Film critic Tricia Olszewski reviews the Michelle Williams/Ryan Gosling drama Blue Valentine and the ponderous, seascape-heavy Alamar—two films involving breakups. Ben Westhoff reviews the latest album by bluesman T-Model Ford, whose bio may be somewhat apocryphal, but whose pain and experience still come through in the music. Michael J. West reviews the latest album from Joe Lovano's Us Five ensemble, a nerdy tribute to Charlie Parker. And in One Track Mind, Erin Petty talks to Burtonsville eccentric Trumpet Grrrl, who is, indeed, a girl with a trumpet.

In City Lights: Candide! The Max Levine Ensemble! Marc Bamuthi Joseph! John Kocur! Lego! Woodturning! and Grant Hart!

We assume that's a cigarette, not crack.

Hey all, here's a peak at the goings on at the Washington City Paper headquarters around 5 p.m. last night:

So, it was announced yesterday that Gil Scott-Heron canceled his scheduled appearances at Blues Alley, set to take place tonight through Sunday. "Health problems," the performer claimed. It put us in a real bind, because he was our City Lights pick, and we didn't find out until right around the time we put the paper to bed. Fortunately, my colleague Jonathan L. Fischer rocked out another pick in record time. But in case you're wondering how Steve Kiviat's original pick looked, here it is:

Between 1970 and 1982, Gil Scott-Heron released nine albums’ worth of deep-voiced poetry and singing over jazz and R&B rhythms, earning him the label as a godfather of rap. On innovative early tracks like “The Revolution Will Not be Televised,” he combined Langston Hughes-inspired wordplay with left-wing politics. Since 1982, the onetime D.C. resident has struggled with a crack problem, done prison time, been sampled by Kanye West, and released a mere two albums—1994’s Spirit and this year’s fine I’m New Here. On Here, producer Richard Russell layers Scott-Heron’s now-raspier vocals over minimalistic trip-hop beats. The soulful bard abandons politics, favoring instead original ruminations on life (“New York Is Killing Me,” “On Coming from a Broken Home”)mixed with a few covers of Robert Johnson, Brook Benton, and Bill Callahan that eerily reflect Scott-Heron’s own values and vices.

Fischer ended up selecting local band Alma Tropicalia, which covers tropicalia favorites by Os Mustantes and others. But he initially wanted to write about Liz Phair's show Friday at the 9:30 Club; it just didn't work out with our lineup. Phair spoke to WaPo about instructing people how to like Funstyle, her controversial latest release, as well as losing her management over the disc. Bad career move, anyone?

PopEater's got a nice interview with Michelle Williams, who just scored a Golden Globe nom for the upcoming film Blue Valentine. In it she talks about the obvious (the indie darling's heart was never in Dawson's Creek–big surprise) and well as the not-so-obvious (substitute words to use when you're trying not to swear around your children).

Photo: popsdineswithportman.blogspot.com

Joe Jonas is a Top Chef fan. Then again, who isn't?

Our own Michael J. West caught up with HR-57 owner Tony Puesan last night, who said the jazz club would be out of its 14th Street digs on December 18. Puesan estimates that HR-57 will be opening in its new location at 816 H St. NE in mid-January.

Well, that was short-lived. After My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy debuted at number one last week, Kanye West has been bumped all the way back to number seven on the Billboard charts. Susan Boyle has regained the top spot with The Gift, which has been out for a month.

The hotly anticipated (by me, anyway) Michelle Williams-Ryan Gosling vehicle Blue Valentine now has an R-rating instead of NC-17 after Harvey Weinstein himself appealed to the appealed to the Motion Picture Association of America. The film, which opens Dec. 31 and examines the the relationship between a husband and wife over throughout the years, has been generating some serious Oscar buzz.Top Chef All-Stars time! Teen dream Joe Jonas made a guest appearance last night, judging the cheftestants' efforts at creating kiddie cuisine for a youth overnight at the American Museum of Natural History. He couldn't decide between Spike and Tiffani, so the two chefs chose teams from the entire cast and set about replicating their snacks for 150 overnighters. Tiffani took it with her take on a Moon Pie, and had the "advantage" of choosing between meat, eggs, and cheese or grains, fruits, and vegetables when cooking breakfast for the kids and their parents the next morning. She chose the former set of ingredients, and was shocked when her team's pantry didn't include anything other than animal by-products.

Team Vegetarian was deemed to be more successful, with Richard, Angelo, and Spike earning top honors for their banana parfait. After a heated encounter with the judges, Jen was sent packing for her rubbery, underseasoned bacon with barely perceptible eggs, while her cooking partner Jamie remained safe after skipping most of the challenge to receive a mere two stitches in here thumb. Crazy season it's shaping up to be!

Outgoing Poet Laureate Kay Ryan gives her farewell reading tonight at the Library of Congress. It's free and she'll be signing books afterwards. Go!

Justin Bieber was nominated for a BET Award. He's up for Best New Artist, along with local favorite Wale. Bieber's in good company; wonder if Wale thinks the same?

A possible balm for Notebook fans who have yet to get over Rachel McAdams' and Ryan Gosling's split: Gossling and his Blue Valentine costar Michelle Williams have been looking pretty couple-y while promoting their film at Cannes. Williams projects the same Hollywood-outsider, down-to-earth sensibility as McAdams but she's got more indie cred and a sadder back story.

You know the day wouldn't be complete without a Top Chef Masters recap. Susur Lee continues his grating behavior, telling Tony Mantuano, "I could see you as a chef on The Sopranos." Tony's response? "That's kind of offensive." He also says, upon seeing other people cooking at the USC tailgate, site of last night's challenge, "Oh look, there are other chefs here." Fellow non-American Marcus Samuelsson tells him, "No, that's what people do at a tailgate–cook," and gives him a withering look. Tony eventually gets ousted.

Lastly, if you haven't seen Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain, which opened last week at the Textile Museum, do it. There are tons of drool-worthy Mid-Century modern textiles and great shopping in the gift shop, too.

Photo courtesy of sodahead.com.

The festival runs through Nov. 24 with centerpiece screenings including The Young Victoria, a period romance from Gosford Park writer Julian Fellowes with Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a Terry Gilliam film already well-known for being Heath Ledger's final project.

For tickets and more information, visit AFI Silver's Web site.