3 Bikini

2006-10-05T02:43:00.000-04:00

Random Video of the Week: How to Fold a Shirt

Wow.

Update

2006-09-27T19:30:00.000-04:00

It seems Channel 9 news was covering the story this evening. The newslady --complete with newslady hair-- was interviewing the tenant while I was walking home. A fellow Newswalker mentioned that Channel 7 had covered it earlier today.

Tenant Ousting and The Ratner Effect

2006-09-23T12:05:00.000-04:00

The landlord of a rent stabilized building on Dean has added cinder blocks to tenant's windows in an effort to evict a hold out occupant who has been in the building since 1967. Said landlord probably hopes to sell the building before the AY construction begins.

The cement blocks and turning off all hot water is meant to make the building so inhospitable that tenant will be forced to leave. One of my Newswalk Neighbors has put the resident in touch with South Brooklyn Legal Services Corp, a group who represents some of the tenants in the footprint of the Ratner AY proposal.

Some legal Stuff:
According to "A Tenant's Guide to New York City's Housing Court"
In most situations, a landlord may not attempt to evict a tenant without first bringing the tenant to court and obtaining a judgment of possession and a warrant of eviction. If your landlord has changed your locks or turned off heat and/or electricity in an attempt to evict you, you may bring an Illegal Lockout Proceeding against your landlord in Housing Court. Under New York State law, a tenant who has been put out or kept out of his or her apartment in an unlawful manner may be entitled to recover triple damages.

I am not sure if the occupants have started court preceedings. Nevertheless they have resorted to grassroots efforts posting this sign in their window:
"We still live here don't lock us in."

Links (sans B) Art stars Edition

2006-09-13T21:02:00.000-04:00

Banksy show in LA [Super Touch Blog]

Taxicat [The Cobra Snake]

Misfortune [Indexed]

The Dinosaur Cartoon [Gaping Void]

I've been a bad blogger

2006-09-11T22:22:00.000-04:00

I GOT THE JOB! I have therefore been in the process of resigning and brewing fresh panic about major life changes. At least its almost fall and mornings smell and feel like static electricity.

Lite Posts

2006-09-06T20:46:00.000-04:00

Lite posts this week because I itch.

I itch because I am waiting to hear from a potential employer

and my anxiety is manifesting in hives.

Photo by Jeannot7

New Establishments

2006-09-04T10:35:00.000-04:00

On a walk yesterday we discovered two new hangouts that shared a trend- tiny venues on the ground floor of a brownstone.

The unnamed shop above on Union in the Slope offers free wifi, and a really sweet little garden. It's got a Euro vibe with stone floors and brick interior. I would do away with that funky brown spherical mass of twiggy things in the front-- otherwise it looks like a great place to blog and surf the web away from the crowds at the Tea Lounge.

Similarly, a brownstone on Hoyt in Boerum hill boasts a new Epicurie and Wine Bar in to open in October. Any one know anything about this one?

2006-09-02T23:19:00.000-04:00

robot dance

Rainy Day Entertainment

The Oracle is Back

2006-08-31T18:45:00.000-04:00

The Pintchik time and temperature sign is lit once again after weeks of brownout power saving. I feel like an old friend has returned. I don't wear a watch, so I run on Pintchik time. Not that it helps once I am at the train station, but a quick calculation tells me exactly how late I will be.

In addition to providing time and temperature, there apparently used to be a writer/oracle in residence that answered questions mundane and exotic. There are rumors that back in 2003 Mr. Jonathan Safran Foer was said oracle. See this New Yorker article for more: ORACLE ON FLATBUSH

Today the Oracle was advertising a "meet your mate at Melt" $3 drink special.

One can once again be timely, dressed appropriately, and dating thanks to the return Flatbush Oracle.

Scrabbled

2006-08-29T23:07:00.000-04:00

Tal kicked my arse at the Scrabble today. How is it that a self proclaimed grammar nazi such as myself, daily correcting such Tal phrases as-"we shoulda went", can lose by more than 50 points to the man? Impossible. I lose every time. EVERY TIME.

Photo on Flickr by Kenton Library

Wine Exchange

2006-08-27T11:02:00.000-04:00

Leaving Beast Thursday after a delectable meal of scallops and garlic squash puree (I know so sophisticated at a joint called Beast), we happened upon The Wine Exchange at 595 Vanderbilt. I know its 595 Vanderbilt because it says so on the neon sign on which they also provide their phone number. You never know when you will need 5 bottles of Veuve Clicquot in a pinch, and now they are burned into my brain like the sun to the cornea on a bright day.

