New York City

A massive Lego model of the Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter was unveiled in Times Square, New York City on Thursday

The weather has been hot and humid (already) in New York City, and while adding an oil to your beauty routine might seem counterintuitive, just wait until you try Tatcha Gold Camellia Beauty Oil ($125). Its lightweight formulation includes camellia oil for nourishment, licorice extract to calm skin, and squalene for added hydration. Plus, the flakes of 24-karat gold add a decadent touch to the whole experience. But what makes this bottle so magical is that it's truly multipurpose. I use it on freshly cleansed skin for a lighter moisturizer day and night; I rub it all over my body after the shower for radiant, smooth skin; and I use it on the ends of my hair to combat dry, frizzy strands. The lipid structure of camellia oil is similar to that of your skin, so it's easily absorbed, it won't clog pores, and you're not left with a greasy feeling. This bottle of beauty elixir has streamlined my Summer beauty regimen down to one quick fix.

Former child actress and Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes has been arrested on marijuana-related charges. According to an Associated Press report, Bynes was arrested in her Manhattan apartment on Thursday evening on charges of reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence, and possession of marijuana. The actress was reportedly smoking marijuana in the lobby of her building when the doorman called police. Bynes retreated to her apartment when police arrived, where she allegedly threw a bong out of a window. New York’s NBC 4 is also reporting that police took Bynes to Roosevelt Hospital to undergo psychiatric evaluation before taking her in for processing. She is expected to appear in court on Friday. Bynes is currently on probation for driving on a suspended license. Since last year, Bynes has been exhibiting bizarre behavior, starting with a string of driving-related arrests that included a hit-and-run incident involving a police officer’s car. After losing her driver’s license, the actress moved to New York City and began using her Twitter account to chronicle strange experiments with makeup and nudity. Just this week, Bynes threatened to sue InTouch magazine for publishing photos of her with what appears to be drugs in her apartment.

This article, by Ainslie Simmonds, as told to Libby Kane, comes from our partner site LearnVest. In 2009, I was a very senior executive celebrating my fourth anniversary at a brokerage firm.  I was working about 70 hours a week, managing 80 people and traveling to the company’s other offices (two of which were cross-country) 3-4 days a week, twice a month. Even when I wasn’t at the office or on the road, my Blackberry was constantly lighting up on nights and weekends. I would estimate I got about 400 emails a day. But with three children under 10, I knew that years of working at a blistering pace was taking a toll on our family, and I needed to make a change. I set out to find something a little less intense and found a great consulting role in marketing and product development with a small firm. I was excited to keep up all my professional skills (and get some new ones) at a pace I knew would bring some welcome relief to the crazy of our household. At this new job I would manage only 15 people, largely set my own schedule and truly be offline while I was at home. But to make it work, we had to make some adjustments in order to accommodate my reduced salary. In fact, it was a big reduction: $5,000 a month, plus the substantial bonuses I would no longer receive. When I did the math, I didn’t think it was even possible to make such a massive shift in our lifestyle—but I knew I had to give it a try if I didn’t want to burn out before I turned 40. How We Cut $5,500 a Month My husband Mark and I live in Larchmont, N.Y., a small town about 30 minutes outside of New York City, with our three kids, plus our dog Emily, our cat Nikki and our fish Charlie. It isn’t cheap: The median household income hovers around $160,396. Mark and I had always been good savers. I grew up in a modest home in a blue-collar town near Detroit, Michigan, but I never felt deprived. My parents taught me to never spend more than you earned—period. And I think that instinct kicked in when I took the new job. I had lived with less before and I absolutely knew I could do it again. Salary cuts aside, I knew that no matter what, we could make things work as long as I followed my parents’ advice. I was fortunate that along with my new position, I still had the financial advantage of a 401(k) with company match for my retirement savings, and considerable savings. My kids stayed on my husband’s insurance, and I realized it was cheaper to leave them there and put myself on my new company’s plan. That just left our monthly expenses, which had ballooned as our family grew. After a lot of conversation with my husband and a ton of research, I figured out how to make it work. The first thing I did to scale back our spending was aggregate all of my accounts with an online tool (the LearnVest Money Center wasn’t around then!) to understand where my pay was going. Once I could see my spending in one place, I sorted my expenses from largest to smallest. I figured if I could make big cuts on the big items, I would have a fighting chance of making it work. I’ve never been an over-spender, but we had a substantial mortgage and a full-time nanny, which topped my list of expenses. First, we put down the money we had saved from our bonuses years prior to pay down a big chunk of our mortgage so that we could refinance and move from a jumbo to a conforming loan. I’ll explain: Fannie Mae only guarantees loans that meet certain requirements, including falling under a cap that changes annually. For 2013 it’s $417,000 ($625,500 for high-cost areas like Larchmont). These are considered “conforming loans.” Because they’re guaranteed, there’s a higher demand for them, and consequently lower interest rates. The loan we had originally was considered a jumbo loan because it didn’t meet those requirements and wasn’t guaranteed, and had a higher interest rate. Once we put our bonus money toward the loan, we were able to refinance for a conforming loan with the lower interest rates (we went from ab

