Felted fish and good jeans/genes

‘Dear New York’ — A Photographic Love Letter to “the World’s Greatest City”

Photographer Brandon Stanton, creator of Humans of New York (HONY), has announced a new book titled “Dear New York”, coming in October 2025. The book continues his influential storytelling project, which began in 2010 as a street photography blog and quickly grew into a powerful platform for human connection.

HONY started with a simple idea: stop strangers on the street, take their photo, and share whatever story they’re willing to tell. The project went viral within a few years and evolved into longform, deeply personal interviews — touching on everything from addiction and heartbreak to joy, resilience, and humor. It became a cultural phenomenon, inspiring countless adopters and imitators.

One of HONY’s most popular sequence of posts appeared in 2019, featuring a woman known as Tanqueray — a wildly charismatic ex-con turned go-go and burlesque dancer who lit up NYC nightlife in the ’60s and ’70s. Her story captivated millions. In 2020, HONY shared 32 more posts about her life, helped raise $2 million in support, and later published her memoir.

Now, 15 years after launching HONY, Stanton’s looking to give back in a bigger way. The book “Dear New York” is a love letter of sorts to the city and its endlessly compelling people. In a written statement, Stanton says he plans to reinvest 100% of his proceeds into public art, and any additional royalties will go to NYC-based charities.

There’s also an open call for “NYC photographers who document their own communities” to be part of an exhibition, have their work spotlighted on HONY, and receive $10,000. Ten photographers will be selected. To throw your proverbial hat in the running, email a few examples of your work to [email protected] along with your website, social media handles, neighborhood, and a short bio. As Stanton puts it: “What’s your story?”

Shipping “Liamela”

Who knew that The Naked Gun could set in motion our new favorite couple? We don’t know about you, but we can’t get enough of the “are they or aren’t they?” romance between actors Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, who we are now dubbing “Liamela.” Their sweet interactions on the press tour for The Naked Gun remake have been setting the internet on fire, even though the couple has been coy about confirming their romance.

“Official sources” say they’re together, and we really hope that’s the case. Bad romantic choices have always plagued Pamela, and Liam has largely remained single since his wife, Natasha Richardson, passed away tragically in 2009. Whether they’re gushing over each other in interviews or reenacting Jack and Rose on the Titanic, this is the feel-good moment we need right now.

Could this be a case of a PR push taking advantage of their chemistry, à la Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga? Possibly, but we really hope that’s not the case. Pamela has seen a Renaissance over the last few years, with her makeup-free look, a 2023 Netflix documentary that reframed how she was treated during her 90s heyday, and an award-worthy performance in The Last Showgirl. As for Liam, not only is he a well-respected actor, but he’s always come off as a solid, kind human being.

Whatever it may be — lifelong friends or lifelong partners — we’re rooting for them. Long live Liamela!

Who doesn’t love a later-in-life romance to give us all a little hope?

• 📷 Reuben Wu once again wows us with his ethereal light paintings. In a continuation of his Thin Places series, he’s draping remote landscapes with sheets of light that make us swoon.

• 🎨 In a case of iconic street art meeting iconic architecture, Banksy’s 2019 stencil in Venice has been removed by none other than Zaha Hadid Architects. The firm is overseeing the renovation of the 17th-century palazzo where the mural was placed, now that it’s been purchased by a bank. Exposure to salt water has caused deterioration over time, but isn’t that what street art is supposed to be about? Oh, wait, we forgot, ephemeral art doesn’t exist when Banksy’s auction prices are in play. In a twist, I’m sure the anti-capitalist artist will love, once “restored,” the piece will be put on display by the bank.

• 🍁 The National Galleries of Scotland is honoring land artist Andy Goldsworthy with a retrospective that spans his five decades of work. Through immersive installations, photographs, and sculpture, visitors will be brought into his creative world, where nature takes center stage.

• 🔌 With Clear History, Thomas Doyle invites us into a miniature dystopian world where classical sculpture and modern technological problems merge.

