David Byrne has created a sound installation, sponsored by Creative Time, called Playing The Building, in which the infrastructure, the physical plant of the building, is converted into a giant musical instrument.

Creative Time presents Playing the Building, a 9,000-square-foot, interactive, site-specific installation by renowned artist David Byrne. The artist transforms the interior of the landmark Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan into a massive sound sculpture that all visitors are invited to sit and “play.” The project consists of a retrofitted antique organ, placed in the center of the building’s cavernous second-floor gallery, that controls a series of devices attached to its structural features—metal beams, plumbing, electrical conduits, and heating and water pipes. These machines vibrate, strike, and blow across the building’s elements, triggering unique harmonics and producing finely tuned sounds.

Says David Byrne:

“The idea is that the public can sit down and play this thing, and that when they do, it should be pretty obvious what’s going on. They’ll see machines mounted up on the girders and the pipes and the columns, and they’ll notice that as soon as they hit a key, a sound comes from the building. There’s all this stuff coming out of the back of the organ like a big octopus; some are little tubes blowing compressed air into the plumbing pipes. Those sound like alto flutes, kind of pretty. Some are wires that go to these strikers; those will be like little gongs, hitting the radiators and big metal columns with high, percussive notes. Other wires go to motors that are strapped like crazy to girders and support structures within the building. They’re hung off balance, so they shake and vibrate, which makes a sound like when a car or truck goes over an iron trestle bridge. Depending on the length of the metal beam, they make different notes.”

10 South Street, New York, NY (Map)
31 May – 10 August 2008
Open Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Noon – 6PM (Free)
Opening Reception: 31 May, 6–8 PM

That’s what I was told by a reliable source at PS 321. She received an email on Thursday morning saying that the letters would be mailed to parents on Friday May 30, 2008.

Some would say, it’s about time.

She told me that the middle schools have the lists of the kids they are accepting. They just haven’t let the parents, the students, or the guidance counselors at the elementary schools know yet.

Here’s hoping they get those letters out today. If they do, look for it in the mail Saturday or Monday.

I just got this press release from de Blasio’s very busy publisicst, Jean Weinberg. There’s a press conference today at 5 p.m (see below).

Carroll Gardens—Councilmember Bill de Blasio will join community leaders at a press conference today calling on the Department of City Planning to ban the development of hotels in the rezoning of the Gowanus. De Blasio will make the announcement immediately prior to the City Planning Commission’s presentation of their latest version of the Gowanus Canal rezoning.

Councilmember de Blasio is calling on City Planning to ban hotels for several reasons: in predominately manufacturing areas, hotels will likely push out existing manufacturing uses, in areas that are predominately residential, hotel uses are disruptive because hotels are 24/7, often with taxis or cars idling outside, and while we are in the midst of a hotel boom, at some point that will taper off and some of these hotels will not make it or even worse, will turn into “hot sheet” motels in order to stay afloat.

Who: Councilmember de Blasio, community leaders, local elected officials and others.
When: 5pm—Thursday, May 29, 2008
Where: 372 Hoyt Street (Outside of P.S. 32 in Brooklyn)—between 2nd& 3rd Street.
** Take the F Train and get off at Carroll Street- exit near intersection of 2nd St and Smith Street. Head East on 2nd St towards Hoyt St.

Slope Sports sponsors two weekly runs for runners at all levels.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT FUN RUN

Meet us at the Grand Army Plaza entrance of Prospect Park at 7:15pm for one loop (3.35 miles) of the Park tonight. Run at your own pace – all paces welcome!

SATURDAY MORNING RUNNING GROUP

Come join Slope Sports and Prospect Park Track Club our free and fun group run at the Grand Army Plaza entrance of Prospect Park at 8:00am.

One group will run 6-8+ miles in and around Brooklyn . Another group will head into the Park to run 1 mile to 1 loop (3.35 miles).

All paces and distances welcome.

Sundance at BAM. Lots to see, lots to do. For the third straight year, Sundance is moving into BAM for eleven days to present 22 features and 36
short films from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, music
concerts, Q&As with the artists, art installations, and special
events.

Here’s the trailer:

651 ARTS is producing a very ambitious program that runs through June 7th and includes a performance by my fave, Cassandra Wilson.  For schedule, tickets, and loads of information, pictures, and audio clips go here.

