1. Check out the art that goes into correspondence and try not to think about how long it’s been since you talked to your parents. (Friday)

2. Party with Cypress Hill, leave before Sublime with Rome plays their set. (Friday)

3. Celebrate the tiny victories in your life. Then go see Tiny Victories. (Friday)

4. Get a dress out of the trash for your best gal, put on your favorite leather and spike studded tuxedo and see what’s going down at the hop. Maybe this! (Saturday)

5. There’s something called the Coney Island Spectacularium and the closing celebration is on Saturday. That is the saddest thing we’ve ever heard. (Saturday) (more…)

The author made this using laser cutting and weaving. Can you top it?

The craft industry has been boomin’ in the last few years with throwbacks to crafts that your grandma probably did, but brands like Subversive Cross Stitch have been doing a good job of reinventing them with a sly wink and a dose of pop culture. TLC recently announced its new Craft Wars reality show, hosted by Tori Spelling, which is set to premiere on June 26. Spelling now also has her own line of craft products, and in May, my favorite DIY artist and overall designer extraordinaire Todd Oldham (anyone remember House Of Style?) drops his line of kid’s craft kits at Target.

But this is Brooklyn, and we don’t need Tori Spelling telling us how to make things. Etsy started in Dumbo and the Brooklyn Flea is filled with new talent every weekend. Whether you want to start your own Etsy shop or just make a Mother’s Day gift, Brooklyn is loaded with places to learn sewing, knitting, jewelry making, weaving, woodwork and more. Here they are; if we forgot yours, please pipe up in the comments! (more…)

Nice gams. Park Slope's St. Patrick's Day parade 2009.

If the news of this Grand Street Pub Crawl on Saturday whet your appetite for home field drinking this weekend, here are a few more spots that won’t require crossing the East River to get your shamrocks off. While you’re out pretending to be fake Irish this weekend, did you know a wave of actual Irish immigrants helped Brooklyn become the third largest city in the country by 1860? In 1855, a quarter of BK’s residents were from Ireland. To remember those who escaped famine, you can celebrate their triumphs with free corned beef and cheap green drinks (the kind you don’t have to dumpster dive for). (more…)

The speaker's friends eagerly dive into her moose-face stew.

It’s seriously becoming weird food week around here at Brokelyn HQ. First foraged dinners and now a free lecture about making “beaver, bear and moose ‘mouffle.’ ” And some of you thought Brokelandia was made up.

But we started this one, so we’ll finish. Tuesday night (Jan. 31) is the monthly “Masters of Social Gastronomy” workshop presented by the Brooklyn Brainery. The topic is Strange Meats featuring retro food blogger Sarah Lohman of  Four Pounds Flour, and this terrifying moose-face stew recipe. Also speaking is the Brainery’s Jonathan Soma, who will discuss unusual meat preparations, “from how to turn jerky into cotton candy to what to do with a pig’s head.” (Is letting the pig keep it out of the question?)

Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m., Public Assembly, 70 N. 6th St. in Williamsburg. “Special beverages” available.

Beekeeping at Brooklyn Brainery via Flickr's Ryan Sarver

If you’re an expert on esoteric topics — from how to have awesome conversations to Rubik’s cubes to calligraphy — you have a chance to supplement your income from that middling retail position you took during this double-dip recession. The Brooklyn Brainery will let you teach a course on your favorite subject — like, any subject — and get paid for it. The Carroll Gardens-based Brainery pays teachers with experience $45 per 90-minute class. But how do you become a teacher who inspires and amazes against all odds without much, uh, experience?  Since the school year is here (Bueller?), we asked a few popular Brainery teachers for advice on how you too can succeed as a first-time teacher so you can get invited back — and get paid — again and again. (more…)

FRIDAY
all day: crop to cup opens a new gowanus location (3rd ave at 13th st), offers half-price drinks

6-9pm: the farm city chautauqua launch party features free samplings of wine, beer, kombucha + small plates. 61 local (61 bergen st, bk), free. (more…)

Scents & Sensibility was popular back in May and June

Eclectic is the word for the skills one can pick up at Brooklyn Brainery. The Gowanus center of learning is dedicated to all things brainy, from beekeeping to holiday upcycling to world dumplings. The Brainery was started by a couple of people who were sick of paying bookoodles of money just to learn stuff. And the mission holds true: Most classes start at around $10, and the offerings change every month. So by that measure, a $25 gift certificate should put a curious friend on the path to some serious enlightenment. One of our favorite subjects from the past year: How to make irrational decisions. Gift certificates start at $5, and they never expire.

Have you been thinking this is the year you are going to learn something new? Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn Esperanto or pluck a harp, but how about making your own LED lamp or nature journaling? NYU and The New School aren’t the only places with interesting-sounding classes this winter. There are plenty of schools and “learning collectives” here in Brooklyn where you can pick up all kinds of useful and not-quite-so-useful abilities. They vary in price—with a few distinctly out of our range—but most are likely better values than, say, $430 for a series of museum walking tours with NYU: (more…)