Day 10 of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival sees the premiere of James Gray’s ‘The Immigrant.’ James Gray will be bringing his fourth film to the Cannes Film Festival in the hope that he will recieve the highly coveted Palme d’Or trophy for his efforts. The film stars the truly talented Marion Cotillard, who plays a Polish immigrant in 1920′s New York City. Marion swiftly falls under the spell of a small-time pimp played by Joaquin Phoenix, a regular in Gray’s cinematic masterpieces. As the plot thickens, Marion seeks out the help of magician, Jeremy Renner, to rescue her from these dark times. ‘The Immigrant’ partially mirrors the story of James gray’s grandparents when they arrived in New York as immigrants from Eastern Europe. This hugely anticipated film premieres on Friday 24th at 8:30, 15:00 and 19:30, 2013. In keeping with the Eastern European theme of James Gray’s eagerly awaited Cannes Film Festival entry, why not charter this luxurious Jeanneau Prestige 46 Fly in Croatia. She boasts 3 grand and well-designed cabins that can easily accommodate up to 6 guests. She is one of the finest in her class that is available to charer without a skipper on the beautiful Croatian coast. The interior of this Prestige 46 oozes style and elegance thanks to her cherry woord furnishings, sprawling leather sofas and spacious open plan.The adjoining 3 bathrooms provide ample room for the guests and are fully fitted with all the latest bathroom accessories. She has a beautifully constructed flybridge that overlooks the crystal blue sea, an ideal spot to marvel at the rugged Croatian coastline. The performance of the 2 x 500 Cummins engines combined with the superb fiberglass hull shape provides an extremely smooth charter. Charter this luxury Jeanneau Prestige 46 Fly in Croatia and you will not be disappointed. At www.boatbookings.com, we are here to help you plan your perfect luxury yachting holiday. We have a team of highly skilled professionals who are extremely knowledgeable in their destinations and will be able to help you bring together the yacht, the crew and all the other aspects that make your charter special.

All About Jazz is celebrating Archie Shepp's birthday today! Archie Shepp is a New York City native and alumnus of Goddard College. Archie started playing jazz in the early 60\'s and continues to dazzle audiences around the world playing tenor saxophone and piano, accompanied by his soulful voice. Currently residing in Massachusetts, he teaches music history as a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Archie has collaborated with Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane and Yusef Lateef... Read more...

