Week in Pictures for Dec. 28

See the slide show

Here is a slide show of photographs from the past week in New York City and the region. Subjects include the popular Peppermint Pig candy from Sarasota Springs; Christmas in areas hit hard by Hurricane Sandy; and a finback whale that washed ashore in Breezy Point.

This weekend on “The New York Times Close Up,” an inside look at the most compelling articles in Sunday's Times, Sam Roberts will speak with The Times's Floyd Norris, Cly de Haberman, Jeffrey Henson Scales and Margaret Sullivan, the public editor. Also appearing, Harold Holzer. Tune in at 10 p.m. Saturday or 10 a.m. Sunday on NY1 News to watch.

A sampling from the City Room blog is featured daily in the main print news section of The Times. You may also browse highlights from the blog and reader comments, read current New York headlines, like New York Metro | The New York Times on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Cause of Death Still Unknown After Necropsy for Beached Whale

Lucas Jackson/Reuters The whale was moved from its resting spot on the beach to higher ground for the necropsy.

The necropsy of the emaciated 60-foot finback whale that beached itself at Breezy Point in Queens found lesions in the animal's stomach and kidneys on Friday, but it is not clear what, if anything, they had to do with the animal's death, a biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service said.

The necropsy did not turn up any evidence of human-caused injury, said the biologist, Mendy Garron, the service's regional marine-mammal resc ue coordinator. Tissue samples from the whale, a male whose age has not yet been determined, have been sent off for analysis, Ms. Garron said. “No cause of death will be determined till those results come back,” she said.

There was no food found in the whale's stomach, Ms. Garron added. The whale, which washed up on Wednesday still alive, was declared dead on Thursday.

After the necropsy, the whale was buried Friday afternoon in the dunes on land belonging to Gateway National Recreation Area.

Main Facade Intact at Ladies\' Mile Landmark, but Damage Is Serious

David W. Dunlap/The New York Times The principal facade of the Hugh O'Neill department store on the Avenue of the Americas, between 20th and 21st Streets, was not damaged in the structural collapse.

News of a facade collapse on Tuesday at the former O'Neill & Company dry-goods emporium conjured images of significant architectural loss. This gleaming white facade on the Avenue of the Americas, from 20th to 21st Streets, is among the largest single expan ses of ornamental cast-iron in the city. Its signature elements - gold-colored beehive domes at each corner turret and Hugh O'Neill's name boldly inscribed in the pediment - make it especially memorable.

David W. Dunlap/The New York Times Zigzag cracks, some looking older, others looking new, are visible in the area above the column collapse.

A visit Friday morning to the 19th-century shopping district once known as Ladies' Mile brought quick reassurance. The principal facade appeared untouched. But the sense of relief was short-lived.

Troubling signs were evident in the brick facade on 20th Street. A grea t chunk was missing from the bottom of one of the westernmost columns. The horizontal beams connected with that column at the first-floor level seemed to incline slightly. Zigzag cracks were evident in the brickwork above. Some cracks had been patched, others looked new. It was as if the whole end of the wall had sagged just a bit.

During its inspection of the seven-story building on Thursday, the Buildings Department “found that a load-bearing column on the ground floor had collapsed, structurally compromising the building,” said Tony Sclafani, the associate commissioner for communications and public affairs. “As a result, the department issued a full vacate order to the building and a violation to the building owner for failing to maintain the building.”

Mr. Sclafani identified United American Land L.L.C. as the owner. (The company lists 655 Avenue of the Americas among its properties on i ts Web site.) A caller was told on Friday afternoon that none of the principals were in the office. A voice mail message left for one of the principals, Albert Laboz, had not been returned by Friday evening.

“The owner's contractor is in the process of installing shoring,” Mr. Sclafani said, “and the department has partially lifted the vacate order, allowing the store on the Sixth Avenue side of the building to reoccupy, along with the apartments on that wing of the building.”

“The cause of the collapse is still under investigation,” he said.

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The collapsed column on the 20th Street side of the O'Neill building, as it appeared on Wednesday morning.

O'Neill & Company was among the largest department stores on Ladies' Mile, between Union Square and Madison Square, in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Its building, designed by Mortimer C. Merritt, opened in 1887 and was subsequently expanded. The store closed in 1907 after merging with Adams Dry Goods. It sits in the Ladies' Mile Historic District, created in 1989. (Pages 366-70 of the official designation report, available as a PDF.)

