New York

There’s a strange narrative conflict at the heart of 12 O’Clock Boys. On one hand, the broader story of Baltimore’s brand of impoverished urban escapism through reckless dirt bike riding probably could have been told well enough in a short film. The local news clips and interviews with riders get pretty repetitive after awhile. On the other hand, following its charismatic protagonist, Pug, through three of his formative years (ages 12–15) offers a valuable glimpse… See more →

ROB: I think I’ll try to get some writing done at home today.
GUYS OUTSIDE: Bring in the road saw!

I was 22 before I finally saw The Godfather. I previously had no interest in mob movies, mainly because of what I knew about Tommy DeVito, Joe Pesci’s character in Goodfellas, whose maniacal extortionist with an intolerable sense of entitlement I took to be the genre’s dominant archetype. While it turned out that wasn’t entirely off-base, I was pleased to find many Mafia stories richer than I expected.

Fifteen years later, The Wolf of Wall… See more →

In Her, the central romance between Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) and his artificially intelligent operating system Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) is developed almost entirely through conversation, since Samantha doesn’t have a physical presence. As a result, virtually everything either character thinks or feels is plainly stated aloud, giving viewers little to assess for themselves. The film is its own CliffsNotes. And while it touches on various difficulties inevitable to a relationship between a metaphysically boundless AI and… See more →

Waiting for Godot

Tremendously proud of my buddies in the @brooklynbeta crew for the wonderful event they pulled off this week.

Every day, I am stunned anew at the completely inopportune moments Brooklyn drivers routinely choose for making U-turns.

Barclays Center events haven’t wreaked as much havoc on the neighborhood as people feared, so tonight’s VMAs are showing them how it’s done.

Today marks three years for me as a Brooklyn resident. Am I a New Yorker now? Or do I have to have someone throw up on me in the subway?

Heading out to an international screening of animated shorts at 9:30 p.m. on a Sunday night. Should be a packed house. Related: I ♥ NY.

Today I have discovered the work of Sol LeWitt, which is essentially the apotheosis of all of my most obsessive creative impulses.

Congrats to Mean Melin (@SceneStealrEric), winner of the @usairguitar Northeast Semifinal! I tied for 2nd and am LA-bound for the finals!

People of NYC: Come see my alter-ego Windhammer compete at the @usairguitar Northeast Semifinal on Tuesday: boweryballroom.com/event/261053-u…

Swans and Chelsea Wolfe made my two favorite records from last year, and now I’m heading out to see them play a show together.

First time I’ve been frisked at a music venue in NYC. Makes me kinda homesick for Philly.

You know, I bet female musicians just love it when their male fans shout marriage proposals at them onstage.

Had a blast judging last night’s @usairguitar Brooklyn Qualifier. Big thanks to @paul_mar and @TommyRocket for putting on a great event!

Loosely based on a true story, The Sapphires is a musical comedy which follows a group of singing Aboriginal Australian women on their 1968 rise to fame. Destined to languish in racially marginalized obscurity in their homeland, the group’s fortunes turn when they’re discovered by alcoholic has-been Dave Lovelace (Chris O’Dowd), who shifts their focus from country/western to soul and lands them a successful audition to perform for the troops in Vietnam.

Based on that… See more →

To intellectually understand what Colin Stetson does, or to see or hear a recording, won’t prepare you for his incredible live performance.

From my desk, I can see: Statue of Liberty, 1 WTC, Empire State Building, and the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges. It’s nice.

Just got tickets for pretty much the best possible seats to see @lowtheband at @NyseC in March.

Oh, just seeing my favorite band (@lowtheband) with my favorite person (@ChamberMonster). No big deal.

Great room. Great sound. Great set list. Great band. My eighth @lowtheband show in eleven years was the best one yet.

Really fun whiskey tasting with Colum Egan, the Bushmills master distiller, at @studiomates today. Wish my dad could have been here.

Whiskey tasting.

Teenager on the subway dared by her friends to touch my beard. She should be somewhere in my small intestine by now.

Another excellent @wussymusic show last night. So nice to see great music performed with such honest joy.

As if to drive home the point that I won’t be in Austin for the next week, it is now snowing horizontally in New York.

Every time I see a bench on the island in the middle of Flatbush Ave, I wonder who in the world would ever want to sit on it.

And the hooting, writhing mass of douche burst forth from the Long Island Railroad, and our hero learned of the Swedish House Mafia.

Where does a prenatal yoga center rank on the gentrification meter?

The stupid storm that kept me up all night actually brought more obnoxious wind to my neighborhood than Hurricane Sandy did.

Attention Brooklyn Restaurateurs: It is time the market value of your offerings was reassessed.

Well, that was one bewildered audience. (@ Highline Ballroom w/ 35 others) 4sq.com/129E3zw