Outings
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
Guest burlesquist Dottie Dynamo. Photo by Christopher Butt.
When it comes to going to bars, we’ve all killed off a few brain cells — so why not add a some as well? Say hello to the Society for the Advancement of Social Studies, a new Brooklyn experiment that proves school would have been much better with a full bar. (Their motto: All the history you knew but forgot, and all the booze you need to forget it again.) In conjunction with the Brooklyn Brainery, SASS has been hosting free lectures on the first Tuesday of every month, and next week’s is all about a certain day devoted to love. Hear all about scandalous romances, the evolution of marriage, and undergarments of yesteryear. All this plus a performance by burlesque performer Dottie Dynamo and a raffle for $50 to Brooklyn Fox Lingerie. Definitely beats out 9th grade history.
Society for the Advancement of Social Studies, Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m., Public Assembly, 70 N. 6th St. Free.
Food & Drink
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
I want to skee my balls in it! Photo by Flickr's Michael Baker.
Anyone who grew up around a boardwalk will tell you skeeball is a special kind of winter time fun that made you appreciate the barren arcades before the horrible summer tourist crowds come down. Tonight, you can experience it for free: our friends at Full Circle Bar are hosting a FREE night of skeeball (usually $1 a game) to kick off the Brewskee-Ball Winter Skeeson Kick-Off Jamboree, plus an open bar from 7-9 of Genny beers (Cream Ale, tall boys, etc). You can sign up for the new skeeson, and meet your opponents tonight. And hey, they do regular free skeeball and hot dogs on Tuesdays and Thursdays too. Not bad!
[Via FreeWilliamsburg]
Outings
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
Recycled Occupy Williamsburg image.
When we last heard from the crazy kids serious activists in Occupy Wall Street, they were holding their first General Assembly at Union Pool. Things have been quiet since then, but in an effort to get people excited about a May 1st General Strike, it’s time to party. A man named Jim Davis, who may or may not be the Jim Davis, dropped the following announcement in our tip jar: 
Outings
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
David Rees and his pencils. Goggles? Really?
We’re still looking for the April 1 dateline on this press release, but apparently, artisanal pencil sharpening is no joke. Or is it? David Rees, a political cartoonist for the likes of Rolling Stone, GQ, The Nation and Harper’s, has set aside his illustration career to put the finer points on Dixon Ticonderogas. He says he’s written a book called “How to Sharpen Pencils,” and is kicking off a national tour at Pete’s Candy store. Really!
Outings,
Services
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
Today Google Offers has a deal for half off a BYOB painting class at Painting Lounge in Williamsburg. The two-hour class is only $25, as opposed to the usual $50, including supplies and the finished painting you get to take home. We’ve never been to this joint, but Painting Lounge has scads of love letters on Yelp (which you should always check because an alarming number of places on those deal sites sound worse than Gitmo.) Painting Lounge also has an unusual approach: they teach you to copy master paintings, which are posted on this here calendar. Sounds like a fun birthday gift / wedding present (especially if you include the booze) / Valentine’s Day date. (Paging Mr. Brokelyn!) Get the Painting Lounge deal here.
Outings
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
Drink with Rob and Jad? Yes please!
Dispensing with sarcasm here because THIS MIGHT BE ONE OF THE COOLEST THINGS WE’VE EVER POSTED: On Tuesday, two awesome forces will combine in an explosion of radicalness when WNYC’s all-things-brilliant show Radiolab sets up a shop at Brooklyn Brewery, and they’re looking for volunteers to help! In exchange for some manual labor, hosts Robert Krulwich (swoon, nerds) and MacArthur Genius Grant winning Jad Abumrad (swoon, ladies) will buy you a beer. There’s only room for about 100 volunteers, so RSVP right now by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org with “RSVP” in the subject line. We called the Brewery to get the details, and they told us Radiolab isn’t doing a show there, but is just using the space to set up some lights and equipment for their upcoming roadshow. So you don’t get to see Radiolab in action, but you do get to mingle with a guy who won a genius grant, which, let’s be honest, is like 10 master’s degrees combined.
Outings
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
I just learned about this on Reddit, of all places (which, c’mon guys, shoot us an email us with crap like this!). Tonight, Williamsburg’s Nitehawk Cinema is hosting some sort of free event for VHS fetishists. If you’re somehow interested in anything VHS, I can probably stop explaining it here because, honestly, what other VHS event are you going to go to? But for the curious rest of us, there seems to be tape trading, secret Santa, a game show, food, drinks, a “Santa Pause” and a screening of an old “ratty” VHS version of 1989′s Elves. Personally, nostalgia for the never-not crappy VHS format seems like pining for medical practices pre-discovery of bacteria, but shine on you crazy tracking-button pushing diamonds. Nitehawk has these events periodically, so keep an eye on its site for future info.
Food & Drink,
Sales & Deals
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
The owners of Santorini restaurant want to make you a deal. Photo courtesy of Yelp.
Brooklyn’s pay-what-you-wish Greek restaurant has a Groupon… so you can pay half of what you wish. Santorini, the Williamsburg Greek eatery where you’re invited to pay what you think the meal is worth, has an offer today for $20 for $40 worth of food. But can’t you technically get that deal without a Groupon? And if the owners are taking an even bigger hit with the Groupon (they get only 25 percent) why don’t they just tell people to pay half? We rang Santorini up to clear up the confusion, and while we can’t confess to understanding every single word, this much we got: “Just come in.”
Shopping
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
Occupy Wall Street has given our collapsing economy a lot of thought. Instead of getting ready for communism or weird corporate/autocratic rule, they’re planning for a future by looking to the past and dragging the barter system out of the shadows. OWS Sustainability and Evolver are hosting a Barter Bazaar and Skill Share on Sunday from 1pm to 9pm at City Life Wellness (75 Frost St. in Williamsburg), featuring workshops on everything from Guerilla Gardening to End Times Candle Making, a live demonstration of an energy bike and a holiday dinner. The organizers encourage everyone to bring their own items or skills to trade at the barter market, so you can finally foist your terrible CD full of acoustic Greenday covers off on someone that values it, in exchange for, let’s say, plumbing lessons. Workshop and vendor space is still available, so email owssustainability@gmail.com if you have ideas or goods to trade.
Food & Drink
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
Well done everyone.
Remember Santorini, the Williamsburg Greek restaurant that decided to try out a “pay what you feel the food is worth” experiment back in November? Well, New York City, you marvelous loving bastard, you’ve made it work. Here’s Williamsburg reports the restaurant had such “outstanding” response to the experiment, they’ve decided to make it permanent. You heard that right: a restaurant in Brooklyn has enough trust in people they’re staking the future of their business on it. One of the top 15 reasons to love New York City? Sounds about right.
