The Williamsburg Nerd

The above collage was created in Photoshop from two photos I took with my Treo Cellphone camera on Sunday April 30th, 2006

The first thing that impressed me was the decor. The space has a nice open feeling to it and features some nice splashes of color, making it feel slightly upscale - but not so over the top that you don't feel at comfortable.

Next the food was a real pleasure to eat, and the menu had a nice wide range of choices. I also appreciated that fact that their menu was very vegetarian friendly, which makes a real difference for me. In my book you always get extra points when there are not one, but several items that a veggie can order - and Taco Chulo passes with flying colors.

Taco Chulo is the kind of place where you can go on your own or take a party of friends to hang out on a Sunday (did I mention they have a fully stocked bar?). The service was pretty fast and friendly, yet not too in your face which is very good if you're hanging out with friends. And last but not lest the pricing was very reasonable.

The Williamsburg Nerd rates Taco Chulo:

Brunchworthy!
+ Bonus Points for being Veggie Friendly

Taco Chulo
318 Grand Street (btwn Havemeyer & Marcy)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Phone 718-302-CHULO (2485)

Tonight I'm not seeing anything on the local news channels, but a Google news search turned up this news:

Motorcyclist thrown off Williamsburg Bridge
The body has been recovered

(Williamsburg- WABC, May 5, 2006) - Police tell Eyewitness News that a motorcycle was rear ended on the Williamsburg Bridge and the cyclist was thrown from his bike into the water. Police divers searched the water for the cyclist. And just before 11 p.m., they pulled a body from the water. As of late Thursday night, the Manhattan bound inner lane on the bridge was closed.

My heart goes out to tht poor motorcycle driver and everyone else involved in the accident, and I have to say that my hat goes off to the police who were on the scene searching in the dark waters by the bridge.

Above: Another collaged photo of various items for sale. You could tell by the items that the person had an interest in music and tiki gods.

Paul Kermizian, filmmaker and owner of Barcade

How did you and your partners come up with the idea for Barcade?
I think it probably comes from parties I used to have in my apartment. I had 4 arcade games – Tetris, Mappy, Zaxxon and a Ms.Pac Man/Pac Man combo. The games were wildly popular with my drunk friends, except for Mappy. No one remembers that game. Anyway, it just seemed like a good match.

It also seems that he's done a cool mini-photowebsite on how they put together the bar:

The Making of Barcade

Barcade is located at 388 Union Ave. in Brooklyn. Their first ever video game tournament is tomorrow night (Tuesday) from 6-9 PM.

http://rrobots.com/

The robots are sold at Cinders Gallery in Williamsburg:
www.cindersgallery.com

... and on September 8th 2006 Rrobots will be at the Mccaig-Welles Gallery in Williamsburg:
www.mccaigwelles.com

Photographed on April 30, 2006 with my handy (but dated low tech) Treo Cellphone Camera.

Spears Dumbfounded with Sculpture of Her Giving Birth

BROOKLYN, N.Y.- "In her first public comments about a supposedly pro-life sculpture of her naked and bearing a child, pop star Britney Spears says she is shocked by it. Normally the one doing the shocking at her concerts and in the headlines, the sculpture of Spears debuted at a local New York art gallery in late March", reported LifeNews.com. A nude Britney Spears on a bearskin rug while giving birth to her firstborn marks a 'first' for Pro-Life. Pop-star Britney Spears is the "ideal" model for Pro-Life and the subject of a dedication at Capla Kesting Fine Art in Brooklyn's Williamsburg gallery district, in what is proclaimed the first Pro-Life monument to birth, in April. "I think it's the most hysterical thing I've ever seen in my life," she told WENN. "My assistant and I were totally dumbfounded when we saw it. We couldn't believe somebody actually did this."

