12.15.2009
Best Cheesy Holiday Song
Eh-ew how can you not secretly be amused by the catchy chorus of "Crabs for Christmas"? I dare you to get drunk and not sing along. Dare. (Just so you know, this is by far the most low-key version out there).
And what about Erik Frandsen's "Christmas in Brooklyn"? Who doesn't love the idea of a uke-playing, seasonal-song-singing cop? (If ya don't, then getouttahere!).
That's right, we're givin out clichés for Christmas & Hanukkah. You're welcome.
12.06.2009
This week in your Holiday
Lights! Cocoa! Animatronic Santas!
The lights are on in Dyker Heights, and the air filled props come in big and BIG. It's a neighborhood that's tough to beat considering the mix of grandiose and (terrifically) tacky, not to mention the sheer volume of displays.
But bless Baltimore for trying, because if you based the call on pride alone, it would be hands down the "Miracle on 34th street" in Hampden that has non-stop traffic crawling down the street from now until Christmas, and that strange and eclectic mix of tastes that only Hampden could produce.
And how about the festives of the week? The annual lighting ceremony in Mount Vernon Baltimore transformed the Washington Monument into a somewhat tree-like shape ( and yes they have one too! It was built before the one in DC, I think it is the first official monument to Washington but I digress) and along with the seemingly dangerous and therefore sooo Baltimore middle-of-downtown fireworks that go with it, this year there were boos for the mayor to boot (Controversy! Hey, I give her props for showing up).
Dumbo hosted a lighting ceremony as well, complete with refreshments generously provided by Choice Market, Front Street Pizza & Jacques Torres and as a bonus, art adjacent. Things just look cooler under that arch don't they? (Remember the Spacebuster? That was wicked cool.)
Of course the holiday season isn't complete unless you're spending money. At least now-a-days it's easier than ever to find some crafty gifts if you shop outside the box-store, from the packed Charm City Craft Mafia's Holiday Heap at St. Johns,
to the pie eating! and socially conscious Eat Pie and Shop at PS29. Miss the early sales? In Baltimore, check out the upcoming Squidfire one, the MIC/A event, and the Last Minute Maul in Fed Hill. In Brooklyn, visit 3rd Ward's Handmade Holiday Craft Fair, Bull and Bear, Brooklyn Lyceum's and more.
Soooo...? Who does the effin holidays the best? Have fun with the voting because every week's poll will stay open 'til New Years.
The lights are on in Dyker Heights, and the air filled props come in big and BIG. It's a neighborhood that's tough to beat considering the mix of grandiose and (terrifically) tacky, not to mention the sheer volume of displays.
But bless Baltimore for trying, because if you based the call on pride alone, it would be hands down the "Miracle on 34th street" in Hampden that has non-stop traffic crawling down the street from now until Christmas, and that strange and eclectic mix of tastes that only Hampden could produce.
And how about the festives of the week? The annual lighting ceremony in Mount Vernon Baltimore transformed the Washington Monument into a somewhat tree-like shape ( and yes they have one too! It was built before the one in DC, I think it is the first official monument to Washington but I digress) and along with the seemingly dangerous and therefore sooo Baltimore middle-of-downtown fireworks that go with it, this year there were boos for the mayor to boot (Controversy! Hey, I give her props for showing up).
Dumbo hosted a lighting ceremony as well, complete with refreshments generously provided by Choice Market, Front Street Pizza & Jacques Torres and as a bonus, art adjacent. Things just look cooler under that arch don't they? (Remember the Spacebuster? That was wicked cool.)
Of course the holiday season isn't complete unless you're spending money. At least now-a-days it's easier than ever to find some crafty gifts if you shop outside the box-store, from the packed Charm City Craft Mafia's Holiday Heap at St. Johns,
to the pie eating! and socially conscious Eat Pie and Shop at PS29. Miss the early sales? In Baltimore, check out the upcoming Squidfire one, the MIC/A event, and the Last Minute Maul in Fed Hill. In Brooklyn, visit 3rd Ward's Handmade Holiday Craft Fair, Bull and Bear, Brooklyn Lyceum's and more.
