Viewing NYC Articles by Brindsi Liberty

Watch as Culture Enlivens in This Video of Brooklyn's Afropunk Festival

2015-08-27T10:54:26-04:00

The Guardian's terse documentary highlights the eye-catching outfits, jubilant attitudes, and open-minded inclusiveness of this year's Afropunk festival audience.

This year’s Afropunk festival at Commodore Barry Park in Brooklyn attracted massive crowds. In its 11th year, the initially small black punk festival has grown into a conduit for black activism and community action

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Otherworldly Pictures from the Morbid Anatomy Museum's New Exhibit

2015-08-10T13:28:49-04:00

The Morbid Anatomy Museum's new exhibit Opus Hypnagogia: Sacred Spaces of the Visionary and Vernacular features uncanny works of art that were conceived while their creators were in the state of hypnagogia.

The exhibit is curated by Stephen Romano and features historical, “Outsider", and Visionary art, as well as various forms of photography and vintage books.

Opus Hypnagogia does what Morbid Anatomy Museum does best: For the literal-minded, pragmatic visitor, the images pose a challenge, serving as a reminder that the world is weirder and more mysterious than it might seem on a mundane workday.

The exhibit will be on display until October 15, 2015.

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Local Man Eats from 160 Countries Without Ever Leaving the City

2015-08-03T15:10:45-04:00

Charles Bibilos is taking advantage of the City’s melting pot of cuisines and recording his foodie findings and experiences on his blog - United Nations of Food. His mission is to eat authentic dishes from 160 countries without leaving the City, the three rules being:

The country must have a population over 1,000,000 2. A country native must be involved in the food preparation 3. The meal should be around $10.

So far Bibilos has eaten from 129 countries and is asking for assistance with locating the last 31.

When I moved to New York City, I decided to try to eat food from every country in the world without leaving the city. Why? Because I think NYC is probably the only place in the world where you could do something like this.

If you’re interested in following in Bibilos’ footsteps, he has reviewed every dish he has tried thus far and has compiled a favorites list.

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Here's a Photo Collection of Jeremy Levenbach's Butt Around the City [NSFW]

2015-07-21T16:26:05-04:00

Jeremy Levenbach, with the help of his bare butt, has taken the City by storm. Levenbach has been publicly stripping down and posing nude in front of popular tourist spots, behind famous comedians, and with openminded friends and strangers to maintain his hilariously entertaining Instagram account - @levenbutt.

The first of the photos was taken as a joke, naturally, on Levenbach's former roof in the East Village in 2012. After taking a few more of his NSFW photos around the city, Levenbach enlisted the help of his photography-savvy friends to help him create a dedicated photo series of his backside.

Check out the Levenbutt on Instagram and Tumblr.

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An Authentic Taste of France at the Urbo Bastille Day Festival

2015-07-19T07:41:07-04:00

I was lucky enough to be invited to Prohibition Productions' Bastille Day Festival at URBO NYC, and I was genuinely delighted by this Bastille celebration. I have broken down my thoughts into four categories - venue, food, music, and overall experience - to give better insight on what the night had in store.

Venue

I may not get out much, but I was blown away by URBO. The $29-million and 26,000-square-foot restaurant does itself justice in Times Square, acting as an urban oasis embedded within America's greatest metropolis. Like our city, the size of URBO is no joke; heading up 8th, you pass 4 doors - one being the entrance to URBO Grind, the others being mere illusions so please don’t try to open each one like I did - and 10 tall windows (yes I counted) before reaching the main entrance on the corner of 8th and West 42nd. The exterior of the building is sleek and modern, contrastingly welcoming you into an upscale industrial-chic environment centered around an open-kitchen concept. The decor and ambiance of the restaurant is not too uppity or overwhelming whatsoever making URBO a great escape for a classy casual meal with friends. The Bastille Day Festival took place on the second floor private dining area dubbed URBO Loft, as well as in the adjacent Bar URBO. Guests were taken up a wooden spiral staircase that ascends one story and lets out under a glass gazebo. URBO makes it clear that the Loft is designed to resemble a City rooftop garden adorned with festoon lights, trees, a wood trellis, and two solariums - and I can assure you they were not lying. When I walked through the gazebo into the loft, given the occasion, I felt as though I had gone through a wormhole and came out upon a rooftop terrace in the heart of Paris circa 1950. URBO’s design is definitely intricate.

