When you think of major cultural figures of 1980s New York, names like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Run-D.M.C. and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all come to mind. Though Ai Weiwei might now rank as a towering contemporary art sage, he could hardly be considered to have been in the same league during the cultural moment when New York was a cheaper and more authentically shitty place to live. The new show at the Asia Society Museum in Manhattan, Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993, is Ai's personal record of his twenty-something nascence, fleshing out his pre-famous years of gestation for the now-interested New York audience. more ›

You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater. more ›