Last year I blogged about how the 5th season of the HBO anthology series True Detective is to be set in Jamaica Bay in Southern Queens.
Nothing else was (or is) known about this season except that its two main leads have been cast: Nicholas Cage and Antonion Banderas will star and will be, one assumes, heading to shoot in the swamps of NYC next year.
Cool. They're great, legendary actors. Can't wait to see it! And I'll keep updating about this season when more info comes out.
Okay, so this isn't a regular review, it's more of an anecdote: I took my kid to the "Dan & Phil: Hard Launch" show in Brooklyn because she's a huge fan of their show. It was a wild audio-visual comic experience, and just about everyone there was an emo-kid in their parents (save my kid and me and some other family members who went).
Anyhoo, the show went on at the Kings Theater in Brooklyn (lot of posts about Brooklyn lately). It was my first time there and it's a really gorgeous, huge, and cavernous theater. It used to be a movie palace and was beautifully restored as a live theater. I strongly urge you to go see a show there -- I didn't really care about "Dan & Phil" (although they were entertaining and my kid was happy) but man, oh, man, that theater is awesome.
Social media is a tool, meaning it can be used for good and ill. When someone celebrates a milestone, or someone passes away, it can be beautiful to see the outpouring of support and condolensces from people and strangers far away.
But more often than not social media is used to bully people.
Such is the case with Kelly Clarkson the singer/talk show host who visited an art store in Brooklyn, asked about buying an item on the wall that wasn't for sale, and then bullied the store on social media saying she was treated like a hooker. Now the store is getting threats and harrassed online -- ugly stuff.
Being a celebrity bestows many benefits -- perhaps the biggest one of all is that the public and the media pays attention to the stuff you say or post online, no matter how inane. In short, being a celebrity gives you power, and how you use it is important.
We appear to be living in a period of wontonness, where people with power and wealth are using it to abuse. And Ms. Clarkson, one would think, would be better than that. But apparently not. She's no ... idol.
It was only a matter of time before the goons from ICE caused havoc in NYC -- and they have, in Marble Hill.
I understand that people want to deport "illegals" but not this way. ICE is out of control. They're shooting and killing people all over America and it's an outrage. Previous administrations deported way more people without all this violence. It has to stop!
A year before Mr NYC started, a publication dedicated to New York politics called City & State debuted. It's a rare animal -- a publication devoted to local and state politics and government that does quality journalism without bias, and is a staple for New Yorkers who want to understand the who, what, where, and why about how they are governed.
A LOT has happened in New York in the last twenty years -- multiple governors, mayors, and other state and local officials have come and gone, the city and state becoming firmly Democratic while also, bizarelly, producing its first president (a Republican!) since FDR.
There's have been tremendous victories and failures in those two decades and, for its 20th anniversary, City & State has a great summary of the players and plays that have written the last 20 years of New York history.
You should check it out!
Overheard in Lower Manhattan, lady on her phone: "I was there at that shower when she married that white boy ..."
