CINDY SHEEHAN ARRESTED! I know what you're thinking: She probably wasn't wearing any pants on the subway. But according to CNN, she merely unfolded an anti-war banner...on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol...before the State of the Union address.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Cindy Sheehan, the vocal anti-war activist whose son was killed in the Iraq war, was arrested Tuesday night on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, shortly before President Bush was to deliver his State of the Union address, U.S. Capitol Police said.

A senior House official said Sheehan was seated in the House chamber when she unfolded an anti-war banner and was apprehended. This official said she was taken for questioning for about an hour in a separate area of the House.

"She was arrested within the Capitol complex," a Capitol Hill officer told CNN.

Sheehan had been invited to attend the speech as a guest of Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., who has called for a withdrawal for Iraq and supported legislation for a Department of Peace.

FEBRUARY 1 UPDATE

HOLLYWOOD CLASSICS AT THE ZIEGFELD! Have you noticed how I've bemoaned the loss of the old movie palaces? As each one bites the dust, the plush, big-screen Ziegfeld Theatre becomes ever more precious, especially when it screens worthwhile movies.

You can see what I mean from February 3 through March 9, when the Ziegfeld runs a series of "Hollywood Classics" with admission set at only $7.50!

February 3-9, 2006
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
Chinatown

February 10-16, 2006
Chicago
My Fair Lady
West Side Story

February 17-23, 2006
Ben Hur
Gladiator
Braveheart

February 24-March 2, 2006
Lord of the Rings Trilogy

March 3-9, 2006
Indiana Jones Trilogy

Here's the schedule.


Photo: David Marc Fischer

THEREMIN WEDNESDAY. Talented and giggly thereminist Pamelia Kurstin offers a free demonstration of her instrument tomorrow at 3:30 pm at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Part of the fun and fascination of a theremin performance is watching, but whether or not you can make it to the Met you can still click here if you'd like to listen to a recording of Kurstin on Irwin Chusid's January 25, 2006 show on WFMU.

If you just click and listen, you'll hear the tail end of The Good Rats(!) playing 300 Boys, then about five minutes of Kurstin playing bass with Gerry Gibbs and The Third Trio from the Sun on Arthur Blythe's Miss Nancy, then comes an hour devoted to Kurstin and her theremin expertise and artistry. After that, it's Irwin's soca and calypso show: Muriel's Treasure.

To pick and choose what you hear (the selections are definitely not to everyone's taste), use this playlist as a guide.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MUG! Today is the fourth birthday of Manhattan User's Guide! MUG has accomplished much at an early age!!

One noteworthy MUG article I've been meaning to mention: Out With the Old, a guide to getting rid of stuff in the city. It is, ironically, indispensable! Especially if you don't observe Whack-It Wednesday or an equivalent.

Image created by David Marc Fischer using Church Sign Generator

OSCAR NOMS. The list of Oscar nominees is online...and it seems that the Academy server is working well!

I was tickled to see the funny animated short One Man Band nominated for Best Animated Short Film. I just saw it with Finding Nemo at MOMA, where it was a big audience-pleaser. It would go well with trailers at theatrical screenings. The nominees for Best Animated Short Film and Best Live-Action Short Film will be screened at the Academy Theater at Lighthouse International (111 East 59th Street).

Looking over the other nominations, I was pleased to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Stuart Craig and Stephenie McMillan) nominated for Achievement in Art Direction. I saw it at an IMAX theater, which was very flattering to the production design.

It was also good to see The New World (Emmanuel Lubezki) nominated for Achievement in Cinematography. The photography is breathtaking.

The nominees for Best Documentary Feature are

Darwin’s Nightmare
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
March of the Penguins
Murderball
Street Fight

The nominees for Best Documentary Short Subject are

The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club
God Sleeps in Rwanda
The Mushroom Club
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin

The documentary short subjects are scheduled to be shown at MOMA starting at 2:00 pm on Sunday, February 26, 2006.

716 UPDATE. Episode 26: Risky Business is the latest installment of the online comic 716.

Unfamiliar with 716? Start here.

At this point in my newfound adoration for 716, I feel it is time to comment on a remark in Episode 16: My Dogs and Their Pack. Sure, the Ziegfeld Theatre screens crappy movies from time to time...but the theater also shows great movies the way they should be shown. Stay tuned for more about that!

TRIVIAL PURSUITS. Manhattan User's Guide (MUG) just posted a list of games we can play, with an emphasis on trivia. Example: On Tuesday evening, January 31, 2006, there's a special Big Quiz Thing one-shot at Ars Nova (Hell's Kitchen).

Regularly scheduled trivia events (most listed by MUG) are

SUNDAYS
Pub Quiz at Freddy's Bar & Back Room (Downtown Brooklyn)

MONDAYS
Alternate Mondays: The Big Quiz Thing at The Slipper Room (Lower East Side)
First and third Mondays of each month: Pub Quiz at Last Exit (Atlantic between Clinton and Henry)

TUESDAYS
Tuesday Night Trivia at The Baggot Inn (Greenwich Village)

WEDNESDAY
Quizz-Off at Pete's Candy Store (Williamsburg)
"Drinking and Thinking" at Dempsey's Pub (Greenwich Village)

THURSDAYS
Trivia at Rocky Sullivan's (Gramercy)
Once a month: The Big Quiz Thing at Happy Ending Lounge (Lower East Side)

What about spelling bees, you ask? In Brooklyn, there's one every other Monday at Pete's Candy Store and there's one on fourth Mondays at the endangered Freddy's Bar & Back Room.

THE LATEST NO PANTS 2k6 WRAP-UP. Gothamist links to ImprovEverywhere's illustrated summary, complete with Blog About Town's mock MTA sign (made with the MTA Sign Generator)! It's flattering, but a link or credit would have been nice. Maybe I'll send a note....

Mock MTA Sign: David Marc Fischer using the MTA Sign Generator

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE! The news at the Anti-Caption Contest is that on February 7, 2006, Dan Radosh "will be joining New Yorker cartoonist Matt "Contest #35" Diffee for a presentation of rejected submissions to the actual contest and some highlights from the anti-contest." Sounds like fun...but the link to The Rejection Show at radosh.net wasn't working for me at the time of this post. So try this.

As for the contests themselves, Radosh.net and The New Yorker are both accepting submissions for Contest #37, another Gahan Wilson cartoon.

