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Drew Grant

By Drew Grant 5/20 6:01pm

Hate crime

Speaker Quinn Divides March for Greenwich Hate Crime Victim

The horrific, cold-blooded murder of 32-year-old Mark Carson in Greenwich Village Friday night has shocked New Yorkers into action. In what is believed to have been a hate crime, Mr. Carson, a homosexual man, was stalked and gunned down for what he was wearing, mere blocks away from the site of the historic Stonewall riots. The suspect, Elliot Morales, allegedly laughed when cornered by the police, boasting, “I shot him in the face.”

An outpouring of sentiment followed as hundreds left vigils at the site of the crime over the weekend. This evening, you can find organizers from GLAAD, along with city officials and New Yorkers–gay and straight–in a solidarity march starting at the LGBT Community Center of New York at 5:30PM and ending with a rally at the murder site, where friends, family, community leaders and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will read from prepared statements.

However, not everyone wants the mayoral candidate using this tragic incident as a stumping ground, and have organized their own event in solidarity with Mr. Carson. Read More

By Drew Grant 5/20 12:45pm

The Real Housewives of New York City

The cast of RHONY, approximately. (Bravo)

Real Housewives of New York City Will Go On: Cast Filming in NYC, But What’s the Headcount?

Despite the finger-biting anxiety of the last two weeks, when negotiations between Bravo and the members of The Real Housewives of New York City broke down, causing the network to threaten cancellation, it looks like all’s well in the RHONY world after all.

Reports have seen the women out and about together with a camera crew at various NYC locales, including the studio of celebrity trainer Will Torres.

But the question remains: will all the Real Housewives be making it back for the next season? Read More

By Drew Grant 5/20 12:10pm

Saturday Night Live

Video

The end of the hottest night clubs in New York. (NBC(

Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Fred Armisen Bid Adieu to Saturday Night Live (Video)

Perhaps Semisonic said it best: “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

This weekend marked the 38th season finale of Saturday Night Live, arguably one of the best runs the NBC variety show has seen in recent years. This is thanks in large part to fresh featured members like Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon as well as the new repertory cast of Taran Killam, Vanessa Bayer, Bobby Moynihan, and Nasim Pedrad. These relatively young comedians were able to fill the hole made last season by the departures of heavy-hitters Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg and Abby Elliott, and gave the show, in the words of Bill Hader, “a new sensibility.”

“There’s a joy in seeing a new move from somebody and going, ‘Oh, she can do that,’” Mr. Hader told The New York Times last week. Read More

By Drew Grant and Alex Bedder 5/20 9:15am

Game of Thrones

Illustration by Alex Bedder.

Five Essay Questions for Game of Thrones 3×8: ‘Second Sons’

Our guest essay answerer this week is none other than our GoT illustrator, Alex Bedder! Give him a hand!

These questions regard last night’s episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from LAST NIGHT’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. We like to say “Seal it with a kiss” (or, at least, Britney Spears does), but the more appropriate term for our characters in this week’s episode might be “Seal it with some sex.” What special significance does tonight’s episode put on doing (or not doing) the nasty? Things to consider: Religious rituals that had seemingly nothing to do with sex and everything to do with kinky leeches, Tyrion’s dilemma of honor vs. self-preservation (strategically, he’d be much, much better off having sex with Sansa and getting her pregnant) and Dany’s renewed policy of giving it up to whichever dude kills the most jerks for her? Read More

By Drew Grant 5/16 4:48pm

movie pitches

Video

Violet & Daisy: a chick-flick for psychopaths.

The Best Film Pitch Ever Sent Out Via PR Blast: VIOLET & DAISY

Have you ever just glimpsed at a film review, or poster, or what have you and thought, “I need to see that movie, immediately?” That just happened to us when we passed by IFC on West 4th and saw the poster for Shane Caruth’s Upstream Color. (It’s like Primer, but with worms living under your skin!)

That feeling of excitement is rare, and should be treasured for the moment of cinematic magic that it is.

However, sometimes you see a review, or in this case, a pitch over email, for a film and you think “This is perfect, but not intentionally.” It’s also a rare moment of celluloid joie-de-vivre, but very different from its cousin in the first example.

