Josh and Josh: This morning as I stood on the subway platform, waiting for the morning train that would get me to work, I looked up from my book and saw Alex McCord, one of the women from Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City. Loved that she kept her ginormous black sunglasses on even though we were underground and then, um, on the subway, too. (Seriously?)

Then, on the way home, as I passed hundreds of girls on 42nd Street outside Bryant Park, penned in behind NYPD barricades and camped out on the sidewalk overnight in line to see the Jonas Brothers perform on Good Morning America tomorrow morning (there are those pesky Disney brothers again), I walked passed Alex’s husband, Simon, also wearing big sunglasses. (A few months ago I saw Simon and his kids on the street near my apartment. Apparently they live a few blocks away.)

Two in one day, though, but in different boroughs, and separately? What are the odds of that? If we start playing Real Housewives of New York City bingo I’m gonna have a winning playing card soon.

Saturday Night Live regulars Jason Sudeikis and Bill Hader’s film The Line has begun rolling out online via YouTube and other outlets.  Shot last month in front of the Cobble Hill Cinemas on Court Street, the piece follows fans lining up for the opening of a new sci-fi flick 11 days before it opens:

Journalnow.com: Hader and Rich, wrote the script during the strike (Internet work wasn’t forbidden under the strike rules) and shared it with Michaels’ production company. They were assembling a cast and crew when the strike ended and SNL resumed taping, putting the project on hold. But after the season ended, Broadway Video revived the idea. The series signed a sponsor, Sony Pictures, and integrated the posters for three new Sony films into the backdrop of the episodes.

The staging was rather simple: All the action occurs along a red concrete-block wall outside the Cobble Hill Cinemas in Brooklyn.

The series unfolds not unlike an SNL digital short. Sudeikis stands out as a manager who treats moviegoers as a menace. He often calls them “you people,” as in “You people need to start washing your bodies, or I’m going to call the police.”

Recent trends in government and politics suggests that more decisions are being rendered on a local basis as a result of grassroots involvement. Last week Brooklyn Heights began digesting the announcement that LICH will be closing the OB/GYN department and selling a number of their buildings. As a disability rights attorney and activist, perhaps I am more familiar with the squeaky wheel phenomena. In a recent BHB comment I encouraged people to demand accountability. It is time for the residents of Brooklyn Heights and the surrounding areas to squeak up!

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Alex Ortiz, one of the friendly fish purveyors at Fish Tales (191A Court Street), is a man with a plan. He is busy organizing a softball game at the Red Hook ball fields between the merchants of Court Street and the merchants of Smith Street to benefit Heights and Hill Community Council, which provides services for Brooklyn’s elderly. Players donate cash and/or goods for sale at the game — there is no minimum, Ortiz explained — and customers are invited to the field to cheer their favorite players on. “The winning team gets a trophy for bragging rights,” Ortiz said. To join the fun, Smith and Court Street merchants are invited to call Alex Ortiz at 347 538-2428.

Flickr photo by jbary

From the Cobble Hill Association Blog… mark you calendar!:

Summer travels are ending for some of us and beginning for others. The CHA Social Committee is getting ready to welcome everyone back to town in September by reviving a great neighborhood tradition: the Cobble Hill Park Potluck Dinner. Here is the announcement from the Social Committee:

The Cobble Hill Association is reviving a well-loved tradition of our community dinner in Cobble Hill Park. It is scheduled for Wednesday, September 10, 2008 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. This will be a great occasion to enjoy a relaxing night with your friends, neighbors, and family and have dinner in the park with live music. We will provide some of the food but will need donations of side dishes and desserts from the neighborhood.

Social Committee
Cobble Hill AssociationHow can you help? Please take our Potluck Dinner Survey. Thanks.

Flickr photo by mstearne

Are you as excited about the whole change in PARKING REGULATIONS as we are?  Thought so:

Brooklyn Eagle: Street Cleaning Regulations will be suspended within the following borders starting Monday, Aug. 18, lasting an estimated three to five weeks:

• North: Atlantic Avenue (included) from Columbia Street to Court Street.

• East: Court Street (not included) from Atlantic Avenue to Hamilton Avenue.

• South: Hamilton Avenue (not included) from Court Street to Van Brunt Street.

• West: Columbia Street (included) from Atlantic Avenue to DeGraw Street

• DeGraw Street (included) from Columbia to Van Brunt Street;

• Van Brunt Street from DeGraw to Hamilton

Brooklyn Eagle: LICH Appoints…:  Dr. Woods, who has been at LICH since 1999, has served as the department’s vice chair since 2006. In addition to emergency medicine, his areas of expertise and interest include nuclear/biological/chemical emergencies, emergency preparedness, toxicology, trauma, hospital ethics and organ donation.

This item from  Lindsayism (via Curbed) has us wondering if this is a Spinal Tap revival trend:

Last night I was walking on Court Street near Union Street with Stephanie (”Stiff”) and there were two ladies walking in front of us wearing long, flowing, huge robes with hoods (though the hoods weren’t up), not unlike the robes of a monk, wizard, or witch. They were carrying flashlights, and had an air of authority about them. Okay, what is that? Did Halloween come early? Does this have something to do with that Twilight book? Is there some sort of neighborhood watch I should know about? Until more information comes in, I’m going to call them the Cobble Hill Werewolf Patrol.

What’s on your mind? Post your thoughts, upcoming events or shameless plugs here.

Flickr photo by coltermac

NY Sun: Cobble Hill, a Battle…: Under the hot summer sun, an ice cream war is breaking out in the unlikely venue of Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. First, Sweet Melissa Patisserie, a coffee and pastry shop, expanded into the building next door and opened what it called Sweet Melissa Cremerie. Then, right across the street, The Chocolate Room opened, promoting its own homemade ice cream. Both are siblings of Park Slope establishments, though neither the Seventh Avenue Sweet Melissa nor the Fifth Avenue Chocolate Room is known for ice cream.