The winner of Contest #33 (suitcase filled with water and fish) is Chip Bolcik of Thousand Oaks, California, with

"So, then, I guess the Johnsons are feeding our clothes."

Congrats to Bolcik, whose victory bolsters California's lead over Pennsylvania, 6-4!

New York trails in a tie for fourth place with only two victories, adding to the significance of Contest #35 (Diffee's living room scene wherein a man drolly addresses a woman enwrapped by a snake), which pits Californian Brian Diamond's Albee-esque

"To be fair, Martha, you started it."

against two submissions from New York:

"Oh, he probably just smells your python."

"You see what happens when you carry rats in your purse?"

My own submission was the stilted yet (I'd like to think) conceptually hilarious

"I can't imagine where Fido might be. It's so unlike seeing-eye dogs to hide like this!"

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

FAREWELL, WENDY WASSERSTEIN. Playwright and author Wendy Wasserstein died today after a struggle with lymphoma, according to AP/The New York Times.

The actress Joan Allen received acclaim for her performance in The Heidi Chronicles. I've long been curious to see someone with a build more like Wasserstein's make the most of that role.

TAX-FREE CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR! The city's "tax-free week" starts today and continues through February 5, 2006.

PUZZLE TIME! Activate the puzzle by moving your cursor over it. It's challenging but not that hard once you spend a little time on it. Enjoy!

Photo: David Marc Fischer

A TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY. It’s unusual for this blog to get technical, but here and now, as a public service, I offer a note about a potential problem with getting DSL to function smoothly. Perhaps it will help others. So here goes:

If you have attempted to install DSL but your Ethernet connection is performing slowly or not at all (like a slow dial-up on a line filled with static), the problem might be that your MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) has not been properly modified. I’m told that the default setting on Microsoft Windows XP for Home is for a cable modem, not a DSL modem. The MTU can be changed for DSL using a TCP optimizer, which your ISP tech support people might be able to send to you.

I’ve had first-hand experience with this issue. The fix took minutes, but the diagnosis took hours and hours and hours over the course of about 16 days! I was surprised by the generally high quality of attention I got from Verizon (where, ultimately, a Level 2 technician got a Level 3 technician to cough up the solution) as well as Toshiba, AOL, and CompUSA. I say “generally” because it took a long time to get the right answer, and it was becoming more and more likely that I would have to take the unnecessary steps of reinstalling the software and sending the computer back to Toshiba. The patient but often scripted phone service I got from Toshiba and AOL was not nearly as good as onsite attention or the use of Verizon’s “sharing” software, which enables the Verizon techs to use the Internet to “take over” your equipment…once we got said software to work!

The one company whose service was really disappointing was Microsoft. Customer service there recommended that I talk things over with some other company (which I’d already done, ad nauseum), look things up on the Microsoft database (which I’d already done, finding a nightmare of tech documents that weren’t always clearly written), or cough up $35 to get person-to-person advice (about a problem that, I’m told, is technically Microsoft’s in the first place). After I asked to talk with a Microsoft supervisor in an attempt to decipher a tech document that I was trying to use, I was put on hold for about 45 minutes before I gave up, feeling more inclined than ever to make the leap to Apple.

And now...back to the regular programming!

TONIGHT ON DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. S** wishes she could get full access to Google. Anna bristles whenever the minister calls her daughter "a living doll." Lily needs to get another chicken when her daughter visits unexpectedly. G**** wonders if there's a way to achieve a low crime rate without martial law.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

MO NO PANTS! Inspired by No Pants 2k6, I hereby link to firefighters in a No Pants protest!

Did you know that Wikipedia defines "underwearing" as "Being in public wearing nothing but underwear." Here's an example of underwearing used to protest Pamplona's running of the bulls.

Remember those panty protesters from the last presidential election?

Finally, here's Naked Protesters & Nude Activists! Warning: Poor spelling!

Photo, by David Marc Fischer, of likely James de la Vega art work seen outside East Village storefront

CRITICAL MASS DESTRUCTION! What is the matter with the city when it comes to policing Critical Mass? Last night two police officers were somehow injured during the course of the group bike ride...and seventeen bicyclists were arrested!

Good ol' Gothamist refers surfers to Sarah Ferguson's coverage at The Village Voice.

Earlier in the week, the Voice also covered the impact of surveillance on groups such as the environmentalist (and pro-Critical Mass) Time's Up!

Why are law enforcement officials so preoccupied with bicyclists and environmentalists? As the Voice suggests, the tactics appear to have a chilling effect on the normal exercise of the rights to assemble and engage in free speech. And the policing activities also seem to distract from police activities that might make the city a safer place to live and work.

This week Gothamist also posted an item about the number of pedestrian deaths in the city last year: 152. Suggestions to address the issue were solicited; somehow no one came up with the idea that cracking down on bicyclists would have saved those lives (or prevented the many injuries that were not included in the pedestrian death count). Surely that's because everyone realizes that automotive vehicles are the ones that could use more policing.

Blog About Town is very much in favor of obeying traffic laws in New York City. Whether you're a bicyclist, pedestrian, or motor vehicle driver, be careful and courteous is BAT's credo! But Blog About Town also admires events like Critical Mass that are essentially legal, at worst harmless, and more likely a healthy example for the city. "Cracking down" on the participants is a misuse of power.

It's time for the government to stop treating bicyclists, protesters, and other "non-conformists" as if they were terrorists.

Here's the website for the FreeWheels Bicycle Defense Fund.

THE 411 ON 716. Thanks to good ol' Gothamist, I recently learned about 716, a wonderful online comic by Marianne R. Petit. Check it out and catch up on the unfolding story, which revolves around a woman who moves from the Lower East Side to midtown Manhattan. I know I'm hooked!

WHERE WAS I? My location has been ascertained to my satisfaction! Congratulations, scott...you're hot!




Photos: David Marc Fischer

WHERE WAS I? Here's the new visual clue. You've almost persuaded me that it's a laundry room!

WAITER RANT. Not all waiters are actors! Some are actually waiters. And some happen to be bloggers, too. One of the very finest is Waiter Rant: Do You Want Pommes Frites With That? The blog launched in April 2004 with the following manifesto:

There are many books about waiting tables penned by frustrated authors and wannabe loser actors, so why should I add my tiny voice to the fray? Because all of these treatments are milquestoast pussywhipped stories written so as not to offend anyone. I read these books and I get a sneaking suspicion that the author is afraid he/she will be found out and lose their job. Inhibited bullshit. Fuck that.

