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Tag: Brooklyn

  • Brie Larson And Saoirse Ronan Share Award

    Brie Larson And Saoirse Ronan Share Award

    Brie Larson and Saoirse Ronan will both be presented with the Performer of the Year award at the upcoming Santa Barbara International Film Festival. This is the first time the award will be shared.

    Brie Larson will be honored for her work in Room, a film about a woman who is kidnapped, assaulted and kept captive. She eventually gives birth to a son in captivity.

    Saoirse Ronan’s award stems from her work in Brooklyn, which is a film about a young Irish immigrant in the 1950’s who must seek a future for herself in America.

    The Santa Barbara Film Festival’s executive director, Roger Durling, said of Brie Larson and Saoirse Ronan, “This is an incredible year for emerging talent to take center stage and showcase their abilities.”

    He added, “We’ve long been following the careers of Brie and Saoirse and their recent roles as empowered young women transcend time, place and circumstance.”

    Brie Larson was quick to share her excitement on Twitter.

    Perhaps a little too quick.

    Do you think Brie Larson and Saoirse Ronan were great choices for this award?

  • Lindsay Lohan May Not Make It to Deadline; Could Get Jail

    Lindsay Lohan just might be up shit creek.

    When Lindsay Lohan was sentenced to 125 hours of community service following a 2012 Santa Monica traffic crash, it seemed like a fairly easy task to complete. But then Lindsay Lohan moved to London to work on David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow.” Now she is under warning that she has just a few days to complete her community service time back in the United States or she could face jail time.

    Lindsay Lohan reportedly has 115 hours of the 125 left to do. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark Young informed Lindsay Lohan’s attorney on Thursday that she must haul her butt back to Brooklyn to complete her required community service by May 28 or face “consequences.” Prosecutors have said that they intend to seek jail time if she misses the deadline, which has already been extended once.

    “She’s had an opportunity to do this. If the court’s not going to accept this, then we have to figure out if jail is the next option,” Santa Monica City Attorney Terry White said.

    Lindsay Lohan’s attorneys say that she had arranged to complete her community service while in London, but the facility she was to work at then relocated to an hour and a half away. Originally, they had claimed she had completed her time in London, but further investigation revealed that she claimed hours served while she was, in fact, in the hospital.

    So the New York Daily News reports that Lindsay Lohan will start serving at Duffield Children’s Center in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. She will be working with pre-schoolers. But she only has 14 weekdays to complete 115 hours of service. At that rate, she would have to work eight hours a day, five days a week. If she is able to do weekend work there, that is still over six hours a day, every day through the deadline date.

    Lindsay Lohan was charged with three misdemeanors in 2013 after a 2012 reckless driving incident in California.

  • AmazonFresh Heads To New York City

    AmazonFresh Heads To New York City

    Amazon is launching its grocery delivery service AmazonFresh in New York on Friday, according to a report from Re/code, which previously reported that the launch was coming this month.

    Amazon first introduced the service in Seattle last year, before expanding it into California areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco. This would be the first the East Coast has seen of it.

    According to the report, AmazonFresh will only be available in the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn before expanding to other neighborhoods. It says food for the service is stored in a new warehouse in Avenel, New
    Jersey, which is roughly 20 miles away from Park Slope.

    The movie signals just how serious Amazon is about becoming a player in groceries, and follows the recent launch of its other grocery service Prime Pantry.

    AmazonFresh is only being offered to Prime members as well, and while there won’t be delivery fees throughout the rest of the year, members will reportedly have to switch over to a “Prime Fresh” program in 2015.

    The New York launch also comes as Amazon is said to be getting ready to open up a brick-and-mortar store in Manhattan, where it would handle various customer services and sell Amazon hardware such as phones, tablets, and Kindle devices.

    Image via Twitter

  • Chrisette Michele Counts Down To New Music Video “Super Chirs” Over Instagram

    The countdown for the new Chrisette Michele music video has less than a week left. Her single “Super Chris” (which is featured as the first track of her new album The Lyricists Opus) will be the music of the promised music video.

    Michele has started a countdown on her Instagram page.

    It began at the 10 day mark on Monday. “10 Days till YOU can download the Art!” The caption said, “The 1st movement from The Lyricists Opus #SuperChris + plus the new RH T-shirts + the new Video! Hooray! #superchris #thelyricistsopus #richhipster”.

    Tuesday, the caption for the nine day count said the following: “Video shoot Behind The Scenes photos. Photocred : @bswaggernaut 9 days till #SuperChris is available! + the Super Chris T’s @ RichHipster.biz! I’m stoked dude! #RichHipster #Gslay #RichinHeart #RichinArt #ChrisetteMichele #chrisette #TheLyricistsOpus #Art”.

    The eight day count for Wednesday had the longest caption yet:

    Me n Mackey on the set of Super Chris. New music available tonight at 10 pm for Rich Hipster Nation only. Go to RichHipster.biz and click the Super Chris link! Tell everybody…. I wrote Super Chris one morning before shooting a scene with #rbdivasla #rbdivas I was beginning to feel like to be a star I just had to be me. Sometimes our best version of ourselves is all it takes to be Super. I don’t consider myself a Super Star, just a super me. By Gods Grace alone, I am working to be who He created me to be. A #SuperChris. What’s your #Super name? #richhipster #gslay #thelyricistsopus #chrisette #chrisettemichele #rbdivas #rbdivasla

    Whereas, day seven on Thursday was the shortest yet: “BTS of the Super Chris Video One week away”.

    Yesterday’s day six mark is currently the latest post, and you can see the excitement building: “Less than 1 week until the Super Chris MUSIC VIDEO hits your beautiful eyes! Omg! I can’t wait for you to see this ballerina dance through the streets of Williamsburg Brooklyn.”

    However, you don’t have to wait five more days to listen to the “Super Chris” song. You can do that online:

  • Uma Thurman’s Brother Can’t Afford Bed-Stuy, Gentrification Grows In Brooklyn

    Rising cost of rent in New York has long been a problem, so much so that even a movie star’s brother can’t get the property he desires in Brooklyn. Uma Thurman’s brother Mipam Thurman missed out on some prime real estate in the now-classy neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn because of its price tags.

    “Unfortunately, I was outbid and lost a lot of deals. By the time I figured it out, I had been priced out of what I wanted,” said Thurman. He settled on a property in East Flatbush for a $549,000 two-family home. This is much lower than the cost of his sister Uma’s River House home, which she bought from novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford in 2013 at a price of $10 million.

    Bedford-Stuyvesant is a predominantly African-American neighborhood and was the setting for Spike Lee’s acclaimed film Do the Right Thing in 1989. The neighborhood now features brownstones that speak volumes about its gentrification, reaching million-dollar prices in one of New York’s poorest neighborhoods. The drop in crime in Bed-Stuy and the search for more affordable housing have drawn the attention of successful urbanites looking to carve out their own versions of paradise. The progress of surrounding neighborhoods like Clinton Hill and Williamsburg have created pressure for Bed-Stuy to follow suit.

    Thurman spent two years eyeing Bedford-Stuyvesant, but apparently couldn’t figure out the bidding process and failed to find a home he could afford in the end. More buyers like him are flocking to East New York to find more affordable homes, according to Ban Leow, a Halstead Property broker. “The coffee shops, boutiques and clubs will follow,” he said, indicating the common trend of cultural influx that is happening all over Brooklyn due to gentrification and the steady arrival of moneyed residents.

    Image via YouTube

  • Robert De Niro Crashes World Cup Party

    Robert De Niro Crashes World Cup Party

    Robert De Niro isn’t a huge soccer fan. He was interested enough in a recent game, however, that he crashed a random World Cup viewing in Brooklyn last week so he didn’t miss watching the U.S. compete against Germany. The Meet the Fockers star was filming a new movie called The Intern in Brooklyn when it became clear he would miss the game if some sort of arrangements weren’t made.

    Warner Bros. set about making such arrangements for the actor. They even went so far as to email an apartment building resident near where filming was taking place to see about getting a satellite hooked up in time for the game.

