Arun Venugopal

Just how much do New Yorkers dislike the idea of a mosque/community center being located near Ground Zero? The good peeps at Marist decided to find out. Their latest poll put forth 2 questions to registered voters:

In February I covered the legislative movement to legalize medical marijuana in New York. Given how little grassroots opposition there was, I figured passage wasn't too far in the future and I'd soon be getting triumphant emails from the pot lobby and evites to smokey, bong-filled celebrations (which I'd naturally decline).

Well, it's August, and Albany is still Albany, so maybe it's no surprise that medical marijuana is still not legal. But here's an entertaining -- and rather apocalyptic -- animation made by Brooklyn-based Haik Hoisington, who's smoked pot for 15 years and wanted to articulate his opposition to the "policing of pleasure in the United States."

The city Landmarks Preservation Commission’s 9-0 vote denying landmark status to 45 Park Place means that construction of an Islamic cultural center can now move forward. Judging by the pretty weak showing of opponents at the meeting, a few of whom shouted “Shame!” and other comments at the fast-departing commissioners at the end of the meeting, you didn’t sense there’s much steam left in the stop-the-mega-mosque crowd, cable news notwithstanding. That made things especially hard on the hordes of reporters who were looking for quotes, and were willing to mob someone — anyone – who looked like they had an opinion of any kind.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday denying a Tribeca building landmark status, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission cleared the way for an Islamic cultural center to be built just two blocks from Ground Zero. Opponents had assailed the project, calling it an insult to the memories of the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11th attacks.

The commission voted Tuesday to deny landmark status to a building two blocks from Ground Zero, which can now be demolished.

Has the Muslim community been too slow to condemn terrorism? Or is it simply incapable of being heard when it does issue condemnations? Last year, Kamran Pasha, a novelist and screenwriter who’s worked for NBC and Showtime, and who is Muslim, vented about the subject in a blog post, “The Big Lie About Muslim Silence on Terrorism.”

Eating while reporting can be a tricky thing. A few years ago, I did a story on the triumphant arrival of Indian mangoes on American shores. The Indian distributor, a dentist by day, brought a case of mangoes up to our newsroom and prodded me to enjoy one during our interview.

That's MISTER Flyer to you.

As a native of Houston, it's always fun to watch hometown politics from afar, especially when it becomes intertwined with New York politics. Here's an interesting AP story [run on a Beaumont news site] on how Houston's former mayor, and current gubernatorial candidate Bill White, is struggling to distance himself from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group Mayor Bloomberg founded.

Last week, the Queens D.A. sent out a release about the conviction of 18-year-old Harpreet Singh, of Maspeth. The conviction followed a seriously disturbing incident: Singh had gotten in touch with a 16-year-old girl on MySpace, at first asking her for head-and-shoulder photos of herself, then asking her to send progressively more revealing images, including, finally, shots of herself nude.

Eventually (on June 23, 2008), Singh started blackmailing the girl, saying he'd post the nude photos online and send them to his friends if she refused to have sex with him. She agreed to his demand, and the next day, when she arrived at the home of his friends, he raped her, after which his friends -- Norman Gondal, Anjam Shahzad, Vikgram Singh and an unnamed juvenile -- took turns with her.

"That afternoon," the press release reads, "the girl returned home distraught and, locking herself in the bathroom, ingested medicine. She then attempted to tie a cord around her neck. Fortunately, her mother arrived home and called 911."

The thing that stood out to me initially was the fact that the defendants appeared to be South Asian. I can't remember hearing of another incident this brutal being committed by a group of young desis.

But who is the victim? Is she Indian or Pakistani as well?

I was just positive the mama horse was covered in copper, so beautiful and shimmery was its coat. But you know what, I was wrong. Glass tiles.

So sorry -- I don't have the artist's name.

The first Burmese restaurant I ever went to, next to Cooper Union, was so-so, and has since shut down. The next one I went to, on Roosevelt Avenue, was better, and has since shut down. There's apparently a Cafe Mingala on the UES, but really, what could be more incongruous than that?

Thai guy, Jimmy Wongwanich, whom I met in Woodside. I can generally read Sanskrit script, but not numbers. Apparently these say '1978' -- year of his birth.

Happy Puerto Rican Day. I like how the soft fuzziness of this gentleman's wristband offsets the hard chunkiness of his finger-bling.

In the last decade, American movie studios have been skittish about building storylines around terrorism. Meanwhile in India, Bollywood has been making lots of films that depict the sensitive topic. WNYC's Arun Venugopal shows Kurt how Bollywood is doing something Hollywood won't.

You know that incredible, electrical connection that takes place when you look directly into Beyonce’s eyes, and she into yours? I do.

It happened just the other night, actually, when we were at the Palm, in midtown. We were there, technically speaking, because this guy she knows, Jay-Z, is a producer for Fela!, the Broadway musical, and they’re hyping the show for the Tonys (this Sunday). Will Smith was there too, with his girl Jada. They’re all producers on the show, all except for Beyonce. She didn’t have anything to do with Fela.

You know that incredible, electrical connection that takes place when you look directly into Beyonce's eyes, and she into yours? I do. It happened just the other night, actually, when we were at the Palm, in midtown. We were there, technically speaking, because this guy she knows, Jay-Z, is a producer for Fela!, the Broadway musical, and they're hyping the show for the Tonys (this Sunday). Will Smith was there too, with his girl Jada. They're all producers on the show, all except for Beyonce. She didn't have anything to do with Fela.

New York, NY —

The idea of a "mega mosque," as its called by opponents, mere steps from Ground Zero, is generating national attention. For opponents like Herb London of the Washington, D.C.-based Hudson Institute, this is about defining the future of the country.

"We have a responsibility to make ...

Dude's got veggies to pick up, at Patel Brothers. Let's the car idle, so the girls can check it out.

Oh, this? Yeah, it's an Om. Pretty sweet, huh? My man, Vik, he's always saying 'Om Sweet Om.' He's off the hook... Yo, you need a ride? That basmati looks mad heavy.

You know that notion of how some conservatives want to starve government, in order to prove how bad government is? I sense that's exactly what's going on with subway poetry these days. Someone in the subway poetry establishment wants people to become so disillusioned with subway poetry that they'll rise up in revolt against subway poetry.