Worcester's American Sanitary Plumbing Museum has decided to flush itself out of the city, but it's not going into the crapper just yet. The museum will relocate to the more appropriately named Watertown. Worcester might consider this development perfectly potty, but at least the collection is staying in Massachusetts. The owners of the museum, the Manoogs, are retiring and have donated everything to the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors of Greater Boston, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports.......

As Bostonians we pride ourselves on our history as a city steeped in sea-faring tradition. Whether it be our statuesque U.S.S. Constitution, the ubiquitous story of the Boston Tea Party, or the ever-present duck boats, Boston and the ocean will be forever intertwined. As such, Bostonist presents some last-minute gift ideas that pay homage to our salty roots. Looking for the perfect gift for the animal lover in your life? Consider giving a "Proud Parent......

COLLISIONtwelve (12) Art Opening Tonight Friday, November 30th MIT Stata Center Balcony Gallery 32 Vassar Street, 3rd Floor Cambridge, MA 6p - 9p / FREE / All Ages COLLISIONcollective is a group of artists from MIT and the surrounding Boston area that explore new technologies through the filters of art. Founded in 2002, their intentions have been to showcase art that incorporates technology, but has since expanded into some of the most innovative and......

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

As Red Sox fans we've become accustomed to the various tauntings (they're clearly jealous), pepto-fueled stressful evenings, and many bleary-eyed mornings. However no matter what curve balls (pun intended) our beloved Boys of Summer, er October, throw at us, we will always declare ourselves proud members of Red Sox Nation. Turns out our all-weather team allegiance is nothing new. One of Boston's most giving and interesting daughters, Isabella Stewart Gardner, was a passionate Red......

Celebrate the origins of the Native American genocide by going to see some European art! Bostonist couldn't miss that irony. But the truth is, if you've got this rainy Columbus Day off anyway, you could do worse than to check out the Fenway Cultural District's "Opening Our Doors." All the museums in the area are free today, from the MFA to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. (The reaction of one Bostonian: "The Gardner's free?! That......

College Night at the MFA Thursday, September 27 7:00 pm to midnight with … Thurston Moore Remis Auditorium 8:30 pm We know that the Museum of Fine Arts is loaded. But what's even better is that they share the wealth. This Thursday, the museum is letting all college students in for free for College Night, which drew 3,200 students last year. That same night, the museum will open the new exhibit Walk This Way, which......

We’ve long been fans of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, enough so that we’ve got two nicknames for it – ISGM when writing and “da gadnah” when speaking. The museum has been doing a lot in recent months to re-energize their image, though they’ll never lose sight of their founder (and Red Sox fanatic) Isabella, new programs are putting a new life into ISGM. Tonight marks the first in their new series, Gardner After Hours,......

Harvard's not the only rich institution in town - or at least they have some competition. The Museum of Fine Arts received a gift of $10 million bucks from the State Street Corp. In return, the MFA will rename the Fenway entrance the "State Street Fenway Entrance" and open it after leaving it closed for 20 years. That's an appropriate gesture, but we thought that the MFA would blow it all with a spending spree......

E. Forbes Smiley III received a $2.3 million restitution fine in addition to his prison sentence for thefts of nearly 100 rare historic maps. It has been nearly two years in the making. E. Forbes Smiley III (it's such a great name, can't we use the whole thing all the time?) was caught by a Yale librarian as an X-acto knife was found near him. It was discovered he had some rare maps from the......

Zidane: A 21st-Century Portrait will screen at the ICA on Sunday, May 6, at 11:00 am and on Thursday, May 10, at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $10 general / $8 members. Unless good-looking legends move to Los Angeles with their pop-singer wives, many Americans don't think about soccer. If we think about soccer, we'll likely think of retired (or not-so-retired) superstar Zinedine Zidane - but for all the wrong reasons. Zidane broke into American news......

Gail Mazur, Robert Pinsky, Lloyd Schwartz, and Rosanna Warren will be reading at the ICA on the HarborWalk at 6:30 pm tomorrow, Thursday, May 3. Free first-come, first-serve tickets will be available an hour before the reading. The ICA and UMass Boston are celebrating Emily Dickinson - the ultimate Massachusetts literary institution - tomorrow night. The ICA is installing a visual display of Dickinson's 695 (As if the Sea should part), and four poets will......

Bank of America wants you to get cultured. Or it wants more cultured people to open bank accounts with them. Whatever. They're continuing the tradition of free admission to Massachusetts Bank of America cardholders during the month of May. The Old State House Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science, and the Museum of African American History are participating in the promotion. We didn't see any fine print, so it looks like......

Bostonist is all about the advances in technology, but we're still suckers for old love letters sent via snail mail or telegram - particularly they include words from a legendary writer. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum is releasing today a slew of letters that Ernest Hemingway wrote to screen and stage siren Marlene Dietrich over a 10-year span. The correspondence of this friendship, which paired literary work and Old Hollywood, will give......

