By Jessi Rucker 6/26/12 5:30pm

movie screenings

Alex Kurtzman, Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pine (Getty Images)

People Like Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks at the People Like Us Screening

You think you’ve had some wild nights, just try and top this: “When I was 30, I was at a party and a woman tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘Hey, I’m your sister,’” writer/ director Alex Kurtzman told The Observer.

Last night The Cinema Society, with Linda Wells and Allure, hosted a screening of  People Like Us, a film that is loosely based on and fully inspired by Mr. Kurtzman’s own journey starting a relationship with his sister at age 30. The film stars Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks who were both at Chelsea Cinemas to debut the drama/comedy. We’re not sure if it was the movie or something in the popcorn, but love and inclusivity was in the air. Read More

By Erica Schwiegershausen 6/26/12 12:30pm

Young Ones

Instagram photo from @rookiemag.

Rookie Road Trip: Teenage Editor Tavi Gevinson Eats Cupcakes With Fangirls in Brooklyn

By the time Tavi Gevinson arrived at Littlefield in Brooklyn yesterday afternoon a full hour late (her plane had been delayed), the venue was packed with waify, whimsically dressed teenage girls in carefully considered outfits. There were some shrieks from the audience as the revelation that Ms. Gevinson had arrived spread around the room, and a few trembling “oh my god’s” were emitted as the 16-year-old editor-in-chief took the stage. Pink crepe paper streamers were strung along the walls and metallic stars were had been stuck around the stage. There were boxes of cupcakes on the tables and a few moms chatted in the background.

Ms. Gevinson read from her Rookie DIY article “How to Bitchface,” demonstrating each of the facial expressions discussed and drawing loud laughs from a generous audience. Her voice had an air of self-assured confidence and grace, which was a welcome change from the syrupy tone of the young Rookie writers who read before her, even when she slipped up on a few notes in the text. “Sorry, I should have looked over this more,” Ms. Gevinson apologized to the audience. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 6/26/12 8:00am

the eight-day week

Roberta's

To Do Tuesday: Down By the River

Few spots in the city make it quite so easy to fantasize one is in more idyllic surroundings than the Boat Basin—a rare, weird patch of nature devoid of the urbane types overpopulating the jogging tracks at Central Park. Tonight, the city’s most pastoral spot gets dosed with some of the town’s most cutting-edge cuisine, Read More

By Drew Grant 6/25/12 7:00pm

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga's upcoming Fame perfume/Logo for Gaga Pure Platinum

Lady Gaga Gets Litigious With Cosmetics Company

Lady Gaga has no problem calling foul on anyone that tries to cash in on the Gaga name.

In the past, the cases have been pretty standard: the trademarks were registered after Lady Gaga’s rise to fame and have directly tried to profit from an association. But now Gaga’s cosmetic company, Ate My Heart Inc., may have found themselves on the side of a losing battle with Gaga Pure Platinum. The Albany makeup brand not only holds the trademark name, but filed it long before Stefani Germanotta transformed herself into the queen of the Little Monsters. Read More

By Spencer Rothman 6/25/12 2:50pm

Film Festivals

Rose Byrne and Hugh Jackman at Tropfest.

Tropfest, the World’s Largest Short Film Festival, Overtakes Bryant Park

As we stood at the black carpet anticipating host Hugh Jackman‘s arrival at Tropfest, a massive outdoor short-film festival held on Saturday in Bryant Park, we eavesdropped on a conversation held behind us between three robust fans of the actor. “I came all the way from Wisconsin to see him!” one of the women screeched to her companions. ”Yeah? Well, I got this custom shirt made,” another woman said, pointing to her shirt with a giant portrait of Mr. Jackman printed on it.

Tropfest originally started in Australia and has spun off into several other countries, and Saturday was the American debut. Tropfest’s founder John Polson discussed the festival with The Observer. “It’s really a celebration and an event more than a festival,” he said. “Geoffrey Rush has called it as close to rock and roll as filmmaking gets. It’s free, and the afternoon is amazing and has everything, even live music. It’s really unlike any film festival.”

At least ten thousand film lovers waited on blankets and lawn chairs, anticipating the arrival of the guest celebrity judges—Rose Byrne, Judah Friedlander, Jennifer Westfeldt, Ted Hope and Scott Foundas—and the screening of over a dozen short films. Read More

By Luke Hammerman 6/25/12 1:00pm

pride

18 Photos

Proud for the City

On the Anniversary of New York’s Same-Sex Marriage Law, a Jubilant Pride Parade

Yesterday we donned a rainbow and a camera as the Heritage of Pride Parade made its way down 5th Avenue to Greenwich Street in the Village. Flags lined the streets on either side as thousands appeared (many in elaborate costumes) to support New York City’s LGBT community. This year’s parade held special significance for many as it was the first since same-sex marriage became legal in New York. The parade’s grand marshal Cyndi Lauper said, with tears in her eyes, “I am a New Yorker and I love Pride because we love to celebrate. And we have a lot to celebrate.”

The event was also attended by several politicians including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and the other grand marshals, Chris Salgardo, the president of Kiehl’s, and New York City’s first legally married same-sex couple, Phyllis Siegel and Connie Kopelov. Click through our slideshow for snaps of them and dozens of others of supporters. Read More

By Erica Schwiegershausen 6/25/12 9:00am

literary events

Will Patton, left, and Denis Johnson.

Denis Johnson Says His Novel Tree of Smoke, a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, “Shouldn’t Have Been Published”

“I’m here to sell books. That’s why I came,” Denis Johnson informed the audience after reading from his recently released book of plays, Soul of a Whore and Purvis: Two Plays in Verse, at BAM Thursday night. Despite this early disclaimer, Mr. Johnson appeared to thoroughly enjoy performing.

The crowd was about what we would have expected for an event series entitled “Eat, Drink & Be Literary” with a $50 ticket price—a mix of sweet-looking bespectacled couples with haphazardly tucked button downs and more seasoned residents of Park Slope who dressed in summer whites and chewed slowly. Not, in other words, stereotypical Denis Johnson fans. Read More