Brokelyn's Aulistar Mark and Tim Donnelly model their Freeshirts. You can too!

Maybe you’ve been to one of our nutso raffle parties or swaps. Maybe you’ve bought a Brokelyn Beer Book and met the crew at one of our BeerUps. So what are the kids at your favorite budget-living blog cooking up next? Here’s what, straight from the Brokelyntific labs: the ridiculously stylish Brokelyn Freeshirt: a t-shirt that gets you so many freebies and discounts when you wear it that it’s practically free. In fact, it might even pay for your pants.

Thanks to Brokelyn Freeshirt designer Bob Bland of Brooklyn Royalty fame, these smart-looking tops would be hot purchases even without the giveaway gravy and special deal sauce. But this is Brokelyn, after all, where everything has to have an angle.

Wear your Brokelyn Free-Shirt around town and watch the gates of Good Dealdom fly open for you. Among the many luxuries you can enjoy:

* 2-for-1 Robicelli’s cupcake at the Dekalb Market, Mondays and Tuesdays
* 2-for-1 beer or coffee at Flying Saucer on Tuesdays
* 2-for-1 drinks at Bocca Lupo after 10:30 on Friday and Saturday nights
* 2-for-1 beer at karaoke Wednesdays, MikNic Lounge
* A free one-bite appetizer at St. Austere restaurant in Williamsburg
* And more!

When you buy a Brokelyn Freeshirt at the low, low introductory price of $20, your name will go on a mailing list so you can be updated with new deals and special promotions we’re offering. (All current deals are good through Oct. 31).

We are officially debuting the Brokelyn Freeshirt tomorrow night (9/8) at the Fashion’s Night Out block party on Grand Street in Williamsburg, courtesy of the rad jewelry designer Scosha.

Or buy them next Friday evening (9/16) at our Brokelyn Freeshirt Fashion Week launch party at Mission Dolores Bar at 4th Avenue and Carroll Street from 7 to 10. (RSVP, people!) You can put on your shirt and start raking in the riches on party night, because beers will be 2-for-1 if you’re wearing a Brokelyn Free-Shirt.

If you can’t make either event, you can also buy your Brokelyn Freeshirt on our site starting next week. As we said, all current deals are good through Oct. 31. So don’t wait.

February's Underground Rebel Bingo Club at the Bell House. Via NickyDigital

Ok, listen up: Since you are such an awesome Brokelyn reader, we’re going to let you in on a little secret going down in a secret location in Gowanus that will be a ruckus-y good time. Clear your plans for May 21; you might want to cancel anything on Sunday too, for good measure. There’s an event going down, starting at 9pm: the Underground Rebel Bingo Club. It’s a reinvention of the classic grandma game, a night of pure greatness where you can joyously hold that bingo marker while dancing, drinking and winning fun stuff. How do you feel about getting a discount? Or maybe winning a pair of tickets?! Brokelyn is here for you! Contest ends at 8pm 5/19!

The event is going down somewhere in Gowanus: ticket holders will be notified the night before of the exact location of the party. Tickets range from $5 to $15, depending on when you buy them, but Brokelyn has special deals just for you: when you use the Brokelyn code “BROKE” (all caps), you’ll pay just $5. Purchase your tickets here! Or, leave your best rebellion or secretive moment in the comments for a chance to win TWO free tickets! You have to be a Brokelyn e-mail subscriber to win, but it takes two seconds to sign up, and wouldn’t you want to be anyway (we promise no annoying spam)? Zombies, underground comments are also welcome.

Bingo! Photo by NickyDigital

Underground Rebel Bingo Club started simply with a drunken crew, and a bingo set absent of any directions. Since they had no idea how to play (they’re British, so maybe that’s a good excuse?), they made their own rules, and ended up having a wonderful night of B-I-N-G-O debauchery that’s now become a global underground party sensation. Now it’s Brooklyn’s turn next Saturday!

They have a few rules, aside from the actual game, and based on previous party videos and pictures, expect to make out with someone, loose a tutu, and/or have a ding dong drawn on your body at some point. Sorry Grandmas, you won’t be winning quarters or that Matlock DVD here.

Irony! Rule breaking! Secretiveness… Oh, goddammit, the suspense is killing us.

Thank you for your interest, but unfortunately, Brokelyn Beer Book 2 has sold out. If you’d like to be on the waiting list should any copies become available, please submit your name and email address to beerbook@brokelyn.com.

Brokelyn Beer Book 2.0: coming soon

Mondays are rough enough, even without the news that New York is saying adios to toxic booze juice Four Loko. But cheer up because we’ve got the good news you’ve been waiting for (and one that’s a lot better than drinking alcoholic battery acid): The second Brokelyn Beer Book is nearly here! You nominated some of the best beer bars in the borough and Team Brokelyn has been hitting the streets hard over the past two weeks signing them up. We’ve nearly filled the entire 30-bar roster so keep your eyes peeled on Brokelyn, because they’ll sell out quickly. So whose beers can you look forward to enjoying with your Beer Book 2.0?