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it's sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal......

The Naked at the MFA Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt will be Saturday, February 10, from 2:00 to 4:30 pm and on Wednesday, February 14, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The prices are $28 per person for February 10 and $23 per person for February 14. Like your parents' copies of National Geographic, museums always provide a great excuse to ogle beautiful bodies in their birthday suits. Depending on your tastes, these undraped bodies might put......

Patti Smith will speak at the ICA February 21 at 6:30 pm. Via Joel Brown, tickets are on sale for Patti Smith's spoken-word performance at the ICA, which is part of their "What Is New" series. (Brown also has an awesome title for his post – check it out.) Smith is riding high right now since she was named to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. She's working on a covers album, and she......

Yesterday the fanfare that has been the opening celebration for the new ICA building in the Seaport district opened to the general public for a 12 hour free ride in the new space. The news today is that nearly 5,000 people visited the new facility over the course of the day, many of whom had positive things to say about it even after a two hour wait. The museum opened at 9 am and......

Frankly, when we learned that Nelson de la Rosa, the world's smallest man/ Pedro Martinez mascot, had died, we did not automatically think, "I would like to look at his lifeless body." Then again, we have still not been to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the Museum of Science, so we're clearly out of touch with the mainstream when it comes to looking at dead people in museums. Other people, though, are interested in......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. Friday 10/06 Jesus Camp Ted Haggard, megapastor of Colorado Springs' New Life megachurch, has megacondemned this unflinching documentary (horror movie, for Cantabrigians), possibly because pentecostalism could freak out potential megachurchgoers, or possibly because Ted Haggard is in it and he comes off as megacreepy. Opening......

Bostonist had thought psych-folk harper Joanna Newsom was an odd choice of bait to lure the hordes of newly-arrived students into the Museum of Fine Arts, where they were hoping for maybe two thousand attendees at last week's free College Night. Exceeding the MFA's expectations (and our own assumptions of the size of Newsom's niche), approximately 3,200 showed up to stroll the galleries and one long, dimly-lit room full of cookies and Smartwater. Many......

Bostonist hadn't made any solid Saturday plans for this weekend until we read a post about "Museum Day" being held nationwide this Saturday, September 30. In honor of the Smithsonian, who has free admission to their great museums year round, other museums are joining in this free education ideology and will not be charging admission for this one specific day. In order to enter one of the participating museums for free, you must download......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. This week, Al Franken becomes a politician, David Hasselhoff dresses up as a scifi hero, every girl becomes a star, and ancient religious art turns into modern heaps of rubble. Friday 9/29 Piccadilly The Hays Code, adopted by the American film industry in 1930, didn't......

How do you take Fine Art and make it hip for the kids? A DJ, Live Music, or Free Food? If you filled in the oval next to "D – All of the above" you'd be spot on for the effort the Museum of Fine Arts is putting on this Thursday, September 28 - College Night. If you can't scrounge up a student ID there's always Wednesday night entry without admission fee thanks to the......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. Friday 9/15 Chuck Norris Film Festival The action starts with 1985's Invasion USA, and culminates in Saturday's midnight screening of the early Norris classic Breaker! Breaker! Somerville Theatre Starts at 8 pm (see schedule) Chuck Norris: web site (warning: plays "Hi, this is Chuck Norris"......

Many a Sunday finds Bostonist somewhat hung-over, looking at a greasy plate of bacon, eggs, and some sort of potato product. By the time brunch has finished we've already missed a great classical music concert at the Isabella Stewart Garner Museum. We feel rewarded when we do end up making it to the ISGM for the Sunday afternoon show. The ISGM offers a whole lot of what those smart folks call "fine art." Today, in......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. Thursday 8/3 Stolen One of the things that endears the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to us (along with the dim lighting, strict ban on electronic devices, and terse signage) is how the frames of missing paintings hang empty on the walls. (As per Mrs. Gardner's......

The next of the Hub on Wheels community bike tour rolls at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 30 from Boston Bicycle on Beacon Street (across from An Tua Nua, next door to Audobon). Andrew Prescott, founder of Urban AdvenTours, leads the Museum Tour by bike. In his secret life we've heard Andrew once upon a time worked beer promotions by night – so he's got a good personality and a knack for letting you know......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. Friday 7/28 Cubamor Gigolos, students, goddesses and tourists dally in Joshua Bee Alafia's musical, fantastical Havana. The Roxbury Film Festival is showing this and many other feature films, as well as experimental shorts, music videos, and some non-fiction: a 25-minute deocumentary called Bootyful World asks......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. This week's films are full of things Bostonist can't say no to (classic movies with classic martinis), things we couldn't stop if we tried (fate, modern architecture), and the purple chunk of the Venn diagram where those two categories overlap (zombies). Cocktails! Cary Grant! Friday......