Thursday, April 26, 2012
News Big Banks Are Like Yellowstone Park Elk Fending Off Occupy Protester Wolves, Apparently
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 4:25 PM
News Brooklyn Nets' Logo Has Been Leaked, and It Looks Like…
Posted by Josh Kurp on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 3:33 PM
1. Do IT work at the Barclays Center, the soon-to-be home of the Brooklyn Nets
2. Take a picture of the Nets logo, which isn’t supposed to be seen publicly until next Monday
3. Upload to Twitter
According to Deadspin, “The photo [you see to the right] was posted on Twitter by some guy who's doing IT work at the Barclays Center, and Tweeting photos as he goes…There’s no reason to think that logo mounted on an office wall isn't the real thing.” Minus the blue tape, of course. Deadspin didn’t link or reveal the Twitter information of the guy who uploaded the pic (who’s going to be SO fired), but I hope the account was a phony opened by Nas, Jay-Z’s one-time enemy. He’s been waiting six years for this moment.
Art Slicing Up an Artwork Dices Up a Theory at The Active Space
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 2:41 PM
After presiding over a great deal of construction work to renovate, polish and paint 1500 square feet of new exhibitional capacity at The Active Space, the creative force behind the gallery, Ashley Zelinskie, elected to inaugurate the rather rollingly roomy new room with a guest-curated exhibition.
Hence Dreaming Without Sleeping, a show of recent oil paintings by Criminy Johnson, otherwise known as street artist QRST. It was curated by Robin Grearson, otherwise known as a third-time guest curator at The Active Space.
TV Pat Kiernan is Moving to Williamsburg!
Posted by Henry Stewart on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 1:40 PM
"A little uncomfortable with the level of detail in coverage," Kiernan tweeted earlier today, "but that will pass."
Sex Talking About Porn With the People Who Make It
Posted by Audrey Ference on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 12:46 PM
- April Flores and Hoodman in Artcore, directed by C. Batts Fly. Courtesy of Carlos Fly.
The question put to the panel—which was comprised of director/performer Sinnamon Love, performer Tina Horn, ex-producer Dan Reilly, Museum of Sex curator Sarah Forbes, creator of Make Love Not Porn Cindy Gallop, the aforementioned Madison Young and moderated by Lynsey G.—was whether porn's job was to entertain or educate, or neither or both. The panel fairly unanimously agreed that though most porn is not created with the intent to be an educational tool, it often served that purpose.
Film Talking to Richard Linklater About Bernie, "The Most Purely Texas Thing I've Ever Done"
Posted by Elise Nakhnikian on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 12:10 PM
I lived in Texas for 7 or 8 years, including three different times in Austin, because whenever I had no reason to be anywhere else when I was young, I kept going back there—
Exactly. So anyhow, I love Texas, which is a lot of why I loved this movie.
Yeah. It’s the most purely Texas thing I’ve ever done.
There’s this language Texans use that’s descriptive and inventive and creative and funny, and you really captured that.
This is my mom and her friends. I just sit around and die laughing. I’m like, what a great turn of phrase! No writer could capture this; it’s so perfect! So it was fun, as a filmmaker, to use that in a movie.
Music For The Love Of Gerry, The Teenage Fanclub Bassist And His New Album
Posted by Bill Pearis on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 11:31 AM
Assembling a band that includes a flautist, Love has made an album that doesn't stray too far from his day job, but has its own distinct magic hour vibe. There is less emphasis on harmonies than in his other band, but in its place — that flute. It floats through the album like a ribbon on a breeze, never calling attention to itself but coloring in the outlines throughout. Think Free Design, not Jethro Tull.
Film Tribeca 2012: Death of a Superhero
Posted by Henry Stewart on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 10:39 AM
News In Pre-Veto Speech, Bloomberg Argues Chris Quinn's Living Wage Bill Would Be A Job Killer
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 9:47 AM
At least, that's what Bloomberg threatened to do if City Council overrides his vetoes (which it has vowed to do).
"Those bills - the so-called living and prevailing wage bills - are a throwback to the era when government viewed the private sector as a cash cow to be milked, rather than a garden to be cultivated," Bloomberg told the press before he vetoed the measure.
News Brooklyn Won't Name a Street After Joe Paterno
Posted by Henry Stewart on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 8:58 AM
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Music Watch: Chairlift Rock an Empty Auditorium
Posted by Jeff Klingman on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Well, this is lovely.
Brooklyn pop band Chairlift, who released their slightly underappreciated sophomore record Something earlier this year, recorded this alternate version of its song "Met Before" last December. They posted it to YouTube today, swooning us slightly. It's a clever use of physical space and a great example of novel recording techniques elevating a song beyond its original composition. Posting it on his Tumblr, Fluxblog's Matthew Perpetua makes a Young Marble Giants comparison that's pretty spot on. And a total treat, because bands don't emulate that simple, but mysterious strain of early 80s post-punk often enough.
Food & Drink The 7 Best Picnic Spots in Brooklyn
Posted on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 3:13 PM
Spring is high season for picnicking: blossoms on the trees, a cool breeze, and it's not too hot yet for a hearty appetite. Wherever you live in Brooklyn, there's a public spot waiting for a blanket and spread of goodies to bring. We've compiled some of our favorites, along with places nearby to fill up your picnic basket.
