FESTIVALS
INTERNATIONAL BALLOON FESTIVAL. More hot air than any convention on earth. Hundreds of giant rainbow-hued balloons converge on Albuquerque (or just above it) for the largest annual ballooning extravaganza. Oct. 7 to 15.
NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL. If the avant garde has any tradition, this is it. The % Brooklyn Academy of Music's seventh annual festival of cutting-edge music and dance features performance artist Laurie Anderson's new solo piece, Empty Places, and a musical tribute to Andy Warhol by Velvet Underground veterans. Through Dec. 3.
MOVIES
QUEEN OF HEARTS. On a next-to-nothing budget, this criminally pleasurable panorama depicts a teeming gallery...