This week: Try your hand at a Rock Paper Scissors contest; get your geek on at Comic Con; prep your sweet tooth for some delightfully original cookies; ‘don’t stop till you get enough’ at the Canal Room; and get your extreme giggle on with Judd Apatow and clan.
Choose your weapon
Josie Wood’s Pub and Restaurant, 11 Waverly Place; (212) 228-9909
Everyone knows paper covers rock, rock crushes scissors and scissors cut paper. The tough part is anticipating what your opponent’s going to do in the age-old game of Rock Paper Scissors, which has determined many a debate between roommates over who gets the last beer. Come Thursday at 7 p.m., when the RPS tournament comes to NYC, there will be a lot more than beer at stake as competitors can compete for a trip to Las Vegas and the chance to win $50,000 in a national championship competition airing on ESPN in June. That winner will go on to Beijing where he’ll represent the US in an international competition scheduled to run concurrent with the Olympic Games. -Brian Niemietz
Fanboys assemble!
The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 W. 34th St.; (212) 216-2000
Comic geeks will unite for the third annual New York Comic Con, featuring exclusive movie previews for films such as “The Incredible Hulk massive amounts of memorabilia, including the exclusive black-suit Superman action figure; and historical panel discussions where Marvel master Stan Lee and manga man Hiroyuki Takei talk about their new comic collaboration, ULTIMO. Plus, new additions include a voice-over contest offered throughout the convention – the winner will be cast in a bit part for Activision’s upcoming “Spider-Man” video game. The show goes on Friday through Sunday. Tickets cost $40 for Friday or Sunday; Saturday entry is $45. Weekend passes cost $65. – Christofer Cassuto
‘C’ is for cookie
FAO Schwarz, 767 Fifth Ave.; (212) 644-9400
The AirBake Extreme Cookie Challenge has searched kitchens nationwide for the best parent/child baking team. And though all five of their finalists will be rolling in dough tomorrow, only one team will come away with a $10,000 savings bond as decided by NYC cookie eaters (that means you!) who show up to vote between noon and 2 p.m. The finalists are: Ginger Snappin’ Turtle Cookies from Ada, Okla.; Not Your Mother’s Oatmeal Cookies from Beachwood, Ohio; Extremely Chocolatey Beaver Huts from Falmouth, Maine; Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cones from Owings Mills, Md.; and Zebra-Pop Cookies from Kalamazoo, Mich. Noah Gray-Cabey from TV’s “Heroes” will be on hand to greet fans, and attendance is free. – B.N.
Can’t beat it
Canal Room, 285 Broadway; (212) 941-8100
Grease up that Jheri curl and put your glove and red leather jacket on because Who’s Bad? – the self-proclaimed “ultimate Michael Jackson tribute band” – will be thrilling audiences all the way down to their glittery socks when they take the stage Friday at 8 p.m. Six musicians, including a lead singer who resembles a beefed-up “King of Pop,” will perform many of Jackson’s biggest hits. Tickets are $18 at canalroom.com and $15 at the door. – B.N.
Laugh riot
Once again, Judd Apatow and his entourage bring you a film that’ll have you laughing your ass off. Or perhaps more fittingly, Jason Segel’s ass: The “Freaks and Geeks” alum appears fully nekkid several times throughout “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” a subtly romantic, way-more-comedic flick about a guy (Segel) who’s been dumped by his beautiful but utterly shallow actress girlfriend (Kristen Bell), whom he runs into while on a just-been-dumped-vacation in Hawaii. Many of the Apatow regulars – Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill and Bill Hader- show face (and thankfully nothing more) throughout spot-on scenes and laughable lines. In theaters Friday.
– Sara Lieberman