651 Arts is dedicating its entire annual season to the culture, artists and influence of the Mississippi Delta in The Mississippi Delta Heritage Project. While the history and impact of the Delta Blues tradition is undisputed, few are aware of the contemporary artistry that continues to thrive in the region. The Mississippi Delta Heritage Project provides a glimpse of this flourishing artistic culture to New York audiences. CASSANDRA WILSON, COREY HARRIS, T-MODEL FORD, JIMMY “DUCK” HOLMES, and LOBI TRAORÉ are among the many outstanding artists, either from or influenced by the Delta, who will be performing as part of this series. Have a look inside, we hope you join us in the celebration!

I just got word from artists Kristin and Sean Eno that the Red Hook Open Studio Tour is right around the corner.

The Monarch Open Studio Tour is imminent. It’s just a week and a half away! Come see the land that time almost forgot, but then suddenly remembered. It’s part of a larger Red Hook open studios weekend, but our building is totally huge, so it has more art!

If you like art, daytime drinking, or invading people’s space to check out their belongings, then you’ll love it. Babies and art critics are welcome. Here’s what discerning folks are saying:

I went last year, and I had a good ol’ time! – John Shanchuk

I went two years ago and I was there for like TWELVE HOURS! – Cara McKenney

We look forward to seeing you. Information and directions below.

Monarch Luggage Building Open Studios
featuring 14 artists living and sometimes working therein, including
Kristin and Sean Eno, Studio 2U
Painting, Jewelry, Photography, Video; possibly with added tricks or gimmicks

14 Verona Street
June 7th and 8th
Noon – 6pm

Yesterday I happened upon a new store on Fifth Street just East of Fifth Avenue (343 Fifth Street) called Urban Alchemist and it’s owned by five designers.  In addition to jewelry, they will also be selling vintage furniture, home goods, lamps, bags, and T-shirts.

There’s a a lot of great stuff in the shop already. I took a bunch of pictures, which I will post later. Here’s the word from co-owner Rebecca Shepherd, who is one of the jewelry designers, about this lovely new shop:

I would like to announce that I have opened a store in my beloved Park
Slope Brooklyn! We are called Urban Alchemist and are located at 343
5th street between 5th and 6th av. Our co-op is made up of 5 Brooklyn
Designers including my line, Esewara (my partner), Via Nativa,
Re-surface lighting and Loyalty&Blood. We welcome you to our design
studio! Come by for a glass of wine, coffee or tea. If your lucky,
you’ll come by on a day I bring homemade chocolate chip cookies!

The Brookyn Paper calls it an environmental triumph. Unlike OTBKB, BP’s editor Gersh Kuntzman stayed until the end of the meeting. So he got the scoop.

In one of the most lopsided votes since the re-election of Chairman Mao in 1954, members of Brooklyn’s famously progressive supermarket, the Park Slope Food Co-op, voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday night to stop making plastic shopping bags available at the checkout counter.

In doing so, the 14,000-member grocery store is now in good company with bag-banning locales like Rwanda, Uganda, Bangladesh, China, San Francisco and the Republic of Whole Foods.

It was the second environmental triumph for the Co-op in as many months; in April, the Union Street supermarket voted to stop selling bottled water.

In both cases, the well-being of the planet was cited as the motivation — like water bottles, plastic bags are made from petroleum — and the notion of customer convenience was dismissed.

(Full disclosure: I’m not only The Brooklyn Paper’s Park Slope Food Co-op beat reporter; I’m also a member.)

“I will be so happy to see the plastic bags gone, gone, gone!” said Jane Bayer, a 34-year member of the Co-op, using her allotted three minutes at the Tuesday night meeting to thunder against America’s “addiction” to the thin-plastic bags.

“We don’t need them. Some people say they reuse them, but how many times? Once, twice? That’s no big savings. It will be hard to give up plastic bags, but we can do it. We don’t need them! We can do it! It should be done. It must be done.”

It was a night of passion, persuasion and props.

I heard Julie Salamon, the author of this book, on Brian Lehrer this morning and it sounds like a very interesting book. She is also the author of “The Devil’s Candy” about the making of the film, Bonfire of the Vanities. Her new book is called, Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God andDiversity on Steroids. Here’s the blurb from Amazon.

