Brooklyn loves tree

Tired of stepping outside of your apartment and only being greeted with the site of parked cars and angry scowling faces? Well, if’ you own a building or have a really good relationship with your landlord, may we suggest asking the city to plant a tree in front of your building? We don’t know why everyone’s scowling at you though, that’s on you. (more…)

We will! Via Park Slope Family Circus

Family Circus continues to survive today, against all odds. But thanks to the internet, an important question as been both asked, and answered: “What if Family Circus were set in Park Slope?” We have the answer in Park Slope Family Circus, which repurposes the rarely amusing single-strip cartoons to show us kids who are unimpressed with BAM, eat fancy ice cream and go to GoogaMooga. Hey! We do that too! Anyway, it’s all done by Erin Bradley, so thanks Erin, bored cubicle dwellers across Kings County salute you.

Photo by Maria Gotay

Mama Joy’s
1084 Flushing Ave., at Porter Ave.
Bushwick
(347) 295-2227

What is it: Perfectly placed between the Morgan and Jefferson L stops, this Southern food slinging bar is home to a rotating selection of 8 drafts, a $4 beer and shot combo and 45 different whiskeys. The walls show off half exposed brick and half old wallpaper and wooden panels. The owner said that in the process of renovating, he decided he liked the pulled off wall paper look and left it as is – we like everything about it.

Why We love it: So many reasons. Spacious inside, backyard in the summer, knowledgeable bartenders, great southern food and again, 45 whiskeys and a $4 beer and shot combo. The owner and bartenders are knowledgeable about all things booze and super nice. They are what gives this bar a true neighborhood feel. (more…)

This post is sponsored by TropFest USA.

TropFest, the world's largest short film festival, is happening in Prospect Park on June 22nd

Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival, is moving to Brooklyn on June 22nd. This fantastic fete in Prospect Park has all the things we love: big stars, free entry, and lots of movies. We’re so excited to have this show in our fair borough that we’re giving away two VIP passes to one lucky brokester!

This ain’t your grandmother’s giveaway. Tropfest is BIG — over 10,000 people showed up at last year’s US festival. With these passes you’ll get off the main lawn and into the VIP tent. You’ll be hanging out with just 250 people, among them festival host Liev Schreiber, the participating filmmakers, and the entire panel of celebrity judges. You also get reserved seating for the show and free food and drink!

Starting at 3 p.m. Chairlift, the DJs from Neon Indian, Bear in Heaven, Ghost Beach, and People Get Ready will be spinning and playing. At 6:30 there’s a black carpet event in the VIP tent with Liev Schreiber and the judges. Then at 8, Liev takes the stage and kicks off the main event: the screening of the short film competition.

Tropfest was started in the early 90s by filmmaker John Polson when he showed his own six-minute short at the Tropicana Cafe in Sydney, Australia. From these small roots the festival has grown into a worldwide event at venues in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, India, New Zealand, and, of course, Brooklyn (with even more places to be announced). Despite its immense popularity, the festival remains free for all to attend.

Interested? Of course you are! To enter just put in your e-mail address below. You can earn more entries by liking Tropfest on Facebook, tweeting about it, and getting friends involved. This contest ends soon so don’t miss out on this chance to experience Tropfest like a movie star.

Great place to go back to the future. via Facebook

You guys tired of all the free outdoor movies happening this summer? We know, it’s like, “Hey man, let us PAY for our entertainment, you’re making it too easy.” Well, bad news for those of you intent on paying: Habana Outpost‘s typically excellent Sunday summer movie schedule just landed on our inbox, and guess what? It’s a bunch of free excellent movies. (more…)

First line of Brooklyn trend story hilariously perfect [Fox Business]
Ray Kelly considering stopping,frisking mayoral campaign [Runnin' Scared]
This certainly looks bad for the Flea [DNA Info]
Hey, it’s a music video about stop and frisk [Capital]
What to consider before eating cicadas [The Atlantic]
BK apartment under construction for 10 years almost done [Curbed]
Seattle bookstore desperate to get rid of 500K book backstock [Mediabistro]
NY tabloid reaction to Weiner exposing mayoral plans [NYO]

Mount Eerie in 2011. Photo by Cody Swanson

You may have seen our previous announcements that we’re giving away two Northside music badges. You may have thought “I’d love those, but I’ll get to that next week.” Well, it’s next week. We’re drawing a winner tomorrow at noon so you better enter before it’s too late.

These badges will give you access to all the music events on a first-come, first-served basis and guaranteed entry to both outdoor shows at McCarren Park: The Walkmen on June 15 and Solange on June 16.

You must be an e-mail subscriber to win. It’s free and easy: fill in that little box to your right that says “JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST” and click subscribe. In the upcoming newsletter we’ll send out later today, click the link to enter. That’s all you have to do.

Keep an eye out for the newsletter every Thursday in your mailbox. After this contest is over, we’ll have many more giveaways and lots of useful info.

Conspiracy of Beards: they might be clean-shaven, but they do look shifty. via Facebook

1. Brooklyn Launchpad invites you to perform any kind of art you can think of, provided you can do it in 10 minutes or less (Friday)

2. Party starters Brooklyn Wildlife get out of the lofts and into Public Assembly for a wild night of partying, dancing and body paint. Woo! Body paint! (Friday)

3. Live From Outer Space is a comedy show at the Cobra Club, but we haven’t been to it so we can’t tell you if it’s actually beamed in from a secret comedy base on bars or something (Friday)

4. Satiate your bloodlust with 70s revenge flick Act of Vengeance. Contains the FDA suggested daily requirement of blood and assorted gore (Friday) (more…)

“Just not the Lena Dunham character,” said 10,000 meatheads

Despite the fact that it doesn’t get great numbers in traditional TV metrics like ratings, Girls still cleans up in categories like “buzzworthiness,” think pieces, awards and themed Craigslist apartment ads. Which means that in addition to the normal cash-ins like bus tours and bad parodies, the show is now joining the likes of Seinfeld and The Office with that touchstone of cultural acceptance, the porn parody. (more…)

Still alive! But… via Facebook

Last night, the Brooklyn Twittersphere was all aflutter after reports from Eater that The Levee was the latest Williamsburg institution to pack up and leave. Fortunately, that turned out not to be true, and we were spared 14,000 nostalgia pieces about “the old Williamsburg.” Still, the statement from The Levee’s owners left some room to worry. (more…)