Edited by Amy Plitt

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1 Ballast opens at Film Forum
Lance Hammer’s Mississippi-set first feature is a haunting, delicate exploration of grief. Rosemary’s Baby at Film Forum Forget the parade: What could be scarier on Halloween than Mia Farrow’s satanic offspring?

2 The USS Intrepid at Pier 86
After a two-year-long beautification process, (hey, the vessel is 64 years old—it needed some work done!), the venerable WWII battleship is finally coming home.

3 Super massive Cuddle Party at The Center
Get to know your fellow New Yorkers very, very intimately at this snugglefest, taking place as part of NY Poly Pride Weekend. Just don’t get grabby.

4 “Gilbert and George” at The Brooklyn Museum
Today, the museum is the place to be: You can get in for free as part of Target First Saturdays’ birthday bash, and the Conceptual Art Brits discuss their new exhibit at 7pm.

5 13 opens at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
It’s like a slightly more highbrow High School Musical: The all-teen cast (even the orchestra can’t vote yet) sings its way through the trials and tribulations of adolescence.

6 Death Cab for Cutie at Radio City Music Hall
Who’d have ever guessed that this emo-ish indie- rock band would make it all the way to one of the most famous venues in the world?

7 “Not a Cough in a Carload: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking” at the New York Public Library
The pro-tobaccy propaganda on view should be enough incentive for smokers to drop their cigs for good.

8 Watain + Withered + Krallice at Knitting Factory
Sweden’s Watain joins Atlanta’s Withered and NYC’s own Krallice for an international black- metal summit.

9 The residents at Blender Theater at Gramercy
Yes, it’s the mysterious band with the creepy eyeball masks—and it’s embarking on its first tour in six years.

10 “I Heart Brooklyn Girls” 2009 calendar launch at Southpaw
The third queer-femme pinup-girl calendar gets a warm (and sexy!) welcome.

11 World’s Largest Flip Cup Tournament at M1-5 Bar
Seriously. The frat quotient may be high, but it’s sure to be a totally raging party, brah.

12 Hannah Tinti at KGB Bar
Her rollicking new novel, The Good Thief—which she’ll read from tonight—turns an orphan’s sad tale into page-turning gold.

13 The Annual Columbus Day Parade
Celebrate Italian-American culture the correct way by joining the other million spectators gazing at the 35,000 marchers and 100 bands and floats.

14 Super Tuesdays with Kate Clinton at Gotham Comedy Club
The lesbian legend tries to soothe us through the last weeks before Election Day with political comedy. Spoiler alert: We have a hunch that she may not be a McCain fan.

15 Jonathan Ames at Barnes & Noble Tribeca
Remember when Ames boxed fellow writer Craig Davidson? There’ll be no shenanigans like that tonight, just a discussion about Ames’s new graphic novel, The Alcoholic.

16 Antony and the Johnsons at the Apollo Theater
The legendary, quintessential New York theater hosts a soon-to-be-legendary, quintessential New York band.

17 San Francisco Ballet at New York City Center
America’s oldest professional ballet company turns 75 this year—and it’s celebrating with old and new works by Helgi Tomasson and Jorma Elo, among others.

18 “Climate Change: The Threat to Life and a New energy Future” opens at the American Museum of Natural History
How doomed is the planet exactly? Find out—and learn how we can make things better.

19 Second Annual BKLYN Goes Veg! Restaurant Week
Sample the goods at eateries like Red Bamboo, Fort Greene Supper Club and Mighty Diamond. You won’t even miss that steak, we promise.

20 Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI at the Rose Theater
The Spanish early-music master stages his adaptation of Don Quixote, featuring narration by F. Murray Abraham.

21 The Sublime Is Us at Dance Theater Workshop
Luciana Achugar finds some extra intimacy by setting her new work— which puts her in close contact with the audience—in DTW’s third-floor studio space.

22 Don Rickles at the Town Hall
We have no idea what to expect from the 82-year-old stand-up, but seriously: How often do you get to get insulted by a living legend?

23 Speed-the-Plow opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre
David Mamet’s scathing diatribe against Hollywood returns to Broadway, 20 years after its premiere.

24 Dungen at the Music Hall of Williamsburg
Ambitious Swedish psych-rock band Dungen hits town hot on the heels of its highly anticipated new disc.

25 Central Park Pumpkin Festival at Central Park
Miss all that free stuff from your childhood trick-or-treating? Pick a pumpkin or two...or three—you greedy bastard!—at this no-charge event.

26 Macabre Greenwich Village Walking Tour
Kick off Halloween Week (yeah, we’re turning it into a weeklong affair) by checking out the scariest spots in the Village (not including the Magnolia Bakery).

27 John Ashbery at 92nd Street Y
The nimble-minded, droll and sometimes surrealistic poet—still going strong at 81—gives a tour of his 50-plus-year career.

28 Powerhouse 2008 with Jay-Z + Lil Wayne + Ne-Yo at Izod Center
Powerhouse, indeed: Three titans of hip-hop unite under one roof.

29 Killgore: The Resurrection at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
It’s hilarious. It’s frightening. It involves a shitload of fake blood. It’s Killgore—and it’s back after a four- year hiatus!

30 Doctor Atomic at the Metropolitan Opera House
History and opera collide in this San Francisco import, about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the development of the atomic bomb.

31 Rosemary’s Baby at Film Forum
Forget the parade: What could be scarier on Halloween than Mia Farrow’s satanic offspring?