Results tagged “thebrooklyn”

It seems like every other weekend, Brooklyn is home to some kind of homestyle cooking competition, with a constant rotation of cupcake-offs, chili massacres, a big jerk-off, and probably some vegan tofu spread-a-thons somewhere. Prizes at these things are typically anything from homely trophies to a few cans of PBR, but the just-announced, upcoming inaugural Risotto Challenge is something special indeed: The prizes are going to be very nice. More on that below. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 109th Ave. and Merick Blvd. in Queens, a person under a train at Sutphin Blvd. in Queens, and a cyclist pinned beneath the wheels of a bus on 14th St. and 1st Ave. (looks like victim will survive) in Manhattan.
• The tech-savvy youth who got himself arrested for stealing a Sidekick mobile device and then allowing its owner to track him down via MySpace remains jailed on $20,000 bail.
• Welcome Abigail Fulop. The Leap Year Baby was born on Staten Island at 2:23 a.m. on the 29th. Her parents Dave and Michelle will be celebrating their daughter's birthday on March 1st three years out of four.
• A scholarship endowment fund has been established in the name of Ossie Davis to aid young actors who are not only pursuing performance arts, but embodying the activism of the late actor. Davis died in 2005, was the husband of actress Rubie Dee, and was a featured speaker at the funerals of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
• Hoboken, NJ police officers are now claiming that they were forced to go to a Hooters restaurant and hand over their automatic weapons to scantily clad waitresses while posing cheerfully for photos.
• Red Hook's new IKEA manager isn't from New York. The Brooklyn Swedish mega-furniture-mart boss is from North York, in Canada. Will the perfidy of our pleasant and polite northern neighbors ever cease?
• We find this harder to swallow than a cat fur-covered Milkbone: AIBO robot dogs are as effective at relieving lonely old persons' isolation as actual living dogs.
• Colson Whitehead is an established and successful author who lives in Brooklyn. If you're only 50% there, get over your zip code and give the attitude a rest. Apparently, Brooklyn writers are the new actor-waiters.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an officer shot on Vandalia Ave & Ardlsey Loop in Brooklyn, a gas leak at Dongan Pl. off Broadway in Manhattan, and an aircraft emergency at JFK in Queens.
• The City's investigating whether its artificial turf fields are poisonous.
• The Brooklyn Paper finds Obama did get votes in many Brooklyn districts (here's the congressional district breakdown for all of NYC).
• Blogging by athletes at the summer Olympics in China will be allowed. Blogging about the summer Olympics by athletes will be highly restricted.
• The father of the three children murdered by their mother is suing Nassau County for $60 million.
• Rupert Murdoch's ownership of Dow Jones is practically unnoticeable, unless one is longtime Wall Street Journal First Amendement lawyer Stuart Karle. He's fired.
• St. Saviour's demolition was halted by the Department of Environmental Protection.
• This time arguing over a grade worked: The City will revise public school report cards issued last year, after feedback from pretty much everyone.

After a 16-year absence from the beauty pageant circuit, Miss Brooklyn returned this year -- which meant that maybe, just maybe, a Brooklynite would become Miss New York, or even Miss America. more ›

The Brooklyn resident whose name caused him $2.1 million of trouble is still being held at Rikers, but a judge lowered his bail from $1 million to $10,000. more ›

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If a bank teller told you had an unknown bank account with $5.8 million in it and the bank insisted it's yours, wouldn't you spend it? That's what Brooklyn resident Benjamin Lovell did - and now he's paying. more ›

Train muralist James Top (aka JEE 2) was part of the legendary Odd Partners in the 1970s. The Brooklyn crew bombed with throw ups and block letters; they were highly regarded and had a strong presence in the city. These days Top has taken his art indoors -- teaching a graffiti class in the Bronx and, this weekend, opening his first New York exhibit. more ›

The Miss Brooklyn Pageant is coming back to town this coming Saturday after a 16-year absence from the scene (and they've returned in the MySpace age). The winner of the night will advance to the Miss New York Pageant, having a shot at becoming Miss America herself. more ›

