For the past year, Rich Juzwiak and Caity Weaver have scoured New York in search of the city’s greatest restaurant. This spring, the authors expanded their quest into a global hunt: the search for the Best Restaurant in the World. Due to time and budget constraints, it was determined that the most efficient method to travel the world would be via the World Showcase in Walt Disney World’s Epcot theme park, where 11 distinct nations are represented by themed architecture, shops, costumes, and restaurants. The authors would spend four full days in Epcot, taking one meal in each of the 11 countries represented, plus surrendering a disastrous afternoon to a marathon drinking challenge. In between meals, they would explore the park itself.
The Best Restaurant In The World Is Disney’s Epcot Center [Gawker]
I can’t read the papers anymore. I just feel sorry for Obama. I want him so much to win. I would do anything to help him win. He’s a decent, wonderful man. And these Republican schnooks are so horrible. They’d be comical if they weren’t not funny. So. What’s to say, what’s to say? It’s very discouraging.
The late, great Maurice Sendak spoke about upcoming election and much more in an excellent interview from last year, which is featured in the November/December issue of The Believer.
On a day in which many New York City residents and visitors rallied to help areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, news emerged that the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center is flooded with at least five feet of water. The museum, which is still not completed, houses some of the more important artifacts from the 9/11 attacks, including the last column standing from the towers, the famous cross-shaped steel beam, and one of the tower's stairways.
Those items are located on the museum's main floor, which, somewhat counterintuitively, sits 68-feet below the memorial plaza. As the New York Times reports, the memorial's planners acknowledged the museum was constructed in a 100-year flood plain, which means the land has a 1 percent chance of flooding every year. Naturally (or not), the site has been through two "100 year floods" in the past 14 months, first with Hurricane Irene and again last week with Hurricane Sandy.
It seems worth noting here that the memorial cost at least $700 million to build; perhaps some of that could have gone to more comprehensive flood prevention?
Authorities aren't sure yet the extent of the damage to the memorials artifacts. “[We] will have to assess once the pumping is complete,” said Port Authority spokeswoman Lisa MacSpadden. However, as the Times notes, the "five feet of water would almost surely have touched, if not flooded, vitrines and display cases filled with the intimate and irreplaceable artifacts that have been donated, both spontaneously and in response to an acquisition campaign seeking photographs, videotapes, recovered property, clothing and other personal effects, workplace memorabilia, documents, letters, printed copies of e-mails, and diaries."
But forget the priceless remainders of the buildings and the attacks' victims; what about the $84 blossom pendants and $57 memorial bowties for sale in the gift store? Let's hope those all survived the flood.
According to New York 1, there is expected to be some wind, 50 mph gusts, and a lot of rain. They do say that the storm is expected to hit New York late Wednesday and last until Thursday and that it "won't be nearly as strong or devastating as Sandy."
It's quite possible that New Jersey governor Chris Christie is the most self-aware politician in the United States right now. This tweet is a prime example of that.
Obama Scraping the Bottom of the Celeb Barrel for His Campaign's Final Days
If you're the President of the United States and you've already used up all the help you can get from George Clooney, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwen Stefani, Anna Wintour, Lena Dunham, and Zach Galifianakis even who do you turn to in your campaign's final push? The Obama team has had some pretty lame celebrity guests during these past few days. C'mon Barry, this is go time.
Dave Matthews
If this is the Obama campaign's idea of what the college set likes, they need to do some more research. Although he's still popular, socialist European EDM DJ's like are all the rage right now. Better make a safe choice here and go with Skrillex for Monday.
Will Ferrell
Let's be honest, Will Ferrell hasn't had a really successful movie in a while. He just canned an Obama ad this week and it lacks any potential to go viral. It's just disappointing really.
Cher
Cher is a timeless diva, but she'll never be the star she once was. She stars in this ad that Jezebel shared yesterday and Kathy Griffin shows up to make us all laugh. It's alright at best. We approve of the way that the normally self-serious Cher is able to take the joke here.
Bill Clinton
Okay, so obviously the former President isn't a bottom of the barrel celebrity. Sometimes he's even more popular than Obama. Just today, gaffe prone Vice President Joe Biden accidentally called Obama, "President Clinton." Clinton joined Obama in Virginia at that same Dave Matthews ralley/hippy smoke fest. He also penned an op-ed for the President in the Des Moines Register this morning which is a huge deal.
This is all fine and great, we just wish the Obama camp was a bit more inspired in their choices. We saw the two pres-bros hug it out already, what more do we need.
Verizon Employee Arrested for Stealing Naked Pictures Off of a Customer's Cellphone
Dealing with a broken cell phone is pretty nightmarish. The thought of losing your precious contacts and funniest text messages is straight from the devil himself. Hopefully the workers fixing your prized mobile device will treat you better than a Verizon employee that helped a Florida waitress deal with some data loss. Josh Stuart told her that they were just switching the data from her old phone to her new one, but unbeknownst to her, he made copies of some x-rated nudie pics that she was storing on her cell phone.