In 1871, Truckson LaFrance, whose family trade was iron working, started building rotary steam engines and in 1903, built approximately 25 chain drive cars with tube coil radiators mounted below the front of the frame, 'rear-entrance tonneau' seating, all righthand drive. The price was set at $5,000 and all the vehicles were sold exclusively by Sidney Bowman of New York City. 1906 saw the experiment of shaft drive cars although this was not pursued. In 1909, Simplex chain-drive rolling chassis were purchased and shipped to the new LaFrance factory in Elmira, New York where new bodies were fitted and badged as LaFrance. In 1910 Simplex contracted LaFrance to design for them a 50hp, four cylinder engine and later the following year, an American LaFrance four cylinder, 50hp Roadster was entered in the one mile dirt track race at the Syracuse New York State Fair. This resulted in Type 75-12-10 & 38 model vehicles being manufactured with approximately 5,000 built until around 1925. These were all in the style that we see this vehicle in today, albeit with an assortment of configurations. Mercedes-Benz, through their subsidiary Freightliner Corp, purchased the American LaFrance Company in its entirety from the Figgie International Company. With it came the oldest surviving LaFrance car, a 1911 four cylinder, 50hp Roadster and 14 fully restored American LaFrance Fire Trucks which are all now housed in the new LaFrance Museum in Cleveland, North Carolina. The impressive vehicle on offer today was originally imported into the UK in the mid 1980's whereupon it was converted into the speedster configuration you see today. It was then used extensively on tours and rallies within the UK and throughout Europe before returning to South East England for further restoration. It was completely overhauled, painted and run-in to the point where it can now be used with confidence as required. The 14½ litre, six cylinder, T-Head motor turns over with the aid of a solid iron flywheel and a 5½ bore through twin chain drive to the rear wheels and provides almost unlimited low-down torque. Starting is by either push-button or hand-crank and the radiator is a German silver (nickel silver) unit with an aluminium bonnet and piano hinges. The original vehicle was specified with a Ross steering box, a Rolls-Royce unit and a vast improvement on the original LaFrance item. The seats are in the 'Roi de Belge' style with leather padded wicker and a period touring trunk can be found to the rear. With three forward gears and one reverse, wooden artillery wheels and more kerbside presence than any million pound supercar, it is little surprise that these immense creations are hugely popular on the Peking to Paris Rally; indeed there has been one on every single event (bar one) since its inception and on every single West to East Road Race in the USA. For sale by auction on Saturday 01 June 2013 with Historics at Brooklands, Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit, Weybridge, Surrey, Call 01753 639170See Description

A contract between Nissan and the city of New York for a fleet of taxis is before the courts, with a New York Supreme Court Justice ruling that part of the program’s deal is “null, void and unenforceable”. Industry journal Automotive News reports that only five months out from the rollout of the ‘Taxi of Tomorrow’ (ToT) program, Justice Peter Moulton of the New York Supreme Court has ruled that the contract awarded to Nissan by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission in 2011 is flawed due to the city’s specific call for a “hybrid electric vehicle” not being met by the petrol-powered Nissan NV200. While the report states that Nissan has promised the city of New York a battery-powered, zero-emission electric version of the NV200 will be released in the future – backed up by court documents from Nissan assuring a hybrid version is planned for 2015 – Justice Moulton ruled that New York taxi companies must be able to buy hybrid electric vehicles from other companies despite the exclusive nature of the initial 10-year contract, worth an estimated US$1 billion. Chairman of the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission, David Yassky, said the ruling would not delay the implementation of the Taxi of Tomorrow program. “The TLC is acting to ensure that taxi owners will continue to have the option to purchase a hybrid vehicle, even once the ToT hits the road in October.” According to the report, the TLC is to meet on June 20 to propose new rules on hybrid taxis to rectify the issue. Powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, the Nissan NV200 taxi has been modified to carry four passengers and luggage, with greater rear legroom, sliding doors, side steps, grab handles, phone chargers, reading lights and a transparent roof all fitted for the role. No impact on the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle taxi pilot program launched in New York City in April has been announced. The post Nissan New York taxi program before US Supreme Court appeared first on CarAdvice.

U.S. actress Amanda Bynes was arrested in New York City on Thursday after she allegedly threw a bong out the window of a midtown Manhattan apartment building, a police official said.

WARNING: This is best read while eating a few (or a dozen) Oreos. The first Oreo cookie was made in 1912 at the original Nabisco bakery in New York City (the factory is present day Chelsea Market). Via: loc.gov Two flavors originally debuted in 1912, original and lemon meringue. Via: farm9.staticflickr.com The origin of the name Oreo is unknown, but the leading theory is that the name was derived from the French word "Or", meaning gold (the early packaging was gold tin). Via: ww2.hdnux.com The first Oreo cookie was sold in Hoboken, NJ. Via: galleryplus.ebayimg.com View Entire List ›