Blondie's "Heart of Glass" Is More Punk Than Kanye

May 10, 2013, 12:49 pm

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Though it's actually a new wave-disco song, this was one of the tracks that Debbie Harry performed on Monday night at the Met Ball for "PUNK: Chaos to Culture." (Read our review of the show here.) That's not to imply that Blondie shouldn't have been invited to the party. They were certainly more "punk" than Kanye, who's skirted screeching was pretty lame. "Heart of Glass" was on on the band's third album, Parallel Lines, and it stirred up a little controversy when it came out in 1978 because it was seen by many fans as a "sell out" to the disco fad.  Blondie will be touring in Europe all summer.

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Brian Eno: From Glam Rock to Gardening

May 10, 2013, 1:00 pm

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If you attended Brian Eno's talk this past Tuesday, hosted by the Red Bull Music Academy, you might have re-considered your idea of Eno as a musician. Eno is credited as the Godfather of ambient music (second gen. if you count Erik Satie's furniture music), but his career in visual art precedes his exhaustive work reinventing pop music as a member of Roxy Music, a producer of Bowie, Talking Heads and U2, and an inventor of a whole new genre.

Eno's experiments with light began in art school. Only after hearing Steve Reich's tape loop piece "It's Gonna Rain" did he begin to combine his interest in evolution with his artistic pursuits. "What I liked is the idea of making something that would grow into something, like a gardener," Eno told the audience at Cooper Union's Great Hall. "A gardener doesn't specify the garden exactly, they put some seeds in... and how the garden develops depends on a lot of other contingencies that happen in the lifetime. In a sense the gardener loses control of the situation."

That interest in chance led to Eno's pursuit of "generative art," wherein a set of parameters coagulate -- like genetics -- into nearly endless possible combinations. The first examples, manipulated slide projectors set to timers, appeared in the late 1970s. These have since evolved into the more sophisticated work currently exhibited here in New York, 77 Million Paintings.

The installation is situated in a huge disused storefront, a place of respite in the heart of Midtown. In a dark room are standing trees with the bark still clinging, a few white cones, and couches. Panels of colorful images dominate the wall, slowly and subtly changing over time. The visual and aural ambiance is based on generative software Eno's been developing since 1996. The images and music are constantly evolving and will never look the same.

Eno, unsurprisingly, has a lot great stories of stories to tell. He got his first taste of color and art from an 8mm projection of a Disney movie at his uncle's house in "brown, grey and sort of slushy green" Woodbridge, England. At 17, he was inducted into the Cambridge Humanists Group by his then-girlfriend's mother, the anarchist Joan Harvey, who famously said to him, "What I don't understand now is why would somebody with a brain like yours would waste it being an artist." When taken as a whole, these stories made it clear just how easily Eno can be seen as a scientist. They also revealed the underlying question at the heart of his work: Why do we like art and why do people "do" culture?

In describing 77 Million Paintings as a "surrender space," he may very well have offered up an answer:

Think of somebody surfing. When someone surfs... they are using control to get themselves into position and then they're surrendering to be taken by the wave. They take control again, and surrender. This is what I think we do. The only thing is we know a lot more about that [control] end and we respect that end a lot more than we do this [surrender] end. Yet on the other hand, everything we do for fun actually seems to fall into that [surrender] category.

77 Million Paintings is located at 145 W 32nd St. in Koreatown. It runs through June 2, 12PM to 8PM, and is closed Mondays. Admission is free.

Listen to Jonny Makeup's Ode to a Forbidden Love Affair With a Sailor

May 10, 2013, 1:45 pm

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Check out a new track by Jonny Makeup, one-third of gay hip-hop trio VIP Party Boys, self-professed La-la-land "It Girl," and member of one of our favorite L.A. tribes -- the cuckoo collection of artists, designers and musicians that also include Peggy Noland and Hunx and his Punx. The single, a bubblegum doo wop ballad about forbidden love with a sailor boy is called, not surprisingly, "DADT" (as in "Don't Ask Don't Tell") and includes a mini spoken word monologue with lines like "I should've known that first night you tucked me into sleep / that you'd be off to sea before I felt your kiss on my cheek." Could Jonny Makeup be a gay, Internet-era Frankie Avalon in-the-making?

The track is available on vinyl HERE and will be released digitally on May 28. (We also hear there's a B-Side called "OMG" featuring back-up vocals by rapper Amanda Blank.) And, as the website says, there's only a limited amount of vinyls being released so "hurry up and get one before Lana Del Rey buys them all." Listen to "DADT" below.

The Pines' Angelo Romano Chats About His Childhood Food Memories & Playing Rick Ross at Brunch

May 10, 2013, 2:00 pm

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With creative dishes like oxtail and crab brodo cappellacci and opal basil and tangerine bresaola, Gowanus eatery the Pines, and its chef Angelo Romano -- formerly of Roberta's and Lupa -- have drawn a cult following. The 32-seat restaurant will surely be even more packed with locals and Manhattanites now that its charming outdoor space the Backyard has opened. On this homey patio, one can sit at a picnic table and wash down the likes of octopus with pureed testa and lime-salted spring onions with a cider. Here, Florida native Romano reminisces about childhood pasta, underscores the importance of cooking with integrity and gives Spotify a shout-out.

So the Backyard has it own separate menu. How is it different from what you're serving at the Pines?

It's really simple, cash and carry, not a long format, full plate, Thanksgiving-style dinner. You can pop in for twenty minutes or an hour. It's going to be vegetable heavy to showcase spring and summer produce like spring onions and squash and meats that are harder to work with. It took me three months to find a good purveyor for the chicken skin skewers with dashi. It's free-range chicken, not frozen, but it's a pain in the ass to skewer. We'll also have alligator and I'm always going to offer one sausage made upstate. Maybe we'll have a fresh chorizo with avocado and crema. I don't want to manipulate the food. If it's finished with good olive oil and salt I'm happy. But I could see the menu getting weirder.

