DON’T MISS!: A LITTLE RACKET
Mind your table manners when the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden hosts Pongtopia! For the pingpong extravaganza, a half-dozen tables will be set up for the public to play on today (noon to 2 p.m.) and tomorrow (noon to 5 p.m.). Pingpong fans can also watch the experts: Tonight from 6 to 10, there’s an amateur tournament, and tomorrow, the Downtown Dirty Dozen tourney hits the main table at noon.
Forty pingpong paddles decorated by artists are being sold for $250 each, to benefit NYC schools.
“[Tonight] when it gets crowded and goes crazy, I’ll actually get drunk and play half-naked in a Speedo and beat people,” quips professional table-tennis player Kazuyuki Yokoyama, who’s crossing paddles with the amateurs tonight. “It’s sort of an art movement and entertainment,” he says of the event. 220 Vesey St.; 212-945-0505, artsworldfinancialcenter.com — Brian Niemietz
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LISTEN TO HIM!: PLAYS RUFF
If you’re wondering who let the dog out, say thanks to pop crooner Enrique Iglesias — he’s sharing his headlining gig tonight at the reopened and spiffed-up Madison Square Garden with Latino rapper Pitbull. While Pitbull (born Armando Christian Pérez) is among hip-hop’s biggest stars, he’s still humbled by the Garden stage. “It’s exciting to play such a historical venue,” he says. “I’m a Miami boy hitting the MSG stage for NYC fans!” Aware that New Yorkers are notoriously late to everything, Pit adds that he’s planning to reward early birds. “I’m going to welcome them with a lot of energy, especially [in] the show starter, ‘Hey Baby (Drop It To the Floor)’.”
After that, expect Pitbull to take everyone on a guided tour of “Planet Pit,” his new CD. Get to your seat ($29 to $150) by 8 p.m. or you’ll be in the doghouse. Seventh Avenue at 32nd Street; thegarden.com. — Dan Aquilante
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BOOK IT OUT!: ON THE GO
The average book reading is not like a Hollywood premiere — but on Monday night (at 7:30), SoHo bookshop McNally Jackson will be overrun with A-listers for a reading of Lonely Planet’s “Lights, Camera . . . Travel!”
Brat packer Andrew McCarthy co-edited the anthology of travel stories written by Hollywood stars, including Alec Baldwin (below), Brooke Shields, Paulina Porizkova and Sandra Bernhard.
“It’s like sitting around and having coffee with a bunch of actors,” says McCarthy. “Actors by nature tell stories, that’s what they do.”
Baldwin is among the readers, and McCarthy is particularly excited to hear his story of coming to terms with life in Los Angeles.
“Alec’s is quite nice. It’s a beautiful way to open the book,” he says. 52 Prince St.; 212-274-1160, mcnallyjackson.com, free. — Calla Salinger
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CHECK IT OUT! :LENS DEPARTMENT
It’s easy now for anyone to document daily life with cameras built into cellphones. But when Berenice Abbott, Lewis Hine, Sid Grossman, Weegee and other great photographers from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s were looking through the viewfinder, it wasn’t such a snap.
That’s where the Photo League came in handy. The group provided darkrooms, exhibition space, classes and “a salon for people to gather and talk about photography, for those who otherwise had no access to all those things,” says Mason Klein, co-curator of the Jewish Museum’s captivating new show “The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936-1951.”
During those years, photographers wanted the avant-garde; in California, they were into nature. But back in NYC, Klein says, “They were interested in understanding urban life. And they were inspired by the progressivism of the New Deal.” Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street; 212-423-3200, thejewishmuseum.org. Free admission on Saturdays. — Billy Heller
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TRY THIS!: RUM & GET IT
It’s now possible to watch “The Rum Diary,’’ starring a soused Johnny Depp, while drinking rum punch — in one Brooklyn venue. The Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg last week became the first full-fledged movie theater in the state to legally serve alcoholic beverages in its three auditoriums. Owner Matthew Viragh successfully lobbied the state legislature to amend New York’s archaic liquor laws. Now, movie theaters that have tables and serve food can also serve alcohol — a service that’s long been available in many other states. Besides the Depp flick and a full menu of drinks and gourmet treats concocted by chef Saul Bolton, this weekend’s cinematic fare includes “Martha Marcy May Marlene,’’ “The Ides of March’’ and “Drive.’’ 136 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg. Details at nitehawkcinema.com. — Lou Lumenick
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