Hyping the oft-ignored borough of the Bronx can't be easy when the tourist playground of Manhattan is just across the Harlem River. But when The New York Times checked up on the Bronx Tourism Council the other day, the newspaper found a miserable website full of busted links and outdated information. Calling the office wasn't much help either:
A voice-mail message for the council's marketing director and executive director was not returned. A call to the council's Bronx hot line resulted only in a recorded greeting: "Please join us for the Bronx's official tree lighting ceremony, Monday, December 17, at 5 pm at the Bronx County Building." That's December 17... 2007.
Turns out that getting slammed in the city's paper of record is motivational. A mere two days after the NYT report, the website has been revamped and is newly useful, though that's not saying much. To wit: There are five "Entertainment" options, four of which are multiplexes. Need lodging? You'll find two listings on the site.
How much longer till the Bronx Tourism Council starts a blog?
It was threatened, and now it will probably come to pass: Katie Holmes is in talks to appear in Arthur Miller's play "All My Sons" next year on Broadway, meaning that next year's Tony Awards will all be about The Holmes (and the creepy, scenery-devouring shadow of The Cruise as well).
Holmes is rumored to be playing the role of Ann Deever, the play's beautiful young catalyst and the daughter of a man convicted of shipping defective airplane parts to the troops during World War II. Shouldn't she be easing into this Broadway thing? We hear "Chicago" has openings.
Previously: Georgina was evil, Georgina was evil, Georgina was totally evil. Also, Erik Van der Woodsen came out and Serena killed somebody.
This week we got the story behind Serena's 11th-hour confession, and oh boy, show, you have outdone yourself this time! We could never have predicted that the dirty dealings would go all the way back to the pilot. Genius!
So when Serena says she killed a guy, she's exaggerating a little. After the wild wedding at which she and Nate coupled, S. met Georgina at a hotel with their friend Pete. G. had planned to tape Pete and Serena having sex, but before they could, Pete overdosed. Serena called the paramedics while she was leaving, but they couldn't revive him.
S. skipped town and convinced her mom to send her to boarding school to cover up the big secret. But Georgina still has the tape--which includes some steamy footage of Serena and Pete making out--and is trying to blackmail Serena with it. Her plan falls apart when Blair stages an intervention.
Unfortunately this could not stop the kudzu-like evil of Georgina from spreading. Where did this atrocious photo come from? Your answer, after the jump.
Scarlett and Ryan? Bo-ring.Bret and Ambre? Not gonna happen. Clearly the major celebrity wedding of this season is that of Lily van der Woodsen and Bart Bass, two of the parents on "Gossip Girl."
Now that their wedding website has launched, even those who didn't receive a hand-delivered, card stock invitation to the May 19 fete can laud or mock the couple's choices--like having their teenage children form the entire wedding party. Certainly nothing can go wrong there!
Since both have been married before, the couple decided to hold their nuptials at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, with reception to follow at the Palace Hotel where they both live along with their children. Now the only question is, who will object to this most unholy matrimony and halt the ceremony in its tracks?
Will it be Bart's son Chuck, who has not-so-secretly been lusting after Lily's daughter Serena since he tried to seduce her with a truffle-oil grilled cheese? Or will it be Serena's boyfriend's father, who has carried a torch for Lily since before her four previous marriages?
First screened at last year's Rome Film Fest, "Noise" is an indie film now in limited release about how horribly loud New York City can be. Tim Robbins plays a vigilante car alarm destroyer with co-stars Bridget Moynahan as his wife and William Hurt as Gotham's mayor.
Anyone who's spent more than a night in the city knows it can indeed be a terribly loud place to hang out, so we're bringing you some relief with a few quiet places where you can enjoy a moment or two of silence.
Where to Stay: The Library Hotel It's hardly on the quietest block in the city (at 41st and Madison) but the Library keeps things hush-hush with only six rooms per floor and Dewey Decimal-inspired decor. The thousands of books scattered throughout the hotel will certainly dampen footsteps in the hall, and if that's still not enough, the New York Public Library is a couple blocks away on 42nd and 5th.
Lindsay Lohan was slapped with a $10,000 lawsuit for taking a girl's coat at a club home with her. 22-year-old student Masha Markova left her family-heirloom mink in a communal coat bin at the Chelsea club 1Oak on a night out in January. The coat disappeared, only to turn up on Lohan several days later in the tabloids.
Markova eventually got the coat back but is suing for damages done and looking for an apology from the star.
We at Jaunted don't condone the stealing of coats, but there's a caveat traveler: If you're going to bring a fur coat out with you, don't let it out of your sight! (But if you do, come up with a cool story for how you lost it.)
The new version of the famous I ♥ NY campaign will hype not just NYC but tourism attractions and destinations state-wide. The goal isn't necessarily to encourage road trips and tranquil, countryside tourism, though. Instead, it's a nod to the reality that people are driving less and taking shorter vacations.
To wit: The previous vacation guide to the state ran 200 pages while the new one is a much more manageable 40 pages, with a focus on three- and four-day trips. The revamped marketing effort will also be aimed at people already close to New York State:
The ads will be concentrated in nearby Northeastern states and Canadian provinces..."People drive less, but they don't stop driving," said Thomas Ranese, chief marketing officer at the New York office of the Empire State Development Corporation.
Tourism officials also hope that the ads encourage foreign visitors--who don't often leave NYC--to spend a few days touring the Finger Lakes, the Adirondacks or the Catskills. Maybe they should put together an Upstate Travel Map to help make planning those vacations easier?
Previously: Serena made nice with Georgina while Blair made nice with her main Yale competition. Boring, weird Vanessa hooked up with pretty Nate. And Jenny's new love interest Asher may make her feel less hatred for Blair. Meanwhile, we hoped for a Cinco de Mayo-themed episode just in time for "somebody" to come out.
So, this is the episode we've all been waiting for, where "someone comes out." Well, if you hadn't read all the spoilers, it was Eric van der Woodsen, who met a nice boy named Asher when he was in the psychiatric hospital. When Asher got out he would still make out with Eric, but he wanted a beard so he picked up sweet little Jenny.
Unfortunately, Jenny only finds all this out at the Upper East Side party she throws with Asher's help--and only because Blair steals Asher's phone and sends all his private texts to Gossip Girl. J throws in the towel and resigns herself to being a Brooklyn outcast, outclassed at last.
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