    “Our lead actor, Robert De Niro, would very much like to watch the World Cup game, today at 12pm. Would it be possible to place a small portable satellite on the building rooftop ASAP and run a cable to the street to help facilitate this request?” the email read.

    Before such details were confirmed, however, it seems De Niro simply wandered into a home in which the production company was renting a space to use as their ‘green room’ and made himself cozy to watch the game.

    “We got another email from a neighbor saying he talked to the crew and apparently he found a house of people watching it and joined them,” the resident said.

    Can you imagine how exciting it must have been for that group of U.S. soccer fans or for the home owner to not only be watching their team compete for the World Cup, but to be doing so with none other than Robert De Niro? Do you think they even realized just how huge a star he is?

    “He wasn’t going to miss the game!” a source said. “He’s a true American. He has no problem hanging, he enjoyed it.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Brooklyn Stabbing: Reward Offered For Six-Year-Old’s Killer

    A young boy is dead and a young girl is in critical condition following what appears to be a random stabbing in Brooklyn, New York. According to a New York Times report, six-year-old Prince Joshua “P.J.” Avitto and seven-year-old Mikayla Capers were stabbed Sunday evening in the elevator of a Shenck Avenue apartment building.

    Avitto suffered stab wounds to his neck and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Capers has been transferred to New York-Presbyterian Hospital for treatment of stab wounds to her hands and torso.

    According to the families of the victims, the children had been friends since they were toddlers. Avitto and Capers were reportedly on their way down to the street get Icees when they were stabbed.

    No arrests have been made yet related to the stabbing. Based on witness reports, police are currently searching for a suspect that is a heavyset black man in his 20s wearing a grey sweatshirt. According to Chief of Brooklyn Detectives Patrick Conry, the man was spotted running away from the crime scene. Police have also recovered a knife they believe may have been used in the attack.

    The stabbings have rocked a community that is now struggling to come to terms with why someone would stab two innocent children. Brooklyn community leaders have come together to offer a reward for information on the crime. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams today announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the stabbing suspect.

    This stabbing came just days after another stabbing occurred nearby in Brooklyn. In that incident 18-year-old Tanaya Grant Copeland was stabbed and left to die at the corner of Linwood Street and Stanley Avenue. A $2,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of Copeland’s murderer.

    Image via Twitter

  • Biggie Smalls Remembered 17 Years After His Death

    Fans all over the world remembered Biggie Smalls, also known in the music world as The Notorious B.I.G., on the 17th anniversary of his death on Sunday. The rapper had just left a Vibe magazine-hosted event on March 9, 1997 in a GMC Suburban SUV with his crew. They were waiting for the red light to turn when a black sedan, a Chevrolet Impala SS, drove up next to them. The Impala’s driver fired repeatedly at the SUV. According to the autopsy released in December 2012, Biggie was hit four times; one hit his vital organs and became the cause of death. The assailant is unknown.

    Fans of the hip-hop artist took to Twitter to offer their tributes. One fan posted, “Exactly 17 years ago the world lost a genius.” Another tweeted, “R.I.P. Biggie Smalls. You’ll always be one of the greatest!”

    The rapper was born Christopher George Latore Wallace on May 21, 1972 in St. Mary’s Hospital in New York and was raised in Brooklyn. His parents were Jamaican; his mother Voletta taught preschool and his father George worked as a welder. He was their only child. When Wallace was two years old his father left the family, and his mother struggled through two jobs. Wallace attended the Queen of All Saint Middle School where he excelled, especially in his English subjects. When he was 10 he was nicknamed “Big” because of his size.

    Biggie Freestyle At Age 17

    http://youtu.be/zCcROGKl89Y

    During his teenage years he dabbled in rapping but also got himself involved in crime, getting arrested twice on various charges, including dealing crack cocaine. A year after his release, he made a demo tape, which was consequently promoted by DJ Mister Cee. The demos were heard by the editor of The Source magazine’s editor, and Wallace, as Biggie Smalls, was featured in the magazine’s Unsigned Hype column. One thing led to another, and soon enough, Biggie Smalls and later on, The Notorious B.I.G., rose to fame. His album Ready to Die sold millions and achieved Platinum status four times. He was 24 when he died.

