MUSIC: Come enjoy the Whitney after dark tonight as the museum's live showcase series invites Dan Deacon (pictured) to the stage. If you haven't seen Deacon before, get ready for some Casio keyboard electro-rock compositions and an art dance party. Friday // 7pm // Whitney Museum [945 Madison Ave] // Pay what you want EVENT: The Moth Story Shop presents “The One that Got Away: Stories from South Street Seaport” tonight. The following storytellers will......

On your faces, maggots. Iraqi war vet (and former SLC punk) Jason Christopher Hartley (pictured) has collaborated with The International WOW Company to create one hell of an interactive theatrical experience. Called SURRENDER, audience members sign up as active participants in simulations of counterinsurgency operations. Upon arriving at the Sanford Meisner Theater, you’ll be issued boots, a uniform and a replica M-4 assault rifle. You’ll train with Hartley for 100 minutes in basic combat techniques,......

EVENT: Into anime? It's your lucky weekend, the New York Anime Festival is in town! There will be previews, screenings and panels galore. Check out their website for more details. All Weekend // Jacob Javits Convention Center [655 W 34th St] // $30 day pass, $55 weekend pass SHOP: FIT and the Design Mavens come together for a 3 day shopstravaganza. Tons of designers we're not cool enough to have ever heard of will be......

HEADS UP!: We love Daniel Kitson, it's been documented, so we wanted to give you a heads up that our favorite British comedian is coming back to the States! He has three shows in December at Union Hall (the 2nd, 3rd and 4th), and tickets are ON SALE NOW for two of those dates. It'll be the best $8+fees that you ever spent. ART: The Brothers Grimm fairytale Hansel and Gretel has taken over the......

This Sunday, The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine will be holding the annual Blessing of the Animals, to mark the Feast of St. Francis. Many churches celebrate St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and birds, either on his feast day (which was yesterday) or the first weekend near it. The animal blessing at St. John's will have a parade of animals at 12:30PM, with animals including a white reindeer, a......

REMINDER: Don't forget about the Atlantic Antic Festival, which we wrote all about yesterday. EVENT: The d.u.m.b.o arts center (dac) presents the 11th Annual Art Under the Bridge Festival. The three-day fête takes up 30 blocks bringing together over 1500 visual artists, 250 open studios and offices, and an expected 20,000 attendees. Given much of the music biz in this city has offices in that area, they'll be taking part as well. The Deli Magazine......

This Sunday Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Opera will hold A Tribute to Beverly Sills. The event is open to the public, free, and will be dedicated to the sopranos life -- which ended in July. Sills was more than just a singer, she held many prominent positions, including General Director of the New York City Opera; Chairman of Lincoln Center; and Managing Director, Chairman, and Chairman......

BEER: This one is pretty simple...there will be lots (58!) of New York beers, and a few bands to soundtrack your drinking them, at the Seaport tonight. Go, imbibe, enjoy! Friday // 5 to 10pm // South Street Seaport // $55 THEATER: Paso Doble was a sold-out hit at the 60th anniversary Festival d’Avignon last summer; for one weekend only sculptor Miquel Barceló and dancer Josef Nadj have brought their messy spectacle to St. Ann’s......

MUSIC: Scottish indie sensations Camera Obscura bring their pop and their rock to the Seaport tonight. They're joined by The Last Town Chorus. After that, there's only one more show down there this season! Friday // 7pm // South Street Seaport, Pier 17 // Free MOVIE: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is playing tonight, and you've got a golden ticket! Stock up on sweets and enjoy the 1971 classic down by the river. Friday......

The Video Vultures Circle It seems when tragedy writ large strikes, local news crews are dispatched to the scene no matter where it is. This week’s bridge collapse in Minnesota was no different with, as of last night, WCBS, WNYW, and WABC shipping reporters off to cover the death and destruction live. It seems more like vultures flocking to the carcass instead of legitimate coverage. Sending local reporters off just seems a bit much and......

This Sunday there will be a screening of the 1983 classic Wild Style at Summerstage, followed by performances by some of the rappers in the movie. Busy Bee, The Cold Crush Brothers, GrandMaster Caz, Fab 5 Freddy and more, including some special guests. More info on the event, which is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the movie, is here, but let's take a look back to when it was filmed. Wild Style was the first......

We can't possibly choose only one music event for the weekend, so check out OhMyRockness for the jam packed weekend listings. We will say, however, that one of the openers for Snowden at Maxwell's tonight...is We Are Scientists, trying out some new tunes. Though closer to home are The Clientele and Beach House at Bowery Ballroom. Listen: Apple Orchard.mp3 - Beach House THEATER: A mysterious little two-actor, umpteen character play called The Eaten Heart concludes......

This Sunday, the Mayor will formally unveil more PlaNYC details (though the website has been up for a while now). He'll give the speech at the American Museum of Natural History, to which New York Mag says, "while we're excited to see the plan, we confess the museum's symbolism is making us nervous: dinosaurs … carcasses … oy." MUSIC: Celebrate the earth with some tunes this weekend at the Green Apple Music Festival. Musicians will......

- Passover is here, so naturally it is time for matzo brei, there was even a brei off at Makor over the weekend. While we are at it, here is a take on matzo ball soup for the excellent Cooking for Engineers. - Speaking of the Passover holiday, apparently the recipe for Coke switches in order to conform to kosher rules, here is a look at what it means to you and how to find......

MOVIE: The 10th Annual New York International Children's Film Festival commences tonight, starting with the US premiere of the French animated film U (which includes unicorns!). A kid-friendly catered reception will take place after the film. More weekend movies here. Friday (festival through March 11th) // 6pm // Director's Guild of America Theater [110 W 57th St] // $20 EVENT: It's the first Friday of the month, that means it's time to head up to......

