I am a hypocrite. I didn’t start out that way, but Blippy, the latest oversharing service, has turned me into just that. As the editor of a social-media news site, social media evangelism—in all of its many incarnations—is my game. But there’s something about this new consumer voyeur service that makes me feel just a bit… icky. Blippy launched at the beginning of the year and the service lets users share their online purchases from merchants like iTunes, Netflix, Amazon and quite a few others. Blippy stores users’ credit card information; users can compare notes, retweet the info and spam the feeds of their so-called friends on Facebook. I had to see this thing, so I signed up. But it was a move I will most assuredly come to regret. 
Weird new social-media trend: retail voyeurism
Wednesday linkage
What went down at Diddy’s party last night in Bed-Stuy [MTV.com]
Liberty of London might be Target’s best collabo yet [Racked.com]
More bagels for Park Slope [Brownstoner]
Blacktop Beauty show at Brooklyn Public Library [NYDailyNews]
All your Gowanus Canal questions answered [CityRoom]
Monster carrots at the Cortelyou greenmarket [Ditmas Park Blog]
10 ways to save at the supermarket [LearnVest]
Half-nude models in a Brooklyn brownstone [GQ]
Monday linkage
NY Mag’s ‘Best of NY’ in BK
Lox not Kosher? So says some BK rabbis [NY Post]
Target launches Gaultier collection [Racked]
Artist filling city’s holes with Legos [Gothamist]
Spotlight on Vinegar Hill [NY Times]
Brooklyn Heights’ Oscar winner [BK Heights Blog]
NJ’s food bloggers more hard-core than NY’s? [NY Times]
Wednesday linkage
Freddy’s Bar vs. Atlantic Yards billionaires… fight! [Reason]
USPS pushing for an end to Saturday mail [via Recessionwire]
Babies-in-bars debate goes national [Brownstoner]
The dumbing-down of NYC restaurants [Eater NY]
BK connoisseur: how to drink wine like a pro [Daily Candy]
Air your MTA grievances in public tonight [mcbrooklyn]
Yelp’s hood of the week: Bed-Stuy
Tonight: Nutsackett, Imelda May, censored music, more [the skint]
Monday linkage
Brighton Beach reality show calling all vodka-drinkers [NY Post]
When tenants don’t pay the rent [NY Times]
NY’s high-end cafés from elsewhere [Daily News]
Free drinks, anything goes on W’burg party bus [NY Times]
FYI: the best-selling snacks in prison [Gothamist]
Homemade carpet cleaners [Real Simple]
Downloadable 2-for-1 pass to seven NYC museums [via the skint]
Miss Brooklyn 2010: your name here
Great news, parade-wave practitioners: the deadline to enter the 2010 Miss Brooklyn contest has been extended due to a surge in entries from Brokelyn readers after our item last week. Yep, the pageant is now allowing entries through March 7. So if you’re seriously thinking about pursuing this path to scholarship money (probs $1000) and free stuff galore (see “sponsors”), here’s advice from reigning Miss Brooklyn Keelie Sheridan, a 23-year-old Manhattan Beach student who’s been living in Brooklyn for the past five years. Turns out Keelie’s one of us: she buys her clothing at the Salvation Army in Sheepshead Bay.
Keep it from becoming the Broke-tanic Garden
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, photo by AMRosario
Bah to those fat cats in Albany, they of the not-allowing-wine-in-grocery-stores infamy, they of the no-go on gay marriage. And now, they could be hacking away at our access to real cats with huge proposed cuts to the budgets that pay for living museums such as zoos, aquariums and botanic gardens.
Gov. David Paterson has proposed a near 50 percent cut in funding in response to the budget crunch (somebody hasn’t been reading their Brokelyn…). It would affect the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Prospect Park Zoo and about 80 other aquariums or or other destinations that feature living exhibits across the city and state. The Botanic Garden sent out the following plea and call to action, and their director of government affairs is in Albany right now lobbying to save the funding:
Wednesday linkage
First look at Target’s Liberty of London collection [Racked]
Nine amazing things you can buy from Skymall [Racked]
19 new rides for Coney Island [Daily News]
One star for Tanoreen in Bay Ridge [NYTimes]
Montreal bagels now available in Brooklyn [NYTimes]
Is ‘Free Wifi’ a good name for a bar? [BushwickBK]
Jehova’s Witnesses to pack up their mags and ditch BK [Brownstoner]
11 ways to save at the airport [LearnVest]
Ladies, become the next Miss Brooklyn
Leigh-Taylor Smith, Miss Brooklyn 2008, made it all the way to Miss America 3rd Runner-up
Do you have a passion for community service, look good in a swimsuit and high heels, but aren’t quite ready to be questioned by the likes of Rush Limbaugh? Did you know there was a Miss Brooklyn pageant? Neither did we. But luckily we stumbled upon the site today because there are only three days left to apply to become 2010’s titleholder, who will be crowned on March 28 at Brooklyn College. The contest is open to women, age 18-24 (there’s a teen version too) who live, work or study in the five boroughs. Competitors vie for an academic scholarship—this year’s amount hasn’t been announced, but it’s been $1,000 for the last two years—and near-reaching fame.
Monday linkage
Cab-pooling coming to some routes [NY Times]
Pantry essentials for eating in [Not Eating Out in NY]
Why bar music is always too loud [Gothamist]
Project Runway hits Nintendo Wii [via Racked]
Brooklyn’s breast whisperer [NY Times]
Coney Island getting back old park, 19 new rides [Daily News]
NYC has 20 jobless to every city job [via Recessionwire]
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