samhexum

In the most Hollywood of baseball trades, the Mariners acquired Jose Ferrer from the Nationals on Saturday night for Harrison Ford (fine, Harry Ford, but his given name is Harrison).

Really didn't like Abbott this week. Everyone but Ava and Gregory was the most annoying version of themselves. Ironically, Ava and Gregory are usually the characters I like the least.

Didn't get the $10 gift card from this year's NYC health survey yet but got a zippered pouch.

Legendary Architect Frank Gehry Has Died at the Age of 96 APPLE.NEWS The prolific Pritzker Prize winner was known for his sculptural, avant-garde buildings including the Guggenheim Bilbao Frank Gehry, the prolific Canadian-born American architect whose experimental work expanded the aesthetic realm of design and caused the ‘Bilbao effect,’ died in Santa Monica, California on Friday, December 5. He was 96 years old. Since establishing his architectural practice in Los Angeles in 1962, Gehry explored several areas of design interest and iterations of style throughout the long span of his career. His 1970s Easy Edges and Experimental Edges furniture lines, made of cardboard and fiberboard, were the first works to gain him national interest, as they explored ideas of affordable, sustainable, mass-produced seating during the United States’ environmental movement. However, it was the renovation he made to his own two-story bungalow in Santa Monica, California, giving it a sculptural exploded effect, that established his name in avant-garde architecture; first as an early member of the Deconstructivism movement and later, in 1989, as the winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, having just completed his first project in Europe, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. He was the sixth American to be awarded architecture’s most prestigious accolade. Later in his life, Gehry worked with his son, the architectural designer Sam Gehry, to create a new Santa Monica home that could better accommodate his needs. The interior of Gehry’s second Santa Monica home, which appeared in a 2019 issue of AD. Gehry became an international star for his design of the Guggenheim Bilbao, an undulating titanium and limestone building that also cemented his architectural style. The 1997 project not only brought a major art museum to the quiet, impoverished Spanish city on the Nervión River, but it catalyzed an economic and tourism boom that transformed the town into a cultural destination. In 2001, journalist Robert Hughes coined the term “Bilbao Effect” to describe this rapid social and economic revitalization caused by Gehry’s structure. The project changed the history of contemporary architecture forever, convincing the governments of post-industrial towns of the monetary value of design and whipping them into a continued frenzy to secure their own architectural beacon. The same year, the architect turned his sole proprietor firm into a partnership with several senior architects and continued to build his oscillating architecture in cities across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Signature projects include the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2003), his first major project in the city; the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago (2004), the building previously known as New York by Gehry at Eight Spruce Street in New York (2011), his first skyscraper; the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris (2014); the Menlo Park campus for Meta (2015); and the LUMA Arles museum in France (2021). The Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, designed by Gehry. Gehry’s work has always focused on architecture as sculpture; to the Pritzker jury in 1989, he cited artist Constantin Brâncuși as more of an inspiration than many architects of the day. However, he didn’t consider his work all form-based and acknowledged that architecture had functional requirements that were inherently necessary too. “I approach each building as a sculptural object, a spatial container, a space with light and air, a response to context and appropriateness of feeling and spirit,” he once said. “To this container, this sculpture, the user brings his baggage, his program, and interacts with it to accommodate his needs. If he can't do that, I've failed." Silicon Valley home designed by Gehry Circa 1993 High Sticking tall chairs designed by Gehry sit in the great room of his recent Silicon Valley project. Born Ephraim Owen Goldberg in Toronto, Canada in 1929, Gehry and his family immigrated to LA in 1947. His mother, Sadie Thelma, was a Polish immigrant and his father, Irving Goldberg, was from Brooklyn. When Gehry first arrived in the United States he got a job as a truck driver and began taking night classes at Los Angeles City College. Soon after, he was accepted to study architecture at the University of Southern California and began working for Victor Gruen Associates, inventor of the modern shopping mall, after graduation. He was conscripted to the Army for a year and when he returned, he continued to Harvard Graduate School of Design for a master’s degree in city planning. In 1961, he moved his own young family to Paris for a year while he worked for architect André Remondet, and the following year, set down roots again in Los Angeles to start his own firm. Beyond the Pritzker Prize, Gehry has been lauded with the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture (1992), the National Medal of the Arts (1998), the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal (1999), the Gold Medal for Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2002), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016).

I try to keep up with the cashier but ALWAYS check my receipt before leaving. Then again, I haven't been in any store in a decade that doesn't have handicapped carts so I shan't be going into any Dollar Stores anytime soon.

Netflix To Acquire Warner Bros. Studios, HBO And HBO Max In Blockbuster Deal - TVLine WWW.TVLINE.COM In a multi-billion-dollar deal announced Friday, Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including HBO and HBO Max — get details.

Netflix agrees to buy Warner Bros. in a $72-billion deal that will transform Hollywood STOCKS.APPLE.COM A theater owner trade group immediately blasted Netflix's $72-billion deal to buy Warner Bros. and HBO. Netflix has long bypassed movie theaters...

Boy, 5, Sneaks Out for Chick-fil-A While Family Sleeps, Has 1 Question for Police When Found APPLE.NEWS He was craving some chicken minis.

Sunnyside Santathon returns Dec. 13, bringing revelers to 14 neighborhood bars – QNS QNS.COM Santathon, a popular Santa-themed neighborhood bar crawl, will return to Sunnyside and Woodside later in December, bringing...

