by David Peace (1999)

David Peace’s Nineteen Seventy Four is both a typical and atypical serial killer drama. Typical in that it focuses on a overly creative killer who leaves behind a trail of the kind of imagery pop-pulp authors can not seem to write enough of these days; typical in that I could almost exactly envision the BBC series it would spawn (actually, as I’ll mention later, 1974 – along with the other books in the quartet – has already been made into a series which will be in theaters soon); and typical in its gritty toughness.

Yet it’s atypical in just how gritty and tough it gets. This book, filled with violent beatings and equally violent love, is one that gets your hands and mind dirty. It’s also atypical in its staccato voice, which makes the giant, convoluted web of conspiracy, corruption and madness a little side-of-the-head-whoppingly hard to follow.

There were definitely times where I had to re-read pages, lost in the pacing, the references to British pop culture of the seventies, and the slang. Not to mention a list of character names that confuse, not in a Dostoevskian way with their complexity, but in their commonality (Johns, Roberts, and Eddies abound).

The first part of a quartet (I have the other three coming in the mail), Peace’s heralded crime drama was inspired by the horrific crimes of Peter Sutcliffe, aka The Yorkshire Ripper, though the child killer here is only one part of a whole cast of genuinely horrible people that litter the city. Heroes are not to be found in this world, which makes this a recommendation with a particular admonishment: this novel is not for the faint-hearted and it is not for those that want to feel good.

The theatrical release of the adaptation (starring among others, Sean Bean) comes to IFC Feb 5 but the entire series is available on DVD for region 2 players.

Click here for the rest of Nineteen Seventy Four

A Beloved Author

J.D. Salinger is one of the writers who has moved me most. I try to read Nine Stories once every couple years and its contents still touch me, so I was bummed to hear of his recent natural, though in no way untimely (the man was 91), passing.

I’m sure the publishing world is racked with curiosity as to whether or not this means that new work will finally emerge from the notoriously reclusive writer’s New Hampshire lair (or whether or not Salinger’s heirs will immediately sell all the rights in the manner of the Seuss widow, finally giving Hollywood the chance to cast Shia Labeouf as Holden Caulfield and subject the author’s oeuvre to the various exploitations and degradations Seuss’s work suffered after his death), but the books he’s already left behind are so amazing, legendary, and life-changing that if you haven’t read any of his stories (which I don’t believe many of you haven’t) don’t delay in discovering one of America’s most perfect bodies of work.

1648 2nd Avenue

As you’ll soon read on this week’s website pick, Bier Hall Crawl, my dear friend Mike has taken on the challenge of eating in every German beer hall in the five boroughs. This little endeavor means all sorts of schnitzel and pretzels for me! We began with a reservation at the seventy four year old Yorkville stalwart, Heidelberg, where the beer flows freely (and sometimes in giant glass boots) and the staff dons traditional costumes.

The menu is full of traditional dishes including Schnitzel a la Holstein – which my favorite way to take a schnitzel: with a fried egg, anchovies, and capers. It was the most impressive looking dish of the night (as you can see from the photo) and it was delicious despite the egg being far too set for my taste.

I got try a less familiar German favorite (and one that my friend Astrid enjoyed as a kid with her Oompah in Austria), Liver Dumpling Soup, a belly warming treat that I doubt can be found in many restaurants today. The dumplings are essentially like a matzo ball, but with veal.

Friends enjoyed bratwurst, meatballs in mustard sauce, and fluffy giant potato pancakes. How we managed dessert is almost beyond me, but I really wouldn’t pass on the refreshing Rote Gruetze, a raspberry, cherry, strawberry compote with vanilla sauce.

If you are extra lucky, Werner will play you a tune or two on his polka-ready accordion. Great place for a group.

Click here for the rest of Heidelberg

9 Doyers Street

Like any good new wave speakeasy, Apotheke is hidden behind a nondescript old Chinatown storefront, down a small windy road (Doyers, one of my favorite streets in the city) and you’d never know it was there unless you were in the know.