Most people agree that there are complicated issues at play in the delivery of health care today, but those issues may not always be what we think they are. In 2005, Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, unveiled a new state-of-theart, multimillion-dollar cancer center. Determined to understand the whole spectrum of factors that determine what kind of medical care people receive in this country, bestselling author Julie Salamon spent one year tracking the progress of the center and getting to know the characters who make the hospital run. Located in a community where sixty-seven different languages are spoken, Maimonides is a case study for the particular kinds of concerns that arise in institutions that serve an increasingly multicultural American demographic. Granted an astonishing “warts and all” level of access by the hospital higher-ups, Salamon followed the doctors, patients, administrators, nurses, ambulance drivers, cooks, and cleaning staff. She explored not just the action on the ground—what happens between doctors and patients—but also the financial, ethical, technological, sociological, and cultural matters that the hospital community encounters every day.

My Sidewalk Chalk has some phone numbers you can use if you need help navigating the Department of Education.

Yikes, the Pre-K letters are coming in and from the anecdotal evidence on the yahoo neighborhood groups there are some in-zone families with siblings that are not getting their placements. This may be an indication of errors in the system. Just in case this isn’t a limited problem, I have listed a couple of contacts here to try and get answers. It would also be helpful to know when families start receiving acceptance letters…

There are new unconfirmed reports from the yahoo groups. Parents that contacted the Enrollment Office this afternoon said that if you come to the Office on or after June 23 you can receive an informational booklet that will contain a list of schools with remaining available seats and a new application. The new application will have a due date to go through the process all over for the remaining open seats.

I was at the general meeting tonight but I had to leave early. A lot of people came out for the meeting, which was at Congregation Beth Elohim; a number of people I spoke with acknowledged the historic nature of the vote. The Food Coop voting no on plastic bags would, like the vote on plastic water bottles, send a message loud and clear that they are serious about environmental issues.

I am not sure what the outcome of the vote at tonight’s meeting was but I am guessing that the membership present voted to ban plastic bags: an important move on the part of the Food Coop.

Is it true that Park Slope kids get Webkinz or Shining Starts web stuffed animals for a tooth from the Tooth Fairy. Pricey, pricey. This morning on Park Slope Parents, one mom (aka tooth fairy) wonders what is the going rate for a tooth is these days?

What does the tooth fairy leave now a days? Quarters,silver dollars or a small gift? My
husband & I remember getting coins for each tooth left under the pillow, but my
daughter is under the impression that the fairy leaves webkinz or shining stars for
each tooth (which I’m afraid will get kind of expensive). So I’m wondering what is the
general consensus on tooth fairy gifts?

Photo and box by bewitched’s magic photostream

Brooklyn Heights Blog has the story and pix about the "demolition by dereliction" of a building on Monroe and Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights. Here’s an excerpt from this shocking story:

And it’s pretty certain that Penson has
deep enough pockets to have done the right thing and preserved this
structure. Clearly, Penson’s desire to rid 100 Clark of its renters is
most likely at the heart of this unforgivable act of destruction in one
of New York City’s best preserved neighborhoods

Brownstoner would be nuts not to be happy about his New York Magazine cover story. Still, he wishes the writer had focused on some of the more positive aspects of the culture over there. Here’s an excerpt from Mr. B’s reaction:

Our only major gripe was that it played up the importance of one
egomaniacal commenter over some of the more constructive aspects of the
community. In the end, though, it did include one belief of ours that
we’ve clung to from the beginning: That as messy as many of the threads
get, the tough issues that underlie much of the change that Brooklyn
has experienced in recent years—class, race, gentrification—are at
least getting discussed, and often among people who wouldn’t otherwise
be mingling offline. The conversations could be a lot more polite, but
at least they are happening.

Subtitled "A mischevous online bogey man is haunting the dreams of new Brooklyn," the article is mostly about the tone of the discussion over at  Brownstoner—what writer Adam Sternbergh calls "the unique undertow of anger in Brownstoner comments."

The NY Mag story also focuses on a commenter named "The What" and his obsession with the coming Brooklyn apocalypse.

I can’t tell if this article will be of interest to anybody/everybody.

