ART: Unhappy with your old point and shoot? Today marks the opening of the National Krappy Kamera Competition, proving that even inexpensive cameras can snap good shots. "The exhibit features images that are produced using equipment from the lowest end of the technological scale. The concept underlying this show is that an artist can use any piece of equipment to create engaging photographs. Cameras generally range from the well-known Diana, Holga and Lubitel to......

Photograph of mariachi band at Lorimer St. by daniel.gene on flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person under a train at Jamaica Ave. and 95th St. in Queens, a severed limb at Blake Ave. in Brooklyn, and a child struck at 39th St. and 3rd Ave. in Brooklyn. "Prepare to be swabbed citizen." New York takes steps forward to our Gattaca-like future. A man described as being 6'1" and 300 lbs. was spotted......

FOOD: Trestle on Tenth, the “homey joins hearty” Swiss-inflected restaurant that takes its name from its proximity to the High Line and the avenue where it’s found, kicks off a special five-night series called “metzgete.” The Swiss tradition loosely translates to “butchers affair” and arises from the practice of salvaging every scrap of pig after the winter slaughter – “especially those parts that would or could not be dried, smoked or pickled for later consumption.”......

THEATER: Over the summer the Belarusian Free Theater was arrested, along with their audience, during a performance of their play Being Harold Pinter, which uses Pinter’s magnificent Nobel Prize acceptance speech as a springboard for theatrical dissent, something the Belarus police state isn't really so into. (For that reason, the company’s performances are normally held secretly in alternating private apartments.) Unable to bring the entire production to New York for his Under the Radar festival,......

CRAFTY: The holiday season is upon us, which means getting that perfect gift for whoever's egg nog you'll be gathered around this year. Why not try a little D.I.Y.? Every other Monday the Church of Craft meets up and will "provide contact, craft support, advice, knowhowto, instructions, directions, tips, tricks, inspiration, and the blinding love of craft to all who seek it." 7 to 9pm // Rapture Cafe [200 Avenue A] // Free EVENT: Have......

If you aren't at a BBQ, aren't watching the fireworks or a big budget summer movie...below are some options for you. Whatever you do, though, bring sparklers! MUSIC: The New Pornographers and Midlake are playing a free show at Battery Park. If you didn't get a free pass, then go hang out on the outskirts, enjoy the day, and listen to the music - we're sure it'll be loud enough. 3:30pm // Battery Park //......

EVENT: The Brooklyn Kitchen is hosting a series of live in-store cooking demos with local rockers to help celebrate the release of Kara Zuaro’s new book, I Like Food, Food Tastes Good.. Tonight, Les Savy Fav frontman Tim Harrington will school us all in ceviche while likely wearing one of his very own aprons. 7 to 9pm // The Brooklyn Kitchen [616 Lorimer St] // Free MUSIC: The Wordless Music series is pretty self-explanatory. Some......

READING: Mira Jacob and Alison Hart host yet another of Pete's Reading Series. Tonight they welcome Nell Freudenberger, author of "The Dissident" - which sounds almost like a Tom Robbins novel, with a Chinese performance artist and former political prisoner accepting teaching fellowships at a girls school. Also reading tonight will be Dana Spiotta, author of "Eat the Document", which focuses on lives in the aftermath of 1970s radicalism. 7:30pm // Pete's Candy Store [709......

FAIR: Tom of Finland Foundation is holding the 6th Annual New York City Erotic Art Fair all weekend. Thousands of works of Erotic Art by artists worldwide will be for sale, or just for looking at (pervert). This includes all media, gender & sexual orientation. There will also be life drawing workshops. The opening reception is tonight, so get the first peek. All Weekend // The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Services Center [208......

This week kicks off tonight with Non-fiction night at KGB Bar (85 E. 4th St.) with Harry Brunius reading from Better for All the World : The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity and Cynthia Carr reading from Our Town: Heartland Lynching, a Haunted Town, and the Hidden History of White America. It starts at 7PM and is free. On Thursday night (3/23), 7PM at Barnes and Noble (Broadway at......

On Friday we must have gotten twenty emails asking for help solving Daily Candy's subway mosaic puzzle. Do your own homework, people! Besides, this one was a cinch-- except for the Eli Avenue and 66th Street shots, the rest were sooooo easy: Answers: (top to bottom, left to right) Row 1: 23rd & Eli Av., 8 St., Astor Pl. Row 2: Chambers St., Prince St., 23rd St. N Row 3: Fifth Av. 7, 66......

FILM: the Found Footage Festival will be presenting its biggest and best show to date TONIGHT! Outdoors at Automotive High School in the BK you'll be able to view a "live comedy show and screening featuring odd and hilarious clips from found videotapes". Tonight // 8:30pm // Automotive High School [50 Bedford Ave. Williamsburg] // $8 THEATER: World Gone Wrong is a "multimedia collage of dialogue, from about two hundred Films Noir and from our......

Gothamist might have to bring in Sarah Fresh as a regular photo queen. This time she sends in this snapshot (click to enlarge) of someone's science homework on a sidewalk on Lorimer St. chalked with the water cycle. Remember back to your elementary school science class and you'll recall the water cycle is the basic progression of evaporation (and transpiration which is the process of process of evaporation through plant leaves.. we like to think......