Arts & Entertainment

Given the massive crowds expected downtown tomorrow to celebrate the New York Giant's Super Bowl win, the MTA has issued a press release instructing fans on what subway stations to use, as well as which ones to "avoid." According to the MTA, these because of the anticipated mob scene, these stations will be bypassed starting at 10 a.m.: The Fulton Street 4/5, the Fulton Street A/C, the Wall Street 4/5, the City Hall R, and the Chambers Street-WTC (the E will discharge customers at Canal Street, A and C will bypass). Please make a note of it, and if you are insane plan to be there, here's which stations the MTA recommends using: more ›

Ending weeks of wild speculation, filmmaker Abel Ferrara has finally confirmed that he's going to bring former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s big silver head to the big silver screen. Le Monde reports that Ferrara—the man responsible for the films Bad Lieutenant, The Funeral, and, the seminal classic, 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy—has cast French actor Gérard Depardieu as the titular character and Isabelle Adjani as his wife Anne Sinclair. more ›

There were lots of ads in last night's Super Bowl—two that even stirred up some controversy—but only one that got our geeky hearts aflutter. Yup, we all got another look at Joss Whedon's superhero spectacular, The Avengers: more ›

We love few things at Gothamist as much as we love the OG Law & Order and maps (pretty much only one thing, in fact: Pandas). So we'd be remiss not to mention Very Small Array's latest bit of awesome: A map of all of the (non-fictional) street addresses listed in the first season of Law & Order. more ›

As the New York Giants await their flight back to Newark today, mingling awkwardly with morose members of the New England Patriots, the city gets ready to clean up the dozens of tons of ticker-tape that will be bombarded upon the streets of Manhattan Tuesday. Cue up some 80's cleaning montage music! more ›

The two highest-ranked cats in Gothamist's Cat Battle have been disqualified due to damning evidence of voter fraud, leaving Moo the cat as champion. Thompson received the most votes with 516, and Randolph received 425, but delving into the results showed hundreds of votes for both cats using mysterious IP addresses from India or an identical IP address in Crown Heights. "For the record, I CATegorically deny all the charges," Thompson's owner and Gothamist's publisher Jake Dobkin told reporters in Midtown before rolling up the tinted window of his SUV. more ›

After seeing Steven Siegel's amazing photos from 1980s New York City, we wondered how the boroughs were repped on the big screen back in the Bad Old Days. From Fame to Crocodile Dundee to Splash to Annie to Escape From New York, we'll be taking a look back at these movies, starting today with 1984's Beat Street. more ›

Last night, as you know by now, M.I.A. flipped off America during the Super Bowl halftime show. But seriously, everyone, someone made her wear a cheerleading outfit—if M.I.A. didn't flip off someone, life just wouldn't make sense anymore. However, since nothing else controversial really happened—and the wardrobe malfunction thing was eight years ago—we, as a people, needed something to talk about at the water cooler. And M.I.A. delivered, albeit subtly. more ›

Scantily clad ladies, Clydesdales, over-paid celebrities. Yup, last nights' Super Bowl brought with it a barrage of big budget ads that were, sadly, far less thrilling than the game itself. There were a few diamonds in the rough, sure, but for at least one of them you had to live in Nebraska. more ›

The parade will start at Battery Place and Washington Street. The route goes up the Canyon of Heroes to Worth Street, followed by a ceremony at City Hall Plaza. more ›

Shockingly, Madonna kept her guns hidden and left the distaste for the bourgeoisie to M.I.A., who gave the finger to America (or just a camera guy). more ›

We have nothing against football. We do have a problem sitting through a 4-hour orgy of commerce and overweight millionaires concussing each other to the glee of billionaires. And there's Madonna. So what's a curmudgeon to do? Here are five suggestions to ward off the face-painted bandwagon-jumpers and the insipid dialogue they will inevitably pitch on Gchat tomorrow. more ›

If your past as a male stripper is more famous than your previous movies, than obviously Saturday Night Live will milk that for all it's worth. Last night's host Channing Tatum (yes, you can watch his striptease here) acknowledged his exotic dancer experiences in the monologue— and proceeded to show off his chiseled chest in that bit as well as a few other sketches. Highlights included a cold open featured Newt Gingrich as Moon President, Weekend Update's take on Lana Del Ray's performance a few weeks ago, Bobby Moynihan's Guy Fieri impression, Tom Brady at a Ruby Tuesday's and a killer Spike TV commercial for... Downton Abbey. And Bon Iver performed! more ›

