--As if it couldn't get any worse for the MBTA. Hackers have been playing with the Charlie Card. [Boston Herald] --The owner of Tai Ho Restaurant, where Boston firefighters Paul Cahill and Warren Payne died, wants to reopen. It's worth remembering that the fire gathered in the ceiling because grease accumulated in the vents. [WBZ] --A task force has decided, after much back and forth, to take down the homemade signs on highways thanking......

Boston's King of Boogie-Woogie With his long hair and white beard, Preacher Jack may look like a wild-eyed holy man descended from a lonely mountaintop. He's actually a living piece of boogie-woogie/rockabilly history who grew up and resides on the North Shore. Pounding the keys for fifty years, he may not keep a weekly residence at Frank's Steak House anymore, but Preacher Jack comes down to Cambridge & Boston every couple weeks to spread......

Music Atlas Sound, featuring Bradford Cox going solo during Deerhunter's hiatus, hits the Middle East tonight, riding a wave of praise for his new project. Cox's hometown weekly, Atlanta's Creative Loafing, raves, "Let the Blind contains Cox's most haunting and sad songs to date. It throbs with delirious depression, and is bursting with powerful, barely contained emotions." For those of you who can handle strong emotions in the bleak winter, Cox is your fella.......

Books Susan Choi draws on real-life, high-profile crimes for her literary works. Her last book was American Woman, based on the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, and now she's inspired by her father's real-life experience as a former colleague of the Unabomber in her latest, A Person of Interest. Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm, free. Movies Child of the Big City and Daydreams are two silent films from the vanguard of pre-revolution Russian cinema. The former......

Dan Ariely Predictably Irrational Harvard Book Store Monday, February 25, 7:00pm Free Ariely's Official Site Dan Ariely is a MIT economist with big ideas. He has spent his 20 year academic career questioning the assumptions that make classical economics work. Classical economists believe that given the choice, most people behave rationally. That is, most people make decisions that give them pleasure and make their lives easier. But of course we don't actually behave that way.......

Samantha Hunt Harvard Book Store Tomorrow, January 21, 7:00 pm Free Hunt's Official Site Samantha Hunt's latest novel, The Invention of Everything Else, weaves together the true-life story of inventor Nikola Tesla's last days with the fictional story of a chambermaid working at the Hotel New Yorker, where Tesla resides. Tesla's own real life is so absorbing that it might have been a novel. He had an idealistic vision of inventors that made it impossible......

--Hendry Street isn't the only place suffering from the home-foreclosure crisis. In fact, so many areas are suffering that real estate agents are taking possible buyers on bus tours of other people's property. As if someone losing a home doesn't have enough misery, now they have to have complete strangers tramping about on the front yard. [Boston Globe] --A group of mayors, including Mayor Menino, are banding together with labor union reps in support of......

In the Mood For Love (花样年华) Tonight at 7:30 7:00 (oops) Harvard Film Archive (Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge) Free admission! For anyone looking to launch a pre-Valentine's Day attack, Bostonist recommends tonight's free screening of Wong Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love. This is a cheap date that says, I am sensitive (but not in an Eat, Pray, Love way). I am stylish (but not in a leggings-and-Uggs way). I can put up......

Music --The Willows bring to the Middle East Upstairs a brand of Americana country rock inspired by the seasonal carnival scene up in Salem. Alas, no salt water taffy is included in the price of admission. With The Vic Morrows, The Resonance, The Giant Melons. Middle East Upstairs, 472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, doors 9:00, 18+, $8. --While the show has been sold out for weeks, if there's any way you can get in we......

Chinese New Year Harvard Square is celebrating the Year of the Rat with a Lion Dance Parade. Perhaps even more meaningful for some Cambridge residents, the Hong Kong (yay scorpion bowl!) is holding an open house in honor of its 54th anniversary. But be aware that they are having a craft party, not a scorpion bowl party. 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, free. Art Instruction You've seen the MFA's British Prints show, and you......

