Oregonian Jon Raymond stays true to his roots. He has written three films to date (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, and his latest, Meek’s Cutoff) all of which are set and filmed in his home state of Oregon. In addition, they are all in collaboration with the insanely talented and visual indie director, Kelly Reichardt. The duo’s track record is one to be noted, all three films have their own unique story yet utilize a sort of strict structure, which seems to work. …more

This week in New York Rumpus Women take over!, New Yorker writer’s 20 Under 40 share their stories, Jonathan Ames and Justin Taylor are among writers who read from A Christmas Carol, J.D. Durkin pleads Stephen Colbert: Hire Me!, this month’s Soundtrack Series, and Tiny Furniture is this week’s Saturday Movie Pick.

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This week in New York, FSG Reading Series is back, ASK ME celebrates the holidays, Denis Leary tells us to Suck on this Year, Gigantic celebrates with tacos, Darin Strauss defends the memoir for the Brooklyn New School, Tom Bissell and Steve Gaynor speak gamer, Black Swan is the week’s MOVIE PICK, and Pessimist in ART.

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This week in New York Colm Tólbín brings Henry James to us, Furnace Press Decomposes, Jonathan Franzen returns home, Sex workers share their family tales, Myla Goldberg gets crafty, Classic cocktails, classic film,  Comic and Graphics Fest goes to church, poetry touches on wartime, and Free in ART.

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The week in New York Jonathan Ames has a Ball, Salman Rushdie reads, Paul Auster stays true to NYC, Ann Beattie compiles stories form The New Yorker, Patti Smith hosts a tribute for Jim Carroll, feel Refreshx3 at Happy Ending, John Baldessari holds this title of week’s MOVIE PICK, (Le) Poisson Rouge Gleeks out, and New Photography 2010 in ART.

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This week in New York David Sedaris Seeks Chipmunk, Vol.1 goes Top Ten, Amy Sedaris is poor and crafty, Ben Greenman pens your memoir, Adam Levin Instructs, 127 Hours is your MOVIE PICK, and Katrin Sigurdardottir in ART. …more

This week in New York KGB goes Nonfiction, Small Press Extravaganza at WORD, Eric Puchner shares his Model Home, One Story at powerHouse, Eileen Myles reads from A Poets Novel, and we celebrate Halloween with Anya Sapozhnikova, an extreme After-Life party, and Oktoberfest. How To Do Things With Words in ART. …more

This week in New York Judah Friedlander does Karate, Ian Frazier joins the FDG Reading Series, The Word Made Flesh celebrates in Brooklyn, James Franco takes a stab at writing, Rick Moody battles, Amy Sedaris is The Sound of Young America, Love and Other Drugs is this week’s MOVIE PICK,  and a CMJ Music Marathon rocks your Saturday. …more

This week in New York David Grossman translates with Paul Auster, Justin Taylor and Eva Tamladge exhibit tattoos for the literary inclined, Tao Lin reads, Guernica celebrates, Bill Bryson is Private, Rick Moody joins the Sunday Salon, Catfish is the SATURDAY MOVIE PICK, and James Frey combines Dante, literature, and ART. …more

This week in New York Joyce Carol Oates goes Sour, Adult Education presents “The Future of Books,” Cunningham reads By Nightfall, David Marson is remembered, Winner and Clarke come together on a Sunday, Lord of the Rings is played, The Lost Boys 3, this week’s Movie Pick, is screened at Comic Con, and Lee Friedlander in ART. …more

This week in New York Mayhem launches, Darin Strauss lives Half a Life, Nick Flynn knows The Art of Losing, RISK! is dreamy, The New Yorker Festival screens our MOVIE PICK The Social Network, and in ART, Rob Pruitt returns. …more

This week in New York Josh Neufeld gets graphic, How I Learned teaches us how to inhale, FDG Reading Series returns, Guillermo del Toro signs book two of three, Sam Lipsyte joins Brando Skyhorse, Arrested Development parties, and DUMBO Arts Festival takes over Brooklyn.

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This week in New York The Rumpus hosts The Summer Shake Down, Tony Blair takes us on his Journey, Tom McCarthy reads from C, James Ellroy releases The Hilliker Curse, Neal Pollack Stretches, It’s Kind of a Funny Story screens at BAM, Brooklyn Bowl rocks for $5, art is for Supper, Clown around on Sunday, and Dahn Vo unveils his first exhibit in the states. …more

This week Stephen Elliott is in town for the paperback release of The Adderall Diaries, Jonathan Franzen celebrates Freedom, Tao Lin brings Dakota Fanning and Haley Joel Osment to BookCourt, Fashion takes you out on the town, Gigantic and Open City are home sweet home, and Nara premieres at the Asia Society. …more

This week in New York Kristen Hersh is a Rat, Karen Hayes and Victoria Bruce are held Hostage, Brooklyn Botanic Garden celebrates with storytelling, Ian Hobson plays for us, Stephanie White sings Philthy, Coney Island goes Rockabilly while Randalls Island goes Electronic, Caitlin Colford (me) wins that Season in this week’s Saturday Movie Pick, and Washington Square Park sets up Art. …more

This week in New York Summer is Short, John Brandon makes a Citrus pit stop, Gary Shteyngart is Super Sad, MGMT is inspired by sex balls, Scott Pilgrim takes over as this week’s Saturday Movie Pick and The Comfort of Strangers is a noteworthy art exhibit.

