It's time to talk Smurfs. The blue creatures who entertained us many a Saturday morning are headed to the big screen, and the movie is currently filming far far away from Smurf Village, right here in NYC. One source explained to the Post, "The Smurfs fall through a portal and end up in Central Park, and Gargamel [Hank Azaria], who's chasing them, follows. Neil Patrick Harris is running in Central Park. The Smurfs end up sneaking into his backpack." more ›

At the 1968 Democratic Convention, anti-war activists were denied permits to demonstrate by the city and spent most of the week getting their skulls cracked courtesy of the Chicago Police Department, witnessed by a television audience of over 50 million. A year later, eight of the most high profile radicals – guys like Abbie Hoffman and the Black Panthers' Bobby Seale – were tried on charges of conspiracy and inciting riots. The courtroom was a circus, with Seale gagged to silence his outbursts and ultimately sentenced to four years for contempt, while testimony from counterculture icons such as Phil Ochs, Arlo Guthrie, Norman Mailer and Timothy Leary drew massive crowds for the National Guard to disperse. more ›

MOVIE: MoMA is currently running a retrospective on Joan Blondell, titled The Bombshell from Ninety-first Street. Trace the metamorphosis of the Manhattan-born actress from a young blonde bombshell to...a blonde bombshell in more mature roles! Tonight you can catch her in Blondie Johnson (1933) and Nightmare Alley (1947). more ›

- This is the most disgusting thing we've ever seen. Thanks, Tod! more ›

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Last weekend Gothamist lucked out once again with tickets, and got to see Spamalot. The show has been relentlessly promoted, and with 14 Tony nominations now they’re especially shameless about it, but fortunately it’s a great production. We hadn’t seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail in some time, so after seeing the musical we decided to rent the DVD and do a little comparison. more ›

Gothamist readily admits to getting a major kick out of Michael Reidel's Wednesday and Friday theater beat columns in the Post. We love that directors punch this guy out when they dis their shows and that he seems to love to stir up controversy. He also seems to have a good feel for the mechanics of Broadway, so we took notice at his column yesterday when he declared that the upcoming Mike Nichols-directed prodcution of Monty Python's Spamalot will be the big hit of the Broadway season. He's saying it's going to be a smash on the level of The Producers. Remember when that show opened and the lines wrapped all over Times Square? more ›

I was born during the Kennedy administration, in Milwaukee Wisconsin, so people can date me within a thousand days. I went to Tufts University in Boston, which is where I started making short films. In fact, my first project was with my next-door neighbor, Gary Winick, who directed Tadpole and is off doing Charlotte’s Web right now. I had an idea to do a short film on super 8, I asked Gary if he would act in it, which he agreed. So, he had to take of his Fiorucci’s. He was from New York, so that’s what they were wearing at the time. more ›

Of all of the reports about the stalled contract negotiations between Fox and the vocal talent of The Simpsons and current work stoppage, you have to hand it to Variety. Their article ended on this pearl of wisdon:

Homer Simpson, in 1995 episode "The PTA Disbands," gave Lisa this piece of advice on work stoppages: "If you don't like your job, you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American Way."