Actor Roy Scheider died yesterday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, after battling multiple myeloma for several years and suffering complications from a staph infection. He was 75 and had been living in Sag Harbor, New York (after moving out his house in Sagaponack that Billy Joel purchased). Scheider may be best known for his role as Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws. One of his lines from the movie,......

MOVIE: Tonight the Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series delivers two very different films. First up is The French Riviera, described as "a road documentary that follows a truck driver on a mission to earn enough money selling ice cream in the Icelandic countryside to go on a vacation on a French beach." Next up is About A Son, the "intimate and moving meditation on the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25......

The Under the Radar festival of cutting edge international theater, curated by former P.S. 122 artistic director Mark Russell, continues through next weekend. Here’s a brief rundown of three shows seen so far. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: British theater company 1927 has staged a spellbinding blend of silent film-era aesthetics and macabre storytelling in this American premiere. Accompanied by a haunting live piano score, two pale women (pictured above) escort......

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: Elmo’s Christmas Countdown (Sunday, 7:00 p.m., WABC 7) It is a brand new Sesame Street Christmas special complete with an all star guest list providing music and voices like ABC News anchor Charles Gibson voicing a news reading reindeer and Ben Stiller voicing an elf. From the sound of it doesn’t seem like it will wind up being an enduring classic like A Charlie Brown Christmas.......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian was fatally struck on East 4th and Bowery in Manhattan, a child was shot on Blake Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting/homicide on Fish Ave and East Gunhill Rd. in the Bronx. The oldest living inmate in New York State is a Long Island surgeon convicted in 1978 of killing his wife. He'll turn 89 this week and concedes that divorce might have been a better choice.......

If recent viewings of Grizzly Man and Rescue Dawn have you intrigued with Werner Herzog's work, check out his legendary Fitzcarraldo about Klaus Kinski trying to bring opera music to the Peruvian jungle, which is now playing at IFC Center with a new print. If you ever wondered why Herzog referred to himself as the "Conquistador of the Useless," Fitzcarraldo is the project that really encouraged his brilliant madness. It's one of the greatest potential......

Yankees 11, Royals 5: Good thing the Yankees didn't make that Alex Rodriguez for Ervin Santana move this offseason. Rodriguez hit two homers -- Nos. 50 and 51 -- as the Yankees cruised past the Royals. Detroit beat Seattle again, so the wild-card lead stands at three games. Johnny Damon, who looked like a corpse for most of the season, has played better of late. He socked his 10th homer as the Yankees gave plenty......

The French Connection (directed by William Friedkin) Film Forum through September 6th A New York City procedural cop movie classic and the winner of five Academy Awards, a new 35 mm print of The French Connection gets a one-week run at Film Forum starting this weekend. Starring Gene Hackman as the porkpie wearing detective Popeye Doyle in a career defining role, the movie follows the attempt of a French criminal (Fernando Rey) to smuggle heroin......

Gothamist finally made the trip to Queens to drink and dine at Danny Brown Wine Bar & Kitchen, a stylish spot that looks more SoHo than Forest Hills. Some of you may recall that this eatery located across the street from Councilwoman Melinda Katz's office caught the attention of Daniel Boulud back in May. The French megachef was steamed that Danny Brown, the chef-owner, uses almost the same lowercase "db" on its signage as Boulud's......

It's July 14, which means it's time to appreciate the je ne sais quoi of all things French as you celebrate Bastille Day. Eating frites is one way, but there are many other events and activities today and tomorrow. Today there's the Waiter's Race at Les Halles (and they have specials), there's music, can-can dancers and French food on sale at Chelsea Market, and tonight's Bastille Ball. Tomorrow has the big Bastille Day on 60th......

December 14th: Barcade's Winter Beer Night If you want holiday brews, Barcade's got it. They've got well over a dozen seasonal beers on tap, including HeBrew Monumental Jewbelation 2006, Anchor Christmas 2003, and Pyramid Snow Cap. 6pm, 388 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-388-4347. December 14: What to Drink with What You Eat at Pour Join Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg, authors of What to Drink with What You Eat, as they discuss pairing cocktails, wine, and......

Last week, retired NYPD detective Robert Volpe died at age 63 in Staten Island. He was not any ordinary detective: Volpe specialized in art thefts and frauds, tracking down paintings by Matisse and Raphael, Greek sculptures, and Tiffany glass, all while continuing to paint, teach and lecture about art. The NY Times had a vivid obituary of Volpe's life - it sounds just like a movie:Mr. Volpe essentially created his detective’s job after computer analyses......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: Theater Talk: Prime-Time Spectacular (WNET 13, Sunday, 10:30 p.m.) This Broadway interview show celebrates its 10th anniversary with an hour long prime time special. Lincoln Center Tree Lighting 2006 (WABC 7, Monday, 5:00 p.m.) Channel 7 gives over a good chunk of their 5 p.m.newscast to this annual tree lighting. Expect some Disney corporate synergy in any performances. A Charlie Brown Christmas (WABC 7, Tuesday, 8:00 p.m.)......

Comedian Dane Cook has a massive following, from his huge record sales to his zillions of MySpace friends. This weekend we'll see if he can extend the brand loyalty to the cineplex, as his first starring role in Employee of the Month hits theaters. Cook plays the slacker box boy Zach who's the Parker Lewis of the bulk bargain store, SuperMart. However, Zach decides to buckle down and shape up when he discovers the new......

