Posts I
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What I have learnt so far cont...
1. People don’t really have plug in kettles here - despite the American style of developing everything for the...
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Some eagle st farm snaps with my new camera
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Spotlighted!
The Bored Vegetarian is currently spotlighted in the Food section of Tumblr! On the scale of cool things, this is very very cool!
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MEG’S STORM SURVIVAL SIX PACK
$106.53 w/ tax and 5% discount
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Sara Shows Off Her Space
She’s adorned it with all kinds of massive printing tools.
Sara Gates has been live-working from the same...
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Feelin it Friday - Weekly Awesome: Ernestine Shepherd
Brief shoutout to some sweet emeffing items:
Get your Culture On: “Same Same” Premiere
For those of you needing a culture injection pronto, I got the following tip from Greenpoint photographer Eddy Vallante.
Greenpoint-based Amalgamated Picture Company premiers its new film “Same Same” as part of Scene: Brooklyn’s Spring 2012 Screening Series on May 2nd. Founded by writer/director Dylan Allen, Amalgamated “strives to produce the very finest in hand-made, quality motion pictures for your enjoyment.” The film was Co-produced by Eddy Vallante in association with Seawall Productions.
An audience prize will be awarded to whichever film receives the most votes during Scene Brooklyn, so take a trip, watch, weep and vote for your favorite film, whichever it might be.
What: “Same Same” - In a homogenous world, a man struggles to crack an impossible task.
Where: IndieScreen, 285 Kent Ave. at South 2nd St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
When: MAY 2, 7PM
What’s the damage?: $10 Advanced tickets at Brownpaper Tickets
A selection of bold, new narrative and documentary shorts from Brooklyn filmmakers that explore the city and how we live in it, and reveal why we need unique New York.
It’s Sew-time!
Sew Moni’s Daily Candy spring deal adopts the voice of that sewing machine ”you bought at the flea market last spring. The one you swore you were going to learn to use…” I am guilty as charged! Worse, is the fact that mine didn’t come from a flea market - it is a way-out-of-my-league-all-singing-and-dancing-Project-Runway- endorsed Ferrari!
So, if you’ve failed to become the fashion designer you’ve always known yourself to be (or, in my case, failed to become even someone who can alter her jeans), here’s some exciting news:
Williamsburg sewing studio, SEW Moni, is offering spring and summer sewing classes discounted by 50% via DailyCandy Deals. Classes include Beginning Sewing, Dress Construction and more. Deal purchasers will have one year to redeem the class deal, making it that much easier to learn something new at your leisure.
The deal will end May 2 so get on it and sign up here!!!
Magic Mushrooms Secretly Covet Oil as Hor D’Oeuvres
Somewhere in Greenpoint, in a secret, locked down location, a rogue population, a tarp full, a small army of friendly funghi are awaiting their big moment. Very soon these mushrooms will be floated on Newtown Creek and instructed to eat wayward oil and other toxins! I learned this fascinating information firsthand via Kate Zidar, the new Executive Director of the Newtown Creek Alliance, while toiling away at Greenpoint Coworking where she often works.
For those of you, like me, who are not in the know about these things here’s the science bit. Mushrooms vegetate (i.e. reproduce) via mycelium which branches out to create colonies. The mycelium is the part of a fungus that absorbs nutrients and is also capable of decomposing organic matter. As oil (petroleum) is based on a carbon structure, it is organic and therefore can be broken down by the fungus in a process called bioremediation. If this has whet your appetite for more, there’s a whole book out there called “Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World”!
The specific means by which the Newtown Creek Alliance are employing the mushrooms is via “Mycobooms” - an experimental approach where straw is colonized with oyster mushrooms stuffed into burlap sleeves. The Mycobooms will be constructed in concentric circles (affectionately known as the “Fairy Rings”) and floated upon the creek but kept tethered. This is so that the water inside the circles can be monitored and tested for improvement.
If you would like to witness the inaugural launch of the Fairy Rings and participate in a host of other activities (see below), free up your calendar between 12pm and 2pm tomorrow and join Newtown Creek nature walk lovers, Greenpointers and mushroom enthusiasts for some environmentally friendly fun.