Snarky commenter, The What, is the real story here. But the article does talk about John Butler,  and his blog, the Brooklyn Flea and all the rest (Upper East Side childhood, Princeton education, MBA from NYU, Hedge funder, who blogged onthe side…) They sure do love Brownstoner over at New York Magazine.  Here’s an excerpt:

"Butler’s adopted borough has proved to be especially fertile soil
for blogs, as many of its recent transplants have, like Butler, been
eager to chronicle their experience in dispatches sent out to the
world, like homesteaders mailing letters back from a new frontier.
Among these sites, though, Brownstoner holds a distinct and exalted
position, thanks largely to Butler’s acumen in staking out the happy
middle ground between citywide Websites like Curbed and Gothamist and
the dozens of Brooklyn microblogs and message boards where people
gather to rant and rail and cheer and commiserate about the foibles and
frustrations of their neighborhoods. Brownstoner covers the whole
borough (although the objections here of residents of Bay Ridge,
Canarsie, and other outlying regions are duly noted), but it covers the
whole borough as though it were one big block, where everyone has
gathered to gossip on their stoops.

"As
such, Butler’s become not only a fairly well-known blogger (the site
draws 150,000 visitors a month, and he was introduced to the world in a
2007 Observer article headlined BROWNSTONER: IT’S ME!), but
also a kind of virtual developer, someone who doesn’t literally rebuild
neighborhoods but who has the power to shape the way those
neighborhoods are perceived. By uncovering derelict architectural gems
in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, or trumpeting the opening of an inviting
new bar in Crown Heights, Butler has introduced Brooklyn’s far-flung
neighborhoods to people who would otherwise never consider visiting
them, let alone buying a house and settling there. On Brownstoner, the
bridesmaid borough is now the bride. The site celebrates what’s
sometimes called New Brooklyn: a vision of the borough as a diverse and
lively enclave of flowering neighborhoods, all jammed with engaged
homeowners, reborn blocks, and gorgeous and stately and (by Manhattan
standards) bargain-priced real estate, waiting to be polished up under
a tasteful eye. Brownstoner didn’t create the Brooklyn renaissance, of
course, any more than a weatherman creates a storm. But, like a
watchful forecaster, the site has tracked the course of the weather
pattern—in this case, the vortex created by rising real-estate prices
that sucked in a fresh batch of hopeful residents, drawn by the promise
of more space and tree-lined blocks and safer streets and majestic
brownstones and ample sunlight and the borough’s sudden,
self-perpetuating cachet…"

Not surprisingly, Brenda of A Year in the Park, was in the park yesterday. Here’s an excerpt.

The blessed sunshine of an early Memorial Day weekend was still in abundant supply at 7:30 p.m. While the evening was a little too cool to feel quite like summer, the air over the picnic grounds near Ninth Street was thick with the perfume of starter fluid and charred meat. And the ground was thick with people and their mobile campsites, many of which included balloons celebrating various events.

Last night, Mrs. Kravitz and Mrs. Cleavage were baking and bitching in preparation for the building’s first BBQ of the season. Mrs. Kravitz was rolling dough for her pies. A pecan blend and bright red and pink cherry halves in a sugary mix waited in white bowls.

The scene was was like something out of a quaint Southern kitchen. Two southern girls (one from North Carolina, the other from Texas) transplanted to a tiny Brooklyn kitchen channeling their southern childhoods spent in kitchens baking pies.

Or so I imagine.

Mrs. Cleavage’s also prepared a delicious looking pasta salad with snap peas; she wasn’t happy when people wanted previews.

"I’m going to have to make another one tomorrow if people don’t stop taking bites," she threatened.

The conversation moved seamlessly from one juicy topic to another (husbands, ex-husbands, children, parents, neighbors, friends provided friendly fodder). But mostly it was food talk—a running commentary on what was being prepared.

In the dining room Mr. Kravitz and a friend were trying to figure out how to make a proper mojito. After much trial and error—and probably too much to drink—he settled on a recipe he deemed perfect. He plans to make a pitcher for Memorial Day.

Mrs. Kravitz sliced up one of the pecan pies. It didn’t look like any pecan pie I’ve ever seen.

"it needs more sugar," Mrs. Cleavage said.

"Too many eggs. It’s too eggy," Mrs. Kravitz said tasting the pie.

"It needs more sugar," Mrs. Cleavage said again.

"So eggy. It’s like a pecan quiche," Mrs. Kravitz said chewing slowly.

"It needs more sugar," Mrs. Cleavage said one more time.

"I forgot the sugar. I forgot to put sugar in," Mrs. Kravitz gushed.

"What do you think I’ve been telling you," Mrs. Cleavage told her seriously.

Don’t worry. Mrs. Kravitz’s Memorial Day pecan pie will have plenty of sugar. Lesson learned. Bitching, baking and drinking Mojitos…

On Saturday, members of the Windsor Terrace community planted a tree to memorialize Kyung-Sook (aka Lindo Woo) who was murdered last week; it was planted outside of her dry cleaning store where she lost her life.

The family is determined to continue operating the store, Eden Dry Cleaners in Windsor Terrace. This was on the Park Slope Parents list-serve on Sunday morning.

My family dropped by the dry cleaner to pay our respects.  To our 
astonishment, the dry cleaner is open and operating.  We spoke with 
Mr. Woo, one of Ms. Woo’s two sons who were there.  He spoke of the 
family’s determination to keep the store operating ("My mom would 
want this.").  I was inspired by the family’s hard work and 
determination.

He went on to speak with gratitude about the support community has 
shown the family.  He proudly pointed to the tree which was planted 
just this morning ("They rushed it.")!

Here is information about the Linda Woo Memorial Fund

On the morning of May 16th, 2008, beloved Kyung-Sook "Linda" Woo, 63, 
who owned the Eden Dry Cleaners at 10th Avenue and Windsor Place in 
Windsor Terrace, was found dead in her store. Mrs. Woo had owned the 
shop for years after moving here from Korea and used to live across 
the street with her family before moving to Queens. Jamal Winter, 22, 
is being held without bail in connection with the death. He was 
arraigned on first and second degree murder charges and first degree 
robbery. At the time of this tragedy, Winter was out on bail on 
another robbery case and was scheduled to go on trial for that case 
in June.

Thanks to Robert Bello Landscaping for donating the tree, to The NYC 
Parks Department for arranging a speedy tree planting, and to Clieve 
Christian and the Prospect Park Commerce Bank for generously helping 
set up the Linda Woo Memorial Fund. The fund will pay for a plaque to 
be placed under the tree and for a fence to enclose the tree’s base. 
After these items are paid for, any additional funds will be given to 
Mrs. Woo’s family to use at their discretion.

There are several ways to contribute to the fund:

1) Checks can be made out to the Linda Woo Memorial Fund, placed in 
an envelope marked "Memorial Fund" and dropped in the mail slots of 
either 243 Windsor Place- beginning Tuesday May 27th, or 18 Reeve 
Place- beginning immediately.

2) Checks can be made out to the Linda Woo Memorial Fund and mailed to:

The Linda Woo Memorial Fund
c/o Brenna Beirne
711 Greenwood Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11218

3)You may go to www.paypal.com and donate to this account 
community11218@gmail.com which has been created specifically for this 
memorial fund -note that the purpose of your donation is for the 
Linda Woo memorial fund. Paypal accepts major credit cards.

Finally. Here’s the Tribute to Brooklyn’s Photo Bloggers that was produced for the 2008  Brooklyn Blogfest by Brooklyn Optimist.

It includes many but not all of Brooklyn’s great photo bloggers. 
Many thanks to Morgan at Brooklyn Optimist and all the photographers who sent their photos.

For those of you who haven’t seen the A Walk Around the Blog piece with OTBKB here it is. I reported  on the Park Slope Food Coop’s decision to ban plastic water bottles.

That’s a reality now. This segment was taped before the big vote at the April general meeting. Here’s the video. I really enjoyed working with Narina and Jay from BCAT.

To see all of the Walk Around the Blog Videos go here.

Here’s the word from Fonda at Zuzu’s Petals.

At long last…a clutch of sunny days timed perfectly for the long weekend. Listening to NPR yesterday, I heard Brian Lehrer discuss the Staycation.

So what’s a staycation"

Turn off the electronics, park the car, and stay home…No, not on the couch like a potato. Get out in the neighborhood. Take a walk in the Park or The Gardens. Get together with friends. Do some cooking, and for our zuzugardeners:

Come visit The Big. Our plant selection this week makes my heart thump!

Proven Winner Annuals: Supertunias, Nemesia, Diascia, Verbena, Bacopa, Coleus,Torenia, Bidens,Fuchsia, Oxalis, Asclepia…

Sun and Shade Perennials: Ferns, Solomon’s Seal, Jacobs Ladder, Euphorbia, Heuchera, Delphinium, Columbine,Campanula, Gallardia, Day Lilies, Bleeding Hearts, Hosta

Shrubs, Vines, Trees: Clematis, Roses, Wigela, Lonicera, Hypericum, Japanese Maple, Weeping Cherry, Stewartia, Nectarine, Rhodies and Azalea

AND! rustic stone troughs planted with miniature Alpines…picture below:

Both shops have fresh flowers …Little Zu is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday

The hunt for The New Zuzu is going well. Two lovely people started training this week and we are confident we will be fully re-staffed shortly….I was going to say, Zuzus don’t grow on trees, but….maybe…

Yesterday a sign crew removed the Park Slope Post Office sign. Underneath was an old black sign—a really cool old sign. I wished I had a camera with me.

