Wednesday, October 15

Sweaty BALLS! Is it time yet to empty our checking accounts (of course we don’t have any investments, real estate or 401(k), ya big silly) and flee to, eek, Quebec? Or better yet—Pompeii? Or should we just close our eyes, pretend nothing is happening and drop a couple thou on a big fancy benefit? In midtown, Hollywood grande dame Glenn Close is recognized for her contributions to the arts (lorgnettes! boiled bunnies!) at the Princess Grace Awards Gala at Cipriani. Co-chairs include Manhattan mega-broker Dolly Lenz and Law & Order creator Dick Wolf. Further west, the cologned smoothies at GQ throw a sedate Gentlemen’s Ball to fete the magazine’s charity initiatives; guests of honor will include actors Mark Wahlberg and Forest Whitaker, music producers Timbaland, whiny singer Usher, and NBA player Steve Nash. Meanwhile, thank heaven some entertainment can still be had for $10.75 in this city! Edward Norton tries to recover from his big Hulkin’ fiasco with a cop drama called Pride and Glory (not to be confused with Hope and Glory or Pride and Prejudice), which premieres at Loews Lincoln Square tonight. On the red carpet: Mr. Norton; sex maniac Colin Farrell; Angelina Jolie’s estranged papa, Jon Voight; and Jennifer Ehle, an actress best known, coincidentally, for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the Pride and Prejudice that did not star Keira Knightley. … And in other big-screwen news, Film Forum debuts Frontrunners, a documentary about election time … at striver-stuffed Stuyvesant High School! Among those running for class president is young punk George Zisiadis, now a Harvard sophomore like most of his other classmates. “I learned that people value you getting down and dirty,” Mr. Zisiadis told us. Also: “I’m fond of quoting Churchill. ‘If you’re under 30 and don’t vote liberal, you have no heart …’” No wonder Harvard rejected us!

[Princess Grace Awards Gala, Cipriani 42nd Street, 6:30 p.m., 212-245-6570; GQ Gentlemen’s Ball, the Edison Ballroom, 228 West 47th Street, 7 p.m., invitation only; Pride and Glory premiere, Loews Lincoln Square 13, 6 p.m., invitation only; Frontrunners, Film Forum, West Houston Street, 212-727-8110, www.filmforum.org]

mbryan@observer.com