Obama meets LPR and KPC hangs with VJL

President Obama and First Lady Michele Obama meet Sen. Al Franken in the White House

December was a whirlwind for Brooklyn's young District Leaders, including Lincoln Restler and Kevin Peter Carroll. Restler and his campaign manager, Sarah Baker, got invited to the White House last month for one of several Christmas parties the president hosts. He also managed to defeat Santa Claus in an arm wrestling match and won 200 proxy votes as his prize.

Restler's New Kings Democrats colleagues Matt Cowherd and Theo Moore were not invited to the White House, so they had to settle with a cardboard cutout of the president instead.

Someone call Reggie Love, Cowherd's a little too close for my comfort.

Finally, Kevin Peter Carroll threw a party of his own and everybody showed up. Even Elton John.

Daily Links

Congratulations to Disasterpiece for winning the 2011 Idiotarod!

I'll have more Idiotarod photos later, but let's get to the weekend tidbits:

*Rose Music Live and the cozy restaurant Vutera are closing at the end of the month.

*State Sen. Eric Adams is appropriating the NYPD's "If you see something, say something" phrase and bringing it on home-- by teaching parents to spy on their kids in a new video. And I've got it:


*It's women playing football! Meredith Deliso has a preview.

*The Times reports that the state has shut down the Williamsburg tortilla factory on Grand Street after a worker died from being crushed by a mixing machine last week.

*The new WG News is out, and there's a lot of arts coverage. I'll link to more this week, but check out the profile of artist Andrew Ohanesian who's creepy sculptures of interior rooms such as a jetway, a walk-in bodega refrigerator, and a dilapidated one-story house are among the most exciting exhibitions in Brooklyn.
Art writer James Calm explores that last one at English Kills:

Daily Links

Anthony Bordain shouldn't waste his time at Katz's and visit Mile End instead.

We've got not one but two Vito Lopez is out-and-about profiles. The Observer's Reid Pillifant follows Vito to a Stonewall meeting (and gets pilloried, metaphorically) while The Brooklyn Paper looks at Lopez's busy legislative agenda.

Looks like Greenpoint is still a bit blizzard buried and slowly digging out (New York Shitty).

Stephen Brown at Fort Greene Patch looks at the future of Myrtle Avenue.

God forbid Mott Haven in the South Bronx becomes the next Bushwick.

Finally, Megan Sperry is working on a documentary about the New Domino project and she needs to raise some money for it. Here's a preview.


Wait, that's the wrong link. Here we go.

The Domino Effect (Trailer) from The Domino Effect on Vimeo.

Daily Links

Hey Mr. Plow, stop rapping and dig out Flatbush!

Another massive snowstorm blew through the city, dropping more than a foot of snow and canceling school.

Like that stalled, burned out cab in the middle of Roebling Street right now, the Broadway Triangle lawsuit will continue forward not going forward, after a Manhattan judge denied the city's motion to lift a stay on development on the site. Or at least until the snow melts.

At some point later this year, Marty Needelman is going to cradle Steve Levin in his arms and repeat, "It's not your fault" over and over.

*The city is hiking recreation fees, and tennis players are upset.

*Dana Rubinstein profiles Governor Cuomo's communications director Richard Bamberger for Capital New York.

*I think I found a place to celebrate my birthday this year.

*Williamsburg's adorable "microcelebrity" Cole Escola is performing at Joe's Pub. Capital New York catches up and L Magazine previews the show.

I think Cole's a fan of Taylor Swift

Marty Markowitz's Love Affair With Food

Once in a great while, a blog comes along that taps into the cultural zeitgeist while also elevating the public's understanding of a complex world around them. This is not that blog. Instead, it is a tumblr site of photographs of Borough President Markowitz eating or surrounded by food, entitled Marty Markowitz Eating.