Soooo...? Who does the effin holidays the best? Have fun with the voting because every week's poll will stay open 'til New Years.
12.01.2009
Here come the Holidays
Hope you had a relaxing Thanksgiving, because here come the holidays. To celebrate, bvsb is going to put the kibosh on battles and fights and what not for the next few weeks and just focus on the warm fuzzy feelings.
No. Just kidding, what would be the fun in that!
We'll be back next week to start the friendly duking out of who really knows how to get the holiday spirit rolling. This week, enjoy getting lit at your lightings of things and parades and sales and overall shitifying of the weather. See you soon, b.
final vote: Baltimore 2 (66%) to Brooklyn 1 (33%)
11.23.2009
Fashion
If you're going to have a mediocre season, at least have challenges with personality.
Project Runway came to an end last week and I have to say ... meh. Was it the move to LA? The move to Lifetime? A bad crop of designers? If it weren't for the show being broadcast on a channel no one else I know has, forcing us to make a weekly party out of watching it and yelling at the screen as though we were watching football (nooah! no you did not send her down the runway in that!) it probably would have fallen off my radar. Don't get me wrong, there were some great moments early on, Malvin and the chicken thighs, the pregos bowling bag dress... but by the end we'd had no unusual challenges, no menswear no plus sizes, shit one contest was simply "use the color blue". Are you kidding me?
(There's some great Runway rundown at the end of this Fug or Fab post).
I'm loyal to the idea of Project Runway, so come January I'll give it one more go but for now I'm forced to look to the streets for my fall fashion inspiration. (No Uli to convince me that scarves with tank tops really DO make sense! If it's cute, it's sensible!)
So where to look?
Brooklyn:
(images from Flickr, The Satorialist, BK Fashion Week[end] & the lovely minimini market blog)
vs. Baltimore:
(images from the Baltimore Sun's Glimpsed! )
final vote: Brooklyn 8 (61%) to Baltimore 5 (38%)
Project Runway came to an end last week and I have to say ... meh. Was it the move to LA? The move to Lifetime? A bad crop of designers? If it weren't for the show being broadcast on a channel no one else I know has, forcing us to make a weekly party out of watching it and yelling at the screen as though we were watching football (nooah! no you did not send her down the runway in that!) it probably would have fallen off my radar. Don't get me wrong, there were some great moments early on, Malvin and the chicken thighs, the pregos bowling bag dress... but by the end we'd had no unusual challenges, no menswear no plus sizes, shit one contest was simply "use the color blue". Are you kidding me?
(There's some great Runway rundown at the end of this Fug or Fab post).
I'm loyal to the idea of Project Runway, so come January I'll give it one more go but for now I'm forced to look to the streets for my fall fashion inspiration. (No Uli to convince me that scarves with tank tops really DO make sense! If it's cute, it's sensible!)
So where to look?
Brooklyn:
(images from Flickr, The Satorialist, BK Fashion Week[end] & the lovely minimini market blog)
vs. Baltimore:
(images from the Baltimore Sun's Glimpsed! )
final vote: Brooklyn 8 (61%) to Baltimore 5 (38%)
11.21.2009
Food Carts - Automatic Win Brooklyn
Although the treatment, placement and permitting of vendors continues to be a contentious issue, there is still much support for the food vendors of Brooklyn in press, blogs, design, non-profit & of course the Vendy awards. (congrats Country Boys/Martinez taco truck). I recently vacationed in Portland, OR and fell in love with their "cart worlds" - parking lots enclosed by food vendors complete with picnic tables and simple white lights, cozy little urban settings for lunch time fare or a little after bar dessert. There's something romantic about that late night carnival look. The trip left me more motivated than ever to support the vitality that cart service brings to a city.
