Here’s the new video for Stoop Sale by MC Frontalot from his album Solved. The video was directed by Max Isaacson and features an awesome puppet version of MC Frontalot on a wonderful hand-made Brooklyn set.

Relighting Old Flame with New Matches is the 2012 theme of Six-Word Story Show on Love & Heartbreak, the annual storytelling event from SMITH Magazine. The event happens at 92YTribeca in New York City on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 starting at 7 PM (happy hour at 6 PM). The evening concludes with “a ‘Six-Word Slam’ in which anyone in the audience can share a Six-Word Memoir.”

Whether you’re spending the evening with that special someone, taking a stand against a Hallmark holiday or looking to meet a like-minded story lover, come out for a night of SMITH Magazine’s Six-Word Story Show on Love and Heartbreak. The line-up of storytellers includes DJ Spooky, Rachel Shukert, Deborah Copagan Kogan, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Robin Gelfenbien, Mark Lukach, Shubha Bala, and singer Tara O’Grady, all of whom start with six words and then tell the true tale behind the mini-memoir.

Following his blog instead of him.
Arranged marriage now sounding pretty good.
I blame it all on Mad Men.
Hired me. Fired me. Married me…
Butterflies still keeping after 30 years.
I’m six words away from divorce.

image via SMITH Magazine

Artist Gwyneth Leech creates intricate paintings and drawings on used coffee cups. Since September of last year, Leech has been filling the Sprint Prow ArtSpace at the Flatiron Building in Manhattan with hundreds of coffee cup artworks (more than 700 at last count). She can be seen working in the art space Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 2pm. The project, entitled “Hypergraphia,” runs through February 18.

I like my hot coffee or tea in a paper take-out cup, like millions of my fellow citizens. Even better than the contents, I like the used cup as a surface to draw and paint on. And before I begin I like to inscribe the date, location and occasion on which the beverage was consumed so that every cup becomes the record of a social moment.

photo 1 and 3 by Gwyneth Leech, photo 2 by Bernard Klevickas

A Kiwi by Peter Woytuk at the 72nd Street subway station, part of his series of sculptures on Broadway in New York City.

photo by Scott Beale

The Primeburger restaurant in Midtown Manhattan is the subject of Prime, a short documentary film from the This Must Be the Place series by Lost & Found Films. This quintessential burger joint has been open since 1938 and still keeps its 1960s-era old-school coffee shop look alive. The film interviews the restaurant’s loyal and dedicated employees, including one gentleman who has been there for about 60 years. There’s a lot to love about this charming restaurant and its documentary. We have previously posted another film from the series called Exploring The Idea of Home.

via Curiosity Counts

Actor William Shatner will be starring in Shatner’s World: We Just Live In It, his one-man show beginning with two preview shows on Broadway on February 14 and 15, 2012. Opening night is February 16, 2012 and the nearly two-hour long show runs for 19 performances until March 4, 2012 at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. After the Broadway run, Shatner is taking his show on the road to various U.S. cities. Tickets are on sale now.

In SHATNER’S WORLD…a one man force of nature delivers a larger than life performance complete with his laugh-out-loud humor, signature storytelling and select musical selections in his inimitable style.

Through anecdotes, songs, jokes and even some poignant moments, you will experience William Shatner ‘s phenomenal path from classically trained Shakespearean actor to cultural icon, brilliantly creating the larger-than-life and most important character he has ever played, William Shatner.

Digital music service Spotify is organizing Music Apps Hack Weekend February 24-26 at SPiN Ping Pong Club in New York City. The event celebrates the launch of the Spotify Apps API and features a $10,000 grand prize.

The focus of our 48-hour event is to develop innovative products on Spotify’s new app platform. This is your chance to showcase your talent and channel your creativity towards building the next generation of music apps powered by some of the most powerful and robust APIs around.

For the first time ever, we will be welcoming product and marketing executives from CW, Doritos, McDonald’s, Mtn Dew, Showtime and State Farm who will be deeply integrated into the on-site environment and provide inspiration for the weekend’s hacks and prizing for the most innovative products.

Join us for fun, nerdery, drinks, food, ping pong, music, swag, and more.

via Andrew Mager

The Swap-O-Matic is a vending machine art project based in Brooklyn where users can exchange goods without exchanging money. Lina Fenequito of Good World Media is the main designer and creator behind The Swap-O-Matic, which currently is a one-up retro-styled machine that travels between various New York City stores.

The Swap-o-matic is a vending machine which playfully tries to remind us that reusing and recycling can be just as fun as buying something new. The machine allows users to donate and receive items, instantly and for free!

via GOOD and Springwise

image via The Swap-O-Matic

Thanks to Deborah Yoon for the tip!