The cold weather is no excuse for you not to get out! Human Dogsledding No kidding. The 8th annual National Human Dog Sled Competition will start today in Lowell. You can learn more about other Lowell Winterfest events, which sound like fun. However, for Bostonist, it is all about the human dogsledding--and teams usually wear costumes. Challenger rounds will be tonight at 6:45 and 10:00 pm, and championship rounds will be tomorrow at 3:30 and......

--The Patrick administration is working on stopping the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's attempt to get approval for a casino through the federal government. The administration would prefer that the tribe bid for one of the three casino licenses Patrick hopes to auction off. [Boston Herald] --A plane on its way to Paris from New York City had to make an emergency landing at Logan Airport after a passenger attempted to attack a flight attendant. [Boston......

Music Cat Power will be at the Orpheum. Last time Bostonist saw her, she seemed a little plowed and, with her dark glasses, she resembled country singer Ronnie Milsap. Since then, she's been hanging out with Karl Lagerfeld. She's different every time, but the music is always memorable. 7:30 pm. It's cosmopolitan night at the MFA, and we aren't talking about drinks. The uber-sophisticated Keren Ann and Dean & Britta will perform. MFA, Remis Auditorium,......

Update: At least someone found humor in the hoodie. Let the finger-pointing begin. Whose fault was it that the New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl? Tom Brady? Bill Belichick? Or was it ... Bill Belichick's new hoodie? Bostonist blames the hoodie. Belichick came out in a hoodie with the sleeves cut off at three quarters, but the hoodie was in a hot-red shade that no one could miss.......

Bookgasms There is no public institution that inspires Bostonist with so many warm feelings as the public library. And there is no charity event quite like a library book sale to make Bostonist into a heartless marauder, fighting tooth and nail with no quarter given nor expected. City-wide Friends of the BPL are offering one today at Copley. Stay out of our freaking way. Central Library, Copley Square, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. Movies It's......

--Another "wintry mix" is already heading into town this evening to smack you in the face and mess up your drive home. Whoopee. [WBZ] --MBTA fare machines refused credit cards this morning, right at the first of the month when people were trying to add money. Read what T riders did about it. Bostonist has been down this ugly road before. [Boston Globe] --A man died overnight after he was speeding through the Sumner......

Art The exhibit Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914–1939 shows the sharp, mechanical-feeling prints that set the artistic tone for the future. Museum of Fine Arts. Read Bostonist's preview of the show. Runs through June 1. Fashion Put away your spindles. Fashionistas can flash forward to the 21st century at Seamless, which showcases "experimental works in computational apparel design." The dry-witted Steven Rosengard of Project Runway 4 will be hosting, and Red Sox......

Movies Catch a sneak preview of In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. The movie, which screened at Sundance, follows two hit men who are forced to vacation in the tourist hotspot. CNN dared to call the film "Tarantino-esque." Whether or not "Tarantino-esque" fits, the trailer is full of some sharp one-liners. Director Martin McDonagh will be there. Brattle Theatre, 7:00 pm. Doors open at 6:00, and getting there early is recommended. Check out......

--A man walking on a pond in Weymouth on Sunday fell in and was rescued before freezing to death. Neighbors heard his screams and called for help. The footage of the rescue was so dramatic that it's been making the rounds on CNN. [WCVB] --The Globe displays pictures of the region's worst storms, which carry the subliminal message "Quit yer bitching." [Boston Globe] --Is Will Ferrell's "Funny or Die" tour coming to Boston College......

Two men were arrested for allegedly assaulting two female BU students in their own dorm rooms on Sunday, and the university is cracking down on those who sign strangers into the dorms. The alleged attackers, one from Brookline and one from Chestnut Hill, convinced two female BU students to sign them into Claflin Hall--even though the students didn't recognize them, the Globe reports. The BU Free Press interviewed one of the victims, who described what......

