Huh, the Law & Order spin-off, Law & Order: Los Angeles, got unexpectedly classy by announcing that Alfred Molina, the British actor who has been in Frida and Spider-Man 2 and nominated for three Tonys (he just received one for Red on Broadway), will be a DA on he show. Via EW's Michael Ausiello, producer Dick Wolf said, “I am thrilled that Fred is LOLA‘s Deputy D. He joins a remarkable list of some of America’s greatest character actors like Sam Waterston, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jeff Goldblum, Steven Hill, Dianne Wiest, and Michael Moriarty as stars of Law & Order-branded series." more ›

One of our favorite film actors is currently appearing on Broadway in a play about one of our favorite visual artists. In the engrossing play Red, the role of transcendent artist Mark Rothko is filled by the great Alfred Molina, who has brought his considerable talents to movie parts ranging from Doctor Octavious in Spiderman to the treacherous Satipo who won't throw the whip to Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. more ›

While filing out of the Laura Pels Theatre after Patrick Marber’s Howard Katz, a woman of a certain age was heard exclaiming, “A tour de force!” Having brandished that over-ripe phrase myself on probably too many occasions, I was amazed to hear it applied to the play we’d just sat through. Had I been misusing it all this time? Was the expression actually French for “a total waste of time”? more ›

MUSIC: It's hard to believe Kurt Cobain would have been 40 today. In celebration of his birthday and life there will be live performances of Nirvana albums Bleach, Nevermind and In Utero from Daouets, The Domestics, and Schwervon with some other musical guests. Bring flannel, your inner teen angst, and rock out like it's the early 90s. more ›

This is pretty awesome: NYC saved $11 million in various fees because it used the online lawsuit-settling site Cybersettle to handle various cases. NY1 explains: "Lawyers for each side type in proposed settlement figures in three rounds over 30 to 60 days. Each side's numbers are kept secret until Cybersettle sees a match." Has anyone used it? City Comptroller William Thompson (who some suspect may run for Mayor in 2009) noted that more than half of the 1,199 cases put on Cybersettle were successfully settled. More fun legal factoids: 9,000 of the 24,000 lawsuits and claims filed against the city "involve sidewalk, school, roadway, city property, traffic sign and light, motor vehicle, recreation and personal injury cases." Gothamist smells another Law & Order spinoff! more ›