Filming Law and Order in NYC and some extras...

Anyone interested in seeing Law and Order being filmed? I did a little research to find out where you could find out where they're shooting and when. I found out where they have previously shot and where they typically shoot on this page of the NYC.gov website. And I have it from a friend that they film around Columbia University sometimes (which is referred to as Hudson University on ths show).

How about a blog that deals with news stories related to film in NYC? The blog states that it provides information for both the consumer and the film professional. There are links on the sidebars here to a bunch of related sites, and even some fun stuff like this, New York Noir, a blog with tons of photos of NYC.

Also linked from NYCfilm.net and of general interest to New Yorkers and visitors: NYCBlog.net. A blog devoted to news and features of New York culture, housing and travel.

If you're generally interested in finding movies set in NYC, like I was before I moved here, check out this extensive list.

Queens and Forgotten NY, among others...

Checking out web pages again, this time with a focus on Queens and it's neighborhoods. First thing I found was the Queens about.com site. There's plenty to read up here and, as with all about.com sites, you can subscribe to a weekly, sometimes daily, email newsletter. The guide here has added some neat videos (one on Astoria's restaurants and one on the Rockaways) as well to the myriad of information on each neighborhood.

This blog was neat: Queens Daily Photo. It's not current but there are some factoids the blogger puts up there in addition to the photos that make it worthwhile.

This site is current and I had to laugh at the name: Queens Crap. Indicative of the general love hate relationship that seems to characterize every New Yorker's relationship to his or her borough and/or neighborhood. All sorts of human interest stories related to the borough and goings on, they range from a story about the approaching centennial of the Queensborough bridge to stories about unscrupulous parking cops.

Here's a blog about my personal favorite neighborhood in Queens, Astoria, where I lived with my cousin when I first moved to NYC. There are plenty of photos and the blogs themselves are quite descriptive as the writer covers everything from the cultural aspects to the mundane everyday things.

As I got to surfing to see if there were more websites that focused on Queens specifically, I stumbled on a few more really awesome ones that aren't necessarily Queen centered but are worth a mention:


http://www.forgotten-ny.com

This website is pretty awesome. I stumbled on this while looking up information on Queens neighborhoods. Exactly what it sounds like, it's a piecemeal of artifacts of old New York that the author has found over the years. Well worth a look and dense enough that I don't think I'll get through it all without several repeat visits.

The author mentions two other blogs/sites that are included with his on the list of Forbes' Best City blogs. Gothamist and Newyorkology. Gothamist is one of the most read New York City blogs. My favorite feature is the newsmap, which plots the days stories on a navigable google map. NewYorkology is a touted as a New York travel guide but has information that the full time resident can take advantage of as well. A news feed as well as guides for where to shop, where to drink, where to eat, where to stay, helpful tips for transit riders, and plenty of news and links to New York related web pages.

Curbed NY

I stumbled upon this tonight:

Curbed NY

It's a blog about New York City real estate, with another component blog called Racked NY and yet another called Eater NY. Racked is for shopping in the city, and eater, is obviously, for dining. Pretty interesting and well laid out, I'm going to delve into them a little more.

Another site I found weeks ago, NYC Bloggers, is a database of blogs/bloggers in and about New York City organized by what subway stop they are near. It's slightly out of date but promises to update soon. Meanwhile, loads of the blogs cataloged are, in fact, up to date and one can sign up to have one's own New York City blog listed, should one have one.

All about Brooklyn and an extra...

A series of sites on the topic of Brooklyn.

http://www.brooklynonline.com/

http://brooklyn.about.com/

http://www.brooklyn.net

Today, I found this site,

City Noise, Brooklyn

and what a cool site. The site actually began as someone's personal photo blog about New York City with short blurbs. Eventually as comments inflated the site's content, they decided to make it a contribution based website and it grew into several blogs about various cities throughout the world, all built upon reader submissions. Here's a bit about the site.

Of course, since I'm talking New York websites on this blog here's the ones about New York city boroughs:

New York (Manhattan)
Brooklyn
Queens

New York City websites

I found a myriad of websites on various topics related to New York City and I thought it might be a cool idea to create this blog as a database of these websites. For starters, I thought I might list, in this first post, my favorites, the ones I visit every day as a New York resident. In subsequent entries, I may list them by topic, by who might use them, or by type of website, be it a database itself, or another blog.

So, favorites as a New Yorker:

Not for Tourists
This one is a great resource for the new resident who wants to learn about places to go see and things to do without feeling like too much of an obnoxious tourist. They print guide books on a number of metropolitan areas and also have guides online that write about their favorite haunts.

EveryBlock New York
On EveryBlock New York, one can search by zip code, neighborhood, or address for news stories concerning specific areas of New York City. I check this one daily for everything from news stories to crime reports, etc.


NYPD Crime Prevention Statistics
And speaking crime reports, this site is invaluable, mainly for the over-paranoid but it's also a good resource for researching neighborhoods to live in, if you're concerned with crime rates. Click on precinct maps for an interactive map showing precinct boundaries. Each precinct has a downloadable pdf of crime statistics going back several years but also including the current week to date.

Hop Stop
For transportation needs, most everyone knows about this site who's lived in one of the major metropolitan areas that it covers and has ever needed to catch a bus or a train. In my opinion, this site is indispensable unless you own, not only a good subway map, but a city street map for all five boroughs and you feel comfortable whipping that bad boy out in the middle of a crowded city sidewalk. Put in starting and destination addresses and it will give you a quick itinerary (I mean quick) including which trains to take, where to connect and where to walk, and also the option to reroute if you don't like the way it tells you to go.

MTA Trip Planner
The MTA actually has its own such tool on their website as well, similar in function but with the added feature of having a route preference option at the bottom of the page.

The Brooklyn Paper
Back on the topic of news related to New York City, for my own borough of Brooklyn, I stumbled on this gem. Loads and loads of not only current events, politics, arts and entertainment, sports, but also links galore on all things Brooklyn, plus a section called the Brooklyn Wire that "scours the web for all things Brooklyn."

That's really just a taste of my favorites, to be honest. Stay tuned for more info.