FRIDAY
6-10pm: opening reception for group exhibit 120db, showcasing the work of thirteen female concert photographers. fort useless (bushwick), free.
7, 9pm (thru 1/29 + 2/2-5): the 9th annual cool new york 2012 dance festival features 60 companies and choreographers performing in an intimate setting. white wave (dumbo), free.
7:30pm (thru 2/26): brooklyn’s truffle theatre company performs shakespeare’s a midsummer night’s dream in the mezzanine of 61 local (cobble hill), $15
9pm: there’ll be a whole lotta love when bustle in your hedgerow puts on a show of led zeppelin tunes. brooklyn bowl, $10-12.

Good news, keepers of geriatric laptops, fax machines and cell phones — there’s going to be a permanent e-waste dropoff spot in Gowanus, thanks to the Lower East Side Ecology Center, those great people who have been doing roving events around Brooklyn. You may have thought that the Gowanus was already an e-waste dropoff spot (dada ching!) but starting Jan. 31, you’ll be able to bring your unwanted electronics to a new warehouse at 469 President St. at Nevins, Mondays through Saturdays. Full hours here, and full list of recyclables here. There’s also a launch par-tay at the warehouse on Sat. Feb. 4 from noon to 4 where you can enjoy refreshments while finding what becomes of your orphaned Razr phone and 56K modems.
This is fun. If you buy something at a Fifth Avenue merchant through Feb. 14, you get a free raffle ticket to win a spending spree of up to $1,000 on the Slope’s best shopping strip. That sounds like a mighty fine way to spend an afternoon, maybe even two. Participating places include a whole bunch of shops, restaurants and bars we really like, with the noteworthy absence of Bierkraft. Here’s the list of Fifth Ave. venues where you can pick up a ticket, and All About Fifth has the details on the giveaway.

Apparently, they haven't heard of Fox's.
So there’s this site called Xpatulator that runs cost of living comparisons of the 950 cities/regions worldwide where someone might move to from somewhere else. They just came out with a worldwide cost of living report, and there is one especially curious data point about Brooklyn.
Our borough is not only home to the Man Bun, but the world’s fifth most expensive place for clothing. It is pricier to buy clothes only in Minsk, Manhattan, Belarus (all areas) and Sao Paolo. Paris is #39. London is #82. Moscow, where they wear fur socks and underwear (don’t they?) is #21. And sorry, Giorgio, lowly Milan is way down there at #264. 

How much does it cost to make this? Sketch by Brad Pearson.
Pearl Paint is widely held as the artist’s go-to retailer for supplies at decent prices, but that store is in Manhattan, and we are not. I wanted to find the best art supply stores here in our very own borough, so I decided to do a cost comparison of the items I use most myself, from five local shops. The products were Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph technical pens (individual), Prismacolor markers (individual), Higgins India ink (1 oz.), and the cheapest, crappiest pencils and brushes each store carried. 

If you see this man in Brooklyn, please tell us!
When you get together some friends at a coffee shop and shoot a video, interesting things happen. As of this writing, 24k people have watched Brokelandia, our sendup of the Brooklyn food scene and homage to the hit show Portlandia. Many said nice things on Twitter and Facebook (thanks!), including New York Times national editor Sam Sifton (“These people are real”) and the folks from Portlandia, who put it on their Facebook page (thanks!). Some people didn’t like Brokelandia, including Gothamist commenters and a Portland Mercury blogger named WM. Steve Humphrey (pictured here). Humphrey cited three reasons he wanted to “kill everyone and everything associated with this project.” Whoa, even the baby?


ReBar photo courtesy of Simply Dazzling Events.
You’ve been there before: unable to work at home, you pop in to the local coffee shop to soak up the wifi and get yourself focused with a cup of joe. The next thing you know, you’re on your third cup, you’ve got the shakes and somehow still aren’t done working. You’ve got to take the edge off somehow, but still don’t want to go home. What’s a girl to do? Fortunately for you, Brooklyn is home to bars that offer wifi AND open early enough to get you back in balance. Happy hour, here you come! 
You heard it here: Brooklyn brokesters are the new Jersey mooks. First 2 Broke Girls, and coming soon I Just Want My Pants Back, MTV’s new comedy about four hipster-derived, hookup-happy BKers who are “single and broke: living the dream,” including a “douchebag’ and a nubile young lady suffering from sore, inflamed nether regions. We’ll reserve judgment (that’s why He created Gothamist commenters) but if all of this fascinates you, here’s a trailer for the show, premiering Thursday, Feb. 2 at 11: 