By Christine Chen 6/29/12 6:10pm

the literary scene

Ishle Park, poet laureate of Queens, reads to the audience.

Asian American Writers’ Workshop Launches Three New Magazines

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop’s magazine launch party expected only around 300 guests to come and support their three new titles, but ended up hosting a much larger audience of all races and ethnicities.

“There were over at least 1,000 people at the party over the course of the night, likely more,” said Sara Faye Lieber, writer and digital media strategist for AAWW.

Participants ranged from Theresa Li, an activist for DREAM Act, to Marguerite Desir, a designer from the West Indies with diamond-studded sunglasses and a heavily beaded necklace.

“It’s connecting the dots together,” Ms. Desir said. “I believe we are all connected, and in not staying to one tradition and spreading it out.”

The crowd only quieted down to a loud murmur when the party’s main event began and speakers such as artist Julio Salgado, Bhangra music mixer DJ Rekha, Queens poet laureate Ishle Park, writer Tao Lin and Christina Xu, founder of the Awesome Foundation, took the stage. Even then Comedy Central’s Hari Kondabalu, sent several quips towards the food and drinks stands in addition to his repertoire of race-related jokes. Read More

By Velvet Roper staff 6/29/12 2:00pm

Question of the Week

15 Photos

Burger King

Question of the Week: What Was Your First Job?

It’s a telling piece of information, the first way a person earned money. That starter job undoubtedly shapes attitudes about work from then on, and how one describes their first paying gig reflects their level of respect for a hard day’s labor.

What does it mean, then, that so many celebs we talked to this week have been fired, or quit after just a few days on the job? Hugh Jackman, Judah Friedlander and Chaske Spencer—all of them offer excuses of varying degrees of credibility for being canned in their early days.

Cory Booker on the other hand, rather unsurprisingly, was a self-starter and young businessman. Both Tavi Gevinson and Miss Universe surmise that they currently occupy their first jobs (respectively, editor and… Miss Universe). And can you guess which two stars worked at Burger King and quit almost immediately?

Click through for more enlightening answers. Read More

By Margaret Nickens 6/29/12 11:51am

Q&A

Brent Barbour. (Photo by flickr.com/imonfort)

The NYC Bicycle Film Festival Starts Tonight, And We Spoke (Sorry) with its Founder Brendt Barbur

Twelve years ago, Brendt Barbur was happily riding his bicycle through the streets of New York City when one oblivious driver doored the hapless biker, throwing him into the path of an oncoming bus. “I saw the light,” Mr. Barbur said, quickly adding, “just kidding.” While he was able to walk away from the accident with limbs in tact, it inspired him to found the Bicycle Film Festival (adorably acronymed BFF) to “do something positive for bikes,” he said. Since its 2001 founding, the festival has traveled to over 30 cities around the world, including Moscow, Sydney, Paris, San Francisco and, of course, New York. This weekend BFF is back for the 12th annual Bicycle Film Festival NYC, and before the credits roll tonight at Anthology Film Archives, Mr. Barbur sat down with The Observer to talk about snooty bikers, lemonade massages and Meryl Streep’s secret biking fetish. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 6/29/12 11:00am

the eight-day week

"Newsies"

To Do Sunday: Sing Out, Louise!

Stage parents—especially those who enjoyed that newspaper-tearing number at the Tonys this year—are to be advised that the award-winning choreographer from Newsies is holding a public audition workshop today in order to educate would-be future stars. The whole wingding is part of a week of audition workshops for theatrical happenings like TV’s Smash and the Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 6/29/12 10:00am

the eight-day week

The Park Avenue Armory

To Do Saturday: Surround Sound

For those who are into more intellectual stimulation than the Hamptons can provide (shocking, but true: there are more engaging places for the human mind!), we suggest checking in with the New York Philharmonic, which is ending its season in a dramatic fashion. The orchestral outfit is putting on Philharmonic 360, a program that considers Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 6/29/12 8:00am

the eight-day week

The Styleliner

To Do Friday: Diffusion Liner

The StyleLiner may be the perfect vehicle for our times. Per its founder/curator (it’s true) Joey Wolffer’s description, it’s a curated (yes, that word again) set of limited-edition fashion pieces, driving around in a big former potato chip truck. Fashion’s now as much an impulse buy as a Mister Softee cone with butterscotch dip! Well, Read More

By Melissa Wiley 6/28/12 6:11pm

Charity Events

Boris Kodjoe, Kelly Bensimon and Unik Ernest (Courtesy of R. Couri Hay PR)

A (Unik) Birthday

Allegedly, Kelly Killoren Bensimon can make you hot – and make you spend money. “Everyone should feel guilty if you don’t leave here without spending money,” she and her dapper co-host Boris Kodjoe said to a chic and tropically-clad audience gathered at last night’s fifth annual Edeyo Gives Hope Ball, at Lower East Side’s DL lounge. Read More

By Drew Grant 6/28/12 2:45pm

Premiere parties

Zosia Mamet and Alex Karpovsky (Patrick McMullan)

Savages Afterparty: Life Imitating Girls

Okay, so they are not a real-life couple (we asked), but last night at Bagatelle NY , where The Peggy Siegal Company and The Wall Street Journal were hosting an after-party for Oliver Stone’s  Savages (sponsored by Vitamin Water: favorite  beverage of Mexican drug lords), we saw Girls‘s Alex Karpovsky and Zosia Mamet posing for pictures and totally wanted to believe that this could be a thing. Right? How cute would that be? Read More