Generation Gentrification marches on...

Trash Gnomes-Dean Street

2006-08-27T10:54:00.000-04:00

Atlantic Yards Hearings BLINKS

2006-08-25T19:13:00.000-04:00

Pol parade — windbags and wonks [nolandgrab]

Supporters out in force, opponents go the distance [Atlantic Yards Report]

First Public Hearing Held On Atlantic Yards Development Project [NY1]

Raucous Meeting on Atlantic Yards Plan Hints at Hardening Stances [NY Times]

Atlantic Yards Public Hearing: Race Card Played [Curbed]

Interview Corporate Speak moment of Zen

2006-08-23T20:57:00.000-04:00

I have had a week of interviews and I must say that I am no good at stress management. I thought I would take a moment to purge all of those icky words that give me the shakes and cause me to drink.

Proof of Concept
Super User
Business Requirements
ROI
Functional
Teaming
Optimize
Metadata
Stakeholder
Cross-Functional
Consensus

Phew. That's enough for now. I feel better.

Silver Spoon closed

2006-08-21T21:13:00.000-04:00

The Silver Spoon on Flatbush between Bergen and Dean is closed. I find this particularly disturbing even though the tables smelled of wet dog and were perpetually sticky. No one else makes my scrambled eggs so dangerously close to salmonella yet so delicious with a side of buttery grits for under $5. The whole wheat toast came with the usual grape jelly cubelets and was really white bread with a bit of flavor. The note (above) indicates that the diner will reopen after renovation. My guess is it will go the way of the rest of Prospect Heights, all of the character will be renovated away leaving us with the memory of what once was.

Anyone know of another greasy spoon that makes runny scrambled eggs and grits?

City Island Excursion

2006-08-20T10:29:00.000-04:00

After a subway ride beginning at the J from Atlantic, switching to the 4 at chambers which ran local, 30 minutes to 125th street, switching to the 6 for another 20 minutes to Pelham, and finally a bus on the BX29- we finally made it to a skinny Island in the Bronx called City Island. Phew.

While I love Brooklyn, we occasionally venture out to audition the burbs for family raising potential. My boss is from City Island. As she is a pretty hip producer lady married to an Irish Brain researcher, we thought the Island may suit us?!

This house sure suits me. It is a quaint story book house with a garden to match. To top it off at the end of the block there is a private beach for the homeowners on the block.

This is a picture of one of the local bars on City Island Avenue reminiscent of the shanty town that the Island used to be. According to Forgotten NY: Since it was first settled in 1761 its lifeblood has been the sea, with shipyards, sailmakers and oystermen predominating. I can see old time sailmakers and fisherman hanging out at this spot smoking hand rolled cigarettes and taking slugs of rum recalling stories of the sea.

We snaked up and down the streets off of City Island Ave for a bit. The selling points are the opportunities to share stories with ship folk, the sweet houses, and year round water views. However, the commute will have me clawing at the bus windows ready to hurl myself over the bridge. Onward....

Video of the week

2006-08-18T08:47:00.000-04:00

Click the flash or quicktime links to view the movie of Chuck's balancing act. Chuck belongs to Dooce.

Flash video

Quicktime movie

Blight or Flight?

2006-08-15T19:49:00.000-04:00

The Temple of Restoration recently added a placard with their name over the front doors. Someone must have left the Temple a bunch of money, as they have added not only the sign, but stained glass detailing with the word HOPE to the main window, marble entry steps, and decorative fencing between new brick pillars.

I noted several buildings on Dean that appear to have experienced the benefits of a facelift themselves. The restoration placard served as a sign to the neighbors that it was time for some sprucing up...

So I thought it was funny/strange when I read No Land Grab's post regarding Empire State Development Corporation's Blight Study in conjunction with the Atlantic Yards Plans. Included in the study was at least one if not both of the buildings below (they are in a row of 5 and three are earmarked as blighted).

Last week the owners of this house set out planter boxes. (This morning they were mysteriously missing)

This one received two fresh coats of gray paint, a new light fixture outside the door, and a repaved front walkway in the last two weeks.

