491: NYC '23 Tips, Pan vs Bisexuality, and affirmative action context
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I’m back in the SF Bay Area after 2+ weeks in NYC, which means time for a Tips post! I did most of the things on this list, but not 100% of them.
A subjective comparison of my NYC vs SF lifestyles:
Your mileage may vary.
TLDR: I still prefer SF because it has the best techie hippie monoculture, aka my culture, and while NYC offers many more subcultures to choose from, I already know which I like most. The others are nice to dip into though. :)
SF has underground events every night if you know the right people and are in the right communities. NYC has events every night no matter who you are. It probably also has a deep underground that I barely scratched, but the preponderance of niche cool public events means I imagine more socializing takes place ‘aboveground’.
Likewise, the ‘small fish, big pond’ effect is so pronounced that I hear fishes tend to congregate in even smaller niches. Ex: the kink community in SF welcomes all kinksters, even if you don’t share the same kink. In NYC I heard the kinksters only hang out with their likeminded kinksters, because there’s enough of them.
It’s nice to socialize with people from non-tech industries. Artists who aren’t just surviving but thriving. Folks with different perspectives, though they’re all workaholics working long hours, since they’re not cushy tech jobs.
The immersive shows I went to were far less interactive than the stuff I do in the Bay, likely because they had actual professionals doing the interacting. The end result is a better show, but one where you’re more of a consumer.
Burner Adjacent
CAMP festival collaborators, Lightning Society, Space Invader Social events
Rubulad, 57 NYC, Gemini and Scorpio, The Chai Spot venues
Sex Positive
Hacienda, Hit Me Up, New Society for Wellness, Wandering Eyes events
Museum of Sex - looked lame touristy but has amazing sexy weird carnival games!
Spas:
I went to the Spa Castle in Queens which had many fun amenities like a gold plated sauna and targeted jets, but it felt a bit rundown and crowded.
I hear Sojo Spa in Jersey (pictured) is the way to go, or Bathhouse Williamsburg.
The World Spa in Brooklyn and and AIRE ancient baths look expensive.
NYC Characters
Hilda the Earth climate rapper, Matt Silver transgressive clown, Ed Malone’s weekly clown/improv classes, Richie the yoyo rapper, Mother Pigeon fake pigeons
Life is Meeting does intellectual gatherings discussing ideas, though more social than actual progress.
Performing Arts:
Limited runs: Empire Strips Back Star Wars burlesque, The Infinite Wrench by the New Futurists (I didn’t enjoy their ‘not quite improv’ but hey, it’s unique), The Sphere at the Shed (360 dome audiovisuals),
Broadway: HP and the Cursed Child and Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Touristy expensive for unique spenders: Sloomoo slime factory, the Gazillion Bubbles show, the Beat the Bomb paint bomb escape room with laser maze, Asi Wind’s magic show
Immersive: Theater XIV cabaret, and of course anything at the McKittrick Hotel (they do Sleep No More)
Nightlife
House of Yes for a women-owned consent-forward colorful club (but it still a club with all such profit incentives), Nowadays for Berlin biergarten style outdoors, The Good Room for deep dark techno, (pregame at Ponyboy), The Box NYC and The Stranger NYC recently opened offering unique experiences.
Other experiences:
Walk the East Village on a weekend evening to see everyone hot and dressed up
Take the ferry from DUMBO to anywhere to get cheap manhattan water views
Willysburg: Domino waterfront park, McCarren park for lawless nightlife
Central Park: The Ramble forested walkways and big rocks near Colombus Circle
South Williamsburg to enter a parallel realm entirely populated by Orthodox Jews
The Cloisters at the Met - Medieval art in a medieval monastery way uptown
Palisades Interstate Park - 1 hour driving nature, big rocks and cliffs over the Hudson river.
Resources I searched to find my Tips:
Nonsense Nyc, The Joy List, Time Out New York, Everything Immersive, Atlas Obscura, The Culture Trip, Resident Advisor, EDM Train, private chat threads
Don’t forget my 2018 NYC guide to cover all your bases.
Technology
This piece on digital nomad gentrification puts new stats and POVs to an old story.
Mindease is an app that helps combat anxiety with gamified exercises.
Some friends are hosting weekly AI events in SF as Endless AI Summer.
Ideologies
The Queer Majority wants anyone with any abnormal sexual interest, from chubby chasers to ‘old maids’, to identify as ‘queer’, as that helps push the Overton window.
I’m afraid of appropriating THE term from the LGBT crowd myself, but the argument holds water.
Likewise, this piece on the difference between pansexuality and bisexuality was eye opening. Boomer activists cling to the bi identity they fought for, while nonbinary youth claim it enforces a binary (apparently it need not etymologically!)
My favorite autistic philosophy professor Agnes Callard put out a hit piece on travel here, but I think she attacked tourism instead of travel.
Nothing can open your mind to other perspectives like conversant travel can - but yes, if you’s stuck in museums and attractions the whole trip, surely you’ve lost the plot.
Memes
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the recent Supreme Court ruling because I didn’t truly understand affirmative action. After another Hasanabi zinger breaking it down, now I can be upset and disappointed like everyone else I know. :(
I know, I know, Corey is talking about his weird EDM genres again, but honestly, the latest aftermovie from the world’s largest hardstyle festival is on another level of event and video production. Cuts from day to night shots synced on the beat!
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Excellently written and super interesting Corey. Thanks for sharing!