Cinders Gallery
103 Havemeyer st. store#2 (btwn Hope and Grand)
Brooklyn, NY 11211

1. The crash of dot.com companies in the stock market

2. The financial fallout of 9/11

3. Many jobs being sent offshore to places like India

So for me 2002 was a real marker of sorts, and it was a time NOT to buy new toys. So as I've replaced my software and hardware I'm always glad to see a bit of the past go. So I've realized that I'm now down to my last three surviving bits of pre-dot.bomb hardware. Some interesting insights on the survivors that are still humming along four years later:

3. My IBM Thinkpad laptop which I used for sales calls still works like a charm. The only reason I need to replace this is because it's running Windows 98, and it wouldn't be worth it to upgrade to Windows XP. But other than that it runs great! Well that and it looks sad if I pull out an ancient computer for a sales call. The machine is in prime condition - in fact you can sort of blame Microsoft for bloatware rather than IBM. I wonder if Lenovo will keep up the quality of the brand?

The replacement for my Thinkpad will be a 17" MacBook Pro. Even though all my favorite Mac software isn't ready for Intel I know a year from now it will be. I also know that I'll be able to give demos in Windows which makes it a real winner.

2. My Epson Photo 1280 printer. I'm going to replace this pretty soon, I think it's lasted this long due to light use and the fact that I baby it. I think my main problem with it is the lack of good CMYK proofing and speed. So my guess is that I'll be replacing this by Summer. I'll either replace it with another Epson, but I am thinking of looking at the HP line - which brings me to my all time winner:

1. My HP LaserJet 4000TN laser printer! I'm amazed because this printer dates from before the year 2000 - in fact it's been so long I forgot when exactly we got it. It still works like a charm and has survived three office moves to boot. What's amazing is that I've already replaced this printer, but since I never unplugged it and changed my printing defaults I'm still using it all the time. I may retire it at some point, but I have to admit I'd feel guilty if I didn't hand it off to someone else - it's much too worthy to be sitting in a landfill or to be recycled into parts.

Lessons I've learned:

1. Software drives the hardware market. These devices still work like a charm, but it's the fact that upgrading them to support the latest software doesn't pay.

2. Because Apple software is glued to the hardware, you'll always be buying new Apple hardware to support the cool new features in software.

3. If the hardware survives the first year without a real glitch, and if you take care of the hardware chances are good that it will last.

4. Brand names do count for something (sometimes).

5. If you want the hardware to last a long time, purchase at the top of the line.

6. Printers will always outlast computers.

PLANET THAILAND 212 or "PT212" as it will become known, is pleased to announce its official opening in New York City at the end of May 2006, after a decade of successful business in its first and original location in Williamsburg. Planet Thailand ranks #1 as Brooklyn's most popular Thai eatery and hotspot. The Manhattan outpost, PLANET THAILAND 212, is located at 30 West 24th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, New York 10010, standing apart as a distinct and colourful, new enterprise with a history, within the rapidly redeveloping, landmark environs of Madison Square Park and the Flatiron.

Paramount to the dining experience at PT212, will be affordable sushi and Thai delights in abundance. The PT212 menu is nicely edited with all-time (Pad) Thai and sushi favourites, but allows for the chef team's daily inventiveness via a daily-evolving "East Meets West" Specials Entrée Menu, and a dedicated sushi bar seating six.

Requisite exotic cocktails are served at a large concrete bar in artful glassware or a simple coconut shell, and may be enjoyed while listening to pleasant sounds of a live DJ spinning nightly, and at a tasteful decibel level. All elements of cuisine, comfort, style and function have been well conceived to serve the needs of the city's most discerning revellers.

Ventilation is state of the art, which can be a concern in any large Asian eatery, but here creates the perfect balance. The Bissazza-tiled, gold-leaf and chandeliered, unisex loo facilities are not to be missed, as they are conveniently located both up and downstairs.

It's funny, not being an insider I never quite looked for ventilation as being such an important factor - but I can see their point...

This Friday Barcade we will be tapping some brews from the Southampton Publick House. On tap will be May Bock, Abbey Double, Belgian Golden, Foreign Extra Stout, Secret Ale and Old Herb Barleywine.

Barcade is located at 388 Union Ave. in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Civil War: It’s North vs. South, Ratner Against Ledger

John Flansburgh, of the band They Might Be Giants, was on the phone. "I have mixed emotions about 'fabulous' Williamsburg," said Mr. Flansburgh, 47, who has lived in that neighborhood for over 20 years, watching as bars and boutiques began to choke Bedford Ave. "It’s quickly becoming a life-size replica of St. Marks Place, and honestly, I’ve never wanted to live on St. Marks Place."

