So this whole wedding thing is kind of funny. I’ve got most of my planning done and now we have to focus on a few little things like finishing our vows (we’re writing them ourselves) and putting together little gift bags for our out-of-town guests. One thing I have left to do is to find a tailor to take my dress in a little. It’s a bit big all around, and just needs simple tailoring along the seams - but I don’t have the faintest idea who to take it to. I don’t have a tailor here that I go to and neither do any of my friends, and I don’t want to take it to a bridal shop because a) it’s not a traditional wedding dress, but an evening gown, b) bridal shops are kinda awful and c) they charge a lot and take way too long, and I need this done in less than 3 weeks.

I found a list of the best neighborhood tailors on the NY Magazine site, and I’m thinking of going to the one closest to me - but what I really want is personal recommendations. That’s where you, our fine readers, come in!

So, if you have a tailor that you like, or you or your friends have used a good one in the city, please recommend them in the comments. I’d prefer one on the east side of Manhattan below 42nd Street, but anywhere that’s easy to get to by subway is fine. So recommend away!

This coming Friday and Saturday night, Warner Bros. is doing midnight screenings of a new action/sci-fi anime film called Appleseed: Ex Machina at the IFC Center in Manhattan. M80 is providing tickets to the screenings for the first five readers who leave a comment. Here’s a description of the film, which sounds all cool and futuristic and full of dramatic plot twists, zombies (always a crowd-pleaser), and cyborgs:

In the year 2133, a war killed off half the population of Earth, plunging the world into chaos and despair. In OLYMPUS, a utopian city-state and the last true bastion of culture and civilization, the ESWAT police force holds the peace. The two star members of this Special Ops team are Deunan Knute and her cyborg partner Briareos. Their relationship is threatened when the government reveals a prototype combat clone, named Tereus, who is a clone of Briareos. However, a strange electronic virus begins turning citizens into violent zombies and the trio must team up to track down the terrorists behind this brutal attack before it tears the peaceful utopia apart.

If you’re interested in the screening tickets, leave a comment on this entry, specifying which night you’d like to attend. First five commenters get a pair of tickets. As mentioned previously, commenting requires registration, which is quick and easy. You just need to provide a valid e-mail address so you can get your password and so we can contact you with the ticket information. (You will have to provide your name to IFC to get the tickets, but you don’t have to do that during our comment registration - we can handle that separately.)

More trailers and info about the movie here.

In their neverending quest for the hottest photos and information, paparazzi and reporters flocked to the Broome Street apartment of actor Heath Ledger as soon as it was announced that he was found dead in his bed. Doubtlessly, they were all waiting to catch the pic of the moment, which would fetch thousands– perhaps family or celeb friends, or even the view of the body being taken out to the morgue for the autopsy. And of course, to overhear snippets of otherwise private conversations, giving them “the scoop” to report to readers, listeners, and viewers.

But there were others outside with more adoring motives. Ledger had many fans, not the least among them his neighbors, who said Heath was a fixture in the neighborhood. Heath was a regular guy who walked around the streets of Soho, often with Matilda, his daughter with actress Michelle Williams[their relationship broke up last September]. And, although he is best remembered for his role as Ennis in “Brokeback Mountain”, his last movie won’t be released until Summer, 2008, when Ledger plays The Joker in the latest Batman movie. This is all a terrible tragedy, because we will never see Heath Ledger again, never get to see the wonderful roles he would have brought to life for us in his maturity. Hollywood has lost a great actor, and NYC a distinguished resident.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Sars from Tomato Nation and her awesomely awesome contest to raise $100k for Donors Choose. Well, her readers met her goal (and then some), so she will be doing a live Tomato Dance outside 30 Rock today at 1 PM. What does this Tomato Dance involve? Sars, a 5′10″ fully grown adult woman in a tomato costume. Dancin’.

You had better bet I’ll be there.

People in midtown, head over to the ice rink side of 30 Rockefeller Plaza at 1. She may also be making appearances around the area, particularly at Starbucks. If you see a person-sized tomato walking around midtown today, post sightings here! And cheer her on, because it’s for a good cause.

There’s another taxi strike on today, as the Taxi Workers Alliance protests the mandate by the city to add credit card readers and GPS systems to all taxis. Fortunately, while taxis are convenient, they really aren’t mandatory for moving around the city. And unlike the last strike, it’s not happening during an event like Fashion Week, so we won’t see a sharp uptick in fashion-industry types having to refill their prescriptions of Xanax early because they had to share a cab with an unfashionable person.

According to good ol’ NY1, the taxi riders they’ve talked to have said they haven’t had problems hailing cabs today. Even so, the city’s zone plan is in effect, so keep that in mind if you do hop into a taxi - it’s $10 just to get in the cab and another $5 for each zone on top of that. And that’s per person. So the taxi ride that my manfriend and I might have taken this evening that would normally cost me under $10 will cost $20, since there are two of us and we’re staying within the same zone. I’ll walk, thanks.