What about at the Pines? What's new there for the season?

I'm not going to force spring just because I can get English peas from California. If they're not available here, they won't be on the menu. We're growing things like nasturtium, sorrel and borage leaf. We'll have a gnudi that has borage leaf folded into it, so it has a cucumber taste. A sablefish with manila clams and dashi just went on the menu.

You got a lot of attention working for the short-lived Masten Lake in Williamsburg. The neighborhood was not the right fit for your adventurous cuisine, but what did you learn from the experience?

At some point you can fold, or not fold. I could have made it there by offering a very simple formula to make it a success, but it was a personal decision to stay true to what I wanted to do and not get locked into a model.

And at the Pines you're doing just that. The once-shady neighborhood of Gowanus is now thriving, and locals have curious palates.

It's a much better location for my food. I was at Roberta's when they opened -- when I'd get off the train in a desolate wasteland. It makes sense I'd be here. It has that vacant feel, but in the best way possible. At ten in the morning, it's me and the guys in the social club next door.

Where else in Brooklyn does the cooking excite you?

I try to go to Chez Jose once a week if I can, or Brooklyn Star later at night since it's close to where I live. I've been on a recent Kajitsu kick. I've had every tasting menu in town and Kajitsu's is the most subtly thoughtful.

You're a self-confessed workaholic, but when you're not in the kitchen what are you doing with your free time?

I want to do a pop-up in Rockaway, with an all-veggie pasta noodle. It's more work, but it gives me an excuse to spend a solid day a week on the beach. I'm fully confident that you need to devote a year to coming in to the restaurant every day before you take off. But we get to listen to rap all day.

What's on your playlist?

Spotify is the best invention ever. We have an Angelo playlist and we have a Valentine's Day playlist left over from February that has super slow jams like from D'Angelo. We listen to everything from Trick Daddy to Kendrick Lamar -- even Hall & Oates, Go West and shit from the Pretty Woman soundtrack. Saturday night is a streamlined demographic. And on Sundays, you'd be surprised how many people want to listen to Rick Ross at brunch.

You grew up in an Italian family where pasta was king. Is there a specific culinary memory that helped transform your thinking about food?

Anything with aromatics. I was always smelling chicken cooking with root vegetables, a bunch of different things thrown together. To this day it still blows my mind to smell chicken stock. Another one is eating blue crab and tomato sauce. It was the first time I realized you could put cheese on seafood without anyone looking at you weirdly.

Photo by Gentl and Hyers

The Best, Worst and Weirdest of the Week

May 10, 2013, 2:15 pm

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Most Delicious-Looking New Pastry Concoction That's Worth Trying, Even If It Means Running the Risk of Getting High Blood Pressure: The "Cronut" (or croissant-doughnut hybrid) recently launched at Soho's Dominique Ansel Bakery. -- Abby Schreiber

Most Titillating Possible Celebrity Couple We Really Want to Be Real: Tocean a.k.a. Frank Ocean and Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci. The designer had a series of coy Instagram photos during and after the Met Ball that first put this potential pairing on our radars. -- A.S.

Most Exciting Discovery We Made In the PAPER Offices Today When We Were "Cleaning" (a.k.a. Re-Arranging Piles of Stuff): Katy Perry's old demo tape, complete with pixelated album art of Perry inexplicably holding scissors. -- A.S.

Best Twin Peaks Homage: The closing credits of BBC mystery miniseries Top of the Lake, which I just started watching. -- Jonah Wolf



Weirdest Commercial: This ad for Haagen-Dazs starring Bradley Cooper makes no sense and is probably about butts but maybe vaginas? -- Elizabeth Thompson

Most Disturbing Photo That Oh God We Can't Get Out of Our Head: Mr. Balls, Brazil's anti-cancer testicle mascot (we'll spare you the image right now but if you're so inclined, you can see it HERE). -- A.S.


Biggest Bitch Move of the Week: Vogue.com cropping Kim Kardashian out of this 'Best Dressed' list photo of Kanye West at the Met Ball. Only a weird, floating gloved arm remains. -- E.T.

Best Russian Author: This guy whose books I saw at the Strand. -- J.W.

What's Meryl Streep Doing in Osage County? (Trailer)

May 10, 2013, 2:29 pm

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I'll never forget watching the Broadway debut of August: Osage County in 2007 at the Imperial Theater. There were no big names in the cast that had been transferred from the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and there was an early start time because the play was an epic three hours and 30 minutes. I settled into my seat, with no expectations, hoping to stay awake to make it to the first intermission (there were two), but as the last scene ended and the curtain came down, I remember not being ready for the end, like the feeling you get when you finish a really good book. I could have sat there for another three hours and watched playwright Tracy Letts' dysfunctional Weston family unravel.

The announcement that the play would become a movie and that none of the Broadway actors would be reviving their roles on the big screen was bittersweet, as such announcements always are for theater fans. Instead Hollywood sweethearts Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts will play the pill-popping Weston matriarch Violet and her bitterly oppressed middle-aged daughter Barbara. Now as I watch this trailer packed with more stars than a Vanity Fair Oscar party, I feel pretty doubtful that these massively talented film stars will be able to pull off the magic those Steppenwolf actors -- namely Deanna Dunagan, Amy Morton and Rondi Reed-- created years ago on the Broadway stage. But on the bright side, Letts also wrote the screenplay, so fingers crossed this film will do this masterpiece of the theater justice!

Beer Drones Coming to This Summer's Music Festivals

May 10, 2013, 3:26 pm

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1. The spire at the top of the new World Trade Center was installed today. (City Room, photo by Josh Friedman)

2. A look at the phenomenon of musicians re-recording their hits (which we recently discussed with Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, the rare act whose re-recordings might trump the originals). (Slate)

3. David Drake's prize-winning one-man show The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me will be reimagined as a ensemble show for its 20th anniversary. The show benefits Broadway Cares/Fight AIDS and a lot of famous gays (André de Shields, Anthony Rapp, B.D. Wong) will be in it.

