Some former lovers just can't help but leave an indelible impression on a guy, no matter how many years they've been broken up. A judge thought that 23-year-old Kristina Caban definitely should not have, when she kidnapped her ex- and marked him on his abdomen with a homemade branding iron at the Chelsea Inn. She was sentenced to five years in prison for the crime. In October 2006, Caban arranged to meet Samir Sara for......

PARTY: Haven't gotten your fill of holiday office party fun this season? Metro Metro reminds all of its faux-ployees that their office party is tonight! "This is a reminder going out to all fake employees about the Metro Metro Holiday Office Party. Please join us in celebrating the holidays by assuming a fake job title and hobnobbing with fake co-workers over genuine drinks. Need inspiration for potential job titles, such as Associate with the Bad......

Ed Hamilton is one of the voices behind the Living With Legends blog, which reports on the Hotel Chelsea -- from the Hotel Chelsea, where he has lived for over a decade. More recently, he put out a book of tales from his hotel home -- an establishment that provides endless material. Legends of the Chelsea Hotel is part satirical and part historical, and Hamilton will be around town reading from it this month. Catch......

MOVIE: This week's Bryant Park movie is All the Kings Men.... The movie follows the rise of politician Willie Stark from the rural country to the big city spotlight. "Along the way, he loses his initial innocence, and becomes just as corrupt as those who he assaulted before for this characteristic." Romance, women, intrigue, power...it's all there. 5pm seating, Movie at dusk // Bryant Park // Free READING: Alison Weaver (re)tells the story of family......

READING: What do you do after you've outed Deep Throat? Well, David Friend, editor extraordinaire at Vanity Fair and general writer-about-town, has put out a new book - Watching The World Change - obervations on the post-9/11 world, and he's reading from it at the ever-popular Half King in Chelsea. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras 7pm // The Half King [W 23rd St at 10th Ave] // Free TALK: Director of "Requiem for a Dream" and......

Last Sunday, a woman got some crazy revenge on an old lover. According to the NY Post, the police believe 21 year old Kristina Caban convinced an old fling to go back to a hotel where two guys branded him with an "R". A police source explained, "They had sex several years ago and she was angry because he didn't contact her." Caban and Sara met at Half King on West 23rd, and then went......

READING: Get a drink at the Half King tonight in some good company - Anthony Bourdain will be there with Bill Buford, to celebrate Buford's new book, Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras 7pm // The Half King [W 23rd St at 10th Ave] // Free THEATER: Top off your Monday with a play about two prisoners in a......

October 14: Union Square Chocolate Lover’s Walking Tour Join culinary and chocolate expert Joyce Weinberg as she leads you through a chocolate-focused tour of the gourmet delights in the Union Square Neighborhood. Visit Chocolat Michel Cluizel, Chocolat Moderne, Tisserie, The city Bakery, and more. Three tours, 10am-12 noon; 1pm-3pm; 4pm-6pm; $35. Tickets are required and can be purchased at www.unionsquarenyc.org. Rain date: Sunday, October 15. October 15: Foodie Join Joe DeSalazar for his 15th foodie,......

THEATER: The Fringe Festival is over and pretty much every stage in town is dark tonight, but the Abingdon Theater Co. is producing a reading of Stephen Cone's Lacrimosa, about an famed evangelist and his wife who seclude themselves in their big mansion, thinking the Second Coming is near, but instead a strange girl arrives, and the evangelist's volatile brother, and with them all the problems and craziness of our mixed-up world, jolting them from......

READINGS: Sebastian Junger (co-owner of the Half King) will be reading there tonight from his latest book, A Death in Belmont. The book ties into Junger's own life eerily - back in 1963 when Junger was a small boy growing up in Belmont, Massachusetts, Bessie Goldberg was murdered down the street from his home. Following the stories of the two different men suspected of committing the crime (and one of them working at Junger's family......

