Donnie Darko’s little sister is all grown up and heading to LA. Or at least she will be when S. Darko, the sequel to the 2001 cult film, Donnie Darko, starts shooting May 18.  read more »

Put down the merlot! Alexander Payne, director of wine-snob favorite Sideways, has signed on to direct HBO's dark comedy Hung. Apparently the main character is, um, well-endowed. "Think of him like Spider-Man," show creator Colette Burson told Daily Variety last month. "He's an average guy who gets in touch with his innate superpowers." Okay, wait maybe we should keep drinking to watch this one. Variety reports:  read more »

Adam Green of The Moldy Peaches made his comeback by appearing on the Juno soundtrack with his other half Kimya Dawson. They wrote that sacchrine-sweet song that Ellen Page and Michael Cera's characters sing to each other in the last scene, "Anyone Else But You." He answered some questions for the Gothamist blog, reminiscing about the Lower East Side, discussing his new album and telling his "only in New York story" in which a young kid tried to pay him to have sex with him.  read more »

CONCERTS

In case you were wondering what this year's official summer jam might be, wonder no more: A few days ago, People unveiled a taste of New Kids On the Block's comeback single, "Summertime," and as the title suggests, it is indeed all about the summertime, or, perhaps more accurately, meeting hot chicks in the summertime. Some of our favorite lines include, "I played it cool / The weather was hot / You had the beauty and the beach on lock" and "You wasn't lookin' for a man / When you saw me in the sand / But you fell for a boy from the city," and (here's the best one) "I was like, 'Hey girl, can i getch' yo' number?'" NKOTB plays the Meadowlands' Izod Arena on Sept. 23. (Pre-sale is on now, public sale starts Monday.) [On Sale: Monday, May 12]

The Smoking Popes never hit it much bigger than having one great song ("Need You Around") on the soundtrack to Clueless. But as far as '90s power pop bands go, it doesn't get much better. They play The Blender Theater at Gramercy on July 5. [On Sale: Friday, May 9 at noon]  read more »

It's a filthy world out there and John Waters has never been afraid to show it to us on film (see: sex scene involving chickens in Pink Flamingos). But Mr. Waters will be bringing us all the crime, fashion lunacy and extremes of the contemporary art world live, on stage, at his one-night-only, one-man show "The Filthy World" on June 26. The "Pope of Trash" will perform his vaudeville act at the Concert Hall at the New York Society of Ethical Culture. Tickets are $37.50 and $100 for FilthyVIP (which includes a meet and greet with Mr. Waters, and an autographed DVD). Get tickets here.  read more »

Watch out Keira Knightley! Ellen Page is trying to take your career as period-piece queen! The Juno star is making big moves, from quick talkin', uber-hip hipster types to one of literature's most beloved characters in BBC's new adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Reuters reports:

BBC Films has signed on to develop an adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte novel and has attached Page to play Jane. Moira Buffini wrote the screenplay; a director has not yet been chosen.

The role would mark the first period piece for Page, who has signed on to a number of contemporary films since her Oscar-nominated turn in "Juno," including the roller-derby comedy "Whip It!" and the dramatic thriller "Peacock." She opted out of Sam Raimi's supernatural tale "Drag Me to Hell" this year, citing scheduling conflicts.

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Those queens and nerdy assistants pretending to be at a glitzy New York magazine in Ugly Betty might actually move to New York. Thanks Gov. Paterson!  read more »

Tribeca officials announced that more than 155,000 ticketed moviegoers attended the 11-day fest this year, down from 185,000 last year (over 12 days) and 203,000 in 2006 (over 13 days), according to their records. This, despite the fact that organizers lowered ticket prices by 20 percent and centralized screenings and activities in the Tribeca and the Union Square area. They estimated total attendance of just under 400,000 at the 2008 Festival. The Observer's Sara Vilkomerson wrote: "At seven years old, it’s time to ask: Can Tribeca grow up?" We're not so sure New Yorkers are willing to allow Tribeca to graduate from film festival pre-school given those numbers.

AUDITION
by Barbara Walters
Alfred A. Knopf, 624 pages, $29.95

Journalists are, by necessity, chameleons, or, as Janet Malcolm famously put it, “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people’s vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.”  read more »

Editors at MSNBC.com removed and retracted a story about James Frey last Thursday afternoon after receiving some angry phone calls from members of Mr. Frey’s publicity team. In the story “Frey Still Having Trouble Keeping Facts Straight,” which ran in the Scoop gossip column, reporter Courtney Hazlett suggested that Mr. Frey, the disgraced memoirist whose debut novel will be published by HarperCollins next Tuesday, had been caught in a fresh tangle of lies.

First, Ms. Hazlett questioned a story about meeting Norman Mailer that Mr.  read more »