This morning, Bill DeBlasio’s office sent out this press release about a Council vote today that is expected to pass a law that would require electronics manufacturers to meet collection standards.

This afternoon the New York City Council is expected to override Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of Intro 729, a law that would require electronics manufacturers to meet set collection standards. These standards will help to ensure that manufacturers are held accountable for taking back a certain amount of electronic waste (e-waste) each year.

It is estimated that residents in New York City buy 92,000 tons of electronic devices every year. Nearly 25,000 tons of this electronic waste is picked up and disposed of at City taxpayer expense annually.

The legislation’s sponsor, Councilmember Bill de Blasio will join the Speaker and environmental advocates today at the pre-stated press conference in the Red Room at 1pm.

Don’t you love Heather Johnston?

She delivered the Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers at the Blogfest and has a great food, wine and recipe blog for the home cook called Sogood.tv.

She also got a Flip Video camera for Mother’s Day (best Mother’s Day gift I’ve heard about). It’s a convenient camera for video bloggers. On the post linked above she talks about the camera and then uses it solo to videotape herself cooking Chicken Piccata.

The Flip Video Ultra Series starts at $149. That’s a good price for a video camera for blogging. They also have cameras for $99.99

As reported on Gowanus Lounge and the NY Sun, a charter school in Park Slope just got the green light and will open in the Fall of 2009.

This is big news for public school parents because it is a much needed new middle school that will serve Park Slope, Gowanus, Sunset Park, Red Hook,
Windsor Terrace, Cobble Hill, and parts of downtown Brooklyn.

A new middle school! Fantastic.

This charter school will be run privately and not by the district. However it will have to meet tough standards in order to open and to remained chartered.

Where will this school be located? What is it called? What’s the curriculum like? Questions, questions and more questions.

Quake toll rises; China struggles to reach victims (NY Times)

Victoria Roberts, cartoonist of the month (The New Yorker Blog)

Montclair’s new mayor: Jerry Fried (Baristanet)

Parking rules temporarily suspended in Park Slope (NY 1)

RIP: Artist Robert Rauschenberg (NY Times)

Bottled water paradox: banned, and required (NY Times)

MTV’s Real World in Brooklyn (NY Observer)

Leaf and Circle, a work by artist Jessica Baker, is on display at the Prospect Park Audubon Center. Baker invites readers of OTBKB to check out her studio on this weekend’s studio tour.

I would like to invite you to visit my studio next weekend (5/17 & 5/18) during the annual Sonya Studio Stroll (see stroll directions and info below – my studio is at 122 Washington Ave. on the 3rd floor). Previous work will be on sale, and I’ll be showing some friend’s prints on the walls.

My exhibit Leaf & Circle is still up at the Prospect Park Audubon Center and has been extended through June 1st (jessicabaker.net – Leaf & Circle).

After visiting my show, art critic and blogger, Olympia Lambert, featured me as "artist of the day" on her blog: olysmusings.blogspot.com

You can also see the work of a wide variety of other artists on the Sonya Studio Stroll in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

View a sampling of works by artists on the Studio Stroll.
SONYA Gallery
394 Waverly Ave, between Greene & Gates Aves.
Open by appointment: 718-857-5696 and
Stroll Weekend, Sat & Sun, noon to 6pm.

Artists
Jo-Ann Acey, Pamella Allen, Jessica Baker, C Bangs, Fred Bendheim,
Caitlin Bermingham, Doug Beube, Ramona Candy, Mary Chang, Carol Foy,
Tanda Francis, Deborah Goldstein, Sheila Goloborotko, I. Leon Golomb,
Kathleen Hayek, Ryan Ketchum, Melanie Kozol, D. Lammie-Hanson,
Richard Lebenson, Winicjusz Lysik, Halina Marki, Diana McClure,
Johanna Mendez, Kathleen Migliore Newton, Reuben Moore,
Ragnar Naess, Douglas Newton, Gabriel Pacheco, Sandra Perez-Weeden,
Jim Porter, Mary Salstrom, Gina Samson, JD Siazon, Deborah Singletary,
GG Stankiewicz, Kathy Stecko, and Valerie Williams

Artist Groups, Museums, Institutions, and Galleries
Artists of 35 Claver Place, Clinton Hill Art Gallery,
Fort Greene Photography Organization,
I.O.I – Items of Importance Gallery, MoCADA,
Sankofa Ceramics Cooperative, Tres Gallery,
and Underbridge Pictures

Free and open to the public. Over 100 artists exhibiting work at 32
locations. With hundreds of great works of art at affordable prices,
you can easily start or add to your own art collection.

Our verse responder, back from a vacation in the hinterlands, brings us this song of the Food Coop.

BALLAD OF THE FOOD COOP FROG

He tagged along as the member took
Her head of lettuce home;
Among the green organic leaves
He quietly chanted Om.

For three cold days he went on chanting,
Napping now and then
And wondering if he’d ever see
His Florida pals again.

