Have you joined our Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool yet? If not, we’d love to see and post your photos. Please join and/or tag your flickr photos “gowanuslounge.”

[Photo courtesy of rembrooklyn/flickr]

Here’s a very cool shot of the Olafur Eliasson waterfall beneath the Brooklyn Promenade that was placed in our Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool by rembklyn. Even if you’re tired of the waterfalls, it’s a great evening shot.

[Photo courtesy of Petanque America]

Bastille Day is approaching on Smith Street, a week from today, in fact. Here’s an email we got from the people at Bar Tabac:

Bar Tabac (128 Smith Street, Brooklyn 718-923-0918) and Ricard celebrate Bastille Day on Sunday July 13 with the annual street festival and Petanque tournament. This very successful event, now in its seventh year, closes down Smith Street every year, as the street is covered in sand for the Petanque courts. The event is organized by Bar Tabac, Robin des Bois and the local Community Board. 80 teams participate in what has become the largest Petangue tournament in the U.S. Players from around the world, including France, Italy, Thailand, Australia, the U.S. and Canada, as well as Brooklyn locals, will fight it out for the prize of top team.

The event takes place on Sunday July 13, 2008 from Noon-8PM on Smith Street between Bergen and Pacific.

[Photo courtesy of Josh Derr/flickr]

This is Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights courtesy of a photo dropped into the GL Flickr Pool by Josh Derr. It’s an HDR shot, which for those who don’t know Photoshop, is a technique that combines photos to create effects like this one.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory this morning, it’s brighter than it’s been, but that means it will be a warm day and more humid. There will also be, you guessed it, showers and thunderstorms around in the afternoon and evening. The high will be 87. Tonight’s low will be 72.–Accuweather

If we ever see that anyone has anything nice to say about the Pavilion Theater on the Park Slope / Windsor Terrace border, we’ll post it in lights. Mostly, we sometimes see just complaints about what a crap hole the place is (plus the occasional unfounded rumor its being closed and will be redone as a condo). In any case, here’s the latest choice comment, via Brooklynian:

Just got back from seeing Wall E with my daughter, movie was great, but I wanted to rant about the Pavilion a little. Most of the armrests in the theatre are either missing or falling off. Same goes for the beverage holders. This is not a complicated repair. All it takes is a screw and a screwdriver. In addition, once we were all settled in and the movie began they shut off the air. By the end of the film it was unbearable in there. The manager tried to act surprised about the air, but I am convinced this is a money saving idea – once we are trapped inside and the movie has started they figure no one will complain. Also, she said they were “working” on the condition of the theatre. Doubt it. It definitely convenient to the nabe but a total dump. Stay away…

Dump or not, it’s always busy.

It’s Sunday which, of course, brings us to Brooklyn Missed Connections. Today, we turn to the F train and two different MC’s. One involves a “sex bomb” and the other a hottie. First, the hottie:

F Train Hottie This Morning 8:30ish – Brooklyn to Manhattan – w4m – 29 (7th Avenue )
Hi…I don’t do this but I just couldn’t resist. I don’t even know if you will read this. I was on the F train this morning. Running late as usual. When I run late, I have to switch cars just to get all the way to the front of the train. Well this morning, I was switching cars and I got to the front of one of these cars just before the train hit 7th avenue. There you were. You are very attractive. I was very intimidated. I found it very difficult to look at you. I would take a peek and when you would look my way I would turn away. It wasn’t until the train pulled into 7th avenue that our eyes met. You smiled (nice smile)..I smiled back. It’s all I could do. I got off on 7th avenue and continued to switch cars. I would love to meet you. Are you single?..probably not. I was the 5’4″ brown hair, brown eyed latina in the army green dress (although my heels make me look like I’m 5’7″). You — you look hispanic, nice short brown hair, amazing eyes, nice lips. You were wearing a navy blue t-shirt, army green cargo shorts and a pair of black, grey & neon green/yellow nike air max 95’s. You had a black adidas bag. If this is you let’s connect.

The

This series of photos in video format comes from Variable Resistance and was included in our GL Flickr Pool. The images were made on a camera mounted on the front of a bike on a ride to work.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images:

· Boat rescue off Seagate on July 4 [NYP]
· More Detail on Crest Hardware (and Art) in Williamsburg [NYT]
· Brooklyn’s “Godfather of Gospel” in Horrendous Car Accident [NYDN]
· Soldier Shot Dead at July 4 Barbecue in Fight Over Woman [NYP]
· Atlantic & Flatbush, 1845 [AYR]
· July Performances at Von King Park [Bed-Stuy Blog]
· Collision Land [Brooklynometry]
· Firecracker Flashback [A Year in the Park]

We return to our regular feature “On the Sofa,” which has been on hiatus for a couple of weeks. (We have, however, added a new feature in which we’ll be featuring individual comments on some days during the week as well.) In any case, heree is a random selection of comments left by GL readers during the previous week:

How to Get a Parking Ticket in Park Slope. “Wow, just, wow. Many factors have been noted, but let’s break it down: 1 – He DROVE from a different neighborhood to buy lawn furniture???? 2 – He did not drive to either Lowe’s or Home Depot, by Hamilton Avenue, or in Canarsie, where there are hand carts and ample PARKING. 3 – He took the wife, and KIDS who were young enough to require car seats. 4 – And this expedition required a STROLLER??? 5 – He chose to shop, from out of the area, with his car, with his family, at 7th Avenue’s likely second worse intersection (besides Union), that features a school/flea market, two Tarzians, Post Office with parking restrictions, a bus stop, hydrant, and until recently a crappy but busy brunch spot…” [Noisejoke]

And, Now, Proselytizing in Playgrounds. “If you plan to hold an event such as a puppet show, sing along, prayer meeting, or wish to distribute materials including fliers, books, samples, pamplets in a NYC playground or park you must first apply for and be approved for a permit. There is no law against proselytizing per se, but it sure is alarming when one’s children are approached by strangers and asked if they have been saved by J.C.” [Julie]

Beginning of a Funnel Cloud Over Brooklyn? “You can see Dick Cheney’ s face if you turn your laptop upside down and squint.” [Mod Squad]

Brooklyn Nibbles: Battle of the Bruschetta Escalates on 5th Ave. “No surprise that Aperitivo sucks. Isn’t it owned by the same people who own the god awful Sotto Voce? My wife and I ate there on our first night in the nabe and it was pretty sub-par.” [Mr. M]

[Photo courtesy of Karyn Bosnak/GL Flickr Pool]

This cool photo from July 4 comes to us via our GL Flickr Pool from Karyn Bosnak. She writes: “While trying to find a good place to take pictures of the fireworks, I stumbled across a police and fireman party right on the river at the piers. They were nice and they let me stay.”

We often feature animals up for adoption at the wonderful Sean Casey Animal Rescue Shelter in Kensington. Their volunteers sometimes send us pics of pit bulls that are up for adoption or of pit bull mixes. Needless to say, they are hard to place. Here’s a report that News 12 did that features Sean talking about pit bulls and is quite interesting.

[Photo courtesy of Shooting Brookyn/flickr]

Here are the July 4 fireworks as seen from the J Train, courtesy of Shooting Brooklyn who contributed this image to our GL Photo Pool on flickr.

Fans of Coney’s Beer Island and BBQ may know of the BBQ truck there. “…this fellow loves BBQ like a Kansas City native (which he is) and loves Brooklyn like a New Yorker (which they are now—Bed-Stuy, actually, where he ponders parking the cue-mobile for business in winter). Beer Island, for all its improvised roughness, is actually less stressful than the restaurant world, he says, and indeed both of them looked busy but happy in their shared adventure, feeding the world in Coney Island and encouraging the timid to bypass a hot dog or burger for the deeper mysteries of pulled pork. Good luck, kids; the rest of you, go soon before there are lines like those for Shake Shack.”–Crazy Stable

This is a vid just posted to the YouTube of firefighters working to put out a small blaze in Canarsie. The person who shot and posted the vid writes, “Ladder 170 (and several other firefighters & trucks)fighting fire at commercial building on East 99th Street in Canarsie, Brooklyn.”

[Photo courtesy of 66 Square Feet]

The blogger who does 66 Square Feet sent us this photo and writes: “Here’s a beautiful example of Magnolia grandiflora for you, from the NW corner Henry and State Streets. It smells divine…” Looks nice too.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory it looks the same as it has the last several days: overcast. Today’s forecast, in fact, is a repeast of yesterday’s: “patch morning fog; mostly cloudy and humid with a shower or thunderstorm around.” The high will be 81. Tonight will offer showers and thunderstorms here and there, “otherwise, mostly cloudy and humid.”–Accuweather

There is good news to report about the LICH playground on Henry Street in Cobble Hill about whose cruddy condition many people have complained. In a nutshell, the hospital is working to fix drainage problems, doing some clean up and has ordered parts to fix broken equipment. Here’s an update that appeared on the BoCoCa Parents email list:

The engineering staff did some temporary work on the drains in the park. They were able to remove some of the excess soil that had built up in the drain. This should help if we have rain over the holiday weekend. A contracor will come in next week to complete the work. Staff will also start a major cleaning in the park on Friday and throughout the weekend. The hospital administrator said, “I did not get a final date on the delivery of the parts to repair some of the equipment. I hope to have this next week.” When asked about the cleaning schedule of the hospital maintenance people the administrator said, “I have them adjusting the schedules to do two rounds a day. I will try and do rounds through the parks daily.”

Good news for everyone that uses the facility.

Here’s a very small photoset of last night’s Macy’s fireworks. It seemed to us that there were a lot of new, and very cool, shells and combinations that were set of. We’re not sure about the decision to move the barges further south than usual, but it certainly made for more dramatic viewing than usual from Williamsburg and Greenpoint, but something a little less intense than has previously been the case from Long Island City. In any case, despite the rain that started about ten minutes before show time, it was pretty cool.

This week’s pet is from the wonderful Sean Casey Animal Rescue shelter in Kensington. They do wonderful work and have an abundance of great animals that need loving homes:

Here some info Curious, who is a our super cutie of the week:

Curious is a 3 year old Beagle/German Shepherd mix. He is extremely affectionate and perfectly apartment sized!! And well, just look at those ears, how much cuter could he be? Great with kids and other dogs, he’s looking for snuggles and walks in the park. Petfinder # 4603426

Sean Casey Animal Rescue is located at 155 East 3rd Street in Kensington. Their number is 718.436.5163. Check them out. By the way, we got word that Annie, last week’s Adoptable Cutie, has a new home. That makes us happy.

Here are some of the first vids posted of last night’s fireworks:

In recent months, an old crime has started to reappear…on the border of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant: a spate of muggings that has caught some in the neighborhood by surprise. People walking or biking alone have been attacked with punches, kicks — and in one case, a baseball bat — and then had their cellphones or purses stolen before they could recover…The 88th Precinct, which covers Clinton Hill, has recorded a 26 percent increase in robberies so far this year, from 99 in 2007 to 125, for the period ending on June 29.–NYT

[Photo courtesy of vidiot/flickr]

This photo certainly manages to capture the unique joy that is stuffing dozens of hot dogs into one’s mouth in ten minutes. As everyone most likely knows Joey Chestnut beat Takeru Kobayashi in a kind of sudden death overtime, after the two champs ended up tied at 50 hot dogs each at the end of the regulation ten minute competition. A lot of photos have been posted to flickr. Here are some links:
· Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest Tagged Flickr Photos [flickr]
· Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest [vidiot/flickr]
· Nathans Famous 2008 [J_Katt/flickr]
· Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest [Dietrich/flickr]

Here are some vids posted to the YouTube of yesterday’s Hot Dog Eating Contest at Nathan’s in Coney Island.

The Windsor Terrace Alliance will be having its next meeting on Tuesday, July 15 at 6:30 PM at Bishop Ford High School in the auditorium (enter on the corner of 19th St. and 10th Ave.). Here are some of the topics that will be covered: Free summer children’s programs in Windsor Terrace, the local mosquito problem, the ongoing graffiti clean-up program, traffic issues on McDonald Ave. and more.

[Photo Courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Photo Pool]

Here’s the scene in Coney Island before the big eating contest yesterday, as contributed to our GL Photo Pool by Rubys Host.