Bill Clinton was on the talk show circuit yesterday, to promote his Clinton Global Initiative which meets this week. But naturally he discussed the current presidential campaign. The former president told the View ladies that Hillary Clinton wasn't dying to be VP, "She said, 'If [Obama] asks, I'll do it because it's my duty.' She loves being a senator for New York and has more freedom to develop her positions on the issues." But......

Grand Central Terminal gets the full PBS American Experience treatment with this documentary from filmmaker Michael Epstein (Monday & Thursday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13). The one hour film traces the history of the terminal, its construction and its impact on New York and the rest of the world. Expect tales of robber barons, dead commuters, and of course fawning over an architectural treasure. Since we' ve seen many local productions about Grand Central, we......

MOVIES: A lavishly restored print of Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s visionary film The Holy Mountain has been making the rounds this year; it’s back again this weekend at IFC Center for a pair of midnight screenings. First released in 1973, The Holy Mountain has grown into a cult classic for its surreal, psychedelic imagery and a serpentine, metaphysical storyline, which takes as inspiration, among other things, "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel" by St. John of......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., HBO) A look at America's favorite insult comic and last surviving member of the “Rat Pack”, the octogenarian Don Rickles from director John Landis. Everyone from Chris Rock to Bob Newhart to Clint Eastwood to Sidney Poitier talk about the comic. 1968 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., History Channel) 1968 was a turbulent and tragic year and Tom Brokaw not......

It's been quite a 24 hours for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. Last nght, he was at the Apollo for his first Harlem event. And this morning, he had breakfast with Mayor Bloomberg at a Midtown diner. At last night's $50-per-ticket fund-raiser, both Cornel West and Chris Rock introduced Obama. West asked the audience to think about entertainers like James Brown and Billie Holliday, who "represent a way of life that goes all the......

The city’s food charities are dealing with dire shortages this year, exacerbated by cutbacks in federal food aid. Many places like St. Benedict the Moor Neighborhood Center in the South Bronx are almost barren; according to today’s Times, the center’s pantry used to be stacked up to the ceiling with food but now holds just “a few sacks of potatoes, some cornflakes, juice and peanut butter.” To help fill the void, City Harvest, the non-profit......

Sean L. McCarthy has got it made. Blogger of comedy for The NY Daily News, New York's Funniest Reporter , and he spends his nights hanging out with some of the funniest people in the world. A truly enviable position! What's his secret? How did he get to where he is? Gothamist wanted to know and found out! You recently won the Funniest Reporter competition. How'd you prepare? The New York Underground Comedy Festival......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: The War: A Ken Burns Film (Sunday - Tuesday, 8:00 p. m., WNET 13; Sunday - Tuesday, 10:00 p. m., WLIW 21) The Ken Burns World War II documentary wraps up this week. Top Gear (Monday 8:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m., BBC America) We recently stumbled onto the insanely brilliant BBC 2 show which is in theory about cars, but is really about three crazy Brits going......

Rome: Season 2 As another season of Emmy nominations show, those folks over at HBO original programming know what they're doing. Complex shows filled with meaty characters, lavish spectacle and quite a few racy scenes make those premium cable fees seem well worth the expense. However, if you missed out on the two seasons of Rome, the epic struggle of life during the time of Julius Caesar that's a bit of The Sopranos in togas,......

Last night on Saturday Night Live, Chris Rock appeared on the cold open (what's a cold open?) to give his thoughts about the 2008 presidential race. While his riff on Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was great, it was also a little too long for our meager transcribing chops this morning. So we give you his thoughts on the Republican contenders:On the Republican side, we have McCain and Giuliani. Now, is it......

The Wind That Shakes The Barley (directed by Ken Loach): This weekend as all of the Celtic-themed Murray Hill bars fill with green beer drinking louts honor your Irish leanings at the movies with Ken Loach's new film, The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Winner of last year's big Cannes film festival prize the Palm D'Or, the film follows two brothers caught up in the "troubles" in rural Ireland during the '20s. The always excellent......

Four strippers at Scores West in Chelsea were arrested for offering to have sex with undercover cops. Hello, nightlife and cabaret beat! From the Post: The cops spent several hours inside the temple of titillation at 528 W. 28th St. looking for violations, sources said. They were told that if they rented a back room, they could receive sexual favors for $200 to $700, the sources said. One of the girls assured the cops, "What......

- The terrible frozen block of something turns out to have been a bunny - The cross at Ground Zero may be coming back - And a 7 WTC twofer: Newyorkology's visit (with glorious Woolworth building views) and a Times article about how the Chinese are leasing - A Bagel in Harlem has a nice Passover interview with fishmonger at La Marqueta - The folks at Newsday have video of Chris Rock enjoying the......

MTV is going to broadcast the 2006 awards. Now, Gothamist will use our cranky and cliche cards: We don't remember the last time we saw a video on MTV! And we're kind of upset at MTV for making stars out of people who are worthless, although the horrifying pleasure we get when we watch My Sweet 16 almost balances that out. But the show itself is usually trippy fun to watch - whether it's a......

