On Monday, November 30, the New York City Council overwhelmingly decided yesterday to gradually ban the use of those ugly, unsightly rolldown security gates by retail storefronts. Critics say they attract graffiti and that they render hidden the insides of stores from police and firefighters.

According to The New York Times:

The bill would require that after July 1,
2011, any roll-down gate that is being replaced must be replaced with a
gate that allows at least 70 percent of the covered area to be visible.
By July 1, 2026, all of the businesses covered by the legislation must
have the new higher-visibility gates installed.

“We wanted to give a reasonable phase-in
period to small businesses,” said Jeffrey Haberman, a lawyer who works
on drafting legislation for the Council. He said the typical gate lasts
from 10 to 15 years, which means most businesses that now have
roll-down gates will have them replaced in any case by 2026.

Pix from Security Managment, Security's Web Connection

I'm putting out a final call for suggestions of people, places and things for the Park Slope 100.

So what is the Park Slope 100? It's a annual listing of 100 stories, 100 ways of looking at the world, 100 inspiring people,
places and things. The list is in alphabetical order. There are no
repeats from year to year.

Send the now or forever hold your peace (at least until next year)!

The curator of the 2010 Brooklyn Reading Works Memoir-a-thon is looking for short submissions for its February 11th event.

Looking for short personal stories and insights on how you managed to
survive, preserve your sanity and even have fun during this long hard
winter of a year. Running time 5-8 minutes. 1000 words max.

Please send submissions to brankaruzak(at)gmail(dot)com. 

Photo by Tom Martinez

SHOPPING: Celebrate 20 Years of Claireware Pottery in Brooklyn. Reception Friday, December 4th, 4-7 PM, Saturday, Dec. 5, 10-6 and Sunday, Dec. 7, 1-5 PM.

PS 321 Craft Fair Saturday, Dec 5th, 11 AM – 5 PM. 180 Seventh Avenue at 1st Street in Park Slope.

MOVIES: The LIves of Pippa Lee at Angelika Film Center New York, Up in the Air with George Clooney at Regal Union Square Stadium 14, The Passion of Anna: Fri, Dec 4 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15 PM, Cries and Whispers Sat, Dec 5 at 2, 5, 7:15, 9:30pmat  BAM!! both films with Liv Ullman, directed by Ingmar Bergman. Fantastic Mr. Fox at the Access Digital Theatres – Pavilion Cinema.

MUSIC: Opera is fun with Opera on Tap Opera. They've taken their act to  barrooms
where they found out that beer on tap enhances the operatic experience. Barbes on Friday, Dec 4, at 7 PM

Fave Brooklyn bands Mother Courage and Bad Teeth (with Henry Crawford, Jack Greenleaf, Lucio Westmoreland, Charlie Dore Young and at the Yippie Museum Cafe. 9 Bleecker Street between Bowery and Elizabeth Street.

Guitarist Stephane Wrembel seems to have channeled both
the technique and the fire of Django Reinhardt. Barbes on Sunday, Dec 6 at 9 PM.

LITERARY OPEN MIC (3-Minute Rule): Equal parts seductive and tiny, DimeStories are funny. They're
heartwrenching. They're fictional or factual but, either way, they're
all true. California's wildly popular micro-storytelling adventure
makes its debut at Barbes with an all-star literary extravaganza and
special musical guest! Come one! Come all! Try your hand at a
DimeStory! Bring 3-minutes of prose (sorry, poets) to read to a live
audience at our open mic. Beware: Three minute rule (500-600 words) is
strictly adhered to. Register up to one hour before each performance to
read, or just sit back and listen to New York's finest dime-sized
stories! Come hear what a difference three minutes can make! ($5.00
suggested donation.)
Barbes. Sunday Dec 6 at 7 PM.

DANCING FUN: Bring your dancing shoes and celebrate the season! 8:15 pm Contra Dance lessons; 8:45 pm Contra Dance. Live music with caller, festive drinks and dessert. All for $45/person to benefit the Old Stone House & Washington Park.

TREE LIGHTING: Saturday, Dec. 5th, 5-6 PM in Washington/JJ Byrne Park  Corner 5th Ave & 3rd Street. Free hot chocolate and sweet.

A few years back there was a contest to recut a movie trailer using the same images, changing only the sound and juxtaposition and in doing so, changing the apparent genre of the film.  The winning entry, this trailer for The Shining, is a YouTube staple now.  No less unreal and howlingly funny than the new Tyler Perry movie trailer (I resist including the title because it adds to the outrageousness).  The trailer is playing before Precious in most theaters, giving you the comic relief early.  I haven’t caught up with Perry’s work yet—just bits on cable—but I’m starting to finally want to learn what the hell the deal is.  His films are divisive, so I’m sure I’ll find something in there.  I may wait until January for the I Can Do Bad All By Myself DVD release and start there.  The wonderful Taraji P Henson and the musical element should help ease me in.

