New York calls itself the “media capital of the world” for good reason: countless newspapers, magazines, television networks, film studios, and communications companies are based in the Big Apple. Many popular American television shows are taped in the city, and several are broadcast live—often with the city’s pedestrians passing by in the background.

Here are three of our favorite ways to be part of a TV show, times to show up, and ways to get on camera.  The best part? Most of it is free.

1) The Late Show with David Letterman
Where: Ed Sullivan Theater (1697 Broadway, at 53rd Street)
When: Weekdays

Home to the “Ed Sullivan Show” from 1948-1971, the theater now hosts David Letterman’s popular late night talk show, broadcast on CBS at 11:30 PM.

Tickets in person: Tickets are free and may be requested by visiting the theater and submitting a written request for shows up to one month in advance. Audience members will be contacted by phone if their request is accepted. The ticket office is open weekdays from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM, and 10 AM to 6 PM on Saturdays and Sundays. 

Tickets in advance: To secure tickets in advance without visiting the theater, use the show’s online ticket lottery. Fill out a form and, hopefully, you will be contacted by phone and asked a trivia question before you’re granted your free tickets. Note: They are serious about this. When we were called, they asked us for the name of the owner of the “Hello Deli”. Luckily, we knew it was “Rupert.” A friend wasn’t as lucky and was turned down. Know your Letterman!

Same-day tickets: A limited number of same-day standby tickets are available on the day of taping by calling (212) 247-6497 starting at 11 AM. This phone number is only “active” when tickets are available. Seats for standby tickets usually are in the back of the theater, but hey, it’s a great last-minute way to see the show. Visit the show’s website for more information about obtaining free tickets.

Tip: Assistants from the show scope out the crowd before taping. They hone in on bubbly, smiley types who are “camera ready.” We suggest chatting up these assistants. In the best case, you will be ushered down to the first two rows. Score.

2) Total Request Live (”TRL”)
Where: MTV Studios - 1515 Broadway at Times Square
When: Mondays through Thursday at 3:30 PM

MTV, the music television behemoth, broadcasts this hour-long musical show from its headquarters overlooking Times Square four days a week. The show is a medley of music videos, celebrity interviews, and live performances, taking place inside the studio and sometimes on the street. Tourists can watch the show taping from the sidewalk (and get in everyone’s way) or get plucked from the crowd to be a part of the in-studio audience.

Advance tickets: You may email MTV to request a “chance for studio audience tickets.” Check out this page for details. According to MTV, audience members must be between the ages of 16-24 or at least look like they are.

Same-day tickets: We know (on younger brother authority) that if you want to land a same-day spot in the studio audience, you’d better get in line early and “look the part.” Meaning? Get there before 2 PM (the show airs at 3:30 PM) and wear your best retro sweatshirt. A few dozen stand-outs will get ushered upstairs for the live studio show.

Otherwise, you can watch the show tape from below and be seen, if only as a tiny speck, within the larger crowd and street shots.

3) NBC Studios
Rockefeller Center -30 Rockefeller Plaza, between 49th and 50th Streets
When: Daily and Nightly

This is the mother load. “30 Rock,” as it’s often called, houses the NBC television network’s studios and corporate headquarters. Shows produced there include Saturday Night Live, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and more.

A studio tour ($18.50) takes you behind the scenes in many of the network’s studios, although it doesn’t get you tickets to any of the shows. (You might, however, see some stars walking through the hallway or in rehearsal, like on Saturday when SNL cast members are hard at work. We got to see Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon and Sean Hayes, when we swept through last time.)

Tickets to NBC shows taped in the building are offered in advance by email or telephone. Each show has its own ticketing policy and details are offered on this page of the NBC website. The Today Show broadcasts live from its windowed street-level studios at Rockefeller Center every morning from 7 AM to 10 AM, with its hosts taking frequent trips into the noisy crowd. Bring a smile—and scream.

Photo courtesy of Kino unter Sternen

One thing we like about summer in Vienna is open-air cinema. This month, we are looking forward to a myriad of events that will allow us to enjoy the flicks without shivering and munch on popcorn without freezing our hands. Mark the following events on your calendar.

