TRAILER: Compared To What: The Improbable Journey Of Barney Frank

Open this weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival. Executive producer: Alec Baldwin. Variety has the story:

When husband-and-wife directing team Sheila Canavan and Michael Chandler approached Barney Frank about making a documentary, their pitch sounded lighthearted. In late 2011, Frank was preparing to retire from his Massachusetts seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, after a 40-year career in public office. “It was going to be a nostalgic look and what it’s like making the transition,” says Frank, 74, on a recent phone call from Maine where he spends a fair portion of his time now. But after collecting more than 100 hours of interviews, Frank recalls, “they decided they wanted to do more of my career.” The movie follows Frank’s journey as the first congressman to voluntarily come out of the closet in 1987 and it bookends that history with the summer 2012 wedding to Jim Ready (when the cameras trailed along at the tearful reception). “I regretted not coming out earlier,” Frank says. “My life was considerably improved when I wasn’t hiding things. Plus, I think it had a good political effect on prejudice.”

Window To Window

Residents of a luxury Tribeca building are angry about an art gallery's exhibition of photos taken from an apartment across the street.

From his second-floor apartment across the street, artist Arne Svenson secretly took photos of his neighbors through their oversized windows as they engaged in such personal things as bending over cleaning, taking naps and carrying sleeping kids to bed. The shots — which don’t show full faces — are now being sold for up to $7,500 each at the Julie Saul Gallery in an exhibition called “The Neighbors,” which opened Saturday. Residents of the Greenwich Street building — where penthouses fetch up to $6 million — soon caught wind of their involuntary modeling, and are fuming. “This is about kids. If he’s waiting there for hours with his camera, who knows what kind of footage he has. I can recognize items from my daughter’s bedroom,” said one resident who appears in a Svenson photograph.

The photographer says: "For my subjects, there is no question of privacy. They are performing behind a transparent scrim on a stage of their own creation with the curtain raised high."

Rising In NYC: 60-Story "Jenga" Tower

Super-skyscapers are rising all over Manhattan and the "Jenga" tower is the city's latest hot building for jillionaires.

Tribeca’s soon-to-be-tallest building, 56 Leonard, sold more than 70% of its 145 units in just 10 weeks — including one to a Frenchman who got so excited just from looking at renderings of the unevenly shaped structure that he bought a $6 million apartment over the phone. The 60-story tower at Church St. was designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron — which also built Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium. The building will top out in 2014 — and prices are rising, too. A two-bedroom unit that sold for $3.6 million two months ago is now selling for $4.9 million.

The 57th floor penthouse is going for mere $24M.

TRAILER: Bridegroom

Clip description:

BRIDEGROOM gives an intensely personal edge to the ongoing debate over the legal rights of same-sex couples. Interviews, photos and video footage all testify to the uncommon connection that drew together Shane Bitney Crone and Tom Bridegroom. For six years they remained united despite extreme challenges from both family and society, until a tragic accident tears apart their dreams. Now one must fight to be recognized as his soulmate's legitimate counterpart. Tribeca Film Festival 2013 Official Selection.

Dates at the Tribeca Film Festival are here.

(Tipped by JMG reader Chuck)

Power Returns To Much Of Downtown NYC

After five days, electricity was restored this evening to parts of downtown Manhattan, almost a full day ahead of yesterday's forecast by Con Edison. According to Miss Twitter, folks were literally dancing in the LIT streets of Chelsea, the Flatiron, the East Village, Chinatown, Soho, and parts of the Lower East Side.  Con Ed tweets this disclaimer: "For all in networks that have been restored who are still out- your building likely has H2O/wind damage that building manager must repair before restoration."  The West Village, where flooding was more severe on the blocks near the Hudson River, remains dark, as do portions of other Manhattan neighborhoods.

Life Imitates Art (Film)

Playing this week at the Tribeca Film Festival is Una Noche, a Cuban film about defecting to the United States. Two of the movie's young stars were flown in from Havana to attend the premiere. Guess what they did?

REMINDER: Book Launch Tonight

One final reminder that I'll be hosting a book release event for Gay In America at the Tribeca Barnes & Noble at 7pm tonight. Author Scott Pasfield will be there with a slideshow presentation on the making of his book. And I'm told some of the subjects will be on hand too. Swing by after work and say hello! I promise to be brief!

TOMORROW: Book Launch In Tribeca

I'll be hosting a book release event for Gay In America at the Tribeca Barnes & Noble at 7pm tomorrow, Friday, October 21st. Author Scott Pasfield will be there with a slideshow presentation on the making of his book. And I'm told some of the subjects will be on hand too. Swing by after work and say hello!

Director Changes Title, It's Now: "Ticked-Off T*@nnies With Knives"

The Tribeca Film Festival has begun and in advance of its first screening tonight, Ticked Off Trannies With Knives director Israel Luna has made a slight change to its title. Some transgender activists have strongly objected to both the film's content and original title.

Tomorrow: Blowoff NYC

DJs Bob Mould and Rich Morel return to Tribeca's Canal Room tomorrow night for the latest NYC installment of Blowoff. Doors open at 11:30pm, advance tickets $15. Get tickets here. Subway: A/C/E/1 to Canal Station, one block from the venue. Rich has promised to play Tightrope, the new smoking track from 2009 Grammy-nominee Janelle Monae. Love it.

Jenga!

Via Gizmodo:

Fresh off the billions of eyes that have been on the beautiful Beijing National Stadium, Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron have set their sights on NYC with this incredible 57-story residential tower, unveiled today. It consists of 145 unique apartments that are stacked into the sky like a Jenga tower that's already been well-poked by a party of well-lubricated players. Especially when you get up to the penthouse level—if you're motion sick, you might want to think twice about dropping $33 mil for such a beautiful place when you'll wake up every morning feeling like you're dangling off a cliff...

The concept is interesting, but inelegant. The building is set to go up in Tribeca on Leonard Street, but the big question is whether this sucker will actually get built as the economy continues to unravel.