24 Frames per Second

In the month of December, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog.

I'm sorry to shout. But we're showing Desperately Seeking Susan and DIRECTOR SUSAN SEIDELMAN WILL BE HERE. So if ever you were going to attend a Lower East Side Heritage '80s film, this is the one. Ms. Seidelman will be speaking about her work, and there will be a Q and A after the show. Moving on...

Before the craze of Psy's "Gangnam Style", the Korean Wave had already overwhelmed the masses and continues to spread throughout the world today. The Wave does not only include famous, catchy Korean Pop songs but also great dramas and movies that rival any Spanish soap opera I've ever watched.

In the month of November, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog.

In the month of October, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. 

In the month of September, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. 

September is a super-powered month that sees the release of this summer's biggest hit movie, The Avengers. If you're looking for a laugh, we've got you covered, with releases of The Five-Year Engagement, What to Expect When You're Expecting and Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3. September also has many TV releases such as Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, The Office, and many more! Get a jump start ahead of the rest, and reserve these plus many more September DVD releases now!

In the month of August, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. Highlights include box office hits The Hunger Games and Think Like a Man.

If you're looking for laughs, check out The Dictator, Bernie, The Five-Year Engagement Plan, and Community: Season 3. The Lorax, based on Dr. Seuss' classic book sees a DVD release in August. If you don't want to wait on the list, the Dongan Hills Branch of the NYPL will be screening The Lorax on Friday, August 10th, complete with free popcorn and prizes! Get a jump start ahead of the rest, and reserve these plus many more 

Post-WWII London, by the mid-to-late 1960s, was reimagining, rebuilding and rearranging. Its economy was strong, and nearly 30% of its population was aged 15-34. With these factors in play, and with that undefinable "something" that brings creativity and zest to a location for however brief a time, London emerged as the style capital of the world, its youth culture arising from the heady influences of new music and street fashion.

In the months of June and July, we have been seeing many great DVD movies coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. Highlights include big comedy releases American Reunion, Casa de Mi Padre, The Three Stooges, Project X, Jeff Who Lives at Home, Wanderlust and 21 Jump Street. June and July also offers some great family films, such as Mirror Mirror, A Thousand Words and John Carter. If you want to catch up with some critically acclaimed Television shows, the Library's got you covered, with releases of Louie, and Breaking Bad's latest seasons. Get a 

Pretend you’re just outside Tompkins Square Park. Enter the park on Avenue A, at 8th Street. Take the windy path through the park towards Avenue B. Okay, now sniff. What do you smell?

You smell dogs.

The Way it Is or Eurydice in the Avenues opens early morning summer in the Park. Three feckless dog walkers stand over the dead body of a girl in a polka-dot dress. Who else is going to find a dead body in Tompkins Square Park? Okay, drug-addicts, probably, but still. Dog walkers. Brilliant.

In February of each year, we all wait with bated breath to discover the winners of the Academy Awards. But February isn’t the only time to turn our thoughts to all things movies.

Judging from the teasers, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises promises to be another must-see summer movie, not least for the anticipation of Anne Hathaway's being cast as Catwoman. Anne has some impressive spandex to fill, however, against such feline luminaries as Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, and and Michelle Pfeiffer, each with her own brand of Gotham catitude. Check out our treasury of vintage images of Catwomen from NYPL's Billy Rose Theatre Division and then take a sec and scratch your vote for the most purrfect Catwoman.

Permanent Vacation opens with a moving crowd of New Yorkers, still dressed '70s groovy. It might be a camera trick, but no one appears to be rushing. The music is slow, diffuse horn and bells. We meet 16-year-old Aloysious Christopher Parker, already dressed '80s rockabilly cool. His body is like a marionette's — all long limbs and loose joints. His voice is like an oboe, and his delivery is like slow air out of a tire. He dances to Earl Bostic's Up There in Orbit, on a toy phonograph, on the floor, in a narrow Lower East Side tenement room painted thickly yellow-white.

Prohibition. Politics. Corruption. Alcohol was not illegal to drink. It was just illegal to manufacture, sell, or transport. Various organized criminal enterprises saw fit to illegally manufacture, sell, and transport alcohol to those who wanted it. 1920. Money. Politics. Corruption. This is Boardwalk Empire.

Don't Shhhh me!.... NOT this time.

We are about to conclude the second season of our Lower East Side Heritage Film Series and for the closer we are ALL TALK.

My favorite stories are the ones about the ordinary people who, while going about their daily lives, encounter strange and/or inexplicable events. How they behave in the midst of weirdness is more interesting than the phenomenon itself. I've always been a sucker for a well-told vampire tale. (Sorry!) Or an off-center ghost story or strange-baby story... Here, in no particular order, are a few of my favorite, wonderfully odd movies.

Calypso, the traditional carnival music of Trinidad, is so infectious with its driving beat, upbeat rhythms and colorful lyrics, that it defies you not to get up and dance or sing or both.

I went to high school in the East Village from 1983 to 1987. This might sound kind of punk rock. Unfortunately, I totally missed out on CBGB in the late Seventies (see also: Punking Out) and early Eighties. And let's face it, I didn't go inside any real club for most of the Eighties either — I was underage, and too busy studying for the SATs. But I remember how the outsides looked. The streets and lines. The cars, still squared off boats from the Seventies. Of course, three-card monte. And lots and lots of vacant lots. Dirty, over-painted apartment facades with broken front doorknobs. Vinyl miniskirts. Wanting to look like Debbie Harry, not Madonna.

Shhhh.... this one is silent.

One of the great things about silent film is the fact that it is, well, silent.

While this attribute certainly draws attention to body language and visual storytelling, it also provides a blank canvas. As someone who composes and arranges music, this proves a great opportunity to sharpen my skills and have a bit of fun, dropping different types of music into a set of scenes. The fun happens when music intended for one purpose magically enhances another. It is proved to be a much more laborious a task, as I am not able to rely on the timings (and ease of scrolling) as one would with a digital version.