A local staple in the neighborhood, known as Bristen’s Eatery,  suffered a terrible fire a few weeks back. Unfortunately, the owner, Carleen, had to close the place down for repairs, etc… But now worries! Today, Friday 5/15/09 Bristen’s was happy to announce a ‘partial’ re-opening at 11 AM with a happy hour from 6-9.

The place has a chill vibe. The food is good. The staff is nice. And the customers are social. Perfect for a mingle mut like me! A bunch of us will be going to happy hour, as a sort-of fundraiser to help get the place back up to speed.

Okay, okay – it’s an excuse to go to Happy Hour – who cares! It’s Friday and STILL for a worthy cause. LOL

Here’s the fine print:

• BYOB – hey it’s worth it

• Wi-Fi – make sure your Mac is already charged

• Get there at 6 – I have a hunch it will be a nice turn out

• 1/2 Price burgers for Happy Hour – now that’s yummy goodness

• Eco-Friendly – You have to be a total jerk not to love that!

Address:
751 Franklin Ave (between St Johns Pl & Sterling Pl)
Brooklyn Ny 11238
(646) 393-9421
GOOGLE MAP

Trains:
Franklin Ave (2, 3, 4, 5, S)
Park Place (S)

MYSPACE
http://www.myspace.com/bristens_eatery

FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1175151034

Brooklyn neighborhoods, particularly Bed-Stuy, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights have been evolving into nicer spots over the past few years. Franklin Ave has been booming and this can only happen by supporting our local businesses. Somos familia, so I hope to see you all there. ~ Nina

Thanks go to Governor Paterson and Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell for their leadership. Special thanks also to the thousands of HRC members and supporters who reached out to legislators in Albany and shared their personal stories and dreams of equality for all New York families.

Marriage equality now moves to the New York Senate, where the vote is expected to be exceptionally close. Take action today to let your state senator know that you want him or her to pass the marriage equality bill (S.4401).

Marriage equality on the move in New York will be a rallying cry for opponents of equality, too. The right wing National Organization for Marriage is planning a rally outside the Governor’s office this Sunday to protest his support for equal civil marriage rights to protect all New York families.

We know that support for equality runs deep in New York, so if you can be in New York City this Sunday, May 17th, join us for Action=Equality from 5-7 p.m. at 6th Ave. and 45th St. Help celebrate the passage of marriage equality in the Assembly and find out what you can do to help pass this bill in the Senate. Join HRC, Broadway Impact, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, the cast of Hair, Audra McDonald, Cheyenne Jackson, Gavin Creel, and of course, our friends Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell and Senator Tom Duane for Action=Equality.

And don’t forget to send a message to your senator today.

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
President, Human Rights Campaign

The W.H.O. (World Health Organization) has not recommended restricting regular travel or border closings, but warns to delay anyone displaying obvious symptoms of being ill for medical attention and testing. There is a W.H.O. Scientific Review meeting today and hopefully some better guidance will be given on the state of battling this new strain.

Ham n Cheese Sandwiches?

No, you can’t catch swine flu from eating well-cooked pork and pork products. Egypt has ordered the slaughter of its pig stock anyway. This might sound little ignorant, but I didn’t realize that Egypt had ANY kind of pig to begin with! Who knew !?

I’m leaning on the side of cautious concern when I say that the media machine is being a bit of a drama queen. Considering that spring allergy season has just begun, we are guaranteed to see sneezing and other cold-like symptoms. A disheveled older man coughed on the train this morning and everyone politely attempted to move away from him while giving each other the “get me outta here before he kills us all” eye signals. I’m just glad no one yanked the break and tried to jump out of the subway car. And forget about corporate elevators. One clearing of the throat or wiping your nose (from the pollen) I’m sure the disinfectant brigade will be spraying you and the air down in the sign of a Christian cross or something. Ugh.

I suppose that since I live in New York City, I must have some super desensitization, considering that we have unintentional contact with millions of people per day. However, two Queens schools closing have provoked me to wash and wipe a little more than usual. Hey, I’m no germo-phobe – but I’m not stupid either. Looks like I won’t be going to my favorite Mexican restaurants for a while.  Sorry Burrito Loco.  Sigh.

~Nina

Last weekend was great. After a nice little brunch at Beast (yum yum dyke eatery on Bergen,) we kept it pure Brooklyn all the way and slept under cherry blossom trees at the Botanical Garden and Prospect Park. My foofie dog has a new girlfriend back at the condo that’s more high strung than him (LOL,) so he was more well behaved.  I’m happy to see that Franklin Ave along the Prospect Heights strip has become so fricken cute! I saw an adorable storefront for rent that I just had to call to satisfy my curiosity. Rent was 1795/mo for 750 sf – eh, not so bad. And…Cattyshack opened back in ‘Da Slopes’ under a new name, same locale called 249 Lounge. Hope it doesn’t suffer the fate of the Sopranos when it went off the air for a while and lost some of its loyal viewers.  After all the drama and moving to Chocolate Bar on Fridays, I couldn’t keep up. We just went to either Kalli Lounge (Gaysha’s queer monthly) or Savalas Bar (mixed crowd dive) in Williamsburg.

This weekend promises to be just as nice. Have to keep some kind of discipline and get some work done. Have web and photo tasks to complete…. oh the peer pressure will be blasting my Twitter and Facebook for sure. Here’s some flicks from Tribeca Film Festival in my calendar this weekend:

• The Company Man 4/24
• Outrage 4/24 4/26
• Burning Down the House  4/24 4/26
• Entre nos   4/25
• The Burning Season 4/25
• Blank City   4/25
• About Elly 4/26
• City Island   4/26

Talk About Balls
A video on The Pirate Bay’s website showed one of the four defendants, Peter Sunde, holding up a mock IOU note for 31 million Swedish crowns ($3.6 million) in court, followed by the initials “JK” for “just kidding.”

Well- kiddies, I hope you’ve learned the lesson.  Piracy is too much of a pain in the ass and not worth going to jail for.

~Nina