Playwright David Mamet (pictured) will be maintaining a blog to promote his new Broadway play, November, which stars Nathan Lane as contemporary American president Charles Smith and Laurie Metcalf as his lesbian speech writer. What’s interesting, perhaps, is that Mamet will be writing the blog – which he says he’ll update for the duration of the open-ended run – as President Smith. Sample entry from Monday:CONGRESSIONAL PAGE SEX SCANDALS It seems to me that, at......

Due to the Writer's Guild of America strike, Hollywood's party, the Golden Globes Awards were transformed from a boozy, fun dinner party to a press conference where presenters from entertainment programs like Extra! and E! News got to announce the winners. Yes, it was as painful as it sounded (Giuliana Rancic, it's not about you); many said they couldn't believe they were announcing the winners but said they would prefer it with the stars.......

Prestige filmmakers take note: If you want the Times critics to really love you, what you need to do is put the fear in them. At least it worked for Tim Burton; his adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd gave reviewer A.O. Scott nightmares. And for that, Scott deems the film “close to a masterpiece, a work of extreme – I am tempted to say evil – genius.” (Current Rotten Tomato rating: 88% fresh.) One......

SHOP: Tonight head to Dumbo for an “Evening of Cheer,” where three neighborhood events coordinated by the Dumbo Improvement District will be taking place. "The night’s events combine Dumbo’s monthly cultural event, First Thursdays, with extended shopping hours and promotions by local retailers and the illumination of the Empire Stores in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park by famed lighting designer Brendon Boyd." 6pm // Various location details here EVENT: Tonight some experts gather around to celebrate......

Today marks the grand opening of the Moscot Museum. You know Sol Moscot, the lens shop with giant yellow bespectacled signs that look over the streets of New York like Dr. Eckleburg's eyes? Apparently they're not much less symbolic -- sticking around New York for the past 100 years is no small feat, and must stand for something. But a museum, really?The Moscot Museum will showcase never before released, historic black & white photographs of......

On Wednesday night Tim Burton gave the Film Society of Lincoln Center a 17-minute taste of Sweeney Todd, his film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s macabre musical. The 1979 Broadway hit was inspired by Victorian folklore about a crazed London barber who slits his customers’ throats and, in some versions of the story, colludes with his lover to bake the corpses into meat pies – which become wildly successful! (Ah, the culinary possibilities before rogue......

While the literary set continues to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, the fashionistas are joining in on the fun. Neatly tucked in to every post-college kids backpacking across Europe adventure bag -- and most likely on your bookshelf -- the dharma bum bible just keeps on giving. Now it's giving the tres chic SoHo shop, Hogan, a new way to cash in on nostalgia. The store, an Italian leather company,......

Jerry Stahl, author of the critically lauded Permanent Midnight and I, Fatty, returns to New York to read selections from his latest release Love Without, a collection of short stories that's humorous, disturbing, poignant, and a must read for any lover of great fiction. In Love Without, you write about a young boy having a sexual encounter with an older woman. Did you have any similar encounters growing up? I wish. Though if I had,......

A Bourne, a Cloon and a pirate, oh my...with the Memorial Day holiday this weekend, we're entering the prime summer movie season and it's time to get psyched. Psyched! Here's just some Hollywood flicks we're awaiting between now and Labor Day. With all of these things to see, it's probably time to spring for the econo tub of popcorn and a bucket of soda to get through it all. May The summer gets underway as......

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (directed by Steven Shainberg): Certain movies while not deserving the monetary investment in a theater viewing are worth catching on DVD, and Steven Shainberg's fictional portrait of artist Diane Arbus is one of them. Arbus's life story--upper middle class '60s housewife takes up photography and an interest in subcultures--is such a fascinating one, it practically demands a biopic. Add to that the importance of Arbus's work on the......

Action adventure, animated sci-fi, iconic '80s actresses and French sexual intrigue—this weekend is a good one for movie going in New York. Draw your swords landlubbers, Gore Verbinski's sequel to his bombastic film based on an amusement park ride is out this weekend, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. In this installment, shot at the same time as the forthcoming part III, Johnny Depp's brilliant Jack Sparrow searches for Davy Jones's chest to free......

This week’s new movie releases are all about men behaving badly, and of course the women who put up with their crap. Though if that's not what you're into there's always some good Irish beer or Korean kimchee to tempt your movie palate. In his newest fluffy romantic comedy, Failure to Launch, Matthew McConaughey plays a 35 year-old-man child still living at home with his parents (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw) until they hire the......

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......

The holiday movie season is officially upon us. In fact, it started yesterday. We already spent more than enough time mentioning some little musical that will likely see its box office hopes dashed by the continuing dominance of Harry Potter. Nevertheless, several other big releases also appeared yesterday (at least in New York) in an attempt to grab a piece of the five-day weekend holiday marketplace. The big Oscar hopeful is Syriana from Oscar-winning Traffic......

Besides the Calvin Klein live perfume ad, there's some interesting action in Times Square today: FDNY firefighters will be at Duffy Square (the TKTS island) between 11AM-3PM autographing copies of the new 2006 Calendar of Heroes! There are apparently some firefighter models in their 40s in the calendar (hey, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt are all in their 40s) for the calendar to have a broader appeal. Sigh, we guess we'll get......

