goodprattle
a new magazine
andthe other youngsters taking over popular culture
1: no.
lt!
o rev z in dia th ie you lon me
ezra miller laura marling minors making music the american teen: revisited
issue 01
youth in revolt.
this issue we celebrate all the youngsters taking over modern culture (and the world).
regular features: editor’s letter cult(ure) following
2 3
this issue: take a look at HEATHERS, that inimitable cult classic and bastion of teenage angst.
the list
4
on the cover:
MELONIE DIAZ
25
making the band
15
barely legal
30
our cover star is not a delicate flower.
SOPHIA WARREN covers the underage music scene in Brooklyn.
please welcome seven of the most important actors and musicians currently under 21: LAURA MARLING. EZRA MILLER. OLLIE BARBIERI. KATHRYN PRESCOTT. and the FIASCO boys.
fluorescent adolescent 48 NED VIZZINI paints us a portrait of a fictional american teenager.
youth in revolt
TABLEOFCONTENTS. all the other good stuff: new york, i love you
20
the typical city-visit article... with a twist. NYC as inhabited by SLOANE CROSLEY and PARKER POSEY. here at Good Prattle we like talking to real people, so every issue includes interviews with your typical neighbors... and since this issue is all about youth it stands to reason that we’re talking with teenagers this time.
florian koenigsberger 42 lily bartle 45
page 1
dear readers,
Making a magazine is really, really hard.
goodprattle
issue 01: 2010
This is something nobody tells you. You get an idea, editor-in-chief: keely weiss but you’ve got no clue just how difficult it is until you keelyweiss@goodprattle.com actually try to do it. This issue has been over one full managing editor: sophia warren year in the making, those twelve months spanning sophiawarren@goodprattle.com some fantastic ups and many soulcrushing downs, so if you’re reading this right now... we did it. Somehow, associate editor: chantel simpson we did it. Thank god. chantelsimpson@goodprattle.com administrative editor: betty kaye By the way, our entire staff is under 20. (Does that give bettykaye@goodprattle.com us extra achievement points?) This is why we decided to spend our debut issue celebrating awesome young additional photographers: people. In this issue, you will read about career kids Perri Hofmann (N.Y.C.) (##); adolescent actors (##); and Brooklyn’s rockin’ allLeia Jospe (N.Y.C.) ages music scene (##)... not to mention our cover star, Emma Pulido (N.Y.C.) actress Melonie Diaz (##), who at the plenty-young Kelly Mount (L.A.) age of 25 is the oldest person in this issue. I said this issue was about youngers and I meant it, by George! contributors: sloane crosley, gala Let’s talk about the magazine for a minute. Will our darling, solgil oh, parker posey, awesome periodical see regular bimonthly or even ned vizzini quarterly publication? Probs not. Our associate editor and I are about to start college; our administrative send in a letter to the editor: editor is already in college; and our managing editor is editor@goodprattle.com about to start the college applications process. In other words, we’re all kinda busy, and I already told you this send us an advertising inquiry: issue took obscene amounts of time and hard work. advertising@goodprattle.com But there aren’t a lot of great magazines out there right now--a situation the recession is only making worse. And none of us think print is dead, so we consider that a doggone shame, and we started this magazine to do something about it. And we’re gonna continue doing something about it. With a new issue maybe once a year or so. If we’re lucky. Say hello to a new space for culture.
keely weiss
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editor-in-chief
cult(ure) following: heathers
HEATHER. HEATHER. HEATHER. VERONICA. Well, screw me gently with a chainsaw, has it really been 21 years since
the release of the movie that paved the way for Jawbreaker, Mean Girls, Juno, and new-and-improved high school cruelty everywhere? In celebration of the classic that has done more to define adolescence than you probably know, we’ve made Heathers the subject of our first cult(ure) following. Lick it up, baby. Lick it up. BY KEELY WEISS Year released: 1989. Director: Then-first-timer Michael Lehmann. Memorable quotes: Other than the two we stealthily used above? “I love my dead gay son!”, “You’re beautiful!”, and the use of the word “very” as an adjective, e.g. Christian Slater was really very in this movie. Ahead of its time? Heathers poked fun at the idea of school shootings (among many other dark subjects) before anyone realized that sort of thing could, like, actually happen in real life. Influence: Is this a real question? If a high school movie made after 1989 has even a pinch of satire or cynicism, Heathers probably influenced it. Oh, and the girl heading that posse of mean girls at your middle-or-high school? She can thank Heather Chandler for her swagger.
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THE LIST. COMPILED BY CHANTEL SIMPSON
15 things to own and wear for a long time 15 things made better by the night by florian koenigsberger
1. Japanese raw denim
by daniel gatenio
1. Going to the supermarket to buy mundane things
2. Alden indy boots
2. Parks
3. Tweed blazer (with elbow patches)
3. Breakfast
4. Another pair of Japanese raw denim
4. Having an open window (even in the cold)
5. Sailor’s red hat
5. Fishing
6. ‘Go <3 Your Own City’ tee-shirt
6. Swimming
7. Two-tone brown monkstrap shoes
7. Bicycles
8. Speckled grey wool pants
8. Snowball fights (followed by hot chocolate)
9. RVR paisley necktie
9. Waiting in airports
10. Uniqlo washed Oxford shirt
10. The cold
11. Sand-colored desert boots
11. Old things
12. Plain heather grey tee-shirt
12. Running
13. Silver collar pin(s)
13. Gospel music
14. Black Converse hi-tops
14. Rooftops
15. Olive-green driving gloves
15. Light
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THE LIST. 15 things that smell fantastic
15 things that will improve your life
1. Paint thinner
1. Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town
2. Sunscreen
2. A mini tub of vasline
3. Erasers
3. A planner
4. Shoe polish
4. Eating at $1 Dumplings
5. Dryer sheets
5. Carrying a tin of altoids, especially peppermint
6. New books
6. Buying a nalgene; drinking enough water
7. Gasoline
7. Changing your hair
8. Crayons
8. Watching Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
9. Warm weather
9. Listening to Born to Run
10. Hay
10. A toasted bagel with cream cheese and bacon
11. Popcorn
11. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
12. Paper currency
12. Hot tea
13. Leather
13. Getting enough sleep
14. Sawdust
14. Owning the bartender’s guide Mr. Boston
15. Papa’s cologne
15. Red Queen by Matt Ridley
by ruth kace
by chloe webster
page 5
MAKING THE BAND.
Brooklyn may be known for its proximity to NYCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more famous borough, but it has a life all its own, complete with a teeming music scene... especially among the underage crowd. SOPHIA WARREN shines a light on minors making music in the better borough. page 6
ALL WORDS IN THIS SECTION BY SOPHIA WARREN
making the band
location, location location is everything! here are some of the best venues in town. PHOTOS BY LEIA JOSPE
.