1. Kino Unter Sternen (Cinema Under the Stars) at the Augarten, starts off with a tribute to legendary American comedian Jerry Lewis. Naturally, the opening salvo will be one of his popular movies, Artists and Models. Other films that will be screened, either in their original version or with subtitles, include Roman Holiday and The Science of Sleep. The outside Kino, with its jam-packed schedule will run from June 28 until August 12. Tickets cost €7.50 each or €32.50 for a block of five movies. We suggest making reservations to be sure you don’t miss out. Kino Unter Sternen is located between Second and 20th Districts. Just look for the giant tower that the Viennese call Flakturm, a massive anti-aircraft gun blockhouse that was used by the Nazis in World War II.

2. The rooftop of the city’s Main Library in the Seventh District is the place to be for Lichter der Großstadt (The lights in the metropoles). Already in its fourth season, the theme this year will tackle the significance of big cities such as Vienna, New York, and Saigon. Its healthy mix of classics, rarities, and succesful films runs from June 22 to July 1. The feature movie examining Vienna will be Exit–nur keine Panik while Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam will represent New York. Admission costs €7. For more information, email office@stbalbach.at.

3. Schloss Neugebaüde, the former imperial hunting lodge in Simmering (11th District), offers a series of outside cinema, featuring the latest Hollywood films from Happy Feet to Babel. This portion of the Ein Sommer im Scholss (A Summer in the Castle) festivities will run from June 28 until August 30. Entrance costs €7 .

Photo by zhmort

With Sundance behind us and Cannes less than two months away, we’re all jazzed up with celeb-filled filmatic antipation! (Too bad our chances of scoring seats at Cannes are about as likely as Britney winning a Fulbright.)

Thankfully, the compassionate folks at Virgin Airlines are launching a film festival for the common man, or the common flyer, at least. The airline has teamed up with the National Film and Television School to launch a film festival in the sky.

Over the next four months, Virgin will screen 14 short films on its in-flight entertainment system and allow passengers to vote for their favorites. A panel of respected industry figures (including actress Brenda Blethyn) will assess the six highest scoring films, and the final winner will earn Virgin Atlantic tickets and the opportunity to show their next film onboard to an audience of nearly 5 million passengers.

So, if you’re flying Virgin, close your US Magazine and focus on the “V:Port” screen in front of you.

Photograph by Initiales JB

Beginning today, March 22, the Institut Français d’Athenes is hosting its eighth annual French Film Festival.

From today through April 1, the festival set up shop Athens, at the Attikon Cinema (Stadiou 19, metro station: Panepistimiou, tel: +30-210-322-8821, tickets €8, €6 for children and students (Monday through Thursday). Tickets can be purchased by phone through Cinemax at +30-80111-300-400 or online, at the Apollon Cinema (tel: +30-210-323-6811), and at the French Institute (Sina 31, tel: +30-210-3398-600, ifa@ifa.gr).

From Monday, March 26 through April 4, the film festival will extend its reach to Thessaloniki, at the Olympian Cinema (Plateia Aristotelous, tel: +30-2310-378-404).

This festival is currently entering its eighth year, and is very popular among residents of both cities. It affords French-loving Greeks the opportunity to see an assortment of recently-released Francophone films produced worldwide—from Chad to Canada to Switzerland—along with a collection of classic works from important French directors, shorts, animation, and children’s films.

Right now, everybody is talking about something intriguing on the festival’s program: “Five films you must see before you die.” The films assigned to this category are free to moviegoers with student IDs.

Photograph by Alon A

Last night we scaled the north face of the rocky, icy Eiger. From the safety of our chairs, of course. Though we didn’t accomplish any death-defying feats we sure felt we did at a special screening of The Alps, MacGillivray Freeman’s new IMAX film.

It was breathtaking. It was exhilarating. We loved it. We got amazing views of Grindelwald’s storied Eiger, notorious for deadly showers of falling rock, unpredictable weather changes, and slick ice that make it difficult and exhilarating for climbers.

