ART: Tonight a group of artists take what one would normally put in the paper shredder, and look at it in a whole new light. The Dotted Line "presents work that assumes the form of official documents ubiquitous to everyday life. The participating artists seek to imbue these commonplace documents with new meaning and to consider the implications of those moments when we are asked to sign along a dotted line." Open through December 21st.......

BEER: This one is pretty simple...there will be lots (58!) of New York beers, and a few bands to soundtrack your drinking them, at the Seaport tonight. Go, imbibe, enjoy! Friday // 5 to 10pm // South Street Seaport // $55 THEATER: Paso Doble was a sold-out hit at the 60th anniversary Festival d’Avignon last summer; for one weekend only sculptor Miquel Barceló and dancer Josef Nadj have brought their messy spectacle to St. Ann’s......

The Observer has an interesting piece on The New Victorians, who are apparently bringing monogomy and early adulthood back. To get a mental image, think: Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger in Boerum Hill, Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss in Park Slope and Liv Tyler and Royston Langdon in the West Village. A new breed of 20-somethings in the big city, and apparently this new regime is more into nesting than late nights. The Observer......

In case anyone forgot it was an election year and politics are on the brain, Housing Works' Used Book Cafe is hosting a reading of Proud to be Liberal!, an anthology that traces and defines the history and ideology behind liberalism. The reading features contributors from all walks of life, reading from the work, and starts tomorrow night (3/15) at 7PM. It's free. On Thursday night (3/16), the art and literature world will find themselves......

With 50% chance of rain and air so thick we actually hope it will, we'd be perfectly happy spending the coming days inside a nice, cool movie theater. Of course, Gothamist doesn't need choking humidity to head to the movies, especially when there is a collection of new releases and old programming around town like we have this week. From RESFEST to CMJ Filmfest, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride to Thumbsucker, Notorious to The Lost Weekend......

We were glad to see that we weren't the only ones amused by the Times's editorial about Flux Factory's "Novel" installation. One almost wonders whether this bit of preaching is an editorial joke on readers, since it is hard to imagine such a complete lack of playfulness. The project sounds intriguing, and we hope to go see what architects dreamed up as concentration pods and what the subjects manage to produce. The thought of......

Because Jonathan Safran Foer's new book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, is one of the first novels to explicitly address 9/11, it's natural that many of the reviews so far have focused the way his main character, Oskar Schell, relates to losing his father in the attacks. But in yesterday's Times review of the book, Walter Kirn also makes the point that Foer's main character is also a recognizable type in the literature of New......

Since this one usually sells out quick, we wanted to give you a heads up that tickets for The New Yorker Festival went on sale today. This year's festival takes place October 1-3 at various New York City locations. There is quite a bit going on throughout the weekend. Friday night is dubbed fiction night and features discussions between Sherman Alexie and Dave Eggers, Nicole Krauss and Salman Rushdie and Jonathan Safran Foer and......

Above: Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, Kurt Vonnegut, Salman Rushdie, Laurie Anderson. Involver (media and entertainment activist community) and PEN (national organization of writers) present State of Emergency: Unconventional Readings this Wednesday, August 4 at 7:00pm. An incredible lineup of literary legends convene to address contemporary political threats to freedom of expression. Scheduled to apprear: Laurie Anderson, Paul Auster, Russell Banks, Michael Cunningham, Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, Ariel Dorfman, Eve Ensler, Jonathan Safran Foer, Barbara......