Weekly Review #284 - NYC Local Tips, Kratom, and Reusable Consumer Goods
Our month living in NYC is coming to an end, so here's all my best findings:
Bars: Burp Castle (exotic beers amidst whispers), Death and Co and Please Don't Tell (speakeasies), Caveat (nerdy smart events), Le Bain at the Standard (rooftop with pool), Brooklyn Barge (on the river).
Live Shows: BATSU! (Japanese improv gameshow dinner), Never Sleep Alone (raunchy singles sex doctor revue), House of Yes (festival esque club and circus), Baby's All Right, Brooklyn Bowl (combo bowling alley), Avant Gardner (giant warehouse raves), H0l0 (experimental), Live Band Karaoke(!), So Far Sounds (intimate concerts in odd places).
Event Spaces: Magick City (Kombucha brewery), Rubulad (Burner space), Prime Produce (digital first co op), Hacienda (sex positive coliving mansion)
Attractions: Mmuseumm (tiny found objects museum), Interference Archive (social activism library), Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co (secretly teaching kids writing), Phluid Project (worlds' first gender free retail store), 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge (fancy sustainable hotel with killer rooftop views). Fort Greene Park (babies and dogs!), any of the wreck rooms (pay to break stuff)
Groups: Joy List Newsletter (connection based events), NYC Salon (TED talks with friends), Lightning Society (conscious socialites), NYC Coworking Network, (friendly free Fridays coworking) Devin the professional wizard.
Resources: NYC Ravers Subreddit sidebar for EDM venues, Atlas Obscura for the bizarre, No Proscenium for immersive theater, Lucky Seat lottery for last minute cheap Broadway tickets.
Pair this with my NYC guide from 2015 for my entire knowledge. Don't forget MuseumHack's killer curated tours!
I first drank Kratom at a Kava bar in Brooklyn this week, which gave me a mild marijuana-esque high, but without the paranoia, plus it tastes good (unlike Kava)!
Apparently the FDA doesn't like this plant, and is trying to make it a Schedule 1 because you can overdose on it, but hey, everything in moderation, right?
Tech
Shop for brands now redesigned to be smarter and waste free — loopstore.com
They got manufacturers to agree to make consumer goods in reusable packaging, and then this service collects the packages in a special bag, cleans em, and gives em back to the manufacturer.
What an excellent third party way of aligning incentives! (cost per unit is far lower for manufacturers when reusable packaging is used)
Lifehacks
Irish cultural pride gives this cosmopolitan second thoughts - The Washington Post — www.washingtonpost.com
"The Gaeltacht is one of the few places where the promotion of a native identity is utterly uncontroversial. But for Irish to survive, people must speak a lot less English."
Cosmopolitan modernity optimizes for cultural optionality, not commitment. But commitment brings its own treasures....
Stepping Into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun | The New Yorker — www.newyorker.com
Hilarious read about going to that annual Chinese show that advertises so hard you've certainly seen an ad for it. I didn't know it was put on by the Falun Gong, and also blacklisted in China!
Fun
The Battle of the Bastards , An In Depth Look | Game of Thrones Season 6 Behind the Scenes — www.youtube.com
Did you catch the Battle for Winterfell this week? Greatest battle scene of all time!
Check out all the work that went into their previously largest battle scene here - I had no idea how much effort went into these shots.