TUESDAY 8/17: They’re the old news you never get tired of.  MGMT plays from their new album Congratulations to a sold out crowd. Frontman Andrew VanWyngarden claimed “Red-bellied salamander sex balls” were among the various inspirations for the tracks. Weird. Radio City. 8PM. $39.50. …more

This week Roseanne Cash remains Composed, Mark Cohen is Beat, Martin Amis makes it to NY!, 826NYC presents Here We Go Magic with a reading by Chuck Klosterman, Brooklyn is Black and Beautiful, learn about the long life of your best friend the condom, Seinfeld and Quinn collaborate, Alice Creed disappears, and Red Hook is hooked on nature.

TUESDAY 8/10: Upstairs at the Square: Roseanne Cash. Composed, a memoir by Roseanne Cash will be discussed with journalist Katherine Lanpher, following a performance by Cash herself. Barnes & Noble Union Square. 7PM. Free. …more

This week in New York Jennifer Vanderbes Feasts, David Carter for Gay Rights, Peter Hedges and Jonathan Tropper shows us how to bring black and white to color, Geoffrey O’Brien is an aristocrat, Leo Allen gives us Whiplash, Ask Me goes criminal, Cringefest brings us the worst stage plays, Mary Halvorson talks guitar, David LaChapelle and Jesus is back and Ron Galella urges you to please not Smash His Camera.

MONDAY 8/2: Brace yourself for some Whiplash as Leo Allen provides you with one hell of a funny night. Alternative comedians (past guests include Aziz Ansari) unite for this showcase. Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. 11PM. Free. …more

In New York this week Rick Moody kicks off his book tour, BOMB Magazine hosts its Summer Bash at Glasslands, Black Keys perform at Summer Stage, Anderbo.com hosts Anderbo Indoors, Sandra Bernhard in Shel Silverstein’s Hamlet, Joseph O’Neill, Nicholas Christopher and Rachel Shukert read, and Paul Dano and Kevin Kline in The Extra Man.

MONDAY 7/26: No Impact Man Colin Beaven explains how liberals can save the planet with fellow idealists Fran Hawthorne (The Overloaded Liberal) and Justin Krebs (538 Ways to Live, Work and Play Like a Liberal). Greenlight Bookstore. 7:30PM. Free. …more

In an article printed in The New York Times earlier this week, journalist Jim Dwyer explores just how much mayor Michael Bloomberg admires his mirrored image and the sound of his own voice.  What’s his hidden agenda? Well it seems he is trying to breed heaps of “mini-me’s” to continue running the anti-pot New York City many of us currently reside in.

“The Bloomberg administration has quietly been fixing up its sons and daughters with cool summer internships, as reported Tuesday. Which is probably fine: It is hard to see nepotism as much of a sin when it is really just another chapter of Darwinism, the drive possessed by all creatures to finagle a better future for their offspring.”

Scratch that internship off my list. Pot smoking however, it seems I’m in the clear.  Studies show that even though Whites are the most common pot smokers, 9 out of 10 New York City residents arrested for possession were either Black or Latino.

Have you ever indulged in some reefer madness, Mr. Mayor?

“You bet I did,” the mayor told New York Magazine in 2001. “And I enjoyed it.”

This week FUNny Writers substitutes your PB&J, Volume 1 provides the shortest record reviews ever, Audiences share their works at The Inspired Word and The Moth StorySLAM, Heebs hate tushies, The Extra Man previews, Flaming Lips perform with The Black Keys, The Guggenheim is Haunted, Artists and Fleas, MoMA PS1 WarmUp featuers MEN, POOL PARTIES features Lightning Bolt and DeathSet, and your movie pick of the week, Winter’s Bone.

