Ellen Barkin is turning 55 today, although she probably shouldn't expect flowers from any of her famous exes. Legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham is turning 90. Model Alek Wek is 32. Actor Lukas Haas is turning 33. Architect Ricardo Scofidio is 74. Jon Cryer is 44. So is comedian Martin Lawrence. Basketball great…

In yesterday's New York Times profile of playwright and actor Wallace Shawn, an executive producer for Gossip Girl, the teen soap that Shawn is guesting on for a spate of episodes, said that the diminutive chrome-dome brings to the series a level of smarts and sophistication that "that was way beyond [the writers].”…

The eminence gris of the dance world, Cunningham was one of the most acclaimed choreographers of his time. He passed away in 2009.

The power of the intertubes will soon be bringing us "Mondays with Merce," a video podcast of the weekly dance class taught by legendary choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham. We know you're excited. We know you know that Cunningham is cultural royalty, and that until now his class was only open members of his…

Last night was the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave gala in... Manhattan. Yeah, no. we know. But I guess there aren't any spaces in Brooklyn that are nice. So instead, it was at 7 World Trade Center on some really high floor. Below, Ground Zero looked like a little deserted Erector Set. Maggie Gyllenhaal and…