New York News Alert

Throughout his career as a public official, Mayor Eric Adams has zealously thrown himself into one of New York City’s most unending wars: the fight against rats. As Brooklyn borough president, he proudly demonstrated a rat-drowning trap that drew cries of revulsion from the city’s hardened press corps. Now, as mayor, he’s putting out a call for someone who considers rat extermination a “dream job.” On Wednesday, the city published a job listing for a director of rodent mitigation, which a City Hall spokesperson described as a “rat czar.” Based in City Hall, the individual will report to Meera Joshi, the deputy mayor of operations, and will be paid a salary between $120,000 to $170,000. New York City residency is required, along with a bachelor’s degree and proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The job description also calls for other qualities not typically associated with city workers. “Swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor, and general aura of badassery” a...

My favorite dual role in movies—other than Charlie Chaplin ’s, in “The Great Dictator,” of course—is the mother and daughter played by Frances Farmer, in Howard Hawks’s “ Come and Get It .” I’m reminded of this by Tilda Swinton’s spectacular achievement as mother and child, in Joanna Hogg’s new film, “The Eternal Daughter” (opening Friday in theatres and on video on demand). Unlike Farmer’s roles, which are secondary to the movie’s male lead character, at least one of Swinton’s two characters is onscreen in every scene, and the movie’s few other actors are in supporting roles. “The Eternal Daughter” is very much a two-hander for one actor, an astonishing tour de force for Swinton’s art and for Hogg’s writing and direction—all the more so inasmuch as it’s a sequel, the third in a series. As in Hogg’s “ The Souvenir ” (2019) and “ The Souvenir: Part II ” (2021), Swinton plays Rosalind, the mother of a young film student named Julie Hart (Honor Swinton Byrne, Swinton’s real-life da...

Before Congress passed the Farm Bill and legalized hemp, which allowed the cannabis market to be overwhelmed by delta 8 products, HHC products, and other high-inducing cannabinoids, there was CBD. As a wellness alternative to THC, stores sold (and still do sell) a litany of hemp-derived, all-natural products centered on the self — CBD oil, CBD vapes, CBD gummies, CBD drinks, and more. Among those products are CBD cream, a group of light, never greasy topicals and creams made for your skin. These products are so popular that everyone wants to know about CBD cream for arthritis and pain, especially its benefits, uses, and risks. The primary audience is hard-working athletes, but anyone can — and does — use CBD topicals. Topicals can include lotions, gels, and roll-ons and are known to be beneficial for different situations. When finding the right topical, ensure that the product uses either encapsulation, nanotechnology, or micellization of CBD – this demonstrates that...

Even though he’s attained legendary status in the fashion industry, Harlem designer Dapper Dan still takes public transportation at least once a day. Seeing young people out in their natural habitat, he explains, keeps him attuned to culture at the moment. “I take the bus every day, take the train, walk so that people can see me,” he told Gothamist in an interview. “Young guys see me on the train and say ‘I never thought I’d see you on a train’ – I say, ‘I’m on the train so I can see you.’” There’s a practical reason for his transit choice, too: “My approach to fashion is like if they see me and they like the way I dress and things like that, I can reach young people.” Remaining relevant to the masses and committed to his fashion vision while “translating” culture into a hot product has always been important to Dapper Dan, who was born Daniel Day in 1944 in Harlem. The designer says he’s continuing that mission in his third and latest collaboration with clothing and accesso...

Photo: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images U.S. soccer star Christian Pulisic indicated from his hospital bed that he’ll be sufficiently recovered from a “pelvic contusion” to play in the U.S. Men’s Team’s round-of-16 World Cup match against the Netherlands on Saturday. (Insert juvenile joke about country name here.) Christian Pulisic from the hospital after suffering an abdominal injury against Iran 🦅🇺🇸 (via @AreaSportsNet , @Adimitri24 ) pic.twitter.com/zUM0Ewhbxw — ESPN (@espn) November 29, 2022 Despite Pulisic’s optimism, the U.S. officially lists him as day-to-day. In a moment that encapsulated the full range of human emotion, Pulisic scored the team’s game-clinching goal in the Americans’ make-or-break match against Iran on Tuesday — and fell to the ground in agony as he did so. CAPTAIN AMERICA DELIVERED! Christian Pulisic’s goal that sent the @USMNT to the knockout stage is the GOAL OF THE DAY. ⚽️ 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ZxFsSBXFgu — FOX Soccer (@FOXSo...

In 1971, in the journal Science , two scientists, Roger S. Payne and Scott McVay, published a paper titled “Songs of Humpback Whales.” They began by noting how “during the quiet age of sail, under conditions of exceptional calm and proximity, whalers were occasionally able to hear the sounds of whales transmitted faintly through a wooden hull.” In the modern era, we could listen in new ways: Payne and McVay worked with underwater recordings of humpback-whale vocalizations from a naval researcher who, as the story goes, was listening for Soviet submarines off Bermuda. They analyzed the recordings, and Payne’s own, and found structure and repetition in the sounds, documenting a sonic hierarchy: units, phrases, and themes, which combined into what they called song. They chose the term advisedly, drawing, they said, on a 1963 book titled “Acoustic Behavior of Animals,” which identified a song as “a series of notes, generally of more than one type, uttered in succession and so rel...

Ron Howard’s “Willow” is the latest retro title up for a revisit, and not a moment too soon for fans who’ve spent decades clamoring for a sequel. The 1988 original was part of a spate of fantasy films of its time, including “Legend,” “The Last Unicorn,” “Ladyhawke,” “The Neverending Story,” “Labyrinth,” and “The Dark Crystal.”  The original movie, a George Lucas creation directed by Howard, isn’t wildly original, plot-wise: An orphaned baby destined to overthrow an evil queen is found by an outsider who must take her on a great journey across distant lands, et cetera, et cetera. A certain “Lord of the Rings” influence is evident here (Peter Jackson’s epics hadn’t happened yet, of course, but Tolkien’s books had been published in the 1950s): The film featured a diminutive, scrappy leading character in Warwick Davis as Willow, an aspiring sorcerer who reluctantly takes on the responsibility of taking the magical baby, Elora Danan, to safety.  Warwick Davis in “W...

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is set to advance over $1 billion in accessibility upgrades at subway and commuter rail stations across the metropolitan area. A slew of contracts the MTA is set to approve this week would see $965 million in spending on making eight subway stations fully compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, with the installation of 21 new elevators. Fourteen existing elevators at five other stations would see major upgrades. The authority’s Capital Program Committee gave its stamp of approval to that contract, plus $114 million to bring nine LIRR stations into compliance, and $106 million for new elevators and various other accessibility upgrades at the Borough Hall station in Downtown Brooklyn. Eight stations set to become newly accessible include: Brooklyn: Church Avenue (B/Q), Sheepshead Bay (B/Q), Kings Highway (F), Junius Street (3) Queens: Rockaway Boulevard (A), Woodhaven Boulevard (M/R), Steinway Street (M/R) Bronx: Mosho...