meli mel

humansofnewyork: My name is Brandon Stanton and I’m a...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:31:20 -0500

My name is Brandon Stanton and I’m a photographer in New York City. As many of you already know, several months ago I was approached by the fashion label DKNY, who offered me $15,000 to purchase 300 of my photographs. I politely refused the offer. But earlier this week, one of my fans discovered that DKNY was using my photographs anyway— in Asia. (Full Story:http://thebea.st/13ijYt6)

As atonement for this infringement, I publicly requested that DKNY donate $100,000 in my name to the YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, so that underprivileged children could attend summer camp. DKNY responded on Monday with a $25,000 donation.

Over the next three days, my audience stepped in and raised the full $100,000 themselves. Over 3,000 people chipped in, and raised an astonishing $103,710 in 72 hours. (http://bit.ly/YTy4h3)

I have no interest in vilifying DKNY. It is a company composed of thousands of good people. The founder, Donna Karan, is highly respected around the world for both her creativity and philanthropy.

But I would appreciate if you would REBLOG this post, and lend your voice to my request that DKNY raise their donation to match the $103,710 that we raised.

Together, we could create a $208,000 investment in the lives of children in one of New York’s most vital and diverse neighborhoods. Thank you so much.

This song is stuck in my head! Nice work, Freddy and Charles!...

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:17:24 -0500

This song is stuck in my head!

Nice work, Freddy and Charles! Check out the new music video for Charles Perry (featuring Jeff Goldblum and Emmanuelle Chriqui) - http://bit.ly/WQkVG2

You can also download a free copy of the song at: www.thecharlesperry.com

Another Facebook Change

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:38:21 -0400

Just another lovely thing Facebook has done: If you have listed an email address on your profile, Facebook has decided to hide it and only show the new Facebook email address they created for you. To change, go to your page, click Info>Edit Contact Info>Uncheck “Hide from Timeline.”

Damn straight! Don’t fuck with people’s leases,...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:28:54 -0400

Damn straight! Don’t fuck with people’s leases, Starbucks!

neighborhoodr-eastvillage:

A Tale of Two Coffee Shops:

Starbucks vs. The Bean

On 3rd Street, 6:30 PM.

I counted 1 customer inside Starbucks…and 28 inside The Bean.

thedailywhat: On Kony 2012: I honestly wanted to stay as far...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:35:00 -0500

thedailywhat:

On Kony 2012: I honestly wanted to stay as far away as possible from KONY 2012, the latest fauxtivist fad sweeping the web (remember “change your Facebook profile pic to stop child abuse”?), but you clearly won’t stop sending me that damn video until I say something about it, so here goes:

Stop sending me that video.

The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.

Additionally, IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited. That’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s a very bad thing, and should make you immediately pause and reflect on where the money you’re sending them is going.

By IC’s own admission, only 31% of all the funds they receive go toward actually helping anyone [pdf]. The rest go to line the pockets of the three people in charge of the organization, to pay for their travel expenses (over $1 million in the last year alone) and to fund their filmmaking business (also over a million) — which is quite an effective way to make more money, as clearly illustrated by the fact that so many can’t seem to stop forwarding their well-engineered emotional blackmail to everyone they’ve ever known.

And as far as what they do with that money:

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.

Let’s not get our lines crossed: The Lord’s Resistance Army is bad news. And Joseph Kony is a very bad man, and needs to be stopped. But propping up Uganda’s decades-old dictatorship and its military arm, which has been accused by the UN of committing unspeakable atrocities and itself facilitated the recruitment of child soldiers, is not the way to go about it.

The United States is already plenty involved in helping rout Kony and his band of psycho sycophants. Kony is on the run, having been pushed out of Uganda, and it’s likely he will soon be caught, if he isn’t already dead. But killing Kony won’t fix anything, just as killing Osama bin Laden didn’t end terrorism. The LRA might collapse, but, as Foreign Affairs points out, it is “a relatively small player in all of this — as much a symptom as a cause of the endemic violence.”

Myopically placing the blame for all of central Africa’s woes on Kony — even as a starting point — will only imperil many more people than are already in danger.

