Phantom Lady is the story of a good girl who pretends to be a femme fatale. She does it all for a noble cause, to save the life of an innocent man, but she scares herself by just how well she pretends.

The underrated Ella Raines stars as Carol ‘Kansas’ Richman, a dogged secretary who launches her own investigation when the boss she secretly loves is convicted of murder. Although the film’s title, Phantom Lady, ostensibly refers to the condemned man’s elusive alibi—a strange, sad woman who vanished without a trace—it could equally apply to Kansas, a lucid and luminous avenging angel.

Cameraman Elwood Bredell (of The Killers and The Unsuspected) frequently bathes Kanas in an eerie, ethereal glow, a beam that seems to have chosen her and left those around her in darkness. For instance, as she waits for hours at the end of a bar (in order to spook a lying witness into telling the truth), we see her as a tiny Edward Hopper-esque figure wrapped in an aura that separates her from the somber, almost black interior. She is the ghost at the banquet.

However, not to be locked into a single mode, Bredell’s lighting explores and caresses the curves of Raines’s face and neck the way a philosopher lovingly appreciates a moral dilemma from all sides. During the film’s visual climax, a delirious, disorienting sequence in a seedy jazz club, Bredell dazzles us with a fever pitch of chiaroscuro, sometimes blackening Kansas into a silhouette, sometimes illuminating only part of her, sometimes turning her face into a grotesque, grinning mask. As Kansas goes undercover, her fragmented identity shows in the arresting quicksilver shifts in lighting that play over her face (both shot to shot and within single shots).

Consider this particularly exquisite shot, in which the stark toplighting transforms Kansas’s appearance in a matter of seconds, as she comes out of the “eclipse” created by the brim of her hat, then partially back into it.

In this underworld setting, the shadows add to her camouflage, sculpting her into a different person, the daring ‘hep kitten’ who hangs out in this hole in the wall to seduce a manic drummer. As Kansas looks at herself in a mirror, overlaid by the lattice of shadow from her veil, you get the feeling that, for a moment, she forgot who she was.

This dreamlike thriller suggest that the good girl and the bad girl, those cherished noir tropes, are not binaries, but parallel universes. Hellbent on saving her man, Kansas causes at least two men’s deaths, narrowly escapes death under the wheels of en elevated train, almost spends the night with a scuzzy drummer, and grows rather fond of a charming killer.

Alas, Phantom Lady brushes the darkness of its heroine under the rug before the last act. The movie wraps up prettily and conveniently, as if afraid to ponder the implications of Carol’s journey into night. Yet, thanks to Bredell’s haunting low-key lighting, maybe we feel the precariousness of any good girl’s goodness all the same.

We've reached peak summer: Starting today through September 20, Shake Shack locations in Boston and Connecticut will sell the Surf N’ Shack — a hamburger topped with lettuce, tomato, ShackSauce, and Maine lobster.

It only costs $8.99, which is actually a steal for a lobster sandwich, and Homarus is providing the seafood. (With Danny Meyer's backing, you can trust that this won't be an all-mayo, no-claw McLobster situation.) What does Grub have to do to get this on the menu in New York?

[Shake Shack]

Read more posts by Sierra Tishgart

Filed Under: sweet summer, boston, connecticut, lobster, shake shack

It is tempting to compare every new fast-casual outlet to Chipotle, but Basu Ratnam would really rather you didn’t do that with his new Inday, an Indian-inspired counter-service spot opening this week in Nomad. Yes, there are grain bowls. And wraps. And you can choose your (hormone-and-antibiotic-free) protein and your base. But for Ratnam, a former finance guy and first-time restaurateur, there’s no comparison. “Inday is the evolution from that,” he says. “We’re more composed meals, a little more restrained and distinct.” If he finds culinary inspiration anywhere, it’s not in the 1,700-unit quick-Mex juggernaut, but in a single-location hot spot downtown. “We’re closer to something like Dimes,” he says. “Seasonal, ingredient-driven.” And also, he hopes, young and hip — a demographic the 28-year-old entrepreneur is targeting with his menu, interior design, neighborhood, and philosophy.

