WHASSUP: Almost Mother's Day Edition

This is an important week, FIPSters. It's that time of year when we honor moms everywhere. They come in many shapes, sizes, and ages, but one thing remains in common—they birthed you, you ingrates. 
Your mission this week is to take dear old mom out on the town. She deserves it. I mean, shit, she changed your nasty-ass diapers.  

So WHASSUP?  Your mom is WHASSUP:

Thursday, 5/8, Beat Society Featuring Pharoahe Monch, Littlefield: Time to drop a beat and shake that badunkadunk. These dudes are going to be mixin’ it up all night long. $15-$20, 8pm

Friday, 5/9-Saturday 5/10, Brooklyn Power Pop Festival, The Bell House: This jaw-dropping lineup will have you power popping a big old boner. What’s better than one night—two nights, definitely two nights.  $35 (2 night pass)

Saturday, 5/10, House Party: East Coast vs. West Coast, Union Hall: I often find myself pondering, “Biggie or Tupac…Biggie or Tupac.” Hopefully this evening will finally set me straight. FREE, 11:30pm

Sunday, 5/11, Prospect Heights Community Farm Annual Plant Sale, 252-256 St Marks Ave.: Get out, buy a nice fucking plant, and take your mom to dinner. That’s it.  Sunday done! 10am-6pm

Monday, 5/12, Brain Cloud, Barbés: I mos def can identify with a cloudy brain at times. Why not kick back and listen to western swing—an amalgamation of all American music style that came before it. $10, 7pm

Tuesday, 5/13, A Night at the Movies, Pavillion Theatre: Take someone out on a date, anyone. Spring for some popcorn, but not too large because you really want to engineer your two buttery hands coincidentally meeting among the maize. ANY TIME.

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Ken Burns Buys an Apartment With a Fucking Swimming Pool in Brooklyn

Image via The Real DealFilmmaker Ken Burns just bought a three bedroom condo in Prospect Heights with access to a fucking swimming pool. I’m sorry, my brain just exploded. I guess the guy has some Brooklyn street cred since he made that popular documentary on the Brooklyn Bridge back in the 80’s but come the fuck on. Are you serious? A swimming pool in Prospect Heights.

All right, so the pool in question is part of The Eastern Athletic Club on top of Union Temple but still. I live in a brownstone with no pool.  Clearly this guy thinks he's better than all of us.

No real Brooklynite swims during the year. We all wait until the Double D pool on Nevins Street re-opens for the summer season on Memorial Day because that shit is free and our kids can come too. Swimming pools are for suburban motherfuckers.

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Cool or Not Cool: Prospect Park’s New Sound Track

Image via ny1.comThere’s no way of getting around it, the LeFrak skating rink in Prospect Park is flat out ugly; it looks like some sort of brobdingnagian Mobil station. It provides a service to the community however, and despite Olmsted twirling in his grave it’s nice to have that swath of the park open again. For those not so familiar with Prospect Park, the peninsula is an Italianate (read boot-shaped) spit of land that juts out into Prospect Park Lake, and it’s a lovely, tranquil spot to look at Duck Island and feel the breeze.

Last Saturday, I was casually chilling there with Katy Perry. I didn’t invite her, but her voice was wafting over the water from the rink’s thundering speakers. Have you FIPSers noticed this? Should we mute the skating rink, or is it worth sacrificing a modicum of peace and quiet in the hope that some happy little shits might exercise a little more vigorously with some pop to help them along?

Credit Card Skimming on the Rise in Park Slope?

Image via digitaltrends.com

A FIPS reader wrote into us recently about a recurring problem with false charges on his credit cards:

My wife and I have had seven debit or credit cards compromised in the last 6 or 7 weeks. Last week, my brand new replacement debit card compromised. Frustrated I called Chase to figure out just what the hell was going on because clearly getting new cards and numbers was not working. Customer service informed me that the fraudulent transaction was a swipe so that whoever had stolen my info actually had an imprint of my card, which only could be obtained through me swiping my card at a merchant that was using a skimmer.

So I went to the Chase branch on 9th & 5th ave to get a new card and to see if I could learn anything more about what was going on. One of the customer service reps there confirmed to me that there was a rash of these incidents in the hood and that they were investigating local merchants. She suggested I use cash and avoid swiping my card. She said she could not tell me which merchant they were investigating. 

At the very least, folks in the hood should know this is going down so they can proceed with caution.

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Parody of MTA Subway Changes for Summer 2014

Comedian John Purcell just sent us this hilarious parody video detailing all of the subway changes coming to NYC this summer. 

Can't. Stop. Laughing!