The description to this video reads: "This guy is offered $20 to lick the hand rail of a Penn Station New York city train." That pretty much says it all. This move is not unprecedented, Bart Simpson did the very same thing! His was also in an attempt to win money, though through sympathy by demonstrating his lack of taste buds. How many licks does it take to get to the center of an infectious......

Last month came the video of an inflatable polar bear set over subway grates would rise and fall as trains passed underneath. The shopping bag art came from Joshua Allen Harris, and he's at it again with a subway monster that you won't need a Subivor kit to survive. Looks like Nessie has found herself a new 'nabe right here in New York; this one was up at 21st between 6th and 7th Avenues.......

This is way better than School of Rock; over in Mr. R's class in Brooklyn, the little ones are becoming luthiers. Mr. R, Paul Rubenstein, works for Working Playground and teaches high school and middle school kids how to make electric guitars and amplifiers, a program he started 5 years ago. He tells us:"We make them entirely from scratch (except for the tuning machines) including the pickups. It has just grown since then... now we......

Seems as though the Staten Island Ferry riders have had enough of the preachers that give unsolicited sermons during their daily commutes. Today one of them stood up to a preacher, and garnered much applause for the act. The Ferry Forum has been abuzz about the preachers, and today one poster explained the above video: "This morning I'm sitting in the back of the boat and the preacher is preaching telling us what sinners and......

As if the Graffiti Research Lab hadn't blurred the line between establishment art, graffiti culture, and technology enough, they recently bombed the Museum of Modern Art. During a cocktail reception at the museum, GRL used its laser-guided, software enabled, light spray paint system to project virtually-dripping messages on an interior wall of the museum. They ranged from the tags of well known New York graffiti stars to messages directed at the wine-sipping attendees ("F***......

Troy Landwehr, a champion cheese carver (who knew there was such a thing?), took four days to create this lovely Lady Liberty out of what started out as a 1,200 pound hunk of aged cheddar. Despite the fact that the video is essentially a promo for Tracey Ullman's upcoming Showtime series, it's still oddly difficult to turn away. Troy, whose cheese carving is backed by a band in this video, has also carved Mount Rushmore......

Feeling a little off this Monday? Rocketboom has a video that'll set you straight, showing a woman walking forward through New York's streets while the rest of the city's human and animal population walk backwards. [via Boing Boing]......

Appearing on Letterman this week, Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight Schrute) served as a warning bell for the long-awaited, post-strike return of The Office. What did he discuss with Dave? Not Scranton, but his old stomping grounds in Williamsburg."At the time I lived with my friend out in an abandoned beer brewery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And this wasn't the cute little Williamsburg with all the little hipsters and cafes. This was like packs of stray wild......

Two of the more recognizable New Yorkers down in Austin last week for SXSW were Lou Reed and Moby. During a tribute show for...himself, Reed showed up for a 7-minute encore of "Walk on the Wilde Side," which can be seen below. The two (along with David Byrne) will also be seen together tomorrow night at the Speak Up! concert in DUMBO...but will they still be feeling the love? The crooner kissed Moby not once,......

The Manhattan of yesteryear is alive and well on YouTube. Take a 3-minute journey down the Hudson River (then referred to as the North River) in 1903. The view you'll see is of the west side moving towards The Battery. A treasure trove of old New York footage can be found here.......

Born on this day in 1932, and dying 71 years later in 2003, Johnny Cash made a lot of fans and friends during his lifetime. Today would have been his 76th birthday, so with that here are some videos of him performing in New York City. In 1999 a televised tribute to "the man in black" was filmed at Hammerstein Ballroom; this was the first time Cash had performed publicly since being diagnosed with a......

Having to move out of and in to apartments in the city is not a fun task. One group of avid bikers decided to try an apartment move with just their two hands, two feet and two wheels. In just under four hours they managed to complete the Brooklyn-to-Brooklyn move, which included the contents of a one-bedroom apartment. At one point they pass another man who is helping a friend move with a U-Haul, something......

Continuing their misguided and terribly executed orange bike campaign, DKNY has infiltrated YouTube with a 1 minute 53 second clip of a model speaking out in support of the company's great..."humanitarian cause"? The video starts off showing two models mowing each other down with fake miniature cars as an orange bike lies on the ground...probably not the best way to negate the whole ghost bike thing. Hear that children: you could take a cab and......

Last year Bloomberg announced the "first-ever global multimedia communications campaign to promote New York City," with efforts to bring in more tourism through television, outdoor advertising, internet and everything in between. The mayor is now getting some unsolicited help from some New York comedians. The troupe got together to film their own NYC Tourism ad, which includes a unique explanation of the city's homeless problem. Their version of our history explains that NYC was founded......

Merging urban exploration with something akin to La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, the below video gives a glimpse at what's hidden in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel underneath Downtown Brooklyn while performer Greg "Cosmo D" Heffernan scores the journey. The video is part of an online magazine called NY Moon. Each month there are several features including one called "Blueprint" which proposes new ideas for NYC. In February's issue someone suggests New York's billionaires buy up......

Over the weekend, Reverend Billy and his Stop Shopping Choir paid a visit to a closing establishment on 10th Street across from Saint Mark's Church. After 45 years Angelo Fontana's shoe repair shop is being priced out of the East Village, and the good Reverend was there to make some noise. The Villager recently wrote about the East Village sole saver, who has been at the same intersection for 45 years, and in the same......

