Image via Amazon.com

“A Spot of Bother,” by Mark Haddon, tells the story of George, who has just retired and his wife, Jean, who finds it rather inconvenient to her extracurricular love life to have him underfoot. They have two adult children. Katie, their daughter, is divorced with a very young son. She is engaged to Ray, whom everyone, (even Katie, though she is reluctant to admit it) feels is not quite suitable for their family. Her brother, Jamie, is also struggling romantically, unable to commit to his boyfriend, Tony. And Jamie believes that neither parent has come to terms with his sexuality. Oh, and George is bothered by a dry patch of skin on his torso. His doctor assures him it is nothing to worry about, but George is convinced it is skin cancer, and worries frantically, but quietly and to himself.

Keeping things to himself is typical of the way each character avoids problems, and as a result there are a lot of secrets, and a lot of fragmentation, in this family. Since it is also a tight-knit family all of these issues are played out in the months leading up to the wedding of Katie and Ray. Katie fights with Ray, Jean, George, and Jamie; Jamie and Tony break up. The wedding is off and then on again; family members have trouble keeping up, but the reader won’t. Jean and George don’t so much fight as wage a somewhat unconscious war of attrition against each other. George quietly loses his mind, but not so anyone really notices. Fortunately, everyone loves Katie’s son Jacob, who steals almost every scene he marches through.

Haddon tells his story through short, choppy fragments, shifting points of view from one to another of his protagonists. (Happily he is not so cute as to include Jacob’s version of events, though sometimes his mother relates Jamie’s thoughts.) Haddon is a very funny writer. Here’s one example:

Jamie wondered, sometimes, if Tony had been a dog in a previous life and not quite made the transition properly. The appetite. The energy. The lack of social graces. The obsession with smells . . .

Eventually, George takes actions that everyone must notice, and the responses to them allow the story to wind down to a satisfying conclusion. And, ultimately, Haddon takes a very British approach to psychology: when it is time to stop behaving in a certain way George, well, stops. (Here we call this cognitive-behavior therapy.)

Haddon, whose previous book was “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,” raised expectations with that unusual work. He has more than met them here. Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.

Have a book you want me to know about? Email me at asbowie@gmail.com. I also blog about metrics at here.

Mayor Bloomberg says that 90% of MTA subway service will be restored in time for the morning rush on Monday. Part of the city’s clean up job included pumping out the Cranberry Street tunnel under Brooklyn Heights which will allow the A and C lines to get back up and running. Check out photos from the MTA after the jump.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/51187

Looking for a joint in central Brooklyn Heights to raise a celebratory champagne toast—or to drown your sorrows—on Election Night this Tuesday, November 6? There’s nowhere in Brooklyn Heights that stays open as late as Custom House at 139 Montague Street, which confirms it will be airing election results all night long—literally. Last call is at 3:45 a.m. The 80-seat pub offers 16 tap beers with three flat screens TVs, while the kitchen offers such pub grub as (well-reviewed) burgers and wings, as well as Irish staples like Shepherd’s pie. (CT)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/51095

This just in from Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Facebook page about Jane’s Carousel, which was photographed last night surrounded by water (photo: Jen Carlson/Gothamist):

This just in from Jane Walentas: The horses are fine!

The wooden Carousel & horses as well as the building, are all fine. Unfortunately, however, The basement that houses all the electronics was totally flooded- 5ft. of water. As soon as we can pump it out we ‘ll assess the damage. We’re optimistic that the Carousel will be fine, but it will probably take some time to get it fully restored to happily prancing again.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/50576

We’ll be updating before, during (sure), and after the storm. Tweet us your observations, experiences, photos and video with the hashtag #brooklynsandy:

Brooklyn Borough Prez Marty Markowitz has posted a statement for Brooklyn residents regarding Hurricane Sandy. See his full statement here. He advises, “Forecasters expect Sandy to have more far-reaching impacts than Irene, so residents need to remain vigilant, follow directives of the city and emergency officials, and remain home if not under an evacuation order. Brooklynites are tough but it’s important to use common sense and err on the side of caution. I know our borough and city will band together, help our neighbors, and weather the storm.” See the link for webbie, Facebook and Twitter resources, as well. (Graphic: CT)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/50105

