Last week I left my other family, the art department at Bloomberg Businessweek.
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08 Jul 16:30
Last week I left my other family, the art department at...
Leonorwildly talented Jen D.
06 Jul 14:21
Breaking Away From the Citibike Peloton
by By HILARY SHANAHAN
I promised myself I would never been seen in Lycra shorts.
06 Jul 14:10
Elle MacPherson Recreates Her Iconic ‘90s Playboy Cover
by Jenna Sauers
Elle MacPherson took inspiration from her May, 1994 Playboy cover for this new cover of Harper's Bazaar Australia. Spoiler alert: she still looks incredible. [StyleCaster]
    
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06 Jul 14:05
The Greatest Closer Of All Time Now Owns A Throne Made From His Victims
by Matt Kiebus
Mariano Rivera is a boss.
The Yankees' Mariano Rivera is retiring at the end of this season after a long career as a well-liked and respected closer, and all year teams throughout MLB have been presenting him with gifts.
Via: Al Bello / Getty Images
So what the hell do you give a 12-time All Star and five-time World Series champion? What is left in the world for a man who already has everything? The Minnesota Twins had a pretty good answer for that question: they gave Rivera a rocking chair made of bats broken by Mo's trademark cut fastball.
06 Jul 13:53
Portraits of ‘People Facing their Birthday Cakes’
by Amanda Gorence
Argentinian, Brooklyn-based photographer Julio Grinblatt wouldn’t be the first to capture the classic ‘blow out your candles and make a wish’ moment so universal to us all. That’s just it—there is almost always someone to snap this shot, this ritualistic moment of passing from one age to the next. Grinblatt understands this in his series People Facing their Birthday Cakes, and it’s that ritual and the understood presence of the camera that he is interested in. Grinblatt once said about his work, “I have always been interested in moments of transition, of becoming.” Shot with a quarter-second exposure and a wide open lens, Grinblatt focuses on the candles, allowing for his subjects to fall into the darkness behind, lit only by the hope of what’s to come.
Work from Grinblatt’s ongoing project Cielito Lindo is currently on view at Minus Space in Brooklyn through August 3rd, 2013.
If you’re a photographer, you can now promote your new series, website, gallery show, recent assignment, etc. on Feature Shoot for an affordable price. Find out about becoming a Spotlight Photographer here.
06 Jul 13:43
The Human Cost of Flipping a Brownstone on Dean Street
by Nick
Dean Street between Franklin and Bedford is one of many idyllic, brownstone-lined blocks in Crown Heights. On summer evenings, kids roll along the sidewalk on scooters and residents linger on stoops, chatting as the daylight wanes. Like much of the neighborhood, it's a mix of old and new, and the hallmark contrasts of gentrification are easy to spot. But the block retains a friendly feel in the face of change, thanks in large part to an active block association and community garden where longtime locals have welcomed newcomers into the fold.
Behind the brownstone curtain that lines the street, however, all is not well. Crown Heights, as you've surely heard, is experiencing a real estate boom, and according to one neighbor who works in the industry, offers on brownstones have begun to far outstrip bank appraisals of the same properties. The market that results from this discrepancy between appraisals and offers favors those with cash on hand for massive down payments; not families or other owner-occupiers, but developers.
It comes as no surprise, then, that 1076 Dean Street, an 8-unit, rent-stabilized brownstone in the middle of the block, sold for $850,00 recently, not to a young couple but to "1076 Dean LLC." What is surprising to local residents is the lengths to which the new owners have gone to chase the existing tenants out of their apartments, including one senior citizen on a fixed income. Things became clearer when one neighbor spoke to a broker who came by to see the building earlier this week, reporting that it's being re-marketed for $1.5 million. Empty.
Maintenance ceased almost immediately after the sale, and now garbage piles up in the front and back yards as leaks drip away unplugged. Though the new owners' goal is to vacate the building, three new tenants moved in. Two of these tenants let their massive dogs roam the building's hallways, urinating at will, while they throw trash out their windows and host parties with music blaring at all hours of the night. The third tenant, a older man who can often be seen speaking with one of the new owners outside the building, plays good cop to their very bad cops, strolling around the building commiserating with the tenants about the deterioration of the place and then casually mentioning that he knows the owner and thinks they could work out a buy-out. Under this kind of pressure, a few tenants have thrown in the towel, but for those with limited or fixed incomes, a buyout that promises to pay half of the security deposit and first and last months' rent in an unstabilized apartment (which is what's reportedly been offered, so far, roughly $3,000 dollars) is a terrible deal.
