Chronogram Magazine

A mandatory meeting rarely improves a weekend. At the Newburgh Fringe Festival, however, the agenda includes electro-punk music, corporate burnout, and the possibility of watching office workers come spectacularly unglued. “Mandatory Meeting,” from Ears With Eyes, is among the attractions at the festival’s second edition, October 16–18—a three-day invitation to wander downtown and encounter something you probably wouldn’t find in your usual theater subscription.

There are several ways to handle the indignities of modern life: complain to your friends, pay a therapist, or turn them into material and charge admission. The third annual Catskills Comedy Festival supplies plenty of practitioners of the last approach, gathering touring stand-ups, regional comics, and performers whose work wanders beyond the microphone.

It’s easier to buy something today than at any other point in history. With a few taps on a phone, a new outfit, kitchen gadget, book, or piece of home décor can be on its way to your doorstep. Social media feeds introduce us to products we didn’t know existed, while limited-time offers and personalized recommendations encourage us to act quickly before an opportunity passes us by.

October in the Hudson Valley means apple bins, cider presses, and squash stacked at farm stands. Since legalization, it also means a cannabis harvest on licensed farms from Columbia County down to Orange County. The tall plants come down over a few busy weeks. What happens next decides which flower lands on a dispensary shelf, and at what price. Every harvest yields buds of very different sizes, and the small ones get sold as a cheaper category.

Copenhagen has a reputation as a daytime city: bikes, harbor swims, design shops and long lunches of smørrebrød. But when the light fades, which in the Nordic autumn happens early, the Danish capital turns into something warmer and more theatrical. Lanterns come on in Tivoli, jazz drifts up from basement clubs, and in a handful of grand old buildings, roulette wheels start to spin.

Overview: The Grammy-winning producer will discuss his new autobiography on October 18. You may not know Robert Margouleff’s name, but he’s shaped much of the music you do know. In fact, Shaping Sounds is the title of the Grammy-winning producer’s new autobiography, which he’ll discuss in an intimate multi-media event at Applehead Recording Woodstock studios on October 18.

Poughkeepsie’s newest casual Italian eatery, Giulia, is quickly gaining popularity as a neighborhood hangout spot. Sure, the menu of Italian-American favorites with a twist is a draw, but there’s something about the atmosphere that feels familiar; it evokes nostalgia for a place without pretension. It’s quality food in a casual setting; there’s attention to plating but also paper napkin dispensers on the table. You can bring a date, or show up in sweatpants.

Heat resistant materials and safety during operation are two important features people look for in a space heater. If you’ve ever used one of the modern ceramic space heaters, or worked with industrial heaters, you’ve benefitted from clever use of materials science and solid state physics. Let’s dive in and explore how these heaters work, and what makes them different. Your typical ceramic space heater or industrial heater looks nothing like a thin metal wire.

Some shopping trips start with a list. Others start with one innocent search and somehow become a full tour of the internet. You open Amazon looking for a phone charger. Ten minutes later, you are comparing patio lights, checking a pair of running shoes, saving a birthday gift, looking at kitchen organizers, and wondering whether your dog needs a new bed. That is the appeal of shopping on Amazon US.

Spend an afternoon on Main Street in New Paltz, or outside the coffee shops near Bard, or in the vintage racks of Kingston and Beacon, and a look repeats that would have drawn stares five years ago and now barely registers: a young man in a pleated skirt, thigh-high socks, an oversized sweater, platform sneakers. He is not in costume and he is not making a scene. He is, by his own account and everyone else’s, a boy in a skirt, and he bought most of it secondhand.