We already know that Giants fans are passionate about their ass tattoos, but it seems Patriots fans are just...insane? Or maybe insanely creative junkyard artists? Some intense Pats fans made an elaborate effigy to the Giants, "roasting" a mannequin of QB Eli Manning on a spit above the "flames" of a burnt-out Giants car. The whole thing is a metaphor, of course, for the sorrow which engulfs our lives as we drift aimlessly from one vicarious event to the next. Which reminds us: did you know the Super Bowl is today? more ›

Boerum Hill's hottest new B&B is slated to open next week, and to ease the apprehension of the neighbors the Department of Corrections gave a guided tour of the Brooklyn House of Detention today. No word on how many who attended today were parents attempting to scare their kids straight. more ›

Would you believe that a majority of pop musicians disagree with Republican dogma? In recent days Newt Gingrich was sued by the co-author of "Eye of the Tiger" after he used it at numerous campaign events, and Mitt Romney was asked by K'naan to stop using his song "Wavin' Flag." "I'm for immigrants. I'm for poor people, and they don't seem to be what he's endorsing," the rapper told the Times. "My song being his victory song didn't seem quite right." So where can the GOP candidates turn to pump up their pasty crowds? We've compiled a shortlist of tunes that are the least likely to earn a cease-and-desist order. more ›

Ben Gazzara—a veteran dramatic character actor known for his films with director John Cassavetes, playing Brick in the original “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” on Broadway, and playing Jackie Treehorn in The Big Lebowski—died on Friday in Manhattan. Gazzara suffered from pancreatic cancer; he was 81. more ›

EV Grieve directs us to this notice posted on East 9th Street asking permission "to temporarily dress several storefronts and buildings," in preparation for the Coen brothers' new 60's period piece, "Inside Llewyn Davis," which features Justin Timberlake. No word on whether Ryan Gosling has been retained to diffuse the expected hysteria when shooting begins. more ›

This week, we asked you how you would tag the blank Mad Men posters that have come to dominate the walls of several subway platforms across the city. And after an initial rush of submissions yesterday, we've received even more inspired photoshop mash-ups. From Dancing Dick Whitman to Pepper Sprayed Draper, we've picked some more of our favorites from the dozens and dozens of photos we received. more ›

There hasn't been a Montauk Monster sighting for a while, and maybe that's thanks to artist Davis Murphy, who recently brought some wildlife to the sandy shores of Long Island. Surely monsters are scared off by ultra-realistic looking rhinos, right? They do, after all, weigh in at 250 pounds each, and measure 12-feet-long. more ›

Madonna is the Super Bowl halftime performer and, at a press conference yesterday, she said she was thrilled to perform, "This is a Midwesterner girls dream to be performing at the Super Bowl halftime show." more ›

A coven of witches is headed to Union Square with the hopes of raising enough dough to build a permanent home right in Manhattan. According to DNA Info, the members of the Wiccan Family Temple, who are based out of the Lower East Side, are planning the WitchsFest on July 8th, which will include 50 vendors selling items like those found in The Magic Box. Probably. more ›

The history of Broadway is littered with ill-advised sequels that didn't quite work (see: Bring Back Birdie or The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public) but the biggest sequel of them all, the Phantom followup Love Never Dies (in which the masked musician moves to Coney Island to open the "Phantasma"), will most likely never even make it to the Great White Way. But! It will be playing on 42nd Street. At least a filmed version of it will. Camp fans might want to mark February 28th and March 7th on their calendars! more ›

This week Vahram Muratyan's book Paris Versus New York was released, which we only heard about after seeing some Tweets about an event at the Standard last night that no one told us about. La baise Français! Anyway, the book is very visually compelling, comparing the two cities with some gorgeous graphic design work, with a subtitle: A Tally of Two Cities. Muratyan is French-born, but has lived in New York before, and recently told CNN what he misses about either city when he's not there: more ›