    ‘Juicy’: The Hit That Made Biggie Famous

    Image via YouTube

  • Gentrification: Spike Lee Explodes Into Expletive-Filled Rant

    Famed film director Spike Lee burst into an expletive-filled rant when an audience member posed a question regarding the gentrification of the New York boroughs at an African-American History Month lecture on Tuesday held at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute.

    Lee, who was raised in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, claims that it is no longer the same place he grew up in. Clad in a casual attire that included a “Defend Brooklyn” hoodie and a Knicks beanie, the “Do the Right Thing” director cut off the audience member after being asked about the “other side of gentrification”. He snapped “Let me kill you right now” and proceeded to discuss a New York Times article about the benefits of gentrification.

    Spike Lee “kills” a man in Brooklyn

    http://youtu.be/61kq0RJJhY0

    For seven minutes, Lee went on an impassioned rant about the drastic improvements that have taken place in many parts of New York ever since more white residents started moving in. His speech also expressed resentment toward the “Christopher Columbus Syndrome”, which he says is shown by the gradual eradication of the neighborhood’s customs and traditions, as well as the changing of some of the neighborhood’s names.

    The audience member – Brooklyn resident and director of the Brooklyn Innovation Center, D.K. Smith – tried a few times to interject Lee’s rant, but was unsuccessful. The outspoken director appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 to explain his tirade. Lee said that although he is not entirely opposed to new people inhabiting formerly poor areas, he believes that they ought to have “respect for the history and culture” when moving into the neighborhood.

    CNN was able to speak with Smith regarding Lee’s claims and he said that while he does not completely disagree with Lee, he feels “tired of moaning and groaning about being black”. Smith, an African-American, also said that gentrification gives black Americans a huge opportunity for economic improvement by virtue of the skyrocketing real estate prices.

    D.K. Smith responds to Spike Lee’s rant

    Image via YouTube

  • Keri Russell Dodges Question About Dating Matthew Rhys

    The Americans star Keri Russell was obviously unwilling to address the question of whether or not she is dating co-star Matthew Rhys in a recent interview with Your Tango.

    When the interviewer brought up the rumor that Russell and Rhys have become “more than co-stars,” Russell simply replied “Oh! I don’t know about that!”

    Rhys says even his mom believes the rumors.

    “She calls up going, ‘What’s going on? I just read this about you,’” Rhys said. “I tell her, ‘You have to take off your Google alerts.’”

    Season Two of the FX Cold War-era drama premiered last night. Rhys and Russell have been making the rounds of talk shows and publicity events as they promote the new season.

    Post by The Americans.

    When asked how her relationship with Rhys has changed since the beginning of the show, Russell responded: “When you do a movie and get to walk away from it after four months, you can really hate the person and you don’t have to ever see them again. This is different, more of a business partnership. Both he and I are very steady as people. We’re nice. And that makes for a harmonious relationship.”

    In December, shortly after her home was burglarized, Russell revealed that she and husband Shane Deary had been separated since early summer. Russell’s rep said that the “… separation is amicable and their focus is on their children.”

    Not long after, rumors of a romance between Russell and Rhys began swirling, with sightings of the two window shopping in Russell’s Brooklyn Heights neighborhood and looking “very much like a couple.”

    Russell and Deary are the parents of two children, a six-year-old son and two-year-old daughter.

    Russell is well-known for her role as the title character in the television drama Felicity which ran from 1998 to 2002.

    Rhys is best known for his role as Kevin Walker in ABC’s critically acclaimed drama Brothers and Sisters which aired from 2006 to 2011.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Pussy Riot Members To VIsit Brooklyn

    Pussy Riot Members To VIsit Brooklyn

    Two of the women who were recently freed from a Russian prison after being jailed for “acts of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” will visit Brooklyn on February 5 for a human rights benefit concert.

    Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were arrested in 2012 after performing an anti-Putin concert inside a cathedral in Moscow and subsequently started a world-wide conversation about the state of rights in Russia. Now, the women say they want to help the people who are still jailed after enduring the harsh conditions of the country’s prisons and even attempted to stay longer than their reduced sentence in order to research the conditions faced by inmates. The women have criticized their sudden release as a ploy by Russian officials to shine up Putin’s image right before the winter Olympics in Sochi.

