CONTEST ALERT: Tomorrow night the indie-elite will gather at Terminal 5 for The Plug Awards -- featuring Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, St. Vincent, José Gonzalez, Dizzee Rascal, The Forms, DiVinci and more. Tickets are sold out, so you can either watch the show here, or you can win tickets from us! We're giving away 5 pairs, starting now. Just email GothamistContest@gmail.com and tell us why you want to go. MUSIC: White Williams,......

Tonight is the last chance until December 2010 to witness a total lunar eclipse. This is the third such eclipse in the past year. With any luck the weather will cooperate. It looks like there will be breaks in the clouds over the city, which should make for dramatic views. Break out the tripods and cameras! A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth wedges itself between the sun and moon, casting its shadow on the......

Photograph by Jake Dobkin Later today, the city will discuss whether the I.M. Pei-designed Silver Towers should be landmarked. The Observer reported that NYU announced its support today, a reversal from an earlier position over three years ago. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation pushed for landmarking the complex, located between Bleecker and Houston Streets and LaGuardia Place and Mercer Street, a few years ago, calling it "an innovative modern design by I.M.......

READING: Jeff Garigliano, Condé Nast Portfolio senior-editor turned author, will be reading from his debut novel titled Dogface. The story follows a rebellious 14-year-old boy who, like so many before him, gets sent off to a camp that specializes in "whipping mixed-up teens back into shape". 7:30pm // Barnes & Noble [396 Sixth Ave] // Free EVENT: The Secret Science Club is back tonight with the President of New York’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Dr.......

Untitled, by Brunocerous at flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a missing child on Bivona St. in the Bronx, a scaffolding collapse at Clifton Ave. in Brooklyn, and a bomb threat at 9th Ave. and 53rd St. in Brooklyn. The Fed lowered interest rates again - Bernanke is totally freaking out! NYU reaches an accord with neighbors regarding continued expansion. We won't have to start referring to New York as NYUC. Stuyvesant High is......

Thank goodness the weather is warming up this week - who knows how many kids will decide to see if their tongues will really stick to a frozen flagpole? Because that's what two boys in Indiana did. It's unclear if double-dog-dares were involved. According to the AP, fourth graders Gavin Dempsey and James Alexander in Chesterton, Indiana (where it's cold) were on flag duty and decided to tempt the gods of thermal conductivity. Dempsey said,......

Two years ago Michel Gondry brought his film The Science of Sleep off-screen and to the three-dimensional world of Deitch Projects. Good news Gondry fans, he's coming back for an exhibit based around his upcoming film, Be Kind Rewind. The film follows two childhood friends living in Pasaic, New Jersey, trying to make ends meet. A magnetized brain, a ruined video store inventory and a D.I.Y. idea later and you've got the latest brainchild of......

Think you've seen some big cockroaches around here? Apparently there are far superior critters in space! It's being reported that some cockroaches were conceived in space late last year onboard the Russian Foton-M bio satellite and are developing faster than the common terrestrial ones we see scurrying about the city. Some "highlights": Limbs and bodies grow faster Run faster, and are much more energetic and resilient Can give birth several times after one impregnation Thanks,......

Staten Island Ferry, by General Erin at Flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: missing children on 12th Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned tractor trailer on the eastbound BQE in Queens, and an armed robbery on West 42nd St. in Manhattan. The contraband room at JFK International: it's like a freegan's vision of heaven. The clock atop the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower (now One Hanson Place) started ticking today at noon. A man was......

For starters, before anyone freaks out, the U.S. Homeland Security threat level is actually just "Elevated" (yellow), though it's "High" for airplane flights. The threat level in NYC is "High" because we're just vigilant like that. However, freaking out over things like threat levels is apparently bad for your health, according to a new study in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Over 2700 adults were studied to " examine the degree to which acute stress......

FOOD: Trestle on Tenth, the “homey joins hearty” Swiss-inflected restaurant that takes its name from its proximity to the High Line and the avenue where it’s found, kicks off a special five-night series called “metzgete.” The Swiss tradition loosely translates to “butchers affair” and arises from the practice of salvaging every scrap of pig after the winter slaughter – “especially those parts that would or could not be dried, smoked or pickled for later consumption.”......

THEATER: Under the Radar, arguably New York’s most exciting theater festival, begins today at The Public Theater and a few other odd locations like the Whitehall Ferry terminal. (There are also a few shows at the Classic Theatre of Harlem, P.S. 122 and The Kitchen.) One of the most buzzed about site-specific shows is Etiquette by the London company Rotozaza. It was a surprise hit at last year’s Edinburgh Festival; here the experience takes place......

In the November 1939 issue of Popular Science, New York commercial artist Nicholas DeSantis designed a "metropolitan skyport of tomorrow". His five years of study led to a proposal that included a 200-story building topped off with a landing field spanning 8 city blocks long and three wide. And to top that all off, the 50 highest floors in the building were reserved for light aircraft, so one could commute to work in the......

On this very day 105 years ago Thomas Edison electrocuted an elephant meant to give rides and carry heavy items on Coney Island...all in the name of science! His science. He came to Coney to prove George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla's alternating current (AC) was dangerous, whereas his competing direct current was completely safe. In fact, Edison was the one who convinced New York to use the dangerous and deadly AC for their electric chair.Edison......