After several intermediate incarnations, including a spell as the Elsevier Science Publishing Building, 655 Avenue of the Americas was converted into a condominium apartment house six years ago, when its domes - missing since the early 20th century - were restored. Construc tion work during the redevelopment caused damage to the small cemetery of Congregation Shearith Israel, around which the O'Neill building wraps like an L.

David W. Dunlap/The New York Times The damaged column, at left, as it appeared Friday morning. A protective sidewalk shed has been erected and workers are preparing to shore up the facade. “OEM” is the city's Office of Emergency Management.

Ancient Arts Center Discovered Under Rome\'s Piazza Venezia

ROME-Eighteen feet below one of Rome's most-trafficked junctions is a 900-seat arts center dating back to the reign of Emperor Hadrian, Italian archaeologists announced earlier this month.

The discovery, widely seen as the most important in Rome in 80 years, took place as a result of digging being done for the city's third subway line. Archeologists spent the last five years excavating two halls of the structure under the Piazza Venezia, which is believed to be an arts center, or auditorium, built by Hadrian. Beginning in 123 A.D., Roman noblemen gathered under the auditorium's 13-meter-high arched ceiling to hear rhetoricians, lawyers and writers recite their works. Archaeologists have also identified a third, previously known hallâ€"located under a 20th-century building opposite the terrace where Mussolini addressed his followersâ€"as part of the complex.

According to the archeologists running the excavation, Hadrian's auditorium is the biggest find in Rome s ince the Forum was uncovered in the 1920s. In Byzantine times, Hadrian's auditorium was most likely used as a mint to smelt ingots and mint coins, they said, as evidenced by the the presence of fire pits. From the 16th to the 19th century, one of the halls served as the cellar of a hospital.

The excavation also found evidence of the fragility of Rome's cultural heritage. An earthquake shook the city in the 9th century, leading a large part of the structure's monumental roof to collapse onto the floors of one of the halls, where it remains today.

The discovery has forced city authorities to rework their preliminary plans for one of the Piazza Venezia subway exits, which was to have been built in the location of the auditorium. The site itself is expected to be opened to the public in three years' time.

The Week in Culture Pictures, Dec. 28

Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times Salomé Chamber Orchestra at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

More photographs.

A slide show of photographs of cultural highlights from this week.

Big Ticket | Sold for $21,450,000

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Throughout his career as a developer, David Edelstein has had a knack for buying low and selling high, and he has done it again with the Upper East Side town house that he owned with his wife, Susan, at 122 East 70th Street. The five-story brick and limestone house, which they bought for $12.85 million in 2010, sold for $21.45 million, making it the biggest sale of the week, according to city records.

Mr. Edelstein is the president of Tristar Capital and the developer of the W South Beach Hotel in Miami Beach, where he also owns a penthouse condominium. He started his career in the 1970s, canvassing buildings for a real estate management company by day and driving a cab by night. He bou ght his first building on the Upper East Side with a $15,000 loan. He has since teamed up with major New York real estate entities, including the Vornado Realty Trust and RFR Holding.

The Edelsteins' purchase of the house in late 2010 caused a bit of a stir - at least among Upper East Side town house brokers. The house had been on the market for more than a year, with an asking price that started at $20.2 million and was eventually reduced to $14.9 million. Brokers who had nearby town houses listed upward of $25 million feared that the $12.85 million sale price would wreak havoc with property values in the neighborhood. But the large profit that the Edelsteins have turned has no doubt held such worries at bay.

Michael Kafka, an executive vice president of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, represented the Edelsteins. He declined to comment on the sale.

The listing describes the renovated town house as “perfect for private use or lavish entertaining,” having been “redesigned and reimagined for modern living while maintaining the traditional elegance and beauty of its spaces.”

The house comes with an elevator, a garden, four terraces, south-facing rooms at the back that have floor-to-ceiling windows and glass doors, and six wood-burning fireplaces, including one carved out of alabaster to look like draped fabric (it was designed for the previous owners by Samuel Botero).

