Hillstock 2011, the festival I missed because Brooklyn was scary. (via Facebook)

As of Friday, summer is OFFICIALLY HERE, and it’s kicking off with the annual Hillstock Festival, which will be taking up residence in Clinton Hill from Friday to Sunday. The DIY music fest, run by the Never Break Down music collective, has been around for a while — when I first moved back to New York a few years ago, I remember hearing about it and wanting to go, but I lived uptown in Manhattan and Brooklyn was “far” and “scary” — but it’s been steadily gaining steam. (more…)

Pop quiz hotshot: where is this movie playing?

Holy moly, there sure are a lot of outdoor movies this summer. So many that you might have trouble keeping track of whether you’re supposed to be going to Coney Island or Red Hook, before realizing you should really be Fort Greene. So to help you keep track of it all, we’ve put everything from SummerScreen to Red Hook Flicks into a handy list so you’re never confused again. About where the movies are playing, we don’t know why you keep getting dumped either. (more…)

The Rockaways are getting a hell of a lot of dunes [Daily News]
This kid dresses better than we do [Fucked in Park Slope]
The G train killed somebody [DNA Info]
Our Lady of Refuge gets its groove pipe organ back [Ditmas Park Corner]
If you missed it, how Matt Harvey lost his no-hitter [NY Mag]
Coney Island gets long-awaited shoe chain [Amusing the Zillion]
Subsidized apartments for the almost-rich [New York Observer]
This is just a great bloody mary recipe [Romenesko]

Bike and bite, y’all. (via flickr user marsavic)

Few things represent our modern city culture like brunch, bicycles, Brooklyn and the ability to siphon money from tourists who want to experience “Real New York,” so it makes sense that this sort of thing exists:  a Brooklyn-based bike tour company is now offering a “Brunch in Brooklyn” tour, so you can experience all the wonders of midday breakfast dining for just $65 a person. What a deal! (more…)

For whatever reason, he’s not invited

“The rent is rather extravagant!” goes the rallying cry of one of the city’s mayoral candidates. Or, something like that. And while most sane humans agree with that sentiment, the question is always, “What’s there to be done?” Everyone running for mayor has a plan for the problem, or we hope to God that they do, and a few of them will be sharing their ideas at yet another mayoral forum next week. This one at least, is focused solely on affordable housing though. (more…)

Get your summer fridge humping in, thanks to Canal Bar

If you’ve seen the many lists of outdoor summer movies we’ve been sharing in the past few weeks, you’d have noticed something: a dangerous lack of Wet Hot American Summer. Fortunately, with the list they’ve just released for their own backyard movie series, Gowanus’ own Canal Bar (270 3rd Avenue) has remedied that situation, and plans to show many, many more movies. (more…)

Nice view. via New York Observer

We’ve all presumably been there: you’re supposed to meet friends somewhere that doesn’t have outlets, and your phone battery is making its final stand. Then it dies and you and your friend spend the next 40 minutes trying to find each other. There’s got to be a better way! AT&T is trying to make sure there is now, with a series of free solar-powered phone charging stations in few New York parks, including four Brooklyn parks, according to the Observer. (more…)

Jacques Torres will be there to talk chocolate

Brooklyn’s food industry is red hot. Like, Guatemalan insanity pepper hot. So what better time than now to feature the thriving restauranteurs and food scene-makers in a trade show devoted entirely to food? Lucky for us, we get just that next Wednesday with Brooklyn Eats, going down at the Pfizer Building on Flushing Avenue. (more…)

Team STooPS not on a stoop but at the next best thing: Simplicity Wine Bar, where they’re holding their afterparty on Saturday. Via STooPS Facebook.

Ever feel like it might be time to get out of your apartment, and you know, do something? Everyone knows that summer in Brooklyn is like an endless carnival of film festivals, readings, street fairs, and concerts…if you’re willing to travel to the right place. But what about opportunities for arts and music that are literally right in your backyard, or in this case, on your front stoop? For residents of Bed Stuy this Saturday, this fantasy is turning into a reality, thanks to the STooPS project, which is geared up and ready to bring Brooklyn artists right to your front door. Literally. (more…)

Mable’s Smokehouse & Banquet Hall
44 Berry St. (At Wythe)
Williamsburg
(718) 218-6655

What is it: No-frills beer and Oklahoma-style BBQ joint that caters to the southern man and woman inside every beer-chugging Brooklynite.

Why we love it: The huge open layout gives you a “not-in-West-Williamsburg-anymore” impression, but that’s only the beginning. The three-sided bar turns drinking into an easy game of eye-tag, but a projection screen playing movies like Roadhouse and Stand by Me lets you play coy, although after a few pints or a pick from their signature cocktails menu, that’ll probably be the last thing you’ll do. (more…)