The Year Park Slope Won Halloween

Photo credit: Lisa Hoffman

We all know that Park Slope has a bunch of celebs roaming the streets these days -- has anyone spotted Chloe Sevigny in the 'hood, yet? -- but on Halloween, Friend o'FIPS, Lynn Harris, had what is perhaps the most epic celeb sighting in Slope history. I'll let her tell the story: 

When I first moved to Park Slope 20 years ago I went to a party in the apartment building on 9th Street near the 7th Ave. subway stop. All of a sudden, I see Steve Buscemi come in, and I’m all, I’m so cool, I went to a party in New York City and Steve Buscemi was there, except it turned out that he had just come in because the keg was leaking into his apartment. Since then, I’ve come to realize that he is really just part of the neighborhood, usually walking around in a baseball cap and sunglasses, head down, not in an unfriendly way, but just looking like a character Steve Buscemi would play. He has since moved to lower-numbered streets, and here’s where I first heard about the Costello connection. Our neighbors’ back deck faces his, and one night they heard guitar and singing that sounded uncannily like Elvis Costello, only not so uncanny because it was Elvis Costello, just Elvis Costelloing on Buscemi’s back deck.

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Park Slope Craigslist Blotter

Happy Halloween! I hope you’re ready for a spoooooooooky Craiglist Blotter.  

SERVICE: Voodoo Consultant

Witch doctor or shaman is so old-fashioned? Cliché? Racist? I don’t know. Send all hate mail to your nearest fire. This voodoo consultant makes some pretty outrageous offers. Finding your true love. Removing all obstacles. Releasing you from secret demons. I don’t know if I need any of that shit. If he make me exercise before work though I’d be very impressed. 

FOR SALE: Baby monkey costume

Everybody likes sexy costumes. I’m not above it. Even just a funny looking hat looks sexy to me.  Like one of those Sherlock Deerstalker hats. Real talk, shoot me a Benedict Cumberbatch squint while wearing one of those and I’m going to jizz. Clean up, aisle Jim. Sexy costumes aren’t my favorite though. Baby costumes are the best. This particular one is my favorite I’ve seen this year. If you have a baby dress them up, please. 

FOR SALE: Claw foot tub

There is a shot in True Detective of a tub full of abortions and stuff. It was fucking scary. If you have aborted fetuses handy then you can fill a tub with them but what about after the week is over? The tub isn’t going to have that dead baby glow to it after Halloween. So think of this as like a disposable tub. Just drag it outside for the cops to deal with Sunday morning. 

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Another Brooklyn Attempt to Kickstart Cardboard Boxes for Cats

We’ve now been asked for money by (at least) two Brooklyn-based cardboard cat-house companies on Kickstarters. A year ago, I wrote about the Cat Townhouse; essentially a cardboard box with a cat-hammock for the top and a scratch post at the bottom gussied up on the outside to look like a brownstone. Sadly their Kickstarter campaign did not do so well and they didn’t raised the $10,000 they were asked for.

This new “product campaign,” is for Meowses, which is literally just a cardboard box–without the hammock or scratch post–and they’re asking for $25,000 on Kickstarter. That’s 25K for a cardboard box. And Meowses expects to win you over with their spokesperson: a cat puppet named Smokey that speaks with a ridiculous Brooklyn accent by way of Jersey Shore. Some pledge rewards can get you an autograph from Smokey himself, along with a “dime bag” of organic catnip.

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FIPS Rant of the Week -- Ball Fields Edition

Image via goestotwelve.com

While we could endlessly debate the merits of living in Park Slope (see FIPS comments section, daily) there’s no argument to be made against the main attraction – Prospect Park.

Opened in 1867 and now host to 8 million visitors annually, the park has largely fulfilled its destiny becoming – as James Stranahan predicted at the time –  “a favorite resort for all classes of our community, enabling thousands to enjoy pure air, with healthful exercise, at all seasons of the year..."

Thanks to the careful planning of the park’s designers, there’s no shortage of spots for bird watching, dog swimming and general lazing about. Plenty of places to enjoy an afternoon letting your kids off the proverbial leash and letting them get their ya-yas out. And, on this fine, Indian Summer Saturday, when my son and a few of his friends sought to partake of the nation’s pastime, the woman who qualifies as my new favorite neighborhood resident and her two little ones had chosen the last available baseball field for their ya-ya releasing. Now, anyone who’s seen “Field of Dreams” knows this is not a good idea.  As James Earl Jones said, “People will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”  So, just sayin’, it may be a good idea not to be sitting there when they do.

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