The ground floor has a large kitchen and a family room. The parlor floor has a 30-foot living room that opens onto a terrace, as well as another kitchen and a large dining room with arched floor-to-ceiling windows. The three upper floors have three bedrooms, a wood-paneled library and a media room. The roof deck has a kitchenette, and the finished basement has a staff room, a laundry and a storage space.

The house was bought under a limited-liability company; the buyers were represented by Elizabeth Sample and Brenda Powers of Sotheby's International Realty. Ms. Sample declined to comment on the deal.

Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.

A Mountain Goat for Top Poet Perch?

Rahav Segev for The New York Times John Darnielle performing at Webster Hall in 2008.

If one were establishing the odds of a songwriter being named U.S. Poet Laureate, the logical favorite might be Bob Dylan. Or Paul Simon. But what about John Darnielle?

Far less famous than Mr. Dylan or Mr. Simon, Mr. Darnielle, who is the leader of the band Mountain Goats, has rabid fans that view him as a writer as much as a musician, and now many of them are petitioning the government to name him Poet Laureate. The petition, created on Wednesday, seeks to compile 25,000 signatures. As of this writing, it has 634.

The Times's Jon Pareles has called Mr. Darnielle a “literary thinker” whose songs “have revolved around their lyrics: autobiography, travelogues, couple chronicles and character studies.” Sasha Frere-Jones at The New Yorker once called Mr. Darnielle “America's best non-hip-hop lyricist,” and wrote of the people in one song: “Cyrus and Jeff are familiar Mountain Goats characters, long on bad luck and short on problem-solving skills, and Darnielle, through his poetry, grants them the dignity that eludes them in their lives.”

The petition reads, in part: “An insp iration to poets, artists and sundry other human beings both in America and worldwide, Mr. Darnielle is a unique voice in modern word and music. For over 20 years, Mr. Darnielle has struggled on our behalf to come to terms with the base instincts of the human psyche.”

Though jovial when performing, Mr. Darnielle is quick to explore dark corners in his work. The song “No Children,” which elicits perhaps the loudest sing-along participation from fans at concerts, is a bleak tale of a rotting marriage, with this verse near the end:

“I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand”

On Twitter, where he has more than 57,000 followers, Mr. Darnielle has been having fun with this latest show of support, writing, among other things: “Do I get powers of clemency if I get this poet laureate g ig or are those only for third-level clerics[?]”

Art Insurance Losses from Hurricane Sandy May Reach $500,000 Million

Two months after Hurricane Sandy caused severe flooding in many Chelsea galleries, the bill for the art world's recovery is shaping up to be hefty. By mid-November, AXA Art Insurance, one of the largest art insurers, estimated that it would be paying out $40 million, and a Reuters report last week quoted industry estimates suggesting that insurance losses for flooded galleries and ruined art may come to as much as $500,000 â€" or the rough equivalent of what the art insurance business takes in each year. That would amount to the largest loss the art world and its insurers have ever sustained.

Included in this half billion dollar total, Reuters reported, is a claim for losses sustained by the pop artist Peter Max, whose works on paper are said to have been stored in a warehouse that was flooded. Reuters, quoting unnamed sources, put the claim on Mr. Max's work at $300 million. A message left for the representative listed on Mr. Max's Web site was not returned on Friday.

In a telephone interview on Friday, Filippo Guerrini-Maraldi, the executive director of fine art at R.K. Harrison, a London-based insurance broker whose clients include several Chelsea galleries, said the industry-wide figureâ€"which he estimated at between $400 million and $500 millionâ€"covered the physical damage to the galleries themselves as well as art losses.

“Chelsea got hit hard,” Mr. Guerrini-Maraldi said, “and there were other consequential losses. Because many of the galleries lacked power for a while, and because it then got cold in New York, things that needed to be in a controlled environment were affected. Works on wood, for example â€" we're seeing those kinds o f claims.”

The scope of the claims could have other ramifications for art dealers and insurers, including higher insurance rates. Mr. Guerrini-Maraldi guessed that the rate increases could be as much as 5 to 10 per cent, reversing recent rate reductions caused by competition and rate wars in the art insurance business.

“A lot of underwriters have felt that art insurance was a good business to be writing,” Mr. Guerrini-Maraldi said, “because it's profitable, and because losses are rare â€" although when they do happen, they can be big. Already, we're seeing that cost reductions are out. People are holding their prices firm, and I'm convinced that we will see a rise in the coming months.”