The city’s press release is here and contains some good information, including the definitions of the zones, which you’ll want to know. The last time I tried to hop in a cab during a strike, the driver tried to claim that the zones were MUCH smaller than the city said they were. So if you do take a cab, know the info so you don’t get ripped off.

Taxi passengers, how was it today?

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It’s always entertaining listening to people talk on the subway. I wonder how many of you readers seem like you’re preoccupied with something but really paying close attention to the nearest conversation. We New Yorkers sure like to play it off like nothing can phase us, and I think for the most part it doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean we’re not nosy motherfudgers.

So today a couple of ladies were talking about work. They were discussing how even though “I speak Korean, I won’t speak it with Diane, because though she’s Korean, she’s still the HR person.” That soon turned into talk about the pronunciation of Zheng in Chinese v. how it’s spelled. And how the woman whose last name is Zheng pronounces it wrong.

After more of this, “O damn, we’re going in the wrong direction!” They both get off at Roosevelt giggling their silly selves away.

Needless to say, this link is NSFW. (Is the title of this post? I’m not sure…)

But how great is this? Readers of Jane Magazine have taken and posted pictures of their own breasts, accompanied by descriptions of what they love about them. How self-affirming!

I’m thinking this should be a big Metblogs Worldwide Feature. After the jump, I’ll post a picture of my own bodacious ta-tas, and urge all of my fellow Metblog authors to do the same. Oh yes, the gauntlet has been cast.
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This Easter morning I am reminded of something grim. And I would like to bring it to everyone else’s attention as well. Easter bunnies — those cute furry animals that every kid asks for on this day. And I don’t mean the chocolate or stuffed variety. I mean those Petland Discount live bunnies, bred on farms and sold to unsuspecting families to delight their kids with the “real” Easter Bunny.

introducing my Chelsea — a gray bunny from the Manhattan Animal Care and Control, and fostered by me for the NYC chapter of the House Rabbit Society. She is so named for the neighborhood in which she was found wandering, thanlkfully before she was flattened to death by a car, or starved to death, or killed by a dog, cat, raccoon, human or other predator. Undoubtedly dumped bv some ignoramus who bought her for her cuteness, maybe at a pet store advertising “Easter bunnies for sale”, she was deemed to be too high maintenance or a bother. House rabbits can live ten or more years. Dumped on the street, they are lucky to live a day. They can become members of the family. My Chelsea has a huge dog crate, but can come and go as she pleases around the apartment. I painstakingly covered all the electrical cords, so wouldn’t chew them and suffer shock, or cut off my phone, computer, and/or any other device I depend on.

Bunnies are wonderful apartment pets, if you “bunny-proof” (and the House Rabbit Society volunteers will help you do that, when you adopt a shelter rabbit). Rabbits are quiet so they don’t disturb the neighbors. And rabbits are active in early morning and evening. So if you work, your furry friend will probably sleep through your workday and be up to greet you when you come home — my first rabbit, Penny, would come right to the door like a dog. Oh, and they can be litter-trained. My Chelsea does her business in a cat box lined with newspaper and then filled with timothy hay.

But a pet rabbit requires love, attention, socializing (Chelsea loves to be kissed and massaged), and some work. And, contrary to their image, rabbits are not a good starter pet for children, who can be too rough with a sensitive animal like a bunny, and may not let her get her beauty rest in the middle of the day — actually this mid-afternoon napping comes from the wild. The majority of a rabbit’s predators are out in the sunny part of the day, so the rabbits slip into their warrens from mid-morning until dusk to remain out of harm’s way.

The sad truth is that ACC, and other animal shelters, are overrun with rabbits dumped by former owners who didn’t realize that they would have to take care of these symbols of easter. Or, having bought the bunny in babyhood, are unaware that a rabbit goes through a stormy adolescence at about 3-6 months, where he can become rambunctious and a little less cuddly, looking instead to matters of sex and lewd fun, not unlike his human counterparts. This is the time to spay or neuter your bunny, to calm those hormonal impulses. But when the bunny was exchanged for cash at the pet store, nobody bothered to educate the new pet owner. Either the pet store employee doesn’t know jack about the bunny he just sold, or doesn’t give a bunny’s ass how, or to whom he sold the animal.

So, this Easter, I am imploring all readers — either make it chocolate or stuffed. But if you are committed, perhaps for many years to come, to make a bunny-rabbit a part of your life, walk past the sign at Petland and go to the House Rabbit Society of New York’s website http://www.rabbitcare,org and find out about adopting a shelter bunny. And here in Manhattan, you can go to Petco in Union Square on any Saturday afternoon, and say
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Hello readers!
My name is Irina and I am new to Metroblogging.

For my first post, I would like to share a new street talent I encountered today in front of the 168th St Subway stop. A forty-something year old man stood on the corner yelling out “Ask me a question! Any question for $1!” That’s right, just one dollar can buy this man’s wisdom.
So I’m going to steal his idea. Please send me $1 (I have Paypal) and I will answer any question you want.