Today we wrote about the discontinuation of the requirement for subway conductors to announce a train's arrival at the 47th-50th St. Rockefeller Center station with a plug for the "Top of the Rock" observation deck. Most commenters found the idea of corporate sponsorship of subway stations distasteful, let alone the fact that this was an enforced and required announcement that generated no revenue for NYC Transit. Some people do enjoy when their conductors deviate from......

Books, or at least book shelves, must be on this couple's wedding registry: The Post has a cute story about a couple whose engagement took place at the Strand Bookstore. Joshua Reich and Shianling King "always told friends they met at the Strand," but they actually met online - their first date was supposed to be at the Museum of Modern Art, but the lines were so long that they went to the Strand instead.......

There have been a few ads in the NY Times weddings section that spoof the real wedding announcements. For instance, we believe we recall a few for divorce services, but less ironically, there have been ads for marriage-related movies, like The Starter Wife. And this week, there's an ad for an upcoming wedding on the ABC comedy Ugly Betty. Of course, the ad is a lot wordier than the usual NY Times wedding announcement,......

Couples planning their weddings and receptions often face a dilemma with their guest lists. With relatives to consider and budgets to stay within, some send invitations to single friends without a plus one. The NY Times spoke to a few people about the single invite. Some understand that given per-head costs of $200, some guests' feathers will be ruffled. But one single woman says, "if Ms. Bridezilla who is so not a virgin but still......

We've already announced the lineups for days one, two and three at Gothamist House, and here comes day four (the final day). As a reminder, this year WOXY will be broadcasting from the space -- so if you find yourself at work you'll still be able to listen in! At the end of the week stay tuned for a Best of Gothamist House podcast, also provided by WOXY. Now, without further ado: Saturday October 20th......

We've already announced day one and day two for Gothamist House, and here comes number three. As a reminder, this year WOXY will be broadcasting from the space -- so if you find yourself at work you'll still be able to listen in! At the end of the week stay tuned for a Best of Gothamist House podcast, also provided by WOXY. Now, without further ado: Friday October 19th 7:30pm - Bound Stems (MySpace) 6:45pm......

Last week we announced the lineup for day one at Gothamist House, and here comes day two. As a reminder, this year WOXY will be broadcasting from the space -- so if you find yourself at work you'll still be able to listen in! At the end of the week stay tuned for a Best of Gothamist House podcast, also provided by WOXY. Now, without further ado: Thursday October 18th 7:30pm - iLiKETRAiNS (MySpace)......

This past week, the big wedding wasn't even real! According to the many paparazzi photographs of the Sex & the City movie filming, it seems that Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw is finally stepping down the aisle. With, we assume, Mr. Big. The wedding between the fictional sex columnist-turned-author and the rich business guy (it's never been totally clear what Big does, except smirk and show up at the right and wrong times) took......

With just over a week to go before the CMJ music marathon takes over the venues and random spaces in this city...we're finally ready to announce the Gothamist House lineups for this year. One day at a time. As a reminder, this year WOXY will be broadcasting from the space -- so if you find yourself at work you'll still be able to listen in! At the end of the week stay tuned for......

In this week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations announcements: There are 50 announcements (49 weddings, 1 civil union) this weekend. There are 26 announcements with photographs of couples and 2 announcements with bride-only photographs. The youngest bride is 25, the oldest bride is 42. The youngest groom is 26, the oldest groom is 56. The Vows column couple had a long, comedic courtship since meeting at Yale; in fact, when the groom dropped to a......

Riders of the L train gave the line an average grade of "C" according to the NYC Transit Agency's report card. Over 4,000 riders graded the 10.3 mile line (42,000 surveys were handed out; over 2700 were mailed in while over 1200 were submitted via the MTA's website), giving the following marks: B- to "Signs in subway cars that help riders find their way," "Comfortable temperature in subway cars," and "Lack of graffiti in......

People planning weddings - or people wondering why they've seen so many weddings outside lately: Theres a nice article about the trend towards weddings in parks and other public spaces in the city in today's NY Times Style section. With parks - complete with dazzling views - getting cleaner and safer, couples are getting married in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn and Gantry Plaza in Queens. The most important thing to investigate is......

This week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations announcements include: Forty-five weddings announcements, one civil union announcements, and the Vows column Twenty-five photographs of couples The youngest bride is 24, the oldest bride is 64 The youngest groom is 25, the oldest groom is 70 One couple had corresponded via an online dating website but never set up a date...only to meet randomly at a party and not realize their online connection until two months later.......

There's a new Bronx (Stink) Bomber! Lehman College's Teaching and Research Greenhouses have grown an amorphophallus titanium [sic] plant (more colloquially known as the corpse flower because it smells like rotting flesh) and it will bloom by Monday night. The flower usually takes 10-20 years to grow in nature, but with nutrients from greenhouse workers, the Bronx corpse flower has been growing three inches a day! Here's the webcam of the flower. The flower......

This week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations announcements include: Forty-five weddings and one same sex civil union, plus the Vows column Twenty-four photographs of couples and one photograph of a bride-only The youngest bride is 24, the oldest bride is 62 The youngest groom is 25, the oldest groom is 65 The artist Fred Wilson unwittingly drew the couple in the Vows column together One bride is the program coordinator for the Kings County DA's......

Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city was prepared for the possible two-day taxi strike that some taxi driver groups have threatened for tomorrow morning, starting at 5AM. About 7,000 of the city's 44,000 taxi drivers (there are about 13,000 cabs in total) have reportedly promised to strike over new technology that the Taxi and Limousine Commission wants to install in all cabs. Some drivers' issues with the technology, which includes GPS tracking systems and......

The NY Times has a slide show of assorted items that could be perfect wedding gifts for book lovers. Suggestions range from whimsical bookshelves to personalized book plates. We were most intrigued by Levenger's Thai Book Rest - we suppose you could get a pair of two for a wedding couple. Or one, plus some massage oils and a copy of the Kama Sutra as a cheeky bridal/bachelorette party shower gift. Anyway, on with this......

Over 16,000 riders responded to the MTA's call for honest assessments of the 7 line, and the MTA released the results of the 7 Line Rider Report Card. On the bright side, there's a lot to improve. Realistically speaking, they weren't very good: After all the areas were tallied up, the overall grade was a C-. Here are the top ten priorities for improvement:1. Adequate room on board at rush hour 2. Minimal delays......

With all the news of identity theft, of course it would have to hit couples who are getting married. The Post has an alarming story about a number of couples who, when applying for a marriage license, have found themselves already "married." It's believed that thieves use other people's identities to get marriage licenses and green cards. Denise Daskalkis "filed two appeals, multiple petitions, and attended a hearing at the Office of Administrative Trials and......

There's an excellent Vows column in this week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations. It's the one for Fran Boyd and Donnie Andrews, two Baltimore residents whose difficult lives were the basis for the HBO dramas The Corner and The Wire. Boyd and Andrews were featured in a page one story in the Times last week, and the Vows column explains more of how they met and how they supported each other during prison sentences,......

From the looks of these photos, the commute home for those on the L train was no fun last night. On the same day that riders on the line were asked to rate the service, service came to a halt during the evening rush. Who's to blame? It seems like the MTA actually gets a pass this time. Rumor has it that someone pulled the emergency brake. The MTA is looking for riders to......

We all knew the real estate bubble was causing insanity, but we should have known it's encouraged people to divorce. There's a NY Times Styles section article about some who wait until the market's at its peak to divorce - that way, they can benefit from an even bigger profit when selling their homes. There are quotes from Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker, who showed that couples with a drastic rise in net worth were......

Holy Tornado, Brooklyn! Reader Jeanne just emailed us with this observation: I live in Kensington, Brooklyn and I think that a tornado just passed through. Have you heard any news about a tornado from anyone else? Around 6:30am there were heavy rains, thunder and lightning when all of a sudden the wind got really loud and we could hear stuff smashing into the house. It was all just 30 seconds or so but now......

Customizing your wedding is standard these days, and wedding planning businesses aren't the only ones who are benefiting. There's been a boom in people applying online to be ordained to officiate friends' and families' weddings. But there's an unexpected catch: Sometimes those Universal Life Church ordinations aren't legal in the county or state where the wedding is being performed! The NY Times has an article about the issues with ordained-online ministers. One couple, a lawyer......

Aha! We were right when we suggested that August 8, 2008 might be another coveted wedding date to consider, now that July 7, 2007 has passed. The date 08/08/08 is considered very auspicious by Asian cultures (in fact, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will start on that day), and some weddings planners who specialized in Chinese weddings are seeing a big rush. One told LJWorld, "We like to do three weddings max a day, but......

It's that time again! The Straphangers Campaign has released its annual State of the Subways report, and this year, the 1 train topped all other lines. This is amazing news for the 1 train - it was only in 2005 when the Straphangers found the 1/9 to be the schmutz-iest! The 1 train got high marks for "frequently scheduled service, arriving with more regularity, fewer dirty cars, and better announcements," but it did perform......

Before we dive into the Times' weddings and celebrations announcements, we'd like to note that the Styles section has an article for guests thinking about buying tableware gifts for upcoming weddings. The article suggests buying colorful accessory plates and bowls for couples who may have registered for white-only dinnerware. We're fans of white-only dinnerware, because it's very versatile, it doesn't have to be too expensive, and it can be dressed up or down. If you......

Animal rights protesters held a rally outside the National Football League's Park Avenue headquarters yesterday to ask for quarterback Michael Vick's suspension from the league. Earlier, the Atlanta Falcons star was indicted on federal felony charges for dogfighting. Here's what the Department of Justice's press release (PDF) said:According to the indictment, the defendants were involved in an ongoing animal fighting venture based out of a property located in Smithfield, Virginia, from early 2001 through......

There are lots of great stories about how couples meet. Kindergarten, the Peace Corps, a subway platform, by chance at a bar, you name it. But we love this Daily News story about how one couple met, because it appeals not only to the romantic in us, but to our respect for jury duty: Traci Nagy and Jonathan Cinkay met while serving on the same jury during a Queens murder trial. A fellow juror told......

Yesterday was supposedly the luckiest day of the century and many people got married to better their marriage success odds. The Post has a feature on a couple who met while they were waiting for a 7 train - the wedding of Diana and Joseph Saporito included seven bridesmaids, seven groomsmen, 21 tables (21 being a multiple of seven) and Lucky 7 lotto tickets. The NY Times had a story about an unlucky fellow......