Meanwhile, a recent visit to Chelsea suggested that gallery owners' initial estimates that the area would be fully back in business by mid-December were overly optimistic. While some street-level galleries were up and running, others were shuttered, and at several, signs posted on their doors said that only authorized workers could enter. Construction crews and gallery staff could be seen through the windows, working on walls and shelving, with no art in sight.

A Long-Closed Park Is Soon to Reopen, Improved Yet Still Hard to Reach

David Gonzalez/The New York Times

All David Shuffler wanted to do when he was 14 years old was play basketball on the street and go to Starlight Park â€" which despite its name was a dimly lighted, dusty sliver tucked between the Bronx River and the Sheridan Expressway.

A lot has happened since that time. The park, thanks to the work of grass-roots groups and New York City and State agencies, has been remade into a green gem and will soon reopen after more than a decade. It's part of a trail known as the Bronx River Greenway, which was designed to connect the tip of the South Bronx and the shaded, grassy parks up in Westchester County, with parks, pedestrian bridges and bike paths along the way.

And some things haven't changed. Mr. Shuffler, 33, still lives in his childhood home. And it's still a hard trek getting to the park.

A bridge over railroad tracks and the river, which would connect his neighborhood to Starlight Park, and to the rest of the greenway, has yet to be built. The span and the development of 11 more acres of green space fell victim to a 2009 impasse between Amtrak and the New York State Department of Transportation over indemnification issues.

So while Starlight Park will welcome back the public in the spring, the best Mr. Shuffler can do now is catch a glimpse of it through a chain-link fence by a dead-end street jammed with cars being repaired.

“It's looked like this for my entire life,” said Mr. Shuffler, who is executive director of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, a community group long active in environmental issues. “The idea has always been to open this up. On the other side of the Sherida n they're building new housing. All those things have forced us to look at the neighborhood in a more comprehensive way. But the real problem is the bridge at 172nd Street.”

Talks continue between Amtrak and state officials, nudged by elected officials. Adam Levine, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said his agency was committed to the next phase of the greenway project.

The river itself had once been notorious for pollution and garbage. So many cars had been dumped there that swimming in it â€" not walking across it â€" would have been miraculous. But starting in the 1970s, a coalition of environmental and community groups sought to reclaim their river as well as the land that lined its banks, which was often clogged with industrial uses.

That coalition, which led to the formation of the Bronx River Alliance, has already spurred surprising transformations, like at Starlight Park and, to its south, at Concrete Plant Park, whose very name is a tip of the hat to its former life. But without the bridge, environmental advocates worry that their part of the greenway will be a broken path for some 100,000 residents in nearby neighborhoods.

“It's an incomplete vision,” said Kellie Terry-Sepulveda, who leads the Bronx River Alliance. “It's not about making something look cute or nice. We can do that. Our issue is about sustainability. It's a people issue. That's the resource that doesn't run out. We have an obligation to make sure everybody has access.”

Even when Starlight Park reopens after a cleanup and renovation, getting there will be a challenge. The easiest route would be from the north, along the 174th Street Bridge, where a mid-span stairway descends to the park. But farther south, where Mr. Shuffler lives, the only means would be to walk to Westchester Avenue and then along the side of the Sheridan Expressway, past an auto-parts store and a motel. And empty sidewalks.

“At night, yo u don't want to be walking down there, even with your crew,” he said. “It's a pretty bad street.”

The remaining phase of the parks reconstruction would not only cross the river, but also create a verdant path behind the private homes that line Bronx River Avenue. It would form a loop â€" both literally for runners and walkers, and symbolically for people like Anthony Thomas who have waited decades for the improvements.

Like Mr. Shuffler, Mr. Thomas grew up and still lives in the area. Both of them joined Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice as teenagers and work there as adults. Mr. Thomas remembers as a teenager going up to see the parks in Westchester County.

“They had so much green space along the Bronx River,” he said. “It was an affluent community. We felt this peace up there. Then we came down to our part of the river and saw it lined with factories. And that was only 10 minutes away. It wasn't long.”

Graphic Books Best Sellers: Jack Kirby\'s \'Kamandi\'

Jack Kirby, who died in 1994, was one of the comic-book industry's most famous creators. Much has been written about his contributions to Marvel Comics - he worked with Stan Lee in creating the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men, among others - and the continuing legal battle in which Mr. Kirby's family is trying to win the copyright to those figures.