4. The Times has a great slideshow on Mercura NYC, the one-of-a-kind sunglasses company run by sexagenarian sisters Merrilee Lichtenstein Cohen and Rachel Cohen-Lunning.

5. Deadpan British band Art Brut has released an iPad app to showcase the album art for their new best-of compilation. (via Press Release)

6. "Are Beer Drones the Future of the Music Business?" (Also, why does a South African music festival have a "district 9 campsite"?)

Game of Thrones Meets TLC

May 10, 2013, 4:00 pm

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In this weekly column, MC/DJ Hesta Prynn pairs pop culture stories with an original playlist.

It's hard not to feel like a giant dork when all you want to talk about is Game of Thrones. The combinations of girl groups that you could make from the characters on this show are limitness and amazing. In honor of my new obsession, this week's Five n Five pairs the fierce women of Westeros with the songs of another ferocious girl group: TLC.

 

Daenerys Targaryen: "No Scrubs"

Possibly the baddest bit*h in HBO history. If there were ever a contender to overthrow the Lannisters it's definitely her. Can be seen: eating raw animal hearts, mothering dragons, commanding badass armies. She definitely "can't get with a deadbeat ass."

Ygritte: "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"

The Oberlin College Third-Wave Feminist of Westeros. Ygritte is a modern wildling who doesn't need Jon Snow but wants him anyway. Can be seen: wearing animal skins, scaling mountains, referring to oral sex (twice). In other words, "The realism of reality treats us both the same, 'Cause satisfaction is the name of this game."

Margaery Tyrell: "Creep"

The sleeper hit of the female characters, and certainly the smartest. Margaery is not afraid to play dominatrix if it helps her cause. Can be seen: wearing low-cut gowns, being an LGBT ally, marrying kings. As she might say, "I creep yeah, cuz he doesn't know what I do."

Cersei Lannister: "Waterfalls"

The worst in Westeros, responsible for raising a total psycho and starting a war. Can be seen: being smoking hot, sleeping with her brother, sneering excessively. Or: "A lonely mother gazing out of the window, staring at her son that she just can't touch."

Arya Stark: "Hat to the Back"

The Left Eye of Game of Thrones. Possibly the only female character we haven't seen naked. Can be seen: wielding a tiny sword, plotting people's deaths, being cooler than you. "Being that I am the kinda girl that I am nobody can make me do what I don't want to."

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A New Arrested Development Trailer Is Heeeere

May 13, 2013, 7:00 am

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Ahhh, it's a new trailer for Arrested Development! Soexcitedsoexcitedsoexcited.



SNL's 1-800-Flowers mother's day commercial this weekend was excellent. The apartment comment is the best.

Paul Rudd, at prom, with a mullet. [Wonderwall via Tall Whitney]
 Your Monday morning jam. [Mlkshk]

Sorry pizza. [JuliaSegal]


Usually Disney nostalgia Internet stuff makes us feel weird and old but this is pretty awesome: The Great Gatsby trailer re-done with scenes from the Aristocats. [TastefullyOffensive]

Things we cannot unsee: This gif of Steve Buscemi's face morphed with Reese Witherspoon's. [Buzzfeed]

Close... [FYouNoFMe]

How to Eat Your Way to Peace in the Middle East

May 13, 2013, 9:30 am

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We invited Israeli-American chef Lulu Kalman to document her favorite dishes from both Jewish and Arab cultures.

The fight over who invented hummus goes back ages. Chickpeas have been around for 9,000-ish years and hummus has been around for just about as long -- crusaders even snacked on it. But it wasn't until the 20th century that the baby carrot came into play. I don't know when everyone started bickering over who invented hummus but the debate wages on. Arabs say it was their invention. Israelis beg to differ. I can't say who's right, but I do know that when I want really great hummus in Israel, I head out to an Arab restaurant.

It's a muddy line that differentiates the food of Israel and Palestine. If I try to separate out the cuisines in terms of Arab or Jewish then I think of falafel, tabouleh, pita, eggplant, yogurt and lamb as Arab food and gefilte fish, chicken soup, challah, knishes and chopped liver as Jewish food. But that's barely apples to apples. It's like comparing the Jewish food of Eastern Europe to Arabic food in the Middle East. And really, there is so much more. There are Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews and there are Muslim, Christian and Jewish Arabs. For me, the food of Israel and Palestine is that of the entire Levant. The traditions and religions of each culture shape the food on the plate, but the land and the geography determine the ingredients in the kitchen.

Katz's Deli New York, NY

Gefilteria New York, NY

Café Noir Tel Aviv, Israel

Muchan Ve Mezuman B'nei Brak, Israel

At Home New York, NY

B&H Dairy New York, NY

Ein Gev Kibbutz Ein Gev, Israel

The Old Man and The Sea Jaffa, Israel

Gabi's Bourek at the Carmel Market. Tel Aviv, Israel

Hummus Asli Jaffa, Israel

Tsachi Tsameret Bat Yam, Israel

Tanoreen Restaurant Brooklyn, NY

John DeLucie Unwinds at Yakitori Totto

May 13, 2013, 10:00 am

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Each week in our Chefs Off Duty series, we talk to some of our favorite chefs and industry folk around the country to find out their secret late-night spots where they like to grab a bite and a pint when their kitchens are finally closed. Next up: John DeLucie, the chef/proprietor behind Crown, The Lion and, most recently, Bill's Food & Drink. 

What restaurant do you like to hit up when you're leaving your own places at night?

I love Yakitori Totto. It's on W. 55th. It's super cool and open super, super late. It's packed all the time. I always try and sit by the bar because I love to watch the yakitori cooks and see how methodical [they are]. They have a little spray bottle and they turn those skewers. It just relaxes me to watch them work.

What are your favorite things to order there?

