Illustration by Vault 49

It Happens This Week
• Hanukkah begins.
•The Pixies commence a seven-night run at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
•Wes Anderson’s hipster-friendly The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou opens against box-office behemoth Ocean’s Twelve.
• Bloomberg, Trump, Brian Williams, and Tina Fey toast their own town at NYC & Company’s annual tourism dinner.
•The Met tries to build its acquisitions fund back up (after its $45 million purchase of a Duccio) with a $1,500-a-plate dinner.

Gen. Wesley Clark Rattles His Saber
Partying with the Clintonite exiles, the retired general hints at a new battle plan.
The dedication of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, the other week was as much about the Democratic future as the Democratic past— the cocktail discussion frequently sounded like fantasy baseball—but not all the guests were willing to cede this future to people who share the former president’s surname. At a party thrown by Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson, former general Wesley Clark was asked who he’d back in 2008. “I haven’t ruled out a run,” he was overheard saying. And they’re off.