The nightmare before Thanksgiving 1. Tim Burton retrospective at MoMA
You’re first order of business for the weekend: Hit up MoMA(11 W 53rd St between Fifth and Sixth Aves; 212-708-940, moma.org) and get inside the creepy yet brilliant mind of Tim Burton at a just-opened exhibit exploring his filmography. You may feel a little gloomy on your way out of the museum—boost your spirits by hopping into the pool at the Grace Hotel(125 W 45th St between Sixth and Seventh Aves; 212-354-2323, room-matehotels.com) and sipping on a green-tea martini ($15) at the swim-up bar. Nonguests have to shell out $10 to get wet (includes towel rental), but you can always just perv out at the landlubber’s bar that looks out on the water.
The man who dresses like a “gay Orville Redenbacher” 2. Devendra Banhart
After a hospital spell for nervous exhaustion and a much-talked-about relationship with Natalie Portman, the guitar-toting singer-songwriter seems to have found himself again. And unlike Mase’s move from the mike to the pulpit, Barnhart’s newfound self-awareness is resulting in some great music. Catch him live on Sunday at The Town Hall(123 W 43rd St between Sixth Ave and Broadway, 212-840-2824), then grab a Guinness at Jimmy’s Corner(140 W 44th St between Sixth Ave and Broadway, 212-221-9510), a haven of no-frills authenticity amid the glitz of Times Square. Just don’t get into a fight—owner Jimmy Glenn used to coach at a nearby boxing gym. (Relax, he’s friendly.)
Drink Up Connect Four
Round three of this monthlong championship promises to get pretty heated; winners move on to next week’s finale, with a chance to win $250.
Books National Book Awards Reading
All 20 nominees of this year’s NBA—who include Rae Armantrout, Jayne Anne Phillips and Colum McCann—will read their work.
Eat Out Pie Tasting and Talk
’Tis the season of pies—bulk up your knowledge, as well as your waistline, at this lecture and tasting.
Event “Law & Order: Twenty Years and Counting”
Creator Dick Wolf chats with cast members (including Sam Waterston) about the police show that just keeps on chugging.
Books A celebration of Vladimir Nabokov
A group of Nabokov admirers—including novelist Martin Amis—will read from the The Original of Laura, an unfinished novel that the author left on his deathbed and is just now being published.
Music Red Hook Ramblers
Last week they played the TONY office; tonight, they bring their vintage jazz sound to Sycamore.
Lecture “Proust Wars”
Literary historian and Columbia professor Elisabeth Ladenson chats about Marcel Proust.
Theater Broadway Close Up: Bound for Broadway
The latest edition of this valuable annual advance look at musical-theater works-in-progress includes songs from Party Come Here, The Scottish Musical, and Sleeping Beauty Wakes.
Bill Gates is what, a bajillionaire now? (Actually, according to a recent Forbes article, he’s merely a billionaire. Well, then.) But he’s also a nice super-rich dude: Each year, he gives away tons of money through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which supports funding for health care, education and poverty (among other things). He’ll chat about his philanthropic endeavors and more at the 92nd Street Y on November 11 with The Economist’s Matthew Bishop, himself no stranger to charity (his newest book is called Philanthrocapitalism—apparently, the two concepts can mesh successfully).
Tickets to the event are on sale now (go to 92y.org to grab ’em), but will likely sell out. If you can’t shell out $50, no worries: We’ve got you covered. Simply e-mail ownthiscity@timeoutny.com by Tuesday evening, and tell us why you want to see the richest man in America speak; you could win two tickets to the event. (Just don’t try to ask him for money once you’re there. That would be totally uncool.)
Sex & Dating Women as Design
There’s more to it than those Virgin Cola bottles that mirrored Pamela Anderson’s curves. British author and design critic Stephen Bayley discusses the influence of the female form on architecture.
Eat Out Cuisine of Alsace
Learn to cook Alsatian staples, then wash them down with crisp rieslings and gewürztraminers.
Books Mitch Albom: Have a Little Faith
The Tuesdays with Morrie author discusses his latest, not so dissimilar tome (Albom interviews a dying man—in this case, a rabbi—and turns their conversations into a narrative).
Comedy Stand-Up for Heroes
Stephen Colbert, Bruce Springsteen and Brian Williams bring humor to an important cause at this NYCF kickoff.
