SHOP: Still looking for that perfect gift? The Brooklyn Historical Society is holding the 4th Annual NY Creates Craft Fair, and they may have just what you're looking for. Check it out today and tomorrow, and it will be back the 22nd and 23rd for the real last-minute shoppers. Friday and Saturday // Noon to 6pm // BHS [128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn] ART: Too much is going on the First Friday of every month, so......

Paramore Arrives One of our favorite albums of the year is by these girl-fronted teenage pop-punkers, and they were in town this week to headline their largest local show yet at Roseland Ballroom. It was the last show of a massive national tour, but you wouldn't know it seeing front woman Hayley Williams running around stage with the rest of her band. Paramore may not win any originality contests, but they've got more fire and......

Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for the NY Times, enjoys working in his employer's new headquarters, he writes today, but the building designed by Renzo Piano falls short of the best skyscrapers in the city. For one, it allegedly harbors a streak of nostalgia, which in the world of architectural discourse amounts to an aesthetic identity crisis. The nostalgia in question is a longing not for neo-Gothic frills and cornices, but for the 1950s era......

Another over-the-top Coney Island development proposal is in the works. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a plan today to build the nation's biggest urban amusement park there, including 4,500 residential units (20 percent are set-asides for low- and middle-income housing) and some retail establishments. The proposal basically spells doom for Thor Equities' $1.5 million Vegas-style entertainment complex that can only get built if the city provides zoning for it. Don't worry, the Cyclone isn't going anywhere.......

This week, Phillyist saw the waters of a landmark fountain run red for a Showtime marketing stunt, the Phils pull ahead, and some serious nostalgia. They also got a chance to review an awesome tribute album, reminded folks to see the King, and appreciated their beautiful skyline. Chicagoist knows what it's like to like the Cubs. But naming your kid Wrigley Fields? At least they can breathe a little easier now that Grossman's out and......

The Division of State Government Accountability from the Office of the New York State Comptroller recently released an audit of the New York City Transit Museum’s Nostalgia Train program. The audit identified “significant weaknesses in the Museum’s internal controls over ticket revenue for Nostalgia Train excursions” and that most of the program’s costs are coming from New York City Transit’s fare revenues and public mass transit funding. What's fun is that the audit was spurred......

Clap Your Hands Back in Town After several months of playing massive festivals around the world, The original blog-band returns home. And you know, just because blogs don't follow these fellas' every move anymore doesn't mean that the DIY posterboys aren't still out there selling out clubs and supporting their sophomore album. They played a few local shows this week and their ever-improving live act was tight and on point at the Music Hall of......

With Labor Day weekend well under way, the season of block parties is about to come to an end. The NY Times has a story today on 4 of the 225 block parties that took place in the city last weekend (overall most take place in Brooklyn). That high number is courtesy of the mayor’s street activity permitting office. To get approval one must fill out an “application for street activity permit,” pay $15 in......

While the literary set continues to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, the fashionistas are joining in on the fun. Neatly tucked in to every post-college kids backpacking across Europe adventure bag -- and most likely on your bookshelf -- the dharma bum bible just keeps on giving. Now it's giving the tres chic SoHo shop, Hogan, a new way to cash in on nostalgia. The store, an Italian leather company,......

MUSIC: Not long ago we saw the movie Once, and absolutely loved it. Busker meets girl, deep connection through music...you get the idea. Now the two main characters are touring and singing the songs from the soundtrack. The male lead was of course the singer of The Frames, Glen Hansard, and his female counterpoint is Marketa Irglova. Tonight they take the stage at Gramercy, so it's your chance to see them off the big screen......

Natasha Khan is better known as the singer-songwriter behind Bat for Lashes, a band recently nominated for the Mercury Prize. Khan weaves a world all her own with her music and artwork, and happily invites anyone to come join her there. We wouldn't be surprised if at university she majored in nostalgia, with so much attention drawn back to childhood in her work. Her wide-eyed world of yesteryear is a little bit magical, a little......

Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (directed by Eric Zala) It may be hard to imagine what hardcore movie fans did before the advent of the Internet's forums, blogs and YouTube videos, but you can take a trip down the Betamax memory lane with Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation playing tonight and tomorrow at 8 pm at Anthology Film Archives. A group of preteens in Mississippi over the course of seven years......

Michael Hearst, of Brooklyn book-rock collective One Ring Zero, is the man behind Songs For Ice Cream Trucks. As such, he has single-handedly reinvented the timeless sound we often hear on the street during the summer, some with a tinge of nostalgia, some sprinkled with noir and all leaving you wanting seconds. Do you ever approach random trucks and give them your cd? Actually, I have on a few occasions, but it usually turns out......

Holy Crap! The Virtual LES launched! Words cannot describe, friends (speaking of which, let's be BFFs!). Clearly this is not meant for people who actually frequent the actual Lower East Side, but rather the people who read their blogs. Seeing all the places in creepy second life 3-D is pure Twilight Zone stuff. Highlights so far, while briefly browsing around the site are that you can shop at the Virtual American Apparel, attend virtual......

The Summer of Love is back, and taking over New York for a 40th anniversary celebration spanning museums, theaters and screens. The NY Times takes a look at what to expect during this retrospective celebration: The Whitney Museum of American Art is noting the anniversary with “Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era,” opening Thursday. The Public Theater, which formed that summer with “Hair,” is staging a hippie-friendly season of Shakespeare in the Park,......

