In The Forward, Ed Koch and Rafael Medoff have an article, Will Mel Gibson Get Away With His Antisemitic Tirade? And it's like a greatest hits of famous figures (mostly political) getting their slur on. For instance: - Jesse Jackson called New York City "Hymietown" - James Baker saying, "F— the Jews, they don't vote for us anyway." - Marge Schott's Hitler love and her remarks about blacks - Maybe everything Pat Buchanan has said......

MUSIC: The Upper Crust are playing a proletarian downtown venue tonight! These four young nobleman will Rocque and Roll you with a polished AC/DC-esque sound. Do check them out, seriously. That is them to the right. We don't think we really need say anymore. Friday // 11:30pm // Knitting Factory [74 Leonard St] // $10 ART: Removal Satisfies the Condition is the latest PublicAdCampaign exhibit, and it's opening tonight. This city's public environment is filled......

Veronica Varlow, Clothing Reseller, Model, Actress...

Marc Levin, Director Protocols of Zion...

A special panel of magazine editors have decided the top 40 magazine covers of the past four years, and the selections are a mix of shock and artistry. Here's the top ten:1. Rolling Stone – Jan. 22, 1981 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono laying in bed 2. Vanity Fair – Aug. 1991 – Nude pregnant Demi Moore 3. Esquire – April 1968 – “The Passion of Muhammad Ali”: Ali with arrows in his body......

You know it's the Oscars when P. Diddy busts out the velvet suit! Gothamist loves the Oscars, and we're going to attempt to do a little liveblogging. We might need to order a vat of caffeine and an EMT team at the ready; not because Chris Rock will be boring, but because we think that Gil Cates might kill us with his newfangled ideas and because we're meh about this year's nominees in the big......

Hey all you would-be Broadway composer types: Gothamist has just heard that the New York Musical Theater Festival has just started accepting submissions for this year's festival, with a submission period going from Jan. 10 until March 11. The festival itself will run Sept. 12-Oct. 2 at various venues here in lovely NYC. Gothamist caught several good productions at last summer's innaugural festival and saw real potential in what these folks are trying to do.......

The Passion of the Christ has been out for a while now and most of the people I know have seen it. I've been reluctant to see what I feel will be a virulently anti-Semitic film and have no interest in giving Mel Gibson my money. For the sake of discussing it with my , but in the interest of keeping my money from a man I think is an anti-Semite, can I sneak into......

For some campy fun, Gothamist recommends the impossibly goofy looking 10.5" href="http://www.nbc.com/nbc/10.5/">10.5, NBC's sweeps movie that starts tonight and conclude tomorrow. However, some say tonight's Alias is important because it'll give a lot of information we can't follow. What's nice about 10.5 is that you can see L.A. get wrecked, TV-disaster movie style, while upcoming summer movie, Day After Tomorrow, has New York being frozen over. There's some question as to whether Day After Tomorrow......

Brave New Yorker tried to give up Law & Order for Lent - and she was successful at it! No, Gothamist is not kidding! Mollie Wilson writes about her 40 days without Law & Order and its spin-offs for the Village Voice. Week One: I am pleased to discover that, without Law & Order to eat my evenings, I am more productive. I call my parents, instead of ignoring my phone so I won't miss......

- Fire at Per Se stops Thomas Keller's NY restaurant dreams for now - Learn more about the most prevalent New Yorker - the rat - Now that Sex and the City is finished, let's get to what really matters: Will Ross and Rachel get together? - Grange Hall closes; the West Village and countless others weep - The Museum For Art Lovers Who Are Very Tiny - College newspaper cartoon raises questions of racism;......

If you're not going to see The Passion of the Christ, at least read Times' A.O. Scott's review of it, because Scott begins by referring to the Simpsons episode with Mel Gibson: There is a prophetic episode of "The Simpsons" in which the celebrity guest star Mel Gibson, directing and starring in a remake of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," enlists the help of Homer Simpson, who represents the public taste (or lack of it).......

Uber Catholic Mel Gibson told the Herald Sun of Australia that he believes his wife, an Episcopalian, will be going to hell: "There is no salvation for those outside the Church. I believe it...Put it this way. My wife is a saint. She�s a much better person than I am. Honestly. She�s, like, Episcopalian, Church of England. She prays, she believes in God, she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it�s just not......

The Pope John Paull II's effort to get in touch with culture does not stop at just seeing The Passion of the Christ. Oh, no: The Vatican also hosted an outreach group from Poland that broke into, well, breakdancing. The Pope said, "For this creative hard work I bless you from my work," after the group spun his head on the Vatican's inlaid marble floor. John Paul also said, "Artistic talent is a gift......

The Washington Post's Beltway gossip Lloyd Grove gets ready for his new gig at the Daily News by going heavy on the D.C. screening circuit today. First, he leads with a screening of The Passion, with director Mel Gibson present, for insiders to quell rumors. The invitees skewed to the conservative: Matt Drudge, Peggy Noonan, Cal Thomas and Kate O'Beirne; conservative essayist Michael Novak; President Bush's abortive nominee for labor secretary, Linda Chavez; staff director......

The trailer for Mel Gibson's new movie about the last hours of Christ's life is up and it is a downer - very bloody and spooky. James Caviezel, who is a notably vocal Catholic (he didn't want to do a nude scene with Jennifer Lopez in Angel Eyes), stars as Christ and the entire movie is in Aramaic. Aramaic! There's been fuss over this movie since Mel Gibson decided this should be his directorial followup......