If it were up to to me, which it isn’t, but if it were, I’d make a rule that when the mid-point of the year arrives unbidden and with a threatening attitude, it’d be possible to ask for an extra month, free of charge. But here we are. June. Yeesh!
At least I booked something fun to mark the occasion. Also, and more than ever, happy Pride! 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Alrighty, work stuff
One: I booked my first big Industrial! It’ll be for this little car company called [REDACTED], presenting internal education materials for their technicians and such. Acronyms and teleprompters, my two greatest passions (after graphic design and networking, ofc). Now I only need to book one of these a week every week for the next 40 years, and I’ll be able to retire.
Two: My transformation into the poor man’s poor man’s Brennan Lee Mulligan continues apace. I’m going to be part of a Twitch-streamed game of Stillfleet this Sunday (tomorrow!) at 2pm EDT, a first episode in a little adventure trilogy over the summer. Stillfleet is a table-top roleplaying game about working as a lowly employee of an East India Company-style enterprise 100 million years in the future. My character is a nanomachine-blooded vampire who has just woken up from a long cryosleep with four arms and a bad case of the Mondays. We’ll be exploring a gargantuan space object of unknown provenance. What could go wrong? Tune in here, if you like.
Three: I said I’d tell you about that movie I shot in April, Dying Alone. A promise is a promise, but in the interest of not writing another big ol’ essay, I’ve decided to rescue two birds with one bandage and share my myriad tales through… the podcast! I had director Caden Rodems-Boyd and producer Tris Arthur on for a nice chat that will definitely be released at some point in the nearish future. Be sure to follow the show on your service of choice to get it when it comes, as well as for more upcoming talks with other cool folks.
Four: As always, I’m here to shoot pictures or videos of your shows and events. My portfolio is on my website. Click click.
Bonus: If you have recommendations for things to do in London off the beaten path, intel on what shows are good right now, or suggestions for any vegan restaurants of note, please share.
NYC Mayoral Election reminders from your local Canadian
Important dates, friends! Last day to register for the primary is June 14th. The primary vote is on the 24th. Early voting opens on the 14th, through the 22nd. Link at the bottom of the email with further details you might need.
Say it with me now: don’t rank Cuomo!
Feel free to tell your friends/parents/neighbours/hookups that Cuomo sucks. On any given axis, there’s a disqualifying situation. Cuomo the sexual predator, Cuomo the billionaire-funded, Cuomo the botcher and liar of pandemic response, Cuomo the transphobic suburbanite, Cuomo the DOJ blackmail target, Cuomo the superPAC dark money cheat, Cuomo the Republican ally, Cuomo the more cops guy, Cuomo who says the n-word with a hard “R”, Cuomo the type of motherfucker we just don’t need any more of in our lives or politics, please!
Rank whoever you like, of course (as long as it’s not Cuomo), but as a favour to me why not make one of them Zohran Mamdani? Just please don’t leave any of the spots blank: Mayor Adams’ margin of victory over Kathryn Garcia in the 2021 primary was by one twentieth the number of still-unmarked ballots.
Newsletter futures
The line between newsletter and blog continues to blur (if ever it existed). I don’t know if you feel this way, but when I need to really figure out what I think about something, I gotta write about it. Since I don’t have space at an actual publication ever since I redirected my effort of wriggling worm-like into the great decaying corpse of journalism to instead skitter cockroach-like into the old condemned mansion of the theatre, I’m going to continue putting those sorts of things here.
Do feel free to skip my essayistic writing if you’re not interested, but I welcome your responses and feelings, always. Anyway, here’s some of what I’ve been thinking about and will probably write about in future newsletters, barring getting some great big gigs that I simply have to yell about (let’s hope!). If any of these are more the sorts of things you’d enjoy than others, let me know. There’s nothing in the rulebook that says you can’t pitch your audience.
The Amazon Basics® school of set and costume design, or the rancid theatrical incentives of a downright rotten culture.
The feeling I have, that I’d wager you might also have, of persistently arriving after the party is over.
Why the superficial embrace of traditional art and classical forms by fascists is exactly backwards from what makes those works worthwhile.
How to take pictures of a show: what I look for, why I look for it, how I get it, and how you can too (although you’d be better off hiring me, wink wink).
Browsing histories are archives of stolen time tended by the thieves themselves like the empty garden of a starving family like a discarded seed rotting in the earth. Or: here’s some links.
Big Joel with the good stuff.
Partiful + Palantir: maybe don’t!
we don't use partiful
NYC experimental live music calendar • noise, improv, jazz, new music, avant-electronics, weirdos • performance against corporate interests!
I keep hearing fellow artists talk about using The Cursèd Chatbots for elements of their work and I beg of you: think about what that means for like, half a second. A diptych:
Teachers Are Not OK
AI, ChatGPT, and LLMs "have absolutely blown up what I try to accomplish with my teaching."
Diabolus Ex Machina - by Amanda Guinzburg
This Is Not An Essay
And once more for the road: Cuomo? More like No-uomo!
Your guide to the June 2025 NYC primary elections - Gothamist
What you need to know to vote for mayor, comptroller and public advocate.
That’s all from me. Love ya!
Carl
This is the Carl Bindman Newsletter, for members of my professional or personal networks whom I think should get the scoop and be kept in the loop.
This newsletter was written on Lenapehoking, the occupied land of the Lenni Lenape.