Don’t let this not happen!

Brooklyn’s been doing a hell of job coming back from Sandy, what with the grocery store re-openings and neighborhood restorations, but that doesn’t mean everything just magically goes back to the way it was. The Mermaid Parade, for instance, was already struggling before Sandy tried to drown Coney Island, and that just made things worse. There’s even a chance the parade doesn’t happen this year, but Coney Island USA is trying to cover costs with a last ditch Kickstarter. So let’s save the Mermaid Parade! (more…)

But how are the picklebacks? via Kickstarter

Another day, another job stolen by robots: after taking away our restaurant jobs, blogging gigs and the cast of Girls,  it appears the little machine monsters are coming for our bartenders, too. There’s a new cocktail-making robot floating around, and the company behind it has started a Kickstarter campaign so everyone can have one in their own home, one day rendering those silly communal “bars” useless. Can we just disappear into the Matrix already? (more…)

Help bring some weird back to Williamsburg, with Kickstarter

You guys hear that Kickstarter has a mobile app now? Pretty cool stuff. Unless you’re the type that has a few too many out at the bar and then feels the need to get any and every project off the ground, regardless of whether or not it would ever be useful. One way to avoid that is checking out a few of these local campaigns we’ve selected, that pique our interests. Things like Brooklyn’s first dinner cruise, reviving a DIY space and helping the creator of Fritz the Cat make a movie about Coney Island. (more…)

Can you keep one of these running smoothly? Then we’ve got a job for you. via Facebook

Though the ice melting on the sidewalk may suggest otherwise, we’re finally well past the middle of winter, and spring and summer will ONE DAY be here once again. But while you’ve spent the past few months shacking up with your winter’s bone drinking homemade hot toddies, warmer weather means beach trips, the backyard at Union Pool and a Beyonce concert.  Pricey! Luckily, Brooklyn’s got a few jobs available for you to help pad your bank account for the upcoming seasons of fun. Check them out below: (more…)

Before Brooklyn Brewery, Rehingold ruled BK’s beer world. via The Bowery Boys

Before it had a great brewing scene, Brooklyn had an even bigger one back in the days of our grandparents. But then some geniuses decided banning alcohol would be a good idea and the scene started to dry up and die. But now some enterprising filmakers are telling the story of how we went from Miss Rheingold pageants to nothing to Brooklyn Brewery setting up shop in Sweden. (more…)

Just try to say no to this face. via Brooklyn’s Rescued Bestiary

When even your mother is emailing you about the popularity of Kickstarter (“Hey honey, I thought this would be a good moneymaking idea for you”) it’s now a viable way to fund your art. Here are some of the best, and most emotional, Kickstarter and Indie Go Go campaigns in Brooklyn. (more…)

The perblurshing industry is hot right now.

As we mentioned earlier today, HOLY SHIT UNEMPLOYMENT IS BELOW 8 PERCENT. There are two ways to react to this news: 1. Be a weirdo who insists Democrats are lying about being employed, or 2. Take advantage of the fact that there are freaking jobs available, load some resumes into your employvolver and hit the streets. We can’t help you with the first one, but we’ll be glad to help with the second! Sweet places to work in Brooklyn and its newly annexed piece of Manhattan (the Lower East Side) have some openings that don’t require you to know HTML7 or whatever the hell they’re up to like you know English and are worth jumping on. (more…)

If you can identify this machine, you qualify.

A reader writes to us because he’s trying to hatch a video-y, comic-ish type business for brokesters and he needs to do a little research on the relative nerdinesss of Brooklyn, as if this alone weren’t evidence enough. Here’s what our enterprising young friend wants to know:  (more…)

Rendering of the plans for Engine 212, via Curbed.

It’s not often we take the time to promote a specific Kickstarter project, but this seems like one that everyone in the community could benefit from. You may be familiar with Engine 212, the north Brooklyn firehouse that was the scene of a huge protest in 1975 when hundreds of residents occupied the building for 16 months to stop the city from shuttering it, successfully, which earned it the name The People’s Firehouse. This project wants to turn the building at 134 Wythe Ave., which was closed recently, into the Northside Town Hall Community and Cultural Center, a three-floor performance, gallery, office and public meeting space. The best part is: the project already has $1.1 million in funding from local politicians; it just needs $20,000 from Kickstarter. And with 64 hours to go as of this posting, it only needs about $1,000 more to hit the goal! (more…)

A bunch of sweaty feet wood can make your iPod slightly louder.

To quote Faye, aka Mama Brokelyn, Kickstarter is both a boon for dreams and an enabler of bad business ideas, and we’re not sure where this one falls. An NYC-based artist is using reclaimed wood to create iPhone and iPad holders that boost the sound of your device, all using no wires or cords, just natural, reclaimed wood. As a special July 4 bonus, he’s offering the sound boards made of pieces of the Coney Island boardwalk for a pledge of $175 (usually $250) to the first 50 backers. The whole appeal of the thing is that its made of bits of the historic Coney Island wooden boardwalk, which will soon be an endangered species. But is it worth the money, particularly since the contraption only doubles the sounds, which means it’s still only slightly above audible? (more…)