Music Live: Allo Darlin' at Mercury Lounge
Posted by Lauren Beck on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 2:31 PM
Consider, for a moment, bassist Bill Botting, who spends three-quarters of last night's Allo Darlin' show in the air, pogoing for minutes at a time, punctuating songs with cannonball jumps, smiling uninterrupted. His presence, in tandem with singer Elizabeth Morris' happy dancing and ukelele wailing, could lead you to categorize the band as stridently poppy, unabashedly upbeat... Until Morris returns for the encore and, backed only by her quietly strummed uke, sings "Tallulah," bringing to focus the bread and butter of their excellent new album, and what's really been going on here at Mercury Lounge over the last 45 minutes. Lines like, "I'm wondering if I've already heard all the songs that will already mean something, and I'm wondering if I've already met all the people that will mean something," dragged across simple, aching melodies in one of the purest, warmest voices imaginable. Bittersweet pop is best kind of pop. Done and done.
Photos by Nadia Chaudhury:
News Bad Ass Cobble Hill Parents Will Wage Civil Disobedience If School Doesn't Postpone Asbestos Clearing
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 1:42 PM
Protesting parents have legitimate cause for concern. When left alone, "undisturbed asbestos-containing materials generally do not pose a health risk," according to the Environmental Protection Agency. If those materials are poked, damaged or uprooted, however, that risk is greatly increased. After all, airborne asbestos fibers are a known carcinogen.
Film Judge, Jury and Werner Herzog
Posted by Henry Stewart on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 12:49 PM
News Watch Obama "Slow-Jam The News" With The Roots And Jimmy Fallon
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 11:58 AM
Watch the POTUS on Fallon below.
News Historic E.E.O.C. Ruling a Huge Victory for Trans People
Posted by Audrey Ference on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 11:06 AM
In her complaint, Mia Macy, 39, said she had been promised a job in a bureau crime laboratory in Walnut Creek, Calif., in early 2011. At the time, Ms. Macy, a military veteran and a former police detective, was living as a man.Later that year, she told officials at the bureau that she was intending to legally live as a woman, and shortly after was told that the position was no longer available, she said.
Ms. Macy filed a complaint in June with the bureau, which responded that a gender-identity claim was covered by Justice Department procedures rather than E.E.O.C. jurisdiction, as sex discrimination is. In a decision reached on Friday and made public Tuesday, however, she found a sympathetic audience in the commission. It said that “intentional discrimination against a transgender individual because that person is transgender” is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination.
Before this, trans people had no official employment discrimination protection under the law. This is a HUGE DEAL, because for many people, transitioning is expensive, often not covered by health insurance (if the person can afford health insurance), and workplace discrimination against trans people is a giant problem.
In not really related but important reading, I wanted to point everybody to this piece by Monica at Transgriot about why voting matters. I feel like I hear so much about how President Obama isn't moving fast enough on LGBTQ issues, or how he's caving to the GOP, or how he's not REALLY a liberal, and how left-leaning people are considering not voting for him in this election. Which, if you think HE'S too far right, I don't get how you think Republicans are any better. But anyway, go read, because Monica makes some extremely important points that I'm not hearing from people who should be understanding them.
News A "Last Chance" Bushwick School Could End Up A Casualty To Mayor Bloomberg's Education Plan
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 9:46 AM
Bushwick Community High isn't your average grade school institution—it's a transfer school that recruits 17-18 year-olds who don't have enough credits to earn a basic Regents high school diploma, then works with them (some for years) until they do. The pace of the school's graduation rates isn't spectacular ("A majority of the students fail to graduate within six years, which is one of the city’s inviolate metrics," Powell writes), and so the Education Department has recommended that the mayor's Panel for Education Policy vote to lay off the principal and half the staff. But Powell brings up a second point, one perhaps more powerful than the numbers game—that for many, the school has been a life-changing force, and sometimes, the only option left.
Music Why I'm Bummed About the Met Opera's Free Summer Concert Series
Posted by Henry Stewart on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 8:57 AM
But it wasn't so long ago that the Opera brought concert versions of full operas to parks around the city; in 2007, Gounod's Faust rang out across the ballfields in the Long Meadow in Prospect Park. In 2008, at the height of the economic crisis, the company began to scale back, performing just one superconcert, with two star singers and orchestra, in Prospect Park. In summers since, the Met has gone from borough to borough with the even more modest recitals it will again host this year.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
News AIDS Activist Group ACT UP Will Celebrate 25th Anniversary By Occupying Wall Street Tomorrow
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 5:32 PM
- http://www.actup.me
Since 1987, ACT UP has been making its voice known through innovative, civilly disobedient tactics. Protesting the unaffordable price of AZT drugs, ACT UP activists have staged numerous "die-ins," invaded the New York Stock Exchange, and handed out condoms and pamphlets on safe sex to teens in the middle of a St. Patrick's Cathedral mass. For 25 years, they have been protesting the corporate greed of the pharmaceutical industry, in many ways setting a precedent for the demonstrations that began on Wall Street in September of 2011.