I will remain anonymous so I can tell people what this job and working in the great American “service economy” is really like! All I will say is I am a waiter in a high end restaurant in the NYC area. The stories are true but some of the names have been changed to protect the innocent (and my self form litigious customers!).[sic]

Since then, the writing seems to have become more temperate and polished...quite delicious, in fact.

A grazing menu:

Gloria Cubano
How to Order Wine Without Looking Like An Asshole
Dead Waiter Doppelganger

Oh...and now that Frank Bruni has posed as a waiter, the Waiter Rant blogger would like to pose as a New York Times food critic. Do it!

NO PANTS PUPIL. Last Sunday's No Pants 2k6 kicked off a week when the ACLU negotiated a deal to allow New Jersey high school student Michael Coviello to also eschew pants...and wear skirts to school. Coviello had been wearing shorts with his knee braces, but he switched to skirts after administrators banned shorts on October 1, 2005. School officials tried to keep him from wearing skirts too, but the ACLU helped smooth things out. Christine Sloan of WCBS-TV covers the story here; from the coverage, it's not clear whether Coviello dressed as Fred or Wilma Flintstone. There's a difference!

Photo, by David Marc Fischer, of likely James de la Vega art work seen outside East Village storefront

WHERE WAS I? David requested a water treatment for the photos...so here we go! Use the Comments for your guesses. And be sure to move your cursor over the image. (It reminds me of fischee.)




VISUAL CLUE ADDED JANUARY 27



Water Treatment: flash-gear.com
Photos: David Marc Fischer

FAREWELL, FAYARD. The death of Fayard Nicholas marks the very end of one of the great dancing duos of the past century. As The Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and his brother Harold delivered acrobatic tap routines that wow audiences decades later.

The Nicholas Brothers did things that nobody else seemed capable of doing, defying expectations in a world of segregation and other forms of racial discrimination. (Southern exhibitors apparently cut their "Be a Clown" dance with Gene Kelly from the 1948 musical The Pirate.) As a result, they earned much less than they deserved and got less exposure than they should have.

Here's an online video of The Nicholas Brothers doing a relatively simple routine. Nicholas Brothers footage is part of the current vaudeville exhibit at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, which includes a screening on March 22. The Pirate makes a good second feature with a classic swashbuckler; the movie Orchestra Wives was recently released on DVD with commentary by Fayard. His IMDB entry is here.

Donations can be made to the Fayard Nicholas Emergency Relief Fund, which still plans to add to its website.

KNICKS LAST NIGHT. Wednesday night I saw the Knicks lose to Sacramento 106-102 in overtime. New York blew a substantial lead early in game, but still would have won if they hadn't messed up their free throws. Their three-pointers were impressive, though.

It was the first professional basketball game I'd attended in years! I missed the red-white-and-blue basketball, but looked forward to each appearance of the Knicks City Dancers. They're much more acrobatic than Dancing Harry!

The most exciting part of the evening was the short Junior Knicks exhibition game during halftime. Kids from Harlem and Greenpoint played against each other. I have no idea which team was which, but everyone played with a lot of spunk and the crowd roared.

Here's Gothamist's Peter Trinkle on the game...and the sexual harassment suit.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT. Hi, fans! This is the message I was getting from Blogger for hours, earlier today:

Down for Maintenance

Blogger is temporarily unavailable due to planned maintenance.

This downtime will last 30 minutes from 4pm - 4:30pm (PST).

I'm sure your Blogger will be better than ever now.

FAREWELL, MCHALE'S! I first heard of McHale's Bar & Restaurant during a brief encounter on a southbound Amtrak train. Phyllis spoke well of the theater district watering hole. I never heard from her again, but I heeded her advice, went to McHale's, liked it a lot, and returned from time to time over the years.

The old-fashioned bar consisted of two rooms: the front portion consisted of a long bar and booths; the back was a rudimentary "lounge" with some plush booths and some plain tables and chairs.

When McHale's recently closed, it followed in the doomed footsteps of Ye Olde Tripple Inn, another unpretentious area bar with plenty of "personality." Like the Trip, it was sacrificed to make way for a big residential building. There is some word that it might, somehow, make a comeback.

Here's the diner-like exterior.




















Here's a detail of the menu collage on the exterior.




















And here's a farewell from the restaurant.




















I'll miss the joint.

Photos: David Marc Fischer

WHACK-IT WEDNESDAY. The whack is back...and it's smashing!

AMAZING DICK? "Dick is amazing!" I couldn't remember the last time I'd heard anyone say anything along those lines, but last evening an energetic, wide-eyed woman said them to me in Times Square, by the TKTS booth. After some moments of confusion that I'd rather not detail, I realized that this woman wasn't making a pass at me: She was alerting me to the fact that Dick Van Dyke is appearing in Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life through Thursday evening, January 24.

WHERE WAS I? My location has been ascertained to my satisfaction, though not without some controversy! Congratulations to debbie, who's still hot...and to David, who warmed her up.

NO PANTS POST! The blog lolz at zach is doing a great job of keeping up with No Pants 2k6 coverage. I'm astounded that the NYPD chose to make a big deal of this; should the so-called Naked Cowboy be worried now?

Oh...in case you care: old blue boxers.

Mock MTA Sign: David Marc Fischer using the MTA Sign Generator

LAZY MONDAY. Here's "Lazy Monday," a West Coast response to "Lazy Sunday." Peace out!

WHERE WAS I? I've added yet another visual clue. Go for it!

CARTOON ANTI-CAPTION CONTEST CONTINUES. It looks like The New Yorker has gone bi-weekly with its Cartoon Caption Contest, but Radosh.net has forged ahead by announcing the winner of Anti-Caption Contest #36 (two men, one "pregnant"): Trout Almondine's

"Hey, remember that scene in the Scwarzenegger comedy when he says, 'It's not a tumor'? Like, he tells a little kid that he has a headache, and the kid says, 'Maybe it's a tumor,' and he says 'Eets nuht a TWO-muh!' in that accent? Ha ha! That still kills me! But yeah, it's a tumor." [sic]

My entries were

"I need to decide whether I'll host the Oscars or run for governor of California."

