At the 1968 Democratic Convention, anti-war activists were denied permits to demonstrate by the city and spent most of the week getting their skulls cracked courtesy of the Chicago Police Department, witnessed by a television audience of over 50 million. A year later, eight of the most high profile radicals – guys like Abbie Hoffman and the Black Panthers' Bobby Seale – were tried on charges of conspiracy and inciting riots. The courtroom was......

Video of "Meat and You: Partners in Freedom" from The Simpsons episode, Lisa the Vegetarian After the Humane Society revealed a tape of mistreatment of cows at the nation's "No. 2 supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program," burgers and other beef products were temporarily yanked off NYC schools' menus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had put an "administrative hold" on all products from Hallmark Meat Packing Packing in Chino, CA......

In 2006 Brooklyn photographer Noah Kalina had a lot of eyes on him. After posting a video online containing a photograph of himself taken each day for six years, he went down in viral video history. That video, called "everyday," was scored to original music by his ex-girlfriend Carly Comando, and both have the world's attention again after The Simpsons parodied it a couple of weeks ago. If you are one of the few who......

There's something to be said for pausing in the fast-paced environment of New York to truly capture the essence of our city. On the other hand, speeding things up can really give one some perspective on the dynamics of New York. Below is a time-lapse video taken between September 1, 2006 and August 31, 2007. It's of Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan looking east to west, and the video features 4,385 individual photographs taken from......

Did your commute feel more like Springfield than New York today? If you're out and about than you'll likely run into the Simpson-izing of Manhattan! Too bad we don't have a monorail here. Earlier this year upon The Simpsons Movie release, we saw 7-11s transform into Kwik-E-Marts, and today with the DVD hitting stores, we'll be getting a lot more than KrustyO's.Today's Simpsonfest is an all-day Fox affair in the heart of the city marking......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: The Simpsons (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WNYW 5) This is the annual Treehouse of Horror episode airing after Halloween thanks to Tim McCarver and bad baseball coverage. Family Guy (Sunday, 8:30 p.m., WNYW 5) The good news is that it is the 100th episode, the bad news is that it is a clip show. Thankfully the clip show is followed by a new episode entitled “Stewie Kills Lois”......

The season really gets underway this week so a lot of old favorites like The Simpsons, Heroes, and Boston Legal (along with some that shouldn’t be like The Batchelor) are back so you do know what to expect with them. Here are some noteworthy and mainly new picks for the week: The War: A Ken Burns Film (Sunday - Wednesday, 8:00 p. m., WNET 13; Sunday - Wednesday, 10:00 p. m., WLIW 21) All you......

The Simpsons Movie (directed by David Silverman) This weekend marks the move of America's favorite dysfunctional family the Simpsons from the suburbs of television to the urban center of the big screen. After all of the viral marketing of Simpson-ified magazine editors, real life Kwik-E-Marts and ticket giveaways, is it too much to hope that there's still fresh material to be mined from the long-running animated sitcom? According to the critics, the movie is just......

Last week everyone nerded out by creating their Simpsons characters. This week have some Springfield-style 3-dimensional fun by visiting the Kwik-E-Mart! A dozen 7-Eleven's nationwide have transformed in to Springfield's favorite convenience store for the month. New York's is on 42nd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. What you'll find: a Radioactive Man comic, Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal, Squishees, Sprinklicious donuts, and a ton of references to past episodes (check out the old man in......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: The Simpsons (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WNYW 5) America’s favorite cartoon family celebrates its 400th episode tonight. Not bad for something that started as an animated short on The Tracey Ullman Show twenty years ago. Deal or No Deal (Monday, 8:00 p.m., WNBC 4) Subway hero Wesley Autrey tries his hand at winning a suitcase full of money. We do hope we wins and we guess being trapped......

Sonic Youth are performing their 1988 album "Daydream Nation" in its entirety this summer at McCarren Park Pool. Don't want to spend $34 + fees for a ticket? Don't worry, we have you covered. The show is part of the All Tomorrow’s Parties “Don’t Look Back” concert series and takes place on July 28th. To get the pair of tix, email GothamistContest (a) gmail dot com, and answer us this: the lyrics to lead......

Last Thursday, all of the stations covered the tragic fire in the Bronx quite well and took the opportunity for some refreshers on basic fire safety. As expected, WCBS went way overboard creating a whole special set of graphics for the station’s coverage, complete with new lower thirds that used a different font which were ready by Thursday’s 5 p.m. newscast. For 6 p.m., CBS 2 needlessly sent anchor Jim Rosenfeld to the scene, as......

Dana Gould wrote for seven years for The Simpsons, starred in the NBC sitcom Working opposite Fred Savage, and has performed stand up on HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central. He is considered, by many, to be the originator of the alternative comedy movement and is, without a doubt, one of the strongest comedic talents working today. Here he is, for the first time in NYC in seven years, Mr. Dana Gould! What are your......

A reader came to us with a problem. While she's lucky enough to have a nice Fort Greene backyard for grilling and cookouts, mosquitoes still view her and her friends as bait, even with a thick coating of anti-mosquito spray, anti-bug incense, and 7 citronella tiki torches. Is there a mosquito-eating reptile or amphibian that is indigenous to the region that I could purchase and release into my backyard without upsetting the balance of nature......

The blog Ironic Sans is going through different animated films or TV shows that show Manhattan and analyzing how they portray the city. It's really great, and so far, there are entries on Fritz the Cat, Antz, Sundae in New York, The Simpsons: The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson, Tom & Jerry: Mouse in Manhattan, Family Guy, and the Rhapsody in Blue segment in Fantasia 2000. Ironic Sans' David says he has a......