EVENT: Housing works is opening their new store in Brooklyn today. With great events and thrifty finds and a way to support the HIV-positive homeless community, it's nice to see the store is expanding. 11am to 7pm // Housing Works Thrift Store [122 Montague St, Brooklyn Heights] ART: Photographer Haik Kocharian’s solo show at Robin Rice Gallery is “Isild Le Besco: the Early Years”. Fans of French cinema know Le Besco for her mercurial screen......

This Sunday, Time's Up! is organizing a 2006 Cyclist Memorial Ride that will honor all cyclists who were killed on NYC streets last year. There are two routes - one for Queens/Brooklyn/Manhattan and one for Bronx/Upper Manhattan - that will converge at West Houston and LaGuardia Place, where Derek Lake died in June and then visit other spots where cyclists were killed. More information after the jump; additionally, here's a list of Ghost Bike Memorials......

PARTY: ABC No Rio is the 26 year old LES center for art and activism that has JUST received the title to their building. "Envisioned for the site is a multi-use community arts center with darkroom, silk-screen printing facility, small press resource center, computer center, expanded space for art, music, performance, educational and community activities, and meeting and office space." Come cheers to their big win tonight as they celebrate with cheap drinks, free snacks,......

- This Sunday is the 2nd annual Tour de Brooklyn, which is part of Bike Month from Transportation Alternatives. Tour de Brooklyn is 18 miles long and starts and ends in Bed-Stuy's Herbert Von King Park after going through several Brooklyn neighborhoods. While pre-registration is over, you can still ride in the race by registering from 8-9 a.m. at the starting point Sunday morning. The race starts at 9:30 a.m. - If it wasn't......

This Sunday will make the new lunar year, the year 4704, for many Asian cultures, and Chinatown will be hopping. And why not, as it's nice to have another new year when you can (you can start going to gym again religiously - we know you pooped out after four days!). Here are events happening in Chinatown, from Explore Chinatown:3rd Annual Lunar New Year Flower Market Friday, January 27th, Noon - 10:00 p.m. Saturday,......

No don't worry. Gothamist doesn't plan to subject you to yet another film Top 10 list. If you want a good ... uhm ... "overview" of this year's Top 10 lists, you might want to check-out The Reeler's Top 10 Top 10 lists. (Nos. 10-6 appeared yesterday. The top five went up this morning.) If you're looking for something more traditional, you should probably look at The Village Voice's Take 7 film critics poll. Meanwhile,......

- Two elderly sisters could be thrown out of their Cobble Hill home by their nephew - Schools Chancellor Joel Klein suggests a school where teens have three hours of class and the rest for study time as his "science chief" says the schools are failing - We agree with FourFour - we rather have more ANTM than less - This Sunday, there will be free parking at meters, so you may see people scoping......

Gothamist has had its ups and downs with champagne. That sweet Valentine's Day when we had a romantic candle lit dinner followed by strawberries and bubbly...our sister’s wedding where we had too much and now are taunted by the chants of “do your monkey dance again!” at family gatherings...But this isn’t about that. This is about Champagne, as in Seattle’s sketch comedy duo who will be at the PIT [154 W. 29th Street] on Friday.......

THEATER: Screen Play, a political satire by A.R. Gurney, opens tomorrow and runs through the 25th at the Flea Theater. Set just before the election of 2015, SCREEN PLAY envisions a future ruled by a conservative religious majority. The economy is sagging, wars are raging and culture is in decay. The very thought has us planning our "vacation" to Canada. Details: Saturday, June 4 at 7pm (opening night) and Sunday, June 5 at 1pm. The......

Well, it's finally here. That day we've all be eagerly anticipating since last year, hoping and praying for its joyous return. Yes, it's....THE DAY AFTER TAX DAY! Now, if you are anything like Gothamist the only IRA you are intimately acquainted with is your uncle from Wantagh, and at some point in the past year your well-intentioned attempt to file your receipts gave way to the much grander plan of making the World's Largest Ball......

This weekend the weather takes the main stage, so ditch the jacket and get outside! We've even added an "Outside" category this week in hopes that in the next few days you will expose yourself to daylight. Seriously, you are looking a bit pale. OUTSIDE: Carved in 1912 by Charles Carmel and featuring 51 animals the Prospect Park Carousel only costs $1 per ride. It's located in the Children's corner, on the Blue Trail. So......

This Sunday Joy Zipper will be opening at two of the last Luna shows ever. One bands end is another's beginning. Their latest cd was just released this month and has already become one of our fast favorites with it's smooth sonic edges. Joy Zipper is comprised of Vinny and Tabitha, a couple from Long Island. They are likely to get a lot of Jack and Meg references because of this, but the similarities end......

Did you guys know winter was still here? Yeah, anyway, it'll be giving us some more snow this weekend which means that staying home and drinking hot chocolate (or red wine) and watching movies will likely be a top choice for most. But for the adventurous we offer the following choices, along with a spontaneous snowball fight: MUSIC: The Willie Mae Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls, an offshoot of the original Rock Camp for......

If you can believe it, the Giants are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. Giants fans must be rejoicing that their team is in the N.F.C., where being a game under .500 can still keep your postseason hopes alive. At this point however the Giants need to start winning some games to keep that hope alive. They have lost their last four and five of their last six. This Sunday’s road game against......

Because the Jets always tend to make things interesting in terms of timing, this week the team decided to announce, even with its postseason status still up in the air, that it has signed team General Manager Terry Bradway to a two-year contract extension through 2007. This Sunday (4:15 p.m., TV: WCBS 2, RADIO: 1050 ESPN), the Jets (7-3) visit Tempe to face the Arizona Cardinals (4-6) in an interconference matchup in which backup......