Hope.

Obama in 30 seconds.

Weekend Filler

Hello Sunshine!

Volunteer!
I just signed up for two projects with Taproot Foundation. They're in dire need of designers. But, of course other skills are also appreciated....

Do It Pro Bono – Volunteer Your Professional Skills

Are you interested in:
· Using your professional skills to help strengthen local nonprofits?
· Sharpening your skills in a new environment?
· Meeting new people?

Get involved with the Taproot Foundation! The Taproot Foundation organizes and manages teams of professionals who volunteer about 100 hours over the course of a 5-6 month project to provide pro bono marketing materials, IT projects, and human resources programs to nonprofit organizations in need. Taproot's flexible project model accommodates your work schedule, enabling you to leverage your volunteer time effectively to have a real impact on the success of a local nonprofit.

If you are interested in learning more, visit www.taprootfoundation.org. Join your industry peers and get involved today!

How the Beast Sleeps

Local Yokel

(Editor's note: on Patrick's suggestion, we attempted to cram as many iconic Williamsburg-specific markers into one picture as possible. Can you spot all six?)

Name: Patrick Bower

Occupation: Copywriter, rocker

Relationship status: In one

Neighborhood/Borough: Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Why you moved to NYC:
Indiana, though admirably flat and gray, was also dull and lifeless.

What you love about your nabe:
I'm spoiled. Since all my friends pretty much live in the 'burg, I feel like I'm still in college. And since I work from home, I get to experience the tranquility of McCarren Park on Tuesday afternoon. I recently spotted a Red Tailed Hawk there. I'm also two blocks from a great video store, with the foreign section arranged by country. (Videology).

Favorite restaurant:
I'm always at Taco Chulo on Grand and Havermeyer. Two words: Cucumber Margerita.

Favorite grocer:
Marlowe & Sons has a great little shop during the day. It's the best place to get condiments from Istanbul.

Favorite local designer:
My friend Vera. You can find her jewelry at Catbird locations on Metropolitan Avenue or Bedford Avenue.

Favorite NY band: Jon Wiley.

Favorite corner to people watch:
I like the coffee kiosk on 1st and 1st. The coffee is really strong, and you can sit outside almost all year 'round.

Signature karaoke song: Ashes to Ashes: David Bowie.

Photo Op and Op and Op and Op and Pizza Party

Give a drunk girl a camera and even hands slick with truffle oil can't stop the madness. Why did I take so many pictures? I don't know. (That set is such a tiny fraction of the photos I took. Tiny.)

Except there was booze involved. Ample ample ample.

Last night was the second ever Gothamist/SliceNY pizza party held at Fornino in Williamsburg. Home to Michael Ayoub's much salivated over Tartufo pie laced with crack, I mean black winter truffles, fontina, ricotta, buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, and crack.

In addition, he generously adorned spoonfuls of white truffle cream with black truffle shavings and a drizzling of white truffle oil. Viva la decadence!

Ayoub also presented an encore of his mozzarella demonstration. Then served the subtly sweet and tender morsels with a plate of red Hawaiian sea salt.

A round of house-made gelato completed the debauchery.

I Want My Pitchfork.tv

Today marks the launch of Pitchfork.tv. Because the M in MTV now stands for Mediocrity.

This is Kind of What He Looked Like

Because what's the point of suffering through awkward situations if you can't exploit and laugh about it later; let's talk about my recent online date. I shall call him Brisket. I met Brisket at Huckleberry in Williamsburg after a few email exchanges which weren't exactly scintillating but — having only recently gotten back into the dating scene — I felt buoyed enough about potential romance that I thought, oh what the hell, why not! It's a numbers game after all, right?

Well.
I arrived shortly after he did and it was quite apparent from first glance that a) I wasn't attracted to him physically, and [a few minutes later] b) we weren't going to have any funny or interesting conversation. But at that point, a drink was being ordered and I was feeling adventurous enough to humour this guy through one round at least. And you know, there was still the possibility that he could surprise me.

Much awkwardness ensued. I tried to keep my cool, but eventually, my anxiety won out and I was completely unable to generate any sort of false enthusiasm or interest, and apparently, it showed because a few wine gulps later, he turned to me and said, you know Kate, I didn't have a lot in common with the last girl [his first online date], but at least there was some sort of connection. But...I don't think there could be any less of a connection with you.

At that point, I laughed. A big, hearty, genuine exhalation of relief. Finally, the pressure of Making This Work was completely gone. Now we could just talk about whatever and kinda laugh about the whole tedious affair of dating in the city and move on to other funny, but related topics — oh but wait. Let's get back to Brisket. Because he wasn't laughing. Not At All. Rather, he looked quite offended that I was. Because — he was saying — not only was he unhappy that this date wasn't going well, but he felt traumatized enough by it to swear off online dating forever. This, this awkwardness, was exactly what he'd imagined. And that was definitely not what he was looking for.

So I tried to make light of the situation and interjected with my standby, well, it's a numbers game—

Brisket: No. This clearly isn't for me.

Me: Oh, well, but it's kinda funny if you think about it.

(beat)

Brisket: You can go if you want.

Me: Oh, okay.

(beat)

Brisket: No, really, you can go.

Me: Well, I'll pay for my drink.

Brisket (dismissively): No, it's fine.

Me: Ohhh kay.... Well, I guess I'll see you around —

Brisket: NO, YOU WON'T.

Me: Well, I just meant, you know, the same neighborhood and —

Brisket: Right right.

Then Brisket turns his attention to the bar and shoos me away with one hand. And I think to myself, whatever LOSER. Anyway true to his word, when I checked the personals later, he really had removed his profile. It was THAT BAD.

Apple vs. Apple

Those douchebags. I mean seriously, yes it's an apple, but why does Apple feel it has to stake a claim on the Big Apple's new green apple infinity logo? They say it's "likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception in the minds of consumers." But it looks nothing like the other apple logo. I mean I know, I'm looking at it right now, on my computer, as I type this.

The Dodos

We trekked over to Death by Audio on S2 in Williamsburg last night to catch The Dodos who hail from San Francisco. I'm reluctant to make "sounds like" comparisons, because I'm afraid it will only be a sad revelation of the rather meager music knowledge I have compared with serious music bloggers like Soundbites or Brooklyn Vegan. Nonetheless, I'm gonna throw out there that they sound like a beautiful meandering between the likes of Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 and Panda Bear. Would that be so off? Lush layers like you're running through thickets of forest brush, playing Indian in the barest of clothes, under the filtered rays of the midday sun. Check 'em out.