C.S. Muncy

Not the view from the Manhattan Bridge, but it still felt pretty damn close

See C.S. Muncy's photos from the Shuttle landing at JFK

Knowing the Space Shuttle Enterprise was going to be arriving today in New York City, I was extremely pissed off to realize I had a doctor's appointment which would preclude me from actively viewing it, and I'd most likely be underground in the subway when it flew over the Hudson, guaranteeing I wouldn't even catch a glimpse of it. I was also glad, but extremely jealous, that Voice contributor C.S. Muncy would get a front row seat at JFK Airport. My self-pity doubled down when I listened to the Brian Lehrer Show's call in segment of similar space geeks from their perches around the city and in New Jersey.

My only hope was that, in my subway travels on the Q train, I might, maybe have the chance to snatch a glimpse in the three minute window in which the train crossed the Manhattan Bridge. This, I knew, was an implausibly long shot. Using extremely scientific reasoning, I estimated that the odds of the 747 ferrying the Enterprise lifting off from Washington, D.C., flying over the Verrazano, passing by the Statue of Liberty, going up the Hudson, and swinging back over the harbor just as my Q train was on the bridge were about 3,720 to 1...the same odds C-3P0 gave the Millenium Falcon of "successfully navigating an asteroid field."

Well, the odds were with Captain Han Solo and also with me, because I had a close encounter with the Enterprise at exactly the right moment.

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The above video demonstrating visual effects in movies and television proves what we've all secretly known for years: New York City doesn't exist. Times Square, the Hudson River, and the UN building are just post-production illusions. Instead, we live in a world made up of nothing but green walls.

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The former West Village psychic Sylvia Mitchell was arrested in an appropriately named Connecticut town called Mystic after a nearly month-long search since she disappeared with a bunch of a customer's money. Mitchell told a woman that she'd hold on to her $27,000 in an exercise meant to remedy the duped woman's attachment to money, but when the lady asked for it back (presumably cured), Mitchell only handed over $10,000. Then Mitchell split and opened up shop elsewhere. She was eventually found by a private investigator and now faces an array of charges in similar cases: A bunch of people say Mitchell ripped them off, but, to be fair, that's sort of her job, so our sympathy level is low. [NYT]

China has come under fire again for human rights violations, despite assurances from government offi -- HOLY CRAP, ARE THOSE GOLDFISH SWIMMING IN FORMATION?

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Sorry to interrupt you from your daily reading about the boring-ass Supreme Court or the boring-ass Rolling Stone or the boring-ass BP oil spill or whatever other boring-ass "important" non-magical thing you read about today, but, um, THE NEW HARRY POTTER TRAILER IS HERE! Click the "More > > >" button! You know you want to. No, really. If you're one of those terribly sad and unfortunate people who wrote off Harry Potter books as "for kids" or whatever, it's probably because you're insecure about not having any magic in your life, and you're projecting your anger about being non-magical on the most magical franchise in the history of literary/movie/theme-park/lunchbox history, or you enjoy The Lord of the Rings and justify it to people by explaining that Led Zeppelin liked The Lord of the Rings and that "Ramble On" is totally about Frodo, but honestly, we don't care, I don't care, nobody cares. The new Harry Potter trailer is here.

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