• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a large fight at an election on Eldert Ln. in Brooklyn, a stolen DHL truck on Crown St. in Brooklyn, and a child stabbed on 220th St. and 133th Ave. in Queens.
• Brownstoner notes that the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce is looking for nominations for the best buildings in Brooklyn.
• Staten Island Assemblyman Michael Cusick wants 17-year-olds to have the right to vote in elections. We'd be happy to see if we could enable over-18 registered voters to reliably cast ballots in elections.

Don't you just love that feeling of "discovering" a new artist that no one else knows about yet? The New Directors/New Films festival curated by the Film Society at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art's Film department have been keeping New Yorkers ahead of the cinema curve for 35 years now with their annual series. In the past they've showcased such newbies as Chantal Akerman, Pedro Almodóvar, Héctor Babenco, Terence Davies, Guillermo del Toro, Atom Egoyan, Nicole Holofcener, Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, Sally Potter, John Sayles, Steven Spielberg, Tom Tykwer and Wim Wenders, so you know picking at random from even just one of the 26 films in the series could yield a new favorite . more ›

Yeesh, there sure are a lot of new movies out this weekend. Choose wisely and you will be well rewarded. more ›

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, . 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 himself from some sort of curse. There's a boat-load of twisty-turning plot in this 2 hour and a half movie but fortunately there's also tons of great action, Kiera Knightley looking adorable in pirate gear and a huge tentacled man eating beast. So basically, something for everyone. more ›

SFist commeters pose for before and aftershocks when the mayor commemorates a 1906 earthquake...at 4:30 in the morning. A hot tip on the Chronicle vending machines comes in and the SFist war correspondent risks life and limb to post this dispatch from the frontlines. more ›

Spiderman 3 Director Sam Raimi announced that lanky 70’s Show guy has just joined Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunset in the cast of Spider-Man 3. "Topher Grace is an extraordinarily talented actor," said Raimi, "and will be perfect for the complexities of the role we are developing." more ›

, which was nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar this year, play back to back at the Steinhardt Building [35 West 67th Street]. more ›

Nancy Schafer, Tribeca Film Festival more ›

Gothamist is looking forward to seeing Before Sunset, as Before Sunrise has grown on us like a mole since 1995, because it's all about the choices you did and didn't make. Here's the Before Sunset site from Warner Independent Pictures. The Village Voice's Dennis Lim has a nice feature about the film (calling it "stunning"). And Gothamist Arts & Events wonders about what happened after another seminal Hawke film and Chicagoist calls it one of best romantic films ever. Even J. Hoberman liked Before Sunset. more ›

The Smoker can also be found in Kissing in Manhattan, a collection of Schickler's stories. Here's what looks like Schickler's website for Kissing in Manhattan. And Gothamist is excited about Linklater's sequel to Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, which comes out on July 2. more ›

Jeffrey Abramson, Gen Art more ›

There's a fantastic article about the making of Dazed and Confused in Texas Monthly (which is our favorite Texas periodical ever...we think it's maybe the only one ever, too). Writer John Spong interviews writer-director Richard Linklater and many of the stars of the film (notably absent are the two biggest stars, Ben Affleck and Renee Zellweger) for thoughts about how the film was conceived, the filming itself, and the past ten years since it opened slowly and has since become a favorite rental. Here are some excerpts of the article [TM asks you to register, but as it's free, it's worth it]: more ›

Richard Linklater. Good. Jack Black. Hee hee. A movie about Jack Black playing a fifth grade teacher in a movie directed by Richard Linklater? Awesome. more ›