Today’s Metro has a bit of good news. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer appears ready to crack down on the abuse of scaffolding advertising, something that has irked me ever since I got to town. The way the scam works: 1) Building owners schedule some kind of repairs or maintenance. 2) Scaffolding goes up to protect pedestrians from falling tools/debris. …

This spring I wrote about the problems the West Village was having with gangs of violent gay black and latino youth, a topic which generated considerable debate among the readers. Today comes news that a “gang” of seven young lesbians from New Jersey stabbed and beat a 28 year old man for “coming on” to one of them. The New …

I have a habit of noting the monthly rates at the parking garages around the city. I don’t have a car and don’t plan on getting one, but I like reminding myself how insanely expensive keeping a car in Manhattan would be. The garage next to my apartment building (shown) has the lowest rate I’ve seen so far. Notice NYC’s …

At sundown, people like to crowd the far end of the pier and watch the sun sink into New Jersey. (Insert joke, here.) Left, in the far hazy distance, is the Woolworth Tower. To the far right, the Goldman Sachs building in Jersey City.

Today’s NY Times has a fascinating look into the lives of female-to-male transexuals, a growing phenomenon that is sowing anger and dissention among some lesbians, who see gender transitioning as a betrayal of feminism and lesbian activism. Many of the women who transition to male do not completely change their gender, leaving the so-called “bottom surgery” unperformed. The article raises …

This shot was taken from the 14th floor outside deck of the AMC Theatre on 42nd Street, looking north. That green-roofed building is the current headquarters of the New York Times at 43rd & Broadway. In 1904, Longacre Square was renamed Times Square when the Times built their first home on 42nd Street, the building now topped by the giant …

I tried to get a photo of the young men from Ivory Coast who stand on the train platforms with open briefcases full of counterfeit watches, but when their sentry saw me aim my camera, he shouted, “Mbuala a’fahti!”, which is Yaoure for “That fat guy has a camera!” and they all snapped their cases shut and began chatting about …

37 seconds of looking out my office window, using a medium-rez digicam. I’ll probably try this again with a better camera on a less overcast day.

I think I’m already beginning to get a little annoyed with the onslaught of “my”. Thanks to News Corp, we’ve got MySpace, MyNetworkTV and New York’s My9 tv channel. Sure, I’ve got a MySpace account (even though most of the time it won’t let me log in), but this whole army of “My” (nerdy Bjork shout-out) is getting on MyNerves. …

New York gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer plans to include same-sex couples in domestic violence legislation, according to his running mate, David Paterson. Spitzer has already pledged to legalize gay marriage if elected, although as Attorney General he was forced to argue against it in court cases. Spitzer is a shoo-in for the November election, drawing massive support from both major …

I took this photo from the rear of the Staten Island Ferry. The most prominent building in the receding skyline is the tallest building in New Jersey, the new Goldman Sachs Building, which I rather like.

“The minute you begin blogging about how “ugly” other blogs are, you become a fucking nerd who never has sex.” – Johnny, author of Johnny Is A Man and the mp3 blog Lost In The 80’s, in an email exchange with me about blog critics.

Last night I finally had the ultimate New York experience. Walking down 14th Street at 10pm, a ginormous rat darted out of an alley and ran right across my strappy-sandled foot. The girl walking towards me froze in horror, then yelled, “OHMAHGAWD! Do you want me to take you to the hospital?” I laughed and said, “For a tranquilizer?” She …

In the mid-80’s, I spent 6 weeks as the emcee of a comedy club. What’s the worst job you ever had?

The 77-foot tall arch in Washington Square Park was built in 1892 to commemorate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration. It was designed by Stanford White, one of the most revered of the Beaux Arts architects. Washington Square Park used to be a cemetery. “You son of a bitch! You moved the headstones, but you didn’t move the bodies!”

Tomorrow morning I’ll be back as Larry Flick’s guest on Sirius OutQ In The Morning, the only national all-gay morning talk show. Stream the show, here. My bit’s at 10am, 7am on the left coast. I love radio, I don’t got to get my hair did.

Today is August 16th. It’s Madonna’s 48th birthday. That’s not something of which I’d ordinarily make note. Twenty years ago today, August 16th 1986, I was a few months into a new job with AMC Theatres, a job that I would hold for seven years, after having spent a few years after college drifting around bartending, waitering, and DJ’ing. After …

This morning’s thunderstorm reconfirmed one of the most durable and immutable laws of the universe, namely that the ratio of rainstorms to uses I get from an umbrella before I lose it, will always be 1:1.