#Sandy in Brooklyn Heights and Beyond

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Sun, Oct 28 2012 10:10:12

Image via amazon.com

On the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy Elliott Dunne disappears from the Missouri home she shares with her husband, Nick Dunne. The living room is in disarray, with furniture that has been knocked over, and eventually blood is found in the Dunnes’ kitchen. Amy is the daughter of a pair of psychologists who have made a fortune from a series of children’s novels based on the character ‘Amazing Amy.’ Nick, a magazine writer who lost his job, and Amy moved to Missouri to help care for Nick’s divorced parents, both of whom are in ill health. Amy, a composer of quizzes and other ephemera for magazines, has been unhappy about the move, and Nick has been ambivalent, though he is very happy that he can now run a bar with his twin sister, Margo. As time passes from the day of Amy’s disappearance and she doesn’t return, the police increasingly fear foul play. And their suspicion centers on Nick.

In preparation for their anniversary, Amy set up a scavenger hunt for Nick, leading him to various places they have been together. But as the book progresses, it becomes evident that each of these clues, if that is what they are, has a double, if not downright sinister, meaning. Nick and Amy tell their story in alternating chapters (while she is missing, Amy’s story comes from her diary entries; they give us her perspective on the history of the relationship). This structure is one of the novel’s great strengths, as it allows Flynn to reveal personalities, clues, and above all reversals slowly, in a compelling way that keeps the reader turning the pages.

The structure also allows Flynn to explore the theme of roles, roles we take on, or roles that our relationships force upon us. In addition to ‘Amazing Amy’ (although her parents insist that the character isn’t real, what child wouldn’t feel she had to live up to the standard set by a fictional avatar?) Amy is also Ozark Amy, Pregnant Amy, and Victim Amy, but she is presenting herself, throughout most of the book, to just a few readers. (The diary is also a clue.) Nick is the Loving Husband, at least until the national media, including several reporters who specialize in outrage over domestic abuse, become interested in the case, when he has the roles of victim and villain thrust upon him.

“Gone Girl” is not the most nuanced book I have ever read, but the structure and story more than compensate. I particularly admired the way Flynn is unafraid to show her characters in all their human complexity and frailty, and found it to be a perfect beach book. “Gone Girl” has been described as one of the “it” books of the summer of 2012. Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.

Have a book you want me to know about? Email me at asbowie@gmail.com. I also blog about metrics at here.

Starting at noon Sunday (10/28) at the Brooklyn Bowl, Mr. Mouse will be in the house showcasing posters commissioned for Moonalice, the San Francisco band fronted by Roger McNamee. The band will perform at the Bowl on that evening.

McNamee, who along with a cat named Bono leads one of tech’s leading VCs Elevation Partners, is passionate about saving the art of the rock poster one at a time.

Moonalice commissions one poster for every show they do with Mouse being one of the main contributors. Check out more Moonalice art here.

Brooklyn Nets Open Pre-Season at Barclays Center

The Tale of the Tweets

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Mon, Oct 15 2012 18:26:13

The Daily News’ Jim Farber writes, “In her very first number, Streisand fiddled liberally with the lyrics of “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” adding shout outs to Erasmus High, her old yeshiva, and salty lox.”

Check out all in action in our the Tale of the Tweets after the jump.

Streisand at Barclays Center

A little tale of the tweets for Babs’ return to Brooklyn.

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Sat, Oct 13 2012 17:50:34

The Carroll Gardens resident’s catchy new single “Losing You”, produced by Williamsburg’s (by way of Essex, England) Dev Hynes is already garnering critical acclaim. And if that’s not enough Brooklyn for you, it’s been released on Terrible Records, the label run by Grizzly Bear bassist Chris Taylor.

