Meanwhile, In Brooklyn...: STOP IT PLEASE PARK SLOPE COURIER

Marvel Team-Up

The Church of Gethsemane, Park Slope, Brooklyn; June 11, 2012

I'm very pleased to find that cultural literacy of one of the world's greatest films is alive and well

Do you need context? Watch and learn, effendi:


Culver Viaduct Rehabilitation Project

Everything is in 3D now

You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille

I like to consider myself a little stuffed bull who's involved in his neighborhood, so I enjoy pedalling my Big Wheel up and down the streets of Park Slope, Brooklyn, waving at everybody, stopping in at the fabulous new location of LaBagel Delight to cry "I'll have a chocolate croissant!" when one of the guys behind the counter shouts "Next!", or peering in through the window of Little Things to see what new toys have arrived, or excitedly hopping on the number 67 bus, popping my Metrocard in the slot, and journeying down to see my pals Tom and Amy at my fave comic book store, Bergen Street Comics. Hooray, always so much fun! When I'm out and about around the Slope, I even keep my eye out for the guy who rips down all the flyers that people put up on poles. He woulda had his work cut out for him this week, tho', because Park Slope's been blanketed by these flyers:



These signs are everywhere. Wow, Lucy must have really made an impression on this guy Karl. Also, he must have terrible, terrible jokes. And, he must live in the 1970s if part of his conversation includes the question "Hey Lucy, what's your sign?"

And hey, Karl, if you walked her home, why are there posters all over the Slope, and not just around the area you walked her home in?



Well, Karl, I do happen to know Lucy, and I've got both good news and bad news for you. The good news is...I happen to know Lucy. Oh wait, I've already told you that. Okay, how about the bad news? Karl, let me break it to you gently, man: you really don't want to date Lucy. She's rude, abrasive, cranky, sarcastic, selfish, hostile, and sometimes outright violent. In fact, you might even call her a fussbudget! No, take it from me, Karl...if I were you, I'd run far, far away from Lucy.


Lucy's no prize girlfriend, let me tell you that. She'll insult you at the drop of your blanket:


She'll take over your life, because she just loves meddling in your personal business:


And don't think that you can charm her over with those jokes that she didn't laugh at. Lucy is very critical of any sort of attempt to entertain her!


Why, Lucy's so spoiled that you won't impress her with an informal date at a local Park Slope eatery. She wants diamonds, pearls, black tie and grand formal dances to entertain her:


But truth to tell, she's pretty boring on a date:


Don't think she'll be pleasant and cheerful, oh no no no no. The girl does love to bellyache!


And in the end, Karl, I'm sorry to tell you...Lucy is brutally violent:


So, Karl, Karl, Karl. Take it from your friendly neighborhood little stuffed bull...run, don't walk, away from Lucy. She'll be a bad girlfriend who will take advantage of you at every moment, and what's more, she'll psychoanalyze you at every drop of a nickel. Now, I know your sad, sad story sounds like it comes straight out of a viral campaign for an online series of indie film shorts, but you and I both know the heartache of unrequited love. (Sigh). So all I can tell you is buck up there, pal...there's plenty of fish in the sea and turnips in the garden and tire change shops down on Fourth Avenue and there's a great Greek restaurant on the corner of...oh wait, where was I?

Forget about Lucy, Karl. She'll break your tender, aching heart. And besides...she's already got a boyfriend.

You will always have a lucky star

I don't review it often, but I buy and enjoy Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly's comic Local, a beautifully drawn, immensely detailed, sometimes frustrating saga of different towns and neighborhoods across North America and the people who live, work, and love in them, including recurring character Megan, who spends much of the series running from locale to locale. Running from something, yes. Running to something? We don't know yet; the series isn't over. (I imagine, like life and The Sopranos, Local won't end with a neat-and-tidy conclusion.) One of the things I (ironically) like about it is Megan: she's unlikable but compelling; she makes dumb choices, but she's progressing. She's not the same from issue to issue (some stories she's simply in the background as a bit player). She grows a little, regresses in other ways. Repeats dumb mistakes. Just like us.

My favorite issue of Local? No contest there: it's #6, set in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY. That's where yours truly lives, a skip and a jump away from the green green Prospect Park, a ramble down the slope to 4 & a Tail and Mister Falafel. Brian Wood lives here, too, so he's captured the beat and the zeitgeist and the verve and the zizzer-zazz and the other words describing the spirit of the place. Ryan Kelly's artwork captures the Park Slope I know and love (or am sometimes frustrated with) to a T, much closer than that issue of Fantastic Four set in the Park Slope Starbucks where Johnny tried to pick up the barista. How closely did he capture my Park Slope? Let me ramble around and show ya.


Tiny and friendly (just like me!) indie music store Music Matters:




Yummy yummy Park Slope bakery and café Two Little Red Hens (now named Ladybird Bakery):




My subway stop (7th Avenue on the F train) and local eatery Dizzy's:




And even though he's drawing a slightly more plain one than the big wrought-iron front door of my apartment building, Ryan Kelly has the heavy mega-sized front doors of Park Slope down pat:




Local #6 is not a new comic: it came out last year. I took these pictures last year, almost exactly twelve months ago. In between a lot has changed—not merely the name of Two Little Red Hens, but my life as well. It's been dramatically new in those twelve months, to the point where it became an entirely new and different life. Sometimes it's a tough life. But it's usually a good life.

I thought I might be leaving Park Slope myself this month. Didn't work out. I was very disappointed. But Park Slope is a good place to live, and as I walk its streets I usually smile: it feels like home because after all this time, it is.

So here I am. It's my home, me an' my pal John and our kittycat and my sister Marshall and all my animal pals, in my still kinda new life in Park Slope in Brooklyn. It's a good place to read fun comics, pet a kitty and get a cupcake from a hen-themed a lady bird-themed bakery. And it doesn't need to be Brooklyn. Remember wherever you go, home is there. It follows you on your back like a shell on a turtle. To paraphrase Leonard McCoy: treat her like a lady and she'll always be your home.

You will always have a lucky star
That shines because of what you are
Even in the deepest dark
Because your aim is true
And if I could only have one wish
Darling, then it would be this
Love and happiness for you.
— "Love and Happiness" by Emmylou Harris and Kimmie Rhodes; recorded by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris

That ain't Park Slope

PopCultureShock previews four pages of an upcoming, post-Civil War issue of Fantastic Four, which actually look pretty good and include this splash page, captioned "A coffee shop, Park Slope, Brooklyn...":



But take it from me: that ain't Park Slope.

How do I know? What's missing from this picture?

A: There's no baby strollers in the coffee shop.