I just heard from Nat Kensinger who is now the Director of Programming for the 13th annual Brooklyn International Film Festival (pictured left is last year's loely poster). Nat writes:

From The Huffington Post:

Jeanne-Claude died Wednesday night at a New York hospital from
complications of a brain aneurysm, her family said in an e-mail
statement.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he spoke with Christo on Thursday morning and offered condolences on behalf of all New Yorkers.

"The Gates" festooned 23 miles of Central Park's footpaths with thousands of saffron drapes hung from specially designed frames.

More than 5 million people saw "The Gates," and it was credited with injecting about $254 million into the local economy.

Photographs by Hugh Crawford

How well do you know the Brooklyn food scene? Take the quiz at brooklyn.about.com!

John Woo was asked to help the struggling Chinese film industry and he responded by returning to China to make his next film with Chinese cast and crew.  The result is Red Cliff, opening in New York and select areas this weekend, a historical war epic shot and mounted on a grand scale.  Set in 208 A.D. the film tells the story of the legendary Battle of the Red Cliffs, in which two relatively small kingdoms, south of the Yangzte River banded together to protect their homeland against the powerful warlord Cao Cao and his massive army, already in control of northern China.

The film is nothing if not an achievement. Struggling to make an American studio-sized epic with major infrastructure problems, the film suffered severe setbacks, including  losing a stunt man during a fatal accident and having scheduled lead Chow Yun-Fat back out right before shooting (replaced by Tony Leung, a star of similar presence). Unfortunately, the film didn’t engage or enrapture me the way Woo’s best work can. The brutal battle sequences are never infused with the dramatic, emotional, psychological depth of his early Hong Kong work like Bullet in the Head, nor does it have the nutsy ridiculousness of his American films like Face/Off.  And the history here is perhaps too ready-made for the movies as major narrative elements such as the underdog storyline, the brotherhood of inglorious bastards and the woman-as-spoil metaphor come off as little more than clichés.  The film also seems rushed as it appears that a lot was cut, particularly from the story’s set up, a seemingly extended montage that could be Red Cliffs Notes.  The film is allowed to breathe during battle sequences. And the lush photography and constantly moving camera could make almost any shot or sequence a perfect clip for a PBS cinema documentary.  But as a whole the film is unfortunately light on power and majesty.

On the topic of those PBS documentaries, I hope you got to see this week’s Independent Lens. No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos focused on the work of cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond as well as their lifelong personal relationship.  The Hungarian cameramen escaped their home country during the Soviet invasion and armed with footage that caused a worldwide sensation.  They would then break into American B-movies and eventually change the look of modern cinema with one or the other being director of photography on Easy Rider, Deliverance, Five Easy Pieces, Close Encounters of The Third Kind and dozens of other films that have been a part of your life if you’re a movie fan.  I really admired the way the portrait of the filmmakers showcased some of their early work.  Clips from cheapies like The Sadist and The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies come off like hallmarks of American cinema.  I don’t know if I would call the documentary great or brilliant, but it was a lot of fun to stroll through the filmmakers’ work and understand their relationship.  Not to mention half of Hollywood talking about how hot Laszlo Kovacs was.  And simply seeing so many other major cinematographers on TV in such a short time was heaven for me as well.

–Pops Corn

There's an awesome one-night performance happening in Fort Greene.  The piece is called "Open
House" and involves making an entire house with people's bodies as the
walls, windows, chairs and tables.  The audience is invited to
experience the structure both from outside as well as from within the
living space.  The event is entirely FREE and open to the public. 

The public is  invited both as audience members as well as
participants.  If anyone would like to get involved in the making of
Open House, they should email Glenda Reed at TheLivingRoomProject@gmail.com. 

Date: Thursday, 12/10/09

Time: 8:00pm performance

Location: Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford St, Brooklyn, NY 11217

Cost: Free

If you would like to participate in the making of Open House email Glenda Reed at TheLivingRoomProject (at) gmail (dot) com

Young Writer's Night on Thursday, November 19

Brooklyn Reading Works presents its first ever Young Writer's Night, an evening of fiction, poetry and songs from young (ages 13-18) writers from across the city:

Hannah
Frishberg, Maria Robins Somerville, Ben Waldman, Avery Whitted, Lily
Konigsberg, Henry Crawford, Lucio Westmoreland, Eli Greenhoe and Heather Boo.

It's at the at 7 PM at the Old Stone House. There is a $5 suggested donation, which includes admission and refreshments.

"
I'm hearing about an excellent Saturday and Sunday brunch (10 AM until 3 PM) at a newish restaurant called Cornelius.

Some are saying it's a very nice spot that's good with kids. "Great Menu, Good Prices, Well Executed," writes a member of Park Slope Parents.