    “A month ago we were freed from Russian prison camps. We will never forget what it’s like to be in prison after a political conviction. We have vowed to continue helping those who remain behind bars,” they said in a statement.

    The benefit concert will be held at the Barclays Center in collaboration with Amnesty International and will feature performances by The Flaming Lips, Lauryn Hill, and Imagine Dragons, among others. The goal of the benefit is to raise awareness about political prisoners around the world who have chosen to share their beliefs in a non-violent way and have been punished for it.

    “We are happy to support Amnesty International’s work on behalf of human rights and political prisoners,” Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina said in a statement. “We, more than anyone, understand how important Amnesty’s work is in connecting activists to prisoners.”

    “Today, as we work to improve human rights conditions in the United States, we can’t abandon the fight for the rights of imperiled individuals around the world,” said Amnesty International Executive Director Steven W. Hawkins. “When we come together on February 5 in Brooklyn, our voices will be amplified by the presence of Pussy Riot, who continue to demonstrate the power we share when we take a stand against injustice. Join us next month and become a part of the next wave of the human rights movement.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Yellow Dogs: Band Members Murdered In Brooklyn

    The Yellow Dogs, a group of four Iranian men who played on the underground scene in Tehran before finding success in the U.S., were bound for international stardom before a fellow Iranian musician cut two of them (and a friend) down with an assault rifle.

    While a motive is still unclear, there are rumors that the shooter–Ali Akbar Mohammadi Rafie–had soured his relationship with the band as well as with his own band, the Free Keys, after coming to America in 2011. Accusations that Rafie had stolen money from members of his band began to fly, and soon he found himself struggling to make it while the Yellow Dogs were chasing success in various venues around New York.

    What authorities have pieced together is haunting; Rafie reportedly stashed his gun inside an empty guitar case, climbed onto rooftops to gain access to the Brooklyn home where members of the Yellow Dogs lived, and shot through a window before bursting in to open fire inside the home. He found 28-year old Arash Farazmand, the Yellow Dogs’ drummer, in his bedroom and shot him before finding his brother, 27-year old guitarist Soroush Farazmand, on the second floor. He was shot in the chest.

    A third musician who was not a part of the Yellow Dogs, 35-year old Ali Eskandarian, was shot as well when Rafie fired through the window. Rafie allegedly fired down a hallway in the home, striking another resident in the arm twice, before heading back to the roof, where he shot himself in the head.

    Any answers the police might find are slow in coming, but an investigation is underway.

    Image: YouTube

  • Cousin Charged With Murdering 5 Family Members

    A 25-year old Chinese immigrant was charged with murder on Monday morning after stabbing his cousin-in-law and her four children to death in their Brooklyn home.

    Mingdong Chen told police he had been staying with his cousin and his family for a little over a week and had started to resent their success, which officials believe may be the motive for the murders. Chen had allegedly been homeless for a while and had nowhere to stay when he came from China.

    “He felt they had everything and that he had nothing. They were doing well and he was struggling just to get by,” a source told the New York Post.

    Qiao Zhen Li, the cousin’s wife, reportedly noticed Chen acting strangely and attempted to call her husband at work, but to no avail. She then called her mother in China, who contacted Li’s sister in Brooklyn to check on the family. The sister reportedly showed up at the home with her husband to find a grisly scene: 9-year-old Linda Zhuo, 7-year-old Amy Zhuo, 18-month-old William Zhuo, 5-year-old Kevin Zhuo and Li were found in various rooms, all suffering from butcher knife wounds.

    “Horrific, horrific crime,” Officer Philip Banks said. “It’s a scene you’ll never forget.”

    Chen has been charged with five counts of both first-degree murder and second-degree murder and with assaulting a police officer.

    Image: Thinkstock

  • One-year-old Shot in the Head in Brooklyn

    The father of one-year-old Brooklyn baby Antiq Hennis was pushing the baby in a stroller across the street when gunfire rang out. Antiq was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center on Sunday evening, shortly before 9 p.m.