The member had taken the tiny frog
Across the Carroll Street Bridge
And reaching her kitchen, had transferred
Her Coop food to the fridge.

Till now he’d basked beneath the sun,
Floating on a lucky tide,
Escaping certain painful death
By fatal pesticide.

The third day on his frozen shelf,
He replaced his chant with a yelp,
And Om gave way to urgency,
For Froggie needed help.

It came at last, when just in time,
He found his lettuce haven
Withdrawn by a knowing hand and  placed
In a bowl by a salad maven.
 
The member’s eyes doubled in size
And yet she had no  regret
As she spied her guest and marveled, How
Organic does it get!

Past shock on her part, relief on his,
Froggie no longer drifts;
He’s joined the Coop and shops in peace–
As long as he does his shifts.

Here’s the press release from the Department of Transportation about the alternate-side-of-the-street holiday started May 19th:

Effective Monday, May 19, 2008, Street Cleaning/Alternate Side Parking Regulations will be temporarily suspended in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn’s Community Board 6 until further notice as the Department of Transportation (DOT) installs signs with new, reduced regulations. In many cases, residential street cleaning parking restrictions will be reduced from three-hour intervals to just 90 minutes, and from twice a week to just once a week, to ease parking for local residents. On commercial corridors, some streets will now be cleaned more often and regulations will be better coordinated to help ensure some curbside parking for local shoppers. The new rules were established by the Department of Sanitation.

Street Cleaning Regulations will be suspended within the following borders from May 19 until further notice:

North: Pacific St. (included) from 4th Ave. to 6th Ave.;
6th Ave. (not included) from Pacific St. to Flatbush Ave.;
West side of Flatbush Ave. (included) from 6th Ave. to Plaza St. West.

East: Plaza Street West (included) from Flatbush Ave. to Union St.;
Prospect Park West (included) from Union St. to Bartel Pritchard Square;
Bartel Pritchard Square (included) from Prospect Park West to 15th St.

South: 15th St. (not included) from Prospect Park West to 4th Ave.

West: 4th Ave. (not included) from 15th St. to Saint Mark’s Pl.;
4th Ave. (included) from Saint Mark’s Pl. to Pacific St..

The new Street Cleaning Regulations will take effect once sign changes are complete in the entire area, also indicated on the map. The DOT will give advance notification before enforcement resumes.

The changes do not affect 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. parking rules or meter regulations, or any other parking rules that are not Street Cleaning Regulations.

Similar conversions and temporary suspensions of ASP rules will occur later this year in Board 6’s Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook neighborhoods.

For more information, please contact the Citizen Service Center at 311 or visit the Department of Sanitation’s web site at www.nyc.gov/sanitation, or contact Brooklyn Community Board 6 at (718) 643-3027 or online at www.BrooklynCB6.org.

Contact: Seth Solomonow (DOT) (212) 442-7033
Vito Turso (Sanitation) (646) 885-5020
Craig Hammerman (CB 6) (718) 643-3027

Rescuers Struggle to find Chinese quake survivors (NY Times)

Quake Relief for China (NY1)

Horse chesnuts in spring (Brooklynometry)

Companies with sponsorship deals with FCR (McBrooklyn)

A little ditty for Genesis I

An officer’s novel arrives in the bookstore 14 months after his death (NY Times)

Breastfeeding tied to intelligence (NY Times)

This is the ultimate Park Slope backyard theater festival. It’s a down home, grown up, "let’s put on a show" event organized by a bunch of playwrights, actors, and directors, including the founder/director of the Brooklyn Writing Space, who is a playwright. This event sounds awesome: A full day of theater and fun. Karinne Keithley closes the event with her magic ukulele fingers. Look/see who/what is on this wild program. And Mac Wellman will be there.

SUNDAY MAY 18 2008
11:00am – 4pm
369 1st Street, Garden Apartment – Park Slope
(R to Union Street)
$5 (includes beer and hot dogs)
Grill Angel: Matt Korahais
$2 silk screened t-shirts – bring yer own light colored t-shirt

                    MAY 18 2008 Cho-Chiqq Line-Up

                    11:00    Doors open (coffee and donuts)
                    11:15    Black Cat Lost excerpt – Erin Courtney
                                   dir. Ken Rus Schmoll performed by Heidi Schreck, Mike
                                   Iveson, Birgit Huppoch
                    11:25    Ethan Crenson plays some music
                    11:40    Tupu Tupu Tupu excerpt – Scott Adkins
                                   dir.  Erin Courtney performed by David Brooks, Heidi Schreck, Birgit Huppoch,
                                   Lula Graves, Matt Korahais, and Homer Frizzell.
                    <Fire up the grill>
                    1:00    Lesser Magoo excerpt – Mac Wellman
                                   dir. JOYCE CHO performed by Scott Adkins, Karinne         
                                   Keithley, Sibyl Kempson and Amber Reed.
                    1:25    Brian Mendes and Siobahn  play some music
                    1:40    My Address Is Still Walton Have You Forgotten? excerpt
                                   – Karinne Keithley
                                   undirected by Karinne Keithley, performed by members of Joyce Cho,
                                   Machiqq, and "the public"
                    2:05    Mr. Aposcope excerpt – Amber Reed
                    2:20    <Break>
                    2:30    Constitution Extravaganza excerpt – Heidi Schreck
                    2:45    Hoi Polloi sings
                    2:55    Kyckling and Screaming excerpt – Sibyl Kempson
                    3:15    Off the Hizzle (an excerpt from OFF the HOZZLE)      -lumberob