I loved They Might Be Giants back in the 90s, but someone needs to tell Flansburgh that the music types are now living out by Bushwick. And a "St. Marks Place" slag! How low can ya go? But the article goes on:

None of the elite streaming out of Manhattan and over the pretty bridge to the mirror world on the other side want to live on St. Marks Place. But what do they want exactly? Brooklyn isn't a united front. The North Brooklyn of do-it-yourself fashion and vinyl siding (Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick) just feels separate from brownstone South Brooklyn (from Fort Greene to Park Slope). South Brooklyn is rich and pretty; North is rougher-edged and moody. "I’m firmly committed to the notion that there’s an unbridgeable divide," said a 27-year-old Bushwick resident, who explained that he even feels this way about "literary-minded, quasi-hipsters" like himself who live in the nether regions of the Hills and Slopes and Heights. "I’ve always felt deeply uncomfortable in Park Slope. And for everything that’s hateable about Williamsburg, I have this feeling that they’re my people."

South Brooklyn is more rich and pretty than North Brooklyn?! That's like saying Coke and Pepsi are very different. But then the article has this other nasty little jem:

While the North sees the South as moneyed squares, the South frowns on the North as poseurs—intellectual lightweights. "In Williamsburg, everyone's kind of illiterate. Relatively," said Christian, a 29-year-old Williamsburg transplant who moved there from Park Slope and regrets it. "One time I was on the L train, and the girl sitting next to me was reading Women in Love, and I said, 'That's good—have you read The Rainbow?' And she said, 'No, this is my first Lawrence—is it all so deep and philosophical?’ And I was like, 'Yeah … it's literature.'" On another occasion, he said, "I met a very bright and literate girl in Williamsburg, and we immediately started having a conversation about James Wood. It turned out she lived in Park Slope."

But the article goes on to make the point that there's more to being a hipster than being well read:

"No question about it—it's hipper," said Michael Brooks, 30, over the phone, of North Brooklyn. He's a project manager with the Developers Group, the company that's bringing high-rise condos to the McCarren Park area. "If there's a hipness meter, Carroll Gardens is not on the same end of the scale as Williamsburg," he continued. "There's a lifestyle in Williamsburg. It's become a place that people want to identify themselves with, being in a place that feels like everything is happening. It's just a moment—there's a moment in Williamsburg right now."

...of course having a real estate developer tout your hipster qualities may be a sort of proof that you aren't that hip.

The end of Clovis Press

I dunno what I felt. Slight shock. Disappointment. But mainly anger. Anger at the owner, NOT anger at the landlord. When Aaron, Angela and I worked at Clovis Books, things were great. Great for the store, which we ran well. Great for us, because we ran a store we loved (even though we didn't make any money). Great for the owner, who watched her profits increase, and got three managers for the price of three peons.

Brooklyn Week: Rosenwach Wood Water Tanks Help Shape The City Skyline

They're a signature part of the city skyline, and even in the 21st century, wood water tanks still have a unique and necessary job here, providing water to millions of homes. The Rosenwach family has put its stamp on the city since the late 19th century.

“The tank is an icon of the city. You can almost consider it to be a flag,” says Rosenwach Tank President Andy Rosenwach. “It has so much local color in a city of glass and stone.” And it's locally made. The Rosenwach Tank Company's factory is in Williamsburg.

just cuz yer in a band doesn't mean yer a god

grow some balls and join the human race. i don't give a shit about how much you claim to care about me. you are in love with yourself and are a total jackass.

just cuz you can play some instruments and get up at some dive bar in front of a crowd of 10 does not make you john fucking lennon. hell, you couldn't even be ringo starr. and remember: just cuz you have an audience doesn't mean they are listening to you. they are just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

and if you get some random girl to come home with you, don't make out with her til you get her in the sack cuz you are the worst kisser i've ever had. you bring new meaning to the phrase sucking face. and don't turn on the lights if yer naked cuz goddamn...you really need to shave, and i don't mean your face.

i am so glad we are no longer together. you are going to end up a bald, overweight, hairy, broke, miserable guy stuck on a dream that you'll never get. and by that point i'll have completly forgotten you.