Wednesday, July 28, 2010
News Brooklyn Tea Party Urges Use of Eminent Domain
Posted by Henry Stewart on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 12:24 PM
- The ugly faces of racism
Similarly, if you thought the wingnuts of the Tea Party would at least uphold core principles like small government, well: what about when they're trying to stop a bunch of Muslims from building a mosque?
News Is a New Development Battle About to Erupt in Brooklyn?
Posted by Henry Stewart on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 11:40 AM
- Barf!
Until this weekend, that is.
Politics The MTA's Long-Term Plan: Obsolescence
Posted by Mark Asch on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 11:08 AM
And why wouldn't the MTA welcome the privatization of mass transit? It'd certainly make things easier for them. Their just-unveiled four-year plan includes fare hikes to prevent service cuts, but surely it'd be a load off the state's mind if they no longer had to grapple with the responsibility of providing this public service. Privatize, privatize, and let God the market sort 'em out.
Here's Naomi Klein:
Music Pitchfork Unveils a New Feature Allowing Viewers to Decide From Which Angle They'd Like to Watch a Band Perform to an Empty Room
Posted by Mike Conklin on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 10:36 AM
The first installment features Broken Social Scene, who run through three songs—"Texico Bitches," "Meet Me in the Basement" and an untitled improvisational thing. It's interesting enough, I guess, but I remain confused by Pitchfork's insistence on recording bands playing to empty rooms. They did it with the Hold Steady at Union Pool a little while back, and that was similarly awkward and not really any fun at all to watch. I'll be on board with this if they start doing it at crowded, presumably more energetic shows, and there's no real reason to think they won't, I guess.
Theater / TV Watch Kevin Kline and Stephen Colbert's Grunting Shakespeare Showdown
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 9:43 AM
Theater (but not "theatre") enthusiast Stephen Colbert spoke to stage and cinema star Kevin Kline last night, and challenged him to a series of wordless pantomimes of great Shakespeare parts. As you'd expect, Kline does a superb Falstaff. (ArtsBeat)
Music Oh Dear God: Kanye Premiers New Songs at Facebook Offices
Posted by Mike Conklin on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 9:00 AM
Earlier this week, Kanye West stopped by Facebook headquarters, where he premiered three new songs from his forthcoming album, Good Ass Job. The kicker, of course, is that he performed them a cappella. And you know, you've got to hand it to him: This was a pretty bold move considering the most common gripe against him is that his rhymes are bullshit and that he's a far better producer than he is rapper. Clearly, Kanye does not agree. Anyway, above is the most complete sounding track, the touching and frank "Mama's Boyfriend." After the jump, "Lost in the World" and "Chain Heavy."
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Art / News Brooklyn Landlord Destroys Artwork
Posted by Henry Stewart on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 5:38 PM
The Brewery rents, and does not own, the warehouse; the landlord tore the sidewalk up on Friday. It was repaved yesterday. A source at the brewery tells us:
Had I known ahead of time that they were going to destroy it, I would have tried to do something to save it. I cross the street between the brewery and the warehouse a dozen times a day. I’ve seen countless people stop to take a quick snapshot [of the artwork]. It’s pretty sad that its gone.
Of course, we know the city cares not for its history, especially where sidewalk renovations are concerned.
News In Post-Soviet Russia, Anti-Tourist Gangs Try To Drown You
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 5:07 PM
I'm not sure about New York City, but in Montreal there's a whole police squad on weekends that picks up drunk Americans along the major bar and (strip) club strips, roughs them up and drops them off at the U.S. border. St. Petersburg cops have it pretty sweet, though: the local anti-tourist vigilantes do all the work for them. In what is apparently becoming a trend (I think; my Russian skills aren't what they never were), WarNet reports that some young St. Petersburgers with bandannas over their faces outfitted a young newbie with quick-dry concrete slippers and tried to throw him into the Neva River. For the fluent, an un-subtitled news report on the attempted tourist-tossing will make everything clear, after the jump.
Film 20 People Watched All of Warhol's Empire at Anthology on Saturday
Posted by Mark Asch on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 4:39 PM
In the current issue of the L, I wrote in praise of the "Boring Masterpieces" selected by Jonas Mekas and screening at Anthology Film Archives over the next couple months, beginning with Andy Warhol's 8-hour, 5-minute Empire State Building actualités Empire. As you can see, about 20 attendees (more than two thirds of the crowd), stayed for the whole thing. Or did they? Among those that stayed for the whole thing, naturally, was our own gjk, who commented on my article:
Pretty sure we skipped a reel. Reels were clocking in at around 40 minutes each, Bradley told us one projector was at 16 fps and the other was at 18.5 fps. SO the speed was definitely correct, when you project at 24 fps reels run for 30 minutes. We finished about 45 minutes short- at about 8:45. So, can anyone confirm that in one reel, after the lights go off, they come back on for about 10 minutes and then go back off again? I'm pretty sure I saw this happen at LPR screening earlier this year. Maybe I was dreaming, but that's the one reel that we didn't see at Anthology...In any case thanks to Anthology for throwing this party, there were about 20 people who sat through the whole thing, it was better than Inception!
(Here's some info about the "LPR screening earlier this year." Yes, it would appear that one of our commenters has sat through all of Empire twice in the past seventh months. At least.)
Film / Special Events Dead Man at Summerscreen: "A Western fed through a chain of distortion pedals as long as a passenger train."