In Baltimore cart service is few and far between (and also being hassled), a vacant reminder of the old mentality that no one wants to be on the streets of Baltimore (an notion once so strong that economic development consisted mainly of building parking garages and sky walks - an attempt to coax the County folk into visiting without stepping foot in the city). Times have changed Baltimore, people want to be outside and the streets are fine (you know, mostly.) At least Brooklyn has carts to fight for, Baltimoreans would have to travel to Towson to see that kind of action, and that is just sad sad sad. Point Brooklyn.
In Baltimore cart service is few and far between (and also being hassled), a vacant reminder of the old mentality that no one wants to be on the streets of Baltimore (an notion once so strong that economic development consisted mainly of building parking garages and sky walks - an attempt to coax the County folk into visiting without stepping foot in the city). Times have changed Baltimore, people want to be outside and the streets are fine (you know, mostly.) At least Brooklyn has carts to fight for, Baltimoreans would have to travel to Towson to see that kind of action, and that is just sad sad sad. Point Brooklyn.
I wasn't sure I liked this song, but they really got me with perpetual motion machine, Oh Vimal, dream big.
Parking Meters - Automatic Win Baltimore
So I have this friend who can't stop talking about how ugly the parking meters are in Brooklyn, as in every time we walk by one (He's an architect, they obsess about stuff like that).
Thing is he's right, the solar catchers are a strange fin shape and the whole asymmetrical thing isn't really helping. Worst are the ones up on a flamingo leg. (And yeah, they're all over NYC but still, they're ugly.)
The parking meters in Baltimore are much more attractive: clean and simple, as unobtrusive as a parking meter ought to be. So this automatic win for Baltimore goes out to my friend, who will hopefully now shut up about it.
11.15.2009
Sign Off
Pretty simple this week folks, pick your favorite billboard (hey, you did a lot of reading last week).
Iconic or Odd?
final vote: Brooklyn (60%) to Baltimore (40%)
11.08.2009
The Great Recession
In these times of less is more, where is the BEST place to weather the storm? Never fear, we battle here.
This week's argument for Brooklyn is brought to you by The Recessionist.
BROOKLYN.
All over Brooklyn, business owners, artists, and consumers are not only surviving but embracing the recession and the creative and innovative opportunities it provides. They are seeking that silver lining and vanquishing the dark clouds.
Independent Business:
Brooklyn Brewery, a legendary and loved local business, is a great example. This small company took the opportunity provided by the recession’s soft real estate market to grab a bigger chunk of the highly desirable Williamsburg spot they've occupied since 2007. Instead of letting it get gobbled up by the commercial real estate monster, they signed a lease good for the next 15 years, and spent $6.5 million on expanding the business (assisted by an 80,000 grant from the state.)
Entertainment:
There are few places in the country that offer a more varied array of free activities and events than Brooklyn. All Summer the McCarren Park film festival offered free screenings of excellent throwback films and the Williamsburg Waterfront sponsored a series of all-day concerts/ “pool parties” (complete with dodgeball and basketball tournaments, all materials provided). Another free outdoor film festival in DUMBO screened a great lineup all summer. Tickets to the Brooklyn Cyclones' baseball games are only $7.50 and are available all summer (the season ends around Labor Day.)
This fall, Habana Outpost (in Fort Greene) has hosted a free series of alfresco movies in the lovely patio outside the bar. BAMCafe, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is a reliable source all year for free entertainment: live music of every type and genre every Friday and Saturday night. Remember the Brooklyn Brewery? It offers free tours every Saturday that provide some general borough brewing history as well as a look at the facilities. Plus, the Brewery's happy hours on Fridays are BYOS (bring your own snack) which is a welcome money-saver. Almost all of the great Brooklyn museums are free at least one day a week.
This year additional events inspired by the Recession like the Skillshare, the Blackout Film Festival (not free, but still very cool), and the Depression-themed "Brother Can You Spare Some Rent" party at the City Reliquary Museum have cropped up to keep Brooklyn busy but not broke.
Volunteerism:
Having a great time is something we all deserve, but the other side of the coin is equally valued in the borough that inspired Spike Lee's legendary "Do the Right Thing." Certainly, all over the country the casualties of the recession are tempted to spend their period of unemployment bumming around the basement and cowering on the couch. But many Brooklynites are keeping their spirits high during the recession by using their free time for a cause.
