Greetings from the Luna Park Saloon (Brooklynometry)

Carroll Gardens Not Loving Clarett’s design for 340 Union (Pardon Me for Asking)

Major median work in downtown Brooklyn (McBrooklyn)

Gearing up for the Brooklyn Flea (Reclaimed Home)

BIG MAMA

Big Daddy was a lovin’ spouse

Who guiltily left her the Big White House.

THE CHOIRBOY

The choir in which he learned each virtue

Has taught him listening to rants can’t hurt you.

THE MAVERICK

The Maverick’s portrait hangs in the Louvre

Right next to that of Herbert Hoovre.

Brooklyn a go go (Found in Brooklyn)

Carroll Garden garden gnomes (Pardon Me for Asking)

Fabulous cup cakes (Eat Drink Memory)

Brennan introduces an alternative congestion pricing bill (Streetsblog)

Inserting nature at Ikea (Callalillie)

Brooklyn fire injures 10, including 5 firefighters (NY 1)

Assembly debates congestion pricing (NY 1)

East River waterfalls by Public Art Fund (NY 1)

Hear SAB on the radio (Self-Absorbed Boomer)

ALBANY THREESOME

We’re back to basics in the state:

“Three men in a room” is what we see.

A model high efficiency rate,

Or political perversity?

ALBANY HOTSEAT

New York’s First John

Was forced to begone,

Then his post fell upon

New York’s Don Juan.

A woman needs to find a home for her two beloved cats:

Due to family circumstances, i must find a new home for my lovely cats. Please pass this along to ANYONE you can think of. I need all the help I can get! I am also attaching a word document flyer if you work some where that might be a good spot for posting it, and have the time to do so, i would really appreciate it. I am also listing it on a few websites. THANKS!

Lovely Agnes is a gorgeous pale orange tabby. She is an amazing feline that is as sweet as she is pretty! Agnes is a very affectionate cat that loves to be loved. She is smart and will definitely be your best buddy! Agnes will quickly turn your gloomy day into sunshine with all of the warmth and love that she has to offer.

Agnes is 8 years young and is trained as an indoor cat. She does enjoy exploring the outdoors too. Agnes is spayed, current on vaccines … and very healthy! We keep her claws neat and trimmed and just doesn’t mind nail trims one bit.

Meet Floyd … this dashing black/white tuxedo is simply the best cat ever! He is a beautiful and sleek cat that enjoys human (and feline!) companionship. Floyd is smart, curious, and an all around great cat. This cat will quickly melt your heart! He loves to cuddle and is gentle with everyone he meets.

Floyd is 8 years young and is trained as an indoor cat. Floyd is neutered, current on vaccines … and very healthy! We keep his claws neat and trimmed and doesn’t mind nail trims one bit!

If you are interested in inviting two cats into your life, they certainly make a lovely duo but they can be adopted out separately. Both beauties are neutered and up to date on all vet exams and shots. Asking adoption fee, for safety reasons.

If interested in finding out more about this fabulous felines,
please contact Jenny: jenny(at)jennyladen(dot)com

This school, also knows as The Math and Science Exploratory School, is a small, innovative middle school that is already very HOT. But now with this new computer lab…

The unveiling is tomorrow.

Councilmembers de Blasio and David Yassky provided funding for the technology lab. The grants were awarded to the school upon learning that the school would be moving from one location to another. The total cost of the technology lab which includes complete reconstruction, wiring, furniture and technological equipment was $335,000.00.

The new lab will have a total of 15 Apple desktops and 16 wireless laptops networked with the most current operating system, and application software. The lab also has an interactive Smartboard for whole class lesson presentation. MS 447 (The Math & Exploratory School) has grades 6 to 8 with a total of 457 students.

When: 11AM –Thursday, April 3, 2008

Where: MS 447, 345 Dean Street, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY

As reported on Gowanus Lounge, The Onion pokes a bit of fun with some cool photoshopping at Park Slope in its current issue. I happen to know that a local dad writes for the humor magazine from time to time and is a very funny guy in his own right. Maybe he had something to do with this.

