To save $13.4 million, the city laid off 503 school aides. The layoffs were  meant to go through in October but the union sued, OTBKB will find out if we're losing any at our local public schools.

Saturday night we drove to Bushwick to see Bad Teeth at Good Bye Blue Monday.

At the recommendation of City Council member-elect Steve Levin we tried Northeast Kingdom at 81 Wyckoff Street. Our Google directions were quite good and we made the somewhat complicated route to the restaurant without any problems. We now think we could figure out an easier route on our own.

The restaurant was wonderful. You know when you have the feeling that you're making a great discovery of something wonderful and unknown in a neighborhood you've never been to.

Well, that's how I felt except the restaurant was packed and it's been open since 2005. So I'm a latecomer to the Northeast Kingdom thing.

Clearly the cozy, New England style tavern with wooden booths and tables has loyal fans and the food is fantastic. The menu runs the gamut from hamburgers (made with natural beef) to a specialty Chicken Pot Pie. A vegetarian entree with rolled collard greens was so good my mother-in-law asked the chef for the recipe.

And guess what? He obliged

Our waitress  was extremely nice and attentive, the service was fast and they've got a great wine and drink list plus a large list of beers of liquors (and a lounge downstairs).

Afterwards we drove over to Good Bye Blue Monday, a funky cafe/bar/club with a main stage and a backroom/backyard for rock shows. Bad Teeth and Mother Courage were great.

Photos from a Sunday afternoon walk by Efrain Gonzalez.

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.

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

There's a big event this coming Thursday –
Jonathan Safran Foer reading from his new book  Eating Animals at Old First Church,
with a reception afterwords at the bookstore.

According to Catherine Bohne, owner of the Community Bookstore, it was Foer's idea to read from the book at the church but to have the reception at the bookstore because he wanted to help raise funds for the
bookstore. That's why there's a $10 price tag. 
 

Foer and the Community Bookstore are hoping that people will want to hang out with this
favorite author and support the bookstore in the process.

Here are the 'tails (there's also a link to the CB website events page):
 
 

Jonathan Safran Foer
Reading from EATING ANIMALS
Thursday, November 19
6:30 p.m.
At Old First Church
Corner of 7th and President
 
Free reading, to be followed by a reception at the bookstore ($10
admission to the reception, with cheese and wine and the author and
more wine to be provided).
 

We used to "drive" a Maclaren stroller:

Consistent with our unwavering commitment to child safety we are
providing U.S. consumers notice of a voluntary recall of all Maclaren
umbrella strollers sold in the U.S. In cooperation with the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission, we are providing free of charge to
all affected consumers and retailers a kit to cover the stroller's
hinge mechanism, which poses a fingertip amputation and laceration
hazard to the child when the consumer is unfolding/opening the
stroller. The affected models include Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest
Mod, Techno XT, Techno XLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy
Traveller.

Maclaren USA's Umbrella Strollers meet all U.S. ASTM & JPMA
compliance standards. These certifications guarantee our umbrella
strollers meet the maximum safety standards available. The voluntary
recall is to alert the operator when opening or closing the stroller of
the possible risk of injury.

Safety is our first priority and through this voluntary effort we urge consumers to contact us immediately to obtain the kit which consists of hinge covers designed specifically to fit all Maclaren strollers.

Maclaren stresses all operators read the instruction manual prior to
use which contains valuable safety tips and service recommendations.

The Upper West Side and Park Slope. Of course.

Joni Mitchell wrote that life is a circle game and that “we can’t return, we can only look behind …”

But Smartmom has found that you can return when you have an adorable
5-year-old niece who gives you ample opportunities to re-experience
many of the pleasures of having a kindergartener without any of the
headaches.

This comes at just the right time for Smartmom, who feels like an
empty nester because her son is attending Gap Year University (OK, so
his dorm room is his childhood bedroom) and her 12-year-old daughter
has suddenly entered the “leave me alone” phase of adolescence.

Neither of them wants to spend much time with Smartmom.

But Ducky seems more than willing to be with Smartmom (or, more
accurately, Smartaunt). In fact, once a week, Smartmom picks her up at
PS 321, takes her to her after-school art class at Bernette Rudolph’s
Third Street studio, and hangs out with her at the apartment until
dinner.

Smartmom is thrilled to have a reason to enter the hallowed halls of
PS 321 again without feeling like a stalker. Thanks to Ducky, she
actually has a legitimate reason to be there.

