This weekend, there was a massive swarm of honeybees on the NJ Turnpike near Cherry Hill. It’s believed that the bee onslaught was a result of a beekeeper’s beehive falling beside the highway.

In other not-really-news, this past weekend I briefly attended the Siren Festival in Coney Island,  where I caught a few Malkmus tunes, breathed some sea air, and got a Siren Festival t-shirt featuring a giant squid and a subway car! I also did some more bee watching. Plus, I gained new insight as to why my local Key Food is so completely, utterly insane: I overheard the manager tersely tell an older gentleman who was asking if the store carried an item advertised in a coupon that NO, they didn’t have any and he would not go look in the stock room, TOO BAD. The same manager then told a cashier that people who “stole $.25 bags of popcorn” were “going to go to hell” (the un-labeled, small bags of popcorn were near the cash registers and looked like free samples). I also finally managed to get some much-needed hardware and software so that I could play music from my laptop wirelessly through my stereo speakers; my life is now 1000% more awesome as a result of this.

Tags: Brooklyn, Totally random, Music, Bees by janine
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Last night, I went to go see an outdoor movie at the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Since there were 4,000 people there (literally, that is the figure that was announced, I am not just making that up. Also, note: 4,000 people and four toilets), I was shoulder to shoulder with my neighbors. I certainly wasn’t eavesdropping on purpose, but I could smell the man next to me’s armpits so I could certainly hear what he was saying. He and what seemed to be his first date (aww) were talking about insects, and somehow they got on the topic of bees and how bees mate. “Is there a female?” the woman asked. “There’s a queen,” the man said. I poked my husband and whispered “OH MY GOD they are talking about bees and how they mate! I know all about how bees mate! I am dying to tell them.” My husband, having been told by me in the past how bees mate, said “Don’t you dare start talking to those people about how the drone’s penis snaps off and he dies! That is not first date material.” He had a point, so I kept my mouth shut.

Today, however, I was doing some more bee watching in the lovely Cobble Hill Park, observing some bees amongst flowers, when a couple nearby started remarking on how many bees they saw and wondering what types of bees there were. Naturally, since I knew precisely how many and what kinds of bees were around, I piped up this time. “Oh, I am actually collecting bee data,” I told them. They were  interested in learning more about the project (I swear! Really!!), so I told them about it and encouraged them to collect bee data as well for the Bee Watchers. A few minutes later, a woman came over (seeing me standing in front of the flowers with paper and pencil) and asked me I was trying to identify plants. “I’m bee watching,” I explained, and told her about the program too. It turns out she was one of the people responsible for planting the flowers, so we talked about that for a while.

PS. For the 4 of you who read this blog… I am thinking about posting some longer, humorous essays (not related to bees). Thoughts? Comments?

Tags: Brooklyn, Bees by janine
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I am so excited that one of my friends forwarded me an email about the Bee Watchers! From their website:

The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation’s Greenbelt Native Plant Center, the Urban Park Rangers, and the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation have teamed up to gather information about bee diversity, bee distribution, and pollinator services in New York City’s five boroughs. If you are interested in our local pollinators, we need your help! Twice per month, from spring through the fall, we need you to observe which bee species visit native bee-pollinated plants in your backyard or at participating nature centers.

Of course, I’m on board and I will be going to the training session tomorrow at Prospect Park (coincidentally, in the building where I had my wedding - is this, dare I say, meant to bee or what?).

Photo from Kevin Cox Matteson’s Flickr bee set

Tags: Brooklyn, Bees by janine
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Once again, Sting and his cohorts the Police announce that they are touring, and specifically playing New York City, and immediately bees go into action!

On Wednesday, a swarm of bees took over a newspaper box on the Upper East Side. Emergency Services were called but hung back, and somehow “bee whisperer” Jim Fischer, a volunteer at the Bronx Zoo, was called in (who knew there was a “bee whisperer?”)

He said he sprayed water on them so they wouldn’t fly.“This is a swarm,” he said. “This is how bees reproduce. The hive breaks in half and bees swarm around the old queen. Somewhere around here, there’s another hive of bees. We just don’t know where.”

This reminds me of the time bees swarmed onto a tree on my block in Brooklyn. While everyone else seemed surprised and alarmed, I was fascinated (”look, a bee tree!”), and knew exactly where the bees had come from (a man who keeps bees on his roof). A few days later, the bees were gone. My explanation was that they had saved up enough money (or perhaps honey?) to put down 20% on a co-op.

Tags: Brooklyn, Conspiracy theories, Sting, Bees by janine
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City Sights NY, you are driving me insane. Your stupid tour buses go right outside my window every day. But now that it’s cracked 50 degrees, THREE of them just went by within a 5-minute span. What are the tourists looking at?! This is Brooklyn, not Manhattan. The worst part is your tour guides using microphones! “NEIL DIAMOND, THE SINGER, AND BARBARA STREISAND…” Well I just gave a busload of tourists some real New York flavor as I gave them the finger.  They probably all took pictures and will be back home in Iowa going “Look, Karl! This REAL BROOKLYN person gave us the finger! Isn’t that hilarious! Imagine if the cows out back could do that!”

If you would like to call City Sights New York and complain, they can be reached at 212-812-2700. Better yet, find out where the tour operators live and go by their apartments making loud, inane announcements all the time.

Tags: Brooklyn, Totally random by janine
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The Cobble Hill Cinema in Brooklyn has its negatives - the lack of any place to wait inside to buy a ticket, getting served popcorn that was clearly made the day before at a matinee, and the infuriating sizing of the concessions (”child sized”) come to mind - but it’s got a lot going for it too, and remains my favorite movie theater in the vicinity by a long shot. I like the discounted movie tickets during certain days/times, the creepy-yet-endearing portraits of movie stars painted on the walls, and the selection of indie/mainstream movies in one place. But best of all is the intro to the films. It looks like it was made in 1983 (complete with lasers, pinballs, and a very dated sounding musical score) yet it reminds moviegoers to turn off their cell phones. I went to see a movie at the Cobble Hill Cinema yesterday, and I noticed that they had some newer, more technologically advanced pre-show slides and adver-tainment (yes, I just made that up). I was hoping and praying that the laser-pinball intro would remain. Thankfully it did. I wish I had a clip of it to share here, but alas this seems to be the one thing NOT posted on YouTube.

Tags: Brooklyn, Totally random by janine
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My friend Jes alerted me to this article about how the Transformers movie featured a “Bee-otch” air freshener which ripped off the “Bee-otch” design invented by a Brooklyn woman, Alia Madden. Jes sent me this article knowing that I have a much beloved “Bee-Otch” mug at home. All I can say is: Don’t mess with Brooklyn women who love bees. Trust me on this. Just don’t.

Tags: Brooklyn, Bees by janine
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Although this is indeed the WORLD wide web, Temple of Sting has extra-special love for the beautiful borough of Brooklyn. Besides, isn’t it true that something like half the people in the U.S. have a connection to Brooklyn?

Here is the annual “State of the Borough” interview in the Brooklyn Paper with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Those who know me know I have a  - well, I wouldn’t call it an obsession - but let’s say a strong feeling for Marty. I just adore him!

Tags: Brooklyn, Totally random by janine
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