When a male customer, a bartender who happens to be a friend of the amateur photographer and waitress, entered the store, Stuart proceeded to brag about the hot pictures that he pilfered from some neighborhood waitress' phone. When he couldn't find them on his email inbox to show the customer, he asked Lampert for his phone and showed the customer over 20 scandalous stolen shots.
The male customer quickly told his waitress friend about what he saw and they went to the police. In questioning, Lampert confessed to receiving the pictures from Stuart and to stealing images from other customers. He was arrested and charged with dealing in stolen property and offenses against computer users.
Stuart is out of state right now and is expected to be arrested upon his return to Florida, where he will hopefully stick to regular smut from now on.
Nickelback's Chad Kroeger Is a Total Anomaly, a Mean Canadian
Canadians are supposed to all be super nice. That's what people say when you don't want to go on vacation to Montreal, "but Canadians! They're so nice!" Local obsession and New York 1 Pat Kiernan is the perfect example of a nice Canadian guy. His Norse-like features make him simply lovable and he's funny, but not too funny.
The interviewer asked Kroegar to tell him a crazy story from his past. After briefly trying to stall his way around the question, Kroegar told the gruesome tale:
"There was a heat wave going on in Germany. In a back room in the venue where we were playing, there was an old fan with a metal blade. I don't remember the last time I saw a fan with a metal blade. And we paid the drum tech.... Oh god, I forget the exact amount. I think we got the pot up to about 600 deutschmarks....[To] Stick his johnson in the fan...He took the money."
I can still hear the "bleh-bleh-blehhhhhhh" of the blade slowly sputtering to a stop, and this blood-curdling scream. It was fantastic. Somebody has video footage of this somewhere that needs to be resurrected and shown at the guy's next birthday party.
Chad Kroegar, we would not invite you to any birthday party, even if that means your fiancee Avril Lavigne couldn't come. And she's a nice Canadian.
Four years ago, the Daily News endorsed Obama, seeing a historic figure whose intelligence, political skills and empathy with common folk positioned him to build on the small practical experience he would bring to the world’s toughest job. We valued Obama’s pledge to govern with bold pragmatism and bipartisanship.
The hopes of those days went unfulfilled.
The New York Daily News gave its endorsement to Mitt Romney this morning. They focused most of their editorial on backing Romney's economic policies. Their editorial board says that "Romney’s not perfect," but in this case, "growing the economy takes precedence" over flawed gun control and immigration policies.
Trump at the Pump: The Full Story of his Post-Sandy Gas Guzzling and an Angry "Apprentice" Employee Responds
Yesterday we wondered if Donald Trump was sending crew members to gas deprived Yonkers to fill up vans for the production of his reality show The Apprentice. Our tipster finally got back to us last night and gave us a first hand account of the event:
All throughout the night our supervisor was telling us that some special favors had to be called in for this to happen. Later we found out that we were getting a police escort, turned out it was about 6 or 7 Yonkers cops blocking incoming traffic to the station, which I sent some pics of. While we were filling up there were people trying to turn in to fill up and some people with red cans trying to fill up. They thought it was open because there were vans going in and out for 45 min. Oh and there was a sign attached to the convenience store that said "No Gas."
I don't know how any of this was set up or how much we over paid for this. Just seems a bit insensitive considering the real problems people are having.
Seems pretty scummy.
Another Apprentice crew member sent us an email arguing that the show did nothing wrong at all. Take a look:
Dear Gawker,
I hope you will respect my request for anonymity, just as you did for the person that originally wrote you regarding this issue.
I also work on the show that was clearly implied in your article titled “Is Donald Trump Filling Up His “Apprentice” Vans While There’s A Gas Shortage?” I have a response for the individual who wrote that letter as well as a responsibility to share the truth with your readers.
First of all, let me clarify who actually works on this show. We are not privileged. We are not wealthy. We are literally hundreds of working class individuals who are grateful to have a job opportunity in this economy. And not just any opportunity, we are ecstatic to be in a field that is fulfilling our dreams. We work incredibly long hours and take none of this for granted. We are aware that we work on a television show, and none of us operate under the illusion that we are curing cancer. But it is because of this that we do not feel entitled, and you will never hear one complaint on our set.
We not only realize the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy on New York City and its surrounding neighbors, most of us are living it. Our crew consists largely of NYC/NJ natives that have been dealing with the aftermath; flooding, power outages, nonexistent transportation, and we have still been reporting to the office everyday, on time, ready to work. In fact even with our strides to push through and maintain some sense of normalcy, we too have had to make unfortunate and difficult decisions in order to circumvent the effects of this gas shortage. We have had to sacrifice in certain areas and relied on our crew to tirelessly make up for these sacrifices.
Our transportation department has been working around the clock in order to provide rides to those on our crew that had no other means of getting to work. They, like many east coasters, have been waiting in line for (up to 6 or 7) hours to get gas. They have been forced to travel further and further away from the city to find gas stations that were operational and available in order to get people to work. And yet, they have maintained their unshakeable positive attitude. So if you “see a caravan of 17 vans trucking up the Westside Highway” I would invite you to honk and wave, because those people are exhausted, doing their jobs, and supporting their crew.
