Special water theme today on the Gothamist Newsmap: DOA Floater on Staten Island, found human remains on Plumb Beach in Brooklyn, and a water rescue in the Hudson. Coliseum Books has closed for the last time-- a victim of the internet, Barnes & Noble, and rising real estate prices. Some "deranged" goths vandalized a church on East 76th Street twice in the last two days-- writing "Satan is God" and "Christ is a False......

-- "Get the hell outta here!": Ralph's Discount City on Chambers Street is closing, to be replaced with condos. -- Speaking of unjust closings: Coliseum Books in Midtown is also folding. -- Pretty: a night shot from Delancey street. -- The city consumes about the same amount of water as they did in 1951, despite population growth. The difference is being made up in Starbucks coffee. -- Well, there's no way we're ever flying......

The VMA's are in town, but there's more to do beyond screaming outside of Radio City or attempting to hit up one of the red carpet parties... EVENT: If you're in to PDA then head uptown tonight, there's going to be a "makeout party". We prefer the sound of silence over the sound of hundreds of people smooching, so we'll probably skip this. Of note: they mention that "this is a kissing-only event, so all......

READINGS: An afternoon event for those of you who don't need to be sweltering in a thankless office - Erica Jong has a conversation with writer Ariel Levy and reads from her new autobiography, Seducing the Demon: Writing for my Life in the sunny Bryant Park Reading Room as part of the Word for Word Series. In the book, Jong tells spicy tales of New York and Hollywood, and describes life after best-selling novel Fear......

We've got a packed week of awesome events for you, so start tonight (5/10) at McNally Robinson NYC to catch Welsh author Niall Griffiths in a rare U.S. appearance, reading from his latest, Wreckage, starting at 7PM. Tomorrow night (5/11), head over to the 92nd Street Y to catch former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discuss religion and world politics with James Hoge - it's the subject of her latest book, The Mighty and the......

It's not too late to change your plans for tonight and head to either of the evening' stellar literary offerings, is it? Better yet, if you don't have any, consider this: KGB Bar (84 E 4th St) is hosting a reading of non-fiction that should kick off Black History Month with style - Elizabeth Gardner Hines, Rebecca Carroll, Kathy Y. Wilson, and G. Bell. Then, heading uptown to the 92nd St. Y (Lexington Ave. and......

Beloved memoirist Augusten Burroughs will be giving a reading next Tuesday of his latest book, Magical Thinking, at Coliseum Books. And he's going to dish about the new film adaptation of Running with Scissors (Annette Bening will play his mom, Gabrielle Union his mother's girlfriend; Brian Cox is his mom's shrink and Gwyneth Paltrow, Kristin Chenoweth, and Evan Rachel Wood seem to be play his daughters). His last event, at Cooper Union, was totally packed......

Today at 12:30 PM, you can catch rock critic Chuck Klosterman reading from his new book, Killing Yourself To Live: 85% Of A True Story, at the Bryant Park Reading Room as part of Coliseum Books’ “Word for Word” lunchtime reading series. Gothamist read Chuck’s latest book, which advertised itself as a rock n roll adventure in which our musing protagonist spends 21 days driving cross-country to visit and ponder music’s greater deaths, from Kurt......

A mailbox full of bills, irrational clients, rush hour on the subway, those lines starting to radiate from our eyes…sometimes adulthood is not all that was promised and we take refuge in a favorite childhood book. We were recently pleased as punch to discover that there exists a New York chapter of the Betsy-Tacy society. If you are asking yourself, “what’s Betsy-Tacy?” it’s too late for you (unless you’re a ten-year-old girl). But if......

Amy Krouse Rosenthal's book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, should make everyone realize that their so-called boring lives are pretty interesting (the book is made up of entries based on Rosenthal's observations and own life, like what can happen when you introduce a friend to another friend). But what Gothamist loves most is the found-book scheme she's concocted:Between January 25th and February 1st, in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, hundreds of copies of Encyclopedia......

Did you see Fahrenheit 9/11 this weekend and feel the need to quench your insatiable thirst for political conspiracies and hypocrisies? To scratch at the underbelly of the US Government and uncover the ongoing perversion of democracy? Then go see Larry Flynt tonight at Coliseum Books on 42nd & 6th, because even if you don't believe in what he has to say...it's sure to be interesting none-the-less. Buy the book, Gothamist likes how he managed......

Even though it's just a fleeting glimpse of a trenchcoat, be assured, it's Richard Belzer, a.k.a. Detective John Munch from Law & Order: Special Victims' Unit and Homicide: Life on the Streets, the most brilliant cop show of the 1990s (L&O is a cop and lawyer show) – you can take your NYPD Blue and shove it. This photograph of Mr. Belzer was taken by Adam, who tells us the actor–comedian had been at......

Gothamist is lucky because our readers will email us about many Law & Order related things, whether it's a sighting or a show or an idea. And we love you for it. Here's a round up of some that we've gotten over the past few weeks: –Rachelle got L&O: Criminal Intent's Vincent D'Onofrio to stop and take a picture with her. Gothamist is impressed with Rachelle's moxie and that Vincent willingly posed – it's......