Category: New York City

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Jimmy Kimmel Josh Johnson New York City shoes

Josh Johnson: New York ‘is not a sandal city, stop wearing Crocs’

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As we’ve noted, Jimmy Kimmel has been taping his show from Brooklyn this week, and he’s really made the effort to showcase his NYC-based comedy colleagues. We discussed the great double feature he and Stephen Colbert did on Tuesday, each host appearing as the guest on the other’s show on the same night. But for his first show on Monday, Kimmel welcomed comedian Josh Johnson. Most folks know Johnson from The Daily Show, where he’s been on a swift trajectory from staff writer to on-air correspondent to one of the rotational hosts. Though Johnson was born and raised in Louisiana, he recently marked 10 years of living in New York — the length of time someone once told me you must serve in order to call yourself a New Yorker — so Kimmel asked Johnson what he’d say/advise to people visiting the Big Apple. Johnson’s response? “Stop wearing Crocs!”

There are certain things that happen here that don’t happen anywhere else and you have to protect yourself. When you go out, please wear real footwear. I’m begging you to wear shoes. This is not a sandal city.

You have to worry about threats on the ground and threats from above. The threats from above are like the mystery drip. You get the drip and you look up and you pray it’s a air conditioner. Cuz it’s too sunny to be raining and then you see nothing and you’re like, “All right, I’mma carry that with me the rest of my life.”

I have friends who I have begged, “Stop wearing Crocs… you’re not safe.” I understand they’re breathable. They’re comfortable, but it’s not the place for that.

I was walking with my friend. He’s in the middle of defending his Crocs. He’s like, “Look, look at you all tight. I can see laces pulled tight and everything. I’m comfortable. My feet breathable. You’re going to take off those shoes, it’s going to stink. I don’t have that problem. I got the Crocs on.”

And because this is New York, a rat ran across our path and you could tell the rat had like hesitation. You know what I mean? It was almost like a deer in the road where it was like “I think I’m a go.” And then it finally just sprinted across, but we had met its path by then. And so it ran over both my feet, but I had on shoes, you know, I was under protection.

My buddy had Crocs and he was walking right alongside me. And so as the rat tried to run over his feet, you know, you know, like when football players are in spring training, they do that with those tires.

And so the rat is over here putting in work trying to get through each hole. And then first two holes it clears. No problem. Third hole, rat trip. And the rat trips and falls and actually falls into another hole. And the rat, you can hear the rat freaking out. It’s trying to get up. All of this took place over the course of like half of a second, but it might as well have been his entire day cuz we both watched the rat fight to get out as best as possible. It finally like unplugged one foot, unplugged the other foot, and then ran away.

And then my friend is standing next to me like [makes horrified face].

Yeah, that’s what happens when you wear these Swiss cheese shoes.

[From Jimmy Kimmel Live! via YouTube]

I have laughed several times reading through the transcript, but I heartily recommend watching the clip in motion. For one thing, Johnson walks on stage donning a gorgeous suit. No really, it’s so arresting that even Kimmel has to comment on it. Then once Johnson settles into his set and gets to this incident, it’s the kind of story that is enhanced by the delivery. Johnson’s delivery is calm and understated, and it works as a great juxtaposition to the absurdity of the scene he’s describing. He does a terrific job with it, and it was also nice to watch Kimmel just sit back and let Johnson own the moment. Like I said, I was laughing a lot… even though I’m a New Yorker who wears sandals!!! In fact I’m still wearing sandals in October! And not flat sandals with no support, but platform ones that give me a bounce as I barrel along the filthy streets of NYC. I hear your argument, Josh, and I do not deny you speak the truth. But I just want my feet to be comfy, and my gosh Crocs are comfy, school bans and podiatrist warnings be damned! Plus let’s face it, NYC rats could easily tear through a closed-toe shoe if they really wanted to. Our safety from them is but an illusion.

