Picks

WEDNESDAYJULY 14

NEW YORK NEW VISIONS: PROFESSIONAL FORUM

If architecture is, as Goethe famously said, frozen music, the debate surrounding the World Trade Center site is one of the most dissonant compositions ever to hit ice. This open meeting will hopefully help in finding a melody. Featuring renowned architects including Daniel Libeskind, Michael Arad and Santiago Calatrava, the off-the-record session will discuss building and site design, planning and the practical aspects of building. The meeting is open to all, which makes sense. It is our skyline, after all. Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Pl. (betw. Bleecker & W. 3rd Sts.), 212-683-0023, 8 a.m., free.

SIX FEET UNDER: MAKE NICE

"The Republicans are coming, make nice," Ed Koch says to New York. Not that there's any reason not to be nice to thousands of RNCers stumbling from Madison Square Garden to The Lion King while the subways and streets are closed off to the rest of us, but if you just can't be nice, White Box has an opening for you. Eight of them, actually. For the rest of the summer, the Chelsea gallery is using its street-level windows to show a different film and video installation every week that responds to our once-proud, now-plaintive former mayor. Tim Hawkinson and Lutz Bacher open tonight, with future openings every Wednesday. 525 W. 26th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-714-2347, 6, free.

THURSDAYJULY 15

PORNOGRAPHY PANEL DISCUSSION

With regards to porn, America is a country full of masturbating hypocrites. Case in point: Back when Britney Spears was nominally a Christian virgin, at least one of her videos was directed by adult film auteur Gregory Dark, whose credits include the New Wave Hooker series and serving a prison stint for running an escort agency. ACLU attorney Chris Hansen, Morality and Media president Robert Peters and author Bob Berkowitz discuss the multimillion-dollar industry that no one admits to consuming, touching on smut's ties to corporations, the rise of hardcore and the political buggery surrounding adult entertainment. Makor (yeah, Makor!), 35 W. 67th St. (betw. Columbus Ave. & Central Park W.), 212-601-1000, 8, $15.

FRIDAYJULY 16

ASIAN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Asian CineVision launches its 27th annual film festival tonight with Ann Hui's Goddess of Mercy (Yu Guan Yin), starring Vicki Zhao Wei and Nicholas Tse. Since 1978 the festival has been introducing the masses to now-household names like Mira Nair and Ang Lee, and this year promises more of the same. More than 100 films from Bangladesh to Thailand to good ol' Queens will be featured over the weeklong festival; highlights include Yasuaki Nakajima's After the Apocalypse, Steve Mallorca's Slow Jam King and Karen Lin's Perfection. Asia Society, 725 Park Ave. (70th St.), 212-989-1422, call for times, $10.

CENTRAL PARK MOVIE TOUR

New York is lousy with walking tours (and we can't seem to stop listing them!). Tourists can snap pictures and giggle in the same bars where famous people once got blotto, or clog the sidewalks outside the buildings where historical events took place, or gawk at empty lots where something worthwhile once stood. Now the particularly pathetic can take a walking tour of the spots in Central Park that were used for location shots in a bunch of crappy movies. See trees that were seen in When Harry Met Sally, or a bench that might've been in Ransom, or a rock that looks just like one in Serendipity. One day we'll make up our own (worthwhile) movie-location walking tour, where you can see where they filmed Death Wish, The Warriors and Marathon Man. In the meantime, bring your in-laws and meet at the 59th St. subway station, Central Park, 59th St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-209-3370, 3, $15.

STYLE MAKES CONTENT

Our very own iconoclastic movie writer Armond White presents a night of visual stimulation. Believe it or not, the event has nothing to do with Spielberg. Instead, the program focuses on Ben Stokes, a music-video director who has used his mastery of collage to create videos for De La Soul, the Orb, Ministry, Meat Beat Manifesto and others. (For more on Stokes, see "Film" on p. 35.) Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, 165 W. 65th St. (B'way), 212-875-5600, 9, $10, $7 st.

SATURDAYJULY 17

YOU & I REUNION

Okay. The price of admission is far too high. But the lineup? When we saw that Rick James and Morris Day & the Time were all playing under one bill, we spit soda all over our desks while our eyes bugged out like we were Rodney Dangerfield. Dave Chappelle's superfreak soulbrother playing with the bad guys from Purple Rain? This will be a night of 80s electro-funk the likes of which have never been seen. (Since the 80s, anyway.) See if James will find other uses for that big mirror that Morris Day's manservant holds. We're talking about cocaine, beeyotch. With Teena Marie and Melanie Camancho. Theater at Madison Square Garden, 2 Penn Plaza (32nd St.), 212-465-MSG1, 8, $67-$105.

SUNDAYJULY 18

BILL BURNS

As Christopher Walken ably demonstrated in the Dead Zone, the problem with psychic powers is not how to get them, but what to do with them once you have them. Bill Burns has put his powers to use, working not only as a psychic, but also as a psychic counselor. He will use his startling powers of the mind to advise you on business matters, how to take advantage of opportunities and give you the tools to take control. Today, he's talking about how to prepare for and cope with disasters. Step one: Have the magical power to predict the future; step three: Profit. Sorry Kreskin, step two does not involve bending spoons. Nola Studios, 250 W. 54th St., 11th fl. (betw. B'way & 8th Ave.), 212-582-1417, 1:30, $15.

LET'S GET FRANK

As far as anybody's willing to admit, Barney Frank was the first gay member of the House of Representatives. That didn't disqualify him from sex scandals, though, and his was a doozy! He no doubt drew on his harrowing personal experience when he staunchly supported Clinton during Monicagate. The new documentary Let's Get Frank recounts Frank's life in public service, where he worked alongside people who made their careers opposing his lifestyle. Frank will be on hand at Film Forum to talk and answer questions after tonight's screening. Maybe he could offer advice on hiring employees who are willing to be imaginative when it comes to their job duties. Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St. (betw. Varick St. & 6th Ave.), 212-727-8110, 8:15, $10.

MONDAYJULY 19

FEARLESS MUSIC: SEASON 2 PREMIERE

Get a good live band in a no-frills studio, turn the cameras on, hit "record." Print it and dump it on the air. Works for the Fearless Music people, whose list of bands for their year-old cable show reads like a directory of up-next New York bands. It saves a Sin-e cover charge to confirm your suspicions about the latest hype, and the unforgiving studio lighting makes sure the kids' styles can hold up. Still, seems like a big catch in the business plan that the shows are only on in Manhattan, when so much of the presumed audience (and subjects) live in Brooklyn. Lazy A&R flacks can catch French Kicks, Dresden Dolls, Ambulance Ltd., Baby, L.P., Sluts of Trust & Emok in the first episode of season two. Every Monday at 8:30 on Time Warner Cable channel 35. Or watch it (alongside the bands, probably) at the viewing parties at Pianos' upstairs lounge. 158 Ludlow St. (betw. Stanton & Rivington Sts.), 212-505-3733, 8, free.

TUESDAYJULY 20

ART EXPRESSION WITH PAINT SENSATIONS

No one working full-time in the editorial wing of New York Press has kids, but it ain't for lack of trying! (Ba-rump bum.) We have had our share of cats and dogs, though, so we can only imagine how much worse miniature human beings can be when you're nursing a weekday hangover and they just won't shut the fuck up. What to do with the little monsters on a sticky Tuesday afternoon? Today's Toys R Us-sponsored playdate is certainly designed to convert your kids into miniature human consumers, but hell, what isn't these days? Take the skinheads bowling, bring the chillun' here. Toys R Us, 1514 B'way (44th St.), 646-366-8855, 2, free.