VIOLET & DAISY is a film of the second category, which we last heard about as the movie that Buddy Fletcher used Louisiana public pension funds to fund. There are so many parts of it that make us laugh out loud, we’re not sure if maybe this was just someone messing with us.

Take a look at the email, her in its entirety: Read More

By Drew Grant 5/16 12:04pm

electric bikes

Banning e bikes? Same old story.

Wheel Estate: City Council Tries to Ban Electric Bikes With Bill That Just Adds Confusion

Hey, remember all the crazy state, federal, and city statutes regarding the definition of an electric bicycle? Yeah, we don’t want to delve into that particularly confusing string again either–just thinking about that whole “e bike or scooter” controversy makes us want to stick our mouth around an exhaust pipe–but sadly, we must. As New York City Council decided to “crack down” on ebikes with three bills that would increase fines and illiminate loopholes that have kept e bikes on the streets as well as create an “interactive crime map” for citizens with nothing better to do, the issue is back on the docket.

Only problem? Neither bill, which Mayor Bloomberg signed yesterday, gets to the real problem. Let’s take a look. Read More

By Drew Grant 5/15 9:20am

Party Favorites

Mike Dean, Liam McMullan on Plooms.

Purple Prince Promotes Ploom

Liam McMullan was standing outside of the West Village Bistro Highlands on Thursday night, wearing what appeared to be a homemade Bart Simpson t-shirt. As the new brand ambassador for Ploom “Pax,” which proudly boasts itself as being the “premium loose leaf vaporizer,” the son of famed New York photographer Patrick McMullan was doing his best to earn his Purple Prince title. When the Transom asked the young party scion how he had become involved with promoting the San Francisco-based company, he told us:

“I went to Wonderland and met Alice, and we went to a tea party with the Mad Hatter!”

Okay? Read More

By Drew Grant 5/15 8:20am

books

Americanah

On the Page: Americanah

There are readers who will never pick up a copy of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (Knopf, 496 pp., $26.95), perhaps scared off by the premise—a Nigerian couple whose love for one another is dwarfed by their infatuation for Anglo and American culture—or from reading the blurb by Dave Eggers on the back cover (“Adichie paints on a grand canvas, boldly and confidently,” etc.). It does not scream “beach book.”

Read More

By Drew Grant 5/14 10:45pm

Saturday Night Live

Bill Hader leaving SNL. (NBC)

Watch for the Bill Hader-Sized Hole in Saturday Night Live Next Season (Video)

Well this was quite the turn of events. If anyone was going to leave SNL in-between seasons, we knew it would Seth Meyers, who is taking over Jimmy Fallon’s old spot. After him, we would have put our money on Jason Sudeikis saying goodbye, since he’s always trying to negotiate his way off the show in order, we assume, to spend more time banging Olivia Wilde. (Can you blame him?) Or what about Fred Armisen, who already has one foot out the door with his IFC show, Portlandia? (Which, it should be mentioned, is produced by Lorne Michaels.)

If we had to think of a fourth person to leave, we’d probably guess Keenan Thompson, whose perpetually youthful appearance belies the fact that the 35-year-old has been working on the NBC variety sketch show for a decade now.

We just weren’t expecting today’s news that our favorite male performer (okay fine, tied for first with Taran Killam,) Bill Hader would be announcing his departure. Why, Stefon, why??? Read More

By Drew Grant 5/13 11:37am

Exclusive

RHONY, Season 5 (Bravo)

Exclusive: RHONY Contracts Still Unsigned as of This Morning; Tensions Still Running High for New Season

Last week it looked like The Real Housewives of New York City could get shut down for good when all six of the cast members refused to sign their contracts. Shooting for the series was supposed to commence last Wednesday (according to several news outlets), but was delayed when negotiations stalled.

Thank goodness it might not be over. According to Deadline, RHONY ladies Carole Radziwill, Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps, Heather Thomson, Aviva Drescher and Sonja Morgan all received modest pay increases, though how “modest” that money is definitely on a case-by-case basis; Ramona Singer made $500,000 last season and was holding out for a million, while a source close to the negotiations told The New York Observer that The New York Post’s quoted “average” payout for a housewife–$65,000–was “in the ballpark” of what was being offered this time around.

According to an industry insider, however, none of the ladies have officially signed their contracts yet, so don’t be jumping for joy just yet. Read More