Volunteerism is up all over New York, as Jennifer Senior noted in a May New York Magazine article about how the Recession may change New York for the better. Citymeals-on-Wheels, a food-delivery service for the elderly that has a meal center in Brooklyn, saw a 32 percent increase in its volunteers this year. New York Cares, which places people in charities around the city and features Brooklyn prominently in its volunteer database, trained twice as many people in February and March of 2009 as it did those same months the year before.
And Brooklyn is at the frontline of this surge. New initiatives such as The Brooklyn Healthy Food Campaign's Brooklyn Food Summer 09 and the Brooklyn Green Team are constantly cropping up, against all financial odds.
Community:
For perhaps similar reasons that drive them to volunteer, Brooklyn residents have been supporting their local economies more during the recession. Bedford-Stuyvesant is a great example; this neighborhood has experienced a surge in its local economy even while the rest of the city struggles. The effect on the neighborhoods social climate is, presumably, quite morale boosting.
It's this type of resilience, along with the commitment to community involvement, and endless energy for entertainment that makes Brooklyn the ideal spot for weathering the recession.
BALTIMORE.
A few months ago Citypaper’s "Best of Baltimore" for 2009 opened with ‘Best Reason to Live in Baltimore: You’re Already Prepared for the Collapse of Society’. “Welcome to Thunderdome.” Make all the crime jokes you want, but Baltimore is used to being a little rough around the edges. Our tastes aren't that high brow so there is no way this recession will cramp our style.
Let’s break it down to the basics of life:
Food:
It’s hard to admit when you’re young and social, but the best way to save money is to eat at home. Hey if you feel like being more entertained, invite some folks over and a real stone soup effect can happen, leftovers for everyone. Luckily, the Waverly farmers market runs year round.
$20 a week can get you all the basics, including bread and milk.
Wine with dinner? You don’t have to splurge. Trinacria isn’t much from the street view, but it has been in business for over 100 years and, in addition to selling bulk pasta, great Italian sandwiches, cookies and cannoli, they have palatable bottles of wine for only $4.
Shelter:
In the last year, rent prices in Baltimore have come back down to earth and landlords are more willing to haggle. Those brave enough to buy houses right now will be getting rowhomes down from upwards of 300K just a few years ago. And to furnish that stylin’ new pad? Woodward’s is my new favorite thing for great deals, and this weekend is the mid-century modern auction. $5 Eames chair, here I come.
Clothing:
The Goodwill Superstore on The Alameda (5620 The Alameda to be precise) sells wares for only $1.69 a pound ($1.69!). The deal includes clothes and housewares and the place is filled with work appropriate so you can save your money for 'weekend' apparel. If you don’t feel like digging through stuff yourself, Killer Trash in Fells Point has found the best vintage for you, and the prices are still hot.
Entertainment:
Free Fall Baltimore last month offered over 300 free events in art, music, dance and theater and the BMA and the Walters remain free all year round. Outdoorsy? Baltimore is surrounded by beautiful landscape fit for hiking, canoeing and cliff diving. If you prefer curling up with a good book, you can pick up (and leave behind) free books and magazines at The Book Thing. For over 50 more ideas, you can look here, or here.
In short, only in Baltimore does free have such shameless cachet, and it is that kind of attitude(less-ness) that makes the recession not only bearable, but good times.
This one was neck and neck all week!
final vote: Baltimore 15 (53%) to Brooklyn 13 (46%)
This week's argument for Brooklyn is brought to you by The Recessionist.
BROOKLYN.
All over Brooklyn, business owners, artists, and consumers are not only surviving but embracing the recession and the creative and innovative opportunities it provides. They are seeking that silver lining and vanquishing the dark clouds.
