Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Music / TV Banding Together to Dethrone Justin Bieber From the Top of Saturday Night Live's Crowdsourced List of Musical Guests
Posted by Lauren Beck on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 1:45 PM
We have an opportunity here. We, as a community, can do better than Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez, I'm almost sure. In this light, we offer up a few names we'd like to encourage the world to nominate for SNL notoriety, but only on the designated day, of course.
Actual Coney Island Bikers Are Re-Making The Warriors
Posted by Virginia K. Smith on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 1:27 PM
With help of several local motorcycle clubs (including members of the Metal Militia, God's Only Demons, Filthy mad Dogs, Dukes, and They're Fucking Crazy), Coney Island filmmakers have made a short "remake" of the beloved 1979 classic The Warriors.
Theater Backstage at Detroit With Lisa D'Amour: "Even Playwrights Get Stage Fright"
Posted by Alexis Clements on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 1:07 PM
Not really.
News Happy 30th Birthday, Emoticon! :) :) :) :D
Posted by Audrey Ference on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 9:32 AM
:O
The emoticon is 30 years old today—old enough to feel true ennui, and complain that now it will never be on a "30 under 30" list. :''''( Certainly old enough to make us all feel ancient, in comparison.
Emoticons have certainly had their ups and downs. The first recorded emoticon use was by Scott Fahlman, a Carnegie Mellon computer science guy, on this very day in 1982, at 11:44 a.m.. It was this: :-). Behold! A new language has been birthed! They then made their way onto the proto-internet, reaching a peak in the AOL chats, listservs, and message boards of the more obscure, nerd-based early internet. I feel like emoticons made the journey from the province of nerds to the province of overly-enthusiastic cheerleaders/chain email forwarding moms somewhere between 1996 and 2003-ish. By the time the first wave of personal blogs were becoming popular in the 00's, emoticons were considered declasse, suitable only for the LiveJournal crowd. But with the rise of text and twitter, and the stylishness of the emoji, emoticons have turned it back around. Nothing saves characters on a tweet like a perfectly-deployed o_0.
Wikipedia, unsurprisingly, has an extensive and culturally comprehensive article on the history and breadth of the world of emoticons, emoji, and ACSII art. I could never hope to equal the combined knowledge of the Wikipedia Editors on such an important topic, so I won't even try. Instead, something more personal. I would like to share with you some of my very most favorite obscure or difficult to parse emoticons.
Of course, difficulty is subjective. I'm probably too old to have the inborn ability to understand an emoticon without squinting for a moment. True emoticon story: the first time I saw a heart (<3) I felt sure it was somehow a butt that I wasn't fully able to make my eyes see correctly. Here, then, are 8 emoticons that live somewhere in the wilds of the internet, forever confusing most of the people who come across them:
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Film What We Talk About When We Talk About Gentrification: A Conversation With My Brooklyn Director Kelly Anderson
Posted by Virginia K. Smith on Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 3:48 PM
- Laurie Sumiye via My Brooklyn
While you can't exactly say there's any shortage of discussion about gentrification in Brooklyn, a lot of it isn't what you'd call productive —patronizing and ham-handed at best, short-sighted and destructive at worst.
All of which is to say that when the opportunity does arise to look at the changes springing up in local neighborhoods in an intelligent, thoughtful way, it's a welcome breath of fresh air. My Brooklyn, a new documentary following development in the Fulton Mall, does just that, looking at the individual project as well as the changes that have swept through the entire borough over the past three decades, many of them the result of government policy.
It doesn't hurt that director Kelly Anderson, a film professor at Hunter College (CUNY) who collaborated with Allison Lirish Dean on the film, comes to the project from a unique perspective: Anderson moved to Park Slope in 1988 for the same reasons a lot of us move to Brooklyn — lower rents, calmer streets, a thriving arts community — eventually finding herself priced out of the neighborhood while still feeling partially responsible for its drastic demographic change.
"I wanted to explore the race and class dynamics of gentrification, and figure out whether there was a political solution — a way that we could actually help stabilize the neighborhoods we move into rather than just contributing to the displacement of entire communities," explains Anderson. "I love living in Brooklyn, as do many other people, and it's my dream to find a way to live here in a way that integrates me into an existing community instead of being part of wiping that community out."
In the lead-up to a screening of the film this week at the Brooklyn Public Library, we spoke with Anderson about the Fulton Mall, the city's role in promoting sweeping changes, and what, if anything, can be done about it.