Less has been written about Mr. Kirby's contributions to DC Comics, where he also created, or co-created, a legion of characters and concepts. One of them was Kamandi, the last boy on earth, who is the star of the collected edition that sits at No. 3 on the graphic books hardcover best-seller list this week. The series ran from 1972 to 1978. It was set in a future in which the planet has been devastated by a “Great Disaster,” and in which the ruling class is evolved animals. The first omnibus collected issues 1 to 20; this second, final volume collects 21 to 40 and includes a confrontation with a giant crab monster and a quest for Superman's costume. Other works by Kirby that have been included in this omnibus format include “Challengers of the Unknown,” the “Fourth World” saga and “The Demon.”

As always, the complete best-seller lists can be found here, along with an explanation of how they were assembled.

Tomorrow, It Will Snow, Perfectly

Longwood Gardens The snow is expected to fall through much of the day and well into the night, forecasters say.

The ideal city snowstorm, meteorological Platonists say, blankets the landscape without burying it, beautifies but does not burden, transforms and cocoons without paralyzing or even particularly inconveniencing.

Such an event is expected to come our way on Saturday.

Jericho Historical Society, via Associated Press Opportunities to photograph snowflakes, as Wilson Alwyn Bentley of Jericho, Vt., did in days of yore, will abound.

Flakes should begin falling around 11 a.m., as a low pressure system passes south and east of the metropolitan area, giving children plenty of time to finish a hearty breakfast.

The temperature will hover in the mid-30s â€" just cold enough for the snow to safely stick, but no colder. The breeze will be sufficient to make cheeks rosy, but will not slash at the skin or penetrate down the necks of parkas.

For the better part of the day, the snow will continue â€" gently, never blinding. By the time it ceases for good shortly before midnight, two to four inches will have fallen â€" just enough, perhaps, to permit sledding.

“Definitely snowfall that can be plowed,” said Dan Hof fman, a National Weather Service meteorologist, “but definitely not crippling by any means.”

At least that's what they're forecasting. Who knows what will really happen.

Paul Kolnik/New York City Ballet The snow should be perfect for dancing.

The Sweet Spot: Dec. 28

The best moments of 2012 from A. O. Scott and David Carr - “two guys, sitting at a table, talking.”

Some Subway Arrival Times Are Now Just an Apple Device Away

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled a smartphone app on Friday that will provide real-time information on subway arrivals for six of the system's numbered lines and the 42nd Street shuttle.

The app, MTA Subway Time, which covers 156 stations on the No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 lines, will offer arrival estimates - to the minute - based on the same information used for the stations' popular countdown clocks above train platforms.

“Today is the day that generations of dreamers and futurists have waited for,” Joseph J. Lhota, the authority's chairman, said in a statement. “The days of rushing to a subway station only to find yourself waiting motionless in a state of uncertainty are coming to an end.”

Initially available only for Apple products, including iPhones and iPads, and in a desktop version available online, the beta test version of the app can be downloaded free. The authority is leaving to private developers the production of apps for non-Apple hand-held devices.

Similar apps were already available for information on buses, Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road trains, and bridges and tunnels.

Perhaps most significantly, with the introduction of the app the authority has also agreed to provide a free live stream of arrival time data to app developers, which could lead to a spate of new services for riders in the coming months and years.

The technology was made possible by the authority's Automatic Train Supervision, which allows train dispatchers and managers to control train movement on the numbered lines using a more modern computer system. Installation of the program began in 1997 and was largely completed by 2008, at a total cost of $228 million.

Movements on the L line, which relies on a more advanced signaling system, called Communications Based Train Control, are expected to be available by app i n 6 to 12 months. The No. 7 train line is expected to be upgraded to the same signaling system by 2016, at which point its information will most likely be available by app.

For the rest of the subway system, though, the information gap is likely to persist. Officials said there was no timeline for details about most lettered lines to on an app.

The only certainty is that any change will happen after Mr. Lhota has left the authority. He announced last week that he was resigning his post, effective Dec. 31, to explore a candidacy for New York City mayor.

“Starting next week,” he said at a news conference on Friday, “I'm just going to be another regular customer.”