Books Jazz critic Bob Blumenthal reads from Jazz: An Introduction to the History and Legends Behind America's Music, and Branford Marsalis is going to join him. However, word is from Harvard Book Store that Marsalis will only talk about jazz, not perform it. The event will be at the Regattabar at the Charles Hotel (via Harvard Book Store), 7:00 pm. Free. Music The Von Bondies have been quiet as of late. What happened? A major......

Books Ex-SNL writer Patricia Marx, who was also one of the first women to be elected to the Lampoon, will be at Borders Back Bay to talk about Him Her Him Again the End of Him, about a woman who cannot wash a supremely snotty, pretentious man out of her hair. Check out the first chapter, in which Marx's heroine describes her first encounter with "Eugene" and tries to remember what her dissertation was about......

Movies John Sayles will read from the story behind his latest movie, The Honeydripper. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 6:00 pm. The Sayles reading is followed up by a special screening of Night of the Hunter, which is cosponsored by the New England Institute of Art. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 7:00 pm. Books Bostonist dug Charles Burns before we even knew who he was thanks to his covers for The Believer magazine. Burns will be reading from and......

The First No Pants 2K8 Saturday, January 12 3:00 pm Alewife Station Details on the Pants-Free Par-Tay Ride the T pantsless! Following the lead of other cities, a bold Boston man, Adam Sablich, has organized No Pants 2K8 for this city. Founded by the group Improv Everywhere, No Pants 2K8 is exactly what you think. You get on the train, and you take off your pants. Your pants, people, not what's underneath. Here's the details......

Jami Attenberg With Ryan Walsh of Hallelujah the Hills and food from Kickass Cupcakes Brookline Booksmith Tomorrow, January 10, 7:00 pm Free Attenberg's official site Set in the art world of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Jami Attenberg's The Kept Man follows a woman whose relationship has been in limbo for six years. Jarvis Miller's husband, a successful painter, has been in a coma, and she almost becomes a ghost along with him, immersing herself in memories,......

HubTrotter has a great report from New Hampshire. He paid close attention to the license plates and spotted a trend: "Looking around at the cars parked at the Clinton rally, there were quite a few out-of-state plates. Probably no more than two-thirds (and I think it was closer to one-half) of cars had "Live Free or Die" on the plates. And as is the case at many rallies, there seemed to be two reporters......

What moved you to speak out this year? A Lite Brite giving you the finger? The Red Sox? The death of Mr. Butch? As you can see, there aren't many surprises--the Red Sox, MIT student Star Simpson, and L'Affaire Aqua Teen Hunger Force dominated this list. 10. Mr. Lonelyhearts: Tom Brady 9. Live-Blogging Game 4 of the World Series 8. Socket to Me: Star Simpson Follow-Up 7. Breaking: Fake Bomb-Toting MIT Student So Not......

Be There: Chase the Rising Sun Opening Saturday, December 15, 7:00-9:30 pm Exhibition runs from December 15 to January 15 LAB Boston, 13 Brighton Avenue, Allston Free Birdhead Design website Michael Crigler is primarily known as a fashion designer and artist. He makes clothes for his Birdhead line and is having an opening this weekend at LAB, but this opening is also a farewell party. Crigler and his wife, Lauren, are going on a trip......

Ethan Gilsdorf and Ted Weesner, Jr. Friday, December 14, 7:00 pm Willoughby and Baltic Art Space 195 G Elm Street, Somerville (T: Davis Square) Free Ethan Gilsdorf's official site Listings for readings may be slim while everyone is busy for the holidays, but it's quality that matters. Two recipients of fellowships from the Somerville Arts Council will be sharing their latest projects for free tomorrow night. Journalist/poet Ethan Gilsdorf and novelist Ted Weesner, Jr., are......

Jim McCue Book Launch Party Comedy Connection Faneuil Hall (T: Government Center) Sunday, December 16, 8:00 pm, $15 Free for veterans and military personnel Official Jim McCue Site AnySoldier.com The troops could use a lot from us right now, whether it be body armor or sunblock. But one local performer is using his specific talents to make the lives of the troops a little bit better. Comedian Jim McCue, who is also co-founder of the......