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Birds Nature New York City

A parakeet in Central Park joined a flock of sparrows, needs an indoor home for winter

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Since the 1960s, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery has been the unlikely home of wild monk parakeets. You may be wondering how a flock of seemingly religious parakeets wound up in a nonsectarian cemetery (ok, they’re not really birds of the cloth; they’re so-named because someone thought the signature gray patch on their heads looked like a monk’s cap). The purported answer is a true New York story: a crate of the birds broke open at JFK, presumably upon arrival from the species’ native Argentina. Luckily, the New York climate was close enough to their Andean habitats that monk parakeets were able to survive and thrive and become yet another example of how immigrants enrich America.

For today’s story, though, we’ll be flying north to Manhattan’s Central Park, where a parakeet of a different feather is making news. Named Mei Mei by the birders who have been following her exploits, this parakeet is a budgerigar (budgies for short) who are native to the warmer-climes of Australia. Birders immediately clocked Mei Mei when she showed up in Central Park in late August because, well, it’s hard to miss the neon green ladybird flying with a bunch of brown-colored house sparrows. The sparrows have totally welcomed Mei Mei into their flock, which is adorable! Except Mei Mei isn’t built for the northeast winter rapidly approaching, which is why birders are trying to capture and re-home her.

Mei Mei has been hopping around the Seneca Village area of Central Park near the Upper West Side since at least Aug. 20, when birders theorize she first became lost — whether she escaped from a home, split from a breeder or was intentionally released.

The Budgerigar, also known as Budgies or common parakeets, spent her first days of freedom alone and spent some time with a flock of cowbirds, but it wasn’t long before a group of House Sparrows claimed her as one of their own.

…Unlike their Argentinian-born cousins the monk parakeets that have taken over the Greenwood Cemetery and can be found living wild all over New York City, Budgies are only used to warm weather and do not have enough body fat to survive the Big Apple’s winters.

In her short time out of captivity, Mei Mei has apparently embraced her new life as a free bird — lost parakeets are known to perch on human fingers, even those of strangers, but Mei Mei flees with her new flock every time a person approaches.

She’s even attuned her behavior to match those of the House Sparrows, who do not fly south for the winter, said David Barrett, the brains behind the popular X account Manhattan Bird Alert.

“The Budgerigar survives by eating grass seeds and possibly bugs. She stays safe by foraging with a House Sparrow flock: if one notices danger and flies away, the entire flock will join in flight. This affords protection from birds of prey like hawks or falcons, which are present in the park,” said Barrett.

“This is great for its short-term survival, but it now behaves like a wild bird, and this makes it quite challenging to rescue by ordinary means.”

Mei Mei’s new life has the birding community split, with some celebrating her newfound freedom as symbolic, while others are frantically trying to put her back in a cage.

The Australian birds do not store fat and cannot survive once temperatures drop below 50 degrees, meaning rescuers have just about four weeks to capture Mei Mei and bring her indoors.

Birders are hoping that the impending cold weather will slow Mei Mei down enough so they can finally catch her.

[From NY Post]

Gah, this one’s a real heart-wrencher! On the one hand, Mei Mei has found her chosen family and they’ve welcomed her with open wings. That’s beautiful and should be celebrated and we humans could stand to follow their example! On the other talon — we want Mei Mei to live!! At what cost freedom and living life on your own terms? This isn’t merely the tale of a wayward bird; it’s an existential conundrum! Working in Mei Mei’s favor right now is that NYC temps have been unseasonably warm (but thanks to human-induced climate change, boo hiss). Also, there are a lot of eyes on Mei Mei meticulously tracking her whereabouts, with a confirmed sighting as recent as yesterday. I’m crossing all my feathers for the best possible outcome! Then once that’s settled we can start drafting a script for the Pixar depiction of Mei Mei & the Sparrows.

Birds of a feather…

Central Park’s lost Budgerigar continues to thrive with a flock of Sparrows. It is healthy, flies well, and evades rescue attempts.

