Open Thread Wednesday 2/3/10

By on February 3, 2010 12:53 am in Brooklyn Heights

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What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • anon

    First!

  • Andrew Porter

    Although Homer doesn’t like the proprietor of the Atlantic Bookshop for firm reasons, I note they’re having a 20% off “Depression Sale” now through February 15th on all their stock. They’re at 179 Atlantic, between Court and Clinton, next to the fruit and veg store.

  • Matt

    Shinjuku on Atlantic Ave is now Mitoushi. Looks exactly the same, havent had time yet to analyze menu but at first glance looks very inexpensive.

  • Dave

    Was I the only one that heard what sounded like a drunken parade around henry and pierrepont last saturday at 12:30AM? Dozens of loud people. Anyone know what it was? My money is on St Anns kids.

  • T.K. Small

    I am glad that I have good company in my dislike for Atlantic Bookshop.

  • Austin Henry

    Does anyone know if that Atlantic Ave Sushi place is the same owners, and just switching names/paperwork to avoid some issues they had? Or is it a legitimate new set of people running the show?

  • Bartmann

    Although I love the selection of books at the Atlantic Bookshop: music theory, history, literature, I no longer buy physical books. I have all the books I need and I’m gradually dissolving my library by giving away of my books. Eventually when electronic book readers reach a technological stabilization point I will just go electronic. The idea of having one small electronic device with thousands of books is so much more appealing than bookshelves full of dusty books that have to be moved.

    So considering the bookselling trend for the future, our man’s time on Atlantic Avenue will certainly be short lived.

  • harumph

    Bartmann, you are such a downer. I really hope you are wrong – not about the future of Atlantic Ave Book shop, but the implied future of books and book shops in general.

  • Marble

    I was wondering if anyone knows of someone local that would be able to cut and refinish a 24″ x 24″ piece of marble? I’ve found places down by Lowes, but am hoping for someplace closer. Thanks.

  • bhmom3

    Sorry Dave, but the the loud kids were not from Saint Ann’s, but from another local school. Nice try.

  • Alex

    I have to move for work about 5 months before the end of my lease. I’ve been trying for a week to get in touch with my landlord (big, faceless corporation) to ask how to terminate my lease or how to legally sublet. It’s rent-stabilized, so I don’t want to break any laws. However, none of dozens of phone calls have been returned. I’m at a loss for what to do. Any advice?

  • AAR

    Your lease should indicate the sub-letting policy, usually along the lines of requiring permission, which should not unreasonably be withheld. The lease may indicate how you should request permission. A certified letter with return receipt will give you documentation of your request and is better than simply a phone call…

  • brooklynite

    tried the “new” sushi place on Atlantic. pretty good and very reasonably priced. we went during opening week and even got free sake! it is the little things in life that matter.

  • tb

    HELP!! We are looking for an outstanding vet in the Heights. We just had a terrible experience at Atlantic Animal Care and Brooklyn Heights Vet has been unfriendly and basically is not open when we need to get there.
    We appreciate any help.

  • Matt

    tb: We go to Vinegar Hill Vet in DUMBO on Front Street, only a few minutes walk from the North Heights and we’ve had only positive experiences there for the last year we’ve been going there.

  • andy

    @AAR – I’m renting the apartment with Alex. Our lease does have a clause regarding lease assignment, but it requires the landlord to actually respond to us and give permission. Do you know what we need to say in the certified letter? If they never respond, does our lease effectively terminate?

  • mike

    @Bartmann – want to give some of those books away to me, a neighbor who likes physical books? To me, the idea of having thousands of books on a single device is not that interesting. I like the feel, smell, texture, and the action of flipping pages with real books. I also write all over the books I read, which is possible, but much more cumbersome to do on an electronic reader.

  • othersideofthebridge

    I’m at a loss for a vet too. I found Vinegar Hill to be grossly expensive and on top of that find ways to charge you for things you don’t need (a rabies shot every year instead of every 3 years).

  • Kim G.

