Greenpoint Critter Watch: He’s BAAAAACK!

September 11, 2009 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Last night there was a flurry of excitement at Chez Shitty. I first noticed something was amiss when I walked into the bedroom to discover this.

kittehs

It has been my experience that when I stumble upon three or more of our cats convened in such a manner it can only spell trouble. The fact our rather corpulent calico, Uni, has troubled to join in is even more disconcerting. You see, Miss Uni is without argument one of the laziest cats to ever to grace this planet. Even in the annals of catdom she would be considered an underachiever. Many (most) a day has come to pass when she sleeps on our bed for eight hours on a clip, waking up only to roll over. The craters she has left in our foam mattress pad is a testament to this and her ever-expanding girth. But I digress.

Suspecting that we had a “visitor” I grabbed the maglite and my camera.

raccoon

Sure enough, our furry friend has returned in search of grub.

tail

The fact he (or she) came at 9:00 p.m. is disquieting. He must be very hungry.

raccoon2

He didn’t pay our cats any mind and kept his distance— and they didn’t bother him. THANK GOD.

To be continued…

Miss Heather

Greenwick Photo Du Jour: Special 9/11 Edition

flag

From Morgan Avenue.

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: Wild Thing

September 11, 2009 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

wildthingNYS

From Manhattan Avenue.

Miss Heather

New York Shitty Day Ender: Lost & Found

September 10, 2009 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

LOST

From Manhattan Avenue.

Miss Heather

Something Neat: Monitor Arms

September 10, 2009 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Ever since I wrote the post about John Alexander’s fence I have been paying a lot more attention to the cast ironwork that graces many a building in north Brooklyn. Most of it is more or less identical. There is, however, a real gem to be found at 680 Manhattan Avenue.

monitorarms

Lest you cannot read the text above the door (which is obstructed by a fire escape) it reads “Monitor Arms”.

MAnys

When the opportunity presents itself, dear readers do check this out in person. Not only is the “Monitor Arms” a really neat piece of living history but it is also helluva lot more attractive than its namesake!

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: Manhattan Avenue Crusties

September 10, 2009 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

crusties2

See the gentleman with the banjo and the lady with the dreadlocks? They are two of (count ’em) FIVE crusties I saw an Manhattan Avenue this afternoon. They had the cardboard sign, the obligatory dog, the whole nine yards. Congratulations Greenpoint, you have arrived!

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Falafel Watch: Kestane Kebab Versus Mediterranean Shawarma

September 10, 2009 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

112 Nassau Avenue, 9/8/09

112nassau

849 Manhattan Avenue, 9/9/09

849manhattan

The awnings are up and it looks like it will be a tight race to see which of these two establishments will open first. Given what I have seen of their respective interiors, my money is on Kestane Kebab. Either way I can hardly wait!

Miss Heather

Gratitude

September 10, 2009 ·
Filed under: 11211, Brooklyn, Greenpoint, New York City, Plagiarism, Williamsburg 

I rarely give shout-outs to blogs for the simple reason I do not have the time. After I have completed my posts, sift through the detritus in my inbox and surfed the webs I call it quits. Today I am going to make an exception. Brooklyn11211 writes in a post entitled Behold the Power of the Interwebs:

Brooklyn11211

I can independently verify Einstein’s theory of relativity. That doesn’t mean I should call it my own. The Post has no more right to its “exclusive” based on its own verification of a blog post.

You’re making a very dangerous proposition 11211. You are making the argument that “neighborhood bloggers” (the ghetto print establishment likes to relegate the likes of me and you) and journalists are equals. We’re not. Mr. Ginsberg’s missive makes this all too clear:

Post policy prevented me from crediting you in print. Allow me to do so now. You did a fantastic reporting job. All I had to do was follow your steps (and make a few extra phone calls).

I won’t discuss at length the policy of not crediting blogs (or anyone else). I’ll just briefly explain that as long as we can independently verify every bit of info, we don’t credit…

Looking forward to amplifying more of your good work in the future.