"The too-short life of Nicholas Pekearo was both triumph and tragedy.
He died a hero’s death, sacrificing his own life to save others.  And
now comes The Wolfman, a brilliant, insightful, overpowering debut from
a writer who studied, listened, and learned before he took his
shot…and centered the bulls-eye.  Published posthumously, this
"debut" novel is a triumph."–Andrew Vachss

Nicholas Pekearo’s first novel, The Wolfman, will be released in the coming weeks from Tor Books.

Pekearo, a young writer, who lived in Park Slope, was killed in the line of duty while volunteering as an NYPD Auxiliary Police Officer in the neighborhood he grew up in, New York City’s Greenwich Village.

He worked in bookstores throughout New York City, including Crawford-Doyle on Madison Avenue. The Wolfman is his first published novel.

Marlowe Higgins has had a hard life. Since being dishonorably discharged after a tour in Vietnam, he’s been in and out of prison, moving from town to town, going wherever the wind takes him. He can’t stay in one place too long–every full moon he kills someone.

Marlowe Higgins is a werewolf. For years he struggled with his affliction, until he found a way to use this unfortunate curse for good–he only kills really bad people.

Settling at last in the small town of Evelyn, Higgins works at a local restaurant and even has a friend, Daniel Pearce, one of Evelyn’s two police detectives.

One night everything changes. It turns out Marlowe Higgins isn’t the only monster lurking in the area. A fiendish serial killer, known as the Rose Killer, is brutally murdering young girls all around the county. Higgins targets the killer as his next victim, but on the night of the full moon, things go drastically wrong. . . .

A Year in the Park biked ten times around Prospect Park the other day and she wrote about what she saw:

On a Saturday blessed with a few sunny hours, picnics blossomed on the soaked grass of the Long Meadow. I had ample opportunity to observe them pitching camp and settling in: Today I cycled around the park 10 times. That’s a personal best for one-day mileage: about 35 miles. (Each circuit is about 3.5 miles.) My Century ride is next week. (It will almost certainly be a "metric Century," or 65-mile segment, for less Olympian riders; I am digesting my disappointment in the hopes of converting it to fuel.) I was thrilled to find some other members of Team in Training were also charging around the park drive.

Now I’m the Gertrude Stein of the Brooklyn blogging world, eh? I loved what Bed Stuy Banana had to say about the Blogfest. Here’s an excerpt. She has more fun descriptions on her blog. I was pleased that she, along with many others, did a shout out.

I attended the Third Brooklyn Blogfest (an annual communion of artists,
activists, and other misfit toys culled from the Brooklyn blogosphere
by the Gertrude Stein of the Brooklyn blogging world, Louise Crawford
of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn)
last night with a mixture of trepidation and excitement, my hand firmly
clutching Big Joe’s (formerly known as Joseph, more on that later). As
usual I was prepared for the absolute worst, for my detractors to come
up and flip loaded nachos into my face, telling me how much they hated
my blog and bearing printed out sheets highlighting my blog’s
grammatical errors, incorrect word usage and run-on sentences. And as
usual, the absolute worst failed to happen. In fact I had a small group
of fans (amazing what a complimentary bunch of bananas sent to the
right people can do) cheering me on and I felt feelings akin to what
I’d felt in art school, having found my tribe at last. Or one of them
at least. At various times in my life thus far, my tribes have included
gay men at New York clubs in the early nineties, earth mamas,
curmudgeons, and fashionistas.

Ikea is opening on June 18th after years of protests from local Red Hook residents. But now that it’s a reality, it will be interesting to see how the neighborhood likes its new neighbor.

According to Jeanine Ramirez, the Brooklyn reporter for NY 1, Craig Hammerman and others seem to think that Ikea is a good neighbor and doing things right by Red Hook.

It remains to be seen whether Ikea is indeed a positive thing for Red Hook and the surrounding neighborhoods of Brooklyn.

But it can’t be denied that Ikea has done (or was forced to doP quite a few things right even if the big blue and yellow box store is a bit glaring contextually in that historic area.

On a positive note, the store offered first choice of jobs to people in the community and they are offering full benefits even for part-time employees.

Now that’s cool.

