Photograph of Queens native Amy Ryan, nominated for best supporting actress for her role in Gone, Baby Gone At 8:30PM (following a half-hour red carpet special), the 80th Annual Academy Awards ceremony will begin, finally putting an end to the "There Will Be Oscar" or "Oscar Country for Old Men" type headlines. You can prep yourself with the Oscar nominees list as you watch (or avoid) red carpet coverage. You could read NY Times......

“Anonymous”, the loose-knit anti-Scientology collective, staged a demonstration yesterday outside New York’s Church of Scientology Headquarters near Times Square; it was part of an international day of protest against the church. Anonymous has been expanding rapidly since their Message to Scientology video was posted on YouTube in January; it's been watched over 2 million times in the past three weeks. Among other things, the video accuses Scientology of censorship for threatening to sue websites who......

Maybe you've received a flier to see a show at Radio City Music Hall called Chinese New Year Splendor, which is promoted as a holiday celebration of China’s diverse cultural riches. But mixed within the traditional Mongolian dancing, orchestral music and Buddhist parables are dramatizations of the Chinese government’s oppression of Falun Gong, a qigong-based spiritual practice that is banned in China. And the show’s political content is prompting audiences to walk out by......

A man posing as Heath Ledger's father managed to get free hotel rooms and talk to Tom Cruise and John Travolta after the actor's death last week. The Post reports the "twisted impostor" got Tom Cruise to console him on the phone and almost "got John Travolta to buy him a plane ticket to the United States." Why does this sound like a radio shock jock prank? With Ledger's father Kim (pictured) rumored to arrive......

Photo of by Tomoharu Mizuno (snowman) djwerdna on flickr; Mizuno finished in 6:25:34 The marathon is the city's most lucrative single-day sporting event; this year, the marathon will bring in an estimated $220 million to city businesses. Blind marathoner Henry Wanyoike ran the course in 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 18 seconds. The NY Sun reports that Wanyoike, who is blind from a stroke, runs " tethered by a rope to his partner, Joseph......

With considerably less fanfare than Diddy or Lance Armstrong, Katie Holmes ran the NYC Marathon in 5 hours, 29 minutes, and 58 seconds. She wore an FDNY baseball cap, black pants and a purple tank top - and was possibly surrounded by a security detail who might have been running alongside her. Mega-star husband Tom Cruise and child Suri Cruise, as well as her parents and mother-in-law, were on hand to give the former......

Britain's Paula Radcliffe made a stunning race to the wire to win the 2007 ING NYC Marathon in 2:23:09. Australia's Kurt Fearnley repeated as the champion in the men's wheelchair division. Kenya's Martin Lel won the men's division, finishing today's race in 2:09:04 with a 12 second margin of victory. We'll have more results as they become available. If you have any photos of Gothamist readers competing in today's event, please tag them "gothamist"......

Black Book (directed by Paul Verhoeven) Growing up in Holland during their occupation by the Nazis, it's no surprise that Dutch director Paul Verhoeven would want to revisit that chapter of his country's history on film. But seeing as it is Verhoeven, director of such hilariously trashy and provocative films as Showgirls and Basic Instinct, he's not going to make a tame, reverent movie about the heroic Resistance. Black Book is a sexy, in-your-face Resistance......

Just last week Jeremy Blake's body was identified after being found off the coast of New Jersey. In July he and his girlfriend committed suicide one week apart from each other, and since then stories of their lives, fears and final days have surfaced. After the LA Times extensive piece, the NY Post recently published a lengthy article on the couple, who at the time were living in a converted rectory at St. Mark's Church......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired early this evening on Blake Ave. in Brooklyn, a homicide/suicide on 225th St. in Queens this afternoon, and a sexual assault early this morning on West 120th St. in Manhattan. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn wants black activist Sonny Carson stricken from the list of nominees for proposed street names because she thinks he was divisive and anti-white. Former Black Panther and current Brooklyn Council Member Charles......

Today on Gothamist Newsmap: a barricaded emotionally disturbed person/stabbing on Parsons Blvd. in Queens, an overturned auto on Bushwick Ave. in Brooklyn, and a stabbing on Staten Island's Taylor St. City Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens) is a big fan of Tom Cruise's Scientology detox program that is being offered free to firefighters. He's done it and it made him feel "100 times better", which is pretty good. City Island residents contemplate life on the......

Have you ever wanted to rub shoulders with Tom Cruise and learn about Scientology's detox treatment for 9/11 workers? Then you'll be excited to learn that the superstar will be in town for an April 19 fund-raiser. The Post reports that while the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project hasn't been approved by the NYPD or FDNY, some swear by it. However, even those involved with the fund-raiser are conflicted. The Post spoke to......

Volver (directed by Pedro Almodóvar): Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar has a thing for lushness. He saturates his movies with rich colors, explosive patterns, larger-than-life characters and don't get us started on his fascination with star Penélope Cruz's bosom. For an openly gay filmmaker, Almodóvar really does relish that contemplative over-head down-the-shirt shot. While women and their relationships has often been a central theme in Almodóvar's previous work (in All About My Mother and Women On......

It's that time of the year again: When Hollywood honors its moviemaking the way it knows (and not always in equitable ways, given that Alfred Hitchcock nor Robert Altman, to name a few, have never won Directing Oscars) and America gets to watch hours of pre-show hosted by idiots. Giving commentary for Gothamist this year, Karen Wilson, Margaret Harper, and Jen Chung. 7:06PM First thoughts: Gael Garcia Bernal is so cute. Ryan Seacrest is an......