Many of those affected by the ostentatious reshaping of their once purely upmarket neighborhoods said that they often wish for a return back to the privileged communities they helped to overdevelop just a few years ago. Among the first to feel the effects of the encroaching aristocracy have been local business owners like Fort Greene, Brooklyn resident Neil Getz.

“Around here, you used to be able to get a Fair-Trade latte and a chocolate-chip croissant for only eight bucks,” said Getz, who is planning to move back in with his parents after being forced out of the lease on his organic grocery store by a harpsichord purveyor. “Now it’s all tearooms and private salon gatherings catered with champagne and suckling pig. Who can afford that?”

Incoming aristocrats are easily spotted by their distinctive dress and taste for chamber music.

“It’s just a terrible shame,” Getz continued. “There was this great little shop right across the street from my duplex apartment where I bought my baby daughter a Ramones onesie a couple of years ago, just after she was born. That whole block is an opera house now.”

The aristocracy has adamantly dismissed claims that the sweeping changes are detrimental to the merely wealthy who have been displaced, and many persons of noble blood have pointed to aristocratization’s benefits. These include lower crime rates attributed to new punishments, such as public floggings and the pillory, which are primarily meted out for maintaining direct eye contact with members of the highest class.”

Eugene Patron, who keeps me up to date on events in Prospect Park, sent me word that April 19 – 27 is Earth Week. And boy there’s a lot of ways that kids and adults can learn what to do to help the environment. The Prospect Park Audubon Center, which is celebrating its sixth birthday, is just one of many locations in the Park with special programs heralding the arrival of spring, and environmental education for the whole family. Interestingly, the festivities are sponsored by Ikea Movers Not Shakers.

Saturday April 19

Prospect Park Youth Council Pre-Earth Day Celebration
Time: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Location: Youth Resource Center at Bowling Green Cottage (Prospect Park Parade Ground).
Details: Get a jump on celebrating Earth Day (April 22) with the Prospect Park Youth Council! Activities include gardening, removing of invasive weeds and plants, and reconstruction of flowerbeds and veggie gardens. Learn about what we can do as individuals and families to reduce waste and conserve energy. And soothe what ails you by learning holistic remedies to common ailments. Free.

Hands on New York
Time: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Location: Meet at the Endale Arch on the north end of the Long Meadow.
Details: In partnership with New York Cares, help shore up walking paths along the Long Meadow and manicure its magnificent trees. Walk-ins are welcome. Call (718) 965-8960 for more information.

Sunday April 19 & 20
Environmental Education Day
Date: Sunday, April 20
Time: 12 – 5 p.m.
Location: Prospect Park Audubon Center
Details: Start off your environmental education week at the Audubon Center with a day of learning about your local ecosystem in Prospect Park. Make crafts with recycled materials, take a Discover Tour, and learn how nature can make you happier! All events free.

April 21 – 27

Earth Week and Exhibition at the Audubon Center
Time: 12 – 5 p.m. every day
Location: Prospect Park Audubon Center
Details: Earth Week at the Prospect Park Audubon Center will have a different theme each day, with programming for environmentalists of all ages. Learn how to do your part through lectures, tours, activities, film screenings, workshops, recyclable crafts, and a daily exhibit. View works and an installation by artist Jessica Baker, who prints geometric designs on leaves found in Prospect Park and other parts of Brooklyn. Visit ww.prospectpark.org for a full listing of activities and events — all free.

Special Events Saturday, April 26 at the Prospect Park Audubon Center:
B’EarthDay Bash, 1 – 4 p.m. Celebrate the birthdays of John James Audubon, Frederick Law Olmsted and James Stranahan. At 2 p.m. Lloyd Miller of the Deedle Deedle Dees and friends will perform a special, musical birthday celebration. There will also be arts and crafts, plus birthday cake. Artist’s reception, 5 – 8 p.m. Enjoy a public reception with live music for artist Jessica Baker’s Leaf & Circle exhibit at the Audubon Center. Free.

Bushwick Ruminations (Brooklynometry)

The first bad girl I ever met (Bad Girl Blog)

One million trees plus one (Pardon Me for Asking)

Will obscure charter provision be used for Gowanus (Gowanus Lounge)

Boing: A branch of Boing Boing (Gowanus Lounge)

Gregory Crewdson, photographer, from Park Slope (New York Magazine)

Brought to you by The Feldman Family from their weather tower in Park Slope (truly), complete with maps, charts, graphs, sunrise, sunset times and more. This is a daily feature on OTBKB.