Food

As promised, the champagne was abundant and flowing. The URBO kitchen supplied a short a la carte appetizer, small plate, and dessert menu for its Bastille Festival centered around popular authentic French dishes such as steak frites, duck confit salad, and baked escargot to name a few. A $95 VIP dinner prepared by Executive Chef Bill Peet was offered, but a la carte was within my budget. More adventurous and knowledgeable foodies would have fared better than those with reserved tastes; I ordered a bowl of truffle fries (which were tasty), had to Google what a cornichon was, and was too afraid to even attempt to pronounce charcuterie correctly. The prices were generous for Times Square ($8 for an appetizer or dessert, $12 for a small plate) and given URBO's reputation there were no doubts about the food quality. Food orders were taken from the bar, which remained relatively congested throughout the night, but that was only a minor hiccup.

Music

I do not listen to jazz on a daily basis; however, I always keep an open mind when it comes to music and I have to say I greatly enjoyed the lineup. The four bands - Stephane Wrembel, Avalon Jazz Band, Jolie Môme - French Band, and Tatiana & the Zazou Swing Orchestra - were present for a reason. These groups were distinguishable and I could tell they have a positive reputation within the jazz community. The French was sung beautifully and the music altogether added the perfect touch of authenticity to the night. There were two stage setups - one in the bar and another in the loft; the bar was overcrowded, so much that I could not enjoy the music because I was dodging people and waiters left and right. Thus, I spent most of my time in the loft which was comfortable, roomy, and allowed for couples and strangers to come together to dance and swing. If this event were to occur again in the future, I would advise URBO to devise a better setup in order to ease the flow of traffic in the bar.

Overall

URBO’s Bastille Day Festival was well organized and exceptionally executed. The producers of the festival grasped onto and encompassed French culture and awarded guests a Bastille celebration that would be difficult to find anywhere else in the States. The event was free and open to all ages, however I did not come across anyone who looked younger than 20. The festival is definitely for old school jazz fans and/or groups of friends looking for a relaxing night out drinking and socializing to live background music. Luckily, the event was lenient in regards to coming and going so you could have listened to a set, checked out the menu on the main level, walked around Times Square for an hour, and returned to finish up the night. This was a plus for me because I went with only one other person and could see how one would grow bored after a few hours, if not fully emerged in socialization. Nevertheless, I would definitely recommend URBO’s Bastille Day Festival to anyone seeking out a genuine French celebration that is not overseas.

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Photographs Show What Life Was Like as a Kid in the City Circa 1940

2015-07-13T13:29:00-04:00

Helen Levitt was a photographer who based her career around City street photography. She grew up in Brooklyn and was greatly inspired by children’s play and chalk drawings. Levitt’s early work focused on photographing the daily lives and playtime of mid-20th century urban youth.

Wandering through working-class neighborhoods—looking for the right kind of "material: and "a proper shot," as she puts it, by scouting street life in Brooklyn, the Lower East Side, Harlem, and the Bronx—Levitt uncovered hidden worlds playing out on stoops and sidewalks. The photographs she made early in her career (roughly 1936 to 1950) are preoccupied with children who fabricate, from the barest threads of the imagination, their own "strange weave of time and space," to borrow a phrase from Walter Benjamin.