Sending money to a nonprofit that wants to muck things up by dousing the flames with fuel is not helping. Want to help? Really want to help? Send your money to nonprofits that are putting more than 31% toward rebuilding the region’s medical and educational infrastructure, so that former child soldiers have something worth coming home to.

Here are just a few of those charities. They all have a sparkling four-star rating from Charity Navigator, and, more importantly, no interest in airdropping American troops armed to the teeth into the middle of a multi-nation tribal war to help one madman catch another.

The bottom line is, research your causes thoroughly. Don’t just forward a random video to a stranger because a mass murderer makes a five-year-old “sad.” Learn a little bit about the complexities of the region’s ongoing strife before advocating for direct military intervention.

There is no black and white in the world. And going about solving important problems like there is just serves to make all those equally troubling shades of gray invisible.

[kony2012.]

Variety: ‘Community’ student Abed analyzes the...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:50:31 -0500

Variety: ‘Community’ student Abed analyzes the Emmys

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037818/

“Shit New Yorkers Say” My favorite one of these so...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:27:54 -0500

“Shit New Yorkers Say”

My favorite one of these so far…

Electric Sheep Crochet: Why SOPA/PIPA matters to crocheters/knitters/crafty folk

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:00:06 -0500

Electric Sheep Crochet: Why SOPA/PIPA matters to crocheters/knitters/crafty folk:

electricsheepcrochet:

I’m positive you all have heard about SOPA and PIPA by now. Especially if you’re visiting tumblr today. Tumblr’s front page had a whole write-up about it with links encouraging people to contact their representatives, bless them. Needless to say, this is a major deal and this will affect everyone.

thedailywhat: Internet Blackout of the Day: The Great Wikipedia...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:17:35 -0500

thedailywhat:

Internet Blackout of the Day: The Great Wikipedia Blackout of 2012 has begun.

Reddit, TwitPic, Mozilla, Mojang, and thousands of others will soon follow suit. The Internet is officially on strike! Why? Because the House and Senate are conspiring with the entertainment industry to break the Internet.

Make no mistake: SOPA has not been shelved. And a vote on PIPA is just around the corner. Luckily, hundreds of companies, charities, and notable individuals with strong moral character have joined forces to stop these dangerous Big Brother bills from moving forward.

The fight is far from over, but hopefully today’s blackout will help bring this important matter to the attention of folks who rely on the Internet for entertainment and education, but have so far remained oblivious to SOPA and PIPA and their harmful consequences.

If you absolutely must scab, here are a few useful links:

Five ways to survive the Wikipedia Blackout.

Wikipedia Blackout: Survive with these 12 alternatives.

#altwiki: A collaborative crowd-sourcing alternative to Wikipedia.

How to access Wikipedia during the blackout.

[wikipedia.]

BLOGGING via TYPEWRITER.: THIS IS REALLY KIND OF IMPORTANT

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:01:53 -0500

BLOGGING via TYPEWRITER.: THIS IS REALLY KIND OF IMPORTANT:

Speak up people and contact your representatives!!!

erikfassbender:

felopez | swaetshrit:

You guys, you know I’m not usually the type to reblog those “OMG UR A BAD PERSON IF U SCROLL PAST THIS” things, let alone POST them, so this is serious fucking business, okay?

You’ll notice there’s a big black censor bar on my blog today.

neighborhoodr-eastvillage: Police Hunt Suspect in East Village...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:23:53 -0500

neighborhoodr-eastvillage:

Police Hunt Suspect in East Village Attempted Rape | NBC New York

Complete post (in the interest of public safety):

Police are looking for a man they say attempted to rape a woman in the East Village early Sunday morning.

Authorities said the suspect followed the 27-year-old victim into her building on 1st Avenue at about 3 a.m., pushed her to the ground and attempted to rape her.

The victim fought him off and he fled the scene.

Police released surveillance video of the suspect, shown above.

Screen captures of the suspect:

And local resident @GinGypsy writes on Twitter:

E.Vill. Folks! A bunch of my girlfriends and I all think he looks familiar, so he’s most likely a local.

If you have any information or can identity the suspect, please call the NYPD 9th Precinct at:

(212) 477-7811

or CrimeStoppers at:

(800) 557-5477

TIP: PUT THESE NUMBERS IN YOUR CELL PHONE.