STFO, Clinton Hill
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making the band LOCATED AT: 280 Washington Ave, Brooklyn, NY – it’s in a house. FOUNDED IN/BY: Early 2008 by myself, a then-fourteenyear-old Sophia Warren WAS ONCE: A home (and still is!!!). DON’T BE DISCOURAGED: When you find my mother working the door! IS AWESOME BECAUSE: It’s epic (if I may say so myself). The shows are great fun and I always bake home-made
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crownies (cookie-brownies)... and who doesn’t like homemade baked goods? For 25 cents? Hard to beat! ALWAYS HAS: ENERGY!!! BANDS THAT HAVE PLAYED HERE: Fiasco, Runtime Error, Starscream, So So Glos, Le Rug, The Crayons, and a few more! DOWNSIDE: For you over-21-ers, there’s no alcohol allowed at this spot! NOTE: STFO has been on a grand hiatus for a few years and will be re-opening this summer!
making the band
Market Hotel, Bushwick
LOCATED AT: 1142 Myrtle Ave @ BANDS THAT HAVE PLAYED BDWY, BKLYN, NY–it’s above Mr. HERE: Parts and Labor, Aa, Fiasco, Kiwi’s grocery. No Age, HEALTH, Pterodactyl, Tyvek, and many more (some from the other FOUNDED IN/BY: February 2008 side of the world)! by Todd P and the So So Glos ALWAYS HAS: Lots of people! WAS ONCE: A Dominican speakeasy in 1970s (supposedly) DOWNSIDE: There aren’t many, but it is like a sauna in the summertime! DON’T BE DISCOURAGED: When Sweating is healthy though! you can’t find the door. NOTE: Market Hotel was raided by IT’S AWESOME BECAUSE: police and closed down recently. It is There’s a room painted with tons looking to re-open legally. Everyone of white eyes that watch you while should try to be involved in volunteeryou wait in line for the bathrooms ing and fundraising for this great cause. (which ALWAYS have toilet paper— It will be Brooklyn’s finest all ages DIY SCORE!). There’s a legitimate venue if successful and will hopefully stage. Mr. Kiwi’s, located downstairs get a foot in the door and show that from Market, has great produce and all ages venues are great (you can a giant freezer room! read more about this awesome-ness at toddpnyc.com)!
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making the band
Silent Barn, Williamsburg
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LOCATED AT: 915 Wyckoff Ave
@ Weirfield in Bushwick, Brooklyn, near Ridgewood, Queens. CURRENT PROPRIETOR: Joe Ahearne takes care of the house when its typical occupants are away. He lives at Silent Barn and curates the space’s bajillion different projects.
NOT JUST A SHOW SPACE BUT AN ART GALLERY... Art is everywhere here: it’s all over the walls, as you can see, and even the bathroom is used to exhibit some incredible artwork. Silent Barn hosts art shows pretty often.
...AS WELL AS A LIBRARY AND A VIDEO GAME ARCADE: In
the basement there are several old-looking computers connected to strange keyboards... turns out these are video games hand-made by individuals who are patrons of Silent Barn and very interested in what goes on there. There is also an extremely impressive zine library containing publications from all over that is well worth checking out if you get the chance.
BANDS THAT HAVE PLAYED HERE: Fiasco; No One and the
Somebodies; Vivian Girls... you name them and they’ve probably played here. DOWNSIDE: there’s so much to do here you’ll get a headache trying to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
making the band
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making the band
michael makes a mixtape ARTWORK BY MARLAND BACKUS. Michael Sheffield has been a huge player in Brooklyn’s allages music scene for a very long time. First he was a member of the band Michael Jordan, which he has since left, and now his new band Sweet Bulbs is on everybody’s radar. We asked him to make us a mixtape for you, our wonderful readers, and he was more than happy to oblige.
1. Mission Complete by Brandon Can’t Dance 2. Love Is Overtaking Me by Arthur Russell 3. In Love by the Raincoats 4. Too Late To Turn Back Now by the Cornelius Brothers 9. I Stole A Gun That & Sister Rose Sings With Joy by Secret Abuse 5. The Atheist’s Burden by Disco Inferno 10. No Song II by Youth Bridage 6. Second Self by Biblio 11. Forms by Martial Canterel 7. The Birds They Sing To You 12. Don’t Die by Ariel Pink by Neon Boys 8. Sleep Swimming by I Create Soundscapes
page 12
13. Best Friends by Weed Hounds 14. Day Dreaming by Aretha Franklin 15. Amebo by the Lijadu Sisters 16. Golden Lady by Sun Ra
making the band
an interview with the band Le Rug! When and how was Le Rug formed? Le Rug was formed around 3 years ago. I asked a bunch of kids if they wouldn’t mind playing music they didn’t write. What does ‘Le Rug’ mean? The Rug.
If you were something in a past life, what would it have been? Hairdresser. What kind of music would you say you play? Built-to-spill songs.
Is the mustache or beard a better form If you could play a concert on any of facial hair? planet, which one would it be? Beard. Uranus. Whom do you idolize? Name three songs life would be Joe Ahearne. pointless without. “In a Big Country” by Big Country. Favorite movie pre-dating 1970? “Waitress in the Sky” by the Replace- I have no idea. I don’t really watch many ments. “Fantastic Life” by the Fall. movies. I do like Space Jam, though.
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making the band
an interview with the band Eskalators! When you guys started out, did you realize how many people you would end up with? Well, we haven’t “ended up” yet so I still don’t know how many people will join. We started with the idea that any and all of our friends could be in the band and people have trickled in throughout the 2 years we’ve been doing this. The idea is, if everyone just does a little bit, they don’t have to be good (even though most of us are) but we can still make something great when we get together. Not in a sexual way. Okay, sometimes in a sexual way. What is the selection process for new members? Is there any? Are you a person? Did you bring beer to practice? You’re in. Actually you don’t have to be a person. We allow cats and dogs and all manner of god’s creatures. If you could add another instrument, what would be the #1 choice? Harp. Let’s get Joanna Newsom in on this. Fire? Does anyone play the fire?
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Can you tell me a bit about the Subway Shows and what they mean to you guys? Subway Shows mean drinking covertly, yelling at strangers and dancing in forced close proximity with all of our friends. We’ve done 6 shows so far with destinations from Bushwick to the Bronx to the Unisphere in Queens. You know, from Men in Black?
Are you guys out to change the world, considering the colossal force that you are? The world’s gonna change anyway, we just want to make it dance. We’ve played benefit shows by accident, but then we called the cops on them because we’re not a political band. When is the apocalypse going to be, in your opinion? Whenever our band breaks up, which will be never. When everyone in the world is in our band, we won’t break up until everyone in the world is dead.
making the band
BANZAIIII!!!! banzai is pretty much a
brooklyn supergroup. they’ve been booking shows left and right and can be found in venues all over the city; its members hail from other esteemed bands, such as fiasco (also featured in this issue). let’s see what they’ve been up to.
How did you guys meet and when? When did you guys start playing together? Was it the four of you then? JONATHAN EDELSTEIN: We all know each other from going to middle school together. In mid-2004, Mike and Jesse started a band with Lucian and Julian called Defibrillator that played jokey metal tunes about secretaries, Old McDonald & wheeled backpacks. About a year or so later, Jonathan replaced Lucian on drums and about a month after that, Max replaced Julian on bass. As of March 2006 the band name changed to Banzai and we started playing different material. MAX COBURN: We all knew each other from going to Berkeley Carroll middle school together in Park Slope. We actually started playing together as soon as I started high school at LaGuardia, while everyone else stayed at BC. The original lineup consisted of Lucian and Julian, best known from Fiasco, and Mike and Jesse. Jonathan then joined to replace Lucian, and I replaced Julian. Name three songs you think would make life pointless if they didn’t exist. JE: Some of These Days” by Cab Calloway, “Naane Maharaja (I Am the Emperor)” by Vijaya Anand, “Harness Your Hopes” by Pavement. That question was really painful to answer. MC: This question, I already know, is going to come back and haunt me on various different occasions, and these are the best answers I could come up with. “Joining a Fan Club” by the ‘90s power pop supergroup, Jellyfish has always been a favorite, I’ve probably listened to this song close to 500 times and haven’t even grown
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making the band
a little bit tired of it. It’s a perfectly constructed pop song. Another masterpiece for me is “What Do You Want Me to Say?” by The Dismemberment Plan. I swear, this group will never get the credit they deserve, honestly, they made music in the late 90s that sounds like music being made now, and probably in the next decade. That wouldn’t be so ridiculous, but they’ve actually refined their ‘genre’ more than any band I can name in their same field. Past or present. Not to mention that this song is just ridiculous. The songwriting is just unorthodox enough for them to pull off a passionate performance, pretty much absolutely perfectly. One of the best recordings I can actually think of. This last one, I’m just going to say to be weird, but the second version of the background music in Mario Paint is one of my favorite things to hear ever. I think I could actually listen to that on loop for at least 24 hours and still love it. I like the majority of Kazumi Totaka’s work in video games, but the Mario Paint soundtrack, and this track in particular, just does it for me.
