this matter solely on the merits,” he said. “I just happen to be particularly happy that the merits are not on the side of the Empire State Building.”
Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.
###
City Council Approves Anthony Malkin's Nightmare
http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/vornado-tower-empire-state-building-rival-approved-council
By Eliot Brown
August 25, 2010 | 5:13 p.m
The full City Council has approved a 1,200-foot office tower planned by Vornado Realty Trust to rise atop the Hotel Pennsylvania, two blocks from the Empire State Building.
The vote came this afternoon, less than two weeks after Empire State Building owner Anthony Malkin launched a public push to block the skyscraper, warning it would detract from his tower's iconic place amongst the skyline.
The Council, apparently, was unmoved by his criticism. In committee votes today, the bulk of the concerns centered around Vornado's commitments to hiring minority- and women-owned businesses, a top issue for many on the Council.
Much of their ire arose after David Greenbaum, Vornado's New York office chief, responded to a question by a Council member on the topic by telling an anecdote meant to illustrate that there are many women who work at Vornado: "I had a party at my house Saturday night, and there were certainly a distinctly large number of women," he said Monday at a committee hearing. His wife, he said, "saw the number of women there, and she couldn't figure out if they were the spouse or they were the employees-so, many of them were the employees."
This appearance of ignorance on the importance of the topic infuriated multiple Council members, and Vornado had to come back with a hiring pledge meant to soothe tempers over the issue.
The lone "no" vote in the 47-1 vote came from Councilman Charles Barron, who echoed the concerns of others on the minority hiring issues, although many of his colleagues ended up voting for the plan. (Two abstained in the committee vote.)
In all, Vornado essentially got what it wanted without having to give up much in return, a rare feat in the development world, particularly given that Vornado was asking for a major upzoning to allow a 2.8 million-square-foot building.
In a statement, a spokesman for Vornado said the building would be an "outstanding addition to New York's iconic skyline," thanking the Council for the vote.
After the vote, Mr. Malkin issued a statement that seemed to acknowledge he was going to accept the Council's vote without any further action (often opponents launch lawsuits).
"The City Council is the decision maker on this subject," he said in a statement. "They have gone out of their way to listen to our position. In the end, they are the elected representatives of the City of New York, and it was up to them to decide."
ebrown@observer.com
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Why Is Everyone So Obsessed With ‘Inception’?
A theory.
* David Thomson
* July 21, 2010 | 12:00 am
There are plenty of moments in its 150 minutes when Inception is flying in mid-air, uncertain whether there is a safety net or a parachute of coherent plot to explain its entire exhilarating enterprise. Don’t ask to have its theory of dreaming spelled out in foolproof detail, just know that the age-old love affair between dreaming and the movies has been reasserted. Above all, treasure the film’s serene lack of exhausting violence or ingenious cruelty. Yes, there is action aplenty, with car-chases and gun-battles, all edited with insolent speed, as if to admit that we all know a chase and a shoot-out are just familiar riffs, shaggy dog stories, the tunes of nostalgia, like Edith Piaf. And shiver a little that Piaf has been used in a movie where Marion Cotillard is the raw-eyed emblem of hurt feelings.
This absence of “R”-heavy violence isn’t just a way of letting the teenage audience into the theatres without subterfuge. It’s part of the airy sense of play that oxygenizes the picture. Indeed, the thing I like best about Christopher Nolan’s film is that with all the attendant prospects of a Big-Time Metaphor (film equals dreaming), and the chance of major World-Ending Political Intrigue, the mission impossible here is as silly and evanescent as why people play golf, chess, or postman’s knock. It’s just that the game is pretty and passes time in an elegant, harmless way.
So, projected enemies are shot down, like the phantom figures in a videogame, but all the characters survive-because we are asked to like them, and to admire the spirit with which they play the game. It’s true that Leonardo DiCaprio’s Mr. Cobb has a wound and a loss, plus a destiny we want to see fulfilled, but they are borne lightly, as if to say, well, an actor needs a character and a situation, so let it be this-it’s like choosing the top hat, the dog, or the boot in Monopoly. You get attached enough to the plucky stance of the dog for a couple of hours, but you could as easily have admired the splendor of the pocket battleship. Of course, this detachability in feelings and needs is very fair to the relaxed and rootless air of dreaming-that aspect of experience (so like the movies) where we learn that the show is everything, so long as it doesn’t matter so much that you start taking it seriously and believing it’s Life. The deepest link between film and dream is that we are safe in our dark, no matter that the bright hurtling locomotive (the screen) comes so close.
If you want a measure of the film’s wit, of its tongue- in-cheek delicacy, just notice how the intrigue is all achieved in the first-class cabin of a long-distance air flight. No matter the dream’s turmoil, these people are cushioned and placed in the most artful bed-seat, gently mulling over the flight’s choices-the game hen in cilantro aspic, or the chilled lobster DeMille. There may not be such a dish, except in dream, but I name it to hark back to the impassioned vulgarity, the urge to see new things, that inspired that pioneer filmmaker.