Apotheke means pharmacy or drugstore, or a place for the art, practice or profession of preparing, preserving, compounding, and dispensing medical herbs, elixirs or potions. The team and theme here is appropriately medical and the staff plays along with lab coats and a menu that reads like old-timey makeshift healing elixirs.

The space is dark and snugly, but a bit on the contemporary side of its roots as an opium den. The walls are beautifully scruffy brick, the couches look plucked from a Victorian parlor and the bathroom has some quirky copper Fraggle Rock style pipes that are worth taking a look at. But that’s all surface, and none of it matters if the drinks are no good, but whatever it was I ordered (something frothy infused with tea, if I recall) was delicious. Might not be the best place with crowds on a Saturday night but I’d come back for an early drink with ambiance.

329 Lafayette St.

Eye Candy on Lafayette is a peaceful little treasure trove of accessories and, if you know me, you know how I feel about accessories (I love, I adore, I get chills). I particularly loved, adored and got chills from a fantastic, giant swan/crystal claw ring that I spotted a few months back designed by Brooklynite Bora Yasar. I was out to buy gifts for others at the time, so with all the strength I could muster, left it in its place. But now that my birthday draws near(ish), I went back and the ring was still there – so I simply had to have it.

Now it adorns my finger daily. I also grabbed a pair of wonderfully flat, dangly modernist earrings that I get a lot of use out of – but the shop is full of scores of other little beauties I wouldn’t say no to (like a giant pair of tribal hoop earrings)… but restraint is a virtue, right? A calm Tim Gunnesque man runs the place and can offer you gift certificates for the accessory lovers in your life.

Click here for the rest of Eye Candy

Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher Sketch Comedy

Rich Fulcher is probably best known as moronic American zoo manager Bob Fossil and Matt Berry can be found starring in a substantial number of my favorite things (Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place and AD/BC as well as the Boosh… he recently appeared in an episode of the Sarah Silverman program which really upset me because I don’t want her sleeping with him!) so you can imagine how excited I was when Mike and Shaun returned from LA with a copy of Snuff Box, a musical comedy series written by and starring Berry and Fulcher.

The two of them are so charming that the combination of Fulcher’s weirdly naive, awkwardly earnest physicality combined with Berry’s haughty impatience and perhaps the best voice in contemporary comedy would be funny even if it were just a string of swear words and farting… which is exactly what Snuff Box happens to kind of be… plus some really dark weirdness.

They play friends – well, maybe not friends exactly… comrades, I suppose – who are members of a gentleman’s club exclusively for hangmen. Episodes of their adventures in the hanging business are interspersed with sketches that are often very funny, but just as often downright odd. The six existing episodes (plus a disc of Berry’s music from the series – which will become lodged in your head for days) are available in a handsome boxed set you’ll want to pick up at Amoeba, if you happen to have an all-region DVD player.

Much to the dismay of the cult show’s devoted fans (myself now included), a second season was never commissioned by BBC. I’ve included some clips and a number of stills after the jump.

Click here for the rest of Snuff Box

from The Kitchn and Cooking Light

Want to throw a brunch party right? Start with one or both of these crowd pleasing egg and bread dishes. My friend Lindsay served this delicious Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole at a recent birthday brunch while I served this Brie and Egg Strata (successfully substituting french bread for ciabatta). Late morning perfection, both.

by John Franklin Bardin (1946)

Surrealism, psychology and noir have been friends before in popular fiction (see the Hitchcock and Dali collab Spellbound, which came out around the same time) but in John Franklin Bardin’s The Deadly Percheron, it gets a little quirkier and less artful than that. Leprechauns, multiple states of amnesia, Coney Island freaks, stolen identities, giant horses and forced electric shock therapy all come into play. Is it all cohesive and believable? Of course not! But it’s a quick pleasure to read and a unique entry in the over crowded genre of pulp novels written in the forties.

Bardin was a native Ohioan turned New Yorker (as so many Ohioans tend to be) who is most known for this novel and two others (The Last of Philip Banter and Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly) though none have exactly made him a household name.