In 1987, we saw the movie La Bamba on the big screen and spent the next week in tears. We even missed days of school. It was just so sad, even the Bob subplot—poor misunderstood drunk Bob! Anyway, it was traumatizing, and as you all know the movie ended when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as pilot Roger Peterson, die in a plane crash in 1959. That day famously became known as the Day The Music Died, and it happened 53 years ago today, on February 3rd. Why not visit P.J. Clarke's to pay homage tonight? more ›

When we asked you how you would tag the blank Mad Men posters currently gracing subway platforms across the city we expected a couple submissions. Instead we got dozens of quick mock-ups from aspiring taggers and ad men around town. Good work everybody! Here are some of our favorites, from Breakdancing Don to Daredevil Draper! more ›

Hey Girl, Time Warner Cable wants to make right by you for all those times they were late, or unresponsive, or simply unavailable. For all those times they left you feeling helpless, and unconnected to the world. For every phone call where they just left you hanging. They want you to love them again, or at least not cancel your services, and they're smart enough to know that the best way to do that is with Ryan Gosling. They're so cunning! more ›

Rapper Ja Rule is serving a two-year sentence for attempted criminal possession of a firearm (a loaded .40 was found in his car in 2007)—plus another four months for tax evasion—and he seems pretty upbeat. At least, that what this exclusive interview and video from the Daily News suggest: "The Queens-raised rap star says disgraced pol Alan Hevesi and corporate greed poster-boy Dennis Kozlowski took him under their wings. From Kozlowski, he got stock tips. From Hevesi, he heard about the perennial impasse in Albany. They watched Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert together." Ja Rule said, "Outside, you don’t meet guys like this every day. This place is amazing." more ›

Travel back to a time when that eyesore of a Verizon Building wasn't jutting out of the city's skyline. This image is pretty self-explanatory, showing the skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge, and as it looked from that viewpoint during the years 1876, 1932, 1988, and a rendering of what it could look like next year. Since there's such a big chunk of time missing there, here's some video showing the same area in different decades. First, the 1970s: more ›

Madonna is expected to hit the road on a tour later this year—following her Super Bowl stint—in support of her upcoming release, titled MDNA (and yes, she knows that title sound an awful lot like a popular drug). Warming up the press machine, the performer told Newsweek in a recent interview that she's well worth the hundreds of dollars her fans will shell out to see her. Specifically, the 53-year-old star told her fans, "Start saving your pennies now. People spend $300 on crazy things all the time, things like handbags. So work all year, scrape the money together and come to my show. I'm worth it." more ›

As Leonard Cohen once kind of sang, "We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky/and lost among the subway crowds I try to sing the Super Mario Bros. Theme song." It might have just been a fantasy back in 1968, but Gypsy Joe Trane is making Cohen's dream come true: below, watch a video of Trane performing the theme to Super Mario Brothers on an uptown R-train recently. As the video uploader put it, "This was one of the most entertaining rides I've had on the R. I like subway performers and these guys had the best approach I've seen: just stand and jam for many stops." Let's just hope that the pro-Koopa Troopas lobby doesn't get wind of this. more ›

Broadway makes great business out of adapting Hollywood movies into musicals, with everything from Catch Me If You Can to Shrek to Legally Blonde and Ghost all making their way to the Great White Way. Now, Broadway has its eye on adapting Back To The Future—and the movie is looking back at Broadway, mouthing, "What are you looking at butthead?" more ›

Ever find Sesame Street to be a little too happy? Well artist Tim Doyle has recreated it, and other television show landscapes, with a dark twist. Click through for some of his "Unreal Estate" pieces, where you'll see Hooper's Store, Seinfeld, and even All in the Family spots like you've never seen them before. More of his work can be seen right here, and hopefully he'll bring his show (currently in San Francisco) to New York, along with some more NYC-based pieces. [via Buzzfeed] more ›

Lena Dunham (along with co-executive producer Judd Apatow) will bring Girls to HBO this April, and in what is finally, hopefully, a post-Carrie Bradshaw New York City, we're already counting down the days. Even if we haven't been sent a screener and have only seen teasers. Here's why: more ›

AMC's beloved (if not highly rated) advertising soap opera Mad Men returns March 25. But you probably already knew that, since the cable network has plastered our subway system with almost entirely blank ads for the show—the perfect canvas for aspiring subway ad men to work on, right? more ›