The B&H Photo Video superstore in Manhattan is equipped with a rather unusual and very elaborate overhead conveyor system to transport products around the store. French photo blog Lense sent a GoPro camera through the system to see how it works (video). The conveyor system can also be seen on the Google Street View tour inside B&H.

via Doobybrain.com

Jen Carlson of Gothamist is reporting the rumor that the owners of New York City’s legendary music venue, CBGB, are currently looking for a new space in Manhattan to reopen the club (soon). Additionally, Bowery Boogie is reporting that a CBGB Summer Festival may be planned for July 2012. The hardcore and punk rock club’s original location was at 315 Bowery and had to close in October 2006. In 2007 Scott visited the Ghost of CBGB & OMFUG.

via Gothamist and Bowery Boogie

photo by Wally Gobetz

image via Bowery Boogie

There is sad news today for New York City bagel lovers. H&H Bagels, the legendary bagel shop in New York City, has been shut down by a city marshal. The shop, located at 46th Street, was the last location of H&H Bagels in the city and still shipped bagels worldwide until its closure. In 2011, they were evicted from their main location in the Upper West Side. Take a look at the post, H&H Bagels, Like No Other Bagel in the World, where Scott extols the joy of a warm bagel from H&H Bagels.

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal has reported that H&H Bagels owner, Helmer Toro, is determined to keep the 46th Street shop open despite the recent closure.

via Eater

Thanks to Jason Laskodi for the tip!

photo by Scott Beale

When the new section of the High Line in New York City was getting ready to open in June 2011, Korean-born artist Hyemi Cho worried that she would lose her privacy due to the proximity of her apartment to the new span. Instead of giving into the fear, she painted art for her window that gave the illusion that she was peeking out and waving from behind the curtains. The art has been a hit because it takes the urban park’s visitors by surprise and she has now created additional window paintings for her apartment to further the fun. In addition, she is also creating paintings for other buildings along the High Line. These fun “voyeuristic” paintings have been temporarily removed so that they can be part of Cho’s first solo exhibition, High Line and Personal Stories, at the Nancy Margolis Gallery from January 26, 2012 through February 25, 2012.

…I imagined myself cautiously peeking through my curtain looking outside, seeking the sky and river I used to love to see. I thought, “I am a painter. Why don’t I paint the reality of life and put it out to the public.” In this way, I would (re)solve the restriction of my freedom and my frustration of this invasion of my privacy.

The window paintings have brought me, now an animal in a zoo, delightful interactions with people on the Highline. Everyday, I see people laughing at the paintings and photographing them. Sometimes, I actually peek out and wave my hand, the real life recreation of the painting. The surprise on their faces turns to excitement and they wave back, saying “hi” with their hands. I see that my paintings are a good surprise and make people smile and laugh.

via High Line

photos by Hyemi Cho and Meg Kinney

Artist Alex Gross has created a new series of mixed media pieces that alter the photographic images of antique Cabinet cards for Product Placement, his upcoming solo show at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York City. The show’s opening reception is Saturday, February 25th, 2012 from 7 to 9 PM and the show runs through March 24, 2012.

via Arrested Motion

images via Arrested Motion and Alex Gross

What Are You Doing Tonight? Wall Street

What Are You Doing Tonight? Staten Island

What Are You Doing Tonight? The Bowery

What Are You Doing Tonight? Bushwick

What Are You Doing Tonight? Rockefeller Center

“Texting While Walking” by Casey Neistat is a humorous cautionary video about the dangers of composing text messages while walking. The video is a New York Times opinion-documentary.

Park Here is a really unique indoor pop-up park run by Openhouse Gallery in New York City’s Nolita neighborhood. The free park is open for just three months and has been filled with green NewGrass (an eco-friendly artificial grass), hammocks, giant bean bags and food carts. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter to learn of the great events that will be happening there this winter (like the Nerd Nite Trivia Battle on February 2). The park will be open until February 15, 2012.

It’s a pop-up park in the heart of Nolita that’s blooming when nothing else is. Plush grass, beautiful foliage, picnic blankets, oversized bean bags and hammocks. Blazing fast WiFi, picnic benches, bistro tables and a smashing playlist. Food and drink vendors, trivia and movie nights, afternoon tea. Mornings exclusively for moms and kids.

via Winkel & Balktick

panoramic photo by Justin Klosky

The NYC Idiotarod 2012, a costume-mandatory shopping cart race, takes place on January 28. The Idiotarod is based on the Urban Iditarod organized by The Cacophony Society, which first struck San Francisco in 1994.

