Good Thought: Smart Things to Do in NYC This Week

We’re on the far side of ball drops and confetti, but New York isn’t slowing down. Check out these great things to do in NYC and get 2015 started off on a smart note.

Monday, January 5

nightcrawler

Quiz actor Jake Gyllenhaal about his creepy starring role as the Nightcrawler during a live appearance that follows a screening of the film at the Museum of Modern Art.

Tuesday, January 6

Richard Linklater, director of Boyhood, joins his actors Ethan Hawke and Ellar Coltrane for a TimesTalks Conversation. (The performances spanned a dozen years.) The event is sold out, but you can catch it in a live webcast.

patton-oswald

Listen in delighted horror as comedian/actor Patton Oswalt (Spence in The King of Queens) describes how a devotion to movies got out of hand—way, way out of hand—during a four-year residency in Los Angeles. Barnes & Noble – Union Square.

x900

A screening of 2014’s The Theory of Everything, which tells the story of a young Jane and Stephen Hawking, is followed by a Q&A with the film’s stars, Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. MoMA.

Wednesday, January 7

UWfinalcomp

Eavesdrop on novelist Rabih Alameddine as he talks over his latest book, An Unnecessary Woman, with fellow writer Elizabeth Strout (whose Olive Kitteridge recently became an HBO mini-series). Actress Mia Dillon reads excerpts, too. Symphony Space.

Image: Wilbur E. Jerew Collection (COLL/4208) at the Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections -- Flickr

Image: Wilbur E. Jerew Collection (COLL/4208) at the Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections — Flickr

The NFL playoffs have started. Learn all about “The Science Behind Football” with scientist and author Ainissa Ramirez, who’ll talk concussions, risk-aversion and Vince Lombardi as a game theorist at an American Museum of Natural History SciCafe talk.

Thursday, January 8

 

Documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras participates in a conversation after a screening of her new film on Edward Snowden and the NSA spying revelations. MoMA.

Friday, January 9

Bomb 130

Poetry, dance and music enliven a night at Issue Project Room to benefit BOMB magazine. Free drinks and free copies of BOMB Issue 130 will help sweeten the pot.

The Brink

After Pamela Katz reads from her book The Partnership: Brecht, Weill, Three Women, and Germany on the Brink, you’ll be in the mood for Brecht and Weill compositions. Fortunately, pianist John Musto and soprano Amy Burton will be on hand for a live performance. Barnes & Noble – Upper East Side.