1. I finally walked by Artichoke (328 E. 14th Street) when the line was only 2 people long and not 20 people coming out of the door. I patiently waited as the next pizza finished cooking and as the pizza guy took his sweet ol' time putting fresh basil and parmasean on top. I wanted an artichoke slice, but was told that would be out for another 30 minutes, so I took my plain slice and left. The cost: $2.50. Same as every other pizza joint in the East Village for a slice these days. The quality: un-fucking-believable. I kid you not. There is not a slice anywhere that comes to mind that rivals it. The crust = perfect. The sauce = perfect. You get the picture. For once, something that not only lives up to the hype, but blows the hype outta the water. Of course, there's Una Pizza Napoletana, but you can't get a slice, which makes this place pretty genius.

2. Clinic's coming to town and playing Bowery Ballroom with BBQ on 05.31.08. Get tickets here. If you're not familiar with Clinic, checkout this post from last month I wrote about their latest EP -- Do It. Make sure to checkout their MySpace, where you can still test drive several songs from the EP. And don't forget BBQ's MySpace. "Mark Sultan, better known as BBQ of one-man band and King Khan & BBQ Show fame, has been pounding out his own stew of R&B, rockabilly, garage, doo wop, psychedelia, punk and whatnot since he was a mere child fronting Montreal's Spaceshits."

3. If you're not familiar with FLY, you're really missing out. In short, it's art meets fashion in DVD format. I just finished watching the videos from the latest issue and recommend it highly. The current issue (What A World, What A World) features the work of Shirin Neshat, Bruce Gilden, Catherine Cushman, Ghukfvin, and Chris Romero. Editorials with designs by YSL, Margiela, Yohji, and Rick Owens. Music from Wolfmother and The Presets. And something called The Loop, a mix by Modular featuring tracks by Cut Copy, New Young Pony Club, MSTRKRFT, and The Klaxons. Checkout their site for more info on subscriptions and stockists.