Where is women’s fashion headed? If you ask award-winning Washington Post journalist Robin Givhan, planted in D.C. on the Michelle Obama beat, the answer is in a “democratic” direction. Isaac Mizrahi, who was dressed for comfort (“I wore this because it was the only thing that fit”), claimed “fetishistic,” while Ashley Olsen offered a somewhat predictable answer, “exciting.” Mizrahi, whose introductory notes included his upcoming QVC retail show, peppered the panel with food-fashion analogies. His natural sass also provided the most entertainment, as when he pointed out the obvious paradox when Olsen claimed that she wears what’s comfortable—while donning seven-inch platform stilettos.
Other highlights: the panel noting the First Lady’s First Cleavage and First Thigh; a collective vetoing of Hammer pants and the ’80s as a fashion trend; and a discussion of why sports aren’t considered frivolous but fashion is.—Laura Yan
Eat Out Discover Queens Restaurant Week
Forget Brooklyn—starting today, get the best this borough has to offer with $25 prix-fixe menus at 75 local eateries.
Drink Up New York Rum Festival
With more than 60 samples on offer, this is the place to taste the rum renaissance.
Comedy Tell Your Friends
Liam McEneaney’s “workout comedy room” offers comics a venue to try new material.
Lecture “Lincoln and the Jews”
Preeminent Abraham Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer will discuss the 16th President’s ties to the Jewish community.
TONIGHT The political sparks will fly when Howard Dean takes the stage at the 92nd Street Y. The Dem will discuss the future of the progressive movement, as well as his new book on our crackpot health-care system. After the Q&A, head to Fetch Bar & Grill, where patrons’ pet pics line the walls and desserts are served in dog bowls. Play your cards right and you’ll be belting out your own Dean-inspired “Yeahhh!”s before the night’s over.
TONIGHT Book it to Ruby Foo’s for some nostril-singeing, wasabi-crusted salmon and other savory treats, then catch Whitney Cummings at Carolines on Broadway. Never heard of her? The dirty, pretty stand-up wrote this week’s Joke of the Week: “Men watching porn is like women watching the Food Network. We’re both looking at stuff we’re never going to do.”
The 92nd Street Y, that Upper East Side bastion of performing arts and fitness, tends not to be the most wallet-friendly of NYC’s community centers–concert tickets can go for up to $70 a pop. So we were sho-nuff tickled to learn it’s running a “Free Taste of 92Y” program that allows nonmembers to sample a range of art, music, dance and fitness classes through tomorrow. You still have time to check out “The Masala Bhangra Workout,” “Beginners Hatha Yoga” and “Adult Beginners Swimming.”
Unfortunately, you’ve missed “Songwriting for Adults,” an essential class if you eventually want people to pay $70 to see you perform. But you can get this class for less with a discounted rate on annual membership also available through tomorrow, September 17 ($975, was $1,200).
Clubs
Boogle Down Brox B-Boy/B-Girl Jams at St. Mary’s Park
See hip-hop as nature intended: in a park, with a couple of Technics and a massive sound system in the Bronx. The folks at Tools of War kick off this series of outdoor parties this evening at 5pm.
Last night, 200 people, mostly women, settled in at the 92nd Street Y for a panel discussion with five female writers—
Patricia Bosworth, Judith Warner, Joanna Smith Rakoff, Emily Gould and moderator Sheila Weller—each of whom came of age during a different era.
The panel opened with each woman’s take on her generation’s female culture. Bosworth, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, transported us to the ’50s (“Sex was hidden. I knew nothing about sex”); Weller, author of Girls Like Us, the ’60s–’70s (“The most, most humiliating thing a girl could be called in those days was uptight”); Warner, author of Perfect Madness, the ’70s–’80s (mothers’ obsession with purity was “a carryover of the body-control obsessions that had been so prevalent in us”); Smith Rakoff, author of A Fortunate Age, the ’90s (“We came to distrust The Man—capital T, capital M”); and Gould, former coeditor of Gawker, the aughts (“Our identities are fragmented and inconsistent and full of contradictions”). These soundbites gave way to a discussion among the women, then to a Q&A. But the event ended with an unsettling vibe, as an audience member took issue with Weller’s earlier claim that “feminism is launched.” Maybe it is for the upper-middle-class, white, American audience, she pointed out, but for much of the world, the battle has hardly begun.—Jessica Gross
Hands up if you like Morocco. Henna by Lisa Butterworth (Kenzi).