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I could actually go on for hours about exactly what I love about this song: the fact that everything is just ever so slightly out of tune, the fact that there were hardly any other soundtracks like this for video games at the time... but I’ll spare you. Again, all three of these could change at any time, I just gave what I felt was appropriate for this instance. If you could travel to a planet in outer space (imaginary or real), which would it be? JE: Playing a show on the moon has always been the dream. MC: I would travel to Mars. And I am aware it’s freezing there. It looks like that’s where we’re going to be heading eventually, so I’d rather be a part of the future in an environment that can sustain human occupancy, than be crushed by immense pressure or turned into gas. Or melted. Do you think living in New York is beneficial to playing music? JE: It certainly doesn’t hurt. There’s a really awesome community of bands, venues and showgoers (in Brooklyn in particular)
that most other cities either don’t seem to have or haven’t developed as well. MC: Yes; in fact, I wrote my first college essay on that very subject. The amount of people you meet and get to know is just staggering. There’s really a scene for pretty much anyone here. Who in the band is most like a Martian? JE: I’ve never seen a martian so I wouldn’t know, but let’s just say Max. Actually maybe Jesse. Actually maybe we’re all Martians. MC: Jonathan. If all of you morphed into one super-human, what animal would it resemble most? JE: Wow, what a question. It would probably resemble a giant, winged, fire-breathing komodo dragon complete with lazer eyes, an impenetrable metal exoskeleton and abilities to teleport, read minds and control time. Basically the most bad-ass thing you can imagine. MC: A Viking.
making the band
thrown into the mix...
And now a mixtape, courtesy of the aforementioned members of Banzai. ARTWORK BY MARLAND BACKUS. 1. Minnie the Moocher by Cab Calloway
8. All Star by Smash Mouth
2. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) 9. Tim Finneganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wake by Jay-Z by the Clancey Brothers 3. Funky Kingston by Toots and the Maytals
10. Mona Lisa by Slick Rick
4. Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys
11. Hit It and Quit It by Funkadelic
5. Flower by Deerhoof
12. Autumn Almanac by the Kinks
6. Paul Revere by the Beastie Boys
13. Evil Woman by Electric Light Orchestra
7. Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath
14. La Vie en Rose by Louis Armstrong
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making the band
From the Mouths of Babes an interview with Baby Dino
Where is the name Baby Dino basically all the songs are about diary, sort of. if that makes sense. from? assholes. Flying would be great I’ve never been the best writer, I get A couple different things. Dino- too, though I’m scared that’d be too wordy and feel pretentious, so saurs were a recurring theme a bit too conspicuous and would when I was upset or feeling feelings in my toddler years, and that’s result in me being captured and and wanted to sort of vent about it, when things manifest themselves dissected by the government. I’d pick up my guitar. some people the most it seems. for one, I was pick up a pen and write in their jourobsessed with Little Foot from Where do some of the samples nal about how the boy they liked The Land Before Time. I still am. you use come from? how do kissed their best friend and explain And, two, my parents divorced you select them? how sad it made them, others tell when I was around the age of 6. I’ve sampled The Land Before their friends. I preferred to do neiMy dad didn’t really feel like ex- Time, for obvious reasons. I also ther, because really I’m just not good plaining what was going on, so have taken bits from the film ver- at translating what’s going on inside he bought me a book titled Di- sion of The Fountainhead, and into words. so I’d make music, write nosaurs Divorce, which told the various voice mails left by people songs, it was completely therapeustory of a little dinosaur family important to me. I usually use tic. I had been recording baby dino with the momma and the dadda samples when I’m trying to con- songs years before there was any and the little baby dinosaurs and vey a more blunt message than I baby dino. then one day I decided to it showed the parent dinosaurs feel I’m able to get across musi- open up and share a few with friends splitting up and the little ones cally, but all the while still being who then told me “hey, we think you taking the whole thing person- discreet, since I’m not saying it really got something here” and it was ally and I couldn’t take any of directly. does that make sense? then I decided to make it public. so it seriously because I just could I also think it sounds pretty cool. really, I’m not conveying anything, not get over the fact that they because to convey something is to were dinosaurs and not human What would be the best place explain it for someone else. I do it for beings. I favored dinosaurs from in the world to live in? myself, and just let you guys listen. those years on. New York City. Not if you want a family, though. It all depends on Do you have a favorite writer? If you had a super power what what chapter of your life you’re I do but I don’t want to say because would it be? Why? living. then you’ll judge me. To read minds. It’d really help with weening out all the assholes. What are you trying to convey If your music were a color, what Which in a sense wouldn’t be too with your music? would it be? good for Baby Dino, seeing that nothing. baby dino first began as a Blue, purple, and lack-of-color black.
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making the band
lily konigsberg. When did you first start playing music? question--apologies.) I started playing music when I was 8. I played piano and sang. That’s also the age When you were little what did you that I started writing songs. want to be when you grew up? I didn’t talk when I was little and didn’t If you could pick a season that inspires go outside. I didn’t have time to think you, which one would it be? Why? about what I wanted to be when I grew Fuck winter and summer. I think spring up. I was too busy worrying. Not much and fall are the prettiest seasons but oddly has changed. enough winter comes up in my songs most often. I guess winter. Where do you think your life will lead you? If you could be an animal, what would I can’t answer this question because if I you be? had any idea I’d be devastated. I’d be a shapeshifter so I could turn into any animal as well as other things. I’d like If you could grow a mustache, would to turn into smoke; I think that would be you? great. (No, I’m not really answering the Completely. ¶
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New York, I Love You
wri actr terS ess lo p erso Pa a PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMMA PULIDO BY PARKER POSEY nal r n ILLUSTRATIONS SKYLINE DRAWING BY MARLAND BACKUS gui k e ded e C tou r r rso p o fth o s eirm s le uch ey y -bel tak an ove eu d dci son ty page 20
new york, i love you
nEW YOrk s e c o n d s by sloane crosley New York is known for being a fast paced kind
of place. Sometimes I think the best way to understand it is to actively seek out those 10 or 30 second moments in which you slow down just long enough to wink at the city. And if you’re lucky, the city winks back. My personal favorite is the time it takes for a taxi or bus to travel through the 66th street entrance to Central Park, starting at 5th Avenue and spitting you out on CPW. At night, if you look left, you can see the Central Park South skyline lit up through the trees. It starts with the Plaza and the buildings bob up and down until they fade into a tunnel or a wall and before you know it you’re waiting at a traffic light directly across from the building where Ghostbusters was filmed. If it’s snowing, the buildings look like Hallmark ornaments but in a good way. And if I’m feeling especially dramatic and I’m by myself, sometimes I put my hand against the glass as the skyline zips by. But then I usually take it away pretty quickly. This is New York after all – God knows who’s been touching that glass.