Smartmom loves to enter Ducky’s kindergarten classroom, where she
spots Ducky sitting in her coat and backpack waiting at her desk. When
Ducky eyes Smartmom, she jumps up and runs to her.

Kiss, kiss. Hug. Hug. What joy!

Smartmom can still remember when Teen Spirit and OSFO were young
enough to do that. Not anymore do they jump up and run to Smartmom when
they see her coming.

Before going to Ducky’s art class, the two usually spend time in the
playground, where Smartmom helps Ducky practice her routines on the
parallel bars.

Later they go to the ices lady, who stands in front of the school.

Most of all, Smartmom appreciates that Ducky actually listens to what Smartmom has to say.

When Ducky hands Smartmom her backpack and asks her to hold it,
Smartmom just tells her to hold it herself. And guess what? Ducky puts
it back on.

When Smartmom tells her it’s time to leave the playground, Ducky
listens. Sure, she’d like to spend more time running around, but she
does as Smartmom says.

It’s been a long time since either of Smartmom’s children listened quite so attentively.

When they get to the art class, Smartmom can even pretend that Ducky
is her daughter. Smartmom looks exactly like her identical twin sister
Diaper Diva anyway.

In these ways and more, Smartmom’s Tuesdays with Ducky have been a win-win.

Halloween this year was also a special day to be with Ducky.
Smartmom was feeling a tad blue because she knew that OSFO had plans
with her friends that night and wouldn’t be trick-or-treating or going
to the parade with Smartmom. And Teen Spirit had tickets to see Weezer
at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan.

On Halloween morning, Smartmom, Diaper Diva and Ducky, who was
dressed as a very elegant Lady Bug, walked to the Farmers Market at
Grand Army Plaza, where there was a jug band and a puppeteer
entertaining children with a Humpty Dumpty puppet.

The trio continued into Prospect Park where they waited on an incredibly long line to do the Spook Walk.

At first, the three of them enjoyed seeing all the witches, ghouls
and vampires that were splayed around the woodsy area of the park.

But then Ducky got really scared. And the vampire who popped out of
a cardboard coffin really freaked Smartmom out, too. Luckily there was
a good fairy standing on the sidelines, who was quite adept at
comforting the children.

“Would you like to hug this teddy bear,” she asked Ducky sweetly.

“Are you a psychologist?” Smartmom asked the good fairy later.

“No, I’m a high school student,”

“You’re very good at this,” Smartmom told her.

Ducky told Smartmom that she never wanted do the Spook Walk
ever again. And Smartmom couldn’t blame her. They hurried out of the
Spook Walk area and Ducky felt much better when they were back on the
Park Drive heading for home.

When Smartmom got home she reflected on her Halloween with Ducky and
the circle game. Her own children were “going round and round on the
carousel of time.” They were too old for Halloween the way it used to
be and were now leading more independent lives.

This was hard to face. It made Smartmom feel old and sad because she
has great memories of all the Halloweens they’d spent together. Visions
of Teen Spirit as Quisp, Tin Tin and a “boy in a rainstorm” flashed
before her eyes as did images of OSFO dressed as just about every
Disney princess you can imagine.

That’s why Smartmom was so grateful to Ducky. It was fun to be her
aunt this Halloween, especially at this stage when her own children
seem to be moving on.

Next weekend, she’s going to take Ducky to the Prospect Park Carousel so they can watch “the painted ponies go up and down.”

Ducky is going to love it.

After 12 years in the corporate world, Sarah Blush was laid
off and at a turning point. “It was a do or die moment,” she says. She was
seriously overweight, miserable and desperate to start her own business.

  After much contemplation—and time at Crunch Fitness, Blush
lost 70 pounds and decided to launch Blush Monkey, a service for Brooklyn
singles.

  “I can’t cure cancer but I  decided that
love is a valid way to help the world," Blush told me. “How many people would be much
happier if they had someone to hold hands with?”

  So what is this dating service with the funny name?

 Blush organizes events for Brooklyn singles—straight and gay—and offers a different and less stressful of way of meeting. “Dating should be better,
easier and more fun,” she writes on the Blush Monkey website.

Blush Monkey events run from the “the highly targeted to
super inventive.” Designed to create an environment conducive to love, or like,
singles pay a fee to attend an event at a Brooklyn bar.