A larger white sign was on the sidewalk. As of last night, it wasn’t up. At the moment there is no sign on the Park Slope P.O. I wish they could have left the old signage that was underneath the more recent one.

I just found out about a new Park Slope blog called Blognigger and its author has written, Nobody Calls My Mom a Slut But Me, one of the best responses to the now infamous New York Times’ article about Slope hating, Where is the Love.

Blognigger describes himself this way: Black every day for 32 years; never a nigger until Wall Street moved to Brooklyn. On his first post in April 2008, he wrote:

I’m a 32 year-old Software Engineer. I grew up in Manhattan, went to a ritzy private school with 95% white kids where I was the token African American black kid.

Now
I make $106,000 a year, and I’m a pauper in Park Slope. No, literally –
we have to leave. I have two kids and my rent has just been raised to
$3500 a month. I’ve lived here since 1999 (when 5th avenue was still a
total shithole), and now I’m going to have to uproot my family and move
out of Brooklyn.

Can I ask you a fucking question?

How can I be making $106,000 a year and not be able to afford to live in Brooklyn?

It
works like this: "Cool" people such as my wife and I, with my interests
in Almodovar and Jonathan Lethem and Apple’s HUIG and and Interpol and
Spinal Tap and KrsOne and boingboing and Fark and AphexTwin and Groovy
on Grails and Bob Ross and Glengarry Glen Ross and Jorn… we move into
a neighborhood just before it’s safe and desireable. We take "sketchy"
walks to the subway (yes, just because I’m black, it’s still sketchy –
maybe they can smell the whiteness within me) and we deal with not
being able to buy tapas on ever corner until the rest of the
neighborhood catches up.

His response to the Times’ article is among the best I’ve read:

Because really and truly, the kids own the neighborhood. Now, for me
and people like me, it’s fantastic, because we have to bring our kids
everywhere we go: to Barnes and Noble, to Two Boots, to a skinny
bookshop with no room in the doorway where our strollers take up all
the goddamn area and piss single people off…

..but the bottom
line is that if you don’t have kids, you’ll probably hate Park Slope.
And I can’t blame you at all – unless you actually live here, in which
case you’re a stupid muthafucka because who the hell would subject
themselves to this shithole if they don’t have kids? Aren’t you tired
of having your meals at Blue Ribbon ruined by screaming babies? Aren’t
you tired of having strollers bang into you when you sit curbside
witcha eggs benedict? Even the goddamn library has kids stickin Kasha
granola bars and shit all over the bookshelves. (Actually, do we have a
library? too lazy to google.)

So kidless: what the hell are you
doing here? Who the fuck joins a leper colony if they ain’t a leper? I
know if I didn’t have kids, I’d be outta here faster than you can say
angry lesbian. (Where did they all go, right?? Anyone remember 2003 up
in this muthafucka?!) Shit, I piss myself off and I *have* the little bastids.

So,
someone who hates park slope is kind of like someone who didn’t like
the movie "Junior" – which is a movie about Arnold Schwartzenegger
getting pregnant. It’s like, nigga you went to see a movie about Arnold
Schwartzenegger getting pregnant! The fuck did you expect?? That there
is the best movie that could ever be made about Arnold getting
pregnant, and if you walked into the theater then you asked for it and
we got no sympathy.

If you’re going to be pissed off by a
kid-obsessed neighborhood – and I can understand that it can be
enraging if you don’t have kids – then don’t even come to Dizzy’s, let
alone buy a house here and push my kid-havin ass outta the 321 district.

Blognigger, welcome to the neighborhood. You can bet I’ll be reading.

Here are some interesting ideas from Joshua Pereira, Senior Associate Director of IT at the Center for the
Urban Environment (CUE), about ways that you can reduce your computer’s emissions and lessen the environmental impact of your computer. Go here for more information about the Center, which is located in Park Slope.

