According to the Villager, Daniel Squadron (the anti-nightlife senator last seen trying to tighten up the 200-feet rule) has succeeded in sending a bill to Governor Paterson that would strip bars of their liquor licenses if police are called at least six times in two months for excessive noise or disorderly conduct, regardless of whether the owners are directly culpable (currently, the NYPD usually stick to more serious offenses, such as drug busts, when referring matters to the State Liquor Authority). And this, folks, is why nightlife didn’t want the former bar owner elected.

via Noisy Bars Face ‘Six Strikes You’re Out’ Bill — Grub Street New York.

By now, we all tend to be a bit unfazed by Lady Gaga’s surreal concoctions — the beekeeper-like ensemble she wore to her sister’s high school graduation or the unbuttoned Yankees jersey thrown over black lingerie. But not to worry: There are plenty of other outlandish musicians with style to gawk at.

Over-the-top fashion is having a moment: “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” the story of an outrageous transsexual performer with a huge blond wig, is coming to Broadway after success as a cult film. Bratty pop singer Ke$ha recently performed in a one-piece zebra-print unitard. And Katy Perry’s been demonstrating an increasing fondness for latex dresses and Betty Boop makeup.

The following up-and-coming ladies (and one brave male) also craft their costumes as painstakingly as their music.

Bat for Lashes

With heavily glittered eyelids and Native American headdresses and war paint, this British-Pakistani former nursery-school teacher, nee Natasha Khan, still likes to play dress-up. Her songs are urgent and spacey: In the video for “Daniel,” she wears a sweatshirt while besieged by masked creatures in black — then cries purple-and-blue tears while singing “I dream of home . . .”

VV Brown

VV’s songs sound upbeat and cheerful, but her lyrics hint at romantic doom. While the 26-year-old Brit and her retro pouf hairstyle and cartoony vintage style is deceptively poppy — especially in the video for her hit “Shark in the Water” — she looks like she might be on her way to a school dance in the ’50s.

“When you have no money, you are forced to be creative,” she says. “The east part of London was filled with artists and designers. I fell in love with ’50s culture and fashion all over again.”

via Look be a Lady – NYPOST.com.

The battle between HTML5 and Adobe Flash for dominance over video on the Web is likely to end poorly for one of the two, and lately it’s been looking worse and worse for Flash. Steve Jobs wrote an open letter to the Web stating why Flash would remain banned from iPhones and iPads, and just yesterday, Apple got an “unexpected ally” in its anti-Flash crusade – the adult entertainment industry.

But today, just to keep from making things too cut and dry, Google-owned video site YouTube has come out with a list of its own reasons why Flash is here to stay – for now – and HTML5 simply isn’t qualified to handle the job at hand.

Overall, YouTube software engineer John Harding’s argument comes down to one simple statement: “We need to do more than just point the browser at a video file like the image tag does – there’s a lot more to it than just retrieving and displaying a video.” He goes on to list several points where Flash still beats the up-and-coming HTML5 tag.

In short, Harding says that HTML5 video doesn’t have the more robust features like camera and microphone access, content protection or even full-screen video display. HTML5 also lacks the “robust video streaming” necessary for streaming full movies and live events, as has become more and more common on YouTube. Beyond these features, Flash offers a single video format, whereas the battle over HTML5 video formats (for which Google’s recently introduced WebM as one solution) has not yet been won. This means Flash video can be used wherever Flash is installed, while HTML5 depends on video format and browser – an unacceptable condition for YouTube’s vast user base.

via YouTube – Flash Still Beats HTML5 – NYTimes.com.

Vassals Not Included

Nothing says old-fashioned luxury like a little dose of feudalism. Some Hamptons properties are for throwing cocktail parties; Beechnut Hill Farm is for launching a Crusade.

According to the Sotheby’s listing, the $34.95 million “gentleman’s farm” commands 42 presumably arable acres, with 184 adjoining acres of natural reserve. This means you can oversee your serfs in blissful isolation, surrounded only by trees and bushes, with no one from capitalist America to disturb you.

Every detail of the lord’s mansion ensures an authentic medieval experience. The stone fireplaces, for instance, have been “collected” from “French castles and country estates.” For anyone not familiar with medieval tradition, this means the fireplaces were looted from those castles after a siege. At Beechnut Hill Farm, the dirty work is completed upon move-in.