Central Park, New York City#birdcpp #birdtwitter #centralpark pic.twitter.com/a3Uqw823AM

— Bagels & Walks (@BagelsAndWalks) September 5, 2025

The Lost Budgerigar continues in Central Park, often near a rock outcropping by West Drive and 83rd Street. She is fine with the slightly cooler weather but will need a rescue when cold arrives. ???? ???? pic.twitter.com/2rg9OWZ1W6

— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) October 2, 2025

Categories
Birds Contests New York City

NYC hosts first Pigeon Fest, that included a Pigeon Impersonation Pageant

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The official Aves of New York State may be the Eastern Bluebird, but the undeniable bird of New York City is the pigeon. They are New Yorkers through and through, and last week the city’s Homo sapiens turned out to celebrate their Columba livia compatriots. Stewards of the West Side’s High Line Park said the idea came after they noticed an uptick in visitors coming to see “Dinosaur,” a 16-foot sculpture of, yes, a pigeon, that had been installed last October. And so Pigeon Fest was born. Organizers called it a one-off event, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up becoming an annual party. After all, a big flock of fans showed up on a rainy day for arts & crafts, games, education, and perhaps most fabulous of all: a Pigeon Impersonation Pageant.

A panoply of pigeonry: A woman with pigeon earrings waited in line to get her face painted. At a nearby table, children crafted pigeon piñatas and drew on pigeon postcards. Representatives from NYC Bird Alliance and the Wild Bird Fund handed out informational fliers. A line formed in front of carnival-inspired games like Pin the Tail on the Pigeon and Ring-A-Wing in which players tried to land a plastic ring on a pigeon silhouette.

The sculpture that started it all: “New Yorkers have opinions about everything, but they seem to really be flocking to this particular sculpture,” Alan van Capelle, Executive Director of the High Line said. “And we thought, why not have a festival celebrating all things pigeon?” Sharing van Capelle’s enthusiasm is Iván Argote, the Colombian artist and film director behind “Dinosaur.” … “I think the sculpture talks a lot to New Yorkers because I think New Yorkers can understand very well this feeling of the funky and the strange,” Argote said.

Showing off their feathers: The pageant included seven impersonators, each judged on their pigeon-ness based on four qualifications: plumage, strut, sound and stage presence. The panel of judges included Argote and a representative of Cornell’s Ornithology Lab. Each pigeon brought their personality to the stage. One contestant donned a top hat for their look and laid an egg on-stage, while another wore a white feathery look with ornate gloves. Songs like Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” and Nelly Furtado’s “I’m Like a Bird” played in the background while the contestants strutted their stuff. The crowd cheered and applauded as contestants took away pigeon-shaped gold trophies.

‘Turning out for the pigeons’: At the end of the pageant, the High Line staff cleared the stage, prepping for a much different but deeply important event: a panel on building bird-friendly cities. Panelists included Qiana Mickie, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Urban Agriculture, and Christian Cooper, a science writer and birding advocate. Attending this panel was Margaret Lee, a resident of New York City who has been a long-time pigeon lover. Every day, Lee walks a mile-long loop around her apartment to feed several flocks of pigeons around Downtown Manhattan. For Lee, hearing from experts like Mickie and Cooper is an important part of Pigeon Fest. “I’m hanging out primarily here for the compassionate leaders that I am hoping for,” Lee told Time Out. “It’s amazing to see so many people turning out for the pigeons.”

[From Time Out]

You guys, they got an Ivy League ornithology expert to judge a contest — of humans dressed as pigeons. Words cannot begin to convey the depths of my love for this. The earnestness, the zeal, the creativity! Not to mention the areas of criteria: plumage, strut, sound and stage presence. This whole festival is such a fun intersection of science, ingenuity, and New York. Come on, High Line, you have to bring this back next year! And keep it in June because I do believe this pageant belongs in Pride Month. In the meantime, we can still enjoy “Dinosaur,” the artwork that started it all. Artist Iván Argote said of his work, “The name ‘Dinosaur’ makes reference to the sculpture’s scale and to the pigeon’s ancestors who millions of years ago dominated the globe, as we humans do today.” Nerd that I am, I chuckled heartily at the name. Though I must admit, it wasn’t until I took a science course in college to fulfill a degree requirement that I first learned birds were the descendants of dinosaurs. It blew. My. MIND!