"I was just diagnosed with celiac disease. I can't believe my doctors hadn't noticed sooner."

"Every week I check 'Subscribe to the weekly cartoon newsletter' but I still haven't received one."

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

NYPD POLICES BRIEFS! I had a feeling something stupid like this would happen: Cops detained a number of pants-free subway surfers who participated in ImprovEverywhere's No Pants 2k6 Mission.

What surprises me is how cheerfully many of the pants-free people seem to have taken the turn of events. Just look at the comments at ImprovEverywhere's website!

Here's a blog entry from a participant. And another. And another.

Here are more photos.

Here's an early Newsday report.

The initial report in The New York Times gives new meaning to the term "Metro Briefing."

Here are AP photos on Yahoo! And, uh, the AP story, too.

Some of the participants complained about the many press people there. I wonder if any were undercover cops, who have already infiltrated Critical Mass events.



Photo: David Marc Fischer
Mock MTA Sign: David Marc Fischer using the MTA Sign Generator

WHERE WAS I? Okay, folks, I've added another clue. If your life hasn't been unduly disrupted (say, by being detained by the police for not wearing pants on the subway)...or even if it has...please keep on guessing!

PUZZLE TIME! It's a conure! (If you can't see this very simple puzzle, activate it by passing your cursor over the blank space.)

Puzzle: flash-gear.com
Photo: Stephen Mernoff

TONIGHT ON DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. Carol wonders if her husband is just acting straight. Edith wonders why no one in the neighborhood wants to socialize. Shirley wonders if the dry-cleaning bill for her ruffled shirt is fair. Maude wonders whatever happened to her sense of wonder.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

PANTS OFF! If you were intrigued by scott's reference to the Everard Bath House yesterday, check out the indispensible website Legendary Gay Bathouses of New York City.

Bath Houses aren't the only places where people prance about sans pants. There's the subway, too. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if scott himself were to ride the 6 train in such an exposed state on Sunday (under the aegis of ImprovEverywhere)!

There is a diaper business called Panda Pants, but pandas rarely, if ever, wear pants. Why is that, you ask? Surely because pants would interfere with panda sex, silly!

Special thanks to Gothamist.

WHERE WAS I? Here's another visual clue. Keep on guessing!

VAUDEVILLE NATION. The free exhibit Vaudeville Nation, open through April 1 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, draws from the library's collection to survey a lively, formative, and now largely dormant aspect of public entertainment in the United States.

For decades around the turn of the century, as transportation improved and towns and cities took shape across North America, vaudeville acts were increasingly able to travel and entertain (or at least attempt to entertain) the populace. Eventually the technology of mass media proved too much for the vaudeville industry that helped to fuel it in the first place.

Among this worthwhile exhibition's highlights are relics of the Dainty June act that inspired the musical Gypsy, a sheet of still-clever (and mildly naughty) lyrics to a comical number co-written by Ira Gershwin, costume designs (a sample can be seen in the photo for this entry), and staggering images of great movie palaces (for a related entry, see Save the RKO Keith's Theatre!). The artifacts also include promotional pieces; some seem almost alien to these times while others are close to what you might see today.

Public programs include Ron Hutchinson's March 1 presentation on the restoration of Vitaphone Short Films (this type of program, which features films of Baby Rose Marie and Burns & Allen, plays to sell-out houses at the Film Forum), the March 22 program with footage of The Nicholas Brothers, and the March 29 program featuring films of Eddie Cantor and Molly Picon. Be careful when consulting the NYPL website for scheduling information; at the time of this posting the listings were confusing.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WHERE WAS I? Take a look at the latest visual clue...and guess away!

BLOGORHYTHMS. Here's a nascent online gallery by Claude Hochstetter of Switzerland. And here's another newborn gallery blog, from Bobby Allan Lukas, Jr.

FREE SCREENINGS TONIGHT. The New York Observer and Nerve are both pushing passes to tonight's "sneak peek" screenings of the interethnic romantic comedy Something New. The screenings seem to be taking place in major US cities including Baltimore and Washington, DC. You can find more info here.

Also tonight at 8:30 pm, in NYC: A free MOMA screening of Monsters, Inc. plus two shorts.

WHERE WAS I? As per Debbie's request, this is a puzzle-free challenge. Use the Comments for your guesses...and don't be afraid to guess wrong!

Hint: It's not the Milton Berle Memorial.




















VISUAL CLUE ADDED JANUARY 20




















VISUAL CLUE ADDED JANUARY 21




















VISUAL CLUE ADDED JANUARY 22




















VISUAL CLUE ADDED JANUARY 23



















Photos: David Marc Fischer

AT THE MOVIES. At first glance, directors Karin Albou and Melvin Van Peebles might seem to have little in common, but both auteurs share a French connection and both have films playing in New York over the coming days (which is, frankly, the only reason I am matching them up in a single blog entry).

Today at 3:00 and 8:30 pm Albou's La Petite Jérusalem debuts as part of the 2006 NY Jewish Film Festival at the Walter Reade Theater. The movie examines a family of Orthodox Jews living modestly in the eponymous community situated on the outskirts of Paris. The mother is a superstitious immigrant from a North African background; one daughter is floundering in a troubled marriage; the other daughter is seemingly possessed by her attraction to a secular world of Kantian philosophy and interethnic romance. Overall I was fascinated by Albou's handling of the story elements, which reminded me of Isaac Bashevis Singer tales. A third screening will take place on Saturday, January 21 at 7:00 pm.

While the Jewish Film Festival runs at Lincoln Center, the Film Forum plays host to a kind of Melvin Van Peebles festival. Van Peebles, a provocative pioneer of (in-your-face) African-American filmmaking, is best known for his still-unsettling outlaw drama Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971), but what made me an admirer was the recent revival of his Broadway musical Ain't Gonna Die a Natural Death as well as his son Mario's docudrama Baadasssss! (2003).

The Film Forum's schedule for the week-long festival is unusual, pairing a new documentary about Van Peebles How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It) with Sweet Sweetback Friday through Saturday, Baadasssss! on Monday, Watermelon Man (1970) on Tuesday, The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1967) on Wednesday, and Bellyful/Le Conte du ventre plein (2000) on Thursday. A series highlight should be the Friday 7:30 pm appearances of Van Peebles with filmmaker Joe Angio and producer Michael Solomon, for which I'd suggest ordering tickets in advance.