The truly nauseating thing about Mr. Ginsberg’s comment is he thought he was being nice— and that I should be somehow beholden to him for “amplifying” my scoop. I am not grateful. I am pissed off. And no amount of crying “Post policy” is going to change this. If anything, it is a clear indication of a lack of moral/ethical fiber on his part. But I suppose that comes with the territory.

Needless to say when I read Suzi Halpin’s defense of her employer I damned near had an aneurysm:

The New York Post credits blogs, bloggers, and other media all the time, as our readers know.

Except when when your readers don’t know— because your employer, the New York Post, doesn’t cite them. Which is often. Here are a few examples to refresh your memory Ms. Halpin.

fathergiorgiotriangle

September 14, 2008: I wrote a post about how the plaque at Father Giorgio Square was stolen. I happened to walk by when the police were taking a report. There was no way the institution you represent would have known about it save my blog. I published it on a Sunday. The next day Murdoch’s flunkies were on it like flies on shit. They even called the Brooklyn Kitchen to ask about their stolen tree. Is this your idea of reporting? Stolen trees?

103normanavegillespie

May 4, 2009: I get a tip about strange graffiti in Greenpoint. I post it. My readers decipher ityet it was a New York Post “exclusive”. I take up the matter and get what can be best described as a semi-literate and crazed email from its author: John Doyle. If the previous is an indication of what it takes to be a reporter, god help us all.

lets-take-mccarren-park

May 18, 2009: I wrote a post about a flier I found at McCarren Park decrying the noise made ice cream trucks. Reuven Fenton and his homeboy were on the scene the next day. I know this because a reader and contributor of mine bumped into them:

I was just finishing my run in McCarren Park when I saw a guy sporting two fancy cameras talking to another guy near the pool.  Being a sucker for men with big lenses, I ventured over to see what they were up to and it turns out they were from the Post covering a story on ice cream trucks disturbing the neighbors of McCarren Park.  I mentioned NYshitty covering the story and I asked them where they heard about this story and they said Curbed and Gothamist. Hmmm… no new york shitty? The dudes names were Reuben and Paul, wait isn’t that like Pee Wee?

I called them on it. And your publication gave me a crumby quote in return. Removed from context and not linked to despite my creation of a mirror site: www.thatgreenpointblog.com.

It was at this point I began to understand that the paper you represent depends on people like me for their livelihood.

Which brings me to your institution’s latest act of plagiarism.

117s3st

August 19, 2009: I wrote a post about “Cutting Edge Fitness” at the behest of a tipster.

It took awhile for the Post, the publication you represent, to get around to it, but lift it they did!

August 31, 2009

GYMRAT

Quite frankly, I was disappointed it took almost two full weeks for your employer to rip off this one, Suzi. I’m not a patient person. Thankfully I was engaged in other things and Alex Ginsberg saw fit to post this comment on my blog:

Post policy prevented me from crediting you in print. Allow me to do so now. You did a fantastic reporting job. All I had to do was follow your steps (and make a few extra phone calls).

I won’t discuss at length the policy of not crediting blogs (or anyone else). I’ll just briefly explain that as long as we can independently verify every bit of info, we don’t credit.

You will find that the Daily News observes the same policy, but the Times does not. (They often write an explanatory phrase like, ‘The investigation into Mr. Spitzer was first reported in the New York Post.’ That’s not a real one. I just made it up. Although I would note that another Times policy would prevent them from actually printing the name of your blog, presenting them with an unresolvable conflict between two inflexible rules.)

Looking forward to “amplifying” more of your good work in the future.

Alex

I wrote a blog post about it. And you have been hired to explain it away. There is no explanation: it is plagiarism, plain and simple.

