Elsewhere in the Ist-a-verse
By Rachelle Bowden in News on Jun 17, 2007 1:39PM
Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network."
It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by poop. Finally D.C. contemplated taking Vermont's place as a state and marveled at the GOP lessons learned from the "Macaca Moment."
Due to some sad shootings in the Western Addition neighborhood, SFist needed to engage in a little escapism. They also got some kicks by making fun of an embattled member of the SF Board of Supervisors. They reviewed Mike Daisey's phenomenal (and long!) show, playing in Berkeley. Then, back to sobering: a conversation with San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein about some of that paper's troubles. McSweeney's, whose home base is in San Francisco, announced some money troubles of their own, and an associated sale. Luckily, no matter the locale, folks can find out where it's safe to pee.
The fair folk at Londonist woke up one morning to discover that The National Gallery had gone outdoors and left several masterpieces around town to the delight of wandering art lovers. Meanwhile, the battle of the freesheets continued underground and yet more innovative uses for the discarded "newspapers" have been suggested, a Londonist walk has been organized to get everyone out of their toxic moth-infested homes and the International Olympic Committee came to town. Everyone politely coughed, hummed a little tune and started talking about the weather whenever anyone from the committee asked about the logo. You know, that logo. Yes, that one. Wifi continues to woo laptop-wielding Londoners and they're loving it mapped out for them. A lot.
Gothamist started off the week with the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Later on, the whole Brooklyn waterfront was deemed endangered, the legislature debated legalizing medical marijuana and the Lower East Side became fun again in its virtual self. But the sweet highlight was the deliciously funny claim from the Staten Island Borough President who thinks "Staten Island Landfill Ice Cream" was a disgrace.
Props to LAist for making it into TIME Magazine this week for their live blogging at the MTV Movie Awards. Additionally, they won an exquisite award: 4 of the 12 worst freeway intersections in the country. When it came to other top ten type lists, they lit the fire of many when giving 10 reasons why LeBron James is better than hometown hero Kobe Bryant. They also found out that there are about 10 billion reasons why you should not wear white pants (yes, photographic evidence is included). And not a soul dared to dress in white slacks at Dyke March LA 2007.
Bostonist watched as the legislature got together to decide if same sex marriage will be a ballot question in 2008. It won't, and it will remain legal. The latest terror threats have been uncovered in Boston: ice cream truck music and college professors. Since the MBTA is shutting down one of the rail lines for construction this summer, Bostonist gaveaway their secret of public transit - gasp - the bus.
Austinist wasn't surprised to have the worst drivers in Texas in their town, but was interested to discover that most people in the state are pretty reasonable folks. Between listening to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' campaign promises and learning the art of turntablism, they sat down for a chat with the songwriter behind 80s cult cheese classic Teen Witch.
Torontoist had a busy week. First of all, later tonight (Sunday), they're going to be live-blogging the MuchMusic Video Awards, so you should totally check back for that. Two historical landmarks may or may not be saved, and Torontoist got the scoop behind both of them: a local theatre that the city thought was doomed, the Revue, needs $60,000 to open its doors; and a large sign from a record store, Sam The Record Man, needs to be designated a historical landmark before it is sold at auction. Torontoist spent the rest of their week getting freaked out about Dan Aykroyd's new vanity winery, checking out the CN Tower's pimping new lights, wondering if there is such a thing as Torontonian accent, and telling the timeless love story of boy meets girl. In more alliterative news, they previewed the city's Pride festivities (plus parade) and pondered about pocket pizzazz.
Phillyist, now [arguably] gainfully employed, geeked out this week, had some laughs, crimped their hair, and featured some meta-art. They also caught an urban adventurer, complete with pith helmet, in action and asked their readers to explain, featured an adorable (and impressive!) video, waxed classical, and hoped for a more pleasant commute. Finally, they paid tribute to their dear friend, the late great Star "Sarcasmo" Foster.
Want to know what's going on across the rest of the Ist-A-Verse? Check out this week's favorites on Chicagoist, Houstonist, Sampaist, Seattlest, and Shanghaiist!
Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.
Photo of the bomb squad trying to gain entrance to the Postal Museum earlier this week by DCist reader and Flickr user Diggin, used by permission. Apparently the man in the bomb suit is throwing up his arms because the doors were locked.
Photo of Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse, one of the endangered Brooklyn sites, from Bluejake.
Photo of protesters in Boston against doing it doggy-style via Bostonist writer C. Fernsebner.
"pink lady" by Flickr user lenyon77, via Phillyist.