No doubt the Red Hook Ikea, the first Ikea in New York City, has great views of the water, the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

Sitting on  22 acres in the Erie Basin, the big box Swedish store turned 6 of its acres into a public waterfront esplanade. I am eager to see if this effort to win over the community pays off. It sure sounds nice.

Craig Hammerman of Community Board 6 seems to be very positive about the new Ikea.

"There were certain conditions that the community board had imposed
on its land use review and IKEA has lived up to all of the conditions," Hammerman told NY 1.

According to NY 1:

Ikea helped pay for turning lanes on Hamilton Avenue to ease the
traffic flow in and out of Red Hook. Shuttle buses will pick up
customers at nearby subway stations, water taxi service will run to and
from Manhattan’s Pier 11, two city bus lines are extending their routes
to the store and rental Zipcars will be on-site.

IKEA widened and paved the street in front of the store, upsetting
some residents who wanted to keep the old stone road that was here. So,
designers included the stones in the park landscape. The store also
incorporated cranes to preserve the site’s maritime history.

Sounds like Ikea is adding public transportation (i.e. shuttle buses, extended lines for the existing buses, and water taxi service) to a neighborhood sorely in need of public transportation. Whether these modification will just be for customers or for the community as a whole remains to be seen.   

June 18th is just a few weeks away. Everyone wants to see how this store fits into the life of this very special Brooklyn community and whether it is a benefit to the place or just a drain on the community’s resources.   

Today is the day. There are a few last minute details to attend to but everything seems to be in order for tonight’s third annual Brooklyn Blogfest.

For those who don’t know, the Brooklyn Blogfest is a gathering about Brooklyn blogging for bloggers, blog fans, those interested in blogging and those passionate about Brooklyn.

The festivities are TONIGHT at 8 p.m. at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 Fourth Avenue just steps from the R train’s Union Street station. Suggested donation is $10 to help offset the costs of this event. There will be food and drink a-plenty and lots of time for networking and socializing.

Indeed, it takes many hours of unseen work, coordination, attention to detail, writing, phone calling, emailing, and outreach to the community to pull off an event like this and thank goodness there were so many people lending their positive energy and creativity to the event.

As Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times wrote in an email the other day: 

Thanks to those who helped to do the behind the scenes prep work and who have stepped up in such a generous way to help out on the day of the event.  It takes a village to raise a Blogfest and we are a really great village!

Thanks to Eleanor and all the other people, who came together and donated their creative energy to this project. It was a team effort that was a joy to be part of.

Come to the Blogfest and get the cool handout: Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers and Top Ten Tips for Photo Bloggers.

The Third Annual Brooklyn Blogfest 2008 is an event for bloggers,
blog-readers, those interested in Blogging, and those passionate about
Brooklyn. It is open to one and all and everyone is warmly welcomed. No need to RSVP or be personally invited.

Date and Time: Thursday May 8th, 2008 at 8 p.m.

Location: The Brooklyn Lyceum. 227 Fourth Avenue at President Street just steps from the R-trains Union Street station.

For cool Blogfest T-shirts: Come to the Blogfest

More info: Louise Crawford at 718-288-4290 or louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com

What to Expect: Here’s the line-up for the program. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Video: Place Matters: Blogging My World by Blue Barn Pictures

Brief Welcome: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (Louise Crawford)

Speaker: Creative Times (Eleanor Traubman)

Speaker: Bed-Stuy Blog (Petra S.)

Video: A Walk Around the Blog Promo by Brooklyn Independent Television

Speaker: New York Shitty (Miss Heather)

Speaker: Gowanus Lounge (Robert Guskind)

Speaker: Gersh Kuntzman, editor of The Brooklyn Paper

Video: A Word from WNYC’s Brian Lehrer

Speaker: Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers presented by So Good (Heather Johnson)

Speaker: Outside.in, a resource for bloggers who blog about where they live

Video: A Tribute to Brooklyn’s Photo Bloggers with music by Brooklyn’s Ready Fire Aim  (video produced by Brooklyn Optimist)

Speaker: Bloggers Reach Out: The Brooklyn Blogade presented by Flatbush Gardener

ANNUAL SHOUT-OUT: Your chance to share your blog with the world introduced by Luna Park Gazette

Food and Fun: There will be light refreshments and other
goodies from Maria’s Mexican Bistro, Red Mango Bakery, Brooklyn Fudge,
and beer courtesy of Outside.in

After the presentation there will be plenty of time for conversation, networking,
beer and delicious snacks courtesy of Maria’s Mexican Bistro, Red Mango
Bakery and Brooklyn Fudge.

Many Thanks to Our Blogfest Sponsors: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Blue Barn Pictures, Outside.In, Brooklyn Optimist, Gowanus Lounge, Michael Sorgatz, Brit in Brooklyn,
Bed-Stuy Blog, Red Mango Bakery, Brooklyn Fudge, Maria’s Mexican
Bistro, DJ Solo P from Groovalicious and the Community Bookstore.