Book Review Podcast: An Expansive Protagonist

Pierre Mornet

This week in The New York Times Book Review, Julie Orringer reviews Jami Attenberg's “caustic, entertaining and bighearted” new novel, “The Middlesteins,” which stars Edie Middlestein, a woman who is slowly eating herself to death. The book traces the impact of Edie's problem on the rest of her family. Ms. Orringer writes:

The burning questi on, which Attenberg explores with patience and sensitivity, is why Edie has embarked on her self-destructive path. The answers themselves aren't surprising: Edie married too early, felt ambivalent about parenthood, became disillusioned with her career. What's remarkable is the unfailing emotional accuracy and specificity with which Attenberg renders Edie's despair.

This week, Ms. Attenberg discusses her novel; Leslie Kaufman has notes from the field; Maxwell Carter talks about “The Art Forger” by B. A. Shapiro; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.

Popcast: The Year in Pop Trends

Moses Robinson/Getty Images for Heineken Kendrick Lamar told tales of survival in “good kid, m.A.A.d. city.”

In an article in Sunday's Arts & Leisure section, the critics Jon Pareles, Ben Ratliff and Jon Caramanica discuss the year's biggest pop trends, and those that will be reshaping the genre for years to come.

They expand on the topic in this week's Popcast. Listen on this page, download the MP3 here, or subscribe in iTunes.

This Week\'s Movies: Dec. 28

This week, Times critics look at Tom Hooper's “Les Misérables,” Quentin Tarantino's “Django Unchained” and the documentary “West of Memphis.” See all of this week's reviews here.

Crime Is Up and Bloomberg Blames iPhone Thieves

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Hold onto your iPhones!

Crime in New York City inched up this year, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday fingered the culprit: too many iPhones and iPads were being swiped.

A rise in thefts of shiny Apple products accounted for the slight increase in the city's annual crime index, a statistic that includes major felonies including murder, grand larceny and robbery, Mr. Bloomberg said on Friday morning during his weekly radio show.

As of Monday, the Police Department recorded 3,484 more crimes in 2012 than for the same period last year. The increase in Apple product thefts: 3,890.

A full breakdown of the year's crime statistics was not immediately available, but city officials were quick to focus on the Apple figure.

“If you just took away the jump in Apple, we'd be down for the year,” said Marc La Vorgna, the mayor's press secretary.

IPhones have long proved irresistible to city thieves, particularly on the subway, where crime rates shot up in 2011 after police investigators discovered that robbers were targeting the expensive, high-tech gadgets. The Police Department has used dozens of decoy officers and unusual methods to try to stanch the thefts, which usually occurred as trains entered and left stations, allowing for a quick getaway.

“The proliferation of people carrying expensive devices around is so great,” Mr. La Vorgna said. “It's something that's never had to be dea lt with before.”

Through Monday, the city had recorded 108,432 major crimes for the year, up from 104,948 over the same period in 2011, a rise of 3.3 percent.

Youth Killed by Hit-and-Run Dump-Truck Driver in Queens

A teenage boy was killed by a hit-and-run dump-truck driver in Jackson Heights, Queens, Friday morning, the police said.

The boy, believed to be between 13 and 15 years old, was crossing Northern Boulevard in a crosswalk at 80th Street around 8:45 a.m. when the truck, headed south on 80th Street, turned right onto Northern Boulevard and struck him, the police said.

The truck, which was white and was towing a green generator, continued west on Northern Boulevard, the police said. The boy, who was declared dead at the scene, was not immediately identified.

The crash yielded the third hit-and-run fatality in Queens in three days. On Wednesday night, a 38-year-old woman was struck and killed crossing Hillside Avenue in Floral Park, and a 30-year-old woman was killed crossing 111th Street in Jamaica.

I\'ve Just Seen a Fake: Beatles and Presley Top List of Most-Forged Autographs

Apple Films Ltd. The Beatles: Ringo Starr, George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

You might want to double-check your beloved autographed copy of “Magical Mystery Tour” and be certain it was signed by Paul McCartney and not, say Pete McCourtney, or you'll be looking like quite the fool on the hill. A ranking of the year's most-forged celebrity autographs puts the Beatles near the top of that list, alongside performers like Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson, as well as notable individuals like John F. Kennedy and Neil Armstrong, Reuters reported.