Categories
donald trump Movies New York City

Home Alone 2 director can’t cut Trump: ‘I’ll probably be sent out of the country’

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Filmmaker Chris Columbus (yes, that’s his name) has written, directed, and produced some of the best family entertainment of the last 40 years: Gremlins, The Goonies, Mrs. Doubtfire, and the first two Harry Potter films, to name a few. And of course there’s the 1990 hit Home Alone, which made over $475 million at the box office against its $18 million budget (hear that, Kevin Costner?!). So naturally, the studio wanted Columbus back for Home Alone 2, which saw Macaulay Culkin’s scrappy Kevin McCallister stranded for Christmas once again, this time in New York. The production wanted to film at classic NYC locale the Plaza Hotel, only its ownership was in baby-fisted hands at the time. So the whole reason we got a Trump cameo is because Trump made it a demand for filming on the property. Now, Columbus says he fears what Trump would do if the cameo were cut:

Not so crazy fears of retaliation: “I can’t cut it,” the San Francisco resident told the Chronicle in a recent interview. “If I cut it, I’ll probably be sent out of the country. I’ll be considered sort of not fit to live in the United States, so I’ll have to go back to Italy or something.” … In the seven-second cameo in the 1992 box office hit, the future president gives star Macaulay Culkin directions in New York’s famed Plaza Hotel, which Trump, then known only as a flamboyant Manhattan real-estate tycoon, owned at the time.

Trump demanded the cameo for use of the Plaza: Before beginning work on the San Francisco-shot “Mrs. Doubtfire,” Columbus was tapped to direct the “Home Alone” sequel, which has Kevin parentless in the Big Apple. Columbus said Trump only agreed to let the production film at the Plaza if he could get some screen time. “We paid the fee, but he also said, ‘The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie.’ So we agreed to put him in the movie,” Columbus told Business Insider in 2020 in an article commemorating the film’s 30th anniversary.

Hollywood reject has bigly tantrum in 2023: “I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it,” Trump wrote. “They were very nice, but above all, persistent. I agreed, and the rest is history! That little cameo took off like a rocket, and the movie was a big success, and still is, especially around Christmas time. People call me whenever it is aired. Now, however, 30 years later, Columbus (what was his real name?) put out a statement that I bullied myself into the movie. Nothing could be further from the truth. That cameo helped make the movie a success … Just another Hollywood guy from the past looking for a quick fix of Trump publicity for himself!”

A Trump albatross around the neck: Columbus didn’t immediately respond to Trump’s post at the time, but now tells the Chronicle he had intended to cut the cameo, and wishes he had. … “Years later, it’s become this curse. It’s become this thing that I wish it was not there. What’s going through this guy’s mind? He said I was lying. I’m not lying. He said I begged him to be in the movie, but there’s no world I would ever beg a non-actor to be in a movie. But we were desperate to get the Plaza Hotel.” Columbus paused for a moment before continuing. “But it’s there. It’s become an albatross for me. I just wish it was gone.”

[From SF Chronicle]

Quelle surprise, Trump’s tactics haven’t changed in (at least) 30 years: bullying and leveraging assets like a mob boss to get what he wants. As an NYC resident myself, I find it infuriating that there was ever a time that the Plaza was under his domain. It’s madness — if anyone has the authority to grant access to that storied hotel, it should be Eloise, duh! (Although she is notoriously elusive; every time I drop in to say hi the front desk staff informs me I’ve just missed her, and then shows me the mary janes she left behind. But I digress…) I guess what’s truly unsettling at this juncture of America is that Columbus’s comments on being thrown out of the country can’t completely be written off as a joke. We know Trump is that vindictive. Personally, I think the moment to snip Trump has passed. If not before the movie was released in 1992, then I’d say 2016 was the latest where it would have an impact. Also, I loudly guffawed at the part of the rant where Trump asked what Columbus’s real name was. I don’t know, maybe something like Drumpf?

