THEATER: It would be pretty boss if The Cherry Orchard Sequel – a long-overdue follow up to Chekhov’s play about downwardly mobile Russian aristocrats – involved the titular clear-cut orchard rising from the ashes to go on a rampage against their axe-wielding oppressors. But playwright and director Nic Ularu took things in a different direction, and the result sounds just as interesting. His story picks up again 18 years after Chekhov’s play ends, and......

Don't have a Valentine's Day card yet? Print out this page, cut out the cards and give it to yourself! You can also download EPS versions of these Valentine's Day cards immortalized on the Simpsons' episode, I Love Lisa, at deconcept. Fun facts about Valentine Day's from the US Greeting Card Assocation: With an estimated 190 million cards to be exchaged, it's the second biggest card occasion after Christmas.1 billion "classroom valentines" will be......

As is the custom around these parts, we would like to take a moment to thank this weeks' advertisers on Gothamist. AMEX Urban Adventures, because big cities are full of little adventures. The Institute for Media and Entertainment, with a class on Branding in Media and Entertainment from November 14-16. Gawker's Guide to Conquering All Media, in bookstores now. Shop for Class, to help libraries in NYC's public schools. I Love New York 2, Mondays......

We'd like to take a brief moment to thank this week's advertisers on Gothamist. AMEX Urban Adventures, because there's shopping, dining, and entertainment destinations to be discovered. The Institute for Media and Entertainment, with their Managing Technological Change program this month (October 17-19). Gawker's Guide to Conquering All Media, which is in bookstores now. Shop for Class, where you can help NYC's public school libraries. I Love New York 2, looking to find love for......

Rome: Season 2 As another season of Emmy nominations show, those folks over at HBO original programming know what they're doing. Complex shows filled with meaty characters, lavish spectacle and quite a few racy scenes make those premium cable fees seem well worth the expense. However, if you missed out on the two seasons of Rome, the epic struggle of life during the time of Julius Caesar that's a bit of The Sopranos in togas,......

PARTY: It's hot out, so what better way to cool down than with a pool party? Impetuous Theater Company is having a fundraiser tonight on the roof of the Holiday Inn Midtown. Scenes from the upcoming aquatic theater festival will be performed, there will be free beer and wine from 7 to 9pm, and there will be a pool in which to fully submerge yourself (who needs a/c?). 7pm to 12am // The Holiday Inn......

Governor Eliot Spitzer is cleaning house in Albany every which way. The latest thing to get the Steamroller Spruce Up? The state's I Love NY tourism campaign. Spitzer announced that advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi would work on the campaign - and that the "I Love NY" logo would not change. Spitzer wasted no time in blaming former Governor Pataki for "under-managing" the brand. From the Daily News:"I don't want to be critical of anybody,......

When we feel the need to get away from the city without actually leaving the city, we head up to the Bronx. Places like City Island, Wave Hill, The New York Botanical Garden, and The Bronx Zoo are some of our favorite places to visit in all of New York, and we realize that's only the tip of the iceberg when considering the Bronx's appealing features. Unfortunately, the stereotype of the Bronx as a blighted......

WCBS News now in HDTV . . . CBS 2 News did a bit of an unexpected midweek transition to HD news yesterday becoming the third station in the city and the second CBS owned and operated station in the country to do so after KYW in Philadelphia went HD last week. The new music package still uses the familiar CBS “I Love Chicago” melody in its umpteenth incarnation since first used in 1975......

THEATER: We could try to describe Neal Medlyn's Coming In The Air Tonight, but why bother when there’s this: “The show features a variety of Phil Collins and Genesis music and is about how Neal is starting to slowly fall apart due to how he's all torn up inside from getting his heart broken into tiny pieces. It is also about how Neal steals a lot of stuff from people. Like their belongings and house......

Last night on Saturday Night Live, Chris Rock appeared on the cold open (what's a cold open?) to give his thoughts about the 2008 presidential race. While his riff on Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was great, it was also a little too long for our meager transcribing chops this morning. So we give you his thoughts on the Republican contenders:On the Republican side, we have McCain and Giuliani. Now, is it......

The Wind That Shakes The Barley (directed by Ken Loach): This weekend as all of the Celtic-themed Murray Hill bars fill with green beer drinking louts honor your Irish leanings at the movies with Ken Loach's new film, The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Winner of last year's big Cannes film festival prize the Palm D'Or, the film follows two brothers caught up in the "troubles" in rural Ireland during the '20s. The always excellent......

A few days ago they gave us a list of romantic NYC movies, and now The Daily News delivers a list of romantic songs. One hundred of them, to be exact, so if you wanted a last minute gift for your valentine, you could make them a mix cd for just 99 bucks and change (if you used iTunes). Just like with the movie list, however, this one is lacking. No Tupelo Honey, Enless Love......

With a new steamroller Governor in office, the Empire State Development Corporation is looking to put some new life in the "I ♥ New York" brand. The ESDC is looking for ad agencies to work on a marketing campaign to promote tourism to New York to the rest of the country. The state plans to spend $16 million on the campaign, which is a 45% increase over previous years. We hope that the ads......

February is the city's first I Love NYC Pets month! Various city agencies and animal rescue are having adoption events in all five boroughs to encourage people to start their year with a pet. . In fact, there are many events at Manhattan Commerce Bank locations today. For instance, there's this super cute dog at a Brooklyn shelter. Here's his info - he is a 9 year old gold and gray Cocker Spaniel. He's been......

