The cable heavies behind Hulu have let the cat out of the bag that they’re considering restricting service to people who already have cable, obviously eager to get on the brand-destroying gravy train. In the future, instead of having Hulu as an alternative to cable, you would get it as an add-on to your cable package, which means you’d have to shell out $65 a month to catch that one episode of Park & Rec every week. This is is like allowing only people who drive  Dodge Durangos to buy electric cars. Why would you pay anything at all for Hulu if you already get cable?  (more…)

Workers of the world, don't clean your fridge! Artwork by Hugh D'Andrade.

You guys remember Occupy Wall Street, right? Think back. It was before Mitt Romney, Linsanity, Girls and Trayvon Martin.  It was a lifetime ago in news years — but tomorrow the Occupy movement may once again make headlines with the general strike, a day of marches, rallies, concerts and workshops held on May 1, in honor of International Workers’ Day. So what exactly is this thing? (more…)

Dave says nyet to the Nets. How about you? Artwork courtesy of SB Nation.

FULL DISCLOSURE: THE AUTHOR IS A LIFELONG KNICKS FAN AND REALIZES HOW UNFORTUNATE THAT IS

The New Jersey Nets just played their last game in the Garden State, and true to their MO in the post-Jason Kidd era, they lost. Once the season is over, the Nets begin the arduous 18-mile journey from Newark to Brooklyn, and I for one couldn’t be happier hope they drown in the Hudson on the way over. Does Brooklyn really need a mediocre professional sports team? (more…)

Your loft is big. But is it legal? Photo by Emily Paup.

You can’t help the nagging feeling that something is wrong with your new digs. Maybe it’s the contant draft from the huge windows or the lead paint flakes dropping from the 15-foot ceiling. Welcome to loft living in Brooklyn, an unregulated jungle of non-residential zoning and tenant mistreatment. Before the 2010 Loft Law was passed, lofts existed in a legal grey area: Zoned for commercial use but filling up with residential units, where tenants had few avenues for demanding building improvements and little protection from arbitrary and illegal rent hikes or eviction.

The law is meant to protect loft tenants and bring commercial buildings up to residential code. If you’re a loft resident, you’ll get the opportunity to find out what the law really means to you on Tuesday night at a Panel on the State of the Loft Law in Bushwick. For instance, applying for coverage under the Loft Law allows landlords to raise the rent, but it also requires they bring buildings up to code while also giving tenants coverage under rent stabilization laws. And that’s what you can find out about at Tuesday’s meeting. (more…)

Breaking news out of 1986: Brooklyn is happening.

We had our own brief discussion about whether or not Brooklyn is becoming too twee, but we weren’t the only ones. Over at New York Magazine, the commenters had their own rage issues to work out about hipsters and transplants. To be fair, they were able to stay on topic without veering off into whether or not B. Hussein Obama was actually born here, something you don’t see in the comments section of YouTube, the Post or even the Wall Street Journal, apparently. Hell, some of the comments were even in defense of the foodies. Presented below are some favorites. (more…)

Avowed Zine Fan Ayun Halliday, who writes the East Village Inky. Photos by David Colon.

I was supposed to go to a 90s-themed party Saturday but was too bummed about the Rangers losing to make it out. Fortunately, Sunday provided plenty of 90s-immersion therapy with the Brooklyn Zine Fest at Public Assembly. Brooklyn has seen zine events before, but this was something totally new. All three rooms were packed wall-to-wall with zine publishers selling their wares and readers eager to find new publications. As a struggling zine publisher myself, seeing hundreds of people milling around tables of self-published pizza reviews, short story collections and comics was inspiring. I already knew that I had a passion for publishing on my terms, but the Zine Fest confirmed that people all over the city share that passion and are willing to reward it. While I was looking around, I asked some attendees about the wonders of physical media and the future of the zine versus all the Kindles, Tumblrs and Pinterests of the world. (more…)

In an era of blogs, Kindles and Tom Selleck-themed Tumblrs, it would be easy to dismiss zines as a relic of a bygone age. You can do that if you want, I guess, just don’t tell the people behind April 15’s First Annual Brooklyn Zine Fest. That could get you a nasty papercut. The Fest, which is being held at Public Assembly because “the artistic heart of the city is still (arguably) located in Brooklyn” according to an email from organizers Matt Carman and Kseniya Yarosh, will feature more than 60 writers, illustrators, photographers and publishers that can connect with readers and make their work available to a wider audience. Whether a scene heavyweight like Ayun Halliday of the decade-plus institution East Village Inky or a relative newcomer like food zine Put A Egg On It, the organizers went out and found people “creating unique, interesting, sometimes weird art.”

In order to connect with the zine culture at large, the event has also will also feature publishers from as far as Portland, Reno and Brooklyn-in-waiting Philadelphia. The organizers told us a little about why this is actually a great time for a zine resurgence. (more…)

March cray-ness. Blackbirds taking it all the way!

March Madness is here, and you can just smell it in the air (“it” of course, refers to the smell of fear sweat rising off the nation’s children as they get their first exposure to Ernie doll come to life, Dick Vitale). If you don’t have an office job, you’re going to want to get the tournament off to the right start and pretend to desperately care about Southern Miss versus Kansas State. So why not check out any one of these five bars that open before the noon tipoff today and tomorrow and have glorious, glorious television? Also, Duke sucks. (more…)

McKibbin lofts. Photo by Emily Paup.

I don’t want to come off like an egoist, but the place I live is kind of famous: the McKibbin Lofts. Located on the very western edge of Bushwick, these otherwise unimpressive buildings (one on each side of the street) have been the subject of their very own New York Times profile and have a hilariously unnecessary Wikipedia page. They’re known more for their parties and permissive attitudes of the residents than interesting architecture, and they’re wrongly maligned as a bedbug haven. But there’s a good trade-off for the grief. For a place with 12-foot ceilings, modern-ish kitchens and laundry rooms, a 10-minute walk to Williamsburg, a 10-minute bike ride to the waterfront and a two-minute walk to Roberta’s, the rent is stupid cheap. How cheap? I share a four-bedroom apartment for $2,500 a month. Want in? There are some things you should know first.  (more…)

When it comes to Valentine’s Day, I’m firmly in Tim’s camp: it’s for suckers. Of course, I have a lot more to cry about than he does. Instead of doing that, I went to Fat Albert’s, the most wonderful department store in all of Bushwick, and shopped for all of you people. If you’re not familiar, Fat Albert’s is a giant, anything goes discount warehouse right by the Flushing Ave. J and M stop, described by a Yelp reviewer (the only Yelp reviewer, actually) as a  place that “looks pretty beat up and does need an extreme makeover, but you can’t beat the prices.” Sounds like the perfect place to find a Valentine’s Day present! (more…)