Lightning lit up the skies and thunder roared as storms rolled into the region. Winds gusted through, blowing construction debris into the streets and knocking scaffolding and trees down. Right now, there are a number of scaffolding collapses; in Manhattan alone, some of the locations are 42nd Street & 12 Ave, 57 St & 11 Ave, 23 St & Madison Ave, Audobon Ave & 165 Street, while there's one at Benchley Place & Co-op City......

Whoa, way too much weather happening today. First, an equation: warm, moist air + cold ground = dense fog this morning. Second, possible record high today. The record is 58, reached most recently in 1991. Since it is already 57 the record is probably in the bag. Third, rain rain rain. The big storm that spawned dozens of tornadoes yesterday, killing at least 45 people in the Mid-South is currently centered over Cincinnati. A series......

Were you rudely awakened by a clap of thunder early this morning? We heard one at 2:49 a.m. and again around six and seven. Gothamist is going to be a grumpy worker bee today! Yes, we were treated to a rare January thunderstorm last night. Showers and possibly another thundershower or two will continue until the early afternoon. A storm currently over Michigan is going to drag a warm front and then a cold front......

TIP: Starting tomorrow Opera-For_all begins the first of three nights of performances. For cheap! The New York City Opera is selling tickets to every seat in the house for just $25. Over the course of "opera season" 50 or more seats in the front orchestra will be priced at just $25 as well. As for this week, here's the sched: Thursday, September 6the OPERA FOR ALL Concert, with party to follow (this will showcase the......

Bookeaters Return! What started off as an excellent concert lineup just got better and better as the date approached. The additions of Spoon's Britt Daniel and Kevin Drew were a bonus treat. Music, reading and charity aside, perhaps the biggest wow moment was show headliner Jim James' new closely cropped haircut. The My Morning Jacket front man sheared his trademark Muppet locks since the last time we've seen him about. Not that it affected the......

EVENT: The American Opera Project has taken on...baseball? Tonight they present Baseball Through The Eye of the Artist. You'll catch some scenes from Daniel Sonenberg's opera-under-development The Summer King. And stick around for Bang The Drum Slowly, "the acclaimed 1973 baseball film that marked the beginning of Robert DeNiro's illustrious film career." Dusk // Fort Green Park Conservancy [Washington Park St, Brooklyn] // Free THEATER: Tonight the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater trundles through the Upper East......

Holy Tornado, Brooklyn! Reader Jeanne just emailed us with this observation: I live in Kensington, Brooklyn and I think that a tornado just passed through. Have you heard any news about a tornado from anyone else? Around 6:30am there were heavy rains, thunder and lightning when all of a sudden the wind got really loud and we could hear stuff smashing into the house. It was all just 30 seconds or so but now......

During the Wednesday-night rush hour, a steam pipe at 41st Street and Lexington Avenue exploded, sending steam, mud, and pieces of the street hundreds of feet into the air. One person died and at least 20 people were injured. Initially, many people's first reactions were that it was a terrorist attack, what with the loud, thunder-like rumbling that shook buildings and the cloud of smoke and steam. People ran from the area of the......

The New York City council is allocating a cool $4 million to combat childhood obesity - which works out to about a dollar per extra pound or something like that. According to a June 2003 DOH report, 43% of elementary school children in the City are overweight or obese. The cash will provide for education and physical fitness programs. Thank your City Council member here. The New York Times reported yesterday that the International AIDS......

The State Assembly voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriages in New York. Newsday said it was the first time a gay marriage bill was "debated publicly in one of the houses of the State Legislature Tuesday." However, the bill is not expected to make it pass the Republican-controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said, "We're not doing gay marriage by [tomorrow's adjournment], that's for sure." The Sun had a breakdown of how the......

Breach (directed by Billy Ray) Small, character-driven thrillers are practically tailor made for the home viewing experience, especially the kind made by director Billy Ray. His last movie, the excellent real-life journalism scandal movie Shattered Glass with Hayden Christensen and Peter Sarsgaard really ripened the second time around on a smaller screen. TV is good medium for seeing the real gradations of creepy in Ray's complex characters. His second film also tackles understanding a morally-suspect......

THEATER: A revival of Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Gaslight has just begun at Irish Rep; some may remember the award-winning 1944 film version starring Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury. The chilling study in domestic domination to the max concerns a diabolical husband who, not satisfied in exploiting his wife’s savings to buy their house, plots her murder. But while he’s out the police inspector comes in to warn the poor bride that her husband is suspected......

She's asking her also-famous Governor for a pardon, and will likely get a shortened sentence, but Paris Hilton has some fans rallying for her freedom, too (though we suspect some of these websites are mainly to push merchandise). Seems like many don't want to see the heiress pay her dues...here in New York, however, Paris is a little light on a fanbase. Yesterday two "Free Paris" rallies took place and AMNY reports they had a......

April showers lasted one day into May with an entertaining thunder and lightning display last night. A big high pressure system over northern Ontario is slowly making its influence felt over New York. A bit of moisture and clouds are still with us, so far keeping the afternoon cooler than expected. Once that moisture is pushed away temperatures are expected to jump to around 70. The high pressure system is big. It pretty much......

