NYCitizine

It's Video Day: The Jewish Film Festival and YouTube Wars!

Tonight (and, in one case, through the 28th), New York City honors the medium that moves us: film!

This afternoon at both the Jewish Musuem on the Upper West Side and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, is the kick-off of the 19th annual Jewish Film Festival. Featuring over two dozen films by filmmakers (including some Oscar-winners) from across the globe, the festival exhibits films exploring stories within a variety of themes and topics, including African-American history, Jewish history, World War Two, Russia, homosexuality, Israel, the Middle East, Poland, Romania and religion. Also included are a myriad of interesting and thought-provoking documentaries. This year's festival also features the New York premiere of a claymation film by Oscar-winning director Adam Elliot.

Tickets to the festival are $11 for the general public, but there are discounts for seniors, students and kids, and Film Society members.

If you're into film that are a little less high-brow and a little more slapstick, this is event happening at the Littlefield performance and art space in Brooklyn tonight going to be right up your alley: Littlefield's Redonkulous You Tube Wars Part 1. Because I truly can't describe it better than they can, here's the description of the event, straight from the organizer's mouth (so to speak):

Warfare for the modern age. It's simple folks, get a team of friends together or compete by yourself (teams count as one contestant). Contestants will go to war in a bracket style tournament consisting of single elimination rounds (think “March Madness” playoff bracket basketball). For each round, the 2 competitors will face-off by playing their 2 favorite youtube vids to wow the crowd. Win the crowd and move on to the next round. Video clips will be limited to 1 min so choose your starting point wisely! Remember, bring a playlist arsenal of outrageous videos cocked and ready for battle, you never know what your opponent will have streaming at you! Come early, be redonkulous and stay late. Prizes! Drink specials! Good times!

The party starts at 8pm, and is for those 21 and over, so that means drinks will be available. And guess what -- it's free! So bring your competitive spirit, and good luck!

(Image courtesy of LittlefieldNYC.com. Video from YouTube.com)

Joan Rivers! Live! In Person! Doing Stand-Up! And She's As Politically Incorrect As Ever...

If you only know Joan Rivers as a former contestant on "Celebrity Apprentice", from that Geico ad, or simply as an example of plastic surgery gone too far, this may be one of your last chances to get another impression of the (in)famous comedienne.

 

(Image from Wikipedia, courtesy of Underbelly Limited (Flickr))

The notoriously un-P.C., loudmouth version of your grandmother will be performing her stand-up routine tonight at the Laurie Beechman theater at the West Bank Cafe in Midtown. You can likely expect potty-mouth jokes about sex, race, religion, politics, etc. -- you know, all of those things you're not supposed to mention in polite company. Yes, she'll make you cringe, but you'll love watching her while she does it. And just try to stop the corners of your mouth from creeping into a smile.

The show starts at 8pm and will cost you $30 to get in, but it's for a good cause -- all the proceeds will go to the charity God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals and nutritional counseling (and just overall feel-good support) to men, women, children and families dealing with a life-altering illness. So, really, having a good time will also help you knock off your New Year's Resolution to give to charity, all in one night! Talk about killing two birds with one stone...

Just a heads up -- there's also a $15 minimum, but you were probably going to order drinks or a snack anyway, right? Right.

Can't make it tonight? You're lucky -- there's one more show coming up on January 20th, but that's the last break you get, you hear me? So go!

Put Your Useless Trivia Knowledge to Work and WIN Something, for Pete's Sake...

Some people are smart. Other people are intelligent. And still other people are somewhere between, cursed with a brain that stores useless facts that are almost never called for. Tonight comes one of those rare occasions when those people get their chance to put their gift -- or curse, depending on the person -- to work and potentially be awarded for their "quirk".

Le Poisson Rouge in the Village is hosting a big live trivia show called "The Big Quiz Thing". This ain't your local bar's trivia night -- they've got multimedia questions, a dazzling stage show, and some serious prizes, including $200 in cash for the winner! Actually, they give prizes to everyone in the top five -- including $50 for the runner up -- concession prizes for those who don't place in the upper echelon of smarties, and even prizes for the folks who come up with funny answers when they can't think of the correct one. I'll bet your neighborhood bar's prize can't top that.

Cover is $10, but that's a pretty good deal considering you're almost guaranteed to win SOMETHING. Doors open at 7pm and the show begins at 7:30. It's first-come, first-served, so bring your smartest buddies and get there early!

Wanna go on a test run to see if your trivia knowledge can compete? Try out some of their questions below:

What is the brand-name for a special crossbred variety of brine shrimp, available at toy stores nationwide?

What's the only NBA team named for an extinct animal?

Put the following actresses in order according to the number of Woody Allen movies they starred in, from the most to the fewest: Mia Farrow, Diane Keaton, Louise Lasser?

Name the TV show: a chef, a florist, a typist.

You can find the answers in the "Test Your Wit" section of The Big Quiz Thing website by clicking here.

(Photo courtesy of Le Poisson Rouge)

"Oh Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel..." -- Dreidel Party in Brooklyn Tonight!

If any of my Jewish friends out there feel left out during the Christmas-heavy holiday season, you have to head to a bar party tonight in Brooklyn celebrating the exhilarating spin of the dreidel!

Kicking off at 9pm tonight at Williamsburg's Full Circle Bar is MLD (Major League Dreidel) Game Night, where you can "compete for Gelt and Glory" playing the MLD's own dreidel game, Spinagogue! (Click the link for an amazing YouTube video showing you what the game's all about!) You'll be able to play two variations of the game in tournament style: "Spinnings" (Dreidel Baseball) or "Target Tops" (Dreidel Skeeball).

The night is also a CD release party for the band Gods of Fire! They'll be there signing copies of their new CD "Hanukkah Gone Metal", which they proclaim is filled with the "greatest Hanukkah music since the 2nd century."

(Photo from fullcirclebar.com)

Get Into The Holiday Spirit

Today, I've got two holiday happenings to tell you about that are so different from each other, it'll remind you of your holidays with the fam, specifically after your dad and your uncle have a little too much spiced egg nog...

Photo by -Marlith- (Flickr)

First, get yourself in the holiday mood tonight by checking out the Rockefeller Tree lighting! They dragged this 76-foot Norway Spruce all the way from Easton, Connecticut to deck it with lights, ornaments and tinsel, and put it on display for hundreds of thousands to see. The least you can do is be there when they turn the lights on... The switch gets flipped at 9 tonight, but you can see the razzle-dazzle every night between 5:30 and 11:30pm until January 7th. You won't, however, get to see professional ice skaters twirl figure-8s, the Rockettes' world-renown leg-kicks, Shakira's famous hips, or hear Alicia Keys or Barry Manilow flex their golden pipes -- that only happens tonight in a special performance before the lighting ceremony, starting at 7. (If you absolutely can't go, you can see it on your TV, but it won't be the same.)

Next weekend, though, is, in my humble opinion, when the holiday season really kicks off... SantaCon is back! Yes, it's that time of year when Santa, his scantily-clad helpers, Christmas trees, Frosty Snowmen, Hanukkah Harrys and Red-Nosed Reindeer fill the streets with drunken holiday cheer! For those that don't know, SantaCon is a gigantic crawl, where hundreds -- nay, thousands -- of people dressed as something having to do with the various December holidays journey from midtown to downtown (using public transportation, of course), stopping in various bars along the way. The party happens on Saturday, December 12, but the important details -- like where and when to meet -- won't be released until the day before the event. I'll keep you posted!

Check out the pics of last year's SantaCon below for an idea of what you can expect:

 

Oh, the holidays... Sometimes they DO bring out the best in people...