Times Square Time Lapse

Times Square Is Already Full

It's almost nine hours before midnight and Times Square is already mobbed. EarthCam is streaming live shots from multiple angles.

Sydney Rings In 2015

Their fireworks are always the best.

New Zealand Rings In 2015

Happy New Year From The ISS

Creationists Plan Times Square Message

Via World Net Daily:

When the famous ball drops on New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square, a message will be there to remind “our intolerant liberal friends” about the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. Answers in Genesis, the Christian ministry best known for operating the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, announced it is purchasing a recurring, 15-second spot on a video billboard at 46th and Broadway to publicly “thank God for freedom.” “The :15 digital board will remind Americans of the religious freedoms they enjoy – whether they hold to the worldviews of Christianity, atheism, Judaism [or] other belief systems – and must be defended,” the ministry stated. “In addition, the Cross of Christ will be prominently displayed.” The 15-second ad states, “To all our intolerant liberal friends: Thank God for freedom. Brought to you by AnswersInGenesis.org and the First Amendment.”

Answers In Genesis says the billboard is their response to "attacks" on the Ark Encounter, which was just denied $18M in tax breaks because job applicants must stipulate that they believe God drowned everybody in the world because he loved them so fucking much. The billboard is expected to get three million in-person impressions in Times Square during its run and "potentially many millions more" should it appear during tomorrow night's telecasts of the ball drop.

Times Square Gets Its "13"

Source.

Fireworks Around The World

Hit this link for some great shots from around the world.

Lady Gaga Drops The Ball

Live Cams From Times Square

At this writing midnight is some eleven hours way, but as you can see there are already thousands of people crammed into the pens across Times Square. You can watch the craziness live from a number of cams in different locations.

Sydney Rings In 2012

Lady Gaga Will Drop The Ball

Native New Yorker Lady Gaga will join Mayor Bloomberg in dropping the ball tomorrow night in Times Square.

Each year, Hizzoner chooses a guest to help drop the ball and count down the year’s final minute. Past choices have included Bill and Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, Muhammad Ali and Rudy Giuliani. Lady Gaga will perform on ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2012.”

This is my eleventh year as a New Yorker and I've yet to be in Times Square on New Year's Eve, as I'm regularly told I would permanently destroy any local cred should I do so.

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

Tap Tap Tap

Is this thing on? What with the funky weekend holidays this year, who's working this week?

Mariah Carey - Auld Lang Syne

Not terrible, but the classic disco version is this one.

New Year's Eve Open Thread

What are your plans for New Year's Eve? Share your traditions, party links, and plans.

Homo Office

NYC Eagle, Thursday, 2am

Bear 1: I need to find a more gay-positive working environment.

Bear 2: Oh, really? Where do you work?

Bear 1: At home.

Kathy Griffin Goes Blue On CNN

On last night's live New Year's Eve show from Times Square on CNN, Kathy Griffin dealt with some off-camera hecklers in her typical fashion, not realizing her microphone was still live. Wait for the end.

RELATED: The CNN reporter in New Orleans had to deal with some obscene gestures from the crowd himself.

UNRELATED: How cool was it that the entire world got to see a drag queen lowered in a giant red shoe at Key West's version of the ball drop?

Flashback: Ten Years Ago Tonight

Left to right at a NYE 1998 party at my place in the Castro: Marty, me, Jerry, Robb, Jim, Robert (center, my roommate), Ed, and Ken. Half of those guys were visiting from Fort Lauderdale....the house was very busy that weekend, as I recall.

Regarding my silver metallic shirt (since I know you'll bring it up) - I used to have a tradition of getting an over-the-top "glammy shirt" for a one-time wearing on NYE. This one was actually painful to wear, the metallic threads were ripping into me. So I wore a t-shirt underneath, but ended up giving it to a very cute young bartender at some afterhours club (Aftershock?). He wanted it for a disco oldies party. Sigh.

Thanks to Eduardo (the photographer) for sending this.

In Which I Ponder My Lifetime To-Do List

Tonight's weather promises to be very ugly for the expected 1 million revelers in Times Square. Winds are expected to gust from 40-50mph, bringing the wind chill to far, far below zero. Nightmare.

I had pondered actually going to Times Square tonight, until a dozen or so of my friends collectively threatened to have me committed. Times Square on New Year's Eve is one of those once-in-a-lifetime events that has long been on my now almost completely checked off to-do list. I've done Mardi Gras, Fantasy Fest, a Super Bowl, a World Series game, and virtually every major gay/bear/leather/dance event in the country. (And some of those, many many times.)

I'll tick off a presidential inauguration in just a few weeks, leaving only Burning Man, Sydney Mardi Gras, Carnival in Rio, and the Boston Pops Fourth of July concert on my bucket list. Those I hope to mark off in the next few years or so.

Times Square on NYE still interests me, purely for the spectacle of being in one place with a million screaming people. But I fear my sick need to be preceived as a "real" New Yorker, who would never ever ever be caught dead on a stick in Times Square tonight, will ultimately cause me to cancel that entry on my lifetime to-do list.