Shock and awe, people! The City Council did indeed ban all smoking in New York parks (and "pedestrian plazas," which is how Times Square gets in there). Start your lawyers! Tell it, Councilmember Erik Dilan: "I guess if somebody wants to have a cigarette, they have to smoke in a bike lane." Analysts estimate that the real winners in this legislation are those annoying, self-righteous people who begin to cough loudly and theatrically when they see you with a cigarette from twenty feet away; they finally have the opportunity they so ardently desire to get someone in trouble for doing something that brings them joy. The losers [...]

Today, a week after an major attempted terrorist bombing, Times Square was evacuated due to a "suspicious package"-a "white cooler" found at 46th and Broadway. About 1:50 p.m., the bomb squad arrived. In the end, it turned out to be a false alarm-the seventh since Saturday. And as for the previous real attempts-well, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and Faisal Shahzad were both, thankfully, woefully incompetent at actual terror. But they did prove effective at spurring furious debates over national security, civil liberties, and citizenship that make Glenn Beck appear sane. (Although, I'm pretty sure that was not their intent.) Now Shahzad–perhaps to confirm his resume's boast of being "result-oriented"–may help [...]

It's hard to tell who's working whom in this tale of MTV and its Times Square lease. (This would be the problem with real estate writing in general and in the specific.) I am pretty sure it is the landlord working on the tenant, however, as the landlord is the one blabbing in the New York Post about how they are going to find a new tenant for MTV's first floor store and its famed second-floor glass-walled studio, which you know as the place where girls from Iowa used to gather to get a look at Carson Daly, and where now no one really sees anything. There's some weird [...]

Tell me about your job. I write features which are anything that's not hard news—longer form articles that aren't attached to the news cycle. Things that might be more in the cultural ether, maybe profiles of people, or stuff like that. I did a couple fashion stories on the Golden Globes, what people wore, what people wore in the past, I interviewed a bunch of stylists, talked about what it all meant. I've done more interesting things than that, but that's the most recent one. I like writing features, you get the luxury of time, where it's more of a weekly deadline than a daily deadline. In the case [...]

Unlike some American citizens who recently flew planes into federal buildings, Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square bomber suspect, who was apprehended at JFK on his way to Dubai, which is a frightening brown place, is definitely a terrorist who uses terror to accomplish something (spreading terror). Shahzad purchased the Nissan Pathfinder of terror that caused the dramatic evacuation of Times Square when it did not blow up. The alleged terrorist has two children and lived in Connecticut.

Oh, we had heard about this oddity? In which caped crusaders were punching cops in the face and being arrested? And apparently it is true, as video does not lie very much. Odd!

On Thursday afternoon, a Jumbotron at 43rd and Broadway in Times Square streamed a live performance of the "adult contemporary" band Train. The actual performance took place just across the street, high up in the Reuters building, and if you are a fan of  "adult contemporary" and watched this broadcast-which also streamed on Facebook-you would have seen me in the audience.

I do not like the band Train. Or, more accurately, I have no opinion of the band Train-they fall into the category of bands that I know "exist." I am aware of that song with that catchy mandolin about greeting a "soul sister," and that's about it. But there I was, forging with them [...]

What a weekend, full of bombs; first Jay Leno, then a Nissan Pathfinder? NO BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS. And I mean, what an oil slick, hey? Home-rigged accelerants and explosives dousing the ducklings of Times Square, while the mayor watches telepathically. AM I RIGHT? Unlike every other Broadway bomb, this one everyone wants credit for! Hi-o! And what thanks do ya get when you help out the kind people of Gotham City by keeping our tourists away from a bomb? You gotta eat a very fishy salt-free, low-cal meal with Mayor McAntiCheese's terror deputy Patty Harris! Oh, we kid, she's great [...]