This past weekend, Inside New York threw a party to celebrate the release of its 2008-2009 edition. The party took place inside the new Village Pourhouse, the uptown counterpart to the popular original location, which caters to the villianous downtown adversaries of New York University. Bwog took along our camera and a notepad.

What we're cautiously optimistic about:

• It's huge, and by Columbia bar standards -- see: claustrophobia-inducing Heights and misanthropy-inducing 1020 -- it's the biggest place around. There's a smaller bar area with several TVs, and this area opens up into a larger room with a dance floor and many spacious booths.
• It's sportsy. Athletic types and their acolytes have about 1,000 fairly large TVs to enjoy, all of which were invariably tuned to games, matches, races, etc. This is also a nice change of pace if you're sick of watching 1020's steady rotation of whimsical kids movies and bizarre vintage pornography.
  
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Instead, the New Museum exhibits contemporary artwork from all around the world. On Saturday, the opening exhibits include a performance piece by New York artist Sharon Hayes about communication, as well as an expansive thirty artist exhibit called Unmonumental: The Object in the 21^st Century, which examines new methods of sculpture and creation. The Seoul collective Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries has also created Black on White, Gray Ascending, a complex, multi-faceted film noir narrative combining text, animation, and music.

In celebration of its opening, the New Museum will be open for 30 free hours starting at noon, meaning that you can walk in at 11:30 p.m from a bar—the New Museum may seriously regret this.

Tickets can be found on the New Museum website, but they are close to being (if not already) sold out. In any case, you should head downtown Saturday and try to get your hands on unused or extra tickets, or pry them from someone's unwitting, skinny little fist. Nighttime may be the best time to go; even if you can't get a ticket you'll be within walking distance to bars in the area like Max Fish or Good World, which will probably be packed with New Museum refugees.

- James DeWille

1020 not cutting it on Friday nights anymore? Bwog nightlife correspondent James DeWille is your tour guide to a better weekend. Here, he provides a user-friendly guide to Every 2nd Friday in Williamsburg.

Friday night is starting early this weekend, so prepare to don your dumpiest and head on over to the Bedford L stop for Williamsburg's Every 2^nd Friday. Every gallery in the 'hood will be open until at least 9pm (most later) for a smattering of paintings, Pabst, and plaid. Expect a lot of debauchery and stumbling from gallery to gallery, as most are within walking distance of each other and beer and wine will run freely till they run...empty (which reminds me, don't be cool and show up late. At least for tonight you'll be in the wrong neighborhood for that kind of attitude; drink up and early). Keep the night open and organic: follow invitations (except to Bushwick) and interesting people/sounds to hunt out after parties, impromptu band performances, and chilly but pretty rooftops.

For those who still need a guide map, here's a round up a few shows definitely worth hitting up: