Film Capsule: Surviving Progress

Every time history repeats itself, the price goes up. So goes the central theme – and cautionary advice – of Surviving Progress, a remarkable documentary directed by Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks, and executive-produced by Martin Scorsese. The angle, which Progress reinforces … Read MoreRead More

Moving On: The Things We Think (& Do Not Say)

By Bob Hill Twenty years ago in the side bedroom of a second-story shack on the 100 block of East Maple, two drunk kids set to wrestling at each other in the dark – he in a second-hand pair of Umbros, … Read More

Michael Chabon on the Midnight Disease

“The midnight disease is a kind of emotional insomnia; at every conscious moment its victim – even if he or she writes at dawn, or in the middle of the afternoon – feels like a person lying in a sweltering … Read More

Film Capsule: All In: The Poker Movie

From French aristocrats to World War II vets; from Riverboat Dandies to Texas Rounders. From The Mayfair Club to the New York school; from the living rooms to Las Vegas. From the sharks to the suckers; from the mavericks to … Read More

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Moving On: 10 Pounds’ Worth of Potatoes (Inside a 5-Lb Sack)

By Bob Hill A week after I left home, my parents put the word out they had taken the spare house key from its usual spot. They had fastened all the windows. They had secured all points of entry. It was … Read More

Film Capsule: The Beat Hotel

You ever get the feeling that just about everything Allen Ginsberg ever did – with the obvious exception of writing absolutely brilliant works of poetry – seemed a little bit contrived? I mean, here the guy is, dancing around in … Read MoreRead More

Lee Fields @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg, 3/17

What Lee Fields pulled off last night in front of a capacity crowd half his age was nothing short of amazing. Standing all of 5’5, pimped out and proud in thrift-store shades and cream white pinstripes, Fields was the personification … Read MoreRead More

Deb Olin Unferth on Loneliness

“You can be a lot of things and be lonely. You can do exciting things and be lonely. You can fall in love and be lonely. You can be content and be lonely. Once you’ve felt that kind of deep … Read More

Moving On: I’m 18 (& I Don’t Know What I Want)

By Bob Hill I showed up drunk for my first day of college. I showed up barely coherent, waving like a buoy, reeking like a bad sock that had been bathed in turpentine. After 18 years spent sweating it out in Delaware … Read More