Our returning favorites from the first Beer Book include: High Dive, The Sackett, Bar Great Harry, Ice House, The Atlantic Chip Shop, Strong Place and Sycamore. And meet our new faces for the second book, which include: Mission Dolores, Hot Bird, Barn/Flatbush Farm, The Gibson, Black Swan, Rustik Tavern, Project Parlor, The Narrows, Berry Park, Double Windsor, Roebling Inn, Iona, ReBar and Lowlands.

A reminder: If you were lucky enough to get a copy of the first beer book, you only have until the end of the year to use it! That’s 45 days, which, if you haven’t used any coupons yet, is about one beer every other day. What are you waiting for? If you need someone to help you drink them, please holla @brokelyn.

Brokelyn Beer Book 2.0: Bigger, Better, Beer-er

How do we know Brooklyn loves beer? It’s not from digging through your trash, collecting cans (which… we’ll tell you about soon). It’s because when we unveiled the Brokelyn Beer Book back in February, the colorful coupon packets for 25 beers at 25 Brooklyn bars (for $25) sold out in a matter of hours. For those who swooped-in early, it’s been six months of beers on the book. For those who missed out, it’s been one long wait for this moment: the announcement of the second Brokelyn Beer Book! This time, as we prepare this next awesome deal for you, we’re doing it a little differently. We’re bowing to the democratizing power of beer, ignorant of economic and editorial status, and asking: What bars do you want?

We’ll be rolling out the second beer book just in time for the holidays, with at least as many bars as before (30, dare we dream?) and more copies to sell. Here’s the full list of bars from the original book, some of which might be back—you never know. But now it’s time to tell us what you think should be in it. Is there some great tavern that was left out the first time around? Your favorite dive? The place with a daily-rotating 30 beers on tap?

Tell us in comments (or email tim@brokelyn.com) so we can include your picks on our master list for the next book. And, of course, start thinking about who’ll want a copy come December (aside from you, we mean).

An ice-cream maker in Carroll Gardens: $10 a day

Think of stuff you can rent, and three things probably come to mind: apartments, movies (but these days, why even pay?) and cars (traditionally or Zipped). That’s about it for the usual suspects. We can pretty much guarantee a “DIY Seafood Boil Kit” wasn’t within a nautical mile of coming to mind. But you know where we’re going here: The boil kit, of course, is rentable too—for $20 a day. And you and your crawfish dinner will be hooking up on Snapgoods (Own less. Do more.), a brand new Brooklyn-based rental site for whatever you might need… for however long you need it.

As an e-marketplace for renting randomly useful items—everything from running strollers to video-recording eye glasses—Snapgoods isn’t a trailblazer. Rental sites have been around for years, based all over the world. And they all work about the same way (Snapgoods included): Lenders post items for a daily or weekly price, renters search for their desired goods (wherever they’re located), and that much-needed counterbalance lift is just clicks away.

Snapgoods is Brooklyn-born and bred—which we for one appreciate—and it’s clearly putting early efforts into making its local users comfortable. Check out the “how it works” page for starters, and it looks more like a hand-drawn Brooklyn indie film than international e-marketplace—which is what some of the other rental sites out there are: international marketplaces, based somewhere far, far away. You may be able to search for goods on the next street over, but you’re going to have to change the site to English first.

Rent a free day at Snapgoods' Brooklyn HQ & tell them what you think.

Sign-up with Snapgoods and your very first offer is to connect with your Meetup and Facebook groups. You can decline, of course (you’re probably rightfully leery of yet another site up in your business). But Snapgoods’ point is that if you’re renting out your Garmin GPS for some extra cash ($10 a day), you want some assurance that you’ll have it back for next month’s Costco run. And even if you don’t connect at first, you can start forming your own Snapgoods groups over time, or join the site’s own internal groups, like “Downtown BK,” “New York Snowboarding” or… Brokelyn!

As the site’s Brooklynite of a co-founder and CEO, Ron Williams, puts it, “Snapgoods facilitates swaps within communities… We’re working with local businesses and brands to give trial access to brand new products (for pick up locally) and places like Building on Bond that function as community exchange places.”

As for the nitty-gritty of safety and security, Snapgoods works with the security of Paypal, and all lending and borrowing is done in-person. At all stages of the rental process, there’s opportunity for communication, feedback and reviews. And if a problem does arise, whether it’s a no-show lender or damaged goods, there’s always the threat of suspension… and that time-tested safety net, the security deposit. Here’s the site’s FAQ, for all the details.

The money-making SOP for rental sites is to take a cut of renters’ asking prices, or charge annual fees for listings and services. Snapgoods doesn’t charge for now (the site’s still in closed Beta, which we’ll tell you about in a minute), but they may do so down the road, “probably in the realm of 3-5% of whatever fee [lenders] set for their goods,” Williams says. Snapgoods may also let businesses offer discounted alternatives based on your rentals, along the lines of “Hey! You just rented a mountain bike, would you like to keep that one or try this one?” Williams says.