Already the critics are raving:
*F*cked in Park Slope called it the BEST F*ING TUMBLR EVER
*Village Voice food and culture writer Rebecca Marx linked it up
*Grub Street dug up a priceless food-related Marty quote.
*L Magazine prostrated itself for an interview with the mystery blogger, who explained that Markowitz's food adventures come from his desire to promote Brooklyn's burgeoning food industry, by "killing two birds with one fork." I would add, that Marty would then grill the birds over a spit and shish kebab them.
*And finally -- holy sh#t-- Erin Durkin at The Daily News interviewed the blog author. This is out of control.

I called a political consultant to comment on the public's fascination with Marty Markowitz's fascination with food. Typically, politicos politely shun meals served at events, or eat quickly in a corner, for fear of being photographed swallowing something. But Marty puts food front in center. And then there's this:

"This is the best diet. Watching Marty Markowitz shove food in his mouth is like watching ducks being force fed before their intestines explode. That's how they make foie gras."

Photographs of Marty eating is a Tumblr gift that keeps giving. Like one of those Russian dolls, except if it were made of creme-filled chocolate.

The next tumblr blog should be Mayor Bloomberg Not Eating.

Daily Links

This looks like a job for... Blizzard man!

*Tom Tracy at The Brooklyn Paper has more details about that strange cat-astrophe in a Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg. Yes, I went there.

*And just down the street, The Daily News' Juan Gonzalez looks at the story of the Guatemalan immigrant worker who died in a tragic tortilla factory accident and the inspiring story of the factory's owner, Erasmo Ponce.

*Hat tip to Time Out New York which talks pork with Traif's Jason Marcus in one of the better food round-ups I've seen in a while. It's all about the hidden gems around Havemeyer Street, including Nha Toi, Sugar Beets Thai, and several delis, butcher shops and seafood markets. The first reviews of the restaurant focused on the gulf between hipster Williamsburg and Hasidic Williamsburg below Broadway, but what this interview reveals instead is that Traif is successful because it incorporates the tastes and Spanish/ Asian cultures of the neighborhood's changing immigrant south side.

*The Brooklyn Eagle's Linda Collins digs underneath a historic Gowanus household, originally owned by a tugboat captain to find artifacts from the late 1800s.

*Finally, Sheepshead Bites is upset at the lack of plows in South Brooklyn and the South Brooklyn Blizzard Response Hearing has been canceled... due to snow.

It's going to snow through the weekend... which means your porch will look like this.

CB 1 Sexy Party Returns...

The all-girls sexy party strikes the Community Board Listserv again... behold!:

HELLO LADIES!!!!
PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR THIS VALENTINES!!!!!
FEB 4TH AT 6PM -9PM

I AM HAVING A GIRL'S PARTY NIGHT IN WILLIAMSBURG. THESE PARTIES ARE FOR ADULTS
ONLY. IT IS A PASSION PARTY WITH ADULT ITEMS TO SELL. WE WILL HAVE GAMES AND
DRINKS (LIMITED ON DRINKS)I NEED TO HAVE AT LEAST 10 GIRLS OR SO TO HAVE A NICE
TIME. UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE GENEROUS ;) LOL

THIS PARTY WILL BE IN A COMMUNITY ROOM IN MY BUILDING OR MY APARTMENT IT IS A
SAFE BUILDING WITH SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS AND THERE IS NO CHARGE TO COME OR
MANDATORY BUYING. IT'S JUST A COOL ADULT PARTY! IF YOU DO LIKE ANYTHING YOU CAN
BUY. YOU CAN PLAY SOME OF THE GAMES AND HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN SOME ITEMS. YOU CAN
ALSO ORDER FROM A CATALOG.

I NEED TO GET A COUNT BY THIS WEEK SO PASS ON THE WORD AND PLEASE EMAIL ME IF
YOU ARE INTERESTED OR WANT MORE INFO!

POSSIBLE DATE 02/04/2010 @6PM SHARP
PLACE: 366 HEWES STREET
BRING A FRIEND!
SEND ME YOUR EMAIL SO I CAN FORWARD THE EVITE AND GET A COUNT PLEASE!
*****ONLY IF WE GET 10 OR MORE LADIES WILL THIS EVENT GO ON!!!!!! UNLESS YOU GET A CONFIRMATION IT WILL NOT BE SET
THANKS!!!!!