READING: Mira Jacob and Alison Hart host yet another of Pete's Reading Series. Tonight they welcome Nell Freudenberger, author of "The Dissident" - which sounds almost like a Tom Robbins novel, with a Chinese performance artist and former political prisoner accepting teaching fellowships at a girls school. Also reading tonight will be Dana Spiotta, author of "Eat the Document", which focuses on lives in the aftermath of 1970s radicalism. 7:30pm // Pete's Candy Store [709......

The official Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes wedding photograph has been released. First thoughts: - Tom Cruise is either standing on an apple box or Katie Holmes is crouching. Or she's standing in a well. Or he has some crazy lifts in his shoes. Or did the shoes Giogio Armani make for Katie magically erase some of her height? Is she just slouching uncontrollably (she's never had good posture)? It's such a mystery. - The......

It's so embarrassing, but when we saw how adorable little Suri Cruise was as she was toted by her parents Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in Rome, we were goners. (She does not look particularly Asian, either.) We suddenly believe in media circus weddings abroad with a motley group of celebrities (Leah Remini and Jenna Elfman we get - they're Scientologists - but J. Lo and Jim Carrey?) and unions bound by carefully vetted......

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute.......

About a million years ago, we can remember when Tom Cruise was better at choosing his co-stars. For example: alcohol and style in Cocktail, inspiring wannabe bartenders everywhere. Like Cruise, the movie hasn't aged perfectly, but it is still the go-to guide for explaining exactly how cocktail slingers got so, well, cocky. What we didn't know is that there is an entire organization called Flair Bartender's Association that is devoted to the bottle-spinning, ice-throwing theatrics......

- What happens when a 12 year old covers the Tribeca Film Festival (hint: she chats with Tom Cruise and sees Giuliani, whose politics she doesn't agree with!) - That Red Hook drug ring - the one where the gangs would calls parts of the projects "Peyton Place" and names like that - made $50 million a year - The police deny there was any DNA evidence linking killer bouncer Stephen Sakai and one......

Perhaps you've heard that this little summer movie starring a seldom written about actor is out this weekend: ie. Mission Impossible III with the utterly crazoid, yet infinitely fascinating Tom Cruise. He flies in helicopters! Rides fire engines! Attends screenings of his movie in Harlem! And, he wants your $10.75. Will you be powerless to resist? Here's a few other movie going options this weekend, if you've decided to boycott the work of Suri's papa.......

A couple stories worth passing along: - A young couple was arrested and charged with having sex in public after, well, having sex in public. But not just any place: The Hippo Playground in Riverside Park at 6PM last night. The Daily News says their 2 year old was nearby and that other parkgoers watched them (and 6PM is definitely a busy time for the park). Spring is definitely in the air! - First rule......

- Randy put together the great diagram above showing the areas of the Greenpoint Terminal Market damaged by the fire. - City landlords are looking to raise stabilized rents by 8%, blaming fuel costs - Nice one: If you're going to have someone drive expensive art from Florida to NYC, make sure he's not an ex-con who might drive away with the van - Police are looking for a man pretending to be a......

- Falling debris has fallen from the under-construction new New York Times building at Eighth Avenue and 41st Street and hit a car. Early reports say the debris was some sort of pipe. And not only that, it went through the car's sunroof. NY1 says that two people were injured, including a small child. Oh, dear. - An FBI agent was killed when his motorcycle crashed into a bus on the Upper East Side......

From Best Week Ever Blog, details on Tom Cruise's NYC trip next week for the premiere of Mission: Imossible 3. BWEB calls it's "shock and awe, up close and personal!" and it's no joke. Here's a map and how the afternoon and evening will work:2:30PM - Helicopter arrives at the North Cove Helipad (5 North End Avenue) 3-5PM - Screening of MI3 at 19 Rector Street 5PM - Speedboat from the South Cove (98 Battery......

Straphangers (and transit police), if you see a maniacally grinning man on the subway, surrounded by an entourage of keepers, or if the man starting jumping on the seats, do not be (that) afraid - it's just Tom Cruise! As part of the big scheme to make sure that all people can think about is Tom Cruise 24/7, Mission: Imossible III will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in grand fashion. Here's part of the......

Stephen Colbert can now add 'linguist' to his resume. His "truthiness" was awarded word of the year by the American Dialect Society. Defined as "the quality of stating concepts or facts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true," truthiness was not in fact coined by Colbert, but definitely reinvented. One example of truthiness might be Gothamist's publication of Donald Trump as a sperm freezing, propecia......

Our question about issues on the N/Q line that led to delays for N/Q/R/W trains yesterday morning - and cryptic MTA announcements about a "sick passenger" and then "a sick passenger" plus "a police investigation" - was answered in an unexpected way by the NY Times: It turns out that a man was found dead on a Q train at 7:11AM. Yikes. Police believe that Eugene Reilly, a postal handler who was coming from night......

Adam Sternbergh, Co-Founder of Fametracker...

Over at Beatrice, Emily Gordon is blogging about this past weekend's New Yorker Festival. She puts Jonathan Franzen and Zadie Smith into the high school popularity paradigm, hears Steve Martin play banjo with Earl Scruggs and gets to revel in a Tom Cruise as dog impression. Gothamist didn't get to make it to this year's festival (we were a little slow to pull the intellectual cognoscentic trigger), but we will try to right that by......