SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Long-time Sheepshead Bay resident Natalya Serebrennikova created a profound and playful animated short, Cicada, now competing in a PBS 13 contest. The film tells the story of an immigrant girl’s last days in Ozerki, Russia, her transition to Brooklyn, and her first day of school. With a remarkable amount of detail and specificity, Serebrennikova recounts the tale with beautiful, childlike imagery supported by a smattering of text. And yes, the school depicted is right here in Sheepshead Bay.

Go watch the film and vote for it now. The contest ends this Wednesday, August 25, and if Cicada wins it will be broadcast on Channel 13 on Saturday night.

Congressman Weiner and Councilman Fidler in a pointlessly photoshopped image.

Councilman Lew Fidler isn’t finding an ally in Congressman Anthony Weiner for his crusade to protect consumers from feuding cable companies and content providers. But the councilman says it’s just a matter of time before he successfully woos the federal representative to his aid.

Fidler is pushing a City Council resolution to urge the federal government to support new rules governing deal-making between over-the-air broadcasters and their cable foes.

In a comment left on Sheepshead Bites, the councilman asked constituents to contact their federal representatives and “DEMAND that broadcast stations—the ones who seek and accept a license from the FCC to use YOUR public airwaves—NOT be permitted to charge retransmission fees. I will stay on this soapbox and continue to raise this issue tho the City Council has limited power over this largely Federal issue.”

Fidler will need the aid of federal representatives, since the companies are governed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Legislators will need to direct the agency to take up the issue and enact new policies.

But Congressman Weiner is reluctant to get involved, and said the contracts are a private business issue and should be left between the participants.

Keep reading to see what Weiner had to say and how Fidler reacts, as well as why the councilman thinks this is an important issue for all consumers.

From City Hall News:

At a contentious July Council hearing on consumer rights, Council Member Lew Fidler argued that consumers of cable television are the victims of stalled negotiations between broadcasters and cable service providers and they don’t even know it.

“Consumers will be seated at the table when the big boys fight,” Fidler said to broadcast industry lobbyists at the hearing. “You will not decide how much you can suck out of our pocket without our participation. You operate under a public license on public airwaves and the public will not be damned.”

Fidler and fellow committee members warned broadcasters they would fight to change lax, decades-old federal rules governing cable service agreements that allow networks to cut service and allow screens to go dark when their demands are not met.

Continue Reading »

Brian Vines, host of Brooklyn Independent Television’s Intersect show, contacted me a few weeks back. He wanted to know about the Voorhies Avenue mosque, and invited me down to the studio to discuss it. When I got there, though, I discovered it was an ambush. Vines was having me on as part of a panel discussion, alongside Courier-Life’s Tom Tracy and New York Observer’s Dana Rubinstein. What’s more, the mosque was only a teeny, tiny segment of a larger discussion about recent news in Brooklyn.

Well, I kicked butt. Watch the video. My nerves got to me at first, and I wasn’t as articulate as I would’ve liked, but I think I made some important points. Not to mention, I got to bring up the damage at Plumb Beach, which no one outside of our neighborhood seems to know about.

Did anyone see the Breaking Bad finale? WTF was that ending? And why did Cablevision lead me to believe it would be a double episode, and then slip in a premiere to some other crap? What the hell, AMC! You’re supposed to be better than that…

Anyway – we may be changing the times that we aim to put our posts up (it’s pretty regular, but occasionally we deviate). It would be a big help to know when you read Sheepshead Bites. First thing in the morning, before work? On your lunch break? When you get home? I mean, you should be checking in every 15 minutes, but around what time do you look at it for the first time during the day?

A still from the video segment. What diner is this, anyway?

In an upcoming segment of ABC News’ “What Would You Do?”, patrons of a Sheepshead Bay diner witness gay couples harassed by a waiter. The staged intolerance is part of an experiment to see how locals react to the prejudice. The result? Well, apparently Sheepshead Bay doesn’t care for lesbians.

Here’s the scene:

While enjoying a bite to eat at a local diner, you overhear a waiter giving two women at the next table a hard time.

“Are you sisters?” he asks them. “Are your husbands joining you?”

At first, he just seems to be a nuisance but then he gets personal.