• 🧶 British contemporary artist Lucy Sparrow has once again opened a pop-up installation disguised as a store filled with adorable felted objects. This time, it’s a fish-and-chips shop in the UK called Bourdon Street Chippy featuring 65,000 hand-stitched items that took her and her team 8 months to complete. The public can step in and purchase their own cute plushy takeaway. But don’t expect usual chippy prices. A large hand-sewn fish and chips will cost you £450 (about $600).

• 📺 Deep cuts to federal funding are trickling down and affecting a long-time backer of NPR, PBS, and local TV & radio stations. According to The New York Times, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will close down next year. Don’t worry, Elmo and Where We Live won’t be going away, but local TV stations — particularly in rural areas — that rely heavily on CPB for support are at risk of going dark.

• ☀️ Art and environment merge in Edmonton, Canada, which is home to the world’s largest solar panel mural. Indigenous artist Lance Cardinal designed the figurative part of the mural, which complements the building-integrated photovoltaic panels. Retrofitted onto a pre-existing building and providing an annual reduction of 150 tons of carbon emissions, it’s a shining example for other urban centers.

• 👖 They say any press is good press, so it seems like Sydney Sweeney has been having a lot of “good” press lately. First, her ad campaign for American Eagle launched with the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” a play on words (“great genes”). This statement paired with the blonde-haired, blue-eyed white woman talking about genes and traits passed down to her is something that many found controversial, raising questions about subtle hints to white supremacy and eugenics. And then, BuzzFeed published an article outing Sweeney as…a registered Republican in Florida as of June 2024, per publicly available voter registration records. While being a registered Republican isn’t necessarily a big “gotcha!” in broader circles, it has led more people to believe the implications of promoting a “MAGA agenda” that many had already suspected of the AE ad campaign.

• 🍆 What do you do when you’ve got two disruptive potholes on your street? Some guerilla graffiti artists in Portland decided to spray paint phallic images over them, which definitely caught the city’s attention. The graffiti happened over a weekend and it was swiftly removed that Monday, and the potholes were filled. Despite the quick fix, city officials are asking that no one else copy this tactic.

• 🐺 It turns out nothing terrifies wolves more than a married couple arguing. The USDA is now broadcasting the intense argument scene between Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver from Marriage Story via drone-based loudspeakers to “haze” wolves and protect livestock. USDA district supervisor Paul Wolf says, “I need the wolves to respond and know that, hey, humans are bad.” So far, this unorthodox method has sharply reduced wolf attacks in Oregon’s Klamath Basin.

• 💔 If you’ve been seeing the names JaNa and Kenny floating around everywhere, but don’t know what’s going on: it’s about a former Love Island USA couple having a very messy public breakup. People online are overwhelmingly #TeamJaNa, as are personal friends and castmates. See a thorough breakdown of everything HERE, including receipts.

• 🎭 Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers want to host SNL’s Weekend Update? Well, that’s what they jokingly hinted at while on Hot Ones Versus. In a game of “tell the truth or eat a scorching-hot chicken wing”, Bowen was asked which SNL cast member he’d replace with Matt, to which he said he’d get rid of Michael Che and Colin Jost so that he and Matt can do “Weekend Update” together. Honestly…would kinda love this for them. For now, they’ll be hosting their first-ever televised edition of the Las Culturistas Culture Awards on Bravo tonight (Aug. 5) @ 9pm ET; it will be on Peacock tomorrow.

• 🎮 If you’re a millennial who grew up with an SNES, you may remember the iconic yet undervalued game Mario Paint. Well, Nintendo has just released it to play once again, now on Switch/Switch 2 with a Nintendo Switch Online membership. We’d recommend pairing the game with GamiFries for ultimate nostalgia, but Mario Paint actually requires a compatible USB mouse (or the Joy-Con 2 controllers for Switch 2 can be used as a mouse).

• 📽️ There have been so many movie & TV trailers/teasers released recently that have us excited and intrigued. Here are some of them:

  • Film: American Sweatshop, Avatar: Fire and Ash, BABYSTAR, Eternity, Keeper, Zootopia 2

  • TV: Long Story Short (from the creator of BoJack Horseman), Pluribus (from the creator of Breaking Bad)