AND PLEASE REBLOG.

Reblog this if you love "Community" and want NBC to keep one of their -- and indeed, TV's -- few quality shows on the air.

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:11:50 -0500

Well… this is...

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:17:10 -0400

Well… this is sad.

classystachefilms:

raychuhl:

kateoplis:

R.I.P., the movie camera: 1881-2011

An article at the moviemaking technology website Creative Cow reports that the three major manufacturers of motion picture film cameras — Aaton, ARRI and Panavision — have all ceased production of new cameras within the last year, and will only make digital movie cameras from now on. As the article’s author, Debra Kaufman, poignantly puts it, “Someone, somewhere in the world is now holding the last film camera ever to roll off the line.”

Photo: Kubrick on the set of Dr. Strangelove

This is depressing.

This is a joke right?

Photo

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:41:12 -0400

BE AWARE: Recent East Village holdups

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:06:54 -0400

BE AWARE: Recent East Village holdups:

neighborhoodr-eastvillage:

Police are seeking two suspects in a series of East Village armed street robberies.

Two of the incidents occurred on Mon., June 27. At 4:20 a.m. the robbers, one wielding a handgun, held up a man, 29, on E. Seventh St. across from Tompkins Square Park, demanded his property and fled on foot west with it. At 4:40 a.m. the two robbers stopped a woman, 20, opposite 510 E. 11th St. between Avenues A and B, and fled west with her cell phone and wallet.

On Wed., July 6, the two suspects held up two women on E. 11th St. near Avenue B and demanded their handbags. When the victims held onto their bags, the suspects punched them in the face and managed to make off with one of the bags containing $200, credit cards, a cell phone and a digital camera.

One suspect was described as Hispanic, between 20 and 25 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, having a long, black ponytail, wearing blue jeans and a baseball cap and armed with a handgun. The other suspect was described as Hispanic, between 20 and 30 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing about 200 pounds, and wearing blue jeans and a dark shirt.

Via The Villager’s Police Blotter

If you have any information on the suspects, be sure to call the Crime Stoppers Tips Line at

1-800-577-TIPS

FU Sushi no longer has a closed sign ...

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 03:25:46 -0400

neighborhoodr-eastvillage:

As of this afternoon, Friday, just in time for weekend business. Maybe they jut happened to get all 99 points finished, and managed to get an inspector to come and peel off the sticker closing it … but that is unlikely. This afternoon, no sticker on the door, but the gates were down. But they are open and doing business at 6Pm today.

neighborhoodr-eastvillage: FU SUSHI OPERATING ILLEGALLY AFTER...

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 10:03:25 -0400

neighborhoodr-eastvillage:

FU SUSHI OPERATING ILLEGALLY AFTER BEING CLOSED BY THE DEPT. OF HEALTH

Following our earlier report today comes new evidence that FU Sushi is operating illegally in the evening to avoid health inspectors after being forced to closed due to unsanitary conditions. From our tipbox:

Hi Neighborhoodr,

One of the workers noticed that I was taking pictures and came outside to find me, but I was already in another restaurant sitting down for dinner. About 5 minutes later they had someone sitting outside at the door.

If anyone has any more information please submit it to us here.

Earlier: FU SUSHI IN EAST VILLAGE OPERATING UNDER UNSANITARY CONDITIONS?

Related: EV Grieve, DOH Closes FU Sushi

theloudestvoice: Buster Keaton street art by Rue Meurt d’Art,...

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:47:17 -0400

theloudestvoice:

Buster Keaton street art by Rue Meurt d’Art, Paris

classystachefilms: Yeah film can make you do that…

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:26:23 -0400

classystachefilms:

Yeah film can make you do that…

Too cute! thedailywhat: OMG! Adorbz of the Day: Adorable little...

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:45:08 -0400

Too cute!

thedailywhat:

OMG! Adorbz of the Day: Adorable little Gleek dons a Dalton Academy uniform and does his best Darren Criss to the tune of the Warblers rendition of “Teenage Dream.”

Below: Mini Warbler does his Mini Warbler thing at Glee Live! in San Diego:

[thanks brianna!]