For such a little place there's great chicken and great mushrooms and other vegetables on a stick. Every kind of stick you can imagine. I love the beef, the chicken meatballs, and the squid. They also do beef tongue really well -- and shitake mushrooms. [They put the meats or vegetables] on a skewer and then it goes on the grill and it's meticulously watched. They put on some soy sauce and water to keep the flame down. There's also another yakitori place in the East Village on St. Marks that I happen to love: Yakitori Taisho.

Outside Yakitori Totto

One of our other chefs featured in the column, Dale Talde, named Yakitori Taisho as his favorite spot, too.

It's so tiny and its all great-looking college kids in there -- its just great. I love it! I went there when I was a much younger man. I have to say it was a long time ago. I remember eating a tremendous amount of grilled steak and beer -- when I was drinking beer. I don't remember much after that. And now [Yakitori Totto] is the grown-up version of Yakitori Taisho. There,= I'm more inclined to have burned shishito peppers in a more adult environment.

Yakitori Totto, 251 W 55th St., Mon-Thu, 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-midnight; Fri, 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-1am; Sat, 5:30pm-1am; Sun, 5:30pm-11pm

Yakitori Taisho, 5 St. Marks Pl., Sun-Wed, 6pm-2am; Thu-Sat, 6pm-4am


More From Our Off Duty Series

Watch "Taylor Mead's Final Fifteen Minutes"

May 13, 2013, 10:50 am

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Poet, downtown legend and Warhol collaborator Taylor Mead, who passed away last week at the age of 88, will be remembered tonight by friends at the Bowery Poetry Club with "For the Love of Taylor Mead." Mead's friends and collaborators Robert Galinsky and Josh Harris, who produced Taylor's long running show on Pseudo.com, as well as numerous live productions with Taylor at the Bowery Poetry Club and throughout NYC, sent us this poignant clip of Mead on various topics, from Kerouac to Obama to instructions on what to do after you leave his memorial tonight. Galinsky sent us the following statement:

"Taylor Mead's Fifteen Final Minutes" begins with the line 'If you're watching this, I'm long gone. I'm dead." And from there Taylor speaks on Al Pacino, Presidents Obama and Clinton, and his love affair with New York City. The video is shot in front of The Bowery Poetry Club, where Taylor had a long running show for many years. This farewell was thought up one evening after some performance, poetry and whiskey. Josh Harris and I were reminiscing the roaring Silicon 90's and Taylor began his eloquent rambling, we turned the camera on, and his farewell began. In an ironic and appropriate twist, the video falls just under 15 minutes in length...

Recapping the Mad Men Recaps: Episode 7, "Man With a Plan"

May 13, 2013, 11:30 am

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Each week PAPER will help you sort through your feelings about Mad Men by rounding up the best and brightest of the MM recaps. Read below so you can compare, contrast, and ponder while having a light S&M session with your mistress.


Don overhears Sylvia reprimanding Arnold during an argument and Don, in turn, tries to dominate her in a hotel S&M session possibly out of a panicked attempt to keep her submissive in their own relationship. Or maybe he was turned on at the thought of controlling the domineering Sylvia because of his by now very, very well-established crippling emotional and intimacy issues with women, etc. Either way, the whole thing was very Secretary.

"When Sylvia berates Arnold, Don feels like he's being berated, because his interest in Sylvia has always been a displacement of his admiration for Arnold. Hearing the argument makes Don worry that Sylvia might have the upper hand in their relationship." -- Salon

"What is always so infuriating and fascinating about Don's interactions with his mistresses is that it's impossible to gauge his motivations. Was it because he'd heard her fight with Arnold? Or perhaps because he was annoyed that she was being conversational and personal with him after sex? Regardless of the why, in that hotel room, Don owned Sylvia." -- EW

"I love when Sylvia's all 'what's gotten into you?' and I'm all (actually shouting at the TV, mind you), 'James Spader!' I thought that thread, unlike Pete's, which was a means to an end, was the show at its finest. The promise is that hotel room is a universe unto itself, an emotional sea-monkey kit. And it is. -- NYTimes

"In a time of great flux for him, he distracted himself by asserting control over a personal situation he could easily dominate, and part of the reason he could play those games with Sylvia was because he knew how unsettled her personal life was. The Rosen marriage seems no more stable and solid than the Draper union, that much is clear." -- Huffington Post


But maybe the whole Sylvia/Don thing was getting a smidge boring. And haven't we seen enough of all of this power/sex/fear/death stuff in Don as it is?

"The problem is, we're halfway through the season, and at no point did I ever care much about Don and Sylvia, partly because we all knew that this wouldn't end well. Despite the obvious skills of Jon Hamm and Linda Cardellini, it's not as if the show has given us much of a reason to invest in this relationship. Sylvia isn't someone who's been given much of an emotional life or a personality of her own (the same could be said of Megan, frankly), so it was hard to care either way about how this ended for her." -- Huffington Post

"I'm glad to see Sylvia gone. This is the only episode in which their affair fascinated me." -- NYTimes

"As for Don, his dominatrix scenario was so theatrical and melodramatic that it both bored and amused me. Call me a cold fish, but I just couldn't invest in any of those scenes. I could think of half a dozen logical reasons why this scenario was happening, but that didn't mean it was actually interesting. Don can be a jerk who enjoys seeing how far he can push others, but we've known that for a long time, and these scenes didn't especially add anything new to our understanding of that side of the guy. Ultimately, I just didn't need scene after scene of Don auditioning for '50 Shades of Grey.'" -- Huffington Post

Meanwhile, Peggy's firm moves in and Ted realizes Don is a deadbeat.

