Brooklyn Today: Wednesday, January 25, 2012

January 25, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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Good morning. Today is the 25th day of the year. It is the birth anniversary (1896) of early African-American singer and dancer Florence Mills. She appeared in several all-black shows on Broadway in the 1920s, including Shuffle Along, Plantation Review and From Dixie to Broadway. Mills was the first black woman to appear as a headliner at the Palace Theater, the number one showcase of vaudeville in the U.S. More than 100,000 people lined the streets for her funeral when she died of tuberculosis at the age of 31.

Well-known people who were born today include basketball player Vince Carter, singer-musician Alicia Keys, actress Leigh Taylor-Young, and actress Ann Ortiz (“Ugly Betty”).

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This evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Cobble Hill Community Room, 250 Baltic St., the Youth/Human Services/Education Committee of Community Board 6 will meet in a strategy session to consider topics for future agendas. ¼ Today at 7:30 p.m., The Farm on Adderley, a restaurant at 1108 Cortelyou Road., will have a “pre-industrial dinner” of food prepared the way it was in the 19th century, when the surrounding area was farmland.

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Today’s News

A new Trinidadian restaurant, Island Burger at 915 Utica Ave., Crown Heights, features a shark burger. “Shark is beach food,” said Linette Beckles, who, with her big sister Tracy Agarrat, owns the takeout joint and six-seat restaurant that dishes up a boneless filet of the fearsome fish, according to the New York Daily News. The chefs season the shark for 12 hours before frying it and topping it with sauce.

Carroll Gardens Patch reports that Battle for Brooklyn, the anti-Atlantic Yards documentary, wasn’t on the list of five nominations for best documentary at the Oscars. The recent Occupy Wall Street movement gave a renewed burst of popularity to the film, which enjoyed an extended showing at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema.

According to Bensonhurst Bean, the last Blockbuster store in Brooklyn is located at 18th Avenue between 69th and 70th streets in Bensonhurst. Although a nearby store in Sheepshead Bay has just closed, the chain has no plans to close the Bensonhurst outlet. Customers interviewed in the store cited customer service as one of the reasons for its success.

Brokelyn says that David Rees, a political cartoonist for major magazines, has written a book called  How To Sharpen Pencils and is kicking off a national tour at Pete’s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St., Williamsburg, on Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m.  “For a mere $15, Mr. Rees will hand-sharpen your pencil to the most exacting standards, returning it to you together with the shavings, and a certificate of sharpening,” reads the news release.

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