Upcoming talks and readings. Because sometimes, you just want to watch C-3P0 soliloquize in Early Modern English.
Thursday, June 26
Nathan Deuel and Friday was the Bomb
In 2008 Nathan Deuel, Village Voice and Rolling Stone editor, moved with his wife Kelly McEvers (a foreign correspondent) to Saudi Arabia. The couple’s first child had just been born when the Arab Spring erupted. McEvers was posted in Baghdad, while Deuel took his young daughter first to Istanbul and then Beirut. Friday was the Bomb: Five Years in the Middle East is Deuel’s first book, and an account of his time spent in the volatile region. Deuel will be reading from the memoir, taking questions, and signing copies.
7pm, WORD Bookstore (126 Franklin St, Greenpoint), Facebook RSVP requested but not required, FREE
Friday June 27
Liveness and Cinema: An Illustrated Lecture
Sam Green’s documentary The Weather Underground (seen in the above clip) earned him an Oscar nomination in 2004, but recently he’s been focusing on “live documentaries.” The screenings of these works (for example The Measure of All Things) are accompanied by in-person narration and live music, taking inspiration from old travelogues, the Benshi tradition and TED talks. Now, Green will be giving a lecture at Union Docs about the history of combining film and performance (one timeless, the other ephemeral), and the work of current day practitioners.
7:30pm, Union Docs (322 Union Ave, Brooklyn), $9
Saturday, June 28
Flag of the Zapatista movement
500 Years of Struggle and Resistance in Mexico: A Discussion
In 1994, with the signing of NAFTA, the Zapatistas—a revolutionary leftist group—emerged in Chiapas, under the aegis of Subcomandante Marcos. Chiapas is an impoverished agrarian region in southeastern Mexico, and the anti-capitalist movement’s base is made up of indigenous people eager to thwart the state’s military, paramilitary and corporate incursions into the mountainous region. Join activists from La Universidad de La Tierra en Oaxaca (University of the Earth) and the collective Veredas Autonomous (Autonomous Trails) for a discussion of the history and future of social struggles, in Mexico and across the world.
7pm, The Base (1302 Myrtle Ave, at Stockholm, Bushwick), FREE
Photo courtesy of @uglyducklingpresse
6×6 #30 Release Party and Poetry Reading from Ugly Duckling Presse
The Ugly Duckling Presse is a Gowanus-based non-profit publisher of poetry, translations, experimental fiction and artistic books of all sorts, and this Saturday they’re celebrating the release of the 30th edition of their 6×6 magazine. Poets like Abraham Adams and Emily Anicich will be reading from their contributions, and there’ll be live music.
8pm, Trans-Pecos (915 Wyckoff Ave, Bushwick/Ridgewood), $5 entry gets you the new issue and a drink. Facebook RSVP here.
Monday, June 30
Making Money: The Philosophy of Crisis Capitalism
Do you know what money is? You might think you do, but you probably don’t. You’ve actually probably never thought about it properly before. So here’s Ole Bjerg to the rescue, whose book Making Money: The Philosophy of Crisis Capitalism, delves into the big questions—what is money? where does it come from? who makes it? (not me, sigh)—and argues that we have entered a phase of “post-credit capitalism.” According to Slavoj Žižek, it’s an “explosive” read, “an absolutely indispensable guide through the labyrinth of economics” (it also happens to draw on Žižek’s theories). Join The Cultures of Finance Group at the NYU Institute for Public Knowledge, as they celebrate the US launch of the book with a panel discussion. (And you won’t have to spend any of the green stuff.)
4pm, Institute for Public Knowledge (20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor), FREE
Tuesday, July 1
Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics and the Fight for Democracy with Dave Zirin
Dear reader, no longer will you spend happy, unreflective, de-politicized hours watching the drama unfold at the football World Cup. Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation and author of Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics and the Fight for Democracy, is here to spoil the fun. Zirin has been spending time in favelas and soccer stadiums in the build-up to the sporting spectacle, observing the growing unrest across the stratified country. Join him at Bluestockings to hear him unravel the mystery of how “athletic mega-events turn into neoliberal Trojan horses.”
7pm, Bluestockings (172 Allen St), FREE
Alas, Naughty Droid: A Night of Shakespeare and Star Wars
Get thy lightsabers ready and prithee get thee to the bookstore—where a performance of choice moments from the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars series will take place. If you’re a weirdo like me who had a childhood obsession with Princess Leia and an unlikely love for the Bard, this is the event for you. Author Ian Doescher will appear by droid-projected hologram (um, Skype), and there will be costumes and duels galore. If you’re extra-keen and thespianly inclined, email brooklyn@wordbookstores.com to enquire about becoming a reader.
7pm, WORD Bookstore (126 Franklin St, Greenpoint), Facebook RSVP requested but not required, FREE