Solangemusic.com

You need look no further than Spin’s Phillip Sherburne, who bestows the song with the distinction of being a game changer to know that it’s one of the most remarkable tunes of 2012:

“Losing You,” produced by Blood Orange’s Devonté Hynes, isn’t without its precedents, though; in fact, it fits in nicely with the retro-leaning, R&B-inflected house that’s all over the so-called underground right now. There’s not really a name for this stuff, despite Seth Troxler’s best efforts to make the term “underground pop” stick — thankfully, it hasn’t — but you can hear it running through a loose network of dance-music DJs who have jettisoned cold, Teutonic techno in favor of Latin freestyle, vintage vocal house, and other sounds that make sense at the Miami and Los Angeles rooftop parties where they hold court. Jamie Jones, Lee Foss, Soul Clap, the Wolf + Lamb extended family, and Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels crew have been caning the hell out of this aesthetic for a while now, and it’s clearly been taking hold, making its way into the Beatport sales charts alongside much more obviously overground electro-house fare. For Solange and Hynes to have picked up on the trend and brought it back into the R&B fold suggests that, whatever you’re going to call it, the sound has well and truly arrived. About damn time: Anything to save us from the deluge of over-compressed trance stabs and moombah-trap silliness that currently defines the overlap between “urban” and “electronic” music. There’s plenty of mediocrity in the wannabe-Balearic house scene too, but in the hands of Solange and Hynes, it feels like a breath of fresh air.

The video, filmed in South Africa by Melina Matsoukas, is a beautiful mosaic of fashion, color and style. While her older sister may be a better dancer by normal standards, Solange’s stomp will make you instantly fall in love with her.

More than 500 artists and 100 programming partners participated in the 16th annual celebration, which once again successfully achieved its mission of shining the spotlight on Brooklyn’s cultural side. The entire neighborhood was transformed into a creative wonderland throughout the duration of the three-day festival, as studios, galleries, storefronts, park space, street corners, building lobbies, bridges and even shipping containers became canvases for artistic expression.

“I thought a lot of the photo pods were really interesting and compelling,” remarked first-time festival attendee Melinda Lin of the shipping containers on Main Street. The containers had been repurposed into tiny photo galleries showcasing images from Papa New Guinea and other areas of the world, as part of the foto/pods 2012 exhibition by United Photo Industries.

Lin, a Manhattan resident, was one of thousands who thronged the streets of Dumbo during the course of the festival, which was held Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“We’ve gotten a lot of people who are Dumbo residents and then a lot of people who have traveled from different boroughs – and even different countries – to come to the festival,” noted Elise Gonzalez, who was selling merchandise for the Dumbo Improvement District at a booth under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Indeed, international visitors abounded, with tourists from Korea to Israel making their way to the neighborhood just to check out the Dumbo Arts Festival.

“I learned about the festival in Time Out and thought it sounded interesting,” said Yael Hurwitz, a tourist from Jerusalem, Israel, who had last visited New York City 20 years ago. “I think it was a really great event,” Hurwitz added, noting that she was especially impressed with the Entasis Dance performance in Main Street Park, which involved dancers positioned themselves around sculptures to become living extensions of the artwork.

Every conceivable artistic discipline seemed to be on display during the festival, which offered attendees an extraordinarily comprehensive view of the creative community in Brooklyn and beyond via indoor and outdoor art installations and exhibitions, large-scale projections on store facades and the anchorage of the Manhattan Bridge, and performances that encompassed music, dance, poetry, comedy and even the circus arts going on all throughout the neighborhood.

Festivalgoers also had numerous opportunities to get an up close look at the actual creative process, thanks to events like the Molten Iron Spectacular, which involved the heating and pouring of iron to create souvenir medallions that were then handed out to the crowd. It made for a dramatic spectacle on Plymouth Street, where flames were shooting out of a portable furnace that had been transported from Buffalo, New York for the event.

