--Adam Gaffin of Universal Hub was on NPR this week to discuss Boston Crime, which tracks violent crime on a Google map and allows people to comment on cases. A must-listen. They describe him as a "computer guy by day, crime chronicler by night." [NPR] --What's with the rats all over a recent edition of the Boston Globe? [Massachusetts Liberal] --Where to find pictures of Boston back in the day. [Beantown Bloggery] --Food sniglets! [Cave......

Bostonist just left the 2007 Boston Music Awards, and while we'll have ruminations on the awards ceremony for your Sunday reading pleasure, you can find below the crop of winners from the 20th anniversary ceremony, presented here in chronological order: Outstanding Funk/Jam Band of the Year: Westbound Train Outstanding Blues/Soul Act of the Year: Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves Outstanding DJ/Dance Act of the Year: DJ BC Outstanding Rock Band of the Year:......

We wondered what happened to Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force incident. Berdovsky, also known as "Zebbler," has made lemonade out of the experience. After the Cartoon Network and viral-marketing company Interference, Inc., hung him and Sean Stevens out to dry, Berdovsky made a comeback and has been named one of the top 20 VJs in the world by DJ Magazine. No doubt a little ATHF publicity helped to......

Juliette and the Licks Scissors for Lefty, Suffrajett Middle East Downstairs Tonight, 8 p.m., $15 (18+) MySpace She's a J. Lewis making a name for herself in music after an acting career, the frontwoman of an otherwise all-male band, someone known for keeping audiences guessing about how she's going to look, what she's going to wear, what she's going to do. But whereas Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis takes the demure route (as much as one......

Boston Comic Con Sunday, October 21, 10am-5pm Back Bay Events Center (180 Berkeley Street), $8 The comics industry is known for its oddballs, and Jim Steranko is a case in point. He is best known for his late sixties work at Marvel Comics, where he brought a designer's eye to drawing Nick Fury for Strange Tales. He drew across the whole page, defying panel boundaries, to a surreal effect. But comics may have been the......

Ryan C. Hickox is an MIT astrophysicist who studies "large populations of infrared-selected active galactic nuclei (AGN) from the wide-field multiwavelength survey in Boötes" (haha, he said "boötes"!) as well as unresolved cosmic X-ray background, accretion on X-ray pulsars, and other things you probably need some kind of physics background to understand. Fortunately, music is something we can all understand--or at least appreciate--and Mr. Hickox also engages in musical endeavors. With John Mileham (piano, organ,......

--Julie Balise of the Northeastern News spotted Alec Baldwin, shooting for Bachelor No. 2 (who isn’t?), saying nice things about toddlers and performing eternal damage control after he left a nastygram on his daughter's voicemail. Yes, Bostonist subscribes to the NU News feed for items other than its crime log, but we do love its crime log so. --Ben Affleck was in town to preview the movie he directed, Gone Baby Gone, which has been......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

Paul Farris, the innocent bystander who died in this weekend's police-chase crash in Somerville, wasn't just a graduate of Tufts and an aspiring law student. He was also frontman of theMark, a local rock band that is reeling from the death. theMark's MySpace page covers the death, and they will be announcing memorial services later on the site. The cab driver and Farris' girlfriend, Katelyn Hoyt, are recovering in the hospital. The post announcing the......

A weekend stand of winning baseball at home when the Sox take it to the Angels followed by the all day boozy spectator sport that is the Boston Marathon it's going to be a long week. Lucky for music fans there's a lot to look forward to and keep you up all night with that lovely ringing in your ears that only comes from live music. Tuesday, 4/17 Sammy Miami's Southern Alternative Acoustic Jamboree......

Now that we're on this eight days a week kick for doing these picks it seems like it might be time for a new graphic. We'll give you a cookie if you design us a new one. Or maybe a Newcastle next time you catch us at the Middle East. Promise. Monday 8/7 The Roots with Talib Kweli It may not be a Brooklyn block party hosted by Dave Chappelle, but it will be......

Jamie Thompson (aka J'aime Tambeur) and Patrice Agbokou of Islands sat down with Bostonist before their first show of their North American tour, on Wednesday night at the Middle East, to discuss their new album, Return to the Sea, file sharing and secret Canadian Handshakes (shhhh!!). You might remember Jamie & lead singer Nick Diamond's other band, The Unicorns, and their other other band, the Corn Gangg. So what does the new venture sound like?......

Just in case the 106th annual St. Patty’s Day parade doesn’t satisfy your thirst for Irish fun, join Bostonist on March 16th for the Saw Doctors show. With the Dropkick Murphys show sold out, Bostonians can head over the Roxy on Thursday to get their energetic Irish fix by a group of pure-blooded blokes. More of a workout than concert, The Saw Doctors get fans moving. With songs such as “Tommy K” which initiates audience......

Dear Ask Bostonist, I have two out-of-town friends (NYC and DC) who are visiting me next weekend. They are all excited about being in Boston for St. Patrick's Day, but every time I venture out of the 17th in Boston, I don't seem to have a good time...very long lines, cheesy bars (Purple Shamrock, anyone?), or just a skeleton crew is left. Any suggestions where I can take them on St. Patty's Day after work?......

Bostonist turned the volume down on our iPod yesterday while reading an Associated Press report on boston dot com. Newsflash: listening to your iPod at too loud a volume or for too long a time may damage your hearing. The good doctor Mallika Marshall over at Channel 4 also gave us a similar stern warning the day after Christmas. But yesterday's message came with an authoritative urgency, courtesy of the hearing impaired rock god Pete......

Sample these tracks and let us know what's in your iPod playlist this week. Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers |Local Rock Hang on Mike [download] Bostonist Stefan lists The Candy Butchers among his favorites and although had issues narrowing his track choice down to one, recommends "What to Do with Michael" as your first download. Boston shout out: Mike Viola, lead singer, grew up in Stoughton. Various Artists |International Funk Rio Baile Funk:......

For the uninitiated, Kaiju Big Battel is a wrestling league of sorts, in which competitors dressed as imagined Japanese B-movie monsters compete in miniature cityscapes - sort of a live interpretation of Mechagodzilla vs. Godzilla. There is, naturally, an extensive and amusing back story to explain this silliness, involving (of course) a galactic battle between good and evil. Apparently, the evil Dr. Cube and his posse (the "Rogues") are now taking the quest for......