"[Peggy] knows what [Don's] up to, and as the person who's going to have to actually keep the creative staff at least semi-productive, she can't have Don and Ted keeping everyone off balance as they play a series of power games. Can Don accept how radically the power dynamic has shifted between he and his former protegee?" -- Huffington Post

"[Peggy] scolds Don for being a competitive baby and getting Ted drunk. She tells Don that she'd hoped Ted, her new hero, would rub off on Don, her former hero, and not the other way around. That has to sting for Don, who once took real pride in mentoring Peggy. The Don who gave Peggy a chance to forge a new life (and even visited her in the hospital) is long gone now, replaced by a guy who's too lost and too desperate to help anyone but himself." -- Salon


So Don is rejected by Sylvia and reduced to begging, put in his place by both Ted and Peggy at work, and is more emotionally distant from Megan than ever before. The desperate, downward Draper spiral is gaining momentum.
 
"Masculinity in crisis! Don has been upstaged at work, scolded by his former admirer, abandoned by his loyal secretary (but what's going on there?) and dumped by his mistress. And when he returns home to Megan, even though she's planning to ask for time off in order to save their marriage, he tunes her out. He's all alone." -- Salon

"'This is over,' Sylvia says, when Don finally goes back to the hotel room. And suddenly we are back to Episode 1, with Don as a statue, nearly mute, only able to get out one word. 'Please?'" -- Slate

"For all of Don's intimidating and aggressive tactics that he used on Sylvia throughout this exercise in dominance and submission, all it took was one rejection to reduce him to a begging Dick Whitman. The moment Sylvia refused him, all of the color washed away from Don's face, and his imposing expression melted into one of panic." -- Rolling Stone

"'It's easy to give up something when you're ashamed,' Sylvia told Don earlier, but she almost seemed to be speaking for everyone close to Don (and for Americans disgusted with their country in the wake of Bobby Kennedy's assassination). That's what Don's been handing out this season: shame. He's ashamed of himself, so he can't stop dishing up shame for everyone else. But one by one, they're giving up on Don Draper for good." -- Salon

"Wasn't that drama in the hotel room just a touch too theatrical? Wasn't the move with the Scotch a little over the top? Don isn't putting it on, exactly. He's really just having a showdown with himself. The new age belongs to men like Ted, who come to meetings on time, who have semi-productive brainstorming sessions, who don't drink at the office, who are inspired by lowbrow shows on TV." -- Slate


At least Ted keeps Don in check in amusing ways. He's an awesome foil to Don.


"Ted Chaough, for one, has moved into SCDP headquarters and has assumed the role of the anti-Don Draper. Ted is respectful to women and underlings, unlike Don. He can't hold his liquor, unlike Don. But most tellingly, Ted is capable of getting close to people and revealing his weaknesses and doubts to them, which makes him about as far a cry from Don as he could possibly be." -- Salon

"Don and Ted try to figure out their relationship and, based on the many ups and downs in this episode, it's going to be exciting to watch it develop. In each of their scenes, one party is in control. At the initial margarine brainstorm, it's Ted's show, but Don takes back the power when he gets Ted -- an adorable lightweight -- trashed...Ted flies that plane with a nauseated Don next to him and it's game over for the time being. 'No matter what I say, you're the guy who flew us up here on your own plane,' Don says to explain why Ted would be leading the meeting by default."  -- EW

"Don has just barely claimed the crown before the hints start dropping that he will be toppled. Peggy comes into his office to tell him to act like a grown-up and stop trying to get Ted drunk. Ted goes to visit his cancer-ridden partner in the hospital to ponder the unknowable Don...and gets the advice he needs, which is to let Don win the early rounds until he tires himself out. And pretty soon Ted's airplane is rattling in the storm, and a sweating Don has to resort to reading the novel he stole from Sylvia so he doesn't panic. And then Don realizes it's over." -- Slate

"It's been a while since we've let someone new try to get to know Don, and Ted is just as baffled as we all are. It's kind of fun to have this new way in." -- EW

"The first of Don's plans last night involved asserting himself as head swinging dick around the office, a position he locks down with frat-house scare tactics. To retaliate, Ted offers to fly Don to a meeting with one of Campbell's accounts...They have to negotiate a rain storm that leaves Don shook. For Ted, it's all business casual. Point: Ted." -- Complex

"There are surely many more battles to come between the hip Ted, who likes to rap with the staff, and the 'mysterious' Don, who ultimately pisses everyone off with his imperious ways, despite his occasionally brilliant work." -- Huffington Post


Joan is maybe going to do it with that new annoying guy.

"Given all the turmoil, the last thing any of us wanted was for Joan to fall ill, but fortunately Bob Benson was around to help her through her brief illness. This episode not only gave Bob a real reason to exist, it planted a seed in our minds. How many of us had the same reaction when Bob came through Joan's door: 'Oh yes, she and Bob should get together.'...Of course we need to know more about Bob before we can be sure he's good enough for our Joanie, but his arrival with a gift for Kevin raised my opinion of him quite a bit. He did not need to check on Joan at home: If all he wanted to do was to brown-nose enough to keep his job, he'd already done all he needed to do by taking her to the hospital and sweet-talking a nurse into getting Joan seen right away...Bob is stable, nice and possibly thoughtful -- so what if he's bland?" -- Huffington Post

"I did like how Joan managed to subtly yet effectively reward the overeager accounts man Bob Benson for his kindness in taking her to the hospital when she had a medical emergency (ovarian cyst). A few positive words from SCDP's only female partner saved the two-coffee-holding Bob from the chopping block." -- Rolling Stone

"Bob proves himself a good doobie by asking her babysitter to stay late and working some magic to help Joan quickly get seen by a doctor. He even stops by the next day to see if she's OK -- the illness turned out to be an ovarian cyst (phew) and to bring Kevin an age-inappropriate-but-still-thoughtful football. Joan's mom thinks Bob is cute, but Joan says he's too young. Still, she looks pretty pleased that he visited." -- TV Line

"Speaking of honorable men, what could be more pleasing than seeing Joan shepherded to the hospital by that adorable, suck-up youngster, Bob Benson? Bob's discreet, gentlemanly help in getting her to the E.R. is so gratifying to witness after all of the dismissiveness and abuse Joan suffered at the hands of her ex-husband. Bob's ability to get Joan in to see a doctor without throwing his weight around is pretty impressive, and just the sort of cleverness and political savvy that may bring him success, despite any apathy toward him at the office. Of course we're hoping that Bob might have genuine interest in Joan beyond the political - why else do we even know this kid, right?" -- Salon


Pete Campbell, still a dick.