We simply have the best crew working in reality television. Take that as you will, some may not feel that it is a serious statement. But when this is your livelihood you realize how important it is to have a show that you feel is your family, a show that brings you a sense of consistency when you’re otherwise working for a few weeks at a time. These people deserve respect.
Whoever contacted you with this blind item is an unequivocally disgusting person. To turn against those that they have been working along side is an unforgivable act. Not only does this reflect poorly upon the 200+ people that work on this show, it invites at best harassment and at worst physical altercations against people who are simply trying to do their jobs. I would ask your readers to please think about who are driving these vans, and to not make any rash or regrettable decisions when encountering our vehicles.
Regardless of what you may think of this blonde mogul, if you are so offended by a TV show that you feel the need to attack the very down-to-earth LOCALS that are employed by it, you should turn off your TV. And above all, I would invite the person who originally wrote you to turn in their crew badge and paycheck that they collect from said mogul every week. I find it reprehensible that this person has the absolute gall to claim that they are ‘fighting the good fight’ when they themselves are benefitting from our crew working around the clock to keep our show on the air.
I just want to make it abundantly clear, ‘fighting the good fight’, should not be turning against those who are struggling to regain normalcy and do their job. ‘Fighting the good fight’ should be donating to Red Cross, volunteering at your local shelters, and helping out your friends and neighbors who need a place to stay. I know I speak on behalf of every member of this crew when I say that we love this city and hope for a speedy recovery from this disaster.
Louis C.K. hosted last night's SNL and the most memorable sketch was definitely this Seth Myers written parody of C.K. spoofing his own show, Louie, in character as Abraham Lincoln.
There's no doubt that this was inspired by the classic Joe Piscopo sketch where he played an annoying Abraham Lincoln in Ford's Theatre (here's a transcript of it to jog your memory, no video of it is online).
Also, see @FakeLouieEps for more Louie related parody.
The order reads: “If your vehicle’s license plate ends in a letter (A,B,C…), you are only permitted to fuel the vehicle on odd-numbered days.” Numbers are allowed on even-numbered days.
The problem: All license plates in New Jersey end in letters, except for vanity plates. So on Saturday, most everyone in the state could buy gas. On Sunday, no one can. Or so it seems.
The New York Times points out the pure stupidity of New Jersey governor Chris Christie's order regarding gas rationing.
Is Donald Trump Filling Up His "Apprentice" Vans While There's A Gas Shortage?
One of the most frustrating parts of post-Sandy life has been the unendingly long lines for gas. Two arrests for violence at gas stations were made in Staten Island yesterday, and Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano announced yesterday that gas rations would come into effect today, limiting gas sales to ten gallons per driver.
Hey guys,
I work for a reality show that is filming in NYC. I have become aware of a special favor that we are getting tonight that if people knew about, I think they'd be pretty pissed.
So the special favor we are getting, a gas station in Yonkers or New Rochelle is opening up and allowing us to fill up our gas deprived 15 passenger vans. As I've seen on the news Yonkers and New Ro have both been hit hard and I assume need as many gas stations as they can.
So if you see a caravan of 17 vans trucking up the westside highway around 10pm they're headed to get as that I'm sure the citizens of those cities could really use.
The show's star is a certain blonde haired blow-hard who has an obsession with our current president.
Please let people be aware that this is going on. Please keep my name out of this if you do go public because I currently work for the show and don't wanna be outed.
Keep fighting the good fight.
Our tipster has been contacted for more info and we'll update if we hear back from him.
Romney's New Attack Dog, Rudy Giuliani, Calls For Obama's Resignation
Even though he's being attacked by idiots, Nate Silver is calling the election a complete lock for Obama which basically means it's over. So what's Mitt Romney to do now? Unless all of the state polls are totally off, he's going to be out of a job come next week. He needs one last trump card and the Donald isn't the man for the job. Romney is now hedging his bets on a last minute performance from Rudy Giuliani.
The former New York mayor joined Romney and Paul Ryan onstage at a mega-rally in Ohio last night, as part of a Republican all-star lineup that also included former presidential candidates John McCain, Rick Santorum, and Rick Perry.
"He should resign,” said Giuliani. “He lied. He has been a disaster: the worst president for our economy in our lifetime. He doesn’t want a second term. He wants a second chance because he screwed it up the first time."
After his speech, Giuliani appeared on the Piers Morgan show where he continued to be on the strong offensive against Obama.
"I don’t know what the heck he was doing in Nevada while people were still being discovered dead in New York. I sure wouldn’t be flitting around the Midwest,” he said.
He went on to say, "I feel pretty darn offended seeing my president floating around campaigning while people are suffering."
It's a smart move by the Romney campaign: the 9/11 crisis manager attacking the President on his abilities to manage a crisis. Most importantly, it keeps the pretty distasteful words out of Romney's mouth.
But Giuliani hasn't always been so kind to Romney. They were opponents in 2008 and Giuliani was on Morning Joe in December and had some harsh words for Mitt. "This is a man without a core," he said. "This is a man without substance. This is a man who will say anything to become president of the United States. I think that is a great vulnerability.
Actually Rudy, changing your opinion about Mitt Romney sounds pretty core-less too.
[Image via AP]
- Myles Tanzer
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