This is the first time I have heard of Snow Fall - and no wonder - it's nothing new. A bunch of moving pictures and some text. I don't see how this is any different than sites with irritating flash video ads (or just video) on them - text plus video/moving pictures.

If I were someone at NYT, I would be flattered that someone took the time to replicate my stuff since it seems someone seems to think it's worth stealing/borrowing/copying/etc