August tends to be a sleepy month here in Brooklyn, with lots of people on vacation and those of us left behind operating at about three-quarter speed. The Brooklyn Based blog though, didn’t let the heat, the rain, or obsessive Olympics watching slow it down. Here are some of our favorite posts from the past month.
New Columns
Maybe this means the cats have finally won, but for some reason I’ve been compelled to post a weekly weird cat video, or website, every Friday afternoon in a new series called Catlords of the Internet.
Returning to actually useful territory, Julie Strickland has been telling tales of creative student debt repayment in Making Payments.
Food
Brendan Spiegel reported from the front lines of Brooklyn’s artisan food fight, bringing us a story about Brooklyn-made sriracha, cataloging the craziest pizzas in Brooklyn and writing about Fare Trade NYC, a new artisan alliance.
Jordan Galloway noted that Brooklyn is all about pimento cheese.
Kids
For pint-sized Brooklynites (sign up here for our BB Kids email, parents!) we found cool back-to-school gear, awesome after school classes, offered mom-tested, kid-friendly recipes, and published our first family advice column from psychologist Dr. Diane Stemple. Samantha Moeller also recounted a seriously fun date night anyone could recreate, not just the saddled down.
Weird Stuff
I chided you for not wearing a bike helmet (seriously, don’t you like your brain?), and referred to the “invisible bike helmet” as a robot neckerchief.
The Society for Old Brooklynites honored the memory of Revolutionary War heroes in Fort Greene Park.
We took a trip in the way-back-machine and realized that in 2003, everyone was talking about a hipster crackpocalyse.
Culture
Jon Reiss suggested five literary magazines to know and love.
Ilana Novick was unimpressed by Red Hook Summer.
Liza Eckert took photos at the world’s artsiest sandcastle competition on Rockaway Beach.
News
The liquor license committee meeting for Community Board 6 did not go well for The Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club.
Marty Markowitz officially welcomed Pat Kiernan to Brooklyn.
You can rent your neighbor’s car with a new service called Zimride.
Music
Judy McGuire shared a sex-drugs-and-rock playlist.
David Chiu wrote about two new books, one about Yo La Tengo‘s influence on indie music, the other about Chic’s pop legacy.
Jay Honstetter explained chillwave.