THEATER: Lear deBessonet culled material from sources as varied as Henrik Ibsen, Joan of Arc and Times contributor/author Russell Shorto (The Island at the Center of the World), scientific journals, and post-it notes from the desks of corporate secretaries to create the new play transFigures. She was also inspired by the Jerusalem Syndrome, the well-documented psychosis that causes ordinary tourists to channel Biblical figures, create togas out of hotel bed-sheets, and parade through the Holy......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a missing child report at Fulton and Warwick Sts. in Brooklyn, a shooting on 143rd St. in the Bronx, and an overturned auto at Kent and Flushing Aves. in Brooklyn. Some high-profile bloggers are calling for an online code of conduct. Not us! Did you see that graphic of Sponge Bob and KY? "Dashing Diva" nail salons are inflicting NYC-homegrown retail standardization on the rest of the country for......

Every month, Carl Arnheiter sits down with a famous comedian and discuss the art of comedy. Some of his past guests include Mike Myers, Stephen Colbert, and Dave Foley. For April 9th, Carl's arranged for an advanced screening of Hot Fuzz followed by a Q and A with Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Nick Frost, the guys behind Shaun of the Dead. Gothamist spoke with Carl about how Inside Joke came to be, what he's......

CYHSY album pre-released While Gothamist's initial reactions to the album are mostly mixed amongst the staff, one of the most discussed and intriguing points so far is the sound quality of the opening and title track, "Some Loud Thunder." Quite frankly, it sounds like it was streamed off a myspace page at 16kbps and rerecorded onto a used blank tape. This was however, 100% intentional, so they say. Some sort of digital postmodern homage to......

2007 is just around the corner, and we've got a little tip sheet on where to be when the clock strikes midnight. MUSIC + PARTY • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will help ring in the new year with their guests the Bob Mould Band and Final Fantasy at Hammerstein Ballroom. Our friends at Stereogum are sponsoring the show, and tickets are still available here. Clap's second album, Some Loud Thunder, comes out in January,......

The official Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes wedding photograph has been released. First thoughts: - Tom Cruise is either standing on an apple box or Katie Holmes is crouching. Or she's standing in a well. Or he has some crazy lifts in his shoes. Or did the shoes Giogio Armani make for Katie magically erase some of her height? Is she just slouching uncontrollably (she's never had good posture)? It's such a mystery. - The......

A whole bunch of bands just came together to pay tribute to Bob Dylan. Here's some video from that tribute show, of Phil Lesh and Warren Haynes singing "Thunder on the Mountain". Also on hand were Patti Smith, Ryan Adams, Philip Glass, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Cat Power, and many more. Next up on the list: Bruce Springsteen. Maybe Twyla Tharp will make The Boss her next project, too. This show will be the......

Tom Coughlin may not want to hear about it, but this is a classic “trap” game. With the big, bad Bears coming to Giants Stadium next Sunday night, all the ingredients are in place for New York to look past this weeks tilt with the 2-5 Texans. Luckily for the Giants, they should be able to do that and get away with it. Yes, Houston has beaten Jacksonville this year, but they are 0-3 on......

It’s a little early to put the “must win” label on a game, but it is appropriate here. If the Giants are going to be a playoff team, they cannot afford to lose this game and head to Seattle at 0-2. Beating Philadelphia on the road will not be an easy task. While the offense doesn’t have the firepower it once did, Donte Stallworth and Reggie Brown are good receivers and Donovan McNabb looks healthy......

One way your body cools off is by evaporation. When you sweat water forms on your skin. Turning that layer of water into vapor by evaporation takes energy and that energy loss cools you off. That's only half the story. At the same time that evaporation is occuring, the reverse process of condensation is also happening. Water vapor in the air condenses into liquid on your skin and the heat gained by the water warms......

Just because we are fans of Gus, the formerly depressed polar bear at the Central Park Zoo, we want to bring your attention to the Times story of how the zoo's polar bears were keeping cool in the heat. Unlike humans, they do not get upset when the subway's power is out or when the thunder and lighting prevent them from watching TV (thanks, satellites!). Instead, Gus and Ida cope with not living in......

MOVIES: Don't forget, the Bryant Park movies start tonight! The movie won't begin until sunset - which is about the same time the rain and thunder are scheduled to begin. Tonights features in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller, The Birds. Be an early bird (heh) and get there at 5 for a good spot on the lawn! 5pm // Bryant Park // Free ART: Like Sculpture? Like to hear people talk about it? Then attend MoMA's On......

FAIR: Tom of Finland Foundation is holding the 6th Annual New York City Erotic Art Fair all weekend. Thousands of works of Erotic Art by artists worldwide will be for sale, or just for looking at (pervert). This includes all media, gender & sexual orientation. There will also be life drawing workshops. The opening reception is tonight, so get the first peek. All Weekend // The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Services Center [208......

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for eastern Hudson County in New Jersey and New York County aka Manhattan, in New York. A severe thunderstorm has been moving from around Jersey City and Bayonne northeastward toward Manhattan. There are reports of a funnel cloud. When funnel clouds reach the ground they are considered tornadoes. If a tornado is spotted seek shelter immediately, preferrably in an interior room or basement. Stay away......

Paul Kermizian, filmmaker and owner of Barcade...

Shari Goldhagen, Author, Family and Other Accidents...