The day will include:
- Volunteer planting and park cleanup with Greenpoint Business Alliance in collaboration with the Open Space Alliance with funding from Hudson River Foundation.
- Greenpoint Business Alliance will be providing refreshments, t-shirts, and a small gift for volunteers.
- Inaugural launch of the Fairy Rings, pollution-eating mushrooms homegrown by the Bioremediation Workgroup, with maritime support services by North Brooklyn Boat Club
- Afterparty at the “Broadway Stages Boatyard”, summer home to the NBBC.
For more information about mushrooms saving the world and ongoing efforts by the Newtown Creek Alliance sign up for the email list at www.newtowncreekalliance.org You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Give them a “like” to show your support!
Grub’s up in Greenpoint…
Greenpointers if you are committed to supporting local produce, there’s a new CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) offering in town you might like to join. Local Roots NYC is “dedicated to creating a more convenient connection between New York City and their farms”. Not only do they provide access to local farm produce, they also have weekly recipes, cooking classes and a bimonthly Supper Club that makes meals from the CSA share.
I received a lovely email from Wen-Jay Ying, Founder and Program Director, saying that they have recently added a CSA pick up location in Greenpoint. If you’re interested, here are some additional facts and reasons why Local Roots is part of a “new generation” of CSAs.
- Local Roots is unique in that they offer 12 week CSA seasons (summer, fall, and winter) as opposed to the traditional 24 week commitment. This is to give members some financial flexibility and allow those New Yorkers who travel in the summer time the opportunity to sign up for our fall season.
- They have partnered with amazing local farmers to offer more diverse food options such as vegetable, fruit, meat, cheese, egg, milk, bread, grain, and an artisanal Brooklyn share, which will feature purveyors such as Rick’s Picks, Ovenly, SlantShack Jerky, and Brooklyn Soda Works.
- Unlike most CSAs where you must sign up for a vegetable share to join, members can pick and choose which shares best fit their dietary needs.
If this sounds good - they are now accepting members for the summer CSA season (deadline to join is May 21st). http://localrootsnyc.org/csa/products The pick up location will be at The Diamond on 43 Franklin Street on Wednesdays from 5:30 - 8pm.
A “meditation” on BK/NYC transportation…
This weekend’s twitter stream was filled with rants and confusion about the state of the transport network in the Greenpoint/Willamsburg, not to mention concern about the G train extension to Park Slope becoming extinct (to sign the petition against that outcome, go here).
Bad news first - No L or 7 train again this weekend. The good news is that the MTA has promised this will be the… fb.me/Q3CfUKnT
— Lincoln Restler (@LincolnRestler) March 2, 2012
While the MTA has promised this will be the last weekend closure of the L train for the year, the fact that both the 7 and the L were down at the same time really made me think about the overall situation. (To illustrate the impact, my beloved Java Cars in Greenpoint were quoting 10 minutes wait-time rather than 3 minutes - that is a significant change!!)
Just over a week ago, I attended an event in DUMBO run by Charlie O’Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures (Brooklyn’s first VC fund). In his words, it was a “roundtable discussion between Brooklyn innovation community stakeholders on how to make this side of the river a better place to create, build businesses and grow”. Unsurprisingly, transport was one of the key bug-bears that attendees brought up - both from an inter and intra Brooklyn perspective. I will admit to a love of the B62 bus (it goes directly from Greenpoint to DUMBO) but, it ain’t quick at up to an hour during rush hour time.
So, I wanted to share a few thoughts on this topic with you:
This has the potential to be one of the best things to happen to public transport between Manhattan and Brooklyn (and from North Brooklyn to DUMBO) in years. Remember when it launched and they offered free rides - it was PACKED! Who doesn’t want to travel to and from work with the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline? But, let’s be honest - $4 a ride is expensive ($5 if you have a bike).