The Brooklyn Paper has an interesting map showing how Brooklyn's donations to Clinton and Obama have changed over the past year. Gersh Kuntzman writes, "Just-released campaign finance filings that cover the second half of 2007 show that Obama made strong inroads into 'Hillary Country,' specifically turning Brooklyn Heights, Bay Ridge, Bushwick, Canarsie and Greenpoint from Hillary red to Barack blue." In total for Brooklyn, Obama has raised almost $600,000, whereas Clinton raised $726,524. more ›

The new NYC Condom campaign carries a secret Canadian tourism message: One of the ads features Toronto's Flatiron Building. Darn those confusing stock image searches using "Flatiron Building"! more ›

On Friday, Gawker speculated that The Brooklyn Paper was in trouble after a tipster told them freelancers haven't been paid since last summer (a late freelancing check...unprecedented!) and perhaps more relevant, if true, that editor Gersh Kuntzman told staffers the "independent, family owned, locally-run" since 1978 paper is "undergoing some turmoil." We asked Kuntzman about the rumor, and here's what he had to say:

"The Gawker story is a complete fabrication. The Brooklyn Paper, which just won 'Newspaper of the Year' from a major national trade group, is certainly not going out of business. Brooklyn needs us too much right now, what with local papers being snapped up by billionaire moguls who have no interest in local news except maximizing classified ad sales. Has Rupert Murdoch even BEEN to Brooklyn? His reporters don't know the territory, either."

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A city medical examiner spent two days testifying in the trial of Cesar Rodriguez, who face murder charges over his 7-year-old stepdaughter Nixzmary Brown's death. Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson revealed two things: That the girl only gained one pound in two and a half years and that she was dead for seven hours before 911 was called. more ›

This weekend marks the start of many pre-Lunar New Year Festivities in the city. The New Year begins on February 7 (more information here), and there will be the firecracker ceremony and cultural festival in Chatham Square on that day, plus the Lunar New Year Parade and Festival in Chinatown on February 10. There is also a Lunar New Year Parade in Flushing on February 9. more ›

MOVIE: Every national election year reminds us of that part in The Dark Crystal where the hideous Skeksis systematically drain the Gelfling’s “essence” and drink it to increase their power. If you don’t know the scene we’re talking about, you need to go see it on the big screen tonight – a regular-sized TV monitor just doesn’t do Jim Henson’s creepy masterpiece justice. The one-night-only screening will be introduced by one of the film’s puppet makers, Cheryl Henson, daughter of Jim. She’ll be joined by Robbie Barnett, who operated some of the main Skeksis; the pair will sign merch after the screening. more ›

MUSIC: Merkin Concert Hall is reopening, and to help celebrate some of the piano greats will be on hand for a free, six hour concert. Philip Glass and John Medeski will be amongst those who will perform. Get more details here. more ›

The series of residential structures lining Flushing Ave. in Brooklyn are historic treasures, but they are a little the worse for wear and some legislators can't wait to tear them down. Officers' Row, or Admirals' Row, is a feature at the Brooklyn Navy Yard that has admittedly fallen into sad disrepair, but nonetheless has a rich history linking New York harbor to the naval industry that was a cornerstone of building the United States as an international power. more ›

The Brooklyn Academy of Music kicked off their fourth season of Eat Drink & Be Literary last night at the BAMcafé. The sold-out event revolved around author George Saunders, a craftsman of absurdly hilarious short story and essays that lovingly lift American consumerism and mass media to surreal heights. His laugh-out-loud short story Pastoralia, for instance, concerns a man and a woman portraying full-time troglodytes in a theme park exhibit. In 2006, Saunders, who has a degree in geophysical engineering, was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Grant for “bring[ing] to contemporary American fiction a sense of humor, pathos, and literary style all his own.” more ›

May 29, 2007 was the last time Stepha Henry, a John Jay honors graduate, was seen. The Brooklyn resident had been visiting an aunt in Miami when she went missing and as months went on, her mother quit her job and moved to Florida to search for Stepha while John Jay classmates and faculty held fund-raisers to help the family. Today, Miami-Dade detectives, along with members of the NYPD, arrested a man in New York for killing Henry. more ›

