In “By George,” Maira Kalman’s final installment of her year-long New York Times series, “And the Pursuit of Happiness,” Kalman ushers in the new decade with a tribute to the man without whom our nation wouldn’t be. …more

This week in New York The New York Times’s Arts and Leisure Weekend features Natalie Portman, Jeff Bridges, and Jimmy Fallon, Sweetgrass opens at the Film Forum, Carol Sklenicka discusses Raymond Carver, the films of Joyce Weiland screen at Light Industry, and Lev Grossman gets critics to question the hoopla around Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. Looking ahead: tickets for Julian Casablancas’s shows at Terminal 5 on January 14/15 are on sale.

MONDAY 1/04:

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Marc Ribot but were Afraid to Ask. Guitar legend Marc Ribot in concert followed by a Q&A session. All concert-goers should come prepared with a question. Musicians may bring their instruments. The Stone. Ave. C @ East 2nd. $25. 8:00pm. …more

This week in New York William Hurt converses at 92Y, Steve Beck performs the Goldberg Variations, Janeane Garofalo and Todd Barry in Comedy Below Canal, Christmas Eve klezmer party, Charlie Chaplin films are screened at the Walter Reade, Roger Ballen and Mike Kelley exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery, and a Mel Brooks double feature is shown with all-you-can-eat Chinese food.

MONDAY 12/21: The Modernist Book Group discusses Samuel Beckett’s Murphy, a man whose sole desire is to desire nothing. Community Book Store. 143 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn. …more

This week in New York, lit mags The Faster Times, The Rumpus, Gigantic and Open City throw holiday parties, James Gallery holds Pornography in the City panel, Nick Flynn and Joseph Fasano read at Projection, LDM holds Holiday Episode, Stephen Elliott discusses the making of memoir, the Bloodsugars perform, Quentin Tarantino talks, Gabriel Orozco gets retrospectivized at MOMA, and the Madcap Manhattan series screens at Film Forum.

MONDAY 12/14: Wall Street Jolly: The Faster Times, The Rumpus and Gigantic Holiday Party–Whether you prefer pinstripes or a silk-twill shift, put on your Wall Street inspired holiday best and come out and party like you just got a $3 mil. bonus. …more

This week in New York Malcolm Gladwell and James Wood talk about Evangelicalism and the Contemporary Intellectual, members of the Velvet Underground reunite at the New York Public Library, 60 Writers/60 Places screens, Anne Carson performs, Andy Warhol films get shown at Anthology Film Archives, Mark Doty and Marie Howe read, and Voice 4 Vision Puppet Festival presents odes to Salvador Dalí and Fernando Pessoa. (Holiday Preview: Next Week’s Parties: Monday–The Faster Times, The Rumpus and Gigantic host “Wall Street” party at Glasslands, and Tuesday–Open City celebrates at Hi-Fi Bar).

MONDAY 12/7: If you weren’t able to make it out to the Wes Anderson/Noah Baumbach talk at the NYPL a few weeks ago, you can catch Wes Anderson tonight at the screening of Fantastic Mr. Fox at MOMA. He’ll be around for a Q&A afterward. 11 W. 53rd St. 8:00pm. …more

On November 9, 2009, four days before the release of Fantastic Mr. Fox, an animated film by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, I attended a live “conversation” between the two directors at the New York Public Library. …more

This week in New York the Rumpus and Tin House present MORE THAN YOU EXPECTED with Rick Moody, Starlee Kine and Eugene Mirman followed by a meteor shower, Martin Amis and Chip Kidd celebrate Nabokov’s work with special exhibit of The Original of Laura, Pseudo-Futurist video game improvisation, a week of events centered on National Book Awards, Bob Dylan performs, artist Terence Koh talks at National Arts Club, Greil Marcus live in one-man show–Lipstick Traces, Cinema 16 presents Tom Smith’s masterpiece Solar System, along with PSA’s from the 60s with live musical accompaniment, and SCORE! Pop-Up Swap.

MONDAY 11/16: Celebrating Nabokov: Special one-night only exhibit. Join Martin Amis, Nabokov biographer Brian Boyd and designer Chip Kidd for a celebration of Vladimir Nabokov’s life and work. When Nabokov died in 1977, he left behind the fragments of an unfinished novel on 138 hand-written notecards. His son Dmitri has compiled them in a book under Nabokov’s original title—The Original of Laura.  92nd St. Y. $26. Exhibit opens at 6:30pm, event begins at 8:00pm. …more

This week in New York Ben Marcus and Rivka Galchen at Harper’s Magazine’s The Family Table, Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach talk, Mary Gaitskill, John Turturro, and Eric Bogosian at PEN benefit, Frederick Wiseman’s documentary La Danse, Jeff Lewis and the Wowz! at Cakeshop, The Internet as Playground and Factory conference with n+1 magazine, Performa 09 continues, and the First Annual Independent Bookstore Week kicks off.