I wonder if the owners are aware that their homes are considered a threat to public safety. They sure do look innocuous with their facelifts. Perhaps the owners are getting ready to sell, and these are not the blighted. In the spirit of restoration- develop don't destroy!

Tragic

2006-08-14T19:09:00.000-04:00

Photo by THS Tom THS on flickr

I had planned on writing a cheery recap of the Dean Street Block association meeting today, however an unlikely turn of events has shifted my concern from 10 year projects to the present. A co-worker who is somewhat poorly pieced together, or rather comes apart easily (a sign of a highly creative and thus neurotic soul) experienced the tragic loss of his son.

While Louis and I have very little direct contact, we shared an office wall for several years and I was privy to everything from intimate family conversations to battles over the failed realization of a director's vision. What makes Louis stand out is his selection of adjectives and employment of hyperbole while on the speakerphone. In an office with a view of a park, he chooses the clutter of personal plants and tapestries to the treetops.

I have passed his son in the hallway when he visits- a handsome, cocksure teenager with rebellious eyes and dark shaggy hair. The kid was feisty, always ending phone calls with a snarky comment for his dad, never letting his old man get the last word. Their battles were playful and witty, rarely meanspirited. I was entertained by them, suppressing giggles and rolling my eyes behind our shared wall. They didn't know I listened, but it made the day go by. I felt like the canned laughter from the audience that bolsters the show.

Thus it came as quite a blow this afternoon to learn that Louis' son was found face down in a pool. I can see it in my head, but have a hard time reconciling the angsty voice on the speakerphone with the image of a lifeless body in a suburban pool. All of the feist escaped into the water and a great kid silenced forever. It is indescribable tragedy. I will miss his voice, and can only conceive of a fraction of the loss.

Cook the Mother Not the Baby

2006-08-13T16:37:00.000-04:00

Photo by riomanyi on Flickr via Brooklyn Record.

At a friend's bridal shower this weekend many people approached me asking when we were going to have a baby and I got to thinking about motherhood and how it changes a person. I remembered the battle author Amy Sohn is embroiled in in the blogosphere about the same...

Amy, author of the Mating column in New York Magazine, is having a hard time navigating the Madonna/Whore complex. Let Whore represent cool in the aforementioned complex. Amy claims, "My goal is not to look like a mother so much as a still-young, still-cool person who just happens to have a child" in her NY Magazine article.

She has written for years about love and sex a la Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw. Amy is now a new mother, and as society has a hard time viewing mothers as sex symbols, or even people who have sex (with the exception of our Madonna in whom both can live concurrently forever without question). Amy is trying hard to reconcile her disparate selves. She has transmuted what could be a cute byline du jour Sexy single gal columnist goes milk stained wet t-shirt mama-to Inane author invoking feminism goes vitriolic on stay at home moms. I think Amy's real fear is concern for her career as a sex and mating columnist as she buys into the idea that mother's can't be well rounded, still possessed of sexuality, contributing members of society. Therefore she must fight to retain whatever cool factor earned her a column in the first place by bashing women who embody motherhood.

Mr. Nice Guy, is a Park Slope dad who's snarky blog response to Amy's attack on the Stay at Home mom is well worth reading. Click here for Mr. Nice Guy's smackdown with Ms. Sohn.

Amy Responds here

Whether or not to rent out my empty womb remains TBD.

Brooklyn Flavored Wallpaper

2006-08-10T20:39:00.000-04:00

Since I featured Brooklyn flavored Ice-Cream, why not look at Brooklyn flavored wallpaper? Twenty2 are the newest darlings of the design world, breathing new life into mylar from granny's powder room. Featured in the likes of Elle Decor, Martha, and Metropolitan Home, the husband and wife team of Kyra and Robertson Hartnett toil away in Brooklyn creating hand painted (read pricey) wallpaper. With names like Promenade, Montague, and Columbia Heights, is wallpaper back?

2006-08-09T21:52:00.000-04:00

A woman's three year self Portrait project in 1 min.

I find this mesmerizing.

