The end of the year is almost upon us, and with it comes the usual slew of best-of lists for you to base your gift-giving decisions around. This year, instead of coming up with another top-ten list, (there are plenty of those), we decided to let the experts (aka the staff at our favorite bookstores) do the dirty work instead. So without further ado, we present the best books of 2011, according to the people who know best. more ›

Welcome to our column Staff Picks, in which we ask the staffers at our favorite book, music, and movie stores around to town to share with us what they're reading, listening to, and watching this week. We figure they're good people to ask. Today we're checking in with the staff at Dumbo's eye-catching independent bookstore/gallery/venue Powerhouse Arena to find out what they've been dog-earing lately. more ›

This Thursday powerHouse Arena in DUMBO will play host to an event that is bringing together some former graffiti artists with the NYPD officers who busted them back in the day. In one corner, Joseph Rivera, author of Vandal Squad: Inside the New York City Transit Police Department, 1984-2004, which documents his time with the NYPD Vandal Squad. In the other corner, street artists who have a bone to pick with the former cop for "using their names and art to put money in his bank account." more ›