Witness the dramatic transformation of 560 Vanderbilt, from retail shell to new home of Red Lipstick Boutique.

At Freddy’s. Or go rollerskating? Stay home and babysit? Discuss here.

You missed Karaoke the other night. Here, host Bill Carney (of Les Sans Culottes) works a modest crowd (thanks: bad weather). Go see the full report at noisefootprint: Golden words he will pour in your ear [photo: Heather]

Top floor, exclusive roof building rights. Between Underhill and Washington. Closer to Washington. Open house tomorrow and Sunday. Oh yeah, rates are down again.

On craigslist, a new listing on a 4 story house, "totally renovated."
Brooklyn Heights Real Estate.

"Brett Yormark … in his new job as chief executive of the Nets’ parent company … one of Yormark’s priorities will be to persuade sponsors and fans to embrace the team…"

"’When I took over the [NASCAR] position in 1998, similar to what I’m finding now, we were fighting a perception,’ said Yorkmark, 38. "With NASCAR, it certainly was that whole southern thing… With the Nets, too, it’s about re-imaging.’"

"…Ratner hopes to relocate the Nets to an arena in Flatbush by the 2008 season and critics have questioned whether the fan base needs to be rebuilt …

Thank brownstoner for the tipoff.

This is the most user-friendly wiki I have ever seen. Real (non-techie) people can actually use it, without having to learn yet another set of text-coding rules.

Addyourown.com is a "fast, easy, free way for people to find
restaurants, coffeeshops, bookstores … all the restaurant listings
and reviews are user-generated. You can add to, or edit, almost
anything on the site."

Go, add your own!

Alert readers quig and staceyjoy report that the bright red clothes dumpster and graffiti magnet, which we complained about yesterday, has been shown the curb.

Many people donating to USAgain think they’re giving to the poor, but TIME magazine reported that the firm actually sold 8 million pounds of clothing in 2002. An excerpt we found, which appears to be from the same TIME article, says that the company "partners with dozens of schools and churches, that are paid $20 to $40
per ton of clothing collected, which USAgain sells for a few hundred
bucks."

Further: "…business owners who agree to host the boxes are often just as clueless.
"Never, never did they mention they were making money off of it," says
Kathleen Murtz, who accepted a request from the company to place a bin
outside her home-decor boutique in Lake Zurich, Ill. "If I had known
they were going to sell the clothing for profit, I wouldn’t have gotten
involved."

In this letter, "Matthias" presents a rebuttal to critics who think USAgain is a greedy, deceptive corporation.

When was the last time this guy gave a speech that wasn’t about freedom?

[click image for full size]