Before PBR became the favorite beer of young people in a certain Brooklyn neighborhood, it was the choice of beverage for anyone hitting the disco floor in the late 1970s. At least, according to this commercial! The ad shows a young Patrick Swayze (R.I.P.) stepping out on the town in New York City (or maybe in Generic Metropolitan Area, USA), with moves fueled by the beer. more ›

Actor Patrick Swayze, who had been battling pancreatic cancer, died today in Los Angeles; he was 57. His family issued a statement, "Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months." Variety writes, "Trained as a dancer, the half-Apache actor started out in teen heartthrob roles and segued into romantic leads, while also appearing onstage and weathering injuries and accidents. Swayze was raised in Houston, Texas, and his mother was a choreographer and ballet school owner. He trained with the Harkness Ballet and Joffrey Ballet Schools in New York, starting his career dancing for Disney on Parade." Swayze appeared in a number of films, such as The Outsiders and Red Dawn, but his breakout role was in Dirty Dancing, and stole hearts when he co-starred with Demi Moore in the blockbuster paranormal romance Ghost. Earlier this year, Swayze admitted he was afraid of his illness to Barbara Walters and said, "I'd say five years is pretty wishful thinking. Two years seems likely if you're going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I'd better get a fire under it." After the jump, the Saturday Night Live skit featuring Swayze with Hans & Franz. more ›

THEATER: Katharsis Theater Company has been developing The Polish Play for the past two years; it’s a fusion of Macbeth and Ubu Roi, the play by Alfred Jarry that was partially inspired by Macbeth. This work of Grand Guignol fusion, which mixes puppetry with live acting, swerves between broad satire, tragedy and plenty of ultra-violence. (Although puppets are decapitated and disemboweled on-stage, rest assured that no puppets are permanently harmed for this production.) Jordan Gelber, who some may recall from Avenue Q, plays Pere Ubu. Read about the rehearsal process on the company’s weblog to learn more about director Henry Wishcamper's search for shit squibs. - John Del Signore more ›

DISCUSSION: Tonight Dirty Dancing author Eleanor Bergstein will discuss the similarities between Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and her own masterpiece, which starred Patrick Swayze. Shakespearian scholars will be in attendence to agree or, most likely, refute the argument. This discussion may have been a bit more relevant in, say, 1987 - when the film came out. more ›

THEATER: Jude Narita's one-woman show, Walk the Mountain, is about the hellish effects of the Vietnam War. In the wrong hands, this might make for an unbearably ponderous evening, but the Times review puts us at ease: “In dramatizing unspeakably horrific events, must an artist end up brutalizing her audience as well? [Jude Narita] reminds us that it's possible for a performer to treat both her material and her audience with respect.” For Walk the Mountain, Ms. Narita interviewed Vietnamese and Cambodian women who survived the horror and traces the country’s history of resistance back to 39 A.D., when a Chinese invasion was thwarted. L.A. Weekly called it “haunting and heroic.” - John Del Signore more ›

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network. more ›

The BBC reports that Warburtons graciously asked 2,000 filmgoers what the cheesiest movie lines were, and their answers are this: more ›

The Times' Elvis Mitchell writes "." more ›