A little snowstorm couldn’t stop the chaining of Freddy’s bar in Brooklyn. Angry Santa was there to rattle those chains and announce, “Bruce Ratner has been a very naughty boy for several years and he’s not even worth the effort it would take to put coal in his dirty socks!” [FIB]

Read the rest of this entry »

I am extremely distracted today. Rather than feign holiday cheer and give a Christmas story with photos of holiday windows (of which I have many), I have decided it best to tell my tell of woe.
It is was not a good morning at all. My Macbook Pro desperately needed more storage and I made the decision to replace the internal hard drive. This is not considered a user replaceable item by Apple, however thousands have done it and complete kits and online tutorials are available.
On December 11, 2007, I wrote Foolish Crash - see here. I would say today’s event is far from foolish - my drive was completely cloned and backed up. This alone was a 9 hour procedure. To replace the drive itself, I worked with a kit purchased from an Apple Macintosh vendor in business for years. Instructions in their online video were followed meticulously. I even drew a layout on paper indicating location of every screw removed.
However, at one point a cable needed to be removed from the motherboard. When attempting to reinstall the cable, it would not reconnect.
On close examination, I noticed some extremely tiny objects which appeared to be debris. On much closer examination, I noticed that these were in fact minuscule pins which were pulled out when the cable was removed. You can see the pins along with the socket showing the spots for the missing pins. During the writing of this article, I have made calls to the best Mac repair specialists in the New York City. The news, as you might expect is not good at all … Read the rest of this entry »

The ever-wonderful and endangered Skyline Books is having a 50% off All Books sale. Check them out–before they’re gone, too:

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the best places you can be in the world at Christmas time is New York City - there are endless things to do and see - The Nutcracker, the Tree and gardens at Rockefeller Center, the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. Sometimes the best things in life are free -like the window displays around town, particularly the Fifth Avenue flagship icons: Bergdorf Goodman, Lord and Taylor, Tiffanys and Saks. Just a stone’s throw away are Barneys, Bloomingdales and Macy’s. And although the draw is the window displays themselves, don’t miss the interiors of the large retailers - it’s a good chance to get out of the cold and see the spectacular work done inside the shops. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, the Times revealed Danny Meyer’s plans to cover the globe with Shake Shacks, what they call “the Shacking of America” and beyond. One of those Shake Shacks is going on the southwest corner of 44th and 8th, in the still-rising Intercontinental Hotel, as Eater points out.

Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

Hudson St. residents, brace yourselves–the plywood is coming off Provocateur, the club where “the iCrave design is ‘specifically created to cater to womans every desire‘,” which means more Sex & the City frenzy coming your way:
Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

I was confused recently when, planning to visit the NYPL Main Branch’s Microforms collection, I looked up the building’s hours online and couldn’t find them–because the page kept giving the hours for the Steven Schwarzman Building and I kept looking for the words “Main Branch.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Left Bank Books survives–the shop has found a new spot in the Village. [CR]

Read the rest of this entry »