“Oh, you’re lesbians?” he exclaims. “What about your kids? Don’t they need daddies?”

The two women and their children are shocked and embarrassed. As they try to place an order, the waiter gets even more incensed and finally asks them to leave. As the family of four gets up to go, they catch your eye.

What Would You Do?

Keep reading to see how Sheepshead Bay residents reacted

Yeah, so I received this e-mail last night. From the website, it’s clear they’re aiming for a Brooklyn-based version of Jersey Shore, unimaginatively targeting New York Italian-American stereotypes. Their website lays it on heavy with the tanning, abs and “Fuhgeddaboudit” bullshit. Not to mention the example name they use on their casting call application is Tony Napoli (I wonder what Tony Napoli thinks of that).

Can’t see the image? Read the text of the casting call here

The infamous Brighton Beach show, whose existence we originally uncovered back in February, is extending their casting deadline and updated some rules, according to their Facebook Page.

The “Russian Jersey Shore” is apparently delving deep into its pool of candidates to find very special toolbags like this guy. But it seems the delays are starting to shake the faiths of its fickle fans. Above is just a small sample of reader comments who are now questioning whether the show will be made. Others can’t quite figure out why there’s a shortage of over-the-top characters to choose from, and at least one offers a suggestion of where to look:

they want russians that act like retarded guidos and are havin trouble finding them?…..strange…I see em in El Greco all the time ….

But we were told back in February that any deal with broadcasters would be contingent on the cast, so it may just be the producer’s high and noble idea of putting together a diverse and culturally revealing cast has been shot down. As some commenters suggested on past articles, the channels could be pressuring the producers to get stereotype-enforcing loudmouths.

Did you send in a submission? Tell us about it!

Here’s a little political trivia for you: did you know Councilman Lew Fidler is a fantasy baseball heavyweight?

In fact, the councilman managed the business of the Rotisserie Baseball League’s Founding Fathers as the “Official Stat Service” during the late 80s and early 90s. For his role, interviews with Fidler will be aired on ESPN as part of a a tongue in cheek history of the original Rotisserie Baseball League.

“I can’t say that I play a starring role, even though I filmed about five hours of interview and historic recreation,” Fidler said in a press release. “Only a bit of it made it in, but at least I made the cut.”

The docu-drama, titled A Silly Little Game, is scheduled to air on ESPN Tuesday evening, April 20, at 8 p.m. The movie premiered last Monday at the home of the Tribeca Film Festival and is part of the ESPN series “30 for 30” in celebration of the 30 years of ESPN sports broadcasting history.

The Rotisserie Baseball League was founded in 1980 by sportswriter Daniel Okrent and his New York City friends. The first fantasy sports game based on real-time stats and conditions, the Rotisserie League blossomed throughout the 80s and 90s spreading across the nation and inspiring fantasy leagues in all other major sports.

The film will air six times in the next two weeks: Tuesday, April 20, at 8 p.m. (ESPN) and 10 p.m. (ESPN 2); Thursday, April 22, at 10 p.m. (ESPN Classic); Friday, April 23, at 2 a.m. (ESPN 2); Tuesday, April 27, at 9 p.m. (ESPN); and Thursday, April 29, at 8:30 p.m. (ESPN 2).

Betcha didn’t know that, did you?

From Courier-Life:

Still fuming from the WABC–Cablevision fiasco of two weeks ago that caused southern Brooklynites to miss Academy Awards’ slam-bang opening number, Fidler said he’s putting forward two City Council resolutions he hopes will change how cable companies haggle with networks in their continuing price war.

Every 10 years, cable companies re-negotiate their contracts with television networks. While the negotiations were supposed to take place in 2008, they were postponed to this year, explained Fidler, who said that the average viewer is the one who misses out when two titans like these clash over pricing.

“Over the last number of months, myself and other viewers have gotten increasingly pissed off with how the cable industry is running,” Fidler said. “They seem to hold viewers in a low regard. We’re being held hostage.”

…

In his resolutions, Fidler calls upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to pass a regulation that would ensure that any television company that broadcasts on the airwaves — like WABC or any other network television channel — cannot charge a cable provider any more than the cost of linking the channel up to the cable system.

What do you think? Should the city government be looking out for our entertainment interests? Or is this something that market forces would rectify on their own?