"The Pete's-mother-is-going-senile story line has been seen in countless films and television shows, but I applaud Chellas and Weiner for using it to present the Bobby Kennedy assassination in a fresh and clever way: Dorothy Campbell, in a rare moment of lucidity, awakens her son to inform him 'they shot that poor Kennedy boy.' Pete, assuming she means John F. Kennedy, tells her she's about five years too late and goes back to sleep." -- Rolling Stone

"Pete's mother shows up at his apartment, and her mind is going. She thinks her husband is still alive and barely even knows where she is. Pete, of course, is terrible about the whole thing. He's dismissive and outwardly hostile to her, proving once again that he's a jerk." -- EW


Bobby Kennedy is killed at the last minute.

"And if we needed more proof that history will not stand still for Don Draper, the episode ends with the shooting of Bobby Kennedy, moving the revolution along." -- Slate

"The episode closes in the early hours of the morning on June 6, with the news of Bobby Kennedy's death. Pete thinks his mother is talking crazy when she tries to tell him what's happened -- because of course everything else she says is evidence of her dementia. And Megan, who seems to hold the burden of the world on her shoulders lately, weeps for the slain Kennedy as Don sits on the other side of the bed choosing not to comfort his wife." -- EW

"Yes, in 1968 the bullets are flying so freely that Weiner and company don't even dedicate an entire episode to RFK. Blood is commonplace. Like a pop song." -- Complex

"Bobby Kennedy is shot and killed. (Luckily, it doesn't take over an entire episode, though it does feel a little bit tacked-on here.) This time, Megan is distraught, but Don can only think about himself. His hero status has taken a bullet it may never recover from. 'Reach out in the darkness, and you may find a friend,' we hear as the credits roll. Don better hope he finds a friend, because he doesn't have any left here." -- Salon

"In the final scene, as Megan watches the news of Bobby Kennedy's assassination, in an ingenious blocking decision, Don sits perpendicular to her on the bed, not looking at her, not looking at the TV, but perpetuating the ongoing detachment between husband and wife. The song that plays in the final seconds of the scene and over the credits, Friend and Lover's
'Reach Out of the Darkness,' may have seemed appropriate for the time period, but the hippie-dippie themes of the tune struck such a discordant note when played against a news broadcast of Bobby Kennedy's murder." -- Rolling Stone

"Unlike the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination, Mad Men chose to play Bobby Kennedy's murder as the final beat of an episode that was all about the chaos associated with change. Whether we'll see more about the historical moment than Megan weeping while watching the news - as Don sits, turned away from her, lost in his own thoughts (which, forgive me, I don't believe are focused solely on the country's loss) - remains to be seen." -- TV Line


Was this one of Mad Men's darkest episodes?

"Everything from the sound mix to the shots chosen by director John Slattery reinforced a sense of dislocation and literal dis-ease. We saw any number of pale characters, disheveled men, off-balance women, strange angles and hallways crowded with too much stuff and too many people. The first half of the hour was intentionally noisy as well -- the din of that many people trying to fit into that small a space contributed to the sense of urgency and the lack of equilibrium. Pete's apartment felt too small and cramped, and even the luxury hotel room felt stuffy and claustrophobic by the end of the hour. Add in the actual sickness and death that pervaded the episode -- from Joan's thankfully temporarily illness to the serious mental impairment of Pete's mother and the awful death of Robert Kennedy -- and it made for an hour that recalled several of the creepiest, most disturbing hours of Season 5." -- Huffington Post

At Long Last, There's a Video For Kendrick Lamar's "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe"

May 13, 2013, 12:37 pm

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So is "molly" the bitch Kendrick Lamar doesn't want to kill his vibe?

After first hearing "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe," we never assumed Kendrick was directing his antipathy towards MDMA but after watching the brand new video for the good kid, m.A.A.d. City standout, it appears the rapper might be. The clip opens with Kendrick & Co. dressed like they're about to attend Diddy's White Party but instead they're at a church memorial service. As they leave the church and make their way to the funeral in white limos, the somber mood gives way to a bottle-popping rager that continues in the field where they're planning to bury the casket. Incongruously -- and awesomely -- the storyline is interrupted by a shot of comedian Mike Epps, who plays a reverend, baptizing Lamar in a "pool full of liquor." The two are later seen horsing around in front of the coffin before the punchline finally comes out: a black screen appears reading "Death to Molly."

Now that Kendrick's laid the party drug to rest, let's see how long it takes before 20-year-olds at music festivals get sick of it and do the same.

Strangers Project Founder Brandon Doman Knows New Yorkers' Secrets

May 13, 2013, 1:00 pm

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Photo courtesy of The Strangers Project

 
In a world where we tweet about what we ate for breakfast and Instagram photos of ourselves dressing up our cats to resemble RuPaul's Drag Race contestants, it's not always clear whether all of this sharing -- and making what used to be private, public -- is making our social relationships more intimate or more diluted. We might feel comfortable tweeting mundane details about our lives to hundreds of followers on the Internet but for many of us, the thought of sharing a secret about ourselves with a complete stranger sounds about as appealing as showing up naked to church. And yet The Strangers Project gets people to do just that. Spearheaded by Brandon Doman, the Strangers Project is a collection of over 5,000 handwritten or typed anonymous personal stories from people found all over New York City. (Lately, Doman has been collecting his stories in Washington Square Park.)  Reading the entries cataloged on the site, patterns emerge, with the most popular themes covered including medication, hope, friendship, body image, careers, and travel. We talked to Doman about his favorite spot for meeting strangers and taking his story-collecting international, below. What made you want to initially start The Strangers Project? 