Inday is a play on “India every day,” and Ratnam believes that now is the perfect time for this particular enterprise. We are living, after all, in a vegetable-centric age, with simultaneous, and sometimes competing, desires for balanced nourishment and exotic flavor — “what Indian food's been about for hundreds of years,” he says. Not that the category isn’t ripe for change: Ratnam envisions a lighter, cleaner, more accessible, and updated style of cooking, something not far from the food his Calcutta-born mother cooked when he was growing up — rooted in her heritage, but shaped by the seasonal approach of Californian cuisine and accented by worldly flavors.

This might have all remained the hunger-spiked musing of a restless private-equity investor, but fate intervened. Two years ago, Ratnam found himself seated at a dinner party next to restaurateur Phil Suarez, a partner with Jean-Georges Vongerichten in roughly three dozen restaurants, including ABC Kitchen and the flagship Jean-Georges. Ratnam described his vision persuasively enough for Suarez to sign on as a lead investor. (Also on board is Irwin Simon, founder of Hain Celestial Group, purveyor of FreeBird organic chickens, Spectrum Naturals oils, and Tilda basmati rice, all of which can be found in Inday’s kitchen.)

Take a look at the menu and the space, which opens officially on Wednesday for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; extended hours begin next week (until 10 p.m.).

 

The restaurant's interior. Photo: Inday

Inday menu [PDF]

1133 Broadway, entrance on 26th St.; 917-521-5012

Read more posts by Robin Raisfed and Rob Patronite

Filed Under: openings, flatiron, inday, new york city, news, phil suarez

Everything you need to know about New York dining today, Thursday, August 6.

— After weeks of anticipation, Brooklyn's first-ever location of Dairy Queen is finally open at 27 Graham Avenue:

[Photo Eater Tipline.]

This is the Normcore ice cream shop that East WilliamsWick so desperately needed. Dairy Queen had no presence in NYC three years ago, but now there's a location of the chain in every borough. Warren Buffett must be very pleased with himself.

— Busta Rhymes was arrested for throwing a protein shake at a gym employee last night. The incident happened at Steel Gym on West 23rd Street.

— Joshua and Heidi Smookler are taking Mu Ramen on the road for a pop-up in Washington D.C. this week.  Eater D.C. reports that the Smooklers are actually using this event "as a testing ground for interest" in the area. The Mu team is looking at spaces in Georgetown and Arlington for a possible spinoff of the popular ramen restaurant.

— Following in the footsteps of David Chang and Shake Shack, Mighty Quinn's has added a spicy crispy chicken sandwich to the menu. It's made with thigh meat that's smoked then fried. The chicken patty is served on a brioche bun with chili lime sauce, plus pickled celery and cucumbers. Owner Hugh Mangum tells Gothamist: "I was resistant to doing a fried chicken item before because of logistics and we were going to offer a chicken sandwich as a lighter fare, healthier item...Then seeing that this thing was happening was kind of, well, hell with it, let's throw caution to the wind."

— Last night's episode of The Jim Gaffigan Show featured cameos from Smith & Wollensky, Katz's, and Sardi's. Also, someone attempted to bribe Gaffigan with a Cronut:

You can watch the episode online for free.

— Rupert Jee has taken the "Letterman" sandwich off the menu at Hello Deli, which is located in the same building as The Ed Sullivan Theater. He also switched the name of the popular "Schaffer" sandwich to "The Colbert," as a tribute to the Late Show's new host, Stephen Colbert.

— East Village bar/venue Lit Lounge is currently closed. Last month, the owners announced plans to shutter the space and open a new iteration of the bar in Bushwick. A teacher was arrested a few weeks ago for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old in the bar's bathroom. A neighbor tells EV Grieve that the bar has been dark since the week of the arrest. The owners of the bar have not made any announcements about its closure, and a new team has applied for a liquor license for that space.

— If everything goes according to plan, Anthony Bourdain will debut his ambitious new international food market in the next year or so. The chef/author/omnipresent food media star tells Time about the inspiration behind this project:

I’m looking very much at a Singaporean hawker center as a model. Or a Chinese dai pai dong, like they have in Hong Kong. But there is nothing like it in the States that I’m aware of. And there’s certainly nothing like it in New York. It’s an amazement to me that nobody has done that.

A few months ago, news broke that Bourdain and his crew were in negotiations for a giant space at Pier 57 — AKA the SuperPier — where Google will be a future tenant. The project is slated to include a beer garden, a bakery, a tapas bar, and numerous Singaporean hawker-style food stalls.  Along with the Torrisi Four Seasons revamp, this is arguably one of the most-anticipated openings of 2016.

— And finally, here are Marc Murphy's tips for cooking lobster:

While beef is, and always will be the king of burger meats, lamb is becoming increasingly popular in NYC. And with good reason: lamb can match the richness and mouthfeel of beef and adds its own inherent funk and gaminess, giving a different dimension to the burger eating experience. It also allows chefs to broaden the culinary influences they attach to their burger recipes. Here are five lamb burgers that are worth shepherding.

The Breslin

The Breslin Lamb Burger

April Bloomfield's sandwich at The Breslin might not have been the first lamb burger in NYC, but it the one that has had the biggest impact on the trend. Justifiably famous for the The Spotted Pig burger, Bloomfield decided to go in another direction when she opened The Breslin back in 2009 and crafted a lamb burger instead. It has proved immensely popular, accounting for as much as a third of all orders. The grass-fed lamb patty comes served with a slab of feta cheese, thin slivers of red onion, and a mayo spiked with cumin. $22.

Dirty French

Dirty French

The Torrisi Boys' play on the global reach of Gallic cooking finds expression in the lunch-only lamb burger at Dirty French. The buxom lamb patty is topped with Bûcheron cheese, a goat's milk variety from the Loire valley, and onions cooked with cumin, evoking the flavors of the Middle East and North Africa. $21.

Clover Club

Clover Club

Cocktail hot spot Clover Club serves a six ounce lamb burger on a toasted roll with sliced red onion and chevre goat cheese, with a choice of potato chips or a green salad on the side. The patty is impressively seared and at first blush looks like a regular old hamburger patty, but it tastes a lot earthier, with that pleasing richness that lamb fat brings to the table. $14.

Elan

Elan

David Waltuck's brunch-only spiced lamb burger is topped with bacon mayonnaise and chutney made with fig and caramelized onion. It's served on a brioche roll with chickpea fries on the side. The patty is so loosely packed that it crumbles easily yet has an impressively dense crust from the pan searing, giving it some serious Maillard flavors. $22.

Five Napkin Burger

Five Napkin Burger

The kofta burger at Five Napkin Burger is a good entryway into the world of lamb burgers for those unfamiliar them. It  contains a blend of beef and lamb making it more approachable to novices. While it might not display quite the level of artistry of the other burgers here, it still makes a compelling case for lamb as a burger meat. Evoking the flavors of a gyro, it comes topped with chopped tomato, cucumber, a pepper and onion salad, and tahini sauce on a soft white roll. $16.75.

In what is perhaps the greatest achievement in recent ramen history, a RocketNews24 reporter bravely ordered 100 slices of roast pork with his noodles, a victory that no doubt deserves to be celebrated with a few scoops of ramen ice cream by all.

Read more posts by Chris Crowley

Filed Under: major achievements, japan, ramen

Dear Abby, 4 August 2015:

DEAR ABBY: Whatever happened to respecting one’s elders and recognizing grandparents as head of the family? I recently returned from visiting my son, his wife and my new grandchild. My son’s wife and I had many disagreements on how to care for my grandchild. Instead of respecting my years of experience as a mother and appreciating my help, she chose to ignore my instructions and advice.

After I returned home, I was told by my son that I was no longer welcome to visit my grandchild unless I apologized to his wife for trying to undermine her parenting. I told him she should apologize to me for not showing me respect as the grandmother.

How can I make my son see that it is his wife who is wrong, and not me? – UNAPPRECIATED GRANDMA

Dear Unappreciated Grandma,

The uppity young bitches these days have an awful lot of opinions about how to raise “their” (your) children in “their” (your) homes, don’t they? This is definitely significantly different from past times, in which literally every young person did literally every single thing they were told to do by literally everyone who was older than them, without exception, every time, because that is a one thousand percent true fact about how the world used to work and no longer currently works, in any circumstance whatsoever.

You deigned to grace with your generous and omniscient presence the home your son seems to think is “his” (it’s yours), which he shares with “his” (she’s yours too) wife and “their” (your) baby–all the while graciously staying silent about the reality that in fact your children and everyone and everything in their orbit belongs to you because you are older than they are. You played along with their little charade of having “their” (your) family, and generously dictated the terms on which they would raise “their” (your) grandbaby. They should be thankful that someone as wise and important as you instructed them on how to live their lives in the singular fashion in which it is appropriate to live a life, which is to say, in full deference to you.

As you rightly know, there is only one correct way to raise children, which is to say, the way that you raised children. Literally all children who were raised different to how you raised your children will grow up to be inveterate puss pockets, whereas your child-rearing abilities are demonstrably unparalleled. 

Your son, raised to perfection by you, the greatest parent of all time, doesn’t see that it’s literally impossible for you to “undermine” “his” wife’s parenting since she is the mere vessel for carriage for your grandbaby, over whose dominion you exclusively rule, because you are older than other people are.

You cannot make your son see the error of his obviously self-absorbed and controlling wife’s ways. The sad truth is that people who are blinded by "their” own self-importance rarely realize the error of "their” ways until it is too late. 

Japan is just as crazy about Star Wars as the rest of the world and everyone is eagerly awaiting the new movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, on December 18, 2015 (Good news! It’s being released in Japan at the same time as most of the world!). So it’s the perfect opportunity for a number of Star Wars affiliated projects to get under way. One project is striking a chord with our love of Japan and our love of Star Wars as it combines a traditional art form with a very non-traditional universe.

The connections between Japan and Star Wars are well-documented and quite amazing. Even visually, just by looking at Darth Vader’s iconic helmet you can see that it was inspired by the headgear helmets worn by the samurai in the way it extends down the neck and features a faceplate. It’s also easy to find Star Wars merchandise with their own Japanese spin on them like lightsaber chop sticks, Star Wars inspired sake cups and Star Wars characters re-imagined in a Japanese style.

This latest project, funded through the Japanese crowd funding site Makuake, puts a traditional stamp on the Star Wars universe. While the characters have been drawn in an ukiyo-e style before, this might be the first time prints have been officially approved by Lucasfilm. Three gorgeous prints combine the epic Star Wars tale with the beauty of Japan by depicting scenes and characters from the movies.

The real gem of the bunch is the close-up okubi-e of Darth Vader. An okubi-e is a Japanese portrait print in the ukiyo-e style showing only the head or the head and upper torso.  Masumi Ishikawa, the designer of these ukiyo-e, wanted to arrange the Death Star like a moon in the background and have Darth Vader standing in the middle of flames of hatred. This print also includes the name “Darth Vader” represented by ateji, kanji that sounds like the name. Usually the characters are chosen for their sound only, but these kanji have a meaning as well. Ishikawa chose the ateji, 堕悪巣俾荼 which can be read as “daasu beida“ and also has the meaning of a “suffering servant that fell to the webs of evil”.

The other two prints feature a scene from the Battle of Hoth and Queen Amidala posed with R2-D2. Each piece of artwork is intricately crafted in wood and then expertly printed onto paper. You can see some of the work in a behind the scenes video from their Makuake page.

As traditional art and an official Star Wars product, the ukiyo-e prints are not cheap. A single print can be purchased by supporting their Makuake project for 54,000 yen (US$ 438.84), while a lucky few have already purchased the limited run of all three prints for 162,000 yen ($1,316.54).

If you have the money to spare, this might be the most traditional Japanese way to display your geekiness to the world. The Makuake campaign just started, but each piece is only being printed 100 times and they are going fast. Head on over to their project page if you want to own one of these amazing pieces of art for yourself.

Images: Makuake

Origin: Official ukiyo-e project brings a bit of historical Japan to a galaxy far, far away
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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After yesterday’s gloom parade over the economics of comics, and the small number of people who seem to be making a good wage from making them, writer Kieron Gillen delivered another set of metrics that was far more cheerful. He wrote it in response to a website’s concern trolling over sales of The Wicked + The Divine—a much loved series which Gillen writes and Image publishes—falling to the dangerous level of 22,519 copies, a level so low that the writer wondered if this was the end of the book…before admitting that it probably wasn’t.

As Gillen points out, numbers for a creator owned Image book are a lot different than for a Marvel or DC book, where such a number would be in the danger zone. Actually, that number would indicate that Gillen and his collaborator Jamie McKelvie could possibly buy me a beer at some point.

I’ll give you some really basic rule of thumbs for indie comic commentary:

Anything selling stably over 10k in single issues is a cause for celebration and joy. The creators are almost certainly extremely happy.

If you’re selling over (ooh) 12k, you’re probably making more than either of the big two would pay you, unless you’re one of the very biggest names.

If you’re selling anything near 20k, you probably have to buy drinks for your friends.

And in a real way, if Phonogram settled around 6k back in 2006, I suspect Jamie and I would have settled into doing it for another 40 or 50 issues.

There’s all manner of exceptions to the above, but if you look at the charts and bear that in mind, you’ll be closer to how the industry looks at those numbers.

None of the above includes digital sales.

As he goes on to enumerate, if you’re not including sales of TRADE PAPERBACK COLLECTIONS in the indie equation you are missing a huge income source:

None of the above include trades. You throw trades in, and you change everything entirely. A cursory look at hit indie comic numbers reveals that their trades sell much more than Marvel/DC main universe trades, with a few exceptions (There’s a reason why Matt and David’s Hawkeye was such a big thing, and it wasn’t its monthly sales). Let’s bold another sentence.

You cannot do an industry commentary column on indie books without including  the impact of trades.

Jim Zub wrote a lot about all this a while ago, and updated it with numbers similar to Gillen’s. At the breakeven-ish point for an Image comics (let’s say ~5000 copes) the creative team gets 25% of the profits, which on a $3.99 would be about a buck, the ballpark I’ve often heard for Image books. it’s only that, a ballpark, but it does give you some idea. A book selling $10k a month is making money.

And how many Image books are selling that? Well, ICv2’s numbers just came out so let’s take a look!

Answer: 27. Okay now you know who can buy you a drink!

On a more serious note, most of the books in the above list sell for $2.99 or $3.50, so there is less to split between writer and artist, letters, colorists and designers have to be paid, etc etc. And also, the ICV2 estimates are just that…estimates, and consistently about 10% low, although there can be other discrepancies, so you shouldn’t take any of these numebrs as gospel, especially the trade sales—total sales are VERY different from the ICv2 numbers, which don’t take bookstores, some online sales, digital, library, book fair or many other numbers into account.

And were still not talking an insane amount of money. Let’s say a book sells 10,000 copies and makes $7500 for the creators. That’s $90,000 a year to be split among the team, so you need another income course for a vacation or retirement.

But still, you CAN make money making comics!!! I suppose I shouldn’t encourage people after yesterday’s dismal reality check; but I think my being in a band analogy stands. It’s better to have made comics or music than never to have tried at all. Most people in every creative endeavor are never going to reach the highest highs, and comics are no exception.

What is concerning is, as I’ve often pointed out, the comics bottom line is a lot lower than in other vocations. There was a pretty lively Twitter conversation yesterday about my piece and especially David Harper’s survey; I’m not sure I have the storify skills to capture it but it came down to people accepting low rates because they are so eager to get into comics and undercutting other creators.

And also, there’s a fairly narrow window in which to make decent money when you do get there. Scott Snyder may make more from Wytches than he does from Batman, but Image is only one publisher, and as hot as they are, they can’t publish everything. (Although we’ll see after this year’s Image Expo.) Image is the best game in town but it has finite resources. Marvel and DC offer good page rates—although Marvel lowered theirs for all but their top creators last year—but the competition is fierce, the politics are daunting and getting established takes a lot of hard work.

Nobody promised you fame and fortune when you got out of cartooning school, but you should have some path forward that doesn’t involve only three publishers or sleeping three hours a night.We need more options, more competition among publishers, and more safety for creators to make decisions that improve their page rates.

How?

More on that later but in the meantime, what do YOU think?

I have lost my password to log in here. How long have I left my blog? Well, what shall I say first…okay, hi I am bangin, Japanese cosplayer, and the owner of this blog, Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans. I shall introduce you those words which stem from anime or Japan’s subculture. I mean, they are otakish words, you know.

Anyway, I almost forgot to write in English. No no, my English is sucks in the first place. Takes much time to make a post. Well, days ago I got an e-mail from someone who asked me to make a post here. Oh no, thank you. Somone is still following my blog! Then I do, for sure.

If you are following any anime series from the anime production, Shaft[シャフト], you might have found one thing. It always happens, frequently happens. She looks down…he looks down…and they have an exultant look or that kind of look. Yes, that is シャフ度[shafudo], or shaft angle. シャフ[shafu] is from Shaft, and 度[do] means angle. In this case, 度 is technically 角度[kakudo] or angle. Whenever you are aware of this angle, you are watching anime by Shaft.