Here's what their website has to say:

From Crain's New York via Verse Responder Leon Freilich (Thanks Leon!):

This comes to me via the Cobble Hill Association Blog: Get to know State Senator Daniel Squadron:

The Cobble Hill Association Kicks off its Community Roundtable Series with State Senator Daniel Squadron

7:30 PM on Monday, November 23rd
@ Christ Church, at the corner of Clinton and Kane Streets

This
will be the first of a series of "Community Roundtable" meetings hosted
by the Cobble Hill Association to provide an opportunity for you to
meet directly with your elected officials. We are honored that our
first guest will be State Senator Daniel Squadron. This will be an
informal meeting where you can discuss any issue or concern directly
with Senator Squadron.

"These meetings will provide an
opportunity to meet directly with your elected officials to discuss any
issue or concern," said Roy Sloane, president of the CHA.

This event is free of charge and is open to the public.

Y'know "The Approval Matrix—the "deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies" on the back page of New York Magazine?

Well, it may be on the last page but it's the first page I turn to when I read that magazine. I just love it! And I really love the fact that OTBKB faves Louis and Capathia made the Highbrow/Brilliant quadrant of the matrix.

Way to go.

And you know, they're performing on Sunday, November 22nd at 7PM at Joe's Pub in Manhattan. I will, of course, be there with some friends. Hope to see you there. Here's what NY Mag had to say.

Corcoran Group Real Estate is being sued for selling a leaking condo to a Park Slope couple (Eliot, thanks for the correction).

Nice.

They just didn't show it during rainstorms. What this place leak? Nah. It's completely dry…

The story was in The Real Deal and also Gothamist  sent to me via Verse Responder Leon Freilich. Thanks Leon!

http://gothamist.com/2009/11/17/if_its_raining_and_your_real_estate.php

Well, we got screwed by the F-train last weekend.

Hepcat and his mom (visiting from California) took the F train home from the Museum of Modern Art on Sunday and ended up on a shuttle bus from Jay Street Boro Hall. And we thought the shuttle bus thing was over. So did the Brooklyn Paper:

So what happened? The Brooklyn Paper spoke to an agency spokesman, who was willing to take the blame.

The humble admission of guilt did come with some caveat: Seaton said
commuters could have learned about the service interruption on the
MTA’s Web site, in stations or the popular MTA podcast “TransitTrax.”

According to the MTA’s online service advisory schedule: there will be no shuttles this
weekend. Let's hope they mean it this time!

If you have teenagers, enjoy your freedom for a few hours while they flock to The Twilight Saga: New Moon.  And if you’re concerned that your children should pursue more serious endeavors, then you aren’t visiting enough multiplexes.  You see, nothing is more serious than contemporary blockbusters.

Indeed, Lady Gaga is not the only poker-faced entertainment in your teen’s lives.  Popcorn is served with heaping doses of sincerity now.  And it is not only palatable to the blockbuster-mentality crowd.  Critics and, even Oscar are eating it up.  So, if I may quote a decidedly non-comic supervillain named Joker, “Why so serious?”

Backing up we can perhaps trace the trend to comic books.  I’m not well-versed in comics, but series like The Dark Knight and Watchmen, both now successfully (and morosely) adapted to the big screen, brought bleak storylines and no-nonsense (ok, there was tons of nonsense, but not the fun kind) storytelling.  The face of the medium changed. “Dark” became critical codeword for “of greater value,” and film critics have followed suit.  When reviews hailed Christopher Nolan’s film version of The Dark Knight as the darkest comic book adaptation ever made, it was assumed you understood that meant the best.  How could corn like 1979’s Superman even compare?

Comic-inspired films seemed to kick off the trend in the movies, a medium that is rarely first out of the gate.  While Tim Burton’s Batman hinted at what was to come with its conflicted hero and goth-black production design, there was still some fun to be had with a goofy Joker and Prince songs like “Party Man.”  The first true trailblazers of the fun-sapped popcorn movies to me are the first two M. Night Shyamalan successes, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.  The latter, especially. Steeped in comic book lore, Unbreakable is a somber-toned thriller with a loser super-hero introduced to us, not as a larger than life figure, but as a flawed man.  To defend M. Night Shyamalan at this point is a little like defending George W. Bush in my circles, but I truly believe that these films literally set the tone. 

As these films ushered in a new era, we bid adieu to the sea of irony that mass-market commercial art had been drowning in.  Did anyone keep a running count of how many times one of Charlie’s Angels winked at us, literally, over the course of two features?  And Joel Schumacher became irony’s fall guy for crossing the line between inserting-fun-into and poking-fun-at the beloved Batman series; die-hards are still livid. 