Posted by Mark Asch on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 4:12 PM
As you've hopefully heard by now, tomorrow's Summerscreen presentation is Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man (please click that link, it's a remarkable piece in several ways). We generally assume that you come to down to McCarren Park at Bedford and North 12th for the live music curated by Free Williamsburg (this week is Northside faves ARMS, and Hymns, who'll be playing Neil Young covers in tribute to the film's soundtrack), and for the Sixpoint beer and food from San Loco, Asia Dog, Porchetta , and Red Hook Lobster Pound, all beginning when the gates open at 6pm. But in the event that you don't go to free outdoor movies to eat and drink on blankets, you should know that tomorrow night we happen to be showing one of the best movies of the 90s.
Last year, BAM screened Jim Jarmusch's mythic, mystic, deadpan, gorgeously black-and-white (nobody has ever photographed birch trees as beautifully as Robby Muller) death-trip Western on the 4th of July. Writing about it at the time, the L's Ben Mercer observed:
Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man is a Western — albeit one fed through a chain of distortion pedals as long as a passenger train — that prospects a large strip of the Western canon.
Fashion Forget Horizontal Stripes: Gulf Oil T-Shirts Are the New Summer Hotness
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 3:46 PM
Well here's a novel way to help get oil from BP's Deepwater Horizon rig out of the Gulf of Mexico: wear it. I Helped Clean Up the Gulf prints t-shirts with ink that includes trace amounts of oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico (they also sell oil in a pendant, which seems even more dramatic). All items are $20, $5 of which goes to either the Tri-State Bird, National Wildlife Federation, or National Audubon Society. The amusingly specific oil-printed tees read "I Helped Clean Up the Gulf," and then in the fine print: "Oil amounts are nominal and meant to be symbolic." Really, they should say, "I Didn't Help Clean Up the Gulf, and All I Got Was this Smelly T-Shirt." (TreeHugger)
Food & Drink / News Assembleywoman Joan Millman Introduces Bill to Shut Bar Backyards Early, Outlaw Fun
Posted by Mark Asch on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 3:13 PM
- No, no. No. Never!
It's true—bars and residents can't be relied upon to coexist without strict state regulations. Haven't you ever noticed how most bars with back yards put up "Please Disrespect Our Neighbors" signs? Or how frequently patrons are pelted with garbage while stepping outside for a smoke?
Film Tron Director: "America Never Got Me"
Posted by Henry Stewart on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 2:47 PM
- "We're not like other animations"
The original “Tron,” released in 1982 and loaded with computer-generated effects, was a hit with the young male crowd, who quickly turned a related arcade game into a success. But the movie failed to attract a wide audience. The story — a man is pulled inside a video game and is forced to play space-age gladiator games — turned off mainstream moviegoers.“It went beyond suburbia’s ability to deal with it at the time,” said Steven Lisberger, who directed and wrote “Tron.”
Fashion Only Poor People Appreciate Logos
Posted by Henry Stewart on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 2:01 PM
- Let everyone know how poor you are
Food & Drink / News A "Cooking Co-Op" Sounds Like a Great Idea
Posted by Mark Asch on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 1:19 PM
- Red pepper risotto. Serves 6, or 2 for 3 days.
So, you don't buy as much regionally grown fresh produce as you like, even though you love it in principle, because your busy schedule means you're only home to cook a real dinner a couple of nights a week, and then when you are home there's nothing in the house so it takes forever to go shopping, prep, etc., so you just order in. Plus it's just you and maybe your roommate, so when you do cook, you end up doing one nice meal a week and then eating the leftovers for days. So: Good would like to introduce you to the concept of a cooking co-op, in which a few local households split the dinner duties for a week.
This seems like a promising way for smaller families to save time, save money, save money, and save resources, without eating the same soup for three days. Assuming, of course, you can find a few like-minded good cooks in your own neighborhood—should be a piece of seed cake, right? Good talks to Alex Davis, co-author of Dinner at Your Door: Tips and Recipes for Starting a Neighborhood Cooking Co-op, about how to avoid botulism and other unpleasantness.
Music Watch Superchunk Cover The Cure's "In Between Days"
Posted by Mike Conklin on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 12:35 PM
For the A.V. Undercover thing, Superchunk tackled the oft-covered "In Between Days" by the Cure. It's pretty awesome—sounds exactly how you want it to.
News Atlantic Yards Construction to Make Downtown Brooklyn Less Dangerous?
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 11:49 AM
Art / Nightlife / News Rubulad Loft Status Update
Posted by Mark Asch on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 10:58 AM
- If the Brooklyn Paper continues to go with this image, we will, too.
The Rubulad folks have now moved back into their apartments, the Brooklyn Paper's Aaron Short reports, though the first-floor studio/event space remains off-limits—pending, yes, the resolution of the FDNY and DOB's competing assessments of the space's safety. (This partly according to a spokesman for Williamsburg assembleyman Crazy Joe Lentol, pulling a Schumer and making himself visible around cool-kid issues.) Actual specific fire-code violations and subsequent improvements to the space, or else a slow quiet backing-down from the FDNY, seem the likeliest next steps, to be followed in either case by the resumption of crazy hipster raves you're glad are still happening even if you would never go to them because you dress like a junior editor at the New Republic.
News Historic Theater To Become Brooklyn's Prettiest Charter School
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 10:35 AM
Few things make L Mag staffers sadder than disused Brooklyn cinemas, so Curbed's visit yesterday to the beautiful 1929 Loew's Pitkin Theater in Brownsville, which has been sitting vacant and abandoned at Pitkin Avenue and Legion Street for four decades, made us very happy. Exactly how developer POKO Partners plan to turn the building into a charter school while preserving the beautiful interior detailing remains a bit of a mystery, but at least there will once again be kids running down the theater's aisles.
Music M.I.A. Promises Free Show to Make Up for HARD Fest Rainout
Posted by Mike Conklin on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 9:48 AM
