Brooklyn By Name

I made a blog/website for the book "Brooklyn By Name" by Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss. It's a fun book and a fun little website. If you get a chance, email a question about your neighborhood and the authors will answer it. Or pick up a copy of the book at at a bookstore and see who your street is named after! Brooklyn By Name

Brooklyn Blog Fest

It's a bit far in the future, but May 10th next year will be the date for the Brooklyn Blog fest. Find a great Brooklyn blog, and the descriptions of many more, here.

Cinema Treasures

Cinema Treasures is one of my favorite websites to poke around on. It's a database of all the old great movie theaters from the studio days which mostly have been demolished or are now something else. But at least on Cinema Treasures people can log on and reminisce about these wonderous places, or contribute information. Here is the link to a old Brooklyn theater, the Brooklyn Paramount, which is now a gymnasium for Long Island University!

The Departed

Just saw this great new film from Marty Scorsese...and I am told that many of the locations were filmed in Brooklyn. Imdb lists Brooklyn Heights but I heard rumors of Williamsburg as well. Anyone have any good stories? Jack sightings?

Zombies attack New York!

Ok, so it is not filming in Brooklyn, but I sometimes do actually hang out in the City. And there I was last night enjoying a beverage near Washington Square when a friend pointed out an army of zombies on attack...the latest Will Smith movie "I am Legend" filming in the Washington Square Park. Lots of zombies (isn't the zombie trend over?) but no Mr. Smith. Brooklyn content to come...

Eternal Sunshine

I heard a rumor the other day that the Beford Medical Center at 11th and Bedford was the location for the doctor's office in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (my favorite movie!) I know a lot of people out there worked on this film shot mostly in New York. Can anyone confirm? I've included a picture of Kate because I lurv her.

Hunt for Brooklyn October

It seems that the highest profile shoot going on in Brooklyn right now is called "Then She Found Me" starring Helen Hunt, Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick. Actually written and directed by Ms Hunt, which may explain her low profile as of late. I wish her luck! She reminds me of days long gone by, watching Mad About You and wishing that I lived in New York, worked as a filmmaker, and was married to an attractively neurotic woman. If anyone out there has more info about this shoot, drop me a line!

Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series

If you were unable to make it to the screeing last night at Barbes, be sure to check out their independent film series the first and third Monday of every month. (It's free!)
Next Monday they will be showing the feature "Downtown Locals" as well as a short about local fav Matisyahu, the hasidic-rapper!
Check it out here.

Special Screening of I Do and I Don't

This came to me inbox a little last minute, but here it is! Be a part of the Process!(ed.)

"Help us test screen Steve Blair's I DO & I DON'T, a twisted comedy about the hoops a couple has to jump through to have a church-sanctioned wedding!

The film stars Jane Lynch ("40-Year-Old Virgin," "Best in Show," "Talledega Nights"), Matt Servitto ("The Sopranos"), Bryan Callen ("MadTV," "Entourage"), and Alexie Gilmore ("Find Love"), and features Colin Mochrie ("Whose Line Is It Anyway?") and Grant Rosenmeyer ("The Royal Tenenbaums").

We will be screening a rough cut of the film and asking audience members for their input. Your participation could make a difference in the final outcome of the film!!

Please join us at Barbès, in Park Slope - Monday, October 9 at 6pm (Columbus Day). Barbès is located at 376 9th St., at 6th Avenue – Take the F train to 7th Ave, Brooklyn, and walk one block. You can check out their website at www.barbesbrooklyn.com."

Greenpoint Confusion

I've enlisted several sources to go out and find those Brooklyn film shoots in all the hoods, but I may as well begin with my own part of town, Greenpoint. Last week I came upon a large shoot at the Matchless Bar by McCarren Park, and rumor had it that it was a Hugh Jackman/Ewan McGregor film. Looking into it further, I discovered that it was a TV shoot instead, for "Six Degrees." I tried to trach down the Jackman/McGregor shoot on IMDB, with no results. Does this film exist or is it just a rumor?

Brooklyn a Shooting Hell?

If there was any doubt about there being enough film shoots going on to talk about in a blog, the folks at
Curbed point out that the number of shooting days has doubled in NYC since 2002!