Like many others, Gothamist headed to the movies this weekend. We saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the Oompas Loompas rule), and to our surprise, more disturbing than Johnny Depp's characterization of Willy Wonka was the behavior of some of our fellow moviegoers. During the afternoon showing full of adults and children alike, a young girl start to bawl during the movie. Not fun for the rest of us, but it happens. Except usually parents......

Ed Halter, Writer/Film Curator...

Gothamist loves Johnny Depp. And we love John Turturro, too. But after seeing trailers for their new movie, Secret Window, it seemed to us that the plot of Depp as a writer, working on his novel in a deserted cabin in the woods (of course), and Turturro as the crazy writer who appears at the door, claiming to have written Depp's story first, and wanting Depp to change the ending of his story, is more......

Whitney Pastorek, Writer/Etc....

The second most interesting thing Gothamist found about the Oscars last night was that Oscar-nominated Seabiscuit cinematographer John Schwartzman is Jason Schwartzman's brother, which means he's cousins with Sofia and Nic, nephew of Francis... The first most interesting thing was how bored we could be watching the Oscars. BORING BORING BORING. Gothamist hates your producing, Joe Roth. Hate hate hate! A few moments before the show officially starts, Billy Bush makes Keisha Castle Hughes......

Gothamist wants to be one of the first to say what everyone will be uttering tomorrow with more frequency than usual: Why does Melissa Rivers persist? Joan, we understand, because she can be funny, though lately it's been more outrageous than incisive. And we understand nepotism and accept Tori Spelling's wooden acting...but Melissa...she must be stopped. And when she tears into some poor, celebrity with a bad stylist, no stylist at all, or her/his own......

The Post comes up with a few ideas for Oscar drinking games during the ceremony: • An award winner forgets to thank his or her significant other. • An award winner says the words "blessed," "humbling" or "my agent." • The orchestra cuts off an acceptance speech. • Host Billy Crystal makes a Mel Gibson joke. • A camera cuts to Jack Nicholson. Gothamist would like to add someone saying "Oh my God" (we want......

If it involves movies or television, Gothamist is interested. And if it's the tiniest bit related to the Oscars, then we're all over it. That's why Gothamist has produced a Golden Globes commentary similar to our Oscar commentary from last year. Yes, awards shows are self-congratulatory and ridiculous, and the Golden Globes are not a reliable predictor of the Oscars (which aren't that great anyway but their usefulness as a marketing tool cannot be denied),......

The SAG nominations have been announced, and while the usual suspects of late appear, the biggest surprise is the strong showing for The Station Agent, with Peter Dinklage and Patricia Clarkson getting lead nominations and the cast receiving an ensemble nominations. The SAGs are voted on by actors, so these are usually a pretty decent indicator of who will be nominated for the Oscars' acting categories. We would like to see Johnny Depp get an......

If it's movies awards season, it's time for Gothamist to be both excited and angry (basically an average day, just amped up a bit). The Golden Globe Nominations for 2004 were announced and there were the expected nominees ("Lord of the Rings," "Cold Mountain," for film; "Sex and the City" for TV) as well as happy news (Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannssen nominated for "Lost in Translation"; we'd like to see Murray win, but he......

It's official: People's Sexiest Man Alive this year is Johnny Depp. During the segment with a People editor on the Today show this morning, Katie Couric expressed disbelief at the selection of dirty Depp, saying she just wants to "give him a good scrubbing." Precisely the point, Katie, precisely the point. People's Sexiest Man Alive issue is on newstands this Friday. An extensive Johnny Depp fansite and Gothamist on Johnny Depp.......

It'll be a while before we see Tim Burton's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, but till then, there is Big Fish, about a young man trying to understand his dying father's life (more at Greg's Movie Preview). Albert Finney plays the father, with Ewan McGregor playing the father as a young man, and Billy Crudup as the son; Jessica Lange and Alison Lohman play the mother......

Bad boy turned current critical and audience darling for his turn in Pirates of the Caribbean Johnny Depp may play Willy Wonka for Tim Burton's adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Michael Fleming writes in Variety that "Depp and Burton...came away from their meeting sparked to make the film and negotiations are expected to begin shortly." Additionally, the film would be produced by Brad Grey, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston (via their production company......

Gothamist has been thinking about Jude Law and his recently announced wishes to divorce actress Sadie Frost. See, for some reason, Gothamist has paid attention to various Jude Law interviews and features, and we know that he has a tattoo that says "You came along to turn on everyone sexy Sadie" (yes, the Beatles song). He can either go the Angelina Jolie route and get it partially removed. Or he can go to the Johnny......

USA Today looks at the new Peter Pan movie from P.J. Hogan that is due this fall, which has Jason Isaacs as both Mr. Darling and Captain Hook, who says "Wendy is very attracted to Captain Hook. He's very cool and sexy. I said, 'Let's have open shirts, sort of Julio Iglesias-style.'" Gothamist saw the trailer a while ago and we were struck at how the Coldplay song, Clocks (video), was used in it. The......