Pre sley was not only the King, but the king of forged autographs for 2012, ranking No. 1 on a list of entertainment and historic personalities compiled by PSA/DNA, a memorabilia authentication company based in Newport Beach, Calif. Collectively, the Beatles took the No. 2 slot, followed by Mr. Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, who died in August. A separate list for professional athletes ranked Babe Ruth as the sportsman with the most-forged signature, followed by Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and Michael Jordan.

Joe Orlando, the president of PSA/DNA, told Reuters that his company had examined more than 350,000 autographs this year. “Unfortunately, a large portion of them were forgeries,” he said. “In fact, it's not uncommon for our experts to reject 50 percent or more of the signatures submitted to our company, especially when it comes to the more prominent names.”

In other words, trophy hunters, maybe look for celebrities with whom you can take photographs, and keep your smartphone handy.

Game Theory: The Passion Behind \'Wreck-It Ralph\'

I grew up when video games were a brand-new form of entertainment. I remember seeing Pong for the first time and thinking it was the cheapest animated show I had ever seen. Once I realized that it was an interactive game and that I could control what was happening on the TV screen, I was captivated. A love affair was born.

As a teenager, I spent untold hours at my local arcade - Golf 'n Stuff, in Ventura, Calif., pumping quarters into the machines. I am pretty sure I personally funded the Japanese game company Namco with years of Pac-Man and Dig Dug play.

Dragon's Lair 3-D, an updated version o f the arcade game.

And my favorite game from those earlier years was probably Dragon's Lair. Being someone who loved hand-drawn animation (and would eventually make it a career), I was blown away by the idea that my two favorite things - animation and video games - had been combined into one. My parents loved telling me that I was wasting my days on these games, but I like to think that it was research for a project that would come later in my life.

In 2008, John Lasseter, the chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, asked if I would be interested in joining Disney as a director. I had spent an amazing 20 years directing on shows including “The Simpsons” and “Futurama,” but this was an opportunity to work with someone I had admired since my days as a student at CalArts. John was a pioneer of computer-graphics animation, and I jumped at the chan ce. But what happened next, I could never have imagined.

He suggested that I think about developing a story set in the world of video games. The idea of a video game movie had been floating around Disney Animation for at least 10 years, though no one had been able to crack a story. So here I was being offered the opportunity to combine my loves at the greatest animation studio in the world. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

For four years, I lived and breathed the world of video games. The team spent work hours playing games - from Donkey Kong to Halo to Mario Kart - all of which would heavily influence what eventually became “Wreck-It Ralph.” And while I always believed in the film, I had days when I wondered if it would resonate with anyone outside the walls of Disney Animation.

Walt Disney PIctures A scene from “Wreck-It Ralph.”

Having spent the past eight weeks traveling the world - from Paris to Buenos Aires to Sydney, Australia - I can tell you that the amazing thing is how universal video games are. And while the movie has struck a chord with all ages, it has really hit home with people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, who reflect back on the untold hours they spent in arcades. I realize that I was not alone back then.

As for my favorite game of 2012, that's a hard one - not because there are so many to choose from (there are), but because I had to give up video games to finish t he film. The final year of production requires late nights and seven-day work weeks; I knew myself well enough to know that if I were to pick up a new game, I would be lost in it for hours, days and weeks.

The game I most wanted to play throughout the year (and it took unbelievable restraint not to purchase it) was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I look forward to disappearing into its clutches now that promoting “Wreck-It Ralph” is finished. See you in six months!

Rich Moore directed the Walt Disney animated film “Wreck-It Ralph.”

A Portrait of Interfaith Giving

Stephen Harmon

Dear Diary:

Stephen Harmon

In November I took a portrait of a Sikh man in a green turban in Little India in Jackson Heights. On Dec. 16, my wife, Cynthia, and I went back to find him and give him an 11-by-14 matted copy.

He did not speak any English, and at first we thought he couldn't take it because of a cultural problem. He only understood that we were giving him a gift when I literally put it against his chest and wrapped his arms around it.

Then he lit up like the sun! And did he smile. He stopped someone on the street to admire his photo. I barely caught it, but here is a little bit of his joy and pride. It's nice when a Jew and a Catholic can give a Christmas gift to a Sikh.

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