Music 10 Great Late-Career Records
Posted by Jeff Klingman on Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 2:10 PM
So, to tip our caps to Dinosaur not becoming dinosaurs, we give you another ten pieces of work produced by an old master's extended prime. (And we mean, late-career. Only material released a full 20 years after an artist's first were considered.)
Music And Now Some Friendly Feedback for Justin Vernon on His Proposed Tattoo Designs
Posted by Lauren Beck on Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:40 PM
I named my band after an episode of Northern Exposure. In the episode a women transforms a gold rush village into a cultural place with one single dance in a tavern. They name the town after her, Cicely, Alaska... My favorite, hopefully what your illustrations will be based on, is the image I uploaded of Cicely with arms outstretched in mid-dance. You can't see her with the flowing scarf in her hands, but that would be cool if we could involve that. THANK YOU!This is a really important thing to me. I don't know how to express that exactly... It's a TV show but it weirdly explained my life to me. Cicely is the metaphor for that.
He's since whittled the proposals down to five. Because this is a really important thing for him, we thought we could offer some help choosing the final design. And so after the jump, we do just that. Because we like you, Justin, and don't want you to live your life with regret.
Definitely be sure to tell him your thoughts on the matter at one of Bon Iver's four shows at Radio City Music Hall this week. Until then...
Nightlife Glow-In-The-Dark Pool At Rave Caused Permanent Eye Damage, Claims Lawsuit
Posted by Virginia K. Smith on Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:18 PM
- Gothamist via Unicorn Meat NYC
Gothamist reports that two women, both 19 and from the Bronx, are suing the promoters of a party called Return to the Bubble Kingdom, at which glow-in-the-dark pool water allegedly left them with irreparable damage to their eyesight.
Art Curating is Like _____?
Posted by Corinna Kirsch on Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Everyone’s a curator, or so it seems: you can curate a Pinterest, Tumblr, and if you’re feeling really old-fashioned, you can curate an art exhibition. With the rapid rise of the curator as the most popular profession on the Internet, we’ve realized nobody has a great definition for what a curator does nowadays. A curator is like a DJ, movie producer, or hair stylist, to name just a few common metaphors about that wily thing. All these “curating is like” statements have made the curator’s job seem a bit nonsensical—it’s like a cure-all for any type of creative thing someone wants to do. Some comment wars and plenty of behind-the-scenes harangues have been spurred by this confusion, but we’re adults here, so let’s behave, but set some things straight. Curating is more complicated than exhibition-making, the definition preferred by mega-curator Jens Hoffmann, but what it’s become, well, nobody really knows but it’s still alive and well, and completely necessary. Here’s a few “curating is like _____” examples that show just how silly all these metaphors have become, and maybe, it’ll get people to re-evaluate what it means to curate.
News Many Arrested During Occupy Anniversary Demonstrations
Posted by Henry Stewart on Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 10:45 AM
Sex If Your Uterus Doesn't Work, You Can Now Swap It for a Replacement
Posted by Audrey Ference on Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Two Swedish women are carrying the wombs of their mothers after what doctors called the world's first mother-to-daughter uterus transplants.Specialists at the University of Goteborg completed the surgery on Sept. 15-16 without complications, but say they won't consider the procedures successful unless the women achieve pregnancy after their observation period ends a year from now.
"We are not going to call it a complete success until this results in children," said Michael Olausson, one of the Swedish surgeons told The Associated Press. "That's the best proof."
He said the women started in-vitro fertilization before the surgery. Their frozen embryos will be thawed and transferred if the women are in good health after the observation period, Olausson said.
The university said one recipient had her uterus removed many years ago due to cervical cancer and the other was born without a uterus. Both women are in their 30s. [AP]
Hand-me-down uteri. How cool is it to gestate your own kids in the same uterus where you gestated? Pretty cool. I think? Now I'm not sure. Next step, can we get some external gestation pods so nobody has to lug that fetus around for 9 months? Get on it, science.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Music Reason for The Fugees' Breakup REVEALED
Posted by Lauren Beck on Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 4:30 PM
- theurbandaily.com
"She could no longer be my muse. Our love spell was broken," Jean writes in his book with supreme dramatic flair. “In that moment something died between us. I was married, and Lauryn and I were having an affair, but she led me to believe that the baby was mine, and I couldn’t forgive that.” The third snag (perhaps!) was that Hill knew Jean had that awful version of "Staying Alive" somewhere inside him bursting to come out, though that seems to be largely ignored as an actual cause. This is reality TV-style drama, 90s style.
