Sidney here. I’m up a bit earlier than usual today, and with a purpose: The iLife is heading to New York City to join in the opening-night celebration for Manhattan’s newest, largest, and most impressively designed store. (Fine, the 5th Ave Cube may still hold the “impressive” title, but this comes close.)

We’ve loaded our bags with equipment to bring you up-to-the-minute pictures, video, and stories from the line and the party. Stay tuned: we expect to be in line shortly after 3PM. (Admittedly later than the 4AM the top-ten had to shoot for, but not too shabby.)

Live updates after the jump.

5:15 PM This line is much less civilized than what we saw in San Francisco. We’re tightly packed into wide aisles, and there seem to be fewer fanboys than usual — more New Yorkers looking for “the iPod store” instead.

The store’s Airport network is overloaded: when you can even be acknowledged by the AP, it’s impossible to get an IP address. At the moment, I’m sitting off to the side, leeching of a helpful New Yorker’s connection. As I type, The employees are lining up along the staircase, presumably to greet incoming shoppers.

5:22 PM Cheering from inside the store! Photos being taken of employees… can’t see much more.

5:29 PM Someone’s up on the billboard… the iPod ad may be coming down.

5:45 PM The iPod ad has come down, revealing the Apple billboard seen on the Retail site. “Now Open,” it reads.

7:59 PM We’re in! It’s a party, with DJ’s at. TheiLife.com crew won $10 iTunes gift cards all, but nothing more exciting. Either way, that line really sucked. Most people thought that pushing was the only way to survive, so it got unimaginably uncomfortable.

9:06 PM We are still here and the line is still around the block! The DJ has just began to pack up — we’ve been chilling on the 3rd floor.

10:07 PM We are still here, rapidly trying to dump the content off the various DSLR’s and Cameras (and then begin video editing). Expect some video coming your way soon.

2:30 AM Home now. What a day! Four posters in hand (hundreds of others strewn about the city) and quite a bit of media to go through. I (*cough* Sidney) got enough captured to make a rough cut of the wrap video.

–Sidney San Martín