Concerned neighbors have called 311 in an effort to reduce the noise pollution and get the landlord to clean up some of the garbage, and have referred the tenants to housing rights advocates and lawyers. Their efforts seem to have reduced the brazenness of some of the owners' behavior, but the legal process is a slow one, and forcing landlords to take responsibility for the bad behavior of tenants is even harder. Being appraised of one's rights is a good thing, but it's hard to hold out for a better day when you have to dodge dog urine on your way into your leaky apartment. One neighbor with experience in real estate has suggested that the developers buy out the tenants with offers of lifetime, fixed-income leases comparable to the current leases in other apartments the developers own. Such an offer can work for everyone - the developer gets to redevelop one property and has an appreciating asset stowed away, as such leases can be negotiated to expire when the original tenant leaves - but a compromise of this sort seems unlikely.
Sadly, this kind of behavior is all too typical in overheated real estate markets like Crown Heights (a similar situation on Franklin was documented this past January in the Narratively article "The Ins and the Outs"). The developers who have cash on hand to buy these properties have a very different relationship to the neighborhood than the owner-occupiers paying thirty year mortgages nearby, and it shows in their treatment of their tenants and their buildings. Intimidation tactics are frightfully common in every borough, and the 1076 Dean LLC folks are likely well-schooled in them, as they share an address with Maspeth Development LLC, a firm that's been destroying the St. Savior's Church property (cutting down trees, demolishing buildings, etc) against the wishes of Middle Village residents for the past decade.
What's to be done? As discussed at the most recent CHCA Town Hall, knowledge is the first step, and NYU has put together an excellent compendium of resources here. The Crown Heights Assembly's Tenant Union, which meet this Saturday in Brower Park at 1pm, is also working hard to bring awareness to these issues. In many cases, though, time is on the side of the absentee landlord, not the suffering tenant, even when tenants use every legal channel available to them. Folks in this position need community support as well as legal support, to know that theirs are not isolated struggles. Building awareness of these conditions, and vocal support for the the rights of those who suffer under them, is not a solution, but it is a place to start.
06 Jul 01:44
May 24, 1983: From the top of the World Trade Center, a view of...
May 24, 1983: From the top of the World Trade Center, a view of the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, on its centennial. Photo: Vic DeLucia/The New York Times
06 Jul 01:20
Memories From the Set: Parks' Adam Scott Reminisces About Boy Meets World, ER and More
by Megan Masters
A new feature in which we ask your favorite stars to reminisce about past gigs
Up until fairly recently, Adam Scott lived a very dramatic life… on screen, at least.
The Parks and Recreation star — who nowadays is known for his memorable comedic turns in projects like Party Down, Step Brothers and the Web series-turned-E! hit Burning Love – was once, for lack of a better term, quite the drama king.
From crippling injuries on ER to unexpectedly career-defining roles on short-lived sudsers like Wasteland to unrequited love on Six Feet Under, the early ’90s section of Scott’s resume is filled with heart-wrenching performances. It wasn’t until the late 2000s that Scott found his groove as a go-to guy for all things funny.
RELATED | Adam Scott Breaks Down the Art of Parks and Rec Romance, Ben’s Geek Affinity
At TVLine’s request, Scott offered up behind-the-scenes insights on an abundance of his pre-Parks performances. Click through the gallery below to read what he has to say about being creepy on Veronica Mars and crushing on Neve Campbell on Party of Five, among other jobs, then sound off in the comments!
Follow @MegMasters
02 Jul 19:29
Who Are the Biggest Bookworms in the World?
by Sadie Stein
LeonorSHARING. also: CHARTS.
08 May 17:27
John Krasinski Lip Synching Teenage Dream Will Make You Drop an Egg
by Laura Beck
Last night, John Krasinski and Jimmy Fallon engaged in a lip syncing battle — it's pretty wonderful. It's basically Boyz II Men v. Sam Harris, and it's hard to pick a winner.
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21 Mar 19:55
Now (Almost) Open: Moleskine's First U.S. Store Is Coming to the Time Warner Center
by Tiffany Yannetta
Leonorexcellent. I can spend all my money on notebooks that can sit empty on my bookshelves for long stretches of time.
Image via Moleskine
Hell yes: Moleskine, the purveyor of everyone's favorite notebooks, calendars, and address books, is finally opening its first stand-alone U.S. location tomorrow at the Time Warner Center. The store will carry the complete range of Moleskine goods, including journals, bags, pens, and digital device accessories and cases, as well as special-edition and hard-to-find products. That means you know longer have to settle for the selection at Barnes & Noble.
· Moleskine [Official Site]
20 Mar 20:58
When Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend" comes on
Leonortesting the sharing with an adorable animated gif.
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