EVENT: In the book Love & Sex With Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships David Levy goes where no man has gone before. Hopefully. From the book's description: "Love, marriage, and sex with robots? Not in a million years? Maybe a whole lot sooner.From a leading expert in artificial intelligence comes an eye-opening, superbly argued book that explores a new level of human intimacy and relationships—with robots." We're not even ready to see Lars and......

Whether or not you're going to the annual Village Halloween Parade this evening, it'll probably effect your day in some way if you live or work in the area. If you want to avoid the mayhem, don't be anywhere in the vicinity of 6th Avenue between Spring and 22nd Steets. The streets intersecting the route will be closed off at 5pm sharp! If you want to watch, get there early to stake out a spot.......

FESTIVAL: The New York Ukulele Festival has arrived. The weekend includes: "nonstop Ukulele Fun! Concerts, Vendors, Workshops, Jams! 40,000 Square Feet, Two Concert Stages! FREE BEER ALL WEEKEND. FREE UKULELE DOOR PRIZES AT EVERY CONCERT!!” Friday through Sunday // Noon to 5pm // Theatre for the New City [155 1st Ave] EVENT: Clock out early and head to the Apple Store this afternoon to catch producers/screenwriters/directors Joel and Ethan Coen (pictured). They'll be discussing the......

FILM: Who doesn't like a rendez-vous? Tonight come to Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. The event is in its 12th year and will introduce you to what's been playing on Parisian movie screens. Tonight is the first night and Olivier Dahan’s La Vie en Rose plays - the film will educate you on French legend Edith Piaf. Through March 11th // Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts [70 Lincoln Center Plaza] // $22......

Jude Narita’s solo show Walk the Mountain, currently running at Theater for the New City, delves into the horrors endured by women who survived the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge. The text of the play is inspired by interviews Narita conducted with Vietnamese and Cambodian women; throughout the performance she plays a wide variety of roles to create a detailed portrait of human suffering. The centerpiece of the spare set, designed by Jerry Browning,......

Bread and Puppet is coming to town for the holidays! And it looks like they've got an adult show and a kids show lined up: • "The Battle of the Terrorists and the Horrorists" (for adults): This show contains excerpts from the Mayan Council Book, "The Popol Vuh." It features several no-no-no dances, including the "Civilians-Are-Not-The-Target-But-The-Civilians-Are-The-Target" dance, the "Air-Sea-And-Trees-Casualty" dance, the "Why-Do-They-Hate-Us-What-Have-We-Done-To-Them" dance; and one Yes-Dance, the "Sweeping-Away-Of-The-Miserable-Government" dance. First week: Thursday through Sunday......

READING: Here's something awesome to spice up your week - from Housing Works Used Book Cafe's website: "Jest Fest 06, a celebration of the 10th Anniversary of David Foster Wallace's INFINITE JEST. Join John Krasinski (The Office), Todd Hanson (The Onion), Lev Grossman (Time Magazine), and Laura Miller (Salon) in reading from and talking about the book. Audience participation strongly encouraged!" Nerdy goodness abounds! - Krissa Corbett Cavouras 7pm // Housing Works Used Book Cafe......

THEATER: Jude Narita's one-woman show, Walk the Mountain, is about the hellish effects of the Vietnam War. In the wrong hands, this might make for an unbearably ponderous evening, but the Times review puts us at ease: “In dramatizing unspeakably horrific events, must an artist end up brutalizing her audience as well? [Jude Narita] reminds us that it's possible for a performer to treat both her material and her audience with respect.” For Walk the......

Along with producing shows by up and coming playwrights, one of the things off-off-Broadway does best is to resurrect plays first presented ages ago that have hardly been seen or thought of since. One such is V.R. Lang’s Fire Exit: A Vaudeville For Eurydice, which is nominally a modernization of the Orpheus-Eurydice myth but in actuality, at least in this incarnation, is more an opportunity for some majorly bizarre antics by a brave, eager cast.......

We read in the Times this weekend that today is supposedly one of the most depressing days this year, according to some sort of logarithm computed by Health magazine, and that seems entirely plausible to us – January is not a friendly month, even when it’s not super cold. One would think that the default theatrical antidote for the winter doldrums would be some sort of peppy, bright-eyed musical, but for some reason right now......

The cool air inside theaters that we touted all summer isn’t exactly an attraction now – at times you might find yourself wishing you were under the nice warm spotlight – and most off-off-Broadway shows don’t have plush seats you can snuggle into, but there are a number on this week that should make you forget the cold, at least mostly. House of No More, at Dance Theater Workshop, sounds like the kind of show......

THREE DAY WEEKEND! THREE DAY WEEKEND! THREE DAY WEEKEND! THREE DAY WEEKEND! THREE DAY WEEKEND! THREE DAY WEEKEND! MUSIC: Bravo Silva plays tonight at the Delancey, so if you missed them at Movable Hype last month now's your chance to catch them. Their set is just after the hour long open bar, so get there by 9 for free drinks, and by 10:30 for the band. [via the new and improved papermag.com] Details: Tonight //......

Is that the sun that woke us up this morning? It won't last for long so enjoy it while you can. It's the unofficial start to summer this long weekend, and unless you're one of those people who uses the word "summer" as a verb, then you're sticking around the city. Hopefully you get to leave the office a little early though... FILM: The LES Film Festival 2005 is free and it's this weekend! Starting......

Jason Eaton, Children's Book Author...

I'm thinking about doing a little volunteer work for a theatre group this summer - do you have any suggestions? I have lots of experience both onstage and backstage, but am not particularly interested in pursuing it career-wise. Thanks for your help! Drama Queen What a fun idea! If you are indeed a Drama Queen, no better to place to express it than in the theatre, with the fellow kings and queens of the stage.........

The recent move by Governor Pataki to block the city's, and Mayor Bloombergs's, attempt at refinancing the city's $2.5 billion debt - which was approved by the state legislature - is the latest in the the ongoing fractious that is the New City Mayor-New York Governor relationship. The Times describes it as "not unlike a bad marriage in which one partner keeps up appearances even when the whole world is predicting divorce behind their......