New York Comic Con took place at the Javits Center this weekend and drew thousands of fans to meet authors, artists, actors, and characters of pop culture. It's also an opportunity for professionals in the industry to mingle and do business. This is the third year that the event has been held in New York.......

If you're by the Javits Center this weekend, don't be surprised if you see groups of people donning capes--Comic Con is in town this weekend! The three-day annual event is in its third year in the Big Apple, giving the comic/sci-fi set a chance to geek out for a full three days. The big names are coming into to town, too, The Daily News reports on the convention's roster: "'Spider-Man' creator Stan Lee, actress......

ART: Art, fashion and blogs meet tonight at the Met. In an exhibition entitled blog.mode: addressing fashion, viewers will be able to comment on what they see. It's "the first in a series of shows designed to promote critical and creative dialogues about fashion. The exhibition presents some forty costumes and accessories dating from the eighteenth century to the present." Visitors are then encouraged to share their reactions online or from a "blogbar" of computer......

Writer/director Robert Tinnell has sifted through his fond childhood memories of big Italian Christmas gatherings and emerged with a unique fusion of comic book and cookbook called The Feast of the Seven Fishes. Originally a popular internet comic, the humorously fictional book is inspired by the Italian Christmas Eve tradition involving big seafood dinners and lots of red wine. (The book's boisterous familial storyline will also be adapted into a feature length film of the......

Tonight striking writers and friends will take the stage again for a 2nd Strike Night! Joining John Oliver (The Daily Show), Liz Cackowski (Saturday Night Live), Andy Secunda (Conan) and Maggie Carey, Joe Grossman (Letterman) is John Mulaney -- possibly one of our favorite young comedians today. Mulaney helped host one of our Movable Hype shows last year and currently can be seen on stages around town and on screen at Best Week Ever. Buy......

Margaret Cho returns to the stage in a whole new way with her stage show The Sensuous Woman. The production is at the Zipper Theater starting tomorrow (more details here) and is bringing burlesque back. The variety show will feature some famed burlesque performers, along with stand-up and sketch comedy acts. And of course, Margaret -- who we had a few questions for recently. Tell us about your new burlesque-style variety show The Sensuous Woman.......

Our friends from the Great White North are feeling flush from the strengthening of the Canadian dollar versus its US counterpart, and New York is apparently ready to relieve them of their excess cash. The Loonie, or Canadian dollar, is even with the US dollar for the first time since 1976. If you've ever wondered why the backs of paperback books usually have a second, more expensive, price printed on them them for Canadians,......

The NY Times has a slide show of assorted items that could be perfect wedding gifts for book lovers. Suggestions range from whimsical bookshelves to personalized book plates. We were most intrigued by Levenger's Thai Book Rest - we suppose you could get a pair of two for a wedding couple. Or one, plus some massage oils and a copy of the Kama Sutra as a cheeky bridal/bachelorette party shower gift. Anyway, on with this......

MOVIE: The 2006 Clark Kent hit the big screen in Superman Returns. Tonight catch the superhero do his thing all over again at the River Flicks outdoor film series. Free popcorn, free film and a nice cold summer breeze. Bring a blanket! Sunset // Hudson River Park, Pier 54 // Free MUSIC:The XYZ Affair has pretty much pounded their new song into our heads via a video starring old Nickelodeon "stars" we don't recognize. Tonight,......

"I've seen bizarre sex acts followed by gentle poetry followed by very perplexed wannabe stand-up comics." Francis "Faceboy" Hall has been hosting Faceboyz Open Mike for just over 13 years, with its 666th weekly performance coming up on July 15th. His stage has been graced by countless comedians, musicians, performing artists, and everyone in between, making it an institution of what it means to aspire to entertain in New York City. How did the open......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a church shooting on Schenectady Ave. in Brooklyn, a pedestrian struck on West 17th St. and Union Square West in Manhattan, and a water rescue in Raitian Bay between Staten Island and Sandy Hook, NJ. City Councilman Charles Barron's chief of staff, Viola Plummer, was suspended for six weeks from the City Council and by Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who she's also heckled, with a promise of reinstatment if......

We may have to wait until next April for Comic Con in New York, but there's plenty of comic goodness over at the Puck Building this weekend at the MoCCA Art Festival. Their well-punctuated description promises a generous dose of the genre: "Meet comics and cartoon artists! Four full ballrooms of cartoonists and publishers! Get sketches and autographs from Bill Sienkiewicz, Joe Staton, Arthur Suydam and others at the MoCCA Fundraising Sketch Table! Buy comics,......

Comedian John Roy has been all over TV and the country. He's won Star Search 2003, was featured in season 4 of Last Comic Standing, has been on Comics Unleashed and Premium Blend, and now he's coming to the Comic Strip on March 20th and 21st. What's it like to grow up with a psychotherapist and former Jesuit as parents? It's kind of strange because when you're a kid, you don't know that there are......

Andy Borowitz's talent transcends mediums. He's conquered TV with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the Internet with The Borowitz Report, the stage with his stand up and regular host of The Moth, a story telling series, and books with his tomes The Republican Playbook and Who Moved My Soap: The CEO's Guide to Surviving in Prison. What's next for this master of humor: the future! Tell me about Next Week's News. Next Week’s News......

Usually, if you want to see Brian Posehn you need to wait for a repeat of Just Shoot Me, Mr. Show, or The Sarah Silverman Program to come on, but on April 19th through 22nd you can head on over to Caroline's to get your Posehn fix. Gothamist decided to do a quick Q and A with Brian to find out what this comedy super star thinks of some of life's biggest issues, like religion,......

