The owners of the rooftop Ronald McDonald have stepped forward! We received the following email today from one of them (Ali), telling us:That's my apartment featured in your Ronald McDonald story; it actually was not stolen; my roommate [Michael] saved it from McDonald's garbage one night and then lugged it up five flights of stairs. He's a hero if you ask me.Ronald used to reside near a piano inside the McDonald's but was dumped in......

This afternoon, not only can you take out a book on perfecting your tennis backhand, you can work on your Wii Tennis backhand at the New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library (the big one on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street in Manhattan). The grand Astor Hall will be filled with Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3 stations for its Game On @ The Library! program today at 4:00 p.m.--nothing like a......

Today Lego celebrates the big 5-0, even getting some Google-love for hitting the half century mark. New York has long been recreated in Lego-form, our favorite was at an exhibit housed in the Storefront for Art and Architecture late last year. Do you have a favorite Brick Apple? We love Sean Kenney's Greenwich Village (pictured) and Nathan Sawaya's Brooklyn Bridge. In a related story, this past Saturday was the city's first Lego League Citywide Championship,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired on 166th St. and the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, a pedestrian struck at Berry St. and Division Ave. in Brooklyn, and a found body on Richmond Valley and Arthur Kill on Staten Island. Still searching for the Staten Island ninja burglar, police questioned New York Post photographer Ron Romano because of his ninja-like ability to tightrope walk. A huge hole in the middle of Brooklyn's Pacific......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue at Atlantic Beach Bridge in Queens, a fall victim onto the train tracks at West 42nd St. and 9th Ave. in Manhattan, and a car in the water on Bay and Edgewater Sts. in Staten Island. He didn't have to be shot in the back with a shotgun! Dick Cheney's heart problems continue. Seriously though, best wishes. Gov. Elliot Spitzer is going to be sequestered in......

Who says the Wii is only for the young - or those dressed as Luigi? The Carter Burden Center for the Aging on the Upper East Side had a Senior Fitness Day this past Friday Friday that gave seniors a chance to play Wii baseball, as well as Brain Age 2 (photograph below), the Nintendo DS game that has various ways to challenge people's memory and keep people sharp. The Carter Burden Center for......

We're thinking that the newly renovated City Hall bullpen would be a great place for MTV Cribs to visit, even if Bloomberg staffers don't have posters of Scarface or The Godfather in their cubes. Because Panasonic has donated a 103" plasma HDTV to the bullpen! The TV, which retails for $70,000, can show news channels, "311 call statistics and a video feed from NYC TV's live traffic cameras," according to the Post. A Panasonic spokesman......

At a bar filled with arcade games, all of which pre-date the 1990's, hundreds of spectators and competitors gathered yesterday for Wiimbledon. While interest in the first-ever Nintendo Wii tennis tournament was high, only 128 competitors were able to play in the single-elimination tournament at Barcade. Players dressed up as tennis players, Harry Potter, and came in their best bear costumes (the bear was eliminated and dejected). While the competition was intense at times,......

When released last year, the Nintendo Wii became a gaming phenomenon. Lines stretched around city blocks, people searched around the city to satisfy holiday wishlists only to come up empty handed. Lane Buschel and Steve Bryant, two Brooklynites, decided to organize a Wii tennis tournament they've called Wiimbledon (like Wimbledon, see). Wiimbledon is accepting a limited number of competitors today and tomorrow (the first day was yesterday), starting at noon. The tournament is this Saturday,......

Add "Do you play video games?" to the list of questions you might want to ask your surgeon. The Archives of Surgery published a study that shows a strong relationship between video game skills and a surgeon's abilities with laparoscopic procedures. Reuters reports the study's findings show out of the 33 Beth Israel surgeons surveyed, the nine doctors who played video games at least 3 hours a week made "37 percent fewer errors, performed 27......

Let us be the first to wish you a happy President’s Day, assuming your loved ones or roommates haven’t beaten us to it. Just on the heels of Valentine’s Day, this holiday comes as a welcomed treat with no responsibilities of gift buying, cooking or convincing yourself that you’re “just picky”. Not to mention a day off to catch up on important tasks like beating your high score at Wii Bowling (current record: 152) or......

