The Greene Space

NYC Taxi Drivers, a 2014 calendar

The cabdrivers pose with erotic novels, a unicorn mask and an energy drink to help bring out their inner sex appeal. The calendar is priced at $14.99 and can be purchased here. All proceeds will go to a local charity that serves over 30,000 immigrant and working individuals and families. (via PSFK)

Best. Gift. Ever.

Charles Barkley rode the NYC subway for the first time ever yesterday. This is great. Look at him barely fit in the turnstile!

YOU GUYS!! It’s ALIVE! The NPR Book Concierge is at your service — see what we’ve been working on the past few months, and more importantly, see our favorite books of 2013 in a fantastic new clickable searchable playable-with format. 

Want book club ideas that are also love stories? Funny cookbooks? Kids’ books for geeks? And of course, our own staff picks. Check it out!

Scott Anderson, the author of Lawrence In Arabia

Jesmyn Ward, the author of Men We Reaped

Review of The Book of Ages

Chimamanda Adichie, the author of Americanah

John Bradshaw, the author of Cat Sense

A. Scott Berg, the author of Wilson

Allie Brosh, the author/artist of Hyperbole and a Half

Review of Someone

Review of The Goldfinch

Review of Miss Anne in Harlem

Review of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P

Review of The Infatuations

Past and present: balloons of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade A storm bearing down on the East Coast with a messy mix of snow, rain and wind is threatening to ground giant balloon versions of Snoopy and SpongeBob SquarePants in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The iconic characters that soar between the Manhattan skyscrapers every year may not lift off Thursday if sustained winds exceed 23 mph and gusts exceed 34 mph, according to city rules enacted after fierce winds in 1997 caused a Cat in the Hat balloon to topple a light pole and seriously injure a woman spectator. (AP)

Did Norman Rockwell ruin Thanksgiving Turkey?

Chances are there will be a whole turkey on your Thanksgiving table - not unlike that iconic bird on a platter Norman Rockwell immortalized. But top chefs and turkey breeders say you’re doing it wrong, bro. 

From The New York Times today:

Artist and musician David Byrne recently wrote that the cultural life of New York City had been “usurped by the top 1 percent,” implying that our society’s emphasis on the bottom line has compromised our humanist sensibilities.

With soaring housing and health care costs, and a culture that seems more interested in financial stability than creative expression, has it become too expensive to pursue the arts in this country?

"I always just try to focus on the work, not the impact of the work. I’m just trying to focus on the small things — take a good photograph, and tell a good story. I try to take individuals one at a time."