If you haven’t started exploring the assortment of international cultures present here in the greatest city in the world with our Passport NY series, now’s a good time to start.
This week we “visited” Morocco without leaving the city limits and found beautifully intricate henna adornments; learned how to dance the raqs sharqi; ate fluffy couscous garnished with chickpeas, honey-steeped onions and raisins; and reclined with hookahs.
Now that you’re hookahed (geddit?), head to the 92nd Street Y tonight for “Africa: Conversations with a Continent” (7–9pm, $20–$25), where Berber art professor Cynthia Becker and Moroccan scholar Habiba Boumlik will discuss Morocco’s art, culture and political history.
NYU’s Howard Oboler presents the second in his titillating series “Sex, Cinema and Censorship” tonight at the 92nd Street Y, stripping bare the changes in Hollywood sirens over the years in “Seduction.” Oboler says, “Being 72 years old, I’m a throwback to a time when people didn’t take their clothes off to be seductive.”
Compare, perhaps, Red-Headed Woman (1932) above and the recent Hollywood effort Obsessed. Had “leggy blond temp” Ali Larter taken some tips from Red-Headed Woman lead Jean Harlow, perhaps she wouldn’t have been on the receiving end of Beyoncé’s headbutt and we would have been spared a god-awful film.
“I can’t follow what she [Dr. Ruth] does.” (Does a sexually repressed nature compel him to avoid a sexually vocal woman? Or am I quoting out of context?)
He’s voted Democrat several times. (I am not quoting out of context here.)
“We respect anybody who holds sincere beliefs.” (Ditto.)
For postmenopausal women, “the actual intensity of the orgasm is not as strong as it was when she was younger.” (So use it, you will lose it.)
“I’m going to tell women to…keep their mouths shut.” Okay, not really, she said, “I’m going to tell women to use fantasy but to keep their mouths shut—not to say, ‘The lover I had before you was so much better.””
“A man at a certain age does not have what is called a psychogenic erection.” (So again, use it, once you work out what it is.)
“You should engage in sex the way you taste a good wine. Take your time. Look at it. Smell it. Savor it. And don’t just do a quickie.” (Smell it? WTF!)
Comedian Andy Borowitz, fearless editor of the online fake news provider,Borowitz Report, is appearing this Thursday at the 92nd Street Y to discuss President Obama’s first 100 days with Hendrick Hertzberg (who has this amazing piece in “Talk of the Town” this week) and Jonathan Alter. We recently spoke with Borowitz about our beloved socialistAntichrist’s first months at the helm.
What’s significant about the President’s first 100 days?
Well, you know, I was noticing that the cable news networks have been all over Obama’s first 100 days. Like, I was watching CNN the other day, and they’ve actually branded it. It says, “Obama’s First 100 Days: Brought to you by Taco Bell.” I didn’t realize that there were naming rights to be given away for your first 100 days. If FDR had only known. Maybe the whole Bay of Pigs invasion would’ve been fine if we had said, “Brought to you by Xbox 360.”
Video-game tie-ins!
What I loved about it was that they’re basically turning his first 100 days into a TV series. One that only lasts 100 days. I thought that if they’re going to be that glib and dumb about it, I can certainly live up to that quality. I’m comfortable with my role as a commentator, if that’s all that’s being required.
Glibness is the only currency that matters anymore.
Exactly. My philosophy in doing my website and stuff is that the most important thing is to be first rather than right. It’s the opposite of what they teach you about journalism. Just strike first. We’re giving no time for reflection.
The gender disparity was high at Susie Orbach’s lecture at the 92nd Street Y last night—of the 40- or 50-something people in the crowd, maybe six were men. It’s not terribly surprising; Orbach’s preferred topics (body image, eating disorders, feminism, etc.) are problems that disproportionately affect women. But as she pointed out last night, that is rapidly changing, and men are becoming as hyperaware of their perceived bodily flaws as women have historically been. Read more »
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Bill Gates is what, a bajillionaire now? (Actually, according to a 
The 
Last night, 200 people, mostly women, settled in at the 
Comedian Andy Borowitz, fearless editor of the online fake news provider, 
The gender disparity was high at 
Jim Cramer recommends ten stocks: