FOOD: Drinking With the Professor: a Look at Jerry Thomas and His Liquid Legacy: Join cocktail maestro Dave Wondrich as he shares recipes from his latest book, Imbibe! plus a few that were cut in the editing process. Wondrich has an in-depth knowledge of nineteenth-century classic cocktails, so step up and taste the benefits. - Laren Spirer Friday // 6:30pm // Astor Culinary Center [399 Lafayette St] // $75, tickets available online THEATER: As you......

In Samuel Beckett’s 1961 play Happy Days, a decidedly upbeat woman named Winnie spends Act One striving valiantly to make the best of her sticky situation: she’s irrevocably buried up to her waist in a “low mound.” True, Winnie has her reticent companion Willie for company, but she cheerily defies the barren void by holding forth for a seemingly nonexistent gathering of spectators. And Act Two finds Winnie still determined to make a go of......

ART: Duke Riley brings his latest exhibit, After the Battle of Brooklyn: East River Incognita II, to Magnan Projects. Starting tonight and showing through December 22nd, the works imagine New York during the Revolutionary War and "interweave historical and contemporary events with elements of fiction and myth to create allegorical histories. His re-imagined narratives comment on a range of issues from the cultural impact of overdevelopment and gentrification of waterfront communities to contradictions within political......

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......

A former Goldman Sachs analyst pleaded guilty to insider trading charges yesterday. Twenty-eight- year-old Eugene Plotkin, with fellow Harvard graduate Stanislav Shpigelman who worked at Merrill Lynch and fellow Goldman analyst David Pajcin, have all pleaded guilty to an elaborate scheme that netted them almost $7 million. The trio had been charged back in 2006. Plotkin and Pajcin would get tips from Shpigelman about Merrill's big deals. Pajcin gave tips to his seamstress aunt in......

MOVIE: This week's Bryant Park movie is All the Kings Men.... The movie follows the rise of politician Willie Stark from the rural country to the big city spotlight. "Along the way, he loses his initial innocence, and becomes just as corrupt as those who he assaulted before for this characteristic." Romance, women, intrigue, power...it's all there. 5pm seating, Movie at dusk // Bryant Park // Free READING: Alison Weaver (re)tells the story of family......

What's eBay good for if not finding a place to buy and sell things like...John Gotti's cufflinks? The Dapper Don's 14 karat gold cufflinks were given to the eBay seller's father, Jim Smith. Get ready for a 20 second history lessson: Jim Smith was the right hand man to Mickey Cohen, who was the right hand man to Ben "Bugsy" Siegel. When Bugsy was whacked, Cohen took over the West Coast "operations", and eventually wrote......

MOVIE: By now you've all seen, memorized and lived your own version of neurotic New York love story Annie Hall, the classic Woody Allen film that's stood the test of time. But have you seen it under the open night sky? Didn't think so. Get there early for a seat. Get there even earlier for knitting lessons! In an unrelated event earlier in the day, the folks from Knit New York will be teaching those......

Holy Crap! The Virtual LES launched! Words cannot describe, friends (speaking of which, let's be BFFs!). Clearly this is not meant for people who actually frequent the actual Lower East Side, but rather the people who read their blogs. Seeing all the places in creepy second life 3-D is pure Twilight Zone stuff. Highlights so far, while briefly browsing around the site are that you can shop at the Virtual American Apparel, attend virtual......

THEATER: The ever-diminishing returns for theater producers have conditioned many playwrights to pre-emptively cut costs by keeping their character census down. So it's nice to see Tribeca's Flea Theater making room for Mark Greenfield's new play, I.E., In Other Words. "Using highly stylized language, this Boy Meets Girl/Horatio Alger tale-gone-wild" involves thirty-three characters played by a cast of fourteen. Greenfield's sprawling canvas, which is still in previews, is stretched to accommodate "adventure, love, songs, and......

May 12: Brooklyn Pigfest It's the 7th year for this pork-filled event, which also serves as a fundraiser for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. Swine and birds will be tenderly slow-cooked by Waterfront Ale House's own Sam Barbieri and his champion BBQ team, and there will be plenty of cold beer and live music to go around. Tobacco Warehouse at Brooklyn Bridge Park, 1 - 6 p.m., tickets $75, available online in advance and at......