EVENT: Nerd Alert! Come on by for Nerd Night tonight at Orchid Lounge where there are two geeked out presentations awaiting you. Presentation #1: "Genesis Rules! Wait, I Meant To Say Neurogenesis". Something about Adult Neurogenesis and Phil Collins, or something. Presentation #2: "TETROMINOWLEDGE: How Four Blocks, Arranged In Different Patterns, Have Changed the World, Kind Of". This one is mostly about Tetris. So put the Wii down and get out of the house. 7pm......

The Daily News received renderings of what Coney Island may look like, if developer Thor Equities has its way. Thinkwell Design & Production designed a 6-acre plan for "Coney Island Park." Thinkwell creative director Chris Durmick said, "Whatever you come looking for at Coney Island, it's all going to be there." What happens in Coney Island, stays in Coney Island? The centerpiece of the plan is the "Leviathan, a 100 foot roller coaster with loop-de-loops......

This is traditionally a pretty slow time for music. Everyone is getting their feet back under them from the holidays, there aren't many bands putting out albums, and even less are ready to get back out and start touring. The news cycle in general is still pretty weak, and music has it no different. Nonetheless, we're starting a new feature this week recapping the biggest stories in rock around this town every Friday. So... New......

It's crazy holiday congestion time when the NYPD starting hauling out mesh netting to control crowds. But, really, when there's a teeming mass of insane people in Midtown who want to see the Rockettes or attempt to buy a Wii or see the Rockefeller Christmas Tree, is mesh enough? We know the police is under scrutiny over brutality, but cattle prods anyone? Photographs of NYPD in midtown by Kathy Willens/AP......

Today is an all Brooklyn edition of the Gothamist Newsmap: a multiple murder suicide at the Walt Whitman Housing Project in Fort Greene, a bomb threat on Meserole Avenue in Brooklyn, and at fire on St. James Place in Park Slope. Most amusing Craigslist Missed Connection EVER: "I vomited in the bakery and you asked me if I was ok - m4w - 27 I answered that it must have been the tacos I......

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Londonist wants you to know where to......

Dear Gothamist, I'm sure there are other people who want Wiis but are much too cool to wait in line or fight for one. But they're still hard to come by. I need me some citizen journalism action on this issue. Where are people getting Wiis, if anywhere? - Wah Wah Wii Wii It's so true. The Nintendo Wii has been out for almost two weeks, but they are still moving off the shelves......

Dunh dunh DUNH! It's the most insane shopping day of the year, thanks to most people being off and feeling that the day after Thanksgiving is an acceptable beginning to the Christmas shopping season. However, some stores were actually open yesterday, giving turkey and football some competition. Some stores opened at 5AM today, others at 6AM. In fact, some people have been flying in from overseas, perhaps to take advantage of the exchange rate!......

As mentioned earlier, the American Museum of Natural History unveiled its Origami Holiday Tree yesterday. Although the Origami Holiday Tree has been a tradition at the museum for more than thirty years (see last year's article), it's a good year to get into origami. Let's face it, with Polly Pocket recalled and Nintendo Wii sold out virtually everywhere, all kids may have left to play with this holiday season is wrapping paper. Five hundred paper......

The Nintendo Wii went on sale last night, providing a second, if slightly anti-climactic, game console release of the week. There didn't seem to be any reports of violence around the Wii, perhaps because it is $351 cheaper than the PlayStation 3, but people were still enthusiastic. Gizmodo said about 1,000 people were waiting on line last night, but with reports of 5,000 Wii consoles available, who knows if the wait was worth it? A......

Angel Parades was the first person to buy the Playstation 3 at the Sony Store in Midtown (apparently Charlie Murphy was on the scene!) while Sergio Rodriguez bought the first one at the Union Square Circuit City. Rodriquez said, "This is the best game ever. It's so worth the wait. Some people may call me crazy, but I really love to play." We found 1010WINS' description of who was waiting: "die-hard gamers and entrepreneurs......

If you haven't showered in a few days, there is a good chance that you're probably waiting on a line trying desperately to score one of the new next generation console releases from Sony and Nintendo. This week brings two very exciting releases for the gaming community. Tonight is the release of Sony's PlayStation3 (PS3; below, left) and Nintendo releases Wii (right) on Sunday, in hopes of both unseating the XBOX 360 who has......