In the wake of these works, Hobbits got Oscars, James Bond had to match Matthew Bourne’s grit, vampire teens got sullen and Judd Apatow even made lowbrow comedy serious. Most recently, Where The Wild Things Are emerged from a 30-page children’s book about rowdy monsters as a psychological study.

Got on the topic of Ben Stiller with a friend recently, and I thought about how Stiller’s ironic comedic style is out of sync with this recent development.  I then actually craved some of that irony (such a component of Stiller’s work that its very definition is discussed in his first feature, Reality Bites) if only to lighten the atmosphere. It was then I thought about putting this post together and how I would complain about the seriousness of the current cinema.  And while I have grown weary of the somber cinema and will never understand how the moviegoing public and critical wing can take some of these works seriously, I’m realizing now that I have been party to this movement as well and enjoyed a lot of the films that have kept our faces straight.  So don’t be surprised if that’s me knocking over your teen on my mad dash to New Moon.

Here's a press release from the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC) , which starting this week is placing collection boxes to recycle old rechargeable batteries and cell phones at select Greenmarket farmers markets across the city.

Have you seen the people in grey sweatshirts that say "Let's Make Parking Easier" giving out flyers on Seventh Avenue?  I got a dirty one that was left on the street. It said.

Parkingaroundme.com claims that they can make parking easier with a community-driven approach to finding street parking quickly.

I checked out the web site and it seems to be a free service that enables drivers tell each
other about available street parking through text messaging or Twitter.

They're starting in Park Slope Brooklyn (focused on the area around New
York Methodist Hospital) and plan to cover the rest of NYC very soon.

You probably have a lot of questions. So do I. Here's their FAQ:

1. Why would I want to participate in this?
2. How do I get/give parking spots?
3. Do I have to give spots to get spots?
4. What if I need a spot but Roadify tells me there aren't any available?
5. What if the spot I claimed on Roadify isn't available when I get there?
6. What if I spend a point for a spot but don’t get it?
7. Isn’t txting, Twittering and the like dangerous to do when you’re driving?
8. I get road, flight and mass transit info through other sources. How is Roadify different?
9. Why does Roadify want my car's make and model?
10. Why is Roadify good for our community, the environment and the like?
11. How do you make money on this?
12. When are you expanding beyond the New York Methodist Hospital area?
13. When will Roadify include more than just parking information?
14. How does Roadify protect my privacy?
15. What if I have a question you’re not answering?

I

I just got this email from vocalist Janine Nichols:

YOUNG WRITERS NIGHT! This Thursday at the Old Stone House.

Brooklyn Reading Works presents its first ever Young Writers Night, an evening of
fiction, poetry and songs from young (ages 13-18) writers from across the city. The Old Stone House. Third Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope at 7 PM. $5 SUGGESTED donation includes refreshments. Curated by Jill Eisenstadt.

Hannah Frishberg
Maria Robbins Somerville
Ben Waldman
Avery Whitted
Lily Konigsberg
Henry Crawford
Lucio Westmoreland
Eli Greenhoe

Do you have something to share with the world ?Why not BLOG IT? Blogging for self-expression, business, social change or pleasure. Learn how at BAX!

Learn how to blog with Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, in a hands-on
workshop covering technical, creative and conceptual issues. In this
class we will discuss blog design, how to write a great blog post,
top-ten tips for new bloggers, search engine optimization, social
networking platforms and more.

You don’t need to know a thing about blogging. All you need is the desire to blog!

Louise Crawford
runs Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn and is the Smartmom columnist for the
Brooklyn Paper. She produces the annual Brooklyn Blogfest and Brooklyn
Reading Works, a monthly literary reading series at the Old Stone House
in Park Slope. As a freelance writer her work has appeared in Newsweek,
the Associated Press and BKLYN Magazine. She has taught How to Blog
workshops at BAX, Adelphi University, Baruch College and at
Writers-at-the-Beach in Rehobeth, Delaware.

Wednesdays  |  December 2 – December 16  |  7:00 – 9:00pm

$45 for the workshop (no drop-ins)

Here's how to register:

by phone: call (718) 832-0018

by mail: download the registration form here, fill-it out and send it in with payment

in person: at the front desk

We accept Visa, Master Card, and Discover

For more information call (718) 832-0018 or email info@bax.org.

A note from the lovely Alison at Paper Love:

Brooklyn Reading Works presents its first ever Young Writers Night, an evening of
fiction, poetry and songs from young (ages 13-18) writers from across the city. The Old Stone House. Third Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope at 7 PM. $5 SUGGESTED donation includes refreshments. Curated by Jill Eisenstadt.

