“Crash” [Trailers]: Saw this at the AMC on Times Square. I went in very skeptical, but this film is totally engrossing. I don’t want to give anything away, but the film is more about challenging expectations, rather than being preachy about race relations. I wouldn’t say it’s “required viewing,” but it was a great feeling to walk out of the theater and feel like you didn’t just waste the last 2 hours of your life. In fact, we spent about an hour afterwards just talking about the issues it raised.

There were some cringe-worthy moments - some extremely artificial melodrama, and this whole recent trend of injecting “smart and witty” dialogue into scenes that don’t need it, not to mention the inclusion of Sandra Bullock, whose acting style may be even more wooden and forced than Julia Roberts. However, there were some amazing plot twists, and a scene where Ludacris, playing a carjacker, goes on an anti-rap tirade (could have been funnier if he played it better).

We actually skipped “The Aristocrats” to go see this. Reading the Village Voice review pretty much steered me away from it… I was already afraid the film had a bit of a weak premise. However, now I’m intrigued again, after reading Douglas’s review of it: “it was possibly the most shocking and revolting exposition i have witnessed in any medium in recent memory. in other words, near-euphoria. oh, and it’s a relief to discover that i can still be shocked.”

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Captain M writes: “At around 9:15 last night, the Hing Lung Restaurant (Vanderbilt and Park Pl.) had their moped stolen … it was yellow with red flames and a shiny but fake exhaust pipe. It had skinny wheels compared to most of the other delivery bikes. There was some talk that it was stolen by two kids … (Read more)

From An Englishman in New York: I came across this great garden sculpture on Sunday evening a couple of blocks from our apartment in Brooklyn. It looks to have been made from an old clothes horse, some old wire and a couple of pieces of plastic or glass. (Corner of Prospect Pl and Flatbush for anyone in the neighborhood who wants to see for themselves.)

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