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Tag: Times Square

  • Jenny McCarthy, Ryan Seacrest See Nude People on New Year’s Eve

    Jenny McCarthy and Ryan Seacrest will once again host Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve tonight from Times Square in the tradition of the late, great Dick Clark. Seacrest will preside over the actual countdown to the ball drop in Times Square, while Jenny McCarthy will chat with people on the ground from all around the packed streets.

    Billboard magazine caught up with the pair earlier this week, and asked them what is the strangest sight they’ve ever witnessed on New Year’s Eve. Both immediately agreed it was nude people.

    “Usually the naked people,” Jenny McCarthy answered.

    “Naked people are always crazy, especially when it’s zero degrees,” Ryan Seacrest added.

    “And you know that they’re not drinking, because you can’t really drink out there. So, they’re being nuts sober!” McCarthy said.

    “They’re having much more fun in real life,” Seacrest said.

    Can you imagine being naked and running around in the freezing cold weather that typically graces New York City on New Year’s Eve? To many, just standing out there in a warm jacket, mittens, and a hat seems insane. Once again this year the temperature is plummeting. Even though the actual temperature reading may be in the 20s, the wind chill is expected to hit the very low teens. That’s cold enough for certain body parts to very quickly become frostbitten if not covered up quickly–just a warning for anyone thinking of running around naked tonight in Times Square.

    If you do opt to remove your clothes and take a jaunt through Times Square, at least catch some of the amazing acts that will be on hand. Taylor Swift, Florida Georgia Line, and Idina Menzel will all be performing in New York. If you’re naked in California, it won’t be quite so bad. You’ll get to see One Direction, Iggy Azalea, Meghan Trainor and Charli XCX. And you won’t freeze off any of your body parts.

    Will you be checking out Jenny McCarthy and Ryan Seacrest tonight as we bid adieu to 2014?

  • Sonia Sotomayor to Lower NYC’s New Year’s Eve Ball

    Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will have the honor of pushing the button that will lower the Times Square ball in the final countdown to 2014 in New York City on Tuesday.

    Sotomayor, who calls the Bronx home, will lead the million plus crowds that flock Times Square to ring in the new year by pushing the crystal button at 11:59 p.m., event organizers announced in a news release.

    “Justice Sotomayor is an inspiration to many, and it is a privilege to welcome her to our celebration to ring in 2014,” said Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins in a statement.

    “Who better to join us in the Crossroads of the World than one of New York’s own,” he added.

    Tompkins said that regular attendee Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who led the celebration last year, will not be present this year, opting instead to celebrate privately with family and friends.

    Sotomayor is the first Latina and the third female Supreme Court judge and was appointed in 2009. She is also the first Supreme Court justice to have the honor of pushing the New Year’s Eve ball button on Times Square.

    The famous, giant New Year’s Eve ball is lit from within by more than 32,000 lights and is covered in more than 2,600 crystal triangles.

    Image via Wikimedia

  • Town’s Giant Mushroom to be Dropped for New Year

    Times Square in New York City has been home to the annual New Year’s Eve ball drop since 1907, 104 years total. (The ball did not drop in 1942-43 due to WWII blackouts.) Thousands of people from all over the world meet in Times Square every year to ring in the New Year in a seemingly odd celebration. Well, it’s time for New York to take a back seat for once. This year, the Borough of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania is starting a New Year’s celebration of its own – the dropping of a giant mushroom.

    Kennett Square, Pa is known as the “Mushroom Capital of the World,” and rightly so; Mushroom farms in Southern Chester County account for 65% of the mushrooms consumed in the United States every year. Not only that, but Kennett Square hosts an annual Mushroom Festival, the mission of which is “to promote the mushroom, educate consumers about the health benefits of mushrooms and to promote tourism in Southern Chester County, all while financially supporting local and regional charities through a grant process.” Since its inception in 1985, the Mushroom Festival has given over $500,000 back to the community, raising $65,000 during the 2012 festival alone.

    The dropping of the giant mushroom, which will measure 8 feet by 7.5 feet and weight over 700 pounds, will be the culminating activity of the “Midnight in the Square” event taking place in downtown Kennett Square. Kathi Lafferty, the coordinator of the annual Mushroom Festival, stated that she was encouraged to pursue this venture by state representative John Lawrence.