The current Village Voice includes a Van Peebles profile and a review of the documentary.

MORE ADO ABOUT TRIVIA. In case you found it hard to believe my recent Tuesday Night Trivia report, here's the word from Caren Lissner, co-founder, co-host, and author of Carrie Pilby, a most enjoyable example of "chick lit" and one of my favorite reading experiences of 2005.

WHACK-IT WEDNESDAY...OR WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH ERIN? Maybe it's just January, but Erin's not sure she can meet the demands of Whack-It Wednesday! As a fan, I am very concerned but trying to be understanding about her situation. After all, she's raising two kids and choosing her next tattoo!

BLOGORHYTHMS. So what do the people eat in Eugene, Oregon? If it's anything like much of the food pictured at (former Chicagoan) Deepfry's blog Yum!, then the people of Eugene are very fortunate indeed.

A TRIVIAL MATTER. Most evenings, Tuesday Night Trivia at The Baggot Inn is a lighthearted affair. But occasionally the proceedings erupt in riotous controversy. Such was the case yesterday, when contestants were asked to identify the longest-running television program that involves fiction (or something to that effect). Moderator Todd insisted that the answer was The Simpsons, but that just wasn't right. The correct answer: The Guiding Light, the soap opera that premiered on CBS-TV on June 30, 1952 and remains on the air. Don't believe it? Check Guinness World Records, which deems The Simpsons the longest-running animated TV series and the longest running prime-time series still producing new episodes.

Trivia this: What do The Simpsons and The Guiding Light have in common? [See comments for an answer.]

MEMOIRS OF A MAD GEISHA. Here, through YouTube, is a Mad TV trailer parody of Memoirs of a Geisha. Thanks to Gothamist for the lead.

The actual movie has provoked some heated reactions, including criticism for its casting of Chinese women as Japanese women.

CLINTON AND GORE, TOGETHER AGAIN. Al Gore and Hillary Clinton showed some spine yesterday in standing up to Republican abuses of power. Gore invoked memories of FBI wiretaps of Martin Luther King in arguing that President Bush's warrantless surveillance practices comprise a “dangerous overreach” of executive power. Clinton told an audience at Harlem's Canaan Baptist Church of Christ that "when you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation - and you know what I am talking about. It has been run in a way so that nobody with a contrary point of view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument." As regrettable (and headline-grabbing) as Hillary's hyperbole might be, she does have a point.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

GET IN ON THE JOKE! This used to be a redhead joke, but now it's a blonde joke making the rounds on the Web!

Photo: David Marc Fischer

THE WIZARD OF VOGUE. Annie Leibovitz goes LaChappellesque (don't you think?) in an artsy Vogue photo feature inspired by The Wizard of Oz, with Keira Knightley as Dorothy, Chuck Close as The Wizard, Jasper Johns as The Lion, Kara Walker as Glinda, Kiki Smith as The Wicked Witch of the West, and so on and so forth.

Here's Wikipedia on Leibovitz. I was surprised to see that David LaChappelle's website has a shoddy homepage, but the rest of the domain is considerably better.

CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE. I found out more about the Martin Luther King monument featured in last week's Where Was I? It's made by William Tarr and dated 1973. As pointed out in This Week in New York, Tarr has work in Lower Manhattan, but he also has work in The Bronx.


You can see a picture of another Tarr sculpture at this page on Public Art in The Bronx.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTEST CONTINUES. The winner of Contest #32 (man in bunny suit in office setting) is Karen Dakich of Livingston, New Jersey with

"It's not just Henderson. Corporate laid off the entire bunny division."

Congrats to Karen, who moves New Jersey ahead of New York 3-2.

In Contest #34 (bedroom setting with woman and guy in Dracula cape), the nominees include one from New York City: Doak Sargent's

"I bet the bride of Frankenstein gets to cuddle."

My own candidate was

"Come in and put on your pajamas--Jon Stewart is about to start!"

In Anti-Caption Contest #35 (living room scene in which a man nonchalantly addresses a woman encircled by a snake) the winner is lindsay with

"Oh heck, it's up to your neck."

My own submission was

"Back in the 1940s, The New Yorker published a Charles Addams cartoon in which a woman says 'Oh, speak up, George! Stop mumbling!' to a man who has been swallowed by a giant snake. More recently, in 1999, the magazine published a Frank Cothan living room scene in which a woman says 'I believe we’ve entered the dark underbelly of pet ownership.' to a man who has a snake wrapped around his neck.' But not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that the two of us would find ourselves in a similar predicament, except that it is you, the woman, who is ensnarled by the snake and it is cartoonist Matthew Diffee who is drawing the scene as I speak!"

And now The New Yorker has unveiled Contest #36. Good luck!

Meanwhile, emdashes has posted an interview with contest winner T.C. Doyle, author of "And in this section it appears that you have not only alienated voters but actually infected them, too.”

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

PUZZLE TIME! Here's a puzzle that you can activate by passing your cursor over it. The pieces are TEENY, but not as TEENY as they could be!

Enjoy.

Puzzle: flash-gear.com
Photo: David Marc Fischer

TONIGHT ON DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. Mary wishes her husband would stop picking on her son-in-law. Michelle wishes her ex would be more involved in family matters. Anne wishes her husband would stand up to her father more often. Roberta wishes her husband hadn't spent so much time away from home.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

SAGE SAVAGE? One wants sex. The other doesn't. What to do? Dan Savage offers some frank advice on what is apparently a very common problem. (It's also addressed in Dr. Ellen Wachtel's We Love Each Other But....)

SO LONG, SHELLEY! Shelley Winters started off as a starlet, then became one of the most interesting actresses in Hollywood, imbuing her often frumpy, frowsy, blowsy characters with pathos, dignity, and depth. She will probably be most widely remembered for her oft-mimicked turn in The Poseidon Adventure, but even that role had a certain Shelley Winters richness. I have a lot of Shelley Winters movies to see, but I have fond memories of her performance in The Big Knife (with Rod Steiger and Jack Palance) as well as Lolita and Next Stop, Greenwich Village (recently released on DVD).

WELCOME TO THE READING ROOM.

FROM THE BIG EASY TO THE BIG APPLE. Sounds like Katrina evacuees in NYC could use some advocacy. A lot of it, actually. On the bright side, I don't notice any complaints about the cold weather.