It's Oscar Night and Gothamist is here. Tonight, it'll be a joint effort, from our resident film guru Karen Wilson and our resident Oscar freak Jen Chung. We hope you weigh in with what you think! KW: I have my popcorn, my diet coke -- I am ready for the spectacle and the excess. JC: ALL RIGHT! I just took extra Vitamin C - I'm waiting for some food delivery. 6:36PM Isaac Mizrahi has NOT......

Gothamist was a bit underwhelmed by this year's Golden Globe nominees, and we were thinking of not liveblogging. But, gosh darn it as we watched the E! preshow and saw the starlets sparkle their way down the red carpet, we realize it was hopeless, so here we are. Let it be known that: - Keira Knightley looks gorgeous in her white Valentino - and there's something surprisingly youthful about the dress, even though there's that......

It's official: Jon Stewart will host this year's Oscars telecast. Which means the Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to go for crowd-pleasing ('specially in liberal Hollywood) political commentary, versus another year of cruel but insightful wisecracks from Chris Rock. Hmm, Gothamist likes Jon Stewart, though we downgraded him after the frat-party audience atmosphere of the Daily Show started to detract from the show, but he is better than Whoopi Goldberg again.......

The Post ("BIZ BOOB BUSTS BANK FOR BABES") and the Daily News ($lap dance!) are having a good time at the expense of Robert McCormick, who apparently managed to blow through $241,000 in one drunken night of partying at Scores. McCormick, CEO of Savvis Communications and a 38-year old father of three kids, was in from Missouri and celebrating some business his company had just closed. Scores claims that after the tab hit $10,000, they......

With just two new episodes so far this season, the NY Post wonders if Saturday Night Live is really dead. It's a good, if evergreen question. Horatio Sanz is certainly no Tina Fey during Weekend Update, though Gothamist has been impressed he's been able to hold it together this long. With Maya Rudoph's pregnancy, it seems like most sketches with a female character involve Amy Poehler (who rules, but maybe she needs a break). There......

Dave Rubin, Comedian ...

The reviews are out, and Chris Rock is getting a mixed bag of feedback for his duties as the MC of the Oscars. The NY Daily News' David Bianculli says he wasn't edgy or funny enough, Variety says his opening monologue was great (subscription required), the Hollywood Reporter says that Rock wasn't on a roll, and the Washington Post's Tom Shales says Rock was strangely lame and mean-spirited. Gothamist wonders if there's a generational divide......

You know it's the Oscars when P. Diddy busts out the velvet suit! Gothamist loves the Oscars, and we're going to attempt to do a little liveblogging. We might need to order a vat of caffeine and an EMT team at the ready; not because Chris Rock will be boring, but because we think that Gil Cates might kill us with his newfangled ideas and because we're meh about this year's nominees in the big......

Though the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is over, Gothamist has been enjoying city rag's photographs from the final night. The win of the "liver-colored" German pointer Ch Kan-Point's VJK Autumn Roses (aka Carlee) was shocking to us, because "liver-colored" doesn't really sound so good, unless it's foie gras. But the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is the only awards show where they get to say, "This bitch really deserved to win"...well, the only......

Bill Wrigley, MC...

Sure, there are TiVos. And VCRs (we think). But since Gothamist missed Chris Rock live, we might just have to stay home and watch Never Scared on HBO tomorrow night at 10PM. It follows a showing of Head of State, which we did see (on a plane). There's Bernie Mac, Stephanie March (aka ADA Alexandra Cabot of Law & Order SVU), and Robin Givens - what more could you want in a Saturday night?......

Reasons why Gothamist is sad to have missed Chris Rock's comedy show (playing through early next week, but sold out, natch, at MSG), after reading Kelefa Sanneh's review : – "If you're black, America is like the uncle that paid your way through college but molested you." – On Roy Horn being mauled: "That tiger didn't go crazy. That tiger went tiger." – Krispy Kreme donuts' secret ingredient: crack Chris Rock and the Weitz Brothers'......

It's Gothamist's second favorite Times Arts & Leisure feature of the year (after the Fall Preview, which, even though "Fall" is less of an event in film and TV, just seems to be an exciting way to ring in the best season), when all the critics give their favorites and hateds of the year. The film critics list their best, with Elvis Mitchell calling Pirates of the Caribbean his top movie (Merry Christmas, Jerry......

- Cheating the MTA - Red wine helps you - How to make an egg cream - Learning to drive at 43: The Suzanne Vega Story - Hot police fashion - Excellent ideas on how to save the movies from themselves - Will Ferrell in tights: Comedy gold - Bill Murray's Oscar movie? - No more TVs in city taxis - Airport screening tries to show its worth - Gothamist's next food field trip Or......

Okay, let's get it out of the way: Madonna kissed Britney. Madonna kissed Christina. Fine. Of course Madonna did something outre and not very Gappy by kissing Britney and Christina, but when Gothamist started to think about it, it was totally predictable and not that hot or exciting. It was calculated and a little boring. It's hot only in the way that the media will be able to say "girl-on-girl" action, but big deal.......