Early Monday morning (approximately 12 AM) there was an manhole explosion on Park Slope's Fifth Avenue near President Street. One tipster says it was between Joe's ShoeRepair and
Moutarde on 5th ave, and an adjacent manhole on President.

The explosion occurred at around 12 am and woke many residents up, who went running to the corner to see what was happening. .

Firemen said it was an explosion
that did not affect the buildings.

At least five fire trucks and many police cars were on hand. No one was hurt but Joe's was searched for fire
damage. At 1.20 AM  the
police/firetrucks were still investigating

Photos by: E. Cherilin Stephens

Thanks to Verse Responder  Leon Freilich for sending this my way:

She lives in an old brownstone on Sterling place and calls Manhattan
"the city," is planning to buy bookshelves at Ikea, shovels snow in front
of her house and is, quaintly, married to the man she lives with.

She's Maggie Gyllenhaal, and New York Magazine talks to her as she
prepares to schlep an armful of paperbacks to below her stoop for
intellectual recycling.

http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/encounter/62917/

Come see Hepcat's favorite Lower East Side country western swooner, Courtney Lee Adams. Great vocals, smart lyrics and a top notch band.

 She says she was born pissed off and in tonight's show she promises to confuse, amuse and abuse. Hecat says: If there's a continum from Patti Smith to Tammy Wynette Courtney fits in there somewhere."

We're going to Banjo Jim's (700 East 9th Street  near Avenue C) tonight to hear her at 9 PM. Catch brilliantt guitarist Knox Chandler in V.I.K. for some urban blues at 10 PM.

Promises to be a fun evening in a fun, divey East Village bar.

In anticipation of the upcoming seige of Freddy's Bar in Prospect Heights, activists are declaring revolt and collecting money for armor plating to protect homeowners an and renters from eviction.

Billionaires Bruce Ratner and Mikhail Prokhorov are on the verge of using the State of New York to seize the neighborhood for a stadium using New York State’s
outdated Eminent Domain laws. They hope to build a stadium named for
Barclay's Bank, for the soon-to-be Russian owned N.J. Nets, and some
housing to be operated by ACORN.  We say the banks and foreigners have
taken enough from America, and that ACORN needs to reform its ways and
keep their paws off our bar and neighborhood.

As evictions loom ever larger following the Atlantic Yards
Master Closing which authorizes the state to wrongfully take over the
embattled neighborhood, locals are standing their ground and escalating
the battle to stay in their homes. The threat to the
neighborhood has galvanized us – and to prove it, we are raising funds
for galvanized steel plates to put on neighbors doors to resist
eviction.

Senator Bill Perkins, Chairman of the New York State Senate
Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee has begun a crusade
to rid New York State of Eminent Domain Abuse. He has asked Governor
Patterson for a moratorium on Eminent Domain takings until the Columbia
decision against the Empire State Development Authority’s pattern of operating in bad faith, and abusing Eminent domain has been reconciled with the Atlantic Yards decision in the Court of Appeals.   And we are behind him 100%. 

They will try to take the neighborhood and the bar with Eminent Domain, and we are going to stop them. 

Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights,
where Freddy's Bar is located, faces a unique twist: The State of New
York is moving to take properties from families and businesses and,
instead of building a road or a school, the State will hand the land
over for private use by Russia’s richest man, who, in partnership with
billionaire Bruce Ratner is building a stadium to house the NBA’s worst
team. 8 acres of the 22 total acres the State is taking will be for the
stadium.  The rest, it has recently been revealed, will be leveled, with nothing required to be built on it for decades.

In addition to telling the New York Times
Eminent Domain Abuse corrupts our democracy, Senator Perkins is also
charging that the half billion dollars worth of bonds, issued for the
building of the stadium were issued fraudulently, in a failed backroom
deal aimed at getting around New York State’s new Public Authorities
Control Act.

“What are those words at the end?” one of my daughters recently asked me.  I could answer the question perfunctorily and explain union obligations.  But let’s look at it more philosophically.  The end credits roll provides an opportunity for filmmakers to leave audiences with one final thought, often presented in music, more specifically, generally pop or original scoring. 

For the viewer, it provides a moment of brief contemplation to consider what has just been screened.  I’ve probably spent months of my life in this state of contemplation during end credits. More often than not what end credit choices have some level of narrative/character relevance, but are not especially interesting.  What can you really do with that space, right?  But there have been incidents when end credits have quite possibly blown my mind, shoving me out of the theater mouth agape, eyes wide open, invigorated.  

The following are three films that truly re-defined what can be done during the end credits.