The Brooklyn Paper isn't the only one who has missed Woody Allen's "quirky, oh-so-New-York films." On the verge of releasing his latest movie, Cassandra's Dream (in theaters Friday), Allen talked to The Daily News about when he might bring his New York to celluloid again. more ›

Vincent Gruppuso, the pudding cup king of Long Island, passed away recently, leaving his multimillion dollar Kozy Shack Enterprises behind. The 67 year old dessert tycoon had spent his life turning his tiny, one-man operation into a multinational operation employing 400 employees at three plants in Hicksville, California and Ireland. Last year the company sold over 115 million cups of pudding and pastries. Cause of death? Diabetes. more ›

The Brooklyn fire that killed FDNY Lt. John H. Martinson was caused by a six-year-old child who was playing with wrapping or packaging paper over the open flames of a stove left on to heat a 14th floor apartment. When the paper caught fire, the boy attempted to hide the smoldering paper under a mattress, trailing embers throughout the apartment. When the child's mother discovered the bedroom in flames, she grabbed the six-year-old and his twin brother and fled from the building. The door to the apartment was left open, however, allowing billowing smoke to fill the hallway. more ›

Last night, the police announced that plainclothes police officers had shot and killed a man in East New York. The Brooklyn North officerswere conducting a "buy-and-bust" drug sweep at the time. more ›

Their day in the sun ocean is just around the corner, but the Polar Bear Club of Coney Island may be in too deep with one donation they recently accepted. The Brooklyn Paper reports that in spite of the club "growling in the anti-Thor procession during the Mermaid Parade," the Polar Bears have "made peace" with Thor. more ›

Two hit and run drivers were arrested late this week; one through the actions of a horrified but brave bystander and the other through a successful effort by the Brooklyn Accident Investigation squad. Cops arrived at Sergey Satyr's Mill Basin home Thursday to arrest the 20-year-old for the hit-and-run death of 71-year-old Grace Smith of Sheepshead Bay. The Brooklyn Accident Investigation squad used debris from Satyr's Nissan and a partial license plate number to track the suspect down. Satyr allegedly ran down Smith December 21st on Ocean Parkway near Avenue X. more ›

Silver and gold are so last season, if you're a trendsetting criminal -- you know it's all about the copper these days. And where better to find it than in brownstone Brooklyn? The Brooklyn Paper reports:

At least four heists of the once-cheap electrical conductor have been pulled off in Brownstone Brooklyn since June, and a few others were foiled when the cops caught the bad guys red-handed before they could make off with their ill-gotten orange gold. more ›

SHOP: Still looking for that perfect gift? The Brooklyn Historical Society is holding the 4th Annual NY Creates Craft Fair, and they may have just what you're looking for. Check it out today and tomorrow, and it will be back the 22nd and 23rd for the real last-minute shoppers. more ›

The Brooklyn-based Wheelhouse Pickles company has been selling a hot sauce named after the seminal D.C. hardcore band Minor Threat – and the band’s co-founder Ian MacKaye has given it his conditional blessings. The famously anti-commercial MacKaye, who not too long ago blasted Nike for ripping off a Minor Threat album design, was sent a sample of the sauce with a label similar to the Minor Threat illustration “Bottled Violence.” And after tasting the sauce, MacKaye unexpectedly agreed to let Wheelhouse use the name, though without the artwork: “I don't have an occasion to eat a lot of hot sauce, but I also thought the Minor Threat stuff was nice.” more ›

Prosecutors having intimate relationships with defense lawyers happens on TV shows all the time, but a real life drama is playing out in Brooklyn. Former prosecutor Sandra Fernandez, accused of using her position in the Brooklyn DA's office to give information to her defense lawyer fiance, was arraigned on 12 counts of criminal charges. Fernandez allegedly ran criminal history and motor vehicle checks on three prosecution witnesses in cases handled by fiance - and now... more ›