–Pops Corn

Breaking Park Slope foodie news from Leon Freilich:

Leon Freilich brought this article in the online Intel section of New York Magazine to my attention:

So I wrote the following to Leon and then realized: it's a blog post. So I embellished it a bit and now it is a blog post (that begins as an email…)

Leon, do you know my story about running into Dylan on 8th Ave. and Lincoln Place on June 12th 2001. I remember the day because June 12th is Teen Spirit's birthday and we were on our way into the city for a birthday celebration of some sort.

I noticed a small crowd on the southeast corner of 8th Avenue and Lincoln. Some random Park Slopers and I think the photographer David Gahr was there (there was definitely an older man with a camera around his neck).

And in the center of the small crowd was "Mr. Bob, Mr. Bob, Mr. Bob Dylan (to quote George Harrison at the Concert for Bangladesh).

Dylan was in his Mexican cowboy phase and was, if I remember correctly, wearing a white suit and a cowboy hat. He had that weird skinny mustache and didn't look his best. By that I mean he didn't look as good as he looked on the cover of Blonde on Blonde. But it was 2001 and that was, like, 1966.

I actually asked Bob Dylan for his autograph (nervy, huh?). I told him, quite sincerely, that he was my hero. Guess what? He obliged and signed his name on the back of an
American Express envelope I was about to mail.

That was before my son knew everything there is to know about Bob Dylan. But he did remember
seeing him on the Oscars when he was nominated for a movie song (what song was that, anyone remember?)

"Hey, wasn't that the guy on the Oscars?" Teen Spirit said as we walked to the
subway at Grand Army Plaza. 

Needless to say I never mailed that envelope. It's framed and on one of our bookshelves.

Full disclosure: I am now listening to Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35 from Blonde on Blonde. You know, "They'll stone you when you're at the breakfast table, they'll stone you when you're young and able…"

I walk by the shop every day and often go in and I noticed that PaperXOXO has a FABULOUS selection of holiday cards.

The shop will be open late tonight during the Snowflake Celebration! Check out their cards at the shop on 178A Lincoln Place (just east of Seventh Avenue) while the supply lasts.

You know the old adage, that seasonal directive, that pressure at XMAS time: Tis the season to be jolly

Well, here's something you can do about it: Come and enjoy the music, juggling and the company of Santa
at the Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington/JJ Byrne Park. Picture above is from last year.

Saturday, Dec. 5th, 5-6 PM
Washington/JJ Byrne Park  Corner 5th Ave & 3rd Street
FREE HOT CHOCOLATE AND SWEETS!

On Friday, December 4, 2009 from 8-11 PM there's an Old Stone House Fundraiser that sounds like a lot of fun: 

It has come to my attention that a resident of Park Slope is in URGENT need of a bone marrow transplant. Jennifer Jones Austin a beautiful wife, mother and advocate, has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Her
chances of surviving the disease are slim unless she undergoes a bone
marrow transplant within the next few months. Jen and her family need our immediate actions to ensure her
survival.

A few minutes and a simple cheek swab is all that is
needed to determine if you can save a person's life. IF YOU ARE A MATCH THE DONATION PROCESS IS AS SIMPLE AS GIVING BLOOD AND NO LONGER REQUIRES A SURGICAL PROCEDURE.

Match Registry is in great need of registered
donors, especially those of African and Hispanic descent.

Jennifer, 41, is a wife and the mother of two children, ages 12 and 7. A graduate
of Rutgers University and Fordham Law School, she has been a fierce
advocate for children and families. She has dedicated herself for over 20 years to helping improve the lives of lower income and disadvantaged children and their families and has been an advocate for children and their families professionally and personally. She has done this through her work as an attorney in the private and public sectors, a senior official for the City of New York and for the State of New York, and an executive for the United Way of New York City, and in her personal life through board service and civic activities. Jennifer's efforts have benefited thousands of people across New York State and beyond, improving their chances for better health, education and a safe living environment.  

YOU CAN HELP JENNIFER by becoming a registered donor with the Be The Match
Registry and being tested to determine if you are a compatible match
with her. It is important to reach as many people as possible to
ask them to be tested. In registering, you have the potential to help
extend Jennifer's life and also to help other people in need.

Today’s
medical technology allows testing of potential donors as well as actual
transplants with little disruption to the life of the donor(s). Testing is as simple as a swab of the inside of the cheek. The actual
donor process is as simple as giving blood. The donor gives blood from
an arm; a machine separates the blood-forming cells and returns the
blood to the donor through the other arm.

To help Jennifer, you can register yourself and others as donors by going online to _http://join.marrow.org/JJA1068_. Note that the "*_*promo code" is *__*JJA1068*_. *You can receive an
at-home testing kit without charge.

You can also attend a blood
drive. Visit http://www.savejenaustin.com/events.php to see if there is one near you in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately,
because African Americans and Hispanics are dramatically
underrepresented in the National Bone Marrow Registries—Caucasian counterparts have a 92+% chance of finding a match—we they have significantly less than half of that chance of finding a match in
the current pool of donors recorded in the Registry in order to
survive.

Recent statistical research indicates that there are more
than 5 Million Caucasian registrants and only about 500K registrants of
African descent.

Please also forward this post to your friends,
colleagues, churches and synagogues, organization affiliations, and ask
them to register and be tested. Every person matters. Even if you don't
match with Jennifer, you may match another and help save a life.

The 3rd Annual Snowflake Celebration begins TONIGHT.

The first
two Thursday evenings in December, Park Slope businesses will light up
with special sales and festivities like a [insert holiday-themed
light-up icon of your choice], all in the spirit of getting holiday
shoppers to spend more of their gift-dollars locally.  

Our
website, www.buyinbrooklyn.com, has a list of participants (and their
enticements), hard copies of which will be available at all Snowflake
Celebrating businesses.  Highlights include:

    Free childcare at Juguemos Spanish Institute from 5:30-8!

    Free wine and snacks, and a food drive at 4PlayBK!

    20% off all merchandise and free gift-wrapping lessons every half-hour at Lion in the Sun!

   
15% storewide discount on women's clothing, and a free raffle on a
women's custom design outfit of the winner's choice (have to choose
from the collection) at My Passion Fashion Designs!

    Some of Brooklyn's finest mobile food vendors (aka “gourmet trucks”) will make a special appearance in the Slope!

Brooklyn Reading Works presents FEAST: Savory Syllables on
Sustenance/Writers on Food curated by Michele Madigan Somerville with
writers Peter Capatano, Greg Fuchs, Ame Gilbert, Nancy Garfinkel and
Andrea Israel, Alexander Nazaryan, Sophia Romero and Michele Madigan
Somerville, who will be reading her fun and fabulous poem BOOB. You wouldn't want to miss THAT. 

This event is a benefit for the Helping Hands Food Pantry at St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church in Park Slope.

December 10, 2009 at 8 PM
The Old Stone House
Fifth Avenue and Third Street
$10 Suggested donation (but give what you can).

December 10-11 in Hudson, NY, the Hudson Opera House presents "Hudson to China" with music by Park Slope's Bob Goldberg (of Famous Accordian Orchestra fame). Says Goldberg: "I wrote the music and play it, live.  I also get to impersonate Nixon.  briefly.  Come see!"

Hudson to China is a spectacle with projections, puppetry, theatre, and
live music. It parallels three different beings seeking a way to China:
the statue of Henry Hudson that stands in the Bronx, who believes he
has finally found his route to China; a young man, Harry, who dreams of success by literally conquering what he fears: China & its economy, and Hua, a Chinese immigrant, who longs for home.

Hudson to China is an adventure in which the experiences become the destination. On the journey the voyagers and we, the audience, lose our way, finding it just to lose it again, echoing Henry Hudson's voyages and our own lives, searching for the mythical Orient.

Hudson Opera House presents the Concrete Temple Theater's production of HUDSON TO CHINA

December 11 at 8 pm
December 12 at 2 pm and 8 pm

Co-Created by: Renee Philippi & Carlo Adinolfi
Puppets & Set Design: Carlo Adinolfi
Director: Renee Philippi
Music: Bob Goldberg
AD/Stage Manager/Lighting Design: Casey McLain

Performers: Carlo Adinolfi, Mi Sun Choi, Bob Goldberg, and Zdenko Slobodnik

Oscar contender An Education is consistently surprising and not because of gimmickry or exclamation-point-punctuated plot twists.  Director Lone Scherfig simply leads you in unexpected directions with a murky morality that doesn’t feed viewers simple conclusions.  A tale of a young schoolgirl with a bright future who is seduced by an older playboy and his lifestyle could have come off as an awful sermon, but Scherfig gives the film gravitas.  Brian Englishby’s score is also consistently surprising; you’re often uncertain what that music means and it’s very effective.  Unfortunately the last two minutes of the film sums things up in a way that is out of step with the rest of the film.  The content of the ending isn’t a disappointment, but the style makes it seem tacked on.  The music that had been so unpredictable, swells in a clichéd climax.  Don’t be surprised if the DVD comes packaged with an alternate ending.