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U.S. Women's National Soccer Team and World Cup Champs Get Milestone City Parade

2015-07-08T16:39:09-04:00

Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer petitioned to bring the U.S. Women’s National Team to the Canyon of Heroes for a ticker-tape parade in honor of their 5-2 victory over Japan and 2015 Women's World Cup title.

These parades are rare for sports teams that are not native to our city (the last one to occur for national athletes was in 1984 for Olympic medal winners,) however Brewer’s letter and online petition revealed what soccer fans truly want.

Two days after the team’s World Cup triumph, the office of Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday that the players would be saluted along the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan at 11 a.m. Since Monday, lawmakers had noted that a parade would be a landmark city honor for a women’s team.

"The people have spoken," the mayor’s wife, Chirlane McCray, wrote on Twitter, "and they want a ticker-tape parade."

The parade is open to the public and will take place this Friday, July 10th starting at Battery Park at 11 a.m. and ending at City Hall. Mayor de Blasio will be in attendance along with Robin Roberts who will be emceeing.

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Woman Spends 100 Days Without Fear in The City

2015-07-07T10:37:43-04:00

Michelle Poler used to live within the confinements of her comfort zone, afraid of anything she knew she couldn’t control - from dogs to driving at night.

Luckily, the lifestyle of the City changed her worldview.

A few months ago, I moved to New York to start a Master's Degree in Branding at the School of Visual Arts. Trying to control New York has been a nightmare, but what really pushed me to pursue this project was not the controlled lifestyle I left behind, it is the frustration of not enjoying this city and life in general to the fullest. Since the unknown has proven to be so much more fulfilling than the familiar in these last months, I'm ready to let go, face my biggest fears, try to be completely vulnerable about it and enjoy the ride.

Poler’s project, 100 Days Without Fear, takes us on her fear conquering journey via vlogging. Her videos and commentary are genuinely inspiring and illustrate how letting go and branching out will aid in life enjoyment. Watch as she…

…rollerblades through Central Park

…eats street food

…rides a bike through the City

…watches the sunrise from the Brooklyn Bridge

…takes on Chinatown

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The City's Women's Liberation Group and Redstockings Call Out Sexist Advertisements With Stickers

2015-07-01T16:52:44-04:00

New York's Women’s Liberation (NYWL) group and Redstockings are denouncing the misogynistic advertisements that have been plaguing our City.

The groups are targeting physical ads by placing revived and recreated "This Oppresses Women" stickers on displays that are deemed objectifying.

Women are sick of being bombarded with advertisements that depict women only as sexual objects, Erin Mahoney of National Women's Liberation told The Huffington Post. That use our bodies to sell products. That embolden men to disrespect us. That tell us we are not worthy unless we conform to unrealistic, sexist, racist, and unhealthy beauty standards. Women are fighting back and using the 'This Oppresses Women' vintage sticker to do it. It's exciting.

Stickers are being distributed to a plethora of feminists at protests and NYWL meetings with hopes of raising awareness for the physical and mental effects such advertisements may have on the public.

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"Date While You Wait" Introduces Speed Dating to the Subway

2015-07-01T12:39:46-04:00

For those who have dreamt of spending a first date underground surrounded by commuters, your opportunity has arrived.

Staten Island resident Thomas Knox is a man on a mission to decrease the negativity and boredom brought on by delayed subway trains, thus starting an act of kindness known as Date While You Wait.

Recently Knox has been visiting various train platforms bringing along a table and two chairs, a coke bottle vase with a flower, and a game of Connect 4. He allows any curious commuter to take a seat and converse with him, in hopes of spreading a little love and positivity.

I wanted to do something fun in the subway due to all the negative things that happen," says Knox. "I wanted to make people smile and enjoy the commute. I feel each date has been successful in its own unique way. The general reaction has been positive and hopeful.

In this short video from Brooklyn filmmaker Sabrina Thompson, we get to take a peek at Knox in action.

Check out his Facebook and Twitter pages to find out if you’ll run into this Subway Casanova anytime soon.

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