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new york i love you
PARKER POSEY
shows you around manhattan
EAST VILLAGE. St. Mark’s PL. Around the corner—on 8th Street Panya Bakery and the Sunrise Mart just above for Japanese baked goods and fun treats that you can’t get anywhere else. Karoke down the street and sake bars and that noodle place on 9th that serves street food, you can’t miss it, there will be people standing outside of it. Great to get food to go and walk around.
between 2nd and 3rd…my new favorite place to grab a bite and walk is Baoguette, a Vietnamese joint that’s got a place on the west side as well as here. Grab a bite, walk around, see what’s in store.
Or if you want to take a yoga class: Yoga for the People, on St. Mark’s place, you can donate whatever you And then there’s Veselka for Pero- want. Look out for the Mud Truck: gies and borscht and great ambi- great coffee, the flagship store’s down ence any time of the day or night. the street and the train there can take you up or downtown East or West.
new york i love you
Union Square Park
The Union Square Park farmer’s market is on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday— look out for the cheese girls and get bread and take the train to Central Park if it’s nice. And just down the street--it used to be all the cool kids stood outside of clubs to go in, now they go to Trader Joe’s to stand in line for great prices on good food… to go or take home.
Probably a 20 minute stroll from here: a place called Kalustyans, an Indian grocery store—amazing spices from India and Chutneys and dates and incredible nut mixes and Indian flat bread.
LITTLE INDIA
Washington Square Park
NowtoWashingtonSquare Park: in the middle of renovations, this park has been on its way to being completed for way too long.
new york i love you
Strike up a conversation with a person who looks like a West Village resident—preoccupied, walking fast—perhaps to the dogrun—ask this person what they think of “the renovation” and take part in the conversation. Then walk to Sheridan Square and to the West Side… you can walk all the way down to Battery Park from here. On your way back, stop by Tortilla Flats for a taco… One of my favorite independent book stores is 3 Lives Books. Stop by Joe’s Coffee down the road or the Roasting Plant on Greenwich Street— you can hang out here or meet a friend.
Then you can go to Highline... on Gansevoort Street... and experience Manhattan with others who are experiencing this new view. Very nice.
d
m diael z oni e the rap tur e
of
First she conquered Sundance. Then she won the hearts of Michel Gondry, Ryan Murphy, and other Hollywood honchos. Now, though, the indie actress is doing her own thing. WORDS BY KEELY WEISS
PHOTOS BY LEIA JOSPE
page 25
Melonie Diaz is so tiny, she could fit inside her own handbag. Despite this, however (or maybe even in compensation for it), she’s certainly not a diminutive screen presence. She’s been acting for a decade but really began dominating the indie scene in 2008, when an insane four of her films headed to Sundance, and at 25 is still an indie darling. As of late, however, she has decided to branch out: she was on Nip/Tuck (yes, gasp, a TV show) not too long ago, and as of right now she’s focusing on lucky the indie industry is still so theatre and pretty much just It’s strong when the number of places to doing her own thing. Sounds see independent film is shrinking. in general I feel like this year has been great—we, personally, would Well, pretty rough around the world in terms of filmmaking. I mean, yes, there’s the constant follow her anywhere. word of the recession and the economy, and
we all know it’s bad and don’t want to talk about it anymore, but I think it really has affected cinema and independent film in terms of the amount of things that are being made. We’ve spoken before. I mean, this year nothing was really being Really? Wait, yeah, you interviewed me for— made. But even within that badness there’s a lot of gems, you know? I was on the jury for For ACED Magazine. That was like a year ago, the Independent Spirit Awards this year. right? Yeah, wow. And now you’re making your own magazine! Are you excited?
this is the perfect Oh, yeah, totally. I’m working my hardest. time to have your Well, that’s all you can do: work hard and be ambitious. Eye of the tiger. You know, I love this theatre. own idea, to collabo[NOTE: this interview is taking place in the lobby of rate and just make the Angelika movie theatre.] something I know, they always show great films here! Yeah. It’s truly independent. A truly independent theatre.
Ooh, fun! And I was actually surprised—there’s a Not many of those left any more. It’s depressing. category called the Cassavetes Award for Well, there’s the Sunshine, and IFC… films that are made for under $500,000. You know, spirit of Cassavetes: no monmean, in New York, yeah. But not in general. ey; you and your friends just make that Oh, yeah, that’s true. Well, there’s L.A. too, but not movie—and some of the Cassavetes films in Middle America. were among the best ones out of all of them. Especially in terms of independent spirit, you know? So even though things are kind of bad and cinema’s kind of dragging, I think that… I’m still a really positive person. I still think that there are really good things being made, you know?
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Well, I think also that the presence of the internet and YouTube makes it a lot more accessible and a lot easier to just get up and do your own short projects. It’s definitely… when I went to film school, a lot of my friends were filmmakers; a lot of my high school friends were filmmakers; and, yeah, this is the perfect time to have your own idea, to collaborate and just make something, you know? You’ve said in the past that you’re interested in venturing into writing and— I’m doing it now. You are? What are you working on? Y’know, scripts. I don’t really want to talk about—I feel like when everybody talks about it then it doesn’t become real, but I am working on stuff with my friends. I was living in LA for a while, and I just had to come back to New York for that particular reason: to work on my own projects. Also, New York is my home and I feel like it’s such a good place to be creative, you know? And there’s so much inspiration here that I definitely want to come back.
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Speaking as someone growing up here, I think it kind of ruins a lot of other major cities for you. Like, you can go up to Boston, and next to your hometown it seems… puny. [laughs] It skews your view of the world. I mean, it skews it, but it also makes you appreciate your life. I don’t think most people grow up with this much access to stuff; I’ve really been so spoiled all my life that way, so I take that away from it. I mean, but I’ve been to some good places. I’ve visited Paris; I’ve visited Prague… But, no, nothing compares to here.
I’m always going to return home.
new york is such a good place to be creative
And you started acting when you were in high school. Yeah, my old high school is kind of like LaGuardia, but not as big. But you had to audition to get in and that kind of thing. It’s like Fame but
not really. Not as cool. No spontaneous bursting into song in the hallways? Oh, they did! They did? Yeah. Kind of crazy. It was one of the best experiences. From 8:30 to 1:20 we had our academics and then until 3:20 we had our professional classes. Like, the dancers would go to Alvin Ailey—it was so fucking cool. I loved high school! High school was one of the best experiences. Do you split your time between LA and here? Yeah, half and half now. Whenever I go there it’s for work purposes, but my friends and family are here.
haven’t really done too much yet. Yeah. It’s pretty much the place to be for that. I mean, part of why I live in LA so much is because an actor I’m more film-oriented, I think. But I’m always open. Always. Have you been seeing a lot of films this year? Well, I’ve been on the jury for all these things! I was on the Gotham Awards, on the Spirit Awards jury… so, yeah, I’ve
been seeing everything. I love movies. I love movies. I love it so much. I’ve become better-versed in film, too, especially this year. Like, being on these juries I’ve seen so many films that I would ordinarily never have watched but was kind of forced to, but I enjoyed it. I don’t really know how big studios work; I’d love to actually see that conversation where they’re deciding what to make, but—what with all the remakes—the concern is probably just about making money... and that’s a shame. ¶
How involved have you been in theatre? Not as much as I was when I was younger. I definitely want to get back into it. When I came back to New York that was one of my goals, but I
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ezra miller: ladykiller I’m not sure Ezra Miller is going to be thrilled with the title of this article: after speaking with him, I’ve gotten the distinct impression he has no desire whatsoever to be known as a heartthrob. The 17-year-old likes the ultra-underground indie films he works on (he had two at the Tribeca Film Festival this year: Beware the Gonzo and Every Day), loves acting, and seems to have no qualms about living out of a gutter in ten years if it means he gets to keep doing what he enjoys. But I like it (it rhymes!)--and, hey, he’s certainly appealing enough to pull it off. All right, let’s talk. Let’s.
But so I worked at the opera for those two seasons and then I was in middle school, just doing theWhen did you first start acting? atre programs, and one thing led I got the itch to do performance to—[our food and coffee arrive] when I was eight years old and did this very surreal contemporary op- Oh, wow, thanks. This is just era called White Raven. Directed what I need: lots of caffeine! by Robert Wilson, music by Philip Oh my god, this is so good. Glass, and it was beautiful. It was a beautiful experience; nothing has What is it? been more formative, because this It’s a mocha. It’s glorious. Try it. started my artistic way of dealing with the world. So it was just this [takes a sip] This is fantastic. really beautiful conception. Then What was I saying? I was saying after that I did opera for two seasons that one thing led to— at the Met. Singing. Pre-puberty I could sing really well; now I’m That pre-puberty you could sing! just sort of discovering again. Yes! That is my basic point! You
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can end it right there: that prepubescently I was a gifted singer. [laughs] No, yeah, one thing led to another, and I got involved with an incredible artist named Riz Swados who’d done this incredible musical in the eighties called Runaways, so through working with her I got involved with the revival, and through that I got representation, and when I was fourteen I did Afterschool, my first film. So you did theatre first. Yeah, on like a middle school level. I mean, that counts. How else do you find out you’re into acting? No, absolutely, and it’s a wonderful
barely legal ful way that school can present kids I’ve really just gotten into film in rewith a way to explore artistic endeav- cent years, and when I started seeing films like American Beauty I was ors. like, “Wow, this is actually legit art! Afterschool only came out recently, This is crazy!” It’s a legitimate art form! Yeah, it’s didn’t it? Well, the deal was it did a lot of festi- beautiful. Humans have been figuring vals and it got distribution in a lot of out ways to tell stories since forever, places. But not the US, which if you and… they found a good one. They found a fucking good one. [laughs] see it— I will know why, yes! Yeah. This country’s on media lockdown in a lot of forms, and entertainment’s only one of them. But the filmmakers, Antonio and Josh, wanted distribution where they come from, and when Afterschool came out in all these foreign countries a lot of them think it’s science fiction: “They make you line up and give you your meds? In a line? At lunchtime? That is absurd! That’s seriously some George Orwell crazy shit!” And it’s not. As we know, that happens here for real. So they kept doing the festival circuit and finally IFC—one of the last standing hopes for American independent film—
What are some of your favorites? Favorite films? I’m a Kubrick freak. I’m a Sidney Lumet freak. I recently— you should see Avatar. That’s all I’m going to say right now. I don’t know, it seems so... why did they need someone from our world to teach them how to rebel against the corporate mercenaries? No, no, that is just a combat technicality. They needed a marine, man! They needed the insider info of how to fight these big machines! I’m telling you, Keely, see it.
Okay, here’s my compromise: I’ll see Avatar, but I’m not going to spend $12 to see it in theatres. You’re right. You’re going to spend Yeah, they rescue all the indies. They really are. They’re like a rescue $16 to see it in 3-D. IMAX. In the theatres. You’re right, you’re not going team. to spend $12; you’re totally going to IFC and FilmForum. It’s a shame; spend $16! even in New York there are so few indie theatres left, and here there No I’m not! I have no cash flow; my are far more than in Bumblefuck, regular babysitting gig just ended! Did you drop the baby? Oklahoma. Right, absolutely. We’re in an artistic metropolis and there are, what, four [laughs] What?! independent theatres? [laughs] It’s Did you drop the baby? It’s okay, you bad news. It’s some sort of bad news. can tell me. People do it. Parents do it. It’s not a babysitter-specific thing; It sucks that even independent films they’re slippery when wet! [laughter] have to be somewhat mainstream What are you implying with that? now if they’re going to be seen. Yeah, especially since film is such a I don’t know, I’m just wondering why beautiful art form; it is the most beau- you had this regular babysitting job and tiful art form that man has stumbled it disappeared, poof, into oblivion. upon, and it shouldn’t be just 20 films No, the mother— in theatres every year, you know? The mother dropped the baby? See, I told you, it happens! ¶
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andthis songbird..
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEIA JOSPE
LAURA MARLING is the 21st-Century personification of Victorian England. Her music is Byronic; it’s Brontean; it’s Shelley-esque (think Percy and Mary). Marling is 20 now, and in the four years she’s been around her sound has only improved. Her music is worldly; it is cynical and poignant: she’s found a way of expressing these qualities that would fill the original Gothics with pride. About your second album, I Speak Because I Can: there are a lot of changes from your first record, Alas, I Cannot Swim. Well, the process in which we recorded it was different. It’s all recorded live, so it has a much timelier feel, I should think. That’s the main thing. I kind of wish your cover of Needle And The Damage Done were on it. What was it like touring with Neil Young last year? Oh my gosh, it was amazing! I don’t really know how it happened, to be honest, but I got asked to do it and I obviously would never have dreamed of saying no. It was totally different from what I’m used to, though: huge shows!
in different cities? When I toured in America last year, I noticed a huge difference with Americans in the very… obvious… you get incredibly vocal crowds in America, whereas in England they’re a bit more reserved. It’s a lot easier for me to play in America because you can expect a reaction immediately, whereas in England, I dunno, they keep their cool and it’s very hard to tell.
I know, you usually play in much smaller venI still can’t believe you’re so young. ues. Little bars… [laughs] I know, it was crazy! They’re so good at [laughs] It’s a bit intense at times, yeah. prepping for it, though. He has this whole crew; it’s How has your age affected… your bereally amazing. ing a musician, I guess? Do you get different reactions from audiences Well, when I started out a few years ago
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barely legal I found it all pretty difficult because I still felt very young. I mean, I was seventeen. And I found talking to people difficult; I found touring difficult because I was scared to go on… you know, all those things that went along with my being that age. But now—I know I’m very young, still, and still growing up. [laughs] But in the past year and a half I feel like I’ve grown up to the point where I feel like a grown-up. I’m more experienced now, and it’s finally getting easier to perform. Since I’m young, too, I find myself paying more attention to actors and musicians who I find out are on the younger end. Well, the reason I was so insecure about how people felt about my age when I was younger is because I would be a bit unsure about hearing about a sixteen-year-old songwriter. So, I don’t know, I’ve got to say I sort of take precautions, I guess, when I hear that someone’s quite young. [laughs] —Which is terrible, because that was me, originally, and I’m pretty sure that’s where my reputation has come from! By the way, do you feel the idea of the term “singersongwriter”, especially as applied to female musicians, is overused? Yeah. I mean, I was reading something on me recently where somebody said it and I was just like, “Oh, no, god!” That just conjures up images of a whiny… [laughs] I just don’t like that term. I don’t know why; it’s never settled with me very well. I guess anybody who writes songs and sings is a singer-songwriter.