Overall, however, the movie is beautifully mounted and acted, particularly by leads Peter Sarsgaard and Carey Mulligan.  Though miles apart stylistically, the story of a young person seduced by a fantasy lifestyle and the success of a seasoned and often unsavory elder makes it a perfect companion piece with Funny People and the ultimate celebration of education has parallels to Precious.  Maybe this is the year Oscar hits the books.

–Pops Corn

Here's the local weather forecast from the fabulous Feldman family!

Check out  the local weather forecast from the Feldman's because it looks like the weather will be good for tonight's Snowflake Celebration.

Last year (and the year before) there was rain on one or more of the nights of Snowflake, which was a tad dispiriting but tonight promises to be GOOD all the more reason to get out there and participate in SNOWFLAKE.

So what is Snowflake?

The 3rd Annual Snowflake Celebration begins this week! The first
two Thursday evenings in December, Park Slope businesses will light up
with special sales and festivities like a [insert holiday-themed
light-up icon of your choice], all in the spirit of getting holiday
shoppers to spend more of their gift-dollars locally.  

Our
website, www.buyinbrooklyn.com, has a list of participants (and their
enticements), hard copies of which will be available at all Snowflake
Celebrating businesses.  Highlights include:

    Free childcare at Juguemos Spanish Institute from 5:30-8!

    Free wine and snacks, and a food drive at 4PlayBK!

    20% off all merchandise and free gift-wrapping lessons every half-hour at Lion in the Sun!

   
15% storewide discount on women's clothing, and a free raffle on a
women's custom design outfit of the winner's choice (have to choose
from the collection) at My Passion Fashion Designs!

    Some of Brooklyn's finest mobile food vendors (aka “gourmet trucks”) will make a special appearance in the Slope!

On Thursday, December 3rd at 7 PM, the  O'Donovan Rossa Society, Brooklyn, New York presents a lecture and slide presentation by renowned Irish
Photographer, 
Frankie Quinn, who will present his most recent work
Peaceline Panoramas, a series of photographs taken over the last five
years, which 
document life along the 48 walls and barriers, known as 'Peacelines', that 
divide the city of Belfast in the north of Ireland.

The walls, many of
which were constructed at the height of the recent conflict by the
British Government, were initially conceived of as a temporary measure
to separate communities divided along political and religious lines and
to control mobility within the 
insurgent nationalist community. Far from being a temporary measure,
the walls have increased in number and in height over the years,
forming a network of 
enclaves, ghettos and deeply divided communities across the city.
Quinn's presentation is timely, given the recent commemoration of the
twentieth 
anniversary of fall of the Berlin Wall, and his photos testify that
despite the developments of the recent peace process, the continued
presence of these 
fault-lines ensure that Belfast remains a divided and segregated city.

Frankie Quinn has been a photographer for the past 25 years. His
interest in 
documentary photography developed as a result of his involvement with
the 
MacAirt Camera Club in East Belfast. Since 1983 his work has been
exhibited extensively both at home and abroad. His work has also
appeared in numerous local publications including Falls in Focus
published by the Falls Community 
Center (1987) and Shoot Belfast (1986), a guide for amateur
photographers, funded by the Northern Ireland Arts Council. His work
has also appeared in the 
book Garvaghy Road: A Community Under Siege (1999). He was a founding
member of the Belfast Exposed Community Photography Resource Center.

In
2008 he opened The 
Red Barn Gallery in Belfast, a non-for-profit photographic gallery
dedicated to the advancement and provision of the photographic arts for
public benefit. He lives and works in Belfast. Red barn Gallery www.rbgbelfast.com

Slide Presentation and Talk by Renowned Belfast Photographer Frankie Quinn
Thursday, December 3, 7:00 PM Free Admission
Rocky Sullivan's Pub
34 Van Dyke Street (at Dwight Street)
Red Hook, Brooklyn

 NEWEST SURGE

Not the bombs.

From today's Brooklyn Paper:

At Coco Roco on Fifth Avenue between Sixth and Seventh streets,
which was fined $214,672 for the alleged abuses, state officials
reported that a dishwasher worked 66 hours per week and received only
$360.00, amounting to $6 an hour with no overtime. One deliveryman
allegedly worked 72 hours per week and was paid $210, plus tips.

Seven other employees were reported to endure similar workweeks.

Workers at Olive Vine Café on Seventh Avenue between Lincoln and St.
Johns places, which was fined $88,196, also allegedly worked outrageous
hours for low pay. In one case, a deliveryman who also washed dishes
allegedly worked 72 hours for only $260. Three other employees’ wages
were also at rock bottom, the state said.

The minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Olive Vine Café owner Zaid Demis flatly denied the charges, saying
the agency fudges numbers to garner publicity. And Demis said the
department doesn’t even get its facts straight — fining him for four
years of back wages for a worker who only toiled at the restaurant for
four months.