Earlier this week we took a look back at some of David Letterman's more interesting (and shirtless) moments prior to his 30th year anniversary in late night television. Letterman is now the longest-serving host in late-night TV history. That milestone was reached last night, and the host celebrated on-air with his pal Howard Stern, who says he's the only one still fighting the late night war. Watch below as the two talk about Jay Leno, complete with an impersonation from Letterman himself. more ›

We've spent the past few weeks looking back through Steven Siegel's photo archive, which beautifully retells the city's story over the past three decades, from the South Bronx to Bushwick. From utter destruction to Disneyfication. Turns out that Siegel also filmed what was going on throughout all that time, and his videos are no less spectacular. You can watch them all at his YouTube page (some even tell a story), and our favorites are below: more ›

With the great digital vs. print debate ramping up in light of the rising popularity of e-books, writers and literature lovers alike have expressed concern that this new technology will be the downfall of us all. Leon Reid IV, the Brooklyn based artist who used a Kickstarter campaign to bring George Washington the Tourist to Union Square last summer, and recently announced big plans to hang a 60 foot spider from the Brooklyn Bridge, is out to bring the bound book back to the forefront with his and documentary film producer Julia Marchesi's newest interactive public art project, the Hundred Story House. more ›

Amtrak, that train you take to escape New York from time to time, should be pretty familiar with the city, but the writers of their magazine may need some pointers. As a tipster just pointed out to us, their current issue refers to SoHo, Harlem, and Williamsburg as boroughs. more ›

There may be no light in her latest single, but it sounds like there was a lot of it in The Bowery Hotel room that Florence + The Machine's Florence Welch recently stayed in. The British singer just admitted to starting a fire in the swank pad after a night partying with Kanye! more ›

Last year, the Volkswagen Vader ad was declared the most entertaining non-football part of the Super Bowl, and it was well deserved: a Star Wars-obsessed kid is gonna be more entertaining than a Black Eyed Peas halftime show 11 out of 10 times. But how can they follow up such a masterpiece? We already knew from their teaser that the scientists at Volkswagon were up to something involving Star Wars and dogs. But have they taken things too far to achieve the ultimate level of synergetic viral cuteness? Watch below and decide. more ›

One of this season's greatest Saturday Night Live sketches was when they paid notice Adele's "Someone Like You," and its ability to make everyone cry (video). So naturally, when this subway performer at 86th Street beautifully belted out the tune, it got a lot of attention. He even tells the crowd afterwards: "I tell you, if you ever see someone do that song and they don't drop a tear, don't give 'em shit, don't give 'em nothin', because that song is nothin' but love." Watch below, and make sure you've got a Kleenex handy. more ›

On Sunday, those who don't care about sports or advertising are going to feel like Will Smith in I am Legend with all the zombies huddled en masse in front of 54-inch plasma screens, devouring chicken wings. For those who think football sucks, America's annual Bread & Circus extravaganza presents a perfect opportunity to take advantage of a relatively empty city. To that end, click on the photos for five fun alternatives to the stupid Super Bowl. more ›

Beneath New York City lies a vast network of abandoned tunnels, caverns, nooks and crannies that the average joe will never see. But urban explorer Steve Duncan is not your average joe! As you'll see in their Undercity series, he and filmmaker Andrew Wonder really like getting dirty below grade. This week they explore a section of the Second Avenue Subway dug out beneath lower Manhattan and abandoned in the 1970s. more ›

One of the few downsides of being a single girl in the city is when you need an extra pair of hands to help you put together that IKEA thingamajig or hang some blinds. Just the other day this author had to turn to Twitter with a desperate plea for help in hanging up a pot rack (a winged plastic wall anchor was involved, it wasn't going to be easy). On that night, Twitter was sort of like our very own "The Secret," and a friend ended up coming over to help (and voila: success!) But what if Twitter failed us? WHAT THEN? Enter: Rent-A-Gent. more ›

Adorable Icelandic siren Bjork appeared on Stephen Colbert last night in anticipation of her 10-date NYC residency. The two discussed a bit about time travel, the interactive iPad component of her recent album Biophilia ("Why sully music with something as ugly as science?"), and her belief in (and respect for) the elves. Somehow despite her hyperspatial-Euclidean fizziness, Colbert didn't once mention the red brillo beehive-like wig elephant in the room. Below, check out the interview as well as an iPad-aided performance of "Cosmogony." more ›