Independent Business:
Brooklyn Brewery, a legendary and loved local business, is a great example. This small company took the opportunity provided by the recession’s soft real estate market to grab a bigger chunk of the highly desirable Williamsburg spot they've occupied since 2007. Instead of letting it get gobbled up by the commercial real estate monster, they signed a lease good for the next 15 years, and spent $6.5 million on expanding the business (assisted by an 80,000 grant from the state.)
Entertainment:
There are few places in the country that offer a more varied array of free activities and events than Brooklyn. All Summer the McCarren Park film festival offered free screenings of excellent throwback films and the Williamsburg Waterfront sponsored a series of all-day concerts/ “pool parties” (complete with dodgeball and basketball tournaments, all materials provided). Another free outdoor film festival in DUMBO screened a great lineup all summer. Tickets to the Brooklyn Cyclones' baseball games are only $7.50 and are available all summer (the season ends around Labor Day.)
This fall, Habana Outpost (in Fort Greene) has hosted a free series of alfresco movies in the lovely patio outside the bar. BAMCafe, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is a reliable source all year for free entertainment: live music of every type and genre every Friday and Saturday night. Remember the Brooklyn Brewery? It offers free tours every Saturday that provide some general borough brewing history as well as a look at the facilities. Plus, the Brewery's happy hours on Fridays are BYOS (bring your own snack) which is a welcome money-saver. Almost all of the great Brooklyn museums are free at least one day a week.
This year additional events inspired by the Recession like the Skillshare, the Blackout Film Festival (not free, but still very cool), and the Depression-themed "Brother Can You Spare Some Rent" party at the City Reliquary Museum have cropped up to keep Brooklyn busy but not broke.
Volunteerism:
Having a great time is something we all deserve, but the other side of the coin is equally valued in the borough that inspired Spike Lee's legendary "Do the Right Thing." Certainly, all over the country the casualties of the recession are tempted to spend their period of unemployment bumming around the basement and cowering on the couch. But many Brooklynites are keeping their spirits high during the recession by using their free time for a cause.
Volunteerism is up all over New York, as Jennifer Senior noted in a May New York Magazine article about how the Recession may change New York for the better. Citymeals-on-Wheels, a food-delivery service for the elderly that has a meal center in Brooklyn, saw a 32 percent increase in its volunteers this year. New York Cares, which places people in charities around the city and features Brooklyn prominently in its volunteer database, trained twice as many people in February and March of 2009 as it did those same months the year before.
And Brooklyn is at the frontline of this surge. New initiatives such as The Brooklyn Healthy Food Campaign's Brooklyn Food Summer 09 and the Brooklyn Green Team are constantly cropping up, against all financial odds.
Community:
For perhaps similar reasons that drive them to volunteer, Brooklyn residents have been supporting their local economies more during the recession. Bedford-Stuyvesant is a great example; this neighborhood has experienced a surge in its local economy even while the rest of the city struggles. The effect on the neighborhoods social climate is, presumably, quite morale boosting.
It's this type of resilience, along with the commitment to community involvement, and endless energy for entertainment that makes Brooklyn the ideal spot for weathering the recession.
BALTIMORE.
A few months ago Citypaper’s "Best of Baltimore" for 2009 opened with ‘Best Reason to Live in Baltimore: You’re Already Prepared for the Collapse of Society’. “Welcome to Thunderdome.” Make all the crime jokes you want, but Baltimore is used to being a little rough around the edges. Our tastes aren't that high brow so there is no way this recession will cramp our style.
Let’s break it down to the basics of life:
Food:
It’s hard to admit when you’re young and social, but the best way to save money is to eat at home. Hey if you feel like being more entertained, invite some folks over and a real stone soup effect can happen, leftovers for everyone. Luckily, the Waverly farmers market runs year round.
$20 a week can get you all the basics, including bread and milk.
Wine with dinner? You don’t have to splurge. Trinacria isn’t much from the street view, but it has been in business for over 100 years and, in addition to selling bulk pasta, great Italian sandwiches, cookies and cannoli, they have palatable bottles of wine for only $4.
