SHOP: Tonight head to Dumbo for an “Evening of Cheer,” where three neighborhood events coordinated by the Dumbo Improvement District will be taking place. "The night’s events combine Dumbo’s monthly cultural event, First Thursdays, with extended shopping hours and promotions by local retailers and the illumination of the Empire Stores in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park by famed lighting designer Brendon Boyd." 6pm // Various location details here EVENT: Tonight some experts gather around to celebrate... more ›

Tonight marks the beginning of the Film Society at Lincoln Center's 45th annual New York Film Festival and oh what a jam-packed fest it is. A panel of film critics chose 30 of the best new international movies to show to New York's discerning audiences and they picked hometown director Wes Anderson's newest, (which also comes out in theaters this weekend) to open the festival. more ›

We're just going to get this out of the way: Justin Timberlake is bringing deep-fried pickle-sicles back. The modern day song and dance man has gone and opened his very own restaurant called Southern Hospitality (at 1460 2nd Ave and 76th St). It opened last night to a crowd of A-listers people you may have heard of, hankering for some barbecue. Amongst the items offered are deviled eggs, pulled pork, mac-n-cheese, fried catfish, and yes...the aforementioned pickle treat (we hope JT took his indigestion pills last night). more ›

Battlestar Galactica Marathon (Sunday, 6:00 p.m., WPXN 31) Five episodes of not the recent revival, but the camp Lorne Greene and Dirk Benedict show from 1978. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television programs this week: more ›

Last night the Starbucks Salon opened with a private event for press which included a performance by Aimee Mann and free cocktails and coffee drinks. We forgot to go. We do look forward to heading out there at some point though for one of the following performances. Love 'em or hate 'em, they have some good acts coming up: more ›

We know it's cold outside, but trust us, this is a good week for literature (unlike last week, coughFREYcough). We've got some real fiction, some real non-fiction, and even a real memoir! more ›

In this heartily American week some of the most appealing things to see are foreign, at least in part. For a more delicate food-related experience than Thanksgiving usually turns turn out to be, consider Lao She’s Teahouse, set in a Beijing establishment over the course of some fifty years that encompass three important moments in modern Chinese history, beginning in 1898. Sixty-plus characters that embody the vast changes in China come to life via the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, in NYC for the first time. Performances are in Mandarin, but there will be both subtitles and simultaneous translation with headphones in case you’re feeling a bit rusty on the language. more ›

Now that we're into November, awards season kicks off in earnest with big new releases such as more ›

One of the things on Gothamist's must-see list this week is the New York Historical Society's new exhibit, Slavery in New York. The show reveals New York relationship with slavery, from the days of the Dutch settlers until 1827. The exhibit is open until March, and the online site is pretty extensive, but a reason to go this week is for the pencil-written copy of the Emancipataion Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation is on display until October 16, a short period because "It is, in 2005, a fragile document, sensitive to light, air, and changes in temperature. It can be shown only 10 days or 80 hours each year (of which one has been used)." more ›

Noah Baumbach,
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He's an Orthodox Jewish Reggae singer that got his start performing in the parking lot at Phish shows, but don't call him a gimmick. Matisyahu's recent accomplishments include a co-headlining spot at the recent Reggae Carifest on Randall's Island and a sold-out show at Irving Plaza. Thursday night he'll pack Webster Hall. Phish fans who can't get a ticket should consider Benevento Russo Duo at Bowery Ballroom instead. more ›

Bobby Short, the irrepressible entertainer who sang and played the standards at the Cafe Carlyle, died at age 80 yesterday from leukemia. While Gothamist never got to see him perform in person, we always equated him with a beautiful, serene and, yes, very Woody Allen version of New York where people would just sit and listen to wonderful renditions of the old standards. The NY Times' Stephen Holden wrote in an appreciation:

At the keyboard, Mr. Short refined his own personal brand of stride piano. Vigorous and sophisticated but devoid of fuss and frills, it was as distinctive as his voice, to which it was inextricably wedded. Over the years, his sound evolved from that of a caroling choirboy into a huskier baritone whose timbre varied from fogbound to clear, depending on the night and sometimes on the moment. As his voice acquired deeper shades and rougher textures, he made adroit, expressive use of each new facet.