MONDAY 11/9: PEN: Breakout Voices from Inside. PEN Members and friends will read the award-winning work from PEN’s Prison Writing Program. …more

This week in New York, Performa 09 festival of performing arts inspired by Futurist film, music and literature opens, Bomb throws a Fall Issue Launch Party, Books & Quiche Reading Series is back with Yiyun Li and Salvatore Scibona, Light Industry and Triple Canopy team up to bring you a 14-hour film installation, Robert Wilson’s Quartett opens at BAM, Agriculture Reader has a reading, and Tao Lin reads at Bookthugnation.

MONDAY 11/2 -Without Sun: Brody Condon. Part of Performa 09, “Condon’s “Without Sun” (2006), is an edited collection of ‘found performances’ – online videos of individuals who recorded themselves while having a psychedelic experience. The 15 minute video will be followed by a performative re-creation featuring the dancer Linda Austin and actor Russell Edge. MOMA. 11 W. 53rd St.

Best Music Writing Panel with Greil Marcus, Carrie Brownstein and More. 7:00-9:00pm. Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. 126 Crosby Street. …more

PPOW Gallery in Chelsea has been lending its space for a variety of interesting literary arts events through its Hostess Project. A few weeks ago it hosted a screening of a film by writers Michael Kimball and Luca Dipierro, I WILL SMASH YOU.

Last week it hosted a celebration of n+1’s fifth birthday and the launch of Issue 8. This is a subjective account of my experience. …more

In New York this week, James Frey and Maira Kalman at the CLMP Spelling Bee, members of The National collaborate with visual artist Matthew Ritchie in The Long Count at BAM, Sherman Alexie and Chuck Klosterman read, Guernica Magazine turns 5, Performa 09 begins, Literary Death Match returns to New York, and Lawrence Weschler presents Halloween Wonder Cabinet.

MONDAY 10/26 – Let it Bee – James Frey, Maira Kalman, Victor Lavalle and Francine Prose, among many other savvy writer-spellers duke it out at the spelling bee hosted by the Diane von Furstenberg studio to benefit the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses. Silent Auction 7:00pm. Bee 8:00pm. …more

Friday October 16, the New Yorker opened its annual weekend festival of readings, conversations, art tours and musical performances. This is my account of the events I attended, which included among others a talk with Malcolm Gladwell, readings by George Saunders, Gary Shteyngart and Jonathan Franzen, a musical performance by Neko Case and a conversation with James Franco. …more

This week, Chinua Achebe speaks, n+1 in conversation with Reihan Salam and Ross Douthat, Jonathan Lethem reads, composer/drummer Bobby Previte with Psychedelic Furs’ Knox Chandler, photographer Jeff Wall presents more urban decay, “junkyard bohos” Huggabroomstik play, CMJ Music Marathon begins and Renée Fleming sings at the Met.

MONDAY 10/19: Chinua Achebe, whose first book in 20 years, a collection of autobiographical essays The Education of a British Protected Child was released this month, will be in conversation with K. Anthony Appiah. 92nd Street Y. 8:00pm. $19//$10 for 35-and-under.

Arguably the top soprano singing today, Renée Fleming takes on the role of Marschallin in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera. 7:30pm. Tickets still available for $15 and $20. …more

MONDAY, October 12, 2009 – SUNDAY, October 18, 2009

This week in New York, The New Yorker Festival hits town. And yes, while the “Humor Revue,” “About Towns,” and “Kaffeeklatches” seem to have been sold out before they were on sale, there’re still some good readings and “Screen Gems”  available, and a slim, if precariously so, window for getting tickets to sold-out events (see below) – and see a full schedule here; A Festival of Frightening Movies begins at Lincoln Center, and Spike Jonze week continues a the MOMA, in celebration of the Friday release of Where the Wild Things Are.

MONDAY 10/12: Spike Jonze: Award-Winning Music Videos, Short Films and Commercials, Part 2 (100 min.) Museum of Modern Art. 8:00pm.