THE BIG BREAD BUST OF 2006. The Feds confiscated thousands of loaves of bread after French Meadow Bakery declined to remove the "wheat-free" label from their spelt products.

INSIDE GOTHAMIST. The comments in response to this post start off as pretty nebulous...but then they morph into a revealing spat.

FOR THE RECORD. Wonkette misquoted New York's Daily News, confusing one Kennedy crony with another. Talking about George Bush's recent "consultation" with secretaries-of-state, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. noted that "The meeting lasted for 35 minutes." Lauren Bacall asked "Does he think we're all stupid?"

MORE WIKIPEDIA PUBLICITY. Again, in The Village Voice.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

BLOGORHYTHMS. Here are two Katrina-related blogs that are worth a visit: Suri's World (where Katrina entries precede the dog-related posts) and Leveetation (where blogger Leveetated has understandably declared "2005 can kiss my shiny white ass").

USEFUL? DELIGHTFUL? ENJOYABLE? James Frey...JT Leroy...James Frey...JT Leroy. All week it's been nearly impossible to focus on one literary enigma without being distracted by the other. For the moment, Blog About Town will alight upon the JT "Terminator" Leroy hoax, exposed by New York and then The New York Times, and pretty much summed up at Gawker.

My awareness of "Terminator" came primarily through noticing (but rarely if ever reading) the many articles under that byline in New York Press, where John Strausbaugh once served as an editor. This week, tucked in the back pages of the Press, is an item in which J.R. Taylor muses over the Leroy fiasco and writes

I doubt Strausbaugh fell for anything. More likely, he simply didn't care about Leroy's authenticity. Which seems fair—you'd have to be a real idiot to buy into Leroy's ludicrous biography, and it seemed clear his "past" was just a disposable veneer. That didn't interfere with some perfectly serviceable writing.

A paragraph later, Taylor writes

Leroy—who was with the Press until Jeff Koyen took over as editor—still has connections to the paper. Best Music Writing 2005 is dedicated to former Press contributor Henry Flesh, and Leroy's introduction recalls the times that Strausbaugh had to reassure publicists that Leroy was for real.

I wonder if it's true that Strausbaugh didn't fall for the hoax yet persuaded publicists that Leroy was "for real."

Whether or not those publicists existed, others questioned Leroy's identity. As also noted at Gawker, Joy Press addressed the suspicions in the Village Voice back in 2001, quoting Mary Gaitskill:

All of this slipperiness has led some early supporters to wonder if they've been played. As Gaitskill put it, "It's occurred to me that the whole thing with Jeremy [J.T.] is a hoax, but I felt that even if it turned out to be a hoax, it's a very enjoyable one. And a hoax that exposes things about people, the confusion between love and art and publicity. A hoax that would be delightful and if people are made fools of, it would be OK—in fact, it would be useful."

I wonder.

At any rate, it seems that the NYPD can now call off the bag searches for Leroy's identity.

As for James Frey, Gawker links to a StarTribune.com item that recalls previous challenges to that author's credibility. And so on and so forth.

Whoops. See what I mean?

Here's www.jtleroy.com.

Photos: David Marc Fischer

ONE, TWO, THREE. Billy Wilder's frenetic and family-friendly film One, Two, Three (1960) starts a week-long run today at the Film Forum. The Cold War/Coca-Cola comedy is rightly hailed as a tour-de-force for its star, James Cagney. Based on a play by Ferenc Molnár, the movie (which in some respects anticipated The Producers) sometimes bogs down in staginess and its outdated premise, but it's still worth viewing.

WHERE WAS I? My location has been ascertained to my satisfaction! Congratulations, Debbie, on a lightning-fast (and ultra-hot) response! Your request has been granted: Next week's challenge will not involve a puzzle. That's what I call a win-win situation.

Here is a set of pictures of the location, the cube-shaped sculpture on the grounds of Martin Luther King High School in Manhattan. I'll see if I can get more info on it, too.




















Photos: David Marc Fischer

WHERE WAS I? Reactions to the puzzles have ranged from enthusiasm to bitter resentment, so I am instituting a new policy: For each Where Was I? challenge, whoever ascertains my location to my satisfaction will get to choose whether or not a puzzle will be used the next time around. Fair enough?

For now we'll continue with a puzzle...but it is an extra-chunky one, with very few pieces. Fair enough?

As usual, make your guesses in the Comments.
Puzzle: flash-gear.com
Photo: David Marc Fischer

FLY TO JAPAN CHEAP! Manhattan User's Guide notes that United is offering flights to Osaka from New York and other major U.S. cities for $199 each way. That means you can travel to Japan and back for the cost of a meal at Masa!

"THE SIMPSONS" UNPLUGGED. Here, courtesy of YouTube, is the theme song for The Simpsons played on an acoustic guitar.

WHACK-IT WEDNESDAY? Today at Empty Cerebrations you'll find an exercise in "shorn tell" as someone takes a whack at Beth's hair!

MORE MOMA MOVIES AND MUSINGS. I've got some MOMA movie highlights to share, but first I want to air another gripe about the museum. (As you might recall, back in December I criticized the bathroom sinks for being too darn wet.)

This time I want to complain about MOMA's printed movie calendars. In advance of each screening period, members get little booklets that list movie dates, but the easy-to-scan single-sheet movie calendars are more useful. Suitable for wall-mounting like other repertory calendars, these schedules ought to be available before the first date on each schedule, but lately they've shown up at MOMA on or later than the first date! They're also not mailed to members, which means that moviegoers have to go to the museum to pick them up. MOMA movie schedules are also available online, but not in a format as user-friendly as the easy-to-scan single-sheet schedules. One way or another, those schedules should be easier to get.

Now, as for the movie calendar for the rest of January, one highlight is Béla Tarr's Sátántangó, which is a whopping 7.5 hours long. I haven't seen it myself, but it's supposed to be very good. Even MovieMartyr.com ("suffering for your cinema") deems it a masterpiece. And here's Manohla Dargis weighing in at The New York Times.

