The Islanders keep giving Garth Snow a reason to believe. Thursday it was a 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay that put New York back into a playoff spot. New York welcomed back Chris Simon from his latest suspension, but the Uniondale crowd didn’t exactly welcome Simon. When he skated his first shift the boos were louder than the cheers, but things settled down and Simon ended up with nine uneventful shifts on the night. It......

Governor Spitzer is facing opposition in his attempt to snuff out any Javits Center expansion by selling land surrounding the center to fill budget gaps. The administration still plans to renovate the convention center, but it will result in far less space than what was originally envisioned for the expansion, which would have cost between $1.8 billion and $3 billion. Senator Charles Schumer, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn oppose the land......

More than just a funny comedian, Elon James White (myspace) is becoming a notable force for his efforts to introduce new audiences to the sometimes overlooked diversity of talent within the world of black comedians. In other words, there’s more to black comedy than you might think by watching Def Comedy Jam. By creating The Black Comedy Project with comedian Baron Vaughn, White has helped cultivate an expanding community of artists who might be classified......

The Reverend Al Sharpton organized a rally of about 400 people outside the Suffolk County courthouse to protest the conviction of a black homeower in a white teen's death. They chanted, "Step down, DA, step down, DA" as well as "Free John White! Free John White!" John White was found guiltyof manslaughter for shooting a teenager, Daniel Cicciaro Jr., in the summer of 2006. White claimed he felt threatened when he saw Cicciaro and......

PARTY: Though we were sad to see former editor, Colleen Kane, depart the media mothership of maleness, Playgirl magazine...the show must go on. Tonight come celebrate their January issue and their 2008 centerfold calender...all at once. Free booze and gift bags for all! 7 to 10pm // Happy Ending [302 Broome St] // Free THEATER: For “sophisticated literate slapstick, big on laughs highbrow and low,” Culturebot recommends 500 Clown Frankenstein. Although the cast is 497......

Oprah Winfrey introduced one of her favorite things people at what the NY Times called "the largest spectacle of the campaign cycle" - the Oprah for Barack Obama rally in Des Moines, Iowa. Winfrey said, "For the very first time in my life, I feel compelled to stand up and to speak out for the man who I believe has a new vision for America," and told the audience of 15,000 said, "I am......

Entertainment Weekly’s #1 “smartest” Hollywood player, Judd Apatow, says “it doesn’t look good” for an end to the writers’ strike any time soon. The well-connected catalyst behind hits like Knocked Up has told the Toronto Star that the studios and producers are prepared to dig in and crush the union’s demand for payment for Internet downloads and movie streaming, “which are expected to become a big part of the industry in the coming years.”It would......

SHOP: Tonight head to Dumbo for an “Evening of Cheer,” where three neighborhood events coordinated by the Dumbo Improvement District will be taking place. "The night’s events combine Dumbo’s monthly cultural event, First Thursdays, with extended shopping hours and promotions by local retailers and the illumination of the Empire Stores in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park by famed lighting designer Brendon Boyd." 6pm // Various location details here EVENT: Tonight some experts gather around to celebrate......

Tonight striking writers and friends will take the stage again for a 2nd Strike Night! Joining John Oliver (The Daily Show), Liz Cackowski (Saturday Night Live), Andy Secunda (Conan) and Maggie Carey, Joe Grossman (Letterman) is John Mulaney -- possibly one of our favorite young comedians today. Mulaney helped host one of our Movable Hype shows last year and currently can be seen on stages around town and on screen at Best Week Ever. Buy......

It's been quite a 24 hours for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. Last nght, he was at the Apollo for his first Harlem event. And this morning, he had breakfast with Mayor Bloomberg at a Midtown diner. At last night's $50-per-ticket fund-raiser, both Cornel West and Chris Rock introduced Obama. West asked the audience to think about entertainers like James Brown and Billie Holliday, who "represent a way of life that goes all the......

The city is showing the door to a daycare facility that has called P.S. 122 its home for 26 years. The Children's Liberation Daycare Center (CLDC), which serves 88 kids between the ages of 2 and 6, is going to court later this month to object to its ejection from the building, with no plan for the daycare center's return. The CLDC shares P.S. 122 with three arts organizations and it's the city's Dept. of......

Marc Maron's record 38 Conan appearances are a testament to his ability to be consistently funny, intelligent, and engaging. It's this ability that's landed him two Comedy Central Specials, multiple programs on Air America, and appearances in clubs nationwide, including Comix on October 12th and 13th. And while credits and portions of Maron's own quips may hint at his talent, the best way to get a taste of Maron is to visit MarcMaron.com, where you......

Lauren Weedman's memoir, A Woman Trapped in a Woman's Body, isn't the standard memoir. It's not about getting addicted to drugs and going to rehab or about living on the streets and selling her body. It's about what happens when you start doing stand up for ten minutes every night at the dinner table when you're eight because you don't want your adopted parents to send you back to the adoption agency because you didn't......

"I have an inborn hatred of injustice and tyranny that I cannot express." It is ironic that the speaker of these words, former President Millard Fillmore, was himself the victim of great injustice at the hands of tyranny. But this tyranny stemmed from the most unexpected of places: academia. For too long truth and liberty have stood idly by as one of their greatest crusaders had his name maligned by historians and layman alike. It......

Nationals 9, Mets 8: If a four-run lead can't stand up against the Nationals, against whom will it last? The Mets are hoping what was a seven-game lead as recently as Sept. 12 stands up, but they're not helping their fans maintain regular heartbeats. John Maine hit before he threw a pitch and still couldn't get out of the fifth. That's against a team that's last in the Major Leagues in runs scored and playing......