Reviewing shows in the very first days of the Fringe Festival is always a little hazardous, what with so many kinks that need to be worked out (if not in the show itself, in the Fringe management). But we wanted to report to you early on about what to see and what not to see, overlooking glitches as best we could, at least as far as they appeared to be early-run problems rather than real......

SummerScreen (you know, like sunscreen) is The L Magazine's addition to the already successful summer of McCarren Park Pool events. The outdoor film series will take place every Tuesday (starting next week) through the end of August. The films start at sundown, and before that...there are bands! Oh, and it's free. Here's the schedule: July 25: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989) with the Cold Hands Collective August 1: Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson, 1996)......

Whether you are overdosing on matzos, chocolate bunnies or just the stunning spring weather, taking in a weekend movie can be a great break from it all. Okay, maybe you don't want a break from the 70 degree weather but still. A movie could be good too. Trends in fetish wear get two unlikely airings on the big screen this week with Mary Harron's biopic on the infamous calendar girl in The Notorious Bettie Page......

The National Film Preservation Board run by the LIbrary of Congress, added 25 films to the National Film Registry for 2005. The choices run from 1933's Baby Face to 1995's Toy Story. As the registry's James Billington says, "The films we choose are not necessarily the 'best' American films ever made or the most famous, but they are films that continue to have cultural, historical or aesthetic significance." But some are pretty great - like......

As Gothamist brought the glass of Hermitage to our mouth we experienced what could only be described as the “Beggin’ Strips” moment. It was subtle but unmistakable – the aroma of bacon. While we’ve experienced it before, somehow the smoky, meaty smell of bacon in a glass of wine always takes us by surprise. We swirled the wine around in our glass to release more of those aromas – there were blackberries, black pepper,......

After all the comments on yesterday's post about books set in NYC, we got to thinking, has anyone bothered to come up with a list of all the movies set in the city? The answer, of course, is yes-- at Wikipedia, of course. What an amazing site-- it's like having a genie who's only job is to distract us with useless NYC trivia! They've probably missed a couple of movies here and there, but......

- Paris Commune, the West Village eatery that moved into new space at 99 Bank Street last year, is celebrating its anniversary by opening the Rouge Wine Bar. Quaff wines from France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Chile while you wait for a table upstairs, or finish off your night by sipping on a glass of cognac while you gaze at the original fresco covering two walls. Look closely and you might see Marc......

Per Se's Creamy Tapioca Pearls...

Ira Elliot, Drummer, Nada Surf...

The French, whether love them or hate them – you can’t help but fall in love with their wine. Similar to the people, French wines are not in your face or reveal all they have to offer in one sip. These wines slowly unfold, to reveal their depth and complexity, luring you in, and keeping you longing for just one more glass. Gothamist spent this past week in Paris rekindling our love affair with French......

The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking by Alain Sailhac, Jacques Pepin, Andre Soltner, and Jacques Torres (Rodale, 1998) Gothamist knows all about the "French paradox" and that "French women don't get fat." But what we did not know was that New York City's French Culinary Institute has done a "healthy cooking" cookbook that takes traditional high-fat, calorically dense French fare and tweaked it to cut excess fat and calories (while supposedly leaving the......

While we know you’re probably anxiously waiting for Mel Gibson’s Pope: The Movie or for your Mr. Skin’s Skinclylopedia to arrive, you might want to check out some great new and revived movies this weekend: Though not as fun as spoonerisms (“chipping the flannel”), they're words or phrases which read the same in both directions (like “nun”). Even just pronouncing it is mildly amusing. Pa-lin-dromes. Todd Solondz'’s latest film follows a young Jersey teen who......

Seattle's KEXP, our favorite station to stream all day, is coming back to NYC. Last time the morning deejay John Richards was in town we interviewed him at an hour in the morning we had never seen before. The best thing about these visits is that the station sets up some in-studio shows while they're here. This time around you can go see, for free: Ivy, The Information, Mike Doughty, Joy Zipper, Phoenix, Dogs Die......

Cat owners, be warned: A Lower East Side woman's cat disappeared while she was away, only to appear at a Petco and later be adopted by another person. And according to NY law, the original owner can't claim the cat, as the "law mandates that an adoption agency must keep an animal for at least 48 hours to give the owner a chance to claim it," because original owner Chavisa Woods was 4 days too......

Swayzak and Matthew Dear are at the Canal Room tonight with their dance music so forward-thinking that the bridge-and-tunnel crowd would never bother to listen. Yes, blips and beeps keep away the "party time" riff raff, so feel safe to bob your head along to some great music while in the midst of a sea of vingtage, ironic T-shirts and button-covered messenger bags. You may know the music of Phoenix (pictured) from "Lost in Translation."......

Sisters are doing it for themselves. And when they're as beautiful and fascinating as Catherine Deneuve and Francoise Dorl�ac, who's going to complain? In their continuing series devoted to the iconic French actresses and sisters, the French Institute screens this evening Agn�s Varda's The Young Girls Turn 25, a tribute to The Young Girls of Rochefort made to celebrate the film's silver anniversary in 1993. Like the '60s pop musical fantasia the Umbrellas of Cherbourg,......