I was just out of school and I guess the idea just kind of popped in my head. I didn't [have] any plan for it -- I was just people-watching. [One day] I opened up a notebook and asked people to share. Two women stopped by and asked what I was doing and I told them I wasn't quite sure yet and that was that. 

Do you wait for people to approach you or do you approach them? 

They always approach me. I always wait for them to hop up into the experience, let them ask questions and read stories. 

How many people typically share their secrets with you in a given day? 

On a good day I'll end up with 100 or 150 stories in a few hours. You know there are a lot people who are intimidated at first. They sort of stand back and watch until someone else goes first.

It's surprising how personal and intimate some of the stories are -- some of them feel like they're ripped from diaries. 

Yeah, I really built the project in a way that you can take out of it whatever you want. Some people just enjoy the fun stuff and use it as entertainment. Some people use it as a really spiritual thing. But I tell people when they stop by to think of it as a journal entry and the stuff that they've shared has been amazing over the past few years. 

Why is it important that the stories remain anonymous? 

It keeps people focused on the story. The handwriting is part of it, too. It gives people a space to be vulnerable, a story that they might not have shared elsewhere -- they know that they don't have to be attached to their name. 

What kinds of stories do you find most interesting? 

I think my favorite stories are when somebody starts writing about one thing -- perhaps something more bland like writing about their day -- and then it turns into a whole different story.

There was one entry -- it was difficult to read -- [from a woman] dealing with some terrible stuff early in her life. She started writing about how she was getting ready to graduate from college and how the job hunt was going to go. Anyway, she ended up writing about a sexual assault that had occurred early in her life and how she was making progress with that part of her life. But it took her a few sentences to really figure out how much she was willing to share.

Part of what's fascinating about your project is that in a city like New York, we bump into strangers all the time but never get to know their stories. Do you think the project makes people feel closer or just reveals our isolation? 

I think the project is definitely a way to see the world through each other's eyes. And I organized the site in a way that is completely random, which is exactly how the stories all around us are. You might be sitting on the subway next to 50 people and they're all going to have very different stories but we're all sharing this space. And one of my favorite experiences was this older man, probably in his late eighties -- he was very skeptical of the project when he first stopped by but I talked to him, he asked me questions, and he ended up reading stories for almost two hours. At the end of it he mentioned that he forgot that all of these people around him were people, and [even at his age] it was a way for him to still connect with all the strangers around him. I think that happens for a lot of people. I am on the fortunate side of the project where I get to sit and interact with people, which is a big part of it as well. You can never tell what they're going to write just by looking at them before they sit down. 

Do you think that the Internet is making us lonelier or more connected? 

I think it's doing both. I think it depends on how you choose to use it. I do believe there are a lot of ways to broadcast [information] nowadays but we don't necessarily have a lot of ways to feel heard. [We can] tweet or Facebook post about what we're doing [but] we don't really have as many opportunities to share real things about ourselves. 

Where is your favorite place in New York to collect stories? Do you have a path that you can turn to for the best concentration of interesting strangers? 

My favorite spot as of now is Washington Square Park. I feel like I get a really wide range of people who stop in there: from students to travelers to native New Yorkers. I just moved here about a year ago so I am looking forward to exploring some other locations, too. 

And you're taking the project international? Tell me about International Story Day. How did that come to pass? 

Last summer I tried an experiment [because] I wanted to bring other people into the experience. I had a space where anyone could sign up and volunteer [to collect stories]. There were about 25 [people] who signed up and we sent out with all the same materials that we use here -- signs, papers, clipboards -- and we trained them how to do it. We ended up getting around 500 stories around the city on the same day. Afterwards we had a little after-party where everyone sat around and told their experience from the day about the stories that they got. And now we recently launched [sign-ups for International Story Day] and we've already received 300 volunteers from over 40 different countries. We're hoping to even get thousands of volunteers. The idea is collecting global stories and sharing them with everybody else. 

  [Via The Strangers Project]

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VFILES' Julie Anne Quay Brings Fans Into the Fashion Party

May 13, 2013, 2:00 pm

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Portraits of Julie Anne Quay photographed by David Toro for Vfiles

When Julie Anne Quay was the executive editor of V magazine she never missed one of the fashion magazine's legendary parties. "There'd be Lady Gaga and Kanye West inside," recalls Quay, "and outside, there were literally hundreds of fashion fans. I realized that the party is not in the party; the party is outside of the party."

So after she left her post at V in 2008, the boisterous Australian went to her former partners with an idea. "I wanted to start a new website for the next generation of fashion people, where [the fans] are curators and participants -- not just voyeurs anymore," says Quay. In mid-September 2012, VFiles went live, housing every issue of Visionaire, V and VMan as well as multimedia folders where users share Kate Moss GIFs and marvel at Lil' Kim's plastic surgery.

The site also connects to their YouTube channel, on which the VFiles crew (a group of late-20-something enfant terribles for the GIF generation who are more Fila circa 1994 than Alexander Wang) takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to the sometimes self-serious world of fashion. "It's not [about asking designers] 'Why are you using crepe in your jackets instead of wool?'" says Quay. "No one cares about that." Instead they film cheeky original video series like Model Files (the baby street casting was a highlight) and TMI, featuring Real World-style confessionals with downtown's crème de la crème. (Check out rapper LE1F's rant about hashtags.) Then there's the aptly-titled XTREME FASHION WEEK, in which guest hosts like reality star Bridget Helene Bahl and model Matt Logos bombard stuffy shows with cameras affixed to their ears. "There's so much footage of people trying to throw us out," Quay says. There's also the VFiles' store in SoHo, which carries exclusives like their recent X-Girl-inspired collection. A$AP Rocky hosted last summer's opening party, where the kids got rowdy fueled by the open bar and tunes by DJs Venus X and the Hood by Air designer $hayne. The NYPD even made an appearance. "To me, [the party] was the 'this is who we are,'" says Quay. "This is our people, this is our brand, this is the future."