Brian Evenson and Mary Caponegro read at McNally Jackson. 7pm. …more

In conjunction with the national release of Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, 10/16/09, the first feature film Jonze has directed since Adaptation (2002!), there are a lot of Wild Things happenings around New York. (Also, his company Girl Skateboards is releasing a limited edition Where the Wild Things Are Board Series. And check out the Exclusive WTWTA Short Film The Vampire Attack).

Spike Jonze: The First 80 Years – The Museum of Modern Art is presenting a retrospective of Jonze’s music videos, skate videos, films, and commercials (Thursday, Oct. 8 – Sunday, Oct. 18). 11 W. 53rd St. …more

Monofonus Press, an Austin-based record label and multimedia organization, is heading to the deserts of Marfa, Texas this weekend to stage an elaborate video-art presentation at the 4th annual Trans-Pecos Festival of Music and Love at El Cosmico, hosted by hotelier to the in-crowd Liz Lambert.

Liz Lambert called on Morgan Coy, founder of Monofonus, to develop a video-art segment of the program because Monofonus is known for bringing together artists in various disciplines. It specializes in the physical and digital distribution of music literature and art, one aspect of which is its IF Series, a publication of artfully rendered and curated book-and-album packages that are as amazing to touch and hold as they are to listen to. …more

A woman who can’t speak leans her bandaged head towards a microphone and hums.

After recording a live loop, she plays it back and hums again–this time a little differently. She does this again and again, layering sound over sound, until she has composed something that lies between Gregorian chant and Icelandic post-rock. While this woman has lost her ability to speak due to a brain operation, she has, it seems, just found her voice.

The contemplation of voice, in its many physical and metaphysical permutations, is the subject of Robert Lepage’s internationally acclaimed epic Lipsynch, a nine-hour production that is having its U.S. premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. …more

MONDAY, October 5, 2009 – SUNDAY October 11, 2009

This week in New York, Stephen Elliott reads from his memoir The Adderall Diaries, which has its East Coast Launch with n+1, Spike Jonze week in New York, Sufjan Stevens performs, Arthur Jones hosts The Post-It Note Reading Series, Opium Magazine hosts Live Relaunch, Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime screens at the NYFF.

MONDAY 10/5: Sufjan Stevens and Cryptacize at Bowery Ballroom. 6 Delancey Street. 7:30pm. Show 9:00pm. (bet. Bowery and Chrystie). $15 …more

This week in New York, Charles Simic reads, Spin Mag hosts Salman Rushdie, The New York Film Festival opens, Philip Seymour Hoffman stars in Peter Sellars’ production of Othello and Robert Lepage’s “Mindblowing” Lipsynch begins at BAM.

Monday, September 28, 2009 – Sunday, October 4, 2009

Monday 9/28: Tosca. The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Puccini’s drama makes its house debut. You can see this classic and almost all other Met operas for $20. Metropolitan Opera House Lincoln Center. …more

As the New York Bureau Chief, I thought it might be a good idea to round up some notable literary and cultural events going on around New York that I think readers of The Rumpus would be interested in. So, I’ll start with some nightly, and sometimes daily, notables for this week:

Monday, September 21, 2009 – Sunday, September 27, 2009

Monday 9/21: The Rasskazy Book Launch Party at Housing Works: Tin House Books and CEC ArtsLink celebrate the release of Rasskazy, a new volume of translated short stories by the best of contemporary Russian writers. The event will include a round table discussion with the editors and two of the writers and a reception. 7pm. …more

September 13, 2009
10:37am – Walking by Book Stands

Tao Lin T-shirts were dangling on hangers at the Melville House booth at the Brooklyn Book Festival. The T-shirts said “Tao Lin: 1983- ????” Across from Melville House was the Ugly Duckling booth. The books were beautiful to touch. I touched A Plate of Chicken by Matthew Rohrer and bought it. It was hot and sunny. I thought, This is the last hot day of summer. …more

Reasons to attend the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival: 1) it’s one of the most hip, smart and diverse American literary events, 2)  because Ben Marcus, Sarah Manguso, Thurston Moore, Heidi Julavits and Tao Lin are just some of the stars and emerging writers who will be talking/reading, 3) panels will talk about DFW , rappers and upward mobility, among a lot of other great things read and discussed, and 4) because it’s free (though for some events you need to secure tickets in advance).

While great things will be happening in several venues throughout the day, and you can see a full listing of the events and locations here, here’s a suggested itinerary (a personal cheat sheet with some Tough Draw Alternates). Enjoy! …more

Macro Sea has reportedly laid plans to put dumpster pools in strip mall parking lots in Brooklyn to demonstrate the creative re-use of refuse bins.

