Books --Charles Bock's Beautiful Children isn't as delicate as it sounds. A couple reels after their child vanishes in the Las Vegas desert--only it's so, so much more than that, and it's received a flood of attention. The Globe thought Bock threw too much into his debut, but everyone seems to agree that he's ambitious. Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm, free. Speaking of free, he's letting you download the book without dropping a single dime.......

Martha Frankel Reads from Hats and Eyeglasses: A Family Love Affair with Gambling Wednesday, February 27, 7 p.m. Harvard Coop, 3rd floor If you’ve mainly watched flashy Vegas poker on TV, you might think that the “hats and eyeglasses” in the title of Martha Frankel’s new memoir refer to the accessories of choice for poker players bent on getting good luck from their headgear or using tinted glasses to conceal any emotion in their eyes.......

The House of Blues has bought the Lansdowne Street clubs, including Avalon and Axis. How is this going to affect the renovations of Avalon and Axis, which has had a negative impact on performers and fans since the venues shut down? The Globe reports: "The only thing that has changed is in place of a sign that says Lansdowne Music Hall, it will say House of Blues," Lyons said yesterday. He will continue to own......

--The Office of Health and Human Services has allowed the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center to use skin-shock treatments for another year, even after the incident in which a prank caller caused staff members to shock two of the center's residents. [WBZ] --Yankee Swap turns Yankee Scrooge when two ex-friends fight over a lotto ticket. [Boston Herald] --The Paradise might be sold to the same guy who owns Lir and Live Nation. [Boston Globe] --Speaking......

--Spectacular photos of Matt Damon in 2005, brought back in honor of Damon's selection as People's "Sexiest Man Alive." [Lolita Parker Jr., who also did the great "Escape From MBTA" pictures] --The secret to Dane Cook's success is simple. [Derspatchel] --How to make your own turducken--if you dare! [Menu Pages] --Wolf Blitzer gets savaged after the Democrats debated in Las Vegas. [Blue Mass Group] --We're bad about typos because we're slobs without a copyeditor. Surely,......

Thursday, November 8 Elaine Scarry, Jerald Walker, and Robert Atwan, The Best American Essays, 7:00 pm, Brookline Booksmith Three contributors to this year's The Best American Essays will discuss what went into the book this year--and maybe we'll hear a little about what got left out. Monday, November 12 Jennifer Ackerman, Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream, 7:00 pm, Porter Square Books Science writer Ackerman takes a fantastic voyage through the body to see how it......

It's hard to work up a frenzy against the Cleveland Indians. They seem like a bunch of polite, plucky kids who we'd be pulling for in almost any other circumstance. Gone are the enemies of the mid-to-late-90's: villains like Roberto Alomar and Manny Ramirez. Gone are the mockable stars of that magical 1988 team: colorful characters like ex-con Rick Vaughan and voodoo worshipper Pedro Cerrano. Trot Nixon, who you may remember as one of the......

Elvis Presley died this week, 30 years ago, on August 16, 1977. Boston is making like Memphis by holding various tributes to the King. First on the list is Mayor Menino's Movie Night on the Common. Tonight, the city will show Jailhouse Rock for free. The festivities will include a costume contest, and we're dying to find out if Menino will step into a sequined jumpsuit and throw on a pompadour wig. That we would......

When you're a kid, one of the fringe benefits to playing Little League or soccer is that you often got to stop at McDonald's on the way home. Win or lose. We're not sure if Major League teams have a similar policy, but if the Red Sox team bus stopped at a Mickey's outside of Detroit, no one on the team would be allowed to supersize today, after a miserable weekend getting swept by the......

It's always a good sign when the only two elements of suspense to a ballgame are (1) will we get to the fifth inning before the rain comes, and (2) will the starting pitcher's arm get stiff from sitting in the dugout for a long time while his offense scores bunches of runs. Fortunately for the Sox last night, the answers were yes and no, respectively, as the Sox pummeled the Devil Rays to a......

Even though the Devern Hansack experiment went horribly wrong Saturday night, the Sox had no choice but to go to the Pawtucket well again Sunday. So they brought up lefty Kason Gabbard to start Sunday's rain-delayed tilt with the Braves. And it went as well as we possibly could have hoped. Gabbard cooled off the Atlanta bats, which were still steaming from Saturday's 14-run nightcap, to the tune of five innings pitched, six hits, two......