Blush tries to create a fun, friendly environment conducive
to low key communication. “I want people to open their hearts and talk to
everyone in the room,” she tells me. She comes up with fun questions that she gives everyone on
arrival. “What makes you laugh so hard it hurts?” might be one. In this way,
she gives people a conversation starter other than: “So what do you do for a
living?”

The goal is to take the awkward out of dating. "We
want to endear people to each other, make them laugh, and show off all
the brains! Welcome to dating that doesn't suck!

On November 27th Blush Monkey is sponsoring an event with NPR for Geeks and Freaks. This event is pre-paid only and the location for this event will be sent by email once your RSVP is
completed.

Blush writes: "Wear what you feel comfortable in. Be yourself, although unless
otherwise noted, shirts and shoes are required in most venues. We also
suggest you don't come right from the gym or as a total wreck."

If this approach turns you on,
check out the Blush Monkey website.  Blush will be thrilled to hear from you. “We love love,” she
writes. “So consider yourself invited. Take the bull by the horns and join us
for dating that includes targeted events and secrets at every corner.”

ILLUSTRATION BY ERIKA LOPEZ

Sunday, November 15th from 1 PM until 5 PM, head on over to Pratt to see the Fall 2009 MFA Open Studios. Details on the cool postcard above. 

…before we go to hear Bad Teeth and Mother Courage at Good Bye Blue Monday in Bushwick. New York Magazine had this to say about The Northeast Kingdon. 18 Wyckoff Avenue. 718-386-3864

Dalaga is a boutique in Greenpoint that carries fun and stylish shoes, bags, clothing and accessories at reasonable prices. I walked by there one day and bought myself a necklace there. 150 Franklin Street. 718-389-4049.

This Sunday, the office of the Borough President Marty Markowitz will issue a proclamation officially declaring November 15th "Suzanne Fiol Day in Brooklyn, USA". Borough President officials will be on hand to present the proclamation following a memorial service in her honor. The announcement will take place just before a scheduled symbolic parade which will depart St. Ann’s church, continuing past ISSUE’s future home at 110 Livingston, ending at the (OA) Can Factory for a celebratory concert.

Suzanne Fiol Day commemorates Suzanne’s immense contributions to Brooklyn’s cultural landscape as Founder and Artistic Director of ISSUE Project Room, one of the nation’s preeminent venues for experimental culture.

“On behalf of all Brooklynites, I salute the memory of Suzanne Fiol, a most respected daughter of Brooklyn, who left us far too soon, and whose influence will be felt for decades to come,” says Borough President Marty Markowitz. “I commend her, for being at the forefront of artistic interpretation, undertaking and finding creative ways to provide the space and encouragement for performing artists to create innovative and challenging work. She was an extraordinary spirit who created a “Carnegie Hall” for the avant-garde right here in our great borough.”

“We are tremendously thankful for the Borough President’s continued support,” says Steve Wax, Chairman of the Board for ISSUE Project Room. “His spirited decision to create Suzanne Fiol Day, as well as supporting us with a large grant for the reconstruction of 110 Livingston Street acknowledges the formidable organization that Suzanne built, ensuring that ISSUE will continue for decades to come."

Currently located in the (OA) Can Factory, Suzanne nurtured ISSUE through many transitions over the past six years – from a tiny garage on the Lower East Side to two consecutive midsized venues in Brooklyn. In 2008, selected from hundreds of applications for a 20-year rent-free lease at 110 Livingston St. in downtown Brooklyn, Suzanne secured a new and permanent home for ISSUE that will triple its audience capacity, increase its visibility and most importantly, bring a wide spectrum of cultural happenings to local residents.

Since 2003, ISSUE Project Room has produced nearly 1000 performances, and now stages well over 200 events yearly. Suzanne brought groundbreaking musicians of all genres, filmmakers, authors, poets, dancers, visual – and even trapeze – artists together in one space, curating shows that were interdisciplinary, multifaceted, and always surprising.

Suzanne Fiol Memorial Details:
4 pm
Service at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church
157 Montague Street, Brooklyn NY

7 pm
"Suzanne Fiol Day" Proclamation with
Representatives from the Borough President’s Office

7:10 pm
Exit Procession and Parade Begins

8pm
Parade Concludes at The (OA) Can Factory
Memorial Concert at ISSUE Project Room
232 3rd Street, Brooklyn, NY

For anyone who would like to support Suzanne's mission, donations can be made securely online at ISSUE Project Room’s website or by mailing a check payable to ISSUE Project Room (please notate “Suzanne Fiol Memorial Fund” in the Memo Section) to 232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11215.

We are getting a new one. Tomorrow. The old one is 88 inches wide and 36 inches deep. It's a nice weathered green leather IKEA couch. You have to carry it out. Tonight or tomorrow preferable.

Send an email to louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com

Read about the history of that superstition on Wikipedia.

My friend Eleanor Traubman at Creative Times is getting married next week.   On Wednesday we went wedding shoe shopping.

"Sadie, Sadie Married Lady," I sang to her as we walked to the subway but she was unfamiliar with the song sung by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl.

By the end of the day Eleanor was calling me her shoe fairy or something like that. What I like about the shoe she chose (pictured left)  is the Lucite clear wedge heel and the very 1960's rhinestone beads that look like tiny disco balls. You can read the story at Creative Times. Here's an excerpt:

"You
can ask anyone. I wear running shoes every day for every occasion. I
have feet that require them; I'll spare you the details about why.

I
figured that getting married was a good enough excuse to ditch the
tennies and go for something that seemed fairytale princess-like.

First, I did an online search for wedding shoes. I found a pair I
really liked on the Macys wesbite called The Nina Gamma Evening Shoe.

My
friend Louise Crawford, who is a lot of fun and a great scout, offered
to take me on the hunt. First, we went to Macy's in search of the
Ninas. They did not have the shoe I wanted. It was beyond mobbed
because of Veterans Day being a day off work for many and also a sale
day. I tried on something else but it was white satin-y fabric which
gets dirty quickly. More importantly, it was not the Nina Gamma…"

I got an email yesterday from the folks (The Free Impresarios) who presented the opera group, Suor Angelica, in Park Slope last year. I was delighted to hear that they're up to their old tricks again and are presenting a dance performance once again in the auditorium of St. Francis Xavier on President Street.

This Saturday, November 14, at 7:30 PM, SYREN dance performs "the last of the leaves," a highly physical dance, which uses the driving and churning
idiosyncrasies of John Adam’s
“Shaker Loops" to explore the mysteries surrounding the cycles of human
life. Birth, illness, death, and the different energies needed to
experience them, are points of departure for this piece as eight
dancers journey through qualities both distant and tender."

At St. Francis Xavier Auditorium in Park Slope November 14, at 7:30PM.
736 President Street. ONE NIGHT ONLY. Tickets:
$20 (cash only at the door. More information: info@syrendance.org

THEATER: At BAM "vindication and malicious intents have never been more rapturous than in director Robert Wilson's Quartett. Written by German playwright Heiner Müller (as a highly condensed adaptation of the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses), this work is an extraordinary expression of innocence lost." With Isabelle Huppert.

CIRCUS: At BAM, "the human body unfolds as a surreal rock and roll fantasy in Inside Out, Swedish troupe Cirkus Cirkör's phantasmagoric journey into the outer reaches of inner life."

DANCE: On Saturday, November 14, at 7:30 PM SYREN
presents last of the leaves: "highly physical using the driving and churning idiosyncrasies of John Adam’s
“Shaker Loops” to explore the mysteries surrounding the cycles of human
life. Birth, illness, death, and the different energies needed to
experience them, are points of departure for this piece as eight
dancers journey through qualities both distant and tender." At St. Francis Xavier Auditorium in Park Slope . 736 President Street. ONE NIGHT ONLY. Tickets: $20 (cash only at the door. More information: info@syrendance.org

FILM: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Saphire is at the Park Slope Pavilion and at  BAM and other theaters.

MUSIC: On Saturday, November 14 at 7 PM, Joe's Pub presents Louis Rosen & Capathis Jenkins. They perform songs from their new album The Ache of Possibility. 425 Lafayette Street in Manhattan.

FREE BIKE PHOTOS: On Sunday, November, 15 11 AM until 3 PM at the Old Stone House, professional photographer Keiko Niwa will photograph cyclists alongside their bikes. Receive a hi-res image for personal use, and be profiled on the New York Bike Jumble website showing off your bike and telling others why you choose to ride.

COLONIAL STYLE DUTCH MEAL: Old First
Dutch Reformed Church host an authentic 17th-century service with period
costumes and music followed by a Dutch meal. It all begins at 11 AM at Old First. 729 Carroll St. at Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 638-8300.