Shelter:
In the last year, rent prices in Baltimore have come back down to earth and landlords are more willing to haggle. Those brave enough to buy houses right now will be getting rowhomes down from upwards of 300K just a few years ago. And to furnish that stylin’ new pad? Woodward’s is my new favorite thing for great deals, and this weekend is the mid-century modern auction. $5 Eames chair, here I come.
Clothing:
The Goodwill Superstore on The Alameda (5620 The Alameda to be precise) sells wares for only $1.69 a pound ($1.69!). The deal includes clothes and housewares and the place is filled with work appropriate so you can save your money for 'weekend' apparel. If you don’t feel like digging through stuff yourself, Killer Trash in Fells Point has found the best vintage for you, and the prices are still hot.
Entertainment:
Free Fall Baltimore last month offered over 300 free events in art, music, dance and theater and the BMA and the Walters remain free all year round. Outdoorsy? Baltimore is surrounded by beautiful landscape fit for hiking, canoeing and cliff diving. If you prefer curling up with a good book, you can pick up (and leave behind) free books and magazines at The Book Thing. For over 50 more ideas, you can look here, or here.
In short, only in Baltimore does free have such shameless cachet, and it is that kind of attitude(less-ness) that makes the recession not only bearable, but good times.
This one was neck and neck all week!
final vote: Baltimore 15 (53%) to Brooklyn 13 (46%)
10.30.2009
All Hallows Eve
Lantern Parade 2009. Patterson Park, Baltimore
So here's the thing. Brooklyn thinks they rock Halloween better than any other city, borough, metropolis, town, suburb, township, clump of houses, what have you. Far better than stupid Bawl-ti-more. And Baltimore thinks they have the best party around for the day before the dead, waaaay better than tired old Brooklyn. Yeah, that's right, they both told me.
Who's right?
If you live in Brooklyn you might say, "Dude! Deer Tick as the Sex Pistols!? Top that!" (What about Dead Confederate as Sonic Youth, a metal MJ cover band, bacon & jalapenos pizza, Brooklyn Bowl... oh wait, all the same show).
In Baltimore you might say, "How about the Great Halloween Lantern Parade? Glowing spiders, stilt walkers, funnel cakes, hot cider and an impressive live shadow puppet finale; ecclectic DIY amusement. Patterson Park after dark? Maybe just this one night a year.
"Oh, you want lanterns?" says Brooklyn, "We've got lanterns". Pumpkin carving gallery style at Lucky Gallery, annual jack-o-lanterns as streetscape/art installation/holiday spirit/eerie social commentary on life and decay at Kane Street & Strong Place in Cobble Hill, and that's just the beginning.
"Sure, That's cute and all," says Baltimore, "But Fells Point is world famous for it's crazy Halloweens. Plus, Station North stepped up this year with DJs, bands, Poe-themed theater, burlesque, dance parties and a creepy hayride rumored to be just a van with some hay in the back, driving by people and yelling, "want a ride?'.
Brookyln, "313 Clinton Ave!"
Baltimore, "Ghost Tours!"
This Shit:
vs this shit:
(While avoiding this shit)
But enough of our speculating, what did you do this Halloween that was so great? Have any photos to share? Duke it out: vote & comment, and happy Halloween.
final vote: Baltimore 6 (75%) to Brooklyn 2 (25%)
10.25.2009
Bathroom Graffiti
"I wonder sometimes about the validity of bathroom graffiti, It's fun, either way". Agree gentle observer, agree.
Personal declarations, advice to strangers, love notes, observations on life - what is it about bathrooms that compel people to reach for a pen and share with the world?
If you weed through the profanity, the bitch fights, phone numbers and sharpied hearts, you can find some entertaining shit. And even when you don't, you can't help but read on.
Brooklyn's gone hi-brow with long, if not strange sentiments on life, and famous, possibly accurate quotes from Buddha? Fancy. Nothing like meditating on the essence of life while taking a load off.
In Baltimore possibly ironic, bitter honesty with a hint of apathy is more the main stream.
So?? which town tags the cleverest?
final vote:a blowout! Baltimore 100%
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