TONIGHT at the Brooklyn Lyceum at 8 p.m. hear original compositions and arrangements by The Josh Schneider and the Easy-Bake Orchestra, 17 of New York’s most fearless improvisers.

The Brooklyn Lyceum
227 Fourth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
$10.
Take the R train to Union Street.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the May 8th Brooklyn Blogfest at the Brooklyn Lyceum is the Shout-Out. That’s when the bloggers in the room are asked to go up to the stage and do a shout-out for their blog.

It’s a great opportunity to spread the word about your blog.

The Third Annual Brooklyn Blogfest 2008 is an event for bloggers,
blog-readers, those interested in Blogging, and those passionate about
Brooklyn. It is open to one and all and everyone is warmly welcomed. No need to RSVP or be personally invited.

Date and Time: Thursday May 8th, 2008 at 8 p.m.

Location: The Brooklyn Lyceum. 227 Fourth Avenue at President Street just steps from the R-trains Union Street station.

For cool Blogfest T-shirts: www. cafepress.com/blogfest

More info: Louise Crawford at 718-288-4290 or louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com

What to Expect: Here’s the line-up for the program. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Video: Place Matters: Blogging My World by Blue Barn Pictures

Brief Welcome: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (Louise Crawford)

Speaker: Creative Times (Eleanor Traubman)

Speaker: Bed-Stuy Blog (Petra S.)

Video: A Walk Around the Blog Promo by Brooklyn Independent Television

Speaker: New York Shitty (Miss Heather)

Speaker: Gowanus Lounge (Robert Guskind)

Speaker: Gersh Kuntzman, editor of The Brooklyn Paper

Video: A Word from WNYC’s Brian Lehrer

Speaker: Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers presented by So Good (Heather Johnson)

Speaker: Outside.in, a resource for bloggers who blog about where they live

Video: A Tribute to Brooklyn’s Photo Bloggers with music by Brooklyn’s Ready Fire Aim  (video produced by Brooklyn Optimist)

Speaker: Bloggers Reach Out: The Brooklyn Blogade presented by Flatbush Gardener

ANNUAL SHOUT-OUT: Your chance to share your blog with the world introduced by Luna Park Gazette

Food and Fun: There will be light refreshments and other
goodies from Maria’s Mexican Bistro, Red Mango Bakery, Brooklyn Fudge,
and beer courtesy of Outside.in

After the presentation there will be plenty of time for conversation, networking,
beer and delicious snacks courtesy of Maria’s Mexican Bistro, Red Mango
Bakery and Brooklyn Fudge.

Many Thanks to Our Blogfest Sponsors: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Blue Barn Pictures, Outside.In, Brooklyn Optimist, Gowanus Lounge, Michael Sorgatz, Brit in Brooklyn,
Bed-Stuy Blog, Red Mango Bakery, Brooklyn Fudge, Maria’s Mexican
Bistro, DJ Solo P from Groovalicious and the Community Bookstore.  

Poster designed by Michael Sorgatz.

Diaper Diva writes:  "Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany are moving to Manhattan. Check out Brownstoner. They are selling their mansion. You get to see pix of the interior but I got to see the Calder Mobile I always see hanging in the window."

I checked out the Brownstoner post and it’s true.  They are selling the mansion for $8.5 million and moving to a penthouse on West Street in Tribeca.

Slopers are falling all over themselves trying to figure out how Jennifer Connelly could ditch that gorgeous mansion.

Just check out the Brownstoner comments.

It calls into question everything Slopers hold dear. That house on the corner of Carroll Street is a Slope Dream House.

It is inconceivable to most Slopers that someone could walk away from what many Slopers lust for:  a historic, 5,200 square feet mansion crammed with architectural details facing a beloved Park.

"I love that house," Diaper Diva told me. "One thing you have to say is they kept up the integrity of it. They kept the original details and decorated with a light touch. I like the mix of the mid-century with the Victorian."

Perhaps Connelly/Bettany want a more anonymous life away from the glare of envious Park Slopers. Or maybe it’s not that at all. Maybe they got tired of the multi-floor living. Or they needed  more privacy or security.

Maybe Connelly, a lifelong Park Sloper, wants to try life in Manhattan.

Moving to Tribeca? That’s a real blow to Slopers who believe that their neighborhood is heaven on earth.

A quartet of accordian players calling themselves the Accordian Angels will be playing at the garden on Sixth Avenue and 15th Street at 2 p.m.

"A garden is a great setting for us," Bob Goldberg, one of the players told me.

They practiced in a front yard on Third Street on Sunday and got quite a response. I wish I’d been here because it sounded like a nice thing to do on a Sunday afternoon.

The Accordion Angels are Bob Goldberg; Carl Riehl; Genevieve Leloup; Mark
Nathanson. They are a newly-forned accordion quartet, that
bridges the traditional and the post-modern, playing an eclectic and interesting range of musical styles, including Stephen Foster, Leonard Bernstein,  Paolo Conte, Copland, Bizet, Led Zeppelin and Steve Reich

They will be playing at Barbes on May 18th at 7 p.m. and at Le Petit Versailles, a outdoor garden in Manhattan at 346 East Houston Street between Avenues B and C.