Another sexual assault took place in early yesterday morning in Medford, prompting police to send out warnings to local residents. The victim of the second assault got lucky - the suspect grabbed her, but a car passed, and he ran off. Tufts sent out a notice saying that three attacks of that nature have happened before April 23. Here is the police's description of this individual: "The attacker is described as white, heavy set, in......

Not much going on locally around here, but that doesn't mean Boston's players weren't busy, especially in Florida. Daisuke Matsuzaka is already living up to his potential as a pitcher and as a big-money draw. The other Red Sox are already pranking on him like he's a beloved little brother. In a cute PR stunt, Dice-K carried catcher Jason Varitek's gear for him before they started working out together. And NASCAR was amazing yesterday. The......

Let's just set aside the Celtics current troubles and cheer for Gerald Green, who won the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest with skill and some serious showmanship. Green needed to be flashy because the All-Star events were already set in the shiny, sparkly city of Las Vegas, and he lived up to the landscape. With Paul Pierce as his set-up man, Green competed against Orlando's Dwight Howard, Chicago's Tyrus Thomas, and last year's winner, Nate......

Yeah. We know the New York Islanders don't use their angry-fisherman logo anymore. But we love it, and can't help ourselves. The Bruins last night held tough with the Gorton's Gang, but the Isles racked up three quick goals in the third period and sent the B's packing 4-1. They'll play the Sabres, seemingly for the 43rd time this season, tomorrow night. The Celtics, finally able to breathe again, turn their eyes to Gerald Green......

If it weren't for our life as an -ist, we're not sure we'd ever leave our apartment. Fortunately, to fully -ist, one must seek out the new, the fresh, and the unknown. Brand new, or just new to us, that's what we're all about this week. Phillyist keeps it fresh by getting a new motto, learning to prioritize, and taking in an experimental indie rock show. Torontoist does their first post in franglais, gets ready......

Every now and again an internet video catches the eye as being tangentially relevant to current events. In these instances there's a unique opportunity for us to make an irrelevant point about pop culture and the news while showcasing a couple of minutes of multimedia. Today we take the opportunity to highlight the fact that the 39th murder this year in the city of Boston took place yesterday. The recent upswing in violent crime has......

Because we know everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas perhaps it's time to go to Vegas. The time to buy is, apparently, today. Thanks to the new public Beta version of Farecast, a - wait for it – forecast system for airfares we know that for our end of July trip to Las Vegas the fares will rise by approximately $50 if we wait to purchase the tickets. That's $50 we could......

One thing Bostonist needs more of is money - with $130,000 in law school debt and a day job that, while we love it, doesn't pay as well as we'd like (stupid public sector!), we're always looking for ways to make a quick buck. As luck would have it, we've also always been something of an insomniac. We're forever filled with envy by people who fall asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow,......

OK, so this space is usually dedicated to musings and ramblings about teams from the hometown, but unfortunately, the Foxboro-boys bumbled and fumbled away a chance at a home-field AFC Championship game during the Denver debacle and Bostonians are forced to watch arch-nemesis Pittsburgh play the NFL's representative from the great northwest, the Seattle Seahawks in the biggest sporting event of the year, Super Bowl XL. The burning question for most this week in Boston-land......

Two years to date, Bostonist was engaged in a fury of online shopping in quest of a retro Julius Erving T-shirt (turns out they’re hard to find). After an exhaustive search, the sought after T emerged in the shining light of Karmaloop.com. Perusal around the site revealed Karmaloop to be a purveyor of unique graphic Ts, distinctive hoodies and other fashion forward urban gear. Bostonist signed up for Karmaloop's newsletter and has been keeping tabs......

Sure. That and a pair of testicles. Lace up your bowling shoes! Tonight Coolidge Corner Theater is having a screening of the oddball Coen Brothers' bowling hit The Big Lebowski. It's a nine dollar entrance fee, unfortunately that doesn't come with a White Russian, but there will be a pre-screening bowling match, along with Lebowski trivia and Lewbowski themed rewards for the best bowling shirt in the crowd. Expect to see some interesting folks at......