582: NYC '25 tips, Trump's law firm plea deals, and embodied techno
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I fly back to SF tomorrow, so here’s the long awaited 2025 edition of my NYC tips. No duplicates, so pair with my 2023 NYC guide to cover all your bases and get links.
But first I must issue a revision to my subjective comparison of SF vs NYC lifestyles from the last guide. I think I’m ready to move here.
It engenders many feelings, given I’ve spent my entire adult life and the last ten years in San Francisco. But what got me ‘here’ won’t get me ‘there’, and I’m ready to explore facets of my identity that are better served outside my cozy techie/hippie monoculture. Everything I said 2 years ago holds true; it just looks much shinier to me now.
Because I love you all, for the first time I went through and meticulously turned this into a Google Maps layer. You’re welcome!
Firsthand Impressions from My Last Guide
I attended several 57 events and enjoyed their creatives/business community. They’re doing interesting things with a community app that matches people too.
I went to a CAMP event which is indeed wonderful. These are my people.
I went to The Stranger club, which was as wild as promised with immersive room sets, roving clowns, big stage costumes, and lil quests scattered throughout. Bummer about all the drunk 22 year olds in the crowd, though.
Play parties: Wandering Eyes is no more and I hear mixed reviews about Hacienda and NSFW. TopFloor and Vesper are newcomers with high marks. I went to Hit Me Up which was great, plus Space Invader, although a bit cliquey. The House bar is a common venue for these groups.
I went to a Theater XIV show, and it was hands down the best burlesque/cabaret I have ever seen. Go Go Go!
I did not make it to Nowadays but saw confirmation it offers the mythical Berlin Sisyphos experience with all-weekend outdoor club parties. While the Basement club under Knockdown center is said to offer the indoor underground techno Berlin experience.
I forgot to mention Caveat last time! Wonderful nerdy comedic programming.
Performing Arts
Shadow Traffic does fun weird urban activations like competitive winter picnicking or the human sled dograce Idiotarod.
Lazer Pants are an adorable clown couple for hire that do events all around.
A Huge Flop aggregates all the clown events in the city, with gratitude.
Clown Cult was incredibly clowny, welcoming, and talented. Love them.
The Wayward Mime and Alienz Incorporated throw great Burner events.
Nightlife
I met this lady at a bar with a big GMaps list of nightlife venues in the city. And my friend Andrea runs this city so anything she recommends should be good.
Xanadu Roller Arts is a proper roller disco with club nights.
I hear good things about FACETIME queer forward techno events.
Other Spots
Calyx Vida is a cozy members only spa in BedStuy every week.
Fractal Tech Hub is a delightful coworking space affiliated to a coliving community nearby. Anyone who likes SF vibes will be at home.
Technology
LeaseBreak is a website that lets you take over people’s leases in NYC, which may prove helpful for me soon.
My friend Sahar is a true AI expert in a field of many fakes, so I’m excited to dive into his ‘vibe coding’ guide on working with AI coding tools.
YourMoveAI rewrites your dating app bio and tells you what to say to each text response. I could see this working very well if it actually had data on what kinds of bios and texts get matches and responses, but I imagine only the actual apps have that data, and they don’t give you must beyond general best practices. This is only as good as its dataset.
My friend David over at Serial Marketers has a great list of Job Seeker resources listed here.
Ideologies
You may or may not have heard about the top law firms in the country striking what are essentially plea deals with the Trump administration offering millions in pro bon legal work for Trump’s agenda in return for no Executive Branch sanctions.
I don’t like anything about this. :(
Memes
The ten rules of techno is a fun dance performance embodying the key elements of a techno song with group dance moves.
Ten years later, but I somehow only just now saw this TED talk edit of that one Shia Labeouf motivational speech. Apparently he recorded it following an art student’s direction for a final project!