http://www.nypress.com/blogs.engine.php We always assumed that people were still smoking inside because the places we tend to hang out are less than savory, but according to Eater, it's happening all over. --- ]]> Next week, Theater 80 will fire up its film projectors for the first time in 15 years, when comic caper film The Brooklyn Heist begins its two-week run at the famed revival house. We asked The Brooklyn Heist director Julian Mark Kheel about how this unique booking came about, and why Theater 80 is the perfect venue for his satiric tale of three very different sets of New Yorkers all plotting to rob the same pawnshop owner…on the same night]]> The rumors are true: other things will be screening this weekend besides The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Broken Embraces showcases a few of director Pedro Almodóvar’s favorite things: bold colors; cinephilia; twisty, melodramatic plots; and, of course, Penélope Cruz. Broken Embraces defies a simple one-line description—something about a big-shot director turned blind screenwriter, a prostitute turned actre]]> One of my first jobs out of school was playing a rotating succession of floozies—some dumb, some angry, all crazy—on MTV’s first-ever nonmusical program, Remote Control. The parts were tiny, but Remote Control, the cultish late ’80s game show in which three college kids confined to EZ-Chairs answered trivia questions about television and pop culture, was a big deal. Often presented in mini-sketch format, the questions were]]> Tonight Blind Pilot headlines Brooklyn, at The Bell House, 149 7th St. (betw. 2nd & 3rd Aves.), Brooklyn, 718-643-6510; 8, $15 --- The Bishop Allen plays with Twin Thousands and Spanish Prisoners at Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5th Ave.), Brooklyn, 718-638-4400; 8, $15 Sam Mickens' Ecstatic Showband & Revue is at Death By Audio, 49 S 2nd St. (betw. Kent & Wythe Aves.), Brooklyn, no phone; 8, $8 Crystal Fighters play with Tanlines]]> Helmer Toro, owner of H&H Bagels, was indicted for tax fraud yesterday. He pled not guilty to charges of withholding over $360,000 in payroll taxes. Surely the owner of the self-described “largest bagel manufacturer in the world” wouldn’t risk an enterprise that promising just to get out of paying some taxes? --- It’s a good thing Toro is pleading not guilty because this is obviously one big misunderstanding.]]> When I first heard Evangelicals’ sophomore release The Evening Descends in December of 2007, it sounded like the second coming of Arcade Fire. To my ears, it was the only album since Funeral capable of matching its intensity without sounding like a canned attempt at doing so. It brought Graham Parsons and Beethoven to mind in equal measure; it was marked by thematic cohesiveness, lyrical depth and an epicness that most other swing-for-the-]]> Artist Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, who is best known for her collaborative environmental arts installations with husband Christo Javacheff, died today in Manhattan of complications stemming from a brain aneurysm. Jeanne-Claude, 74, is survived by her husband and son Cyril Christo. --- Jeanne-Claude’s career spanned nearly 50 years and dozens of environmental art projects that typically included la]]> See the poster children of Brooklyn sound, Dirty Projectors, at Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 N. 6th St. (betw. Wythe & Kent Aves.), 718-486-540; 8, $15 --- Toubab Krewe brings Malian influence to Santos Party House, 96 Lafayette St (betw. Walker & White Sts.), 212-584-5492; 10, $15 Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson has been collaborated with members of Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio. Hear how the singer-songwriter stands alone]]> The Film Talk guys, Jett Loe and Gareth Higgins, discuss A Christmas Carol and other recent reviews with Armond White. They call him the "most controversial of modern film critics." But the blog chatter is still raging with Preciousmania, and over at The Cooler blog, they've latched on to White's explanation (with a post titled "The Demonizing (of) Armond White") of his reputation as a contrarian: --- "Of greates]]> The news on Monday that Window Media had finally closed its doors (literally) and that its chain of papers was officially kaput didn't seem to register much. Maybe that's because its two NYC titles, Genre and New York Blade, had already perished earlier this year. But the fact that the Washington Blade, a paper with a sizable reputation, as well as 21-year-old Southern Voice, one of the last papers focused on gay and lesbian issues in the South,]]> Hulu has been making some, well, interesting business decisions of late. First, it drops hints that the portal will soon be charging viewers to watch TV shows and movies that are currently "free." Now, they're adding content that is widely available elsewhere. --- The New York Times' Bits blog reports that Hulu will soon announce a deal with music label EMI to begin streaming music videos and other materials from ]]> I’m glad I was running too late this morning for breakfast because the following news is enough to make we want to vomit, swear excessively and then vomit some more. While perusing the normally fun-loving photography of Miss Heather on NewYorkShitty.com, I came across a story that is both disgusting and disappointing. Brooklyn has Nazis.---  A merry band of morons has been displaying their doucebagery around Brooklyn and]]> Not all hippies start jam bands, only the evil ones do. Every day a new star is born. Charismatic, charming, talented—singer Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros has the qualities that make a star, and after seeing the band's performance at Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday night, it shouldn't take long before that happens. --- The former frontman of Ima Robot found his musical calling after some rough times, and embraced his]]> The Beastie Boys said it best: You've got to fight for your right to party—or, in this case, Pool Parties. The free concert series and summer pool party that is Jelly is facing an uncertain future after the New York State Parks Department and Open Space Alliance announced the summer series might not be able to return to East River State Park next summer. --- But Jelly isn't going belly up without a fight and thankfully they have Senator]]> There was a moment—one of those collective pant-shitting moments that only the truly great or deeply unstable ones can produce—in which the crowd at last night’s Jesus Lizard show was transfixed by the possibility of David Yow whipping his cock out. --- I think it was right after they finished playing “Then Comes Dudley” during the second half of their encore. “Take off your pants!” an attractive and]]> Air Waves addicts can check out the pop trio tonight with Bright Lights at Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Ave. (at N. 11th St.), 718-963-3369; 9, Free.--- Classic rock heartthrobs Big Star play with with Kurt Vile (and the Violators) at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 317 Clermont Ave. (at Lafayette Ave.), Brooklyn, 718-638-1256; 7, $35. Bob Dylan performs (hopefully not his Christmas album) tonight at United Palace Theatre, 4140 Broadway (at 175th St.),]]> On its two albums, A Camp has a lilting, lush sound that wraps its pop sensibility in just enough indie packaging to make it the kind of music that should basically be played during every NPR program, all day, every day. Sure, it’s not what you’d call challenging to the listener, but everyone needs a few records they can play on a rainy day. It doesn’t hurt, I might add, that the band is fronted by the lovely Nina Persson, famou]]> For a noisy, obscure-outside-the-scene kind of art rocker, it’s a situation fraught with danger and opportunity both: The crowd is primed for a rare and probably venue-wrecking set from some of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll ass-kickers of the past 20 years, and you’ve got to warm it up. By all logic, said ass-kickers should have fed the crowd a band capable of whipping them into a frothing mob. But said ass-kickers are the Je]]> A couple in Staten Island have recently decided to call it quits after being together for over three years. The real victims in this kind of tragedy are always the little ones who get caught in the middle. In this case Benjamin, the innocent in question, is only a year old and yet he has to bear the burden of a bitter custody battle between two hurt ex-lovers. Right now the police are siding with Audrey Hesselberg because hers is the name on ]]>