new york NEW YORK

“too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. in the art of the novella series, melville house celebrates this renegade art form” in beautifully bound books with each cover being a different solid color behind nothing but the title and author in bold print. the series is full of heavy hitters including joyce, proust, melville, balzac, and chekov. many books were censored, or deemed too scandalous at the time of their writing, such as tolstoy’s devil which he hid in the upholstery of a chair. others have never seen publication in book form before. full of misfits, eccentrics, and punks these make for great quick reads.

new york NEW YORK

log 16 contains another set of stunning essays and reviews including the second part of alejandro zaero polo’s excellent study of the politics of the envelope, mark gage’s debunking of ‘research architecture’ “in defense of design,” sarah whiting discusses “super”, and pier vittorio aureli does more with less in his “notes toward a history of nonfigurative architecture.” the issue also includes an interview with o. m. ungers by rem koolhaas and hans ulrich obrist.

lower east side NEW YORK

clayton PATTERSON has devoted the last thirty years to documenting the lower east side in new york city as it transformed from the raw, seething cesspool where nothing was off limits to the condo and starbucks laden version today…[CONTINUED WITH TRAILER]

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new york NEW YORK

richard PRICE’S lush life inhabits the characters and speech of the lower east side of 2003, a “candyland of a neighborhood” with a potent mix of wealthy young transplants, immigrant owned bodegas, drug pushers from the projects and plenty of booze. the gritty story centers around a homicide that occurs late in the night after some young, drunk males are mugged. the case looks bleak as most witnesses appear to have been too drunk to be reliable. typical of price, the dialogue between the detectives, victims, and perps bursts from the pages rendering a crackling portrait of the people and streets of lower new york complete with its terror, grief, indifference, and gallows humor. the book lurks up and down the blocks of the les and the cavernous basements beneath cafe berkmann a restaurant blending the history of the neighborhood with its tenements and synagogues now inhabited by upscale dining options and condos.

paris FRANCE

twenty-one year old protagonist, sally jay gorce, opens cult classic dud avocado sipping pernod in the middle of the afternoon decked out in a thrift store evening gown with a handsome stranger along for the ride. her mad-cap antics, incessant love affairs, and all night parties propel the reader effortlessly along her adventurous french summer, all on her rich uncle’s dime. written in 1958 and recently reissued by the new york review of books, elaine dundy’s snappy prose is sexy, hilarious and cracks with intelligent wit.

paris FRANCE

blood stains never looked so red as in the hyperpop cinemascope of made in usa, one of jean-luc GODARD’S greatest and most unseen films of the sixties now coming to screens and dvd by way of the criterion collection.
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brooklyn NEW YORK

john WRAY’S lowboy drifts below the surface of the city and consciousness as it’s protagonist flees through the underworld of the new york city subway. the gripping tale of will, a teenage paranoid schizophrenic, being pursued by his mother and a detective is told in short punchy segments which glide between the characters and their versions of reality. the subterranean chase unfolds over the course of one day during which will comes to believe that the world will end in ten hours unless he can stop it. his surreal vantage point creates a sinking, hazy sensation as the story propels forward and reality begins to slide and the book swirls towards its conclusion.

columbus OHIO

this ep of ‘b-sides’ from PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT’S alleged upcoming album too many hits kicks off with “we’re pink floyd, bitch” and rips through with jammers like “are you on glass” and the beautiful “as in dreams pt 2” with plenty of hiss, crystals, and bounce along the way.

philadelphiaPENNSYLVANIA

nunchucks, arcades, zip guns, skinheads, cookie-pus devouring mall sluts, and everything else the 80s had to offer delinquent youth comes spilling out of heartworm 23 curated by mac g MORTON. hilarious essays and artwork by morton, elgin james, kid congo powers, howie pyro, william pym, and arty the greek with titles such as “partying on edge of time” and “vidiots, deathwish kids, and change attendants mainline pac-man fever in a futuristic plug in city.”

theheartworm.com

brussels BELGIUM

never released for home viewing in the united states until this week, jeanne dielman stands as a cinematic masterpiece with no equivalent. chantal AKERMAN’S film explores space and time as no other film has ever dared…[CONTINUED WITH TRAILER]

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