For one night only, Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin is bringing his popular LA show Combo Platter to NYC's UCB Theater. Every installment of CP begins with Garlin asking the audience for a topic that inspires a freewheeling conversation between he and his high-profile guests, in this case Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Susie Essman and comedian Jim Gaffigan. A true gourmet comedy treat! Your film, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, is opening on......

The Kid From Brooklyn sees famine, war, and despair in the world's future. " I've got foresight," he says, but even he could never have predicted his own popularity. Michael Caracciolo started his website TheKidFromBrooklyn.com to entertain friends and family, uploading videos of himself ranting wildly about whatever he happened to feel passionately about that moment, whether it be border control, the President, or even Starbucks. It's led to television appearances, a memoir about his......

Tigers 8 Yankees 5: Detroit is a great offensive team and the question the Yankees have to answer is, can their pitching stand up to a great offensive team? In the first of eight games against Detroit, the answer was a resounding no. The Tigers knocked around Mike Mussina for seven runs (six earned) in five innings of work. The Yankees had some chances, getting fifteen runners on base, but couldn’t mount a sustained rally......

The NY Times reports that Newark authorities may be close to naming a suspect in the Saturday night execution-style shootings of four people. Three friends were killed, while the fourth, Natasha Aerial, survived being shot in the head and has been talking to investigators. The Star-Ledger offered this description of the crime:Aeriel, her younger brother, Terrance, and two of their friends, Dashon Harvey and Iofemi Hightower, had driven to the school playground to drink,......

NY1 is reporting that City Councilman Dennis Gallagher has been indicted on rape charges by a Queens grand jury. Yesterday, the Queens City Councilman told the grand jury the sex was consensual. The alleged rape took place on July 8. A 52-year-old woman claims that Gallagher took her back to his Middle Village office and sexually assaulted her. The 43-year-old Gallagher cooperated with the police, giving a DNA sample. He is married, but his neighbors......

Jen Kirkman does it all. Hilarious stand up, talented improviser, and a terrific writer. She's in town to do some stand up and to perform at UCB's 9th Annual Del Close Marathon and Gothamist sat down with this triple threat from LA to discuss growing up on a golf course, the pursuit of fame, and sassing customers. You just released your first CD and are also a cast member on VH1's Acceptable TV. What else......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: The Kill Point (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., Spike TV) The debut of a hostage drama miniseries starring John Leguizamo as a leader of a group of bank robbers who’s plans went wrong and Donnie Wahlberg as the Pittsburgh Police negotiator tasked to deal with them. Saving Grace (Monday, 10:00 p.m., TNT) Another cop show with a twist, this time Holly Hunter stars as an Oklahoma City Police detective......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: 2007 ESPY Awards (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., ESPN) Jimmy Kimmel co-hosts with basketballer LeBron James this sports awards show which only exists to give ESPN some programming and some overpaid athletes another trophy. Victoria Beckham: Coming to America (Monday, 8:00 p.m., WNBC 4) Thankfully this is a one shot deal since the 6 episode fakeality show deal fell through. The show itself chronicles the Victoria Beckham's move to......

Yesterday evening, a 19-year-old was fatally shot on a northbound Q train. According to witnesses, Trevell Belton was shot as the train pulled into the Avenue U stop. Belton collapsed on the platform, while the shooter and his friend ran away. The Post reports that the train was packed with teens leaving Manhattan Beach, where Belton had been visiting (it's unclear if the shooter had also been at the beach). An investigator told the Post......

Over the weekend, we posted a link to a photograph Gammablog took of an open letter from the Cornelia Connelly Center school to whomever scrawled "Don't Walk Away In Silence" with spray paint on an outside wall. The school painted over the graffiti and then the graffiti returned. So they posted a letter, "Dear Political Graffiti Artist":While it's hard to disagree with your message, we wonder if you realize that you've written it on......

Did you happen to read the NY Times City Section essay, Under the Scaffold, a No-Fight Club? The author Allan Ripp writes about a confrontation between some youngsters hanging out under the scaffolding of a building near Columbus Circle. Apparently the teens have been loitering around there regularly during the day, and one day, one of the kids gets shoved into Ripp's way while he's walking. Ripp decides to say something:“You guys are always......

Fresh out of college, Anthony Jeselnik moved to LA where he found himself working at Border's books, in debt, and feeling pressured to find a course in life. He decided that he wanted to write jokes for late night TV and shortly thereafter met with Leno's head writer Jimmy Brogan, who advised the young Jeselnik to pursue stand up. It took a year for Anthony to jump into the LA comedy scene, but since then......

Sandwiched between Park Slope and Gowanus, along 4th Avenue, the Sheep Station bills itself as an Australian restaurant even if the bar seems to get the most attention. It has none of the kitschy video games, dated beer posters, or anything really that might muck up its design. It’s all straight lines and clean surfaces, and in that respect feels a little like Gothamist favorite Bocco Lupo in Cobble Hill. Like that enticing wine bar,......

Andy Borowitz's talent transcends mediums. He's conquered TV with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the Internet with The Borowitz Report, the stage with his stand up and regular host of The Moth, a story telling series, and books with his tomes The Republican Playbook and Who Moved My Soap: The CEO's Guide to Surviving in Prison. What's next for this master of humor: the future! Tell me about Next Week's News. Next Week’s News......

DJ Hazard is a comedian who's lived a wild life. He was a part of the wild Boston comedy scene of the 80's that spawned the likes of Stephen Wright and Bobcat Goldthwait, he's talked people out of killing themselves, and he's lived out of his car for three years as he traveled the country doing stand up. Someone get this guy a book deal! What are your earliest memories of comedy, of seeing......