Speaking of Shaft anime, I can think of Bakemonogatari[化物語], Arakawa Under the Bridge[荒川アンダーザブリッジ], Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei[さよなら絶望先生], or Dempa Onna and Seishun Otoko[電波女と青春男]…but wait, Revolutionary Shoujo Utena[少女革命ウテナ] is also made by Shaft. 懐かしいね！

シャフ度 can be frequently seen in the anime series by Director Teruyuki Shimbou[新房照之] who has been working for Shaft. Especially, it seems like this started from Bakemonogatari.

It’s always so hard, isn’t it? Shadow and light are so hard. This is important when we talk about シャフ度. Not only looking down, but you have to bend down backwards like an arc. This is easy to say, but hard to do!

Come to think of it, there’s one more Shaft’s technique. That’s 黒板ネタ[kokuban neta]. 黒板[kokuban] is a blackboard and ネタ[neta] is a topic or just a troll. You see this on the blackboard in the classroom. The board is full of off-topic words or nonsense. This is the idea Shaft often uses. Well, I feel we always need to fill in the blank on the blackboard, no?

Over in Australia, Pizza Hut says that it's had a "lovechild" with the country's famed meat-pie-maker, Four'N Twenty, producing this concoction pictured here. It's a pizza "stuffed" with eight meat pies.

This is what actually arrives in the box — the ketchup adornment is apparently DIY:

This just happened and I don't know why. #meatpiepizza @pizzahutaus #straya pic.twitter.com/kfa09XPHg2

— Jen Ryall (@jennijenni) May 26, 2015

This horrifying new item has provided ample opportunity for puns, but the brands themselves prefer the fooling-around angle. Four'N Twenty and Pizza Hut Australia are officially in a "complicated" relationship on Facebook, and there's been some Twitter flirtation. Brands gone wild!

So glad to see you’re having fun with attractive girls @FOURNTWENTY

— Pizza Hut Australia (@PizzaHutAus) May 22, 2015

IF YOU DON’T REPLY IN THE NEXT 5 MINUTES I’M GOING TO UPLOAD THOSE GRAVY PICS YOU SENT ME! @FOURNTWENTY

— Pizza Hut Australia (@PizzaHutAus) May 23, 2015

[PizzaHutAus/Twitter]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: the chain gang, australia, four'n twenty, mash-ups, meat pies, pizza hut

Headed to the beach? Here's a guide to all the awesome new food options.

With Memorial Day weekend and some beautiful weather coming up, New York's beaches are all gearing up to reopen for the summer season. While there is greatness to be had in old-school seaside dining, there are a lot of awesome new food options across the city's beaches this year. So if you're headed to the seaside this weekend and looking for something different, here's a guide to all your new options.

The Rockaways

Rockaway Beach Surf Club

The Rockaways has seen a lot of changes this year, none of them for the worse. Although the ever-popular Rockaway Taco won't be returning to its Beach 96th Street spot this season, now that co-owners Andrew Field and David Selig have parted ways, Field has opened Tacoway Beach nearby at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club, on Beach 87th Street. The new space has more seating, and will serve alcohol to go with those tacos.

Meanwhile, at the former Rockaway Taco space, Selig has partnered with the MP Shift, a design/branding studio, to host a popup called The Summer Shift. It features a rotating roster of Latin American chefs, including Gerardo Gonzalez of El Rey, Camille Becerra of Navy, and more, from this weekend through September 7. Paleta specialist La Newyorkina will also be there all summer, serving Mexican-leaning popsicles.

The restaurant at the Playland Motel has reopened under new management, Dan Cipriani, who vows to make it less of a party place – no more 4 a.m. closing times. Cipriani, who also owns Lodge in Williamsburg and ran the Southern barbecue truck at Rockaway Beach Surf Club last summer, says that the plan is to do more "community based events, art openings, collaborations with skate and surf companies, open mic nights." The menu is a list of summer hits: fish tacos, breakfast tacos, and some jerk chicken and ribs thrown in for good measure. Cocktails also follow the seaside theme, with options like a guava margaritas.

Also look out for new upscale coffee shop/juice bar Rockaway Roasters, as well as Beach Sliders, which will be serving miniature White Castle-style burgers, and Chicks to Go a Peruvian restaurant specializing in roasted chicken and sides like fried cassava.

If you do choose to stick to old favorites, Edgemere Farm, Sugar Bowl, Caracas Arepa Bar, Conchos, and Rippers are all also back in action now for the summer season.