When you think of lessening your impact on the environment, how you use your computer may not come to mind. But, in fact, a computer that rarely gets turned off could produce close to a ton of C0² emissions per year.

Here are some ways to reduce your computer’s emissions while still getting your stuff done!

•    In the market for a new computer? By doing a quick search on the internet with the phrase “sponsor a tree planting,” you can find an organization that will help you do just that. Recently, some computer manufacturers have made this even easier, by offering to plant a tree on your behalf during the checkout process.

•    Adjusting your Power option settings can always help to save some electricity. You can set your monitor to turn off after 10-15 minutes, and have your system go into Stand-by mode after 20 minutes of no activity on your computer. This saves your work, but puts your computer in a low-power mode while it’s not being used. And once you set it up, it will always happen automatically.

•    Thinking of purchasing a new computer? Go for the gold (EPEAT gold that is)! EPEAT (The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool – http://www.epeat.net/) is a website that rates the environmental impact of specific computer models. With a wide range of new models to choose from, make sure that your new computer is made by a company with your health (and the earth’s) in mind.

•    Got an external backup drive? What about those awesome desktop speakers with a subwoofer? If you know you’ll be away from your computer for the day, don’t forget to turn them off too. To make easy, make sure they’re all plugged into one power-strip, and just flip the switch on that to shut everything down in one step.

Even if you take just one of these steps towards greening your computer, you’ll be making a difference—and by talking about the steps you’ve taken, you can inspire others to do the same.

Got any of your own green computer tips? Feel free to comment below.

My stepmother in Brooklyn Heights has been busy trying to get the details about the Bridge’s birthday party. It seems that, even in Brooklyn Heights, info about the celebration kick off has been kept on the low down.

Thankfully, there are loads of details at McBrooklyn. Thanks McBrooklyn!

And it all begins tonight with fireworks and music and will carry on through Memorial Day weekend, when Brooklyn and Manhattan celebrate the
Bridge’s 125th anniversary with a host of events honoring the
structure’s historic and cultural significance.

Read on for more information about the free festivities, go to the Official Guide for a complete schedule.

Thursday, May 22

Celebration Kick-off: Be part of the excitement with a
concert featuring the Brooklyn Philharmonic and special guest
performances including the legendary Marvin Hamlisch, followed by a
Grucci Fireworks extravaganza. A festive lighting ceremony will
illuminate the entire Bridge, which will remain lit every evening from
9pm–11pm through Memorial Day. Doors open at 6pm; concert starts at
7:45pm. Free. (Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, enter at Main Street, Brooklyn)

The Telectroscope: A Window Through the World: Discover the long-forgotten transatlantic tunnel between London and Brooklyn with the Telectroscope.
Artist Paul St. George’s public media project is an amazing optical
device that allows viewers in Brooklyn to see all the way to London.
Through June 15. Free. (On Old Fulton Street at Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn)

Continue reading Birthday Party for Brooklyn Bridge Begins Today →

As reported on Gowanus Lounge, Lola Staar’s Coney Island roller rink, Dreamland, needs a little financial help to get going. There’s info on Dreamland’s website on how you can help make Dreamland a reality.

Lola has been working night and day to reopen the Dreamland Roller Rink.
She has overcome many obstacles in the labyrinth of obtaining permits
and insurance for the rink. These obstacles have added exorbitant costs
to the reopening of Dreamland! Costs that we simply cannot cover with
the budget in our business plan. After some generous donations we are
very close to being able to reopen…. but we aren’t quite there yet!
Hence, we need your help to reopen the fabulous Dreamland Roller Rink.

There’s action in the vacant storefronts on Seventh Avenue between 3rd and 2nd Streets. Someone has rented the Mark Ravitz storefront, the space that housed Park Slope Books.

We used to think of that building as the house of the dripping cows. Now it’s the house of the dripping cyclops/octopus/suns.

For a month or so the neighborhood was treated to Mark Ravitz’s whimsical creations while he waited to fill the storefront.

I wonder what’s going in. I saw the sign company truck yesterday. The 2nd Street Cafe space and the Seventh Avenue Books space are still, alas, vacant.

But I’m guessing there will be action in those spaces, too. Barrio seems to be busy and successful! It should bring more to this vacated slice of Seventh Avenue.

The Brooklyn Cyclones really do love Park Slope. This is from their website. I’m sorry for thinking it was a joke. It’s just that there have been a lot of jokes about Park Slope recently.