Comedian Doug Benson of Best Week Ever, Last Comic Standing Season 3, and Comedy Central Present's fame is in town to perform as part of the The Marijuana-Logues at Comix on January 18th, 19th, and 20th. In this interview, he discusses his love of movies, his film in progress Super High Me, and his new podcast, Doug Benson's I Love Movies. When did you start smoking pot? 27. The story goes something like this: I......

If you count yourself as a New Yorker and a movie lover, it's tough to not have a special affinity for films by Woody Allen. Practically the filmmaker laureate of the city, Allen's prolific 40 plus year career is getting a three week long screening series at Film Forum starting this Friday. Gothamist loves Allen's movies (both the highs and the lows) so much that we thought we'd chat with an Allen expert, Queens College......

Graphic designers tend to be an even-keeled lot, unless you mess with their precious Futura typeface plans. So at Monday night’s The Art of the Book: Covers With Dave Eggers, Chip Kidd and Milton Glaser, moderated by designer Michael Bierut at the 92nd Street Y, we weren’t surprised that book jacket designer and author Kidd made nice with Panelist Four – a man well into his senior years who boosted the show from the first......

I want to check out the colors changing in the fall leaves. When/Where should I go?The Autumn Equinox, marking the beginning of Autumn, is on September 23rd. What better time to check out the changing foliage throughout the state? I Love NY Autumn tells you when and what region you should visit for best foliage color. Depending on where you are in the state, the leaves will change anywhere from the last half of......

The news is grim for many gay rights supporters after the NY State Court of Appeals upheld the gay marriage ban - ceding a decision to the NY State Legislature (one of the most dysfunctional in the country!). The NY Times' news analysis calls this a "key setback" as other states deciding on gay marriage will look at this ruling:For now, at least, so-called marriage equality is the fight that both sides want to......

Subway stabbing victim Christopher McCarthy was released from St. Luke' s Roosevelt Hospital yesterday. After Kenny Alexis stabbed him in the chest while on a downtown C train last Tuesday, McCarthy was initially given a 25 percent chance of surviving. But yesterday he was able to address reporters before heading home to Texas."When you get to New York, you know, it's a beautiful place," Mr. McCarthy said. "When you first get here and really see......

- Famous Fat Dave is the only guy who could turn a car accident into a beef jerky occasion. - Gotham Gal puts street fairs "under the category of city pests like rats, pigeons and cockroaches." - Brownstoner commenters report from Crown Heights: "Crack everywhere between Atlantic and Eastern and east of Grand Avenue till the horizon." - Ambush! Tom Suozzi got up in Eliot Spitzer's grille over the weekend. - Still no sign......

Jessica Kirson, Comedienne...

Today is "Day Without An Immigrant" day, as immigrants across the county will choose various ways to protest the country's possible immigration policy shift. While some are not going to work at all, in New York, workers are going to link their arms at 12:16PM for about 20 minutes. From the New York Immigration Coalition:At exactly 12:16pm on May 1st, immigrant workers, business owners, and community members at several locations can take a few minutes......

Because everything is better when conducted under a gorgeous chandelier, head down to the National Arts Club for Literary Debuts: First Books by Two Authors. Reading tonight at the auspicous Gramercy Park location are Edward Schwarzchild and his new book, Responsible Men, alongside Ronna Wineberg's Second Language. The Club is at 15 Gramercy Park and the event is free, and open to the public, starting at 8PM. At Labyrinth Books (536 W. 112th St.) on......

There are a ton of shows we want to catch this week, most of them fall on Tuesday night - so we'll be consulting the magic 8 ball and various street psychics on what show to go to. Let's get to it, shall we? Part Chimp is at Cake Shop tonight, we hear they are big in London right now. Which means they'll be big here sooner or later, and we like that they almost......

It's a packed week for the bookish types, with a couple of our favorite love-to-hate-them New York novelists on the readings circuit. Yeah, we're talking about the Jonathans. On Wednesday (2/22) Lethem is hosting a short-story evening at Symphony Space (W. 92nd St. and Broadway), with stories by James Thurber, Italo Calvino, and Jorge Luis Borges read by Malachy McCourt, Maria Tucci and Isaiah Sheffer. The show starts at 8PM and costs $21/25. And not......

Gothamist wants to be your Valentine, New York! Please accept these streetart selections as tokens of our regard: i love sex, bumps in love, we were in love, secret bush lover, robots love too, robot love you, pinkus loves michael, love peace, love is blindness, love is all, love is a hassle, love is..., loved you once but never again, love billy, love the ladies, love mailbox, i love you dog, i love you......

We read in the Times this weekend that today is supposedly one of the most depressing days this year, according to some sort of logarithm computed by Health magazine, and that seems entirely plausible to us – January is not a friendly month, even when it’s not super cold. One would think that the default theatrical antidote for the winter doldrums would be some sort of peppy, bright-eyed musical, but for some reason right now......

When we first saw this snowglobe, we thought it was cute and kitschy-- a throwback to the classic imported Chinese snowglobes of the late-1990s. Then we realized that it had a little plastic bag floating around with the snow! Genius: Winter in New York City: the wind rushing between the buildings swirls the snow -- and sometimes a bit of litter as well, for example, a plastic shopping bag. With the I Love NY......