Illustration by www.webdesign-guru.co.uk

As reported on Streetsblog, the City Council has voted 30-20 to approve congestion pricing. The decision now goes to the state legislature.

For a full roll call courtesy of Noah Budnick of Transportation Alternatives, go to Streetsblog.

Love in Hard Times, The Music of Paul Simon, is produced by my high school friend, Chris Wangro. Go Chris.

This unprecedented month-long residency at BAM begins with Songs From Cape Man from April 1-6.

This month, Paul Simon collaborates with an extraordinary range of artists to offer three musical constellations from the career of one of America’s greatest songwriters.

Latin beats and 50s doo-wop fill New York City’s nights with Songs from The Capeman. In Under African Skies, Simon rekindles a love affair with the sounds of South Africa and Brazil which began with his masterpieces Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints. Finally, Simon revisits the quiet railway stations, urban rhythms, and immigrant dreams of his greatest American Tunes.

For tickets go here.

Thanks Brownstoner for the Brooklyn breakdown of who did and who didn’t vote for congestion pricing in Brooklyn:

For Congestion Pricing: 

Simcha Felder, Sara M. Gonzalez, Letitia James, Domenic M. Recchia, Kendall Stewart, Albert Vann, and David Yassky—voted for the plan. 

Against Congestion Pricing: 

Diana Reyna, Charles Barron, Bill de Blasio, Erik Martin Dilan, Mathieu Eugene, Lewis A. Fidler, Vincent J. Gentile, Darlene Mealy, and Michael C. Nelson

Note – the headlines were backwards for a while this morning , thanks to Kim for pointing out the error

Ridgewood Redemption (Brooklynometry)

Spring shoe collection has arrived in Carroll Gardens (Pardon Me For Asking)

Teenage gang debs (Found in Brooklyn)

New French bistro on Newkirk Avenue (Brooklyn Junction)

Rent a dog (Reclaimed Home)

F Train still sucky (Reclaimed Home)

Memorial murals (Bed-Stuy Banana)

First quarter interim report (A Year in the Park)

Historic hospital at Navy Yard getting media makeover (NY 1)

The woman who runs Brooklyn Fudge got in touch with me after she read about the Brooklyn bloggers video shoot with Blue Barn Pictures. She wanted to know if she should drop off some fudge for the bloggers. Like 50 to 75 pieces.

I said, sure, why not, what a nice idea.

When I got to the shoot there was already a big basket of Brooklyn Fudge and bloggers ate from that basket all day.

The fudge was very rich and delicious. Favorite flavors included, Dark Wasabi Pecan (a BIG hit) and Dark Cinnamon Almond.

On the F-train home from the shoot, I saw the Fudge Lady with the basket. She had a lovely southern accent and looked delighted that all the fudge had been consumed by a bunch of bloggers.

Thank you so much Brooklyn Fudge. 

Park Slope’s first family of arts and culture will be appearing at a benefit at the Rainbow Room, one of my favorite New York spots, in a benefit for Healing Bridges, a group that raises money for women and children in Africa. Interestingly, it’s hosted by Robin Quivers from the Howard Stern Show and her group, Girls Night Out.

For us the big draw is Simon, a wonderful painter and Simone, a world-class pianist with a top selling CD of the Goldberg Variations out now. Here’s the blurb from the invite. The price is a little steep but hey, it’s for a great cause.

Howard Stern Show radio personality Robin Quivers and her
charity-focused dinner committee Girls Night Out will host A NIGHT OF
MUSIC AND ART WITH THE DINNERSTEINS, which takes place on April 17th at
the Rainbow Room in New York City. The dinner will benefit Healing
Bridges, a non-profit organization that creates jobs in Africa for
women to support themselves and their families and help fund their new
business ventures. For more information on Healing Bridges go to www.Healingbridges.org.

The evening will feature the music of Simone Dinnerstein, the acclaimed
American concert pianist who the New York Times called an artist
“poised for a breakthrough,” and whose recent recording of Bach’s
Goldberg Variations earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Classical
Chart in its first week.
The night will also feature the art of her father, the celebrated
painter Simon Dinnerstein of Brooklyn, NY whose work has been featured
around the world.