OK, so we know this has nothing to do with New York. And we already wasted our "Gothamist Random Video of the Day" tag on that helicopter crash. But it's Sunday, and nice out, and we've been distracted by the idea of the Times telling us that Bushwick is the new black. So yeah, check this live-action British Promo for that classic of American animated television: The Simpsons. Those wacky Brits!......

You know a fight to be district attorney is getting nasty when you use the tagline "Really, should we re-elect a D.A. who's been around longer than The Simpsons?" First of all, there's nothing wrong with The Simpsons being around so long. Sure, it's creaky and isn't as seamless funny as it used to be in earlier seasons, but it's a lot better than a lot of dreck. Second, the poster calls current Brooklyn......

It's a story made for an episode of The Simpsons: Three men saw a driverless, idling Heineken truck and decided to steal it. They drove the truck from 58th Street and Avenue of the Americas to the Sunset Market in Brooklyn at Seventh Avenue and 41st Street, and sold the 15 cases of beer for $19 per case. However, the police caught up with the beer bandits because the truck's LoJack kicked in, and the......

If you think New York City is too crowded, Gothamist has some bad news for you. The Census Bureau has revised our fair city's population, increasing it by 29,393 people. The new figure stands at 8,115,135, but the good news is that city coffers should gain $15 million over the next five years because of the increase. Okay, that's only $510 per person, but that's better than losing people like DC did, no? The revised......

Tonight, Gothamist strongly recommends you to watch The Office Christmas Special on BBC America. A kind of "where are they now" for The Office characters, it reminds you why The Office is so good and manages to answer a couple questions - like "Does Keith get ladies?" Gothamist was able to see the special at the Museum of Television & Radio screening that co-creator and star Ricky Gervais also spoke at, thanks to reader......

The Village Voice's Jeff Byles writes essay about Daniel Libeskind's new memoir, Breaking Ground, which includes Libeskind's reaction to the sour reaction to his Freedom Tower design. While Byles wishes that Libeskind could be allow to "be Libeskind" (full of imagination, not corn), Gothamist was mesmerized by Libeskind's fascination with the film, The Shining. Here's what was excerpted from the memoir:Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall up in that giant, fading resort in the Rockies. People......

Danny Gregory, one of Gothamist's favorite writer-illustrators, recently came out with a new book, Change Your Underwear Twice A week. Change Your Underwear (and we like writing that as well as saying that out loud) is a collection of old school filmstrips from the 40s-70s that helped many Baby Boombers and Gen X-ers understand how to live life. You can see some of the filmstrip at his site. And Gregory spoke to NPR about the......

These space-savers are grown in Japan, and were even featured in an episode of The Simpsons. The BBC describes how they are made: To make it happen, farmers grew the melons in glass boxes and the fruit then naturally assumed the same shape. Today the cuboid watermelons are hand-picked and shipped all over Japan.You can buy yours in at Urban Fare in Vancouver, which touts itself as the only place in North America which sells......

Oh, as it turned out, Carvel was able to make the world's largest ice cream cake yesterday in Union Square during their 70th anniversary celebration. Their corporate website announces:Carvel Corporation, the nation�s first retail ice cream franchise, built the world�s largest ice cream cake today, breaking the world�s previous record, according to Keely Hopkins, official representation of The Guinness Book of World Records�. Weighing in at 12,096 pounds, the cake took 75 minutes and 54......

Of all of the reports about the stalled contract negotiations between Fox and the vocal talent of The Simpsons and current work stoppage, you have to hand it to Variety. Their article ended on this pearl of wisdon: Homer Simpson, in 1995 episode "The PTA Disbands," gave Lisa this piece of advice on work stoppages: "If you don't like your job, you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed.......

The St. Patrick's Day Parade is starting its slushy journey up Fifth Avenue (without gays), but most people are thinking about how the day is a free ticket to drink at 10AM. Gawker has suggestions on what to do this drinky holiday ("Most important: don't even go near McSorley's on 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd. Definitely avoid the lecherous leprechauns on parade up Fifth Avenue."). Gothamist might be sticking with the boring yet shoe-grateful......

If you're not going to see The Passion of the Christ, at least read Times' A.O. Scott's review of it, because Scott begins by referring to the Simpsons episode with Mel Gibson: There is a prophetic episode of "The Simpsons" in which the celebrity guest star Mel Gibson, directing and starring in a remake of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," enlists the help of Homer Simpson, who represents the public taste (or lack of it).......

Eh. The Grammys are on tonight. People will be watching to see if Janet Jackson does appear and does apologize, and even though Gothamist wastes a lot of time watching awards show, we have another game plan: We will watch Fox's excellent Sunday night lineup of King of the Hill, Oliver Beene, The Simpsons, Bernie Mac, Malcolm in the Middle, and Arrested Development. Seriously, this is the best comedy lineup that any channel has. We'll......

Today and tomorrow are your last two days to catch L'Age d'Or and Un Chien Andalou at Film Forum. The Luis Bunuel-Salvador Dali collaborations are groundbreaking, shocking and spooky even today. Roger Ebert calls Un Chien Andalou a Great Movie; Chien has also been referenced in The Simpsons. More about Bunuel and Dali. Destino, a short film co-written by Dali, is also nominated for a best animated short Oscar.......

For non sports fans, the Super Bowl is watchable usually because of the commercials. The Pepsi ad with the little music downloading criminals was great, and The Simpsons commercial for Mastercard was amusing, though maybe a little predictable. It was much better than many others, like the Sierra Mist ad with the guy and dog jumping into a pitcher and a glass of water. Our favorite might have to be the anti-smoking ad from......