Brooklynite Gallery, a pioneer art space in Bed-Stuy known for showcasing emerging talent and street-inspired work, is celebrating their first year in business with a showcase of Australian-born performance and visual artist Ben Frost through July 18th. They’ve also just opened a new, albeit temporary, East Village branch aptly named The Summer Pop-Up Shop that will showcase work from some of the best international street artists.

At the opening party last week, owner and co-founder Rae McGrath spoke to us for a moment about throwing fantastic parties, courting the anti-establishment, and finding the pretty in an ugly recession. Read More »

Earlier this week we headed to the surprisingly relaxed Williamsburg offices of The Brooklyn International Film Festival to speak with its creator and Executive Director, Marco Ursino. Now in its 12th year, the festival — whose proclaimed mission is “to discover, expose, and promote independent filmmakers while drawing worldwide attention to Brooklyn” — launched last Friday and runs through June 14th at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema. Read More »

This week, the California Supreme Court upheld last November’s ban on gay marriage. (Whether or not you agree with this, the real argument is explained here in a post that makes sense of the legal jargon for all of us laymen and women.) Meanwhile, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is a public relations nightmare, President Obama won’t go near LGBT issues (if only one of the Chicago Bulls would come out — if only!), Meghan McCain supports gay marriage, and the rest of us are, well, confused. Read More »