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New York

Flavorpill Guide to This Week’s Top 10 New York Events

By Leah Taylor on

For our (unconscionably high) rent money, the best thing about living in NYC is its endless supply of fun, odd, and inspired cultural events. But with so many options, it can be hard to know where to even begin planning your week. To help you make sense of it all, Flavorpill Deputy Editor Mindy Bond shares the very best of what’s on offer this week. It’s just a taste of what you can find on the new Flavorpill, so if you like what you see, be sure to sign up.   … Read More

Film

Richard Pryor’s Most Fascinating Movie Is a 13-Minute YouTube Video

By Jason Bailey on

Tonight, BAMcinématek kicks off A Pryor Engagement, a two-week, 18-film tribute to the film work of the late, great comic genius Richard Pryor. The program is expansive, including his three sublime concert films, two of his pairings with Gene Wilder, his astonishing dramatic turns in Blue Collar and Lady Sings the Blues, and oddities like Some Call It Loving and Dynamite Chicken. All are presented in glorious 35mm, and all are worth seeing. But my favorite Richard Pryor movie (if you can call it that) is not part of the program; it’s not available on 35mm, or on DVD, and it runs only 13 minutes. … Read More

New York

Martin Amis on Reading, Writing, and What It's Like Inside Nabokov's House

By Emily Temple on

Last night, Martin Amis — the recent Brooklyn transplant, notorious firebrand, and king of “the new unpleasantness” — came to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the season’s first installment of the great reading and conversation program Eat, Drink and Be Literary. The controversial Amis showed up in a surprisingly cheery tie, and, while being interviewed by New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman, spoke eloquently about his work and the state of fiction, constantly evoking as many of the gods of literature as he could, from Dickens to Nabokov to Sebald. After the jump, we’ve reproduced a few of Amis’ best literary invocations and ideas about the state of writing and reading from the event. Click through to hear a little wisdom from a modern master. … Read More

New York

Martin Amis on Reading, Writing, and What It’s Like Inside Nabokov’s House

By Emily Temple on

Last night, Martin Amis — the recent Brooklyn transplant, notorious firebrand, and king of “the new unpleasantness” — came to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the season’s first installment of the great reading and conversation program Eat, Drink and Be Literary. The controversial Amis showed up in a surprisingly cheery tie, and, while being interviewed by New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman, spoke eloquently about his work and the state of fiction, constantly evoking as many of the gods of literature as he could, from Dickens to Nabokov to Sebald. After the jump, we’ve reproduced a few of Amis’ best literary invocations and ideas about the state of writing and reading from the event. Click through to hear a little wisdom from a modern master. … Read More

Fashion

Dear Costume Department: ‘Richard III’

By Of a Kind on

Editor’s note: Welcome to Dear Costume Department, a bi-weekly feature brought to you by our fashion-minded friends from Of a Kind, a curated shopping site of limited-edition goods by emerging designers. With each installment, they’ll bring you a head-to-toe look inspired by a buzzed-about pop culture personality — complete with info on where to grab the pieces for your own closet. Enjoy!

How many directors have staged modern productions of Shakespeare, would you guess? And how many have gone too far with the whole let’s-make-this-current! ethos (see: Peter Sellers’ Othello with Philip Seymour Hoffman)? Thankfully, Sam Mendes was able to contain himself with his take on Richard III, which opened at BAM this month, and that makes dressing an evil king (a.k.a. Kevin Spacey) legitimately fun. … Read More

Media

Is Staying Home the New Going Out?

By Emily Temple on

Welcome to the future, where you can go see any cultural event you please without changing out of your jammies. All sorts of outside events like concerts, readings, sports games, and press conferences are now being held for your solo viewing pleasure on the internet. We know, we know, it’s not like watching events in real-time on a home screen is that new of an idea. Baseball is the American pastime, after all, and most people watch it from home (or from bars).

It may seem low-tech, but we can count the number of major concerts to be streamed live online on one hand — the YouTube Live show in November 2008; Dave Matthews Band on Hulu last summer; U2 at the Rose Bowl back in October. As more and more cultural events that used to be reserved solely for those willing to venture out from the safety of their living rooms are being offered as online streams, we wonder if something is lost behind the plastic, or if it will be easy for us all to trade the discomfort of being off your couch for the discomfort of literally never seeing other people. … Read More

Music

The National’s Bryce Dessner Talks about The Long Count, the Breeders, and a New Album

By Chris Kompanek on

Brothers Bryce and Aaron Dessner take a break from recording the latest National album next week to perform a new multimedia work in collaboration with visual artist Matthew Ritchie. In just over an hour, The Long Count tackles such heady ideas as the beginning of time through myth, songs, and raw orchestral power. We caught up with Bryce Dessner to talk about the origins of this ambitious project, how Kim and Kelly Deal got involved, and of course what to expect from the new National… Read More

Theatre

Five Reasons We Love Cate Blanchett

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Arts Beat reports that Cate Blanchett — currently playing Blanche DuBois in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire for the the Sydney Theater Company  — continued to act in a scene after a prop radio fell on her head during a a fight scene with Joel Edgerton, who is playing Stanley Kowalski. Blood poured down her head and neck, the house lights went up, and the audience was asked to leave. She is expected back for tonight’s performance.

Streetcar opens at BAM in late November. … Read More

Food

Photo Gallery: Edible Brooklyn Pairs Beer with Everything

By Kelsey Keith on

Last night Edible Brooklyn hosted one of its unforgettable foodie soirees, this time pairing local craft beer with everything from ceviche, cheese, and kielbasa pretzels to ice cream and gingersnaps. Beers by connoisseur favorites like Ommegang and Sly Fox were matched with grub from area restaurants including Gramercy Tavern, Back Forty, and Co. Pizzeria. After the jump, check out our photo gallery and find out what pairings blew our mind (and tastebuds). … Read More

Film

Grill and Chill: Dia Sokol and Lauren Veloski of Sorry, Thanks

By Caroline Stanley on

Welcome to Grill and Chill, a new feature made possible by our friends at Weber, who gave Flavorpill one of their electric grills to try out in our office this summer as long as we promised to interview interesting cultural figures and feed them free hot dogs. Read on for an interview with Dia Sokol and Lauren Veloski, the talented filmmakers behind Sorry, Thanks — a quirky film about 20-something relationships that refuses to embrace the tired happy ending formula — and if you live in New York, be sure to check out the premiere at BAMcinemaFEST on June 24th.… Read More