“We wanted to show the public a little bit about our process,” said sculptor Mike Dominick, who organized the event with fellow members of the Sculptors Guild. “People never get to see what goes on behind the curtain of the foundry and we take that away so you can actually see what happens,” explained Dominick, whose group had returned for the second year to conduct their iron pour at the Dumbo Arts Festival.

Other festival events encouraged attendees to delve into the creative process by trying it out for themselves via interactive exhibitions and art-making activities. At the Monster Drawing Rally hosted by the Dumbo Arts Center, for example, visitors of all ages drew and colored on massive sheets of paper tacked to the gallery walls. And tucked away in the gallery’s side room was a bubble drawing station run by Philadelphia-based artist Tim Eads, a first-time festival participant who taught visitors how to make colorful artwork using bubble solution tinted in a variety of bright hues.

“My work is really about trying to create these childhood fantasies, if you will, so I think of things that I used to love as a kid and just go crazy with that,” explained Eads, who described his art installations as “wacky machines.” One such installation, Traveler, drew a steady stream of curious onlookers to Eads’ bubble making station. Adorned with a feather skirt and comprised of a mannequin stand, fan, lamp parts and a motor, Traveler pumped out bubble after bubble that elicited squeals of glee from various visitors.

“It brings out the kid in everyone,” remarked festivalgoer Natalie Biggs of Flatbush, as she eagerly awaited an opportunity to create her own bubble drawing. Biggs, who had not previously attended the Dumbo Arts Festival, came away impressed with the celebration. “It was an enlightening experience that inspired wonderment and curiosity.”

The festival’s creative environment also sparked impromptu performances from artists who were not part of the official lineup, such as a charming puppet show on Main Street put on by five-year-old Ling Ling “Corn Snake” Ende of Bushwick with the help of Pablo del Hierro, a puppeteer visiting from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“I asked him what should happen between these characters and he told me,” explained del Hierro, a member of the Puerto Rico-based traveling puppet company Poncili who was in town visiting Ende’s family. “Poncili is largely based on having child-directed shows.”

“We’ve been working together in the studio – all of us playing, creating things and making music,” added Adam Ende, Ling Ling’s father and the director of Brooklyn-based Jawbone Puppet Theater. “I came to this festival two years ago to visit and since the spring, I’ve been doing these street shows with my son, so I wanted to come and do them here.”

As the elder Ende packed up props and puppets, his son was reluctant to leave. “The show’s not over!” he called to the crowd. As your Brooklyn Bugle correspondents looked around at all the art and performances going on around us, we couldn’t have agreed more.

Photos 1- 35 by Tim Schreier
Photos by Lori Singlar
Click on image for larger version

Tale of the Tweets: DUMBO Arts Festival

This year’s DUMBO Arts Festival tried to convince folks that hackeysack is art. Yeah, no.

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Sun, Sep 30 2012 10:42:43

Despite an early afternoon shower and cool temps, Brooklynites came out in force Sunday for the 38th-annual Atlantic Antic, which spans one mile along Atlantic Avenue, from Hicks Street to Fourth Avenue. Check out many more pics on our sister Brooklyn Heights Blog here. (Photos: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7848

Protesters, still clinging onto the notion that politicians tell the truth and keep their promises, gathered outside as fans filed into the show. The road to Brooklyn having it’s first major sports team in two generations was indeed a bumpy, slimy and sordid road. For a full account of how Brooklyn got this arena and what was learned about how things get done in the borough, read Atlantic Yards Report’s definitive primer.

Now here’s what the folks who were there this weekend had to say:

Tale of the Tweets: Jay-Z Opens Barclays Center

Jay-Z opens Brooklyn’s Barclay Center with a bang. Here’s the tweets to prove it including from our own @JasonShaltz:

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Sun, Sep 30 2012 09:57:40

Photo: The Shaltzes

None of the siblings caused the accident, yet each of them, honorably, carries a sense of responsibility for the events that night. They are very young when these events take place in 1983, and the novel follows the course of their lives during the next 25 years. Carmen, pregnant at the time of the wedding, becomes a social worker and mother to Gabe. The marriage breaks up, but she eventually remarries, though she is never certain whether this second marriage is a mistake. Alice, a painter like their father, copes with her eventual success and the fact that this success overshadows and even threatens their overbearing father. Nick, a very young astronomy graduate student at the time of the wedding, loyally visits Olivia during her prison term. He also maintains contact with the mother of the girl who was killed. Oh, and dulls his pain with drugs, more and more of them.