descriptor but it’s used as a genre. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s like with every type of music you need a way to describe it to other people so they can understand Right, I think that’s what’s it. [laughs] frustrating for a lot of people I’ve talked to. It should be a Right. Yeah, especially when
there’s piano or acoustic guitar involved, it seems the term really gets laid on thick. Yeah, it does, it does. I wouldn’t call myself a snobby person, but if someone were describing somebody to me and called them a singer-songwriter I would immediately have a bad reaction. [laughs] ¶
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S Sk hir ins ts a n we talk to two of d the young actors from the second series of hit
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Brit show Skins. How’d they get on it? What are they up to now they’re off it? Ollie Barbieri and Kathryn Prescott answer our questions. ILLUSTRATIONS BY CAMILA MERCADO
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Ollie Barbieri is so studious and responsible that he doesn’t even have time to chat with me on the phone-but not responsible enough to wait until he’s done with his studies before answering my email questions. And to have an excuse to act really uncool. writing me a limerick. Plus, I got given loads of fun things to What are you doing right now? Well, right now and for the past few hours I’ve been studying like a man possessed for a physics exam and listening to The Hospital Podcast and Pulp Fiction by Alex Reece is playing. From where are you writing? From my desk in my room in Bath in England in Europe on Earth Did you like staying in Bristol while you were shooting Skins? Well, for the most part, I stayed at home because Bath is only 10 miles from Bristol, but when we had late or early shoots, I would stay in Bristol with the rest of the cast, Because of this I’ve developed a real soft spot for Bristol. It’s an amazing city.
do in the show as a result of JJ being the character he is. Learning magic, singing etc. Were you very familiar with Asperger Syndrome prior to playing JJ, who has Asperger’s? Well, It was one of the things I was most worried about when I started with Skins because I didn’t really know much about it. I did a bit of research on autism and Asberger’s during the audition stage but playing it, and constantly thinking about how someone with Asberger’s would deal with certain situations, also taught me a lot.
Let’s talk more about Skins, actually. How familiar with the show were you beforehand, and what did you like about it? When series 1 came out, I didn’t watch the show, purely because all of my friends loved it, and I guess I wanted be different. I was forced to watch an episode once by a friend of mine and I actually thought it was quite good, but I couldn’t admit it. It was fantastically ironic that out of all my friends, the one who didn’t watch the show got a part in it.
How much interaction was there between the writers and the actors? Loads. The writers were always around if you needed to clarify something. And they always knew the meaning of each scene. Sometimes you could work your own ideas in to some of the scripts and sometimes they were worked in because of something you accidentally mentioned in passing to a director, like playing the ukelele.
Tell me about playing JJ. A dreamer, a schemer, an illusionist... must’ve been awfully fun to be him. Yeah, JJ was really fun to play because there was a chance to really go over the top in some ways, and
Were you an actor before getting cast in Skins? No, I was just a regular student. I didn’t even study Drama.
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barely legal I’m going to assume you want to continue acting. What sorts of characters would you like to play? Yeah absolutely. I would love to play really different parts in loads of different genres. But I guess I’d really like an Edward Scissorhands-like character What interest do you have in film and theatre as opposed to continuing in TV? I would love to act in films. Theatre scares me, there aren’t any second takes, but I’m sure will do it at some point. Do you have anything lined up? What’s something you’d like to do? At the moment I’m concentrating on getting some good A levels, but I’d love to do a film adaptation of one of the books I used to read when I was younger, like Artemis Fowl.
about it so much, I’m only fluent in one language at the moment and that’s English. But I’m studying Spanish and hope to learn loads more. I think my interest started when I started Spanish class. I just loved learning it and speaking it and the thought that I could converse with people in their own tongue. Another thing that inspired me was meeting Laurentiu Possa who played Christian the builder in Thomas’s episode in series 3. I got talking to him and he speaks at least 7 languages, I decided right there and then that that was my goal.
Linguistically and culturally, what languages do you find most interesting? I love East Asian languages because of the writing and because they are so different from anything we have in western languages. What other things would Basque is also fascinating you like to do with your fu- because it’s so unique and ture? no one really know where I would love to be involved it evolved from. in any films in other countries, and ultimately I’d love Tell me what you’re listo write and direct. tening to and what you’re currently reading. I know you love foreign Pulp Fiction has finished. tongues, so I’m sure “learn Right now I’m listening a billion languages” is on the to Beautiful Lies by Blist. How did you become Complex and I’m reading such a language buff? a personalized version of Shamefully, although I talk The Wizard Of Oz that I
got given for Christmas. All the characters names have been replaced with the names of my friends and me. I’m Ollie the Cowardly Lion. What are your favorite films and television shows? My choice for my all time favourite film is really clichéd, it’s The Shawshank redemption, but I also love Pan’s Labyrinth and Duck Soup. As far as TV shows go, I love Family Guy, Frasier and….. Air Crash Investigation (the reconstruction scenes are epic). What is your life philosophy? Do what you can with the choices you have. Do you consider yourself happy? How do you define happiness? That’s a deep question! I would say I am happy. I reckon happiness is having the right balance of companionship and solitude, occupation and distraction. Tell me a story—any kind of story. There once was an interviewer called Keely Who asked her questions quite freely Of language and prose And television shows And of the prospects of learning Swahili
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Kathryn Prescott is bright, talented, and legitimately pleasant, but it seems none of that has done anything to prepare her for the shock of hearing the average cost of American university tuition. How familiar with Skins were you before you ended up on it? I wasn’t, really. I didn’t watch it. I’d seen a few episodes, but I’m so bad with remembering when stuff is on so I never watch TV. But my sister Megan [who was on the show with me] watched it all the time, so I was familiar with it and I liked what I knew, and I remember thinking even before we got the audition that if I could ever be in anything Skins would be the ideal thing because it’s about teenagers and it’s quite well-respected and stuff. I interviewed Ollie recently— Oh, did you! Yeah, and I asked him the same question, and he was like, “Actually, all my friends were really into it, so I wanted to be different and said I didn’t even though I had watched one episode once and it was pretty good.” [laughs] That sounds like Ollie. It seems like the cast gets along so nicely. Yeah. Yeah, it’s such a strange mix of people because there are kids from all over the country. Some are from London, but some are from way out, and we’d never met each other until Skins, and it was so nice to work with a mix of such different people who all got on really well. The writers are all teenagers too, aren’t they? Some of them are teenagers. All of them are quite young; some of them are early-twenties, nineteen, eighteen, which I think is
good, because a lot of shows about teenagers are written by 40-year-olds who have no idea what it’s like to be a teenager because they can’t remember it, but someone who’s living through it, or who recently has, will be able to write about it more realistically than someone who was there twenty years ago.
Skins is real... it doesn’t play things down and is not condescending
filming the third season. [laughs] That was quite difficult, but I managed, and then for the last season I wasn’t doing anything. I’m on a gap year before I go to uni next year. Where are you going? Westminster. It’s like in the middle of Oxford Circus in London, which is nice, so I can carry on doing acting if I want. I’ll be studying Psychology. Cool! I applied to a few English schools for Classics. Did you apply to schools in the States? No, I wanted to, but it would have required a huge amount of money on my part and when I was applying I hadn’t gotten the part in Skins so I didn’t have a really good agent like I do now, so I couldn’t have carried on acting really. I would have had to find an agent there, whereas here I already have one. But I would like to do a postgraduate course in LA at some point. I’m going there for the summer.
