It’s not often that two strikingly original works seem to have been cut from the same puke-drenched cloth, but that’s exactly the case with Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, published last year to critical acclaim, and Joel Potrykus’s Relaxer, which premiered last year around the same time at SXSW and is now playing at Cinema Village East. The film has been called “the grossest movie of the year” while the novel will have you “cringing during every moment,” per The Paris Review. Clearly, despite their titles, relaxation isn’t exactly their intended purpose.
About Daniel Maurer
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Dueling Pistols: Founding Members of the Sex Pistols Make Rare NYC Appearances
In rock and roll, there are legendary feuds. Mike Love vs. Brian Wilson, Axl vs. Slash, and one of the most savage: John Lydon, frontman of the Sex Pistols, vs. Glen Matlock, the bassist credited with co-wroting nearly all of the songs on Never Mind the Bullocks... As luck would have it, both of the founding Pistols are making rare New York City appearances.
Watch Nancy Schwartzman’s Steubenville Rape Doc and Let Her Tell You How to Channel Your Rage
From Finding Neverland to Surviving R. Kelly, there’s been a recent spate of unflinching documentaries about sexual assault. The latest, Roll Red Roll, might be the most infuriating and difficult to digest, because it documents almost in real-time the horrific gang rape committed by high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio in August of 2012. After watching it, you’ll need to talk about it with someone, and who better than filmmaker Nancy Schwartzman, who will appear at three post-screening discussions at Film Forum this weekend.
Crate News! Brooklyn Is Getting a New Record Store From Co-Op 87 and Mexican Summer
(Photos courtesy of Brooklyn Record Exchange)
New York’s record store landscape is ever in flux, with the most recent example being the closing of Good Records in the East Village and the opening of a San Francisco import, Stranded Records, in its place. The latest development in Brooklyn: A new endeavor from the owners of Greenpoint record shop Co-Op 87 and neighboring indie label Mexican Summer.
Rosemary’s Greenpoint Tavern Is Selling Its Neon Signs, and Everything Else
(Photo: Nick McManus)
When Mary’s Greenpoint Tavern closed earlier this month after nearly 65 years on Bedford Avenue, we thought we’d never again be able to settle into one of those cherry-red stools. Well, turns out you’ll have a chance to own them when the bar’s contents go up for sale this weekend.
After Its Creepy Us Moment, Black Flag Hits Brooklyn
If you were one of the many (like, a record-setting number) of people who saw Us over the weekend, you may have noticed the Black Flag easter egg. As little Adelaide goes missing on the Santa Cruz boardwalk, a carnie in a Black Flag t-shirt is hovering over her dad while he plays Whac-a-Mole. The shirt shows the cover of My War, the album that came out in 1984, a couple of years before the beach scene takes place. When Adelaide returns to the beach as an adult with her family, one of her friend Kitty’s kids is wearing a t-shirt with the iconic Black Flag bars on it.
Tribeca Q&As Include Sarah Silverman, Werner Herzog, Scorsese and More
After revealing its lineup of features and the full slate for its TV festival, the Tribeca Film Festival is showering us, piñata-style, with yet more goodies. Today the fest’s organizers dropped its schedule of Tribeca Talks, including tete-a-tetes between Martin Scorsese and festival co-founder Robert de Niro (their latest collaboration, The Irishman, comes to Netlfix in the fall); David O. Russell and Jennifer Lawrence; Michael J. Fox and Denis Leary; and comics Sarah Silverman and Mike Birbiglia. There will also be talks with Rashida Jones, Questlove, and Queen Latifah, followed by a screening of shorts created by female filmmakers with the support of The Queen Collective, Latifah’s program aimed at encouraging racial and gender equality among directors.
Tribeca TV Fest Will Be So ’90s: Simpsons and In Living Color Panels, Wu Tang and MTV Docs
Worst. Talkback. Ever.
Tribeca TV Festival just announced its lineup, and the highlight might be a 30th anniversary screening of The Simpsons that will include a panel discussion with Harry Shearer (voice of Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, and many others) and creator Matt Groening as well as his fellow producers.
This Anti-MAGA Hat Is Attempting to Make Fashion Great Again
At this point, there’ve been hundreds of takes on the “Make America Great Again” hat—my favorite being the “Make Youth Sonic Again” hat that recently got a shoutout from Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore. But the simplest one might just be the best one.
Who Let the Dogs Out Is, Pound for Pound, the Most Dogged Reporting On Baha Men
Saturday afternoon at South by Southwest, I had a choice between watching presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren speak and watching a documentary about the making of “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Guess who I chose? Who? Who? Who? Who?