Sátántangó screenings are as follows:

Part 1 Wednesday, January 11, 5:00 pm (4 hours)
Part 2 Thursday, January 12, 5:00 pm (3.5 hours)
Complete with Two Intermissions Friday, January 13, 4:30 pm
Complete with Two Intermissions Saturday, Janaury 14, 3:00 pm
Complete with Two Intermissions Sunday, January 15, 1:00 pm
Complete with Two Intermissions Monday, January 16, 1:00 pm

Also at MOMA this month is the great Citizen Kane, which is best appreciated on a big screen.

Citizen Kane Thursday, January 19, 8:30 pm
Citizen Kane Saturday, January 28, 6:00 pm

Finally, there's free family fare on Friday nights!

Toy Story 2 Friday, January 13, 8:30 pm
Monsters, Inc. Friday, January 20, 8:30 pm
Finding Nemo Friday, January 27, 8:30 pm

Photo: David Marc Fischer

GOODBYE 2ND AVE. DELI. To the great sorrow of many a nosher, the 2nd Ave. Deli has gone dark.

However, its crazy ol' website shines on. For now.

Gawker's got a great picture of the deconstruction (notice the detached letters on the sidewalk).

WHERE WAS I? My location has been ascertained to my satisfaction! Congratulations, david! You're hot!

WHERE WAS I? Go ahead and guess some more. I'm here to help! (Hint: At this point, a little googling would go a long way.)

THE NEW STAMP HACK. If you're in the Times Square area, you should be able to get new stamps with ease by going to the small post office station inside the Information Center just east of TKTS, next to McDonald's. I just got some penny stamps there, no problem.

















Photo: David Marc Fischer

PANDA PIX! Yesterday was Tai "Butterstick" Shan's birthday, but every day is panda day at pandafix!

I checked to see if any virtual pandas were up for adoption at bunnyhero labs. So far there's no such animal.

ALL WE NEED IS MUSIC. One of the most popular videos on YouTube in recent months is Dancing, by Matt Harding. It's inspirational!

WHERE WAS I? The verbal clues so far: A park (not a zoo) in Manhattan that's downtown in relation to Riverside Park. Surely we can do even better than that. See (and solve) the puzzles for yourself!

BLOGORHYTHMS. Do you want to get away from it all? At Pangea goes to Spookytown you can find great pictures of Joshua Tree National Park.

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTEST CONTINUES. Well, it seems that everything's back in gear. Except, perhaps, for the absence of Anti-Caption Contest #34 (childish drawing of vampire at window and woman in bed).

The winner of Caption Contest #31 (minotaur in a bar) is Lou Primus of Horsham, Pennsylvania, with "If I'm not back at the maze by eight, my wife reels in the damn string." Way to go, Lou!

The nominees for Caption Contest #33 (fish in a suitcase) include this submission, from Chip Bolcik of Thousand Oaks, California: “So, then, I guess the Johnsons are feeding our clothes.” Mine was "We must have left our clothes in the fish tank." It's a very thin line, don't you think?

The winner of Anti-Caption Contest #33 is "When are they going to shit out the heroin?" by Pukebot. My submissions were

"I'm sorry. I can't unpack just now. I've got to go to the bathroom. And then I think I should just lie down for a while. Do you have any aspirin? I'm wiped out!"

and

"Oh dear. We forgot to pack the little man from Cartoon Caption Contest #8."

Caption Contest #34 is now underway.

So is Anti-Caption Contest #34.

Let the captioning continue!

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

ADOPTION CENTRE. Meet fischee, my new online pet! Play with fischee by moving the cursor around the little cutie. Feed fischee by using the mouse to pick up the container to the left of the tank. Awwwwww...isn't that cute?

adopt your own virtual pet!

Perhaps you'd like to adopt an online pet, too. There are many to choose from at bunnyhero labs.

WHERE WAS I? The guessing is progressing. See if you can move it in the right direction!

TONIGHT ON DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. Barbara wonders when the carpenter will return her phone call. Melinda suspects that the termite inspector is actually a salesperson. Jennifer buys a new garbage can after someone drives over the old one. Claire wonders how wearing a pair of bargain-priced blue jeans can make her feel so grouchy.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

SAVE THE RKO KEITH'S THEATER! You know how everyone bemoans the loss of the beautiful old Penn Station, and how Grand Central Terminal was "saved" because of the lessons learned? The same standards apply to the endangered movie palaces of New York. If you lose those precious sites, you lose a sense of how special it once was to go to a grand movie house and see big-screen projection (perhaps with live entertainment). If only the city's rep houses, museums, and educational institutions could figure out ways to preserve and restore those places of wonder, where old (and new) movies can be projected large, as their creators envisioned.

Currently in danger is the RKO Keith's Theater in Flushing, Queens. To get a sense of what this theater means to people, check out its page at Cinema Treasures.

Thomas Stathes has launched an online petition to save the theater. I'm not sure how effective such petitions are, so if you can think of better ways to make the case, go right ahead! Queens has long been interested in boosting its reputation as a cultural destination, so there might be an angle there. Perhaps the Queens Council on the Arts can do something. A listing for the Flushing Council on Culture & the Arts can be found here. Here's the website of Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. And here's a contact page for reaching the city's Department of Cultural Affairs, headed by Commissioner Kate D. Levin. Contact information for Queens Community Board 7 can be found here.

Oh yes: Here's the website for The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

LATKA'S TREATS SUPPORTS STRAYS. When you buy the Canine Valentine gift box at Latka's Treats, ten percent of the sales proceeds will go to Stray from the Heart, an organization whose mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and place homeless dogs with caring families. The offer stands until February 28, 2006.

By the way, Latka's Treats proprietress Beth seems to have a major quilt complex. Here's an online gallery of her handiwork.


Photo: Beth Goldberg

WHERE WAS I? I've added another visual clue (in puzzle form) to help you locate me. Go here to play.

WORDS OF THE YEAR 2005. The results are in! (See PDF for the official version.) This year's ceremony was distinguished by a special tribute to Tom Cruise's effect on the English language. The Blog About Town summary follows:

WORD OF THE YEAR. As determined by the American Dialect Society, the Word of the Year 2005 is truthiness. The term, identified with The Colbert Report, "refers to the quality of stating concepts or facts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true." In competing for the honor, truthiness lost to Katrina in the first round of voting but dominated 66-22 in the run-off after the elimination of podcast, Cruiselex, refugee, brown-out, intelligent design, Heck of a job, and disaster industrial complex.

MOST USEFUL. The winner is podcast, beating out truthiness, patent troll, and lifehack.