The serf’s dwelling, which the listing euphemistically calls a “pool house,” is itself unusually luxurious. And because your stables feature only the finest purebreds, the barn, thank heavens, is “suitable for horses.” —William Alden

via It’s Free to Look Hamptons: 1866 Deerfield Road, Water Mill – Vassals Not Included | The New York Observer.

Monday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; South and Fulton streets; admission is free; watertaxibeach.com.

Build a sand castle on the faux beach, duel in pingpong or play nine holes of nautically themed miniature golf at this massive, 18,000-square-foot outdoor pier party on the north side of the seaport. Servicemen and -women will be treated to happy hour prices ($3-off drink specials) from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., while everybody else can suck down 80-cent raw clams from the raw bar.

Perfect for: Sea, shrimp and sandcastle lovers of all ages.

Getting there: By subway (2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J, M, Z lines) to Fulton Street/Broadway Nassau, or ride Water Taxis along the Hudson.

Cost: Admission is free, but drinks and food are not.

Don’t miss: Deejay Billy the Hitman will be spinning the sun-soaked hits into the evening.

PAUL MARTINKA

Gals jump for joy over the return of summer at Coney Island’s beach, just a train ride away.

Luna park + Coney Island beaches

Lifeguards on duty 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Luna Park, 1000 Surf Ave.; Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. to midnight.; Monday, noon to midnight; coneyisland.com.

Bring your earplugs because you’re gonna be screaming when a whole new generation of thrills and chills kicks off today with the opening of Luna Park.

The new amusement park is debuting 19 new high-tech rides including the Coney Tower, a smaller version of the classic Coney Island Parachute Drop.

Test your thrill limit with the premier of something called the Air Race, a never-before-seen, stunt-plane-inspired spinning thingamabob that will serve as the park’s centerpiece. Or you can just go for the Cyclone, which opened in 1927 and is arguably the loudest and most violent wooden roller coaster ever built.

Perfect for: Teens on date night or families.

Getting there: Just a $2.25 subway ride on the D, Q, N or F train to Stillwell Avenue.

Cost: Admission to Luna Park and to the beaches is free. Tickets for rides are bought a la carte.

Don’t miss: Ruby’s Old Tyme Tavern, on the Boardwalk, and its display of vintage Coney pix. Great for people-watching.

via Hot pursuits! – NYPOST.com.

But given how difficult it is becoming to redeem frequent flier miles for free tickets and the fact that credit card companies are developing their own rewards programs — some with better travel benefits than airlines offer — it may be time to rethink which card is front and center in your wallet, especially if the card’s primary selling point is the ability to rack up free flights.

While there is no perfect travel-rewards card for everyone, cards that offer points instead of miles might be a better option for people who aren’t particularly loyal to a single airline since points can usually be redeemed on many airlines.

I recently reshuffled my credit cards after a year of frustration trying to redeem Delta miles earned with an American Express Delta SkyMiles card for a free ticket. Although the card’s promotional materials promise that the 25,000 bonus miles one can earn just by signing up are “good for a free flight,” every time I tried to book a Delta award ticket, the cost was usually 40,000 miles. So when my American Express statement arrived with a charge for the card’s $95 annual fee (which had been waived for the first year), I canceled the card.

My current go-to credit card is U.S. Bank’s FlexPerks Visa card, which isn’t affiliated with any airline and was named the best credit card for travel perks by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine last year. Instead of earning frequent flier miles, I get one point for every dollar I spend, and those points can be used to book free tickets on dozens of airlines. Once I earn 20,000 points, I can cash them in for a ticket worth up to $400 using U.S. Bank’s booking partner, Travelocity.

via Practical Traveler – The Credit Card Choice – Miles or Points? – NYTimes.com.

The play, which is presented by the Brooklyn Studio Lab and runs through July 3, still tells the story of an unusual young man struggling to fit into traditional suburban society. But compared to Tim Burton’s feature, which cost about $20 million to make in 1990, the budget for this production has been pruned somewhat.

“Basically, I just got asked to do the project and told there was no funding and did I want to do it?” said Richard Crawford, the director of the stage production, in a telephone interview. “I was like, O.K.”

For his “Edward Scissorhands,” Mr. Crawford and other theater artists donated their time and, in some cases, money to complement gifts that were made online and elsewhere. The director also hired a cast of non-union actors, including Serge Valez, the six-foot-four actor who plays the title role.