    When asked why the town had chosen to drop a giant mushroom, Lafferty responded in the only way appropriate: “Being the mushroom capital of the world, I don’t know, why not.”

    As absurd as it is, the dropping of a giant mushroom is not the most outlandish New Year drop in the United States. Pennsylvania is home to at least 48 different drops alone, ranging from items such as a giant Peep in Bethlehem, Pa to a beaver in Beavertown, Pa, and even a yellow pair of “britches” in Lisburn, Pa.

    Other insane New Year’s drops include a 3 foot tall wooden flea in Eastover, North Carolina, a sardine in Eastport, Maine, a live opossum in Brasstown, North Carolina, and a a drag queen wearing a large, red high heel in Key West, Florida.

    [Image via The Mushroom Festival Website]

  • ‘Cookie Monster’ Arrested For Pushing a Two-Year-Old

    Cookie Monster is well-known to have an obsession (addiction?) to cookies, but it seems that the blue Sesame Street character can also become a bit belligerent when he doesn’t get paid.

    According to a New York Post report, a man dressed as Cookie Monster in Times Square assaulted a two-year-old boy this weekend.

    The man, named Osvaldo Quiroz-Lopez, is reported to have posed for a picture with the child and then pressured the boy’s mother for two dollars (for cookies, presumably). According to police, when the mother refused to tip, the man “cursed her” and pushed the boy to the ground. Quiroz-Lopez was arrested on charges of reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

    This isn’t the first time costumed characters have run afoul of the law in New York City. In December 2012, a man dressed as the video game character Mario in Times Square was arrested for placing his hand on a woman’s thigh. In June 2012, a man named Adam Sandler (not that Adam Sandler) was arrested while wearing an Elmo costume and going on an anti-Semitic tirade in Central Park.

  • Galaxy S IV Flash Mob Is Unleashed On Times Square

    Galaxy S IV Flash Mob Is Unleashed On Times Square

    How does Samsung let us know that the Galaxy S IV will be unveiled tomorrow? Do they send out a press release? Or plaster ads all over Times Square? That’s all too easy and predictable. Samsung has instead employed the arts, in this case the art of dance, to get the world out.

    What do dancers have to do with a smartphone? I’m not sure, but Samsung has apparently taken a cue from Microsoft’s Surface ads by incorporating dance into product launches. Thankfully, Samsung’s Flash Mob is classier than Microsoft’s dubstep fueled office parties.

    The Galaxy S IV will be revealed at Times Square tomorrow at 7 p.m. Check out our previous coverage if you need a refresher on what to expect from Samsung’s new flagship mobile device.

  • Super Mario Groper Arrested In New York’s Times Square

    Street performers are just a part of daily life in Times Square. The performers dress in various costumes and put on a show for a few bucks. It may not be glorious, but hey, it’s a living. That being said, it’s really not cool to use your job as a street performer to start groping people, especially when you’re dressed as an iconic game character.

    The Daily News reports that Damon Torress, 34, was dressed up as Mario at Times Square when he was caught touching the thigh of a 58-year-old woman. A security guard at the scene said he “walked up to her and touched her private parts.” The police arrested him soon after and charged him with forcible touching and unlawful possession of marijuana.

    This isn’t the first time that a street performer dressed as a children’s icon has found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Earlier this year, a performer dressed as Elmo was kicked out of Central Park for spouting anti-semitic slurs. Funny or depressingly enough, depending on who you ask, the performer shares a name with Adam Sandler.

    There’s no law barring street performers in New York City as long as they aren’t obstructing traffic or selling goods. Many citizens feel that the city should ban them though. Speaking to the Daily News, one street vendor, Betty Ford, said that street performers are “always putting their hands on you.” She then said that the “pollice should keep them all out.”

    Costumed street performers are great, but you should probably stick to the mimes and music performers. Guys in mascot suits are already kind of creepy, even at a “safe” place like Disney World, but there’s nothing stopping them from getting a handful on the streets of a busy place like New York City.