The movie chronicles the climb John Harlin III made in honor of his father, a famed alpinist who met his tragic demise 40 years ago when his rope broke during a climb of the mountain. With overwhelming views of the mountain face, stops in enchanting mountain villages, and various other surprises, the film shows just why John Harlin II loved the Alps, and why we do too.

It almost made us want to climb the mountain ourselves.

photograph courtesy of clairevet

Cheapos, pay attention! Printemps du Cinema, organised by the National Federation of Cinema, is a not-to-be-missed event in France. From March 18-20 all cinemas in France will be selling tickets for €3.50 instead of the usual €9.50. It’s a fantastic opportunity to see new releases or catch up on films you haven’t yet found the time to check out.

For nationwide listings, go to allocine.fr. Amongst the current mainstream releases are Breaking and Entering, Letters from Iwo Jima, Dreamgirls, Blood Diamond, and The Last King of Scotland. Make sure you are going to a V.O. (version originale) showing—which means the movie will be screened in its original language with French subtitles—as opposed to V.F. (version francaise) film.

Paris has a welter of unique and charming independent cinemas worth seeking out for the aesthetic experience of a visit alone. La Pagode, for example, is an authentic Japanese pagoda built in 1895 as a gift from a French businessman to his wife. Today it is a delightful art house cinema complete with a garden and tea room, located at 57 bis, rue de Babylone 75007. Metro: Saint François Xavier.

photograph courtesy of Mor (bcnbits)

When we think of Amsterdam, romance is not exactly the first thing that comes to mind. The city’s depiction in film has mostly been relegated to stories of Anne Frank, tales of horror (Hostel begins in A’dam, need we say more?) and movies detailing the, um, distinctive local merchandise (Cheech and Chong’s Still Smokin).

A more wistful, romantic side of Amsterdam is displayed in the 2002 Snapshots, a low-budget charmer starring Burt Reynolds as a owner of a ramshackle American bookstore right off one of Amsterdam’s more picturesque canals.

While the film occasionally stumbles into the Amsterdam cliché well, we’ve never seen a better looking stroll through the distinctive cobblestones and backalleys of this beautiful city. The film opens adrift upon a canal, passing houseboats on a typical gray Amsterdam morning. So vivid, so gorgeous.

In Snapshots narrative, a young backpacker (Carmen Chaplin) in search of a hostel has a rather eye-opening encounter in the tourist-filled red light district before taking employment at Burt’s shop. The bookseller soon realizes that he shares a unique connection to the girl’s past, whose mother (played by the always gorgeous Julie Christie) is also delightful.

One of the film’s endearing revelations occurs at the Rijksmuseum as the characters gaze at the beautiful Rembrandt classics and suddenly realize a potential romantic connection. Sure beats finding love at one of the “smoking” coffee shops.

The films nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar feature locales spanning the globe. They include India (by way of Canada), Morocco, Spain, Denmark, and Germany.

The nominated German film, of course, is The Lives Of Others, a crackling intrigue set in mid-1980s East Berlin. Lives takes as its focus the East German Stasi, the covert intelligence unit that spied on critics of the government. The film follows the obsession of one Stasi operative (Ulrich Mühe) who watches every move of a prominent playwright (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend (Martina Gedeck).

One pleasure of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s debut film is its usage of several locales in Berlin. The main characters live in Friedrichshain, around Frankfurter-Tor. The famous Hebbel Theatre—where the playwright debuts his latest work—is prominently featured.

Scattered throughout are shots of the gray buildings of Karl-Marx-Allee and, much later, shops along Ku’damm. The stark Soviet War Memorial (Schönholzer Heide) in Pankow sees a pivotal liaison between the lead character and a West German contact.

The most eye-opening scenes transpire on the film’s primary set, the Stasi headquarters and prison. Turned into the Stasi Museum following the collapse of East Germany, these rooms are a perfect place to catch a chilling glimpse of life under strict paranoia. At the museum, visitors learn about actual interrogation techniques as well as the last days of the Stasi.