1. Because Even a 675,000-Square-Foot, $1 Billion Stadium Plunked Down in the Middle of the New Brooklyn Can Win Us Over Any Night of the Week. So far: the Harlem Globetrotters and the (way better than expected) Nets, Pat Benatar, Andrea Bocelli, Neil Young and Patti Smith (together!). And we’re only two months in. Next year, they’re doing a horse show. 2. Because We Can’t Go Two Weeks Without Peeing All Around It. By October 16, a “quality-of-life committee” had to be convened to deal with, among other things, rampant urination. Barclays opened September 28. Photo: Jeff Mermelstein
4. Because Bill O’Reilly and Rachel Maddow Work Right Around the Corner From Each Other. The Fox News and MSNBC studios are one block apart.
5. Because We’re Growing Rice on Randalls Island. This year, the experiment in urban agriculture yielded a 30-pound harvest. Photo: Courtesy of Randall’s Island Park
6. Because Woody Allen Is Acting Again. He’s playing a pimp, for a gigolo, in a movie directed by John Turturro. This is an actual set photograph. Photo: Christopher Peterson/Splash News
7. Because We’ll Always Have These to Remember Nora Ephron By. “If pregnancy were a book, they would cut the last two chapters.” “I have for many years been puzzled by the persistence of Hugh Hefner. Why is he still here?” “Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” Photo: Illustration by Sam Kerr
8. Because There’s a Giant Ferris Wheel Going Up in Staten Island. The world’s tallest, expected in 2015. Photo: Courtesy of the New York Wheel LLC
9. Because We’re Precise. Photo: Victor Prado/New York Magazine
10. Because Someone Built a Living Room for Christopher Columbus Seven Stories in the Air and Invited Everyone Over. Photo: Timothy A. Clark/AFP/Getty Images
11. Because, Despite All the Hand-Wringing Over Class Conflict, Summer at the McCarren Park Pool Turned Out to Be Pretty Great. Photo: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/AP Photo