Yeah, definitely. I think that’s why Skins is such a hit. It’s realistic in a way that most other shows really aren’t. Yeah. It’s also not afraid to capture things that maybe wouldn’t be in other shows. It’s not scared to let it all hang out, which is cool because, compared to other Yeah, it really is more expensive shows, it talks about things that here. You guys have it so cheap; actually resonate with teenagers. for us it’s like an arm and a leg and an eye! I mean, speaking as a teenager, Really? we’re not as easily offended as a lot of networks seem to think Well, state schools are probably we are. It’s just a matter of not comparable to what an internacondescending to us, which is tional student at an English uniwhat Skins does so well. versity would pay, but the top Yeah, definitely. On a lot of schools are private schools and shows, serious issues are avoid- those cost upwards of $40,000 a ed; they’re walking on eggshells, year. like, “Well, we can’t put that in Oh—! [silence] Oh my go—a year? our show.” But, yeah, you’re God… [shocked laughter] Oh my right, Skins is real and it doesn’t god. That just… oh my god. Wow. play things down and is not condescending to teenagers. Is your jaw going to be hanging open for the rest of the day now Are you studying for A-levels? that I’ve told you this? Actually, I did them while we were [laughs] Yeah. Wow.¶
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The Beautiful Catastrophe Prospect Park and it’s gorgeous outside, if a bit chilly. Perfect weather for talking about... Russian neo-Nazi metal bands, apparently: I’m with the members of Brooklynbased band Fiasco, not a single one of whose brains, I’m sure, operates in a socially-acceptable way.
Julian mentioned that you guys are finishing up your new album— JULIAN BENNET HOMES: Oh, you have that CD, right? JONATHAN EDELSTEIN: Yeah, I do. LUCIEN BUSCEMI: This thing? Like, the most current— JBH: Yeah, that’s the latest—like, I balanced everything this morning. But anyway, yeah, we’ve almost finished the mixing on our new album, which is a full-length album with vocals on it. Well, how does it differ from your other albums? JE: I think we all kind of think of it as a
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combination of our first two full-length records because there’s songs with vocals and simpler stuff, but there’s also stuff that makes it more complex, like some of the experimental stuff we’ve already— JBH: But even more complex. JE: Just a combination, which is exactly what we wanted to do. What about your last EP? The one you released online? JBH: Oh, The Split? Yeah. How does that play into the whole… JBH: That was just a fun thing to do. JE: That one was interesting because the whole point
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was to get people to know about one of our favorite bands who we thought was breaking up at the time—but they’re actually still together now and releasing a fulllength album. JBH: They’re getting married soon. JE: [laughs] All of them. JBH: And having children. But, yeah, so that was just to promote Snuffalupagus. JE: That was just to spread the word about them, since they were breaking up, and now they’re actually a band again. Which is nice. JBH: They’re still really good. JE: Yeah, they’re actually even better. The tracks I’ve heard are really good. JBH: The tracks are incredible. It’s going to be amazing. LB: They’re called Snuffalupagus, by the way. Are there any other bands right now that you’re really into? JBH: Turbo Sleaze. JE: Turbo Sleaze and NOATS. JBH: Yeah, that’s No One and the Somebodies. They’re
Yeah, I don’t know what it is but it’s definitely more common than English-speaking bands singing in other languages. JE: But I think we really just try to listen to whatever we can. Right now I really like Tears for Fears. JBH: For what it’s worth, we’re much farther into this meadow Wait, what? LB: Yeah, they’re this Russian [in Prospect Park] right now band, and they’re total Nazis, than I ever go. and on the tape it says “This record cannot be played in the Really? USA.” It cannot be sold any- JBH: Yeah. I literally stay right where in the USA! Probably by 9th Street, usually, because that’s where I live. Generally I because it has— JBH: Does it have like a swas- just go [points] over there. LB: What are we, north right tika on it or something? LB: No, nothing like that, but it now? This is the north meadow. also says “If this tape is found Okay. On our way! on the radio then it is a violation of the white man’s code of I’m trying to think of a twee question to ask you. To send honor.” us off. Okay, I think I’ve got one: what is the true path to [laughter] Oh my god. happiness? JBH: Oh my god! LB: And it’s good music, that’s LB: The true path to happithe thing! But you can’t under- ness? stand anything they’re saying. JBH: Well, okay. JBH: Because it’s in Russian? JE: Doing stuff you like with LB: No, I think it’s in English, people you like. actually. A lot of bands I’ve no- LB: That’s right. ticed from Europe usually sing JBH: Yeah. Just, like, doing fun in English. stuff. ¶ really good. LB: I’ve been listening to a lot of black metal. Like, actually, black metal. JE: [laughs] Yeah, me too. JBH: Not me. LB: My friend just got a tape from this, like, National Socialist black metal group—
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Florian Koenigsberger
WORDS AND PICTURES BY CHANTEL SIMPSON
Florian Koenigsberger is your standard teenage New York boy If you were to describe yourself in three words, what would they be? 1. Denim 2. Forward 3. French Describe yourself in twenty words or less. I’m the kid wearing the red hat—indoors—and if you ask me, I’ll smile and let you know. How would your friends describe you? At times, painfully serious. Moody, perhaps, but a solid orator nonetheless. A night owl, a vindictive joy-seeker. What kind of life do you live? I’m a city explorer subjected to the undercurrents of a globally-influenced growing up. I grew up with German, learned French in highschool—mom speaks five languages with relative ease. I’ve found New York to be so full of stories waiting to be pried open, and I’ve made it a little of my job, everyday, to break these stories open just a little bit more. What are some of your hobbies? People watching. If I ever have the time to spend an extra hour—even a few minutes—in Grand Central station, I stop and watch people come in and out of trains. Kids with their noses pressed to window panes, the angry faces of passengers jostled by passengers, the impromptu iPod-in-ears created dancers, the musicians thankful for the clinking of change in their receptacles—they all feel so New York-y. I guess it’s fair to call photography a hobby, but for similar reasons: I’m forced to interact with the City,with its people.
Strangest thing you have ever done in your life? Perhaps not the strangest, but it ranks near the top: I dreamt, one night, that I bought a small, ugly dog and kept it in the same cage as my chinchilla Carmen. It was a sludge-brown pitbull, if I remember correctly, and it sat on one of the cage shelf/levels, staring at me with drooping eyes. I woke up and though the cage sits at the foot of my bed in real life (it did in the dream, too), and even though I looked at the cage upon waking, I remained under the impression for the majority of the day that an ugly unknown dog was sharing living space with Carmen. At 4 PM that day, I realized I didn’t have a dog. Who have been the most influential people in your life? Joe Colombo: Italian industrial designer during the ‘60s and ‘70s. His work was so ahead of its time, both in terms of design and functionality—died at 41 after living a life of innovation, drinking, and smoking. glass that allowed one to smoke and drink more easily at the same time. Colombo’s the type of genius who sincerely appreciated the brevity of his life and lived accordingly. I try to take as much of that with me as I can. Kip Fulbeck: Genius author of the Hapa Project, a series of undertakings which explore the defintion of multi-racialism for those of mixed descent. Not only is he a vibrant speaker, but he managed to cut right
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a suppressed race-conversation that many people have needed a guiding light on for a long time. His “100% mixed” slogan has stuck with me since I first heard him speak three years ago. What are the top three musicians that define your taste and why? Top three songs you can never get tired of? Lee Fields & The Expressions justify all that I can ask to appreciate in music. I tend to measure the strength of an artist by single works instead of compiled works, but these guys brought back everything there is to love about The Temptations and Sam Cooke (also favorites) and added what can be termed a hard, hip-hop kick. Their track “Ladies” is an absolute favorite. I can’t honestly say that there are many artists I’d gladly listen to on call at any time of day, but I have a somewhat embarrassing attachment to the music in a lot of foreign Nouvelle Vague films. Hard to not love Anna Karina and Jeanne Moreau—favorites from both include “Ma Ligne de Chance” and “Le Tourbillon” respectively. You have a t-shirt line called FLOC. What is the concept and what was the inspiration behind it? Concept behind our brand was very simple at first, and has remained so in our 1+ year of “official” operations: New York design-engineering on a limited edition product. We make 113 of each design, that being the sum of 40º and 73º, the latitude and longitude of New York City. We’ve worked to incorporate eco-friendliness into the model as much as possible and companies like Alternative
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Apparel, on which we print a good deal of our shirts, make this easy. As for inspiration, my partner and I always bring it back to the city streets. A walk home is a subtle opportunity for design ideas—street signs, neon store lights, canvas banners. We try to incorporate all the little things with which New Yorkers identify into our designs while preserving the bigger, more iconic expressions of NYC life that cannot be taken for granted.
shot keep me going. I almost never shoot outdoors with prior visual intentions, but if I happen to come upon a spot I like (i.e. Pershing Square on 42nd), I get a pretty clear idea of what I want in my camera before I leave for the day.