Cocktails begin at 6pm,
followed by dinner and the performance. Special celebrity seating will
soon be available on www.charityfolks.com.  VIP tickets are $1000 and
all other seats are $350. Information on purchasing tickets can be
obtained via email to HealingBridgesEvent@gmail.com or by telephone at
646-435-1548.

Yesterday I spent the entire day in the lobby of the cool loft/office building in DUMBO that houses Blue Barn Pictures, an International Multimedia Production Company, owned by Jim Baker, David Castillo and Stephen J. Duke. Highly experienced and professional, Blue Barn produces a wide variety of media, including commercials for Canon and other companies. From their website:

At the heart of Blue Barn is a production staff of creative professionals dedicated to delivering your concept with the style and intelligence your vision deserves.

Blue Barn has traveled around the world, from Miami to London, San Francisco to Barcelona, to produce commercial and independent projects.

Blue Barn Pictures is producing a short video about Brooklyn Blogging for the Blogfest. Yesterday was the big, marathon interview day and boy did they do a great job making all of us Brooklyn bloggers look and sound great.

For that I am grateful.

I became aware of Blue Barn when Castillo showed up at the Blogade brunch in Kensington and showed this interesting profile of a Spanish actor. Shot in black and white, the piece was stylish, smart, well-edited and fun.

I asked Castillo then and there if he’d be interested in working on this video. Hey, I used to be a filmmaker and a video producer, I know quality when I see it.

Did I mention that Blue Barn Pictures also has a blog?

From 11 am until 7:30, bloggers filed into the incredibly comfortable lobby on Jay Street and waited for their close-ups. It was a funny scene.

Why did we have to bring two shirts? some asked.

David had sent out a very detailed list of what not to wear at a video shoot:

1.White clothing
2. Shirts with logos (Mickey Mouse, Rolling Stones, Nike, I love Dick Cheney or anyone who will sue). If you have a shirt with your blog’s name on it, please wear it.
3. No clothing with tight striped lines ( New Yorkers remember Crazy Eddie, we don’t want you looking like his blazer)
4. Please bring a spare shirt.
5. If you wear makeup, please do not apply it until you arrive, HD does not like make up. You can apply some make up here.

The make-up thing had some of the women bloggers quite distressed. One blogger said playfully, “I am almost 50 years old and I won’t go on without make up!”

Joe’s NYC, I’m Seeing Green, Creative Times, Habeus Brulee and Luna Park were the first to arrive.

As the day progressed, Brit in Brooklyn, Midnight Cowgirls, My Sidewalk Chalk, Reclaimed Home, New York Shitty, Old First Blog, Mrs. Cleavage, Gowanus Lounge, No Words Daily Pix, The Henrys in New York, Bed Stuy Banana, Sogood.tv, Self-Absorbed Boomer, Bad Girl Blog, Pardon Me for Asking, Found in Brooklyn, Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn, Brooklynometry, No Land Grab and I all passed before Blue Barn Picture’s HD lens. Google these bloggers as I am too lazy and tired from yesterday to link to all of them right now.

No wonder I’m tired. It was a steady stream of bloggers all day long. What a fun group to hang out with. These are my people. The Henrys in New York has a fun report on the event on her blog.

And you can see the video by Blue Barn Pictures at the Blogfest on May 8th at 8 p.m. at the Brooklyn Lyceum. Open to all bloggers and non-bloggers alike.

Brooklyn Blogfest 08
May 8th at 8 p.m.
@ the Brooklyn Lyceum
227 Fourth Avenue at President Street
$10 suggested donation
Open to one and all

Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper.

Smartmom hasn’t cried yet. And she’s worried that maybe there’s something wrong with her. In about two months, she and Hepcat will be attending the Oh So Feisty One’s fifth-grade graduation from PS 321.

And she hasn’t shed even one tear.

Maybe it’s because Smartmom has been through it before. When Teen Spirit was in fifth grade, Smartmom found herself getting misty just about every day.

One day she couldn’t contain herself when Teen Spirit’s class sang “In My Life” to the parents during Parents as Reading Partners one Friday morning.