The Third Annual Brooklyn Blogfest 2008 is an event for bloggers,
blog-readers, those interested in Blogging, and those passionate about
Brooklyn. It is open to one and all and everyone is warmly welcomed. No need to RSVP or be personally invited.

Date and Time: Thursday May 8th, 2008 at 8 p.m.

Location: The Brooklyn Lyceum. 227 Fourth Avenue at President Street just steps from the R-trains Union Street station.

For cool Blogfest T-shirts: www. cafepress.com/blogfest

More info: Louise Crawford at 718-288-4290 or louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com

What to Expect: Here’s the line-up for the program. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Video: Place Matters: Blogging My World by Blue Barn Pictures

Brief Welcome: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (Louise Crawford)

Speaker: Creative Times (Eleanor Traubman)

Speaker: Bed-Stuy Blog (Petra S.)

Video: A Walk Around the Blog Promo by Brooklyn Independent Television

Speaker: New York Shitty (Miss Heather)

Speaker: Gowanus Lounge (Robert Guskind)

Speaker: Gersh Kuntzman, editor of The Brooklyn Paper

Video: A Word from WNYC’s Brian Lehrer

Speaker: Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers presented by So Good (Heather Johnson)

Speaker: Outside.in, a resource for bloggers who blog about where they live

Video: A Tribute to Brooklyn’s Photo Bloggers with music by Brooklyn’s Ready Fire Aim  (video produced by Brooklyn Optimist)

Speaker: Bloggers Reach Out: The Brooklyn Blogade presented by Flatbush Gardener

ANNUAL SHOUT-OUT: Your chance to share your blog with the world introduced by Luna Park Gazette

Food and Fun: There will be light refreshments and other
goodies from Maria’s Mexican Bistro, Red Mango Bakery, Brooklyn Fudge,
and beer courtesy of Outside.in

After the presentation there will be plenty of time for networking,
beer, delicious snacks courtesy of Maria’s Mexican Bistro, Red Mango
Bakery and Brooklyn Fudge and conversation.

Many Thanks to Our Blogfest Sponsors: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Blue Barn Pictures, Outside.In, Brooklyn Optimist, Gowanus Lounge, Michael Sorgatz, Brit in Brooklyn, Bed-Stuy Blog, Red Mango Bakery, Brooklyn Fudge, Maria’s Mexican Bistro, DJ Solo P from Groovalicious and the Community Bookstore.  

Poster designed by Michael Sorgatz.

Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the award-winning Brooklyn Paper:

It’s the same old story, isn’t it? The hot “It” girl has a record or film or book or sex video to promote so she poses half naked in a national magazine.

There’s the predictable hue and cry about America’s declining values and the predictable apology. But the record or film or book or sex video goes on to huge success, so the half-naked photo is quickly forgotten.

Not this time. This time, the “It” girl was 15-year-old Miley Cyrus, whose alter ego, Hannah Montana, was supposed to be different. Her “character” is the one who always plays it clean (even as she made millions for Disney).

So why did she do it?

There’s the obvious: Because all of Cyrus’s parent figures — from Disney to her agents to the celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz to Cyrus’s should-know-better superstar father — care more about the fictional Hannah than they do about the real Miley.

Indeed, if you watch the “behind the scenes” footage on the Vanity Fair Web site, you can see Miley’s dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, chatting amiably with the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz and her staff. Clearly nothing was troubling him at the time.

But after the photos were flashed all over the world, the fingers started pointing.

Disney, which has been milking the Cyrus cash cow for years, blasted Vanity Fair with a statement: “A situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines.”

Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle exploitive?

Indeed, blaming Vanity Fair is like blaming the warden for crime. Anyone who sits for Leibovitz knows the Faustian bargain: Got a record to promote, honey? Take that top off and let’s see if we can help.

Yet many scolds are blaming Miley. But to Smartmom’s way of thinking, Cyrus is the victim in this American Kabuki.

And Smartmom knows because her 16-year-old son, Teen Spirit, just shaved his head.

No, that’s no metaphor. The other night Teen Spirit called and told Hepcat that he shaved his head.

“Not exactly shaved. But my hair is really, really short,” he said.

Smartmom nearly fainted when she saw her firstborn looking like a military recruit. In recent years, Teen Spirit has hid behind his hair like Violet in “The Incredibles.” It’s been his invisibility shield, the sheath that protects him from the world.

But that was then, this is now.

And just as America asked Miley Cyrus, “Why did you do it?!” Smartmom is wondering what could have been going through her son’s mind.

And then she realized that this seemingly self-destructive act made all the sense in the world. Both Teen Spirit and Miley Cyrus are adolescents. Both felt the need to reinvent themselves and show the world that they won’t be defined by their public personas (in Miley’s case, she’s not happy always being Hannah Montana; in Teen Spirit’s case, it was clearly time to throw off the look of the slacker dude who just doesn’t care).