Oooh, a Clip from Michelle Visage's New Show "Hooker Makeover"

May 13, 2013, 2:31 pm

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World of Wonder -- makers of RuPaul's Drag Race and reality TV trailblazers  -- keep churning out things we would gladly watch over and over. The latest is a makeover show starring Drag Race judge and former Seduction member Michelle Visage called "Michelle Visage's Hooker Makeover." The show follows Visage as she coaxes an unsuspecting passerby into a makeover and does her damnedest to make her look like a Hollywood Boulevard hooker. After her makeover, the makeoveree heads out into the street and try to get cars to honk at her for money. Obviously this all could be construed as horribly offensive, where 'tackiness' and something as complex as sex working are carelessly conflated in the name of carefree campy fun, but Visage, per a press release, says she sees it differently: "Tacky is the new black. There's a reason why this is the world's oldest profession, and EVERYBODY needs some hooker-tastic love every now and again. It gives women a sense of confidence that no Louboutin ever could." Just as RuPaul's Drag Race is a tounge-in-cheek answer to America's Next Top Model, here we get a new take on the stale format of the makeover and you really can't look away. Check it out above.

The Breeders' Photo Tour Diary Part 2

May 13, 2013, 3:00 pm

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One of our favorite music developments to happen so far this year? The return of the Breeders. The sisters Deal and the original band line-up are back with LSXX, a 20th anniversary re-issue of the band's enduringly awesome Last Splash, as well as a supporting tour. (The band plays Webster Hall on Monday.) As the Breeders travel the world this summer, bassist Josephine Wiggs will be sharing her view of life on the road in a series of photo essays for Papermag. Here's her first installment and, below, check out her second.

The first show of the tour at Oberlin, Kelley, ready to rock.

Me, silhouetted against the Warner Arts Building, Main St, Oberlin, walking across the park to our show at "the Sco."

The dressing room at Mr Smalls, Pittsburgh. It feels like you are in someone's apartment.

Rest stop, Maryland. Photo speaks for itself.

After soundcheck, before show, 9.30 Club, D.C.

9.30 Club signature cup cakes in the dressing room.

One of Kelley's prototypes for the Sleeve-O-Matic. For playing the solo in "Don't Call Home."

Sound-checking the Sleeve-O-Matic.
 
The ladies' room at the Trocadero, Philadelphia. Wonder what color the men's room is?

Trocadero, backstage, after our set, before encore.

Stairs from the dressing room to the stage, Webster Hall NYC.

Kelley's Gibson, dressing room, before Webster Hall show.

The ice in the dressing room is no longer for cooling beer. It's for treating Jim's tennis elbow (right), my tennis elbow (left) and Kim's carpel tunnel (left) after the show. Hmmn... how come Kelley has no repetitive stress injuries?

Jim and I outside the green room at Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

Kelley, right before we play on Fallon, modeling her inside-out t-shirt: She's wearing her t-shirt inside out.

Exiting the Fallon studio after soundcheck.

Kim's pass for the Fallon show in various places, but conspicuously, never on Kim.

Jim signing posters at the Royale, Boston.

Previously: The Breeders' Josephine Wiggs Captures Life on the Road

This Oreo Commercial Is So Twee

May 13, 2013, 3:36 pm

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1.  This new Oreo commercial really is over-the-top twee. [via Jezebel]


2.  Daft Punk's new album Random Access Memories, which is out in a week, is now streaming on iTunes. [via Pitchfork]


3.  The Bluth Banana Stand officially hit NYC today at Radio City Music Hall and apparently it was extremely crowded. Tomorrow it will be at the Northern tip of Columbus Circle from noon to 7pm. [via Press Release]




4.  We couldn't be happier that astronaut Chris Hadfield did a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in the International Space Station.


5.  Taco Bell is currently testing out a waffle-taco hybrid for its breakfast sandwiches. Dat. Shit. Cray. [via Eater]


6.  TIME and Google have taken satellite footage dating back decades, enhanced it, and created a great interactive map of how the world has changed over the years. You can enter any location to see how it's changed, or you can just check out the editor's picks which are the most dramatic.

What's Dylan Grillin'?

May 14, 2013, 7:30 am

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Here's a strangely riveting 8-bit-ish game called "What's Dylan Grillin'" in which you attempt to figure out what an unrealistically muscle-y Bob Dylan cartoon is firing up on his Weber grill. [via F Yeah Dementia]

Richard Branson lost apparently lost a bet and had to appear in drag as a flight attendant. He's not the only ones who lost out though -- we're all gonna have nightmares for days. [via Hyper Vocal]

Get a room, you two! [via Bunny Food]

We're deeply intrigued by male model -- and international man of mystery -- Ahmed Angel. Here he is modeling the platonic ideal of beauty. Thanks, Buzzfeed.

Us after using a Groupon to get highlights and a hair cut. [via Humor Train]

Here's a blonde-ish Zooey Deschanel giving us Jodie Foster vibez back in 2002. [via Nearly Vintage]

Michael Douglas said in an interview recently that the only thing that worried him about playing Liberace was wearing a 14-inch prosthetic penis. [via nymag]

Looks like Yeezy's making a cameo on Anchorman 2... [via Oh No They Didn't]

ICYMI: Here's a pretty cuckoo video of Paul McCartney getting bombarded by grasshoppers while playing a recent concert in Brazil. He even has to pick them out of his hair mid-song! [via Hyper Vocal]

We can't believe it's taken us so long to meet Disco, the manically chatty parakeet who says a truckload of awesome expressions from movies and pop culture. To wit, "Nobody puts baby bird in a corner" and "Hasta la vista baby bird" and "I'm a parakeet, bird to your mother!" He even beat boxes! [via Laughing Squid]