The World’s Largest Wargaming table, an installation by Timothy Hutchings, is now on display at the i-20 gallery. (June 27 – August 11, 2007)

From the i-20 website:

Timothy Hutchings has created The World’s Largest Wargaming Table, an installation stretching throughout the gallery that comments on history and technology, abstraction and site, while pondering the subject of war and hobbies. Hutchings’s installation is a functional super-sized war game table (400 square feet), made of MDF, wood and carved styrofoam, that complies with mapping criteria and can be used by serious game players: a working surface for soldier figurines governed by battle rules.

We went and checked it out last night and this thing is really impressive. Both Andrew (the old ball and chain) and I were commenting on our excitement over art work that creates an environment (especially an imaginary one.) To see such a large area of a what is ultimately a miniaturized space is really exciting. And, while it is very detailed in it’s landscape, from the texture of the rocky outcroppings to the slopping of the hills or the incline of the volcano, it is ultimately a blank canvas for the game play and the interaction of the players – and who knows what will happen there; Triumph, victory, defeat, sacrifices to octopus gods, strategic maneuvers, followed by superior strategic out-maneuvers…

Great new feature in the works for 423smith. Griffin and Ava of the Love Bound Train are going to post a mini-web comic to the site! They recently debut their first full length comic at MOCCA, and as if the comic is not enough there are dolls and installation art and all sort of tom foolery that these two are up to.

Here is a taste (photo by williamsburg nerd):

You may think I am a little biased about this site (as OYG helped to design it) but really, Cookthink is an amazing new recipe site that can not only help you search for the perfect dish by ingredient but also by mood, dish type or cuisine. The great thing is that instead of giving you 100s of random unproven recipes you get a single recipe that sounds absolutely delicious (and you can always browse for more if you want more options). The site is currently in beta but look for an ever growing database of recipes (the recipe mapping project) and some fun new features.

Tonight I’m going to take a stab at the Tomato, Corn, Cucumber And Feta Salad. The site even has nicely integrated tips such as “What makes a mustard “Dijon” and “How to seed a cucumber“. This is especially helpful for those of us who haven’t made it past boiling.

A newly formed local neighborhood group “CORD” (carroll gardens COalition to Respectfully Develop) has organized a petition against not only the potential new monster building proposed on 360 smith, but is also hoping to set a basic standard of limiting new development projects to no more than 50 feet. I do believe this is a step in the right direction of fighting over-development in the neighborhood, but as a top floor apartment dweller with hopes of one day building a little roof-top extension (I can dream right) I wonder where this leaves smaller home improvement projects. of course, I also don’t want some quasi-high rise looking down on me from the corner either. A similar question was posed on Gownaus Lounge which received the following response:

the petition only requests a moratorium (a temporary halt) on the construction of new or existing structures whereby said structure(s) would attain a height above fifty feet…. UNTIL ALL rezoning options (some include setbacks of indeterminate height) and landmarking/historic district classification have been thoroughly presented, decided upon by the majority of our residents and enacted–so, your dream of an additional floor(setback) would be possible depending upon the path chosen.

So there you go, a little bit about the petition and signs that you’ve seen around the hood. If you’d like more information check out their blog:
and if you’d like to sign the petition go here: Petition

Lauren sent in this pic of bookstore cat, Gus, mid nap.

My new favorite time wasting, treating myself, inspirational activity is cruising some of the artisans, crafters etc on ETSY. Here are a few of my latest favorites.

MatteArt

LaurenAlane’s shop

Rainy Prints Shop

MadeByMax

(this one will soon be hanging in my kitchen!)

Goes Cube is rocking out in the ‘hood tonight with an excellent line-up (freshkills and hopewell) at what promises to be an amazing show at local Carroll Gardens / Coble hill/ Brooklyn Heights area joint Magnetic Field. I’m hoping we get lucky and hear some of the new songs this evening – please Goes Cube? Please? In any event, the show is an economical $6 and for many 423 readers this is just a short stroll through town. If you prefer to take the subway there are almost a million and a half trains that get mighty close. See flyer below for details.

Also, if you aren’t all too familiar with Atlantic avenue – there are some notable eats if you want to grab a bite first. I highly recommend the pulled-pork bbq sandwiches (and onion rings) at Pete’s Waterfront Ale House and there are also all things deep fried at The Chip Shop.

p.s: I may just have to make some buttons to mark the occasion. Want one? Come & get it (free from me to you) at the show!

That’s right, Lido’s bi-weekly musical clusterf*&ck is back in biznezz 2-nite! Play in the Big Buck Hunter tournament and listen along to a bunch of songs provided by robot hotdog that may or may not go together, depending on your opinion. Gonna be sick, dudes. The festivities start at 10-ish.

Lido Bar: 198 Columbia St
Take F/G train to Carroll St
(walk 6 blocks west – towards the water, over the bqe)
Corner of Columbia and Degraw

As many of you may have noticed el gato del dia has entered the sluggish summer season – but no more! Inspired by one-eyed Evangeline here – we’ll get our butts back in gear and continue to post various nonsense for you. Please send us your cat pics - we want to see them – and we want to post them.

Evangeline sent in by Chip

A mashup of two of my favourites shows:

Why yes, I am a geek