https://www.benyakas.com/arts daily 0.75 2017-11-06 https://www.benyakas.com/indextv daily 0.75 2017-11-06 https://www.benyakas.com/new-gallery daily 0.75 2024-09-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727114889403-DQ6XYMAR7NFHQ9Y7M7K6/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.00.42+PM.png Culture Gallery - An Exclusive Interview With Mystery Man Dan Smith, Who Will Teach You Guitar For over 20 years, New Yorkers have been told that Dan Smith, a possibly-ageless man placed on this Earth for the purpose of posting flyers with his face on it, Will Teach You Guitar. So when I found myself face-to-face with him recently inside a bar on the Upper West Side, I had to ask: what else could Dan Smith teach us? [Also check out this follow-up with Dan Smith answering more burning questions about his life] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727114889403-DQ6XYMAR7NFHQ9Y7M7K6/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.00.42+PM.png Culture Gallery - An Exclusive Interview With Mystery Man Dan Smith, Who Will Teach You Guitar For over 20 years, New Yorkers have been told that Dan Smith, a possibly-ageless man placed on this Earth for the purpose of posting flyers with his face on it, Will Teach You Guitar. So when I found myself face-to-face with him recently inside a bar on the Upper West Side, I had to ask: what else could Dan Smith teach us? [Also check out this follow-up with Dan Smith answering more burning questions about his life] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509988450578-PPPDW7UTHJCLXF0VM4UU/081617GOT123.jpg Culture Gallery - Game of Thrones: Lorum Ipsum Season 1 Lorum Ipsum Lorum Ipsum https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004390168-8Q7EWNN5TIDJBL3C1LBP/061517murray999.jpg Culture Gallery - An Evening With Bill Murray, Cranky Poet Philosopher King Murray was being honored by Poets House at this year's event with the Elizabeth Kray Award for "service to the field of poetry." (His neighbor and friend Platt was also being honored with the same award.) The mutually-appreciative relationship between Poets House and Murray seems both out of left field and also completely of a kind with Murray's Manic Pixie Dream Dude public persona. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004357570-20ER05R471A524O2TBJK/041117trumpbaldwin.jpg Culture Gallery - Alec Baldwin Explains How It Feels To Have The President Publicly Trash You "My wife has a line, it's a wonderful line," Baldwin told me. "If I'm whining, kvetching about something, my wife will turn to me and say, 'Nobody feels sorry for Alec Baldwin.' She'll turn literally to anybody on the street corner, 'Do you feel sorry for Alec Baldwin? Anyone? Anyone?'" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004349738-HJ2AD9GC3O08TTSB4YNT/32515FF1.jpg Culture Gallery - Why The Fast & Furious Franchise Deserves Respect Through its many sequels, the series has somehow transcended floppy disks, forgettable villains, chronological anomalies, endless backyard BBQs, and the death of one of its lead actors in real life to become the most brilliant, batshit-crazy, ethnically-diverse popcorn action film franchise of the 21st century. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727114896684-C1IFLSKE81AGPEW6FGBH/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.01.05+PM.png Culture Gallery - An Introduction To The Soothing World Of CBD It's increasingly popular with people suffering from a wide variety of maladies, from insomnia and anxiety to Crohn's disease and fibromyalgia. Some swear by it for relief from migraines, while others have tried it to mitigate the side effects of chemotherapy. Is CBD some sort of super medicine, or is it about as real as Simpson and Son's Revitalizing Tonic? [Also check out the second part of the long-form CBD piece] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004821046-V37IUUCBX8CV6PYM9M5A/afca160e04dx-audience-png.png Culture Gallery - 4DX Is A Tour De Force Cinematic Experience For People Who Love Being Jostled Are you being mildly pummeled by your chair? Are you throwing slightly soggy popcorn into your mouth? Are you wondering whether you may have just experienced a low-level epileptic seizure? Are all of your senses being distractingly engaged in sync with the action on the screen? Then you're not watching a regular, boring old 2D/3D movie—you're watching 4DX baby. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727114892937-TIMH6R6I34EVE5FEN7U3/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.00.51+PM.png Culture Gallery - The Origin Story Of That Viral 9/11 Middle School Tribute Performance I uncovered the backstory behind a viral video of a bunch of Florida middle schoolers who performed a coordinated dance to footage of 9/11. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004424594-CCZQPH314ZKTVJHTU9VD/f8c72a4eb-mobile.jpeg Culture Gallery - The Studio Home Of 'The Americans' May Be Doomed By Gowanus Canal Cleanup After investing over $5 million in upgrades and years of exhaustive work to turn the space into a state-of-the-art facility custom-built for large scale shows, Eastern Effects is in danger of being closed to become a temporary staging site for Gowanus Canal sewage overflow tanks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727114900989-0B4DGJYSY1JBR5QZFDJ2/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.01.12+PM.png Culture Gallery - Iconic artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres makes some noise in a posthumous exhibit Gonzalez-Torres's work is based around taking common materials, whether it's lightbulbs, pieces of candy or a recording of handclaps, and transforming them into something visceral, emotional and surprising. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727115540969-YLEHSKNPIASXQI1A0TCN/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.01.36+PM.png Culture Gallery - Bringing the cosmos underground: celebrating public art created by women for the NYC subway About 130 out of the 260 pieces of artwork currently on display in the subway system were made by women. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004342723-K2SU85X0VPUZHBGL3B7I/21914guardians.jpeg Culture Gallery - "Guardians Of The Galaxy" Is The Future Of Comic Book Movies (If We're Lucky) If Guardians is the hit it's shaping up to be, it could be the death-knell for overly-serious, by-the-comic-book adaptations. Or at the very least, it could encourage the major studios to take more chances, to let directors stamp more of their personality on the films, to experiment with obscure heroes and locations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727114885046-NFJ5J3X55FJQVXJJNR96/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.00.33+PM.png Culture Gallery - Martin Scorsese Discusses His Melancholic Mob Masterpiece 'The Irishman' There are few vicarious thrills compared with the likes of Goodfellas and The Wolf Of Wall Street. This is a movie about old men reckoning with their own destructive decisions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727200852024-UN0DWD9V2UWAEK4AJ2BM/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.00.36+PM.png Culture Gallery - For One Chelsea Building, It's Always The Night Before Christmas She said, "I think if you ever get a chance to spread a little peace and joy, you get it back tenfold," and, she added, this was no ploy. "So there's no motivation behind this, [except] to make people happy. It's become a neighborhood staple." And there's nothing wrong with being a little sappy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727114905488-B1LFW0OUZ8YBZJHPE9CS/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.01.21+PM.png Culture Gallery - Outsider Art Fair highlights the underdogs of the art world in Chelsea For more than 30 years, the Outsider Art Fair has been one of the world's preeminent showcases of self-taught artists from around the globe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004394834-NF2JJ77XY7FMI0GRFKK5/062917spiderman1.jpg Culture Gallery - Peter Parker Swings Back To High School In Charming "Spider-Man: Homecoming" When the movie sticks to the smaller scale of Parker's adolescence—high school parties, class field trips, bodega cats and thai food outings—it is a gem of a comic book movie, which seems equally inspired by Hughes's '80s high school comedies and the original '60s Spider-Man comic run. [Also check out this review of Spider-Man: Far From Home] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727115898861-5X1ESDRE92PVDWERC2HG/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.01.28+PM.png Culture Gallery - Menorah bongs and Talmudic toking: The secret history of Judaism and cannabis "Through my research, I discovered that Jews have been using cannabis for centuries...had I known that in Hebrew school, I might have been a little bit more interested in what was going on." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727204590861-RU9M3AF2UHXKP5L6AD3Y/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+3.02.55+PM.png Culture Gallery - Look Upon The Dogs Of Westminster Dog Show 2020, Ye Mighty, & Be Delighted! Hanging out with the extremely chill dogs of Westminster Dog Show 2020. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727204924631-UFNKE16BFZNXHBG7EGYE/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+3.08.28+PM.png Culture Gallery - Lincoln Center unveils overhauled Geffen Hall as community-oriented cultural center For decades, Lincoln Center has struggled to execute a plan to redesign the concert hall the New York Philharmonic calls home. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004406650-WRC1WCTYKCR553A2OG78/110615bond1.jpg Culture Gallery - "Spectre" Review: Bond. Adequate Bond. Spectre, while having more surface-level pleasures (the martinis and cars and hulk-like henchmen and overly-chatty bad guys and nameless conquests are back, baby!) than Quantum Of Solace, has more problems and plot holes than all the water-deprived deserts in Bolivia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727204917461-MEY7ZLMFFZAHQ899N8QU/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+3.08.20+PM.png Culture Gallery - The 92nd Street Y rebrands as 92NY as part of $200M redevelopment As the city eased out of the morass of pandemic restrictions and cultural institutions started to plan ahead for the future, The 92nd Street Y embraced what they call a "post-COVID transformation." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004582582-Q12WA0XEBOMHA5A7X5IS/a6f3f432f051717twinpeaksbbqfilms-29-jpg-mobile.jpeg Culture Gallery - That Gum You Like Was Back In Style At Immersive 'Twin Peaks' Event In Brooklyn She even remained perfectly in character as she performed a burlesque dance with her beloved log, which started out, like so many burlesque dances, innocent and kitschy, only to suddenly incorporate enough log licking and gyrating to have me deeply concerned about splinters. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510004790369-M4IZWBJ5NJQN5X4G5FJ6/42717LALALALA.jpg Culture Gallery - Here's What L.A. Looks Like To A New Yorker Who Has Never Been As a lifelong New Yorker who eagerly tells anyone within earshot about how I am going to die in this rat-infested, trash dump of a city (dear lord, I love it), I don't know why people are surprised when I tell them I have never been to Los Angeles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510267888330-14RR35IQ23WA6B1303G2/92814wiseau.jpg Culture Gallery - Thoughts On Tommy Wiseau's Latest Disasterpiece, "The Neighbors" It doesn't seem possible, but The Neighborsmakes The Room look like Eyes Wide Shut. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510294507291-Y4ACJ932G11FUHZQUCZH/42615poet1.jpg Culture Gallery - Bespoke Poetry Hits The Subways With Peanuts-Inspired "The Poet Is In" Treating poetry—an art form that demands contemplation—like instant ramen might seem like a contradictory idea, but Poetry Society program director Charif Shanahan said "it's about the relatability inherent in poetry." https://www.benyakas.com/television-gallery daily 0.75 2024-09-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510009116582-BIUITOYTNTMNZS64DE7S/got123.jpg Television Gallery - "Game Of Thrones" Power Rankings Multiple seasons worth of recaps of Game Of Thrones episodes. Includes Rickonwatch, Ser Friendzone, The Ghost Of Ned Stark's Manbun, The Artist Formerly Known As Littlefinger and more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510009116582-BIUITOYTNTMNZS64DE7S/got123.jpg Television Gallery - "Game Of Thrones" Power Rankings Multiple seasons worth of recaps of Game Of Thrones episodes. Includes Rickonwatch, Ser Friendzone, The Ghost Of Ned Stark's Manbun, The Artist Formerly Known As Littlefinger and more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007114874-W9ODGSPKG4TX84G8KHIU/041117saul1.jpg Television Gallery - "Better Call Saul" Is A Slow-Motion Tragedy That Just Keeps Getting Better The invisible hand of tragedy—that should be capital-T Tragedy, in the really big, really Greek sense—is hanging over Better Call Saul more than ever in the newest season. The more time we spend with the pre-Breaking Bad iterations of these beloved characters, the less we want to see them fulfill their destinies. [Check out Better Call Saul recaps here, and an interview with showrunner Peter Gould here] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727111958827-VI1TYOAUYOIZZR2NECP0/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+1.15.56+PM.png Television Gallery - Visiting The Set Of 'High Maintenance,' Still The Best Show About NYC The show has become a wide-reaching portrait of NYC that is successful because it is familiar without being rote—as if you set up a camera in your own cramped apartment then passed it to your neighbor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727113082781-4HFWZ56THD19MZV0WIRR/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+1.26.01+PM.png Television Gallery - Set Visit: Co-Creator George Pelecanos Talks About Final Season Of 'The Deuce' & The End Of Times Square The Deuce explored how the intersection of the burgeoning pornography industry and the forces of capitalism combined to radically change the identity of Times Square. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727114136258-I3VSCN1VV94UNQKS4CDM/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+1.55.22+PM.png Television Gallery - 'Too New York, Too Jewish:' The 30th Anniversary Of 'The Seinfeld Chronicles' Pilot The show's adherence to a slightly cynical, lovably surreal, etiquette-obsessed, and distinctly Jewish sense of humor was a remarkably unique blend at the time. And it is remarkable to think about how close we came to Seinfeld never making it past the pilot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007082010-9F1GQAG91KHYQDGBE6VD/8b12823b9-mobile.jpeg Television Gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727111964668-3MTU6QZ4NRDK8Y5A3R88/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+1.18.01+PM.png Television Gallery - Succession Power Rankings Recaps of season three of Succession, a show all about how people jockey for power (and process trauma). [Also check out this interview with star Brian Cox] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727111968543-ITQ2RSCCANIYWQJ6QDSC/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+1.19.07+PM.png Television Gallery - What To Bingewatch series During the first months of the pandemic, I published a regular guide offering different TV viewing recommendations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007110294-6OJKZA5VFW6RV8WU7TCM/033117review1.jpg Television Gallery - A Fond Farewell To "Review," The Funniest Show You Should Have Been Watching It was a show about a man who reviewed life for a TV show, except the TV show ended up controlling his life. It was the story of Job as told through the milquetoast prism of Andy Daly's particular brand of comedy. And most importantly, it was the show that made me laugh out loud more than any other television show in recent years. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007100921-5K2916CFPKIRIZZJCFJ7/030717americans1.jpg Television Gallery - "The Americans" Brilliantly Examines The Cold War In Highly Resonant Season Five The fifth season premieres with all the amazingly bad wigs, triple agents, period-appropriate soundtrack cues, and complicated spy shenanigans fans have come to expect. [Also check out interviews with showrunners/creators Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields and castmember Alison Wright] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007206967-8F1Q9UBYO0VV8UVHQGVK/121516rectify1.jpg Television Gallery - Accept The Mystery: "Rectify" Was The Most Heartbreaking TV Show About Trauma If that sounds strangely ambiguous, like a person keeping resolution at arm's length for the sake of it, then that's just a part of beauty of this weird, heartfelt little show that one has to accept. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007121011-7NVPOO3V6W2OE25YBHMN/041617leftovers1.jpg Television Gallery - "The Leftovers" Joins The Pantheon Of Great HBO Shows In Season Three The Leftovers was never a show meant for mass appeal—but it's one that anyone could see themselves reflected in. What's truly miraculous is how it turned what could have been 'depression porn' into a thoroughly compelling, addictive story. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727113782772-EG3GMEXLN53FYDYJV81N/russian-doll-1.png Television Gallery - Co-Creator Leslye Headland Thinks 'Russian Doll' Is A Ghost Story With A Twist It is a show about addiction, therapy, the scarcity of bodega cats, and/or metaphysical connections. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007106113-94UXPJ74ZGK3I0YWE0FD/032717vomitforever.jpg Television Gallery - Projectile Vomiting Is Having A TV Moment The minute you witness an adult projectile vomit in public, their vulnerabilities splattered with Pollock-esque enthusiasm all over themselves (or someone else), is the moment that you lose your innocence forever. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007148205-25Z0SCQCCZ5BNXCZ9C83/051717fallon1.jpg Television Gallery - Jimmy Fallon Still Doesn't Get It The most striking thing about it is how much Fallon refuses to understand his critics and acknowledge that things have changed, perhaps irrevocably, in the world of late night TV. He ultimately comes across more as self-pitying than sympathetic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727111975560-Y5V3UIZAZ1GTBTVIZ8M4/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+1.16.17+PM.png Television Gallery - The Best TV Shows Of 2021 Station Eleven, The White Lotus, I Think You Should Leave, Succession, The Other Two, and the best shows of the year. [Also check out the best TV shows of 2019 and 2018] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007190368-KIIG9T5YZ0KA2RTVMHIF/cooppalmertwinpeaks.jpeg Television Gallery - "Twin Peaks" Returns And Is More Exhilarating & Mysterious Than Ever It masterfully zig-zagged between setting up new plot lines with new characters, checking in on old Twin Peaks residents, and whetting our appetite for the supernatural Cooper/BOB material. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007160155-MKO5LYXZI2VJ8TZPX88Y/062217glow1.jpg Television Gallery - Netflix's "Glow" Explores Female Identity & '80s Nostalgia Glow is equal parts Bad News Bears underdog sports drama, glam '80s time piece, and proto-feminist text. In particular, the show deftly (and often hilariously) embraces, critiques, and challenges female stereotypes again and again through the personas of the wrestlers—all without fetishizing its actresses. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007282018-IJAJ71MJ90IXWBDVEONA/062817lowe1.jpg Television Gallery - Deconstructing The First Trailer For Rob Lowe's Already Legendary Ghost/Alien-Hunting Reality Show Even before I saw a single piece of footage from the project, it immediately became my most anticipated TV show of all time. And now that I have seen the first trailer for the show, it has become my favorite TV show of all time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007212660-UQ5I18YKW8AREQHD432V/120516westworld1.jpg Television Gallery - Paranoid Androids: How I Learned To Embrace The Confusion & Love "Westworld" This was a very serious show about BIG IDEAS involving consciousness, violence, the ouroboros of human existence, and storytelling in the age of the internet, all channeled through the prism of puzzle shows a la Lost (but with fewer polar bears and more Inception). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007296250-9Q6UBL5G9DIHGY09VOI2/083117bojack1.jpg Television Gallery - "BoJack Horseman" Is Haunted By The Past In Brilliant Season Four The show is as interested in exploring the inner lives of its characters, and their struggles to live with depression in all its various forms, as it is in painstakingly set-up visual gags and puns. It is a challenging show, one that uses its Hollywoo satire sheen and animated tomfoolery as the sugar to get audiences to gulp down a deeply-felt meditation on depression and self-sabotage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007240350-766MR2J6M66CBIY19A94/91316high1.jpg Television Gallery - "High Maintenance" Is The Best Show About NYC (And Now It's On TV) More than any other modern TV show, it rings true to a myriad of NYC experiences without falling into pretentiousness. The show is able to capture the absurd magnetism that keeps us all tethered to the NYC grind, without whitewashing the mundane struggles, the exuberant hustles, and the narcissistic shittiness that comes hand-in-hand with everyday life here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510009757222-51GZ2JG8UHP27012ATWN/donald-trump.jpg Television Gallery - This Dreadful Trump SNL Sketch From 2015 Is Now Our Reality Trump is a product of television (reality TV in particular), so the most accurate lens from which to view Trump—and to understand how he views himself—may be through his idealized, televised self. [Also check out my ongoing SNL recaps] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007232416-BUJ4RINVH6WERXEH1ZXB/092917david123.jpg Television Gallery - "Curb Your Enthusiasm" Is Still The Funniest Comedy Of Manners On TV In Season 9 Based on the first two episodes of the new season, we can safely say that Larry David remains the William Butler Yeats of comedy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510009356817-VQ5I5LF8W4EQJYJTBV48/051917firewalk12.jpg Television Gallery - Everything You Need To Know About "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" I still think it doesn't really work that well as a movie—it's like a really intense extrapolation of the Twin Peaks universe that isn't very pleasurable to watch because of the incredibly heavy, tragic themes. But it's also filled with tons of signature Lynchian shots and themes. And most of the various supernatural elements really do make sense if you can get onto Lynch's wavelength. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510007224114-M66IVNSZQO6BXUC1THG2/101016fullerbojack1.jpg Television Gallery - What's Wrong With America In One Netflix Graph One handy graph has given us the means to start discussing the important issues that plague our fragile democracy, namely: why are so many people watching Fuller House and not watching BoJack Horseman?!? https://www.benyakas.com/interview-gallery daily 0.75 2024-09-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510096153113-3AWEGLAICNB1MMK3G7ZV/7716jack1.jpg Interview Gallery - Record Producer Jack Douglas Interview Series A four-part interview series with Jack Douglas, a pivotal rock producer in the 1970s who worked with everyone from Patti Smith to the New York Dolls, from Aerosmith to Cheap Trick, from Miles Davis to The Who. That included a decade-long working relationship and friendship with John Lennon; Douglas was in the studio with Lennon the night before he was killed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510096153113-3AWEGLAICNB1MMK3G7ZV/7716jack1.jpg Interview Gallery - Record Producer Jack Douglas Interview Series A four-part interview series with Jack Douglas, a pivotal rock producer in the 1970s who worked with everyone from Patti Smith to the New York Dolls, from Aerosmith to Cheap Trick, from Miles Davis to The Who. That included a decade-long working relationship and friendship with John Lennon; Douglas was in the studio with Lennon the night before he was killed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727192765359-4LZ60LTHYD4P15YMBCLT/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+11.45.50+AM.png Interview Gallery - Sketchy Interviews series Sketchy Interviews was a recurring series on Gothamist I started in which I did "visual interviews" with some of the best illustrators, cartoonists and graphic artists working in the city. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094386830-FE63YT8W0RUMKAAUJ8IS/062717buckingham1.jpg Interview Gallery - Lindsey Buckingham On Reconnecting With Christine McVie & Fleetwood Mac's Gravitational Pull "We are, for better or for worse, for whatever dysfunction there may be in there, we are a family. We've been through things together that nobody's been through. And I just think that, that's not something to be taken lightly." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727117899534-D9TS1ZFUC697PNKKL5ZX/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.55.50+PM.png Interview Gallery - How Brooklyn’s Steve Keene became the most prolific artist in American history Andy Warhol is credited with producing over 10,000 pieces of art in his lifetime, a truly impressive amount of work. But Warhol's got nothing on Steve Keene, who has created more than 300,000 paintings, and is widely considered one of the most prolific artists in all of human history. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094379231-O7J4CP2KZPLMGNH81SJO/061517saul1.jpg Interview Gallery - Vince Gilligan & Peter Gould Talk About The Tragedy Of "Better Call Saul" "I love the fact that this turned out to be a tragedy. When we started this process, we didn't know that the biggest, most heartbreaking antagonist to Jimmy McGill would be his own brother, Chuck." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727117914786-7NVNJTPAJPHRKY3E42Z0/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.56.22+PM.png Interview Gallery - John Wilson Explains How To Make A Show With John Wilson "I think that, especially with the Avatar people, that's just so much of the fun of the show...finding just how people form communities in the smallest, most intimate kind of niche ways." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727119008201-SUOGIF58Y12YEHG5WB2G/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.57.25+PM.png Interview Gallery - Stephen Malkmus Has Gone From Ungrounded To Unguarded "I think sometimes I've looked back at some of my own work and seen it as a little overstuffed, with either lyrics that are trying too hard, or just things that I see like, oh, he's trying to be funny or smart or something. And I don't believe this guy right now. He's bullshitting me." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727117933840-C152CMFEHE3F73IPM7LI/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.56.53+PM.png Interview Gallery - Longtime New Yorker Shares Stories About The Gritty Times Square Of 1970s & '80s Artist Jane Dickson lived, worked and raised two children in an apartment on 43rd Street and 8th Avenue during the late '70s and early '80s, documenting the rapidly-changing landscape of the area with her drawings, paintings, and photography. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727191509942-IIGA1RDS7V4MTKD2PHKD/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+11.24.39+AM.png Interview Gallery - HBO's 'Succession' Star Brian Cox Thinks Entitlement & Nepotism Are Destroying America "That's what's interesting to me about the human experience, is that we all think we're trying to do the right thing, and we end doing the wrong thing." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094390374-FJ03PUBYGRI72G6X40TN/63016wiseau1.jpg Interview Gallery - An Interview With Tommy Wiseau, Creator Of The Greatest Disasterpiece: "The Room" The interview doesn't always make sense, but then again, neither does throwing footballs around in tuxedos, or a drug dealer confronting a high schooler who looks like he's 40-years-old on a green screen roof, or yelling at someone to leave their stupid comments in their pocket. Sometimes not making sense is its own kind of sense. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094383236-HHFFYY7J5731QHYFH76S/061917dowd1.jpg Interview Gallery - Ann Dowd Deconstructs "The Handmaid's Tale" & "The Leftovers" "What's the story about? It's the story of women's enslavement. That's part of this story. It's a major part of it. But repression and control and fear are all in it together and until the repressed and the repressor get on the same page, nothing is going to shift." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094393936-IETZSAH6TPFBQ2JWKI06/080717randy1.jpg Interview Gallery - Randy Newman Talks Trump, Atheism, Kanye And More "With a lot of people, they don't know they're racist. They just think somehow that there are a hundred thousand white men who could do the job of president better than Obama could. It's just this sickness we have, like the Civil War didn't end. It's not just the South, it's people everywhere." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727119000663-XF8JJZNWWBZPVPVJDA1Z/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.57.07+PM.png Interview Gallery - Comedian Michelle Buteau Has A Subway Horror Story To Share (And Much More) "[There are] so many languages and smells and experiences you can have on just a one block radius, that you can't get anywhere else if you went to another country." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727117895015-UN5ZJ7PS0Y6GWUQFSF97/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.55.41+PM.png Interview Gallery - Cartoonist Adrian Tomine reflects on 20 years of New Yorker illustrations His instantly recognizable New Yorker covers, which feature keen observations and romance-tinged glimpses of life in the city, are among his most famous works. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727119015606-R3YGY2VZURSOQ0XET6CT/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.57.33+PM.png Interview Gallery - A Conversation With Veteran 'Simpsons' Writer Mike Reiss About 30 Years Of Springfield "Somebody once said to me, 'The worst part of working at The Simpsons must be that you can't go home and watch The Simpsons.'" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727119029335-BJ4V30U4X5OGNHZWDW73/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.57.49+PM.png Interview Gallery - Exclusive: Robert Pollard and Bandmates Talk Guided By Voices' Massive New Album 'Zeppelin Over China' "There's something about the way that Bob puts music together that...you don't really understand except that things are happening when you don't expect them to happen, and he's taking you to places emotionally that you wouldn't normally expect." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094397070-PKQLT750EUVJE4GS7CCR/081117gervais1.jpg Interview Gallery - Ricky Gervais Has A Lot To Say About Trump, Twitter Culture & The State Of The World "[Trump] is a bit like Brent. The big difference between him and David Brent is that Brent is a bit of a loser. That's why Brent has our sympathy more, because he's struggling. He's against the odds. Whereas, Trump was handed the winning ticket from birth." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727192188654-CQ46IH1Q71K9VQOQQMDK/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+11.36.00+AM.png Interview Gallery - How a photographer captured the romanticism of NYC's beaches "There was a real intimacy and a real beauty in the way people were interacting with each other on the beaches that is not quite the same at a city park or on the subway. At the beach, it was almost like people forgot other people were around." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094372722-LO3KDOVSACMP4MOSEY7R/051017yang1.jpg Interview Gallery - "Master Of None" Co-Creator Alan Yang Dissects Their Joyous Ode To NYC: 'New York, I Love You' One of the standout stories of season two of Master of None is "New York I Love You," a joyous standalone installment that takes the vignette format of the show and runs it to its logical conclusion. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094400160-NRTHMV9BZYEF56GIHLIA/081617halt2.jpg Interview Gallery - "Halt And Catch Fire" Creators Embrace The '90s In Season Four "I think it's also been a show about people on a wheel who keep jumping into new projects, new relationships, new loves, and kind of hoping that this is the one that's going to finally make them complete. This is the one that's going to finally shape them, only to realize that's kind of a never-ending cycle." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094407075-DJR043B3UOMYP8QSN0SY/83117bojack5.jpg Interview Gallery - Creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg Reflects On Season 4 Of "BoJack Horseman" "I think of this idea that exists out in the world: the only guy who can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. I don't know if that comes from real life, I think that comes from stories, from the stories we're telling and putting out there, and I wonder if we are taking enough responsibility for that." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094410483-2OVWO2QLB7BF2QB4ZCW8/091917goodplace1.jpg Interview Gallery - "The Good Place" Creator Mike Schur On Crafting The Big Twists "I believe that if ethics were a mandatory class for all human beings on Earth, and everybody had to learn about the basic philosophies of good and bad, right and wrong—in a non-religious way, in a non-tribal way, where it's just purely like these are what thinkers think about right and wrong—I think that most of the problems in the world would go away."   (You can read part two of the interview here) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094414575-98CM0JL9RU693AYN7FNA/092017curbpod1.jpg Interview Gallery - A Deep Dive Into "Curb Your Enthusiasm" With Podcaster James Andrew Miller "I think that's one of the great paradoxes of the show, right? Because, we're laughing at so many things that are wrong, but at the same time, maybe we're just all drowning in this politically correct world that we have to live in now, or that we try and live in. And Larry is constantly popping those balloons." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094419232-SVFV9HYKLS5KU9MY7XRI/100217weller1.jpg Interview Gallery - Modfather Paul Weller Talks NYC, Mortality & The Gallagher Brothers "So I think there's an element of that: I've just got to do as much as I can. Time's running out. And time goes so quickly. I've got to keep writing and keep trying to produce work." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094423841-R9OUUV8922HT0I354XL8/100516collins.jpg Interview Gallery - Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins On Ambushing Americans' "Anti-Poetry Shields" "You say to someone, 'I’m gonna read a poem to you,' they’re either gonna run away or cover their ears, or just think this is a curiosity, but if they hear one on the radio when they’re not expecting it or see one on a billboard or on commuter trains, then it gets into them before they’ve deployed their anti-poetry shields." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727117903372-DBRWVTQM3FMWCCK8Q2UE/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.55.58+PM.png Interview Gallery - Disco legend Nile Rodgers on his lifetime passion for roller-skating "Maybe I'm just too overly romantic about it, but there's something special about skate culture." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727189781966-PMXFBEXGRPOGJRBHGW76/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.56.08+AM.png Interview Gallery - 'Avengers: Endgame' Screenwriters Talk Multiverse, Manifestos, Time Travel And More Spoilers "Six MacGuffins is never anyone's first choice, Ben. [Laughs] It's a lot of MacGuffins." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510096724167-4269ZW1P8S765CCCRG7G/062617odenkirk.jpg Interview Gallery - Bob Odenkirk On The Future Of "Better Call Saul" & Returning To SNL "Jimmy did a lot of things that were wrong, he had a lot of collateral damage in his world, but he was very naïve about it, or carried away, or just kind of oblivious to those kind of things. And in this last season he did some stuff that was very pointedly self-interested and destructive. And he just carried on doing it even though he was fully aware of the bad parts of it."   [Also check out interviews with Saul castmates Rhea Seehorn and Jonathan Banks] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727187721152-1PRP3YUYI760051J4T1M/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.21.27+AM.png Interview Gallery - Kurt Vile Doesn't Want To Be In A Rush "It’s what I wanted since I was a kid, finally somebody writing about my music. That's what I used to collect: magazines of all my favorite artists. So it's kinda the dream." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510094403172-3Z8DH863XX23KYM12MKM/082817davos1.jpg Interview Gallery - Ser Davos Thinks "Game Of Thrones" Is The 'Heroin Of TV' "I do pop onto Twitter now and again and I love the fact that the audience are still trying to work it out. They want to know but they don't want to know. The amount of people that I've got on the street who dive out in front of me, who beg me for a little spoiler—it's all over the place, and it's great fun. I'm loving it."   [Also check out an interview with Ser Bronn about loyalty, Lannisters & dragons] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510096729372-7SB23MI179R6FC5E9NNO/100517curb333.jpg Interview Gallery - "Curb Your Enthusiasm" Executive Producer Jeff Schaffer Explains Larry David's Process "The only thing I think we were a little rusty at, honestly, was gauging how many stories we should pack into an episode. There was this backlog. Larry was sitting on all these awkward situations like Smaug the dragon and now he's ready to share them."   [Also check out interviews with Curb castmates Susie Essman & JB Smoove] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727117921217-3DXZ4LW3M8X9MC2DPI8V/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.56.30+PM.png Interview Gallery - Director Mike Mills Explains How He Ended Up Making A Movie & Album With The National "The thing I think is really different about this is I controlled the mix of the music, and they kind of encouraged and allowed me to really change the music." [Also check out this interview with bassist Scott Devendorf about the making of I Am Easy To Find] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510097337504-QLY8PJZSHT1CAECF6HVR/2011_08_jimmysummer.jpg Interview Gallery - Jimmy McMillan Tells Us He Gives A Damn About Israel, SNL And Homemade Porn "I'm hoping that young people see the magic in it...I don't have to be the President of the United States. Why don't you run, and I'll support you? I need you all to get involved. I want people to say, 'if Jimmy can do it, I can do it.' That's magic. " https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510097343476-I45C4K9AAAAPIOAWFAZQ/9514stuart2.jpg Interview Gallery - Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch Talks "God Help The Girl," Buddhism, And "Grease" "It was a sound in my head and never, for a second, do I have any doubts about that. Sometimes there’s a question, if you get asked, 'What makes you think that you can write for women?' Stuff like that. I was never given a choice. I never needed to have permission to write for a woman because I had a woman character come to me, like a muse, and demand to be written for." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510097348415-JQHEDKW39S2SUBQFOWJO/061317ohhello1.jpg Interview Gallery - Nick Kroll & John Mulaney Talk Tuna Allergies, Getting Pranked & "Oh, Hello" On Netflix "I remember the first time we ran it, I was like, 'I don't like yelling at Gil.' And by the end of Broadway I loved yelling at Gil. I would stomp my feet and I started screaming, and being mad so much." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727187741688-6WBPKKVEP5Q72MTPULN4/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.58.00+PM.png Interview Gallery - Amen Dunes' Damon McMahon Reflects On His Breakout Year "I've been listening to records for so long that they're just in my bloodstream. They've become me, you know what I mean? Whatever influenced me became me and so I just kind of reference myself in them, if that makes sense." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727187718168-5CV7S1CK63GTCHJOJN03/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.21.12+AM.png Interview Gallery - Gothamist Interviews Kim Gordon And Bill Nace Of Body/Head Gordon connects the improvisatory nature of Body/Head's music to the No Wave music and art scene she had come up in when she first arrived in New York in the '80s. "If you're playing improv, you're actually incredibly vulnerable." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727119021566-P6KADMHD5AAZJXZQBMWC/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.57.41+PM.png Interview Gallery - John Gotti Jr. Thinks There's A Conspiracy Against 'Gotti' "People say, 'Well you're glorifying the mob in this movie. You're glorifying your father in the storytelling here.' I say absolutely not...when his end came, he was handcuffed to a bed and his death certificate said he choked on his own vomit and blood, okay. So I don't see any glory in that." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727189417383-0K8TV1K70EV91V7W4V57/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.56.41+PM.png Interview Gallery - Steven Van Zandt Talks Asbury Park History, Bruce Springsteen & The Future Of E Street Band "We really helped reinvent what a bar band was. We redefined the entire bar band scene without knowing we were doing that." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510097356085-51P00V5Z728OYZWFKA1B/072117kylemooney1707.jpg Interview Gallery - Kyle Mooney Talks About Making The Leap From SNL To His First Feature Film "But that's been one of the special things for us: that people come away from it saying something like, 'Oh, it's different than I expected. It's sweeter. It's heartwarming.' So, I love that. And also, hopefully, for me as a creator or artist, this serves an example of me not wanting to put myself in any boxes, like I only want to do sketch comedy or parodies or something like that." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510097360453-2UX9Z4L6J90LE76BR0GA/083117ytw1.jpg Interview Gallery - Stephen Falk On Toxic People, Love Stories & Season 4 Of "You're The Worst" "I'm a very rules-abiding, polite individual, so I suppose I get a lot of my vicarious rudeness out through writing them. I think toxic is a good way to put it, I would not argue with that. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510097372401-KBV45IQY93L72DIDIAGX/062017bigsick1.jpg Interview Gallery - A Charming Conversation With Kumail Nanjiani & Emily V. Gordon About Their Charming Movie "The Big Sick" " I like sci-fi and fantasy where it feels like the world has existed before the movie starts and will continue after that. Lord of The Rings feels like that, Star Wars feels like that. So with this movie, one thing that we really wanted to do is feel like these characters have existed before, but more importantly will exist after the movie is done." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510098333276-H3ZO8IGNELO3VI1QMC16/phpLSeNLNAM.jpg Interview Gallery - "GIRLS" Showrunner Jenni Konner On The End Of The Most Divisive Show On TV "I think it was triggering to people. It was a very truthy show. People really, really cared so much about the authenticity that it was almost like a constant stream of fact-checking the whole time, but these are fictional characters."   [Also check out an interview with GIRLS castmember Alex Karpovsky] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510098338580-4SMBYP58RY8N7Y3LHNZ6/041717baldwin321.jpg Interview Gallery - A Lengthy Conversation With Alec Baldwin On Redemption, The Media, NYC Politics & Donald Trump "But renewal for me, there's been a career renewal for me, which I'm very grateful for, and I'm not going to say that it's come with a cost, because yes people have come up to me and just beat that to death. People will thank me, congratulate me, they beam some kind of positivity toward me all day every day about the Trump thing." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510269645284-BSUWK1U2HBQU8EPG324O/021017bolton1.jpg Interview Gallery - Michael Bolton, Scott Aukerman & Akiva Schaffer Talk Valentine's Day Plans & Learn About Hygge "So if you're in Hawaii on Valentine's Day, and you just like go out there into the surf, Michael may be out there just raging, talking to the moon." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727191223805-4DXQLQ8K9N4ZFTJFO32D/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+11.20.08+AM.png Interview Gallery - A Deep Dive Into The Final Season Of 'The Americans' With Showrunners Joe Weisberg & Joel Fields "We like to say if Philip and Elizabeth worked as hard on their relationship, and communicated as much about their feelings and their relationship as we do, there would be no show." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727117908620-D98Q82S31CNCWNSPP4TP/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+2.56.05+PM.png Interview Gallery - Hanif Abdurraqib brings his dream music series to BAM "I was chasing those pairings. Not necessarily folks who are in direct conversation with each other, but folks who I believe were rich writers and storytellers who, combined with another rich writer and storyteller, could build out an arc of an evening that felt like a single experience." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727187702310-GJKJ9Y8A3V9D0CR0OM35/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.20.25+AM.png Interview Gallery - 'Barry' Star Henry Winkler Left His Heart In NYC "I'll tell you what my terror was: knowing who I wanted to be as an actor. Knowing what I wanted to achieve as an actor and knowing deep down, really knowing deep down, I wasn't there." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727187705690-CT38M1C9R73DXMNBEFZZ/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.20.34+AM.png Interview Gallery - The Creators Of 'GLOW' Discuss The Most Delightful TV Episode Of 2018 Creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch talk about the original GLOW TV show, Ruth & Debbie's complicated friendship, controversial romantic pairings, and a little film called Captain Marvel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727187708163-0S2NZVUPVYYEJ881DKG9/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.20.41+AM.png Interview Gallery - Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth Explains How He Writes Songs "I think you have to be willing to take little atoms of your own personal experience, take a little slice of the most extreme emotion in your life, and then make a song out of that. That's not who you are as a person, but it's an element of human experience, and it might be one that a lot of people can relate to." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727187710886-EVNTLQ5DGGEFRKGD1XJQ/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.20.48+AM.png Interview Gallery - "Watchmen's" Tim Blake Nelson Reflects On The 'Coherent, Surprising & Inevitable' Finale "Good narrative to me has three essential qualities to it: it has to have been coherent, surprising, and inevitable. And trying to get those last two right, trying to get to something that surprises but also feels like it has to have developed in the way that it did, is almost an oxymoronic feat." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727187713853-R2Y5SWK2L814WWYIBGLP/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.20.55+AM.png Interview Gallery - A Conversation With Snail Mail's Lindsey Jordan, Indie Rock's Rookie Of The Year "I'm gonna just take my time and write music how I want to and when I want to, and tour as much as I can, and hopefully that provides some kind of longevity so that I can keep doing this. And not necessarily ride the hype wave onto the hype beach and wash up." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727187724966-OOSCXCTD407DNL8OQYC1/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.21.34+AM.png Interview Gallery - Jemaine Clement Explains Why 'What We Do In The Shadows' Series Is Set On Staten Island "It’s fun to play a vampire once or twice, but then having to play that character again and again in a TV version, I think would be too much for us. We decided to trick other actors into doing that." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727189548683-M09YDXHCJ761S5OMZWKB/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+10.21.04+AM.png Interview Gallery - 'BoJack Horseman' Creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg On Dealing With 'Difficult, Damaged Men' "I personally am someone who does believe in the power and importance of forgiveness and redemption, but I think that needs to be earned and I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done to get it." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727192194530-KT48X5U8XKMZ4GK0ADA7/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+11.36.08+AM.png Interview Gallery - Showrunner Peter Gould Breaks Down Season Four Of 'Better Call Saul' "Jimmy McGill hurts people inadvertently. Saul Goodman just knows that someone's going to get hurt." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727191246695-SLXJ7H0P2AC8P5FZTBR1/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+11.14.40+AM.png Interview Gallery - 'Crashing's' Pete Holmes Doesn't Understand What Happened To Louis C.K. Either "It's how you greet change that says a lot about you as a person. And I don't think it's unique to comedians, a lot of people have a real need in themselves that no one should tell them what to do. I think you see that a lot in comedy." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727192197558-SM93XRLGWDM7HM3M0Q90/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+11.36.18+AM.png Interview Gallery - The Creators Of "High Maintenance" Just Want The Show To Keep Reincarnating "I remember in 2011, [we would] talk about wanting to build an artistic community based around one project that could involve different jobs, different directors, different writers, different groups. That was part of the initial goal of the whole enterprise. So to see it in fruition, and then maturing, is really exciting." https://www.benyakas.com/news-gallery daily 0.75 2024-09-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510002204161-YBMOJR01JRRAXEKMSI8D/9911firefighter1.jpg News Gallery - FDNY Battalion Chief Reflects On Responding To WTC Collapse, Today's 9/11 Politicization Tom McCarthy, the Battalion Chief of the 13th Battalion in Washington Heights, opened up publicly for the first time about his personal experiences on 9/11, as well as his frustrations with the politicization of the day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510002204161-YBMOJR01JRRAXEKMSI8D/9911firefighter1.jpg News Gallery - FDNY Battalion Chief Reflects On Responding To WTC Collapse, Today's 9/11 Politicization Tom McCarthy, the Battalion Chief of the 13th Battalion in Washington Heights, opened up publicly for the first time about his personal experiences on 9/11, as well as his frustrations with the politicization of the day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201225783-JJO40X67IW2VBCTMVDET/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.04.35+PM.png News Gallery - The Brief Wondrous Life & Death Of Cardvaark, The MTA's Proposed MetroCard Mascot I uncovered the forgotten history of Cardvaark, the MetroCard mascot who almost became a New York legend. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510002197750-ZO6XI71KVO4XKJMU8BBC/4316upstate1.jpg News Gallery - Where The Hell Is Upstate NY? "Upstate" has almost as many definitions as it does references in state laws, which left many of us wondering: where the hell IS upstate anyway? What divides downstate and upstate? And what is the cultural significance of the designation? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201230750-6RYLH30RXGPL3F50SVWN/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.04.45+PM.png News Gallery - The NYC Subway Needs Its Own Mascot. We Have 12 Contenders I co-designed 12 new mascots for the MTA with illustrator Mattie Lubchansky. [Find out who won the contest here.] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201287298-FBGXJGKS9T7T4ARLIJT0/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.06.12+PM.png News Gallery - Broadway cleaners have kept the Great White Way open — and now they’re fighting for wage increases Broadway’s custodians, elevator operators and restroom attendants are the unsung workers of the Great White Way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727202791473-V6PWOPNWFQCYTOY1LBDZ/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.06.32+PM.png News Gallery - The 79th Street Boat Basin Redesign Is Making Everyone Feel Seasick For more than 80 years, the 79th Street Boat Basin has been a hub of activity nestled inside Riverside Park. But the basin has been in desperate need of improvements for decades. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510002221789-3J21FE1R263MIX2Y8SWQ/82615chill1.jpg News Gallery - Subway Etiquette 101: How To Not Be A Jerk On The Train It's not easy commuting every day with the knowledge that every train ride could trap you in a system-wide meltdown, which is why we should all do our part to NOT make it even worse by being rude and gross space invaders. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201234502-QX8KD2T0WBEX5E9BXEMO/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.04.51+PM.png News Gallery - The Ultimate Guide To Riverside Park, The Lowkey Best Park In NYC It is one of the unheralded nature-oriented treasures of the city. It's a perfect place for long walks and exercise, it boasts spectacular river vistas, and it's rarely overcrowded like those other more popular Manhattan parks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201250865-MODM5RJGP6IEMUVP5W27/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.05.27+PM.png News Gallery - Eleven Unique NYC Experiences That Deserve Their Own German Expressions No matter your background, what part of the city you live in, or how long your commute is, the NYC experience is a perpetual Rube Goldberg machine filled with strange and unique situations that the English language struggles to fully describe. Thankfully, there is another language that IS very good at describing extremely specific things: German. [Also check out eleven more words in part two] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510002208718-OBBIJO9D3GL5ZVVQ4YIC/21414aliens.jpg News Gallery - Brunch Hate Reads Series The NY Times has a weakness for self-parodying trend-baiting, masochistic Millennial obsessing, and the perverse lifestyles of the filthy rich. If a reporter with the Real Estate, Style or Weekend sections approaches you about a story, just smile gently and run in the opposite direction. No one is forcing you to become representative of everything that everyone hates about New Yorkers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727204164483-1QJNBJMYUK45MJV9SMXC/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.54.11+PM.png News Gallery - Grand Prospect Hall coverage Coverage following the dismantling and death of Grand Prospect Hall https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727203782004-PRQ4VKFNJAVVJU5WUOUE/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.49.23+PM.png News Gallery - Vessel Changes Terms & Conditions After Extreme Photo Policy Controversy Thanks in part to my coverage, the Vessel in Hudson Yards changed its extreme photo and video policies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201238596-G35Z84YLYZ525Q69FHPS/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.04.57+PM.png News Gallery - A Brief And Depressing History Of Donald Trump Exploiting & Lying About 9/11 There is a wealth of evidence that Trump has repeatedly and outrageously exaggerated and lied about 9/11 to fit his purposes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201217278-ZOX5RBK2LVXI0553CKRO/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.04.02+PM.png News Gallery - The Secret History Of The Great Subway Map Debate Of 1978 Revealed Real MTA heads know that one of the most pivotal moments in subway map history happened at Cooper Union in April 1978, when acclaimed designer Massimo Vignelli debated the future of the map with cartographer John Tauranac. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201297619-SPRG0AF9AI2VI1Z8HH1A/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.06.19+PM.png News Gallery - A new generation of visual artists is creating love letters to a vanishing NYC A growing number of New Yorkers have set out to document and preserve an ever-changing city through DIY projects spread via social media. Their creations are love letters to a city that is still only beginning to emerge from the trauma of the pandemic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201301956-PCAY2F6CP3IFMN0QRTAO/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.06.25+PM.png News Gallery - The dog run runaround: How volunteers scrap & claw to keep NYC's dog parks running It's clear that the city takes only a small amount of responsibility in caring for these facilities. No dog run could possibly be successful without the considerable effort of a handful of dedicated volunteers, willing to spend much of their free time organizing and cleaning up the parks themselves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201241528-EKJOICV4NYRO904J3NZQ/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.05.12+PM.png News Gallery - Meet The Beloved Family Who've Been Selling Christmas Trees In The West Village Since 1988 Since 1988, Billy Romp and his family have been making an annual pilgrimage to the West Village to set up their "Romp Family Christmas Trees" stand. They have become arguably the most beloved tree vendors in Manhattan, which is not something that Romp takes lightly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510002193885-57RC5DR4FT18SIPJ0ZX6/3715dst.jpg News Gallery - Why Daylight Saving Time System Needs To End Forever DST is the biggest chronological scam in history. [Related: "How New Legislation Could End The Scourge Of Daylight Saving Time System In NY"] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510002233886-4KV1MW1DFJ4MVOAC1SCU/112114gyllenhaal.jpeg News Gallery - Subway Celebrities Series It's just like Andy Warhol said: in the future, everyone will sit next to Jake Gyllenhaal on the subway for 15 minutes (or at least until their stop). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201262284-AKVJS4Q00O250LV40CCC/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.05.45+PM.png News Gallery - The NYPL’s temporary Grand Central branch won over the community. Now it might close Locals spoke out after a temporary branch of the New York Public Library became in danger of closing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201221522-DXROSEIS76WQSSUYUFY6/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.04.12+PM.png News Gallery - NYC's Past Lives On In The Ghost Signs Of Downtown Manhattan Exploring the photos and stories behind more than 100 signs of businesses that have disappeared in Lower Manhattan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510003109486-71G6UI9EAT2LY0HSC085/carscones1.jpg News Gallery - One Simple Trick To Stop NYC Drivers From Killing You Some safe streets advocates are growing impatient with the pace of Vision Zero initiatives—and for the families of the 134 pedestrians killed in traffic crashes last year, the city is already moving far too slowly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510003210899-SRIINKEYERTIDSSUWMME/homeless1.jpg News Gallery - The "Bum" The NY Post Wants You To Despise Is Actually Human As with most things involving the NY Post, the reality for Andersen, like the thousands of other homeless people struggling to survive in NYC, is more nuanced than they'd have you believe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201207849-03S4ZFE6C9I53RA5KKD5/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.03.42+PM.png News Gallery - An Interview With New York Metro Weather, NYC's Favorite Weather Forecasters You don't need a weather expert to know which way the wind blows, but they sure can come in handy when dealing with tropical storms, nor'easters, blizzards, and historic rainfalls. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510003291927-T4LVLJ85Z0LD05YP3KQA/5914rebar1.jpeg News Gallery - DUMBO's ReBar Abruptly Closes, Citing Bankruptcy I broke the story about longtime DUMBO gastropub and indie screening room reBar abruptly closing in 2014. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510002213423-HUJZIUYTZ6NOJSI725BU/41416sanders1.jpg News Gallery - Enough With The Bernie Sanders Jewish Identity Policing It's a familiar narrative that still gets traction: people conflating criticism of Israeli government policies with anti-Semitism. What Peyser is picking up on here is something that has become a major subtext in the Sanders campaign of late: people—more often than not fellow Jews—monitoring, judging, and ultimately policing him for his Jewish identity and his unwillingness to exploit it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201204363-RH5GKJHVEHJHWGY46JJ0/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.03.29+PM.png News Gallery - Which Mayoral Candidate Will Most Vigorously Defend NYC Bagels? Mayoral candidates weigh in on the importance of bagels to New Yorkers' culture and identity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201255684-2QMRZ73DNWHKAY4JYE3X/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.05.37+PM.png News Gallery - What was the Rainbow Bagel? A post-mortem The Rainbow Bagel feels like a perfect encapsulation of a very specific, slightly more innocent time in NYC history. How were so many hardened locals convinced to willingly stand in line for hours for a sugary, unnatural-looking bagel that didn't really taste like a bagel? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201244851-BFLO3KDLZTCMA3F8IJNP/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.05.19+PM.png News Gallery - A Fond Look Back At The Hysterical Anti-Citi Bike Hysteria Looking back at some of the more incendiary commentary from the build up to Citi Bike's launch, let me tell you: it is hilarious. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201280124-M2PA45NWUQXIZNU27L8Y/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.05.59+PM.png News Gallery - How a color-coding system changed NYC's subway map forever No subway map would be coherent were it not for a color-coding system developed over the course of decades. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727205446360-88BZOI53RXO6GRKRK94S/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+3.17.10+PM.png News Gallery - 116 Reasons We Love & Miss The Subway A fond look at the pre-pandemic rush hour. [Related: "Happy 115th Anniversary To The Subway, You Barely Look A Day Over 100"] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727205486414-7S2X5DLOPVXTQWDMUWVL/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+3.14.14+PM.png News Gallery - The Disorienting Surrealism Of Michael Cohen's Testimony I felt a compulsion to bear witness to the livestream of history, even if it turned out to be yet another drop in an ocean of Trump scandals that seemed really important at the time, but later turned out to be just another thing in the news that day. [Related: "I've Been Secretly Watching The Impeachment Hearings All Day At Work, AMA"] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201212676-3JD3A2OWZDKRJF52S5BY/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.03.53+PM.png News Gallery - Locals Protest Cuomo's Plan To Install Essential Workers Monument In Battery Park City "I have enormous respect for essential workers, but the plan here would ruin an amazing green space in Battery Park." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727201274553-CH1EU5REESB6CUYY2TUA/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.05.53+PM.png News Gallery - Ray’s Candy Store owner still loves the East Village despite brutal attack For close to 50 years, Ray Alvarez has been working the night shift. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510002227368-YNBJH9RH5GGPYKXJHFRS/102516trump4.jpg News Gallery - NY Trump Supporters Exist & Would Like To Explain Themselves The question that has stuck with me recently: what New Yorker would vote for Trump? And knowing what the atmosphere is like here, would they even tell anyone about it? Is there a silent orange majority secretly lurking in the margins of the avenues?   (And read part two here) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727202926077-JD4BNJ11XZ02D6PME8GB/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+2.06.05+PM.png News Gallery - Calling all New Yorkers: A few numbers with the 212 area code are back in circulation Learn the secrets to getting an exclusive 212 number. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510267194697-K05OIYDAZANTWSXNUEY8/new051217fyre.jpg News Gallery - Luxury Bahamas Fyre Festival Turns Into Exciting Survivalist Cosplay Experience Founders Ja Rule and Billy McFarland charged thousands of dollars to the exclusive event, promising "the best in food, art, music and adventure." And by all accounts, it truly has been an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience for all who went. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510608085045-O1KNL0D9SXINQ6QPMOT3/8515vacation.jpg News Gallery - How To Come Back From Vacation Without Drowning In Despair 12. Start dragging your suitcase with you everywhere you go. Every day is a vacation when you have your suitcase! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510608736172-SXOLE3GI9CGXAF4ND0NQ/6514armani1.jpg News Gallery - Watch Out For This International Fake Armani Leather Jacket Scam This isn't just a matter of being gullible, though I'm sure it was that for some victims. It's a scam that's been perfected over a decade or more, one that plays on basic human decency (as well as basic human greed). https://www.benyakas.com/music-gallery daily 0.75 2024-09-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727110534948-M1LRJZTQS7WLZK5ISDI1/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+12.43.53+PM.png Music Gallery - The Love Song Of DJBBQ5000 I get hundreds of pitches a day that fall into the chasm of my work email. But when you get a ridiculously cryptic email inviting you to see a "first-of-its-kind grilling innovation that combines grilling and music" with almost no other information except for the fact that said machine has been miraculously named DJMOTHERFUCKINGBBQ5000, you do not miss that email. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727110534948-M1LRJZTQS7WLZK5ISDI1/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+12.43.53+PM.png Music Gallery - The Love Song Of DJBBQ5000 I get hundreds of pitches a day that fall into the chasm of my work email. But when you get a ridiculously cryptic email inviting you to see a "first-of-its-kind grilling innovation that combines grilling and music" with almost no other information except for the fact that said machine has been miraculously named DJMOTHERFUCKINGBBQ5000, you do not miss that email. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727110166376-EBABMXNYXHC3WSCR8WBW/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+12.43.03+PM.png Music Gallery - Yo La Tengo's Hanukkah Shows Have Become The City's Greatest Hanukkah Tradition I spoke to the band and some of their most loyal fans about the origins of the annual Hanukkah celebration: eight nights of indie comedy and rock 'n' roll filled with surprise guests and unexpected jams with some of history's greatest Jewish songwriters. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509996634772-XRSISZC32JEODYA5TZQJ/627abf32d-mobile.jpeg Music Gallery - Video: The Last Ballad Of Mandolin Brothers, Staten Island's Beloved Guitar Shop For the past 40 years, legendary musicians and guitar aficionados have been flocking to Mandolin Brothers, the Staten Island mom-and-pop guitar emporium. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509998613440-P50CY17QLPEMASC5A2PL/11513lennon.jpg Music Gallery - Rowland Scherman Photo Series An eight-part series on the photography of Rowland Scherman, "the Forrest Gump of Photography," who consistently stumbled into the right place at the right time. He was there to document some of the most iconic moments of the 1960s and 1970s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727110456919-U3N54NMZYVF3TF6CYT89/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+12.43.29+PM.png Music Gallery - Smoke Jazz Club Rises From The Ashes After Pandemic Shutdown When Smoke went dark for the bulk of 2021, it looked like it would become yet another piece of the city lost to the pandemic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509996211246-LXRNKDAG6XW6F2JS7BRX/7863e3c0agettyimages-71912899-jpg-mobile.jpeg Music Gallery - American Boy: Tom Petty Was Always Runnin' Down A Dream Petty wasn't someone whose life or work seemed that far removed from this plane of existence—he wrote simple, empathetic anthems about regular people struggling to survive day-to-day, striving for better lives, and fighting to keep the people they love. They were rebels, refugees and losers raised on promises. Petty always had a curiosity for the lives of dreamers, whether they fumbled, failed or were learning to fly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509998430449-OT37BLTZ2MEEF53ES7C6/52412dylan4.jpg Music Gallery - Happy Birthday Mr. Zimmerman: Bob Dylan's Love Affair With New York City For as long as Dylan has been writing songs, he has been writing to, for and about New York City. It's the place Bob Dylan set off on his calling, surrounded by the musicians, personalities and culture that would irrevocably shape the rest of his life. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727111086866-RGWBCWWZDCMIR6QQGRHE/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+1.04.31+PM.png Music Gallery - Inside The Last Days Of The ARChive Of Contemporary Music In Tribeca ARC, which was founded in 1985, is steeped in rock lore: among the aisles and aisles of records are Michael Jackson air fresheners, a blown-up photo of Iggy Pop signing a woman's breast, original Steve Keene artwork, and the album Music To Massage Your Mate By, featuring a pre-fame Burt Reynolds on the cover. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509998241366-2FDMZNB3J24MIEJJY00S/120415bruce.jpg Music Gallery - Down To The River: Notes On Seeing Bruce Springsteen At MSG "The River" is very overwhelming, ambitious, and undeniably brilliant. It's also long and repetitious and meandering and a little boring at times, but hey, that's why there are about 200 peppy songs on it dedicated to Bruce's penis, uh, I mean, cars (looking at you, "Ramrod"). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509997857736-OI72CCN6HYUK58DBLV7W/11116bowie1.jpg Music Gallery - Remembering David Bowie At The Speed Of Light David Bowie has died at the age of 69. He was the coolest popular musician in history, but he was not immortal, despite all appearances. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509997675771-NT5D9VIN3YK7I02DPIH7/4813cohen1.jpg Music Gallery - Leonard Cohen Takes Manhattan At Radio City Music Hall Leonard Cohen is kneeling as he sings...Sometimes he's praying, sometimes he's pleading with a lover. Sometimes he is begging forgiveness, and sometimes he is too exhausted to get up. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509997775618-OX7LTI7PNN35OA3DK9A9/6713gunsroses.jpeg Music Gallery - 12 Things I Learned At Last Night's Guns N' Roses Show In Brooklyn Brooklyn was treated to what passes for an intimate performance by the world's greatest Guns N' Roses cover band, which just happens to feature original lead singer Axl Rose. Or at least, it features someone in a novelty-sized fedora who resembles Axl. Axl Rose is only as Axl Rosey as the bandana he's wearing, and since he refused to take off his fedora, the world may never know if it really was him. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509998773332-R6VIYDJM5XIIJJ41MQU8/92415springsteen.jpg Music Gallery - Every Bruce Springsteen Album, Ranked On "Nebraska:" In which Bruce suddenly transforms into the ghost of Flannery O'Connor, living inside a hollowed-out reverb-drenched acoustic guitar, for a set of spooky 4-track demos that were better without the E Street Band. This is the Springsteen album non-Bruce fans say they love the most, because it sounds more like an intellectual Suicide than anything brewed up in Asbury Park. This is Springsteen's most hypnotic record by a mile. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509997904103-I84VAFEOJLPUKIS1T36Z/52412dylanwalk.jpg Music Gallery - Every Bob Dylan Album, Ranked On "Self-Portrait:" I see it as a window into the real Dylan, not the guy who chased folk stardom or filled his body with so many uppers that even his hair was reaching toward the sky. This was Dylan embracing the role he has long since inhabited: a song interpreter on the never-ending tour of life. Dylan never saw himself as the voice of a generation—he was just another singer passing through history. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727109853579-3SV2SMVBF7641MTG2NP4/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+12.42.24+PM.png Music Gallery - This Is What It's Like To See The Rolling Stones Live In 2019 What does it mean to be a Rolling Stones fan today? Is it worth shelling out hundreds of dollars and putting up with long lines at Port Authority to be able to see the band 40+ years after their prime? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727110016996-4Y2X517TRWOV1IGRL447/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+12.42.50+PM.png Music Gallery - I Spent A Morning In 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Bus Tour Sing-Along Purgatory Because I'm a huge party pooper, I decided to ask people if they knew about the numerous credible sexual misconduct allegations against fired director Bryan Singer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727110340952-H0I2GOYPJQLOMN5ZDOOJ/Screen+Shot+2024-09-23+at+12.43.12+PM.png Music Gallery - Travis Scott Turned MSG Into A Spectacular Psychedelic Amusement Park Whatever he's seemingly lacking in world-conquering hits, Travis Scott more than makes up for in pure spectacle and crowd enthusiasm. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509999080525-6IZBM44XQFB6IWICT94K/42116prince1.jpg Music Gallery - The Beautiful One: Prince & This Thing Called Life But as with David Bowie only a few months ago, Prince's death was a total shock. Maybe it's because, like Bowie, Prince seemed like a mythological creature, a space alien, an androgynous rock star who touched us and encouraged us to touch ourselves unapologetically. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509998947390-8H5YVMSFLG2A6UHMVRRB/1a8e4b37dimg_6117-jpg-mobile.jpeg Music Gallery - Arcade Fire's Fun, Exuberant & Emotionally Empty Spectacle At MSG When you see Arcade Fire live in 2017, there will be plenty of moments when you'll be sure you're watching the real deal, and not a remarkably convincing impression of Arcade Fire. https://www.benyakas.com/pandemic-gallery daily 0.75 2024-09-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727195503427-O8KGZJRWRRACXECSPINX/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.31.30+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - What Passes For Live Entertainment During A Pandemic? The Raccoon Show By summer, I realized my main hobby was doomscrolling when I woke up and before I went to bed. My second hobby was obsessively tracking my steps on my phone, because it was a data-driven way to understand that my life was 2,000-5,000 steps less interesting per day. But then I found the raccoons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727195503427-O8KGZJRWRRACXECSPINX/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.31.30+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - What Passes For Live Entertainment During A Pandemic? The Raccoon Show By summer, I realized my main hobby was doomscrolling when I woke up and before I went to bed. My second hobby was obsessively tracking my steps on my phone, because it was a data-driven way to understand that my life was 2,000-5,000 steps less interesting per day. But then I found the raccoons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193856765-KTGUIU7TR81OGF5T4E1I/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.01.25+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Funeral Industry Workers Feel "Forgotten" By NYC After Being Left Out Of Heroes Parade "All these guys have PTSD. How on earth do they forget about the funeral workers? These people should be acknowledged." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193862955-22UV9FP5ZJD4UDC7V8B6/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.01.44+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Masks, vaccine mandates & amps: How independent venues are grappling with the return of crowds “We've all grown exhausted by all this stuff. I don't want to do anything to turn a single person away. All I want to do is sell wine and put on music. It's all I really care about and all this is a pain in the ass. But I'm just trying to keep my staff and patrons and the artists as safe as possible.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193869248-8ZVP7KFRLJCVER85YYTO/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.01.52+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - How a photographer & journalist captured the haunting start of the pandemic in NYC In the first months of the pandemic, photographer Charlie Bennet travelled around Manhattan capturing the eerie emptiness of the city in a series of haunting photographs. He eventually teamed up with journalist Helena Gustavsson to provide words to accompany those photos. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193888347-4L3WEV0ZUK4Y3U6KZYCI/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.11+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - How Will NYC's Next Mayor Improve Our Open Streets Program? I asked eight Democratic mayoral candidates what the value of having public space outside is, what they think the de Blasio administration did right and wrong with Open Streets, and how they would expand upon it in their administration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193876760-K7BF5FZL9FXZA80HQBK8/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.00+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Musicians Hosting Joyful, DIY Performances On Fire Escapes In Harlem The shows have taken the concept of socially-distanced music performances and given it an unforgettable, urban backdrop. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193898122-XZ3NE7VQ665RK0A2YQ0L/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.33+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - NYC Retailers Boarding Up Their Storefronts Are Sending "Wrong Message" During Coronavirus, Critics Say "The stores are sending the message that they expect chaos and rampaging in the future. It's incredibly depressing and disheartening to see." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193916429-5IQ46RZSRVQ3FZUC7ODK/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.04.01+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Grocery Stores Are Packed With People—And Workers Are Scared & Stressed In the first days of the pandemic, grocery store workers said they were stressed, overworked, and terrified they were going to pick up the virus from a customer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193921512-LHH1NUPANTHKLJJA5RTX/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.03.55+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Cafe Du Soleil On How Outdoor Dining Bubbles Helped Save Their Business Owner Alain Chevreux spoke to me about the popularity of outdoor dining bubbles, the state of the restaurant industry, and how Cafe Du Soleil was able to survive 2020. [Also check out an interview with the general manager and co-owners of Arlene's Grocery about surviving the first year of the pandemic.] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193935365-QW7ZLK7LO0SYW2PY4YSV/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.03.05+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Recreate Your Normal NYC Routine At Home With Normplay Think of it as similar to the way some people do date night, or cosplay, or more kinky stuff. Normplay is when a person starts recreating their previously normal lives inside their homes using whatever they have on hand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193911835-MGC8PE10J5C2UZ333J6G/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.04.08+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Venues Try To Attract Customers With Free On-Site COVID Tests During a period when it was almost impossible to obtain at-home COVID-19 tests, some local businesses started offering on-site testing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193926904-ABU6YW5A5E8DHCMH9MUA/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.03.34+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Q.E.D. Art Space Owner Kambri Crews On Making It To 2021 The owner of the Queens art space spoke to me about her frustrations with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the added challenge of undergoing cancer treatment during the first year of the pandemic. [Also check out an interview with Noam Dworman about the state of comedy during the pandemic.] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193941043-VJNPT72QGW9SDQ7JJ8JF/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.58+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Cops Ticketed New Yorkers For Not Covering Coughs During Past Epidemic I spoke to MCNY's Chief Curator Sarah Henry to take a closer look at the long and complex history of infectious disease and try to get some context for how NYC has dealt with epidemic outbreaks in the past. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193892361-6F3QK7RKAXOI6SB8I7MV/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.20+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Brooklyn Artist Uses Street Trash To Send Positive Messages During Pandemic Her work has taken on new resonance in the weeks since the coronavirus pandemic has hit the city, with her messages reflecting the shared anxieties of New Yorkers as well as offering a sense of hope during this difficult period. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193948315-074NS4ZZ1YKBBBBSOG6G/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.03.23+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Cities Around The World Are Opening Streets To Pedestrians During Coronavirus. Why Not NYC? A longform piece about the city's initial reluctance to open streets to the public in the first weeks of the pandemic. [Despite much fussing, the Open Streets program was soon enacted.] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727194431253-ULI58MCXTR70WGYA9JDB/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.50+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - "An Abundance Of Caution": Why Canceling Everything Is A Step In The Right Direction A piece from the first days of the pandemic: "I feel like the genie is out of the bottle—it is in the community." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193903276-4NQYDQV3ENIRVMTY1BTH/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.41+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - The Missteps Of Mayor Bill De Blasio's Coronavirus Response The initial failure to accept the full gravity of the pandemic was the most pivotal mistake, but it was also just the beginning. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727195407879-ANBM8N5V3ONKLBZ3XPMN/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.29.52+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - West Village Locals Are Throwing Pop-Up Events To "Remind People Why We Love NYC So Much" "We all wanted to see a little more life in the streets, and at the same time also give opportunities to local artists, performers, actors and dancers who are out of work and have limited opportunity to work and earn money." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727199069043-L9WC0K2E2P94PHMV77ZX/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+1.30.54+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Pandemic Party coverage "When you're in a club, you're not really thinking about what's going on outside, which I think is the goal. We all want to pretend this isn't happening, but just because we're not looking at it doesn't mean it's not happening." Check out more coverage of Kosciuszko Bridge raves, rooftop pool parties, marathon dance parties, illicit East Village bars, Bushwick party spots, and the resulting state-wide backlash. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727199539319-186J7HLQK1GW2RB8LSC1/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+1.38.43+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - Outdoor Dining Coverage & the Restaurant Industry During COVID I covered the ever-shifting landscape for restaurants and bars in NYC during the first two years of the pandemic, including the fight for year-round outdoor dining, the advent of alcohol-to-go, the industry bracing for winter shutdowns, financial struggles, various seasonal surges, the return of indoor dining, and more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727197253283-JV4983DDFPL9JALY8UUF/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+1.00.34+PM.png Pandemic Gallery - The Summer Of NYC Is Here, This Is What New Yorkers Are Saying About It Fifteen months after the start of the pandemic, New Yorkers were still hesitant about diving back into their old lives and routines despite an eagerness to renew community bonds. https://www.benyakas.com/home daily 0.75 2017-11-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509976801631-YCAEL0Y7WTP3YT4HCYAI/fast-and-furious-cast-characters.jpg hello https://www.benyakas.com/intro daily 0.75 2017-11-06 https://www.benyakas.com/work daily 0.75 2017-11-06 https://www.benyakas.com/resume daily 0.75 2017-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58d00f106b8f5b01c8e73f52/1491858366054-VN3632LUL8YNY0SH4RCQ/color-3.png Resume https://www.benyakas.com/television daily 0.75 2024-09-25 https://www.benyakas.com/culture daily 0.75 2024-09-25 https://www.benyakas.com/news-stuff daily 0.75 2024-09-24 https://www.benyakas.com/music daily 0.75 2017-11-06 https://www.benyakas.com/interviews daily 0.75 2024-09-24 https://www.benyakas.com/videos-1 daily 0.75 2024-09-26 https://www.benyakas.com/home-1 daily 1.0 2024-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509997617276-C9KYUCV270D8NTFZ4FYI/tumblr_mhw4w4nT1f1qmurn4o1_500-1.gif Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510293557814-UD3PQLWKPIC7T6XWQQKE/pizzabagels.JPG Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509982644651-RMCP4P1UATUFSIR2N200/c70bef9a5the-archer-station-to-station-tour-1976-john-robert-rowlands-jpg-mobile.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510293314034-RK1KX9YJZ3EIZUBIKUUQ/afca160e04dx-audience-png.png Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1509982703895-UHM8U9YHM2FUU66S0GKM/081617GOT123.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510293188469-M3LZDK8BF0QEZWK4O6EL/080717randy1.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510293638230-YIBDB7F3GD3WAFT8GONV/21414aliens.jpg Home https://www.benyakas.com/contact daily 0.75 2017-11-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1510294134867-NLY3SW9W1WYKL7EFVSA1/waking+up.jpg Contact https://www.benyakas.com/pandemic-coverage daily 0.75 2024-09-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727195503427-O8KGZJRWRRACXECSPINX/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.31.30+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - What Passes For Live Entertainment During A Pandemic? The Raccoon Show By summer, I realized my main hobby was doomscrolling when I woke up and before I went to bed. My second hobby was obsessively tracking my steps on my phone, because it was a data-driven way to understand that my life was 2,000-5,000 steps less interesting per day. But then I found the raccoons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193856765-KTGUIU7TR81OGF5T4E1I/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.01.25+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Funeral Industry Workers Feel "Forgotten" By NYC After Being Left Out Of Heroes Parade "All these guys have PTSD. How on earth do they forget about the funeral workers? These people should be acknowledged." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193862955-22UV9FP5ZJD4UDC7V8B6/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.01.44+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Masks, vaccine mandates & amps: How independent venues are grappling with the return of crowds “We've all grown exhausted by all this stuff. I don't want to do anything to turn a single person away. All I want to do is sell wine and put on music. It's all I really care about and all this is a pain in the ass. But I'm just trying to keep my staff and patrons and the artists as safe as possible.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193869248-8ZVP7KFRLJCVER85YYTO/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.01.52+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - How a photographer & journalist captured the haunting start of the pandemic in NYC In the first months of the pandemic, photographer Charlie Bennet travelled around Manhattan capturing the eerie emptiness of the city in a series of haunting photographs. He eventually teamed up with journalist Helena Gustavsson to provide words to accompany those photos. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193888347-4L3WEV0ZUK4Y3U6KZYCI/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.11+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - How Will NYC's Next Mayor Improve Our Open Streets Program? I asked eight Democratic mayoral candidates what the value of having public space outside is, what they think the de Blasio administration did right and wrong with Open Streets, and how they would expand upon it in their administration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193876760-K7BF5FZL9FXZA80HQBK8/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.00+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Musicians Hosting Joyful, DIY Performances On Fire Escapes In Harlem The shows have taken the concept of socially-distanced music performances and given it an unforgettable, urban backdrop. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193898122-XZ3NE7VQ665RK0A2YQ0L/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.33+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - NYC Retailers Boarding Up Their Storefronts Are Sending "Wrong Message" During Coronavirus, Critics Say "The stores are sending the message that they expect chaos and rampaging in the future. It's incredibly depressing and disheartening to see." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193916429-5IQ46RZSRVQ3FZUC7ODK/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.04.01+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Grocery Stores Are Packed With People—And Workers Are Scared & Stressed In the first days of the pandemic, grocery store workers said they were stressed, overworked, and terrified they were going to pick up the virus from a customer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193921512-LHH1NUPANTHKLJJA5RTX/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.03.55+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Cafe Du Soleil On How Outdoor Dining Bubbles Helped Save Their Business Owner Alain Chevreux spoke to me about the popularity of outdoor dining bubbles, the state of the restaurant industry, and how Cafe Du Soleil was able to survive 2020. [Also check out an interview with the general manager and co-owners of Arlene's Grocery about surviving the first year of the pandemic.] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193935365-QW7ZLK7LO0SYW2PY4YSV/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.03.05+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Recreate Your Normal NYC Routine At Home With Normplay Think of it as similar to the way some people do date night, or cosplay, or more kinky stuff. Normplay is when a person starts recreating their previously normal lives inside their homes using whatever they have on hand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193911835-MGC8PE10J5C2UZ333J6G/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.04.08+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Venues Try To Attract Customers With Free On-Site COVID Tests During a period when it was almost impossible to obtain at-home COVID-19 tests, some local businesses started offering on-site testing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193926904-ABU6YW5A5E8DHCMH9MUA/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.03.34+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Q.E.D. Art Space Owner Kambri Crews On Making It To 2021 The owner of the Queens art space spoke to me about her frustrations with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the added challenge of undergoing cancer treatment during the first year of the pandemic. [Also check out an interview with Noam Dworman about the state of comedy during the pandemic.] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193941043-VJNPT72QGW9SDQ7JJ8JF/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.58+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Cops Ticketed New Yorkers For Not Covering Coughs During Past Epidemic I spoke to MCNY's Chief Curator Sarah Henry to take a closer look at the long and complex history of infectious disease and try to get some context for how NYC has dealt with epidemic outbreaks in the past. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193892361-6F3QK7RKAXOI6SB8I7MV/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.20+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Brooklyn Artist Uses Street Trash To Send Positive Messages During Pandemic Her work has taken on new resonance in the weeks since the coronavirus pandemic has hit the city, with her messages reflecting the shared anxieties of New Yorkers as well as offering a sense of hope during this difficult period. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193948315-074NS4ZZ1YKBBBBSOG6G/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.03.23+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Cities Around The World Are Opening Streets To Pedestrians During Coronavirus. Why Not NYC? A longform piece about the city's initial reluctance to open streets to the public in the first weeks of the pandemic. [Despite much fussing, the Open Streets program was soon enacted.] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727194431253-ULI58MCXTR70WGYA9JDB/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.50+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - "An Abundance Of Caution": Why Canceling Everything Is A Step In The Right Direction A piece from the first days of the pandemic: "I feel like the genie is out of the bottle—it is in the community." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727193903276-4NQYDQV3ENIRVMTY1BTH/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.02.41+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - The Missteps Of Mayor Bill De Blasio's Coronavirus Response The initial failure to accept the full gravity of the pandemic was the most pivotal mistake, but it was also just the beginning. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727195407879-ANBM8N5V3ONKLBZ3XPMN/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+12.29.52+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - West Village Locals Are Throwing Pop-Up Events To "Remind People Why We Love NYC So Much" "We all wanted to see a little more life in the streets, and at the same time also give opportunities to local artists, performers, actors and dancers who are out of work and have limited opportunity to work and earn money." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727199069043-L9WC0K2E2P94PHMV77ZX/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+1.30.54+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Pandemic Party coverage "When you're in a club, you're not really thinking about what's going on outside, which I think is the goal. We all want to pretend this isn't happening, but just because we're not looking at it doesn't mean it's not happening." Check out more coverage of Kosciuszko Bridge raves, rooftop pool parties, marathon dance parties, illicit East Village bars, Bushwick party spots, and the resulting state-wide backlash. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727199539319-186J7HLQK1GW2RB8LSC1/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+1.38.43+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - Outdoor Dining Coverage & the Restaurant Industry During COVID I covered the ever-shifting landscape for restaurants and bars in NYC during the first two years of the pandemic, including the fight for year-round outdoor dining, the advent of alcohol-to-go, the industry bracing for winter shutdowns, financial struggles, various seasonal surges, the return of indoor dining, and more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a006858e45a7c4eab076b07/1727197253283-JV4983DDFPL9JALY8UUF/Screen+Shot+2024-09-24+at+1.00.34+PM.png Pandemic Coverage - The Summer Of NYC Is Here, This Is What New Yorkers Are Saying About It Fifteen months after the start of the pandemic, New Yorkers were still hesitant about diving back into their old lives and routines despite an eagerness to renew community bonds.