Photo note by CB: Chris Columbus is shown with his daughter Eleanor at the Nosferatu premiere in London on December 4, 2024. Credit: IMAGO/Steve Vas/Avalon. Other photos credit: MAGO/Raimund_Mueller_muellerraimund1@/Avalon and via YouTube/Home Alone 2

Categories
New York City

New York City tops the list of US cities with the worst traffic, DC is second

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Palmtop Software was founded in Amsterdam in 1991 with the goal of making digital maps and navigation easily accessible. In 2003 they changed their name to TomTom, and have stuck with it ever since. The company told The Guardian in 2011 that they had wanted to rebrand as “a character, a friend, a local that will help you find your way.” The name Tom won out, but couldn’t be trademarked, so they just doubled it. I feel like there’s a golden life lesson somewhere in this anecdote, but I’m struggling to articulate anything more than the fortune cookie-sounding “double your name and you will succeed.” In any event, TomTom has released their 2023 Traffic Index, a comprehensive accounting of city traffic based on varying factors. Their analysis yielded a list of the top 10 US cities with the worst traffic, and the Big Apple took the cake:

Most agree that sitting in traffic is a massive waste of time, and often cite a frustrating commute to and from work as reason to resist returning to the office. But experts say that congestion is a sign of a good economy because it shows people are going out and likely spending money.

In January, geolocation technology specialist TomTom released its annual Traffic Index for 2023.

The ranking includes the U.S. cities with the worst traffic, and was calculated by assessing the time, cost, and CO2 emission per mile driven and simulating how long it takes to complete a six-mile trip within a city for typical E.V., petrol and diesel cars.

California is the only state that had two cities rank in the top 10: San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The latter is notorious for its bad traffic but still came in way down at the No. 9 spot, while the Bay Area city landed in the top three.

New York City is No. 1 on the list of cities with the worst traffic in America. The TomTom report found that, on average, commuters in the heart of the Big Apple spent 24 minutes and 50 seconds driving about six miles in 2023, a 20-second increase over 2022.

The city also ranked as the most congested in the U.S. in a separate TomTom ranking. On average, drivers lost 8 minutes and 2 seconds for a six-mile trip due to traffic. Commuters in New York also lose the most time in rush-hour traffic jams, with an average of one hour to make a typical six-minute trip.

Top 10 U.S. cities with the worst traffic:

1. New York City


2. Washington, D.C.


3. San Francisco


4. Boston


5. Chicago


6. Baltimore


7. Seattle


8. Philadelphia


9. Los Angeles


10. Miami

[From CNBC]

TomTom’s results seem pretty straight forward, except for that claim that congestion = people spending money. That one is a stretch. But as for the top 10, none of those cities were surprising. And I must say, I’m kvelling over the city of my birth/childhood (San Francisco) and the city of my adulthood (New York) both making the top three. Just to support these results, I can report that I did not learn how to drive until I was 25. No thank you. I was the rare teen who had no interest in getting behind the wheel (helped by the fact that I could walk to my high school), and New York’s bus and subway systems are extensive and can get you anywhere. When they’re working, that is. My absolute favorite alert on the MTA app is when they say a line is experiencing delays because “we’re running as much service as we can with the train crews we have available.” I wonder if the MTA enjoys the irony of throwing their own employees under the proverbial bus.

