LEARN: It's that special time again when hipsters gather round to discuss home-buying. The informational event clues in those looking for new digs about the logistics of purchasing their very own pad. Learn from Licensed Real Estate agents, Mortgage Brokers and Real Estate Attorneys whilst you sip on a cocktail or two. 6:30pm // Huckleberry Bar [588 Grand St, Williamsburg] // Free EVENT: It's like a never-ending President's Day this week; tonight enjoy a......

The Times ran a follow-up today about their investigation that found abnormally high levels of mercury in fish served at area restaurants. Toxicology reports from 44 pieces of sushi, ordered from places including Nobu Next Door and Sushi Seki, may in fact contribute to some New Yorkers’ 3 times higher-than-average blood levels of mercury. It turns out, however, that most New Yorkers just don’t care. The mercury issue, while especially serious for pregnant women and......

A Historic Collapse: The Mets held a seven-game lead with 17 to play and were caught looking ahead to the playoffs. What followed was among the worst collapses in history and one that revealed the weaknesses of the players, the manager and the general manager. Jose Reyes and his questionable -- and downright poor -- play summed up the the performance on the field. Manager Willie Randolph's mismanagement of the bullpen came to light......

RALLY: Barack is back! This time he's hitting up Manhattan with an evening rally in Washington Square Park. It's gonna be a big one, so get there early! At least this time there won't be any unhappy paying customers, because it's free! Check out his video invite: 5pm // Washington Square Park [W 4th St and Fifth Ave] // Free, RSVP here EVENT: Tonight the Fall 2007 season at NYPL is in full effect as......

MUSIC: There's not a whole lot going on musically tonight, but the show at Cake Shop seems pretty...sweet. By The End of Tonight and Multitudes will be taking the stage -- the former is described as "the perfect marriage between the math-rockiness of Hella with the glistening, soaring guitars of Explosions in the Sky." 7pm // Cake Shop [152 Ludlow St] // $5 FILM: The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and the Municipal Art Society present their......

MOVIES: With another version of Hairspray hitting the big screen this summer, it seems to be a season of decades past and, of course, hair! Movies With a View brings back the musical tale of Central Park hippies, small town boys headed to Vietnam and the '60s as they show the film Hair tonight. Deejays at 6pm, Movie at Sundown // Empire Fulton State Park, Dumbo // Free It's the last night to catch Punk's......

Category 7 for ABC 7’s Bill Evans WABC’s Bill Evans is the latest local news talent to author a disaster novel about the city with his book “Category 7”, which he co-authored with Marianna Jameson. The book is the story about a man made hurricane heading towards New York. The book shouldn’t be confused with the 2005 made for TV movie Category 7: The End of the World, which was also about a deadly storm.......

What better way to get out of the cold than to party in an art gallery? This Saturday there are two—count ’em, two—Brooklyn galleries sticking their tongues out at the weather and celebrating art with live music and festivities. And the best thing is, you don’t have to chose between them because they’re at different times: first, head to Secret Project Robot for the opening reception of Cameron Michel’s “A New Polymorphous Reality,” then make......

MOVIE: The 10th Annual New York International Children's Film Festival commences tonight, starting with the US premiere of the French animated film U (which includes unicorns!). A kid-friendly catered reception will take place after the film. More weekend movies here. Friday (festival through March 11th) // 6pm // Director's Guild of America Theater [110 W 57th St] // $20 EVENT: It's the first Friday of the month, that means it's time to head up to......

THEATER: It’s “go time” for The Butane’s Group’s Operation Ajax, which ingenuously sets the CIA’s 1953 overthrow of Iran’s first democratically-elected government in the context of a casino. “Constructed from no less than 25 text sources (memoirs, documentaries, plays, poetry, novels, films, reality tv shows), the densely-layered performance explores how the addiction to risk and gambling has become a potent metaphor for U.S. foreign policy.” (For an enhanced theater experience, explore the show’s thorough bibliography,......

Home stretch! Today is the final day to swing by The White Rabbit and check out our little home we've been chilling at all during CMJ. You know the drill by now...Free to come, Happy Hour all day and great music, non-stop. 145 East Houston between Eldridge and Forsyth. Here's the lineup for today: 2:15 - The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (Listen at Myspace) 3:00 - Judah Johnson (myspace) 3:45 - The......

Today is officially the first day of CMJ! Starting this afternoon and going strong through the weekend, every music club in the city is going to be jam packed with hours upon hours of the hottest up and coming bands from all over the world. Seeing that we'd expect your regular Gothamist reader won't be equipped with a $500 badge, we decided to highlight some of the standout free events this week. While you will......

We mentioned a little while back that we will be holding a series of day parties while CMJ is going on. With only a few weeks to go, we'd like to officially announce the lineup for the Saturday show, which will run from 2 till 8pm on November 4th at the White Rabbit on East Houston street. Each of the bands will perform a special acoustic or otherwise stripped down set. As we mentioned......

The Times today reports on some funny numbers running around the theater district. Here's what we understood of it: In 1998 legit theater, which like the Apple Computers of yore is always somewhat "beleaguered", was having some trouble getting patrons in the door to watch anything that a theater snob might call "passable." Money was desperately needed to kick things into gear. So the city struck a deal with a group called The Broadway......

Kathryn Finney knows how to shop better than anyone I know. During a recent visit to Washington, D.C., I watched her scour a department store for the lowest-priced camisole they had, making her way through every rack until she hit upon just the right one. When I admired her jeans, she told me they were a Tommy Hilfiger pair she’d gotten for $8 at Filene’s Basement (what she calls “divine shopping intervention”). She regularly wears......

To be perfectly honest, we didn't know a single thing about The End of the World till a friend emailed us recently telling us to check them out. We did and we really dig it. These guys seem to have a perfect grip on making really accessible music in the vain of Spoon and the Walkmen. Really don't sound much like either of those bands actually, but the attitude and the execution is totally......

For some reason there doesn't seem to be a lot going on this week. Tonight Cold War Kids take over Pianos, catch them there before they're headlining Bowery (and then having that show switched over to Webster Hall to accomodate all of their fans). What we're trying to say is...there is buzz. There are plenty of shows to go to Tuesday night incase you missed out on Yeah Yeah Yeahs tickets (which you should be......

There is a band playing Northsix tonight called Duran Duran Duran. We don't know anything about them, but based on their name alone we'll suggest checking them out. If you want to go with the safe bet though, head to the Delancey where Pela starts off their April residencey tonight. Art Brut is all sold out, both Tuesday and Wednesday, so if you didn't get tickets (or if you just don't like them - it's......

The New York Times has a nice spotlight piece about Paul Ford today. We've been big fans of Paul's work at FTrain for years-- and he was nice enough to sit for one of our first interviews: The End of The World is finally happening. What are you going to do with your last 24 hours in NYC? It's going to be really hard to find beer, like during the blackout, so while everyone......

There's a full week of screenings ahead at the 43rd New York Film Festival, including three of the most anticipated American films in the entire program. But as we also mentioned in the most recent Weekly Movie Guide, tonight at 7:30 PM is a very special sidebar event at the Walter Reade Theater: "Greeneland: Graham Greene and the Cinema", a presentation/lecture/screening organized by Adrian Wootton, the former Director of the London Film Festival and current......

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