It should have been packed again this weekend with the L and the 7 out of commission but it wasn’t (at least, not on Sunday when I was on it). I reckon a simple drop of $1 of the fare price would make it a slightly more costly, but well-worth-it, alternative to the dirty subway (which is now $2.50 for a single). MORE PASSENGERS = MORE MONEY!
2. Biking
I really enjoy cycling but I frankly detest cycling through most of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Granted, this city is doing way more than most to improve the lives of cyclists but there is more to do.
Firstly, while generally fantastic news, the current proposed bike rental program, per the Brooklyn Paper, “omitted bike kiosks east of Bushwick Avenue and McGuinness Boulevard, where an estimated 30,000 of transit-starved residents live, according to 2010 Census data.” If you want to suggest a bike share station location - tell the DOT via this link.
Secondly, drivers are often way too aggressive with cyclists and there are still insufficient, safe bike lanes. With the bike rental program imminent, the Police and Mayor need to crackdown on unsafe driving to ensure that the new wave of cyclists can enjoy this method of transport.
And, maybe the East River Ferry can drop it’s bike carry-on charge from $1 to $0.50? :-)
3. The Subways
I recognize that there is no magic pot of cash to suddenly manifest the world’s most super-duper subway system! But, the current efforts of the MTA to articulate what is down for repairs when are bordering on useless. The posters are prettier but they may as well be written in a long-lost language. I recall a Tweet from local “developer, startup maven, blogger, startupbus alum” Mike Caprio about how “somebody needs to make a visualization of how much of the damn subway is not running at any given time.”
Somebody needs to make a visualization of how much of the damn subway is not running at any given time.
— MikeCap (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ (@mik3cap) February 25, 2012
Sounds great right? So, who’s stepping up to do that?
So, there’s my rant - not as many solutions as I’d like to have but hopefully some food for thought. Get talking, get tweeting and get signing petitions.
I Love Greenpoint’s Creatives: Fischer Clothing
Last Sunday I had the pleasure of chatting with the lovely Kristina Angelozzi of Fischer Clothing over tea and coffee at Veronica People’s Club. I have immediate admiration for anyone who manages to combine a full-time job with their passion and so I had high expectations of this conversation. The fact that Kristina veered towards a 10am appointment rather than later made me even more enthusiastic - while I’ll never call myself a morning person, I increasingly like getting productive early!
A Brooklynite for 10 years, and a Greenpointer for 2, Kristina moved here from Prospect Heights to score some more space to start Fischer. As a kid she used to make clothes for her Barbie dolls on her mother’s sewing machine but, the real source of the fashion bug infection came from a job making period costumes. Hooked in by the tailoring and suspenders (!) she applied to Parsons and secured a spot. While admitting it “always seemed far-fetched” to have her own line, shadowing other younger designers gave her the insight into running a fashion business she needed. So, in 2009, she leapt in before she got “too old and bogged down by mortgage”! Fischer’s name was chosen to align with the casual, American look she has adopted (Kristina had wanted to use her mother’s maiden name, Brown, but decided it wasn’t going to cut it).
It doesn’t take much knowledge of the industry to surmise that getting a new line off the ground is a pretty mean feat! Kristina says she has been lucky to get picked up by some “nurturing” boutiques who are very supportive of new designers. Production is the toughest element and you need to be “tenacious” however, Kristina notes the factories she works with as also being supportive. Many challenges also lie with the administrative side of the business - Kristina says she’s comfortable, to a degree, with spreadsheets but prefers to do charts by hand. However, you do “need a full education on what tax breaks are available” as well as book-keeping and legal aspects!
While Kristina is still “getting her feet under the table” her future plans for Fischer include more outerwear - Kristina enjoys the additional detail these pieces require - and sweaters. Given everything is manufactured in the US, sourcing production is a critical piece of the puzzle. Kristina would also like to see Fischer open its first standalone store (location TBD) merchandized with other brands and home-wares.