To drive the point home (because it is all too clear Mr. Ginsberg, you and your employer is too “thick” or arrogant to “get it”) here are a few more examples:

2009_01_future-of-coney-copyGL

Gowanus Lounge, January 13, 2009:

This is yesterday’s news, because we ran the story on Curbed early yesterday morning, and we’re sure some of the papers are going to be “discovering” the story and having some fun with it today, but The Future of Coney Island website URL was acquired by a Belgian porn entrepreneur. (The Post’s Rich Calder predictably reports the story as though he discovered it without crediting Curbed for breaking the news.)

spaceinavaders

POSTED May 18, 2009

bulletspaceEVGRIEVE

May 12, 2009: EV Grieve posted this. Your reporter’s “scoop” is pretty much verbatim regurgitation of EV Grieve’s work.

May 28, 2009: the New York Post, your employer, posted this:

HOSTEL

Vanishing New York, reported about this as early as May 19,2009. What’s more he (she?) kept at it.

I have just cited seven examples where the New York Post, your employer, has blatantly lifted material from blogs without citing them, Suzi. If you need more I’ll gladly tender them to you.

I understand that you are in a very tenuous position, Suzi. The print media, New York Post included, has not adapted to the reality of online media. I suspect this is why your employer, Rupert Murdoch, is waging war on Google. When defeated the entitled try to change the rules:

Mr Murdoch, the chief executive of News Corp, was among the first to hit out at Google, one of the biggest aggregators through its Google News service.

“Should we be allowing Google to steal our copyrights? If you have a brand like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, you don’t have to.” Robert Thomson, the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal which is owned by News Corp, went further in his attack. “There is a collective consciousness among content creators that they are bearing the costs and that others are reaping some of the revenues. “There is no doubt that certain websites are best described as parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the internet,” said Mr Thomson.

I find this ironic given the worst plagiarists I have dealt with to date, as a “blogger” (and by Murdoch’s definition a “parasite” or “tapeworm”) are New York Post reporters. Could you please clarify how your employer is any different from than various and sundry parasites who troll the webs and claim my content (as well as the above-listed as their own), Ms. Halpin?

To take Brooklyn11211’s more nuanced approach: if I can verify via “independent sources” that your employer, Rupert Murdoch, is an unscrupulous shitbag who is doing everything in his power to bully independent media, plagiarizes my blog and others— constantly, spouts right-wing bullshit and wants to suppress free speech do I need to cite him? I eagerly wait your answer to this question, Suzi Halpin.

Given the number of stories your publication has lifted from my blog I have ample credentials to be a “reporter” for crap rag you call the New York Post.

HIRE ME.

Oh wait— I have ethics.

Miss Heather

P.S.: Here’s a (working) honor roll of blogs, big and small, who have found Mr. Ginsberg’s/New York Post’s conduct objectionable:

FOR SALE IN GREENPOINT: Boa Constrictors

FORSALE

I fully aware that by being both a crazy cat lady and a vegetarian I am a hypocrite; every evening while I’m prepping my “not dogs” or “facon” I am feeding my little pride dead animals. Nonetheless I cannot fathom having a pet whose “food” consists of cute little furry things with whiskers. Truth be told it gives me the creeps.

I suppose the difference is the meat I serving my feline friends has already been rendered lifeless. To each their own I guess. All I’m saying is if I ever find something like this while patronizing Chez Shitty’s shitter (or any other shitter for that matter) I’ll go Rambo on its ass.

Like I said before: I’m a hypocrite.

Miss Heather

P.S.: While I am on the subject of eating and Meeker Avenue, Wardak Supermarket is slowly, but surely, marching towards completion.

WARDAK

When I walked by today I noticed that they have installed the checkout stations and were in the process of outfitting the produce section.

East Williamsburg Street Furniture Selections

cathcouch

Eviscerated on Catherine Street.

sigh

Existentialist angst on Grattan.

ELO

nazicouch

And antisemitism on Moore. If this is supposed to be funny or “ironic” I am not getting the joke.

swastika

Hatred is not a laughing matter.

Miss Heather

P.S.: While I am (titularly) on the subject of north Brooklyn Nazis, check this out. It is pretty intense. Special thanks go out to Amanda for bringing this to my attention.

UPDATE, 6:33 p.m.: Apparently a Facebook group has been formed to battle Greenpoint Nazi Skinheads. See the comments section for more details.

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