The New Kids on the Block performed on the Today Show last week. Watch it:
I don’t know. This upsets me a little. I’m not sure why. Oh, maybe it’s because the New Kids are close to 40 and are performing a medley of their hit songs from when they were 17. Because it’s painful enough to watch teenagers dancing poorly to pop songs, let alone some 37 year old has-beens. One of whom (literally) suffers from panic attacks when on stage (Jon), and therefore looks extra awkward. Am I being too harsh? Can someone else watch this and tell me if I’m being too judgmental? Also, is it just me, or does it sound like Joey’s microphone is louder than the others’? Or I guess he might have the mic right up to his mouth. Like a beat boxer. Only, instead of beat boxing, he’s singing “Step by Step.” I think that might be it.
For those of you who work in midtown, and actually want to stick around the neighborhood after work, the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival starts in mid-June. I’ve been to this before, and it’s quite nice, but also kind of a pain in the ass. If you want to do this, definitely get there early and bring a blanket.
It’s been hard to avoid hearing about Park Slope in the news recently. The New York Times printed an article in the weekend Style section that addressed some of the neighborhood ire. Between a Sex and the City-style television show that is set to take place in Park Slope to a group of “stroller nazis” (i.e. women who have children and choose to push them in strollers all in the name of the Third Reich) trying to shut down local bar Union Hall, there’s a lot to talk about. The thing is, none of it is very interesting. In fact, it bores this shit out of me. Wait a minute, Park Slope has been yuppified? Get the fuck out of here (and by here I mean this small, overpriced Park Slope boutique)! What tipped you off, genius?
Anyway, I don’t really want to get into it, because Lord knows there have been enough articles and comments about the subject. But as a young man in his mid-twenties who has no children, is not a coop member (and thus has never missed a shift or been on probation) and has not been pushed in a stroller in the past twenty years, here are three things that I like a lot about Park Slope.
There are more old man bars than you can throw an orthotic insoled shoe at. Off the top of my head, I can think of Farrell’s, O’Connors, Old Carriage Inn and of course Jackie’s Fifth Amendment, all of which have enough stories and old man musk to last me until I’m sitting on one of their bar-stools talking about World War 4 and when I was forced to vote for President Chelsea Clinton.
Park Slope teens are bad ass. While they can be pretty intimidating, they’re also incredibly impressive, and seem to run in packs like wild dogs. These kids will get shit done when they’re older. And by “shit” I mean more than just chain-smoking outside of Tea Lounge.
Park Slope is the perfect place to spend a hungover Sunday. There are a ridiculous amount of diners to eat away your headache, a massive park with endless green grass to sit in as you contemplate how you’re failing at life, movie theaters all around to sit in darkness and watch better looking people make life decisions so you don’t have to and, most importantly, a great collection of bars, delis and wine stores to have another drink on a Sunday evening while you forget that you have to be at work the next morning and that you’ve been late every day for the past week and that maybe your horoscope was right and you really are going to need to make some drastic changes in your life.
Anyway, there you go. Park Slope can be annoying, stuck-up, snobby and overpriced, but so can Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Prospect Heights and many other Brooklyn neighborhoods. Stop complaining about it, or the Park Slope teenagers will put their cigarettes out on your face.
Welcome to Brooklyn Skeptic’s newest (god-willing) weekly photoblogging extravaganza.
Kentile Floors Sign from 9th Street - Gowanus
Right now we are tentatively calling this “Brooklyn Skep-Pics”. Now I say tentatively because I’m open to ideas and because I worry about misleading droves of the good natured “skep” enthusiasts in Brooklyn. There’s a group of people you don’t want angry at you. If you are a lost and confused honey bee fan, please click here to be redirected.
For those of who have stuck around, let us know if you have any name suggestions and please feel free to shower my pictures with compliments.
This has been reported much more frequently than when I started writing this…so let’s at least recap.
Bush had a delightful day yesterday. He decided that, after pretty much forgetting about Israel for seven years he should pay them a second visit. Maybe wish them a happy birthday. And reminisce over the days of the Nazis….
Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,…We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.
Last night I met with the greatest book group ever, Booklyn (yeah, you wish you’d thought of that clever name), at South Slope’s Quarter Bar. Located on 5th Avenue and 20th Street, the bar has been up and running for less than a year, and is a real find.
What they have been getting the most credit for is their cocktails. Yesterday I drank both an Old Dame and an Old Fashioned. The old fashioned that the guy made me was delicious, made with fresh fruit and a ton of bourbon. The bartender, who was friendly and liked answering the questions I asked about his drinks, used a pestle to crush fruit and sugars together, and seemed terribly embarassed when he spilled a little bit (I did not care). The drinks are not cheap (they were both around ten dollars), but the atmosphere of the bar and the friendly clientele made it worth it. I didn’t get a look at their jukebox (I remember them playing some Joy Division and The Police), nor did we get to sit in their back yard area, but I snuck a peak and it looks like it would have been nice and comfy out there had the weather been warmer. In addition to their drinks, they apparently sell savory D.U.B. pies, as well as meats and cheeses.
This would be a nice place to go out on a date. The lighting is nice, the drinks are fancy and it’s pretty classy. Extra points if you can use their word of the day (yesterday was atavism) in a sentence. It’s a great way to impress a date and get half price off a drink. By the end of the evening, the bartender made his way around the bar with a pizza they had ordered offering people free slices.
