Remembering Brazenhead Books
One of NYC’s best truly hidden book stores.
Wow. This just really brought me back to the mid 2010s era of exploring NYC.
I had the distinct pleasure of visiting Brazenhead Books a long time ago. The pseudo-bookstore, illegally run from inside an apartment owned by Michael Seidenberg on East 84th St. You would go to an unassuming normal NYC apartment building, take the elevator up, and enter a slightly cracked door in a hallway to the sights of books stacked at every turn. It was just wonderful.
Michael was often there co-leading a talk or a discussion, but also acting as the sole employee and cashier. Books had prices, but they were never set in stone. His apartment was one of the most unique book stores I’ve ever been to. It was eventually shut down and Michael “retired” elsewhere and eventually passed away in 2019.
Sean Baker visits FotoKem
A visit to FotoKem.
Check out this great video of director Sean Baker visiting FotoKem to make a 35mm print made for theaters of his movie Anora.
Documentary about the building of Lincoln Center
A slightly rosier retelling of the destruction of a community to build today’s Lincoln Center.
A slightly rosier retelling of the destruction of a community to build today’s Lincoln Center. The archive footage is maybe some of the only existing video of what was formerly San Juan Hill.
Editing Severance
A video about how Severance was edited, with Apple.
Having your assistant compile every multi-cam shot into a single scrubbable video is one of the best tips I’ve ever seen. I’m surprised I’ve never heard of anybody doing this!
What We’ve Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms
A dissection of America through a mass shooting at a Nashville Waffle House in 2018.
I’ve had a pretty grim feeling about the United States lately and reading this book certainly does not make it better. I just finished What We’ve Become by Jonathan M. Metzl which frames the US gun debate and culture through the lens of the 2018 mass shooting at a Nashville Waffle House.
Nearly every chapter of this book is just a heartbreaking peek into the ripple effects of guns in our lives; The lives lost, the families ruined, and the incredible inaction taking place at every government level to curb mass shootings in the United States.
The situation since this book was published has only seemed to get worse in my opinion. Just a truly sad look at the state of the country in contrast to the efforts of other power-nations curbing this threat of guns.
What happened to Six Flags New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
Sad to see this place go.
After 20 years, the Six Flags New Orleans location that has pretty much been abandoned since Hurricane Katrina is finally coming down. Earlier this year, crews began to dismantle and demolish what was left of the facility. Here’s a trip with VICE to the spot before it was torn down.
A mechanical keyboard with a word counter
A little bit of a typewriter and a computer.
Just came across the Freewrite Wordrunner, a mechanical keyboard with a built-in word counter that doesn’t stop counting even when the keyboard isn’t connected to a computer.
The Hundreds coffee table book
New book for the new house?
Somehow in 2020 I missed the announcement of this coffee table book from The Hundreds. I wonder what was going on then…
Anyway, the book chronicles the journey of one of streetwear’s most prominent brands from its founding in 2003 to about 2020. The brand is still around, but has recently closed their last physical store on Fairfax. I was very sad to see this store go as it was ground zero for a lot of my 20’s while I was living and traveling to Los Angeles.
The 2nd edition of this book is now out and available for $59. A nice little walk down memory lane for somebody like me, and a neat coffee table book for design nerds and streetwear aficionados.