MOST CREATIVE. The winner is the wonderful whale tail (the appearance of thong or g-string underwear above a waistband), which whomped flee-ancée 56-38 in a run-off after the elimination of pineosaur and muffin top.

MOST UNNECESSARY. Perhaps to no one's surprise, the winner in this category was K Fed (Kevin Federline), deemed even less necessary than reverse logistics, man date, and pope-squatting.

MOST OUTRAGEOUS. The word crotchfruit (child, children) emerged as the winner, outsensationalizing intelligent design, Whizzinator, Bumper Nutz, and Ex-Lax option.

MOST EUPHEMISTIC. I'm not sure how to say this, but internal nutrition (force-feeding a prisoner) was the non-loser in a field consisting of holistic practitioner, VBIED, extraordinary rendition, holiday tree, and man date.

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED. Following in the proud tradition of "blog" is sudoku (a type of number puzzle), which overtook podcast in a class that also included folksonomy and Cyber Monday.

LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED. Hanging its head in shame is pop-squatting (registering a domain name of a new pope in order to reap a profit), voted to be even less promising than GSAVE, metrospiritual, Cruiselex, and Brangelina.

BEST TOM-CRUISE-RELATED WORD. Gleefully leaping up and down in this special category is jump the couch (to exhibit strange or frenetic behavior), which dramatically outshined Cruisazy and TomKat.

To see how Cruise merited so much special attention, click here.

WORD OF THE YEAR 2005: THE NOMINATIONS. Earlier today, the American Dialect Society announced its nominations for Word of the Year 2005. They are available on this PDF.

I expect the winners to be announced later this evening.

GOING POSTAL. Does your neck ache? Does your butt hurt? If so, doctors have found the reason: The price of postage is going up on Sunday, January 8, 2006.

First-class postage increases two cents, to 39¢.

Second-ounce and postcard stamps go up one penny, to 24¢.

Faxes and emails look better and better.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

BANISHED WORDS 2005! As we count the hours until the American Dialect Society announces its Words of the Year 2005, consider the Lake Superior State University 2006 List of Banished Words.

As explained at the website's History page, the words are carefully selected to be driven "from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness."

Note that the illustration on the History page bears a close resemblance to the New Yorker cartoon pictured here. Coincidence...or conspiracy?

Previous coverage of the Word of the Year can be found here.

WHERE WAS I? It's puzzle time again! Guess the location in the Comments section here. Even if your guess is uneducated, it could still get you far!


VISUAL CLUE ADDED JANUARY 7.

Puzzle: flash-gear.com
Photos: David Marc Fischer

WHAT'S WONKETTE WITHOUT COX? I heard about it on WNYC. I read about it in The New York Times. Now, at long last, the thoroughly scooped Wonkette announces Ana Marie Cox's new Emeritus status (though the masthead remains unchanged). Kudos to Cox on introducing a winning mix of sex, DC politics, and insider gossip to the blogosphere!

LET'S HEAR IT FOR LAURA! Laura Schiller has reached her fundraising goal for her first-ever half marathon run for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!

Way to go, Laura — have a great run!

WHACK-IT WEDNESDAY. Okay, it was a little late when Erin got around to posting her latest Whack. Meanwhile, Erin's reader eatmisery has posted pics of her "big pregnant belly." Looking good, eatmisery!

MOVIE PASSES. The New York Observer is offering tickets to a screening of the Queen Latifah vehicle Last Holiday at the Loews Lincoln Square Thursday evening, January 12, 2005.

Go here to get more info and perhaps have a shot at getting tickets to Match Point.

LETTERMAN VS. O'REILLY. "The late-night program hosted by David Letterman is the toughest interview show on television," wrote Bill O'Reilly after an appearance in 2001. "That's because Mr. Letterman is a smart guy who can spot a phony with telescopic accuracy and expects his guests to bring something to the table. If a guest begins to sink on this show, the bottom is a long way down."

It'll be interesting to see what O'Reilly has to say now. Tuesday night he reappeared on the smart guy's show, spewing his boilerplate nonsense about the so-called "War on Christmas." Letterman had none of it, voicing his suspicion that the "examples" offered by Reilly were nothing more than negligible blips on the holiday radar screen. Later in the interview, Letterman voiced great sympathy for Cindy Sheehan. According to a transcript at NewsBusters ("Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias"), Letterman said, "I’m very concerned about people like yourself who don’t have nothing but endless sympathy for a woman like Cindy Sheehan. Honest to Christ."

Gawker wrote that Letterman "adorably served a spanking to Fox News shoutytwat Bill O'Reilly" and also served "Bill O'Reilly Ass on a Plate."

Here's the video.

WHACK-IT-WEDNESDAY. This week, Erin refers us to Angi's Whack as well as Angi's Previous Whack.

MOVIE DEALS. If I understand this mysterious web page correctly, the Loews family of theaters is offering $5 admission Monday through Thursday throughout January. All you need is a coupon that I'm having trouble downloading!

According to the same mysterious page (what I mean to say is that the marketers for The New York Times could be a tad clearer with the copy), it seems that you might be able to get two-for-one deals for movies at MOMA, Symphony Space (Raging Bull?), and The ImaginAsian Theatre.

Thanks to Gawker for the lead.

MTA SIGN-FAKER. Ladies and Gentlemen! Are you seeking an alternative to church-sign generation? Well, seek and ye shall find...an MTA Sign-Faker!


Image by David Marc Fischer using MTA Sign-Faker.
Thanks to Gothamist for the lead.

KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES. Many of you might've noticed that today's New York Times includes an article about Sony's split with Nellie McKay. The dispute (previously covered here) has led to her CD Pretty Little Head not being released today as scheduled. In the Times article, McKay offers an interesting, sometimes self-critical, assessment of the situation, but so far there's no word as to whether she will have the word "slave" written on herself à la Prince (who recently leapfrogged from Sony to Universal). Even though McKay still has a Sony website, her other website seems to be strangely underutilized considering the current circumstances.

Also in the Times is a substantial story about the Wikipedia vs. Britannica standoff (previously covered here). It's got an amusing anecdote about Wikipedia coverage of the chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev, who at one point was described as "the oldest of five hundred million children." To see the inspiration for the Wikipedia vs. Britannica coverage, check out Nature.