“It’s not Broadway,” Mr. Crawford said. “It’s everyone pitching in and doing their bit for the love of the art, really.”

via ‘Edward Scissorhands’ Gets a Stage Debut but No Burton-Size Budget – ArtsBeat Blog – NYTimes.com.

Bar Celona

Every so often, an establishment lands in a certain neighborhood like a flying saucer — and what Kurve was to the East Village, the tapas bar Bar Celona undoubtedly is to Williamsburg’s South Side. Cynthia Diaz, the 27-year-old owner, has worked with her mother (a designer) to turn a former glue factory into something vaguely akin to the meatpacking’s APT. What really shines here are the drinks by Tad Carducci and Paul Tanguay of the Tippling Bros., who also put together the list at Mercadito Cantina. There are two commendable savory options: savory options: a “gazpacho” spiked with Akvavit, sherry, and yellow Chartreuse; and a Paellarhinha that contains cachaça and sherry, but tastes mostly like a fresh pepper thanks to red-pepper saffron syrup. Also interesting, if you don’t mind a bitter take on the old fashioned: a version of the drink made with grapefruit and non-aged whiskey (if you haven’t tried whiskey before it has been aged in the barrel, it’s as clear as white tequila and tastes vaguely like oyster). — Daniel Maurer

via Bar Celona – Williamsburg – New York Magazine Restaurant Guide.

There used to be a divide between “fancy food” and “health food.” At this year’s Fancy Food Show, which ends its three-day run at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Tuesday, it’s evident that the two categories have seamlessly merged. The words most commonly seen were organic, vegan, whole grain, fair trade, anti-oxidant and gluten-free.

“Judging from this show you’d think the whole world had celiac disease,” said Jennifer Lea Cohan, a publicist who works with the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, which runs the show.

Some examples: Famous Organics falafel chips; Mediterranean snacks gluten-free baked lentil chips; Zocolo’s line of “heritage” flours from quinoa, mesquite and amaranth; and raw vegan ice cream made with cashew milk (Raw Ice Cream Company’s mint chip was tolerable).

Covering the show’s 2,400 exhibiting companies spread, is like golf, a very long walk, punctuated by many bogeys and also some stunning holes in one.

Among the winners: quartered green walnuts that have been brined like olives, then preserved in sweet syrup from Harvest Song, an Armenian company; ramen flavored with molokhia, a spinach-like vegetable from Egypt being grown in Thailand by Greenoodle, a Japanese company, in three flavors, including vibrant tom yum; Tulsi holy basil tea, an Ayurvedic quaff at once mellow and tangy, served iced; and Pure Indian Foods flavored ghee.

via Healthy, Tasty and Unusual at the Fancy Food Show – Diner’s Journal Blog – NYTimes.com.

At least that’s some of the gossip we heard while moderating a CEO dinner last night at Il Buco in Manhattan, set up by the local Mobile Monday group and folks from Skyhook Wireless and Gunderson Dettmer.

Here’s the gossip:

Apple’s next big move is going to be TV. Besides the leaks of a supposed new Apple TV device, the company also renamed its iPhone OS “iOS,” foreshadowing a future beyond mobile devices. The company’s move into advertising — mobile, so far, but no reason it can’t extend into TV somehow — is another hint.

RIM may buy its way into mobile advertising if it can’t built a decent product through existing partnerships. The gossip is that RIM wants to be an infrastructure player and take a cut from all ads that go through its system, NOT an ad sales/network/creative shop the way Apple is leading its iAds effort. Who might RIM buy? One odd name: Maybe even web browser maker Opera, to get at their AdMarvel ad mediation business.

Apple’s shopping spree isn’t over, and the company is looking at all kinds of deals, even up to $1 billion. This is being led by Apple’s newish deals guy, former Goldman banker Adrian Perica.

Foursquare, which will supposedly announce its latest funding round today, is working on a new feature that lets you view friends’ locations on a map. This was one of the first features offered by rival mobile social networking service Loopt, so it’s nothing new, but could be useful in addition to Foursquare’s other check-in/gaming features.

Google Android “fragmentation” isn’t as much of a pain for developers as feared. If anything, it’s not what Google’s doing — releasing new versions of its software all the time — that’s tripping developers up, but rather some of the UI tweaks that some mobile phone vendors are making, like HTC’s “Sense” UI or Motorola’s “MOTOBLUR.”

via Apple’s Shopping Spree Isn’t Over « Velocity – Forbes.com.