When Bret Easton Ellis strode into a Midtown auditorium for his TimesTalk last night, I was almost surprised to hear the enthusiastic applause. After all, his just-published first collection of essays, White, has provoked reviews with headlines like “Bret Easton Ellis’s Non-Fiction Is Lazy, Boring” and “Bret Easton Ellis’s Book ‘White’ and Why You Don’t Need to Read It.” Add to that, a New Yorker interview about Trump that was so awkward that a friend forwarded it to me with an “Oof.” For a moment, it seemed like the author of American Psycho—the writer who “was canceled before cancelling was a thing,” as fellow provocateur Bari Weiss recently put it— was about to truly be canceled in much the same way his most famous novel was ditched by its original publisher.

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(Photo: Daniel Maurer)

They say hope floats, and while we were never quite sure what that movie title meant, we can say for certain that some of the best bars in New York City float. And if you were hoping they’d reopen, you’re in luck.

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Sure, Monday’s brief spike into warmer weather only lasted a day, but Industry City has dropped another much-needed reminder that good climes and good times are right on the horizon. The Sunset Park work-play complex just announced the lineup for its summer series of concerts and parties, and this year is going to be a doozy thanks to Antibalas, Blonde Redhead, Guided by Voices, Frankie Cosmos, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and more.

The DJ lineup is just as impressive as the schedule of live shows, what with some of our favorite selectors—including Soul Clap, Wolf + Lamb, and Greenpoint’s own The Lot Radio—in the mix. More →

Back in September, HBO announced that it was renewing The Deuce, David Simon’s gritty drama about the rise of the porn trade in ’70s and ’80s NYC, for a third and final season. Now vintage cars are lining Orchard Street between Stanton and Rivington in preparation for a shoot tonight. More →

Though the food market coming to Essex Crossing got some nice press last week, you’ll have to wait three months before it opens. In the meantime, the massive development near the Williamsburg Bridge finally got its 14-screen movie theater, as Regal Essex 14 & RPX opened at 129 Delancey Street on Friday. More →

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.

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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.

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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.

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(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.

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(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.

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