KARAOKE: Tonight is the MCFGHT, a LVHRD event. Michelle Collins is the master of ceremonies, presiding over a roomful of people cheering on those who take part in the nights karaoke showdown. If you've never seen Brian Battjer do karaoke, and we're guessing most of you haven't, you do not want to miss this. He'll be one of the contestants tonight. Check out the flyer here, and buy tickets here. They're $20 ($11 if you're......

Scott Anderson stunned me. I decided to review his new novel, Moonlight Hotel, because of a venerable journalistic history of writing great war novels. And because Anderson is co-owner of the Half King, an establishment I heartily admire and endorse. The book was touted as a satire, a biting and witty look at the games of diplomacy and the spoils of war. And true to the book jacket blurbs, Moonlight Hotel started out with a......

It's soggy outside but it's cozy at the bookstores and bars this week. Tonight (6/16), Australian writer Peter Carey is reading from his latest book, Theft: A Love Story, at 192 Books at 7PM. Or, head down to the always cozy Half King tonight for the Spring 2006 edition of The Literary Review, where Lynne Tillman, Craig Mueller, and Cary Goldstein will be reading from their selections in the journal. It starts at 7PM and......

It's not quite the lusty month of May yet, but spring fever is already gripping the denizens of the city. So for your monthly dose of sexy scribes, head down to Happy Ending Lounge (302 Broome St.) for the monthly In The Flesh Erotic Reading Series. This month's theme is True Confessions, featuring comedian Dan Allen, blogger and novelist Jessica Cutler (The Washingtonienne), Columbia Spectator sex columnist Miriam Datskovsky, among others, and hosted by the......

This week kicks off tonight with Non-fiction night at KGB Bar (85 E. 4th St.) with Harry Brunius reading from Better for All the World : The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity and Cynthia Carr reading from Our Town: Heartland Lynching, a Haunted Town, and the Hidden History of White America. It starts at 7PM and is free. On Thursday night (3/23), 7PM at Barnes and Noble (Broadway at......

We know it's cold outside, but trust us, this is a good week for literature (unlike last week, coughFREYcough). We've got some real fiction, some real non-fiction, and even a real memoir! The fun kicks off tonight at 7PM at 192 Books (10th Ave. at 21st St.) with Caroline Burke reading from Lee Miller: A Life, her new biography of the photographer. Seating is limited, so call (212) 255-4022 for reservations. Because of the reservation......

Since it's obviously National Hangover Week and no one does hangovers better than New York artists, it's a rather slow week (again!) in readings and literary events. Next week looks like it's picking up a fair bit, though, and we're excited about several events, so tune in next Tuesday. For you science fiction fans, tonight the New York Review of Science Fiction hosts its first reading of the year, at the South Street Seaport Museum's......

The holidays are fast approaching and if you're a book lover in the city, you're more likely to be at a store buying a book as a gift than attending a reading this week, but nonetheless, there are some stellar choices for auditory literary entertainment, we humbly digest them for you: Tomorrow night, at the always awesome Used Book Cafe, Julian Rubenstein and Tom Reiss read from their books, Ballad of the Whisky Robbers and......

It's quite the red letter week for us bookish types, with the prestigious, sometimes baffling, and oft-maligned National Book Awards dinner and awards ceremony tomorrow night where trophies will be bestowed, granted, totally robbed, whatever, at the Marriott Marquis. To that end, critic A.O. Scott has an interesting article about the contradictions and complications inherent to the awards, Medal Fatigue (registration required). Garrison Keillor is the Master of Ceremonies which, frankly, is why Gothamist wishes......

I work in an office as a temp and my assignment will soon be coing to an end. I work with several attractive, young single women and I’ve been flirting with them for a few months now, often playing little practical jokes on them to get their attention. Before my last day, I’d really like to go out for drinks with some of my colleagues (and possibly turn a “friend” relationship into a romantic possibility).......

The New York Times' City section was devoted to the subway yesterday, and Gothamist is happy to live in the city to have gotten a print copy of it. Quick, read it online if you missed it - there was: - Guide to restaurants at the end of the line - A piece about subway crushes - NYC scholar (and Columbia professor) Kenneth T. Jackson wondering what if the subway never was - A look......