Who can blame either of them for wanting to reinvent themselves? Isn’t that what being an adolescent is all about? Like Miley, Teen Spirit doesn’t want to be a character in “The Smartmom and Hepcat Show” anymore. He wants to write his own sitcom (dramedy or mini-series) and create himself.

And that’s the message of the Vanity Fair pictures: Sure, she’s partly unclothed, but you can’t see anything unchaste.

Smartmom was sorry that Miley chose the pages of Vanity Fair to do her growing up. But then again, teens in Park Slope have to become adults under the skeptical gaze of their Park Slope parents, their budinsky parents’ friends, and their neighbors (that’s like Vanity Fair, right?)

Posing semi-nude for Annie Leibovitz, shaving your head on a whim. What’s the difference? It’s all part of growing up and trying to discover who you really are.

Indeed, Cyrus has nothing to apologize about — except perhaps the half-baked apology she made this week.

“[The] photo shoot was supposed to be ‘artistic,’ and now … I feel so embarrassed,” she said.

Embarrassed? About what? She may not go to high school or live like a normal teen, but Miley Cyrus has every right to play with her inner and outer identity like every other kid.

Change your hair. Change your clothes. Change your persona. Change your mind.

It’s all part of the identity game.

Now, if you want to cast blame, look no further than Disney, Vanity Fair, Annie Leibovitz and Billy Ray…

“Time Out” rally met with “Build It Now” counter-protest (Atlantic Yards Report)

At Saturday’s rally one voice and then? (Atlantic Yards Report)

300 at Saturday’s rally (Gowanus Lounge)

An eye on Atlantic Yards (Brit in Brooklyn)

So Hepcat and I decided to go see Ironman. I mean who can resist a smart, political superhero movie with Robert Downey, Jr. Jeff Bridges bald with a goatee, and Gwyneth.

So I booked tickets on line for the 9:10 show at the Pavilion. Leaving the apartment we hoped to find something quick to eat.

"Let’s see what’s above 9th Street," I said when Hepcat suggested good, old reliable Mr. Falafel on Seventh Avenue near Third.

We shoulda had a falafel.

Everywhere we went above 9th Street was packed. 20-minute wait at Little Dishes, 20 minutes or more at Anthony’s. That German place on the corner of 14th and 7th Avenue looked packed.

Finally we went to Johnny Mack’s on 8th Avenue and 12th Street but there was only one tiny table surrounded by crowded tables. We decided not to squeeze in. Instead, we sat happily at the bar and ordered for me: a veggie burger; for he: chicken and pecan salad.

I had wine, he had beer.

I noticed for the first time the mural on the back wall of the bar of 4 brownstones on 11th Street. It’s very attractive. It’s been there a year-and-a-half it turns out but I’ve never spent any time in the bar, we usually sit in the back.

The food was perfect and we were out of there at 9:05. Sadly when I tried to pay for my ticket with a credit card the woman at the Pavilion told me there were no tickets under my name.

"You did it again," Hepcat said. "You didn’t actually buy the tickets online." This had happened one time before. Ooops.

Dang.

Both of us were dying to see Iron Man but we didn’t get all crazy about our aborted movie night. Instead, we walked home past Dizzy’s, picked up some dessert to take home, and watched a show called Numbers on television.

The movie shooting in Park Slope is called The Rebound. Brit in Brooklyn had a post about it on Wednesday.

The funny thing is this: I shoulda known. My sister is the Assistant Set Decorator on that movie. She’s been telling me for days that they’re going to be shooting in Park Slope. They’re shooting all over the city.

She likes the script, which is the story of a single mom who captivates her new neighbor, a much younger man!

Here’s the word (and a photograph) from friend and photo blogger, Brit in Brooklyn:

Our street, St Johns Place between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, shuts down tomorrow (Thursday May 1st) for the filming of "The Rebound", directed by Bart Freundlich and starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. Part of 5th Avenue will also be closed. For more info, call 646 216 4343.

GIVE THE MAN HIS DUE

George Warrior Bush may not be articulate

And therefore unintentionally fibberish

But consider that English ain’t his first tongue

Which happens to be Downhome Gibberish

This year, you can wear the Brooklyn Blogfest as a shirt. Go to the Blogfest Shop at Cafe Press and check them out. Many styles.

At the moment the T’s and all other merch are priced at cost. The prices will be going up in a few days. Hope you like ’em. They’re designed by artist, Michael Sorgatz.

The shirt pictured is $13.99 plus shipping. There are many styles over there.

A resident of Sunset Park, who has been following OTBKB for about a year sent me some news about a situation at NYC’s Andrew Heiskell Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Since 1991, this library has hosted the state’s only browseable collection of Braille books.   
 