The people who brought you the Bike Box video now visit the more pedestrian Barnes Dance. Named after NYC traffic commissioner Henry Barnes, the "dance" allows pedestrians to cross intersections in all directions safely while all lights are red for about 17 seconds. Last summer we visited the idea of bringing the Barnes back to more of our streets. Streetfilms says they know of only one place in Manhattan, 17th Street & Broadway, where one......

Just in time for Super Tuesday, a bunch of big and small names have banded together in support of Barack Obama. The below video was directed by Jesse (son of Bob) Dylan and features the Black Eyed Peas will.i.am, Scarlett Johansson, "Micheal" from Lost, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Herbie Hancock, and many more putting a musical spin of one of Obama's speeches. Dylan says they didn't coordinate the release of the video with the Obama campaign......

Improv Everywhere was back recently causing a commotion (or more appropriately: a standstill) at Grand Central. For this prank the troupe had 207 "agents" in place that all froze on cue for five minutes. (We'd love to see this go down in Times Square.) The below footage shows the latest stunt: The onlookers prove to be equally entertaining, and didn't know what to think (protest? acting class?). One employee trying to move his cart through......

Believe it or not, there was once a time when the subway was celebrated! Channel 13 just launched a video site hosting their visual vault of old shows. The below is from a program that originally aired in 1975, and in part shows the 1870 attempt at an underground transit system. The Beach Pneumatic Transit was a demonstration line secretly built by Scientific American editor Alfred Ely Beach. He constructed the 312-foot tunnel in 58......

Video is finally surfacing from this past Saturday's Idiotarod. While the event did gain some enemies this weekend (mostly because not everyone cleaned up after themselves), there was one shining beacon, a team that stuck to the spirit of Idiotarod: Team Danger Zone. If ever a costumed conglomerate of people pushing a shopping cart were to have groupies, it would be this one. Here they are showing off their cart, and their guns: There's more......

Did you know that for only $720 a month, you could live in one of the city's new pay toilets? Sure, it would probably be frowned upon (not only by the city, but by your friends and family)...but you can't beat that price! As an added bonus (like you really need one), the unit is self-cleaning. Check out what one could fit into that sort of square-footage: Now that's L-I-V-I-N'!......

Shine a Light, the film documenting The Rolling Stones show at Beacon Theater in 2006, is about to hit the big screen. And the really, really big screen. The Martin Scorsese-directed rockumentary will be in both regular and IMAX theaters this April, and it won't be the first time Mick Jagger's lips have reached epic proportions; the band recorded their first IMAX concert in the early '90s. Check out the trailer for the latest one,......

A few weeks ago we saw this guy dancing around on Bedford Avenue, attracting a lot of attention. The curious passerby aren't always human though, even canines want to know what's up with this dancin' machine! The questions remain: who is the mystery man, and what exactly is his "message"?......

MTV is getting all old school and reporting on relevant music! The channel traveled all the way to Brooklyn for a piece on bands closely associated with the Todd P scene. Best of all, they declare Manhattan's LES dead! Not a great way to promote their new vLES, we suppose. MTVMusic VideosMTV ShowsEntertainment News The network focuses on some great Brooklyn-based bands: Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, The Muggabears...bands many music fans have been embracing for......

An actress who insists her screaming orgasm was misrepresented in a web ad is suing Szul, the jewelry company who hired her. The 35-second spot depicts the 37-year-old woman – identified in court papers as Jane Doe – wearing a teal teddy while writhing and moaning in bed. When her ecstasy turns climactic, the ad’s slogan appears on the screen: “Rock Her World.” Genius, right?! According to her lawyer, the ad’s producers had pitched it......

Last year two biopics about John Lennon's assassination made the festival rounds, and are now poised to hit theaters in 2008. One, titled Chapter 27, stars Jared Leto as Mark David Chapman and an actor named Mark Lindsay Chapman portraying John Lennon. While it may be an accurate casting to have Leto playing someone who kills music, his involvement in the film will likely have us choosing the second biopic, The Killing of John Lennon......

Jen has already posted her Top Stories for 2007-- but here's the list according to you, the readers: By Comments* 1. Pet Food Recall After Cat and Dog Deaths, by Jen Chung (614) 2. Rev. John Carmichael, Church of Scientology, by Jen Carlson (312) 3. Wild Wednesday Weather, by Jen Chung (255) 4. Maple Syrup Was Better: Smell of Gas Covers NYC by Jen Chung (191) 5. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Mooninites Don't Scare......

This summer we saw the man behind Davey's Dance Blog entertain passers-by on the Brooklyn Bridge with his impromptu moves. Today, here's something a little more seasonal. And as usual, no one blinks an eye as the troupe flail around Rockefeller Center.......

Over the weekend yet another production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic, Cats, closed. This hipster-ized version of the legendary musical used American Apparel styling for their look, and it all went down on Broadway...that's 1100 Broadway in the 11211 zip code. ArtCal points out that because the original Cats "ran parallel with corporate and municipal efforts to 'clean up Broadway' for big business," these hipster cats may be trying to make a point. Though......