The sobs just erupted and wouldn’t stop.

Later, at the dearly departed Mojo Café, she tried to tell a friend about it and she burst into tears, again.

“I’m sorry,” she weeped into her cappuccino. Her friend, who had a pre-schooler, didn’t have a clue why she was so emotional.

Smartmom cried because it was hard to face the fact that her firstborn was growing up.

She cried because the middle school application process was frustrating and dispiriting.

She cried because she had no idea how or when she’d gotten so old.

Smartmom went to Teen Spirit’s fifth-grade graduation fully expecting to cry her eyes out. She didn’t realize that the graduation ceremony would be a marathon of speech making by local politicians, like health nut Marty Markowitz, who made the kids do jumping jacks.

On an excruciatingly hot day in June, the graduation ceremony lasted almost three hours and Smartmom found herself getting a little antsy. But the tears did come during the slide show.

Later, the tears came like the fountain in front of the Brooklyn Museum, when, at the end of the ceremony the kids turned around in their seats and sang that famous song from “Rent”: “Five-hundred twenty-five thousand, six-hundred minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. Five-hundred twenty-five thousand, six-hundred minutes, how do you measure, measure a year?”

Waaaaaaaaaaaa.

Yet here it is, March of OSFO’s fifth grade and Smartmom’s eyes are as dry as the Sinai. What is wrong with her? To make it worse, she’s seen more than one friend get emotional.

Smartmom’s friend, the co-president of the PTA, let it rain at a yearbook meeting at Sweet Melissa’s. She cried again going through old photographs for the book’s “The Way We Were” section.

But still no tears for Smartmom.

Smartmom knows it’s partly because she’s been through it before. Sure, but that’s no reason to get nostalgic about an important milestone in OSFO’s life.

Smartmom may just have to face that she’s ready to leave PS 321. For Buddha’s sake, she lives right around the corner from the school and Diaper Diva’s daughter will be starting kindergarten there in 2009.

Eleven years is a long time. Maybe she is ready to have two kids finished with elementary school. No more choice times, parents as reading partners, writing celebrations, drop offs, pick ups, working on the school’s annual poetry magazine, hanging out with mom friends at Sweet Melissa’s, pot luck dinners, parent/teacher conferences…

Omigod, they’re coming. A tear just dripped onto the keyboard of Smartmom’s MacBook.

Smartmom hopes they keep on coming at OSFO’s big ceremony in June. She knows there’s going to be a slide show. She hopes they use a tearjerker by the Beatles as the soundtrack. And when the kids sing, she hopes it’s a really smaltzy song like “Seasons of Love.”

Maybe just looking at OSFO all dressed up on that day, on the precipice of this big change in her life, will be enough to instigate Smartmom’s big cry.

Uh oh, here they come. Quick, where’s the Kleenex?

New York 1 reports that Brooklyn leaders are getting together to do something about hate crimes.

In light of the recent incident at the Fourth Avenue F Train station, where Assistant Rabbi Uria Ohana of the Massachusetts Chabad Center, was a victim, a coalition of religious and community groups gathered in Brooklyn’s Borough Hall.

Calling themselves, “We Are All Brooklyn,” they gathered in Brooklyn’s Borough Hall to show their opposition to hate crimes and to announce an upcoming event on April 9th called “Stand United Against Hate.”

The event will bring together religious and political leaders from across the city to come together to express bias crimes of any kind.

Faiza Ali from the Council on American-Islamic Relations says the crime against Ohana is one of the reasons religious leaders throughout the city are now taking action.

“Promoting cultural and religious sensitivity may lessen the chance that an occurrence like this one will repeat itself,” said Ali. “Through meaningful interactions and honest conversation, we will build a more peaceful community and we will promote an understanding of diverse cultures”

.

Brought to you by The Feldman Family from their weather tower in Park Slope (truly), complete with maps, charts, graphs, sunrise, sunset times and more. This is a daily feature on OTBKB.

Illustration by www.webdesign-guru.co.uk

Lara Wechsler’s Website

I spent three hours with the BCAT team that’s producing A Walk Around the Blog.

Sustainable Flatbush, Gowanus Lounge, Reclaimed Home, Clinton Hill Blog and others have already done it.

