City Lifestyle

We just found your new favorite Instagram account, but you can thank us after you spend hours scrolling through all of the photos. We anticipate myriad heart-eye emojis flowing from your smartphone’s keyboard upon doing so.

Hot Dudes Reading is exactly what it sounds like: candid, undercover snaps of handsome men fully engrossed in a book while they ride the subway. The anonymous creators say they came up with the idea after lamenting to each other that they were “constantly falling in love on our subway commutes and organically began sending these pictures to one another.”

Read more about Hot Dudes Reading, plus see more pictures, here. And you’re welcome.

By Wendy Rose Gould

Image credit: Via Instagram

You may have wandered around New York City and noticed a random USB drive sticking out of a wall. That USB drive isn’t as random as you think, though. These were all strategically placed by an artist named Aram Bartholl, who calls them “Dead Drops”. His goal was to create a file-sharing network that any passer-by can anonymously use.

This video explains more about the project.

Read more at Art-Sheep.com, and let us know if you find any of these around the city.

By Wendy Rose Gould

Image credit: DeadDrops.com

It’s Valentine’s Day this weekend, New Yorkers, in case you couldn’t tell from the abundance of lovey-dovey inspirational quotes or proclamations of undying love in all your social media feeds.

Whether you’re celebrating with gal pals, indifferent or have something really special planned. And who knows, maybe even those of you who find February 14 the most abhorrent day of the year could find something fun to do on the list below.

Valentine’s Day Brunch Cruise

Spend your Valentine’s Day aboard the Hornblower Hybrid. Make a lasting memory by having a romantic dinner along the Hudson that includes your own private table, a four-course meal, a sparkling wine toast, and a single red rose for the special person in your life. Romantic Dinner Package is $110/person and boat leaves from Pier 40 at 7 p.m. Boarding time begins at 6:30 p.m. If you feel like celebrating earlier in the day, check out their Valentine’s Day Brunch Cruise from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. Sip on bottomless mimosas and take advantage of the bountiful buffet, dessert station, and selection of coffee and herbal teas. Tickets are $80/person and boarding time begins at 12:30 p.m.

Hot Chocolate Festival

Regress to childhood with skillfully concocted mugs of hot chocolate courtesy of the downtown canteen, City Bakery. Owner-mastermind Maury Rubin will serve a different flavor of his intoxicating cocoa every day during February

Blood Manor’s Bloody Valentine’s Weekend

If you and your sweetheart like living on the dark side, get your tickets for Blood Manor’s Bloody Valentine’s Weekend. General admission starts at $30, RIP Express Entry is $45, and RIP Express Entry Demon Package is $60.

Winter Chamber Music Valentine’s Day Concert at Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum

It’s not just love that’s in the air. So is chamber music. The Musicians of the Crimson Menagerie, an ensemble that specializes in 19th century salon museum, will play a concert of romantic pieces by Mozart, Haydn, Boccherini and Beethoven at the Bronx’s Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum at 7pm on February 14. 895 Shore Rd., Pelham Bay Park, Bronx, from $20.

Tinder Live with Lane Moore: Valentine’s Day Spectacular with the Cast of Orange is the New Black

Lane Moore brings her already hilarious ongoing series to the theater with Beth Fowler (Sister Jane Ingalls), Connie Shulman (who plays zenned-out Yoga Jones), Laura Gomez (bushy-browed Blanca Flores) and Lin Tucci (Anita Demarco) from Orange Is the New Black! We can’t wait to see how Moore and the ladies roast those NYC Tinder profiles onstage

“Get Steamy” at the Museum of Sex

Things get steamy at the Museum of Sex this Valentine’s Day weekend. Buy a spa-themed package that includes stimulating exhibitions, alcoholic aphrodisiac “treatments” ($10.80), and the debut of their new sensual bath and body kit. Taste the Lychee Libidinal, Pomegranate Virility, or Citrous Oxide vodka shooters to help boost your sex drive or walk through the recently opened exhibition “Funland: Pleasures & Perils of the Erotic Fairground”.

Sensory Tour: Valentine’s Day at Brooklyn Museum

Discover the power of touch on the Sensory Tour: Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14, 2:30pm) at the Brooklyn Museum, which is offered to the blind or partially sighted, or simply those who wish to expand their appreciation of art beyond sight alone. A museum guide will lead guests through exhibits by including rich verbal descriptions, interactive discussions and curated sound and tactile experiences. 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, free.

Love Bites: The Power Ballads Sing-Along

Start your fist pumping now because Union Hall’s Love Bites: The Power Ballads Sing-Along is coming your way this Valentine’s Day. Sing along to heartbreaking and heartwarming collections of music from the 80’s and 90’s and wave your lighters in the air. Watch or take part in the air guitar competition, enter the power ballads costume contest, sip on themed drinks like the Eternal Flame, Kiss From a Rose, or More Than Words, and don’t forget to grab your free valentine heart candy and cards for that special someone. Party begins at 9:30 p.m. and admission is $10.

Romance Under the Stars

Eschew the dinner date on Valentine’s Day, and snap up tickets to this swanky soiree at the American Museum of Natural History’s Rose Center for Earth and Space. The night begins among the asteroids (have a “heavenly bodies” quip ready) with an open bar of cocktails and champagne, passed hors d’oeuvres and chocolate, while a jazz quartet sets the mood with standards. An hour later, cozy up in the Hayden Planetarium while an astronomer tells lovey-dovey stories based on the mythology of the cosmos.

By Wendy Rose Gould

Image credit: via TimeoutNY.com, HornBlower.com, UnionHallNY.com, and MoSexStore.com

Right now — thanks to Valentine’s Day coming up this Saturday — the world is dividing into three different camps. One camp is indifferent. “Valentine’s Day” they say. “Sure, OK. Whatever.”

The second camp, and we’re sure you’ve guessed it, has been awaiting February 14 with bated breath since February 15 last year. They’ve got it all planned out, from romantic dinners to fragrant rose bouquets, to wine, chocolate and the works.

And then… then there’s the snarky bunch. The people who despise cupid’s holiday. You may find them clenching their fists into the air, screaming, “But it’s just a consumerism tactic to boost sales!” or “Valentine’s Day is for suckers! Screw pretty flowers!”

Whatever camp you’re in, we think you may find a little humor in these snarky Valentine’s Day goods we’ve rounded up.

Despite This Being A Consumer-Driven Holiday Card

I Love You Pint Glass

The Ex 5-Piece Knife Set with Limited Edition Chrome Holder

Chocolate-Covered Edible Bugs Gift Pack

Ex-Wife Voodoo Doll

Doughs Over Bros Muscle Tee

Screw Valentines Day, Dance with a DOG Card

Bittersweets Valentine’s Day Candy

Send a Curse with PinStruck

By Wendy Rose Gould

Image credit: via Amazon, UrbanOutfitters and Etsy