Bites: D.I.Y. crackdown, poor rich Sherlock, Bukowski’s demands, Sasha Frere-Jones’ Best of Best of lists, and more

The work of Croatian designer Mihajlo Arsovski at Imprint. Sasha Frere-Jones rounds up his favorite Best Of lists. Rosie Schaap has the remedy to help you shake off the shackles of your Jan. 1st hangover. The guy who plays Sherlock Holmes on the BBC really has it hard being a rich guy. The Portland Mercury‘s list of the best local books of 2011 includes a number of books we also enjoyed over here, and still more that we’re hoping t0 read […]

Continue Reading

Monday Stuff: Nick Cave, Jon Stewart, Superchunk, The Rumpus Take Over Brooklyn

At New York Magazine, New York Magazine hits it right on the head with the title for the Jon Stewart/Daily Show profile, “America is a Joke“: “Jon has chronicled the death of shame in politics and journalism,” says Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News anchor who is a frequent Daily Show guest. “Many of us on this side of the journalism tracks often wish we were on Jon’s side. I envy his platform to shout from the mountaintop. He’s a […]

Continue Reading

Michael Musto Vs. LCD Soundsystem: Who Cares?

Apparently Flavorpill does, so they’ve created a list of famous feuds between musicians and music journalists.  If you don’t want to read it, here’s the rundown: Musto and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem aren’t really having a feud.  Murphy was being playful.  Musto’s own publication interviewed him about it. Lou Reed vs. Lester Bangs:  I’ll admit to this being relevant, and I wish more music crits. wrote drug fueled criticism of their hero’s. Courtney Love vs. Lynn Hirschberg:   I didn’t […]

Continue Reading

Bites: Get Crazy About Nabokov, Zadie Smith, Tao Lin’s Stuff, John Irving is Worried, New Magnetic Fields, The Beets at a Museum, and More.

Let’s go crazy about Nabokov! On the Media talks to Ron Rosenbaum of Slate about his conflicted feelings over the publication of The Original of Laura. Aleksandar Hemon is sorta against Laura seeing the light of day. Nabokov specimen covers. Lit. Village Voice on Zadie Smith’s collection of essays, Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays. Tao Lin will sell you a bunch of his stuff for a really good price. John Irving is worried about me?  I was worried about John […]

Continue Reading

Dear Sasha Frere-Jones,

I don’t always agree with you, but man, you are 100% dead on with your critique of Animal Collective.  Amen brother!  Preach the good word! I could love the band as much as their loyal fan base does if I heard some genuine synthesis. But, show after show, all I’ve seen and heard are gestures. The noises are spiky enough to be better than nothing, but they don’t bowl me over with detail or texture, nor do they have the […]

Continue Reading

Bites: Dickens as the modern dad, Ivy Pochoda to make publishing history, Tao Lin saves, and more

Lit. Could Dickens be a role model for the parents of today, or was it that he just had O.C.D.? Ivy Pochoda is the featured reader at our upcoming Vol. 1 Brooklyn Storytelling series.  With her new book The Art of Disappearing (St. Martins Press) out tomorrow, which coincidentally is the same day that Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol hits stands, Ivy says that together, the two of them combined will make publishing history.    This points to a good sign […]

Continue Reading

Bites: Books on Abraham, Chuck Klosterman on the Fab 4, bike shares, Genesis P-Orridge, and more

Lit. The New York Review of Books has a stack of books on our 16th President Daniel Steel and “That Madea Guy” both make the list of “15 Rich-Ass Authors I’ve Suddenly Decided to Like“. (Thanks HTMLGIANT) The Desk Set asks: “Why should we, librarians and friends of libraries, care about the state of the humanities?” JK Rowling getting a comic book Bikes Copenhagen Bike Share Competition.  (Thanks Cool Hunting) Music – Art Chuck Klosterman reviews the recently remastered Beatles albums […]

Continue Reading

Slack Motherfucker #2

.Dirty Work. I am, admittedly and proudly, the go-to music nerd among my friends. Whether I am glowing over Billy Joel’s foray into heavy metal in the early 1970’s via his band Attila (or Billy Joel’s entire catalog for that matter) or my collection off 60’s bubblegum pop, I have always been able to make a case for music that my peers might otherwise find annoying, silly, or just plain bad. However, I am led to believe there might be […]

Continue Reading