Nick, Alice and Carmen don’t spend all their time working out their guilt, but the sense of complicity motivates many of their subsequent acts. Nick manages an unlikely career around the edges of academic astronomy for a while, but sinks further into addiction. Alice achieves great personal success, but is unable to develop a stable relationship. When one arises, she is surprised, feeling, perhaps, that it is not something she is entitled to enjoy. Alice and Nick continue to hope, unsuccessfully, that they will capture their mother’s attention. Carmen is less forgiving of their parents, who essentially forced them to grow up on their own, but more forgiving to her siblings than they are to themselves.

And if in the end this horrible event has shaped their lives, each has been able to find a moment of respite from it. Anshaw convincingly describes heartening growth and development over the years. Because of an accident the three siblings must look back unforgivingly at their younger selves; the creator of this unusual and moving book has given them the gift of grace even as she does not allow them forgiveness.

On her blog, Carol Anshaw has acknowledged that the novel’s ending is ambiguous. I have my own interpretation, and readers have posted their ideas in the comments to Anshaw’s blog. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Have a book you want me to know about? Email me at asbowie@gmail.com. I also blog about metrics here.

This isn’t necessarily the kind of statistic that fosters a giddy smile. According to a story in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn is the second most expensive city in the nation, topped only by our sister to the west: Manhattan. The Washington-based Council for Community & Economic Research based its survey primarily on housing. There is no neighborhood breakdown, but past studies would obviously place Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO and Williamsburg at the peak of the borough’s hierarchy.

Behind Brooklyn are: Honolulu, San Francisco, San Jose, Queens and Stamford. Conn. The Council’s evaluation ranked 300 American cities based on other factors, as well, including utilities, transportation, grocery prices (damn you, Gristedes!) and prescription drug prices.

Using the number 100 to represent the national average, Brooklyn ranked at 183.4 overall: 129.9 in groceries, 126.4 in utilities, 104 in transportation costs and 111.1 in healthcare—along with a whopping 344.7 in housing. Manhattan’s average was 233.5. The Eagle points out that this means housing costs in Brooklyn are more than three times the average American city, like Erie, Pa., or Charlottesville, Va.

Borough President Marty Markowitz told the Eagle, “Brooklyn is thrilled that so many successful men and women, particularly in professional fields, have chosen to live here, adding to our economic diversity and making it one of the most desirable places on the planet to live, work and play. But we are also mindful that Brooklyn must never be a place of only the very rich or the very poor.”

Carlo Scissura, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, added, “As Brooklynites, we want to be No. 1 in everything, but I don’t think we want to be Number 1 or 2 in this survey. We want to keep the middle class here. We don’t want them to leave.”

(Graphic: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/47235

Dellarocco’s is owned & operated by Brooklyn-bred brothers Greg and Glenn Markman and Joseph Secondino (who has known the bros for 30+ years). The three are also partners of the Heights Cafe next door at 84 Montague Street. Dellarocco’s has a separate kitchen and operates as an independent biz. (See photos below.)

The tasteful boutique-style dining room boasts 15-foot ceilings, with a menu specializing in personal pizzas. It is open seven days a week, from noon to midnight. As you might guess from the image, delivery is also available. (Photos: Chuck Taylor)
Dellarocco’s owners Joseph Secondino, Glenn and Greg Markman.
Hopeful signs of success for the local eatery.
Joe, Glen, Greg… owners of Dellarocco’s Of Brooklyn.
The owners with Chef Pasquale Cozzolino in center.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/44910

(Featured photo by Tim Schreier)