For now though, the site’s free and ready for a test run… for you, that is, as a member of the Brokelyn family. Click to Snapgoods through this story, and you’ll automatically get in, past the Beta blocker, with a special Brokelyn invite. Go one step further and sign-up, and you’ll be a member of Snapgoods’ Brokelyn group (where the crockpots await).

Happy renting!

Scene from A Summer Rain

Momasphere, a mama-power group that works to “round out motherhood” through communal events and fundraisers, is throwing Luna Fest this Sunday, May 23. The benefit film-fest will be a chance to watch movies all by women, for women, about women and nibble treats and grab gifties from a bunch of sponsors at the Brooklyn Art Exchange in Park Slope. The best part? The festival is showing Brokelyn (and you) some love, with a 50 percent discount if you buy a ticket online before the show.

Tickets are $30 at the door, $20 online, but you can get them for $10 here. All proceeds go to breast cancer research, as well as BAX’s artist-in-residence program.

If you forgot Mother’s Day, it looks like you just got a second chance to make good, plus get your money back in snacks and samples. The screenings start this Sunday at 4:30, doors at 4.

The Brooklyn Art Exchange, 421 Fifth Ave. between 7th & 8th Sts., Park Slope.

What do Don Cheadle, Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes and YOU have in common? If you’re our core demographic, maybe not tons. But tomorrow night, you can all be in the same place.

Brokelyn has two tickets to give away to the premiere of the new film Brooklyn’s Finest and our giveaway includes invites to the after-party with the stars of the film, at a glam hotel they asked us not to mention here because it’s a PRIVATE event.

The movie stars all of the above and was directed by Antoine Fuqua, who won an Oscar for Training Day. It tells the interweaving stories of three cops in Brownsville, where parts of it were filmed. Rumor has it (according to the NY Post) that rival gangs even called a truce during the shoot, while the film’s crew and actors received some real-world guidance and advice from neighborhood residents.

The premier is tomorrow night, March 2, at 7:30  p.m. in Manhattan (Brooklyn’s finest neighbor). Ditch the jeans and flannel kids, because if  you’re rubbing elbows with Willy Mays Hayes you had better be making your friends at Brokelyn proud.

Want in? E-mail us at cops@brokelyn.com by tonight at 11:59, and we’ll pick a random winner at midnight. You have to be a Brokelyn e-mail subscriber to be eligible. Not an e-mail subscriber yet? What are you waiting for? That’s how you don’t miss cool stuff like this. Subscribe here.

Due to an unexpected stampede, we are completely sold out of Beer Books. To put your name on a waiting list so we can let you know if any more become available, please send an email to beerbook@brokelyn.com.

Your dilemmas: You have a craft-ale palate and a PBR budget. And you want to try some new places, maybe even outside your neighborhood. But where to go?

Our solution: The Brokelyn Beer Book!

Yes, readers, your fellow lushes at Brokelyn—and the insane design talents at The Heads of State—have joined forces on The Brokelyn Beer Book, a passport to our favorite bars and beer-centric eateries that gives you a chance to try a whole bunch of new places (or revisit old favorites) for a teensy fraction of what it would cost you without our generous financial-aid package.

Quite simply, The Brokelyn Beer Book is a coupon book good for 25 beers—pints, bottles, microwbrews and craft ales—at 25 of the borough’s best brew pubs, taverns, beer-loving restaurants, dive bars and even a bowling alley.

How much would you pay for all of these beers? Purchased one at a time, you’d pay at least $125. Easily $150. And possibly more.

But the cost for this never-before-available-to-the-public book is just $25. Or a buck a beer. (Not including the generous tip you will surely leave in your overjoyed state and the rounds you will buy your friends afterwards because you’re feeling so flush.)

It’s no accident that our limited-edition Brokelyn Beer Book comes just in time for Valentine’s Day. Whether you’re old marrieds or new maybes, is there any better way to say “I’d love to get drunk with you?”

This handsomely designed book features all the greatest bars from Greenpoint to the South Slope: The Atlantic ChipShop, Bar Great Harry, Bar Matchless, The Bell House, Black Mountain Winehouse, Black Rabbit, The Brazen Head, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn Ice House, B61, Ceol, The Charleston, The Diamond, The Gate, High Dive,  Manhattan Inn, No. 7, Pacific Standard, The Sackett, Sidecar, Strong Place, Sycamore,  Trophy Bar and Union Hall. And you can walk, not run, to cash these coupons in—they’re redeemable through the end of 2010.

Click here to find out more about our participating bars.

No, the limited-edition Brokelyn Beer Book is not sold in stores at any price. Order here—by Tuesday for Valentine’s Day delivery. (Wednesday’s probably still okay but Thursday might be pushing it. UPDATE: The book is sold out. Please put your name on our waiting list by emailing beerbook@brokelyn.com.