    I’m like you Mike. I find it very soothing and relaxing to hold books and news papers. I can’t enjoy a cup of coffee while reading on line or park myself on a bench and enjoy the afternoon with the paper. It seems like so much work to read from an electronic device. I’m not judging those who do. I’m still in the dark ages and as hard as I try to catch up with technology, the tech devices always seem to out-smart me. A book store is a great place to spend a rainy afternoon. Although I’m not too crazy about libraries but they’re still an important part of our society. My 8 year old has his first real school project and I told him to use the encyclopedias. He looked at me like I had two heads.

  • AEB

    Every book is an object–an artifact of a time and with its own life. This is not a sentimentalization.

    The exchange between a reader and a book with paper pages to turn–with its own physical heft and design–is unmatched by any other experience.

    When one collects books one also has a library of one’s own that, when on display, helps make a house a home.

  • cg

    For a local vet I highly recommend Dr. C.J. Norton. I have taken my pets to her for almost 20 years and have always been completely satisfied with her caring service and fair pricing. Her practice is currently offering house calls. Dr. Norton can be reached at 347-443-0203.

  • nabeguy

    Being in the field of book production, it warms my heart (and lines my pockets) to hear so many of you come to the defense of the physical book. However, as I’ve said before, the handwriting is on the kindle for their prolonged existance.
    From so many standpoints, the e-book/downloadable world of the future just makes more economic sense for publishers.,,especially the “no-returns” aspect of it.

  • bornhere

    Just to lend my voice to the pro-book chorus. The notion that the pleasures (that’s plural) of reading actual books (and, for that matter, actual newspapers and magazines) can communicate to devices is just foreign to me. And sad. Short of sounding like Burgess Meredith in that Twilight Zone episode, I can’t see myself curling up with a few free hours, something delicious to drink — and a Kindle.

  • Matthew Parker

    For a local vet, I’ve tried most of them and have settled on Dr. Sara Newman at Vinegar Hill Vet (which oddly isn’t in Vinegar Hill, but on Front Street in DUMBO around the corner from Grimaldi’s).

    She’s a bit more expensive than most of the other vets, but she gets the diagnosis right the first time, so I’ve saved money over other experiences with other vets whose trial and error has cost me much more money.

    My dog just got his 3 year rabies booster vaccination at Vinegar Hill. Not sure about a previous poster’s experience about the 1 year innoculation vs the 3 year innoculation.

  • AEB

    Every Kindle I’ve seen–in subways, mostly–has been encased in a leather “slipcover,” bought separately by their owners.

    One could make an argument, I suppose, for the fetishistic joys leather, but I see the move as an attempt to “humanize” the object–to make it, well, more booklike.

    I love technology as much as the next human, but surely the book, no matter the bottom-line rationals, will always be.

  • T.K. Small

    In defense of technology, it is the ideas contained in the books which are important, and not the books themselves. Theoretically every book ever written throughout history could be read with one piece of equipment. This wholesale democratization of knowledge strikes me as an amazing advancement.

  • Matthew Parker

    I’ve migrated over to eBooks about a year ago, when I got an iPhone. Over the past year I’ve read all books on the Kindle app for iPhone and love its convenience.

    Someone loaned me a “dead tree edition” book the other week, and I found it inconvenient, and ended up buying the electronic version (which was less than half the price of the actual book).

    I love having my books in my pocket always wherever I go, having the app remember the last page I was on, being able to highlight and bookmark, having a backlit screen so I can read in bed in a dark room and not disturb my partner sleeping, reading with one hand on the “book” and the other on a cerveza fria.

    Just one man’s experience in the eBook era. I don’t hate books, I just like eBooks better at this point and don’t see myself buying many books in the future. I’m sure my experience is not singular, and will certainly impact bricks and mortar book stores, the same way downloadable music has virtually eliminated record and CD stores.

  • Hicks St guy

    went to the wine dinner at the Henry St Wine Bar on Monday night. Very good wine and the food was really, really good. I hope they have more dinners in the future.

  • http://www.brooklynbackstretch.com Teresa

    I second (third?) those who recommend Dr. Norton. I have worked with her a good deal over the last year for both my own cats and some rescue situations, and she’s been terrific. And as was pointed out, she’s now doing house calls instead of operating from Heights Vet.

  • AEB

    Teresa, INSTEAD OF or IN ADDITION TO? For me, a visit to the vet’s office works better than home visits, which has always me and the vet trying to find and then extract cats from their very tight hiding places….

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