What is beauty to you? Beauty is an eye game. I always think that women can be beautiful only because of their eyes. All of the other positive attributes find solace in a selection of other descriptive adjectives. Literature, where it can surpass the appeal of I see that you are an avid the eyes in eloquence, seems to photographer. How would lack some of the sparkling, spontayou describe your tech- neous natural effect of the eyes. nique as an artist? Do you come up with a concept What do you think defines your first or do you just photo- generation? graph freely? What do you Facebook. It hurts to say, but we haven’t even seen a small fraction get out of it? The best thing about photog- of the effect this will have on poraphy for me, in the last year, litical (and election) culture in 20 has been the unbelievable or 30 years. force with which it moves me to meet the characters If you had the opportunity to creliving in this city. My ‘100 ate a new definition for the term Strangers’ project involves “teenager” what would it be? my photography, introducing Teenager is just another way of myself to, and writing about phrasing “messy”. On all fronts— passers-by on the street and emotional, developmental, physthe wealth of great stories ical—the day to day changes are that come from the simple incredibly volatile in a way that I willingness to ask someone don’t think life ever repeats again. to stand for a shot is so re- We have an unbelievable willingwarding. That, and a con- ness to reject hard and fast rules of stant need to figure out how all sorts, a quality too often disparto manipulate the few ma- aged. Is it comfortable? Not all the terials I have to get a better time. Necessary? Absolutely. ¶
Lily Bartle WORDS BY CHANTEL SIMPSON PHOTOS BY ANNABELL LEE
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Lily Frances Bartle is your standard teenage New York girl Who is Lily Bartle? Answer in the third person. Much like Billy Pilgrim, Lily Bartle is “unstuck in time.” Consequently, she often appears a little lost in space and time, as if she wandered into the wrong decade and is often dressed for the wrong occasion. She also has a little trouble with punctuality.
What do you do in your free time? I like to read and ride my bike. I like to paint, sew, and build things. I go through phases of obsessive collecting. Much of my time is spent taking things apart and putting them back together. As I mentioned earlier I like to do things by hand, I think that process is important. I like to take naps a lot too.
Describe yourself in twenty words or less. My hands are always dirty and callused and one of my eyes is much bigger than the other. How do you spend a typical Saturday? And how would your friends describe you? If I’m not working, sometimes I like Never on time, disorganized beyond human concep- to go to graveyards on Saturdays, tion, perhaps a little overly critical. “Human time- [and] depending on the weather, I capsule”/”fountain of information”. may or may not ride my bike. I may take a book or a picnic; there is also What kind of life do you live? a good chance that there will be anI am never lonely, while I thoroughly enjoy the com- other person there too. I go to a lot pany of my friends. I also enjoy a serendipitous drift, of yard sales. I really don’t have a sometimes for days at a time. I’ll always come home typical Saturday. A well spent Satbut I think isolation is good for a person. Whatever I urday is as untypical as I can poshave I like to be something I made myself, making sibly make it. things is a very important part of my life. Everything I do I do by hand. Describe a day in the life of Lily. Fall asleep, sleepwalk through the Union Square subway station, get on the wrong train, wake up in Queens, transfer to the right train, get to school, dissect a worm, converse with Dr. Pollock or Mr. Corfield (history teachers), doodle, hide in the painting studio until 3:15, get on the train, depending on the day I may or may not go to work at this point, if not, go home, sew and/or
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paint for 4-5 hours, read, watch The Twilight Zone, go to sleep. Strangest thing you have ever done in your life? 5 miles of walking through the boondocks of Austin, Texas only [to] find myself at an LSD renaissance fair complete with dragons, pregnant wizards, and minstrels. What are the top three musicians that define your taste? Top three songs you never get tired of? I could never do this in three so I’m changing it to 5 (which is still pretty hard). Five musicians who define my taste: Sun Ra, Lightning Bolt, Joy Division, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Jelly Roll Morton. I have fairly eclectic taste in music—this hardly covers it. Five songs I could never get tired of: “Bury the Hammer” - Beat Happening, “Out in the Streets” - The Shangrilas, “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” - Skip James, “Silly Love” - Daniel Johnston, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” - Bauhaus
Name a movie that defines you. Sleeper. While I love Annie Hall and Manhattan probably more than life itself and Sleeper may be considered a “screwball comedy”, it [has] always really resonated with me. Probably because I was raised watching it. What do you think defines your generation? Lady GaGa and the Bush Administration. What are friends for? All my friends play completely different roles in my life. And I have different relationships with all of them. If you were to create a new species of animal what would it be? Describe. A horse with the head of Bill Murray so I could ride it to school and it could tell me jokes on the way. If you had the opportunity to create a new definition for the term “teenager” what would it be? I think that the definition now is just fine. To make the criteria any more specific for someone [between] the age of thirteen to eighteen seems a little unfair. ¶
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Fluorescent Adolescent
Author Ned Vizzini paints us a portrait of a fictional American teenager: one Perry Buttner, age 13. NAME: Perry Buttner USERNAMES:_skynt,prolapze,moggFader, DrakoLitch, primortal00ze, JamesTaylor443, serratedPecs AGE: 13 HOMETOWN: San Diego, CA SCHOOL: Torrey Pines Junior High School INTERESTS: Magic: The Gathering, aka M:TG, aka Magic PROFESSIONAL GOAL: TO WIN $1M US PLAYING MAGIC: THE GATHERING PERSONAL STATEMENT: Let me put out the word right now to all n00bs who think that they can come and take me in Magic. You’re mine. I’ve been playing collectible card games since the age of three and it’s quite possible that I’ve already beaten you in nightmares that you don’t remember where you wet the bed. I’ve played everything from vintage Fruity Pebbles to Draw-Go to Jund Ramp and frequently, when I play MWS, I keep two or three windows open at once so I can beat two or three chumps at once. FAVORITE PEOPLE: On magicleague.com I like to hang out with my team, GushiSushi (wassup to DjinnQ, Shooter, and VineWolf!). In terms of
people irl, I don’t hang out with a lot of them at school. I play Magic with actual cards with some kids at lunch every day, but I’m too busy playing so I don’t remember their names. There’s one teacher who likes me—my English teacher, Ms. Alexander. She says that if I were to take my interest in CCGs and turn it to something creative, I could write fantasy novels or direct films or—hold up, this guy is messaging me to play a game. MOMENT OF GLORY: I don’t want to brag too much, but you never know, some people with high tourney rankings might be reading this, so I’m just gonna put it out there. I got a flame war with some punk n00bs from Portugal, and I destroyed this guy rarafuggi (I call him something else, but I don’t need to write it here). Basically, he started getting on me for not using Scion of Oona in a fae deck. Seriously? How are you supposed to match up against aggro and mirror with no Scion? He was saying, “People stopped using Scion a long time ago.” So I responded, “People stopped using your mom a long time ago.” And seriously, he never said anything again. Just disappeared. Shamed out of existence. LIKES/DISLIKES: What, like with girls? I don’t talk to girls.
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