ART: Unhappy with your old point and shoot? Today marks the opening of the National Krappy Kamera Competition, proving that even inexpensive cameras can snap good shots. "The exhibit features images that are produced using equipment from the lowest end of the technological scale. The concept underlying this show is that an artist can use any piece of equipment to create engaging photographs. Cameras generally range from the well-known Diana, Holga and Lubitel to......

FOOD: Trestle on Tenth, the “homey joins hearty” Swiss-inflected restaurant that takes its name from its proximity to the High Line and the avenue where it’s found, kicks off a special five-night series called “metzgete.” The Swiss tradition loosely translates to “butchers affair” and arises from the practice of salvaging every scrap of pig after the winter slaughter – “especially those parts that would or could not be dried, smoked or pickled for later consumption.”......

THEATER: Over the summer the Belarusian Free Theater was arrested, along with their audience, during a performance of their play Being Harold Pinter, which uses Pinter’s magnificent Nobel Prize acceptance speech as a springboard for theatrical dissent, something the Belarus police state isn't really so into. (For that reason, the company’s performances are normally held secretly in alternating private apartments.) Unable to bring the entire production to New York for his Under the Radar festival,......

CRAFTY: The holiday season is upon us, which means getting that perfect gift for whoever's egg nog you'll be gathered around this year. Why not try a little D.I.Y.? Every other Monday the Church of Craft meets up and will "provide contact, craft support, advice, knowhowto, instructions, directions, tips, tricks, inspiration, and the blinding love of craft to all who seek it." 7 to 9pm // Rapture Cafe [200 Avenue A] // Free EVENT: Have......

If you aren't at a BBQ, aren't watching the fireworks or a big budget summer movie...below are some options for you. Whatever you do, though, bring sparklers! MUSIC: The New Pornographers and Midlake are playing a free show at Battery Park. If you didn't get a free pass, then go hang out on the outskirts, enjoy the day, and listen to the music - we're sure it'll be loud enough. 3:30pm // Battery Park //......

When the son of famed televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jay Bakker, made the decision to be a “gay affirming” pastor, his life was almost ruined for the second time. Financial backers dropped him, he had to let go of some of his staff, and churches he was scheduled to speak at pulled out. Now Jay speaks at a different set of churches. Last Saturday we saw him at the Middle Collegiate Church,......

READING: Mira Jacob and Alison Hart host yet another of Pete's Reading Series. Tonight they welcome Nell Freudenberger, author of "The Dissident" - which sounds almost like a Tom Robbins novel, with a Chinese performance artist and former political prisoner accepting teaching fellowships at a girls school. Also reading tonight will be Dana Spiotta, author of "Eat the Document", which focuses on lives in the aftermath of 1970s radicalism. 7:30pm // Pete's Candy Store [709......

Tonight the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens will be screening for the first time in the US, director Jonas Mekas's most recent film, A Letter From Greenpoint. It's a lovely, personal movie filled with vignettes and Mekas's musings about leaving SoHo for Brooklyn after 30 years. He moved from Lithuania to New York in 1949, where he organized the first downtown avant garde film screenings, founded the Anthology Film Archive, worked as a......

FAIR: Tom of Finland Foundation is holding the 6th Annual New York City Erotic Art Fair all weekend. Thousands of works of Erotic Art by artists worldwide will be for sale, or just for looking at (pervert). This includes all media, gender & sexual orientation. There will also be life drawing workshops. The opening reception is tonight, so get the first peek. All Weekend // The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Services Center [208......

This week kicks off tonight with Non-fiction night at KGB Bar (85 E. 4th St.) with Harry Brunius reading from Better for All the World : The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity and Cynthia Carr reading from Our Town: Heartland Lynching, a Haunted Town, and the Hidden History of White America. It starts at 7PM and is free. On Thursday night (3/23), 7PM at Barnes and Noble (Broadway at......

When we are trying to recapture the thrill of living in New York (or at least avoid sounding like Tricia Romano when we talk about our home) we drink Manhattans in Brooklyn. They may not be everyone's favorite or the flavor of the month but Manhattans are like the whole experience of living here- pretty hardcore, an acquired taste and only right when you make it yours. We've tried Maker's Manhattans, as cold as possible,......

Between the accelerating AC bill, the boredom of August and the depression of knowing we don't summer anywhere, Gothamist has been more and more interested in revisiting the idea of cheap. Fish Bar is not what we'd technically call a dive (we're not afraid to let our feet touch the floor). It is an adorable and filled with kitsch: mermaids, tackle, shells, and buoys line the walls and compete with the Stoli for room on......

Andy Friedman, Slideshow Poet, Painter, Artististic Visionary...

Gothamist remembers when Rebecca Sealfon won the National Spelling Bee. She captivated audiences world wide, and even had an Obey Giant sticker of her own. We're thinking she may have also had a little something to do with inspiring this event. Every other Monday for the past few months word mavens, twenty/thirty-something (we hate the word too) hipsters and perhaps Sealfon fans, have been flocking over to Pete's Candy Store for PBR and...spelling bee's! Tomorow......

Now that the weather is about to turn cooler, I really want to learn how to knit. I have visions of myself in handmade scarves and ponchos, but I have no idea where to start. Can you help me find some knitting resources in NYC? Ask Gothamist loves knitting! We�re usually working on and planning several knitting projects at any given time. Luckily for you, New York City is teeming with knitting resources. We think......

Juliana Nash, Co-owner of Pete's Candy Store...

According to Blender [Via NY Post], Williamsburg is the number one city in the country for rock 'n' roll. The Post cites Luxx and other venues like Pete's Candy Store as being critical for young bands getting launches, but warns to go to B-Burg sooner rather than later, as the "stroller brigade" is moving in. The rest of the list? Hamtramck, Mich.; Silver Lake, Calif.; Austin, Texas; and Oakland, Calif.......