In terms of advice to other would-be solo designers (or, anyone debating whether to go it alone), Kristina says, “Just do it and keep doing it. There is no magic formula. Focus on the craft and not the attention. When you get really good at it you’ll get noticed - you don’t want to get noticed when you’re not good at it! Keep refining your aesthetic and your skill.” In a world dominated by hype, over-hype and hype-on-hype, I really appreciate her commitment to the underlying goal which is to make great quality clothing.
To purchase items from Fischer’s latest collection, you can purchase online or visit one of the stockists listed (one of my personal favourites from the current collection is this cute cotton dress).
PS. Look out for the new Ovenly store (coming this month to 31 Greenpoint Avenue) as Kristina has designed the uniforms!
Risk and Reward…
When you take a big risk - for example, leaving your well-paid Wall St. job to go on ‘sabbatical’, undertake some freelance consulting and simultaneously consider what the next incarnation of yourself will be - there are plenty of anxiety-fueled moments. These come free with a background chorus of disembodied voices serenading you with one line - “are you out of your mind?” - on repeat.
Conversely, there are moments, events, days and, in the case of last week, even full weeks that confirm I am not, completely, out of my mind! This morning is a case in point - and not just because I didn’t get up until 8am or that I got to wear jeans and a hoodie rather than a suit. It was because I got inspired at the “North Brooklyn Breakfast Club” held at Greenpoint’s own Enids.
Here’s a quick rundown of today’s presentations:
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Hop on the 7STOPS!
True to my armchair philosopher nature I am about to over-simplify the human race. So, please humour me when I suggest that people can be allotted into one of two categories: those who believe life happens to them, passively allowing others to pull the strings; versus those who assertively plot their own course, building a legacy as they go.
Dustin Coates of 7STOPS magazine fits in the latter category. Many of us can relate to wishing we could more easily access well-researched and well-written content rather than having to trawl the cyber swamp daily. However, very few people resolve this problem by establishing their own magazine while simultaneously working a full-time job. Dustin, as one member of a four person founding team with no publishing background, did just that.
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Business Boom or Doom?
I decided to write this post in response to an article on the Greenpoint Gazette called, “Why your Business is Failing to Thrive”. I agree with the conclusions but given the article’s content is not location-specific I wanted to share some observations on Greenpoint specifically.
I preface this by saying that I am on the fence about whether engaging in intensive strategic planning is more/less valuable than simply going for it 37 Signals style (read REWORK if you’re a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type). I believe it’s impossible to do anything more than guess if you’re trying to predict 5 years into the future but I also consider it to be foolish to have no roadmap at all. Even a modicum of a plan can be a useful compass for decision-making.
So, back to the article. The point it makes about businesses failing sometimes being a result of not understanding their market resonates with me. Taking a shortcut in this regard is a bad idea unless your idea is so Steve-Jobs-awesome, nobody even knows they want your product yet!
To quote the article: “Who are you selling to? What are you selling…volume or quality? Is it Payless or Prada? Can you describe your market in detail?…Once you are clear on your target market, all your marketing will become easier because you know how these people like to be reached.”
Every time I notice another bodega/deli spring up in this neighbourhood I find it hard not to ask the proprietors similar questions. So, for what it’s worth, here’s my advice if you’re about to set something up in Greenpoint….
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I believe I can fly (or, adventures with caffeine Part 2)
Last Sunday morning, I awoke to the sound of Carmina Burana albeit imagined in my head. The Greenpoint Espresso Tour 2011 was upon us…. (cue drums and opera singers). Only the previous day I was sipping tea in the lovely Bellocq talking to a local couple who had given up coffee believing it to be responsible for arguments (cue more drums and serious operatic wailing)! This was not the best thing to hear in advance of testing 20 espressos!
Apparently Laird Hamilton (he of super-ripped, surf-fame) drinks 4 to 8 espressos every morning. That’s great, however, Laird is approximately 6ft 5” tall, built like a brick shit-house (using my father’s expression there) and superhumanly fit. I am a stressed-out, unfit, small-fry. The only comfort I could find was online assurances that people don’t tend to die from caffeine overdoses without an underlying heart condition. Please don’t let this be the day I discover one of those….
So, on to the proceedings.
