An Open Letter To Business Websites With Mood Music On Their Homepage

Dear business websites with mood music on your homepage,

Please, stop. 

I come to your site to peruse a menu, look for directions or inquire about an apartment that I know I can't afford. While I can appreciate your love for Enya or smooth jazz, it literally does nothing for your business. You are not a musician. You are not selling music. If your goal is to repel, you may want to also consider employing the use of sparkly fonts and horizontal scrolling.

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FIPS JUICY: BEST STORIES OF THE WEEK

In case you've spent the week trying to figure out what's behind the mysteriously exciting Ferris Bueller teaser (spoiler: it's a Honda commercial for the Superbowl. Lame.), here's a quick wrap-up of juicy FiPS news that graced the pages of our blog this week:

* Franny's Is Making a Move: They're moving into the old Blockbuster AND holding on to the old joint, which may be turned into a fine dining restaurant. 

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Who Gives a Shit: What do you think of Methodist Hospital?

Photo via /www.acuherbnewyork.com

I’ve -- thankfully -- never needed to go to Methodist, but I do live near it, and it’s certainly a dominating presence in the community – both in physical size and its employment and economic impact.

Founded in 1887, it is now one of the largest medical facilities in greater NY with 651 beds, over 38,000 admissions and 300,000 outpatient visits a year. It’s most famous patient is likely Stephen Baltz (age 11), the lone survivor of the famous New York Air Disaster of 1960, in which two planes collided, one of which fell onto Sterling Place and 7th Avenue. Stephen lived for one day before succumbing to pneumonia. 

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Ophira Eisenberg and NPR Bring Trivia Show to The Bell House

Ophira EisenbergYou know what NPR has been missing? A radio show devoted to pop culture trivia with mystery guests like David Cross, and improvised music by Park Slope resident and geek culture specialist Jonathan Coulton.

We shall hold our breaths no longer.

"Ask Me Another," which will be hosted by Moth darling and fab storyteller Ophira Eisenberg, started its three month Bell House residency earlier this week, and will include 9 more live recordings over the next two months.

Stop on by for a chance to partake in games like the lyric testing "Better Than Bieber" and “Replacement Math," which includes questions like, "What’s the Luftballoons plus the Dalmatians, divided by Ali Baba’s thieves?"

[Via The Brooklyn Paper]

We're All Fucked: Babies Are Officially Taking Over Park Slope

Photo via Flickr User hollymoody

Time to strap on your diapers, people, because babies and kids wear the pants in this nabe. Just when we thought Park Slope couldn’t get any more baby-centric, we catch wind that beloved music venue Southpaw will be taken over by a company called New York City Kids. The replacement venue will become a haven to Park Slope’s rock climbing, book-reading and needing ankle biters. 

Via The Brooklyn Paper:

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Fifth Eye Optix Shut Down, Owner Screams at Here's Park Slope Dude

Photo via Here's Park Slope

I've never been inside of Fifth Eye Optix on 5th Avenue, but it appears that the city has shut it down. Our friend over at Here's Park Slope had a strange run-in with the owner yesterday who, according to his account, blames the blogging community for the closing. Here's the story:

I had a horrific run-in with the owner of the weird Fifth Eye Optix earlier today, and thought you/ possibly your readers would be interested in hearing about it. I saw that it was seized by the city, so I snapped a photo of it and walked on. Suddenly this woman was on top of me, with her cameraphone out, and she started yelling about how
she's going to take my photo, too. I assured her that she wasn't in my photo, but she went on.

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Cool or Not Cool: The Smithsonian Selling Your Art Without Permission?

Andrew Theodorakis for the New York Daily News

That's just what happened to Park Slope artist Margaret Bowland, whose oil painting was featured at a Smithsonian exhibition from March 2009-August 2010. The painting, titled "Kenyetta and Brianna," was given a People's Choice Award. At the end of the exhibit, the Smithsonian had difficulty contacting Bowland to let her know that she could retrieve her art. The New York Daily News explains:

"In the final weeks of the show, the Smithsonian sent two emails to Bowland about returning the painting, but the messages were sent to an old email address, according to the complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court." 

When the museum couldn't get a hold of Bowland, they contacted the Klaudia Marr Gallery in New Mexico, where the Smithsonian initially discovered the painting. The gallery told the Smithsonian to ship the painting directly to David Naylor, an interior designer who paid $40,000 for the work. According to Bowland and her lawyer, the New Mexico gallery had no right to sell the painting, and the Smithsonian no right to ship it without her knowledge.

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