That mendacious playground of child care policing, ISawYourNanny.com, is at it again with this "report" of alleged nanny-on-child violence:

ISawYourNanny: Around 12 noon today, (1/17)Too many red bulls? Your nanny finished one red bull, popped a top on the other and proceeded to lose her patience or rather continued to lose her patience with your little girl all dressed in pink. One twin or close in age child was outside of the double stroller and one was inside by herself. The nanny handled her very harshly, buckled her in with a meanness and just was very tough with every movement. The nanny was bent over this stroller and totally ignoring the other child who was standing with her finger in her mouth looking at her little sister with such sympathy. If she could have spoken or would have spoken, she would have said, 'stop being so mean to my sister'. If this is your nanny she has short dark hair, an ear pieced high on the ear as in an old style ear clip, a pointy nose that looked like a ski slope and she had some sort of accent that I was not familiar with.

This post is classic ISYN, complete with the subtle racism that has made the site famous (at least in our mind). If this kind of neglect happend in front of you, wouldn't you say something instead of running home to your computer?

[via Gowanus Lounge] 

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDJ4vZi8jIk[/video] 

Barack Obama supporter "Chude" is looking to drum up some volunteers for the Democratic Presidential candidate this Sunday (1/20):

BarackObama.com: Come join us at Cadman Plaza for a visibility event! Let's sign up volunteers on Sunday afternoon at 2PM at the plaza where Downtown Brooklyn meets Brooklyn Heights!
Wear all your Obama gear and warm clothing! We will meet at the 24-foot memorial dedicated to Brooklynites who served in WWII.

Fired Up and Ready to Go!

Pretty Bird, starring nabe thesp Paul Giamatti is generating lots of buzz at the Sundance Film Festival.  He plays an aerospace engineer who gets tangled up in a scheme to build a rocket belt with his friend played by Billy Crudup. Saturday Night Live's Kristeen Wiig also stars.

This film will open in theaters later this year.

It was the first Dick Swizzle Sudden Death Game Show of the year last night at Magnetic Field. Swizzle sported a new dickie and fu manchu look, while his entire cast of regulars were on hand to launch a new year of fun.

Homer and Qfwfq made it to the second round (so did Mr. Claude Scales but he had to go home and check out American Idol…errrrrr sumthin').  Fink blanked while Qfwfq advanced into the FINAL COUNTDOWN round. 

Winning was not in the cards for the Q. He lost to someone we'll call "new guy".

Next week: Fink joins Swizzle's cast of characters for a new game show – The Match Game '08. Fun starts at 8pm on 1/23 at Magnetic Field [97 Atlantic Avenue]. 

Photo by Homer "Mets Beer" Fink

Whew! Runnin' late… soundin' great…. 

This week, a few ideas from "No One of Consequence" to get you thinkin':

Gristedes: They're moving everything around on the shelves. It's so confusing. I haven't yet been able to figure out the logic behind the new product locations. Not that the store was very well organized before, but this somehow seems worse. Maybe I'm just getting old and resisting change.

The scaffolding (technically "Sidewalk Bridge") is being removed from Pineapple Walk.

Also — Brooklyn Heights Cinema to expand,  Brooklyn Heights #2 in parking tickets, Wine Bar opens at 50 Henry Street…

…and whatever else is on your mind! 

Flickr photo by digiart2001

The Brooklyn Eagle reports today that the owners of the Brooklyn Heights Cinema are planning to expand with two more screens and a wine bar. Of course, this is all pending Landmarks approval:

Brooklyn Eagle: Movie Theater Looks to Expand…: “People really support this theater,” continued Mascena, a visual artist who has managed theaters in Brooklyn for the past 10 years. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Yet even diamond-in-the-rough businesses must stay current or risk falling to the wayside, especially in brownstone Brooklyn. To this end, Mascena revealed to the Brooklyn Eagle that Screen Arts Corporation, the owner of Heights Cinema, is in the beginning stages of expanding the small, art movie-focused theater into Brooklyn’s own Angelica. Plans include building two additional theaters above the existing low-rise building, and renovating the basement — which is a former bakery — into a wine bar/restaurant. Owner Norman Adie has secured a lawyer and architect to work on the renovation plans, she said.

Flickr photo by paul:smith

The NY Mets held their annual blood drive at Shea Stadium yesterday, giving free tickets to all those who rolled up their sleeves and donated: 

NY Mets website: "Personally, I would donate either way," said Rachelle Brenner, 23, of Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., who's been donating at Shea for three years. "But I come out here because of the incentive, as opposed to somewhere else."

"Millennium," yes; "pandemonium"!/ Roy Campanella leaps high.  Dodgerdom/ crowned, had Johnny Podres on the mound.

- Marianne Moore, "Hometown Piece for Messrs Alston and Reese" 

I've told before how and why the Brooklyn Dodgers became my first love in baseball, long before I ever moved to, or even contemplated living in, Brooklyn, and that 1955 was my first remembered and defining World Series. So it's with particular sorrow that I read that Johnny Podres, winner of game seven of that Series, and of the Dodgers' first championship, and that over the hated Yankees, died today at seventy-five.

I'm glad, however, to see that Johnny's fellow pitcher from the '55 team, Don Newcombe, still lives, along with teammate Tommy Lasorda and former Dodger GM Buzzie Bavasi.

From Cobble Hill Blog: This week’s edition of This American Life on NPR features stories about building superintendents. One of the chapters tells the tale of a New York City super who claimed to have a shady past in Brazil and who ends up being a key witness in a murder trial. That got us thinkin’, are there any “colorful” supers in the neighborhood? Comment now at Cobble Hill Blog

Flickr photo by sparkdance

Law professor/blogger/nabe resident Ann Althouse took a walk down Pierrepont Street this week and took some lovely photos and comments:

Althouse: That there are always details that you've never noticed, even on your most familiar walk. Here I was, walking down Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights, and I'd never really seen that before. So I pushed myself to do that thing I do sometimes — I need a word for it — requiring myself to find one thing after another that I've never noticed before…To prove to myself that it is always possible to see something new, something beautiful.