WEDNESDAY 7/21:
FUNny Writers will satisfy your lunch break at the 45-minute reading installment in Bryant Park. Hosted by Tom Shillue (host of Tell! Worlds Collide), Sloan Crosley (I Was Told There’d Be Cake) reads from her novel along with fellow funny authors Larry Doyle (Go Mutants!), Josh Kilmer-Purcell (The Bucolic Plague) and Simon Rich (Elliot Allagash). …more

This week in New York Diane Williams, Rebecca Curtis and Joshua Cohen read at The Bastille Day Soirée, Chuck Klosterman is back Eating Dinosaurs, Candance Bushnell embodies Carrie and takes us back to college,  Christopher Finch tells us about Chuck Close’s Life, David Mitchell Reads, Soda Pop hosts a reading series, Williamsburg promotes Martial Arts, Crash Mansion begs us to black out for a $5 open bar, and The Kids are All Right.

MONDAY 7/12: Brooklyn Bowl is urging you to put on your dancing shoes and join them for a special tribute to prince at this week’s Karaoke Killed the Cat, karaoke for those that don’t like karaoke. Brooklyn Bowl. Free.10PM. …more

This week in New York Jennifer Egan and Jane Mendelsohn talk about rocking out, Happy Ending provides us with another happy ending, Jakub Ziolkowski exhibits at Hauser & Wirth, David Farley asks who stole Jesus’s foreskin, She & Him sing, Ask Me goes queer, The White Ribbon still runs at Film Forum, Hedy goes ‘single white female’ on her ass, and of course vintage, vintage, vintage at The Flea.

TUESDAY 7/6: She & Him. Don your best retro and throw on a pair of saddle shoes while you gleefully dance to  the sounds of She & Him. Zooey Deschanel’s captivating voice will be a refreshing end to a hot summer day. Terminal 5. 8PM. …more

This week Keith Gessen and HFM present “Diary of a Very Bad Year,” Justin Taylor goes guerrilla at the Guerrilla Lit Reading Series, Ed Park, Deb Olin Unferth and Ben Greenman at a “Word for Word” lunchtime event, Paula Abdul is a vampire, Contraband Cinema comes to BAM, Nick Reding on methamphetamine taking over middle-America, Janelle Brown tells us where we live, Yossi Milo exhibits hand-painted photographs from the 19th century and Macy’s presents its annual fireworks show.

MONDAY 6/28: Keith Gessen and HFM present “Diary of a Very Bad Year: Confessions of an Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager.” For a few issues of n+1, editor Keith Gessen sat down with an anonymous hedge fund manager (HFM) to discuss what was happening in the world of finance. Their conversations vividly recounted the scope of the crisis from the viewpoint of a participant. Gessen and HFM discuss this new book. Greenlight Bookstore. 7:30pm. …more

WE ASK THE ACTORS TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS…AND DRAW

Flight Attendant Montine McLeod (Academy Awarded nominated Melissa Leo) finds herself the unlikely guardian of Omar (Anthony Keyvan), a Pakistani boy who has left his New York home to attend boarding school in L.A. on scholarship. When their plane is grounded in Texas on the morning of September 11, 2001, Montine and Omar embark on a cross-country journey with the hopes that Omar and his father–a janitor at the World Trade Center–will be reunited. …more

WE ASK THE ACTORS TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS…AND DRAW

Zoe Kravitz, it seems, has it easy. With musician Lenny Kravitz (Remember his “Flowers for Zoe”?) and actress Lisa Bonet for parents audiences may assume that the actress hasn’t had to work hard for the success she’s achieved. Not so. This, in fact, drives Kravitz, who stars in Beware the Gonzo, to work that much more to acquire a name of her own. …more

WE ASK THE ACTORS TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS… AND DRAW

Meskada, a murder mystery set in a rural town reeling from depression, premiered Thursday night on day two of the Tribeca Film Festival. The film follows a detective who returns to his home town of Caswell in Meskada County to investigate the brutal murder of a boy and in the process sets off a class-war. …more

After nearly a decade of being a defining and defying figure in the art world, Ryan McGinley’s legitimacy is still being questioned. Last month McGinley unveiled his latest exhibit at SoHo’s Team Gallery entitled Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, inspired by a Neil Young song of the same name. …more

After The Exploding Girl’s premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival Zoe Kazan’s career has skyrocketed.

The public unveiling of The Exploding Girl is well underway, perhaps to coincide with Kazan’s latest Broadway venture, A Behanding in Spokane, a Martin McDonagh play in which she co-stars alongside Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell. The world premiere of A Behanding took Broadway by storm last month–Kazan in the role of Marilyn, an argumentative young girl madly in love. …more

With today’s opening of the Armory Show in New York, and with the various art fairs concurrently being presented such as the Whitney Biennial and Armory Arts Week, the city is paying homage in all its corners to persons who make art and make it well. In response, we’ll be paying particular attention to one location in the city that has for over a hundred years served as a center of artistic and bohemian activity—the Chelsea Hotel—and the various artists who took up residence there. …more