Sorry for such late notice. But I just remembered to list this. If you're not doing anything or can manage to get away:

Powerhouse Arena in DUMBO is hosting a free reading, book signing and discussion with Paul Auster:

 
John Freeman, editor of Granta and former chair of the National Book
Critics Circle, will host the evening and discuss with Auster his new book, which has been heralded as his most passionate and surprising
book to date.

The event kicks off at 7:00 PM. RSVP to invisible@powerhousearena

My niece got hers at PS 321 today. I am curious how it's been going for kids around the borough.

The city paid $95.6 million for 7 key acres in Coney Island owned by Joe Sitt, of Thor Properties. This appears to be very good news and there is hope, once again, that Coney Island can and will be the wonderland it once was—an amusement oasis for the citizens of New York City.

Kinetic Carnival, one of Coney Island's notable blogs, shares the news and has links to all of today's coverage on blogs and in the media.

It's that time of year again. On Monday, December 14th I will roll out the 2009 Park Slope 100.

So what is the Park Slope 100?  Here's how I described it last year.

The Park Slope 100 is 100 stories, 100 ways of looking at the world, 100 inspiring people,
places and things in and around Park Slope. It can be a person, a place, a thing, even an event. Let me know who, what and where was notable and powerful and 2009. One tip: I especially like people who direct their energies outward towards the better good of others in some way. Suggest yourself, your spouse, your relative, your friend.

Send your suggestions to me: louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Here are some of the people that made the list last year. To see more go to The Park Slope 100.

BRENDA BECKER because in 2008 you decided to visit Prospect
Park every day as an urban adventure (and, not least, as a drug-free
antidepressant!), and to chronicle your discoveries. And you're still
trying to get to the park every day, and posting about it on your blog,
A Year in the Park,
a site the New York Times called "witty and engaging" in a profile last
July. "It was fun getting some Old Media attention for 15 minutes,"
comments Becker, "but the real gift was connecting to so many other
people, from cyclists to dog lovers, who are also passionate about
Prospect Park. The calendar is a way to share that passion."

SALLY BERMANZOHN because you were a labor organizer at the
Duke Hospital cafeteria with your husband Paul, who was critically
wounded in the Greensboro Massacre in 1979. Currently you are professor
and chairperson of the Political Science Department at Brooklyn
College, where you research and teach courses on the international
phenomenon of truth and reconciliation commissions. And that's not all. You're the author of Through Survivors’ Eyes: From the Sixties to the Greensboro
Massacre (2003), for which you received the Brooklyn College Award for
Excellence in Creative Achievement. You are also featured in Adam
Zucker's documentary, Greensboro; Closer to the Truth.

ANDREA BERNSTEIN because as political director for
WNYC and
The Takeaway, your reporting of Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign was
always top notch, as were your stories from battleground states. Kudos
for
being one of 12 top U.S. journalists to win a Knight Fellowship at
Stanford University in 2006-2007.

CHARLES BLOW because as the New York Times' visual Op-Ed columnist and an award-winning art director, you
bring a decidedly visual style to that page, a great writing style and
a distinctive point of view.

BRADLEY FELDMAN because your geeky weather tower is working
24/7/365 days a year to bring Park Slopers the temperature, the
windchill, the humidity and a live image detailed weather,
radar/satellite map, 5-day forecaster and pollen levels. Your weather site is quite a service to the community.

PATRICK GASPARD because Barack Obama appointed you national political director of his  presidential campaign and the rest is history.

RICHARD GIN
because you are the self-designated photographer of the Brooklyn
all-ages music scene and you get the shots that everyone loves.
Pictured left Fiasco.

GINO'S COLLISION because you fixed my father's
Subaru for a reasonable price and we love the adorable bright orange
Fiat 500 that you park right outside. Classy.

JOHN HODGMAN because you play
the PC guy in those funny Apple commercials and we love your hilarious,
and completely fake, trivia books (“The Areas of My Expertise” and the
new “More Information than You Require”), your regular appearances as
the resident expert on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and your
citing of Park Slope as a utopian commune ruled by children. 

SARA HOROWITZ,
because as executive director of Freelancers Union and CEO of
Freelancers Insurance Company you're trying to bring affordable health
care to us freelancers. A lifelong resident of Brooklyn, NY, you come
from a long line of
labor advocates, including your father, who was a labor lawyer, and
your grandfather, who was vice president of the International Ladies’
Garment Workers Union. You studied at Cornell University's School of
Industrial and
Labor Relations and later
earned a
master's degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.You
are the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Fellowship (also known a genuis award). 

ALISON HOUTTE because you are the flamboyant and fabulous owner of Hooti Couture,
a vintage store at 321 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, that specializes in
women's and men's clothes and accessories. Before getting into the
vintage business you worked as a model for more than 10 years in Paris
and Manhattan, appearing in everything from Vogue magazine to a Dr
Pepper television commercial—and you still look like one. Your store
has been featured in Women's Wear Daily, The New York Times and many
other publications

Adult Education is now seeking lecturers for its program on
Tuesday, December 1. The theme this time will be, simply, "death." We
welcome ideas for lectures somehow related to death and dying, whether
the death in question is metaphorical, literal, animal, spiritual, or
other. Per usual, the lecture should make an argument or follow through
a consistent point. It should also draw heavily on visual aids. Humor
is welcome.

If interested, organizer Carrie Mclaren asks that you send pitch letter describing your idea with as
much detail as possible, along with a bit of background about yourself,
to adulted(at)stayfreemagazine(dot)org.

Remember Moira Meltzer Cohen? Last year she was one of the Park Slope 100, and a long-time bartender at Bar Reis? Now she's in law school and is already trying to reverse the injustice in the world. She's inviting all OTBKB readers to Bar Reis tonight for a benefit she's hosting to raise money for a great cause.

American movie trends that develop during wartime provide fascinating historical perspective. The fatalistic vision and confrontational nature of a new cinema defined the Vietnam era with Easy Rider, Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate and even Butch Cassidy informed by the conflict. And it is no accident that the Saw series and its new sub-genre, torture porn, thrived in the post-9/11 Bush era. During the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions, there have also been several movies that have gone right to the front lines. More movies have been made about these wars during the time of the conflict than any other in American history. A spate of documentaries have recorded the war. And a trickle of narrative films—modestly-budgeted pictures released by studio specialty arms—have made it to theaters. Heavier on emotion and contemplation than action (even the butch Hurt Locker was food for thought) these have been thought-provoking works that allow moviegoers to process the war.

The Messenger is all about the processing. Opening this week, the film follows two soldiers, played by Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster (previously a teen love interest on Six Feet Under), assigned the duty of next of kin notification when a soldier dies in combat. During a war in which images of the dying and the dead have been censored by the government, the film derives its power from forcing you to look.  Not at gruesome images, but at those who have been wounded by loss.  Long, unflinching takes of notification scenes linger beyond the audience’s comfort zone.  And just as the audience and the NOK (as the next of kin are referred to in the film) are forced to face this pain, the protagonist soldiers must also come to grips with their role in the process. Harrelson’s grizzled vet and Foster’s disillusioned youth forge a common bond over their duty, how it is to be performed and their own status as men increasingly disturbed by their service.

This first time directorial effort from Oren Moverman (screenwriter of Jesus’ Son among others) captures the emotional vibe well. He also handles plot and character contrivances well, not letting them take over; a relationship between Foster and a widow played by Samantha Morton only manages to blossom into a non-romance. The cast is solid throughout, particularly Foster and Steve Buscemi in a brief role as a grieving father.

 Like In The Valley of Elah, The Messenger is a film about how the wars have affected life at home. Both films offer a strong perspective of our situation, but The Messenger is less overtly political (the film received the assistance of the military; Elah did not).  Given how long films take to make and release, the fact that these movies exist during the period of military action is a testament to the filmmakers and studio who get them made on the screen. The wars, however, linger on, rendering this speed-to-market less of an achievement.

–Pops Corn

Claude Scales writes in the Brooklyn Heights blog:

Brooklyn’s part in this event commences at 6:00 this Thursday
evening, November 12, at Borough Hall, with a welcome from Borough
President Marty Markowitz, and a preview of the HOME/LAND art project, a portion of which will be at the Old Stone House this weekend.

And here are the details from The Old Stone House:

Heart is where the Home is: A Video Installation by Persijn Broersen and Margit Lukacs
 Curated by Jo-Anneke van der Molen. Through December 13.
 
Thursday, Nov. 12
3-4 pm: Artist & Curator talk with Persijn Broersen, Margit Lukacs and
Jo-Anneke van der Molen
Join us prior to the 5 DD kick-off at Brooklyn Boro Hall @  6 pm
 
Saturday, Nov. 14
7-9 pm:  Opening Party.  Celebrate the continuity of life with beer from Brouwerij Lane & live music.