Videology is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to free screenings in Brooklyn

It’s an inescapable fact that free things to do are just a little harder to find in the colder than the warmer months. We inevitably end up having to plump for more paid events, relying hopefully on the prospect of impending gainful employment and the spoils of nuisance lawsuits because heaven forbid we can be at peace with staying in.

One of the most enjoyable ways to entertain yourself with minimal cash is to catch a great movie with your friends but at a time of year when sitting on a blanket will get you nothing but a frozen tucchus and prime candidacy for a kidney infection what are the feasible options? Well come in from the cold, dear compatriots, pull up a stool while cradling a drink and something tasty and feast your eyes on the following options: (more…)

Paradise found. via Flickr user luca.sartoni

Real talk: short sleeves, warm weather, cold beer, and free shows with your friends is hard to beat. But it’s still winter. If, like me, you are too broke to afford even thinking about Coachella without a collection agency potentially calling you, but desperately need warm weather and music, you might think you’re out of luck. There’s always South by Southwest, but the annual industry showcase/rolling boozefest requires an expensive flight, an expensive hotel, an expensive badge and expensive food. Or does it?

Allow me to offer you the potential to go to South by Southwest for little over the price of a month’s rent. Now, for declamatory purposes I must state from the outset that all expenses were accurate at the time of the research, prices go up closer to the time, the snooze/lose correlation is as inescapable as death or taxes. But enough about taxes and onto Texas, and how to get there. (more…)

You aren’t going on on a limb when you say this, but Bushwick was really missing something while the Silent Barn was closed. Fortunately, it’s back and getting back to business as usual. The focus over the first few weeks has been on live music and DJ sets; shows which have been (forgive us) barnburners. If what has already gone down in the space since reopening in its new location (603 Bushwick Avenue) is anything to go by, then the new Silent Barn is well on its way towards blowing the old one out of the water. As the space is finding its feet again, its residents and artists in residence are now finding time to put on other events, like the first art exhibition in the new space, Activation, in between working to add things like a barber shop and a record store. (more…)

Get it bumping at Fort Greene’s “Make Music” parade

Aah, the holidays. A special time of year when we seem to collectively clamour for the title of “Most Destitute: 2013.” Winners are to be announced the first week of January at a special ceremony in your local bodega when your friendly clerk tells you that you cannot charge a quart of milk to your card “for some reason.” Chances are that right now, you have presents to buy (although hopefully you’re nearly finished), parties to attend, and family to see. Or maybe you’re staying in the city over the holidays for the first time either by choice or financial constraint. It’s a wallet-crushing time of year but fear not, there are still many things to see and ways to enjoy yourself this week that won’t add (much) to your impending financial woes. (more…)

Connie O’s: 80 years of repping the shamrock. via Facebook

You don’t have to look very far in any direction in this fair city to notice that when any group of people relocate an often vast distance to settle here, they tend to stick close to their own. They bring their customs, food, and language and bathe another neighbourhood in the familiarity of their homes far away. In Ireland, we have been known to enjoy a drink or two, in addition to that we often like another half dozen after the initial couplet have the whistle whet. Inevitably then, you are never short of a bar claiming Irish ancestry. The point to consider here must be: is this a stamp of pride or a desperate claim for legitimacy? Needless to say there are per capita, more caricatured Hiberno-Disneylands scattered around Midtown than there are Chase ATMs, but what about these Brooklyn neighborhoods we call our stomping grounds? Supposedly still far flung from the bells and whistles of Manhattan, there must surely be a better chance of stumbling into somewhere legit. I checked a few out, using my heightened sense of Irishness—thanks to power of passport—to separate the wheat from the tacky shamrock-laden chaff. (more…)