    Watch news report here.

    “He was screaming ‘My baby got shot.’ He was going crazy,” witness Gina Gamboa said of the father’s reaction. “The baby was breathing, but his eyes were closed. It’s crazy. They just will start shooting.”

    CBS New York spoke to Cynthia Ballantyne, who heard gunshots but didn’t see the shooting.

    “It was a child. I couldn’t watch that. I just get real sad; depressed, and I just came back here. It’s awful to be killing kids like that — you understand? It’s not safe anywhere. I’m scared to walk the streets right now.”

    Police investigating the case said Monday morning that they believe the boys father was the target. They have some leads and believe his death, intended for his father, was gang related. Antiq’s father, Anthony Hennis, has a criminal record and is not cooperating with investigators to find his son’s killer, said Police Comissioner Raymond Kelley, but he didn’t elaborate.

    Anthony Hennis had just picked up Antiq from the home of Antiq’s mother, Cherise Miller, and was taking him to see his grandmother
    Hennis put Antiq in the stroller and was pushing him across the street in Brownsville when shots were fired. Hennis’ grandmother, Lenore Steele, said she heard shots before Hennis ran up to her.

    “And he fell on the ground and said, ‘Grandma, my baby got shot! My baby got shot, Grandma!’” said Steele, flanked by community group leaders and mayoral candidate Bill Thompson. “He was such a beautiful little baby, smiling and talking to everybody.”

    Grief and outrage over Antiq’s shooting loomed over the annual West Indian Day Parade about a mile and a half away, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the killing “a tragedy for his family, for this community, for the entire city” and of course, political candidates talked about gun violence.

    Hennis and Miller couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Monday. Possible phone numbers for their homes were disconnected or rang unanswered, the offices of attorneys who may have represented Hennis were closed and activists who spoke at a news conference said Miller wouldn’t be making a statement Monday.

    Bishop Willie Billips, who drove the parents to the hospital to identify the body of their only child, said, “The family is suffering right now.”

    “To have to take a young couple to identify their baby’s body is horrible,” said Billips, of the Church of Faith, Hope and Charity.

    Killings are at a record low in the city of Brownsville, and are on track to be even lower. Only 7 people have been killed so far this year, only about half for the same time as last year, but Mayor Bloomberg says, “That’s cold comfort to any grieving parent or friends.”

    Brownsville is a struggling section of central Brooklyn, with a poverty rate about twice the citywide rate, according to a 2012 analysis of government data by New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and Antiq Hennis was the second child in a stroller shot this year.

    In March, a woman walking home from a post office in Brunswick, Ga., with her 13-month-old son was accosted by a gunman who demanded her purse and then shot her in the leg and fired a shot at the child in his stroller, killing him, authorities said. In another case of violence in New York, a 3-year-old boy was shot in the head and wounded Aug. 24 as he slept in his family’s Brooklyn apartment.

  • Joe Torre: Daughter Saves Falling Baby

    Joe Torre: Daughter Saves Falling Baby

    Former Major League Baseball (MLB) all-star and longtime Yankees manager Joe Torre is well-known for his skill on the field. It’s clear now that, in addition to coaching world-class athletes, he also passed those skills on to his progeny.

    Torre’s daughter, Cristina Torre, is being hailed as a hero today after saving a one-year-old baby from falling to its death. According to NBC New York, Torre was having coffee in a Brooklyn diner when a man rushed in to tell patrons that a baby was sitting precauriously on a fire escape nearby. Torres placed herself under the child, who she says was straddling the fire escape, and called 911.

    The baby then slipped, hanging on with both of its tiny hands. When it inevitably fell, it hit an awning before landing safely in Torre’s arms.

    Joe Torre told NBC that he got goosebumps when told the story and that “the kids are our future.” Christina, a teacher, said that her actions “just came naturally” as she downplayed her new hero status.

    The baby’s parents were reportedly asleep during the incident. 23-year-old Sam Miller and 24-year-old Tiffany Demitro have been arrested on charges of reckless endangerment. Window guards have now been installed in the baby’s parents’ apartment.