Jacob Riis Park

Yelp

After being kicked out of its north Brooklyn digs to make way for a BMW dealership, the Brooklyn Night Bazaar has been reborn as the Riis Park Beach Bazaar. That's sad news for Williamsburg, but great news for this beach, where the options have previously been limited to basic concessions like hot dogs and bags of chips. The Bazaar opens this weekend, bringing food vendors like Brooklyn Star, Fletcher's BBQ, Court Street Grocers, La Newyorkina, and Ample Hills to the "People's Beach". Plus the "BarZaar" will serve beer, wine, and frozen cocktails. There will also be beach chair rentals, shuttle service, concerts, nail and tattoo artists, and tarot readers.

Opening hours are from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., seven days a week.

Coney Island

Flicker Creative Commons

The newest outpost of outdoor food market phenomenon Smorgasburg opens on Coney Island tomorrow. It will host a dozen vendors, including Bon Chovie, Dan & John's Wings, El Super, Excell Kingston Eatery, Home Frite, La Newyorkina, Mile End, Mofongo, Queen Cobra Thai, and Red Hook Lobster Pound in shipping containers along the boardwalk. There will also be two bars, and plenty of street art to peruse on the 20 or so walls installed by Thor Equities (which is developing the lot nearby) and curated by art dealer Jeffrey Deitch. Smorgasburg will open daily from 11 a.m.- 8 p.m.

And keep an eye out for an outpost of Wahlburger's, the Massachusetts burger chain run by Mark Wahlberg's brother, which is set to open in June.

gemmacorrell:

thefrogman:

By Gemma Correll [website | tumblr | blogspot]

From my new book!

Show of hands—who’s seen The Neverending Story? Okay, great. Now, who’s actually read the book?

An 80s children’s classic, chances are you’ve seen the movie or at least heard of it. And if you’re a child of the 80s like me, it may very well have a treasured place in the corner of your heart reserved for your favorite childhood nostalgia. While I loved the movie as a kid, it was only years later as an adult, when I chanced to pick up a copy of the book at my local library, that I learned there’s far more to the story than what I saw on the screen.

Sometimes all it takes for a book to hook us is a sentence. A phrase, a passage, or simply an idea that latches onto our minds and won’t let go. For me, that moment came a third of the way into the book, when Gmork tells Atreyu the secret of what happens to Fantasticans who are sucked through the Nothing into the human world.

“That’s right—and when you get to the human world, the Nothing will cling to you. You’ll be like a contagious disease that makes humans blind, so they can no longer distinguish between reality and illusion. Do you know what you and your kind are called there?”

“No,” Atreyu whispered.

“Lies!” Gmork barked.

It was this moment when I first realized that The Neverending Story isn’t simply an imaginative tale; it’s a tale about the nature of imagination itself. What it means for us as humans to dream, to hope, and especially to wish.

Wish fulfillment becomes a huge theme in the second half of the book. The main character, a human boy named Bastian, is given a great gift: a gem called AURYN with the ability to grant any and all of his wishes. On the back of AURYN is inscribed a single line: Do What You Wish. Armed with the gem, Bastian sets off to do just that. But what he eventually finds is that doing what you wish isn’t nearly as simple or easy as it seems.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is merely a children’s fun adventure tale. Through Bastian, Michael Ende explores adult themes such as power—its usage, consequences, and ability to corrupt; freedom, and what true freedom really requires; the power of names, including issues of identity and memory; and the journey we all take to discover our heart’s true desires. As the great lion Grograman says:

“Only a genuine wish can lead you through the maze of the thousand doors. Without a genuine wish, you just have to wander around until you know what you really want. And that can take a long time.”

Is this not true of all of us at some point?

I often look back fondly on books I read in the past, recalling how much I enjoyed this one or that, but without really remembering much about them. Not so with this book. When I think back on The Neverending Story, I recall the haunting conversation between Atreyu and Gmork about the nature of human fantasy; the dark side of AURYN as it slowly steals Bastian’s memories away even as it fulfills his every wish; and the hopeful moment Bastian pulls an image of the father he forgot from the Picture Mine. For these scenes are embedded with ideas about the human experience, and this is what ultimately makes this story not just worth reading, but worth remembering.

Margaret Fortune wrote her first story at the age of six and has been writing ever since. She lives in Wisconsin. Her first novel, Nova, is available June 2nd from DAW.