At the end of this month, your friendly neighborhood Spider Man will be all over New York for...Spider Man week! A five-borough-wide celebration (marketing ploy) featuring a ton of live events, screenings, parties and exhibits. The city has been central to the Marvel Comics legend since Spidey's beginning in 1962, so it only makes sense to launch the latest movie here. "On one hand, New York is a battleground, and on the other, it's a......

Frank Santopadre and Jim Pharo are Comedywise, a service that provides humorous speeches for CEO's, jokes for award shows, copy for advertisements, and things of that nature. So what exactly is it like to work in an office where your job is to write jokes? How do you even get the word out about such an endeavor? What's the dress code? How did the two of you meet and how did your partnership come......

A beloved Bronx Zoo grizzly bear died last week at age 13. "Jughead" had been ill for months and had also undergone surgery for abdominal abscesses according to the AP. The Bronx Zoo is planning a necropsy, and the zoo's director said, "Jughead was a wonderful, charismatic animal and he will be missed by all of our staff and visitors." Jughead and three other bears, brother Archie, Betty and Veronica, had been rescued from Montana......

There's a Page Six today about Rachael Ray being attacked by a dog. Apparently an unleashed dog in Union Square Park (we will guess it was at the dog run) was very aggressive and caused quite a bit of havoc. Ray's rep told the Post, "Rachael and some others shooed it away, but it came back and attacked Isaboo [Ray's pitbull mix]. Other dogs were involved, and Rachael jumped in and was bit by one......

Fifty pages of murder suspect Paul Cortez's diary were read aloud by prosecutors. Cortez, who is on trial for the murder of ex-girlfriend Catherine Woods, had kept diaries as a teenager and had been writing in jail as well. Manhattan ADA Paul Casolaro read entries in a monotone, like:"Don't look back/ She's still not there/ The swan is gone/ She's in the air/I'm not the same/ I just can't bear/ The time you stole/My......

Jackie Clarke is super terrific and up to lots of stuff! She performs Improv at the UCB with Death by Roo Roo, hosts a variety show with Julie Klausner, and is doing plenty of writing and video projects. In this interview, we discuss candy, dessert islands, NASA, radio, and her many endeavors all while showcasing her quick wit! They say blondes have more fun, but what about redheads? Redheads have a lot of fun. Look......

You probably already know Jeff Newelt, a.k.a. "Jahfurry," and if you don't, he's probably waiting to meet you. The professional publicist, tireless connector, and man about town, goes out almost every night of the week, with several parties and people on permanent mental speed dial, his brain constantly buzzing with new ideas. Described by friends as a "human MySpace" (Anthony Lappé) and "an infectious force of nature" (Larry Smith), the 35-year-old Long Island native and......

Comedian Doug Benson of Best Week Ever, Last Comic Standing Season 3, and Comedy Central Present's fame is in town to perform as part of the The Marijuana-Logues at Comix on January 18th, 19th, and 20th. In this interview, he discusses his love of movies, his film in progress Super High Me, and his new podcast, Doug Benson's I Love Movies. When did you start smoking pot? 27. The story goes something like this: I......

32-year-old artist, illustrator, and writer Dan Goldman may hail from Miami, but his current "Brooklyn-blessed" status is evident in his work, whether depicting subway scenes he's meticulously researched or in the guise of 2011 Williamsburg hipster turned Iraq blogger in his breakout collaboration with journalist Anthony Lappé, Shooting War. Shooting War was serialized earlier this year by SMITH Magazine, and will see an expanded hardcover release next fall from Warner Books. Goldman already had one......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: iVillagelive (WNBC & Bravo, Monday, 12:00 noon) NBC launches this lifestyle show focused on women on Monday. What makes it different from other such shows is that it is going to have an interactive component, since it is a spin-off from the NBC-Universal owned website iVillage.com. The 2006 Billboard Music Awards (WNYW 5, Monday, 8:00 p.m.) Yet another music awards show. The only reason it is noteworthy......

THEATER: In September 2005, theater director Peter S. Petralia embarked on the Trans-Siberian Railway, connecting with artists from around the world for as long as the train stayed in the station. He would give them an art "package" and they, in return, would send something back to him. His collection of art objects and stories have culminated in Invisible Messages, currently running at P.S. 122 through Sunday. The multimedia work uses Petralia’s art-experiment as a......

Jay Pinkerton's website makes me laugh. He's got pieces on there like Why I Probably Shouldn't Do Stand-Up , where Jay quips, "Why is it that the little black box is the only thing that survives a plane crash? Here's an idea: why not use the same stuff you make the black box with, and coat the passengers with it? Also, why crash at all? It just seems silly." I've spent many hours perusing......

THEATER: Stephen Belber, whose Tape was made into a riveting film by Richard Linkater, unveils his latest opus, A Small, Melodramatic Story at The Public Theater. Previews start tonight so there are no reviews yet, but the synopsis is intriguing: “In Washington, D.C., a widow struggles to figure out whether life is worth re-engaging with. In her path are the 1968 riots, the first Gulf War, the Freedom of Information Act, and herself. There's also......

Along a dark and lonely strip in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, underneath the El train - at 1087 Broadway, to be exact - sits a shop. What kind of shop it is is hard to say. There might be a guy at a table drinking a can of beer and reading a yellowed paperback. Another table could have a cat stretched across it. There's a small counter on your left, with a couple of......

Of course the big news in New York movies this weekend is the New York Film Festival which kicks off tomorrow at Lincoln Center. However, in an attempt reserve our NYFF excitement for a full post tomorrow, let's just focus on the regular releases. Here we go. Jon Heder is making a whole career out of this lovable loser shtick. His newest movie School for Scoundrels doesn't feature quite as pathetic a character as he......