Photos credit: Alex Azabache, Craig Adderley, Ketut Subiyanto and Noriely Fernandez on Pexels, Joshua Wordel and Maria Oswalt on Unsplash

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Kelly Clarkson New York City

Kelly Clarkson moved her talk show to NYC: ‘mama rented something nice’

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In March, 2022 Kelly Clarkson finalized her divorce from Brandon Blackstock, after a lengthy legal battle. This year Kelly released her tenth studio album Chemistry and relocated her daytime show from LA to New York City. She’s been busy. With The Kelly Clarkson Show returning this week, post-WGA strike (more on that later), Kelly is talking about the need for starting fresh in a new place and falling in love with NYC:

A fresh start: “At this point, I’m 40 years old. Mama rented something nice!” Clarkson says with a laugh, sitting at a studio just blocks away from her talk show’s new home in 30 Rockefeller Plaza. “I was like, ‘I’m not living here unless it’s right by the park and really nice for the kids.’” Clarkson shares two children with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock: River Rose, 9, and Remington, 7. The pair split in 2020 and finalized their divorce last year, which was partly what prompted the change of address. “I’ll be real honest: I thought I was making a horrible decision.” Clarkson says of her apprehension before the move. “I knew I needed a fresh start and couldn’t be in LA. I really wanted to be in Montana, but you can’t really do a show from there quite yet. So I was like, ‘The only other option would probably be New York.’” After just a few weeks, she’s sold on the city: “I genuinely love it, and I love that my kids love it.”

Her first NYC show had an audience of doormen: Taping her Season 5 premiere last Wednesday, Clarkson received a rambunctious New York welcome from an audience entirely comprised of apartment and hotel doorpeople (the city’s “unsung heroes,” as she explained). Throughout the episode, she spotlighted Lenny Faverey, a TikTok-famous “dancing doorman;” Correll Jones, a beloved longtime greeter at 30 Rock; and Noel Maguire, a Park Avenue doorman who started a foundation to help the city’s unhoused population.

She made a hard decision and owned it: Daytime programs such as “The View” and “The Drew Barrymore Show” also earned scrutiny last month, after resuming taping before the Writers Guild of America strike ended. As a songwriter, Clarkson could understand what the Hollywood writers were fighting for, having witnessed firsthand the negative impact of streaming and artificial intelligence on the music industry. That’s why it was important for her to shut down production when the strike began in early May. “I felt in my gut, ‘This is what we should do,’ so we made the decision as a team to end Season 4 and stand with them,” Clarkson says. “I had a lot of hard conversations with people like, ‘Hey, we don’t know if the show is going to make it if you don’t come back.’ But that’s gotta be the hard decision, and it sucks. I don’t think people realize, with a lot of the people that got blowback, the stress of that decision.”

Smiling and actually meaning it: Through the last four seasons of her daytime show, “full disclosure, I put on a smile a lot of those times because I was struggling a lot in my personal life,” Clarkson says. “I’ve learned a lot about what I’m capable of handling, and also what you should not handle. That was me saying ‘bye’ to ‘The Voice’ and having this big move. I love that family, but I was like, ‘I’m struggling. I can’t smile anymore. I don’t feel like smiling.’ What’s cool for me with Season 5 is I am in such a great place, not only with my kids, but with me personally and with the show,” Clarkson continues. “I feel like a weight has lifted. That move was very needed. I think the thing I’m most excited about with Season 5, on a selfish level, is just showing up to work smiling and actually meaning it. That’s a beautiful gift that you don’t realize until you’re out of it.”

[From Yahoo! Entertainment]

I hope you’re listening, Drew Barrymore, because that is what it means to own a decision. It was very nice of Kelly to try and make Drew sympathetic by saying it was a stressful decision. But Kelly handled the strike situation with twice the grace despite only being a public figure for half as long as Drew. To be fair, we’re obviously not privy to what goes on behind the scenes. Kelly maintains a lot of goodwill from the public, even when her show was hit with toxic workplace allegations earlier this year. People tended to make a point of separating Kelly from the accusations, going so far as to say they believed she knew nothing of what was going on. That being said, executive producer Alex Duda was cited in those allegations and is very much still with the show.

As for starting anew in New York City, I too fell in love when I moved here as a fresh-faced college student. But if I had to do it all over again, I would do it rich like Kelly, so I could get myself some nice digs as well. I don’t even need/want a place in Manhattan anymore, I’m just hoping to hang on in my Queens neighborhood! The only thing I don’t understand is: why is Kelly renting instead of buying?