Blinks-Brooklyn Links

2006-08-08T08:30:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Brooklyn Celebs [NY Post via Brooklyn Record]

Gowanus Lounge Talks Red Hook on WNYC Brian Lehrer [GL]

Dry Dock vs. Ikea [A Brooklyn Life]

Halstead's Mid Year Townhouse Report [Brownstoner]

The Atlantic Yards Project [NY Times]

Storefronting: Dumbo Report [Curbed]

Spotlight P-Heights Newswalk Phase III

2006-08-06T14:35:00.000-04:00

The third phase of Newswalk has begun. The Developer, namely Shaya Boymelgreen of Gowanus Village fame, is selling the first floor units which have been unoccupied for 3+ years. We have been waiting for the Certificate Of Occupancy and an amendment to the offering plan for the units to become salable.

The units are divided between two brokers. The lower tier goes to Aguayo Huebner, the original sales team to represent the building, and the big ticket Penthouse units are represented by Sotheby's.

I am unimpressed by the lot of them, expecting more light and air. The Penthouse apartments (irony of PH on the first floor not lost here) are gargantuan, with the most expensive clocking in at $2.7 mil. This space is an oddly laid out long rectangle. Upon entry you are met by a room with no windows they are calling a study. I suppose someone could stick a kid in there if one didn't mind light deprived but well rested little ones. The room seems better suited to be someone's darkened computer lair.

Next you enter the kitchen and dining area with slate like granite on the backsplash and worktop. I'm not a big fan of slate, but the Sotheby's kitchens had an ample grey and pale wood palette- looking to court the sleek tech junkie new construction consumers. You then climb two stairs to a raised area they are calling the living room, but there aren't any windows here so it's a bit gloomy. Finally, you reach the end of a long stretch down two stairs to a rec center, bedroom area and two car garage. Yes, a 2 car garage, in case you have a Hummer or something.

Sadly, the details that make an apartment a big ticket item were overlooked. The wood on one of the glass partition's banisters didn't meet the right way, and you could see the dried glue between the edges. Additionally you could cook an egg on the cement patio today, which makes it virtually unusable in prime patio months. Whoever buys this one has some customizing to do....

I did find a lovely space in apt 110, asking price of $1 million through Aguayo Huebner. The positioning of the apartment off of two gardens in the brownstones across the way is lovely. There is an overhang that shielded the wooden deck from the sun, and picture window like architectural details on the patio made the view from the tiny tiny bedroom just right. I would love to live there if I were never to have kids (no window in second bedroom) and I could while away my days next to the plants drinking tea and reading the paper. It felt almost like a European courtyard. Still there is only one bathroom, but there is central a/c. Too bad its out of my price range. But for anyone who wants to live in Prospect Heights in a full service building, this apartment is my pick.

For more reading on Shaya Boymelgreen Developer extraordinaire here are some links:

Blight, Like Beauty, Can Be in the Eye of the Beholder [NY Times]

Rivals Rumble in Dumbo [NY Times]

Leviev Boymelgreen Update: With Divorce in the Air, Will Gowanus Village Become Goa Estates? [Gowanus Lounge]

Keur N'Deye -Delicious Senegalese

2006-08-06T12:09:00.000-04:00

Tal wanted to try the Viennese place in Fort Greene that was rated highly on some site. Turns out the "ese" we landed at was in fact Senegal-ese, a cool surprise.

Parched from walking in the sun I was ready for some ice cold tap water. My first sip was wild, the water tasted like black licorice. It had been flavored with Anise seed which is used mostly in the foods of Southeast Asia, and apparently Africa.

According to Answers.com, "Anise seeds have been used as a digestive for centuries, and in India they're chewed after a meal not only for digestion but to sweeten breath." Hmm... I can eat spicy food and have lovely breath and a stomach steeled against upset. I like it. Alot.

The next new flavor came from the olive oil dip served with warm crusty bread. It was a pickle and olive relish, more anise seed, and some peppers minced together to create a chunky, fragrant blend of flavors.

Although we played it safe with the main meal, Tal ordered a goat cheese omelet, and I ordered a chicken wrap sandwich, there were interesting bits throughout. My wrap had a spicy orange colored sauce that gave the marinated tender chicken some bite. It was served with a healthy pile of thin fries, and some pear slices. Yum. Tal's omelet had hearts of palm and asparagus mixed in, and a salad on the side.

Don't miss a stop at the shower/sink in the restroom. You turn the traditional looking shower handle in what looks like a stall and from about 5 bamboo spigots water drops from above like rain. I had a little bit of trouble turning it off-I had to go through several intense moments of high water pressure and cursing, but I finally got it, went back to the table, and sipped some licorice water for calm.