The Mail

OK, We Admit It... We Are Biased

Dear Free Williamsburg,

I've been meaning to write and tell you how simple, annoying and reactionary your politics are. Your "About Us" section falsely announces that, "do not want direction, a mission, or a political slant. We want to be open." You also say, "We have no political agenda and no artistic biases." Does it feel fresh and free to say that? You thought your witticism of "George Bush rhymes with Pig Fucker" to be so funny and clever that you've had it on your site for months, like a teenager who's tattooed a ying yang or fraternity symbol. Your view on the Iraq war was so whiny, condescending and preplanned I was surprised and saddened. Liberals of your ilk hate Bush so much that you support the opposite of whatever he says. The majority of the Iraqi people are thrilled that the US invaded and ousted the raping, torturing and murdering Saddam regime, but all you can say is that the US is meddling and greedy. All of you loved the well-read Clinton even though he gutted the welfare state like a Republican could only dream of. Ok, that's it. I'm still an avid reader.

The Publik House

Dear Free Williamsburg,

In regard to Grant Moser's article about Phil Gjenesaj and WPH:

I just read the article by Grant Moser's about the Williamsburg Publik House
and Phil Gjenesaj and I am very surprised.

I have absolutely no idea what happened with the WPH or with McKilligan, so
I have no comments on these events, nor on whether Phil Gjenesaj is the bad
guy here. But I would like to bring a different perspective on the man to
your readers, because my experience of Phil Gjenesaj has been more than
positive.

I lived for about 3 years in one of the apartments Phil Gjenesaj rented and
I always considered my self very lucky to have him as my landlord. He has
always been kind, respectful, honest and reliable. He always got out of his
way to help us when we needed something. Very personable, friendly, a hard
worker: someone I always personally judged as having great moral character.

One year, when a sudden death in my family put me in financial dire and
forced me to pay for unexpected flights and other expenses, Phil told me to
not worry about the rent until I could pay him.

And he had no reason to be nice. He was not getting anything in particular
in return, except my rent money (which by the way, he never ONCE raised in 3
years, despite the hikes in W'burg rent prices)

This is why I am so surprised by his portrayal in the article. I would
definitely give him the benefit of the doubt. I have nothing but good things
to say about the guy.

He Also Loved Titanic

Yo. I was just reading "The Hipster Handbook," and you guys where doing
pretty good there until then end. Then you went and, like, dropped the
ball on the freakin' one yard line by dissing Roger Ebert.

I realize you were probably just using The Popularity Transitive Property,
e.g.

Ebert is popular
Ebert reviews movies
Popular movies suck
--------------------
ergo, Roger Ebert sucks

But if you check out imdb.com for just about any of the movies you listed
as "Hipster Cinema," I think you'll find that Ebert actually
endorsed most of them.

Crumb (4/4)
Barton Fink (3.5/4)
Down By Law (3/4)
Manhattan (4/4 -- well, that's kind of a no-brainer ...)
Dazed and Confused (3/4)
Faster Pussycat Kill Kill (3/4)
Do The Right Thing (4/4)

Yeah, so he hated Blue Velvet. But he recognized the genius of
"Mulholland Dr." so it's hard to fault him.

Plus, Ebert was one of the few critics who recommended Buffalo 66 when it
first came out, and then -- after Gallo was lauded as an Indie filmmaker
guru and reviewers were falling all over each other to suck his ass --
called his latest film ("Brown Bunny") a steamin' hunk of crud.

Gallo responded by calling Ebert "a fat pig." When rumors surfaced that he
(Gallo) had appologized for the slur, he denied them, saying "The only
thing I'm sorry for is putting a curse of Roger Ebert's colon." Ebert's
reply: "I am not too worried. I had a colonoscopy once, and they let me
watch it on TV. It was more entertaining than The Brown Bunny." If you
ask me, the only thing hipper than fawning over indie directors is having
the balls to call bullshit on them when they try and pull a fast one.

I write to announce my intentions of subscription. Furthermore i intend to illuminate the inconsistencies and fractured logic of your political stances....whoa do hipsters have political affiliations!?!...with all your self-depreciations and disinterested attendances of live music and John Deer mesh-hat fetishes and readings of esoteric undergrounded B-list ‘authors’ and borrowings of parents earning and NPR interviews and cataloging of ‘hipster’ attributes and self-aggrandizing postings of wit/whims and the penultimate hallmark of ‘alternative sub-culture publications’: restaurant/movie/music reviews...with all of your quaint practices of cerebral celerity, it is ironic that the political arenas access your acumen. ‘bush rhymes w/ pig fucker’....is this person worthy of your attention?!?...hipsters vote?!?....hipsters participate?!?...in the franchise of casting ballots?!?...where was that question...do you vote?..in the hipster quiz!?!....ohmagosh i may have already satisfied my own challenge..to illuminate the inconsistencies of Freewilliamsburg......you make no provisions for participation as a prerequisite for ‘hipster-ness’ ...so by what logic do you trumpet ‘impeach bush’?!?......absol-fuckin-lutely disconnected is your patronizing ‘one republican friend’ attribute in hipster-ness....yet you fail to affirm the foil ‘ its hip to have your 15 Democrat friends’....NPR introduced me to your existence several weeks ago on Morning Ed. (and NPR is deck) and to the hipster persona....however upon minimal exposure to your www, it is obvious that ‘hipster’ is some shibboleth for another cabal of radical left-winged/liberal Democrat extreme-ism. The lengths you will take to advance medacity......’hipster’... what a dose of bilge!

Disclaimer from the Editor:
Opinions addressed in FREEwilliamsburg are
not necessarily our own, godammit!