The project is part of Macro Sea’s broader vision to denude the American strip mall of its common characteristics and curate the space through collaboration with architects and artists, such as Vito Acconci of Seedbed fame, to enhance community. Jocko Weyland, editor-at-large of Open City Magazine and author of The Answer is Never – A Skateboarder’s History of the World (Grove 2002), is the Project Director.

Perhaps this is an offshoot of the cool and curious conversion of dumpsters into pools, gardens, and skateboard ramps that has already caused a ripple in London.

Brooklyn is also the site of the secret underground climbing speakeasy, where climbers have crawled vertically (due to space constrictions) in an atmosphere of pot smoke and beer, for nearly twenty years.

Gored by a banana on a barroom floor, a man lies supine as a nun slaps a midget, a down-and-out Santa drinks hard and a sullied beauty queen totes a severed head …more

Guernica talks to Fatima Bhutto, 27-year-old poet and Pakistan’s heir apparent, about the death of her father in one of Pakistan’s famous “encounters,” the two sides of Benazir and why Obama legitimizes the Taliban.

In “Dancing About Architecture,” Arthur Philips’s essay in the July issue of The Believer, Philips offers a worthy apology for writing on music, and why the physical impact of the phrase “chill horn,” in William Gaddis’s The Recognitions, has value.

“Head Trips,” an essay in Cabinet on the history of comic foregrounds, those painted wooden facades with a hole where your head should be, offers an interesting meditation on the historic role of the comic foreground as vehicle for fleeting transcendence from one’s social stratum.

In her latest journal entry, “Time Wastes Too Fast,” for her ongoing NYT Pursuit of Happiness series, Maira Kalman visually portrays her visit to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia home, in which she offers twee renditions of the home that Jefferson designed, a note that he wrote to Adams, “I cannot live without books,” and touches on his conflicted relation to slavery.

And small non-journal-related aside: don’t bother trying to get your kids into Camp Quest, an atheist summer camp funded by Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, for tots who’d rather learn to disprove telepathy and crop circles than paint pottery. It’s filled for summer.

Among the many offerings of Triple Canopy Issue #6 “Urbanisms: Model Cities,” are three standout pieces.

“What is the Antique in Truro: A Portfolio” is a stunning collection of Adam Davies’ photographic portraits of American cities that have endured mass exoduses after the collapse of their mainstay industries.

In “Infrastructure for Souls” Joseph Clarke compares megachurches to well-run companies, tracing the parallel development in design of the corporate-organizational complex and the corresponding structural arrangement of churches.

“Virtual Bowery” takes you through Dan Torop’s stint at Eyebeam, where his fascination with trumpeter swans, the behavioral rules of birds, and “the purity of algorithm and language” committed his plan of reconstituting the Bowery circa 1997 to an unexpected deviation.

This summer, writer, illustrator and animator Arthur Jones will illustrate your one-sentence story with one Post-It Note. Jones, who has taken his Post-It Note Series on a cross-country tour, and whose yellow sticky notes have given darkly comic life to the stories of David Rakoff and Jonathan Goldstein will now illustrate yours. The animator of videos for punk bands Man Man and Need New Body, among many others, says “You go ‘badda-beep-boop-bop’ and I go ‘dweedlty-do-dwap-pfzzt’ and then we have something we created together. It might sound like Ornette Coleman or it might sound like John Tesh.” And keep an eye out for the upcoming Rumpus Interview with Arthur Jones.

With BookExpo America at a comfortable distance for reflection, it’s a good time to take a look at “Random BEA Thoughts,” Chad W. Post’s five-part essay on the need for reevaluating the book trade. …more

I swiped on the lights in my cabin jerked from a half-sleep by a non-human fracas coming from a place right beyond my window. …more

On the heels of BEA comes the 2009 Woolf and the City conference, an event of modern proportion, which will be bringing fans of Virginia Woolf to the campus of Fordham University in New York from June 4-7. Keeping things ahead of the times, as Woolf would have wanted it, there will be Plenary Talks such as “Woolf’s Creative Violence,” “Cosmopolitan Woolf,” and “Stalking the Cyber-Woolf in a Digital Age.”  Special events include an evening with Princeton and the Stephen Pelton Dance Company, with an after party at the Hudson Hotel. Visit the site for a brief or full conference schedule and keep an eye out on The Rumpus for an upcoming review of the conference plus a Rumpus Interview with Cecil Woolf, the nephew of Leonard Woolf.