Last week Gothamist was in San Francisco for the third time this year. It was sunny and warm and we took an odd pleasure in watching the natives hustle about wearing wool hats and gloves. In our three trips to the west coast we managed to avoid the Valentine's Day snow storm, the April nor'easter and resultant flooding, and last week's snowy/icy/rainy pair of storms. We will leave it to our readers to decide......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian was struck on Wythe and Metropolitan Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned police car on Gun Hill Rd. in the Bronx, and a bank robbery on Austin Rd. in Queens. Joseph Jirovec, one of the teenagers accused of the Hannukah Q train hate crime, says that he and his friends were the victims. He said the fight began only after a racial slur was directed at one of......

Just because the 2009 elections are over 22 months away doesn't mean some interesting moves can't happen. Adolfo Carrion Jr. (pictured, on left), the Bronx Borough President, has decided to run for City Comptroller in 2009, making it a tough field and shedding light on the mayoral contest. Carrion, born in Lower Manhattan and a former city planner, Community Board district manager, and City Council member (here's his bio), was seen as a likely candidate......

The Siena College Research Institute released information on how New Yorkers feel about Governor Spitzer, and the news is bad. Thirteen months after Spitzer was elected overwhelmingly to office, he now has a rating of 36% favorable/51% unfavorable (sliding from 64-22 in June, 41-46 in November) and a job performance rating of 27% positive=70 negative (55-37 in June, 33-64 in November). Not only that, but Siena Poll spokesman Steven Greenberg said, "A majority of voters,......

THEATER: As Steve On Broadway notes, Chicago’s stellar Steppenwolf Theater Company, which launched the careers of Gary Sinise and Little Johnny Malkapee, is back on Broadway for the first time since 2001, when their production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest won the Tony for Best Revival. This time they’ve delivered playwright Tracy Letts’s August: Osage County, and after reading today’s rave reviews, you can count on more Tonys flying back to the Windy......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired on Soundview Ave. in the Bronx, a gas leak on Snyder Ave. and East 34th St. in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery on West 4th and 6th Ave. in Manhattan. High school girls (including a pair from Long Island) swept the top prizes in both team and individual categories for the first time in the history of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology. Houston St.......

The Secret Science Club may be the best kept secret in New York. Forget your typical night of drinks, music or being parked in front of your tv for the latest Project Runway episode. Head over to Union Hall for some science! Each event brings out the inner-nerd in all of us, and recently we asked the founders a few questions about their brainchild. The next event is December 5th, which gives you a week......

A state disciplinary board fined Dr. Mark Nesselson $10,000 and ruled that the pediatrician could only work under supervision from now on. Nesselson filled out fake paperwork for parents who did not want their children to receive required immunizations before attending school, which is required by law. The doctor was caught when he moved to Hawaii and handed off patient records indicating that he had never actually immunized some children to another doctor, who reported......

Derek Jeter's mom is claiming that her son wouldn't cheat on his taxes, days after the NY State Dept. of Taxation and Finance claimed that the Yankees captain owed the state hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in back taxes. Jeter says that his primary residence is in Florida, which doesn't have a state income tax. He does, however, live in the Trump World Plaza building on 1st Ave., across from the United......

Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn't totally eschewed the Republican party. According to the NY Sun, the Democrat-turned- Republican-turned- independent will be "entertaining" Nancy Reagan "as well as hosting a fund-raiser for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library." Like the former First Lady, Bloomberg has progressive views on health and science issues (like stem cells). And Bloomberg has been known to host many fund-raisers for various people and causes. But some suspect that Bloomberg might be looking for......

The Columbia University students' hunger strike to protest Columbia's non-inclusive attitudes about redevelopment and curriculum continues with one less striker. Just after midnight on Sunday, a post went on up on the Columbia Hunger Strike website saying, "This evening, one hunger striker was admitted to St. Luke's hospital. She will not continue the strike for personal medical reasons." The student, Aretha Choi, who attends Barnard, later wrote:...my disappointment increases as I remember the bitter......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Art in the Twenty-First Century (Sunday, 10:00 p.m., WNET 13) Four artists - Robert Adams, Mark Dion , Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle Ursula von Rydingsvard – who explore the intersection between nature and culture. Billy Crystal: The Mark Twain Prize (Monday & Thursday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13; Saturday, 7:30 p.m. WLIW 21) Billy Crystal receives the tenth annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in......

Meet Sam Ellis, Broadway’s esteemed “technical wizard”, who is in charge of all the myriad effects in Young Frankenstein, which is rumored to have cost between $16 million and $20 million – about twice the price of the average Broadway musical. A big part of that budget was poured into making the adaptation “more zowie!” than the movie. According to a profile in Christian Science Monitor, some of Ellis’s responsibilities include overseeing: A Tesla coil......

EVENT: Tonight, as part of the recurring Upstairs at the Square event, Nellie McKay plays tunes from her latest, Obligatory Villager and host Katherine Lanpher talks with author and filmmaker Antonio Monda. Monda's new book Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion will hit shelves soon -- and tonight he'll relay the discussions he had about religion with folks like Spike Lee and David Lynch. 7pm // Barnes & Noble [33 E 17th St]......

WABC 7 reports that someone has been holding hostages in a Bronx home since 4AM. The suspect is holding an uncertain number of hostages (WABC says there may be multiple hostages; Fox 5 says one) at 2445 Williamsbridge Road in the the Bronxdale section. One of the hostages may also be an off-duty corrections officer (the apartment is rented by a corrections officer). The suspect's relationship to the hostage and demands are unknown, but police......

Today, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Klein released the "first-ever" public school progress reports with letter grades. The reports are meant to give educators and parents a snapshot of how well schools are doing and empower them to keep improving. Mayor Bloomberg said, "With these Progress Reports, parents no longer have to navigate a maze of statistics to determine how their child's school is doing and how it compares to others. And our educators now......