DISCUSSION: Noam Chomsky will be taking questions on US foreign policy tonight, following a screening of Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. Get your questions ready, smartypants. You can watch the video of Pinter's speech here, too. 6pm // Columbia University, Miller Theater [Broadway @ 116th St] // $5 THEATER: Isabella Rossellini with be playing Lotte Lenya in a one-night only performance at the New-York Historical Society called Kurt and Lenya: Two Great Artists......

January 13: Seasonal Game Cooking Class Chef Franck Delatrain of Café Centro will be cooking up seasonal game in a two hour cooking class. The menu consists of: Chestnut and Celery Root Soup with Melted Leeks and Foie Gras; Sturgeon Saltimbocca with Sage, Smoked Duck and Beluga Lentils; Fresh Pappardelle Pasta with Wild Boar Civet, Apple Smoked Bacon and Black Trumpet Mushrooms; Grilled Quail with Golden Beets and Frisee Salad, Poached Quail Egg and Spiced......

EVENT: “Solstice in Times Square” is a celebration of the Summer Solstice which began at 7am, but you still have time to partake. The dawn til dusk event includes a “Mind Over Madness” yoga-thon and live music. Doing yoga in Times Square seems like it might be the worst idea ever, but if you're up for a challenge, go for it. 7am to 8pm // Times Square, Military Island (intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue......

If you've been following the trial of Nicholas Minucci, who beat Glenn Moore to the point of Moore's skull fracturing, you'll find a NY Times "Reporter's Notebook: Cracked Knuckles, as Loud as Words" article interesting. The local color of the courtroom is described, from Minucci's demeanor to his relatives' support, plus Reverend Al Sharpton's offer to testify. But most interesting to us was elaboration on a point brought up last week - a photograph shown......

Along with producing shows by up and coming playwrights, one of the things off-off-Broadway does best is to resurrect plays first presented ages ago that have hardly been seen or thought of since. One such is V.R. Lang’s Fire Exit: A Vaudeville For Eurydice, which is nominally a modernization of the Orpheus-Eurydice myth but in actuality, at least in this incarnation, is more an opportunity for some majorly bizarre antics by a brave, eager cast.......

Hmm, this is quite a follow-up to a summer story about men cruising certain subway stations for sex: An undercover cop broke up what the Post delightedly calls a "group grope orgy" at the Jay Street-Borough Hall station in Brooklyn. The Post also enjoys mentioning that the "six men outside the men's room coming and going in two- to three-minute intervals" were doing this "right below NYC Transit headquarters." Words escape us. At least two......

It was only a matter of time before the power of Cafe Press would be harnessed to express what many people are thinking! The Village Voice reported that shortly after the NYPD announced they would be checking subway - and bus - riders' bags randomly, Tony Lu created these t-shirts online. Lu, an immigrants rights activist, is concerned that immigrants and other poor New Yorkers are most vulnerable to the NYPD's tactics, even though the......

The rash of recent subway shootings are all being investigated, some with more leads than others. Right now, the police think that the non-life-threatening Times Square shooting of model-actress Monica Meadows was caused by a gun being jostled in a bag, not an intentional shooting. The fabric found on the bullet that hit Meadows' shoulder had fabric "consistent with a backpack or duffel bag," according to police. Gothamist realizes that rationale is not paramount when......

Amanda Berkowitz, Techie/Musician...

Partly cloudy, high of 66. Possibility of a shower or two around 10PM. The illustration above was borrowed from Gothamist's Powerpoint presentation, NYC 2004: Taking Ed Koch's Words To Heart. More Andy: Sunday Monday......

After a summer of terrible kidnapping stories, one finally has a happier resolution: Elizabeth Smart was found 9 months after being kidnapped. The now 15 year old Salt Lake City girl was found just 13 miles outside of Salt Lake City in Sandy, Utah. Abducted from her bedroom in the middle of the night last July by a homeless man, Brian Mitchell aka "Emmanuel," who had done handy work around her house, Elizabeth was......