Racing Extinction: Empire State Building Lights Up For Endangered Species

Via NBC New York:

The landmark Empire State Building, known for its stunning light displays, shined brightly with digital light projections of the world’s endangered species Saturday evening. The show was billed as a first-of-its-kind live video projection and aimed to raise awareness about animals at risk of being lost forever. The display, a project conceived by “The Cove” filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, showed a looping reel of endangered animals over a 33-floor span of the southern face of the Empire State Building. In all, 160 species were shown, including a snow leopard, golden lion tamarin, birds, snakes, manta rays, and various mammals and sea creatures. "We're set to lose half the species on the planet by the end of the century," Psihoyos said at the event. At one point an image of Cecil -- a beloved lion in Zimbabwe that was shot and killed by a U.S. dentist during an allegedly illegal hunt in July -- was shown on the building. The killing sparked off a social media firestorm and led to calls for the hunter's extradition. Coincidentally, the uproar gained international attention just days before the light show.

Organizers called the show "a weapon of mass instruction." Their series Racing Extinction will debut on Discovery in the fall.

Landmarks Love Equality

Empire State To Go Red For AIDS Walk

Tonight Harvey Fierstein will throw the switch to illuminate the Empire State Building in red as part of the GMHC's "Light Up New York" campaign to mark this weekend's 30th Annual AIDS Walk in Central Park.

Fierstein says: "May these lights, and those burning throughout the city, brighten the night sky with remembrance of the countless precious friends and family we've lost to AIDS. May they carry our pledge to see the end of this disease once and for all."

Numerous other city landmarks are also going red this week. They include One World Trade Center, Bloomingdale's, the Helmsley Building,  the JFK control tower, the Bank Of America tower, the New York Stock Exchange, and the NASDAQ billboard in Times Square.

Empire Red State Building

Tonight In Manhattan

To celebrate #SpiritDay, the Empire State Building was illuminated purple tonight, the color that symbolizes spirit!💜 pic.twitter.com/XMjLii7EdI
— Shane Bitney Crone (@ShaneBitney) October 16, 2014

NEW YORK CITY: Empire State Building To Go Purple In Support Of LGBT Youth

Next week Emmy-nominated actress Laverne Cox will throw the switch that will light the Empire State Building in purple to recognize GLAAD's annual anti-bullying Spirit Day. Via press release:

Spirit Day, which will take place on October 16, inspires millions to wear purple or “go purple” online in a united stand against bullying and to show their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. Each year, Spirit Day draws the participation of celebrities, corporations, media outlets, sports leagues, schools, faith institutions, national landmarks, and individuals. Spirit Day is made possible by the generous support of its national partners PepsiCo and Wells Fargo, as well as official partners Comcast-NBCUniversal and Google, and supporting partner American Eagle Outfitters. “By recognizing National Bullying Prevention Month and lighting in purple for Spirit Day, the world’s most famous office building is supporting countless kids across the world,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “At a time when eight in 10 LGBT youth are harassed at school, it’s critical that we let them know it’s okay to be who you are.”

As you may recall anti-gay activists have long fumed that the Empire State Building lights up every June to honor LGBT pride, but has passed on recognizing some religion-related events such as the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa. So this should be fun.

RELATED: GLAAD also encourages you to remember to wear purple to work on Spirit Day.

Empire State Pride

From its Facebook page: "To celebrate this year's NYC Pride Week, the Empire State Building's lights will cast a rainbow across New York City over the next three nights."

NEW YORK CITY: Empire State Building Sued Over Ejecting Muslim Family

A Long Island Muslim family has filed suit against the owners of the Empire State Building, saying that they were "forcibly" ejected for praying on the 86th floor observation deck.

Fahad Tirmizi, 32, and his wife, Amina, 30, hit the owners of the landmark skyscraper with a discrimination lawsuit Tuesday over the July 2, 2013, observation deck incident. “To most, the Empire State Building is one of the great landmarks of this city, but for my client and his family it is a building of ignorance and injustice,” said lawyer Philip Hines. Empire State Realty Trust, one of several parties named in the complaint, didn’t comment. The Tirmizis and their two young children were enjoying the view until around 11 p.m., when it was time to pray, they say. They walked to an “isolated” area “and began to pray silently,” the suit filed by the Farmingville, L.I., pair says. Amina was allowed to pray, but a guard “menacingly poked” Fahad, says the suit, which seeks unspecified damages. The two guards then “forcibly escorted” the family out of the building, the suit says.

As always, Catholic League crackpot Bill Donohue has found a way to inject his perpetual victimhood into the story.

On August 26, 2010, I led a rally of over 3,000 people in the street across from the Empire State Building to protest Anthony Malkin’s (the principal owner) refusal to light the towers blue and white on the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s birthday. He had no problem honoring the anniversary of the Communist Chinese government, even though Mao and his minions murdered 77 million innocent men, women, and children, but he could not stomach any recognition of Mother Teresa. Now he is bullying Muslims. Muslims who pray in public, including in public accommodations, are simply exercising their constitutional rights. In play are two First Amendment rights: freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Empire State Xmas Light Show

From Burl Ives to the Waitresses.

Empire State Building Honors Mandela

The Empire State Building was lit in the colors of South Africa's flag in honor of Nelson Mandela and the Tea Things are very upset about this.

ESB Gets Fancy For The Fourth

Here's a great clip of the Empire State Building's fab new LED light show during the finale of last night's fireworks show. The musical choices were "curated" by pop star Usher.

Tonight In New York City

Via the Twitter account of Inga Sarda-Sorensen.

Empire State Building Run-Up

Yesterday 724 runners raced up the 1576 steps to the top of the Empire State Building. The winners in both the men's and women's races were Australians. Via Gothamist:

The top spots went to two folks from Down Under. Mark Bourne, 29, was the winning man with a time of 10 minutes and 12 seconds while Suzy Walsham, 39, clocked her fourth win with a time of 12 minutes and five seconds. For reference, last year's winning climbs were 10:10 (men) and 12:39 seconds (women). The record for the fastest to the top—which raises money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation—remains 9:33, a time that was achieved in 2003.

Empire State Launches New Light Show

Too flashy?

Evening View

Empire State Lights To Announce Winner

CNN has an agreement with the owners of the Empire State Building in which the iconic landmark will switch its colors to all red or all blue the moment the cable network calls the winner.

Onion Headline Of The Day

BREAKING: Ten Shot, Two Dead At Empire State Building, Motive Not Yet Clear

Ten shot, two dead. Early reports say the shooter was a 53 year-old man who was fired from his job. Terrorism is not suspected. Midtown Manhattan traffic is at a standstill and Fifth Avenue is closed from 33rd to 42nd streets.

Paging Bill Donohue

This weekend the Empire State Building is green for Ramadan. (Tipped by JMG reader Kevin)

UPDATE: You guys called this.

Empire Pride