Go here to see their video segments.

Nerina Penzhorn, a camera man named Ryan and a nice PA, who’s name I forget, showed up at my 3rd Street building at 11 am and videotaped me walking to the Food Coop with my red shopping cart. I commented on a few points of interest along the way like the mystery building on Third Street and the paint drip sculpture on the building between 3rd and 2nd Street on Seventh Avenue.

At the Food Coop, they videotaped me interviewing Joe Holz, general manager of the Food Coop, talking about the proposed ban on plastic water bottles.

We stood in the coffee/spices aisle for about a half hour. It was all pretty crazy and we did quite a few takes. They shot me doing my shopping. I wasn’t even planning on doing any shopping but who can resist shopping at the Food Coop.

I picked up some salad, cheese, milk, matzoh, tomatoes, avocado, and other Coop-y items. The whole thing was very fun although I am now exhausted.

Nerina said the show will be aired in a couple of weeks.

Lara Wechsler’s website

I just got this invite in my inbox about “Off the Hook: Original Plays by Red Hook Kids” returns April 18-19 in Red
Hook

All of the enthusiasm, inventiveness, and
fearlessness that Brooklyn kids are capable of will be presented onstage
when six young playwrights perform their works alongside professional actors
in “Off the Hook: Original Plays by Red Hook Kids.” The performances will
take place Friday, April 18, at 7:00 p.m., and Saturday, April 19, at 3:00
p.m. in the auditorium of the Patrick Daly School (PS 15), 71 Sullivan
Street, in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Admission is free of charge.
“Off the Hook” will feature original plays written by six young
playwrights, age 10-16, who have completed a three-month workshop in
playwriting and theater arts. “The program catches the young playwrights at
a time when they’re becoming aware of the complicated world around them, but
they still bring a kid’s optimism and enthusiasm to the plays they create,”
says Reg Flowers, founder of Falconworks Artists Group and the creator of
Off the Hook. “They’re on the edge of adulthood, and their actions and
words show they are impatient to grow up, but there’s still an underlying
wide-eyed perspective and a belief in the impossible that comes through in
the plays they write. Almost anything might happen once the curtain goes
up.”

For reservations and additional information, call 718-395-3218 or
visit http://www.falconworks.com

.

A man cut his finger. Bad. So his wife posted on Park Slope Parents asked the community at large: Person Needed to Cut Ring from Finger. That caught my eye.

hi, my husband cut his finger on Sunday and now his finger is very
swollen and infected. We went to the doctor and he is taking
antibiotics, the problem is that his wedding band is extremely tight
around his finger and he is in a lot of pain :-(
Anybody knows where he can go to get it cut off? (the ring, not the
finger!).

John Powers website

12:45 a.m. On WNYC: Lenny Lopate is interviewing Charles Bagley,a New York Times reporter about Bruce Ratner and the Atlantic Yards project.

Listen to it on your computer.

I’m hoping someone I know like Daniel Goldstein, No Land Grab, or Atlantic Yards Report will call in.

Brought to you by The Feldman Family from their weather tower in Park Slope (truly), complete with maps, charts, graphs, sunrise, sunset times and more. This is a daily feature on OTBKB.

Illustration by www.webdesign-guru.co.uk

Lara Wechsler’s website

Brooklyn Reading Works presents Inner Lives Out Loud! Readings from Regina McBride’s Inner Lives Developing Characters Workshops with Stefania Amfitheatrof, Louise Crawford, Ann Marie Cunningham, Stephanie Hart, Margaret McIntyre, and Jennifer Wortham.

Using relaxation, sense memory, and emotional memory (Stanislavski acting techniques transformed for the writer) Regina McBride, the author of The Nature of Water and Air, The Land of Women and The Marriage Bed, offers a variety of exercises she’s developed to enable the writer to find a deeper, richer connection to the character he or she is creating.

These exercises are followed by writing periods, and opportunities for people to read and share their work. The atmosphere that Regina creates is safe, with the focus on exploration. Her class is designed to help the writer break into new territory with the character, and with the story itself.

Longtime participants in these workshops will read on Thursday March 27th at 8 p.m. at the Old Stone House @ Fifth Avenue and Third Street.

$5 donation. Light refreshments and wine.