Hannah Frishberg
Maria Robbins Somerville
Ben Waldman
Avery Whitted
Lily Konigsberg
Henry Crawford
Lucio Westmoreland
Eli Greenhoe

Do you have something to share with the world. Why not BLOG IT?
Blogging for self-expression, business, social change or pleasure.
Learn how at BAX!

Learn how to blog with Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, in a hands-on
workshop covering technical, creative and conceptual issues. In this
class we will discuss blog design, how to write a great blog post,
top-ten tips for new bloggers, search engine optimization, social
networking platforms and more.

You don’t need to know a thing about blogging. All you need is the desire to blog!

Louise Crawford
runs Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn and is the Smartmom columnist for the
Brooklyn Paper. She produces the annual Brooklyn Blogfest and Brooklyn
Reading Works, a monthly literary reading series at the Old Stone House
in Park Slope. As a freelance writer her work has appeared in Newsweek,
the Associated Press and BKLYN Magazine. She has taught How to Blog
workshops at BAX, Adelphi University, Baruch College and at
Writers-at-the-Beach in Rehobeth, Delaware.

Wednesdays  |  December 2 – December 16  |  7:00 – 9:00pm

$45 for the workshop (no drop-ins)

Here's how to register:

by phone: call (718) 832-0018

by mail: download the registration form here, fill-it out and send it in with payment

in person: at the front desk

We accept Visa, Master Card, and Discover

For more information call (718) 832-0018 or email info@bax.org.

“Bring Your Own Kid” to 92YTribeca every Sunday for great music that both parents and kids will enjoy. It’s the series designed with the hipster parent in mind, and a chance for their rock and roll offspring to let loose. There’s lots of space for kids to dance and for parents to schmooze over brunch and coffee (our cafe will fill all your culinary needs). So whether you ' re a mom, dad, or just the babysitter, pack up the posse and come on in for some tunes that will keep both adults and the little ones rockin’.

Sun, Dec 6, 11 am, $15
RANI ARBO & DAISY MAHEM
Fronted by triple threat singer-songwriter-fiddler Rani Arbo, daisy mayhem plays "neo old-timey music with cosmopolitan splashes of contemporary pop and jazz." Expect musical treats from a pre civil war song from the Georgia Sea Islands sung over a New Orleans style groove, to an old Irish fiddle tune with new lyrics, capped with a solo on a South American box drum. The group is also currently putting finishing touches on a new children's album.
www.92YTribeca.org/BYOK

Sun, Dec 13, 11 am, $15
PRINCESS KATIE & RACER STEVE
Get ready to rock out…royally! Princess Katie & Racer Steve bring their tremendously popular kiddie rock concerts straight from the Kingdom to BYOK. With their critically-acclaimed CDs, Songs For The Coolest Kids and Fast & Feisty chosen as Parenting Magazine’s picks for Best Music CDs, Princess Katie & Racer Steve offer cool takes on popular music sounds ranging from funk and swing to electric rock ‘n’ roll and pop.
www.92YTribeca.org/BYOK

Sun, Dec 20, 11 am, $15
SECRET AGENT 23 SKIDOO
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo is on a mission: Combine a love of hip-hop with storytelling, and bring a half pint dance party unlike any other. His tools: Funk, reggae, bluegrass, and creative rhymes, with some dragons, mermaids, robots and sea monsters thrown in for good measure. The result? “The best album of kid-oriented hip-hop you’ll ever hear.” Mission : Accomplished.
www.92YTribeca.org/BYOK

• Rachel Goodman will
  be my Chief of Staff:  Rachel has great experience in both the
  political and not-for-profit world, and was a central part of our
  campaign team.  She'll be responsible for running the office, setting
  strategy, and keeping us on track to achieve ambitious goals we've laid
  out.

• Michael Freedman-Schnapp
  will be the Policy/Legislative Director:  Many of you know Michael from
  his work as Volunteer Director during the campaign, or before that as
  Senior Policy Associate for the New York Industrial
  Retention Network.

• Constituent services liaison

• 
  
  Community organizer

• 
  
  Scheduler/office manager

Job descriptions for each position can be seen by clicking on the job titles (and can be reached from our website, at www.bradlander.com).  Interested applicants should send a resume and cover letter to resume@bradlander.com. 

Wednesday, November 18, 07:00PM, FREE!
Babeland Brooklyn, 462 Bergen Street  

This month’s event will feature Eric Garrison, a sexologist and
counselor, who will speak with men about the pre- and post-partum
changes going on in their partner’s bodies. Perfect for expectant dads,
new dads and anyone who would like to learn more about how hormones,
breastfeeding, and sleep deprivation can affect their partner’s body.
Complimentary refreshments will be served. This event is jointly
sponsored by Choices in Childbirth/New Space for Women’s Health, Bump
and Park Slope Parents.