A Huge Victory for Consumer Rights

Perhaps caving to extreme pressure from both the New York City Council and the Connecticut State Legislature — two institutions on the forefront of the crusade to protect the little guy — Loew’s movie theaters have announced they will start advertising the time a movie will actually begin, allowing movie watchers to skip the commercials before the movie:

Coming soon to a movie ad near you – if not to a space-squeezed marquee – the time that the movie starts. The time that the movie really starts, not the time that the trailers and the commercials start. Or words to that effect.

Loews Cineplex Entertainment says that next month it will begin publicizing true starting times, sort of.

John McCauley, the company’s senior vice president for marketing, said the times in the company’s newspaper and Web listings would still be the times when the trailers and commercials start. But the ads will also carry a note advising that, as Mr. McCauley put it yesterday, “the feature presentation starts 10 to 15 minutes after the posted show time.”

In retrospect, I’m surprised Elliot Spitzer didn’t also avail himself of this tempting low-hanging fruit! And now on to bigger and better things about which the City Council can warn consumers — Neil LaBute, for example . . .

Frank Bruni Will Squish You Like a Little Bug

Restaurant kingpin Alain Ducasse has fired his chef, apparently because of a tepid New York Times review:

Alain Ducasse has removed Christian Delouvrier as executive chef at his restaurant at the Essex House, citing a recent review in The New York Times that downgraded its rating to three stars from four.

“I am at the top in Paris, in Monte Carlo and in Tokyo, and I cannot remain with three stars in New York,” said Mr. Ducasse, an internationally celebrated chef who owns or is a consultant at nearly 30 restaurants throughout the world. “I knew we could not regain four stars with Christian Delouvrier at the helm, and I had to make important changes in the dynamic of the kitchen. I needed someone who has worked longer with me. And once I make up my mind I move fast. The life of this enterprise depends on it.”

He said that the loss of a star had not affected business, but that it was a blow to his pride.

Mr. Delouvrier said in a phone interview yesterday that he had no hard feelings, and both men said they might open a bistro together in New York. “Working with Alain Ducasse was a big opportunity for me, but I knew it would not last forever,” Mr. Delouvrier said. “There were bumps in the road, with the New York Times review. Maybe because we had two different philosophies. Right now, for me, anything goes.”

Williamsburg-Greenpoint Waterfront To Be Rezoned Residential

The City Council approved a Mayor-backed plan to rezone the parts of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, paving the way for increased density in the blocks near and on the waterfront.

But before you scout pre-sells, please read Jonathan Van Meter’s unironically condescending take on Brooklyn on the New York Magazine website. I say this as someone who may or may not be moving this summer and would appreciate some outer-borough bashing to ward off the competition. (NB: please — PLEASE — do not read the entire piece, the devastating conclusion of which confirms the worst in Manhattan snobbery and could make moot the aforementioned ulterior motive.)

Union Square Metronome Co-opted By Olympics Boosters

The Metronome — that massive backward-forward digital clock on the south side of Union Square — has been reconfigured to count down the days until the IOC announces the 2012 Olympic host city. How crass! The Times explains:

A few weeks ago, passers-by began to notice a change in the Metronome, the enormous public art project on the facade of One Union Square South. Instead of telling time in its usual way, by counting the hours while simultaneously subtracting the remaining time left in the day, the artwork’s digital clock seemed to be counting down to some future date. Last Tuesday, the clock had 70 days remaining, which would place Day 0 at July 6.

With its rapid blur of digitized numbers, the Metronome had always confounded out-of-towners, but now it was bewildering New Yorkers, too. The clock was installed in 1999 and had not wavered from its format. So why the change? What is the significance of July 6?

. . .

It turns out that July 6 is the day the International Olympic Committee will announce the host city of the 2012 Olympics. According to Jay Carson, a spokesman for NYC2012, the group spearheading New York’s Olympic bid, the clock countdown is a joint venture between NYC2012 and the Related Companies, which manages the building and commissioned the Metronome, and was created so that “thousands each day would feel the urgency.” After July 6, the clock will return to its old form.

And while the NYC2012 folks are “enthusiastic about the project,” the artists who created the clock aren’t so sure:

The creators of the Metronome, Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel, had a more tepid reaction. Works of art, Mr. Ginzel said, “are like children,” and he likened the Metronome change to “sending your child off to school and hearing that the teacher has decided to dress it in different clothing.”

Ms. Jones said having the Olympics in New York might be good for the city, but added, “I don’t think artwork should be used as advertising.”