(NOTE: Unless otherwise indicated, all events take place in and around the NYC area.)
FRIDAY: Sir Roger Moore (pictured) will be at Barnes and Noble (555 Fifth Avenue @ 46th Street) signing copies of his new book, My Word is My Bond (go, obvious literary puns!) If baseball, rather than books, is your thing, swing by the Chelsea Piers to see Jon Bon Jovi, Don Mattingly, and Lorraine Bracco pay homage to the New York Yankees (this embarrassing year notwithstanding -- I blame Madonna, personally -- they're still the greatest team in New York City!). Can't do these things 'cuz your dear ol'grandma is in town? Why not enter your Nana into the Seventh Annual Your Highness Grandma Beauty Pageant? (This year's competition is at National in Brooklyn) Or, maybe she'd like a bit of Engelbert Humperdinck...you can catch him live at the Capitol One Bank Theatre in the Round in Westbury, Long Island (don't worry, tickets are still available).
SATURDAY: This is a great day to be a kid, as there's way too much to do (don't worry, parents -- like all kids, they'll find a way to complain of boredom). The Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum (pictured) makes its grand re-opening after over a year of repairs and refreshes, which included new exhibit installations, restored aircraft, a new public park-like pier, new interactive exhibits, dry-docking and a new paint job for the former USS Intrepid. Afterwards, head on uptown to the NY Public Library (111 Amsterdam Avenue, @ 65th Street) to see programs on the newly acquired Uta Hagen papers. Or, you can catch a plane to Miami (hey, airlines, including Delta and JetBlue are having firehouse sales on flights...better enjoy them while they last!) and join the Honey Shine Mentoring Program on Miami Beach as they turn seven beach blocks of Miami's coast into a cleaner, greener environment! Of course, feel free to leave your surly teenagers behind in New York City to hear master of gore Neil Gaiman read excerpts from his classic book The Sandman; this event, presented by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, is sure to bring out the D&D geeks (i.e., me) in droves. (Find us at the Helen Mills Theatre on West 26th Street, and bring Pez and Diet Cokes!)
SUNDAY: Catch ubermensch James Franco (pictured, *fans self*) compete against Salma Hayek, Kim Raver, Nicole Richie, Joel Madden, Jessica Alba, Molly Sims, and Jeremy Piven in the Hollywood Domino Tournament (yes, watching people play dominoes is about as fun as watching grass grow and/or paint dry, but the opportunity to ogle the hotness of my future ex-husband -- I mean, James Franco -- is all worth it. Plus, they're playing to benefit the art of the Elysium, so we can all suffer a little for a good cause...). They'll be at the Edison Ballroom on West 47th Street (appropriately, the Hell's Kitchen area...though gentrification often finds it being referred to as "Midtown West"...puh-leeze). Of course, if you can't get enough of brain-eating zombies (nice segue...), head uptown to the 92nd Street YMCA to find Neil Gaiman reading more excerpts from The Sandman. In fairness, The Sandman is the only graphic novel (comic book?) to land on The New York Times' best-seller list, so the weekend-long publicity blitz is justified.Aaaaaaaannnnnndddd...what are YOU up to this weekend? Share here!