Art This Week's Must-See Art Events and Openings
Posted by Paddy Johnson on Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 12:47 PM
Tonight: Monday, September 17th
Panel: Why Dance in The Art World?, Judson Memorial Church
6:30 - 8 PM, 55 Washington Square South, free, rsvp at rsvp@performa-arts.org
“Why Dance in The Art World?” is a good question. Though dancers and artists have worked together since forever, there are a lot of disadvantages to dancing in front of gallerygoers: Crowds are smaller, nobody knows to remember the dancers’ names, and half of everything goes right over the audience’s head. Art and dance each have their specialist vocabularies, which gives any crossover both a purpose and a flaw: As an art person, I’m fascinated that dancers take classes in “presentational aesthetics”, and I want to know more; at the same time, I have no idea what good presentational aeshetics looks like (Jeremy Barker, among others, has considered these topics in depth many times). A new word can bring a new idea, or it can just be gobbledegook. There’s plenty of room here for both conflict and synergy. How do we weigh the benefits of such a collaboration?
Jennifer Homans, dance critic for The New Republic , MoMA performance curator Jenny Schlenzka, and renowned dancer and choreographer Ralph Lemon are the right people to ask. We’ve seen Artforum’s David Velasco at Lincoln Center once or twice, so presumably he’s got something to say too. The Kitchen’s Executive Director Tim Griffin recently talked our [single, collective] ear off about how great it is when dancers work with artists, so we’re thinking this topic is in air.
Then again, the press release leads with “Dance and visual art have always had an exhilarating relationship”, so maybe this’ll all be a frothy blowjob to the glories of working together.
Tuesday, September 18th and Wednesday, September 19th
Performance: “The Magic of Spectacular Theater," Abron Arts Center
8 PM, 466 Grand Street. TICKETS: $15 advance, $20 day of performance, $10 student rush
If you don’t know who Gérald Kurdian is, he’s an avant-folk Ben Folds type who’s going to ‘whimsically explore’ different types of magic. None of that sounds good to me, but apparently he “charmed festival audiences in 2011,” so people like it. Avant-folk cute addicts, you know who you are.
Sex Some People Had Public Sex at the Yankees Game This Weekend
Posted by Audrey Ference on Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Several stadium employees were among the slew of onlookers who flocked to the cinderblock bathroom, which bears a sign pledging “the highest possible levels of comfort with regards to quality and cleanliness.”Fans “thought it was amusing that they should probably be using one of those walkie-talkies to call someone to do something about it (but) no one wants to blow the whistle on something as epic as this!!!” the tipster posted.
The couple appeared oblivious to the commotion around them, and allegedly continued to run the bases even after several onlookers cried foul.
Even after someone knocked on the stall door, the couple kept on copulating.
But eventually, the extra innings ended — and fans gave the woman a slow round of rhythmic applause as she parted. [Daily News]
Honestly, I give the Daily News a C for their sports sex puns. Even as a non-sports-knower-abouter, I can tell there's unexplored pun ground there. Also, this lady:
“I would not sit on the seat after that,” said Victoria Wanderman, 33. “It’s definitely unsanitary, whether or not they’re using a condom.”
Victoria, I have some bad news for you about every public toilet seat ever.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Music Chris Brown Albums Branded with "This Man Beats Women" Advisory Stickers at HMV Stores
Posted by Lauren Beck on Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 3:30 PM
According to Gigwise, the stickers are believed to be the work of anti-domestic-violence activists. Or maybe members of PUABR (People United Against Bad Rap).
[via Gawker]
Follow Lauren Beck on Twitter @heylaurenbeck.
Nightlife Photos: Bex Wade on Fashion's Night Out
Posted by Mike Conklin on Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 2:30 PM
We have this thing where we immediately roll our eyes literally any time we even hear the words Fashion's Night Out. We don't know why, exactly, but after looking at these photos, taken by the inimitable Bex Wade, we're reconsidering. These people look so cool! Just sitting on stoops and fucking hanging out being all attractive and shit. So we apologize Fashion's Night Out, we won't roll our eyes at you anymore.
Art Art Picks From Print
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 2:07 PM
Gazers and glimpsers and curious vacuities bridge art picks from the 9/12 print issue of our handsome publication.
Music A Few Bands Stereogum Forgot on Their "Best New Bands of 2012" List
Posted by Lauren Beck on Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 1:01 PM
Sex Bar Installs Pregnancy Test Vending Machine
Posted by Virginia K. Smith on Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 9:52 AM
Film Your P. Anderson Weekend at the Movies
Posted by Jesse Hassenger on Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 9:00 AM
