Holy Rollers

I first heard of the film "Holy Rollers" about a month ago, when it debuted as a part of this season's Rooftop Film Series. I was immediately intrigued. Living in South Williamsburg, I've long since marveled at my community, where a strange co-existence of die-hard borinquens, stereotypical "hipsters", and Orthodox Jews collide. On sweltering summer sundays, it's not atypical to step out of my house and see little brown boys playing in the street under a spewing fire hydrant, 20-somethings in jean shorts and tiny tank tops whizzing by on their bikes, all while a gaggle of men dressed head to toe in black walk by on their way from Service. By far I am the most spellbound by the men in black, and the secret lives I imagine them hiding from me.

It's the same voyeuristic tendencies of mine that make waiting at the platform of JMZ train's Marcy stop in my neighborhood (specifically, around 10 in the mornings on weekdays) a fulfilling dose of anthropological self-education. Opting against my usual subway reads, I find it to be prime time to conduct my personal analyses of what it means to be a Hasidic Jewish woman. Almost always in duos, I note their identical brown hair-dos cropped to their shoulders, wearing neutral palettes of blacks, browns, and whites, faint traces of makeup and shiny lip gloss that are the only indications they are indeed from the 21st century. They are never without a brood of children, and always pushing one stroller, all while they speak to each other with hushed voices in their heavy accents that impart a large Hebrew and simultaneously Brooklyn influence. I yearn to hear everything they are saying, but they've seemed to have mastered the art of speaking in hushed voices.

This insulation, the things that I can't hear, is what keeps me amazed. Especially amidst today's ever-permeating world of information technology and mass consumption and flamboyantly displayed identities. I can barely resist a taco when I'm walking past the taco truck, how are these women and men resistant to modern American culture?!

Holy Rollers, to me, is a movie which is able to address these mysteries, the very same ones I see cloaked underneath a sea of browns and blacks. Taking a slice of the rich Jewish culture (or, is it religion? how can culture and religion be so intertwined as it is?) found in Brooklyn and like any good film, creating a twisted story of what lies beneath the surface of an otherwise modest appearance. Judging from the trailer and its synopses, Holy Rollers reveals the impurities and imperfections and corruptions that we know lie in the heart of every community, every culture, every religion. You know, the stuff we can actually relate to.



I wonder how many people this offends. And how many people it educates.

Fall in the Burg

Over-exposed camera phone pic. Doing the best I could to capture the feeling of the moment.

New addition

Thanks, streets of Williamsburg, for our new bookcase. Looks good in the home.

Just Cut It (and slice, and spread, and chop)

I love multi-functional kitchen tools. I mean, at my parent's house, it's cool to have a cheese slicer, a nutcracker, dumpling ladles, crab forks, a tea serving set, a pastry brush, a basting brush, a meat thermometer, etc etc etc. But it's just not realistic to keep fifty different gadgets in my teeny-tiny Brooklyn kitchen. We have three cabinets, one (ONE!) drawer, and a wall of shelves which doubles as our "pantry".

So when I saw this knife that really is a do-it-all kind of tool, available at my local kitchen supply store, I was instantly enamored. Am I the only person here who swoons over the thought of owning a kitchen knife? Below I've include Brooklyn Kitchen's product description...

You only need one knife to make a sandwich, this knife. You could conceivably have this knife be the only knife in your kitchen. I've seen it!

The blade is scalloped to make fast work of slicing breads and juicy fruits like tomatoes, but don't let that fool you. The Pure Komachi Sandwich Knife's edge isn't your basic dull but serrated so it still cuts bread knife. You can slice onions (slice, not saw!), cheese, avocado, cucumber, etc. And the blade is wide and long to easily spread condiments. It is really an all-purpose knife.

The flourinated resin coating on this stainless steel knife resists bacteria and is non-stick for easy release of sliced foods.

Length: 6-in.

Best of all, this PURE KOMACHI SANDWICH KNIFE retails for the amazingly affordable $25!!! perfect for my little unemployed rump!

Get yours (or mine, if you feel generous) today at The Brooklyn Kitchen!!!

The "hipsta" neighborhood

I always say I'm lucky to have lived my entire life in liberal-minded environments, call them left-wingers, blue states, Democrats, atheists, the public education system, non-profits, whatever have you- I've been surrounded by these groups and their beliefs for as long as I've been able to think. I leave the right-wing, Obama-hating, Super Jesus masses confined, in theory, mostly to states like South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi, those glaringly red states that offer zero appeal, ideologically or otherwise.

Hence when I came across this man I'm about to mention, a man born and bred in Brooklyn, who is just as righteous about his conservative views as the Pope, I was appalled. Jay Mundy is a conservative media blogger and radio personality, with a website dedicated to all his silly rants. There's too many things to mention about his insane conservative views, you just have to visit his website to believe it.

I was drawn to his specific June 15 broadcast because it was about him visiting Williamsburg for the first time, written in the Brownstowner blog with the headline, "Conservative Talk Show Host Beholds Williamsburg". W'burg! My 'hood! Hmm, click.

This man irritated my right off the bat. First of all, his monologue begins with a horrible introduction calling him a conservative warrior, paired with a whiny country song whose lyrics sing "God Is Great, Beer is Good...and People are Crazy" (twang twang twang). Seriously.

Then Mr. Mundy comes on the air, and spewing in his horrible Brooklyn accent, announces that indeed he broadcasts from "The sick city of New York," or as he likes to call it, "New York Sicky". He goes on to profess that he's a lifelong Brooklynite, born and bred in the "ethnic" Irish-Italian parts of the borough. Because in today's society, the ethnic struggles of the Irish and the Italians in America are rife with stories of hardship and heartache. But I digress. He eventually continues to the topic of his monologue, which is as previously stated, Williamsburg.

Now before I go on to what he says, I just want to add that I go back and forth between my thoughts of Williamsburg, usually I find it rather annoying and cliche but on many days I also find it to be a complete gem of a neighborhood. Williamsburg is a big area, there's a lot to do, a lot of spaces to do things in, and well, my favorite, a lot of things to eat.

But how does Mr. Mundy describe it? Here are some passages that I've transcribed:

"Just think of wherever you are, the most left-wing hippie person you can think of...most left-wing, lunatic, liberal hippie - 1960's nutcase, off the wall, keep that image in your head...now multiply that by hundreds, by thousands. THAT is what Williamsburg is, it is extremely scary."

"[They have] tattoos all over them, people are high on drugs all day, and they got tattoos on their faces and they're all wearing weird clothes, like something that you can't even imagine that you'd see in a hollywood picture and say, 'That's not the real world.' ...these are misfits, that's what they are, and they're acting out."

"There are no cops on the street because they hate it - you should see it, there's graffiti , they think graffiti is art! There is graffiti everywhere! - There's no cops on the street because they hate power, they are extreme leftists."

And that's just from Part One. I got so sick of listening to him that I didn't even go on to Part Two. But you are more than welcome to check it out yourself, below:

Part One:

Part Two:

Fleabag

look what's coming into town!

http://williamsburgfleamarket.com/about/

That, and this:

http://www.billburg.com/walks/

Lots to do in my hood this summer!

neighborhood surprises

sometimes in Brooklyn, when taking a long walk on the first summer-like day of spring, one might encounter such things as a local motorcycle gang.