Notes on a Scandal (directed by Richard Eyre): There are certain actresses who can really do no wrong and surely Judi Dench as well as Cate Blanchett are on that list. If you missed their Oscar-nominated pairing from last winter, Notes on a Scandal, you've got another chance to see these two fine thespians in full command of their powers as the movie comes out on DVD this week. Based on Zoë Heller's best selling......

Irving Plaza is Officially (and Inexplicably) Rebranded On the night Lily Allen played her first post-bloghype show in New York, the ad wizards at Live Nation decided to officially rename the place The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza and drop some fake pseudo-hippie nostalgia to an already otherwise storied venue. It's an embarrassing and senseless stunt thought up by past their prime marketers in an attempt to make a consistent nationwide brand under the......

Every once in a while, Gothamist comes across a news story that brings back fond memories. There was one pathological criminal kid in our rural upstate high school. One year we had the bad luck of being assigned a hall locker to which the criminal kid knew the lock combination. He would steal the cookies Gothamist and our lockermate would bring in with our lunches. Only the cookies --the nutritious parts of the lunch were......

There have been rumors about TRL ending its run this year (most likely by the summer) and now comes news that MTV will cut 250 jobs and invest in digital. By now we're all aware that the firing spree started yesterday. With viewers turning to the internet more and more, we suppose it only natural for the network to follow them. While we're happy this may mean the end of screaming teens standing outside of......

Today the NY Times reviews a new show at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. Titled “Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X-197X,” the exhibit explores 70 architectural magazines published in New York and elsewhere during the period. Pamphlets and building instruction manuals are included in the "little magazine" category. The most New York-centric covers described by Nicolai Ouroussoff feature an elephant attacking the Guggenheim Museum and a skyscraper made of Swiss cheese.......

Starting tonight, the Under the Radar Festival of new theater will be cleared for take-off. The three-year-old festival is produced by indie theater impresario Mark Russell, who, as Executive Artistic Director of P.S. 122 for over two decades, nurtured the venue into the alt-performance epicenter it is today. This year’s lineup runs 11 days and features performance, playwriting, puppetry, solos, and "classics re-considered" by artists from around the world. All but four of the 15......

Maybe it's the the accelerating pace of creative destruction (aka redevelopment) and corresponding bewilderment. Maybe it's just the proliferation of digital cameras. But for whatever reason, "Then and Now" photographic comparisons of New York streets and neighborhoods continue to proliferate. What is it about visual nostalgia and urban time-hopping that's so irresistible? A new comparative pair of snapshots of the Brooklyn waterfront 'tween the bridges was revealed today at Dumbo NYC. Check out how......

Back in 2003, when Mayor Bloomberg sold the Board of Education's old headquarters at 110 Livingston Street in Brooklyn, people were fixated on the horrors of bureaucracy. Nicknamed "The Kremlin," 110 Livingston represented everything that was wrong with the city, and one person even told the NY Times, "If there is an opposite of nostalgia, you'd have to apply it to 110 Livingston Street." Well, what a difference a few years and high-end finishes make.......

Bryan Bruchman, of New York band Man in Gray, and his girlfriend Mary, have started a site to pay homage to all of those ruined songs in life. You know how often a song will stick itself to a situation, an event, a memory...making music a sonic earmark, and the first few notes of a song leading you on an unwanted trip down memory lane. So this site, Ruined Music, not only focuses on those......

It's Halloween Eve, and even the animals are getting into the spirit. There is one pet that does not need a costume - the black cat. But as it happens, some cities (like L.A.) block black cat adoptions during the spooky season for fear that owners are just using them for seasonal prop purposes. The Daily News says that the city allows black cat adoptions, but screens potential owners more carefully. Animal Care and Control's......

New York Magazine rounds up one of summer's sweetest treats -- the ice cream sandwich. Forget about the tasteless, mass-produced blocks from your childhood, we're talkin' high end sandwiches, with high end cookies (think Jacques Torres chocolate chunk) filled with rich gelato in a range of flavors. Try One Girl Cookies' version of a whoopie pie filled with il Laboratorio's ricotta gelato, the brownie with fromage-blanc gelato from Ruby et Violette, or pick your own......

Siren is always a half-empty/half-full type situation. On one hand, you're getting top tier indie bands playing in New York City for free. On the other, you know going into it the sound will be lousy, the crowds unbearable and the heat incapacitating. Depending on how you play your expectations, it can be a great day or a miserable one. This was my 4th Siren, and while always prepared for the worst, it turned out......

Oh, 42nd Street. The Deuce. The crossroads of the world. And so on, and so on. Few American thoroughfares have had such well recorded highs and lows as West 42nd Street between 6th and 8th. Though at this point it can be hard to remember for many people, the 42nd Street that currently attracts tourists from the world over (the "New 42nd Street") was not always quite so shiny. Where now there are flocks......

- Burger tips for the summer, posted pre-Memorial Day by A Hamburger Today - Some Fresca love over on Slashfood. And yes, they do make Tab – it's an energy drink now. - Bruni Digest on the big Frank road trip fast food sprint from last week. - And this digest is sure to be a must-read, irregular read for those of us up to our eyeballs in this food thing. (Times Select is required,......

I tend not to enjoy myself at rap shows. I've got nothing against Rap music and I'm no racist, but I just never seem to really get into it. There are some shows I've really dug. Wu-Tang a few months ago in New Haven was a total trip. Atmosphere always impresses me live (Yes, he's white and no, I'm still not racist.) Other than that, I've been disappointed by nearly every live hip-hop show I've......