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. 

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?

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

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”

.

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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.