This was a very pleasant experience. It’s sort of like the Beer Table of liquor bars in that it’s a calm, classy and comfortable all at the same time.
Pros: Relaxing, great drink menu, friendly service.
Cons: Music can be a little loud, drinks are a little expensive.
For some reason, there’s barely anything coming out this weekend. I think it’s God’s way of telling you to go outside and fly a kite.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Plot: The kids return to Narnia. One of them has sex with a fawn. It’s awkward.
Is it worth eleven dollars?: No. There are going to be plenty of blockbusters this summer, so I suggest you take a weekend off. The first installment in the series, in my opinion, was pretty bland. All the subtlety that the book had was abandoned in exchange for bad special effects, intense religious themes and forgettable acting. Plus, the only two actors who were on the right track last time, Tilda Swinton and James McAvoy, are now gone. While this one has the potential to be darker and more mature, I’m still not going to pay full price to see it in theaters. I’d rather see the BBC version again. The Ice Queen made me shit my pants.
Where is it playing in Brooklyn/New York?: Pavilion, Cobble Hill Cinemas, United Artists on Court Street.
Reprise
The Plot: Two writers try to get famous, with different levels of success.
Is it worth eleven dollars?: It sounds like it. I’ve been reading some interesting reviews of this film so far (especially here). This is Danish director Joachim Trier’s first feature length film after having directed two award winning shorts.
Where is it playing in Brooklyn/New York?: Landmark Sunshine.
And that’s it. The midnight movie at Landmark Sunshine tomorrow is Dazed and Confused, and at the IFC Center it’s The Beales of Grey Gardens. Also, check out BAM’s website for some upcoming screenings.
West Virigina votes today. It’s interesting to see how this has all been shaping up lately. Each of the candidates trying hard to connect with the hard working types of the midwest…ish..ness.
First, Obama picks up a masculine centric game that doesn’t end in embarassment. Pool.
By the way I’ve tried that behind-the-back shot several times. I’ve missed every one of them. So this should mean something to the electorate. I have also been thinking about the “masculinity off” of last election and how as far as the most recent ones go (bowling and pool?), they are rather wimpy ones. Even metro sexual. Very low chances of getting out of breath or breaking a nail. There’s less of that gun wielding and football throwing.
Now I hope I’m not showing my bias too much, because I blame Hillary for the lack of testosterone so far (this is surprising because as some of you may have heard, she has three testicles) I’m sure she’s turned down any of the challenges of a nice cage match wrestling event (editors note: turns out this was incorrect), and instead has really hidden away in the drink. This is a really clever way of avoiding the more physical pandering maneuvers, and clinches last year’s segment of “I’d like to drink with that candidate” vote. Which really, turns out to be a great test for president.
Either way, she is set to win West Virginia. A thing of note is that West Virginia has a claim to fame. They like claiming, “Every nominee has carried the state’s primary since 1976, and no Democrat has won the White House without winning West Virginia since 1916.”. It’s a beautiful sentiment: That the quaint, nice, sometimes misinformed (come on, secret Muslims can’t play pool!), hard working West Virginians, are microcosms of American Democrats everywhere! The truth I found much more amusing. Turns out, they’re just always last at these things. So by always being last, they get to choose the presumptive nominee any ways. Well spun West Virginia, well spun. You deserve it though, after years of feeling like the “other” Virginia…you need something to hold on to!
Well so tonight we’ll see how this primary turns out. But it’s still more than likely that Obama will clench the nomination, giving me hope that I might see Obama and McCain have an arm wrestling match for the general election. Then we’ll know for sure who is tough enough to be the President of the United States.
About a year ago I was invited to see Monster Eiffel Tower, a Brooklyn Rock trio who were playing at the Knitting Factory. I was not particularly excited to go to the show. For starters, their music was described to me as being a little harder and more experimental than my usual tastes. There was a period in my life when I was going to Mars Volta shows, but I never knew what the fuck they were talking about (exo-skeletal junction at the railroad delayed?) and have since become far wussier in my musical selection.
Also, I know two of the people in the band. This is not to say that the two band members aren’t intelligent and charming people (they are), but in my life I have rarely enjoyed my friends’ bands, poetry sessions and, especially, improv groups (maybe improv in general just pisses me off). Anyway, up until this point, I had never seen these two with instruments, and assumed they were as bad as my friend in eighth grade who wrote a bizarre Bob Dylan knock-off called “Story of a Dead Man” which pretty much featured one verse and a lot of mumbling (he made me listen to it over one thousand times).
To say that I was proven wrong is an understatement. It would have been one thing if the band had been simply tolerable, but the fact that I actually like them? Weird. Since that first show, I’ve seen them play multiple shows at Lit, Galapagos, Arlene’s Grocery and Trash Bar. I have their album now (available here), and I have since found myself quietly singing the lyrics to Dock War, or humming the tune to the amusingly epic Skyscraper Halo while riding the subway. The album clearly defines the band’s stronger points: the ways singer Andrew Kennedy’s voice can go from a whisper to a resonant, throaty yell to match the insanely quick rhythm changes from bassist Peter Squires and drummer Caleb Webster, who can instantly turn prog-metal into anthemic pop-punk without skipping a beat (pun intended). It’s difficult to tell which direction any song is going to go, and that’s a lot of the fun.
In any case, I recommend checking out the album. I know that I may be biased due to my friendship with them, but in the past my relationship with musicians has only made me more skeptical of their music. And seriously, this shit just rocks.