Cold Turkey (1971, USA), the story of a town that gives up smoking to obtain $25 million from a tobacco giant is a scathing satire.  Like Robert Altman’s Nashville,  the film is just as relevant today in our American Idol society.  Both say a lot about our culture, and it isn’t confirming that America’s Got Talent.  Randy Newman, in his first foray into film music, follows the film’s final irony, the billowing factory smokestacks erected with the prize money, with “He Gives Us All His Love” against the backdrop of a dog rummaging through ruins.  While contrasting the chaotic, broad style of the film, Newman’s song retains the irony while being simplistic and melancholic.  A pitch-perfect move to land the movie’s message in your gut. 

Penn and Teller Get Killed (1989, USA), the magician-comic duo’s entry into feature films, was never widely released.  As dry and dark as comedy gets, the film is unremarkable until its final sequence when a running gag of escalating practical jokes ends tragically and initiates a serial body count.  The ending is stunning, funny and disturbing.  Then the film fades to credits over the strains of The Bee Gees’ “I Started a Joke,” a choice that perfectly captures the film while still one last unexpected charge of tragicomic shock. After years of being unavailable, the film was recently released as a Warner Archive selection, available only through the distributor.

Little Sister (1995, Netherlands), an obscure gem, follows a young man who ends his estrangement with his sister and addressing an incestuous incident from their past.  The encounter is documented by the brother and, pre-Blair Witch, the film is shot entirely through the POV of a video camera within the narrative. While most movies use exit music to sum up the story (see any Ice Cube credit jam) or themes (the end credits of 8 Mile and The Wrestler practically made the movies themselves irrelevant to me), Little Sister offers an odd ode to youth.  It was so unexpected and fresh to hear the Sesame Street song, “Somebody Come and Play,” artist identified on the original 45 as simply The Kids, over this film’s end credits.  The song and movie are contemplating, both somehow adding depth to the other.  Remains only available as a VHS from Facets Video.

–Pops Corn

I got a note on Christmas day from the daughter/sister of the man and woman who are fighting for their lives at Cornell Hospital after Wednesday morning's fire in a Third Street condo in Park Slope. She had just landed in New York rushing back from a holiday vacation to be in the hospital with her father and sister, who are still in critical condition.

So here goes a big thanks from the family and the whole neighborhood to the firefighters from Ladder
Co. 105, Ladder Co. 122 and Squad 1 who responded to the 2:47 a.m. blaze that
occurred on the top floor of the four-story building. Many EMTs were also on hand. 

Andy Bachman, the rabbi at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, reflects on Xmas Eve at Old First Dutch Reformed Church on his blog Water Over Rocks.

It’s hard enough to keep on top of the Oscar race, but any serious film fan who is a Werner Herzog completist, has been especially busy this season.  My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?, the latest Herzog-directed work, comes less than a month after the delirious unrecognizable sequel/remake Bad Lieutenant – Port of Call: New Orleans , Further immersion into American crime and investigation, this film focuses on one murder case at the crime scene.  The investigation here is no mystery, rather we seek to understand the murderer’s reasons.  In this way, the how-did-this-happen narrative style recalls Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, but with a look that is considerably more DIY; it seems like it was made to play on late-night cable.

Herzog’s double shot in 2009 seem like films he should have or–had his career taken a more well-worn path–would have made as an entry into the American cinema 20-30 years ago after his early masterworks such as Aguirre, Wrath of God.  Both these films brought to my mind Abel Ferrara (Bad Lt. is of course a re-working of a Ferrara film) in that they seem to tip-toe on the fence between the grindhouse and the arthouse.  Bad Lt. was a fun throwaway, but My Son aims to make more serious statements.  Unfortunately the effort is often ham-fisted.  Even things that would be typically, wonderfully Herzogian—the ostrich farm shots come to mind—feel forced here.  Werner Herzog is a filmmaker who is always willing to take it over the edge, but his work has rarely been so strained.

I got this note from Rev. Billy Talen. He is friends with the father and daughter victims of the Third Street  fire and had this to say about how they are doing.

As always, Kristin Goode, who writes the about.com Brooklyn site has info-a-rama about New Year's Eve and fun ways to ring in the New Year.

Thanks to Rev. Daniel Meeter of Old First Dutch Reformed Church for providing me with the biographical information that enabled me to write the following obituary.

An amazing and accomplished member of the Park Slope Community died yesterday. Marlene Clary, a gifted teacher and leader in musical and theatrical endeavors was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She attended Northwestern University on a full scholarship as a voice major, Goodman Memorial Theater School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later received a MA from New York  University.

She was hired by the Berkeley Carroll School in October 1976 in the preschool, and eventually taught Lower, Middle, and Upper School. Besides a variety of duties and responsibilities, she directed the Upper School plays and conducted the Upper School chorus. In 1994 she received the Dexter Earle
Award as Outstanding Teacher.

