By Ting Chen (Rotkehlchen) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons By now, you’ve heard: Jonathan Franzen, alleged* writer of the Great American Novel, wrote an essay about birds for the New Yorker that was so poorly sourced it drew the ire of the Audubon Society. Their response will really give you some new respect […]
Megan Burbank
Posted inTheater & Performance
This Week in Art: Brains on Fire, Delightful Brevity, and Werner Herzog’s Chicken Phobia—Plus, Bonus Ancient Mariners!
Faber & Faber YEP. That’s Werner Herzog and a bear. You’re welcome! WERNER HERZOG—Erik could have just listed Werner Herzog quotes in his review of Werner Herzog—A Guide for the Perplexed: Conversations with Paul Cronin, but he refrained. Fortunately, he included a few delightful turns of phrase from the man. Here’s Herzog on chickens: Chickens […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Fraternal Order of Assholes
The Hunting Ground: A Great Argument for Ending Fraternities
The Hunting Ground makes a great argument for ending fraternities.
Posted inTheater & Performance
Light of the Mind
The Other Place Goes Inside Sharonlee McLean’s Brain
The Other Place goes inside Sharonlee McLean’s brain.
Posted inArtsy
Ancient Society Hotel to Reopen with Fancy Bunk Beds, LEED Certification
MB ON THE ROOF: The view from the roof of the Society Hotel, now accessible for future hotel guests via a new staircase and elevator. Vacant since the 70s, Old Town/Chinatown’s Society Hotel hasn’t been used for anything in recent memory except a large-scale art installation. Now, it’s being rebuilt, and its new co-owners have […]
Posted inArtsy
Tonight: Janine Antoni, Whose Chosen Medium is Chocolate, Speaks at Reed
Brooklyn Museum GNAW: Those teeth marks on that chocolate cube? They are Janine Antoni’s art. Here are some things Janine Antoni has done for art: 1) gnawed on two 600-pound cubes, one chocolate, one lard, and created small sculptures from her gnawings; 2) used her hair as a paintbrush by coating it in Loving Care […]
Posted inComedy
Kristen Schaal Gives Her Blessing: Comedians Respond to Trevor Noah’s New Job
Trevor Noah Since this morning’s news that Trevor Noah’s been tapped to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, every news outlet ever’s running stories with headers like, “SIX THINGS YOU’VE GOT TO KNOW ABOUT TREVOR NOAH”* and “WE FOUND SOME VIDEOS OF TREVOR NOAH AND NOW IT’S AN ARTICLE.”** So instead of doing that, […]
Posted inBooks
This Week in Art: Videogames, Giants, and Diversity in Comedy
Alex Thomas ELICIA SANCHEZ: Sanchez features at Minority Retort tonight. You should go see her! JUMPDRIVE STUDIOS—Ben Coleman embedded himself within the group of professional nerds behind Portland’s Jumpdrive Studios, and reports from the field: All four men operate out of a chic Eastside office building, in a single room that might be mistaken for […]
Posted inComedy
Permission to Laugh: What’s Really Happening with Kickstand Comedy Space
Tony Chiotti KICKSTAND MAINSTAY Caitlin Weierhauser at Kickstand’s soft open back in December. If you went to any comedy shows this week, you probably heard murmurs about Kickstand Comedy Space, the bike shop basement repurposed for comedy back in December that was shut down by the city over the weekend. Though details were initially murky, […]
Posted inBooks
Here’s Charles Bukowski’s Book About Cats You Didn’t Ask For
By Mrmiscellanious (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons NOT PICTURED: Charles Bukowski’s shot-up, runover, miraculously unbreakable cat. The Guardian broke the news today that a new collection of cat-related poems from Charles Bukowski (yep) is headed your way. The volume, which really and truly is called On Cats, will reveal Bukowski’s “gentler side,” says […]
Posted inArtsy
All Hail Kanye West, Doctor of Arts
Via Bake Kanyes Phd [sic] on Facebook YEEZY GETS HONORARY DEGREE Should it be baked in a cake? In news that pissed off many an art student last week, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) announced that it will confer an honorary doctorate upon Kanye West during the school’s graduation ceremony this […]
Posted inMovies & TV
This Charming Man
Hey Ethan Hawke, Can Seymour Be My Best Friend?
Hey Ethan Hawke, can Seymour be my best friend?