During my only visit to the divided Berlin, in 1988, I had experienced the city in all its terrifying absurdity. I vividly recall the so-called ghost stations of the subway: Some Western subway lines passed through Eastern territory, resulting in a surreal commute. Imagine getting on the uptown 6 train at Union Square, but instead of stopping at 23rd, 28th and 33rd Streets, the train just slows down, and you are peeking out at dimly lit platforms patrolled by heavily armed soldiers from an enemy army. Then you get off at Grand Central to buy the paper and a bagel as if nothing had happened.

Over the Wall - Abstract City Blog - NYTimes.com

From May 2009, but appropriate for a resurrection today, exactly twenty years after the fall of the Berlin wall: Christoph Niemann explores his experience in Germany in the late ’80s and today.

As You Like It and The Tempest

Last spring, The Bridge Project launched its inaugural season at BAM with an outstanding ensemble of American and British actors in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of The Cherry Orchard. Led by Tony and Academy Award–winning director Sam Mendes, year two of The Bridge Project promises another stellar transatlantic lineup and an intriguing pairing of two Shakespeare plays as Mendes and company explore outcasts, power, and magical lands with their world premiering productions of the comedy As You Like It and The Tempest, considered to be Shakespeare’s last play.

I enjoyed the first installment and will be attending this if anyone wants to join! As You Like It is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. Tickets on sale December 7, starting at $25.

Barnes & Noble

…in a tiny workshop within the arcane and wonderful curiosity shop/mini-museum Proteus Gowanus. Inside the repair room, filled with thread, pliers, dead radios and chairs in disrepair, a small club of tinkerers called The Fixers Collective meets every week to mend and repurpose people’s broken down things, mostly for free.
(Brooklyn Based » The Fixers)

Spike Jonze Conjures Max’s World in ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ - NYTimes.com

I saw this at an advance screening this week (thank you SarahSpy); it was beautiful.

Maya Lin: Three Ways of Looking at the Earth » PaceWildenstein

“In Three Ways of Looking at the Earth, Lin has subjected three very different topographies (two real and one imagined) to dramatic shifts in scale that allow a re-imagining of our natural world as three-dimensional environments recreated in the interior space of a gallery. Lin further transforms viewers’ perspectives about the land and the sea by inviting them to navigate around, through and under these site-related installations… Maya Lin’s three installations, each created out of a single material, and each revealing something new and startling about the planet we inhabit, seek to enlighten viewers by challenging their psychological and physical relationship with the natural world.”

On view through October 24.

(via NFT)

Whoa. This is kind of genius.

The Grid-It organization system is a unique weave of rubberized elastic bands made specifically to hold personal objects firmly in place. Designed to provide endless configurations of digital devices and personal effects. Slim design and conveniently sized for your current laptop bag or travel case, lets you easily find what you need. Features rear zippered pocket for additional storage. ($22 at Flight 001)