A big thank you to Karen for suggesting we try to set up something movie-related for a film our readers would like and thank you to Disney/Touchstone Pictures for giving us tickets and prizes. We hope to offer you more events like this in the coming months. If you have any suggestions or questions, please email Jen or Jake. more ›

A Talk With Wes Anderson more ›

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou opens in NY and LA on December 10; it opens nationwide on December 25.
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Gothamist has loved Wes Anderson and his films even since we saw Dignan's Five Year Plan in Bottle Rocket, so we're happy to announce that Touchstone Films has given us twenty-five tickets to a screening of Wes Anderson's new film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, starring Bill Murray. And we're holding a contest to give them away!! more ›

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the lineup for the New York Film Festival 2004, and it looks like NY will again benefit from being, arguably, the world's last major film festival by getting films that have played at other festivals by the time the NYFF starts October 1. Opening the festival will be Agnes Jaoui's Look At Me (premiered at Cannes); Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education (also at Cannes) is the centerpiece, as well there being a Pedro retrospective (Viva Pedro!); and Alexander Payne's Sideways will close the festival. Indiewire has a good article about the festival's lineup, and we've taken their lineup list and reproduced it here (after the jump). more ›

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Cate Blanchett and Willem Dafoe are joining the cast of Wes Anderson's next movie, The Life Aquatic. Bill Murray stars as an oceanographer, who will be the center of the film, as he and his crew go on "a series of wild deep-sea adventures, including the search for a shark" (Hollywood Reporter). The rest of the cast includes Anjelica Huston, Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Peter Stormare, and Gothamist's favorite Anderson regular, Kumar Pallana ("Man, I blew it. I blew it, man."). more ›

Famed Italian movie studio Cinecitta is profiled by the New York Times today, as it tries to make itself a compelling option for Hollywood's filmmakers. Directors like Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti made Cinecitta the place to be in the 50s and 60s, but up until recently had not been successful. Wes Anderson's next movie, The Life Aquatic, is filming there, and most famously, Gangs of New York, was filmed there which had Martin Scorsese and Dante Ferretti replicate the Five Points in Rome. more ›

Check it out: An Anger Management building poster in this week's San Francisco edition of A Day In The Life, by photographer Rob Sandusky. Here's the poster on the Upper West Side that Gothamist was taken/alarmed by. more ›

Jake shot some pictures for A Day In The Life Brooklyn. More at Bluejake. more ›

Wow, it's been a long time since Roger Ebert hasn't given stars to a movie, but in his review of The Life of David Gale, you'd think the usually star-happy critic would have loved this star vehicle. Or at least given it 2 stars. Or 1-and-a-half. Or 1. The last film he hated this much was Slackers, but you'd almost expect that, as you would the zero stars he awarded Freddy Got Fingered and Tomcats. He gave our hero, Larry David zero stars for Sour Grapes - think hard about Larry David making fun of the food critic for the thumbs up and thumbs down restaurant reviews in the third season finale. But the most withering review I can remember of Ebert's is his review of North, directed by Meathead and starring Frodo: more ›

Stephanie Zacharek, you're so cool: From her review of The Life of David gale, "Does Kevin Spacey have a weird secret? Um, yeah, as always. But this death-penalty fable is so overwrought, no one will care." more ›

Last fall, I read the Man Booker-prize winning novel, The Life of Pi, by Canadian author Yann Martel. While it had been recommended by various reviewers, I didn't pick it up until I started to read it at the bookstore, and I was enchanted. The beginning is a thank you from the author to a man for telling him about the boy who the book is based on, who eventually ends up on a raft with a tiger in the ocean. Read it here. Trust me, it's very magical. The main character's family runs a zoo in Pondicherry India, and Martel's descriptions are so beautiful, I assumed there was or had been a zoo. But, this Times articles says that apparently there is none - though they are now thinking of building one. Life imitates art again.
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, which starred Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, and Frances McDormand. In David Gale, Kate Winslet is the journalist who tries to save him before "it's too late." Ahem.
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