Blog Archives

Via Laughing Squid, peep these cardboard busts by Scott Fife.

You guys must check this out: On My Block Films.

And dig this, from an e-mail I received from Erin Pope who does community outreach for the project:

Neighbors across the 5 boroughs are challenged to create one to five minute short films (narrative or documentary) using only the residents from their block as the cast and crew. We’ve completed some sample videos that you can check out here. I can personally attest to how amazing the experience was. I only knew the neighbors in our building in a head nodding sort of way and after creating our film I’d now consider at least 12 people from my block great friends.

And the crazy thing about living in New York is, you never really know who you’ll meet when you go knocking on the door. Case in point, we shot our film with our neighbors last Saturday and through the process we met a woman who works for Obama. Forward ahead 48 hours later and my husband was meeting The President as he arrived at JFK. I have no doubt about the amazing things that will come out of each and every block’s filmmaking process!

Our goal is to create 50 films (10 from each borough) by Oct. 31st.

This is just too cool. Please enjoy this site and spread the word.

[Photo Credit: Tom Arndt via Je Suis Perdu]

Milo Manara

Here’s a bit of inexpensive crudeness from a college buddy.

[Photo Credit: Schmootography]

Mimi gives us a tomato tart with tarragon mustard.

Yeah, the kids are back on the train today. Look out, now.

[Photo Credit: Roger Kisby]

A head nodder from Large Pro’s unreleased “The LP” album:

[Photo Credit: You1Anna]

Matt Moore pitched like Sandy Koufax to start the game tonight, struck out six of the first nine batters he faced. But in the fourth, Alex Rodriguez hit a hard RBI double and Russell Martin followed with a two run double of his own. Funny moment when Rodriguez was batting. A pitch landed in the dirt and Rodriguez waved his arm for Jeter to run to third. It was a gut move and the wrong one. The ball didn’t roll far enough away. Immediately, Rodriguez caught himself and held up his hand. Jeter cracked up, so did Rodriguez and then he cracked the double.

But Hiroki Kuroda couldn’t hold the lead as the Rays tied it 3-3, and then 4-4 after Martin’s solo homer put the Yanks ahead.

The Yanks took the lead for good in the seventh on a throwing error by the second baseman Elliot Johnson. A sacrifice bunt by Jayson Nix put runners at second and third with one out. Infield in, Jeter, who had three hits so far, hit a tapper to second and Johnson threw it away. Both runners scored.

Boone Logan got two outs in the bottom of the inning while Jeter made a nice over-the-shoulder catch to end the inning (came up limping some, too). Then David Robertson and Rafael Soriano shut the damn door.

Final Score: Yanks 6, Rays 4.

Yeah, and the Orioles lost.

It wasn’t easy but it was a win. And for one night we can exhale.

[Photo Credit: Estera Lazowska]

It’s Hiroki as the Yanks look to stop the bleeding with a win. They’ll face a tough pitcher in Matt Moore.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Russell Martin C
Curtis Granderson CF
Andruw Jones LF
Steve Pearce 1B
Jayson Nix 2B

Never mind the self-pity: LET’S GO YANK-EES!

[Photo Credit: Luca Pierro]

From the man who brought us Everything Is a Remix

“RV Dusk” by Scott Listfield (2011)

Here’s a nice long piece by Bryan Curtis on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom over at Grantland:

It’s strange when two filmmakers can hardly stand to look at one of their movies. Especially when that film was as lucrative — and, for me, as beautifully sinister — as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. So when I met George Lucas in December, in advance of the release of Red Tails, I asked why he and Steven Spielberg always seemed to be renouncing it.

“Oh, I’m not renouncing it,” Lucas said. Which is fair enough. Lucas mostly sounds sad when he talks about Temple of Doom. It’s Spielberg who recoils from its heart extraction, its human sacrifice, its monkey-brain buffet. He once told a journalist that Temple of Doom was “too dark, too subterranean, and much too horrific.”

“People say, ‘Why’s it so dark?'” Lucas said. Then he began to explain.

“I was going through a divorce,” Lucas said, “and I was in a really bad mood. So I really wanted to do dark. And Steve then broke up with his girlfriend, and so he was sort of into it, too. That’s where we were at that point in time.”

I always liked Temple of Doom–maybe not as much as P. Kael, who gave it an over-the-top rave (after she panned Raiders)–but I thought it was scary and tense.

Here is a blurb of her review:

In this follow-up to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg creates an atmosphere of happy disbelief: the more breathtaking and exhilarating the stunts are, the funnier they are. Nobody has ever fused thrills and laughter in quite the way that he does here. Momentum has often been the true-even if not fully acknowledged-subject of movies. Here it’s not merely acknowledged, it’s gloried in. The picture has an exuberant, hurtling-along spirit. Spielberg starts off at full charge in the opening sequence and just keeps going, yet he seems relaxed, and he doesn’t push things to frighten us. The movie relates to Americans’ love of getting in the car and taking off-it’s a breeze. Harrison Ford is the archeologist-adventurer hero; Ke Huy Quan plays his child sidekick Short Round; and Kate Capshaw is the gold-digger heroine. The plot involves them with an odious boy maharajah and with Mola Ram (an anagram for Malomar), the high priest of a cult of Kali worshippers who come right out of the 1939 adventure comedy Gunga Din. This is one of the most sheerly pleasurable physical comedies ever made. A Lucasfilm Production, from a story idea by George Lucas, and a script by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. The score by John Williams is too heavy for the tone of the film, and it’s too loud. With Amrish Puri as Mola Ram, and Dan Aykroyd in a half-second joke.

Curtis gets  behind what was up for the filmmaker and why the movie was not beloved like the other Indy movies.

From A Continuous Lean, here’s a piece on Nom Wah Tea Parlor, the oldest dim sum jernt in the city.

Picture by Eric Issac.

Coolness from Buzzfeed: Famous Album Cover Locations in NYC.

Coolin’.

[Photo Credit: Simple Intimiste]

Meanwhile, back at the MET.

I got people coming out the woodwork calling, e-mailing, and texting me, busting my goddamn balls about the Yankees. Pat Jordan’s on the horn three times a day, cackling like the true sadist that he is.

Hank Waddles called last night too, but to commiserate. He likened watching the Yankees to having a fight with your spouse. One of those bad fights where you try to remember back to when you weren’t fighting and things were easy and happy but can’t. Like when you’ve got the flu and can’t recall being well.

The Wife says to me, “Are you going to be like this all month?”

I say, “Every time they lose.”

What am I going to do with you? That’s what she’s thinking and she’s right.

There is good news, though, and it is this: The Yankees are in first place today.

It’s Fab Five Freddy Garcia and a whole lot of sweaty palms for Yankee fans tonight.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher 1B
Robinson Cano DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Raul Ibanez LF
Jayson Nix 2B
Chris Dickerson RF
Chris Stewart C

They are still in first place, though.

Never mind the Pepto: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

We roll along this afternoon and will not mention the Yankees until absolutely necessary.

In the meantime, dig these paintings by Ana Teresa Fernandez.

I’ve made April Bloomfield’s Skirt Steak Salad twice recently and man, it’s a sure shot. I couldn’t find watercress so I used cilantro and mint instead. Here’s the recipe. And dig this demonstration.