Even the mayor can't get away with eating his pizza with a knife and fork, but Sir Patrick Stewart is bringing another slice-etiquette cause to light: In a tweet sent out this morning, the thespian raised the question of whether those who abandon their crusts have truly eaten their pizza. Clearly he's come a long way over the last two years, since he had his first slice and learned that, no, you cannot dare to eat pizza with a knife and fork.

Have you actually eaten pizza if you don't eat the crust? Discuss. pic.twitter.com/thKoTpIP2i

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) May 28, 2015

Knife and fork were for cutting slices. Finger nails just don't work. Unobservant please note teeth marks in crust remnants. Mine, anyway.

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) May 28, 2015

The tweet has already inspired a heated debate, with many righteously arguing that you haven't truly eaten your pizza if your crust goes untouched. Some less savory types, though, have defended the no-crust way as perfectly acceptable. (It's not.)

Read more posts by Chris Crowley

Filed Under: pizza etiquette, patrick stewart, pizza

Night bazaars in Asia, open-air markets full of vendors hawking street food, are often thrillingly crowded and chaotic, but are a rarity stateside. John Wang, a former lawyer who grew up visitin...

We’re super excited for the impending release of the new Digimon. Fans and artists are all speculating about the story and design for this new six-part movie series. Details suggest the original cast of “digi-destined” will be back, which means our favorite original Digimon will be back too.

Toy makers are fueling the hype machine, too, as Mega House is releasing a set of figures of your favorite season-one Digimon. These little guys are so cute, you won’t be able to stop yourself from singing that catchy theme song!

After celebrating their 15th anniversary, the Digimon creators knew exactly how to fire up their grown up fan base, by bringing back the original team. Fans of the series will certainly tune in again to see how these lovable characters have grown up over the years. Before the November release of the first movie titled Sakai (Reunion), toy maker Mega House is releasing a brand new set of partner Digimon in-training and rookie figures. In what appears to be the first in a series of Digi-kore (Digimon Collection), you will be able to get Agumon, Patamon, Palmon and Gomamon and all of their previous Digivolutions.

【新商品】本日情報解禁！デジモンアドベンチャー「デジコレ！ DATA1」パートナーデジモン達の幼年期、成長期が揃うフィギュア登場！抽選でトコモン通常ver当たるメガ★ megahobby.jp/products/item/… #digimon http://t.co/Gv18KLF1v9

—
メガハウス　とり子 (@mega_girlshobby) May 13, 2015

▼ Agumon

▼ Botamon and Koromon

▼ Patamon

▼ Poyomon and Tokomon

▼ Palmon

▼ Yuramon and Tanemon

▼ Gomamon

▼ Pichimon and Bukamon

Tokomon fans (the Digivolution below Patamon) can win an alternate version of this cute little guy through a Mega House lottery.

▼ “Win me! Win me!”

These Digimon make a sweet companion to the already in-stock G.E.M. series, pairing some of your favorite Digimon with their trainers.

▼ Sweet diorama pieces not included

These pre-painted figures will go on sale in September for a suggested retail price of 600 yen (about US$5) each. Fans looking to collect the whole set should see about getting a box as that should contain all eight figures. If your favorite Digimon isn’t among the first set, you don’t have to worry as this is only series one or DATA1, as they call it. We’re sure to see the rest of the colorful Digital Monster cast in the coming months.

Source: Twitter (@mega_girlshobby) via nivimen
Images: Twitter (@mega_girlshobby), Megahobby Station

Origin: Sweet little Digimon toys will get you ready for a Digimon movie marathon
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To say that Tom Scioli and John Barber's Transformers vs. GI Joe is an unusual comic is underselling things quite a bit. On paper, it's a natural fit, an ongoing series that follows in the footsteps of earlier books that have combined the two toy lines into one massive interplanetary battle. In practice, though, it's something a lot bigger, a comic that almost assaults the reader by cramming in as much big, wild stuff as it possibly can --- a toy comic so weird, and so great, that it almost feels like it shouldn't exist.

With the book's second storyline well under way, throwing in everything from vikings to old gods to Dinobots (and with a new printing of the amazing American Barbarian on the way this summer), I talked to cowriter, artist and occasional ComicsAlliance guest contributor Tom Scioli about the series. Today, in the first part of the interview, he talks about the exhausting process of fitting it all into 20 pages, and reveals the adaptation he wrote for a Transformers vs. GI Joe movie that does not actually exist.

Continue reading…