In college I used to go to Burger King as a rebellion about being sentenced to attending a yeshiva until I was paroled (for bad behavior) in the middle of fifth grade.

Former St. Albans home of legendary late actress, singer and activist Lena Horne now for sale – QNS QNS.COM The former Tudor-style St. Albans home of the late legendary actress, singer and activist Lena Horne is now on the open market, with the...

HAPPY NATIONAL COOKIE DAY!

The dollar-store industry, including Family Dollar and its larger rival, Dollar General, promises everyday low prices for household essentials. But an investigation by the Guardian found that the prices listed on the shelves at these two chains often don’t materialize at checkout – in North Carolina and around the country. As the cost of living soars across America, the customers bearing the burden are those who can least afford it – customers who often don’t even notice they’re overpaying. These overcharges are widespread. Dollar General stores have failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states since January 2022, a Guardian review found. Family Dollar stores have failed more than 2,100 price inspections in 20 states over the same time span, the review found. How the dollar-store industry overcharges cash-strapped customers while promising low prices APPLE.NEWS A Guardian investigation reveals Dollar General and Family Dollar stores often fail to honor their shelf prices – charging more at checkout for...

Doris won a dramatic emmy award for a brilliant performance opposite James Coco on St Elsewhere. I can still hear her calling the doctor Dr. Nice Eyes.

Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88 APPLE.NEWS The Czech-born British playwright is known for Arcadia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and The Coast of Utopia. Stoppard also wrote...

ABBA Voyage Plans Global Second Venue on Hell’s Kitchen’s 11th Avenue Mamma Mia!! A long-dormant stretch of 11th Avenue may soon pulse with disco lights. W42ST has learned that the former Metropolitan Lumber/Daisy May’s/Penthouse Executive Club site at 613–623 11th Avenue is slated to become the second-ever home of ABBA Voyage. The plan was quietly presented on Tuesday morning this week at the board meeting of the New York City Industrial Development Agency (NYCIDA), where representatives from the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) sought approval for a major package of tax benefits intended to lure the production to New York rather than Las Vegas. According to the developers’ filings, the partnership behind the project — Clinton PB Associates LLC, a joint venture of Extell Development and Princeton Real Estate Partners — intends to demolish the row of vacant buildings on the block and replace them with a 175,000-square-foot, 3,000-seat, purpose-built arena for Voyage. They propose a 30-year lease with the show’s US operator, Isagel LLC, and an anticipated opening in 2028. Over recent weeks, construction sheds have been erected around the site. The incentive package presented to NYCIDA includes an 18-year building tax exemption valued at roughly $47.5 million and an additional $2.2 million land tax abatement, according to the cost/benefit analysis in the application materials submitted by the developers. In total, the relief approaches $50 million in foregone city taxes. The project’s overall budget is listed at $511.7 million, including a $39 million tenant contribution toward the venue’s buildout. The developers and EDC argued that the incentives were essential to “recruit a European-based tenant to New York City, instead of Las Vegas.” The venue, mirroring the custom-built London arena, would deliver a “technology-driven concert experience” with extensive front- and back-of-house facilities and an underground parking garage. The project would replace a 60,250-square-foot assemblage on 11th Avenue between W45th and 46th Streets — a site that has sat largely empty for more than a decade. Demolition is expected to begin in 2026, with occupancy slated for 2028. The application forecasts 120 permanent jobs — roughly half full-time — with average hourly wages for full-time workers around $45. The developers predict the project would generate more than $75 million in new city tax revenue from operations and $81 million from employment over 18 years. UPDATE: A spokesperson for the EDC told W42ST on Monday, November 24: “Last week, the New York City Industrial Development Agency (NYCIDA)’s Board of Directors approved a tax incentive package to support the land acquisition and construction of a new 174,842 sq ft concert venue in Midtown West with an approximately 3,000-person capacity and innovative technological capabilities. The proposed anchor tenant is one of London’s major tourist attractions, ABBA Voyage. While several steps remain in the process, last week’s approval marks an important step forward to making New York City the home to ABBA Voyage’s second location and United States premiere, an expansion that would support tourism, create jobs and drive economic returns for New York City. We look forward to continued partnership with Extell and ABBA Voyage as we enter the next stage of finalizing the transaction.” W42ST has requested comment from the developers regarding the tax incentives, the timeline, the Las Vegas competition and next steps for the site. This is a developing story — and we will update as details emerge. According to Broadway World, it came down to Sydney, Vegas and NYC. NYC offered better tax breaks.

My sister couldn't get a bird small enough for just the four of us. Then I hit the worst traffic I ever hit going home from her house. Thankfully I had the dulcet tones of Dolly Parton keeping me calm. In fact, I exited the highway mere seconds after she and the chorus had sung Hallelujah! He's alive! Sweet Jesus! (Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...) Then the two people in the garage as I drove in had the highlight of their days hearing Jolene.

I have a picture of a shirtless bartender from there (a little after its heyday) looking annoyed that I was taking his picture.

Walmart. 50% off today

I'm very tired. I hit a lot of traffic on the way home from my sister. I read that as circuses, vacations in Europe/South America, etc. I was going to congratulate you on a very interesting retirement plan, but then...

Kermit MaFrog (@brettevansmafrog) • Instagram reel WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM In this wacky take on The Rocky Horror Show, Kermit and Piggy find themselves in a haunted castle, surrounded by Muppet chaos. With Dr... Is it still considered a cover if an artist keeps recording new versions of his biggest hit?

Peter Boyle's best man at his wedding was Mr. Yoko Ono.