Anna Wintour Makes A Peacock’s Feathers Fan

PETA piqued by peacock playthings, Post reports (Anna Wintour angle always appreciated):

Bird-huggers’ feathers are ruffled over a celeb-packed gala thrown by Vogue editrix Anna Wintour — where her minions allegedly scared peacocks into serving as cruel party decorations.

PETA claims organizers used rabbits — which peacocks see as a threat — to frighten the fowl into seeking shelter on dangerous, swinging perches eight feet off the ground.

Although the perched birds appeared as nothing more than stately additions to the soiree decor, they were actually fearing for their lives, PETA says.

. . .

Vogue, the Metropolitan Museum of Art — where the party was held — and the trainer that brought the peacocks all deny scaring the birds or treating them cruelly.

Bird handler Norman Johnson admitted, however, placing “a single guinea pig” in a small carrier inside the birdcage to make them strut with their fantails fully extended.

Four peacocks were on display at the Costume Institute Gala, hosted by Wintour. Partygoers — including Scarlett Johansson, Kate Moss, Kirsten Dunst and Lindsay Lohan — paid up to $6,500 for a seat.

. . .

Bird keeper Johnson said that he never used rabbits.

“I can see where they would deduce that from logic, but that wasn’t true at all,” said Johnson, who has bred peacocks for 16 years.

He said that to get the birds on the perch, he placed one there and the rest followed on their own.

“They acted a bit dazed and confused for the first hour. I expected that. And then one of the organizer’s designers asked if I would put [one of them] on a perch. I did that, and after a while, the others followed,” he said.

He also said he used a few tricks get the birds to show their plumes. He kept them from mating for a month so that at party time they would be more likely to do their mating displays. He said he also put mirrors up in the cage, because peacocks often spread their feathers when they see their reflections.

And Just Imagine How Great It Would Be If Plácido Domingo Was Still Telling You To Wear A Seat Belt Everytime You Got In

Isn’t it strange that a cab driver will drive someone from Queens to Arizona but not from Manhattan to Queens? Yes, yes it is:

Betty and Bob Matas are set to move next week from their current home in Queens to a new one in Sedona, Ariz.

They arranged to send their belongings, but they were in a quandary about how to transport themselves. The native New Yorkers don’t drive, and they were concerned that their two cats might not make it on a plane.

A solution presented itself in the form of taxi driver Douglas Guldeniz, whom the Matases met when they hailed his cab after a Manhattan shopping trip several weeks ago.

They got to talking about their upcoming move, and “we said, ‘Do you want to come?”‘ said Bob Matas, 72, a former audio and video engineer for advertising agencies. “And he said, ‘Sure.’

It was initially “a gag,” Matas said, but it became a real plan over the ensuing weeks. Guldeniz plans to drive 10 hours a day and charge a flat fee of $3,000 for the trip. The Matases also are to pay for Guldeniz’ gas, meals and lodging.

The standard, metered fare would come to about $5,000 — each way, according to David Pollack, executive director of the Committee for Taxi Safety, a drivers’ group. But city Taxi and Limousine Commission rules direct drivers and passengers to negotiate a flat fare for trips outside the city and a few suburban areas.

April Fool’s Day Is A Week From This Sunday — And Don’t Think I Didn’t Check That

Now if I could only remember what I did with my library card:

In what would be a first in the United States, the Brooklyn Public Library hopes to team up with Netflix to deliver DVDs and videos to anyone in the borough with a library card, The Post has learned.

The price would be unbeatable — free.

The disclosure was made by John Vitali, the library’s chief fiscal officer, following an announcement at Brooklyn Borough Hall that Dionne Mack-Harvin had been named executive director of the borough’s library system.

. . .

“What we want to do is work with Netflix and really get that inventory together, really use Netflix as the delivery mechanism,” Vitali said.

“We’re getting some good vibrations back. Nothing formal has been settled. What’s really exciting is — it’s my understanding — really the first of its kind, a model for that kind of corporate partnership.”

Netflix has an inventory of 75,000 movies.

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey said he knew nothing about a possible partnership with the library and seemed surprised by the news.

Vitali said that if the partnership works out, the library and the movie-delivery service would develop a separate list. But it would include popular films.

“DVDs are very expensive to buy, and they’re also very expensive to move because they’re delicate,” Vitali said.

“Instead of buying the DVDs, we’d be outsourcing from Netflix to, in effect, create a free inventory of DVDs that would be available to our customers.”

[Emphasis added but let’s skip the details, shall we?]

The “It Scares Me” Approach To Urban Planning

East Village residents are going to great lengths to argue against bars operating in their neighborhood:

Death & Co., an upscale new nightspot that serves drinks and appetizers, has attracted glowing reviews and throngs of patrons since it opened at the beginning of January. But the bar and restaurant at 433 E. Sixth St. has also attracted sharp criticism from several neighbors and Community Board 3. In fact, with its ominous name and décor, Death & Co. actually has some neighbors scared, dredging up their worst nightmares — while other neighbors say their nights are literally haunted by the bar’s din.

. . .

. . . Members of Synagogue Anshe Meseritz, at 415 E. Sixth St., object to Death & Co.’s name and appearance.

The windowless bronze facade stands out from the surrounding buildings, and features 100-year-old cedar planks, cast-iron columns and a black flag. Inside, gold-flecked wallpaper catches light from chandeliers and candles, and a long mirror reflects plush booths and the bar’s marble countertop.

“We don’t need another bar on the block,” said Les Sussman, an Anshe Meseritz congregant who attended the meeting but has not been inside Death & Co. “We don’t need one with Nazi devil symbolism, [with a] gothic satanic door and a black flag flying.”

The facade looks like a boxcar used to transport Jews to concentration camps, Sussman said, and disturbs elderly synagogue members who survived the Holocaust.

“They don’t want to pass a place that is frightening,” he said.

“I have a Holocaust relative myself,” [Death & Co. owner David] Kaplan responded. “I am Jewish, and I never considered it offensive in that way.”

Death & Co.’s name comes from the title of a Prohibition propaganda poster, and “has nothing to do with anything dark or gothic, and nothing to do with death itself,” Kaplan said.

Yo, Dr. Quinn, You’re Double Parked!

There’s is simply too much expendable income burning holes in people’s pockets, even on the Upper West Side:

A fragrant mix of smoky sage and red willow bark filled an Upper West Side meeting room that’s windows were covered with blankets and plastic sheeting and whose door jams were sealed with duct tape.

Side note: if a healing ceremony starts with “sealing openings with duct tape,” count me right out.

Standing near the center of the room, an American Indian chief and medicine man, Harold “White Horse” Thompson, chanted and waved stone-filled rattles that pierce the darkness with streaks of light.

About 30 men and women who had come to the Children of Life interfaith center sat around the chief. They had come to participate in an American Indian healing ceremony called a Lowampi.

A small but growing number of New Yorkers are embracing Mr. Thompson’s holistic healing philosophy and making periodic trips to meet with him in South Dakota. In November, some of his adherents paid for him to travel to New York City, and last week they brought him back for another two-week stint.