Apparently, the New York Public Library proposes to place these books in storage at an off-site
location for retrieval by mail-order, and replace the books with the administrative apparatus of the NYPL’s IT department, which in turn is being displaced by the closing of the Donnell Branch. 

The decision was made with no public input or due notice, and supervisory staff at Andrew Heiskell have responded to inquiries by phone and in person with stonewalling and disinformation. The following is taken from this Sunset Park resident’s email:

When my roommate and I dropped into the library yesterday, we were
told by some of the staff that they’d seen boxes of books being packed
up, possibly for shipment to an annex in Midtown.  The supervisory
librarian denied that any books had so far left the shelves for any
reason other than borrowing, but when we examined the shelves we found
the nonfiction and fiction sections clumped in the middle, with
extensive empty shelf space on each end of the room, as if a hasty
consolidation had been made but excess shelving had not yet been
removed.  When we asked the supervising librarian how long she’d been
hearing about the potential transition, she remarked that she couldn’t
even remember what she’d had for dinner last night.  She declined even
to guess the month that NYPL trustees toured, and decided to partially
seize, our library.

There is so much conflicting information and evidence that a
traditional press release would be hard, but we need the wider
community’s help to insure that all six floors of Andrew Heiskell
continue to provide services exclusive to the blind and low vision
population.  Our community already has a problem with declining
literacy and consequent underemployment; removing our Braille books
from ready access could only make it worse.  There are 85 or so
branches dedicated to standard print.  Surely one of them can house
the displaced IT center.

Please find a link to the online version of our petition below:

http://www.petitiononline.com/Heiskell/petition.html

This is a critical juncture for the "Atlantic Yards" project, and Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn believes that it’s hugely important that  Brooklynites show Governor Paterson just how concerned they are about it.

OTBKB says: if you come to only come to one Atlantic Yards rally…this is the one to come to (and bring your friends!) Here’s the announcement from DDDB:

We urge you to find a way to give just one hour of your time this Saturday to attend this community rally (Please bring signs to Saturday’s rally, see below):

Community Rally On Atlantic Yards Called For
May 3rd, 2 PM
752 Pacific Street
(near Carlton Avenue)
in the "footprint" of the proposed project.
See you there!

          Call a Time Out on the Atlantic Yards Bait and Switch:

A Community Rally to Tell Governor Paterson to Halt the Atlantic Yards Project

A major community rally will be held Saturday, May 3, 2pm at 752 Pacific Street. The Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods, Brooklyn Speaks, and Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn will join with community leaders and elected officials in calling for a freeze on all Atlantic Yards activities. The three sponsoring organizations represent thousands of New Yorkers that have had differing perspectives on issues raised by the Atlantic Yards proposal, but all agree that the current state of affairs is intolerable.

The following elected officials have confirmed attendance: NYS Senator Velmanette Montgomery, NYS Assemblywoman Joan Millman, NYS Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, NYC Councilwoman Letitia James, NYC Councilman Bill Deblasio, NYC Councilman David Yassky, NYC Councilman Tony Avella.

DDDB has always maintained that Atlantic Yards is not a feasible project. Recent developments in the financial markets and statements by the developer have made that certain, and call the entire project and its purported public benefits into question. The only thing currently with a timeline is the arena and its luxury skyboxes and acres of demolished vacant lots. Meanwhile our neighborhoods are being blighted by unnecessary demolitions for a project that is now a big unknown.

DDDB’s position remains the same as it has from the beginning—the project is bad for many reasons from process to finance to design, and we oppose it. The project should be scrapped; it’s time for a new plan to develop the rail yards in a democratic, fair and responsible way with genuine community participation.

So come on out on May 3rd — bring your friends, join your neighbors, fellow New Yorkers, elected officials and community leaders in telling Governor Paterson to stop eminent domain, stop demolitioins, stop subsidies and halt Ratner’s plan.

Look at the list of the local Brooklyn Pols, some of whom are at term limit and running for new political office, who are coming out for the hopefully big rally on Sunday about the future of the Atlantic Yards project.

NYS Senator Velmanette Montgomery, NYS Assemblywoman Joan Millman, NYS
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, NYC Councilwoman Tish James, NYC
Councilman Bill Deblasio, NYC Councilman David Yassky, NYC Councilman
Tony Avella.

This Sunday’s rally is important and it’s VITAL that a lot of people show up to show the Governor how Brooklyn feels about Atlantic Yards.

These politicians and Develop Don’t Destroy are calling for a freeze on all Atlantic Yards activities. The three
sponsoring organizations represent thousands of New Yorkers that have
had differing perspectives on issues raised by the Atlantic Yards
proposal, but all agree that the current state of affairs is
intolerable.

The entire project is a big question mark right now. As DDDB has always said, Atlantic Yards is not a feasible
project—for a number of reasons.

Recent developments in the financial markets and statements by
the developer have born this out.

The project is a big unknown. The only thing currently
with a time-line is the arena. Everything else is uncertain.