The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. The IDIOTAROD is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it’s people, instead of sleds, it’s shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it’s New York City. Teams of five will race for cash prizes and glory.

via Winkel & Balktick

Here are a few photos from last Wednesday’s opening of Coffee Common x NYC at A Startup Store. Check out the Coffee Common website for more info about what they are up to and plans for future events.

Coffee Common brings together world-class baristas and roasters with shared values, to create unique experiences that introduce people to the nuanced joys of exceptional coffee. We believe that great coffee is, at its best, a collaboration of an empowered coffee farmer, an artisan coffee roaster, a dedicated barista, and an enlightened consumer. We believe that great coffee requires study, experimentation, craftsmanship, and humility. These diverse roasters and baristas, who by most definitions would be considered competitors, come together as a community to proselytize the simple truths around coffee. We look forward to pouring you a cup of the most complex and extraordinary beverage in the world.

Thanks to my friend Sean Bonner who works with Coffee Common for the head’s up, it’s a really great concept.

photo by Scott Beale

Last year, the Red Peak branding agency locked a bicycle to a post in Manhattan and photographed it every day for a year in order to see what would happen.

via The Village Voice & EV Grieve

“The Silent City” is an upcoming post apocalyptic web video series in which a lone man in New York City fights to survive (trailer). The series will include filmmaking tutorials on such subjects as: how turn an actor into a zombie, and how to destroy the Empire State Building using 3D effects software. Series writer and director Rubidium Wu is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

When an unexplained event decimates the human race, the survivors fight for their lives in the ruins of civilization.

A decade later, the dangers of the new world taken their toll. Hopelessness and isolation have felled many of the original survivors, and now one man walks alone, determined to endure against all odds.

via Boing Boing

Thanks to Google Street View, you can now take a virtual tour inside the B&H Photo Video superstore in New York City.

See Previously: B&H Photo Video

via PetaPixel & ISO 1200 Magazine

Shit New Yorkers Say written by Eliot Glazer, featuring Eliot and Ilana Glazer.

Decentralized Dance Party and Newmindspace present Boombox Party NYC, a spontaneous dance party where participants carry boomboxes, tune into the master broadcast, wear full business attire and in this case, dance in the streets of New York (secret location not yet disclosed). This event is slated to occur Saturday, January 21st, 2012 at 9 PM. As of this writing, the organizers are still looking for additional boombox and cash donations to make this event happen. A fundraising page has been created on IndieGoGo to collect monetary donations. This event is part of Decentralized Dance Party’s Strictly Business Tour which will continue to tour the United States throughout the spring.

It consists of thousands of Party people, carrying boomboxes, and a DJ who wears a backpack, containing an FM radio transmitter.

All the boomboxes are tuned into the DJ’s master FM broadcast, resulting in a mobile, synchronized sound system. This portable dance Party roams the night, generating complete awesomeness, street by street and block by block, onto buses and subways, into public fountains and beyond. Inevitably interfacing with the public, together we create an infectious epidemic of fun. A roaming Party adventure that lasts all night long!

The theme for Boombox Party NYC is “strictly business”:

This is the Strictly Business Tour. That means you MUST wear Business Attire (suits, ties, cufflinks, glasses, nice shoes, sexy skirts, gel that hair, etc) and bring along as much business paraphernalia as possible (wheeled office chairs, briefcases, rolodexes, calculators, coffee machines+mugs, water coolers, filing cabinets, etc.

Filmmaker Todd Bieber (Encounters with Orphan Monkeys, Vigilante Gardener, Brooklyn Found Film) has written a new stage show titled Commercial Interruption which chronicles the true stories behind Todd’s secret past life as a local “shitty” commercial producer. It happens January 18, 2012 at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City .

True story… I used to make embarrassingly bad local commercials in rural Pennsylvania. And I was great at it. Hear the true stories, watch the final commercials, see the outtakes, and find out how these ridiculously horrible commercials got made.

For two years Todd Bieber lived a secret life. A bizarre legal contract forced him to make shitty local commercials in rural Pennsylvania and he’s never told anyone about it until now. (Though chances are you’ve seen his handy work – as it aired up and down the east coast) From directing a ten-year-old dressed as James Bond to turning a car into a photoshopped helicopter – come hear the true stories about how Todd got into (and eventually out of) the seedy underworld of local televisions commercials. Watch the final commercials, see the outtakes, and find out how these ridiculously horrible commercials got made.

image via Todd Bieber

Charlie O’Donnell has just launched Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, a new seed stage investor that is the first venture capital fund based in Brooklyn. As part of the launch he worked with BKLYNhaus to produce the video Made in Brooklyn, which highlights some of the amazing entrepreneurs and companies who call Brooklyn their home.

For more on the launch of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, check out Charlie O’Donnell’s announcement.