So don’t be put off by the way millions are flocking to Inception-just study the ease with which these audiences are floating over the bits of plot they can’t follow, carried along by the witty good nature of the film. And that’s the crucial novelty.
Christopher Nolan has tended to be a little gloomy in the past and that sometimes left him looking solemn. What really works in Inception-and means so much to the future of movies-is its grace, its ease, its happiness in being an entertainment and a game.
As I go back to it, and we all will, I think this truth will emerge, that amid its stunning visions of Paris folding up like a clever box and cliffs crumbling like abandoned tenements, it has the panache of a comedy. Leonardo and his gang do a great job with their inane task, but it could have been Laurel and Hardy getting a piano up those steps.
David Thomson is the author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film and The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder.
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Source URL: http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/76461/why-everyone-so-obsessed-inception
ROBERT PALMER
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/palmer_robert/bio.jhtml
The career of blue-eyed soul singer Robert Palmer was a study in style versus substance. While the performer's earliest work won praise for its skillful assimilation of
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rock, R&B, and reggae sounds, his records typically sold poorly, and he achieved his greatest notoriety as an impeccably dressed lounge lizard. By the mid-'80s, however, Palmer became a star, although his popularity owed less to the strength of his material than to his infamous music videos: taking their cue from the singer's suave presence, Palmer's clips established him as a dapper, suit-and-tie lady's man who performed his songs backed by a band comprised of leggy models, much to the delight of viewers who made him one of MTV's biggest success stories.
Born Alan Palmer on January 19, 1949, in Batley, England, he spent much of his childhood living on the island of Malta before permanently returning to Britain at the age of 19 to sing with the Alan Bown Set. A year later he joined Dada, a 12-piece, Stax-influenced soul group which soon changed its name to Vinegar Joe; after three LPs with the band -- a self-titled effort and Rock'n'Roll Gypsies, both issued in 1972, and 1973's Six Star General -- Palmer exited to mount a solo career, and debuted in 1974 with Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley, recorded with members of Little Feat and the Meters.
With 1975's Pressure Drop, he tackled reggae, a trend furthered following a move to Nassau prior to 1978's Double Fun, which featured Palmer's first hit, "Every Kinda People." With 1979's self-produced Secrets, his music moved into more rock-oriented territory, as typified by the single "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)." Palmer's stylistic experimentation continued with 1980's Clues, a foray into synth-pop aided by Gary Numan and Talking Heads' Chris Frantz which yielded the club hit "Looking for Clues."
After 1983's Pride, Palmer teamed with the Duran Duran side project Power Station, scoring hits with the singles "Some Like It Hot" and "Get It On" (a T. Rex cover), which returned the singer to overt rock territory.
After exiting the band prior to a planned tour, Palmer recorded the 1985 solo album Riptide, a sleek collection of guitar rock which scored a number one hit with "Addicted to Love," the first in a string of videos which offered him in front of a bevy of beautiful women.
The follow-up, "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On," continued to play with the sex symbol image and hit number two, as did "Simply Irresistible," the first single from 1988's Heavy Nova. By 1990's Don't Explain, Palmer returned to the eclecticism of his earliest material; without any attendant soft-core videos, sales plummeted, but he stuck to his guns for 1992's Ridin' High, a collection of Tin Pan Alley and cabaret chestnuts. Two years later, Palmer's wide array of worldbeat influences cropped up again on Honey, which also featured guitar work from Extreme axeman Nino Bettencourt. Woke Up Laughing followed in 1998, it was an adventurous, if somewhat odd, collection of non-hit album tracks remixed and in some cases re-recorded.Rhythm & Blues, a slick set of adult contemporary pop, came out in 1999 to lukewarm sales and reviews. After a live album in 2001, Palmer bounced back with the future blues of 2003's Drive. However, Palmer had little time to enjoy it's release. On September 26, 2003 he died suddenly after suffering a heart attack. He was 54. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
I Didnt Mean To Turn You On Lyrics
Artist: Robert Palmer (Buy Robert Palmer CDs)
When I took you out
I knew what you were all about
But when I did
I didn't mean to turn you on
Now I bring you home
You told me goodnight's not enough for you
I'm sorry baby
I didn't mean to turn you on
No, I didn't mean to turn you on
You read me wrong
I wasn't trying to lead you on
Not like you think
I didn't mean to turn you on
I know you
Were expecting a one night stand
When I refused
I knew you wouldn't understand
I told you twice
I was only trying to be nice
Only trying to be nice
Ooh, I didn't mean to turn you on
Babe now why should I
Feel guilty 'cause I won't give
Guilty 'cause I won't give in
I didn't mean to turn you on
Ooh, I didn't mean to turn you on
When I took you out
Iknew what you were all about
But when I did
I didn't mean to turn you on
No, I didn't mean to turn you on
I didn't mean to turn you on....
(REPEAT TO FADE)