She also created and directed the Creative Arts Program at Berkeley Carroll from 1982-2008.

In 2001, Marlene founded and directed the Brooklyn Community Chorus, a group dedicated to including singers from diverse
backgrounds, ages, and musical experiences. She would end every concert with the singing of Set Me As A Seal with a text from the Song of Solomon.

also acted and sang professionally off-Broadway, in regional theater,
and summer stock, and was the soprano soloist for the Lafayette Avenue
Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene.

Clary is survived by her husband, Roy Clary, whom she married in 1964 and two grown children, Megan and Ethan.

Judging from the outpouring of tributes from students, parents, friends and colleagues sent to OTBKB, Marlene spread her gifts widely and will be greatly missed. A funeral service will be held on Monday, December 28th at 4 PM at the Old First Church on Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street in Park Slope.

According to information kindly provided by an OTBKB reader: the condition of Kate, the daughter of the owner of the Third Street condo where there was a serious fire early Wednesday morning, is improving at Methodist Hospital. Michael, the father, is undergoing therapy in a barimetric chamber.

A barimetric chamber is a high-pressure atmosphere primarily used for medical therapy so that you can breathe air or oxygen up to three times the normal pressure, which helps to increase the oxygen level in tissues. This is
used treat carbon monoxide poisoning.

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to Michael, Kate and  all the families that were displaced by the fire.

A funeral service for beloved teacher and founder of the Brooklyn Community Chorus will be at Old First Dutch Reformed Church on Monday December 28th at 4 PM.

Old First Dutch Reformed Church
729 Carroll Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215-2101
(718) 638-8300

So this is the final day before Xmas. And you know what that means: last minute mayhem. Here are some suggestions:

Save on Fifth:
I was just in there yesterday and they've already got their New Year's
Eve stuff on dispaly. Get your hats, get your horns. But they've still
got chocolate Santas and plenty of practical gifts, including the
Simple Human touch hands free sensor soap pumps: a perfect gift in these
times.

Lion in the Sun: Moleskin notebooks in all sizes. Acme pens. Great place to find gifts for the writer in your life.

Matter: This shop is a beautifully curated selection of modernist and contemporary high design objects for life and home. Still life fruit bowl — ceramic and wood; rainbow of 13 colored sake or shot glasses; cork chair and much, much more.

Bob & Judi's Coolectibles: How many times have you walked by this shop and not gone in? Well, go in. They've got a lot of cool stuff inside (just like their name says). Wide
variety of laminated posters that are ready to hang: Mighty Mouse Float
Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee film about Mohammad Ali by William
Klein ($13). Locker baskets.

Extraordinary: I've bought their key rings
with small metal high heels, wing tips, ballet slippers, high tops as gifts for colleagues and friends.

4-Play BK: For the tweens and teens on your list: hppy-chic brands like Free People and Blue Platealong with urban
essentials like Puma kicks, designer jeans and Paul Frank t-shirts and more.

From the Brooklyn Paper:

The 16 dancing teenagers of Dancewave, the Fourth Avenue-based
instructional studio, have been selected to perform at the Aberdeen
International Youth Festival in Scotland next June — but the group
still needs to raise roughly $29,000 to get them across the pond.

“We applied and when got accepted, we thought, ‘We’ll find someway
to do this,’” said Princeton Spicer, 17, the troupe’s sole male.

This week, Dancewave just might have found that way. Nick Kotsonis,
the owner of Park Slope Health and Fitness, stepped forward with a
pledge to match up to $10,000 in donations.

—The group was the only American group selected, Dancewave would represent not only Brooklyn, but the entire United States.

While it is still uncertain what caused the fire on Third Street in Park Slope that sent two people to the hospital and dislaced six families, there has been some speculation that it was an overloaded power strip. 

An overloaded power strip? This alarmed me because we have power strips all over our apartment and I know very little about the proper usage of power strips. I found this information about surge protector and power strip safety online:

From the Brooklyn Paper:

Here’s our gimlet-eyed view on the year that was:

ABC News reports that the FDNY is speculating that it was an overloaded power strip that caused the fire in the Third Street condo early Wednesday morning. A father and his visiting daughter fled the flaming scene. Today he was in critical condition at the Cornell Burn Center due to burns but is expected to survive. His daughter was at Methodist Hospital in stable condition.

I walked by that building at around 7 PM this evening and saw that there were lights on in the other fourth floor apartment. The windows of the burned apartment are boarded up. The rest of the building is dark .Six families were displaced and there are 8 units in the building. I think that two of the apartments were unoccupied.