Fake Exotica & Williamsburg’s Young Hip Transplants

This is a rant about those who are nutty and shallow: the house of worship below, located in Williamsburg, is not a mosque, it is a church. More on that below, but first…

I knew a couple of professional hipsters, friends of my ex who were art dealers. Once, during a summer weekend with them at a borrowed Long Island vacation house, I set up my iPod so we’d have music in the house: first, some favorite Arab music — no problem — then some favorite country music — gasp, that just wouldn’t do!

My amused ex later informed me of the horror the couple expressed in the kitchen, all sotto voce like, so I wouldn’t hear…

Oh dear!

Arab music = cool… C&W = not cool… Can ya dig it, daddy-o?

So I wonder if that relates to the story here: some Williamsburg hipsterpreneur created a souvenir tote bag on which the Russian Orthodox Church is labeled a “mosque” — squint your eyes:

Tote bag depicting Williamsburg’s Russian Orthodox “mosque”

Question for hipsters: would a mosque be cooler than a church?

Some background on the Russian Orthodox Church, provided on the web page of the photographer who shot the photo up above:

Russian Orthodox Church, Transfiguration of Our Lord at 228 North 12th Street, Brooklyn, NYC. The Byzantine-style church, whose rector is the Very Rev. Wiaczeslaw Krawczuk, was built between 1916 and 1921. It was designed by Louis Allmendiger, who modeled it after the Cathedral of the Dormition in Moscow. The church became a city landmark in 1969 and was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

But maybe that isn’t exotic enough for some. Maybe the tote bag maker in question fled his/her hometown of Meatloaf, Kansas on a skateboard, a refugee from his/her own self-loathing or whatever who, without being conscious of it, equates ‘exotic’ with ‘cool’. And for whom thinking of that church as a mosque helps him/her feel a tiny bit hipper.

Anyway and ins’allah, read the fine source post and comments.

Photo credit: ifotog
Tote bag image: Etsy via newyorkshitty, I think.

© 2008 NutsInNY.com

Plenty more to read about groovy Williamsburg. Or maybe one of youse guys knows a nut you’d like to turn everyone on to?

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This is Nuts: No Good Chinese Food in NYC

WHO: Wall Street Journal food nut Raymond Sokolov
WHERE: Golden Szechuan restaurant, Long Island, New York

THE STORY: A year or so ago, I heard a friend who lives in Chinatown NYC categorically reject eating Chinese food. It shocked me. However, I knew how hard it had been for me to locate the two Chinese restaurants in NYC that I really liked: one on 7th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, one on Hudson Street in the West Village, not far from Horatio Street. Both places used to make a delicious, clean-tasting bean curd home style, and cold noodles with sesame sauce that didn‘t taste like pure sugar.

In a nutshell, it was good food, unlike most all of the greasy, sugary slop that passes for Chinese food these days in the 5 boros. So, yeah, I understand why the friend rejected Chinese food. What a pity.

Read food writer Raymond Sokolov‘s tale of his trek to Long Island for decent Chinese food, “14 miles from the center of the American restaurant scene to a dumpy place at the end of a New York City subway line.”

Read more food and dining nuttiness.

Copyright ©2008 nutsinny.com

Photo credit: Rebecca McAlpin for The Wall Street Journal

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Yo Weed Boy, You Have the Right to Remain Silent

WHO: Samer El-Khawam

WHERE: Nassau County

THE STORY: “Police Officer Toscano was patrolling the third precinct of Nassau County, in uniform, in a marked Nassau County Police car. At approximately 9:08 p.m. he was traveling west on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow, New York. Officer Toscano stopped for a red traffic light at the intersection of Hempstead Turnpike and Merrick Avenue. Officer Toscano looked towards his right and observed a car in the lane immediately next to his which was also stopped at the red light. Officer Toscano’s attention was drawn to the driver of the vehicle who was smoking from a brown wooden pipe. Officer Toscano testified that the driver had a pipe in one hand and a lighter in the other hand…Officer Toscano approached the passenger side of the vehicle…he could smell the strong odor of marijuana emanating from the defendant’s vehicle. He noticed that the defendant had red, bloodshot eyes. When Officer Toscano asked the defendant what he was doing, the defendant stated that he was smoking.”

El-Khawam told the officer: “I was smoking, I was smoking marijuana. It’s right here in my ashtray. I just picked up an eighth, here it is. I smoked a bowl’s worth. I was just smoking the last hit of the bowl. I have been smoking for the last half hour. There may be something in the trunk. Is this test only for marijuana because I might not want to take the urine test if they are testing for other drugs.”

Read more law enforcement nuttiness.

Source: nycourts.gov

Copyright ©2008 nutsinny.com

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Nut of the Month!

Who: lottery winner & churchgoer

Where: The True North Community Church, Long Island

A Long Island pastor said one of his congregants donated a lottery ticket to his church just after scratching it off and realizing it was worth $3 million… Pastor Bertrand Crabbe…said the donor, who asked to remain anonymous, said, “This was why God put the ticket in his hands.” A state Lottery official said Wednesday that the church will get at least $102,225 a year through the year 2028…

Source: MSNBC

Read more about religious nuts in NY.

Copyright ©2008 nutsinny.com

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